Blogcritics Author: Deano

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

The Turista of Kalimdor

Deano — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 06:39:31 EST

As I added the fourteenth dead Knoll to the stack at my feet, I realized that the experience was beginning to pale.It wasn’t the killing, it was the endless repetition.I’m a relative newcomer to the World of Warcraft and to the world of MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) but after a short time playing, I came to a startling realization - killing is boring. I understood that in-game experience builds as you raise levels, that new skills and new challenges open up as you raise your character….but it was dull. Fiendishly, achingly dull. It was the old formula, albeit in a terrific package – see the world, meet strange people …and kill them.The morality of it all doesn't bother me – heck, I had selected a Rogue as my primary character, just for the sheer enjoyment of skulking about backstabbing from the shadows. No, it was just dull.At that point I decided that, instead of concentrating on “leveling up”, I would become a tourist.WoW takes place in a HUGE and varied world, from barren desert buttes, to lush forest and frigid mountains, all beautiful, compelling and beckoning, so why not play turista?The one clear advantage that playing as a Rogue gave me was the ability to effectively skulk through areas where lesser characters would face certain death. The quiet trees of the Elywnn Forest echo with virtual strife, bloodshed and slaughter. The snowy mountains of Dun Morogh are littered with dead beasts as players “level-up” on quests and gathering. The ability to creep through carefully would allow me the chance to delve into some off-the-beaten track locales. Or at least, as close to it as you can get in a virtual game with 6 million users.I set off from Elywnn Forest, bound for the Westfall, a burned out stretch of farmlands, ruined towns and decayed fields – very picturesque. The Westfall is now rife with bandits, feral coyotes and other vicious beasts – something like Pittsburgh but without the offbeat charm. Determined to find something to like, even in this decayed venue, I headed to the beach to check out the sun, the surf and the sand. The beach itself looked inviting, except for the abundance of vicious, bulbous-eyed Murlocs and their kin, swarming over all the best spots like drunken t-shirt venders in Cancun. After the fourth violent encounter, while trying to find a nice quiet spot for a beach umbrella, I decided instead to swim offshore to try my luck on one of the small, hilly islands. Alas, they too were swarming with foul-tempered Murlocs who seemed determined, like condo owners in Florida, to claim the beach for themselves.Several tries later, I hauled my sorry self up a steep-sloped island to find something I had not seen before in WoW – peace, serenity and quiet. The island was empty. The Murlocs had faded in the distance, there was nothing but the sounds of birds and the quiet sea – not even the ubiquitous corpses of dead players marred the pristine view: you do find them in the strangest places; corpse “graffiti” is one of the unique ironic sights in World of Warcraft.Feeling refreshed and appropriately touristy, I set out again, this time to Dun Morogh, home of the Dwarven city of Ironforge. Ironforge is an impressive sight on its own, with its labyrinthine underground chambers, vaulted ceilings and massive fiery lava forge cascading down from the ceiling. You could pick up multiple types of Dwarven beer in the various inns, a fact that endeared the place to me immediately, despite the lack of any ski lifts. Among other things, I uncovered a recipe for beer-basted boar ribs that frankly made me regret that the world was digital. Passing through Dun Morogh involves dodging countless bears, wolves, mountain boars, several foul-tempered yeti and some ugly pot-bellied troggs, who frankly would have fit quite well as members of the Westfall Beach Club. Spectacular as the scenery was, I elected to pass through after I spotted a sign pointing the way to someplace called Loch Moden, which sounded like a terrific venue for a nice lakeside cottage. Or possibly the location for a nice slasher movie. Given the inhabitants of most of the rest of the region, the slasher movie seemed more probable.After picking my way past a very irate bear and a small troop of what resembled Neanderthal bobbleheads (commonly called troggs), I arrived at a small unprepossessing Dwarven town carved out of a narrow forested valley. Beyond the town was a set of small hills, populated with the requisite amount of appropriately poisonous vicious forest spiders (why a forest full of helpless, weak herbivores or hapless squirrels is so hard to find, I couldn’t say) and a vividly blue, shockingly pristine lake. All that was missing was a rickety dock to fish off. The thought was barely out of my head when I spotted, less than 50 digital feet away, the appropriate rickety dock. I swung the camera around, taking in the view. Mountains faded into the distance, tall pines reached skyward, while a lambent sun sank slowly in the west, tingeing the clouds with flame. For the moment, the eternal strife of the World of Warcraft sank into the distance and by the slow, quiet blue of the lake, there was nothing but utter satisfaction at finding this place.I was a born digital tourist, a turista in Kalimdor.Now if I only had a fishing pole.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Nightmare of a Contest: Bulwer-Lytton 2006

