YourGamer.Net

games room - a set on Flickr.

I am not worthy, seriously, i am lower than shit when it co

mes to this girls geek cred.

Miss n00b, who used to write for me, has again demonstrated her geekiness in this creation of retro heaven.  Rares, anime, posters, comics…..but wheres the next gen you ask?

Its in the next room with the HD tv, where it fucking belongs. This is a shrine to true gamers and the games that love them (real human contact be damned!!! ).

“but, johnwedd, you magnificent peice of man meat, any body can buy a bunch of crappy games and furniture and call it a game room.” yeah? well, fuck you…..

Real fucking donkey barrels!!!! Do you have those!!!! Didn’t fucking think so. Seriously, i don’t think that theres a gamer looking at this right now and NOT getting a big nerd boner. Need more? look ver closely at this next one……

Do you see it?

lower right-hand corner, next to the virtua guns? no?

heres a clue….

One of a fucking kind baby……

Miss n00b has ascended to game goddess.

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The Wrestler (2008).

The shear immersive realism in this film is damn worthy of award and acclaim. This is film makes me want to find Macho Man Randy Savage, and say, “Thank you for going through hell, so that i could have a hero to look up to”.

the method to which it is filmed, and the stunning performnces given by the actors, both main and supporting role, truely flesh out the story as the gritty; slice-of-life  peice that is destined for cult following.

watch it, buy it.

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US &squo;unprepared for cyber 9/11&squo; | The Courier-Mail.

I feel ashamed of my country. We invented the internet, 99% of all the innovations in information and communication happen here. We are home to nearly all of the information system development companies and research houses.

Fuck, we have more qualified hackers per cappita. not counting script kiddies and posers. All that aside, even our networks them selves are behind the times. Lack of broadband distrobution, not adopting the more secure, efficient, and faster protocols. Comparatively speaking, the rest of heavy hitters online are using tanks, while we’re still stuck with horses, (forgive the historically referenced analogy).

this is what we need to do:

• Start adopting the more advanced protocols and offer small tax breaks to the ISPs who go through the trouble and expense to upgrade.
• Allow more broadband in more rural areas. its ridiculously expensive to get anything resembling broadband in the poor and rural areas.
• Have free/filtered wi-fi sponsored by government charity or simply government provided. It would be filtered  (of course) but it would be free and give internet to those that would otherwise not be able to afford it.
• Keep the net neutral, but keep it patrolled for threats against law-abiding citizens and cyber-attacks. Things like copyright infringement are bullshit laws and shouldn’t be the focus of a net based law enforcement group. Scams, illegal activities (ie, child exploitation), and ID theft should be the higher priority, (if not only) priority. They should have oversight to make sure that fucktard groups like the RIAA/MPAA aren’t controlling them. Copyright infringement and pirating are bullshit compared real threats like suppression of freedom of speach, child porn idiots operating inside the US.
• Do not infringe on Internet Neutrality. we love the freedom of expression that the internet gives us and we want to keep it that way. Yes, i do support a net-based law-enforcement department, but not a controled internet. They would be professionals in the feild of internet security and white hat hackers whos job is to keep the US net space even playing feild for all those who access from the US.

I want to make my statement clear, Net Nuetrality, Adoption of Better technology, greater distrobution of broadband, Internet and Tech savvy, well equiped law-enforcement.

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100 DAY TENSAI SIT-DOWN PROTEST! What IS “bob’s game?!”.

When most gamer’s think about homebrew, crappy “break-Out” clones and pornographic rom-hacks usually come to mind. (Ok, maybe the occasional unique marriage proposal, to) Very rarely do you think, “Hey, alot of work went into this,”  or “This is a totally original game.” That is the stigma that encircles alot of the homebrew community. What most don’t realize is that sometimes, homebrew is the only way for an aspiring game developers to get the feel for creating games for a console. This is proof of ones dedication to the art of game design.

Bob’s Game (by Bob) is a living testament  to the under-dog nature of independent game developers and passion they hold for game design as an art. Now, I’m not saying that his game is absolute gold, but the simple fact that he did it alone and treated the whole thing like a work of art. A love letter to the greats of retro-games past. I would play a game like that on principle alone.

Now, he (Bob) wants to put his game out as a legitimate release of gaming goodness. As any developer worth there pixels will tell you, getting an SDK for a console is more than just cash and carry. You have to fit certain standards, in Nintendo’s case; those standards include haveing about 50k in capital, a business address, and registered corporation/business license. The software development kit for the DS is just under $2000(that’s the low end version), it includes  a DVD of the code libraries, drivers, protocols, and tool-kits for developing on the DS.

Homebrew development isn’t about making games for a console, it’s more centralized around making and reverse engineering tools to make games for a console. Sort of a fan-made/hacked SDK. Now, homebrew has come a long way, but anyone can tell you that it’ll never be as good as the tools you get from the manufacturer. Granted, you can get third-party tools and game engines for a well established SDK, but those operate under the assumption that you have a legitimate copy.

