So, today's Bastille Day over in France... once upon a time, I actually knew the words to the Marseillaise, but that was many years ago, when I was taking entirely too many French classes. Side note, I checked that Wikipedia entry I linked to, and the bit I forgot is more than a touch racist... but then, that's a hallmark of the times, I suppose. Look up the lyrics to "Rule Britannia" sometime, if you have any doubts. Of course, these days I'm all into Japanese instead, but nowhere near good enough at it to worry about things like song lyrics.
That's a good place to start... since my last post back in October, I've gotten a bit farther in my studies. First, I switched to a program called Human Japanese, which I found worked better for me, for all it's not "perfect". Mainly, I expect that's because it's written with the quirks of learning that particular language in mind, rather than trying to force-fit it into software written for learning European languages. I've gone through all the lessons in that program, and am now finishing up my first of what I expect to be several "review rounds" to help vocabulary stick. Beyond that, I've acquired a few related books, which help with different aspects of learning this language... I now have a pretty firm grasp on the "simple" writing systems (reading, at least... I still draw the occasional blank when I'm trying to pen a particular character), so I've started in on kanji, where I've got about 70 characters' worth known in detail... out of 2000 or so required to be officially "literate". Basically, I've almost got as much down as a first-grader in Japan, except that I'm sorely lacking in vocabulary and grammar... oh well, I'll get better, given time.
Time... that's always the trick, isn't it? Time spent learning Japanese, the better to enjoy the time I spend watching anime... and of course, a new season of simulcasts is starting up over at CrunchyRoll (it's been a while since I last mentioned them... they're still going strong, and there are a few more legal streaming services like theirs out there now, each with their own spin... I do so love true competition). That cuts into other leisure activities severely, but some things just can't be ignored... in case any of you weren't aware, Steam's summer sale is in full swing, so some amazing PC games that you might have missed/put off are now available for cheap (haven't spent $20 yet, and snagged 4 good-to-pretty-good games so far). Sure, you might never play them all the way through... but you'll probably get your money's worth in an hour's play anyways.
I think I'll just finish up with a quick recap of Mr. Snowden's exploits... seems appropriate, given the day and all. Basically, the US tried to extradite him from Hong Kong, but apparently couldn't get their paperwork in proper order in a timely manner, so he was allowed to board a flight to Russia... he's lived there (or, more precisely, in a not-exactly-considered-Russian-territory pre-customs area at one of their airports) for about a month now, while more embarrassing details about what our country's been doing to its citizens and other nations that it should never have been doing continued to leak out. His current aim appears to be "temporary" asylum in Russia, until more permanent asylum can be attained in one of South America's less-than-US-friendly countries... which should be interesting to see how that unfolds, given the apparent denial of airspace to Bolivia's president on a return trip home from Russia by multiple European countries, on the rumor of Snowden being secretly on-board.
Well, that's the non-work-related things keeping me entertained these days... happy Bastille Day to one and all!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Sunday, June 9, 2013
State surveillance continued - the leaker uncloaks
The word 'hero' gets thrown around all too easily these days, so I'm not going to do that. Let me just say I respect the intelligence and courage of one Edward Snowden, the man apparently behind the leaked documents discussed in my last post. He has since come forward, acknowledging that he was the source of the leaks, in spite of the likely consequences of doing so... for that, and for doing what he considered right in that light, I have to respect his courage.
Of course, this isn't a perfect case of civil disobedience... for that to be the case, you have to not only defy an unjust system, but make yourself available to that system for the full weight of its retribution, to illustrate the full extent of its injustice to the public at large. Mr. Snowden instead made sure to get himself to Hong Kong before publicizing his role in this matter. In doing so, he gains a little potential personal safety, at the cost of being associated with the Chinese, and possibly being accused of working for them. Still, it's probably the safest English-speaking region he could have chosen to hide out in, both in terms of extradition and other, less-honorable methods of making problems disappear... it's a smart move, for someone who doesn't want to become a martyr, hence the respect for his intelligence.
