At the spring training game I went to yesterday I ran into two distinct breeds of asshole. The first, was a parent who let their kid pour soda onto our seats right before we sat down in them. Thankfully, her stupid giggle gave it away and we stopped ourselves. The father, some dumb jock looking goof just kind of shrugged it off. So, after I made some sarcastic remark to him about how great the game was starting off to be (because to say anything else would 1) start a fight or 2) get my wife mad at me, we sat down in other seats. There, we ran into some "old" assholes. I jokingly twittered that they were part of the "greatest generation" referring to their age and the fact that they were probably retired military.

I was playing Lord of the Rings Online this weekend as well and discovered the "virtual asshole."

These two came from the guild "Horse Riders of the Riddermark" who invited a bunch of people into an instance run then bailed right at the point they had finished the quests they were working on. The rest of us had to fend for ourselves and alas, died multiple horrific deaths. Thanks guys!

Finally, at the gas station mere moments ago, I had to pull my car in at a weird angle to get around this douche bag in his tractor trailer sized SUV. Rather than him backing out of his spot to get out of the win 7 card stud7 card stud softwarehow to play texas holdem poker,texas poker,texas holdem pokertexas holdem tournament,freeroll texas holdem tournament,atlantic city texas holdem tournamenttexas hold em oddsinternet poker softwaregambling pokervideo poker bettingtexas holdem poker strategy7 card stud rulesonline poker sitevideo poker gamecelebrity pokerpoker tipfree texas holdem poker downloadplay caribbean poker online,best online play poker,play online pokerpoker casino gameonline poker gamecaribbean stud pokervideo poker casinoonline poker tipinternet gambling pokervirtual pokerhow to win at pokermac online pokerno limit texas hold emonline poker softwaretexas holdem poker game,texas holdem tv poker game,texas holdem poker game onlinelimit 7 card studomaha hi lo,hi limit lo omaha play,how to play omaha hi lovideo poker machinepai gow pokerinternet poker sitepoker game downloadpoker software developmentvideo poker strategyonline poker cheatingonline poker cheatfree online poker tightpoker,free online poker no download,free poker onlineonline poker reviewfree online poker gamepoker card gamemultiplayer pokerfree poker moneyfree texas hold emplay poker for funfree online poker tightpokerfree no limit texas holdem,free texas holdem poker site,free texas holdemcard games 7 card studfree online texas holdem game station, he decides to almost scrape the paint off the side of my door, all the while muttering about "how i need to learn how to park" under his breath (which I heard). Oh I need a name for that kind of asshole - hrmm, we’ll call him the small penis asshole who needs an extra larger vehicle to compensate.

As far as Michelle Obama’s comments about her being proud of being an American for the first time? Well, that sounds about right. I have been an American for 33 years and its hard for me to remember more than a handful of times I have been really "proud" of being one. Can you? What are they, exactly?

Watching this congressman from GA reminded me of one of the reasons I left GA to move west in the first place.

I decided that I am going to be drunk this election season. Normally, drinking is fun, if kept in moderation. But I told my wife that if Hillary wins the nomination for the democratic party I am going to get shit faced. If Obama wins it, I will only get a nice buzz on because i will want to remember the occassion.

Now, if for some reason McCain wins the general election (or any Republican, barring a miracle from Huckabee), I am going to go for alcohol poisoning. I might even try hardcore drugs. Never done them before but that will be a reason to start as our country will really be going to hell.

Of course, i will blog all of that and take pictures so you can make fun of me.

Earlier last week Q and I sat down with one of the many talented GAX Community Members who also happen to work in the gaming industry to ask a few questions. In this first GAX Community Spotlight feature, we ask Maxx Marshall of Blizzard fame about how he got started in the business, what it takes to be successful as a game artist and what he likes most about GAX.

Talk about your gaming background, including any early games that opened the door for you to get interested in gaming. 
 
I’ll start by saying i owned a Tandy TRS-80 when i was tiny. In the 70’s I played text adventures on that system ALL the time, I’d pop in a cassette press "play" and i’d be off to some strange new world of boring text. I then decided to begin working on my own text game. One proud morning, i gave my dad (the only one who even cared about games in our house) a folder with maps, monsters,  and a cassette. Later i’d program boxy images of the monsters into the game (very VERY boxy monsters).

