Play it Again: Resident Evil 4

Leave a reply

Easily in my top ten favorite video games list is the much praised Resident Evil 4.  By all accounts, this is a game that I should not like or be interested in at all.  A Horror, FPS game is definitely a far cry from my usual Pokemanz, Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, and general platforming.

But I love the hell out of this game.  In fact, it’s one of the few games that I regularly play and beat several times (at least five on my last count).  I always get the hunger to play this game every time Autumn rolls around.  I just want to curl up in a blanket and play it until the cows come home.

The first time I tried out this game was at a friend’s house when I was in high school.  My friend turned off the lights and forced the wiimote and the nunchuck into my hands and had me play the first level.  Holy crap that was scary for me, especially the village scene when you’re fighting all the villagers and mother-freaking Dr. Salvador.  My hand shook as I tried desperately to hit my raging opponents.

It wasn’t until college that I truly got to play this game.  My roommate let me play it with his Gamecube.  It was hard at first for me to get into it but once I did I was hooked.  I had to play it and I had to beat it.

One of the things I like about RE4 is the low-reliance of jump scares, something that I’m terrified of both in horror movies and in real life (via thunderstorms or worse, balloons).  RE4 was nonetheless scary for me as its great atmosphere is perfect for spooking you.  Though I never played any of the other Resident Evil games (save 1 briefly but I didn’t like it), I’ve come to learn over the years that RE4 changed the RE format for better or for worse.  The camera over the shoulder was a great change (main reason why I couldn’t play the first one) but the shift towards a more action format was another.  Anyways, this action-oriented format I know many people complained about as it made the games less scary but I respectively disagree.  For a person who never played horror games before, RE4 can still be scary as you panicky waste your bullets and try desperately to survive despite your stupidity.

Here are some of the key scenes that scared the crap out of me for my first play through:

-The first time you arrive at the village (especially Dr. Salvador AKA the Chainsaw Guy)

-The first time a parasite explodes through a person’s head

-El Gigante

-Those fucking dogs both at the Church but especially in the Maze

-The cabin scene when the villagers surround you and Luis a la Night of the Living Dead style

-The Garrador (the blind guys with Wolverine-like claws)

-The Invisible Novistadors (this was especially scary as you panic from all the different sounds in the cramp underground sewers)

-Salazar’s Right Hand Man (ah man screw this guy!)

-It (especially in that weird compartment area)

-Oven man (one of the rare but very well executed jump scares)

It’s hard to rank all these scary moments but there are definitely two moments that easily top the list.  The second scariest thing in RE4 is when you’re playing as Ashley and you’re trying to get back to Leon.  Holy fuck.  That Ashley scene is what a lot of modern horror games do for their entire game.  You have no ability to take down these guys, you’re only hope is to run away and try to live.  That scene is especially bad thanks to the low lighting and the great use of sound effects.  I should mention that this scene works well as you play as kick ass Leon throughout the entire game and suddenly you’re playing as Ashley.  The degree of helplessness is incredibly high here.

First place though has to be the Regenerators.  Fuck.  These.  Guys.  They are scary as hell.  I still get creeped out by them.  Every time I see one I get the chills running down my spine.  The way they walk, the way they just won’t die, but especially the way they sound.  It’s especially bad when you’re running in the freezer-area trying to find that special sniper scope.  Ah Jesus I get worked up just thinking about them.

Image from http://es.residentevil.wikia.com/wiki/Iron_Maiden

So why do I keep playing it?

I think the best answer to this question can be summed up with one character.

The Merchant.

Image from http://rampagedelite.tumblr.com/post/79815630931

God, I love the hell out of this guy, what’s his story????  Why does he have so many guns???  How is he able to teleport so quickly and survive all the infected villagers???  His funny but slightly cynical nature is so great that you can not love him.  I always look forward to seeing him.  He is my savior, he is my backup and he’s one of the few characters who won’t kill you so that’s nice.

You might think I’m joking, and I kind of am, but the Merchant is part of an overall world that is built just right.  I like going into the world of RE4 and trying to find all the easter eggs, the hidden treasures, and the precious ammo.  The game works quite well as you didn’t have to play any of the previous games.  True, you might have the bonus of getting all the references and understanding the minor character’s motivations but that’s more of an afterthought.

The second thing that pulls me back in is that its perfect difficulty level.  I still die every time I play it despite the number of times I beat the game.  Professional Mode, however, really straightened me up and made me into a hardcore player.  I would rely on the headshots and knife stabs so much that when I went back and played Normal mode again, I would be overflowing with ammo and health packs.  Even so, the game can still be difficult for me and that’s why it’s still fun for me.

