groan - gamer - dad
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Groan
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Archives 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009
wot!!!!
groan at 6:29 PM linkie comment
City of Heroes
Been a long time between posts...I thought I would put in an update
Well, I managed to get into the City of Heroes beta. After playing for a couple of days and buying the pre-order box (which gave you 2 and a half days of play before the rest of the world) I signed up and am playing in earnest.
My father, and two brothers are also playing. It makes for some fun times in an otherwise hectic schedule of baby.
When do I find time?
Well. The baby sleeps at the same time as his mother sleeps, usually. I take this time to get on the game and play for an hour or two. They usually sleep around 9 or 9:30 and that is too early for me. I may be completely bagged from the day, but I am a gamer at heart, and this means playing until you fall asleep.
The game is great. You start off with creating your superhero. This includes everything from dozens of different options for each body part (usually just the clothing you have on hat body part) and colors to choose from. Hair, face, arms, torso, waist, legs, feet, skin color...Amazing detail so that no two heroes are the same.
After the generation is done, you pick your first set of powers. (I may have the order mixed up...) so id you want to be a hero that uses powers from a range (shooting a blast of flame at a villain far away) or if you prefer more along the Melee fighting (punching and kicking) there is everything for everyone
Once that is done, you name him and can put in a bit of a history or biography.
You start of fin one of two locations. I always pick Atlas Park as this is where my friends and family start. Here you contact your first contact and he sends you on missions or to perform tasks. Once you reach your first level of experience (through defeating villains(incidently, you do not kill people in this game and there is no blood, you defeat them)) you are placed into the game-proper. Before you were only in a training area to get used to the game aspects. This is where the game is played in earnest. You continue to do missions, meet new contacts, defeat bad guys. You can also defeat them just by patrolling the streets of the city. There are many of these gangs roaming the streets of Paragon to keep you busy.
all in all the game is fast paced and is very well designed. The graphics are good with lots of detail and the lack of content (there are no items to look for so you can't camp out at a spawn place to pick up the Uber sword of Badassitude) is not a detriment to the game.
I am liking this.
groan at 1:41 PM linkie
Looking Forward
The future holds too much for me to contain in a single post.
With regards to my son, well, there is his first tooth, his first haircut, his first knee scrape, is first..his first...his first. Too many. I was really looking forward to his first smile. As you read earlier, I wasn't disappointed.
I am really looking forward to his first night of sleeping through, all the way!
I'm looking forward to playing with him in a pool, and walking along the canal with his hand in mine.
These are all things that will come soon enough (well the hand in hand walking may be a little ways off...). I am patient, most of the time.
With regards to games? (I couldn't leave this out!) I am looking forward to a time that I can sit down and play for longer than 20 minutes.
With that in mind;
Middle Earth Online
As a Lord of the Rings fan, I can not let this game pass by without me trying it. I will even sign up even if I can only devote a half an hour a week to it.
This is one of those MMORPG's I was speaking about where you could be in the game with several thousand other players in a world that never shuts down.
Of course it takes place in Middle Earth and you can play all the races of the land. Elf, Hobbit, Dwarf or Human. Each race can play certain 'professions' like a scout, warrior, rogue etc.
Battle for Middle Earth
This is another LotR game based in Middle Earth but is not a MMORPG. This is mainly a single player game where you command legions of people (or orcs) to battle against each other. It does have a multiplayer aspect which I will look at. By the looks of the video on the site, the animation and graphics will be hard to beat! The line of LotR games so far have had less than stellar reviews. I have skipped them all.
City of Heros
This game is another MMORPG where you play a super hero living in a post-apocalyptic city overrun with thugs. It is also overrun with heros so there are lots of things to do with your fellow heros. I have read a few reviews of this still-in-beta game, and they have all been favorable. Sounds like lots of action.
That's it for now. Though I may have put lots of text for the games, I am still looking more forward to my kid's development than anything else!
groan at 2:37 PM linkie
Comments Allowed
Well I just added Comments to the site. if you have a thought about my thoughts, feel free to speak your mind!
groan at 9:18 PM linkie
What do you have time to play?
You may be wondering; "What is this guy playing, when he has the time?"
Well, my likes right now lie in the instant action type of games that don't require hours of online-time to play. When your time is mainly centered on two people, finding play time is rare, so when you do find it, it usually comes in 5-20 minute chunks.
Games like Unreal Tournament 2004 are a perfect example of this type of game.
You can load up the game, play either single-player (not online) where the game can actually be paused and no-one gets pissed off at you, or you can play online for short 10-20 minute games. When you play online, you can join a server and if you need to step away from the PC (to change someone of perhaps calm someone) you can press ESC and co into spectator mode. Not doing this and just standing there in the game will lead you to become cannon fodder and possibly a permanent ban from the server.
It is great fun, even if you have only had 2 hours of sleep as it is mostly brainless (to have fun that is, to be good, you will need some 5ki11ZZ).
