Wednesday, September 19, 2012
MUD2MMO : DC Universe Online (review)
I've been having fun in the DC Universe lately, and since doing a review came up, this is as good a week as any to do it!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
MUD2MMO : Gamer Stereotypes
Continuing from last episode, a discussion of gamer stereotypes.
With MANY thank you's to FUoS for their help! http://fatuglyorslutty.com/
Monday, April 9, 2012
That's Just MY Opinion 27 : "Gun Brand X"
I get asked a LOT "What do you think about gun brand X". So here's my overall opinion on the newest, greatest paintball gun that's released to the market tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
MUD2MMO : Gamer Chow
After finding a snack product thats being target-marketed to gamers specifically, MUD2MMO looks at the few flirtations that gaming has had with the junk food and drink markets.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Double Video ALL THE WAY! MUD2MMO+ WDR Update!
First, the MUD2MMO show update. Whenever I mention that a game is "just like WOW", I get NO END of grief
about it. And playing SWtOR last weekend made me confused as to why.
And now, the WDR Paintball one. This week, Tyger's not playing paintball but it's about time to do another "Lunch Break" anyway. This week, the Canadian IMP "Salmon" meal.
And now, the WDR Paintball one. This week, Tyger's not playing paintball but it's about time to do another "Lunch Break" anyway. This week, the Canadian IMP "Salmon" meal.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Some thoughts on elitism and origin of the species in paintball
I made this as a reply to "Eskimo" over on Tech PB. I wanted to share with 'yall too, as I don't want this to be buried in the millions of other posts.
The topic is on my videos about elitist paintball players, and so on. Eskimo stated that calling yourself a "Tournament player" is just a way to describe what you regularly play.
X-Ball was actually stolen in a way from the original USPL format from 2000. The idea was that they needed to make a paintball match last a pre-set amount of time for TV purposes. A normal paintball match could go for 30 - 45 seconds, which is bad for TV. When viewed in this light, a lot of decisions made for paintball make a lot more sense.
Back in the 1980's paintball had a reputation as a survivalist war game. (click here for a "Nightline" video) Keep in mind we also had "grampa Reagan" in office and being a red-blooded ass-kicker was part and parcel of being a citizen here. As we turned the corner into the 90's, and we had Bush Sr. ("I'm NOT a wimp!") paintball decided it needed to be a "kinder, gentler" sport. (any old guys will laugh at that, anyone younger than 20 won't get it, but that's cool) the reason being that the powers that be decided paintball needed to be on TV. Why? MONEY! TV brings in ad dollars, tie ins, and all that.
A little more set-up too. Back in the 80's the game was radically different. At $1 a tube of 10 rounds, you can imagine ROF was out the window compared to today. Games varied from field to field, but for the most part it was 45 minute games on 4-5 acre fields. When you got shot out, it sucked. I won't deny that. Especially if it was in the first 10 minutes of a long campers match. SC Village claims to have invented speedball (along with the second coming of Christ, but let's not go there) but a lot of fields created similar playing areas. The idea was it was a time killer, really. You got shot out of the main match, you jump into the "speedball" arena and take revenge on the other team for a while.
To that end, most of the speedball arenas were created to showcase woods skills in some way or another. Snakes are supposed to simulate crawling lanes, for example. Hyperball was the first commercially available pre-made field, and it was industrial grade PVC pipes. Reason given was "it's more like trees" (reality : It's cheap and easy to get.) But most fields literally threw hay bales in a somewhat mirrored pattern and called it the speedball course. Ok, moving on.
So most of the 90's was used to do anything, and everything, to make paintball TV friendly. Tournaments banned camouflage from being worn. In fact, my favorite "GAWD-Awful" image from paintball's past is in the 1993 JT Catalog :
Yep, people wanted this setup.
It was in 1994 that paintball spent a lot of money to put the game on ESPN. And in 1995 they did it again to a massive flop, and ESPN said "We don't want your kind here no more" and that was pretty much that for a decade.
ESPN the Magazine Fall, 2001 Issue 4.17 Page 152, under the title "Rejected X"
But I'm getting of topic and losing most of 'yall with the "wall of words". Point I'm getting at is that the game really hasn't evolved as much as it's been changed to try to cram it into places it doesn't belong. All along the way, the powers that be try to keep a foot in the past too, trying to keep the crawling lanes from woodsball into the X-ball arena but it really doesn't fit. So I would argue that paintball's derivative forms such as X-Ball, scenario, woods, speedball and so on are really the same game with only a few variations. A talented speedball player could hold their own in the woods, and a talented woods player can do the same on an x-ball field.
Which, bringing this back to the elitism, is ultimately where I have my problem with players who say "I'm a tournament player." Dude, you play the same game I do but you shoot 5X the paint and you think you deserve something for that. Check your ego at the door and come pound some dirt with me in the woods using a renter. Oh, you're above that? Thought so. Seeya in 4 years.