I may no longer be as scared of the game as I once was, but I can still enjoy its gameplay and its story.  Long shot this may be but if I ever get a magic lamp, I would wish to forget all my memories of RE4 so I could have the pleasure of playing it all over again.  It’s that good.

—–

On a side note…Mary pointed this out to me one time but the guy who says “Resident Evil 4” on the title screen sounds just like Muscle Man from Regular Show.  Yeah, doesn’t it??  I crack a smile every time I hear it now.  I can imagine Muscle Man going up to Mordecai and Rigby and saying

“Yo dudes!  Check out this sweeeet game here!  It’s like the best game ever!”

“Oh yeah?  What’s it called?”

“It’s called,” dramatic close up of Muscle Man’s face in shadow, “Resident…Evil…FOOOOOUR!”

And then they get sucked into the game and have to win it in order to escape it…because that’s Regular Show.

Would You Like to Know More

Would You Like to Know More podcast premieres next week!

Leave a reply

Hello again!  It is my pleasure to announce that next Wednesday (October 22nd) will be the premiere of my podcast Would You Like to Know More!

As mentioned last week, this is a podcast dedicated to solve all things nerdy.  For each episode, we will talk about a certain nerdy topic and talk about why we like it so much and how interested people can get into the said topic.  Every episode will have a different set of guests who are fans of the topic at hand.  This is to ensure that each episode will be deep and engaging and not limited to casual fans who have a passing interest in the topic.

There are five episodes total.  Episode 1 will be on the Big G himself, Godzilla!

In this episode, we will cover a variety of questions such as who’s our favorite monster, our favorite fight, and more!  We will also weigh in and discuss if the most recent Godzilla movie (2014) is an actual Godzilla film.

Not only that, if you are interested in Godzilla but don’t know where to begin, we will tell what three films you should watch first!

So stop by and check us out!  We will go for five weeks straight with one new episode every week!  Hope to see you soon!

The Seven Deadly Sins Riddle Challenge

1 Reply

Here in the U.S.A. your 21st birthday is probably the most hyped, most exciting birthday you could ever have.  There are two main reasons why, you are now legal to both drink alcohol and gamble.  It’s funny to think that society has such a weird fascination with this topic but that’s for another issue.

Anyway, I’ve noticed while I was growing up that the person who turned 21 almost always celebrated joyously. They may host parties, walk to the nearest bars, or simply buy their first six-pack, crack open a beer, and watch Whose Line is it Anyway?  It definitely had a sense of “this is my day and I’m going to celebrate!”

But what if we turned the concept around?

No longer about me but you instead?

Such as was my mentality when I turned 21 several years back.   It’s nice to have friends.  And I wanted to celebrate that friendship.  To celebrate who we are as I turned 21.  I wanted to do something that wasn’t just for me but for them as well.

 —

When I was a kid, I loved treasure hunts.  Hardy Boys, the Three Investigators, and other quizzical romps were sources of entertainment for young Andy.  My sister would even write riddles for me and I would have to find where these riddles would take me.  Each riddle would lead to the next riddle and so forth.

It’s probably why the Riddler is one of my favorite Batman villains.  You can take your pick but I loved both the 1960s campy Riddler and the more refined Riddler from Batman, the Animated Series.  Especially when they’re wearing a slick green suit with a purple tie.  I definitely embodied the man as I was growing up whether it be tons of logic puzzles and riddles or making up my own questions as well.  However, I never had a chance of test these riddles on people.

 

From http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Riddler

This changed when I decided to use them for my 21st birthday.  I would invite my closest friends to a private party at the local brewery in celebration for my 21st.  I still remember it clearly.  As everyone settled down for their freshly delivered dinners, I cleared my throat and stood up to thank everyone for coming to the party.  I felt my heart pound hard against my chest as I stuttered through my opening speech.  I then said “But there is another reason why you are here tonight.”

They shifted on their chairs as they wondered what I was talking about.

I then said, “you’re here, because I made a Riddle Challenge for you.”

Arched eyebrows, a gasp, someone oohed, it was the perfect reaction.

After laying down the rules, I said, “But every good Riddle Challenge should have a theme behind it, otherwise, what’s the point?  I decided on the Seven Deadly Sins as my theme after much thinking.  In my mind, it makes perfect sense, October is a good time to have a dark theme after all.  Seven riddles was also the perfect amount of riddles to come up with and for the participants to solve.”

After the reveal, I reached inside my back pocket and pulled out the first riddle, Wrath, and read it out loud for all to hear.  Afterwards, we drank, we ate, and we celebrated.  The Seven Deadly Sins Challenge then began.