Deano — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 02:45:34 EDT

It was a crepuscular and tempestuous eve..., no, that's not right -- what about night? No, it's been used... ummm, how about gloom... or nocturne? Damn it, I just can't find an obscure and caliginous synonym when I need one...The Annual Bulwar-Lytton Fiction Contest results for 2006 are now in. Slightly more prestigious then the Giller Prize and ranked only a hair below the Pulitzer, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is a true test of an author's ability to pen exquisitely painful paragraphs of prose. Started in 1982 and run by the San Jose State University's English Department, the Bulwar-Lytton Fiction Writing Contest takes it name from Edward George Bulwar-Lytton, the famous Victorian author of The Last Days of Pompeii, Eugene Aram, Rienzi, and most famously Paul Clifford - in which he penned what was widely considered to be the most over-wrought literary opening ever, the famous lines "It was a dark and stromy night..."Here then are a selection of the devilishly brilliant prose from the winners of the 2006 Bulwar-Lytton Contest:"I know what you're thinking, punk," hissed Wordy Harry to his new editor, "you're thinking, 'Did he use six superfluous adjectives or only five?' -- and to tell the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement; but being as this is English, the most powerful language in the world, whose subtle nuances will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?" -- Stuart Vasepuru, Edinburgh, ScotlandTodd languished there, neck deep in the pumpkin-hued Amargosa Desert sand like a long forgotten cupcake in an Easy Bake Oven gone hellishly amok, and it finally made sense... "ooohhhh, DEATH Valley." -- Jeffrey Barnes, Atlanta, Georgia When Debbie decided that Salt 'n' Pepper Beard was the most attractive pirate on the ship, she realized that choosing him was due to the advice of Sylvia, her new Life Coach, to be realistic about her own age and to open herself up to romance where it lay, unlike the troublesome past where she would have wished that only the younger pirates take advantage of her. -- Jim Guigli,Carmichael, California The king's men breathed heavily under their thick black hoods as they secured the wrists and ankles of prisoner William Tumey of Kent and as the rack's handle began to turn the ropes tightened and William's limbs were slowly stretched in opposite directions until his spine began to pop much like a bag of Redenbachers in a microwave and for something like the time it takes a hummingbird's wings to complete one cycle William smiled and euphorically languished in perfect lumbar alignment. -- Daniel Kern,Boise, Idaho and finally, the Grand Prize Winner:Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean. -- Jim Guigli, Carmichael, California Be sure to click on over to the Bulwar-Lytton site for more priceless prose and the many, many other entries. If you don't bust a gut, well, it will probably be close...

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

Book Review: Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Deano — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:01:58 EDT

