Here Is A Sampling Of The Book Stuff We Will Do

Here's a taste of what we will be doing for the book segment of the podcast. I have had a few short stories and poems published over the years nothing serious but here you go with one such poem. Written for The Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans 1998 edition. That was while I was still in school and forced to be a Christian. I am now an Atheist so for the parts about religion are void now but the other stuff is true. I still believe no matter who you are you can still be a nice person and I try to every day. Enjoy

The Magic Of Christmas

Christmas is the most magical time of year,
A season full of warm wishes and good cheer.

Christmas is a celebration of Christ's birth,
A reminder of what we are all worth.

Even Though Christmas comes but once a year,
The message it sends is really quite clear.

The spirit of Christmas should always be alive,
Not only when Christmas is to arrive.

The homeless can go to a shelter for company and food,
Hopefully this will put them in a Christmas mood.

Carolers rejoice in song,
Letting us know where we belong.

The lighting of the tree is a Christmas tradition,
Which can coincide with giving to the missions.

People exchange gifts as a symbol of love,
For each one here and the One above.

Christmas Eve Mass is special to me,
Receiving Christ fills me with glee.

Kids give Santa their list of wishes,
And also get lot hugs and kisses.

Children eagerly wait for St. Nick to arrive,
To bring a present or maybe four or five.

Christmas isn't about getting what we desire,
But the giving of ourselves to the one much Higher.

Believing without seeing can be a problem for some,
But for others the mystery is half the fun.

It's Time

Hey guys and gals out there in internet land. I know It has been awhile since my last post. Over this past year some things have come up. We are back and stronger than ever. My original 2 co-host of Voices are back and we are trucking along. From the first 4 show that we put out you gave us some good feedback. We are planning on going in a fairly similar direction as before. We plan on having 1 show devoted to talking about Social and Economical things affecting our lives as 18-30 yr old's. The show will be called Voices of Our Generation.

We also plan on having another show focusing on Movies and Music and other forms of releveant media. It will be called Media Masters our Voices from the Street. let us know what you think sounds better. Who out here doesn't love live music. If everything goes as planned we plan on from time to time having band spotlights were we will go around to different venues around the city and record live music and interview the band our musician playing the music. It could be anyone from a band playing in a cafe to a solo saxophonist out on the streets playing because he loves it. We will also review music we like and new music as it comes out. We will also cover new and old movies we love.

Our 3rd show will be all about Books and Cooking. Haven't come up with a name for it yet maybe Voices From The Home We will talk about our love for good books. A book can take wherever you want to go all you have to do is imagine it. Anyone out there that loves books it is your duty to watch and read Inkheart one of the best movies out there. We will from time to time go to local poetry reading our ask a certain writer in our city to read us a little something they have written. Who knows we may even regall you with a story our 2 of our own. We will also give you recipies and tell you how to cook them. That episode will have a bonus download our youtube video where you can actually see us cook what we are talking about we will have guest on from time to time sharing recipies.

The 4th and final show we will have will be about Gaming and retro stuff. Current games our games from back then. Things from the late 70's 80's and 90's. If there is something you would like to hear about our hear us discuss with any show let us know. We still haven't found a perfect name for shows 2-4 so any suggestions would be welcome. We plan on putting 1 show out a week starting with Voices Of Our Generation the 1st week Voices From The Street the 2nd and so on.

We are also looking for a 4th co-host to help anchor the show we had a 4th co-host but due to getting pregnant She will not be able to be on. So if you are someone who is knowlegable about polotics all opinions are welcome. Our if you know some about books food music movies our games drop me a line at Thinkinggames@live.com and we can talk some more.

The evolution of the digital experince. Home

There are a new set of articles that we will be adding to our Blog. The articles will be titled The Evolution of the Digital Experience. Drop us an email and tell us what you think. This week we will be talking about the PlayStation 3's Home program.

It is like the sims with facebook. It is mostly a social experience more akin to an MMO. You really don't play Home though. There are some games inside Home. But it is more of a Social experience.

