You guys no doubt heard about it, most of you are probably apart of it. Diablo 3 launched on Tuesday. It was insane. I decided to buy the game about 3 hours before it launched but I knew for a fact I'd never be able to play when the servers went live (the fact that it went live at 3AM EST didn't help).
Now that I've been in the game for awhile though, things have picked up. The MegaMidnightGaming YouTube channel has a ton of videos going love on it now. So far most of them are of the Demon Hunter class but we've got some Monk and Witch Doctor gameplay mixed in there. Eddie and I played some co-op as well. Tons of new videos will be going up as the days go on. Each day will focus on a specific class so that way, if you're only interested in a one particular class you won't have to wonder when you'll be seeing more of them.
As for what I think of the game, well I'll point you towards the latest episode of the MMG podcast. If you're reading this exactly when I've put it up (around 1:40 AM) then it won't be live yet. But by Monday night it should be online.
Summer is getting closer and closer. With summer unfortunately comes the end of regularly scheduled television seasons. Everything is wrapping up. Sure there are still a few shows that run into the summer, and a few good ones that actually air during the summer, but for the most part the TV season is over.
All we have to look forward to is the return of our favorite series in September alongside new pilots. This year there are fewer new shows worth checking out than ever. One has struck me as particularly odd though and that's Elementary, CBS' modern day Sherlock Holmes procedural. Now obviously CBS is known for their procedurals. There's no doubting that's why they're still the number one network.
Now obviously they want to capitalize on the success of the phenomenal BBC series Sherlock which is a modern telling of Sherlock Holmes in London.... not in NY where Elementary is set. The whole thing is a mixed bag. Sherlock is like some drug addict who'd just finished rehab. Watson is suddenly a woman... Not that that's a "big deal" or whatever, and I realize that in the books Sherlock was indeed a drug addict. I just feel like they're trying too hard to be really different than Sherlock so they don't get sued into oblivion. BBC has not licensed the show for reproduction in the US so if they deemed it necessary they could sue over copyright infringement. I'm sure no one wants to do that, but if they stray too close to Sherlock then I would expect things to get nasty.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
The End of My First Job
Originally this post was going to be about how I was planning to quit my job and why. Well things got pushed up a bit and now this post is just going to be about why I quit.
For those who don't know, I worked at a pizza joint. It was a part time hourly job that I worked in between school and other day to day things. It was a nice fit because the place was really close to where I lived and my boss was pretty flexible about letting you take days off when you really had to.
While that all sounds nice there were more cons and pros at this job. Some were ridiculous, like the cooks constantly being assholes or the fact that we weren't allowed to take tips. This is despite the fact that we actually serve the food to people at their tables and there are tip jars right near our registers. Customers think they're giving us a tip when in fact my bosses just empty the jar each night and pocket all the cash.
The real kicker though is that my boss skims money off checks. I'd heard about this a few months ago from coworker of mine who said she was out nearly $200 one check and had to call in her parents to fight Joe for the money. She got it in the end and after that I starting comparing my timestamps to my overall hours worked on my pay stub.
At first there were little discrepancies like ten minutes off here, fifteen there. Little amounts I wasn't going to bitch about. Then one of my checks came in missing nearly an hour. I decided to say something to my boss and he said he'd fix it. He didn't fight me on it, my guess is because he knew he was caught. And strangely enough when my next check came in, everything was in order.
And yet a new problem had arisen. My brother (who had only been at the place a month) was missing a little over five hours from his pay check. That's about $40 missing and for someone who'd just started making money, that's a big deal.
Too bad my boss didn't think so. When my brother went to confront him, he refused to give him the money, saying he was tired of "this shit" and how he thought everyone was accusing him of docking their pay (no one ever said it out loud but he all knew he was doing it). He refused to check my brother's time stamps against the times he had and said he'd taken the money out of his check for not charging a customer extra for something more they wanted. Let's remember here that my brother is missing $40. Nothing extra at a pizza place amounts to that.
I'd also heard that my boss wasn't too happy about having to give me my money back as well. So when I found out about this exchange my brother and my boss had, I decided that enough was enough. I talked to my parents about it (just to make sure I wasn't being hotheaded or anything) and they both said that quitting was the best choice for both my brother and I.
