Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Destiny Beta was pretty cool

Destiny Beta Ends

I stumbled upon the open Destiny Beta this weekend, and it was a ton of fun (plus the weekend evaporated as a result). Now I am no stranger to the fact that the much anticipated game from Bungie (the creators of Halo) is due out in September, but I didn’t realize that they would open their previously-closed-to-preordering-customer beta for the final two days of the one week testing period.

Color me impressed – I think I know what I want for an early birthday present. I’m not making the leap to next gen though. A copy for the 360 will suffice.

My take on the game? It’s like Fallout, KOTOR, Mass Effect and Fable had a love child with Halo. It’s neat – I really like the different weapons, character classes and loot drops, plus open exploration/random mission farming for experience. I spent 2 hours trying to defeat the ‘Devil Walker’ which is essentially a Halo-era Covenant scarab to no avail because I have horrible luck. I had almost defeated the thing and had the misfortune to fall out of cover and get annihilated by the cannon fire.

It’s moderately challenging, with portions of the levels deemed ‘no respawn areas’, but things are easier with a group of pals.

Count me in – I wish more games would offer open betas or free weekend play to get you interested in purchasing them. I was on the fence about Destiny, but now I have no doubts!

 

Fish; Fermi’s Paradox; Are we alone?

Waxing a little bit philosophical today folks. Don’t mind me I’m just leaving this here for future reference.

One of man’s greatest questions regards life. How did it start? Where did it come from? Are we alone?

One of my greatest peeves is the prevalent thought that science is anti-religion and you cannot be a person of faith and live by the scientific method. That’s just an incorrect assumption!

While I am a Christian and a scientist, there is nothing wrong with asking and exploring the reasons for our existence. In fact, it’s the very reason why we are capable of cognizant thought! My personal philosophy (which I will oneday espouse and publish, but many respected members in the theological and scientific communities have done so) is that Science is the exploration and explanation of the natural world – you cannot use it to analyze the supernatural.

If you are truly a person of faith, how can you not think that the creator set all of the universe into motion, making a vast something out of nothing. We are incapable of knowing of everything, and there are some questions that aren’t explainable by science. Let’s spend our time and effort exploring our planet and the universe. I know that there is so much left to explore we cannot even fathom its wonder!

XKCD

A good illustrated summary of the paradox: http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

Steam Summer Sale 2014 + Other Finds

rayman

PC gamers know that you don’t have to wait long for great deals on games to show up. New releases get prices cuts often months before their console counterparts.

Steam and GOG are two popular markets for PC games, and both hold pretty awesome sales on an annual basis – the Summer Sale.

Now I haven’t been active on steam in a while, so they’ve got these trading cards which can be ‘crafted’ into badges once you complete a set, which are based around site events or games. This year, the summer sale has set that is available for a limited time only. I managed to get 8 out of the 10 cards, but there was a problem. Thanks to my tremendous luck, the restrictions that Steam places on accounts that have not been active (I haven’t been on since the last big sale) I cannot trade for or buy the two cards I need from other users to complete the set, essentially making my effort worthless. I did get some good deals, but I have also learned my lesson – log in to Steam on a regular basis so I don’t miss out next time. Total cost to ‘buy’ the cards? About $.30 – this is high stakes stuff folks!

My loss (an almost complete TC set to craft a badge):

tragic-steam-summer14

My finds:

  • Rayman collection – $9.50 for Rayman 1 – 3 and Origins
  • Civ V Brave New World Expansion + All additional maps and Civs – $17
  • Metro 2033 – $3
  • Metro Last Light Complete – $7
  • Borderlands 2 GOTY – $10
  • Skyrim Complete – $14
  • Castle Crashers + DLC = $2.50

Total Spent: ~$60

Total Saved ~$80

I can’t complain, but my video game budget is wearing thin. Still planning on a Wii U before the end of summer, but it will have to wait for now.