Originally published in Spain where it sold more than a million copies, Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste has crossed the Pond and made its debut in a superlative and evocative English translation.He was not the most honest or pious of men, but he was courageous. His name was Diego Alatriste y Tenorio, and he fought in the ranks during the Flemish wars. When I met him he was barely making ends meet in Madrid, hiring himself out for four maravedis in employ of little glory, often as a swordsman for those who had neither the skill nor the daring to settle their own quarrels. You know the sort I mean: a cuckolded husband here, outstanding gambling debts there, a petty lawsuit or questionable inheritance, and more troubles of that kind. It is easy to criticize now, but in those days the capital of all the Spains was a place where a man had to fight for life on a street corner lighted by the gleam of two blades.So begins Arturo Perez-Reverte's stellar tale of a former soldier turned street-sword for hire in Spain's Golden Age. As an ex-soldier and blade-for-hire, Diego Alatriste y Tenorio, is hired through intermediaries to waylay and murder two English travelers to Madrid. Privately instructed by one of his paymasters to merely wound the travelers, when Alatriste, touched by their honorable conduct, allows the travelers to live, he finds himself the target of a vicious conspiracy out to destabilize the tenuous peace between Spain and England - with the Inquisition furiously pursuing Alatriste for reneging on his deadly bargain.Captain Alatriste paints a marvelous swashbuckling historic picture of Madrid in Spain's Golden era, evoking the splendid colorful swagger of the streets with the politics and factions orbiting the Spanish courts. The book brings poetry, excitement, romance, and a smooth textual verve that must be read to be truly understood and appreciated.The second book in the series, The Purity of Blood, is already on the shelves and a film version of Captain Alatriste is apparently now in the works, with Viggo Mortenson in the title role. My recommendation for some good summer holiday readings is to crack open Captain Alastriste and let the smooth, heady prose of Arturo Perez-Reverte work its magic. You will not be disappointed.For an excerpt from the book, check out Arturo Perez-Reverte's own site. You can pick up some Spanish rapiers online, take a virtual walk through the Golden Age of Spain, or read up about the era at the ever-dependable Wikipedia. Check out Cerventes or dive into his work at the Cervantes Project. Interested in visiting Madrid? Check out Mad About Madrid for a fascinating look at the city that includes an Alatriste tour of the city.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

Runescape -- Digging the Virtual Economy

Deano — Thu, 1 Jun 2006 12:55:35 EDT

Markets. Demand. Supply.One thing about a virtual economy is that the quick feedback and response and the immediacy and flux of the economy is very evident. In the space of a day I have gone from penniless adventurer to moderate wealth as a "clay supplier."A bit of background: several weeks ago my son came home from school very excited about trying a game some of his friends were involved with online: Runescape. Runescape is a virtual world, a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). Runescape, as MMORPG's go, is strictly at the low end. It is a java-based online game offering a fairly cheap and relatively painless entry point for people who want to try the MMOG but don't want to dive into the more intensive involved Worlds of Warcraft.Runescape is set in yet another fantasy world peopled with the usual beasts, monsters, quests, and magic -- you know the type -- with a selection of easy monster and creatures on which to hone your skills, and a selection of progressively more difficult quests that help to build your skill level until you can take on the bigger creatures and beasts. (Note: Avoid the Chaos Elemental. I named it the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal after it defenestrated me in the wild.)The biggest problem in the virtual world is the same as it is in our real world: money. How do you go about earning cash to finance your adventures? It is relatively simple to earn small amounts of gold (chopping wood, mining tin, killing goblins, etc.), but after a time such make-work becomes tedious. Through nosing about, we managed to discover a source of magical runes that we could then sell in one of the towns for 70 gold pieces each. Aha! Easy Money! So we thought. Each trek out to the site involved a laborious and intensive hike into the wilderness, a region rife with player-killers, generally high-ranking. A direct route was out of the question as far too many homicidal maniacs waited by the main road into the wilderness for some cheap kills. Getting to the site involved a very long and meandering route to avoid the many monsters and other players. Once you finally arrived, you had to daringly dart in to collect as many of the runes as possible, wait for them to respawn, and then collect again. In short, it was a JOB -- dirty, dangerous and tedious.Just in case you are wondering, the fatality rate for such expeditions as ours was probably 60%. The return for the survivors was typically about 3000 gold pieces, enough to buy some decent mid-level armour and weapons but not much else.Enter the Gods of Runescape (i.e. the programmers). They announced two days ago the advent of housing! You can now purchase and build a house, equipping it with elaborate styles, furnishings, and more. This is a great boon for the many higher-level members who, bluntly, have more money then they can spend and like to show off -- the only real-world value that seems to exist.Weirdly enough, Runescape characters can neither sit nor sleep, so the elaborate chairs, beds, and furnishings only serve the purpose of showing off wealth, levels, and accomplishments. The incongruity of spending countless hours earning virtual cash to purchase a virtual house and furniture that is just eye-candy is probably appreciated by most, but they still want to do it.Building your house takes time and construction skills, so raw materials are required. Wood must be cut, turned into planks, transported, and then nailed into chairs, for example. Clay must be mined for use in fireplaces.The initial frenzy started with realtors. Once the announcement about the housing update was made, members flocked to purchase houses (placed in a magical portal, so they don't clutter up the landscape) and then flocked to build. A market sprang up within minutes that catered to those too busy, too intent, or too high-level to bother gathering up resources. Planks, nails, clay, rock, tiles, and more suddenly began to command exceptional prices. Clay went from 10 gold pieces to 1000 gold pieces within minutes (right now its hovering between a low of 600 or 700 gold pieces for dry clay to about 1000 gold pieces for wet clay, but the price is fluctuating downwards as the initial demand levels off and more suppliers get in on the action. I expect it will peak again on the weekend as more players become aware of the new function. The demand appeared, and so did the middlemen who helped supply it. Now I spend my time ferrying between the mining quarry and the portal, lugging clay and hawking it to builders. In the brief two days the market has existed, the demand from customers has already changed. Initially customers were fully prepared to buy clay straight from the quarry. Now more canny and experienced buyers look for soft clay -- clay treated with water -- a process that involves taking the clay to a water source, soaking each individual clay and then trekking back to the portal to sell it. It is interesting to note the downward trend of the clay prices as more suppliers move into the market and customer demands become more sophisticated.I suspect that after this week, the demand curve will plateau, the prices will drop, and the demand for luxury items, unique crafted items, and stonework will increase, which means it might be best for me to use my capital to build up my stone-working skills to ride the coming wave to even greater heights as a virtual entrepreneur. That is if I can keep my son from wasting our hard-earned profits on such frivolity as mitheral swords and dragon-skin armor. Get back to the clay pits, boy, and leave adventures to those fools with more blade then brains!