So I called my boss to tell him I wasn't coming in anymore. He was calm about it at first, asking why I was quitting and whatnot. I lied and said I'd found a better job (which is technically true, I've found several better jobs). This somehow set him off - I'm still not sure why - and he started ranting about how I wasn't a "real man" for telling him like this and how in the real world people thank their boss for the opportunity they gave them.
My boss seemed to have forgotten that it was his father who hired me. Anyways, he then continued to yell at me about he'd had enough of "our shit" and he was done having patience. I proceeded to ask him what the hell he was talking about because before today everything was smooth sailing at my job. My boss didn't seem to have an answer for that and just kept yelling nonsense into the phone. Eventually I just hung up and went on with the rest of my day.
TL,DR: My boss was taking money from both my checks and my brother's so we quit. He threw a tantrum and I went on with my day without a care in the world.
For those who don't know, I worked at a pizza joint. It was a part time hourly job that I worked in between school and other day to day things. It was a nice fit because the place was really close to where I lived and my boss was pretty flexible about letting you take days off when you really had to.
While that all sounds nice there were more cons and pros at this job. Some were ridiculous, like the cooks constantly being assholes or the fact that we weren't allowed to take tips. This is despite the fact that we actually serve the food to people at their tables and there are tip jars right near our registers. Customers think they're giving us a tip when in fact my bosses just empty the jar each night and pocket all the cash.
The real kicker though is that my boss skims money off checks. I'd heard about this a few months ago from coworker of mine who said she was out nearly $200 one check and had to call in her parents to fight Joe for the money. She got it in the end and after that I starting comparing my timestamps to my overall hours worked on my pay stub.
At first there were little discrepancies like ten minutes off here, fifteen there. Little amounts I wasn't going to bitch about. Then one of my checks came in missing nearly an hour. I decided to say something to my boss and he said he'd fix it. He didn't fight me on it, my guess is because he knew he was caught. And strangely enough when my next check came in, everything was in order.
And yet a new problem had arisen. My brother (who had only been at the place a month) was missing a little over five hours from his pay check. That's about $40 missing and for someone who'd just started making money, that's a big deal.
Too bad my boss didn't think so. When my brother went to confront him, he refused to give him the money, saying he was tired of "this shit" and how he thought everyone was accusing him of docking their pay (no one ever said it out loud but he all knew he was doing it). He refused to check my brother's time stamps against the times he had and said he'd taken the money out of his check for not charging a customer extra for something more they wanted. Let's remember here that my brother is missing $40. Nothing extra at a pizza place amounts to that.
I'd also heard that my boss wasn't too happy about having to give me my money back as well. So when I found out about this exchange my brother and my boss had, I decided that enough was enough. I talked to my parents about it (just to make sure I wasn't being hotheaded or anything) and they both said that quitting was the best choice for both my brother and I.
So I called my boss to tell him I wasn't coming in anymore. He was calm about it at first, asking why I was quitting and whatnot. I lied and said I'd found a better job (which is technically true, I've found several better jobs). This somehow set him off - I'm still not sure why - and he started ranting about how I wasn't a "real man" for telling him like this and how in the real world people thank their boss for the opportunity they gave them.
My boss seemed to have forgotten that it was his father who hired me. Anyways, he then continued to yell at me about he'd had enough of "our shit" and he was done having patience. I proceeded to ask him what the hell he was talking about because before today everything was smooth sailing at my job. My boss didn't seem to have an answer for that and just kept yelling nonsense into the phone. Eventually I just hung up and went on with the rest of my day.
TL,DR: My boss was taking money from both my checks and my brother's so we quit. He threw a tantrum and I went on with my day without a care in the world.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Avengers and Summer Movies!
Thursday night I saw The Avengers. I went to the midnight premiere with my sister and a few friends. Despite everything I hate about movie theaters, people seem to know the code for midnight premieres. They know to be quiet during the movie, cheering only lasts a few seconds, and all phones are turned off. It's great.
