We're all screwed

http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html

One can only hope and pray that this idealistic little 'Trusted Computing' initiative fails, just like everything else that comes up...

"25. So a `Trusted Computer' is a computer that can break my security?

That's a polite way of putting it."

Halo, too?

So I got bored this afternoon, and decided to pop back onto Halo 2 online (XBL Gamertag: WondrousHippo) just for shits and giggles. And I wondered why I stopped playing in the first place. Honestly, with all the people that bitch endlessly about Halo 2, I think even I forgot how much fun it was. I should be popping back on daily now, since it's still a rather enjoyable experience. Well, I haven't run into any cheaters, but that's because I suck too much to get up high enough that cheating matters.

That, and what the Halo 2 haters also forget about the game that makes it so great:
1) The gameplay is refined down to a sharp point. Other than the occasional silly glitch, Halo 2 is still a generally tight-playing game. Can you name a stupid control complaint about the game? The game is of high quality.
2) The game gets its atmosphere done right, including the graphics and sound.
3) Really, it's just plain fun. So what if other games have done what Halo 2 does? Halo 2 puts all those elements together in one smooth running package.
4) Game consoles != PCs. Bringing what a PC does into a console argument is inexcusable. Like bringing a gun to a knife fight.

So in short, shut the hell up, get on Xbox Live, and kick my ass. The world will be better place for it. Although I did come back from craptacular lag to get the sword and go on a 14-kill Running Riot in my second game back, but still lost, so I'm on fire. Or slightly warm, or something.

I liek me teh free games

http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/index.html

Free downloadable copies of GTA, Wild Metal, and GTA2. I've downloaded Wild Metal so far (I've always wanted to play it since it came out on the DC), and plan on downloading GTA2 sometime. Guess R* can pay for the bandwidth thanks to the giganormus sales of the entire GTA series... :0)

Alowned in the Dark

"The three stars have seen better days, but I'd like to think they could still do something classier and more dignified than this. Like gay porn."
-- Rob Vaux, FLIPSIDE MOVIE EMPORIUM

Can someone please enact a law to keep Uwe Boll from anally raping video game franchises with piece of shit movies? Next up is BloodRayne (although I'm interested to see who the lead is...I do like me a redhead with a nice rack...but Toilet Boll will likely fuck that one up too), later is Far Cry, and a SEQUEL to House of the Dead. That's right, a SEQUEL. To an already shitty movie.

Killing morons like this shouldn't be a crime - you should get a medal, or something.

RIP, MVP: Part II

So now that the Big N has announced Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball, MVP Baseball is pretty much dead. Sony and Nintendo won't likely release a product that's competing with their own, and if Microsoft wants to make a baseball, they'd get their ass off the High Heat license they've owned for a while now. Although that seems to be EA's most likely discourse. Microsoft could basically get free money for releasing a game someone else makes. Not bad for that, and I think the High Heat license was cheap (5 digit figures) anyways.

But still, prospects look bleak. Which is a shame, because MVP is a really good game of baseball. The one thing that perplexes me, though - why does Nintendo use David Ortiz on the cover of their game when they could probably use someone from their Seattle Mariners, like Ichiro, or Adrian Beltre or something? Who knows. I guess they decided to go with one of the more popular figures around (and with all the Red Sox publicity, I guess he was the best available option).

It's Mr. Pants

First of all, finding this little GBA game was a quest in itself. Apparently the Canadians are hoarding them. gamediva.biz (eBay seller) is your best bet (with a 20% markup, too!).

But man, is this game zany. Mr. Pants, ubiquitous Rare mascot, sings. Yeah, it's mostly just humming, but it's pretty funny. And he has a bunch of zany sound effects. The game is just tripped up, and the entire graphics style is something that likely took several recreational drugs to create.

Sadly, the game is just a puzzle game - a wacked-out platformer would be awesome, no? But it's pretty fun -you have to form blocks of the same colors, using Tetris-esque pieces. Like other puzzle games, it's better to watch videos of it than to try and have someone explain it to you. So here's the IGN page I'll link you to - just beware. This game will blow your mind at how off-the-wall it is. I mean, just wow.

http://gameboy.ign.com/objects/572/572937.html

IGN user sells DS; World leaders express distress over tragedy

http://boards.ign.com/Nintendo_DS_General_Board__/b7585/77697645/?49 Insider Only

Oh yeah, that's right, no one gives a shit. There's ten of these posts every single day, complaining about how they sold their system when there's no good games out there. Yeah, someone forgot to check the release lists, and how they all said, 2005. Bunch of whiny bitches. Yeah, shut the hell up.