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fullmetal_Alchemist_characters

I wish I could say that it went off without a hitch but that wasn’t the case.  Admittedly, some of my riddles weren’t as well thought out as others so it confused some of the participants.

Nonetheless, I was particularly proud of two riddles that I came up with.

The first one I liked was Lust.  It went:

 

Now I can hear the screams
of agony. Now I have come
where a great wailing beats upon me.

I reached a place mute of all light,
which bellows as the sea in tempest
tossed by conflicting winds.

The hellish squall, which never rests,
sweeps spirits in its headlong rush,
tormenting, whirls and strikes them.

Caught in that path of violence,
they shriek, weep, and lament.
Then how they curse the power of God!
–Dante’s Inferno, Canto V, 25-36

976044

33

 

I’ll give you a moment if you like to think this one through.

 

Stuck?  No worries, the answer is a book about hurricanes!  The larger number represents the call number at the local public library while the smaller number represents the page number (for the curious, the page number talked about Hurricane Andrew and Andrew is my first name).  The participants would open the book and find the next riddle in the book and then go on to the next step.

The second riddle I came up with wasn’t even a riddle at all!  It was more of a challenge.  After the participants met up with me at one of the riddle locations, I told them that they had to participate in the Sloth Challenge.

I gave them all envelopes to open.  They had to open those envelopes at 7 pm.  In the envelope was a set of directions.  The directions took the participant to a large, wetland park that was located outside of town.  They had to walk at least two miles down a path to a lone shack.  In the shack was a code that I had placed there earlier.  They had to text me that code and then they could go on to the next riddle.

The catch is that I would only accept the first seven responses (out of ten).  If you were one of the last three you were out.  I liked this one because you had to choose to either go to the park (when it was dark) or go there when it was light.  You also had to outrace the other participants so that’s a fun concept.  It also made sense considering the code was “I am not slothful.”

Despite the Riddle Challenge’s shortcomings I still had a lot of fun with it.  And apparently so did my friends!  They wanted me to make another one for them.  Initially, I was hesitant, but after some encouragement I eventually gave in.  I realized for this Riddle Challenge that I couldn’t do the same thing all over again, it had to be new and different.

And I had figured it out…

Socks and Sandals

Socks with Sandals Changed My Life

2 Replies

One of the best decisions I have ever made in my life was showing up to school one day wearing socks with sandals.

Let me back up.

In high school, I made a lot of female friends who wore diverse styles.  I envied them.  Their fashion looked amazing while I was just a guy wearing jean shorts and a bright pink t-shirt that said “the Eager Beaver Restaurant, Eldon, MO” with a beaver wearing a chef’s hat on it.  Clearly, I needed to rethink my fashion statement.

Unfortunately, society has…a way of not encouraging men to embrace fashion as opposed to its open involvement towards women.  It’s hard to dress fabulously without be labeled derogatory terms, especially in high school.  Skirts are probably the best example of this for me as I liked their style but I was afraid of how I would be judged by the people I know if I started wearing them.

Clearly another route had to be taken to improve my fashion statement.

Socks are one of the best inventions in history, second only to the Gamecube Controller.  They warm and protect your feet and they just feel so good all around.  In the Harry Potter series, the sock is even symbolized for familial ties and freedom (for more about that see http://www.hp-lexicon.org/essays/socks.html).  Clearly, socks are just one of the goodiest of all clothing apparel.

My friends knew this and acquired a vast array of colorful socks that ranged from stripes to spots to plaid to intricate designs.  They paired them up with their skirts, shirts, bangles, necklaces, earrings, and so forth.  I wanted to do that but with my own style.

After several months, I had accumulated my own sock collection but I ran into a problem.  If the purpose of the colorful pair of socks were to flaunt them, then covering them up by tennis shoes would not be adequate.

Enter the sandal; once I made the connection between the two I couldn’t be stopped.  Socks could be displayed to their full potential.  Now, I can mix and match by shorts, socks, and shirts with each other to create colorful combinations.

Socks with Sandals

Through this combination I realized that socks and sandals (s&s) not only looked good but felt good as well.  It’s the perfect combination to wear when it’s about 60 degrees to around room temperature.  S&s seems to have the benefits of both shoes and sandals by keeping your feet warm while still leaving your toes room to breathe.

As such, my original excuse to wear s&s slowly disintegrated like salt in a vat of hot water as I wore more and more white socks with sandals.

True, my increased wearing of s&s stemmed partially from laziness but damnet, those six seconds I could have spent tying my shoelaces are six extra seconds I have doing nothing else!

