Until video games pick up I’m going to update a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons column either every week or every other week depending on when I get to play.
This weeks game was planned as a short session with a possible expansion pack if needed. You see, sometimes nerds get jobs that take away from important things… like defeating Azurel and saving the world.
Seriously, Dan. If that’s what you’re using that $10 for, let me refer you to the many starving children around the world.
But, it got me thinkin’. What have I been listening to lately? Here’s what, is what! This band kinda had their big run last year, but they’re coming back with a new 7″ in early July that’s got some ink over at Pitchfork and other snooty spots. They’re the The Depreciation Guild. I’d love to say it’s shoegaze in that way that Keven Shields or the Jesus and Mary Chain are, but they’re more like that saccharine, contemporary version that you’d find in Asobi Seksu. But, they have a Nintendo as the most rhythm section. It’s kinda goofy (in that overly self-serious way) and kinda too-cool-for-school (in that just-kidding kinda way). But, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. I’m the worst! Check it out:
You can get the whole album for free over at http://inhergentlejaws.com/ It’s like having a Zune Pass!
Also, you know what’s awesome? Save room songs in Resident Evils. Spoooook-eeee.
Okay, that should take care of the clowns. Just don’t scroll down any farther.
Having a Zune pass is a liberating experience. I can download music without the worry of “Damn it, did I really just buy a Nickleback album?” buyers remorse. (This happened to me when Nickleback first hit the scene and I would buy new music without discretion from Target. I sold this album to a friend at a $10 loss less than a week later.)
Zune has been trying to push a few albums on me for the past couple months based on what I listen to. For the most part I ignored these, but now that I have a Zune Pass, what the hell?, I’ll take a listen.
I’m playing through the GameCube remake of Resident Evil, which has been rereleased on the Wii this week. I don’t have much to say about it as an overall experience: I’m fascinated by a game with the core mechanic of walking in circles — or, to be more charitible, a game built around pacing thoughtfully — but I’m rather certain an astute and curious terrier would beat this game faster than I. Rather, what strikes me most about this Resident Evil and its Zeldarian re-imagining in Resident Evil Zero are the paintings that hang on the walls of these mansion crawls.
Woman begs forgiveness in front of a crowd, is the approximate description of one out-of-focus masterpiece in the Spencer castle. Oh, yes I see it now, I ruminate to myself, as if a Magic Eye rendering has suddenly leaped out at me. (Full disclosure: I have never once seen the fruit of Magic Eye.) That smeary white blob in the middle is the woman. And that gray, darkish matter to the right is the crowd, clearly a collective of repressive masuclinuity in whatever woeful stage in European suffering, er, HIStory this is from. A fine piece, Oswell. I can’t say it directly pretains to my situational-terror as I stand in this dimly lit room. But I can tell that it speaks to the greater truth of Capcom’s long line of Girls in Trouble.
Operation Anchorage
Many feel that Operation Anchorage is the weakest of the Fallout expansions (as I write this, the forth expansion is due out next week) because of its length and depth. Although, both of those complaints are fairly valid, I think this expansion is welcome relief. That’s right internet, once again Dan doesn’t agree with your predictable rants and nerd rage.
There’s a glowing memory of getting flanked by two soldiers while a mech attacked me from in front. I had to adjust my tactics every battle so the A.I. would learn from me. Brilliant explosions of sparks littered the cubical of the office building. Just when I thought I was making headway I would hear a soldier call for backups and seconds later see a transport drop them off.
I still have no idea what Wii game I was talking about.
Thanks to the Broken Steel add-on I’ve once again returned to Fallout 3. I lost all motivation before becuase of the lack of leveling up I was doing. Now that I can pass level 20, its time to explore the wasteland for 10 more levels.
Assassin’s Creed was always going to be one of those games that was too good to be true. For 30 years, gamers have always wanted some sort of true assassin experience and when it’s promised, we have a view in mind of how it should work. If the game developers didn’t read our minds and mail us each our personal copy of the game we wanted, we are always going to complain.
Until videogames pick up I’m going to update a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons column either every week or every other week depending on when I get to play.
