I know. I know. I’ve written a bunch of posts today. But I just wanted to share so much information. And there’s another one I want to share (can you tell I’m jonesing for Spore to come out?). The following is a picture of a unicorn/pegasus I designed for my wife over the last hour using Spore Creature Creator (click it for full size):
It took me some time, but I’m quite proud of it.
If you haven’t heard of Spore, then you’re either really not into computer games, or you’re hiding under a Craygor. What’s a Craygor, you ask? I’ll show you:
It’s a dragon creature I created using Spore Creature Creator. What that screen doesn’t show you are the creature parts options on the left that remind me of wine refrigerators, except in this case you’re picking noses, eyes, ears, etc.
I went ahead and purchased the full version of the creator. The trial version is available at the Spore.com website. My daughter and I have made over 30 creatures so far. Here’s a few:
Yes. I put Craygor in there too. Wanna know why? Because those PNG files that you see are actually saved creatures. You can literally right-click on them and save them on your computer and put them in your own copy of the game right now if you have it. The data used to create the creatures is saved right in the image file.
If you’ve got kids who love to play with clay, this is a really easy and non-messy way to do so. I know. My daughter loves it. Her hands don’t turn colors and there’s not bits and pieces of clay stuck in our carpet.
My preorder of the Wii Fit device and game was a little late, so I ended up having to wait for the second shipment. It came to our local GameStop today. We went and picked it up while doing groceries for the week. I brought it home, set it up, and tried it out.
First of all, I must say I agree with most of the critics out there right now. I’d love for it to have a feature where you can set up routines to do instead of having to pick each activity one at a time. Also, it’d be nice if it not only showed you how to do the exercises, but would give you a questionnaire and then create a routine based on your answers. That’d make it perfect for me. But now that the bad stuff is out of the way, here’s the good:
Short version: The games are fun and the board works.
I was worried that the board would not be able to hold me even at my current weight. I was happy to see that the weight limit (which is not printed on the box) is 330 pounds. I’m under that by 45 pounds. So I think I’m good. The balance aspect of the balance board is perfect. It’s very good at telling if you’re doing the exercises right. This is, of course, as long as you’re actually doing the exercises and not trying to cheat your way out of it.
As for the games themselves, no, they wouldn’t win Game of the Year awards, but they are enjoyable. Some of my favorite games are the tightrope walking and the skiing. However, I haven’t opened every game, so that may change. The exercises are done with a virtual trainer, and they can be boring (as I’m easily bored), but they are scored just like the games are. Since my daughter, wife, and I are all very competitive, this should keep us interested even during the boring exercises as we try to beat each other’s scores. Oh, and there’s always the added beauty of being able to job through the woods in your living room. Nobody there, except family of course, to laugh at you.
I’ll write more about it next weekend during the Saturday Update, but I got it after the Update was already posted today so wanted to let you know what I thought. I won’t be fit enough to look good in men’s swimwear any time soon, but I think the Wii Fit is just the solution I needed to becoming easily bored with exercise.
Yeah. I know. It’s a long title. But as everyone should have heard by now, Gary Gigax died on March 4th. Considering his impact on my life, I think he deserves a long title. And this being Sunday, it’s a perfect day to dedicate a post to him. See, I wanted to do something special, but couldn’t think of anything. So it’s taken me a while to do this.
As for the Sunday comment, well, here’s why:
When I was about 13 I was going to church in a small town in Louisiana. The preacher’s son would be in the sound room upstairs during the service and he invited me up there. Unbeknown to the crowd below, he’d bring his Dungeons and Dragons books with him and we’d sit there reading them during the service. I know. I know. “It’s sacrilegious!” But I was 13. There was no youth program. And to be quite honest, the preacher had a monotone voice. Mix that with the fact I was easily bored (and still am actually) and you find there was an excuse. Not a good one, but an excuse nonetheless. That was my beginnings with Dungeons and Dragons. Although that particular activity stopped, I never stopped reading the books. In high school I met friends who also played. That was the beginning of Jolt Cola, Pizza, and Weekend Gaming Sessions. I won’t go into the gritty details. At least not in this post.
