If you’re on my site, chances are good you’ve played a video game or two. Chances are also fair that you’ve seen the “Angry Nintendo Nerd” on YouTube. Did you know that the same guy put together a series of videos, detailing as many of the spots around the city of Philadelphia that he could find that were featured in the Rocky movies? Well he did, and he put them all together in a series he called: Rocky Jumped a Park Bench.
I’m cheap. Extremely cheap. So when I see a game like Shellshock 2, Blood Trails for $20 brand new, I have to pay it some attention. I picked this little gem up and started playing it. While the graphics don’t live up to a lot of contemporary titles, they’re by no means bad. And the story? It’s as over-the-top plot (like an exploitation film from the 70’s!) combining war and horror. Think Full Metal Jacket meats Condemned (too obscure itself? Your loss. Fine, think Resident Evil).
The game takes it’s “M” rating and runs with it – the “F” word is only sometimes abused in dialogue, but in the “journal entries” that you see on load screens our favorite-fill-in-for-fornicate may has well replaced the space bar. It’s so ridiculous I can’t help but get sucked in. It’s one of those games I can only take in small doses, but for under $20 I’m sure to get my money’s worth.
What’s that? You don’t know what Sacred 2 is? Well, it’s a game that, according to Amazon, is $11 used right now. It’s also about as close to Diablo 2 you’ll ever get on the Xbox 360. Like killing things and picking up loot? Sacred 2 may be what you’ve been looking for.
Finally, I have to tell you: when I heard DarkStar One: Broken Alliance was coming to the Xbox 360 I was thrilled. I had always wanted to play DarkStar One on the PC, but never had a chance to sit down with it. For some reason, I found it more convenient to be coming to my Xbox 360, and what made it better? It was budget-priced!
DarkStar One is a bit like the classic Wing Commander spin off series, Privateer
I don’t care what side of the isle you’re on, some things just don’t make sense.
When the United States was founded, because we were all spread out over hundreds and hundreds of miles, we had people speaking on our behalf. You remember grade school, right? “No taxation without representation.” We gave our input and our representative was supposed to vote how “we, the people” wanted them to vote.
Here in 2011, we have a voice of our own. We can vote from a computer, or a mobile phone, and the results are instantaneous. Just look at American Idol. True, more people vote for than that WOULD likely vote for something like H.J. Res 37, but the point is: do we really need someone to “represent” us? Don’t we have a voice of our own yet? Anyone can be swayed by lobbyists, it’s obvious. And it doesn’t take much to sway the American Public (as evidenced, again, by the popularity of American Idol), but I can’t help but think of that law of averages – checks and balances are built in to large sample-groups. One lobbyist with deep pockets can have a much bigger effect on one congressman or senator who can’t resist a good bottle of scotch, or some fancy new clothes, or whatever other perks they seem to be giving out these days.
People are swayed by advertising, it’s true – and elections will continue to be bought and sold for generations to come, no matter what the voting system would happen to be. But did the framers of our Constitution believe so firmly that the misinformed few should be represented in an electoral college by the easily tainted fewer? I suppose they have their legitimate reasons: after all, a disturbingly large number of Americans still have no idea what the vetting process consists of and believe that Obama is a Kenyan-born Muslim.
So, some things just don’t make sense… why don’t we do the voting ourselves, through “vote.gov” or something? Then again, you can reason your way through it pretty quickly when you realize just how easily misinformation spreads. But, perhaps someday, the world won’t be filled with as many stupid people, and we’ll be able to answer for ourselves when asked important questions like what to name that new courthouse in Yuma, Arizona. Voting isn’t pointless, it just seems like it sometimes.
Glass Widgets is an Android App that I stumbled on to one day and haven’t quit using since. It was very early in it’s “beta’ phase – the developer put each beta test on the Android Market. I offered some feedback and the developer immediately responded. Since then I’ve watched this program grow into something amazing – he just recently started charging for some advanced features, but the price is low, and most people will fall in love with just the free product.
So what is it? Widgets, on your home screen, offer all kinds of useful information. In this case, it’s a pack of 3 widgets: one is an RSS feed reader, one is an agenda, and the last one is a clock / weather widget. Getting time and temperature data from your Android home screen isn’t much of anything new these days, but to do it with style? And for free? That’s unheard of. Glass widgets lets you see the home screen “wallpaper” you’ve selected behind the widgets – their backdrops are mostly transparent, like you’re looking through, well, glass! It even works with Live Wallpapers! You owe it to yourself to at least check it out. You can get it right from the Android Market, or if you’re on a PC right now, use Google Goggles on the QR Code Below and it will direct you to the market link!
