Dream of Waking Ne Cede Malis

Dreamcast

So I "acquired" through probably illegal channels an image of Half-Life for Dreamcast. The game was made to completion (hence, the CD image floating around) and never released. I remember back in the Babbage's days, we even had a strategy guide for the game. But it was the end of the Dreamcast and I guess the publisher's didn't want to try to recoup expenses on a system that Sega basically abandoned overnight.

In reality, if Half-Life had been released for Dreamcast, it probably would've been rather successful. It's a damn near picture-perfect port of the PC version, even updating several models to improve their polycounts. My only gripes with it are the load times (which are frequent in Half-Life but hardly noticable in the PC version) and the lack of multiplayer. I mean come on, the dreamcast has four controller ports FOR A REASON, and Quake 3 had splitscreen multiplayer. But then multiplayer might've been one of those features never finished before the game was dropped, though I doubt it was in the design in the first place because there's no indication of it in the game and the game is rather complete.

And then I tried out Rez for dreamcast, which is EXACTLY the same as Rez for PS2. Maybe even a little more difficult but the graphics and sounds are all exactly the same, which speaks poorly of the PS2 version.

It really is terrible that the dreamcast died before it's time because it had some fantastic games on it. Some were ports and nearly all the good ones that were once exclusives have found themselves ported to the newer systems, thankfully, but I won't forget that they were on dreamcast first. Then again, for every Half-Life or Shenmue or Soul Calibur, there were three shitty games that were produced in much higher numbers. Maybe it was the fact that the dreamcast came out well before the PS2 that it attracted new technology bandwagonners who jumped ship from the playstation to make tech demos and other mindless, boring crap for the "new" system. Oh well.

Now to find a copy of Soldier of Fortune and Unreal Tournament to round out my dreamcast FPS collection.

Dude Gun

Would a "dude gun" kill dudes or make the person shot with it into a dude? Discuss.

Dear Reputable Game Developers…

Please stop making high-quality RPGs. It's bad enough when a game like Metroid Prime 2 or Half-Life come along and suck up 20+ hours of my precious time but then a Morrowind or Chrono Trigger shows up and that 20 hours quadruples. Really guys, my plate is full (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, SMT: Digital Devil Saga, Xenosaga, Suikoden 3, .hack//Infection, Shenmue 1 and 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, Final Fantasy Chronicles (IV), Chrono Cross, Saga Frontier 2, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Planescape: Torment). Honestly, I work eight hours a day. I don't have time for all these outstanding games ON TOP of my first love, the First-Person Shooters. You're killing me.

Sincerely,
brian

P.S. After SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2, I'm done till I at least beat one of those. I mean it!

Metroids and Vores

So it's the weekend. Almost the end of the weekend but whatever. I've done nothing productive except laundry and little tiny cleanups. I've been glued to Buffy, Angel, Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. I beat the first half of the mission pack and the second half is kicking my ass. And I got a few more items and beat another major boss in Metroid.

So I'm listening to "Mesmerize", System of a Down's new CD. It's pretty good. Still doesn't top their first one. I don't know what happened but that first album was INSANE. And it was good! And then Toxicity came out and it was good but not the same level of good as their self-titled. And then Steal This Album came out and it was a pretty good compromise. I might place Mesmerize above Steal This Album because it actually is an album, while Steal This Album was leftovers from Toxicity and the self-titled.

And now I find out that Weezer has a new CD coming out THIS WEEK. What the hell? That makes SIX (Eels, Ben Folds, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, System of a Down, Alkaline Trio) CDs from bands I like to be released within the span of a month. You know, I thought I had my gaming problem under control. I've only bought like three games in the last couple months and only one of them I paid FULL (IE, $50) price for. And now I get six CDs dumped on me. And I'm not pirating any of them, I've downloaded System of a Down and Weezer because I'm impatient and broke. Friday's payday and probably a trip out to Best Buy once I pay the bills.

Memorial Day weekend Katie and I are planning a trip back to Springfield to visit and pick up a couple minor things left behind.

Edit 2115: I just thought of another one. Coldplay has a new CD out soon. Not as earth-shattering as the other six but it's one more for me to look forward to.

Cubes

Once upon a time, Katie and I watched this AWFUL low-budget horror movie called Cube. It's about people stuck in this kind of prison full of traps and you watch as lots of them die horrible deaths while nothing about how they got there or who built the cube or what purpose it serves is ever explained. Cube 2 came out and Katie rented it but I wasn't in the mood to watch it and we haven't rented it since. While I was in LA I found Cube Zero, which was supposed to be a prequel to the original Cube, at their PX so I got it almost as a gag gift for Katie.

Cube Zero is fucking awful. Different people, same stupid ass "story". This time you get to see a little bit of who's watching what goes on inside the Cube and almost why people are in the Cube but it's just little bits and pieces. There's no definitive answer and there's definitely no reason why it can be called a prequel. Without seeing Cube 2, I suppose it could easily have been Cube 2 itself. It was retarded. And yet, through the whole thing, like the original Cube, I was totally glued to the screen. It's the mere possibility that they MIGHT reveal something important that keeps me going. Now I WANT to see Cube 2. Maybe THAT movie explains something.

May

May is a very good month. First, a new Eels CD (okay, so it was late April. I didn't get it till today!), a new Nine Inch Nails CD, a new Ben Folds CD (another late April but I still don't have it yet), and now... a new Alkaline Trio CD. I am SO excited. I could possibly die.

So on Thursday I'm supposed to be getting my new uniform, the ACU. They're a digital uniform like the Marines but they look super-faded and very subdued. And today I picked up the new ArmyTimes because it had a big article on recent changes to the ACU and they fixed a lot of the little things that annoyed me about them. But what am I going to get issued? The changes just got passed April 22nd. Am I going to get the annoying ACUs or the not-so-annoying ACUs? And if I get the annoying ones, how long will it be till I can exchange them for the better ones? These kind of questions keep me up at night... when I'm not home. I sleep so much better with Katie than without her.

So like I said, I got my new Eels CD in the mail today. I haven't gotten to listen to the whole thing yet but so far, so good. They changed labels too, from Dreamworks to Vagrant, which prompted me to check Vagrant's website and that's where I found out about the new Alkaline Trio CD. Because now two of my favorite bands are on the same label. When Katie and I traded in a bunch of my CDs on Friday, it was mostly my punk compilations. Now that Alkaline Trio and the Eels are on Vagrant, I have a reason to buy Vagrant compilations again. Yeah.