In other news, low-flow toilets are the devil incarnate. Fuck the damn conservationists; screw the whole lot of them. I don't think I need to go into the messy details.

I jest, Cubs fans

This was too good to not post it here. I stole it from kctiger23 on IGN. Enjoy.

20 major events that have occurred since the Chicago Cubs last laid claim to a World Series Championship:

1. Radio was invented; Cubs fans got to hear their team lose.

2.TV was invented; Cubs fans got to see their team lose.

3. Baseball added 14 teams; Cubs fans get to see and hear their team lose to more clubs.

4. George Burns celebrated his 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th,70th,80th, 90th and 100th birthdays.

5. Haley's comet passed Earth - twice.

6. Harry Caray was born....and died. Incredible, but true.

7. The NBA, NHL and NFL were formed, and Chicago teams won championships in each league.

8. Man landed on the moon, as have several home runs given up by Cubs pitchers.

9. Sixteen U.S. presidents were elected.

10. There were 11 amendments added to the Constitution.

11.Prohibition was created and repealed.

12. The Titanic was built, set sail, sank, was discovered and became the subject of major motion pictures, the latest giving Cubs fans hope that something that finishes on the bottom can come out on top.

13. Wrigley Field was built and becomes the oldest park in the National League.

14. Flag poles were erected on Wrigley Field roof to hold all of the team's future World Series pennants. Those flag poles have since rusted and been taken down.

15. A combination of 40 Summer and Winter Olympics have been held.

16.Thirteen baseball players have won the Triple Crown; several thanked Cubs pitchers.

17. Bell-bottoms came in style, went out of style and came back in style; disco did the same.

18. The Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Florida Marlins have all won the World Series.

19. The Cubs played 14,153 regular-season games; they lost the majority of them.

20. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Oklahoma and New Mexico were admitted to the Union.

MVP, oh how little we knew ye

Yup, appears that EA's MVP Baseball might just be dead now that Take-Two/Visual Concepts hath bought the MLBPA license. The problems?

1) It's 3rd-party publishers only, so EA could still swing a deal with a 1st-party publisher to get MVP out. Sony's a no-go since they have their own series, Microsoft has the High Heat license (but has unused it), and Nintendo owns the Seattle Mariners. So there's still hope - but not likely on the PS2, probably.
2) EA could still swipe the MLB license, which Take-Two hasn't swiped yet - but just imagine how stupid that would be. It'd be piss-your-pants-oops-now-all-baseball-games-are-crap funny.

And the NFL started it by taking bids...now the entire sports game market has been fucked over. Thanks alot, Tagliabue. A plague upon your house!

Proxies2

3/21/05 UPDATE: Websense/the school admin thinks that they can block my proxy page. Good job, y'know, only blocking http://carterman.blogspot.com/2005/01/proxies.html, is a stupid idea, when I can easily change the title of the post and subsequently the URL. Good job. :0)

Here is a list of free proxies that I've found so far. Mostly for my own personal enjoyment, maybe you can get some good use out of it.

BLOCKED BY WEBSENSE
http://anonymouse.ws/anonwww.html
http://www.unipeak.com/
http://www.realscifi.com/cgiproxy/
^^^ Username: proxy Password: password
http://poweredbysamspin.jayssite.com/nph-temporary-duff-thingy.cgi

NOT BLOCKED BY WEBSENSE
http://jaysproxy.samspin.com/ (Presently down)
http://www.jayssite.com/web

#1 in the NBA, bitches.

Spurs 128, Suns 123, OT.

That was one hell of a 4th quarter comeback. I'll remember THAT for a long time for sure. Manu is a helluva player - 48 points!!!!!

I'm just in shock from how awesome the game was...I just knew there was a comeback in the Spurs, I just knew it. This is truly just incredible. I still can't believe it.

That's for all those years you tortured us, Steve Nash. Suck it down!

Games that be for sale

http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=77269165&replies=0 - a few Xbox games
http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=77267750&replies=0 - A good selection of GBA games

Please buy them. I could use the money. And you could use my excess games ;)
Comment to this post and get 10% off. ;)

That took way too damn long

Well, I finally got my setup with a 256 MB SanDisk Cruzer Mini USB drive, Xbox USB cable, and my computer to download memory card files to the USB drive connected to the Xbox via the USB cable. The 256MB drive cost me $30 (wiith $18 mail-in rebate), the USB cable $12 on eBay, and A FUCKLOAD OF TIME TO FIND A FUCKING TUTORIAL TO FIND OUT HOW THE FUCK IT WORKS.

