I'm not what you'd call an active community member. Nevertheless, I am here, and have been ever since Kotaku first linked to Destructoid way back when. This seems like a cathartic exercise, and I've enjoyed reading these. Maybe someone will enjoy mine.

I love to drive





My dad loved to drive, so the family would just take a drive on Saturdays to Cocoa Beach or Tampa or Clearwater. This partly inspired me to love driving as well. The other part is the freedom to get away from the ordinary. I enjoy just driving around town sometimes, but even more driving about 5 hours in any direction and seeing the difference in prices, language, roads, all kinds of tiny things you wouldn't think too much about.

I credit Gran Turismo 1's S-class license tests with teaching me a bit about driving. My driver's ed instructor asked me what else I'd driven before and I said lawn mowers and racing games. After that he always had to tell me to slow down. Doing the slalom at 40 MPH was discouraged for unlicensed drivers, it seems.

I use an electronic cigarette

I was a smoker for 12 years. Pack a day. I actually kind of enjoyed the habit. But it's gotten to the point that premium brands are about $5, maybe $6 a pack here now. It's simply not affordable, so I started thinking about how to quit.

I ordered my first electronic cigarette just a few days before I went to a weekend music festival with a friend last year. There, I did a lot of things I kind of regret. In an altered state of mind, however, I managed to not have a cigarette for a whole day. I tried out the e-cig, and it wasn't exactly the same, but it felt kind of familiar.

Third day, I got halfway through work and I had to have a cigarette. A real one. I felt like I would have previously if I went 2 hours without a smoke, anxious and jittery. Anyway, I bummed one from a coworker. I burned it down, and that's the last time I've put flame to a stick of tobacco. Still using an e-cig to this day. It costs about $20/month, but like I said, I actually sort of enjoyed smoking, and now that it doesn't cause coughing and odors and it comes in whatever flavor you want, I see no reason to stop.

Drinking ...





I know some of you drink. That's cool. But I spent 3.5 years working at a liquor store. The only people who drink more than that are bartenders.

And before that, even, I went through a phase where a friend and I, and once in a while another person or two, would kill a handle of Bacardi every night. It was so ridiculous. But I was younger then, and I could still get to class in the morning somehow.

A couple weeks ago, I got a fifth of Bushmills Irish whiskey, and over the course of a couple hours drank it all. I love that stuff, but I'm getting too old to act like that. Booze is still my vice of choice, though. More enjoyable and economical to me than weed or anything else, plus it's legal.

Anyway, the upshot is, I know quite a bit about booze. I could fill the entire C-blogs index page with articles about different liquor, beer, and wine. Like most of the trivia rattling around in my brain though, it's not very useful.

I used to hang around Usenet/MUDs

My humble beginnings online. The first thing I discovered as I read through the ISP's documentation was something about their NNTP server. So I fiddled with Outlook and got it configured, and behold! It was full of something called Usenet groups. I landed in one related to Final Fantasy, stuck there for quite a bit.

From the people in that group, I was introduced to all kinds of things from the wider internet. I first learned about Linux there, and piracy, and trolling. rec.sports.pro-wrestling, haha. It's tragic that most ISPs now don't offer Usenet servers anymore. That's part of what made it great, it was ubiquitous.

I also eventually found my way to a Multi-User Dimension (MUD). Something about the text-based interface was really appealing to me, and the same MUD I started on in 1998, I still log on to every so often today.

Over time, lots of the people I really enjoyed in both of those places moved on, and I've never felt as connected to another community since.

I don't get social media





Facebook, Twitter, whatever. I don't use them. Twitter has become tempting, because there are awesome people here I'd like to follow. People like Occam's Electric Toothbrush, Corduroy Turtle, and knutaf of the Secret Moon Base podcast. People like Gobun, because I always want to know what spills out of his brain. Others whose toothy gears are firmly engaged with community events, so I can know what the hell is going on. People formerly of Destructoid, like Brad Nicholson and Aaron Linde and Topher Cantler, because I remember them being cool as fuck.

Might sign up soon. Then I'll have to stop making fun of my little sister for tweeting.

People who use Facebook but want to act like they hate it always have the same bullshit excuse. "I only do it to keep in touch with people." Guess what? E-mail has been fulfilling that need for decades. Even better, it's usually a prerequisite to signing up for any of this extraneous crap.

Twitter's okay. The rest of it, I hate. So much pointless e-drama.

Embarrassing childhood recollections!

This is the hard part for me, because I don't tell anyone about this. For a couple years when I was about 5 years old, my parents had me with my older sister in dance class. Like, jazz and ballet and shit. Now that I've said that, I can never, ever tell you my real name, just in case there's video.

