Mars: War Logs

Mars: War Logs a small time scifi RPG game that showed up out of nowhere this week (April 26th) on Steam supposedly from France and we are told it will soon be available for download on the Playstation Network and XBox.

So a quick summary…
Controls are primitive and a bit clunky.
Combat is again a bit clunky and sometimes a little difficult due to even more controller motion freeze ups.
Voice acting and lip synch and all general character directions and interactions frankly suck.
What you might call “the story” tends to be a bit of a scifi “by the numbers” deal.
Graphics in this game are not going to be something to write home about.
The very slow load times are down right painful.

You might think that I absolutely hate this thing but that is not the case at all. If you liked Fallout3 and maybe some of what Rage did and maybe some of what Mad Max was all about then dive right on in the water is fine. Hey, it’s filling a need I currently have for a new Fallout game without any signs of when that might come out.

But! I am in no way saying this game is ever “that good” mind you. It’s a catchy tune but it’s not very memorable.

See, the deal is this is not some triple AAA game being sold at full price. It’s a whole $20, one and done, and a digital download away, or hell, even less from what people have said in the forums. So in the end I think you might be pretty happy with what you get here is all I am saying. Instant gratification for a generic bit of scifi RPG fluff with a few obvious flaws is a pretty good deal. If there is something we need “more of” right now in gaming in general is some of these cheap mid-level non-”ground breaking” good times and less of those big budget zombie filled duds that seem to have publishers flailing around all delusional wtf right now.

So loosey goosey cyber punky post apocalyptical insanity with lots of easily obtainable leather biker outfits and baseball bats… No, this game is not remotely smooth, and no, the story is not well structured, and yes, the whole thing reminds me of a high school Bladerunner play being put on by some local teenage jocks who probably programmed this game in flash during shop class.

No matter, I am having fun and feel like I got my moneys worth out of it… your mileage may very.

Grade C

BioShock Infinite

If there is one thing that became apparent in 2012 and the beginning of 2013 is that the game developers as a whole are in a state of disarray. Except for some minor hits like DisHonored and Journey most of 2012 was spent discussing and rehashing how good Skyrim was. Out right horrid trainwrecks like the ending of Mass Effect 3 and the opening week of Simcity have shown Electronic Arts is unable to keep any of the various developers they bought and paid for making hits and in fact they seem hellbent on destroying the videogame industry as a whole.

I can summarize Bishock Infinite in four words… GAME OF THE YEAR.

Sure sure but Grand Theft Auto 5 blah blah still needs to come out… frankly Grand Theft Auto 4 sucked so bad I have no hope that Rockstar figured out where they went wrong with that series. Those demos looked like they were trying to be even more realistic which is one of the signs they still do not get it.

So since I have just completed BioShock Infinite (You can finish this game comfortably in a weekend.) I can say hands down BUY IT! The dang thing is as close to a old fashioned “red white and blue and very racist” Disney style video game as possible with far more twisted ideas kicking around and you get the original BioShock for free. Such a deal!

Probably one of the few Grade A games that will show up this year till Bethesda puts something out.

Richard Morgan ~ The Steel Remains

I was thumbing through this Gay Fantasy and it brought to my mind that whole Marquesate ~ Her Majesty’s Men thing. You know, that whole ultra masculine, ultra violent, ultra sexual, mish mash only taking all that typically modern crap and stuffing it into the usual Tolkien fantasy epic.

The reviews on Goodreads are a hoot as the self proclaimed “experts” of the reading public clutch their pearls and rant on about how dare Richard Morgan sully their gentle fantasy with this homo-manly-naughtiness and it’s awfully pornographic too! Have these people ever read any Gorean books? For a reading public they sure are uninformed to say the least. Anything that brings out the typical Goodreads mental giants to rant and rave about how nasty the language is and how disgusting the gay characters are… well that appeals to me big time.

So off we go for a new adventure!

Patricia Nell Warren ~ The Front Runner (1974)

Probably the earliest gay love story I ever read is finally out on Kindle. At least I just noticed it for sale you know I am getting old like that.

