Subject: Halo and "other"

[Skip down after the picture to...ya know...actually read about my life and not a game]
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So the release of Halo 3 has come and gone, and after 3 days (goes to check the bungie website), the kill count for all the players playing the campaign mode is nearing the 1 billion mark. Pretty impressive for 3 days if you ask me.

Since Tuesday morning, I've been playing on my off time from class (which is usually after 6-8). I haven't been playing as much as my friends, but I think I've been playing enough. Playing it enough times showed me that Bungie put a lot of time and effort to make it nice for the fans. Far from being the greatest game ever though. It gets more credit than it really deserves. To those that play often, the multiplayer has its definite differences from that of 2, but to the average player, it may not seem the same. Just run, gun and shoot. Storyline is straightforward and escapes the confusion set in 2. However it isn't the best story ever either. Something that makes me go "Wow" is a good story. Halo doesn't. I think of all the shooters out there though, Halo has the most decent one.

More attention should be focused on the multiplayer gameplay aspect, since that's what Halo is all about. The Matchmaking service is probably the best I've ever seen, using a ranking system and a skill level system so that players don't get caught getting killed by pros and that things seem generally fair. Bungie also logs every game you play, from where you die, how you die, what medals you've earned, and other things. Pretty extensive, and this is why Bungie gets props from me. The effort put into this is astounding. Personally, I don't play many online multiplayer games. Maybe I really don't know what I'm talking about, but hey man, logging matches of the players that number of the hundred thousands must take up so much server space. Looking at the picture on the right, we can see what parts of the world are playing. White means players are present. That's pretty cool, but that's what gets to me in games. The little subtleties in games that developers put into it, cause coming from a programmers perspective, making all of this is SO HORD. One highlight is forge and theater modes. Make your own maps, then watch you screw around in the map editor.
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So...waiting in line for games does NOT APPLY AT ALL here like it does in New York. I mean, here I am, at a tech school, where there is actually a pretty decently sized contingent of halo players. What does that tell me? Go to wal-mart a few hours early before release so I can nab an actual copy(cause I didn't reserve it). Come 8:30, wal-mart was freakin EMPTY. No line, only a few people getting groceries, but other than that, nothing. Me and johnny are thinking to ourselves...what's goin' on? Turns out that most of the people waiting on line(around 50), started coming at around 10:30, so that was a big "D'oh" moment. Doesn't stop us from having fun though. So what do we do in wal-mart? Johnny buys risk, which we didn't even play. We go to the sporting goods section and that's where I find the paddle and start swinging like a mad man. Then one of the lowly wal-mart employees tells us to cut it out cause he has to clean. Too bad. We nab the copy and all is well. The day of the launch, there was a small game play party for the game design students. High light was the 4v4v4v4 team slayer matches cause big battles = big fun. Explosions, death, the works.

So all was well until yesterday night when the fire alarm came off. Fire drill? I didn't realize dorm houses had fire drills. Didn't matter. The alarm was loud, the lights were blinking and I just wanted to get out of there. Took my jacket and headed out. Turns out the other buildings didn't come out. So, huh? Turns out that it was an actual emergency, but it really wasn't. Know why? Cause someone burned popcorn. fricken popcorn. It was all fun and games. One guy that lives on my floor ran in to get someone. "I'm A HERO DUDE. *raises arms up in empowerment* I said it was a giant rave in the dorm house cause all the lights were flashing so all we really needed was a nice beat, and some BASS. In any case, that's all. Halo really is running my life, so I gotta put that crap done and actually study.

Oh yeah, according to Abel, master chief dies. Oh really? Ya rly. *nods head in agreement*

It's fricken Game time

So...what? No class for another 3 hours. You know why!? cause that comp sci test was cake and I just blasted through everything. It's like AHHH BUST THROUGH A WALL easy. We'll busting through a wall isn't easy. But it could be. For like the Hulk. Or something. I mean what?

In any case, today is September 24th. Are you gonna go out of your way to FINISH THE FIGHT?! Cause I am. I wouldn't have been saying that if it was...3 or 4 years ago? I hated Halo and I was a hardcore PC shooter. Time's change don't they. I just don't like shooters in general, except for that decent one like Halo. I might buy source or team fortress in the future, but that's the future. After Halo and Smash i'm gonna be BROKE. POOR. Like all the other college students. Huzzah! It doesn't matter cause Halo will probably run a good chunk of my life for a good few months. I'm gonna go to the midnight launch at the wal-mart tonight, so I'll post up stuff on that. And then on Halo. And how I'm not gonna sleep. And how im gonna drink those BAWLS. You need some extra BAWLS?!