Socks with Sandals

But I’m veering from my off topic here.

Why do people not dig s&s?

In all honesty, I don’t quite understand it myself.  It’s interesting that such a minor thing can set people off in unusual ways.  Not outright hate mind you but more repulsion than anything else.

It’s probably this mentality of shoes goes with socks and sandals go with bare feet and NONE THE TWO SHALL EVER MEET.

It boggles their mind!  Why is this guy wearing s&s?  Slowly, their minds become distorted.  Their eyes wobble within their very sockets.  Their palms become sweaty with fear and terror.  Their voice cracks as they try their best to hold back a scream.  What’s going on?  Why am I here?  They shift their hand through their greasy hair and pull a clump of it out.  Why?  Why is he wearing s&s?  Does he know nothing?  Has he ascended into some higher form of existence?  Their mouth is dry.  Oh god, help me, help me now.  I can’t see, I’m going blind.  A shrill voice is speaking softly in their ear.  They can now no longer hear.  They feel it, they feel it now.  That crushing sense of pain and death upon them.  Why?  Why is this happening?  They sink to their knees and weep.  Weep for forgiveness, weep for those who have judged them, weep for those they love.  Please, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.  Everything.  It’s growing dark.  It’s growing dark.  All sense of reality is fading, fading fast.  Please, I can no longer take it.  I can no longer take it.

Just end it.

All their senses come crashing back to them.  They’re awake!  Wide awake!  They jump to their feet and shout

“Hey, man!  Why you wearing s&s?  Who do you think you are??”

I look back at them with cold eyes and respond, “I’m the Unapologetic Nerd.”

Plaid Socks with Sandals

New Podcast Coming Soon!

Leave a reply

Hello everyone!  Exciting news!  I’m developing a podcast with the help of many of my friends!  We are currently recording the episodes and will hopefully have Season 1 of the podcast ready in the nearby future.

What’s the theme of the podcast?  In general, it’s to celebrate certain topics of nerdom.  Not only that, we’ll go into detail why these nerdy franchises work and why they are so popular.  What’s more, these episodes will provide interested people an introduction to the franchise and how they can become acquainted with the said franchise.

We’re keeping Season 1 pretty low key with just five episodes but they’ll range from 40 to 80 minutes long depending on the subject.  Each of these five episodes are diverse and will focus on a different nerdy theme.  Though I won’t say what their subjects are yet, I can say that one is based off of a movie franchise, one from a comic, one from a video game, one from a series of books, and one from board games.

I’ll update you guys once we have a date set.  I’ll also reveal the podcast’s title and more!  Stay tuned!

The Cartoon Network Renaissance

4 Replies

Up until about two years ago, I wasn’t watching Cartoon Network.  I mean, besides from Adult Swim, I had no interest in their daytime programs.

This changed over the 2012 summer when I was barraged with Cartoon Network’s 25th anniversary ads at San Diego Comic Con.  My girlfriend had also forced me to watch Adventure Time during this period.

Though I found Adventure Time appealing it was Regular Show that reeled me back into Cartoon Network.

Original_Cartoon_Network_logo.svg_

There was a period during Cartoon Network’s history that many people refer as the “Golden Age of Cartoon Network.”  Though when these years started and ended can vary from person to person, the Cartoon Network wiki puts this age from 1996 (when Dexter’s Lab premiered) to 2004 (when the live action hosts replaced the cartoon hosts on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays and when Samurai Jack ended).  Many of Cartoon Network’s most famous shows premiered during this timeframe including Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was living it large as it took Friday nights and celebrated them.  This was not like your Saturday morning cartoons, no, these cartoons interacted with each other and hosted segments!  Toonami was at its peak during this time and I dare say it was one of the main reasons why a young generation of American kids got into anime.  That’s how good it was.

But times change.

As the years progressed, shows were syndicated and canceled, blocks were moved around or disappeared altogether, and live action shows became more and more common for CN.  Many people refer to this era (including the wiki) as the “Dark Ages.”  Many fan articles and videos are filled with hatred and disgust while discussing this era of Cartoon Network.

Image from http://themetapicture.com/r-i-p-cartoon-network/. It's very easy to find internet art despising new Cartoon Network. This image made me laugh because what are Hannah Barbara cartoons doing there? It's so funny it has to be a parody of the fan hate.

Image from http://themetapicture.com/r-i-p-cartoon-network/.
It’s very easy to find internet art despising new Cartoon Network. This image made me laugh because what are Hannah Barbara cartoons doing there? It’s so funny that it has to be a parody of the fan hate.