From there i’d go on to Apples, Compaqs, Wangs, Amigas and then PC’s. In college my friend asked if i wanted to buy his sega genesis, it was most likely 6 or 7 years old by then, but it opened a WHOLE new world of games and gameplay for me. My favorite game, Syndicate, even had a genesis version that i’d never played.

After that i’d buy any and all systems i could get my hands on, NES, SNES, PS1, Jaguar, etc.

So i can say that i’ve been gaming or trying to make games since i was very small.

 
You obviously have an art background (judging by your profile page). When did you start drawing? Were you trained on art in school or did you just have natural talent? 
 
I can’t really remember NOT drawing. Memories of family trips to California and New York are all peppered with me drawing space battles and alien creatures. Unfortunately, I grew up in a household where boys were accountants (like dad) and girls were to be creative (My mom would’ve given Martha Stewart a run for her money) so all my art was done on the sly.

If i could draw on the computer, I was "learning" to use computers. If I was graphing out D&D and Marvel adventures maps, I was learning to use graph paper. At one point i stopped drawing because of "accounting pressures" and my grades dropped, I began getting antsy and I kept getting these killer headaches. The next semester i was enrolled in art classes at school and it all stopped. Art is like smoking to me, it’s a release.

As for art school, 5% of my art is school. I had classes, I got C’s and D’s because i like a good argument. I would be asked to draw something that meant "peace" and draw intricately designed nuclear missile silos. I would then argue with the teacher, get kicked out of class, have my parents argue with the teacher, have the principal brought in to mediate, argue with the principal, be admitted back to class and get a D for an assignment that most of the other kids had drawn flowers and peace signs.
 
When did you realize that you wanted to become an artist working in the games industry? How did you get your foot in the door? 
 
I was working for my parents, managing their office rental company in Detroit, when i randomly decided to be an artist. I’d live a rock and roll lifestyle and be admired by everyone!!!

I had my friends at various copy shops help me put together packets of my artwork. Then I went online and grabbed a list of ALL the game companies and their addresses. (it was easier back then, no one was scared to post their address) I sat down and with EVERY submission packet, i included a piece of art based SOLELY around their properties and styles. I thensent them out whenever i had money. I’d get paid, I’d send stuff out. I’d begun this HUGE pile of refusals. CAPCOM, SONY, MIDWAY, etc. (note that since then I’ve worked on Okami, Daxter/God of War and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing)

All these companies liked my art but had no place for me.

Then i received a call from blizzard. I did an art test for them, and waited, I stole my buddies pager so that they could tell me if i was hired. a few days later while eating nachos, the pager buzzed and i was told i was leaving for california…..and yes i did cry. I was going to this small company of 30-40 kids who were unknown except for this warcraft game.

My most embarrassing story here for all of you to read:

I’d gotten to the office for my first day of work and was learning 3DsMax when my phone rang. My mom called and we talked about my impressions of Orange County. After a bit a voice came over the intercom calling for a company meeting. I got off the phone and followed some kids to the conference room. Allen Adham (Blizzard’s founder) was holding a meeting about all the changes in workflow for Starcraft and Diablo. Then at the end of the meeting, he introduced me to the office. "I was asked to 
man the phones for a few minutes and Maxx’s mother called, she seems like a wonderful woman, and she made sure to asked that we "take care of her SPECIAL little guy". So i hope we’ll all do our best to take care of Maxx.") yeah….yeah…that lost me any street  cred/Rock and Roll artist lifestyle I’d envisioned. 
 
 
Talk about some of the projects you have worked on for Blizzard? Specifically what titles have you worked on and what part did you play in those projects? 
 
I started at Blizzard at the end of Warcraft 2.

When I came in the first images of Diablo were being tossed around. I looked at the screenshots we were sending to Next Gen and was WOWED by them. The game was rough when i got there, it was sorta boring. I remember when Blizzard stopped Starcraft work and (sort of) took over Diablo from Blizzard North.

I went from designing aliens to sketching monsters. I did a fair bit but it’s been a while. I did a lot of art in the manual when they were ramping back down. I remember one dinner where a group of artists and designers from Blizzard decided to see what we could do to spruce up Diablo. We riffed forhours until 2-3 am. In the end every one of those ideas written down made it in. I was moved to Starcraft after that, it was still drawn sprites at that time, the 3D wasn’t implemented until later. I started drawing monsters and aliens for the zerg. I have to say that met my stride on Starcraft. I recall just taking over the zerg. I made the general carapace-y meat feeling of them, and translated that into their buildings, (I modeled and animated them all) and their units (modeled and animated many of them as well).