I went on to play tee-ball and baseball though. I was always a little chunky, so I was kinda bad, but I could hit like a mofo if I connected.

I never really enjoyed the things my parents wanted me to do. I did those things because I wanted to make them proud. And maybe in that way I managed to get some indirect enjoyment out of them after all.

Fun fact: I got rejected by my first girl when I was in dance class. I was 5 or 6? I don't remember. She was probably like 15, but she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. Awkward.

I've seen a lot of death, and one broke me

I was inspired to include this by Beyamor's blog. Contrary to his story, I have lots of experience with family deaths. 1987, aunt. 1990, grandfather. 1992, grandmother. There were more, on my mom's side, in the late 90's and into the 00's.

The big one for me was when my dad died in 1994. I kind of stopped paying attention after that.

My dad worked as an industrial mechanic. He contracted Legionnaires' disease and was hospitalized. On release, he was told he couldn't return to work due to diminished heart and lung function.

Between 1992 and 1994, my older sister and I cared for him, as my mom worked two jobs to keep the house running. We'd cook dinner and do all the chores and such because he could barely walk down the hall without losing his breath. It was a lot to handle, but he'd been teaching us to cook and do for ourselves since I was 5 or so.

When he died in his sleep on a Wednesday morning, I lost my motivation. He was the reason I did anything in life up until then. Either he wanted me to be happy doing something, or he needed me to do something, so I did it. When he was gone, I withdrew. I never returned to public school. (More on that below.) I never got back to "normal."

I can't relate to people's high school stories

I went through elementary school, which was K-5. Was in accelerated learning from 3rd to 5th grade, which I appreciated for its focus on critical thinking. I started middle school, which was 6-8. The summer after 6th grade was when my dad passed. One of his wishes was to homeschool my sister and I. So my mom followed up on it.

Worst decision ever. For one thing, the curriculum was Christian. I could only handle it for half a year's worth of workbooks, and I refused to do any more. The other thing is that I really could have used the social distractions provided by school to help recover from my grief. Oh, and since I didn't go to school after the age of 12, I didn't really develop any useful adult social skills.

I ended up spending the better part of 4 years devouring every computer magazine I could get my hands on, teaching myself everything I could in lieu of having a computer to experiment with. I also read a lot, and my parents had the foresight to buy a Collier's encyclopedia back in the late 80's, so I could look things up. (It also gave them an excuse to never answer all of my dumb kid questions, the stock line was "Look it up.")

After we moved, I got my diploma (right on time, class of 2000, haw) after taking a free GED prep class for a month. Then I started taking college classes. Computer Science at first, then Computer Information Systems. I got my A.A. from community college while working full time at stupid jobs.

Couldn't get work with just that, so I went to the University to continue. Somewhere along the line, I realized that all these degree programs want me to learn programming, and I fucking hate programming. I can sort of fumble my way around in C++ and Java, enough to pass those courses, but I simply don't like doing it.

I also started working at the liquor store, and drinking a lot around that time. Ended up on academic probation (ineligible for financial aid), and haven't been back since.

I sort of collect video game music





I have almost 80GB of video game music, primarily Final Fantasy and such. There's not that much to say here. I used to hang around in some game music channel on DC++, I download the #gamemp3s releases (and seed to 200% minimum). I don't always listen to it all, but it's nice to have it, I guess?

I imported the Xenogears OST and Xenogears Creid before the game was even out here, on someone's recommendation. I never regretted that $75 or whatever it was that it cost. Yasunori Mitsuda is still one of my favorite composers. I first heard about Dale North when I found my way to Time & Space, OneUp Studios' tribute album to Mitsuda.

Kinda weird (and cool) to see him as EIC of the game site I ended up sticking to.

I am super-duper nice

I was unsure what to put here. This is a true statement, but if I told you why, it would just look like I get taken advantage of a lot. I'm also a little more dickish online. Just one of those things.

Outtakes!

I spent a summer in central Florida with no central air conditioning in 1996 or so. The average temperature outside was 95 F.

It's too bad there aren't any gaming conventions around the gulf coast of Florida / Alabama / Mississippi. (Or really much of anything to attract (non-retired) people to this area.) It would be cool to meet some folks, but 1 on 1 is awkward for me.

I know how to fix all kinds of things around the house. I don't do stuff inside the walls much, but replacing sinks and faucets, toilets, replacing power outlets, switches, and fixtures, repairing sheetrock, hanging doors. I relaid the water main to my mom's house from the water meter, I've built a 300ft privacy fence. I've even framed a couple walls. I'm pretty handy.

My usual hangout these days is Destructoid's Steam group chat. The avatar gives it away, but I'm known as Morcant there. I don't know why I never changed my name here.

