Another year goes by

Hmmm... it seems to have been almost a full year since I last made a post here. I had actually forgotten that this had even existed.

So I'm no longer doing the consulting thing. I got tired of that pretty quickly and actually went back to my previous employer, except this time I'm not coding in VB6! It's all Java and some C/C++, so I'm happy.

My wife and I moved to Missouri and purchased a house. I never realized how much work owning a house could be. It's been a constant struggle to give this house a "high end" feeling after the previous owners let it get away from them. We've done some very minor remodeling and painting, we're getting all new windows in May, we've had a new dishwasher installed, and we'll be doing more painting and upgrading over the course of the year.

And then there's the yard...

A new direction

Well, it's only been six months, but I already wish that I'd just stuck with the longer commute and lower pay of my previous job. My current job has been much less enjoyable than the embedded development I had been doing last summer. I was under the assumption that I was being hired on as a .Net developer, but the last six months have been nothing but VB6 development.

Oh well. The grass is always greener on the other side, eh?

Anyway, I will be leaving my current employer as of 4/20, and beginning a new career as a consultant. Yes, I will be a contracted software developer. This will give me the opportunity to get quite a bit of varied experience under my belt, as well as more easily allowing me to jump from company to company as I seem to already be doing. Hopefully it will work out, and be a bit more exciting, too.

I'm currently addicted to EVE Online. It's a spectacular game, and I highly recommend you check it out. The other big game that I've been enjoying this past week is the oft-delayed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The best way to describe it is "Morrowind, with guns, in modern-day Chernobyl."

It's been how long since my last post?

Wow, I start playing WoW back in August, and the next thing I know it's October and I haven't made a single blog entry since the World of Warcraft addiction began. That game is definitely addictive.

Lots of news. I've decided to cancel the WoW subscription for now. There's just too many exciting games coming in the next few months to be distracted by WarCrack. I am really looking forward to the new Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six games for the XBox 360, as well as Gears of War and the launch of the Nintendo Wii.

My fiancee and I now have two DS Lites in our apartment, one for each of us. I bought a black model for myself a few weeks ago just for games like Metroid Prime Hunters and Castlevania. My big new toy is a brand new Apple MacBook. I picked this up on one of my lunch breaks last week since the motherboard in my desktop system (the only computer in the apartment up until now) is being RMA'ed. It's also nice to have a second machine, and a portable one at that. Plus, it'll come in very handy when I start my *new* job! That's right, NEW! Woohoo!

I'm going to work as a Software Engineer for a different company starting next week. Why did I leave my current position, you might be asking? Well, I was offered a position with a much shorter commute (20 minues, as opposed to my current 40-90 minutes), more money, tuition reimbursement, and more time off. That was definitely a deal I could not refuse.

Giving in

I finally went and did it. I caved and bought World of Warcraft. I had a 14-day trial almost exactly one year ago and have had the desire to continue playing ever since. So I did it. I picked it up for $30 at EBGames on my way home from work one night and have been playing it non-stop ever since (except when I'm playing Diablo - just had the urge to play through that game again).

If you want, you can find me on the Greymane server. I've got a few characters, but my primary is an Undead Warrior named Riddance, with my main alternate being a Human Warlock named Bruud (I was staring at my copy of Brood War when I came up with the name).

I'd also like to recommend that everyone give Dark Messiah of Might and Magic a try. The demo is fantastic. It's made by the same company that created Arx Fatalis, which is another awesome RPG. It very well could have been the sequel to that game, and it feels like it should be, except the title doesn't reflect it. Anyway, they're a great game company, and I would buy this game just to continue supporting their efforts.

Oh, and - "Go Horde!"

Prey completed

I finished Prey. It wasn't a very long game, but if you finish it in under 10 hours, you didn't take the time to appreciate it's graphic splendor. If you expected it to last for more than that, you don't have realistic expectations of what a traditional FPS game is all about. I'll be playing it again, this time on the "Cherokee" difficulty so I can get some more GamerPoints! If you want some good FPS action, but were disappointed with Quake 4, go get Prey now! I think it'll be holding the King of the Old-School FPS title for a long while (as in, whenever Duke Nukem Forever is released).

I've picked up my Guild Wars habit again. Played it for quite some time on Sunday and still haven't gotten anywhere near completing it. I need to hurry up and finish it and Factions so I'll be ready for the Nightfall expansion this fall.

If you've never played an MMORPG before, pick up Guild Wars and give it a shot. It's a one time purchase, no monthly fee, so if you decide you don't like it after eight months, then you didn't just waste ($50 + 7*$15) on a game. If, after playing for a while, you decide you want more from an online RPG, try World of Warcraft. But if you're already playing WoW and are happy with it, I wouldn't bother with Guild Wars. GW is great, but WoW beats it in many, many ways. I'll stick with GW for the time being though, I kind of like not having to pay a monthly fee.

Here it is

And now, for the report on Prey's awesomeness: It's awesome! :)

Seriously, it's a great "old-school" FPS game. It uses the Doom 3 engine for some great (albeit a bit dark) visuals. It's like a cross between Doom 3 (very pretty, very dark), Duke Nukem 3D (main character spouts humorous one-liners, very 3D-Realms-ish), and Quake 2/4 (enemies are strange mixtures of various creatures with machines or other creatures). They've also thrown in some very nifty gravity tricks, like walking on walls/ceilings and spherical gravity, and the portal effects are great. I can't think of a single game that's used portals to this effect. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the original Unreal had portals in one of its multiplayer maps, but it wasn't anywhere near as cool as Prey.

After I finish Prey, it's back to Oblivion to continue raking in the achievements. After that, hopefully the BFME 2 demo will be up on XBL so I can try it before spending my hard-earned cash.

Can't wait to get home

I went to the local EBGames during my lunch break and picked up my Prey pre-order. Got the Collector's Edition, too. The case is a LOT bigger than I had expected. It's the same height and width as a normal DVD case, but it's about three times thicker.

It's also somewhat of a challenge to get the disc out without damaging it. Perhaps the case I got was just a fluke, but when I try to open the side containing the disc, the disc itself gets caught on the edge of the case and starts to bend. I'm worried about it breaking or scratching. The other method of getting it out is to pull all the extra crap out (which is also not too easy, it's wedged in there pretty tightly) and get to the disc that way. Maybe I'll just put the disc in its own slim DVD case and store it that way.

Will report on awesomeness of Prey at a later time...