posted by Gene on Aug 16
Do you like listening to things, but hate waiting for those slow talkers? Have you tried speeding it up but hate the chipmunk voices, or is the complicated process too time consuming. Then use MP3 Speed.
Thanks to freewaregenius for telling me about it.
I know there are other ways to get a similar effect, but this is really specialized. It’s basically set up, select files, push button, enjoy. It works perfectly. So far anyway.
posted by Gene on Jul 21
I signed up for GetGlue. I need some friends on it, so check it out maybe. It’s like Hunch, if you’re familiar, but it’s focused on just media. It has a checkin function, like those location based services, but for what you’re doing. So you can check in and say you’re watching Lost or whatever you kids watch these days and it will connect you with other people interested in that thing. Kinda has a twitter feel if you want it to. It also, of course, gives recommendations based on what you say you like and don’t like. It keeps the recommendations current, and every week recommends stuff from the new batch of media that’s out. And it has neat stickers! My name is geneo on there, if you join, let me know.
posted by Gene on Jul 13
Like I said, I beat Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. I’d like to say a bit more on the subject, even though I haven’t played any more since. I spent like 3 hours up front trying to get the sound to work. Something to do with the way my TV was set up it didn’t like, so like half the sound effects and all the voice acting wouldn’t come through. Was confusing.
The game was fun, though. It is definitely closer to Sands of Time than any of the others since, which is a good thing. The combat suffers from all the magic powers they give you in my opinion, but I liked the combat in Sands of Time. In Sands of Time people complained that the combat was either too difficult or too time consuming. It wasn’t either, unless you made it that way. If you were any good at it it was fun and not that time consuming. Unfortunately, you could get through it just by mashing square or whatever. So that’s what most people did. In this new game you can use magic to tear through all the monsters without hardly using your sword. If you do use the sword the combat is not quite as fun as that of Sands of Time, but pretty close. The platforming, which is really the best part of PoP, is great. I think it is more difficult than Sands of Time, which I appreciate. I must quibble about the existence of hidden treasures. Normally I enjoy such features in a game, but I wish they would leave them out of PoP. Prince of Persia is the game I want to race through, getting in a rhythm and trying to be as smooth, and fast, and bad ass as possible. I do not want to be looking around for alternative paths to take and secret places to look behind and such. I do that in every other game. I know I don’t really have to, but I wish they wouldn’t even tempt me.
Also in video game news, Kim has decided recently she wants to play Modern Warfare 2, which means she and Aaron have come over several times recently and we have taken turns playing. There’s a new expansion map pack out, which I haven’t purchased yet, but might. I love the game, but it’s way more fun with an audience. We prestiged up again and have gotten the tactical knife with the USP so I got my first chance to be a knifer bitch. I went 24 and 9 on Bailout, one of my least favorite maps. Not all my attempts since have been so successful, but the option to be a knifer bitch is pretty sweet.
When Kim comes she brings her Xbox and Red Dead Redemption, so I’ve had quite a few chances to play that as well. I’ve beaten the first area pretty completely, I think. Still have to skin some armadillos or something. It’s a good entertaining game. It is the sort of game I would prefer to play when I’m alone, though, so its sorta unfortunate I only have access to it when company is over.
Anyway that’s all the games I’ve been playing. They’re all good. You all should play MW2 with me. I have a headset I never use and everything.
posted by Gene on Jul 7
I beat Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands today. Musta been like 10 hours. I’ll maybe play through again sometime and try and get all the trophies and whatnot, but I dunno. It was a fun game. It actually got somewhat challenging which hasn’t been in the last 3 POP games, so I appreciated that.
I also have 241 Stars in Mario Galaxy 2. Haven’t gotten that last one. I must have died more than 100 times trying so far. Kinda sad, since every other star was so easy. /sigh I’ll get it someday, I suspect.
posted by Gene on Jun 20
Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast/Dungeons&Dragons I enjoy your products very much. And you do cool stuff to make it better, like making this D&D Compendium. At least I think it would be cool. A huge, comprehensive, searchable database of all things D&D. What a useful tool! Oh wait, it’s only useful for people who pay a monthly subscription. Boo!