As for the movie itself, Avengers was amazing. I hope to write a full review of the film, but in short I couldn't recommend it more. Be sure to stay through the entire credits though! There are two scenes during the credits. One is about a quarter of the way through and one is at the very end. I only say this because everyone saw the first scene and then started getting up to leave the theater.
People seem to underplay the importance of this movie and what Marvel has accomplished by being successful at this. Marvel has successfully created a living universe that cross over several movies with several different main characters. Then they had them all come together in one movie. The Avenger is the ultimate crossover film, but more importantly it proves that if done correctly you can sustain a universe of characters. Now if only DC would get their heads out of their asses and do the same for their library of characters.
The Avengers also kicks off the summer of awesome movies as well. In a month Prometheus (June 8), the Alien prequel movie comes out. Very excited for that one because I'm a big fan of sci-fi horror movies (good ones are just hard to come by) and the trailers are really intense.
A month after Prometheus comes is the new Spider-Man movie (July 3). I'm not... super excited about this movie yet. The newest trailer is pretty awesome but something isn't clicking for me yet. I love Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and the villain looks cool but I'm not just there yet. I'll go see it and I'll probably enjoy it enough, I hope.
Of course after Spider-Man comes my most anticipated move of the year: The Dark Knight Rises (July 20). I won't lie, when the newest trailer came out a few days ago, I flipped out. I couldn't be more excited for this movie. Definitely counting down the days until the midnight premiere.
As for the movie itself, Avengers was amazing. I hope to write a full review of the film, but in short I couldn't recommend it more. Be sure to stay through the entire credits though! There are two scenes during the credits. One is about a quarter of the way through and one is at the very end. I only say this because everyone saw the first scene and then started getting up to leave the theater.
People seem to underplay the importance of this movie and what Marvel has accomplished by being successful at this. Marvel has successfully created a living universe that cross over several movies with several different main characters. Then they had them all come together in one movie. The Avenger is the ultimate crossover film, but more importantly it proves that if done correctly you can sustain a universe of characters. Now if only DC would get their heads out of their asses and do the same for their library of characters.
The Avengers also kicks off the summer of awesome movies as well. In a month Prometheus (June 8), the Alien prequel movie comes out. Very excited for that one because I'm a big fan of sci-fi horror movies (good ones are just hard to come by) and the trailers are really intense.
A month after Prometheus comes is the new Spider-Man movie (July 3). I'm not... super excited about this movie yet. The newest trailer is pretty awesome but something isn't clicking for me yet. I love Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and the villain looks cool but I'm not just there yet. I'll go see it and I'll probably enjoy it enough, I hope.
Of course after Spider-Man comes my most anticipated move of the year: The Dark Knight Rises (July 20). I won't lie, when the newest trailer came out a few days ago, I flipped out. I couldn't be more excited for this movie. Definitely counting down the days until the midnight premiere.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mega Midnight Gaming
Holy crap! It's been over a month since I last posted here. I can't promise that hiatus will get any shorter after this post, but with school finally coming to an end there's a small chance.
As most of you may/may not know, I attended PAX East with my cousin Eddie and his girlfriend Sam. A good time was had by all. It was also where we (Eddie and I) created MegaMidnightGaming. MMG is a "place for everyday gamers to chill". Eddie relates it to the fact that most gamers are poor college students (like us) who want to know if a game is worth their time and money. Instead of getting your reviews from pros, you can get impressions/reviews from people who are exactly like you...
At least that's the plan anyways. We'll see where things go from here. I've managed to iron out a ton recording problems so getting footage is no longer a problem. I still need a PVR for console games though. That will be my next purchase after I upgrade my monitor to a wide screen model.
If you guys are at all interested in the site you can check out the YouTube channel here. Please subscribe! That would be awesome! We've got some really cool Counter-Strike: Global Offensive videos and more content is on its way!
You can also like our Facebook page! It's here that we'll talk to you guys about what games you'd like to hear about and which ones we should review and whatnot. So check that out if you have a game you're interested in seeing/hearing about us play.
And of course you can check out the regular Tumblr site here. We've also got our weekly podcast coming up every Monday!