After the MegaXKey program didn't work (which is supposed to work) with 2 different drives - with 3 different versions. So after combing through craploads of useless archives on how to run Linux on an Xbox (many of the pages referenced using Linux on a PC - which, if you already have a Linux PC, why the fuck are you trying to install it on your Xbox? Don't you have anything better to do?)

Well, I finally found a page that had some actual info on how to get it to work (granted, it was to help install Linux using one of those USB drives - but it sets it up as a memory card nonetheless), and now I can download...baseball rosters and completed MechAssault game files so I can finally use the damn Ragnarok online, because the single-player still sucks.

So, here's the shtick, so you don't have to suffer as long as I did:
Compatibility List - Check to see if your USB memory stick will work - but the USB UltraDrive 32MB didn't work, although the list says it does, but it might be the earlier version of Action Replay I used, instead of the latest on the Codejunkies.com website. I'll have to toy around with it some more.
The Tutorial - Only follow the 1.x steps unless you want to do some Linux shit or something. I'm sorry, I'm just jaded from wasting all fucking day on this thing. And profane. :0)

The Spurs scare me.

Spurs 80, Clippers 79. The Spurs are this great, elite team, but it always seems like they can't close out games, they always find a way to let an opponent hang in way too long. I'm not even comfortable with a 20 point lead in the 4th quarter watching the Spurs.

But hey, they're winning, they beat the teams they're supposed to beat by a good margin, and they're the best team in the league. Sorry Phoenix - great teams don't just disintegrate when a key player goes down. (Yes, 1996-97 Spurs do count here) - Indiana lost 3 of their best players for 15 games, when they ALREADY had a shitload of injuries, and just got back O'Neal and look at them - they still are contending (in the Eastern Conference, sure, but hey, not their fault...).

Nash goes down for Phoenix and it's the fucking apocalypse - this team can't even break 90, much less 110.

So the abridged version of this blathering? I'm paranoid and angry. Same as always :0)

PS: I'm going to put a bunch of games on sale soon, to replenish my moneys. I haven't touched some of these games in months, and they're in good condition, so once I take stock of what I've got, I'll put 'em on IGN and post them here - as if anyone is reading this at all. If you are, leave a comment, or something...please? Just to know that there's SOMEBODY out there?

If you can't beat them...

...steal the license to their top-selling game, and then steal their namesake away from them.

EA: Monopolize Everything

Electronic Arts, ESPN hook up in exclusive 15-year deal

At this point, it really wouldn't surprise me if EA went and bought out Visual Concepts as well...for shame, EA. FOR SHAME.

DoucheS

That would be the population of the DS General Board at IGN. They're the biggest group of whiny little bitches (besides myself :0) ) you'll ever meet. They bitch about everything. Article that says something bad about the DS? People bitch up a storm. Have a suggestion, some asshole will shoot down your idea, and say it's fine as it is (Here's an example). You have the occasional PSP trolls that stop in and try to say how the DS is crap. Of course, they're not as bad as the extreme DS fanboys, such as GCNobserver, who tries to put down the PSP, and anything said negative about the DS. He's at least consistent.

I guess the natives are restless due to the lack of a lot of good games (although Wario Ware Touched will be awesome, and Polarium (aka One-Line Puzzle) is an awesome game. Hopefully, there'll be more announcements in the coming weeks, including some more details on Metroid Prime Hunters, and hopefully some stuff from Squenix...and online plans, just maybe? But some people would have a problem with that as well.

I guess that's what happens when you unleash a sample of the GCNGB's hostile population upon the DSGB, and not the generally more docile GBGB population... :(

BLEAHRG!!!!

I just made the realization that I need to import Kururin Squash for the GCN. And with my freewheeling spending coming to a close soon enough, this will be tricky factoring in buying that, Unreal Championship 2 (I have a fetish for killing people with melee weapons - it's more fun that way, although I also like big explosions. And M-67s.), Wario Ware Twisted, and Wario Ware Touched (God bless the DS being barren this time of year...although, really, there isn't much at all)

Looks like I'll have to do something I hate - sell the games I don't play anymore, and wouldn't miss. Anyone want Spider-Man 2 DS, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Xbox), Pokemon Leaf Green, and Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (GBA)? ;)

Show your damn face, my evil twin

Who the hell is the other 'carterman' on the internet? I mean, come on, who else could have this name? And why the hell do they seem to register on services where it'd be nice for to use carterman, but they've already taken them -

AND DON'T FUCKING USE THEM.