I was asked to make a terran SUV type thing but i couldn’t get my head around it, so i started drawing more zerg units, they were used in the expansion set. I was moved onto Warcraft Adventures, Blizzard’s point and click adventure that was canned after a bit, I did storyboards for the animated scenes. I then split off with the original "Team Two" which eventually became the team responsible for World of Warcraft (though our initial project was a little bit different).

That was when i left Blizzard. I worked with my friends for a bit, I moved back to Michigan for a bit, then i came back to Blizzard in the Middle of World of Warcraft. Finished that and moved on to Ready at Dawn which is a mixture of Blizzard kids and Naughtydog kids. It’s a small incredibly creative company so I would liken it to Blizzard back in the day. 
 
Whats your favorite character in any game and why?

Being surrounded by Capcom books i’d have to say that it’s most likely a Capcom character.

I think it changes with time. CURRENTLY it’s most likely Gordon Freeman. I like when a game makes me feel like a hero. In Megaman Legends, if you walked past houses and listened, you’d hear common people talking about how amazing "that little blue boy" is. Gordon has Alyx. When she reacts to his achievements it makes me poke out my chest and strut a bit more. I’m fine that he’s silent, I think they pulled it off well. I actually remember valve being next to Blizzard’s booth at my 1st or 2nd E3. I recall their artist showing off shaders and gameplay stuff to us when the press wasn’t around, the Starcraft kids were all watching Halflife and the Halflife kids were all watching Starcraft. 

Design-wise…too hard. I’d say it’s a toss up. 4 games win when i’m looking to design a character. Capcom’s Rival Schools Series has some beautifully designed characters. Then Streetfighter 3 then 2 have simple but bold designs. Afterwards Disgaea, so many characters, so many amazing design choices. Finally Persona/Shin Megami Tensei, Kazuma Kaneko’s designs are fantastic and make me want to be a better man.

 
What advice would you give to a person who aspired to be a part of the games industry? What advice could you specifically to artists trying to work in the games industry? 

I’m a workaholic, so my priority/balance system is out of whack.

I look at my friends who can’t find jobs and mentally scream at them when they are out partying with me. Yeah you need a break, but at what cost to your financial situation? Buckle down and get to work.

You want to be a game artist, sit down with flash and make an animation. Learn about different software packages. There was a time, (and it still happens) when Kinko’s was the big stepping point into games, WHY? because those guys knew html, quark, excel, photoshop, etc. Lately, we’re going to schools to recruit kids and it’s all, "Adobe Illustrator?!? Is that a program?"

Yeah, you can get into the game industry by drawing well, (See: Maxx Marshall) but in the end we’re gonna find someone who’s a better artist than you. Then what? What are you gonna do? Hopefully you can compete by knowing all the ins and outs of game development. STUDY that stuff. Become marketable. I can hit parties now because I’m in my career, I’m doing what i want to do, but when my wife and daughter are asleep, i’m online looking at the next generation of models out there, looking at the new shaders kids are coming up with, reading up on developers who i admire… Do that! 

That said, I personally think art-wise, make something spectacular… Is there a song you like, make an animation for it, pop it on GAX, take the criticism and revisit it until people can’t NOT talk about it. THEN shop yourself to the game companies. I’m not telling you not to sleep, but i personally was up until 3-4 am everyday turning out company specific art for packets.

 
As a huge Okami fan I am wondering what drew you to work on Okami on the Wii? It seems your body of work caters to a heavier style of art. Starcraft, Diablo and WoW all seem so different stylistically than Okami.
 
Being a HUGE Capcom fanboy, (I’ll still argue that PN03’s “flaws” are game play decisions)….Imagine I came to you (You being a fan of Okami) and said, "You now have full access to EVERY SINGLE ART ASSET from Okami…from full illustrations not used, to doodles from meetings scanned in for referance. This is CLOVER we’re talking about. Viewtiful Joe, Godhand, OKAMI!

The moment the team heard that we were porting this to the Wii I wanted to work on it. I was working on Spartans for God of War: Chains of Olympus and this seemed SO cool to work on. I worked on GOW:CoO for a while more, then when the bulk of my work was done, i moved over to  Okami.

Day one, I got geek overload. I was just opening boss characters to see them animate. I was looking through hard drives to see art and insipiration. It’s been one of the most refreshing times in my career. I get to see the things that made Okami, AND there’s stuff that transitioned into Godhand as well. 

