UT soundtrack

Funny thing, after writing about music and mentioning Unreal Tournament i couldn't help thinking about that game and its music. It's only been about six months since I introduced it to my friend and played for a few last times, but exactly like before, I only listened to the music as the background, ingame music. Now that I thought of it, I tracked down the soundtrack and listened to all of it just as music. It was an interesting experience because the music did not sound quite like I have remembered it. It's not the same music without the game. But it's also not bad, although out of my genre range. I was surprised that it was created mostly by just two men, specifically for the game (when I had played UT I hadn't thought its music had been an original composition).

My Lame Dream Wolf Game Stuff

Now that I have a few minutes to spare, I'd like to write a little about a game, which I have never played. But it is the game I was most curious of back in 1994. It is the game I dreamt of.

In said 1994, I was eight, uninformed and poor. I enjoyed computer games very much, but I only had those brought by my father, an increasingly reluctant gamer at the time. He was also the one to bring me few computer and gaming magazines, which I started buing regularly later. But until that time, the few (three or four) computer games magazines he gave me back then were like my bible for about a year. Of all the games I read about over and over, I found 'Wolf' most promising.

Sociobiology for dummies

Well, as you may have noticed, I'm having trouble posting anything here, mostly because: a) I'm going through another life-death issues' offensive, so simple stuff (like blogging) often seems... trivial;  b) it's been over three and a half months since the last time I played any video game, so they're beginning to fade away in my mind (the blog's name and general concept should probably change in near future); c) reason a) keeps me occupied.

But I still think a lot, and that probably won't change anytime soon. I can share an entertaining (funny, if you share my twisted sense of humor) thought.

Sociobiology for dummies.

Thorughout billions of years of life's struggle to exist, males have developed two main reproductory strategies: domination (rape) and cooperation (gang rape).

I shall catch up with all your blogs when I have the time and resources, presumably soon.

A lesson

When I was just starting my warcraft 3 career (btw it didn't last too long), I would occasionally hear or read about some super powerful tactic that is imba and a no-brainer and lets you win everything. So when I actually tried such a tactic and got brutally owned, I was very surprised.

Joke themes 2

Ok, I'm still getting the same feeling when I see/read jokes - that I can identify it's theme, and also that the number of themes is actually pretty low (compared to what one should expect). Well, easier thought than done. I perceive each theme a bit like I perceive a color. Try casually explaining the similarity of same-coloured objects, or telling how many colours are there. But since it's a great excuse to post even more of my xkcd favourites, I'll try presenting some theme examples (or just some pairs of similar comics) of different detail levels. Every theme contains more specific themes, and is a part of a wider one.

Game music, part 2

Following some of your suggestions, I listened to Final Fantasy music by Nobuo Uematsu and I really enjoyed it. Especially FF3 (I couldn't believe it ran on snes) and FF7 (cd quality music holding midi references). Did not like FF8's and FF13's. FF11's surprisingly had some folk-like notes, which was also good. Twilight Princess' sounded similar. Now none of them sounded really like a game soundtrack to me, and I see two possible causes:
  1) place of origin: while most games I played were western-made, those were totally eastern
  2) platform: I have never really accepted anything other than a PC, and the FF culture is a console one.
Anyhow, listening to these soundtracks made me regret never playing the FFs (tried with ff7 once, but the version lent to me proved damaged).

The best cRPG game ever created

Computer rpg games are one of the most prominent genres and have been for about twenty years now; they probably are also the genre most commonly combined with others - mostly action games, but also adventure and strategy. This happened due to two factors:
  1) never was there a clear and widely agreed upon cRPG definition, so use of the term was arbitrary, and
  2) cRPG was considered one of the 'thinking' genres, so for an action game to be classified as rpg was very ennobling, suggesting that a game about slashing monsters is something more; traditional, mostly turn-based cRPG fans opposed such activity, naming diablolike games hack n' slash.


Now you understand that being named the best of such a noble game genre puts you in good position for being named the best game of all. By now you could have also predicted that 'action rpg' (as the 3D hack n' slash with some more rpg games are called) is not my type. I have nothing against them, really, but they are just something to rest hands and mind on, not the adventure that slower rpg games offered. Action rpgs are centered around optimized entertainment (based on enjoyable fights, breathtaking views and satisfying quests), while classic crpgs offered genuine entertainment (based on a great world or storyline).

Game music, part 1

Games have music. Most of the game's climate is generated by audio; quality of playing also varies depending on it, so let's just say that music is a very important part of any game. It also plays almost exactly the same role in the movie industry, and even the same people start to create both.


Game and film music's role is primarily to create a background, set the viewer in proper mood, but sound is also a piece of artistic work. I require my game and movie music also to be good for listening separated from the product it is made for. Most fail at this task, as they become boring, often only thing they communicate is epicness and that makes them trivial.

