Emergent Future

Its sitting there... connected to the TV, all vertical and oddly shaped...

Alright, so the strangest thing happened. I've been a PC gamer, almost exclusively, for about 7 years now. That isn't to say that I didn't play PC games before then, but I just wasn't so 'exclusive'. Rather, I was primarily a console gamer. Yet, for the last 7 years - around the time I began getting into MMOs (imagine that) - I have been playing purely PC games except for some Multiplayer fun with friends.

My gaming life has been feeling a little stale lately. I decided to go and do something crazy, so I went and picked up a Playstation 3 (Gasp! Shock!) after some deliberation (a long period of time). Basically, I'm trying to breathe a little life into my gaming and get some more perspectives on what games can do and what they can be, other than just the normal staple of PC games that I usually play. Its actually rather entertaining, as I feel like I'm bringing back my old gaming styles and fusing them with the new.

Probably even more true as I'm hopelessly addicted to (a heavily modded) Oblivion on the PC again too - but, I'm an Elder Scrolls addict.

As for the PS3, though, I imported english copies of Ratchet and Clank Future, Folklore, and digitally purchased Warhawk and Everyday Shooter. All four games are great in their own right so far.

Now, for my friends and family back in America, panicing over all this talk about the gaming I'm doing: Worry not. I'm still studying a whole bunch daily, attend all my classes, get all my work done, work for WarCry, run my game development group for Metaplace, and socialize a-plenty. Somehow.  So, shush!

So, I was wrong, I did not take my laptop. Luckily, the hotel has three handy terminals set up for people to use when they wish. Thus, you still get to see my update.

And yes, today I have been to Mecca. No, not that Mecca, but the one for Geeks, Nerds, and Otaku. While I would not say I fall into the Otaku catagory and I certainly like to think I fall into the Geek one, it was definitely an interesting place to be. I can safely say I have not seen so many electronic, game, anime/manga, figurine, and other geekish/nerdish/otakuish stores within such a small area before. It certainly put Nipponbashi in Osaka to shame. Regretfully words do not do this place justice and it really requires a visit. Regardless, I will hopefully have some pictures up soon.

Tomorrow should be a day filled with travel around Tokyo and sight seeing - I am looking forward to it. It should be a good addition to an already great trip. Not to mention I am looking forward to some rest before then - the over night bus trip did not lend to a restful night.

I have uploaded a few new pieces of writing to the site. One of them is a link to a guide I wrote for Vanguard WarCry some time ago (I haven't a clue why it didn't get up here earlier) for Diplomacy in the game. I also linked each of the new columns I have written for WarCry on here so far as well, and finally, I have a new creative writing piece titled Fading Farewell , which features my fantasy universe I've been building for fun over the last few years.

In retrospect, I'm amused there's one new piece for each catagory of writing I have in my Writing section.

Well, really, it has had me for a little over a year. However, in that time I've been finding myself not just using linux more and more often, but it has become my primary OS on my three computers, and I've even started using Debian Linux... with Fluxbox... and command line programs... Its frightning.

So, I've been pretty much assimulated, I suppose.

I can't say I can really complain either. I actually feel much more comfortable running inside of linux these days than I do windows. Its quicker, seems much more efficient, and I have an interface that conforms to what I like - not to mention a very minimal look, which I love.

Of course, getting linux installed, which I've done quite a few times now, is not going to be the easiest thing for the computing layman to do. That said, once you get past the initial setup of the OS, actually using linux can definitely be a snap. Alright, not quite so much in fluxbox with its configuration files that you need to edit, but other Window Managers that I've tried - including GNOME, KDE, XFCE, and to a (vastly) lesser extent, Elightenment - are pretty simple.

It is a bit amusing to see how much my computing habits and interests have slowly evolved over the last year or so.