My Kinect

Controlling an in-game character using the motions of your body has been a concept I've been interested in for a long time, well before anyone even knew what a "Revolution" was. Rumors of a motion-controlled device by Microsoft had been in circulation for a little while, and the Kinect, known then as Project Natal, was officially revealed at E3 2009. I was optimistic, understanding the unique gameplay opportunities if the Kinect worked as advertised.

I had already been let down by the prospects of motion control once with the Wii, and though some of that may be my fault for letting my imagination get carried away when it was first revealed, the general consensus I see is that the desired support for the Wii never really arrived. And when it comes to what I've wanted from motion control, the fidelity just wasn't there. While there are some great exclusives for the system, the Wii ended up just like my GameCube several years ago, becoming something I rarely bothered to hook up, spending most of its time in a closet or drawer collecting dust. This is in large part due to my home theater setup, in which I play everything on an HD projector which doesn't work too well with motion games (most of the 100-inch screen ends up being covered by my shadow, and the only way to set up the projector in this room is to have it directly behind the couch), and the fact that the HD monitor I use for the Kinect and PlayStation Move doesn't have a component hookup, which is an issue I plan on remedying soon. Regardless, I've never made much of an effort to fix these problems as there just isn't much I'm interested in playing. I mean, I think it's a great system, but there aren't that many exclusives I care about. I think my referring to the Wii in the past tense for most of this paragraph is pretty indicative of my experience with it.

When it comes to consoles and gaming hardware, I like to own everything so I can play everything, and I knew this would be no different with the Kinect. No matter how it turned out, I knew I would be getting something out of my time with it, and I just hoped that the device would come closer to my younger fantasies of my real-life movements having an impact in a game. I headed over to Amazon on June 14th, 2010 and pre-ordered the Kinect with release-date delivery. I later pre-ordered Dance Central in October.

Fast-forward to November 4th, and I'm watching a live stream of Jeff and Ryan as they play all the Kinect launch titles, checking the shipment progress of my own. Eventually, late in the afternoon, the status changes to "Delivered" and I immediately open my front door to see a small package that obviously contained Dance Central, but nothing that could hold a Kinect. "Hmm, that's odd. Maybe they're delivering it later for some reason?"

They really should be commended for their work done that day.

So I waited, checking outside every so often, even checking the backyard to see if they placed the package there. The Kinect never arrived. Now, I don't remember how this next part played out, whether it was customer support telling me what happened or if it was something I discovered when I went to the Amazon order page, but the reason my Kinect never showed up was because... well, because it was delivered to my old address in Texas. I had forgotten to update the shipping information after I moved to my new place in Oklahoma, and someone in my old house just got a free Kinect.

Amazon is an amazing company, one that I have always loved and supported, and what they did next only solidified my loyalty. They immediately sent me another Kinect. For free. They fixed an error that was totally my fault, and even knowing the full story, didn't question whether I was trying scam them or anything. The Kinect isn't some cheap device, either, selling for $150. I actually felt bad, and the nice, helpful customer service lady seemed confused when I showed concern for what would happen to the original Kinect and whether they would get it back or not. I hope that they did.

Being impatient and not wanting to wait until the 9th to get my motion-controlled gaming on, however, I went out to try to see if I could get a Kinect that night. I got the usual "only if you pre-ordered" deal at both of the GameStops I went to, so I went where I always do when they fail me and headed to Walmart, but they were sold out of anything that wasn't a console bundle. Getting desperate, I used my phone's GPS to locate any places in the area that would sell video games, and found another Walmart a few miles out in some rural area I had never been to. Maybe it being a little out-of-the-way helped my chances, as when I walked back to the electronics section to see stands where a large amount of Kinects once sat, there was still one left. "Man, this thing must be pretty popular."

Victorious and reinvigorated, I headed back home to set the device up. I had heard that at least five to six feet of space was needed to use the thing, so I was a little worried about how this would all turn out. I had about that much space between my door and desk where my monitor sat, but there was this incredibly stupid step that led out of the room, taking an unnecessary foot or so of much-needed space. That foot of space was all that it took for the Kinect to not see my feet, effectively making my avatar during the calibration tests do the Kudo Tsunoda dance. I tried pushing the Kinect back and even stacking it on game cases, but there just wasn't enough space. I was going to have to reorganize my entire bedroom.

And so I did, taking my desk from its place against the wall and putting it in the very middle of the room, sacrificing aesthetics for usability. I now had plenty of room, and the Kinect worked marvelously. I did what many people do when they celebrate and started dancing, except I had the benefit of owning a video game which focuses on just that. And you know, I must say... there's something really special about unlocking achievements using your whole body.

The 9th came around and the original Kinect arrived, which I ended up selling on eBay for a nice profit. Since then, I've beaten Kinect Adventures (pics and video coming soon!) and received Your Shape Fitness Evolved as a gift. I plan on beating Dance Central and getting as many achievements as possible in Your Shape before their sequels come out later this year. I also intend to play Child of Eden, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Rise of Nightmares, and The Gunstringer relatively soon.