So, here's to you, Mr. Snowden... I don't envy the path you've chosen, but I envy your ability to choose it.
Of course, this isn't a perfect case of civil disobedience... for that to be the case, you have to not only defy an unjust system, but make yourself available to that system for the full weight of its retribution, to illustrate the full extent of its injustice to the public at large. Mr. Snowden instead made sure to get himself to Hong Kong before publicizing his role in this matter. In doing so, he gains a little potential personal safety, at the cost of being associated with the Chinese, and possibly being accused of working for them. Still, it's probably the safest English-speaking region he could have chosen to hide out in, both in terms of extradition and other, less-honorable methods of making problems disappear... it's a smart move, for someone who doesn't want to become a martyr, hence the respect for his intelligence.
So, here's to you, Mr. Snowden... I don't envy the path you've chosen, but I envy your ability to choose it.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
State surveillance
So, yesterday's big news was the release of a secret court order (there's three words that should never be together) requiring Verizon to turn over records on all their users' calls to the National Security Agency (NSA). Odds are fair they're not the only company being compelled to turn over such records, but this is proof that it's happening with Verizon, at least.
Not surprisingly, there are those in government who are doing their best to downplay the seriousness of this issue. The Senate majority leader wants everybody to "calm down", since this has been going on for years. If anything, that only makes it worse, especially since, according to another senator quoted in that same story, every member of the Senate knew it was happening.
Then, from the other side of the aisle, you have another senator saying that he's a Verizon customer, and he's "glad" that this is happening, continuing on with the ever-popular "if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to hide" line of argument... and you know, maybe, as an individual citizen in a free and open state, that might be true. However, I would expect a senator to put more thought into his own longevity and that of his party than that... if the past decade or two has demonstrated anything, it's that a not-insignificant fraction of politicians at many levels of government have made career-limiting 'indiscretions', and that's just the ones that have gotten caught. Having full knowledge of who's calling who at all times could be a powerful tool for digging up dirt on such politicians, either to coerce them into doing your bidding or to replace them with someone more pliable... and that pretty well goes for any not-for-life position in government. If only for that reason, this sort of thing should be stopped permanently and immediately.
Of course, the odds of that happening are vanishingly slim, while the idea of "it's OK, as long as it's to fight the War on Terror" has such a hold on so many... and this, on its own, probably wouldn't be enough to shake that hold. But then, there's today's news that the NSA is apparently tapping into the servers of multiple popular tech companies, like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple... which at least some of the companies involved are flatly denying at the moment. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, if enough of these stories come out at the same time, there will be some drive to shut this sort of thing down. As usual, not holding my breath, but it's a nice thought.
Not surprisingly, there are those in government who are doing their best to downplay the seriousness of this issue. The Senate majority leader wants everybody to "calm down", since this has been going on for years. If anything, that only makes it worse, especially since, according to another senator quoted in that same story, every member of the Senate knew it was happening.
Then, from the other side of the aisle, you have another senator saying that he's a Verizon customer, and he's "glad" that this is happening, continuing on with the ever-popular "if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to hide" line of argument... and you know, maybe, as an individual citizen in a free and open state, that might be true. However, I would expect a senator to put more thought into his own longevity and that of his party than that... if the past decade or two has demonstrated anything, it's that a not-insignificant fraction of politicians at many levels of government have made career-limiting 'indiscretions', and that's just the ones that have gotten caught. Having full knowledge of who's calling who at all times could be a powerful tool for digging up dirt on such politicians, either to coerce them into doing your bidding or to replace them with someone more pliable... and that pretty well goes for any not-for-life position in government. If only for that reason, this sort of thing should be stopped permanently and immediately.
