Sweet, sweet digital crack; how I love your glowing polygons and colorful sprites! Would that I could bask in your glorious fantasy worlds endlessly, but alas, my frail meat shell has its maddening limits.
Why would I say such a thing? It’s easy! They are overzealous regarding copyright claims on YouTube. Allow me to illustrate the issue.
I have, for a few years now, occasionally uploaded videos to YouTube of various moments of game play from various games. The videos are largely unedited. Most of them are completely unedited, in fact. It’s only recently, within the last year or so, that I’ve started to add a title card and exit card to the videos. Other than that, the original footage is untouched. 80% of the time, this presents no problem. The rest of the time, I’ll get a notice that I can’t monetize the video or that it can’t be seen in certain countries. I’ve been fine with this because I haven’t cared to monetize any of the videos and they’re really only up there so I can share fun moments with a few friends.
Today, all that changed.
[cue dramatic, royalty-free music released under CC0 license]
I uploaded a game play video of a race in Forza Horizons 3 to YouTube. Once it was done processing, I got an email saying that the video was blocked from being viewed because it contained copyrighted material. That material was the song that was playing during the race in-game.
I bought the game. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not stealing from the copyright holders or making money off of this. It should be a common sense idea that sharing a clip of a game that you have your music in shouldn’t be infringing. But apparently it is and here we are. So fuck those guys.
Also, enjoy this clip of me racing a tuned Mini Cooper in Forza Horizon 3, set to music that is naturally occurring in the game.
Well… it’s been a while… again. There’s just not enough time in the day. But I have plenty of time now, thanks to the pandemic and my job furloughing me through June.
It’s been… you know what, who cares? Lots and lots of shit happened. I left my old job, got a new much, much better and much, much higher paying job, the absolute dumpster fire in the Oval Office will likely stay there again because all the “radical left,” aka people who would be just slightly left of center in any other country, can’t get their shit together long enough to bite the bullet and vote out the president responsible for over 50k American deaths as of this writing. Yeah, the guy running against him is shit too, but he doesn’t have a 50k+ body count and your preferred guy would never have won anyway, even though I liked that guy better too.
I miss fast food. Sooooooo much. Especially terrible chain fast food pizza. And Taco Bell. And Wendy’s. And Popeye’s. On the plus side, I think I’ve dropped around 10 pounds, so that’s cool. I haven’t been getting any because I’m real leary of food prepared outside my house right now. And yes, I know, restaurants are in trouble and need my help blah blah blah I don’t care. I’d rather not potentially expose myself to a horrific disease.
In Feb of 2019 I had an allergic reaction that required an ER visit! Turns out I’m allergic to goat dairy, so that’s a thing. And in Feb of 2020, I had a couple of severe anxiety attacks that sent me to the ER twice in 4 days. Turns out I have anxiety! That was the diagnosis after running 22 blood tests (twice!) and several CAT scans and ultrasounds. So now I have to take blood pressure meds until I can see my cardio again and he clears me to come off them. Seems that each anxiety attack or even mild case of nerves causes my blood pressure to shoot way the hell up. At my last checkup, everything was fine, so that’s a good sign. Once I can see my cardio, which will probably be after lockdown is lifted, I should be off the meds. At that point, I’ll only have my Xanax to take as needed if I should have another anxiety attack. Good times!
What does any of this have to do with the title? NOTHING! Just me getting the stuff out of my system before I get to what I’m really doing here today. I have been taking a metric ass ton of screenshots of my games over the past few years, which I post on social media accounts that no one looks at. I figured, “Hey, I can post my screenshots here without any crappy compression and no one will look at them either!” Plus that gives this blog a bit more purpose, since I hardly ever use it for writing. That’s bad and I should do something about that, but I think we all know I won’t. And by “we” I mean me, myself, and I, because who visits here, amirite?
SO! Here’s some recent screenshots of No Man’s Sky. Fun fact: I just got the achievement on Steam for getting to the center in Survival mode. The last achievement I have to get is the one for getting to the center in Permadeath. After I post this, I’m gonna play some Animal Crossing: New Horizons because I just realized I haven’t played that all day today, and then work on my new Permadeath save. Enjoy!
Checking out this weird bug eyed looking space station while standing next to my ship, docked with one of my frigates.
Well its been a year and a day since my last update. I was doing so well for a while, and then back to the usual shenanigans. SIGH!