I get that you’re a company and you want money, and I also understand that subscription gets you more than the D&D Compendium, but come on. You are doing yourselves a disservice. This compendium is exactly the sort of thing that when offered for free encourages interest in your products and ultimately makes you money.
If I knew whenever I had a spare moment or a stray thought about D&D I could plug in a quick search to the compendium and scratch an itch, I would be all over this compendium. And while I’m search for the exact wording of Feat X, I’d see there is another feat I didn’t know existed, and I’d find that it was in The Planes Below which would get me thinking about how it would be cool if my party did x y z. And I’d search for y or z and find more things in The Planes Below of interest to me. And then, what is your thinking? I just find everything from The Planes Below in the compendium and copy it down on note cards? NO! I go buy your book. And you get my money.
*sigh* I think that my scenerio is way more likely than someone going to your website and thinking, “Hey, neato, a compendium. Sure I’ll pay $7 a month for this.” Plus there’s general good will amongst your customer base.
Ok. Rant over. I do think they’re missing out. And I really want to use the thing, but I can’t justify paying for it when I don’t even have any 4e games going. /pout
posted by Gene on Jun 14
I took Lauren to see A-Team today. I’m a true romantic, I know. I’ve never seen the original show, and know very little about it, so from the standpoint of a fan of an existing property, I cannot judge. However, from outside that standpoint I would give it high marks. It was surprisingly funny. Like, funnier than a lot of comedies. The action was good as well, and the plot and story wasn’t totally stupid. I mean, it’s all ridiculous, but what isn’t these days? The biggest gripe would be the shoddy CG in the finale action sequence, but looks aren’t terribly important to me. I was expecting to think it was alright, but I liked it more than that. If they kept the same crew together I would definitely check out a sequel.
posted by Gene on Jun 11
How A Super Mario Galaxy 2 Level Is Born – Wii Feature at IGN.
posted by Gene on Jun 11
posted by Gene on Jun 11
I really like Milk Duds. I dunno why, exactly. They are mysteriously attractive.
I have over 100 stars in Mario Galaxy 2.
I had a thought. A bit of a callback to that Dark Tower post. A few months before I read the Dark Tower series, I read Ringworld. It is a good book. It is good sci fi. It explores several interesting ideas, as sci fi should, and is entertaining. I think Ringworld is an example of a case where deus ex machina could have been a problem, but decidedly wasn’t, a contrast to The Dark Tower Series. It is a bit unfair to compare a single book to a whole series (I haven’t read any of the Ringworld sequels) but Dark Tower makes me appreciate the achievement of Ringworld more, so I thought I’d share.
I just started reading American Gods. I like it so far, mostly, but I’m not very far. Don’t think I’ve read Neil Gaiman before, so we’ll see. I’ll let you know when I finish, if I have any strong feelings. Progress might be slow, however, as Lauren arrives for the summer tomorrow.
Om nom nom, Milk Duds.
posted by Gene on May 18
I think you guys should know about Hunch.com, so I’m going to write this blog post.
It’s a site that has many facets. The one that jumps out at you when you first get there is an endless stream of questions you can answer about yourself. So, that’s fun, especially if you are one of those quiz takers. Hunch also has those types of quizzes, and various topics to narrow down the questions for a specific purpose. For example, if you wanted to know what book to read next you could go to one of the book topics, answer questions about what you like, and then it will make recommendations for you.
The topics, questions, and results, are all user generated. So, if you are an expert in something that isn’t on the site yet, you can add a whole new topic. Or, if your favorite book isn’t in the list, you can just add it and tell the site what answers would lead to that book.
The site also keeps track of everything you do so it can recommend topics you might be interested in, and tell you of other users that answer similarly to you, and stuff like that. It keeps a giant database of answers and looks for strange correlations. Like 46% of moms who used a fake ID got really muddy as kids. Stuff like that is interesting to me. Plus the topics can be really helpful, if you want to know what TV to buy or whatnot.
Oh, and there are also badges you can get and stuff. Anyway, check it out. My username is geneo if you want to be my friend on there.