(no subject)
Curled up in a comfy chair with a warm drink, a book, while listening to the rain = not the most stereotypical day for the midst of summer, but definitely a favourite one nonetheless.
Though I did have a thought on the way home- largely because I still have the Super Mario 64 OST on my iPod and will forever. It's been a rather depressing trend lately for gaming to become actually stressful: I find myself wanting to play Fallout, or finish Nocturne, and deciding against it because I know I will end up tense and unhappy instead of relaxed. Part of what I think that is about?
Is the fucking noise all new consoles make. You can play an N64 for hours and not hear a peep out of it, only the sounds of Bubblegloop Swamp or whatever. But if you dare to even presume that your Xbox360 might want to, you know, just boot up a disc? That deserves a whirring so loud that you'd think a bloody jet engine was taking off. It's distracting, it breaks immersion, and most of all it gives me a headache and kills my want to play. I've actually gotten tense during games even when nothing bad is happening because I know that simply because I need to have the game up to a certain volume just to hear it over the spluttering and grinding of the machine that it'll get met with the secondmost rage-inducing saying in gaming. Turn it down!
(That's right after number one: you're venting your frustration over losing to something - anything, really - ingame for six or seven times in a row and are met with Don't get mad. It's just a game. Which is another rant entirely.)
Sigh, sigh. This is kind of why I want a backwards step for gaming. Forego the flashy graphics and get something that people can actually run. I like pretty pictures as much as the next person, but I was never part of the GRAPHICS OVER GAMEPLAY side of the argument. Bigger, more fun, more functional worlds that don't require the Xbox to strain to its very limits to render the first hair of Shepherd's stubble would be much nicer.
AND ANOTHER THING. There was this gorgeous girl on the bus home today - fuck year another 1200 words done on the book - and she didn't so much as crack the tiniest smile the whole way back. It's kind of depressing, in its own way, as if people at large have forgotten how appealing and attractive a smile can be. It's a fairly simple process of thought, too: smiling makes you look happy, which eventually leads to feeling happier, which makes you feel more confident in yourself and thus look better. Scowling can look sexy, of course, but just walking around with an expression that says someone shoved a stick up your butt is never appealing. Smiling, on the other hand, always works!
I've found it's mostly younger people, too, which really betrays my advancing years. You walk past someone under 30 on the street and it'll be head down, sombre expression, ignore everyone. Whereas every 50-60+ year old person meets your eye contact, smiles, and gives a good morning. Not exactly difficult!
TL;DR GODDAMN KIDS BE A BIT MORE CHEERFUL
ALSO GET OFF MY LAWN
Though I did have a thought on the way home- largely because I still have the Super Mario 64 OST on my iPod and will forever. It's been a rather depressing trend lately for gaming to become actually stressful: I find myself wanting to play Fallout, or finish Nocturne, and deciding against it because I know I will end up tense and unhappy instead of relaxed. Part of what I think that is about?
Is the fucking noise all new consoles make. You can play an N64 for hours and not hear a peep out of it, only the sounds of Bubblegloop Swamp or whatever. But if you dare to even presume that your Xbox360 might want to, you know, just boot up a disc? That deserves a whirring so loud that you'd think a bloody jet engine was taking off. It's distracting, it breaks immersion, and most of all it gives me a headache and kills my want to play. I've actually gotten tense during games even when nothing bad is happening because I know that simply because I need to have the game up to a certain volume just to hear it over the spluttering and grinding of the machine that it'll get met with the secondmost rage-inducing saying in gaming. Turn it down!
(That's right after number one: you're venting your frustration over losing to something - anything, really - ingame for six or seven times in a row and are met with Don't get mad. It's just a game. Which is another rant entirely.)
Sigh, sigh. This is kind of why I want a backwards step for gaming. Forego the flashy graphics and get something that people can actually run. I like pretty pictures as much as the next person, but I was never part of the GRAPHICS OVER GAMEPLAY side of the argument. Bigger, more fun, more functional worlds that don't require the Xbox to strain to its very limits to render the first hair of Shepherd's stubble would be much nicer.
AND ANOTHER THING. There was this gorgeous girl on the bus home today - fuck year another 1200 words done on the book - and she didn't so much as crack the tiniest smile the whole way back. It's kind of depressing, in its own way, as if people at large have forgotten how appealing and attractive a smile can be. It's a fairly simple process of thought, too: smiling makes you look happy, which eventually leads to feeling happier, which makes you feel more confident in yourself and thus look better. Scowling can look sexy, of course, but just walking around with an expression that says someone shoved a stick up your butt is never appealing. Smiling, on the other hand, always works!
I've found it's mostly younger people, too, which really betrays my advancing years. You walk past someone under 30 on the street and it'll be head down, sombre expression, ignore everyone. Whereas every 50-60+ year old person meets your eye contact, smiles, and gives a good morning. Not exactly difficult!
TL;DR GODDAMN KIDS BE A BIT MORE CHEERFUL
ALSO GET OFF MY LAWN