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

GameCube Review: The Simpsons - Hit & Run

Deano — Thu, 6 Apr 2006 11:52:40 EDT

If it has ever been your quiet secret illicit dream (as it is frequently mine) to cruise through town in a squirrel-squashin', deer-smacking' drivin' machine, the The Simpsons: Hit & Run has just fulfilled it, in spades.Hit and Run is possibly the best Simpson's game ever to hit any console. It essentially offers up, a la Grand Theft Auto, a grand tour of Springfield and all of its many twisted denizens and locales, including three major map areas (the Evergreen Terrace neighbourhood, Downtown and the Eastside, and the Squidport/Observatory). Within these winding mission maps are multiple locales familiar to fans of the series (and some notably obscure ones). Missions generally consist of the standard GTA fare -- chases, timed runs across town, gather objects, destroy vehicles and races. Different levels bring up different characters for the player to play including Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa, and Apu. Also populating the game are all of the myriad characters that make up the Simpson universe including Comic Book Guy, Grandpa Simpson, Snake, Apu, Burns & Smithers, Principal Skinner, Cletus, Dr. Nick and more. The sheer volume and variety of the dialogue is marvelous, with all of the original actors contributing their voices. The only noticeable (and highly disappointing) lack is Sideshow Bob's voice.As a virtual tour of Springfield, the game is terrific. You can cruise down to the Quik-E-Mart, drop by Moe's or the nuclear plant (complete with Stonecutter's secret tunnel), or hunt down Lard Boy Donuts. Just touring town is entertaining as the game is filled with hidden gags, references, and jokes in every corner.The meat of the game however is the vehicles. There is a superlative variety of vehicles in the game, most of which are unlockable via purchase (from collecting coins), or via winning races and/or bonus missions. Vehicle selection and capabilities is critical in successfully completing missions (as is mastering the art of the sliding turn). For some missions, speed and handling is paramount, for others durability and toughness is key. You can hop behind the wheel of Homer's car, zip along in Bart's speedy Honor Roller, cruise through town in Professor Frink's fast but delicate Hovercar, borrow Barney's robust Plow King, swipe Snake's roadster or Apu's Camero or just grab a passing the school bus or pizza van. Plot wise the game revolves around a sinister plan to control the minds of Sprngfieldians through introduction of a new cola drink. However, the thin plot is just an excuse to hang high-speed road mayhem on. The game permits fairly extensive (and fun) destruction of vehicles and property but beyond some suggestive language and cartoon destruction, there is no blood or other graphic mayhem, not even from Itchy & Scratchy.The one major flaw within the game is the save system. If you save mid-level, when you come back, you start out at the Main Mission start, not where you left off, even though you might have progressed through almost all of the level. Apparently you can go back to the start of the sub-Mission you left off on, but finding how is not easy or intuitive. I didn't locate it until near the end of the game. The most telling minor flaw is simply after you have progressed through the first half of the game, the variety of the driving missions does begin to pale and you start wishing for new areas to explore.Overall The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a wild and woolly tour of Springfield that, to a Simpson's fan, will be great fun. If you aren't a Simpson's fan or are not familiar with the show, the vast majority of the jokes, one-liners and characters simply won't register.The Simpsons: Hit & Run is rated Teen (13+) by the ESRB for Comic Mischief, Mild Language and Violence. This game can also be found on: PC, PS2, Xbox.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