One of these days, I'm going to go crazy Swede* on them. Think they can use my name that I've been using for years?

THINK AGAIN, FUCKERS!

umm...I'm going to go calm down now... *walks away slowly*


*: M-67s...I love M-67s.

GTA: North Korea

So I picked up Mercenaries today. After waiting an eternity to buy the game from Best Buy (had to wait on the guy ot get some more copies from the back of the store, had to wait an inordinate amount of time in line, and then had to wait some more as the cashier's computer froze...all in all, it was a most aggravating experience. People will be kicked for this), and going home and having to restart twice (once because the game froze before I could save, the other because I chose to cancel the first mission, and when I chose not to retry so I could save my game, it spit me back out to the title screen), I've found it to be as fun as advertised. Hell, any game where you can blow stuff up with a crazy Swede is cool in my book.

But basically, yeah, it's like GTA - run around, do missions for factions, steal vehicles, yadda yadda yadda...but you can blow up vehicles and buildings, and get PAID to do so. For the 2 hours I've played so far, it really is quite fun. Here's hoping it stays that way...

AND ALSO...

Reports say that Midway's going to price their remake of NARC, bad cops doing drugs and all, for only $19.99. Has Sega's price drops for the ESPN games insired other publishers to think, "If we want sales, we'll drop our prices?" I'm certainly interested - at $50, I couldn't give a crap - at $20, I'm interested. Here's to other publishers doing the same.

Will Sega learn their lesson?

Here's to ESPN MLB 2K5 being only $20 - there's no official price, and current estimates have the game not being $20, but anywhere from $40-$50. Having bought the previous 2 versions of the series at discounted prices this past year, I feel like this tradition should continue. I want my baseball to be $20, dammit!

Besides, I don't want to drop a Benjamin on 2 updated baseball games (MVP and ESPN) :(

Ancient Vestige = teh suq

If you've played Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt (My God, that's a lot of subtitles) in multiplayer, you'd know that it's pretty cool.

Except when you play in the Ancient Vestige.

It's just a crappy map to play on - granted, some may like it because it's out in the open, and you can't run like a coward. However, the map just doesn't work. For one, if you can control the energy tank and missile powerups, and get to them first, no one stands a chance. And getting to the missile is just annoying - you have to get up on the jump pad, then jump over a barrier, go into morph ball mode, go down a tunnel, and then hopefully roll onto the narrow ledge where the missile powerup is. Which if you don't have, you can be killed with the greatest of ease.

This is where MP:H:FH (Bwah!) falls short of other deathmatches so far - there's no real balance to the weapons. Even in a game like Halo 2, the powerful weapons still have drawbacks. Not so in First Hunt. If you have the missiles, you are God Almighty, and shall wreak havoc upon your unwilling subjects. Hopefully the Digipen grads at NST will fix the game up a bit in terms of weapon balance, and adding a few more (the Electro Lob doesn't appear enough to have much use, and when you can use the more-plentiful missiles, why?) would be nice. Otherwise, I'm sure hoping that we see a Goldeneye/Perfect Dark port, or TimeSplitters, or SOMETHING FPSy.

And with Wi-Fi and single-pak play? I'm soiling my drawers already. It's not like it isn't possible (see: Ridge Racer DS)

It's thinking...

Woohoo, first post. Here goes nothing.

Well, I got a nifty little adapter that converts Yellow baseband video signals to S-video, primarily for my TV games thingies on my crappy VGA adapter (I do use a VD-Z3 for my Xbox). I then got a CRAZAY idea - why not hook up my old Dreamcast? So, believe it or not, I...did. :O

I got to enjoy some Worms World Party, Jet Grind Radio, Crazy Taxi, and that classic time-dumper, PSO. I just realized, that despite being Level 56 (with a hacked S-rank Spread Needle at +99 O_O), with 86 hours invested in the game, I never got around to beating Dark Falz on Normal. Maybe I'll do that later tonight. But probably not - I'll just end up cruising the IGN Boards like always, and neglecting the mountain of games I have yet to play. Including Viewtiful Joe 2, which I HAVEN'T EVEN OPENED YET.

Damn, I need to quit doing things on my computer and start playing my games...all bajillion of them :p