As most of you may/may not know, I attended PAX East with my cousin Eddie and his girlfriend Sam. A good time was had by all. It was also where we (Eddie and I) created MegaMidnightGaming. MMG is a "place for everyday gamers to chill". Eddie relates it to the fact that most gamers are poor college students (like us) who want to know if a game is worth their time and money. Instead of getting your reviews from pros, you can get impressions/reviews from people who are exactly like you...
At least that's the plan anyways. We'll see where things go from here. I've managed to iron out a ton recording problems so getting footage is no longer a problem. I still need a PVR for console games though. That will be my next purchase after I upgrade my monitor to a wide screen model.
If you guys are at all interested in the site you can check out the YouTube channel here. Please subscribe! That would be awesome! We've got some really cool Counter-Strike: Global Offensive videos and more content is on its way!
You can also like our Facebook page! It's here that we'll talk to you guys about what games you'd like to hear about and which ones we should review and whatnot. So check that out if you have a game you're interested in seeing/hearing about us play.
And of course you can check out the regular Tumblr site here. We've also got our weekly podcast coming up every Monday!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Should Bioware Be "Held Accountable" for Mass Effect 3?
Yesterday two friends of mine and I were having a great
discussion/debate about Mass Effect 3, Bioware, and EA. Most of the
discussion revolved around the ending and how much they hated it. I
won't give any spoilers here on what the ending is, so don't worry about
that. We were more or less talking about whether or not Bioware needs
to be "held accountable" for their actions.
The problem was that my friends thought that Bioware should be "held accountable" by their fans because of the ending they gave the series. Personally, I think that's ridiculous. Even if there's a poll that says 98% of Mass Effect's fan base hates the ending, Bioware has no reason to change it. They may say they're looking into it, but they've already made their money and therefore have no reason to listen to you.
They argued that this will affect whether people buy the DLC or recommend the series to other people later on down the road. The first point could have some merit, but the truth is as much as people complain about how much they hate something they refuse to vote with their wallets. Most of the fans that hated the ending will no doubt wind up buying the DLC. It's like the people who complain about Call of Duty being the "same game" every single year, but go out and buy it on day one.
The second point about recommendations is meaningless. EA (or any other company) would never base their estimates on the hope that someone would recommend the series to a friend. If I'm remembering correctly, most companies make their money in the first week of release (kind of like movies with the first month). While I'm sure an extra sale here or there is appreciated, in the grand scheme of things it couldn't matter less.
There's also the dangerous precedent that changing the ending would set. On the off chance that I'm completely wrong and Bioware does decide "patch" or change the ending via DLC, suddenly the fans would realize that they are in control. If fans of one series can force a company like Bioware/EA (no doubt EA would have to sign off on that kind of decision) to make a change like that, what's to stop fans of another series expecting something similar. Suddenly fans are dictating how their games should be made and that can only lead to disaster. Personally, I thought it was insane that Sucker Punch actually went back and changed Cole's character design back after the "outrage" there was over the new design.
Yes, there were mistakes made. The whole day one DLC thing is a business practice I wish no one used. The fact that there were numerous lies about whether the DLC was made during development and then locked, or if it was on the disc or not is also bothersome. I think the "controversy" wouldn't have been as big as it was if there was just a little honesty here or there.
Above is the video Colin Moriarty (from IGN) filmed about the Mass Effect 3 controversy. While I've slightly tired of the whole "games were more expensive when I were a kid" bit (I know it's true, but it appears everywhere like a trump card), he makes a lot of good points. The biggest of which is that fans feel like they are owed something, that they are "entitled" to a better ending. What fans are having a problem realizing is that Bioware owes them nothing. Petitions are going to do nothing, no matter how much money you "raise for the cause". You bought their game, they made their money, and that's where your relationship ends. Not every developer is like Valve and gives away DLC for free and has the greatest relationship with their fans and expecting them to be is a pipe dream. And I wouldn't even expect Valve to change the ending to Half-Life is people hated it.
