The Wonderful World of the Gundampilotspaz

I figured they’d be bacon bits. Wow.

Scott Spaziani — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:38:29 +0000

Posted via web from Twitter Pictures

@adinolfi I SEE YOU

Scott Spaziani — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:03:47 +0000

via tweetie

Posted via web from Gundampilotspaz’s Posterous

Panasonic FZ35 Micro test with anime figures

Scott Spaziani — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:17:49 +0000

Posted via web from Twitter Pictures

Azusa Nakano “Azunyan” Figure by Alter | Sankaku Complex

Scott Spaziani — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:20:09 +0000

via sankakucomplex.com

WANT

Posted via web from Gundampilotspaz’s Posterous

Back to school 2010 edition

Scott Spaziani — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:25:12 +0000

Back to school again. As sure as the rising of the sun it has to come again. But everytime it comes back it feels wrong. Unnatural. As if I’m not supposed to be there anymore. I’ve always had this feeling. The end of high school felt so final that returning to a class room setting is just strange. An unexpected second act.

I kind of blame my job. I blame my job for far too much but I think it made me grow up a little faster than I wanted too. I remember sitting in meetings reviewing product test plans with engeeniers and quality managers. I was a 19 year old kid. I should have been home playing video games insteading of evaluating medical software.

Since community college I’ve been planning, scheming up ideas to follow my dreams. Media companies mostly. I wanted to start them now and do something with my life. Create something, not sit in a classroom and be part of a 100 year old broken system. Be someone.

But in order to be someone I need to pass this test. This four year gauntlet.

I only come here when I’m in some kind of crisis. i should talk about my blog more or my plans for steamlining my life but I think the result will be the same.

Games of the past

Scott Spaziani — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:04:27 +0000

I’ve stopped myself from buying an abundance of new games over the last few months believing that they would distract me from school since I was already playing Left 4 Dead 2 and Borderlands as well as trying to rewatch all of Battlestar Galactica. During those lulls where I did have time I have started to go back and play games I have never finished. The two specific ones being Shadows of the Colossus and Okami.

Shadows of the Colossus was an incredible game. The game is designed wonderfully where you learn by doing not by a long, annoying tutorial sequence. The story was played out almost dialogue free. Which I think is an important factor in designing a good game. A story in a Video Game should be told by what the player observes and experiences. It was easy for this method to work in Shadow because the story was fairly simple. Boy likes girl. Girl dies. Boy has to defeat giant monsters to bring her back to life. It didn’t have to be aided by dialogue after all the major chapters, like Half Life 2, or by small audio bites throughout the game, like Bioshock, it was just a simple story element as an excuse to get to the game. The real surprise came in the end. The story that you believed was simple took an unexpected turn and became one of the most depressing yet happy video game endings I have ever experienced.

The second game is Okami for Playstation 2. It was a highly rated game that just never took off even with a Wii re-release. I’m only a few hours in but the gameplay is incredible but weighted down by way too much dialogue and a frustrating semi-open world. Hopefully soon the game will focus more on the game play, which involves attacking monsters and exploring the world using a combination of standard platforming and the ability to draw in order to affect the environment.

I’ve also had a nagging urge in the back of my mind to play Final Fantasy VI again with people on twitter and the gaming blogs bringing up the game in various context. I’m debating if I should play the game on my laptop or use the Playstation 1 version that I have. I also considered getting the GBA version but that one is out of print and extremely expensive. Final Fantasy VI contains one of the most complex and rich story I’ve ever experienced Video Game or not. You can tell just from the analysis of the ending theme that SWE3tMadness wrote, linked above. It really is something I want to experience again before I leave College and have to face the real world.

So this is what I will be doing until at least Christmas where I’ll hopefully be getting both Uncharted games, New Super Mario Brothers, and The God of War collection.

And no, I didn’t bite the bullet and buy Modern Warfare 2.

Modern Warfare 2

Scott Spaziani — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:57:11 +0000

I’m mentally torn at how to proceed with Modern Warfare 2. On the one hand, the game is supposed to be an extremely well made game. Perhaps the best shooter since the previous Modern Warfare. However, there are things that Activison, the publishing company, and Infinity Ward, the developers, have done that clearly show an abandonment of the PC as a platform.

While the real advances in Modern Warfare 2 are in its extensive multiplayer the design is clearly meant for a console experience. No more dedicated servers, no more custom game mods, and a player limit of 18. Granted the design of the multiplayer is meant for only 18 players it still doesn’t excuse the lack of features that PC gamers have enjoyed since early in the Internet era. They even increased the price of the PC version to $60. $10 more than the standard PC game but equal to the average PS3 title. So while I am in protest of this trend away from PC gaming and towards the more controlled, stable environment of consoles I want this game. I should play this game.

The game is being celebrated by fans and critics, has broken or nearly broken most sales records, and at this time will probably be the mist successful game ever made. Not buying the game because of lack of features is futile. If PC gaming actually want to participate in activism they should actually buy the game and show Activision that there are still a strong PC community willing to spend money on their game.

