Steam’s Summer Sale

Steam is a sort of online storage account for playing multiplayer games. Some other uses for it are to avoid having to keep physical backups of games, since you can download the games on your account at any time or place. The copyright protection is in the security of your account, thus no third party package that checks for cds or cd keys or so forth. Login to your account using the normal user name and password routine and you have access.

I mention this sale because a lot of old games are going for under 10 dollars. And some recently old games are going for less than 5 dollars. King’s Bounty the Legend is worth a mention. It’s got the RPG mechanics of Warcraft III with a much more detailed world and quest offering, built around a Warrior-Paladin-Mage skill tree reminiscent of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (FPS-RPG). The tactical gameplay is situated around a Might and Magic 5v5 tabletop setting that is turn based. The difference is subtle, though, and I think it is a rather innovative improvement. There is a lot of character to the specific unit designs and much of it is surrounded by quests which unlock specific units. Rather than simply conquering territory and opening up undead units, there’s actually a pretty good atmosphere and context behind both the specific place where you get it and how you get it. And these include animal units, dwarves, plants even, etc.

Indigo Prophecy is also a game I played awhile ago. Designed for the console controller, it has a sort of repeat the pattern-color theme that allows you to have direct control over the story line. The story line is half cinematographic inter-active novel and half crime-mystery. It was an invigorating experience and really put you into the story. The interactivity is simple, all you have to do is to press 4 directional arrows in the right order and in the right color. This can seem boring at first, but it allows you to focus on the story and dialogue. In action scenes, however, this ramps up and becomes moderately difficult, even for the quick of eye and hand.

The XCOM series is there. As well as some other oddities. Take a look and put in some of your favorite games as search terms.

Critical Assessment of Afghanistan Progress

This was made by General McChrystal before he resigned his post.

The reality, according to a senior military source, is that General McChrystal’s candour about the reality of the situation was an obstacle to Mr Obama’s search for an “early, face-saving exit” to help his chances in the 2012 presidential elections. “Stan argued for time, and would not compromise. Rolling Stone provided an excuse for Obama to fire the opposition to his plan without having to win an intellectual argument,” he said.

General McChrystal knew “his time was up” and had been told by White House aides his “time-frame was all wrong”, with the general thinking in years while the President was thinking more in months, he added.

Supporting any of Obama’s decisions is starting to look like a sucker’s bet.

Social Justice

Ken said…

Whenever a concept like justice or democracy is modified by an adjective, especially social, it is inverted. Social justice is not justice. Social democracy is not democracy.

If you seek justice you want to eliminate injustice. If you seek social justice, you instead want an “equitable” distribution of injustice. You will therefore commit massive injustice to “balance” past injustices.

A pretty good summation of the phrase social injustice. Dr. Helen writes more here.

The comments were laugh outright funny.

Michael Yon’s Crack Addicted Monkey

Okay, people should know by now that there’s a certain popular issue on Yon. Not just over the horizon but actually here or even behind us.

So in the interest of finding out the truth, we have an audio recording of Michael Yon on the G Gordon Liddy show with James Hanson, Jimbo at Blackfive 5.

If you believe yourself a great analyzer of voice tones and judgment based upon that, you can certainly try your hand at an assessment.

More details at TC

Tea Party Assault and Battery: Guess Who Done It

Probably not going to win any bets on this one.

What’s interesting is Neil’s reaction to the violence. This is just minor in my experience. But it is like a big deal to him. It is not cause he or the interviewee are wimps or not men. It is simply a lack of experience with violence. As the Left gets confronted more and more daily, experience with violence may come in handy.

The Decline of Popular Culture: America

Has anyone noticed that there seems to be an almost total lack of Western type movies in America? The ancestor worship business doesn’t seem to be getting off the deck.

There’s Robin Hood, but no cultural connection because only a select few are actually learning sword craft or archery. The ones that do, already like Western and watch the old stuff. But popular media has to appeal and be targeted against the current generation or the most recent generation. Can’t just be a small segment of the population.

On that note, I notice that Japan keeps turning out Feudal movies about samurai and what not, every once inawhile, if not every year. They’re pretty good too, for some reason. Reading subtitles and understanding part of the language, does avoid the whole “I missed what that guy said in his mumble English and now I can’t rewind the movie” issue.

Has the current generation of Americans lost sense of what it means to be a cowboy because nothing in their life, not even fiction, describes a frontier lifestyle?

P.S.
Also, the whole issue with Robin Hood, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, is that they are all derived from the works of other people. Some that are dead and long gone, even. And Potter is British culture centered, not American.

So they aren’t evidence of a resurgence in Hollywood or popular media in America. Simply regurgitation of once live material that had been absorbed by the public consciousness. Original stories seem to be not allowed by the Hollywood Unions.