I had owned a computer previously, an old 486 that I earned over a summer in 1995 or 1996 slaving away doing yard work for a doctor. I say "slaving" because he owned like 12 acres of land, and the payment for working there every weekend for 6 months was an old computer hacked together by his son with Windows 3.1.

The day the PS2 was released, I was pulled over driving over a bridge doing 105 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. The cops found my brand new PS2 in the trunk, and immediately thought I stole it. I almost got arrested for the speed and for the PS2, but I ended up "only" getting a $280 ticket. The cop joked that I might have to sell it to pay the ticket, and with the most serious expression I could muster, I said, "I'd sooner go to jail."

---

Took a couple hours to transcribe all of this from my brain. It ended up being a lot longer than I thought. Most of this hasn't been shared before, which makes it feel really good to just put down in words. If you've read all this, you're probably really cool. So pat yourself on the back for being cool.

Just hit my email. Excerpts:


"Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. [...] To minimize this risk, new legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws, and be effectively tailored, with strong due process and focused on criminal activity."

"Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security."

"This is not just a matter for legislation. We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy."


For my part, I appreciate that they actually have people on staff who seem to understand the dangers of undermining DNS, and the potential for abuse. Pushing industry self-regulation is also smart, because when it works, it works pretty well (see: ESRB). Feels a little like they just want to wash their hands of a contentious issue, though.


Full text of the response.

Video here.



Slightly old news (by internet standards), but since I didn't find any mention of it, I thought, "You need to know." Just a quick note to bring some attention to this little project. French indie dev Sauropod Studios is plugging away at their forthcoming Castle Story. It's a very early work in progress, but the potential already on display is substantial. Picture Minecraft meets RTS, with weird banana-colored men taking orders from you.

With the recent Cube World developments and third quarter 2011 release of Voxatron, it seems volumetric picture elements are all the indie rage lately. I'm looking forward to seeing where the project goes from here.

Thoughts?


Credit goes to Kirby in the Steamtoid chat for bringing this to my attention. <3

What new year doesn't arrive without some pompous bastard prattling on about things to come? Today I am your bastard. Due to my BIAS, I'll be hitting on hardware and platforms more than individual game titles or publishers. There's way too much drama in software. I certainly wouldn't want to upset some Call of Duty fanboys (or haters), or people who collect female images of Link.


Nintendo

I skipped purchasing a Wii. The fact that the Wii U has the biggest standard controller of all time is not helping Nintendo win me over. It uses a new controller with a 6.2" 16:9 touch screen. I'm a bit worried about battery life, but it's so large that they could just about throw a Chevy Volt's power pack in it. Kudos to them for at least getting the second nub right on this one.


Effin' huge

Nintendo may enjoy some success with an app/ebook/video marketplace, although I fear they'll lose focus and this will be overrun with things nobody actually wants to do with their home console. iOS ports may replace the Wii shovelware we've come to know and love. But maybe I'll be surprised by a variety of downloadable games that run on either the 3DS or the WiiTablet.

Also, someone is going to make a game where the lights go out and you shine a flashlight around with your motion/sixaxis enabled touchpad thingamabob. If this happens in 2013 I was just ahead of my time, remember that.


Sony/Microsoft

Both Sony and Microsoft will announce new consoles in 2012, possibly at E3. I don't expect to see anything concrete until at least TGS, however. Sony will call theirs the Playstation 4. Microsoft will call theirs the Xbox Pi. Both of them will charge annual subscriptions for online services; this may not be announced until E3 2013.




Neither will incorporate cloud-based rendering like OnLive's service. Here's why. As purveyors of a platform, they have an intrinsic need to keep you buying their newest home media convergence device. If you can simply play the game in question on practically anything web-enabled, where does that leave them and their investment in overpowered hardware? Cloud service will be limited to game saves and profiles; this assuming that Sony bothers to incorporate it at all. I only say this because Microsoft already has a cloud computing platform, and Sony would have to lease their usage.

Voice recognition will be included as standard, along with motion control of some form. Backward compatibility may be promised once again, only to be dropped and forgotten after six months. If one or the other really wanted to differentiate their platform, they could include simple, inexpensive biometric feedback. This sometimes gives people the willies, however. Just a few short steps from..




Storage will be interesting. Sony will want to continue using Blu-Ray; Microsoft might use a proprietary Blu-Ray-type optical disc. (Which may in fact be a debranded Blu-Ray to keep from appearing to support their direct competitor.) Both consoles will also likely use a hybrid hard drive/solid state drive for internal storage and game installs. Most of the SSD benefits, without costing $500 for enough capacity. Really looking forward to this.


PC

The PC will continue to be the chosen platform of the master race.