Well sorta… I fixed the mess Dotster made of this website and I will try now to look for somewhere else to toil because breaking your own website is understandable… but having someone you pay good money to breaking your website sucks.

George Nader ~ Chrome (1978)

I am currently re-reading some cheesy fun scifi by William F Nolan ~ Logan’s Run (1967). The original book is darker and more action oriented than the movie. Reminds me more of James Bond than the disco fever dream of Michael York.

Anyway, I ran across this piece of early gay scifi cheese over on AbeBooks and just had to have it. I vaguely remember seeing this cover on some half price Castro bookstore table back in the early 80s so we are not talking Maupin levels of 70s gay fiction here.

The author George Nader is the 50s actor and all around hunk who eventually became personal secretary to Rock Hudson so there is that which makes grabbing this even more interesting.

Here we go yet again! I’ll just go scream into my pillow… Just because you are not upset at losing money does not mean a peer might not be understandably furious and that “pissed off thing” they are doing does not make them “bad people”.

I heard about this going on in email but decided to see what would get said publicly. It’s not like I was impressed by the typical Silver Publishing product. Notice how they made the bottom of my list here.

So hearing how they eventually started playing fast and loose with their authors and editors much like they were, in my opinion, doing with their readers did not surprise me so much. I just find it sad seeing the authors fighting with each other over what they say in public about the mess or how they say it. Just seems to be disheartening that they choose to ignore the person creating the problems because he’s supposedly a “nice” guy.

I say no, in my opinion, you ignore only when it is to your benefit to ignore something. I ignore raging psychotic assholes if they pay me good money to put up with their problems. The minute I lose money I don’t give a flying fuck how “nice” they are. Most business contracts do not have a “nice” clause you know and if the money is not there then there is no business and “nice” does not pay the rent.

So I say let’s go shopping… I need decent sale price retail therapy STAT!

Teddypig the ever helpful swine will line up some of our favorite gadget finds from these last few months that relatively speaking do not cost much money. In fact if you look through your Black Friday deals coming up later this month you might find better prices than I did on this crap.

I can swear whole heartedly each of these selections may not be “the very best” out there but the price I got them for was damn straight and through daily use I can say they do the job.

I am all about optimizing price while maintaining core functionality during a Black Friday sale orgy.

Cheap Computer Updates

Logitech K800 (Wireless Illuminated Keyboard)
Logitech M570 (Wireless Trackball)

One of the cheapest things you can do for your computer besides getting a new one is to update your keyboard and mouse. I love this Logitech illuminated wireless keyboard and I have always sworn by the Logitech Trackball thumb mouse. It saves my wrist movements for other more important things. Works on windows or osx promise.

Cheap Boombox (With Bluetooth)

Logitech ~ Wireless Boombox Model: 984-000181 (With Bluetooth)

Wow! Lot’s of Logitech love going around up in here. Well, I did say cheap… Jason and I discovered this little goodie for playing music loud from your Apple iPhone or Google Android phone. Now note that model number and make sure whatever you buy has those digits. Logitech put out two different models of this little black plastic encased guy. One has a ithingy docking port and this one, the one I bought, has Bluetooth. You want the Bluetooth one!

Also Logitech has updated their boomboxes recently to some silver painted nightmare so they discontinued this black plastic line. Which is sad because they also raised the dang price by $100 which at the new more expensive price puts this generic audio shit in line with several other better brand name options. Logitech needs to keep it cheap or you just know you can find better. As I said… find this exact model number and buy this thing on some “end of model year” sale for close to or below $100 and it will do exactly what you want for a really cheap price.

You are just playing Pandora and your iTunes loud in your workplace or kitchen not trying to hear the exact flawless notes of some audiophile dream recording you know. Keep it cheap!

Cheap Car Radio (With Bluetooth)

Alpine: CDE-133BT

Listen folks, I know you are probably like I am keeping your commute beater car barely going the best you can. So the cheapest way to not buy a new car is to upgrade it’s functionality and a cheap ass Bluetooth radio (Maybe throw in a set of new speakers.) may just be the best thing during these troubled times. This here Alpine is something Jason found online and it so rocks. I swear he does not start driving till he has Pandora piping through his cell phone on the car speakers and he just switches to iTunes when driving out of range of the cell towers. So take Jason’s word for it and go Bluetooth in your old trashed out car and save a few bucks using your smart phone in smart ways.