The Weather Here

So...my stay here so far has taught me something...

The weather here is screwy. Like more screwy than it usually is back at home.

Take today for example. This morning felt like a November day before it snows. Then comes 12 PM. It's warm. Like T-shirt and shorts warm. So...welcome to Rochester

Things to do

1) I am never, EVER gonna take 8 o'clock classes ever again. When the time comes to sign up for next quarter's classes, I'll shoot for 10. Maybe 9 if I'm generous.

2)Pre-order halo 3. Duh.

3)Don't succumb to, "Do you wanna play some GAYMS?!" (Chad Warden)

Just passing the time.

So work is abound and assigned and the first week of actual work is done. I have a paper due next week as the major assignment of the week, but things don't seem daunting. I mean, older students just say "Get used to it", so that's basically what I'm doing. Getting used to it. What else can you do? Cry? Whine? Not really. In my opinion, at least. It's college. You're responsible for yourself for the most part, with the occasional nagging from the parent. That's all good.

As for class itself, discrete math is considered a circus because our teacher answers the questions for us after writing the questions on the board and then pausing for a second before continuing. Can't really learn if don't let the students figure it out for themselves. Writing seminar is starting to be more of a history lesson about terrorism than a writing class. My first real assignment is due next Thursday, so i actually write in that class. The programming project was a real pain the butt. Can't use the fricken' date class so i had to sparse the date string in an array and just cycle everything. Took me forever to write that. I hope Prof. Neimi doesn't make me do something like that agin.

Freshman Seminar with Professor has been fun, listening to his visions of grandeur, stories and what not. One thing he wishes to do is have the xodus LAN and gaming festival take up the whole floor of the arena at RIT. Not hard to do, since we have all the equipment on campus. The challenge is to get the club running xodus to pull it off and to get gamers to really get into action instead of sitting on their buts and do nothing but play games. That's more of a challenge, I'd say. On Thursday, he talked about specific dates. A couple of days before the Halo 3 launch, Microsoft is coming here to give out a few advance copies of Halo 3. Next week Thursday is game day to celebrate the game design program's start. Free Schwag for us. On the 28th, microsoft is coming again to give us the XNA talk, which is basically a talk about the game development system on visual C# so that we can develop games for xbox live arcade. More free stuff like vista, office, and halo, among other things. October 4-7 is the Brick City homecoming. Phelps was wondering, "Why have homecoming is there really isn't any homecoming football game?" Another idea he had was to buy football gear, get some people together put them on the field and play madden on xbox's. Against another school. Doing the same thing. He also wants the feed of the game broadcasted through the ritz sports channel with commentary and everything. Talk about ambitious. We'll see whats gonna happen in the coming weeks.
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So yeah that's academics. I'm probably gonna talk about that every week, if it's a lot of very little. Who knows. Socially, the friend circle is growing. Slowly, yet surely. We've been gaming a lot. And I mean A LOT. It's one of the things to do. I even bought a 360 from someone on my floor. Now it's just a matter before Halo 3 comes out. Breaker's club has been fun, and workin the six-step is just like starting all over again to develop a strong base. Plus it's good being active. Speaking of active, I've been swimming. Like a lot. 4 times a week for an hour. It's been making me feel great getting in the water and just pushing it.

Then there's the frat downstairs. Me and johnny basically are gonna be on the verge of joining soon. Story is that I beat they're guy that was good at Marvel vs. Capcom 2. He wasn't that good. He'd be NYC chump change. So basically the frat boys screamed out loud. "YOU BEAT HIM?! YOU BEAT HIM! POUND IT." So I'm this small legend that beat their dude. "The guy that beat rizo." Johnny is just known by association because he just so happened to be there. Overall, they're pretty chill. Damn, then there's pi delta psi. The asian only frat. Ho' crap is bronx science all over again. No doubt. Asian's stick together in packs. Always did. Always will. You got some of the token ones that venture out, but that's about it. I wasn't really a member of the asian community, since all they really do is stick together and not get out of that shell. Can't do that. Never did. Probably never will. Didn't feel like I fit in with acs anyway. We'll, good luck to kevin joining pdp. He might have fun.


Next post is gonna be about Halo 3. No doubt. It's coming out in less than 2 weeks, and since I got a 360, it's pre-order time. I'll post about the various LAN and launch parties and how school is gonna be empty.

Real week, real fun(?), real eye opener

I'm going to try to write something once a week, and since I have no classes friday's, I might as well write about how my academic life is going.