OnLive

OnLive will rock the boat a little bit, and expand their base of customers. Their time to shine will come once wireless carriers improve bandwidth and reduce latency to the point that people can enjoy a seamless full-fledged AAA game on their mobile phone. Depending on their marketing strategy, they may also become a threat to Nintendo in the budget-oriented gaming segment.

Like cell phones themselves, OnLive may not need to prove itself 100% reliable to succeed if the cost and convenience equation works out for end users. It's absolutely a compelling platform, which presently suffers a bit from conditions beyond its control.


In conclusion

This wonderful new year is full of promise. The Vita is dropping in about six weeks, and the 3DS is showing some real sparks of creativity. We should have some great games on the way, like Retro City Rampage. But I just can't get too excited about games for this dull humdrum generation of hardware when I can imagine what's just around the corner. That gets me excited.



And then there's this.

I picked up Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation today. Aside from the usual
EB/Gamestop shenanigans re: "the strategy guide," it was a pretty painless
process. And it wasn't a decision I had to think very hard about. I bought a 360
in part because I read months ago that Ace Combat 6 would be a 360 exclusive.

Ace Combat is to me what Dynasty Warriors is to Mr. Jim Sterling. If you've
played one, you've pretty much played them all. But these games just do
something for me that nothing else does. So I apologize if I begin gibbering a
bit and getting overexcited about things that may seem mundane to you. That's
not the purpose of this, I'm trying to be informative, but bear with me.

The idea goes like this. You, a pilot in the Emmerian military, are scrambled in
response to an aerial attack on your nation's capitol city. Some things happen,
and you and your wingmen are forced to flee. To the farthest reaches of the
opposite coastline, apparently. Then the remainder of the game is spent retaking
your homeland.

Like I said, if you've played one, you pretty much know what to expect.

Similar to Ace Combat Zero (which I adore as the best game in the series), you
can collect short biographies of the enemy fighters you shoot down. The medals
have also returned, awarded for exceptional performance. I've played through the
first 9 missions, and it feels pretty much like the other Ace Combat games, with
one little exception: The enemies are much, much better at aiming their missiles
now. I had evasion down to an art in Ace 4 and 5, but Zero ramped up the
challenge, and now it's even greater.

You still issue commands to your wingman with the d-pad as before. It works
well, although he isn't as vigilant as I would like. This is especially
noticable and bothersome when three of those smarter enemies I was talking about
are firing missiles at you. By holding down one of the d-pad directions, you can
also call in an allied attack, which swarms all friendly planes to attack
whatever targets are within your view. This also works for requesting allied
cover, where everyone flocks to kill whatever is chasing you.

And I think that is the biggest reason your actual assigned wingman is not very
effective. You're supposed to use this instead, which burns up a meter at the
bottom of the screen. I don't really know what fills it, but it's basically a
super combo meter for a flight combat game. Go figure.

Now, I need to talk about the big thing, the reason this is better than the
other Ace Combat titles. Online multiplayer!! You can join or create multiplayer
games in one of four game types. Team Battle splits the players in the lobby
into Alpha and Bravo teams, who then go head up for the highest score. Battle
Royale is basically airborne deathmatch - every man for himself. It's also CRAZY
HARD, because humans are exceptionally good at dodging, and they love abusing
the long-range air-to-air missiles that go faster than light, I swear.

Ahem. There's also Siege Battle, where two teams take turns attacking and
defending a stronghold. Whoever scores more in their attack wins. And the last
mode is Co-Op, which I didn't know would be included, but damn if it doesn't
make me giddy. It appears there are only two co-op missions, however, which is a
little disappointing. Hopefully we'll see some DLC in this area, instead of just
new plane skins for Halloween.

Speaking of those, I'll touch on it really quickly. The special paint jobs are
not just cosmetic, I believe. For example, one of the skins you can purchase
recreates the squadron colors from Ace Combat 2.. before there were SP Weapons.
Appropriately, then, this model has no SP Weapons, but gains much enhanced
durability in exchange. Someone more affluent than I will have to buy them all
and let the rest of us know what their effect on performance is.

All of these modes can be restricted to different tiers of planes and special
weapon loadouts, types of planes (fighters, mulirole, etc.), and the host can
toggle NPC enemies, alltalk/team chat, time limit, and weapon handicap. There
isn't as much customization as I'd like to see, personally, but I've been a bit
spoiled by the options available to Forza 2 multiplayer races.

I can't really recommend the game on the merit of the single player, unless
you're like me and this series in some way nourishes you. But if you have
any interest whatsoever in flying really fast planes and shooting at other human
beings, this could still be the game for you. I have a feeling this game will
have to split my time with Call of Duty 4 for some time into the future.