Cheap “Well Lit” eBook Reader

Kindle Paperwhite

You guys know I swore I was not going to blog about these dang eInk readers anymore.

BUT!

Kindle actually did a smart thing and came out with a better higher definition screen. It’s paler, less muddy, clearer and it is lighted. Now, I hate the fact they did not update the Kindle with the rubber buttons because I think that manual buttons are better then the stupid touch screen models but because this screen is so clear I will overlook that and tell you for close to $100 this is not a bad deal.

Plus admit the fact the Amazon Kindle is not only cheap but easy to use and when you finally decide to buy a decent Smart Phone/Tablet from either the Apple product line or the Google Nexus product line you simply download the Kindle app and all your freaking eBooks will appear as if by magic.

Cheap Home Entertainment System

Sony PlayStation 3

This is not quite as cheap but the big buzz this year has been about building your own Home Entertainment System. Many folks talk about putting together a computer to plug into your High Definition TV and I have had fun doing just that. I’ll be dead honest with you though…

You can do all the same things without blowing the budget by just buying any old refurbished Sony PlayStation 3.

Yes I know, Sony is run by probably the most inept pack of rogue managers on the planet. Even if you already have an XBox 360 though the Sony PlayStation 3 is still the best Home Entertainment System you can buy used at any local GameStop or Craigslist on the cheap. Remember to grab one of those PlayStation 3 Remote Controls since you want to watch movies and update your software when you get all this stuff home.

It has a Netflix app, and a Hulu Plus app, and a Amazon Prime app, and several other major label streaming apps just like any XBox 360. On top of that though it has a built-in Blu-ray player, unlike any XBox 360 ever will have, and let me tell you if I can choose between streaming “High Definition” content (Through a long ethernet wired connection. Do not try it wireless. Just no.) and simply playing a “High Definition” Blu-ray… Blu-ray wins hands down every time. On top of all that if you get tired of streaming movies and TV shows you can just slap in a video game and have fun. Oh, and Sony unlike Microsoft does not force you to pay $50 every few months for network connectivity for the apps you use so there is that too.

Cheap Home Theater In A Box

Onkyo ~ HT-S9400THX

I know we could argue if this is really all that cheap but if you know anything about audio equipment prices… honey this is dirt poor shopping right here. I have been using Onkyo HTIB systems for ten years now and I swear by them. You get 7 decent sounding speakers in a box… plus a huge powered subwoofer… plus a receiver with switching between 3 HDMI sources… plus you get every THX/Dolby setting you can imagine. All for one low price!

Just remember to buy your cheap Amazon HDMI cables and a ethernet cable and some quality speaker wire you will need for setting this thing up the right way.

Anyway, that’s “the year of cheap” for me please feel free to comment below if you have any questions.

Dishonored

The art is excellent. The game is immersive. The mechanics are well thought out and work. The story is complex even if it is short.

BUT… *sigh*

I feel like I am talking about Bethesda’s other game that struck me exactly like this Rage. Rage wanted to be a First Person Shooter with an elaborate Fallout style look and feel and it was all that but it failed to be enticing on a game play level. Dishonored wants to be a new updated Thief but it some how misses the stealthy smart ass magic of the original by a mile despite doing so many things right.

I don’t know… Maybe it’s all the wonderful glorious toys and powers they give you to buy and upgrade. Two thirds of which are created for the sole purpose of killing people in creative ways and then they turn around and point their finger and make it exceedingly clear if you use any of those wonderful things they built into the game they will give you one of the “BAD” endings. It’s a simplistic morality system tacked onto a complex stealth game that is taking itself far too seriously.

So if you liked Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Assassins Creed II and are desperately looking for a new stealth game then yeah go for it. The manufactured adverse motivations slapped into this game to give it the old multiple endings replay value despite how frustrating and needless they felt to me… is meh. If a game is not a sandbox, so I can create my own story set at my own pace completed in my own way, then I want to have one great directed intense walk through. Not spend hours watching a game developer hedge their bets by throwing in everything but the kitchen sink just in case.