I can go on and on about the shear amount of shovelware there is for console systems, but really; is it relevant? Seriously, it’s a simple thing, Kid makes game, wants to sell it as legitmant game through proper channels.  I don’t know if its Nintendo being a douche, or a realy big misunderstanding, just call the kid and tell the guy what the hell the problem with his application is.

On the bright side, he’s making a port of his masterpeice to the Android mobile platform. This is good, if a door is closed to you, move on to another door!

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The King of Fighters 2003 â„¢ Play Free on GameTap.com.

I love the simplicity of fighting games. Theres alot to be said about games that place you in thesame room with another character and insist that you beat the ever loveing snot out of each other.Theres a few nods to more refined/complex game mechanics if you look for them, but in the end, its who can shove their foot up the others ass the hardest.

I downloaded this via Gametap and pluged in my trusty Gravis GamePad Pro (the most durable and well supported in my opinion) and went to fucking town. Immediately after chooseing my characters at random, i proceeded to get my ass handed to me on a multitude of platers. Whats worse than that is that i loved every freakin minute of it.

The shear deluge of fast and furiously smooth images and effects buffeting my screen with beautiful visuals, its enchanting. I remember spending hours playing this game at a friends house in my younger days.  This game, and the multitude of other games like it give button mashing goodness in casually consumable chunks.

Classic games that have been remade to fit the new graphically accellerated lifestyle of gamers, (such as Street Fighter II HD Remix) are a true tribute to the game itself.

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QuakeCon - News.

For those that don’t know, or just don’t care, i grew up mostly in Texas. (D/FW area precisely) Being a geek in Texas is difficult, what with the annoying rednecks and vicarious amounts of religous nuts. But QuakeCon was a gathering of geeks so thick the idoicy of the outside world seemed both far away, and ever present.

QC is notorious for being extremely dark. Not like emo kid dark, but literaly, without large amounts of light. The majority of the light came from flickering CRT monitors. Occasionaly, you would get that over the topper that had a projector on his rig and played with one of the convention hall’s walls.

Now days, such mods are both common, and subsquently pointless. You can’t use a wall all the time, not to mention you might not have the space to do it, and the image quality would depend greatly on the surface in which they are projected on.

But all that was lost on me as I looked on at the fuzzy images in wonder. I watched as mutants, aliens and humans, fragged frequently over fervent flags. It was Home.

Just waxing poetic of cons long past. you may now return to your regularly scheduled interwebz.

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Space Porn: Farewell, Sweet Space Shuttle Endeavour.

I really miss the joy and what have you associated with the space program from even the reagan era. I remember watching them put up the hubble telescope. i miss that.

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Its hard to keep up with a blog, especially without help. But i really like having a place to post my mindset on things, specificly games and geekery. It takes alot of dedication to having consistant ready to go content, very difficult if you have to balance that with college and real life obligations. My freinds are at best, spotty with writing. Two have all but dropped off the face of the earth, or the internet at least.

Some general rules of game blogging are as follows:

1. Be Consistent - you’ll need to find a style of writing/posting that fits you. This is difficult for some because, its hard to get a handle on what precisely a writing style is. What grammar quirks, spelling, and slang works for you, while still conveying your thoughts and ideas you wish to express.
2. Be Regular - Don’t make the mistake i did; make a point of posting SOMETHING on a regular basis. Quality will come with practice and patience, but the key factor of most blogs of any type is the fact they update regularly. Once a day, once a week, twice a week, and so on. Pick a regular post schedule that fits you and your real schedule. Allow a little bit of time for research and critique.
3. Be Respectful - In this time of a shaky concepts of intellectual property and copyrights,  its best to cite your sources and make proper use of the quote options that are available to most blog apps. A little bit of formatting goes a long way to being in good relations to other sites. Personal blogs don’t know or care about such things, but that’s why it’s a PERSONAL blog, if you want to be a specialty blog, try to be professional about your presentation.
4. Be Patient - Writing is fairly trying on ones sanity when you have to hunt through lots of text to make sure it all adds up. A good way to deal with the issue of misquotes, artistic fubars, and general hack writing is to have an editor, or at least a friend who’s better at grammar than you to look through it. Proofreading, critiques, spell checking and formatting are all cross’s that bloggers must bear. You are not the only one, so don’t be angry if someone comments on a mistake you made.
5. Be Nice - You don’t have to enjoy the pressence of idiots in your community, use the ban-hammer if needs be, but also be nice to your more mature and respectfull members. Respond to there comments, have respectfull and meaningful conversations. If you’re running a specialty blog, then keeping your community happy is a primary goal of your site. You never know when a fan of yours can be a source of information and/or inspiration.
6. Be Knowledgable - When you can have most of the world’s collective knowledge just a google search away, there should be no excuse for biased ignorance. Writing a rant is one thing, but if you are a specialty blog, you are obligated to research your topics. This is especially true when you have two sides to an arguement. It may seem strange to get the “devils advocate” point of view, but your post will be the better for it.
7. Be Skilled - There is no excuse, NONE, for not knowing the tools of the trade. A blogger specialist should take the time to get to know his or her system software. You don’t need to be an expert, but you must be able to compentently navigate and use the software that runs your blog. Keep a link to the help files either saved or bookmarked for easy access. Take the time to check through the updates and tips that the creators give. If you are comfortable in the writing environment, then you work faster and more effeciently.
8. Be Honest - This pertains primarily to the tags and SOE “bombing” of articles, posts and what have you that in the make your post to be something its not. As a gaming blog, YourGamer.Net concentrates on tags and catagories that encompass gaming. You will not find photoshop tutorials, porn, or warez download links in this blog, and my SEO practices reflect that. I suggest that all bloggers to the same.
9. Be Creative - You don’t have to be completely different each post, sticking with a format you know and are comfortable with is nothing to be ashamed of, most readers expect things as such. You shouldn’t, however be afraid to throw the occasional curve ball. Keeping your readers and subscribers on there toes is good, but don’t do it to much. Being to far off the beaten path will change the focus of the posts entirely, and is ultimately confusing.
10. Be Detirmined - Just because you get a low spot in your reader or subscribership is no cause for alarm. Keep moving forward and you’ll get somewhere. Don’t be afraid to use the larger news and service sites that are huge and plentiful. Twitter, Digg, Flickr, link exchanges, all good tools to get your blog out there. It may seam cheap, but sometimes its the best way.

