Metroid Prime 3 Hands on

I managed to find a copy of Metroid Prime 3 on release day, which required me to drive about 20 minutes. In any event I managed to pick up a copy and finally popped it in at about 8:30pm.

The first thing you'll notice about MP3 is that it doesnt display the normal disc icon/game logo in the game channel. Instead it just shows a blank disc icon. This is because MP3 has a small system update on the disc that must be installed before you can play the game. (It does state this in the game manual if you happen to look at that, and you just might have to for this game...just to be certain of the controls.)

The game loads pretty quickly and doesn't show the opening cutscene as the main menu loads which is a blessing in todays gaming world. You select a Mii to attach your save file to which is a little annoying to me, since if you delete that Mii apparently your Metroid save file will be deleted as well...if someone has found differently please let me know.

As with many (if not all) of the past metroid games, you begin interacting almost immediately. Unlike...say...Squenix games which require you to press start and then set the controller down for about 30 minutes. The first 10-15 minutes of gameplay is kind of a tutorial to get you used to the wii style controls, but it's not an obvious tutorial, it comes across as more of an introduction to the game and does it very well.

So how are the controls? Fantastic. Terrific. Amazing. Stellar. And any other word you might think of to describe something good. The Wii controls for MP3 are everything a first person game's controls should be on the Wii. You want the scan visor? Hold the minus button down and flick the remote up. Shooting is A (which I prefer) and Jumping is B but these two can be reversed. Grappling is just about the most immersive thing the Wii has done to date. Need to grapple something? Z-Target, Flick the chuk towards the screen and then jerk it back to rip shields and debris out of your way.

The panning controls (looking around with the remote) work just as well as we all imagined the Wii controls would work. Advanced is what nearly everyone is going to want to play with as that gives the best feel for moving about. The only thing I wish they'd included is a speed slider, allowing me to move just a wii-bit faster. All in all though, it works great, this is as close as a console can come to a mouse and keyboard without actually using mouse and keyboard.

Thus far I've played a little bit beyond the first boss and the game plays more fluidly than any previous metroid or most other games I've played for that matter. The only complaint I had was with the first boss as nothing really introduces or prepares you for what you must do to beat it. I figured it out on my second attempt but it wasn't necessarily all that intuitive (granted I didnt play much of MP2 which I have a feeling used the mechanic). All I'll say is, pay attention to the lore and subtitling you get when you start the battle and the purple orbs are as important as you think they are.

I'm an Uncle!

Well, I'm officially an uncle now. Uncle Phil. Does that conjure up any images of big fat guys for anybody else? They always seem to be fun but they also always seem to be big fat guys.

Sigh...oh well. He's a pretty cute kid. His name is Scott but so is his father's so I'll be referring to him as Wombat! (At the time that I came up with that I thought it was Star Wars related...it was REALLY early in the morning at work.) What I was thinking of was womprat but womprat doesn't seem to fit as well as Wombat. So that's his nickname until such time as I come up with a better nickname. In any event Wombat is a better nickname than "Little Scott".

So what do I think of being an uncle? I've always thought it would be cool to be an uncle and have a nephew to spoil and turn to the geeky side. :-p It hadn't ever occurred to me that I would be Uncle Phil though...not a fan of the title. Oh well...that's just part of life...the good with the bad.

So I finally broke down and started listening to the Geek Nights podcasts that my cousin has been raving about for years now. Pretty damn good stuff if I do say so myself. AND they even suggested an open source game that is quite a bit of fun. It's called Battle for Wesnoth (http://www.wesnoth.org ) I suggest you check it out if you are into Turn Based Strategy Games on the PC.

Geek nights podcast can be found here: http://frontrowcrew.com/

That's it for today. I miss my 360 :'( Havent played with it since I got the new job. Too many other things to take care of on the side I guess.

Government in our lives

So...this was going to be a post on a gamespot article but it sort of morphed into a more high minded topic and I figured I'd post it here instead.

Ah...the illusion of power. The people in America have a little power, while the government has most of it. What is our little bit of power? The ability to vote for the people in power. The people we vote for lie, stretch the truth, omit the truth, etc... so that they can get into office. They do whatever THEY think is right with their power (generally so they can STAY in power) and then during a voting year they make a big deal out of things that have very little bearing on ANYTHING that the government should be doing.

