Disclaimer: I’m a vegetarian.

The scientist’s position focuses mainly on greenhouse gas emissions without pontificating about the superiority of a vegetarian diet, which is good, I think. If anything I know that ideas tend to be more favourably received when argued logically, not when preached by someone on a high horse. I’m actually quite interested in seeing the text of the speech Dr Pachauri will give on Monday, if only to see how he tries to sell this idea.

Long story short, I probably won’t be buying that one.

In any case, if you’re curious about what this free software business is all about, Mr Fry puts it in rather simple terms that anyone can understand.

Click here to watch the video.

(The server handling the streaming seems to be hammered right now, so you may want to just download the video and watch it on your computer. You’ll need the Ogg Theora codec - a free codec - for it to work)

Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead is Half-Life 2.

If the whole game took place in Ravenholm.

And if the only enemies you ever encountered were fast zombies.

And if there were roughly TWO BILLION OF THEM on screen at once.

So yeah, this game looks ridiculously intense. Only the 360 version was on display, but it’ll be hitting PC as well. The part that interests me the most is the promise of an intelligent “director” that will dictate zombie spawns based on how well you and your team are playing.

On a side note, hilarious convo I overheard at the L4D booth:

Guy: So how does the difficulty scale?
Valve Employee: <explains about the intelligent director AI>
Guy: And my other question is…when is the Team Fortress 2 content coming to the Xbox?
<long, awkward silence>
Valve Employee: So anyway, this game will be out in November…

Mirror’s Edge

Annoyingly, I wasn’t able to play this either. I got within 3 heads of the demo booth but then the PS3 that was serving my line crashed and had to be turned off. A wonderful waste of half an hour (which precluded my attending the Spore onstage demo in the main theatre…grr)!

That said, the game still looks good. It seems to emphasise maintaining momentum and finding the best route through the level, both of which remind me of the old-school Sonic games (except with a whole lot more death pits).

Battlefield Heroes

I tried this out in the corner of the EA booth. The cartoony art style is quite nice and implemented reasonably well, but the game feels a little slow for my taste…maybe I’m too used to TF2’s frantic pace, or the maps are way too large for the number of players allowed per map. I overheard one of the EA people mentioning that the game runs off the same engine as Battlefield 2142, if anyone’s interested.

Valkyria Chronicles

This is the second game I got to play (largely because Sega’s booth was basically deserted). Still, I was pleasantly surprised - this is a turn-based strategy game for the PS3 with a rather pleasant manga/watercolour art style. The thing that makes this one unique is that when you decide to move a unit, you can move it around from a third-person perspective on the battlefield. In addition, you can go into an over-the-shoulder aiming mode (much like RE4 or Gears of War) in order to attack enemy units (and the enemies seem to take different levels of damage depending on where you shoot them). Making your units take cover between turns is also important if you want them to avoid taking damage. Instead of each unit having a limited number of turns, you have a fixed pool of action points which you can then allocate as you see fit, for instance, moving certain units multiple times. I only played one mission so I’m not sure how these action points are awarded.

Still, the game looked good, so it’s one more to add to my PS3 watch list.

The Conduit

This game made headlines a while back when the developers announced the creation of a game engine for Wii that could produce effects on par with other current-generation titles. I got to see the game in action today, and it does look like the developers have succeeded in crafting a competent FPS for the Wii. I don’t know about the graphic quality, though - while the weapon and enemy effects are well done, the environments look rather bland and samey. It looks competent at the very least.

Random tidbits

• Fallout 3 looks very, very nice…no idea how it compares to the first two since I haven’t played either one, but the basic quest structure etc seems to follow Oblivion pretty closely.
• Starcraft II looks positively orgasmic but the queue to play it was way too long since each person got to play an entire match. It does look basically like Starcraft with a fresh coat of paint and some modern amenities, but that’s perfectly fine as far as I’m concerned.
• Wii Music looks like rubbish…this was made even clearer by the Guitar Hero: World Tour booth set up right next to it.
• No Capcom presence, except at the Udon booth, so no playable Street Fighter IV :(
• Bioware was doing periodic showings of Dragon Age: Origins, but I decided not to attend, given my somewhat uneven experience with Mass Effect so far. Also, it was late and I was getting hungry :p
• I saw a lot of families at the convention…definitely not something I would have expected!

