The Earth-Toned Pill

For those of you who never heard of the book Jennifer Government by Max Barry or of the popular browser-based game NationStates that it directly inspired, the long-awaited sequel to the game is now in open beta!

NationStates 2 promises to expand on the strengths of the original game while also formalizing such things as war, which in NationStates had to be completely roleplayed, or RP'd.

Part of the draw to nationstates is the fact that it can be as simple or complex as you like.

At its most simplistic, you can go and create a nation and watch it grow before your eyes, all the while you are given choices to make that affect your nation's policial and social freedoms, as well as your economy.

But the roleplay element is where NationStates really comes into its own, with each player having the ability to steer their nation through international affairs by way of writing posts on the forums, where proper roleplay etiquitte is strictly enforced.

For those who love to write or want to improve their writing skills while also having fun with others of like mind, there isn't a better way to spend a few hours here and there.

Unfortunately, my time is too limited to be able to post much on the forums. (I think I average a post a month) But for me it is a great thing to be able to hop on every once in awhile and work on my writing skills while also further developing the continuing story of my great little country, Tilsitsin.

If you have a few minutes to kill on the web, stop by and visit my country. (and even create one of your own!)

Want to see some real PS painting skills? These should be enough to blow you away...

What's the only thing worse than the thought of Sarah Palin becoming the president of the United States should John McCain get elected and kick the bucket in office, you ask?

This:

That's right... If you have a way to flash a custom cartridge for a Nintendo DS, you too can download and be the proud owner of a copy of Obama Says: Yes We Can.

Jonathan Says: No Way In Hell will I ever think about downloading this Simon Says monstrosity. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an 'Obama hater'... (I discriminate equally against Republicans and Democrats) I just can't stand the commercialization and cavalier attitude towards the upcoming election, especially another one that is so important. I guess I'm just burned out on politics though, thanks to biased information outlets, ill-intentioned politicians and 24-hour-a-day garbage news networks.

On a lighter note, I think this is the only time you'll see me use the tags 'nintendo ds' and 'presidential election' in the same post. Hopefully...

I'm going to try and register for at least one day of this conference, which should be well worth the money spent to register for it.

If you're a web designer and live in (or can make it to) Orlando between October 13th and 16th, you should check it out if you can.

View the schedule of events here.

Today I went to a local Gamestop store in Sanford on my lunch to spend my hard-earned giftcard that I got for doing online surveys. I was thinking about finally getting the Orange Box, because it kills me that nearly everyone I know owns it (including Catie's DAD), but I don't. So when I walked in the door, I made my way past wall upon wall of consoles titles, finally shuffling my way over to their pathetically-small stand of PC games, I was delighted to find one last copy of the Orange Box waiting there just for me.

I grabbed it and walked straight up to the counter to wait behind a grandmother that must have been no older than 60 and her two grandkids who were checking out. The oldest kid, no more than 12 years old, was trying to get granny to buy him Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, part of the infamous series of games that brought you such things as the hot coffee mod. To my total surprise, the first thing the clerk did after picking up the game to ring it up was to look at the kid directly and ask him 'so should I tell her about it or do you want to'. At that moment in my mind, it were as if thousands were madly cheering the entrance of a beloved gladiator into the Colosseum.

After seeing the blank expression on the kid's face, the clerk then went on to bluntly (but respectfully) explain why she might not want to buy this particular game for her grandson. To my irritation, the grandmother tried playing ignorant at first, happy to just let the child have what he wanted because she didn't quite understand. But I was amazed when the clerk persisted and said to her 'maybe you want to talk to mom or dad before you do this?'. By that point, the kid was one long blank expression. I suppose if he were a bit older, he'd actually be pissed off at this guy. But the grandmother did call the mom right there, and after grandma mentioned the magic 'grand theft auto' words to mom, she immediately looked at her grandson and tersely remarked 'she said no way'.

That was the end of that.

But the guy didn't just let the kid walk away defeated and humiliated. He quickly handed it back to the kid and said 'check out a few of the others we have in there and tell me what you think.' Not once did he say or do anything to make the kid or granny feel like crap or want to leave. He simply did what he should have morally and professionally. In the end, the kid walked out with a copy of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. No, it's not GTA, but yes, much more appropriate for him.

I didn't want to make a big deal out of that situation, but I feel horrible now for not commending that guy on how he handled that situation. If only that happened everywhere, every time, it would make a serious difference in how kids interacted with games.

I can also only hope that parents, grandparents, etc, stop buying things for kids when they have no business doing so...

Hot off the press:

Click on the pic for a larger view

I think I have a total of about 2 hours into this. I didn't do much with the surrounding scenery because I made some technical mistakes early on that would have made that difficult.

Anyway, time for a new project...

Click here to view a larger version

I stumbled on this great picture over at aintitcool news, a teaser pic for the upcoming Watchmen film adaptation originally created by DC Dark Knight and V for Vendetta veteran Alan Moore.

Watchmen was a 12-issue comic series on shelves in 1986-87, and was praised for its fantastic writing and artwork. The series was later grouped together into a 'trade paperback' format, and became the first of its kind to win the Hugo Award.

Zack Snyder of 300 fame is set to direct the film, which will release on March 6th, 2009.

Hopefully Snyder can bring the same goods he brought to 300...

I've been a gamer ever since I first set foot in my grandfather's arcade in 1983, and of all the possible types of game out there I've always been a strategy gamer at heart. I've also always been a fan of science fiction in all its forms since as far back as I can recall. So when the first Master of Orion game released in 93, I was in strategy gaming heaven. MOO, as it would come to be called, embodied the apex of the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) genre.

MOO's sequel, 1999's Master of Orion 2, was even better and was actually a game that I have probably spent at least a full month of my life playing. For me it will also forever be the one game that caused my army buddy Mike and I to not speak for a week after one particular hotseat game where I used shrewd diplomacy to cause all the AI races to declare war on him. For years, and really until MOO3 came out, this was my game. But when MOO3 did release, instead of being the next king of the palace, it turned out to be the king of the rubbish pile, forever burning me on the MOO series.

It was about this time that I got into the Galactic Civilizations series, very much like MOO, but not so much as to be a clone. I was instantly hooked, and every sequel and expansion pack thats come from developer Stardock has been nothing short of amazing. So now to the point, being that I write this post today to celebrate the latest expansion pack release for GalCiv2, entitled Twilight of the Arnor. I bought it a few days ago, and I have to say it is quite possibly the best money I've ever spent on a game. Check out the review G4TV did on X-Play:

Without a doubt, this is one to try if you are even remotely interested in strategy gaming. The AI is amazing, the twists and turns breathtaking. And win or lose, I guarantee you'll love every new game of it that you start.