Awwwww yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

So far, I've gotten good use out of the Kinect, with the only annoying issue about it is having to move my 360 back and forth between my office and the living room, but that's just me being lazy. It's about to get used a lot more as I try to overcome my heart condition that I've had since the age of 16, hoping that the unpleasant ordeal it's sure to be will be masked by the fact that I'm playing a video game and unlocking achievements. But that's a blog post for another time.

Gnome Chompski

There's something special about getting a game on launch day and playing through it with a bunch of affable strangers, all of who are trying to figure things out. It's not a situation I find myself in often, usually being "late to the party" and all, but it's always fun. Take Left 4 Dead 2, for example. Unlike the first game, I wasn't able to play with any of my friends, so the only way I was going to play co-op was with people I didn't know. A risky situation, sure, but better than playing alone.

Speaking of alone, I don't think I'm the only one who believes the Left 4 Dead games can be pretty damn difficult for a new player, even on the Normal difficulty setting. They become less challenging as you play through them multiple times, mastering the best ways to deal with the different special infected and crescendo events, but it can take hours to complete a campaign when a group of novices are thrown into the fray. Imagine, then, four strangers trying to complete the silly task of carrying a garden gnome through a campaign they've never experienced before, all for an achievement. Well, I did it mostly for the novelty of the situation, but points certainly don't hurt, and I would have doubted the commitment of the team otherwise.

I had just spent quite a while on the first campaign's final crescendo event, where players have to collect gas cans to fill up Jimmy Gibbs Junior's car to escape the mall. A couple of players had either quit or been kicked out due to their inability to follow the simplest of instructions, which consisted mainly of "stick together", but the eighth gas can had finally been collected, and it was time to move on to probably the most anticipated campaign for everyone in the game, Dark Carnival. Like with most games before I beat them, I had yet to look at the achievements for Left 4 Dead 2, so I was surprised when I came across Gnome Chompski at the beginning of the second chapter. One of the other players mentioned there was an achievement for carrying him through the campaign, and the general consensus was yeah, we have to do this.

We hit the button to start the shooting gallery, trying our best to reach the 750 points needed to unlock Gnome Chompski from his box on the wall, which took longer than it should have since we had yet to realize that shooting peanuts deducted points. We had to fight off small hordes of infected every so often, and one of the players grew impatient, but we ignored him and eventually achieved our goal. I took up the task of carrying Chompski, protecting him with my life and only putting him down in the most dire of situations. He was good at stunning enemies, at least. We reached the end of the chapter and all asked each other if an achievement unlocked, as we weren't sure if we had to carry the gnome through the entire campaign or just the chapter. It turns out it was the former. "Fine with me. This is fun!"

 "You saved me."

Having Mr. Chompski stare at me the whole time was kind of creepy, especially with the lighting in the Tunnel of Love reflecting off his face, but I loved him and protected him like my own. We grew close, him and I, and us and the rest of the survivors persevered until the crescendo event of chapter four, the part where you open the gates and have to push your way through the seemingly infinite horde of infected to reach the safe room. We were not prepared.

In the many times I have played and beaten Left 4 Dead 2, whether it's with friends or people I've never met, this bit in particular is one of the most difficult parts of the whole game. It's hard enough with a fully capable crew, but throw a gnome into the mix, disabling the carrier's ability to use a decent weapon and adding another thing to keep track of, and it can get pretty rough. And let's not forget this was our first time playing through the game.

It was like this, but with way more zombies.

So we tried. And tried. And tried some more. It became a sunk cost scenario, where we had invested so much time into this little gnome that there was no way we were going to give up now. And then something horrible happened. The gates had opened, I was being swarmed by infected, and Gnomey was nowhere to be found. He vanished, our memories the only evidence of his existence. We had been at this for well over an hour, and I sat him down in a corner so I could assist the team better, and now he was gone. The others pushed forward, and one by one we fell, but that impatient player I mentioned earlier? He made it to the safe house. There were to be no do-overs or retries; we had to continue and finish the campaign. We eventually made it to the helicopter, but something about our victory felt a little empty.

Sorry, little buddy.

It was two days later that I returned to the campaign by myself. I put it on Easy, determined to get that goddamn achievement and rescue Gnomey from his eternal imprisonment. I was successful. You may call my success hollow, but I've rescued Gnomey enough times since then with different people on harder difficulties that it doesn't really matter. The gnome always escapes. Always.

Proof!

While I may never know what happened to Gnome Chompski on that fateful day, my theory is that a boomer exploded and sent him flying to an unreachable part of the level. It happened to me during one of my later attempts, at least.

So, what's next for my gnome-based achievement adventures? Why, placing Gnomey in that rocket in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, of course! He always said he wanted to fly...

Farewell, old friend.