The only thing that could top working with these assets would be going to Japan to see the Capcom art offices. (that’s a hint for my boss) 

That said, the kids at Clover/SEEDS/Platinum Games are geniuses!!! (Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil creator), Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry creator) and Atsushi Inaba (Okami producer) the design is brilliant, the characters are PERFECTION, the techniques that they use…the first time i saw their stuff, moving in SoftImage, i was blown away by the genius of what they’d done. I recall calling my friends at work to tell them what they were doing. These kids are good. i can’t wait to see what’s next from them. BUT i must say that Okami is my favorite game from them so far.
 

As a follow up, which style of art do you prefer? Which is more challenging? 

I Love cartoon-y. Realism is REALLY REALLY hard to pull off, not just in games, but in everything.

I know that one day i’ll be making “real” people and basing game play around them, but if someone knows what they’re doing structure-wise, and isn’t afraid to go nuts with their designs, it’s a thing of beauty!

Look at Team Fortress 2. Those guys are about to change up the industry. In the next few years you’ll see more and more TF2 artistic style knockoffs. The problem is that when others do it it’ll look and feel souless because it’s some marketing guy leading the development team by the nose. True lovers of that style who know structure and have knowledge of where those cartoon styles originated will be the ones to carry it forward, not the teams who jumped on the bandwagon and are just in it for a quick buck.
 
How many hours a day do you spend drawing while working? What about on your off time? 

Some days i get to draw all day. Some days i’m modeling a character and sketch only to get parts down. I pretty much always have a doodle or two on my desk though. In my off time… it’s harder because i just had a baby daughter. She’s AMAZING, but she’d prefer that i be "playing daddy" not "drawing daddy" so until she sleeps at 7-8 i’m locked into raising her.

Where do you find inspiration for your art? Specifically, do you find it outside of the gaming "world?" Talk about that inspiration. 

In Detroit I was inspired by comics. I hung at comic shops drawing and playing games. Life was Comics and D&D.

Two years ago we went to Japan and I freaked. I’d hit arcades, ARCADES!!! with 80-90 year old smoking business men beating the TAR out of me at Streetfighter. Some days I’d just pick a direction sometimes and go. i’d travel for hours on foot and find that i was in Harajuku or Akihabara and get revitalized. I’d then run from shop to shop like a freak tourist. I spent the most time playing in arcades or in the book stores looking for new artists i’d not seen in the states. That trip filled my tank to draw again for the next few years.
 
What is your working environment like? What tools do you use professionally or personally to produce your art. 

I’m very old school. I’m surrounded by hundreds of CDs and artbooks. In the past i would take $100 dollars from every check and buy cd’s with it. i found that i’d come across an insane mix of music that way. Thus many cd’s.

A few toys, for anatomy purposes usually, or just coolness factor stuff. I’m currently using (per Okami) SoftImage XSI, Maya and Photoshop. Artistically I’ve always just liked studying one or two programs and getting insane results with it.

I usually draw with a .03 mechanical pencil with a 4h lead, then go over it with a 4b lead in a leadholder. It forces me to draw everything twice, but it helps me see the flaws in my art originally. Some people use non-repro blue originally, but it leaves this BEAUTIFUL effect that CAN’T be digitally captured, so i hide from that stuff. 
 
How do you deal with criticism? 

I’m pretty good with criticism. I think that people who tell me their actual opinion on my art might have good ideas. I think about the criticism and the source and come to a conclusion. I’d drawn a pin-up for Harris Comic’s Vampirella, where two bodies were hanging in the background with expiration dates on them. Vampirella was in the foreground posing seductively. I’d met this girl through a friend who saw the pinup and said, “Her feet are too big”. She and I have been married for 9 years. I’m good with criticism.

In the game industry you need thick skin because you are around passionate people who sometimes have opposing visions from you. If you try to fight to win EVERY battle, eventually you’ll get a reputation for being a pain to work with.

What do you like most about GAX? What do you like least and would like to see changed? Can be brutally honest. 