Another point he makes is that there is a correct way to disagree. Ranting and raving like a five year old isn't it. Everyone has that series (whether it be movie, book, TV, or game) that had an awful ending. For me it was both Lost and Battlestar Galactica. Both series had awful endings and there are few that would disagree with that opinion. Yet there weren't any petitions to have them go back and refilm an ending. Why? Because people realized that's what was written and no matter how much they raged, nothing was going to change. And it shouldn't.
In the end though, this is simply my opinion. I'd love to know what you guys think. Let me know in the comments below!
The problem was that my friends thought that Bioware should be "held accountable" by their fans because of the ending they gave the series. Personally, I think that's ridiculous. Even if there's a poll that says 98% of Mass Effect's fan base hates the ending, Bioware has no reason to change it. They may say they're looking into it, but they've already made their money and therefore have no reason to listen to you.
They argued that this will affect whether people buy the DLC or recommend the series to other people later on down the road. The first point could have some merit, but the truth is as much as people complain about how much they hate something they refuse to vote with their wallets. Most of the fans that hated the ending will no doubt wind up buying the DLC. It's like the people who complain about Call of Duty being the "same game" every single year, but go out and buy it on day one.
The second point about recommendations is meaningless. EA (or any other company) would never base their estimates on the hope that someone would recommend the series to a friend. If I'm remembering correctly, most companies make their money in the first week of release (kind of like movies with the first month). While I'm sure an extra sale here or there is appreciated, in the grand scheme of things it couldn't matter less.
There's also the dangerous precedent that changing the ending would set. On the off chance that I'm completely wrong and Bioware does decide "patch" or change the ending via DLC, suddenly the fans would realize that they are in control. If fans of one series can force a company like Bioware/EA (no doubt EA would have to sign off on that kind of decision) to make a change like that, what's to stop fans of another series expecting something similar. Suddenly fans are dictating how their games should be made and that can only lead to disaster. Personally, I thought it was insane that Sucker Punch actually went back and changed Cole's character design back after the "outrage" there was over the new design.
Yes, there were mistakes made. The whole day one DLC thing is a business practice I wish no one used. The fact that there were numerous lies about whether the DLC was made during development and then locked, or if it was on the disc or not is also bothersome. I think the "controversy" wouldn't have been as big as it was if there was just a little honesty here or there.
Above is the video Colin Moriarty (from IGN) filmed about the Mass Effect 3 controversy. While I've slightly tired of the whole "games were more expensive when I were a kid" bit (I know it's true, but it appears everywhere like a trump card), he makes a lot of good points. The biggest of which is that fans feel like they are owed something, that they are "entitled" to a better ending. What fans are having a problem realizing is that Bioware owes them nothing. Petitions are going to do nothing, no matter how much money you "raise for the cause". You bought their game, they made their money, and that's where your relationship ends. Not every developer is like Valve and gives away DLC for free and has the greatest relationship with their fans and expecting them to be is a pipe dream. And I wouldn't even expect Valve to change the ending to Half-Life is people hated it.
Another point he makes is that there is a correct way to disagree. Ranting and raving like a five year old isn't it. Everyone has that series (whether it be movie, book, TV, or game) that had an awful ending. For me it was both Lost and Battlestar Galactica. Both series had awful endings and there are few that would disagree with that opinion. Yet there weren't any petitions to have them go back and refilm an ending. Why? Because people realized that's what was written and no matter how much they raged, nothing was going to change. And it shouldn't.
In the end though, this is simply my opinion. I'd love to know what you guys think. Let me know in the comments below!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
In Case You Were Curious
It's stuff like this (and Origin) that make me glad I lost my saved data so I didn't wind up buying Mass Effect 3. Chances are even if I did have my saved data I still wouldn't have bought the game, not with crap like this. Chances are if I ever wind up playing the game, it'll be from a used copy I pick up years from now, when they release an HD collection or something.
What do you guys think?
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Trailer Number 2! This Time It's Mass Effect 3!
Decided to make another trailer since the last one turned out pretty
well. Not sure what I think of this one compared to my first one. You
guys will have to let me know. My goal is to do one every week,
hopefully uploading on Friday.
Hope you guys enjoy it! Feedback is always appreciated!
Hope you guys enjoy it! Feedback is always appreciated!
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