I’ll be headed out soon to meet some friends for beer and wings. I’m up to 140 different beers tried at Croxley’s. They give you a t-shirt for trying 40 different beers, so that’s like 3.5 t-shirts! I might have a problem. That being that I can only go there once a week! 😀
So let’s see… What else is going on… Ah yes, anyone remember that Taco Bell contest? The one where they were giving away all those PS4s? Yeah, guess who won one. This guy! I wish someone was around to take a pic of my face when I saw that “You won!” message, because I’m pretty sure it was priceless. The full prize package was a PS4, a copy of Knack, and 1 year of PS+. All together it’s a $510 value. I was pretty damn pleased! And I got it 2 days before launch, so that was awesome. I’m loving the system so far. It’s really well designed and the OS is a pleasure to use. It’ll never replace my PC as lead gaming platform of course, but its very nice for those console exclusives.
I have a Wii U as well, and I really like that as well. I might be one of 3 people on the planet that actually has one, but whatever. I need my Nintendo fix. Speaking of which, the new Mario game, Super Mario 3D World, is pretty excellent. Playing it puts a smile on my face every time. I’m on world 3 at the moment, and I’ve managed to 100% every level up to this point. Hopefully I can keep that going! Oh and Pikmin 3 is gorgeous and the HD remake of Wind Waker is excellent!
Looks like the dryer is done, so time to get folding so I can make it to the bar on time!
So I fixed the old theme, but then I realized I’d been using it for around two years. So after fixing it, I promptly changed it. This new theme here reminds me of Super Mario Galaxy, so that makes it full of win. Speaking of which, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is super awesome. I haven’t made too much progress yet, but so far it’s definitely more of a challenge than the first one. Of course, I’ve had to split my time between that and Homeworld 2, which I finally got working on Windows 7 through some… shall we say unconventional means. In any event it works, and I’ve got the Point Defense Systems (PDS) mod installed and running and its awesome. Homeworld 2 is probably the game that comes closest to being able to simulate the epic space battles of the Honor Harrington series of books, even more so with the PDS mod. The only thing I’d change is raising the limit on the ships that you can build so that you can set up truly massive space battles. I mean, only one superdreadnaught equivalent? That’s beyond lame. I think with PDS you’re limited to 9 capital ships at once. That’s no proper fleet! At best it’s an understrength task force! The mod has such a deep order of battle, but you never get to really take advantage of it because of the low limit. Hmmm… that gets me thinking… I wonder if there’s a way I can go into the mod files and alter that. I think I just found a project for my weekend! And on that note, I’m off. Work tomorrow, probably with more OT like tonight, so I need my sleep.
So those reasons I mentioned in my last post? Here they are:
I’m so stuffed and headachy and I just want to lie down.
I’ve got a bunch of pictures that I need to pull off of my camera and organize, since almost all of them are going up on either askthefatty.com or here.
I’m sort of itching for more Sins of a Solar Empire.
I want to get back to work on my… what is it now, 4 restaurant reviews, 2 candy bar reviews, and 1 cereal review that I have lined up for askthefatty.com. Several of them have written drafts, a couple have drafts in my head, and none of them are complete or have the accompanying photos ready to go. I want to put an end to my neglectful website updating ways!
My DVR is so backlogged and I really need to make a dent in that.
Investigate why askthefatty.com’s RSS feeds work in some browsers and RSS readers and not others.
And finally, Super Mario Galaxy 2! Wa-hoo! Note: It’s way harder than the first one.
So yeah, that’s what I wanted to get done tonight. Of that, I’ve made progress on the reviews, completed the sorting of my pictures, searched fruitlessly for an answer the the RSS weirdness and watched a saved episode of SGU. I’m moving at like half speed today otherwise I think I would have gotten more done. Anyway, I’m going back to working on the RSS issue for a little while longer, then I’ll be heading to bed to read until I pass out.
New template! I like this one and I think I’ll keep it for a while.
Also, for those of you playing the home game, the plan I mentioned in my previous post is proceeding, slowly for now. Seeds are being planted and information gathered. Things will begin in earnest when I return from my much needed trip to Soviet Montanastan.
In other news, I’ve gotten my lusty hands on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. This is an amazing game. Go look at Metacritic or similar sites if you want a professional review. If I were to review it, it would be a mostly incoherent raving over the graphics, the controls, the story, and the scope and expanse of the game. I <3 it so much, I cannot begin to express my joy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve some space pirates to ventilate.