PC Game Reviews Myth and Myth II

Deano — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 17:20:40 EST

Another flight of arrows slams home with a meaty thunk but too few enemy fall. The undead Thrall keep coming, emerging from the waters of the ford relentlessly, lurching forward at an inexorable pace. Outnumbered, you retreat your small group to the hill overlooking the ford, guarding your archers carefully with the steel-clad men-at-arms as Ghols are circling nearby. The pace is relentless.Your dwarf races forward, covered by the bowmen, and hurls a flaming explosive bottle into a packed mass of undead. "Fire in the hole" he shrieks, scampering madly away as the explosive detonates, sending a cascade of bilious blood, limbs and heads hurtling through the air. A falling severed head fells one of your wounded swordsmen. Bodies, blood and abandoned weapons are littered across the landscape in a scorched and agonizing trail.But the Thrall keep coming, now joined by the Souless, ghost-like wraiths hurtling all-too-real spears. More men fall. The archers are few in number now, and cannot keep the Thrall at a distance. The men-at-arms surge forward and swords begin to slash. The Thrall are falling. The archers turn their shots on the souless who, grinning, drift out of range.Then it happens..."Look out" screams a dwarf, hurtling a bomb into the densely packed melee of men and undead. The explosion obliterates the remaining Thrall, but slaughters all but one swordsman. "Sorry about that!" the dwarf apologizes, but it is, literally, his last words as three Ghol hammer him into the earth before turning and killing your now retreating bowmen. Your last swordsman turns to flee....Thus ends a typical level in Myth: The Fallen Lords, a game that brought real-time tactical warfare and strategy out of the trap of "chopping trees' and "mining gold." There were no resources to be developed, no specialty buildings to be created - just raw, unadulterated action with the only resource being your ability to control and manage your troops. Developed by Bungie (who brought us Halo, post-Myth) Myth arrived on the PC gaming scene in 1997, bringing with it such innovations as 3D terrain, real-world physics and barely controllable homicidal dwarves. For once in a game, hills and terrain actually mattered, formations mattered. Often your ability to survive and complete a level was utterly dependent on how well you read the landscape and positioned your forces. The high ground was vital, as were choke points, ranged weapons and understanding your troops various capabilities. Formations were multifaceted and an absolute necessity. You needed to understand when and where a loose-line versus a tight diamond would work best. Understanding and managing your various units helped you win your war. Wandering through a level without paying attention would leave you easy meat for the Dark.Throw in the terrific physics engine (mostly of note when things blew up), a tight, well-written plot, great voice-acting (the narration is particularly powerful), well-balanced levels, varied missions, appropriately horrific enemies in exquisite varieties, great atmosphere and Myth: The Fallen Lords was a first-rate PC game. Frankly Myth is still more enjoyable and original then many of the new games hitting the market. Myth offers both an involving single-player game and a terrific multi-player gaming experience.Myth II: Soulblighter continued the series, with a sequel set 20 years after the events of the original game. With improvements in gameplay and more finesse in the controls, Myth II, if anything, was an even better gaming experience that improved upon the original in multiple ways.Alas, the high-quality series was brought to a halt when Microsoft purchased Bungie, leaving the rights to Myth with Take Two interactive. Take Two farmed out Myth III to Mumbo Jumbo Software and released what was widely considered to be an inferior sequel. The Myth online community however was very strong and has developed a wide range of mods and add-ons including a version based on fuedal Japan, a Civil War variation and a squad-based WWII modification called Axis and Allies.You can still find Myth: The Total Codex kicking around in the discount bins of your local store on occasion. Total Codex includes Myth I & II, a number of free mods and a free single-player campaign called Chimera. If you have never experienced the sheer joy of tossing explosives on a massed formation of Mauls, or peppering a wight with arrows from a distance to watch the resultant landscape-distorting explosion, then you should pick up a copy of Myth. It is huge, terrific gaming fun!For more info on Myth, drop by Wikipedia.Myth and Myth II are rated M (Mature) by the ESRB for Animated Blood & Gore, Animated Violence. These games can also be found on: Mac.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