WHY is the government interested in what video games I'm playing? They should be concerning themselves with making sure they don't piss off some foreign government/terrorist. Focusing on infrastructure issues such as roads and jobs. Generic items that affect the general public. Perhaps it should be run more like a business...a PR business.

Right now the government would seem to be in it for the world and/or itself, when really...we just want them to be in it for us. Advertise how great America is...what makes it great?

If you had to make an advertisement on why America is great based on current events what would you say?

Government focuses on keeping "adult" oriented entertainment out of the hands of minors.
Government destroys Iraq infrastructure and refuses to leave.
Government imposes it's will on Iraq to "help" create a new infrastructure.

Here's an interesting thought...our government can't keep our own infrastructure solid and tight...why are they trying to build an infrastructure from scratch in Iraq?

So what SHOULD the government be doing? Well...how about helping me find a good job? Give a man a fish and he eats for a day...teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime right? So instead of welfare and food stamps and shit...why don't we replace those programs with job placement/assitance.

You got a bum that can't get a job? Help him get cleaned up...offer him some education for a job that needs people. I don't care if it's as a janitor or flipping burgers. The government already tracks the various industries in this country. Why not work with those industries to help ensure that we have the workforce where we need them? Not FORCING people down the paths but working with them to help them select an appropriate industry and helping them figure out where to apply etc...

For Instance...I graduated from college a couple years ago with a degree in computer science. I had absolutely no idea where to even start applying. My university was useless...the moron's in the job placement assistance whatever program couldn't place you in a job pouring piss out of a boot. Dice.com is only so useful as it lists a large number of companies and all but I still don't know what is in my area that I could call up or email and discuss job opportunities.

well...that's enough ranting I guess...

Day 3 & 4

It's been a busy week and knowing that I'm already ~13 days behind isn't very encouraging but I'll get caught up sooner or later. I'd like to hope by the end of the month so we'll see. In any event here are my thoughts following up Day 3!

The story of Noah:

The story of Noah was an interesting one at this point in my life. The beginning of the passage lays out the lifespans and genealogy of Noah and brought to mind once again the chosen people of God which comes into play later on from what I remember of all my old catechism courses and such. It's strange...God wipes out every land/air creature on the planet. Obviously this would explain some of the mysteries of the deep blue, still...it seems more parable than truth. All in all I'm not quite sure what to think but an interesting note based on my last post is that if the world was flooded then the other creations by other God's would also have been wiped out by the flood. So at this point it would seem that the additional God's theory would hold no weight so far as the Bible is concerned literally.
Of course man is always on the search for things that prove their religion of choice is the one true religion. For this particular case a number of "findings" have been reported over the years. It seems the most recent is this one: http://www.baseinstitute.org/noah.html . There are many interesting articles on that site as well.

Another interesting point brought about by the passages in Genesis are the notions of the age of the earth. Apparently going "strictly" by the bible the earth is under 10,000 years old. By scientific calculations using repeatable tests the earth is ~4.5 billion years old with the universe estimated to be 15 billion years old. A great number of issues arise here. My thoughts on the matter are in line with the 4.5 billion year old idea based around the findings of scientists which I find in no way prevent the occurrences of the Bible. It's not mutually exclusive. The following article brings some good points to bear on this at the end of the article: http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_date.htm .

What does this mean? My feeling is still that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Holding up the bible and proclaiming it is the only true way to tell and it states the earth is under 10,000 seems shortsighted.
#1 - How would anyone back then have had any idea how old the earth was? I know, the bible was written thanks to "divine intervention" (or something like that...might be the wrong phrase but you get the idea). Still, the numbers wouldn't even have meant anything to the people at the time of the bible's writing. We are just getting into terabytes for hard drives and things and that is a number which people find difficult to grasp in our "modern" times. If they couldn't grasp it how could they have a word for it?
#2 - The bible is REALLY old. thousands of years. What's my point here? Has the dialect changed? Do we have the "original" copies of the stories? Were the stories even written down or were they just passed along?
#3 - since I speak only english the only way I can read it is for it to have been translated for me. So #2 affects things with dialects and such and then someone else has to make a translation. I've taken a few language classes and tried learning some other one's on my own. There are a lot of gaps where words don't really translate so who's to say that this version or that one is correct. Only the numbers need be off a little for this to occur.

All in all, I'm not quite sure what to think in regards to the Noah story. It's a good one and one that I've always enjoyed. One of the few that I actually have heard and can recall the important details as opposed to stories about King Solomon of which I know few.