Of course, the odds of that happening are vanishingly slim, while the idea of "it's OK, as long as it's to fight the War on Terror" has such a hold on so many... and this, on its own, probably wouldn't be enough to shake that hold. But then, there's today's news that the NSA is apparently tapping into the servers of multiple popular tech companies, like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple... which at least some of the companies involved are flatly denying at the moment. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, if enough of these stories come out at the same time, there will be some drive to shut this sort of thing down. As usual, not holding my breath, but it's a nice thought.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Asura's Wrath
Another older game that I've just gotten around to playing, Asura's Wrath is a bit of an odd fish... in fact, calling it a "game" is really kind of a stretch. It's more like an episodic anime series, in which you get to participate in select sections through various mechanics... it's still pretty enjoyable, if you like your action anime over-the-top, but it's good to know that going in.
As far as that participation aspect goes, it comes in three main flavors. Quick-time events (QTE) are the most prevalent, cropping up during basic video playbacks and the other gameplay modes, so if those turn you off, this isn't the game for you. Otherwise, the playable bits are a mix of beat-'em-up and rail-shooter sections, the goal of each generally being to build up a rage (power) meter until you can pull off a special move to end the segment and move on with the story. Both are simple, yet well-done... I never found myself bored doing Yet Another Fight, but neither did I find myself restarting a fight for the fifth time because I missed the timing on a dodge, a rarity in this sort of gameplay.
All in all, it's an entertaining way to spend several hours, and, since you can find it for under $20 on Amazon as of this writing, I'd say give it a go if it interests you at all. However, go into it knowing this: your first play-through will likely end with a somewhat unsatisfying "false ending" that seems happy enough, but leaves several loose ends untied. Reaching the "true ending" will likely require a lot of replay of scenes that you've already passed... and that ending is just a teaser for a DLC pack that contains the real ending. That's something I would consider unforgivable, if I had bought it new for $60... now, well, I got plenty of entertainment out of it for what I paid for it by making it to the false ending, and I can see the rest on YouTube.
As far as that participation aspect goes, it comes in three main flavors. Quick-time events (QTE) are the most prevalent, cropping up during basic video playbacks and the other gameplay modes, so if those turn you off, this isn't the game for you. Otherwise, the playable bits are a mix of beat-'em-up and rail-shooter sections, the goal of each generally being to build up a rage (power) meter until you can pull off a special move to end the segment and move on with the story. Both are simple, yet well-done... I never found myself bored doing Yet Another Fight, but neither did I find myself restarting a fight for the fifth time because I missed the timing on a dodge, a rarity in this sort of gameplay.
All in all, it's an entertaining way to spend several hours, and, since you can find it for under $20 on Amazon as of this writing, I'd say give it a go if it interests you at all. However, go into it knowing this: your first play-through will likely end with a somewhat unsatisfying "false ending" that seems happy enough, but leaves several loose ends untied. Reaching the "true ending" will likely require a lot of replay of scenes that you've already passed... and that ending is just a teaser for a DLC pack that contains the real ending. That's something I would consider unforgivable, if I had bought it new for $60... now, well, I got plenty of entertainment out of it for what I paid for it by making it to the false ending, and I can see the rest on YouTube.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Gettin' a little Dust-y
In theory, I should have been cleaning my kitchen yesterday, but I had a little virus infestation decide otherwise for me (the biological sort, not the technological sort). Still, for all I wasn't moving from my couch, I wanted to do something more "active" than watch golf on TV, so I fired up one of the XBox360 games I picked up on sale recently, a little title called Dust: An Elysian Tale.
Dust is... well, I think the term I've heard most often for this sort of game is a "Metroid-vania" game, which involves platforming and beat-em-up elements, as well as the acquisition of new tools/powers throughout the game that allows you to access areas of the map that were previously inaccessible. These features support the telling of a story, often of the "save the kingdom/world from a menacing, evil power" sort. In the case of Dust, it starts out with the title character, Dust, waking up in a forest with amnesia, where he is shortly joined by a floating, talking sword and the sword's supposed guardian, a small flying creature. In short order, the trio runs into monsters attacking a village, and the "save the village, before going on to save the world" story is set. Except... you find out, in dealing with the first "boss" in the game, that everything isn't so black-and-white.