But what about now?

On April 5th, 2010, Adventure Time premiered on Cartoon Network after first becoming a viral hit on Nickelodeon’s “Random! Cartoons.”  Later that year, Regular Show premiered on September 6th, 2010.

As I said before, I didn’t watch Cartoon Network until about two years ago.  By then, these two shows had developed a dedicated fan base (especially for Adventure Time).  Memes and jokes from these shows circulated the internet like a slow moving turtle.  By the time I sat down and watched them they had already become CN’s most popular shows.

Why?  Why do these two shows work?

The first thing that comes to my mind is that they are not annoying nor do they talk down to the audience.  The second thing is that they are original and feel fresh.  You could argue that Adventure Time’s motif of simple randomness has been done countless times before but I think not.  Behind Adventure Time’s random nature are deep storylines that connect loosely from episode to episode.  Actions have meaning behind them.  Actions have consequences.  We see both of these aspects as the series progress.

Regular Show though is on the opposite side of this spectrum.  While Adventure Time relies on child-like logic in a fantastical world, Regular Show relies on adult (albeit slacker)-like logic in a seemingly normal world.  Never have I seen a general audience cartoon hit on so many real world issues in a believable character setting (this is most true for the romantic episodes, especially in “I Like You Hi”).

Art from http://www.deviantart.com/art/Adventure-Show-300284678

Because of these two shows approach to hit a wide as audience as possible, Cartoon Network has seen an unbelievable success with them with both shows averaging between 2 to 3 million views an episode.  The success of these two shows brought with them four other moderately successful shows; The Amazing World of Gumball, Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe, and Clarence.  All six of these shows (with the exception of Steven Universe which has yet to finish airing season 1) have been nominated or won various animated awards including the Emmys.

All six of these shows (with others on the side) remind me of the “Golden Age of Cartoon Network.”  Not only are they creative and well animated but they are diverse as well.  There’s a show that can appeal to anyone whether you like fantastical adventures, pop culture references, spontaneity humor, or well developed characters.  These are cartoons that anyone can seriously enjoy.

Sure, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays may be gone and all our old favorites may be on another channel but I say the “Dark Ages” are gone.  Cartoon Network is experiencing its own Renaissance right now.  And though you could view this as just a slight improvement where it once was several years ago, I say otherwise.  It’s a good time to be watching cartoons on Cartoon Network.

And hey, “Toonami is back bitches.”

Image from http://xeternalflamebryx.deviantart.com/art/Cartoon-Network-Never-One-Moment-440621220 This image has no bearing to the article I just stumbled upon it and I found it quite funny, yay for all the straight men/women!

No, there is no 9/11 reference in Pokemon Black/White

1 Reply

Pokemon Black and White introduced Pokemon’s Generation 5 to the world in 2010.  It marked a noticeable upheaval in the series as Gamefreak broke many of the series’ traditions.   One of the most obvious examples of this is a region, in this case Unova, that was not inspired by a place in Japan.  Unova had strong influences from the U.S.A. with a particular focus on NYC.  Castelia City for instance was inspired from Manhattan while Skyarrow Bridge comes from the Brooklyn Bridge.

But is the NYC inspiration more morbid than it seems?

Three years ago, Cracked.com published an article about The 9 Most Offensive 9/11 References in Pop Culture

You can see the original article here: http://www.cracked.com/article_19087_the-9-most-offensive-911-references-in-pop-culture.html#ixzz2eskwL8fK

In the number 5 spot is Pokemon Black/White where Fletcher Wortmann proclaimed that Nintendo’s game references 9/11. He does this from two different kinds of evidence.

The first one is that the barren wasteland (route 4) between Castelia and Nimbasa City represents Ground Zero from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the game, Route 4 contains buildings that are dilapidated. These ruins were supposedly caused by a meteor that fell from the sky and devastated the area.  The meteor represents the planes that brought down the two towers.

Kyurem, the second piece of evidence, was that respected meteor.  This 9/11 analogy is sealed up when the article points out that Kyurem is 9 feet and 11 inches tall.

kyurem

The problem with these two points of evidence is that if you actually played the game you would have found them to be simply not true.

One: Route 4 is a desert with actual desert storms and desert Pokemon. Not a site of devestation.

Two: The ruins are over 2500 years old and are dilapidated because of age, not of sudden destruction.  In fact, pokedex entries for the pokemon Sigilyph states that they are guardians for ancient cities.  Since they haunt the ruins we can therefore assume the ruins were not recently made.