Programming for information technology is basically, so far, a rehash of what I just learned in AP java and for once I actually knew stuff that I was doing. However, it's a big reminder that I really need to use the API more often so that I can use the different methods that the classes provide me. My professor is pretty, quirky, as one would put it. Makes a few jokes here and there, but other than that he's just a normal dude.

For intro to multi, i got my first paper assignment already and I have to interview people about an important event in my life. Nothing special here just yet. I just wanna get to know how to strengthen my CSS and xhtml skills.

Algebra trig became discrete math. Algebra trig is high school over again. So I went to my academic adviser and she just bumped me up to discrete math, which is just logic stuff. Seems easy too.

First year enrichment is just to get us settled into school so we know what we're doing. Freshman seminar for info tech is like that too, but my professor is the director of the game design program that I signed up for. Real cool guy. Told us the story how he lost his two front teeth when he was six when explaining the picture in our syllabus.

Finally, is writing seminar. Writing seminar...writing, freakin, seminar. According to my professor, in an effort to expand diversity among the students, writing seminar has different subjects. and you know what i got stuck with?

Terrorism. That's right. Terrorism.

So I get the analyze every facet of it. What is it? What drives today's terrorists? What are ways to stop it. At first I was apprehensive of the topic, but people said it's an experience to know about the people in the news. So I'm willing. My professor is pretty cynical, and you can tell he's real skeptical about the ruling governments in charge today, among other things. Never the less, he gave us fair warning to pull out cause some of the stuff we're reading is gonna bring a chill up our spine. Can't wait.

So that's it for classes. I mean it's pretty tough cause i only have 10 weeks to finish everything. It is quarter system, after all. Cram more work in, ya know? So I know I'm gonna push myself. Maybe drive myself to the edge once in a while. Same old, same old right?

As for fun, I visted kendo , anime, and the cyber of college: EGS. Kendo seemed rigorous and fun. Anime was big, and the hugeness of it seemed like people don't get to know each other. On the plus side, there are people that are into manga 10x more than anime cause they like the original artwork and the unedited nature of the stuff. EGS was typical cyber fashion, but with the addition of 2-3 hour club time and surprise tournaments(although smash players reign supreme =P), it's lookin good. Tomorrow is gonna be breakers, and the guy that cleans my floor is part of it, DJ'ing and breakin. Saturday is fencing and baja club.

From what I told alvin, he think's RIT is a fun place. The LAN parties, the outdoor free showing of 300, and hanging out with friends. I just don't tell him about the work. Time will tell what will happen. I've only been here for two weeks. In the mean time, I'm gonna play Halo(cause everyone plays the damn game and I just feel left out and I don't wanna suck that badly.

Stay safe and don't be a stranger
-Nick

Just A Long Vacation

So here I am, finally at RIT. It's been the first week of my stay here and it's been going good. I wasn't sure what to expect here. Whether it was the fact that I'm in the middle of nowhere, or that I'm not surrounded by minorities anymore. Or maybe it's the fact that I've lost all the conveniences at home. You know, corner store deli's, any form of asian food and for that matter, good food in general, public transportation and other things. The list just goes on and on and on. In all honestly, I didn't know how I would survive here without such things. However, I'm adjusting quite well, contrary to my old thoughts. Like home, I met people that are just like me, just a whole lot more, and in some cases more extreme.

The week of orientation was the way to meet people and the faculty. I met my faculty advisor, who is head of the video games major and the dude that penned up the syllabus. Also met the 72 other students in my major, Cole included. We all got the jokes, we all wanted to go to places like GDC and E3, and we all basically wanted to make games. Good times. Orientation provided alot of cool things. Free arcade night so it was free pool and all the arcade games were on free play, including DDR. There is this place nearby outside of campus called Arena 51, which has dedicated machines for doubles, singles and what not. I hear the pads are perfect, so I gotta check it out. There were also comedians, a hypnotist, a mentalist and musicians. All in all, a fun week before starting classes.

In any case, classes started today. All were boring, and it seemed like i knew the stuff. I hold off for tomorrow to see if its the same. I definately hope not. I mean...its college. I have to learn, but I need to enjoy myself too, dammit. So far, I've just been swimming alot, staying in shapte and trying to lose weight. A goal to fight off the freshman 15. Clubs start tomorrow and the kendo club looks exciting. Fencing club, anime club, the game developers and the game players. All look appealing, but which deserves my attention and which don't.

Oh, yeah the asian frats tried to get me to join. I thought I would escape the bronx scienceness of it all, but i guess not. C'est le Vie. Oh, well. Can't win em all right?

Stay safe and don't be strangers
-Nick