Fat Ninja

_____

As a long time supporter of the Ghost Recon series and former Xbox fanboy, there was a time that you wouldn’t find me anywhere near a SOCOM game. During my brief PSP-owning phase, I had rented SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo, but I don’t think that was really the best way to experience the popular franchise for the first time, as I don’t think it really conveyed the scope of the gameplay. At any rate, as a Ghost Recon fan, I was shocked when they transitioned to the third-person perspective, though it quickly grew on me, eventually setting the bar for tactical squad-based shooters with GRAW 2. Little did I know, that success wasn’t really the work of the innovators at Ubisoft. No, a great deal of the formula for that success had actually been borrowed from the SOCOM series. Fortunately, having abandoned my inner fanboy, I’m now getting the chance to see what I’ve been missing in SOCOM; and I must say, I’ve been missing a lot.
Read more

I came across this earlier today and felt that I had to post it. Enjoy.

UPDATE: Found another site hosting this awesome little vid. I also suggest you check out the official site for Oktapodi.

_____

As of yesterday, at around 4:00 PM PST, I had officially turned in the last portion of my guide for The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. In roughly two and half weeks, I managed to write the entire guide, compile screenshots, and label all of the maps. Try as I might, I don’t think I can fully convey the sense of accomplishment that comes along with being able to say that. Despite the tight deadline and long hours, I had a lot of fun putting this one together. The game was a blast, offering me a nice change of pace from the tactical first-person shooters that tend to serve as the staple in my gaming diet. It had truly been a while since I played a good platformer. As my second completed guide for Prima Games, I have to say I’m feeling more and more confident. Naturally, I still have a lot to learn, but if you had told me a few months ago that I’d have one book out on shelves and another rolling to print by this stage, I wouldn’t have believed you. Thanks a bunch to my Copy Editor, my Editor, Product Manager, and everyone else at Prima for helping me conclude my second project.

When McCain first announced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate, I was surprised. I’m not sure why, but it just struck me as an unconventional choice for McCain. Naturally, I felt it was a calculated move, aimed at breathing a false sense of the new to the McCain campaign. But I thought, “Surely, there must be some substance to this choice of V.P.”, especially with the way that Republicans celebrated her inexperience as a vehicle for “change” in Washington. In my experience with this election, inexperience has always been treated as such an albatross by the Republicans. It’s strange, really, that a party can shift stances so uniformly it; it’s like watching a flock of birds on a wire suddenly rise and settle in a new spot. It’s such a perfect union of thought and I have to commend Republican for it. It’s something that appears to elude Democrats, who can’t even rally behind their candidate with total party support. But I digress. My surprise and curiosity regarding Sarah Palin has quickly changed to fear and utter disbelief. The more I read about her political stances, and the decisions she’s made as a Mayor and Governor, the more I recoil in abject terror. Beyond the inaccuracies of her “Bridge to Nowhere” story, her stances on abortion, Troopergate, or her “hypothetical” book bans, when you aren’t even familiar with a set of foreign policy principles that have defined a Presidency held by your very own political party, the train has most certainly derailed.

_____

Hi, kids! Man, it’s been a while since I’ve posted up in this piece. To my avid readers (all none of you!), I apologize for my extended hiatus. To be honest, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in work of late. When last we spoke I was working on my first guide for Prima Games. It was for the game HEI$T, an upcoming release from Codemasters. In the midst of that the folks at Prima asked me if I could help finish up the guide for Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, and I quickly jumped on the opportunity. Here we are a month later and the guide is finished, through the presses and preparing to hit store shelves; and I’m as giddy as a child on Christmas Day. You can get a preview of it here, but bear in mind that I only did the screenshots of the romance mazes for that particular chapter. The rest of that chapter was handled by my co-author, Bryan. The work was tiring, the hours were long, but the sense of accomplishment is tremendous. I want to thank all of the fine folks at Prima for the opportunity and the experience. Above all, I want to thank my wife Laura. Her patience, thoroughness, and mad Excel skills were the deciding factor in meeting the deadline. Without her, none of this would have been possible.
Read more

My buddy Zeak recently had me listen to the track Handlebars by Flobots. I’ll admit that I initially stopped listening after a few minutes, dismissing it as more aimless drivel. After a while I found myself humming the tune to myself, and came back to give it a closer listen. What I found was a song that uses really simple diction to tell an incredibly deep and profound story about the incredible capacity of man to achieve the impossible, and man’s tendency to put that faculty to ill use. I was stunned by it. I mean, in this age of mass consumption music, it’s very rare that an artist with something to say actually gets their message out there. Since then Zeak has had me listen to the whole Fight With Tools album, and it’s quickly become a personal favorite. The lyrics have some of the most intelligent and socially conscious ideas I’ve ever heard on an album. Not since Rage Against the Machine has a band had this kind of an impact on me. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Despite my best efforts to find a photo that would have anything to do with this post, I failed miserably. So, here, watch the struggles of the modern ninja as I regale you with stories of my initial experiences as a freelance author. The strategy guide I’m working on for Prima is, as far as I can tell, going pretty well. I wouldn’t say that’s a feeling I’ve had throughout the week that I’ve been working on it. My feelings on my progress with the project have fluctuated between a cautious optimism and a quiet, yet crippling panic. This, I’m told, is a relatively normal emotional pendulum, particularly for a first-time author. I’m sure Fernando has had enough of working the First Time Strategy Guide Author Crisis Hotline, of which I am the sole caller, but he has really been a great help in helping me hit the ground running. So, a big thanks goes out to him.
Read more