What I've seen of the story so far is surprisingly good, if you allow for a little heavy-handedness in the foreshadowing (I'm about a third of the way in, and I'm pretty sure the "big reveal" towards the end will involve Dust being a revenant of one sort or another). The voice acting is pretty good, the graphics and animation are top-notch 2D (assuming you don't have any issues with anthropomorphic animal-people), and the controls are, mostly, decent. As far as how I like it overall, so far... well, in spite of feeling poorly when I started in the early afternoon, it wasn't until nearly midnight that I managed to finally put the controller down. I'd say it's easily worth the $15 they want for it regularly, and even more so if you can catch it on sale again.
Dust is... well, I think the term I've heard most often for this sort of game is a "Metroid-vania" game, which involves platforming and beat-em-up elements, as well as the acquisition of new tools/powers throughout the game that allows you to access areas of the map that were previously inaccessible. These features support the telling of a story, often of the "save the kingdom/world from a menacing, evil power" sort. In the case of Dust, it starts out with the title character, Dust, waking up in a forest with amnesia, where he is shortly joined by a floating, talking sword and the sword's supposed guardian, a small flying creature. In short order, the trio runs into monsters attacking a village, and the "save the village, before going on to save the world" story is set. Except... you find out, in dealing with the first "boss" in the game, that everything isn't so black-and-white.
What I've seen of the story so far is surprisingly good, if you allow for a little heavy-handedness in the foreshadowing (I'm about a third of the way in, and I'm pretty sure the "big reveal" towards the end will involve Dust being a revenant of one sort or another). The voice acting is pretty good, the graphics and animation are top-notch 2D (assuming you don't have any issues with anthropomorphic animal-people), and the controls are, mostly, decent. As far as how I like it overall, so far... well, in spite of feeling poorly when I started in the early afternoon, it wasn't until nearly midnight that I managed to finally put the controller down. I'd say it's easily worth the $15 they want for it regularly, and even more so if you can catch it on sale again.
Monday, March 18, 2013
SimCity failure - a silver lining?
So, I didn't make mention earlier of the train-wreck that was EA's launch of SimCity, for two reasons:
Apparently, however, a line has been crossed. EA's CEO is resigning. The guy who's been helming the EA ship since 2007, which covers a large swath of their anti-consumer rule, is going away. Now, from the details I'm gathering from that link, I'm not necessarily expecting a night-and-day change over there, since it appears that his predecessor is heading the search for a new CEO... but I don't see how they could change for the worse and still continue in business. All things considered, I'm going to keep a closer eye on EA now... maybe, just maybe, they might come back from the edge and improve their consumer relations to the point where I can buy from them again. Not holding my breath, mind you, but the possibility's there.
- It was widely foreseen and predicted
- I don't give EA my business anyways, due to their past consumer-hating douchebaggery
Apparently, however, a line has been crossed. EA's CEO is resigning. The guy who's been helming the EA ship since 2007, which covers a large swath of their anti-consumer rule, is going away. Now, from the details I'm gathering from that link, I'm not necessarily expecting a night-and-day change over there, since it appears that his predecessor is heading the search for a new CEO... but I don't see how they could change for the worse and still continue in business. All things considered, I'm going to keep a closer eye on EA now... maybe, just maybe, they might come back from the edge and improve their consumer relations to the point where I can buy from them again. Not holding my breath, mind you, but the possibility's there.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
System Shock 2!
OK, yeah, it's Valentine's Day, but that's not important right now... what is important is that, now, you can play System Shock 2 again. Follow that link, tell them to shut up and take your $10, and enjoy the goodness. Well... let me soften that a bit... after all, the game's only about 14 years old, so it's not going to have the snazziest graphics, or the most subtle enemy AI (although that SHODAN...), but, if you can see past that, I'm sure it'll be a great experience. Well, if you like RPG/FPS/Horror games, at any rate... and for $10, how much do you have to lose?
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