You are given a starter apartment. You can upgrade to a better home as well. You are able to buy furniture and clothing at the moment. You will be able to buy fun items you can use outside of the apartment in a little while. But it is still in beta at the moment.

Once you are done in your apartment you are transported to the town square. Once you are in the town square you can meet and interact with the other people in Home. From there you are able to go to a few spaces in the game that are connected. Meaning that you don't have to go to your personal psp in the game to get to them but you can if you would like.

In town square there is a area you can go to to listen to music with other other people. You vote on what the next song is. There is an area for you to watch videos such as movie and game trailers off a big screen. There is also a game in the middle of town square in a fountain. It is a pretty cool Flying Saucer game.

The object of the game is to collect these things inside of certain bubbles. To gain points you must collect special bubbles. There are other bubbles that are fuel canisters you collect them to replenish your fuel so you don't run out and crash. There are also bombs in some bubbles that you have to watch out for our you will blow up. It is a very interesting and fun game.

From the Town Square you can go into the mall which is a cool little space. You can buy certain things such as a new house, furniture for your new house and clothing. The things that you can purchase are pretty cool the only problem is that there isn't a lot right now. But they are adding new and interesting things all the time.

Another area you can go while in Town Square is the Movie Theater. In the movie theater you can sit down in a movie theater seat and watch trailers. At the moment it isn't really that good but in the future they could make it better. But who knows. Is something like that able to be fixed our is there no way of fixing it because of what it is?

From the Town Square you can also go to the Bowling Alley Inside the bowling alley there are many things to do. You can shoot pool. Play Echochrome play a block breaking game and Bowl bowling in home is pretty fun.

There is also a space that is called The Gamers lounge. The Gamers Lounge is a part of the Town Square but it is currently not linked to Town Square. It is basically a cafe Esq area where you can sit and chat with other people using home.

There are also spaces that are only accessible from your from your in game psp. It is a psp that your character inside the game has. With that psp you can access your inventory check your mail and go between spaces. There are some interesting spaces available now. There are more spaces that are going to be available as time goes on. The spaces are themed areas made to look like certain things. There is an Uncharted Drakes Fortune space designed after Uncharted. It drops you in an area called Sully's Bar. It is themed after the game Uncharted.

In the space there is also an arcade machine that lets you play a game called Mercenary It is a pretty cool game. In the game they drop you on the left of the screen where you have to battle your way to the treasure on the other side of the screen. Along the way to the treasure you have to watch out for the mercenaries they shoot at you. You have a gun so you are able to shoot back. There are also light platforming elements it is a little like Pitfall.

There is also another space for Warhawk. Warhawk is an online team based multiplayer game. It is akin to Team Fortress and Counter Strike with land and air based vehicles. Anyone that has played the original Warhawk will Immediately know what the game is like. In this area you are able to meet with other people who like Warhawk. You are able to meet up and set up games within that space you can also do it within the game itself.

There is also a space for Farcry 2 themed after it. It is an African themed area. There is also a Guitar Hero space which is pretty cool. The space is themed after the backstage of a concert. In the area there is also a Simon-Esq game called Rock Legend in the game you have to hit the corresponding buttons when they appear.

There is another space themed after Redbull it looks like a tropical resort type area. In the space you can play a game where you fly a little plane through rings over the beach at the resort. It is a pretty Fun little game it is challenging.

There is also another space themed after Resident Evil 5. It is a pretty cool space it is made to look like the back lot where Resident Evil 5 was shoot. There isn't alot to do at the moment. There is a BSA agent from the game in the space who will be selling you certain items and clothing in the future. There is also an area that is under construction that is going to be a lounge in the lounge they are going to have a game that you can play to earn special items. Also when you play certain games and earn certain trophies they will unlock certain items for use within Home. There are 4 at the moment for RE5.

There is also another space themed after Guitar Hero. It is themed after the backstage of a concert. In there you can play a game called God of Rock which is a button pressing game like Simon. They will show buttons being hit then you have to hit them in the same correct order it is a pretty interesting and fun game.