Three: With the first two points in mind, there are no references in the game anywhere that a meteor “took out” this area.  However, the Giant Chasm region, where you can find Kyurem, was indeed formed by a meteor impact.  This meteor impact though is as far away as you can get from Route 4 and has no relationship to it whatsoever.  Even then, no buildings or cities were destroyed by it as it landed in a forest.

Fourth: Kyurem is 3 meteres tall which comes to about 9 feet and 10.11 inches. Not 9 feet, 11 inches.

It’s this kind of shoddy research that made me stop being a fan of Cracked.  I used to go to their site all the time but ever since this article came out, I slowly stopped visiting them.  Sure, you can be humorous for your articles even if they are sensitive topics BUT EVEN SO, you should still have your facts straight so you don’t misdirect your readers.  This is made doubly so for this article; since the author didn’t bother to double check his sources he is himself offending the 9/11 attacks by trivializing them in a Pokemon game.

The following post was adapted to a reddit post I posted last year on r/pokemon.  Original link can be seen here. 

The Disappearing Spoon and What If? Book Review

Leave a reply

The Disappearing Spoon is perhaps one of the best science books I have ever read. Scientific, or in general nonfiction, literature can be a chore to get through if the voice is textbook-like or if the book is just too dense. But Sam Kean does an amazing job in his bestseller book as its content is great and his writing style makes it seem like he’s actually here talking to me

The Disappearing Spoon highlights the elements and their respective Periodic Table’s wacky history. It’s amazing how Sam Kean can take almost every element on the Periodic Table and highlight how they affected the history of mankind. From the lonely scientist eager to discover a new element to elemental weaponization in war after war.

The book is filled to the brim of clever and humorous short stories of elements that have deceived, maddened, helped, and even killed people throughout the world. These stories are perfect for the person who wants to read a passage or two before doing something else. In fact, that’s why it took me so long to finish the book despite its engrossing nature. I wouldn’t have to worry about plot or overall connecting themes, I can just enjoy the book for what it is.

My favorite story is the devaluation of aluminum. Aluminum was once one of the most valued elements on Earth, even more so than gold. To show off the U.S.’s economic strength, engineers capped off the recently built Washington Monument with a six-pound pyramid made of aluminum. Quite impressive indeed. But in the 1880s, scientists figured out how to separate aluminum oxide into pure aluminum. It was easy to do so in fact. So easy that the value of aluminum plummeted in the market fairly quickly leading to its widespread occurrence to this day.

Sam Kean passages also got me thinking about the wonders of chemistry. One passage was so intriguing that I could not stop wondering about it. While talking about the periodic table general, Sam Kean jokes that it represents a very oddly shaped castle. Going further with this analogy he proclaims “Overall, if each brick was made of the substance it represented, the castle of the elements would be a chimera with additions and wings from incongruent eras, or, more charitably, a Daniel Libeskind building, with seemingly incompatible materials grafted together into an elegant whole.”

Sam Kean continues on talking more about the Periodic Table in detail but he leaves us hanging with this provoking analogy.

What would a real life Periodic Table be like?

Think about it.   All the elements coming together in small cubes, directly touching each other through intimate contact. Who would react with whom? What would the end result be like?

Many seemingly reasonable answers came to my head. The noble gasses would float away and not react with anyone same with hydrogen. Fluorine will throw a hissy fit and make all the elements around it a living hell. Mercury would spread out due to its liquid form and cause all the elements sitting above it to collapse on top of it. Beyond that though, I couldn’t safely say. I’m a paleontologist with only a basic understanding of chemistry. I wanted someone with an appropriate background to answer this question. But who?

I got The Disappearing Spoon for Christmas 2012. Earlier that year, Randall Munroe, author of the famous webcomic xkcd, had started a new project outside of xkcd called What If where he answered extremely kooky what if questions. You can find the full list of these questions here http://what-if.xkcd.com/archive/. He encouraged his fanbase to send him questions for him to answer.

I loved this and wanted to send in my own but I wanted it to be a good one.

This good question came to me while reading The Disappearing Spoon via the Real Life Periodic Table.

Believing that I got myself a good question, I sent him the question.

No response.

I wasn’t surprised, he probably gets a lot of questions every day and he has to comb through his constantly growing inbox. I didn’t want to pester him so I didn’t resend the question until June 2013.

Still no response.

One of the unspoken rules of society is that if you text an acquaintance twice and they don’t respond, chances are they don’t want anything to do with you. At this point I guessed my question wasn’t good enough so I gave up. I would check every week though on his website, hoping that my question would get answered.

Then, last May, I got an email from Randall Munroe saying he wanted my question in his upcoming What If book!