So what is this tribute? And why page 1? Well, there used to be this thing on the old BBS systems (read as “before the Internet”) where we would post forum posts that were the beginnings of stories and people would come in and continue them. It was a form of roleplaying, but without the dice, pencils, and math. It tested your creativity and your writing skills. Well, that’s what I want to start here.
RULES
I’m going to start a story just below. I’m then going to tag a specific person to continue the story. The point here is to pick someone who you think can accomplish the goal and also keep the spirit of the story alive. You may want to ask the person before you tag them. Some people would call this a meme. I’m just going to call it fun. To each person who is tagged throughout this story, I ask that you put the page number in your title so everyone can keep track. I also ask that you put a link to the page before yours (in other words, the person who tagged you) so anyone who wants to read the story from the beginning can find their way. And last, but not least, when the person has written the continuation, please edit your post to contain a direct link to the next page. For example, when the person I’m tagging has written their part, I’ll edit the link at the bottom of this post to point directly to their page of the story.
I’m tagging Woobie.
THE STORY
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 |
“What did you just say?” asked Serol. He was a blonde man about in his late twenties. The scar below his right eye always seemed to twitch when he was excited, bad or good. It was twitching now. There was good reason.
“I said I’d rather not go back to Reindwood. I know you came to take me there. But King Cers and I don’t really get along. It’s a long story,” said the gleaming white sword in his hand.
“I don’t know anything about that story. What I’m having a problem dealing with is that you’re speaking in the first place,” said Serol.
“Well, when the King sent you on a quest for the ‘Sword of the Three Souls’ and offered you treasures beyond your wildest dreams, did you really expect me to be a plain sword?”
“No. I figured the cyclops guarding you didn’t just like you cause you were shiny, or he may have considering the intelligence level of a cyclops in general. But a talking sword?” asked Serol.
“For a man who has had conversations with dragons, or so the legends go, you’d think you’d be used to things like this,” said the sword.
“Dragons have mouths. You don’t,” said Serol as he blinked.
“Oh. So now you’re racist against beings without mouths. I see how it is,” the sword grew slightly brighter and with a red tint in the tip.
“Ok. Ok. No need to get angry. ‘Sword of the Three Souls’ is kind of a mouthful. What can I call you?” asked Serol.
CONTINUED BY Woobie.
(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here. For more information about the specific foods I eat, click here.)
My wife and I were avid players of World of Warcraft the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (I’m so glad they came up with an acronym for that one). We used to play often with our friends online. However, after a few months we ended up getting bored. The game offered tons to do, but it just didn’t provide the right kind of things to do to keep us interested.
However, after a few more months, I decided I wanted to try the board game. Again, we loved the MMORPG, however, we got bored with it. But we also love board games. So we figured the two put together would be a wonderful addition to our collection of board games.
So, a few months ago I purchased World of Warcraft the Board Game. I wanted to try it out. About 3 days later it showed up at our door. I hurriedly tore through the packaging and got to the 9 pound box. 9 pounds! That’s a lot of stuff. I opened the box and beheld the exquisitely crafted playing pieces, the beautiful map drawn on the board, the artistic cards, and the huge rulebook.
Over the course of a week I spent time reading and rereading the rulebook. I wanted to know exactly how the game worked and how it compared to the MMORPG. The rules were great. It fit the player versus player aspect of the MMORPG very well and made for an extremely strategic experience. I’m a fan of strategy so this game would work out nicely.
After reading the manual, my 7-year-old-daughter (Nicole) and I took a few hours one day to organize the game. See, she had watched us play the computer version so often that she was just as thrilled to try the board game as I was. And since the game allowed for teams in which one parent could be against the other parent and our daughter, it made it so a 7-year-old could play because she’d have help from her teammate.
We carefully pushed out all of the cardboard pieces and placed them in little zip top plastic bags. We separated them by categories. We even placed each character and all pieces required for the characters into separate bags. This made it easy to grab what was needed for each character chosen to play with in the game. Since I had read the rules it was easy to categorize the pieces into each bag.
About 2 days later, we pulled out the game and sat down to set it up to play it. It took a little while but soon, because of the work my daughter and I put into it, it was ready to play. So we began. About 30 minutes into it, our daughter was asleep.
After my wife and I finished playing the game, we decided it just wasn’t a game for us because there’s no one out here to play it with. So the lucky purchaser of this game gets a game that has only been played once. They also get hours of setup already done by myself and my daughter including all of the plastic bags and the organization.