There is a new area that is opening up on Thursday for the game Godfather 2 which will let you go in a casino themed area. In the casino themed area you can play Texas hold em with people. It is a very good version of texas hold em. I paid $10 dollars for my copy of world series of poker 2008. Now I sorta feel like I got ripped off who would want to play Texas hold em by themselves when they can play with other people for free over home.

So to sum it all up this is truly the evolution of a a MMO and The Sims. There are some fun games inside but it is all about the social experience. 10 years ago this wouldn't have been possible. Heck even 3 years ago it wouldn't have. To me this has turned from a Xbox 360 fan boy to a PlayStation fanboy once more. All I can say is if you are not in home go there soon. There's a little something for everyone in home.

Look for another installment of The evolution of the digital experince this Friday.

Game Developers Conference 2009

Well I know this week was supposed to be about the other members of TGI I decided since the game developers conference happened this week. I would take some time out and talk about that instead. I will be posting up the discussion between me and the rest of the TGI crew next week. We may also have an audio version of our conversation posted up as well. So onto GDC 2009.

So too start out with I have weeded through all the various videos that were taken during GDC here are the ones that I believe warrant a look.

The first video is the Keynote speech given by Mr Metal Gear himself the multi-talented Hideo Kojima http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6206910/gdc-2009-hideo-kojima-keynote-address-part-1-intro-and-metal-gear?tag=videos;title;1

Here are all of the videos of Mr. Kojima-Son being interviewed. http://gdc.gamespot.com/story/6206802/gdc-2009-kojima-on-forging-metal-gear-teases-next-mgs?tag=top_stories;title;4

To all of you out there waiting for Zone of the Enders 3 it doesn't look like the game will be released anytime soon. Kojima slily remarked about another metal gear on the horizon. Everything that happened in mgs 4 put a nice closure to the series so will another game be good our bad. I mean they fixed the whole raiden the bitch thing with the new and improved raiden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmDJSI6COGc&feature=related

So will the game have him in it. Because Snake survives he didn't blow his brains out in the end. They spent the better half of the game really hammering home the message that war is wrong. A message that I truly agree with I mean I will be the first person to pick up a shooter and play it. But in the end what is war truly about has there ever been a war that we have fought that has truly been about something other than Oil, Land our revenge.

You may be able to say oh world war 2 wasn't about those 3 things but if pearl harbor never would have happened we would not have went to war until they were ready to invade on our soil. I have no problem fighting a just war I believe it is our job to protect the weak and innocent who cannot protect themselves. I believe if it is a truly noble act then it is our duty to fight for them. But to say oh this country has oil our we need what they export so lets liberate them so we can get first dibs. That just doesn't fly with me. Iraq and Afghanistan I believe were just wars to enter.

No one seemed to have a problem with them until we started losing lives which is sad. i mean we have to stand up for what we belive in. What a few Americans die so we have to leave its to dangerous. How would we have felt if the French just left us to stew in our own mess when we wanted our independence from a tyrannical dictator. If we do not help then who will. But fight for the right reason there's no reason to fight over meaningless stuff. Violence is wrong 100% of the time not when it suits us oh there's oil its okay to go slaughter this country's people. then all that makes us are the evil people we should be fighting.

But I digress back to the GDC. You know its a good game when it can bring out such emotions in a person. You all owe it to yourselves to pick up a copy of this game. Best game ever made I would have to say so. Its more of an epic movie than a game. But is that really a bad thing. There are at least 2 hours of cutscenes in the game. But the cutscenes just enhance the game to a level that no other game with cut scenes has been able to do other than the Final Fantasy series.

Here is another interview by the great Peter Molyneux. Creator of such games as populus and Black and White and who can forget the series he's most widely associated with Fable.

