Ah, Crap

Well, my life is in the shitter. I seem to have done a rather good job of failing all my classes so far. To be fair, I've had a rough semester, and I haven't been up to my full Greg-ness for most of it, either. With any luck, I can ace my Comp Sci test and not have to retake it AGAIN. But other than that, this was a total waste of a semester. Oh well. I'll have to chalk this up to experience, and do better in the future. Or just be lazy and wait for my plan for lazy life to take root.

I really need to start on that story by the way. I've been putting it off because, well, that's what I do. I put stuff off. Which is probably why I'm failing my classes miserably, but that's neither here nor there. Luckily, this being my last week of school and all, I should have plenty of time to work on it starting this Saturday, or whenever. Maybe I'll post up a preview for you good folks in the near future, just to give you a taste, and get you're feed back... Which I haven't gotten any of really, but still. Which reminds me, while most of you are my friends who know what my story is about, there is a chance that you are some random blog addict and found my site by chance, in which case, I shall summarize for you my tale of amazement. Basically, I went with the premise of "right what you know." What do I know? Not much. But I know my friends, so with them in mind, I decided to throw them (and myself, of course) into an adventure story. Again, I don't know much about adventure, so I've decided to set the story in modern times (like two or 3 years into the future). Of course, just "Greg and his friends, two or three years into the future" doesn't make a good story, so there's a twist. Someone (I either don't want to tell who, or I don't really know yet, you guys get to guess) has released some sort of disease into the air, killing off about 95% of the worlds population. A few lucky survivors were either immune to the effects, or, like myself and my three traveling partners, were in locations remote enough to avoid the range of the disease. So, using breathing apparatuses we jury rigged, we venture back to the mainland and try to rally the survivors to repopulate the earth and defeat the unknown menace. I'm sort of planning on it being a multi part epic arch, in a very open world, making limitless possibilities for sequels (as per my earlier plan). So, anyway, now that that's out of the way. Congrats. You now know as much about my stories as I know. Now leave me alone and let me work on it.

Actually, I've got something else to bitch about, while I've got you here. Why are people so very stupid? This time, my complaint is the fact that Rockstar games have been forced to remove "objectionable" material from their hit game, GTA:Vice City. In particular, the mission where you have to "Kill all the Hatians" was deemed inappropriate and offensive. Imagine that, something inappropriate and offensive in a game that is rated M. I mean, there's a reason we have these ratings. You want me to clue you in on why it is? It's because parents are too lazy to check out what video games their children are buying, and want someone else to determine what is appropriate for their child. Okay, you got what you wanted. So, how about actually USING THEM. The M means MATURE. If your kid is not mature, then he should not be getting that game. It's really pretty simple. So don't complain when your kid gets a game he shouldn't have, and it isn't appropriate for him. Instead, maybe you should try and follow along and see what it is that has sucked your child's attention up so much. It's not like a game called "GRAND THEFT AUTO" is really trying to hide the fact that it's about crime. And even if you don't know what it's called, you really don't have to wait that long before your son's character stops a passing automobile, opens the door, pulls out the driver, and takes the car. If that isn't something you want your child to be exposed to, then DON'T expose him to it. Rockstar games does not demand that your child purchase their game, let alone play it. About the unpolitcal correctness itself, I find it important to note that the game takes place in the 1980's, before the whole PC fad caught on, and is based around the Mafia, not exactly known for being the most PC in ANY era.

On that same note, I was discussing the topic of anime with a friend recently, and I noted how sad it is that the Japanese can get so much out of the art of animation while we Americans limit it to children for the most part. A recent example of how this can backfire is the show South Park. Yeah, its already been discussed by everyone and his dog, but this seems relevant to my current rant, so I get to, too. Anyway, back when the show first aired, parents were outraged. "A cartoon with swearing and violence!? How could Comedy Central allow children to watch this?" said America's parents as they one by one watched the cartoon their kids were up until midnight on a school night watching. Read that again, and see if you catch the subtle irony in it. The show aired, and still does, late at night. There is NO programming suitable for children on at that hour. Even CNN goes hardcore after 10. So why were people so surprised at South Park? Of course it's going to be a cartoon. They couldn't get children to act in a film version of that. It is also covered with more Disclaimers than an episode of Jackass, another example of American intelligence at its best.

On another note, today, I was bored, and began reading up on (i.e. oogling pretty pictures of) Final Fantasy X-2. The games recent release and non-stop ad campaign were one of the driving forces to make me get FFX yesterday. Note that X-2 does not mean twelve. That will be Final Fantasy XII. No, FFX2 is a sequel to Final Fantasy 10, the first actual sequel in the increasingly erroneously named Final Fantasy series' history. Anyway, the game picks up about 2 years after the first games end, and stars its predecessors main heroine, the main char from FFX's girlfriend (I think. Remember, I just have one hour of FFX logged. This may all be wrong, but it doesn't matter), along with two of her other friends. All female. That's right. There are three female playable characters in the game, and all of them are girls. As Futurama's Captain Branigan once said, "That's a wave of destruction that's easy on the eyes." Of course, the question on everyone's mind is, can a game with three girls succeed in the male dominated Video game market? Well, I present you with an objective (yeah right) look at females in past video games, to help decide:

Princess Peach - Your basic damsel in distress, she is pretty much the anti-feminist view of women that games usually took in that era, though she did function as a playable character in SMB2 and the Mario sports games, and was always one of the better racers in Mario Kart 64.
Samus Aran - The first female action hero, but she was wearing too much armor to tell. Still, it proved that gamers are ready to play as (with?) a girl.
Amy Rose - She was nothing more than Sonic's fangirl to start, though again, as a playable character in Sonic advance, she is more than formidable (she has a big ass hammer!)
Lara Croft - She was the first obviously female action hero, though putting her in a platform jumping game was a bit excessive; you could have put her in an open field and players still would have had her jumping around in it.
Secret Agent Barbie - um... Yeah... Never mind.

Anyway, this all leads up to FFX2, a game with 3 female PCs, and no male ones. Whether it can hold up in the male-dominated gaming market is still anyone's guess, but all signs point to tits. Erm, I mean yes.