I am so conflicted! Bu the single player is what really drives me to the game. I’ve been replaying the original Modern Warfare (The original Call of Duty 4… look what they’ve done to me!) which has reminded me exactly how amazing the game play is, how breathtaking the story is, and the presentation is the best I’ve seen in a game since Half Life 2. But every time I go to buy MW2 I stop. I can’t seem to make it past the landing page.

I know all this seems silly. But I just can’t seem to shake it. MW2 represents a disturbing turn in the future in multiplatform shooters where the PC is neglected. The PC version of GTA4 and Batman Arkham Asylum got later and less commercialized releases. But this has never happened with a shooter.

- Destructoid

According to John Hodgman, The World Turned Upside Down

Scott Spaziani — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:41:22 +0000

I am once again hopelessly addicted to Battlestar Galactica. It’s a sick disease. But the show grabs you and refuses to let go! I had to pull myself away in order to do some readings for tomorrow and prepare my classes to register.

I hate taking a foreign language. I haven’t mastered English yet and they want me, at 22 years old, to start attempting to learn a new Language? And they are going to hold my degree from me if I don’t pass? That sounds insane. We live in a world where the majority of the population speaks English. English is the language of trade, it is the language of science, and it is the most advanced literary language in the world. I want to master it. I want to be a good writer! I’m not going to refine my spotty grammar if I have to start a new language from scratch! So I’m going to spend my Winter Break attempting to catch up on Spanish so I can enter Spanish II in the Spring and actually pass. Any native Spanish speakers want to play me for three semesters?

Went up to Mohegan Sun this weekend. I haven’t played Poker in almost two months. It was beginning to drive me a little crazy. I played for a good eight hours… I only made $12 but that number is way above my lowest point. But I played well. I only made one serious bad decision that cost me about $150. But I also played a lot of good, solid, bold poker.

John Hodgman’s new book was finally released in Audio. The standard word filled version has been out for a while but I wanted to wait for the audiobook because Hodgman puts on a great performance during the reading. He also included guests in the cast such as nerd rock star Jonathan Coulton. They’ve been friends for decades and play off each other very well. It’s a wonderful listen. The book part you will devour quickly. It’s well written and commentary and music provided by Coulton enhance the content. The second part is a little more tedious but just as well written. Hodgman includes an audio page-a-day calendar. He just reads every day one after another. It can get a little boring. The final hour and a half of the audiobook is devoted to the live recording of the 700 Moleman names. John Hodgman reads all 700 names and professions while Coulton plays “The World Turned Upside Down” over and over again. They are both incredible talents and I highly recommend the audio version of “More Information Than You Require.”

Overconsumption

Scott Spaziani — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:21:00 +0000

I’m falling way behind on my Anime watching because of my poorly timed desire to watch The Simpsons, my rematch of Battlestar Galactica (on blu-ray), and attempting to finish Tenchi GXP. I’ve placed too much on my plate and I’m suffering for it! My reading for pleasure and video game time is also taking a large hit. So I decided to reduce my netflix subscription to 1 DVD at a time which I won’t use much. I’m really maintaining Netflix for the streaming. Which will be coming to PS3 very soon!

I bought seasons four, five, six, and Seven of the Simpson; I have all of Drew Carey, I have anime piling up, and now that I started watching BSG I can’t stop. Panic! Panic!

So I’m cutting myself off until all of that is watched. Limited Netflix usage, no new DVDs, and trying to sneak anime in whenever I can. Wow my priorities are skewed.

I had forgotten just how good Battlestar Galactica is from the beginning. Some of the aspects that felt out of place towards the end are being seeding at the start. I’m going to enjoy watching those revalations appear and exactly how they hint and build up towards those moments. Ron Moore is probably the best writer in Hollywood right now. I hope he is working on something new. We need an epic space series back on TV from a person who knows what he is doing. From THE person who invented the modern Sci-fi drama!

Busy weekend coming up. I’m going to the Casino Friday night, have a paper to work on, and it’s the one year anniversary of my Grandfathers death. I’m not cut out for stress and it just keeps mounting.

Combining genre

Scott Spaziani — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:11:48 +0000

I’ve always been interested in stories that attempt to pit magic against technology. The two opposite dynamics of genre fiction coming together creates an interesting feel. Guns and machines against Wizards and Dragons. It has so much potential to be great Van artwork.

Seriously, the concept probably intrigues me thanks to Final Fantasy 6, my favorite of the series, where the Empire fuses magic and technology in order to create the center of its army, the Magitech armor. It comes to the heroes to learn how to use Magic in order to combat and stop the power of the Empire. The aesthetic is very much steam-punk but not the traditional copper on everything style. A more gritty gray and full metal look.

A story seed popped into my head suddenly while I was doing some reading for school. The idea centers around a world, like Final Fantasy 6, caught somewhere between modern technology and Steampunk suddenly being overthrown by magic users. But the protagonist would need to be a magic user! He would help form a resistance using his knowledge of magic to infuse the machines with a new found power.

The problem with creating a world with technology and magic is that one usually dominates the world. A balance needs to be found. For example, the magic users could use water and ice to dampen gun powder. But their shield spells need to have a low limit on the number of hits they can take. Finding that middle ground is going to be what makes a story that combines Science Fiction and Fantasy successfully.

This is mostly a ramble. But it helps me to define what exactly how a world that I described could work inside of a story.