Welp, thats that from my brain. I know it may seem hypocritical, this list when compared to my many other posts, but this is what i’ve learned from running this site.

Have fun!!

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It’s a strange and alien concept to think that the bad boy of the the gaming industry is looking at the Wii for possibilities. The upcoming GTA: Chinatown Wars for the DS has raised some speculation in the direction of a GTA title on the Wii.

That’s out of character for Nintendo, they lean toward the “lighter-side” of gaming, and it works for them. Take-Two and Rockstar entertainment have done just the oposite and made a killing off of gritty and dark, politically incorrect games. These two rarely fraternize.

Despite their seperation in the industry, they remain some of the better power houses exemplifing two apposing ends of the gaming spectrum. Yet, once the game “No More Heroes” broke for the Wii, the mature barrier was purged and there is an open door for the realistic and gritty to come flooding onto the Wii. Its only fitting that GTA take a stab at it.

My question is, would a GTA title survive on the Wii, and will it inspire other companies to give it a try.

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As geeks, things are expected of us. We must have much greater than average knowlege of technical studies, we have to know at least one decent game that we play regularly, have a favorite comic book(s), and at the very least, know a healthy chunk of Star Trek trivia.

That’s our stigma. A signature expectation that is almost universal amongst geeks,gamers, and nerds alike. At some point in our lives, most of us used to watch; and love, Star Trek. So a Star Trek game is a sure fire epic win, right? Not precisely. In fact, the franchise and video games make for strange bed fellows judging by their history together.

With 17 games on almost every console (ever made), and 39 games on various computer platforms, its safe to say that the world of gaming has always had a way to “boldly go where no one has gone before.” This doesn’t even graze the the tip of the iceberg. Those total of 55 electronic games don’t come near the mountains of boardgames, RPGs, and at least 2 card games (and i know there are massive amounts of freeform roleplaying simulations of Star Trek going on, but I am afraid to journey into that realm).

OK, we’ve established that geeks and Star Trek are bff (that is the first and last time i will use that). Gaming and the Franchise are a mixed relationship. All the games made for Star Trek run the gambit between amazingly innovative and great, to a big black spot on the industry’s history (makeing frequent stops inbetween, i might add).

Where does the the foster child, Star Trek Online fit into this all? Well, its simple really. Almost every gaming genre covered, the MMO scene has not felt the presence of this franchise thus far. Star Wars has made a go at it and failed miserably, in there first attempt. LucasArts and Bioware are currently working on a replacement, so you Fett fans still have hope.

The MMO project has been passed off twice in search of a decent developer, they are currently at Cryptic Studios, whos track record is sparce but well tagged with awards and allcalaids for their two platinium hits City of Heroes and City of Villians. They are current in the tail end of developing Champions Online, a newer super-hero based MMO. The buzz of which has gotten many gamers and MMO coniesours in a tizzy.

Some fans worry about the art direction, hoping to avoid the stylized version. And hardcore trekkies are demanding that the game be huge, graphically intinsive, extremely complex and (if you don’t see this comeing, kill yourself now) be able to travel back in time. While those that who love both MMO’s and Star Trek, want the same thing any other MMO gamer wants.

Simple interface with innovative gameplay and community options. Graphics that are nice, but won’t lag out. And a way to be unique and customize yourself. Cryptic has got these down pat, but Star Trek fans make juggalos and Final Fantasy Fanatics look tame. They have to apply those three standards, in a game that remains true to canon Star Trek. Any, and i mean ANY, slip will be pounced and ravaged like hynas on the slow member of the herd.

A force this powerful, in the right hands, is a beauty to behold, anything less would bring destruction and furious anger. Cryptic is taking a risk, and they know it. Expect polish, and to all you fellow Star Trek Fans?

Lets try to be gentle, ok?

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