First I’d like to point out that my license plate has “GAX” on it. I swear it’s been so arbitrary that I’ve never really tried to remember it, “Leave your license plate number at the front desk so you won’t be towed!” I’d always walk outside, memorize it, and walk back in. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, I MEMORIZED MY LICENSE PLATE!!! (oddly enough it has my favorite number in it as well…)

What I like the most is the understanding that these people are all geeks… game geeks, tabletop geeks, etc. Will I get spammed because I say that I tried warhammer 40k last week? No. in fact I’d just receive tips on building a better army. I LOVE that. I like that in the last few days, I’ve been inspired by blogs and comments that have been uplifting and friendly. Yeah there’s potential for spam in the future, but right now, it’s bliss! What do I like least? I’d love to see some page editors highlighted so low tech creative kids can really make GAX their home. Otherwise it’s been a blast!!! 
 
What motto or slogan do you live by? 

“You will get hurt!” I had that written above my desk for a while. And it really helped toughen me up.

I still hate rejection, I still hate disappointing people, I still hate when my ideas aren’t the best, but if I know before hand that in the big picture there are lows as well as highs, it makes the lows less painful. I think because my close friends call me an optimist that this motto helps as well. Those words bring me back to earth sometimes and force me to work harder on projects so that there’s a greater chance of getting it right. 

I blog every single day but over on that OTHER site, talking about stuff most people who frequent SA probably wouldn’t be so interested in. Still, I had a few things on my mind and about a dozen emails from people who wondered what happened to me so here goes!

This blog has always been about new technologies, specifically in the social media space. I’ve tried bunches of beta products, done that whole early adoption and evangelism thing and generally been pretty open minded to new social tools. But for all of the betas I have been in, there are only a few apps I find myself using on a frequent basis.

Twitter is still critical to my daily communication. I don’t know what i’d do without Twitter. It alone justifies unlimited text messaging on my iPhone plan.

Utterz is also part of my daily routine. I used to listen to other people’s Utterz more often (I do need to get back to doing that) than I currently do. I love to post updates from the road, while driving, or walking around the block.

Ning is the engine that drives GAX Online, a project I am working on currently. It is such a killer social networking platform. It has some shortcomings, sure, but overall is very solid.

Stumble Upon is a great tool for driving traffic and promoting blogs. Seriously, if you haven’t installed the SU toolbar and you are producing ANY type of content online you are seriously missing out. Spending only an hour a day using the site will generate about 5-10k visits to your pages. I’m not talking one-off traffic either. The traffic is fairly constant. You just need to find clever ways to convert it to subscriptions / conversions.

It all started with that damned Gary Gannon.

I can’t remember exactly what we were talking about but he asked me if I had heard of the band Silversun Pickups. I said I had not, and he linked me to this video.

Cool song. Pretty Smashing Pumpkin’ish. I thought the girls voice was hot. Wait! That isn’t a girl singing it? Damn.

Anyway, this band rocks. If you dig 90’s alternative, and especially the aforementioned Pumpkins, you should really pick their second CD up Carnavas. Although, their first album Pikul is great too. Hell, I named my Everquest 2 character Pikul!

You definitely get used to the singers voice, who by the way, is male. What you don’t get used to is the hotness that is their bass player. Keyboard guy looks a little out of place, but the band on the whole plays very well together.

Caranavas is currently on "infinite repeat" right now. Any other SSPU fans out there? What is on YOUR infinite repeat?

Lets face it, MMO’s get old. They can also get frustrating. Whether it is not being able to find a group, feeling like your class is gimped, the "grind" or just apathy overall towards the game.

So here are my top 10 ways to get more enjoyment out of your MMO, regardless which one you play!

Its Just A Game

First and foremost, remember that you’re just playing a game. When things get frustrating you can always walk away. Although MMO’s don’t come with "pause" buttons, you can usually get to a safe spot to camp for the night without too much trouble. And even if you can’t, who cares? So you might have a corpse run to come back to if you pulled the old "Alt-F4" trick in a bad spot. It isn’t the end of the world!

Set Goals

MMO’s are about character advancement and achievement. Set some goals for your character when you create it or soon after you start playing. Keep those goals in mind while you play, so when you hit those times where you question why you’re killing the same mobs over and over you can remind yourself that level 70 (80, 90, 100 or whatever) isn’t that far away.

Seek Balance Between Your MMO and Real Life

Hey, you don’t have to tell me about your addiction to MMO’s, I understand! Everquest single handedly caused me to drop out of college. No, not really. That was all MY doing. You’ve been there before - it is 2am and you have to go to work in the morning. You know if you just finish up 1 more quest you will "ding" and then you can go to bed. Damn, but then you are going to have to train new skills. Relax, that class trainer will be there in the morning, the following next and probably (unless you are playing RF Online) next year.