More on Tetris

So much interest on the tetris jokes has made me think about on the subject. Firstly because some of you might have missed out on those russian duel cartoons, one of which features tetris (maybe I should call it the tetris machine - it's not disappearing levels that are fighting) . You can watch or re-watch it here:

I looked up some more funny tetris pics:

Joke themes

Jokes on the same subject tend to gain depth or funniness if presented together, so I joined together some xkcd's (also I needed an excuse to share them, as they're in my top100 of the ~900 he published.

Expanding or limiting fps games:

Also the one I posted on Jokes and Violence belongs here.

Nacho

Warning: this post is not about mexican food. If you are so desperate that you try to read about food then just eat some. If you read about food because you ate so much you can explode, but still think about food, then eat some more. Now, if we have that sorted out, let's get on with the subject.

For the last couple of days I felt too philosophical to think or write about games, I thought of something else instead and decided to put it on paper (and by paper I mean blog). Another warning: this post is mostly about men.

Part one: macho.

There is the macho stereotype - a man determined to posess and present some classically male, testosteronic  qualities like physical strenght, but more importantly, is overly competitive against other males and his attitude towards women is sex-oriented (unless of course our macho is gay, but let's forget about that possibility for now). That brings us to my two-point macho definition:
1. Macho's main purpose is to be an alpha male.
2. In his pursuit of said purpose, he is most likely to employ traditional means (physical qualities) and views (conservative).

Macho's hypocrisy: as a conservative, a macho typically wants a virgin-type woman (in the virgin-whore dichotomy) as his wife, which leaves his raging sexuality basically unattended. In order to have both a sex life and a family life as he likes it, he separates them, trying to engage in multiple romantic relations, often, but not necessarily sticking to just one family (it's probably related to the known fact that a secret family is harder to hide than a secret lover).

For further opinions and a little information look up macho, machismo or marianismo in wikipedia.

Part two: nerd.

To me, the word 'nerd' seems strictly attached to US culture, in which I don not participate, so I speak of nerd portrayals I have seen in films/tv and of nerd-like type of people I have seen within my own, polish culture (ha ha ha poland!). Also for this post I will be using a wide definition of the term 'nerd', which means that my nerds do not have to be interested in computer science (they're nerds not geeks), but tend to be socially and physically awkward, to be interested in some scientific or intelligence-based activity as well as having hobbies regarded as childish by typical others (I hope no specification is required). Again, visiting wikipedia's page for 'nerd' can provide further info and some background if needed.

Part three: nacho or maerd.

It stuck me recently, that I have not met as many machos and nerds as one could expect, but instead I often find something between them. A combination of opposites, a nacho - or a maerd (I cannot decide between these two names; nacho is lovable due to the food association, and also refers to latin origin of the word 'macho', while maerd looks a little celtic and sounds almost like french word for shit). Nacho's ambition is to be(come) an alpha male, but he does not stick to exploiting physical qualities in order to achieve that goal. His education can range from plain high school through technical up to PhD in science or in liberal arts. A typical maerd can be a historian or a surveyor, but could also be a bank analyst. He's not unfit, but also isn't muscular; he manifests his traditional male role mostly by fixing and adjusting stuff; he tries to present it as the most manly quality and does not attempts direct physical domination of other males. Most of the time, a maerd is right-wing, embracing both the socially conservative and the economically liberal parts, but I've seen some specimen with socialist attitude towards economy or even socially liberal (but always in a manner that would serve them). Maerds are the people who have many hobbies, and who advertise hobbies in general ("do something with your life, find out what are you interested in").

Part four: where I stand.

Nachos repulse me as much as machos do, or even a bit more, but I'm afraid they're the type of man most likely to start a family. After all, they almost always manage to acquire a steady,, at-least-average income as they manage to build a widely understandable (but challenging to many) image of self-superiority. My personal problem with them is that they do not acknowledge the existence of people too compicated for hobbies. They are the intelectual extension of the non-intelectual, typical, plain, simply competitive, brutal world. They also share the said world's love towards judging everyone else.

Part five: interaction.

I'm really sorry that you had to read all that, but am happy to announce that you have almost reached the end. I only want to ask you, how you feel about maerds (nachos) - do you know people matching the description, do you like them, are you them or are they your life partner? Do you know any professional texts on the subject that I should be aware of (I freely admit that I only spoke my mind without being a member of the sociology guild)? Do you have a comment that does not fit any of the above questions (:D)? Which name do you prefer: nacho or maerd? Or maybe would you like to propose your own?

P.S.: I chose the name 'nacho' as prime, because I wanted to write the first paragraph.