GameCube Review: Call of Duty 2 - Big Red One

Deano — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:39:36 EST

"The Big Red One" is the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division. During the Second World War, the Big Red One was famous for its almost continuous presence at the "point of the spear."In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, you are a lowly private in Fox Company, landing with the Big Red One on the Vichy-held shores of North Africa. The game progresses through 13 missions, taking you on a combat tour involving North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, Belgium and into Germany.Big Red One is another WWII shooter in the Call of Duty series. Not having played any of the Medal of Honor games I am loathe to compare them. However, I can tell you that Big Red One offers some terrific graphics, a solid story line and voice acting, and plenty of tense, eye-popping destruction.The games takes you through 13 levels covering a wide range of environments from the dusty ravines and ramshackle towns of North Africa, the hilly terrain of Sicily, the vicious concrete fortifications of the Seigfried Line, and the snowy fastness of rural Germany. Of particular note is the vicious fight through the trenches and bunkers at Crucifix Hill.The game can be highly involving and immersive at times, though, as you progress further you become used to the rhythm of the action and can, at times, quite accurately predict what is happening next. The cut scenes do an excellent job of increasing the immersive experience. The game intersperses the dogface view of the war with a handful of vehicle and gunner levels that see you driving several tanks, serving as a gunner on a B-29, an operating a anti-aircraft gun. While these levels provide a nice sense of variety, Big Red One is primarily a foot soldier's war, with the grunt's-eye view of the action. The vehicle/gunner levels take away somewhat from the main story.The game levels are linear in nature, so as you move through a burned-out town, you are limited in the directions you can progress. Most of the time these limitations are not even particularly noticeable -- it is a smooth progression -- however at times it can be frustrating when you are pinned down and can't flank your opponents even when all you need to do is hop a small fence or rubble pile.There are an amazing variety of weapons available as you progress through the game, although you can't hang on to favorites from one level to the next. I would have preferred to keep the sniper rifle for some of the additional levels but it does turn up at multiple points (coincidentally when it is most needed!). Ammunition is, at times, quite scarce, so the rule of thumb is conserve it when you can.Your squad mates in Fox Company are the standard clichéd variations, the loudmouthed guy from New Jersey, the laconic westerner etc. While they add enormously to the storyline and the cut scenes, your fellow soldiers can be irritatingly dense. They have an annoying tendency to step in front of you in narrow trenches, foxholes and bunkers, generally resulting in you, busily lining up a shot at a particularly troublesome German position, shooting your squad mate in the back. As an added bonus, they are, at times, extremely poor shots, standing a few feet from a German position and unable to hit the German gunners.The last warning I will give you about your squad is you cannot rely on them to clear a room. They will often move into a another room after you have finished what you believed to be the last defender, and run right past some German standing in plain sight, leaving you as easy meat.Graphically Big Red One is first rate, with some terrific-looking environments and good character animations. I felt a genuine wince of sympathy the first time I saw a soldier tossed like a rag doll from an explosion. While the game is violent, it does not contain graphic violence (i.e. limbs flying, etc.). The biggest single problem with Big Red One I experienced was the lack of save points in the game. You could save at the end of a mission and at some specified checkpoints, however, it was an absolute pain to have to restart the mission after you had made considerable progress. For difficult missions, the repetition was tedious, reinforces the linear, limited feel of the game levels. For an occasional gamer such as myself, there is nothing worse then a game that does not let you progress.Overall to an un-jaded newbie to the WWII shooter realm, I found Call of Duty 2: Big Red One to be first-rate.For a look at the history and actions of the real Big Red One, drop by their website.Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is a rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Blood, Mild Language, Violence. This game can also be found on: PS2, Xbox.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

Book Review: Illicit - How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy by Moises Naim

