Gone for DayZ

So, as all of you know, the Steam Summer sale recently ended, and just about every gamer had their hay day. I was hoping that Civ V’s God and Kings would go on sale, but it never happened, however, something that people kept telling me to get was ArmA II & Operation Arrowhead, but not for the game itself.

For the ever popular DayZ mod.

So, when I say combined Operations hit the sale at 40% off, I jumped. Knowing that my computer was probably not capable of handling this amount of sheer computing power, as it can’t with most games, this was a bad idea. However, my friends quickly told me that the installation process was tedious if I wanted to run the game with the steam overlay, and of course, I didn’t believe them. After a couple of hours of dicking around with the files, and about 2 failed installations, I finally decided to cheat. I installed the six launcher, which then installed all of the game files. From there it only took some simple start up codes, and I finally got to launching it.

From here, it was all computer errors.


My computer isn’t the most advanced, as anyone who’s read my blog can tell you. DayZ is quite system heavy, and therefore, can be quite slow on a bad computer, like mine. The first thing I did wrong was that I had no idea that the left alt button controlled free camera. My left alt controls my push-to-talk button on Ventrillo. I spawned, and instantly couldn’t move anywhere. It was a debilitating experience, especially after being chased by 20 zombies. The second thing I did wrong is that I had spawned in Novy Sobor, which is a place priorly thought to be impossible to spawn at, and unfortunately for me, was filled with a rival team. I tried re-connecting after fiddling around with my settings in Vent so I could talk without going blind, but when I logged back on, someone had mugged me, I was unconscious, and only has 2,000 blood left.

Welcome to the hellhole of the future.

I suggest DayZ for people with computers that can easily run TF2, and not for people like me. However, I got another game from a good friend for the incredible price of just 2 name tags:

Killing Floor.

Killing Floor is like TF2, CS & L4D, with less plot, and less teams. You just kill and endless horde of zombies, and choose a class. You then level up said class over time. You also get a lot of money (dosh) over time, and can buy weapons.  Nonsensical violence sure seems to be a great way to relive stress, you might want to try it out sometime.

--Santa

Updates

Let’s do a quick look at what’s been happening, shall we?

Highlander

Our team just finished a game, and we’re now 2-3, which means there’s pretty much no way that we’re going to playoffs, but I’m okay with this. It’s our first season together, I have a horrible, broken rig (which I’ll explain in a bit) and we’re doing better. Not bad for a bunch of semi-good pub traders. If hats reflected actual skill, we’d be rolling in Platinum, but I think we’re doing good where we’re at now, and only time will tell how the rest of the season will elapse.

Trade

Recently I bought a Stormy Merryweather for 3.5 buds, and I’ve been holding onto it. The reality of getting that Sunbeams Ten Gallon is getting ever closer, especially since there aren’t any Sunbeam Hotrods currently on the market.

Computer

As I’ve mentioned before, I use an old, Dell Laptop for all this work—gaming—whatever you want to call it. However, my AC Adaptor has broken, making recharging near impossible, so I may not be updating or playing games soon.

Xbox

It’s not dead. All it needed was a new PSU. There actually is a god.

That’s all there is. Keep up the good work, gents.

--Santa

Movies: Amazing

Guess what, I’m not dead! I’m surprised too, but I’ve been on vacation, and immediately following that vacation I got right back, and started playing Team Fortress 2. Then, a friend suggested I try a new PSU on my Xbox, and lo and behold, it works again; so now I’m getting back into L.A. Noire, all of which has been keeping me away from the computer (except TF2, which has been pulling me away from Blogger.) So, I think this post is one that’s long over-due that occurred around the 4^th, I’m planning on a double post today, one on this topic, and another with updates. Don’t worry children; I’m never leaving you again. Probably. 

So, unlike most Americans, my 4^th of July was spent doing what I like most—doing nothing. However, a few people somehow convinced me to get off my ass to see the new Spiderman movie, which I was personally skeptical about. I only read 2 comics: Deadpool & Iron Man, Spiderman just isn’t my normal cup of tea. Don’t take this as I don’t understand the normal concept of the character, but after the 2003’s venture of Spiderman (which I only credit with opening up the movie market to comic movies, which has given us so many fantastic movies) which by the 3^rd entry they finally gave up on, I was figuring it was a closed issue. I tend to think re-vamps happen 10-15 years AFTER the last movie, and not so quickly afterwards. But, after Spiderman failed to show up in the Avengers, I wasn’t surprised to hear about the new, upcoming title.