He is interviewed talking about the process of making games and how he feels now that Fable 2 is out the door. http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6206903/gdc-2009-interview-with-peter-molyneux-fable-2-post-mortem-the-future-of-the-gaming-industry-and-the-economy?tag=videos;title;7

Well that about wraps it up this time for the blog as I previously stated earlier in the blog next week we will have the discussion between me and the rest of the TGI crew. We will be talking about what is in the pipelines at the moment. On one final note if we are in a recession then why is it that Gamespot has reported that there has been a boom in the sales of games this year. Recession?

Preview of Two Guns Two lines Prequel Part 2

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Here is a part of backstory to two of the main characters in Two Guns Two Lines

Here is part of the story to my game. I haven't decided if I am going to make a short prequel game. Our fold this storyline into the main game. what makes a good Prequel game?

It had been happening for as long as anyone could remember. There never seemed to be an end to it. Attack after Attack a stalemate each time. Would there ever be peace in this fair city of ours. No one knows how it started.

They were friends at one time. But they were on separate sides of it all separate sides of the law that is to say. They say power corrupts but do we truly know who was corrupted first. The banger our the cop? The chief of police our the gang leader. Is there truly any difference to the two at the end of the day.

Why do they fight? It is said they were headed down the same path at one time. But they both forsake there friendship to do what they thought was right. The cop who thought he could clean up the streets by using peace. The gangster who thought the only way to the city could ever achieve peace was by eliminating all the competition.

You put them both facing each other gun in hand then what is the true difference. That is the way they both though. How did this happen and how would it ever be resolved. Both came into this wanting the same ting but found different ways of achieving it. Once an up and coming gangster banging hard till he became top dog. Once an up and coming cop who took down the baddest of the bad till he became a force to be reckoned with. You would have thought it would have ended there right?

Hope you enjoyed the story. Any thoughts our suggestions you may have are always welcome. Drop me a line at thinkinggames@live.com Next post will be more story. We're going to have to get around to introducing the other members of TGI soon as well.

The Two Guns Two Lines Project

So here is a little explanation of the kind of game I am creating. The game I am making will be a combination of such games as the outfit and Mercinaries. As well as the Swat series and Rainbow Six series and Saints Row and GTA. I'm looking at making the game very cohesive. The elements form Outfit and Mercinaries I plan on taking are these.

I plan on the player being able to set up defensive structures on the fly to repel the enemy force. As you try to hold an area for a set time after you take the area over. I plan on mashing up R6 and Swat by having you use stealth and squad tactics to take out our capture certain people. The aspects I plan on taking from Saints Row and GTA are these. I plan on the player being able to use squads like you do in most gang based sandbox games.

There will be three main forces you will control in the game. The first You will control will be yourself until you gain respect enough to setup your own squad. When you start out you are stealthily completing objectives. You rescue the Police from the enemy by having an intense shootout in a police station. You have to also Save the gang members from the enemy forces as well.

They will consist of your 2 main forces. The police will act as your swat team going in and getting the enemy leaders from a certain area stealthily. If you capture the leader you get Intel on enemy movements and structures. If you capture our kill the leader you get a reduce in an enemie attribute. The decrease could be in enemy command effectiveness enemy weapon accuracy our enemy tactics.

As the gang squad you will be able to take over certain areas. Our act as a diversion to draw the enemy forces out so the swat members can have an easier time getting to the leaders. Once you gain enough respect the leader who rescued the 2 groups can control his own group of normal people. He can take certain skills from both groups and make a custom squad. In the game you will start out with nothing and rise up.

Once you have enough people on your side you can go out and start taking areas over. Taking over areas will help you by giving you certain bonuses our certain items for controlling the area. Such as you will be able to produce certain things if that area produces things such as weapons our vehicles you have access to them. Our say you take over a point that controls electricity our telephone it makes it hard for the enemy and easier for you when you go to an area affected by that. Also after you have taken over an area you have to set up defensive structures you will have a set amount of time within to do this. After that the enemy will hit back trying to regain the area. Next blog post will be about the some plot elements to the game. A little of the story as well.