Spouse > Party Members

When presented with the choice of pissing off your group OR pissing off the person you sleep next to, elect to diss your party members. Seriously, this kind of goes without saying but it is amazing how we can get so immersed into what we are doing, forgetting the people that share the bed, the car and the mortgage.

To Go Uber or Not to Go Uber

Resist the temptation to join an "uber guild" unless you are fully committed to playing the game like it is a full time job, because to many guilds it simply is. Being an active end-game guild raider can essentially nullify all of the points in this How to Guide. Raiding can be a lot of fun, just make sure you are willing to give up a lot of other things in exchange for all those epics you may get.

Make Something

Most MMO’s have some type of crafting system. Now, I can see people rolling their eyes but crafting can be a nice distraction from the grind. Some games, like WoW and EQ, let crafters create some pretty nice items, comparable to end-game raiding gear. At the very worst, you’ll have a more complete character you can sell one day on EBay!

Avoid Official Message Boards

Of course I am not advocating that you stay away from the GAX groups here on the site! Instead, resist the temptation to go join the official forums hosted by the publishers of your MMO. They are generally cauldrons of bile spewing, flame monsters. Only sadists further their enjoyment of a MMO by patronizing the "General Discussion" group on say, the World of Warcraft forums.

Theorycrafting May or May Not be for You

Unless you are a MMO veteran or a mathematician I’d recommend staying away from engaging in "Theorycraft." Enjoy the game for what it is, and your class for what THAT is. You don’t need to have that scientific calculator on your desk next to the mouse, calculating the additional haste and armor mitigation you might get from wearing one blue piece of armor over another. Theorycraft can add an interesting element to the game, don’t get me wrong, but at the end of the day there is something to be said for just having fun.

Respec Over Re-Roll 

Unless you royally fucked up the name, looks or class of your character consider holding on to it. Most MMO’s will allow you to re specialize your character for an in-game fee. Resist FOTM (flavor of the month) classes that are powerful today, but may receive a nerf later. If you are playing the game to be the most powerful class you need to realize you’re chasing the impossible dream. Games like MMO’s are re balanced all the time and that Paladin class you were so envious of today might be horrible tomorrow.

Don’t Play to Win

If it isn’t already readily obvious to everyone, you can’t win an MMO. These games are designed to go on forever. Play for fun instead of playing to win. It is the journey which is why you play games like these, not the finish line. There is no finish line. There is no cake! Or wait, the cake is a lie! Something like that.

Yes, another movie adaption went awry. Why is it that King’s books always seem to get bastardized? By the way, that simple fact is why I never, EVER want to see The Dark Tower made into a movie.

But back to The Mist.

This movie suffers from the same problems other King movies suffer from, mainly being poor acting. The story in and of itself is pretty interesting.

A violent storm and mysterious mist envelops a small town, trapping several dozen people inside a general store. As they grow impatient waiting for a rescue which never seems to come, groups brave walking into the mist only to be beaten, bloodied, severed, bludgeoned or worse.

You don’t have to wait long to see what lives in The Mist, though. They are gigantic insects and tentacle monsters. I was tempted on more than one occasion to research the designer of these bugs, figuring it was the same guy who designed the Gremlins. They look THAT bad.

But I am still not sure what is worse, being trapped in a building by bugs, or being trapped in a building with the idiots in this movie.

You have rednecks, old people, a pretty boy, a hardcore grandmother with a potty mouth and a religious nutball - and thats just the main characters! The reason i didn’t include "hardcore grandmother" with "old people" is that this lady actually rocks. She had the best line in the movie when she called the religious nutball a "miserable pussy."

Very Stephen King, in other words.

The whole time you just want to see the religious nutball get killed. If you looked in the encyclopedia under "abortion clinic bomber" you’d see her picture. Fortunately, Mr. Upstanding Store Owner blows her brains out with a gun. (And the crowd cheered)

But about the bugs? Where do they come from? Another dimension, of course. No, it isn’t really explained, just accept it. Some military experiment that went bad, thats all you really need to know.

The ending was laughable. After the main character, who by the way looks like a younger version of Highlander, blows all his friends brains out in a mercy killing believing that they will never survive the mist, the mist suddenly clears and everything is fine. The whole US Army just appears out of nowhere to save the day.

This movie sucked. Don’t see it if you care about the memory of King’s original The Mist short story.

From the Chumby.com website

The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what’s online that matters to you.

Now, my even simpler definition

Chumby is a bean bag with a 3.5 inch touchscreen that is connected to the internet.