So going into the movie, I was cautious. I wasn’t getting my hopes up. I was hoping this one would be more of a direct translation of Spiderman. Spiderman, for me, is a two part hero. It’s kind of like Tony Stark/Iron Man, certain parts cannot be missing. In the original boot of Spiderman, I felt that what made Spiderman just wasn’t there. Saying this, I refer to Spiderman’s personality, his trademark humor, which in ways was another of his weapons, the overall look of Spiderman (which I just don’t feel the original did quite right) and of course, how he is when he’s just Peter Parker.

They started this Spiderman out young, younger than the normal Spiderman is. However, I hold that the actor chosen for this boot of Spiderman is quite near perfect for the role, after seeing his performance. The cast is held together wonderfully, but its missing a few things that I feel should normally happen in a Spiderman plot. Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben) never says “With great power comes great responsibility” although he comes so close to it with a phrase similar to that. There is no Mary Jane. There os no asking for pictures, pictures of Spidermen. Peter Parker is a little more of a dick than I normally think of him, but this is all just minor complaints in the end. I hold this up to the same degree that I look at the current “Dark Knight” series of Batman—the director is making his own version of the comic, which makes perfect sense, especially with the whole Marvel Universe theory.

Overall, I gave The Amazing Spiderman an 8/10. A great movie, but lacking in some areas, and missing some things that I feel an introduction shouldn’t miss. However, if you are a Spiderman fan, and for whatever reason have waited for my opinion, go out and see it. It’s a fun movie.

--Santa

In Bravery We Trust

So, I didn't make that post for day 3 of Meet the Pyro, I'll be honest, I think everyone was too busy trying to be that lucky guy crafting that new hat, and it wasn’t me. I did make a last breath, and some other cool goodies though, which almost mate up for the huge amount of money I spent crafting. I even crafter together genuine hats. That’s how bad it got. In any case, I have decided to give up crafting… until the next major update. However, this did not stop me from unboxing, and ended up getting the Bird Man, the Ushanka and, an Infernal Orchestrinal. So, it hasn’t been too bad, but I still have to sell all of these items, and to make it all better, I found a Killer Exclusive yesterday; I guess things are starting to turn around.

But enough about TF2 for now, let’s talk about movies! I’m pretty cheap so I don’t tend to go to movies I don’t think I’ll like, but I always have one major exception for Pixar movies—I haven’t missed one in theatres since Toy Story 2. I don’t know why it is, but I love Pixar, I still hold that Up and Toy Story 3 are probably some of the best movies of all time, and this means I went to see Brave.

This isn’t to say that I was automatically thinking Brave was going to be bad, I thought Up would possibly be bad, and I had to go flail myself for thinking such things of Pixar. However, I was wary. I hold that Pixar has never made a bad movie, but Cars 2 came close. Cars 2, I feel was a Disney ploy to make more money off of the Cars franchise, since for whatever reason, Cars toys sell so well to kids. I thought that Brave was giving off the same Disney Princess vibe, and I have to say, it scared me to think Pixar may have been selling out to their evil corporate overlords.

So, going into the theater for Brave with my brother, I went to get the snacks (since he gets to refill them during the movie since I’m quite lazy) and where does he decide to sit? In between a full row of children, with just one seat left for me. I’m not a small guy, so when they see this 7’24” behemoth coming to sit down, I think I scared some of them. I got those looks from their parents that told me that they thought I was nothing, and what was this big guy doing at a little girls’ movie? But, I have no pride, and don’t care, and I hunkered down for the movie, shoving my mouth with the salty mess we refer to as popcorn.

Brave is a movie that takes place in Medieval Scotland, with the protagonist, Merida, a Scottish princess about to be married off to one of the members of the clan. She doesn’t want this, and of course, with the queen (her mother) behind all of the planning in this case, she has to come up with some way to change her mind. When she stumbles across a witch who gives her a spell to change her mom, the story kicks off in an unexpected adventure. Riveted with a beautiful landscape, wonder character animation, great voice actors and a plot that ties together fairly well, Brave is a good movie. The only thing that lets it down, like almost every other movie, is how it ends. I personally feel that Brave could have had a stronger ending, and that Pixar just… left it there. It works, but I expect more from the animation giant. They make a movie per year, they can do I bit better I feel.

Overall score: 8/10

Brave is not Pixar’s crowning achievement, but it’s still a nice piece of work. If you’re into the whole fairy tale stuff and love pretty, tom boy princesses, then this is the story for you. I think this is one I’ll pass on, it’s just not my normal piece of pie, but Pixar still makes it in a way that everyone from little girls, to their parents, to a big gamer like me can enjoy such a normally niche story.

--Santa