All in all, the games I did yet to see and/or play were reasonably illuminating. I somehow think I would have had a lot more fun had I been with someone I knew, though…

The backburner can be great fun in pure ambush play, but the ability to just run up to a control point and BLOW PEOPLE OFF IT is just too awesome. Bonus points if said point is suspended over an instant death pit :D

Games that have been knocked off the list due to completion:

• Devil May Cry 4 - Beat it on Devil Hunter, although honestly I don’t think I’m really done with it yet. I can’t say that I’ve really mastered any aspect of the game (except maybe Nero’s Devil Buster but it’s LOL EZ anyway).
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams - I’ve gotten all my C ranks and unlocked the true ending to the game, so it’s leaving the list. I’ll still keep trying for A ranks and better scores from time to time, though (it’s a freaking score attack game - who wouldn’t). Maybe I’ll put some footage up here when I try it out.
• Zack & Wiki - I’ve beaten the main story quest, but I haven’t found any of the hidden treasures yet. Still, that’s good enough for me for now.
• Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition - Beat it shortly after my last list of doom post. I’ve fiddled around a bit with the other modes (the Ada side missions and the Mercenaries minigame) but I haven’t gone back to the game yet.

Games still being played:

• Super Mario Galaxy - Would you believe I’m still stuck on that one Luigi purple coin mission?
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - Really haven’t touched it at all.
• Sonic Rush Adventure - That last Sol Emerald is a bitch.
• Mass Effect - I’ve just finished up the Noveria story quests. It seems that there really aren’t that many main story quests which is a little alarming, but I’ll see what happens. I’ve started to get a good feel for my final opinion on the game, too…and it’s a little uneven.
• Beyond Good & Evil - Still fun - I’m right after the part where Pey’j gets kidnapped (spoiler).

Games that were started and beaten over the course of the month:

• Metal Gear Solid - Great boss fights, great sneaking areas, terrible gun controls, WALL OF PLOT is annoying.
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance - Boss fights are somewhat less great, sneaking is much more fun, gun controls are better, WALL OF PLOT is still annoying.

New entries on the list:

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - Not too far in. I can’t say I’ve gotten the hang of CQC yet - for some reason every time I try to grab someone from behind I end up throwing them and setting off an alarm.
• Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword - this is surprisingly good for a handheld conversion of Ninja Gaiden. There are some cutbacks (simplified combos, only one melee weapon and two ranged weapons) but otherwise it’s fast and furious just like the console versions.
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune - my first PS3 game! Think Gears of War crossed with Resident Evil 4 with a minimal bit of Tomb Raider splashed in for good measure. Very polished and slick - nothing to complain about so far.
• Bionic Commando: Rearmed - I never played the NES version, but even so this game is pretty cool. While the levels and bosses themselves are pretty well-designed, I particularly like the Portal-style Challenge Rooms.

And that’s it for August!

It just occurred to me that my Wii backlog is basically empty now (except for Galaxy). Any Wii game recommendations? Keep in mind that I’m a lonely bastard who plays games by himself all the time.

And no, I don’t know what the deals are going to be in advance, so don’t bother asking. You can usually make a pretty good guess from the clues on the Gold Box page anyway.

EDIT: The list of deals is up - the daily deal is Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The lightning deals haven’t been revealed yet, but here are my educated guesses:

6AM: Resistance: Fall of Man
10AM: Ridge Racer 6
12PM: Ratchet & Clank Future
2PM: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
4PM: Devil May Cry 4
6PM: Warhawk

Looks like either games I have no interest in or that I already own. Urgh…

And now to pad out this post a little more, here’s what my desktop currently looks like (click to view full-sized version).

Why yes, I am rather obsessed with sandviches at the moment.

Why, I cooked some instant noodles!

In the microwave.

Without adding water first.

Do you know what you get when you cook flavour powder, dried mushroom, dried rice noodles and oil in a microwave without water? You get a giant block of simmering carbon. And a crapload of smoke.

And my apartment STILL smells like smoke, 3 hours later.

Fun fact: this apartment I’m living is was refurbished after a fire accident prior to my renting it.

I really wish I could say that there was something important on my mind while I was engaging in this minor act of arson, but there really wasn’t…

I’ve also added a new banner, which if anything emphasises my lack of creativity in coming up with something that actually matches my blog’s colour scheme.

And er, that’s all I have to say, so in the meantime have my favourite ending theme from the ARIA series.

Well, according to Zepy, it looks like we might get a lifeline! Of sorts.

Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san manga to be released in animated form on Youtube

…

This…wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for a new Haruhi series. But hey, anything related to Churuya-san gets my seal of approval.

Also, if they’re going to be animating fanmade spinoffs, I hereby cast my vote for an animated version of Kyonko!

On top of that, it looks like they’ve been giving out guest passes for the game, and I have one that entitles the recipient to three days of free TF2. I’m putting it up for grabs here, so if anyone wants it, let me know!

(If you want to know what I mean by “decent PC,” the system requirements for TF2 are located here: http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=440&cc=US)