My Chumby, or Little Chef as it is affectionately called, is displaying all kinds of useful information right now. I have the weather from the three cities I care most about right now (Seattle, Fort Collins, CO and Phoenix). I also have my Twitter friends feed, Facebook friend statuses, photos from Flickr, the latest pictures from College Humor and of course, The Onion.

As my friend Francine twittered yesterday after receiving her Chumby, the out of the box experience is incredible. You plug Chumby in and immediately you are greeted by a tutorial that shows off the touch screen and motion controls of the device. While you are playing with Chumby you are actually calibrating it. Very clever.

Setting up Chumby’s network was straight forward. It just worked for me right away, which was nice.

To personalize Chumby to your liking you need to set up an account on Chumby.com. From there, you can create channels and add widgets to those channels. There are quite a few widgets already developed for the device and a pretty active developer community working on more. That community will be critical to Chumby’s success, ultimately.

I even used Chumby as my alarm clock last night and fell asleep watching it display the latest stories from Google news. This is an internet geeks dream!

There is just one thing I want to get off my chest about Chumby. For all of its great features, there is one thing that really bothers me about it.

Apparently, the Chumby.com widget site is going to be ad supported. There can (and will) be widgets pushed out to your Chumby that you don’t control. As I was writing this I noticed a video player pop up on the screen. I didn’t add any video widgets so I pressed the play button and saw a public service announcement for a Say No To Drugs campaign. At first I thought it was part of College Humor!

I don’t like the concept of ads on my Chumby, especially when the device comes with a $175 price tag. I feel like it is already expensive for what it does. Now I know that the alternatives to ad supported content can be a subscription service. Seriously, I’d almost prefer that to the alternative because I don’t want to be seeing commercials while I have Little Chef on my nightstand.

Ads aside (and to be fair, I have only seen one so far), Chumby is a cool little device. If you are a widget or information junkie you might want to check it out.

When I tell people that I believe Mass Effect is the best game ever made, they stop and say "Wow. Are you sure? Thats a really bold statement!"

The answer I give in return is, "Yes and Yes. It is a bold statement and yes, I am sure. Mass Effect is just that good."

Over the past few days I have posted some impressions of the game. Now that I am finished with it, I can do a full review. It will be spoiler free so don’t worry about that, although there I’d love nothing more than to discuss the ending, which in a word was epic.

The game starts off with asking you to build a profile for your character. You can play the game as John Shepard, the character you see on the box art and on the commercials. Alternatively, you can create a customized character, either male or female. You’ll be asked some basic questions about your upbringing and your military experience, all of which form the basis of an elaborate back story. Even from character creation, you will be influencing the development of your character and how the NPCs in the world react to you.

It won’t be long before you’re in the middle of the Mass Effect universe - which actually is our current universe, just in the future. Human explorers discovered alien technology on Mars which was left behind by the Protheans, an advanced space faring species that is shrouded in mystery. That technology unlocked advances in space travel which pushed us to the stars and beyond. The name given to the technology to connect humanity to the furthest reaches of our galaxy? Mass Relays.

The pinnacle of the Protheans technological legacy is an enormous space station dubbed The Citadel, a place you will spend a lot of time in while playing the game. It is the seat of political power and cultural diversity in the universe and your base of operations as a member of the Alliance Navy. It is from the Citadal you will interface with your mentor in the game, Captain Anderson (voiced by Hollywood alum Keith David). You will also have to return there from time to time to complete quests, buy equipment and report to the Citadel Council (think of the UN but in space).

With the setting now, shall we say, set - it is time to talk about why Mass Effect is the best game you will play this year (and for some, ever).

Conversation System

With Mass Effect, Bioware has raised the bar for interactive gaming. Just as Halo 2 revolutionized online match play, so to has Bioware revolutionized the art of storytelling through games. There has never been a system so intricate and yet, so simple to use, for establishing relationships with NPCs. You hear so much these days from PR types within gaming companies talking about digital actors but rarely do their games live up to the hype. Bioware has achieved true digital acting in this game though, and the results are spectacular.

I played through the campaign following the path of a Paragon (good aligned class). Now that I have finished, I am playing it as a Renegade (evil aligned class). It is amazing how much different the game plays, especially since on the second run through I already know the plot. I don’t know how many thousands of lines of dialog were recorded for the game but it is obvious that Bioware intended people to play the game many times because it continually surprises me.