I really hope this game finds a good home. It is a great game that brought my wife and me some enjoyment and a laugh over our daughter falling asleep. If the buyer has young children, they may get a chance for that laugh also. If not, they’re getting a well organized and fun game to play.
Blood Sugar: 113
Weight: 281.8
Fat Percentage: 48.2
Water Percentage: 30.3
Muscle Percentage: 34.8
Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 Curls of 85 pounds
Meal 1:
6 inch Tuna Subway Sandwich
Multivitamin
B150 Vitamin Complex
Snack 1:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 2:
Round Steak
Rice
Gravy
Snack 2:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 3:
Oatmeal
(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here.)
Today you get a double shot of diet diaries. One for Christmas and one for today. Now, as for that picture, that is a digital camera image of my Mii. I own a Wii. I decided to try and remake Saphrym (the logo cartoon dude at top) as a Mii. That picture is the closest I could get. Like it?
Now, as for the new feature, tomorrow I’m going to start something new. Evil Woobie mentioned in a post that she writes down what I eat everyday in her planner. So, I’m going to take it one step further. Instead of giving you the general information that I normally provide, not only am I going to tell you what I eat every day, but I’m going to give recipes for all homemade items. They will be linked in my diet diaries.
So here’s a question for you: What previous food items have I mentioned in diet diaries that you would like me to share the recipe for? I’ll provide those over the next few days along with what I actually eat.
A last note: By blood sugar has gone up a little over the last couple of days. I’m figuring it’s because of the pie, the lack of cinnamon, and the fact that my Glucophage has probably finally worn off. So I have to keep a close eye on that. However, I have still not broken my diet. The pie is within the confines of 45g of carbs per snack.
DIET DIARY for 12/25/2007
Blood Sugar: 122
Weight: 287.4
Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 mins aerobics
Meal 1:
Oatmeal
Protein Supplement
Multivitamin
Snack 1:
Homemade Lemon Cheesecake Pie
Meal 2:
Turkey
Green Beans
Sweet Potato Casserole
Snack 2:
Homemade Lemon Cheesecake Pie
Meal 3:
Peanut Butter Sandwich
Milk
DIET DIARY for 12/26/2007
Blood Sugar: 124
Weight: 287.0
Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 mins aerobic
Meal 1:
Cheeseburger
Tater Tots
Multivitamin
Snack 1:
Homemade Lemon Cheesecake Pie
Meal 2:
Oatmeal
Protein Supplement
My wife and I love to play board games. So when we moved form Louisiana to Kentucky they all came with us. However, we’re running out of room in our house. So we’ve been cleaning house and getting rid of things we don’t use. There are some great board games that we just don’t have the room for. About 2 months ago I put it on my to do list to put those games up for sale on eBay. Well, I just never got around to doing it because of college classes and trying to get this site going smoothly. But yesterday I sat there at the kitchen table and took pictures of all of the board games. Then I put them up on eBay for sale.
As an example, that picture is of Diplomacy. That’s a great board game, however it’s very complex. Considering we normally play games with our 7-year-old daughter, this game probably will not be used. Since we now have a Wii, it actually gets played more than the board games.
So, if you’re interested in board games and card games, feel free to look at what we are getting rid of: Saphrym’s Auction Listings
(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here.)
I missed a meal today. Why? Because I was playing Super Mario Galaxy at a friend’s house until 3:30 in the morning. I’ve edited the timestamp on this post to make sure it was the right day, but I’m actually writing this on the 8th of December.
See, I used to love playing Mario games. Super Mario 64 was one of my favorites. Then they came out with Sunshine and I got quite irritated. Well, they made up for it in a huge way. Super Mario Galaxy is one of the best platformers out there. One of the control features is you have to shake the remote to make Mario spin in the game. Spinning is an important part of the game. So, although I didn’t get any extra exercise other than normal daily activities, my right hand and arm got a workout. Yeah. I know how bad that could sound. Get your mind out of the gutter.
DIET DIARY
Blood Sugar: 116
Weight: 294
Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
None.
Meal 1:
Oatmeal
Protein Supplement
Anti inflammatory, Glucophage, Multivitamin, and Fiber Supplement
Snack 1:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 2:
Homemade Pizza
Snack 2:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
By popular demand, apparel has been designed to accompany this article. Visit the Jimtree Dev Inc. store.