At the moment I am not playing any MMORPG's (massively multiplayer online role playing game) as they require much more of your time and usually at least 1-3 hours in a single sitting. I did do this for years, but that was when I could enjoy something that I called my "late nights' where I would stay up on a Friday or Saturday night until 3 AM.
Those days are gone for now.
They'll be back though...or so they tell me.
groan at 11:36 AM linkie
Sleep
It can't be said enough how important it is to get sleep.
Everyone has gone on an all-nighter and regretted it for a couple of days. Well try going on all-nighters for a few days in a row, then maybe getting a night of 8 hours (not in a row mind you) and then back to the all nighters.
This can be you!
This little guy was set on not sleeping most of the night. That means neither do you. Oh sure, in the morning he was an angel and was really alert, looking around and being loved my his mommy and daddy. He even gave us another smile! That night, however was hard on Mommy the most. Pumping, feeding and staying awake because He didnt want to stay asleep. Only the soother would calm him, and then only for a minute or two.
Again, the warning, but no regret. I would not give up on this guy for a bazillion dollars.
There is no easy answer to this except the happy thought that "It will get better!"
Try to be aware of your sleep deprivation. It can cause you to loose common sense and control on situation where you need it most.
groan at 11:15 AM linkie
Smile!
On His one month birthday He showed us how well He can smile.
There is nothing more wonderful (yet) than seeing your son's first smile.
I must say, it is better than any moment in any game I have ever played.
(You may be asking yourself, "Why is this blogger capitalizing the 'He' and 'His' 's"?
Tha is simply because i am substituting them for His name. Sorry, but no direct personal stuff on here. Thanks.)
groan at 3:19 PM linkie
The New Dad: a new beginning
I used to game a lot.
Online massively multiplayer games like Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest, Star Wars: Galaxies.
Standard Multiplayer games like Battlefield 1942, Unreal Tournament, Savage.
On February 28th, my life changed. For the better.
My son was born a healthy 8 Lbs 4 Oz. He has been the focus of my life since then and will be for the rest of my life.
When people tell you about having babies, no one tells you everything. If you ask someone who is about to have a baby and they say it won't alter their daily life much, tell them to their face "You're lying".
I don't game very much any more.
When my wife and I were preparing for the arrival of our baby, we thought we had everything ready. We had all the necessary furniture; the crib, change table, bassinet, stroller, bottles, clothes, diapers, blankets...etc. We attended the pre-natal classes that are supplied by the city to help prospective parents to prepare for labor and tell you a little bit about what happens afterwards.
They don't tell you enough. Neither do the rest of your friends and family that tell you how wonderful it is when you get your baby home. Sure they tell you that it'll be hard for the first few weeks. "Hard"...That is the understatement of the year. Don't get me wrong. It is wonderful! He is the most incredible little person! It is just that we were far from prepared for the emotional rollercoaster that is having your baby at home.
When you get home with your new baby, be prepared to set aside everything that you knew of your previous life. I'm not kidding. Especially if you are the mommy. Mommy will have very little time to herself outside of the feeding every 2-3 hours, changing diapers every 1-3 hours (sometimes one right after the other before you get him off the change table!), if you are pumping; doing that every 3-4 hours, laundry, bathing, napping, cleaning bottles and nipples. It is an endless cycle that does not end just because it is dark.
Be prepared for lots of lack of sleep (if that makes any sense). With that schedule above, days will blur into each other. When your advisers, and there will be an endless stream of these, tell you to "sleep when the baby sleeps", I highly recommend it, if you think you can do it. It can be tricky. During the day, after 48 hours of not bathing and not sleeping more than 8 hours total, trying to decide to nap or bathe can be one of the biggest decisions you've had to make in days. No, you can't sleep in the tub. What if baby needs you? What if baby starts to ...cry.
That is another thing the world doesn't prepare youenough for. The crying. The heartbreaking crying that will crack you up inside and cause you to break down into a river of tears, will frustrate you beyond belief. What do you do for a baby that just fed, was changed, and for the last 20 minutes has been crying so frantically, his face is beet red (and I really mean the color of a beet), seems to stop breathing between cries, is wailing so loud, your ears begin to ring, and you can do nothing to ease him. Some people will tell you to walk him around, some will tell you to rock him or talk to him. You will find during these episodes, that you can hear yourself talk, so how do you expect him to hear you?
All you can do is take one day at a time, one crying episode at a time.
I want to clarify that I am not a bitter new Dad. I love my son and my wife, but this is just a warning to upcoming parents that it is not as easy as some people will lead you to believe and it is harder than anything you will hear. Lots has changed in the first month of having our baby at home, for the better!
Be patient, both with your spouse (if there is one) and with your new baby. Do not give into any form of rage. If you feel frustration taking over, hand the baby to someone else (family or spouse of course) or put the baby down in the crib, close the door to the room and walk away for a few minutes. This is the best advise I can give for this situation. You may think you are a calm person now and say to me , "That would never happen". You don't know this until you are in the situation. You don't want a shaken baby.
I'll be back...
groan at 1:42 PM linkie
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