The Z list

Since I haven't made a post in a while, and I actually have many things I have wanted to talk about this might get a little long and somewhat disjointed. I've divided everything up with bullets so if the first few words don't catch your interest, skip it! let's get started!

· The new facebook: Facebook recently underwent another major overhaul, and I hate it! Now, I'm not one of those people who hates change just because its different, I actually have reasons to back it up. Last time facebook made a big change a lot of people were upset, but they were only upset because they weren't used to it, and after some time came to realize it was more organized.
The latest incarnation of Facebook just isn't very functional. It reminds me of twitter, which works great for twitter with facebook you have this scrolling page of status updates dotted with quick mentions of other points of interest such as notes or wall posts and everything else such as groups, events, and photos shoved to the side. It really is a mess and makes it hard to find anything specific. I now find myself going on facebook to check my notifications and messages instead of my usual random clicking about in search of points of interest.

· Totally unrelated, Metal Gear Solid 4: First of all, this is going to be somewhat of a review, so if you haven't played it and plan on it, skip this section because there will be spoilers. Secondly, if you aren't afraid of spoilers, read some reviews. Now after reading those (or maybe just skimming) every bit of praise for the game is true. Its a tasty little morsel that i fully recommend to all gamers. So instead of repeating what they have written, just know that I fully agree with them and am going to be bringing up some negative points.
First of all, and beautiful as the graphics are some scenes are ruined by some minor flaws. cast shadows are often jagged and jittery which can prove very distracting, especially in the final scene in the graveyard (note: this may or may not be due to playing the game on my not-so-big SD TV). Also water effects have come a disappointingly short distance since the days of ps1. the spraying and splashing around a large ship is about on par with the FMV scenes in final fantasy 8, which were simplistic at best. aside from those details the game has probably the best graphics I've ever seen.
[spoiler city ahead] Another point, and this is mentioned in the is the game can be confusing to newcomers, which is partially true. I never played a MGS game prior to this, so the impact of some of the scenes was totally lost on me, and the political nature of some of the dialogue confused me, though this is mainly because politics in general confuse me. That aside there are other story points that are just ridiculous. Raiden should have died about 3 different times yet is alive AND has both arms at the end despite losing both at some point. Also with Raiden, please explain how he single-handedly stopped a charging submarine. Various other characters should probably have died within the game, especially snake and maybe Meryl/Johnathan. Snake's survival after crawling along a radiated hallway by some miracle drug which not only kept him alive but gave him the strength to do some serious kung fu. Anyways, I'm ranting now, but just be prepared for some serious WTF moments with this game. Also the final scene really drags on.

· Also in the gaming realm, I just want to touch on the concept of games without a HUD. Dead space (which I haven't played out of fear instilled upon me by the reactions of the gaming community) totally lacks a HUD, instead all the information you need is displayed on your character its a really neat idea that certainly improves immersion factor, but I feel that important bits of information may be missing. Another game that uses a similar concept is Afro Samurai. This, rather than lending to immersion, helps more to boost the art factor. the closer to death you are, the bloodier you (or your enemies) become. also a simple jewel dangling from Afro's sword tells you about focus gauge and experience. this is a really interesting concept that definitely won't work with all games, but I still hope to see more of in the future.

*whew* still with me? I think that's about everything I wanted to write about for now. so until next time...
~Ben

(PS. I know my grammar and punctuation probably sucks here, but its too much work to fix it now.)