I was stunned.

He asked for permission to use my name to which I said yes and immediately afterwards I preordered the book on Amazon.

I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to that book. A question that I have now been pondering for over 1.5 years would finally be answered.

That book came out last week.

what if

Before I talk about my question, I want to talk about the book first. First off, I’m not done with it and I’m glad I’m not done with it yet. You should take your time with this book, read it when you have something in the oven or 10 minutes to kill. This book should be digested slowly (note, please don’t eat the book).   That said, this book is highly enjoyable and I guarantee you you will learn random things such as if a nuclear submarine could survive in outer space. You definitely won’t regret buying this book.

And for my question?

I can’t tell you how satisfied I am with it. The biggest thing I’m surprised about is (spoilers) there were a lot more explosions in it than I thought there would be. Also how my question nearly destroys the world Muhahahahaha! But being (slightly) serious here, the thing I was most curious about was what would be going on on the right side of the periodic table. The left side I knew would burst into flames (and according to the book I was right) but the right side I knew would be the most interesting. I was correct as a lot of strange stuff happened including the reaction between gallium and aluminum (which lies directly above it). Whenever these two meet, gallium transforms aluminum to a paper-like status. Go figure. I also love how phosphorous and sulfur caused the most trouble near the upper rows and made the real life Periodic Table a death zone.

Randall Munroe said he hoped I enjoy his answer. Well, I can safely say that I do. If you haven’t bought his book yet BUY IT NOW! It’s awesome! And while you are at it buy The Disappearing Spoon.  You won’t miss out on enjoying both actual and theoretical science between these two books.

Spoiler Free Review of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

Leave a reply

9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (999) is a visual novel game released on the Nintendo DS in 2010.  It is widely hailed as one of the best games on the Nintendo DS.  After hearing so much about it, I decided to try it out over the summer.

999 centers around nine people and their struggle to escape a sinking ship in nine hours.  They do this by going through a series of nine rooms.  These nine rooms are locked though and require you to solve a set of puzzles to unlock these rooms.

I’ve never seen a game use the Nintendo DS’ capabilities to this degree before.  The touch screen is lovingly applied and both screens are equally employed so there’s not a strong focus of one screen over the other.  I have also never seen a game take the DS’ hardware and twist it around in the game’s mind blowing ending.  It’s great.

999’s biggest feature though is its choose-your-own-adventure-style gameplay.  There are several endings to the game.  As you progress, you have to make a series of decisions that can affect the outcome of the game.  I guarantee you that you will not get the right ending the first time.  And don’t stress out about that!  The game highlights what decisions you have already made so when you reach that branching point, you can choose another path without having to worry if you had already made that choice or not.

Unfortunately, this means you have to go through a lot of dialogue and a few puzzles you have gone through before.  Luckily, you can simply press the B button and the game zips you through the dialogue and drops you to the first decision point.  You can’t skip through puzzles you have already done but since you know how to do them, you can breeze through them easily.  Even so, redoing of puzzles is probably the biggest criticism I have of this game.

Since this is a choose your own adventure, certain themes, ideas, and plot devices that are alluded to near the beginning of the game can be emphasized or dropped completely as you play through the different stories of the game.  That’s kind of cool.

The whole game has a definite creepy vibe to it.  I would say it’s tone is similar to Myst though with a great deal more character interaction and less mind-frustrating confusion.  I guess I should expand on this and say it reminds me of the classic point and click adventure games as the constant use of the touchscreen combined with the unsettling music really bring out the dire situation the characters find in this game.

999-nine-hours-nine-persons-nine-doors-box-artwork-ds

Speaking of which, definitely the biggest plus for this game would be the nine characters.  Each character is associated with a number such as the protagonist who is number 5.  Their numbers play a strong role in the game as you can’t progress through the nine different doors without using a certain combination of characters via their digital root.  So I can go through Door 5 for instance if I have say number 5, 6, and 3 (5+6+3=14, 1+4=5).

It’s through these different doors that you can interact with the nine characters on a more personal level.  As you play through the games, their slowly revealed backstories shed light on the mystery of why they are trapped on this sinking ship.  And boy these characters are great.

My favorites characters are probably Seven and Snake.  Seven at first seems like a dumb oaf but the more you get to know him the more you realized that he’s smart and pretty funny.  Snake, who’s blind, is a sympathetic character but is still nonetheless quite capable in taking care of himself.   Even the protagonist’s love interest, June, at first seems like the stereotypical, childhood friend-turned-sweetheart but holy crap the things she says to the protagonist can be either very funny or insane.  At first I outright didn’t like her because she seemed like a flat character but that slowly crumbled before my eyes.

