Kingdom of Loathing, an “MMORPG” more my style

I haven’t been a PC gamer in a long time. Other than our annual holiday deathmatches the last major PC game I remember playing with any regularity was the free version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

My friends and I used to play the original WarCraft at LAN parties back in the late 90s but I usually got my butt kicked. I would finally have a few modest buildings and be able to build trebuchets and then I would get wiped out by one of my buddies who somehow had armies of flying dragons already. Since I found myself with less free time for gaming as time went by, I never got into World of WarCraft or any of the other MMORPGs that have popped up.

Then this week I heard about Kingdom of Loathing from creator Zack Johnson on the Adam Carolla podcast (the July 27 episode). While not technically an MMORPG, KoL is an online (browser-based) role-playing game with a comical twist. It’s also free (but “donations are appreciated and rewarded”).

my KoL characterIf you need high-res graphics and rich 3D environments, KoL is probably not for you. If you cut your gaming teeth on Infocom text adventures, love the humor of Monty Python, and can appreciate the art of xkcd, you should definitely give this game a try. Just read the “about” page and I’m sure you’ll want to sign up and create a character (I’m a currently a level 3 pastamancer).

As you can see from the screenshot to the right, the interface is point-and-click simple. I love the “hand-drawn” look too. It reminds me of playing D&D with friends on the school bus using paper and pencil to create the “dungeons.”

Again, KoL isn’t massively multiplayer, but it does have some multiplayer features: there’s a chat room and player vs. player combat, neither of which I’ve experimented with yet. There are clans as well, but I’m not sure if you can go questing with other online players at the same time, ala WoW. I’m content just to do a little questing on my own, though.

Another neat “feature” of the game is that it’s turn-based and you’re allotted a certain number of turns each day. Some might think this is rather restrictive, but I don’t mind having a limit to how much I can play per day. So if you love pulling all-nighters killing orcs with your guild, this game isn’t for you. But if you don’t mind spending a few minutes a day killing possessed cans of asparagus in the Spooky Pantry or meatsmithing some components together (did I mention the in-game currency is meat?), you’re going to love Kingdom of Loathing.

My current character stats:

Greetings, programs!

Check out the new trailer for Tron Legacy (aka, Tron 2):

Oh yeah! Can’t wait to see that …

The 1-2 punch of “TRON” in 1982 and “WarGames” in 1983 is what jump-started my computer hobby that turned into an addiction and eventually a profession. I also pumped a ton of hard-earned quarters into that video game (if you want to re-live some multi-player light cycle action, check out Armagedtron).

15 geek movies to see before you die

Listening to TWiT episode #204 the other day I heard (at about 40:47 in) Dwight Silverman mention he had written a blog post some time ago about about 15 geek movies to see before you die that keeps resurfacing on Digg. He did say that he took a lot of flack for not including “Blade Runner” (and others) on the list. As with any “top xx” list, there will always be people who can’t believe you didn’t include this thing or that thing. Check out the comments on his post for other good movies he “missed.”

Anyway, on Dwight’s list there are only three recommendations I haven’t seen: “Brazil,” (which surprisingly I hadn’t heard of even though I’m a big Terry Gilliam fan),  “Dark City,” and “Repo Man” (Emilio Estevez … really?). I’ve added these to my personal “watch” list so I’ll get to them at some point and decide for myself if they belong on that list with the other twelve.

WIJFR: Black Friday

A courageous federal agent, a powerful and resourceful woman lawyer–only they can possibly stop the unspeakable from happening. New York City is under siege by a secret militia group–and that’s just the beginning of the relentless terror of Black Friday. While Patterson’s thriller is slightly out-of-date with its Cold War setting, it remains dramatically contemporary in its vision of a stock market thrown into chaos when a group of saboteurs blows up several Wall Street institutions.

Taking a break from my recent run of science fiction and fantasy books, I found an old (but unread by me) copy of James Patterson’s novel “Black Friday” (originally titled “Black Market”) on my bookshelf and decided to give it a go. Like the excerpt I included above mentions, the Cold War setting is a bit outdated, but considering Patterson wrote this book in the mid-80s, before 9-11 and the current economic crisis, it still seems timely and feasible.

The story opens with terrorists threatening to destroy a large swath of Wall Street in New York City that Friday evening. At first I figured the bulk of the novel would be about trying to stop the bombings (and find out who was behind them) but just pages in, boom the buildings of major financial companies (banks, etc.) in the Manhattan financial district are gone. With the threat of the collapse of the entire Western economic system hanging above their heads, anti-terrorist agent Archer Carroll and SEC investigator Caitlin Dylan find themselves traveling around the globe trying to unravel the mystery of Green Band: who are they and what do they really want?

A little chilly at the “beach” …

Beach Week at Progressive Field It was Beach Week at Progessive Field, which turned out to be a little ironic since the temperature at game time Saturday night was in the low 60s and the wind blowing in from Lake Erie was downright chilly. Thank goodness the rain held off!

Despite that, and the Indians’ 3-1 loss to the Mariners, I still had a good time out last night with my brother and the rest of the groomsmen from the bridal party. We even got his name on the scoreboard in the fourth inning wishing him congratulations.

the groomsmen at Progressive Field after the game

Hard to believe my little brother’s wedding is only two months away (I’m sure it’s hard for him to believe too!).