Valve's Christmas Gift

I decided to do something special for Christmas 2009 and bought both sets of Valve's Left 4 Dead Holiday Cards. After filling them out for family and friends, I still had a bunch left over (there were a lot of cards), so I started filling out cards for things that don't fall under "family and friends", like Giant Bomb and Valve. Yes, I sent a Left 4 Dead themed Christmas card to Valve. This one, in fact:

I even drew a picture on the left side. What's on the right is none of your business! Not that it's anything personal - I just believe a message in a Christmas card should only be read by those it was sent to.

To my surprise, I received this envelope shortly after. Apparently they got my card:

So, what was inside? Why, Left 4 Dead bumper stickers, of course! The fact that they sent something back in return is pretty awesome:

Soon. Soon everyone will know your face.

Here's what I sent to Giant Bomb, back when they were in Sausalito!:

I picked this one specifically because it had Bill on it.

Deep.

Man, Christmas 2011 needs to hurry the hell up! I hope it gets cold in this part of North Carolina. If only Jack in the Box still carried taco nachos, I could celebrate Christmas just as I did then... by watching Giant Bomb content and eating delicious, greasy fast food.

Good times.

Here are the rest of the cards:

And here is White Fluffy Kitty attacking the cards:

And here is White Fluffy Kitty making amends for attacking the cards by licking my hand:

You are forgiven, Fluffy.

Creating Multiple Characters in MMORPGs

This can apply to a variety of games, but I am speaking mainly about World of Warcraft as it is the only MMORPG I ever got into.

A discussion I have had on multiple occasions with my friend Jeremiah, I have always been perplexed by his desire to constantly create new characters in World of Warcraft. I understand why those who reach the level cap do so, but he never has. He has never even come close, because instead of continuing with his character that he has barely achieved level 30 with, he abandons him and creates a whole new character to repeat the same repetitive process all over again. For a while, he would get a character to level 20 or 30, and then restart on the same faction. These characters wouldn't differ too greatly from each other, and he ended up going through a lot of the same quests over and over again. Now, World of Warcraft is a fun game and all, one that I sunk over 400 hours into over a few years before quitting months ago, but "kill 10 of random creature" gets repetitive and boring through normal playthrough, so I can't imagine the tediousness of doing the same exact quest multiple times.

I wouldn't care about all this if it didn't directly affect me. I don't remember how many years ago it was exactly (around two or three), but some of my friends and I decided to start World of Warcraft together. It was great when we would all actually play together, but as time passed, the reliability of everyone questing together began to fade, and I slowly started to surpass everyone in level. So what happens when one friend is a higher level than everyone else? That's right! You spend your time repeating all those quests you had already done with your friends who couldn't find time to play before. Of course, this act was purely self-serving, as I merely wanted to get my friends up to my level so I would have an easier time with MY quests. Playing with randoms in any form of gaming can be tricky, and the experience is always more fun and secure when playing with close friends (well, I would hope so). The problem was, my friends would always play just enough so as to only be able to help me with a quest or two before stopping play for a while. Then I would level past them again, and repeat the same quests with them... again. I reached level 60 in early 2009 (maybe 61, don't remember), and playing by myself was just not very fun anymore. If the time spent playing with my friends was done more with us doing new quests in new areas together, as opposed to quests I had already completed in areas I had left long ago, then I probably wouldn't have canceled my subscription. I would probably be level 80 right now!

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So ronery

So, this is where my issue with Jeremiah comes in. He joined us late. Like, really late. Burnell (my main questing partner) and I had already leveled quite a bit. I don't remember what we were at then, but we were months into the game. But hey, that's cool. It's Jeremiah's first character, so we should help him out whenever he needs it. And we did, and just when he started to get a little close to where we were, he started a new character.

"Um, what? You are going to continue your other character still, right? Oh good, okay. Oh wait, you're not? YOU DELETED HIM?!"

This occurred multiple times. I understand the need to try out different characters and classes to get a feel for what you want, but how far do you need to level before deciding to delete a character and start a new one over and over, especially after one of your higher level friends (who was under the impression that you were sticking with this character and would be helping them in the future) just spent a bunch of time helping you out with something immensely boring?

When I told him of my quitting World of Warcraft because I got tired of it and had no one to play with, he suggested I create a new character.

"No," I said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because I hate creating new characters in games like this. I have already invested over 400 hours into this character, and I am not going to throw that away to start a new character so I can go through the same bullshit again!"

In all likelihood, even if I were to create a new character, he would only stick with me for so long before abandoning his current character for something new.

He still doesn't get why I'm so against it. But, at least he has finally went with another faction in his latest character. It is the first time he has ever played Horde. Now THAT is something I might be able to get into some day. Playing the opposite side in a game is something I can understand, and is something I often do. While the basic quest structure may remain the same, everything else would feel so fresh and new.

Thankfully, his habit doesn't really work with Spec Ops on Modern Warfare 2. Only 31 more stars to go!