Jesus seeks John the Baptist

These passages too were interesting. The most thought provoking for me is that it says news of Jesus spread quickly. I'd imagine it would...a miracle man capable of curing any and all ailments. It's often seemed to me that there ought to be books and writings chronicling the tales of Jesus beyond just what is contained within the bible. I have searched in the past and found no such books but perhaps I haven't been looking in the right places? This has always been something of interest to me. I'm curious to see what others might have written about him that does not appear in the Bible.

Day 2 - Bible in a year

On the Exile from Eden:

I've already mentioned this to some extent in my post concerning Day 1, therefore I'll just expound slightly on what I've read in Day 2. It seems this is the route the authors take to explain how the people of the earth came to populate the entirety of the earth. One thing that is at odd with this and my previous thoughts is the mention of the people's of Nod. I think the most interesting thing about this is the mention earlier in the passage about Adam and Eve being "like us" Unless God suddenly has a mouse in his pocket it seems an interesting notion. Perhaps while God is meant to be the one true God of the Jews (his chosen people) he was not originally apt to the "other" people's of the earth? Perhaps there were other God's. He is proclaimed later on to be the one true God but what does that mean? One true God is not necessarily an absolute. One true God can apply simply to the Jews and, later on, to those that choose to follow him. Yet this passage makes it seem as though not only are there people here God didn't create but he isn't the only God in existence either.

On Jesus time in Egypt:

I know, this was meant partially as a way to fulfill the prophecies but what was Jesus and his family doing while they were in Egypt. Where did they go? What did they do? There seem's to be a lot of blank spots here. Of course, as I pointed out before, the gospels aren't meant to be an entire biography from even before he was conceived to when he was crucified but still...it seems that some mention should be made about the doings here.

Thoughts:
This day has left a lot of things to think about. I'm sure some will be answered as I continue to read and I'm equally certain many more will pop up. 363 days to go. What lies in wait around the next page?

Day 1 - Bible in a year

On the Creation of Earth:

Upon reading this entry it strikes me that a great deal of effort has been and I'm certain still is wasted in the search for "Eden". I did a bit of thinking while reading the first handful of verses in the book of Genesis and it seems likely to me that many people look to the East for Eden near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as those are named in the Bible passages. The reasoning behind this seems sound to me. These passages are generally accepted as fictional accounts of the creation of earth. A way to explain the existance/creation of all that is. It is also generally accepted that the East where said rivers are located is the "Cradle" of the world. The place where civilization first began. If both these are the case why should the rivers of that area not appear in the bible? I find it more likely that the original intent of the story of Eden is that the entirety of the world as a creation of God is, in fact, Eden. Why shouldn't the whole of the Earth be the Eden referenced in the bible passages? I think it is also meant to be a state of mind, after all, Adam and Eve are "thrown out of Eden upon gaining the knowledge of their nakedness among other things. Hence it would make sense that this "throwing" from Eden occurs as a state of being rather than a state of physical location.

On Jesus Birth:

The passages of Jesus birth are interesting to say the least. Recently an article I read pointed out some things that are not entirely accurate within the gospels concerning Jesus Birth. Chief among them is that Jesus was not hailed as the king of the jews right from the beginning. That seems neither here nor there. The real question to me is, how do they even know of the story? They didn't know of Jesus until he was around 30 years old. Would he have shared all of his history with these men? Better yet, did his parents tell him of all the things that happened concerning his conception, their marriage, the arrival of kings and so forth? What happens to the gifts of the magi? It is fitting that kings of the realm would visit and bring gifts for the birth of the messiah but what happens to these gifts they brought? All in all an interesting point and one that is perhaps worth thinking about but the answer is of little value as compared to the teachings of Jesus which are the real meat of the gospels.

On reading the bible

Religious beliefs aside every year for the past several I've made an attempt to read the bible. There are several ways to do this but the most common is to make it a one year pass. Until now I had never known that such a thing as a "One Year Bible" existed. That is to say there are bibles available for purchase that contain every verse from the bible but laid out in an easy to follow daily format.

I don't know for certain that this will make a difference but it should certainly make it easier to follow and not lose track of where I am or what I'm reading. I intend to pick up one of these one year bibles Thursday Jan 11 and may be tracking my daily thoughts after each day's read. Just have to wait and see where this takes me...