The topic is on my videos about elitist paintball players, and so on. Eskimo stated that calling yourself a "Tournament player" is just a way to describe what you regularly play.
"Like how speedball would be derived from X-ball, which would be derived from the larger woods fields. (X-ball did not evolve per say into speedball, X-ball fields are still around. One was simply, modified into another style, another environment) Scenario ball players, speedballers, tournament players are all like that. Just easy ways to describe where you tend to fall."So, my reply, with some more photos thrown in for the bloggosphere :
X-Ball was actually stolen in a way from the original USPL format from 2000. The idea was that they needed to make a paintball match last a pre-set amount of time for TV purposes. A normal paintball match could go for 30 - 45 seconds, which is bad for TV. When viewed in this light, a lot of decisions made for paintball make a lot more sense.
Back in the 1980's paintball had a reputation as a survivalist war game. (click here for a "Nightline" video) Keep in mind we also had "grampa Reagan" in office and being a red-blooded ass-kicker was part and parcel of being a citizen here. As we turned the corner into the 90's, and we had Bush Sr. ("I'm NOT a wimp!") paintball decided it needed to be a "kinder, gentler" sport. (any old guys will laugh at that, anyone younger than 20 won't get it, but that's cool) the reason being that the powers that be decided paintball needed to be on TV. Why? MONEY! TV brings in ad dollars, tie ins, and all that.
A little more set-up too. Back in the 80's the game was radically different. At $1 a tube of 10 rounds, you can imagine ROF was out the window compared to today. Games varied from field to field, but for the most part it was 45 minute games on 4-5 acre fields. When you got shot out, it sucked. I won't deny that. Especially if it was in the first 10 minutes of a long campers match. SC Village claims to have invented speedball (along with the second coming of Christ, but let's not go there) but a lot of fields created similar playing areas. The idea was it was a time killer, really. You got shot out of the main match, you jump into the "speedball" arena and take revenge on the other team for a while.
To that end, most of the speedball arenas were created to showcase woods skills in some way or another. Snakes are supposed to simulate crawling lanes, for example. Hyperball was the first commercially available pre-made field, and it was industrial grade PVC pipes. Reason given was "it's more like trees" (reality : It's cheap and easy to get.) But most fields literally threw hay bales in a somewhat mirrored pattern and called it the speedball course. Ok, moving on.
So most of the 90's was used to do anything, and everything, to make paintball TV friendly. Tournaments banned camouflage from being worn. In fact, my favorite "GAWD-Awful" image from paintball's past is in the 1993 JT Catalog :
Yep, people wanted this setup.
It was in 1994 that paintball spent a lot of money to put the game on ESPN. And in 1995 they did it again to a massive flop, and ESPN said "We don't want your kind here no more" and that was pretty much that for a decade.
ESPN the Magazine Fall, 2001 Issue 4.17 Page 152, under the title "Rejected X"
But I'm getting of topic and losing most of 'yall with the "wall of words". Point I'm getting at is that the game really hasn't evolved as much as it's been changed to try to cram it into places it doesn't belong. All along the way, the powers that be try to keep a foot in the past too, trying to keep the crawling lanes from woodsball into the X-ball arena but it really doesn't fit. So I would argue that paintball's derivative forms such as X-Ball, scenario, woods, speedball and so on are really the same game with only a few variations. A talented speedball player could hold their own in the woods, and a talented woods player can do the same on an x-ball field.
Which, bringing this back to the elitism, is ultimately where I have my problem with players who say "I'm a tournament player." Dude, you play the same game I do but you shoot 5X the paint and you think you deserve something for that. Check your ego at the door and come pound some dirt with me in the woods using a renter. Oh, you're above that? Thought so. Seeya in 4 years.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
"Lunch Break" : MRE reviews "Long Life Food Depot" Full Meal kit
This week, "Long Life Food Depot" is in the gear box and we're reviewing a "Chicken and Dumpling" meal kit!
Want more info? http://www.longlifefood.com is their website. 800-601-2833 is their phone #.
One of the things I liked about this one in paticular is for milsim players, it's VERY similar to military MRE's, but a heck of a lot easier to get a hold of. Arguably more legal too, actually... Starting a new segment for this year, "Lunch Break" will be full-blown reviews of MRE's easily available for the civilian market. Mostly for paintball players, but if you're into camping or hiking, this might be of interest to you too!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
MUD2MMO : Hardcore VS Casual Gamers
I can't believe I forgot to post this up!
The latest Dev Blog is VERY telling to the culture of hardcore vs casual gamers. Not from what they say, but what's in the comments. So, a few thoughts on the hardcore vs casual gamer ongoing clash.
Monday, March 5, 2012
The future of Web Dog Radio (Paintball)
I'm chalking this up to "numbers don't lie." As usual, what people SAY they want is not, in reality, what they want. But, I'm ahead of myself.
