Save a Monkey, Eat Chicken

Apparently the practice of eating monkey meat has become an increasing health risk to humans. Link goes to the New Scientist website.

And you were worried about pork being bad for you....

Yous Guys Gots Da Goods

Well, something I have been doing of late is playing a game called GangsterHood. It's not a flashy game by any means. It's turn based (Like, a turn is 6 hours) and it's not very pretty, but it's oddly addictive.

The gist of it is that you are a ganster, and you try to build your wealth and reputation buy building things like casinos and restaurants. You can produce liquor for sale as well as weapons/explosives.

Also, you can try to steal money/items from other players. Or, if you are just bloodthirsty you can try to destroy another player completely by destroying their buildings.

The game is interesting, but it can be a pain sometimes in that if you dont log in every 6 hours for the updates, someone might come along and snatch the cash you earned from your "businesses".

Still... it's a diversion.

City of Heeeyyyy

Well, just when I thought I might be done with CoH, something odd happens. Ethic somehow convinced his brother to get the game. The three of us met up and formed a static team. I have to say, that is the fastest levelling I have done in a while on a fresh toon. I decided to go Epmathy/Dark and be the team healer. Being a healer is a bit of a departure from my normal role of whack-it-until-you-crack-it damage dealer. Still, I'm having good fun. And, having a higher lvl toon on this server, I'm able to shower cash on the group to get us moving even faster.

It's funny how this game is only truely fun when you team. I think this is the first game I have ever played where I can say that; as most of my online gaming (estimated 99.998%) has been in a solo fashion. And every other game, going it alone was more fun.

Let's see how this turns out...

City of Meh...

Well, after the bad taste WoW has left in my mouth, I decided I would give City of Heroes a second go. I figured, hey, it's been five months so maybe the game has improved. It has'nt, really. I logged into my AR/Dev blaster today, just to see if the bruises from the nerf bat had healed. They haven't. That was still in my mind the most fun combo of powers the game has to offer. And it would seem that I can not survive even a simple task. Instead of armor, this guy is now wearing tissue paper. Pisses me off. It seems the -only- hope he has of surviving a fight with more than 2 -equall- level mobs is if he manages to kill them all with an alpha strike. As soon as the enemy returns fire it's tile floors and white sheets time.

I rolled an Energy/Energy blaster, just to see. It's a fun build as well, but has it's limitations. I especially like how the build has powers that can send foes flying. However, it's not even level 10 and I can see it being a weak solo choice.

So far, the only build I can see that holds much hope in solo-play is the scrapper. I've played a spines/regen scrapper, as well as a Martial Arts/Regen. I have to say, the moves on the MA/Regen are alot prettier than they were 5 months ago. And man, can they hit hard! The downside to the being that groups of enemies really give them fits. The build is more of a single target build. Great for working over a mission boss... bad for trying to get through all of said boss' minions. The Spines/Regen scrapper is probably the top build as far as being able to solo goes. With enough inspirations, this build can easily wade through waves of advancing enemies. They produce a fair amount of DPS, but due to what seems a rather frequent miss rate, they dont perform so well against the really tough meanies.

I've avoided the other builds as they pretty much lock you into a play style that ensures you have to have a team, or you go nowhere. Don't get me wrong; I think it is right that people that choose to play in a team should advance faster/easier. Teamwork does that, it's a natural dynamic. That being said, I dont feel anyone should be penalized for going it alone.

Reduce my monthly subscription cost, and maybe I would not see it that way.

*sigh*

Maybe I'll go back to console games. The magic is wearing thin.

Unreal Technologies Unviels Latest

Unreal Technologies has just unvieled it's news game engine. And the visuals are breath-taking to say the least.

Go check out the screen shots over at their website.

Lets Hear It For Mega-Antibiotics!

I've been trying to fight off this nagging sinus infection/bronchitis for over two weeks, using only "natural" means. I finally broke down and went to the doctor on Wednesday. She gave me some "one-a-day" meds. And they really kicked my ass. Very good thing I took them at night. One of the items prescribed was a 5-day antibiotic. One pill a day, for 5 days. By pill #3, I felt like a new person. Let's hear it for modern medicine.

All you tea-sipping long-hair sandal jockeys can kiss it! Gimme me good ole American pharmaceutical company product. Hell, I feel so good, I may go cut down a tree... or maybe even club a baby seal or two. Woohoo!

Bless you Glaxxo, Ortho-McNeil, Ivax, and the rest of you pharmo-chem pushers. Better living through chemistry I say.

Spandex, Villians, and Robots. Oh My!

Well, tonight I spent the better part of my evening playing my Spines/Regen Scrapper build in CoH. I had my good friend Ethic with me and I have to say it was rather fun. It seems this game is only really fun when you group with someone.

Of course, this goes against my basic online instincts; However I have to say tonight was one of the better online gaming nights I have had in a while.

And, loathe as I am to do so I have to give Cryptic Studios their props. The game runs for me smoother than any online game I can recall. Considering the high level of gfx in the game, and all the pretty particle effects, I am very suprised the game runs so well. Why can't other MMO's *cough*WoW*cough*AC2*cough* run this smoothly?

Ah well.

Bloody Brilliant Idea!

The fine folks in MA have hit upon a stroke of genius...

Crash Curtain to Reduce Rubber-necking

Now if only the blockheads running this state would pay attention...

WoW Finally Managed To Piss Me Off

Looks like I may be cancelling the ole account. After 3 drops from the Zeplin while trying to get to Orgrimmar, I lost it and sent a nasty gram to the GM queue. Hell, I may even have a ban on me now as I was not exactly nice. I had been drinking, so I dont recall the details of my missive.

Either way, not going to be playing much. I have reinstalled (against all sane arguments for not doing this) CoH. I'm giving Cryptic one billing cycle to impress me. We'll see how that goes.

And Ethic... Infinity, name: The Crimson Imp.

My Heart Goes Out to You

My bro over at KillTenRats (Ethic) seems to have been hit with a Flu nerf. Hope all returns to normal soon for ya, and the kids avoid this one.

I sent a petition, complaining about this stealth flu nerf... no response yet....