Deano — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:52:14 EST

You probably didn't think, that time you downloaded an MP3 online or bought a bootleg DVD of the latest Hollywood release, that you were tied into one of the most dangerous and potentially destablizing political and economic forces on the planet...Illicit by Moises Naim, takes a long, hard look at a new phenonoma in the international arena - the role of traffickers and trafficking networks in transforming politics, economics and borders. Naim, the Editor of Foreign Policy Magazine, has penned a darkly intriguing look at the underground economy of trafficking. Illicit looks a the intricate, intertwined worlds of smuggling, illegal migrants, narcotics, organ-legging, the international sex trade, slavery, the arms trade, money laundering, weapons of mass destruction and counterfeit goods. Naim makes a strong case that the same value-chain enabling technologies that permit the Wal-Marts of the world to exist, have also given birth to illicit and illegal networks and enterprises - from Al Quada to pirated software. He traces the connections between points of international instability, legitimate trade, weak governments and porous borders and the rise of highly flexible, de-centralized networks that transcend state boundaries. These networks are not Pablo Escobarean-style structures, run by a single boss, but rather a loose and ever-changing adaptable network of illegal and legal enterprises that can recombine, shift and take advantage of the restrictions inherent in states and state bureaucracy. They are, in essence, entrepenuerial power set free. They are networks -- connections -- the goods being trafficked are secondary to the linkages and capabilities the traffickers demonstrate.One example Naim cites is the underground nuclear trade network of Abdul Quadeer Khan, Pakistan's father of the Islamic bomb. Khan's commercial network shipped centrifuges to Libya (uncovered in 2003) using, among others, a Malaysian enginnering firm, a Swiss engineer, a Sri Lanken intermediary, and a partially-owned British-owned Dubai corporation. The centrifuge was shipped on a German-registered ship.The ability of these networks to heighten political instability, particularly in regions with marginal governmental / state controls or in regions where those particular states are weak, corrupt or permeable, is very high. Columbia, Peru and Bolivia for cocaine; Afghanistan for heroin; South Africa and Israel for illegal organs; China for counterfeit goods, software, DVD's, clothing; migrants from Africa and Asia; prostitutes from Hungary; optical disks from Ukraine...the list is endless and it is not just consumer goods but commercial industrial goods and medications.Here's a quick excerpt description of Transdniester, a breakaway region of Moldova: "Weapons are to Transdniester what chocolate is to Switzerland or oil to Saudi Arabia. Some countries export oil and gas, others, cotton or computers. Transdniester exports weapons - illegally. What kinds of weapons? Vast quantities of Soviet shells and rockets. Newly manufactured machine guns, rocket launchers, RPGs, and more, produced in what are described as 'at least six sprawling factories'". Moldova has little to no authority over Transdniester. The region, which holds much of Moldova's industrial capacity, is essentially run by a family-owned company - the Sopranos writ large. They supply endless streams of weapons clandestinely around the world, a function previously controlled by and occupied by state players, now gone entreprenurial in the post-Cold War world of the 21st century.Naim links the rise in trafficking networks of all types with other transnational networks such as Al Quada and offers the strong suggestion that where one is found, the other is not far behind. He also outlines the difficulties in fighting these criminal networks with the highly centralized, nation-based bureaucracies that now exist (i.e. Homeland Security) and the frictions and problems they face manifest in the fact that they are merely states. For the illicit networks of the world, borders and regulations spell opportunity. They are not going away. They are driven by high profits and markets not by morals. Like it or not, the Sprawl is now here.In short, Illicit is probably one of the most important books for anyone looking to understand this "brave new world" which we inhabit, and the new influences and players operating within it. I seriously recommend you crack it open...it will make you think carefully about connections the next time your download your tunes.I also recommend cracking open The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman. Reading both books gives you a fairly complete picture of the impact, both legal and illegal, that freed-up, easily-moving capital and supply can have on the world's economies and on political stability.Wondering where Moldova is? Wonder no further....