On WDR's youtube page I've been doing angry rants for the last few weeks. The reaction to them has been, well, explosive for my usual numbers. 800-1500 views per video, which for my stuff is pretty good actually. But I've been getting a LOT of flack from the viewers from those. "Too angry" "Too ranty" "Can't you make tactics videos again? I don't like the new Tyger."
So I did a video showing some techniques that transfer to paintball. As of this typing, less than 350 views and it's over a week old. It's possible that the fact that it's "lazer tag" has turned people off of it, but I don't think that's what it is.
Once again, you people say you want one thing, and the numbers say something else. You want "angry Tyger" because it's funny or lulzy. You want "More tacticool" because it's making fun of people. You want angry tirages (originally typod that but I like this spelling better) yelling at tourney players for being stupid and shortsighted.
Why? Well I'm up for ideas but I've got a few of my own. One of which being a societal one. We're not allowed to be angry anymore. We can't hate anyone or anything, or we get a "peace and love" message crammed down our throats. "Don't hate", "Just tolerate", all that. So seeing someone else angry, even superficially angry, lets you live vicariously through that rage and share it. But I'm open to ideas.
Anger is not content, it's hollow. Many people have accused me of making videos to "get hits" or to get popular. You can choose to believe this or not, but I really have passed the point of caring enough about paintball players to care if I get subscribers and views on that channel. If you want swearing, go watch Mike's stuff. If you want anger, go watch AVGN. If you want to see people full of themselves there's dozens of people on youtube with self-inflating channels bragging how awesome they are at paintball and life. You can't swing a random dead animal online without hitting one.
To be honest, the gaming shows are worth more to me on several levels. But even there, people want anger, and I'm not gonna give it to them either. I know it'll mean that the show won't get as "popular" as other shows, but I'd rather do a quality show than have 5 minutes of weekly empty rage. Quality takes longer, but it's much more satisfying. And if I can make an informative show that gets people thinking or talking, that makes me happier than gratuitous swearing.
So to wrap this up. You tell me one thing, I see another. The numbers simply do not lie. So my choices are to listen to the numbers, or follow my own path. I'd rather make good videos with some content or at least a lesson to take away from it rather than 5 minutes of rage. But, I'll tell you what. If you want that, I'll record a video of nothing but swearing and demolishing boards for 5 minutes. You'll love it, it'll get thousands of hits, but it won't make me feel any better. Just sayin'.
On WDR's youtube page I've been doing angry rants for the last few weeks. The reaction to them has been, well, explosive for my usual numbers. 800-1500 views per video, which for my stuff is pretty good actually. But I've been getting a LOT of flack from the viewers from those. "Too angry" "Too ranty" "Can't you make tactics videos again? I don't like the new Tyger."
So I did a video showing some techniques that transfer to paintball. As of this typing, less than 350 views and it's over a week old. It's possible that the fact that it's "lazer tag" has turned people off of it, but I don't think that's what it is.
Once again, you people say you want one thing, and the numbers say something else. You want "angry Tyger" because it's funny or lulzy. You want "More tacticool" because it's making fun of people. You want angry tirages (originally typod that but I like this spelling better) yelling at tourney players for being stupid and shortsighted.
Why? Well I'm up for ideas but I've got a few of my own. One of which being a societal one. We're not allowed to be angry anymore. We can't hate anyone or anything, or we get a "peace and love" message crammed down our throats. "Don't hate", "Just tolerate", all that. So seeing someone else angry, even superficially angry, lets you live vicariously through that rage and share it. But I'm open to ideas.
Anger is not content, it's hollow. Many people have accused me of making videos to "get hits" or to get popular. You can choose to believe this or not, but I really have passed the point of caring enough about paintball players to care if I get subscribers and views on that channel. If you want swearing, go watch Mike's stuff. If you want anger, go watch AVGN. If you want to see people full of themselves there's dozens of people on youtube with self-inflating channels bragging how awesome they are at paintball and life. You can't swing a random dead animal online without hitting one.
To be honest, the gaming shows are worth more to me on several levels. But even there, people want anger, and I'm not gonna give it to them either. I know it'll mean that the show won't get as "popular" as other shows, but I'd rather do a quality show than have 5 minutes of weekly empty rage. Quality takes longer, but it's much more satisfying. And if I can make an informative show that gets people thinking or talking, that makes me happier than gratuitous swearing.
So to wrap this up. You tell me one thing, I see another. The numbers simply do not lie. So my choices are to listen to the numbers, or follow my own path. I'd rather make good videos with some content or at least a lesson to take away from it rather than 5 minutes of rage. But, I'll tell you what. If you want that, I'll record a video of nothing but swearing and demolishing boards for 5 minutes. You'll love it, it'll get thousands of hits, but it won't make me feel any better. Just sayin'.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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