Monday: The Post About Monday, Because It's Monday.

Have you guessed that it's Monday yet?  If it's not Monday and you are reading this, then you should probably stop and wait until the next Monday, but continue if you must, I won't judge you.

I wasn't entirely sure what to talk about today as there are a number of topics that I would like to talk about with some of those topics not fully formed yet while others may not be encompassing enough to fill their own post.  This is prime location after all.

First off, The Elder Scrolls Online.  That monster had it's "Early Access" begin last Sunday (March 30th, 2014) and I've managed to put some time into it since then.  I do not have any specific numbers since even though I have the game running through Steam, it's not an official "Steam" game so game time is not calculated.  Maybe it's mentioned somewhere in the "Options" menu in-game, I will have to take a look later.  Anyway, what time I've spent in Tamriel (2E 583) has been a lot of fun and not nearly as crowded as I expected it to be considering what I have seen from other MMOs.  I will give more time to this, probably next week after I've managed to put in more time and explored the world a bit more.  I'm also waiting for Conklederp's copy (which I pre-ordered from Gamestop, shipped to us on April 2nd and is supposed to arrive on April 9th; early access began on March 30th and release date was April 4th. . . sigh) so we can quest together, which she's been looking forward to since becoming casually addicted to Skyrim.  So ESO is going very well.

Renegade Kid, down in Austin, TX began a Kickstarter to crowdfund their game Cult County.  It's a game akin to both Moon and the Dementium series and likewise, was originally slated for release on the 3DS but has since outgrown the limits of that system.  Similar to the amount Shadow of the Eternals' unsuccessful Kickstarter, Cult County is looking to raise $580,000 by May 2nd.  They still have a long way to go (only 5% after 6 days) and I am leary about having my heart strings attached to and heaved overboard as it was with SotE.  With Renegade Kids being at PAX East next week, hopefully there will be a surge in interest for the game and we will see the number of funds raised.  We can only hope.

A few weeks back, Steam updated the copy of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Enhanced Edition so that you no longer have to log in through the Windows LIVE client, but at the same time, there was the chance that it reset all of your previously save data and achievements.  I say "chance" because there were multiple notices about how to recover your game information, even after you start the game up, you are given the option to recover your previous saves.  I chose not to because I had not finished the game yet and thought, "Why not?"  Playing all over again got me thinking again about the things that I did not like about this game and that even on easy/rookie difficulty, I know that I won't be trying anything harder, if I even get around to finishing the absurdly long levels that make up the game.

Rather than end today with a slightly negative paragraph, I will say that the Nintendo eShop game Witch and Hero, which I'll be covering on Friday has been a lot of fun to play.  It's a mix of Dragon Warrior era graphics and music with a game mechanic that I have not seen before.  If you are at all interested, do not be dissuaded by almost every review I've seen (which are mostly negative) and please patiently wait for Friday.  All will be revealed.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Would Dazzle You With Brilliance If I Only Had The Knack

Always Seems To Be A Work In Progress

Just to forewarn y'all, the post for today is going to ramble a bit.  And by ramble, I mean that from the overarching fact that I'm rambling, there isn't much coherency.

You know, I don't have a whole lot to go into today.  I mean, there are a handful (maybe multiple hands) of games that I'm playing, some because I've been meaning to play and others because I'm deep into that post-Steam-sale zone of GAMES ARE EVERYWHERE!?  It's also a Monday (my work-Friday), it's nice outside (nice for Portland anyway) and parenthese seem to be taking over (which isn't all that odd if you look back through some of the posts I've put up).

I've got some irons in the fire, some of those irons have somehow turned into styrofoam (whatever that means), while others are just gathering steam (pun not intended) and wondering when the damn train is going to be built.  I also finished reading (again) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Hogfather (again) within the last month and am nearly finished with Jingo, so I have British satirists running around in my head telling me that I'm doing it all wrong and don't sound anything like them.

I could start talking about late 19th century and early 20th century weird, horror, science fiction authors, two of which who are both not H.P. Lovecraft, but I feel they would warrant their own post without all this nonsensical nonsense that has been happening for the last 217 words that have occurred before the number 217.

Now that I think about it, I may just have too many irons in the fire (I was going to Wiki-link to the "irons in the fire" bit, but the Wiki page for that is just too silly).  I have (at least) two games I'm playing on my 3DS, one on the PSP, 10 or so games on Steam that I'm in the middle of and a couple that I play on my phone every-so-often.  Not to mention (except that I am) a stack of board games that haven't been played in Idon'tknowhowlong and a card game that has yet to be played because Idon'tknow.

Part of me knows better than to post drivel if I don't have anything to say, especially on these self-imposed deadlines, but that's just the way I am.  If I falter one day, I feel that I'll begin the habit of doing it on a consistent basis.

With that being said, I would now like to end the writings of today with a picture of the outcome from my first foray into the DayZ alpha:

I guess we all could use a little work.

JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Working On The Highway

Where I've Been And What I Signed

I didn't make a post last Friday (11/22/2013) because I was doing something that I said I would not talk about.  As in LEGALLY cannot talk about.  There were a lot of words in a Non-Disclosure Agreement that I electronically signed, which is a legit/legal form of binding.  I also cannot say whom I was with as I think that would violate said NDA.  That being said, or not, I did the thing and now we're here, back in the real world.  Come to think of it, I should also be receiving something else unrelated in the mail that I said I wouldn't discuss or talk about and I sort of signed an NDA of sorts, so I won't be talking about that either.

So what do I talk about on this glorious of Mondays before myself and the rest of the civilized Western god fearing world gives thanks for this plentiful land?!

Well, the Xbox One came out. . . at some point.  Friday?  It's pretty much the same situation that I typed about last week regarding the PS4.

What is it then that I can talk about?

Well (2x this post), there's this guy that I found out about through one of the few facebook ads  that I came across about 7-8 months back (I think it was from a facebook ad?, or maybe it was through Drunken Moogle?) that was relevant to me.  It was a guy (and his cat) who goes by the moniker Smooth McGroove.  He does acapella covers of video game music, all with himself (and occasionally his cat) in multiple frames with footage of the game in the center.  Like this:

He'lll post videos every so often.  Frequently enough that you wonder how long a session/song takes.  Regardless of those thoughts, the videos are pretty fun to watch.  That's the key though for me, the watching.  I've tried a couple of times to just "listen" to the songs without watching the video and they kind of loose their charm/appeal.  I start to feel like I'm listening to actual video game music and not someone singing acapella.  Which I guess is a testament to his abilities, but that's not always what I'm looking for.  One thing that I really like about Mr. McGroove, is that he doesn't do only the traditional covers you see video game cover bands do, such as "Bloody Tears" or "World Theme from Super Mario Bros."  Sure he does do those too, but he has also covered possibly less familiar songs such as the theme from Lavender Town from the first Pokemon and "Corridors of Time" from Chrono Trigger.  In short, the guy is good.

Happy Monday.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Buph-buh!