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

An Open Letter to Google

Deano — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 21:37:35 EST

Here is a copy of an email I received from the Google folks today. I recognize that it is probably an automated letter, sent out by some cold, efficient little piece of code, but I thought it warranted a response...so here it is:Subject: Google AdSense Policy Enforcement Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:34:08 -0800Hello,While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as http://booklinker.blogspot.com/Publishers are not permitted to encourage users to click on Google ads or bring excessive attention to ad units. For example, your site cannot contain phrases such as "click the ads," "support our sponsors," "visit these recommended links," or other similar language that could apply to the Google ads on your site. Publishers may not use arrows or other symbols to direct attention to the ads on their sites, and publishers may not label the Google ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements."Please make any necessary changes to your web pages in the next 72 hours. We also suggest that you take the time to review our program policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies) to ensure that all of your other pages are in compliance.Once you update your site, we will automatically detect the changes and ad serving will not be affected. If you choose not to make the changes to your account within the next three days, your account will remain active but you will no longer be able to display ads on the site. Please note, however, that we may disable your account if further violations are found in the future.Thank you for your cooperation.Sincerely,The Google AdSense Team-----------------------------------------Dear Google,Respectfully, I don't tell you guys what to put on your site, you shouldn't be telling me what I can put on mine.Why don't you go after those vast Google adword "farms" that seem to be popping up all over, who provide no real content beyond a link-fest designed to line someone's pockets and push out viral adware, rather then picking on a tiny blog site that gets maybe a handful of click-throughs per year? Feel free to disable my adwords account if you choose, but I have better ways to spend my time then hunting down the handful of references on my own site to things like "please click on some ads" or "support the site sponsors". That's my business, not yours. I can live without the $4.27 worth of revenue that you won't send to me anyway until I hit $100, which, barring a link from Instapundit, at the current time frame, should be in 2029. The one nice thing about being so small and doing this from motivation other than monetary gain is that it grants me the freedom, dare I say it, the sheer joy, of telling you "NO". I note that you are a whole lot less "strict" with your own self-imposed rules to "Don't be evil" when you apply them to yourselves. So bugger on off Google...Go back to colluding with the Chinese government to crush more dissidents in your relentless search for market entry, while pretending that you reside at the center of the universe. Cut me off of my pitiful Adwords revenue, I need you not! I. DON'T. CARE. Chew on that.Sincerely,Deano BooklinkerP.S. I thank you for your time.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.

Early Results - Canadian Election - Conservative Minority

Deano — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 02:06:50 EST

Early results are now in for the Canadian Federal Election:Stephen Harper's Conservatives appear to be enroute to a minority government with the Tories leading or elected in 99 ridings, the Liberals leading or elected in 87, the Bloq Quebecois leading or elected in 50 ridings, the New Democratic Party leading or elected in 22, and one independent elected.Canwest Global appears to have already called it for Harper (as of about 9:45 pm EST) and most of the networks appear to be predicting a minority government.On the popular vote, so far the Tories are pulling in 35.54%, the Liberals 36.16%, the BQ 3.57%, the NDP 21% and the other assorted parties (the Green Party, the Marijuana Party etc.) a total of about 3.38%.A minority Conservative government means that Stephen Harper will form the next government as Prime Minister but will be forced to compromise with members of the other parties, most probably the BQ.For those unfamiliar with a Minority government, basically it occurs when the majority party does not hold more than 50% of the seats in the House of Commons. Without 50% they are forced to either form a coalition with another party or work closely with other parties to reach compromise positions.The implications within the Canadian political sphere should be quite complicated. The Tories will most probably end up working closely with the Bloc Quebecois, a regional Quebec party dedicated to Quebec seperatism. Given that the Tories main power base is western Canada, not a region known for its tolerence of "coddling Quebec", it should result in some interesting permutations...Needless to say the minority government should prove a significant check on any grandiose Conservative visions for a future Canada - don't expect any hard-core, right-wing conservative revolution - compromise and conciliation will be the name of the game until the government pushes the other parties too hard and forces an election. If Harper can control his unwieldy and dangerous compromise with The BQ, a party dedicated to dividing the country, look for a new election with the Tories trying to move to a majority sometime probably within the next two to three years at the most, possibly sooner given the Tory leader's difficulties in keeping his party in line and the probably tricky balancing act he will have to play with his own western power base....In short, it seems that the Canadian electorate has reached that most Canadian of solutions - a government that will be forced to work with others to survive.

Writer. I don't really think anything else could possibly describe it....it's one heck of a loaded word.