Heading to Cleveland …

I’m waiting in the Tampa airport for my flight to Cleveland this weekend for my little brother’s wedding shower and bachelor party.

We’re going to see the Indians and Mariners baseball game tomorrow night. I can’t remember the last time I went to a game at Jacob’s, er, Progressive Field. I don’t think I’ve been back there since we moved to Florida, so it must be at least 8 years. Wow.

I’m really looking forward to it (and seeing my brother, of course). Should be a fun weekend.

Side note: ya gotta love wikipedia. I’m surprise this hasn’t been changed yet:

… it was changed to Progressive Field prior to opening day 2008 so that Indians owner Larry Dolan can get more money to put in his pocket and not spend on resigning players or signing free agents.

At least this proves Clippy is finally dead

Microsoft is really reaching with some of its latest advertising campaigns. Perhaps you heard about the vomiting woman with IMGIGP (oh  my god, I’m gonna puke) syndrome commercial that they recently pulled? And yes, that was Dean Cain as the spokesman.

Well, check out the latest “ad” for Microsoft Office 2010:

I have to admit that’s pretty creative and humorous, but does it really tell us anything about Office? On the other hand, does it need to?

“Spell check this!” 😀

I’m going to Good Eats Live!

Me and Alton Brown“Good Eats” with Alton Brown has been one of my favorite television shows since I first saw it back in 2000. I own a few AB-approved accessories (like the plunger measuring cups and a salt cellar) and I also have a signed copy of his first book “I’m Just Here for the Food.” He signed it, to me, along with “Never run with knives!” 🙂 in the front cover several years ago when a mall tour brought him here to the St. Pete area (that’s where the photo on the left was taken). We got to see him do his box fan beef jerky recipe at that show.

Now, “Good Eats” is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a special episode being taped next month in Atlanta in front of a live audience! The show will air on Food TV on October 10. Since I’ve purchased stuff from altonbrown.com in the past I got an advance e-mail announcing the show and the related contest over the weekend. I couldn’t resist a quick day trip to Atlanta to see a real live taping of GE, so I’ve already purchased my ticket (the sale goes live to the general public tomorrow). I can’t wait for August 29th!

The Great Firewall of China

If you follow any tech news or podcasts you’ve most likely read or heard about China’s national firewall that the government uses to block its citizens from accessing  “objectionable” material on the internet. My wife and sister are experiencing the effects first-hand during their stay in China this week.

My sister first discovered that she was unable to post to her Blogger-hosted blog after arriving in the country on Saturday. Now, with the recent riots in the western Xinjiang province, she can’t get to Twitter, Facebook, or even GMail.

She’s still able to post to her blog from another e-mail account, but it’s interesting how even in one of the most technologically advanced countries on the globe you can still feel cut off. Luckily Skype is working so we’re still able to video conference and speak to each other nightly (for now).

CompuServe, over and out

I read via Ars Technica (and then heard in episode #1012 of Buzz Out Loud) that yesterday AOL shut down CompuServe.

A little piece of Internet history has now been laid to rest, as CompuServe was shut down for good just before this Fourth of July weekend. After some 30 years of service, CompuServe’s new owner has finally pulled the plug, leaving us to reminisce about the days when the Internet was young and we were still using modems whose speed was measured in baud.

Back in the mid-to-late 80s, if you got tired of calling local BBSes with your 2400 baud modem, or you were a traveling businessman of some sort who needed something called electronic mail, you might have subscribed to one of the big three online services: CompuServe, Prodigy, or GEnie.

I have fond memories of CompuServe, particularly the CB Simulator, a precursor to IRC. It was basically a series of big chat rooms (called bands) where you could talk to other CompuServe subscribers from around the country.

During the summers of the late 80s I was a member of the All-Ohio State Fair Band and lived on the Ohio state fairgrounds for three weeks in August with the other band members. When we weren’t performing or rehearsing, I would roam about the fairgrounds with friends enjoying what the fair had to offer. In the ODOT Building at that time there were technology and science exhibits from COSI, the Columbus-area science museum. They had lasers, a text-to-speech computer (we had all sorts of fun typing phrases into that thing, or having it sing “Beautiful Ohio“), and other interactive exhibits (mostly computer-driven). One of them was a Commodore 64 computer that was connected to CompuServe! Once we discovered the CB Simulator, we were hooked. We would spend hours there, chatting away in air conditioned comfort, monopolizing the exhibit. Once the word got out, it was harder and harder to find a time when someone from the band or choir wasn’t using the exhibit for the CB Simulator (or a few text-based interactive games) … it turned into a sort of fierce competition to see who could get over there the fastest when free time was available.

CompuServe provided a welcome link to the broader outside world, beyond the microcosm of the fairgrounds, for those three weeks when we didn’t have access to television, didn’t have money to call home on the payphone, and didn’t want to buy a newspaper. I was saddened when one year the COSI exhibits were no longer present … I guess we probably ran up too big a bill. 🙂

Fare thee well, CompuServe.