As I developed alliances and fueds with NPCs in the game, it made me wonder how much better Halo 3 could have been had it adopted a similar conversation system. I learned more about the Mass Effect universe in half an hour than I did about the Halo universe the entire time I played the game.

Questing in Zero-G

There are essentially missions and assignments in Mass Effect. You can choose to work on them in any order, or skip them entirely. Both move the story forward, but assignments are considered secondary. Some reviews have praised the story missions in Mass Effect as being inventive, original, immersive and epic. Those are all words I’d use to describe them too. And while the side tasks are sometimes cookie cutter in nature, they can also be very diverse. Sure, surveying planets for gas and mineral deposits can get tedious, but what about infiltrating a colony of biotic extremists or defusing a nuclear bomb attached to a long forgotten space probe which crash landed on a planet now friendly to the Alliance?

Throughout each you will be challenged - from sporadic attacks from aliens to hazardous environments on untamed worlds. Doing the side quests also give you the experience, credits and equipment you need to take on the more challenging plot missions.

Essential plot related missions receive yet even more polish - more dialog, more cut scenes, more twists and turns. You will learn early on that there are three planets of particular interest to you, and each one contains hours of "edge-of-your-seat" action.

Just make sure to do side quests in this game as they not only add to the overall story, but help prepare your character for what you find later.

Combat Evolved?

Halo carried the moniker "Combat Evolved" but really, it was more of the same. Mass Effect, on the other hand, has a truly revolutionary combat system. In subtle ways you can see traces of role playing games, first person shooters, tactical squad based shooters and cover shooters such as Gears of War.

Depending on the class you select you will approach each fight differently. As an Adept (on my original play through) I used biotic skills to disable enemy shields, push groups of charging enemies over guard rails (or even cliffs) or lift them into the air while I shot them from range with my pistol.

As a soldier class playing through a second time, I am charging the enemy myself, shooting first and not bothering to ask questions later.

Cover is essential to the game for most classes though, so you will want to make sure to duck behind crates, walls, rocks - you name it. Remember, if you run and gun in this game you will probably die. It is important to note that Mass Effect is NOT Halo.

Each time you begin a new mission or land on a planet, you will have a chance to pick two other members of your crew to join you. Each crew member has strengths and weaknesses, so choose wisely as you are stuck with them until you complete the mission. And depending on who you bring, other missions or assignments may be unlocked to you. Sometimes the right companion can mean the difference between a firefight and a negotiation.

Mass Effect is the Entire Package

I recant my original comment about it having very good but not great graphics. As the game moves from one environment to another you can’t help but be impressed with the games graphic engine. Whether your traveling across windswept dunes in your Mako ATV or traversing catwalks above molten lava, the visual appeal of the game is obvious.

As I already said, the conversation system and story are what you’d expect from a groundbreaking Hollywood film.

The soundtrack in Mass Effect is also spectacular. In fact, I am listening to it as I write this review. It really brings you back to the game and its universe.

Mass Effect is also one of the most re playable RPGs I have ever seen. How many games have you played, ever, which after spending 40 hours to complete you immediately restart? How many games really feel like a totally new experience the second time? Mass Effect delivers on re playability.

So is it the "Best Game Ever?"

For me it is an unqualified yes.

The ending of this game (which I will not spoil) is absolutely epic. If there was a word beyond epic to describe it, I might just use that word as well. So many games have an ending which disappoints. I can guarantee the ending of Mass Effect will not disappoint you.

It isn’t a secret that the Mass Effect story is fully developed over the course of 3 games (a trilogy). Even so, you are left with a conclusion that makes you salivate over the possibility for Mass Effect 2 and 3, but not empty about what you have already accomplished.

But the magic of this game isn’t just the destination, it is also in the ride getting there. I finished the game with mixed emotions. After 40 hours of play I was happy to see the end, but also sad that I hadn’t finished all of my quests and that my time with my character was over. Sure, I could replay the game from an earlier save, but I decided to restart the game (pretty much immediately) and go at it again from the Renegade side of things.

About that Bioware MMO

In closing, just let me say that I pray that Bioware turns its Mass Effect IP into a MMO. Seriously, this game has a richer back story than Star Wars. SW is tired and old, put it to bed. Bioware, please - consider making Mass Effect into a MMO. It would be tremendous.

In fact, I feel very confident that a Mass Effect MMO would dethrone World of Warcraft. It is just about the only thing I think that could.