In fact, most of the game is like that, things aren’t as they seem and certain ideas and assumptions you may have are thrown into a vat of water and dissolve before your very eyes.  I’m going to shut up about that because I don’t want to ruin any more of the fun you guys may have playing this game.

As you can tell, I like this game a lot.  If you are a fan of Phoenix Wright or Professor Layton, give this a shot.  If you haven’t played those two games then let me say this, there’s a lot of reading in this game and that can turn people off, I totally get that.  You don’t want to read you want to play a game!  But, if you don’t mind sitting back and take the story in, then you won’t be disappointed.  In the future, I’ll give my full thoughts on this game but for now, go to Amazon and buy this game!  It’s only 20 dollars new, you can’t argue that price for a game like this!

As a side note, I accomplished a unique milestone with this game.  I started it on my trip to Europe and finished it on my trip back in two weeks.  First time I completed a game out of the U.S.!

Reaction to Nintendo Direct August 29th 2014

Leave a reply

If you haven’t heard yet, Nintendo is releasing new 3DS consoles.  You can read all about them HERE.

Ever since I got my Pokemon X/Y themed 3DSXL last year, I have been a big fan of the 3DS and its games.  Nintendo has been hitting all the right notes for its handheld console as opposed to the slowly improving Wii U.  Do they do it again here?

The “New 3DS” looks great in my opinion.  Slight improvements in the design make them shine including the colored X, Y, A, and B buttons.  The new buttons at the shoulder and the rearrangement of the volume control give them an additional bonus.  This is definitely a system that looks fun to play.

The added C-button concerns me though.  On the one hand, it’s great that Nintendo added it to the console as now we can play 3DS games, like Metal Gear Solid 3, without resorting to the 3DS pro pad.  However, the C-button looks unreliable as I can easily imagine my thumb slipping over it.  But I’ll reserve my judgment on that once people test how reliable it is.

The boosted battery life is a definite plus.  It was also one of the key reasons why I shirked the regular 3DS and went for the XL instead.  A longer battery life means the 3DS can become a more portable console.

The most controversial aspect surrounding the “New 3DS” is the boosted CPU power.  This, combined with the extra buttons, means that games like the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles rerelease are not compatible to older models.  Many people on the internet, including myself, are concerned about this.  What does this mean exactly?  How many new 3DS games will be required to play on the “New 3DS?”  Do I have to give up my old 3DS for these new ones?

I can’t speak for other gamers but I have grown attached to my 3DS console thanks to its Pokemon Theme and the places I have taken it.  It will be hard for me to give this console up.  The only two ways I will get a new console is if it’s a new console generation (which in this case, I think it’s not as it’s still relying on the 3DS brand name but then again so does the Wii U…) or if there is a new Pokemon game that requires the “New 3DS.”  Pokemon was the main reason why I bought my DS and later my 3DS in the first place.

It seems like Nintendo might finally have stumbled for its 3DS.  After a slow start, it has picked up speed and has become one of the best consoles currently out there.  Now with this new console coming out, people might not be so incline to buy it and instead stick to what they have.  However, Nintendo usually listens well to its fanbase so perhaps it might make some changes.  We’ll just wait and see…

On a more positive note, let’s talk about Xenoblade Chronicles!  When I first saw the trailer I had nooooo idea who this guy was and originally thought he was some Final Fantasy character.  After doing a little digging to learn what the hell Xenoblade Chronicles was, I was surprised to see it came out exclusively on the Wii and is lauded as one of the best Wii games of all time.  This surprised me as I never heard of it before (but then again, I’m more of a handheld guy).  Now, after reading reviews of it and seeing the gameplay in action, I want to try this game out!   It’s likely I won’t play it on the 3DS since it won’t come out for a while and I’ll probably not get the “New 3DS” so instead I’ll just play it on my Wii U.  That’s going to be on the backburner though for now as Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright comes out today!

Finally, Shulk looks like he’ll be an interesting fighter with his ability to change skills in-battle and his future sight…thingy…I’m kind of disappointed we got another swordsman but whatever.  He looks like a character for more advance players as you have to do a fair bit of prediction to beat your opponent.  His large sword also gives him a fairly large swinging range but no projectiles (as far as I can tell).

Final note: my friend brought this up as the “New 3DS” is similar to the expansion pack for the N64.  So you couldn’t play games like Majora’s Mask or Donkey Kong 64 on it.  But then again, not many games used this feature.  Perhaps a similar fate is in store for the “New 3DS?”