So I beat Beyond Good & Evil tonight. Absolutely fantastic. Here’s what I wrote in my update to the Gamecube Beatstick:
I finally got around to playing this and now I weep, for there is no sequel. The way it ended… this game is the definition of how to make an interactive entertainment experience. If you ever want to play an excellent movie or novel, play this game. I hear the developers wanted to make a sequel, but sales were pretty low. There’s some vague and ill-defined rumors that they may be going ahead and developing a new one anyway, but only time will tell.
I know you all have been on the edge of your seats to find out what new game I shall trounce next, so it is with no delay that I bring you this update. I updated my Gamecube Beatstick with a few new games that I have purchased and beaten. I believe my next conquest will be one of the following three games: Beyond Good & Evil, Pikmin 2, or Shadow of the Colossus (SotC). Yes, I’m aware that SotC is a PS2 game, but seeing as how I have a PS2 and even games for it, I’m thinking I need to start a beatstick for that. And for my DS as well. Maybe for the PC too. I’m pretty sure I’ve had these thoughts in the past. Maybe one day I’ll even do it!
My DS completion percentage is pretty good. I haven’t played in a while, as I’ve been reviewing books at work instead of video games lately, but I’ve beaten most of what I own for it. It is a good feeling. My PS2 has most of it’s games on the HD Loader thing, which I love because it means no disc swapping and faster load times! I just wish I could use a drive larger than 120 GB. You know, I think I need to play Rez again.
Well, my video game beatings will continue post haste, but first I will continue my search for a bit more in order to find more GC/PS2 games that are going out of print. What I really want right now is We Love Katamari, but the only places that have it for sale are selling it used for ~$65. There’s no way I’m paying that much. I keep hoping I’ll get lucky and find it somewhere obscure, or that Games Quest Direct will reprint it like they have so many other fine games.
I haven’t been interested in the X-box 360 since I found out that the Perfect Dark sequel kinda sucked. I haven’t given it a glance. But then, as I was reading the Ars Technica forums, I came across the above link to what could be the greatest game of all time. I hate you Capcom, for not planning this for the Super Gamecube. Maybe by the time this game comes out, a used 360 can be had for cheap.
Yeah, and while I’m wishing for stuff that won’t happen EVAR, maybe she will suddenly decide to become the future Mrs. Enforcer.
Excerpted from Nintendo’s description of Super Princess Peach, an upcoming sidescroller in the Mario style for the Nintendo DS:
“When Bowser kidnaps Mario and Luigi and gets hold of the magical Vibe Wand, he heads off for Vibe Island with a troop of minions in tow.”
“Peach gives chase, only to find herself affected by the vibes given off by the island.”
“…make vegetation grow with her tears!”
“…you must use Peach’s vibes to break through impediments…”
“To build up Peach’s vibe powers, collect gems or pick up enemies with your magic parasol and absorb them.”
“Peach’s vibe powers include: … Gloom: Peach weeps and runs incredibly fast, during which time she’s invincible. Her tears can cause plants to grow, among other things.”
I… I don’t even know what to say. When I heard that Nintendo was coming out with a Mario sidescroller that was like the oldskool Mario games, I was all happy. Then I heard it was gonna star the Princess. While strange, I have learned to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, considering other seemingly wrong/broken/wtf concepts have worked really well. For example, Super Mario Sunshine, while having a crazy ass premise, turned out to be a really good game that I am still unable to beat. Touchscreen on a handheld? Blasphemy! Except that it’s not. Over the years, they’ve done some crazy ass shit, but it winds up working, for the most part. So I figured I’d give this game a try.
But look at those quotes up there.
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
Her tears make plants grow, for fuck’s sake. What is that shit? She’s “affected” by some vibes? I’ll bet she is. How is this not going to be rated AO by the ESRB? I’m not sure I’m even old enough to play this. Fucking crazy ass Nintendo. What… just… what the hell where they thinking? I’d ask “Who the hell wants to know about the princess and her vibes?” but I’m afraid of the response I’d get.
I really wanted to play this game, too. I still kind of do, but… VIBES?! No, I don’t need to know about anyone’s fucking vibes, least of all Princess Fucking Toadstool’s vibes.