I myself am giving this one a Grade C and say straight out you might want to rent it first. It’s a grab bag that does a lot of things right but several major things wrong in my opinion. Sorry! Maybe some people will like it for it’s flaws and all you never know. I felt the same way about Kingdoms Of Amalur. Not terrible, just not great.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars

Oh shit! If you are in any way a Drag Race watcher get your ass over to the Logo website and start watching the latest RuPaul confection All Stars. JUICY! Is RuPaul getting bitchier? Are those queens getting older? Oh my!

The first episode is like a total blow out stirring into the pot all the wonderful dirt that you may have built up in the corners of your mind from past seasons. Like Mimi Imfurst made the cut… How? I have no clue. None at all. I mean, she basically body slammed a fellow drag contestant on stage in front of the judges on her exit the last time. What are they hoping for now?

So um, why bring her busted ass back and not Willam? All Willam did was cheat?

BUT! Willam does come back for a bartending spot in this episode so there is that… and man does it remind us of all of digging in the dirt from Christmas past. Oh, and after watching the main show you must watch the followup Untucked episode to fill in all the nasty blanks and boy does it deliver the necessary background information this season.

So first about Willam check out this link for one of the few reasonable run downs I have read online about what happened with her ass…

Seattle Gay Scene ~ WTF Did Willam Do To Get The Boot Off “Drag Race” ?

Now this is not pure facts but those are few and far between with these bitches like Tyra Sanchez sightings. Who? So for speculation it feels pretty close to truth. In quick summary… Not drugs. If it had been drugs you would have seen RuPaul standing over Willam holding her hair as she puked on stage saying “and children this is why you should learn to handle your meds better”. Because girl! If anyone knows how to handle drugs while providing “a teaching moment”… Well, RuPaul was the IT girl back in the Club Kid days honey. Oh man, the nineties were messy.

So basically the article says drugs would have been a “insta-ghost” thing or “a very special episode” deal so it was probably some type of “on going” behavior based “contract conflict” mundane enough that the girls will not try to explain it all but bad enough to force Willam to hang around and officially get “the on stage kick to the curb”. Willam just does not strike me as someone who would want to be filmed the way it turned out.

In my opinion any “believable” explanation has to take into account what Phi Phi O’Hara and Chad Michaels said on Untucked (The whole “since the start” “reflecting bad on them all” blah blah. Go back and check out what they said because it sets the overall tone of what you would expect to be explained and what seems to be missing from what has been provided.) around the time of the event since that was pretty much them expressing their flat out honest opinion as fellow contestants without giving away too much about whatever had just taken place. I frankly have not heard many stories that fit into the point of view they had about it.

TVgasm ~ Drag Race All Stars Recap: We’ve Been Robbed!

Back to “the Imfurst” pile of dirt. Mimi! Oh lord, you have to watch that Untucked episode… Rumors abound online that Mimi bought her way back on the show. Somehow getting enough online activity going she suddenly made a top slot on the “pick your favorite drag queen” tally board… Over Delta Work the classy big girl people really did love? Oh, just check out the comment section on that recap I link to because there is a full run down with numbers and stuff.

The juiciest online comment on that post though was about the whole other bomb that dropped Mimi Imfurst vs Alexis Mateo IRL Tampa Bay mudbath…

“you all you not see how shady ******* can be in real life. it’s not that a club owner just ‘preferred’ mimi lol she took a pay cut to steal the job! “

This is in line with the random comment made on the show by Latrice about “she undercut the bitch” so that’s what she meant! You know damn well Pandora got the whole story and knew whatever happened it was not about her but not to get in the way of any flying objects. No wonder Pandora was like “I am so going home now… Mimi get out there and sing for your supper girl!” Pandora may be many things but at least one of those things is smart… no matter how the show got edited.

WOW! So there, I hope I have shown that you need to be watching this freaking drama-o-rama mess. There might not be any show left after these bitches get done with it. Pure CRAZY! OMG! I just saw Tammie Brown reading Michelle Visage for her makeup in front of the camera the very next episode… You need to watch that Untucked too.