Following on the success of World of Warcraft and the Wii, a small developing firm in Nitlun, Colorado decided to create a new breed of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game. This groundbreaking technology is the core of Jimtree Dev Inc.’s mission statement to provide entertainment for the masses no matter education levels or age.
Leigh “Zee” Gaimer, the head of the development team, terms the technology “OneBut.” “OneBut gives players the capability of playing a game using only one button.” She smiles as she says this. “We’ve watched how World of Warcraft has risen to millions of subscribers and feel it’s based off of the ease of use of the system they employ.” Gaimer goes on to mention that the entire gameplay mechanics rests solely on the pressing of one button. “We’re very proud of this system. The player can even choose which button they want to use, whether it’s the ‘5′ key or the ‘End’ key on their keyboard, it’s their choice.”
The game will be set in both a technological and fantastical world. Magic and technology coexist to create a world that bends genres so that anyone can appreciate the stories told within it. “We wanted to make sure we could reach the broadest audience possible. Even the art direction is mosaic-like with it’s incorporation of anime, North American comic book, and a dash of Divinci thrown in for the older crowd.” Gaimer insists that although they are relying on the “OneBut” system to increase their overall sales and subscriptions of the game, story and eye candy are still very important to them. “As a matter of fact, we have Stephen King, Terry Brooks, and J.K. Rowling writing the stories and some really good art people designing the look and feel. This game is next generation and will require next generation technology to handle it.”
Gaimer was reluctant to comment much on the “OneBut” system since the game wouldn’t launch for another few months, but she was willing to say this: “The OneBut system will allow you to move, attack, cast spells, chat, craft and do many other tasks all with just one button.” She gave us a small demonstration of the system showing that pressing the button would bring up a list of options for chat because it knew she wanted to chat. These options were “Pwned!”, “That was gay!”, “You’re gay!”, “kk”, “l8rs”, and finally “@#$%”. The system then correctly guessed which one of these she would choose, so when she pressed the button it instantly put “That was gay!” in the chat box and sent it into the channel. “The system has an advanced artificial intelligence,” is all Gaimer would say as she flashed a wicked grin.
The game, untitled as of yet, is slated for a release in Fall of next year. Jimtree Dev Inc. is expecting profits in the ten-figure range. Considering the target audience of the game, they will likely reach those estimates within the first year after launch.
Keep your eyes and ears open for this exciting new technology and what it may mean for the future of gaming.
(NOTICE: “World of Warcraft” is the property of Blizzard. “Wii” is the property of Nintendo. Names of people and places are fictional. This satire/parody has been brought to you by Saphrym.com and written by Michael White. Feel free to copy and paste it anywhere as long as you keep this notice included. Original article location: http://www.saphrym.com/blog/2007/06/23/one-button-mmo-worth-billions/ )
Saphrym opened his old blue eyes to see his own scraggily, wrinkled, white bearded face.
“Wake up! The sun is out. It’s a gloriou…” Myrhpas disappeared as Saphrym gathered the strength for a snap.
Myrhpas was Saphrym’s mirror image illusion. He had a mind of his own. However, Saphrym just couldn’t take the noise this morning. He’d been up late scrounging around in the peat bog for wood and leaves.
Saphrym glanced towards the window in his little tavern room. With a word, a white opaque illusionary wall covered it.
“No light either.”
Saphrym sat up from bed and pondered the excrutiatingly long five steps towards his waterskin. Instead of getting up and walking those steps, he pulled out his pipe, blew into his hand, and revealed the wizard fire on his palm to the tobacco. He took five puffs before the ivory handled pipe stayed lit on its own.
“I’m getting too old for this late night work,” he thought to himself. But still, he rose with pipe in mouth, made the five steps and took a long gulp of water. He strung the skin on his belt and surveyed the corner of the room where he dumped all of the materials from last night.
“You wait right there,” he said pointing to the wood and leaves. “I’m going to go get some bags. It’s a long walk.”
As he went to open his door, he felt an odd sensation on his leg. He looked down and saw a bog fairie wing sticking out of it. He reached down and pulled it out and pocketed it for his favorite merchant.
“Darn fairies.”