inFamous

 

I finished inFamous on Thursday night.  Great game!  I don't usually play shooters but this game had a story that kept me interested and after the past few games which definitely had more of a shooter feel to them this game was not that hard for me to play.  I would like to think it is because I am getting better at playing this style of game but I know that is far from the truth.  I was definitely helped out by the amount of save points and checkpoints throughout the game.  I also got the impression that the game took pity on me after a few failed attempts at a particularly difficult battle, it felt like it eased up on me.  I'm not complaining, I would rather have it do that and keep me playing then beat up on me until I walk away.

I think I am becoming a fan of the open-world design.  Being able to run around a big city, investigating or just looking for 'baddies' to beat up on was great fun.  It allowed me to slow down the game at times and get more comfortable with new items/powers and try to improve on controlling my character.  It was also really cool just to see the city.  The designers put a lot of effort into the look of the play field and I enjoyed exploring.

The first time through the game I chose to be the 'Hero' maybe I should play the game again going for the 'Infamous' title.  Might be fun to be bad the second time around.  

I have a few other games I should probably finish before I go off and buy inFamous 2 but I bet I'm playing it before the week is over.  It will be good to see where the story goes...

 

The Lion King

The Lion King broadway show is coming to Syracuse, NY this fall at the Crouse Hinds Theater.  My daughter brought home the ad from one of her teacher's papers earlier this week.  I was choosen to make the early morning trip to Syracuse to get in line at the box office for the 7am opening.  There was incentive, the first 100 people received a free Lion King CD.

I woke up at my normal workday time and hopped in the car for the hour drive into Syracuse.  Wasn't a bad morning and at 4am there really isn't much traffic.  I got to the box office just before 5am and was a little worried I was in the wrong location.  There were not many people around but once I saw the Lion King barricade set up along the building and spotted a few people standing near the door I knew I was in the right location.  I gathered up my line waiting supplies and headed over.  I was 5th in line!  Woo hoo!

The first couple of people in line had arrived the previous night at 10:30pm but I can only imagine what they thought all night long as the next person didn't show up until 4am.  Our little group grew slowly until around 6:15am when I finally noticed there were about 50 people waiting. One lady that arrived had even brought zucchini bread to share with everyone.

The wait was made enjoyable by some local radio stations that were setting up when I arrived.  Y94, B104 and Hot1079 (I assume all part of a broadcasting family) were playing some music, passing out Tim Hortons coffee and donuts, bottles of water, Nutri-Grain bars and fruit snacks.  They started drawing names they had collected from the people waiting in line for a free 10 minute massage and a chance to win some pretty cool prizes.  FYI - I didn't win!

At 7am they opened the doors to the box office and by 7:15am I was walking out with three tickets for a mezzanine box on October 1st.  None of us have been to a broadway show so we decided to do this one up right.  Now I just have to wait until October...  it's going to kill me!

Great article! Examining Epcot – The Germany Showcase | Progress City, U.S.A.

via progresscityusa.com

Another great article from Michael Crawford at Progress City, U.S.A. A very detailed look at the Germany pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase which includes references to real world examples for the various buildings throughout the area. A lot of the features mentioned are the ones I generally photograph when I am in the pavilion.

On my last visit to WDW my wife and I spent a little more time near the fountain as we enjoyed a dessert from the Karamell-Kuche store. I really enjoy Epcot more once the sun goes down. The various areas take on a whole different look when the night time lighting is on. We sat just outside the Biergarten restaurant and even though it was cooler than I would have preferred, it was great to be amongst all that atmosphere. As we enjoyed the sugary confections I wished I had spent more time stopping and looking around at all the great details. Next visit for sure...

Check out BetaMouse

If you are a technology geek and enjoy Disney then you need to check out BetaMouse.  The team has been producing a weekly podcast for a little over a year now and have covered topics that would interest just about everyone.  It's definitely not your normal podcast about Disney but there is a good chance you will learn something you never knew or will be introduced to some new tech/gadet/device that you will want.  It has quickly moved up to one of my top five podcasts I listen to every week.  Check them out, you won't be disappointed...

 

Revisiting an old friend

Once I finished the Uncharted games I thought I would hop into the next game in my pile of unplayed titles.  I was looking at some of the PS3 games in that pile and was trying to decide if Neir or FFXIII was going to make the cut.

In a moment of pity for the Xbox360, which hasn't seen any action since I started with Uncharted months ago, I powered it up just to let it know I hadn't forgotten about it.  It was then I remembered I had picked up all the DLC for Fallout 3 and my fate was set.  I inserted the disc and jumped back into that wasteland of fun.  It only took a random encounter to get me back into the game play and the fun of watching things explode as I get a critical hit.  Ah, death and destruction in the early morning.

I'll try not be so single minded this time and spread the gaming time around to more of the unplayed games.  With summer getting here the actual time allotted for video games dwindles some, but that just means I have to be more creative with when and where...

I know I'm late to party, but here is the trailer for the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3: Fallout 3: Broken Steel Trailer.

DisneyShawn: The Journey to Everest

via disneyshawn.blogspot.com

Shawn Slater has an Expedition Everest series going on over at his site http://disneyshawn.blogspot.com. This is one of those attractions were it is worth going through the stand-by line to explore the back story developed by the imagineers. The ride is one of my favorites and once you go through the village of Serka Zong on your way to the train you will have a whole new appreciation for the whole experience.

Finding my bookworm mode again

I have been hearing a lot of good talk online about a few recently published books and thought it would be a good time to get back into a reading mode.  I have been spending a lot of time playing video games and doing work related activities rather than pick up a book.  I decided it was time to get back to enjoying a good book and losing myself in the stories rather than watch TV.  So I just order two books which should be at my house early next week. 

The first book, 'Four Decades of Magic: Celebrating the First Forty Years of Disney World,' is a compilation of stories by numerous bloggers, podcasters and general Disney enthusiasts.  Chad Emerson, who wrote a great book on the process behind the land acquisitions for Walt Disney World, compiled the stories and published it through his company.  Most of the people who contributed are the same people who I read online so I am really looking forward to this one.

The second book, 'The Vault of Walt,' is by Jim Korkis, a Disney historian who has been sharing his stories on online for years through the Wade Sampson pen name.  He has also been known to frequent a few of the Disney podcasts and always manages to entertain and inform with his stories.  This is another book I have had my eye on for awhile.

Once I get a chance to read through these books I'll try to go even further out of my comfort zone and post a few thoughts about each.  Not going to promise anything insightful will come out of those thoughts or if I will follow through on the threat.