photo credit: yotambientengosuperpoderes

So, you are rapidly approaching your fourth year University exams, you are in the middle of a week long, intensive course to get your qualifications to use a multi-million dollar Mass Spectrometer, and you just quit your job. What does one do in such dark times? Obviously a good measure of your sanity if you say “Start a new MMO”. Well, lack of sanity. The point is, I recently bought Age of Conan (collectors edition of course) and my usual approach of “No expectations = No dissapointment” seems to have worked in my favour once again. Hook. Line. Sinker. This is one of the few games I can see myself playing for a long time. I was there for WoW beta and it just didn’t hook me. I was there for Hellgate, and was I ever excited about that one! (true to my earlier stated hypothesis, the excitement only made the bitterness of its failure to deliver so much the worse). Age of Conan plays well, looks stunning, and has this unidentifiable aura of awesomeness by the shipload. Maybe it is because of my fanboi-ism when it comes to the original stories of the Cimmerian Hero, but I couldn’t help but giggle with delight when I realised how much attention to detail there was in the game regarding lore and history. You must understand though, I’m the gamer who will actually read (and enjoy!) all the in-game books in Morrowind. I’m the guy who will squeeze every last bit of dialogue out of NPC’s until they are exhausted and rolling over for a cigarette. I need to know why I’m killing him with ice magic! The topic of the depth of meta-story in games and other media is one I could talk about for longer than the sun can burn Helium. This doesn’t mean I’m not going to bore you with it, it means im not going to bore you with it now. So now, instead of all the dreary bullshit life has to offer outside these endorphin elliciting monitors, I am Ageotas: Bear Shaman of the Cimmerian Alps!

Ageotas resides on the Bloodspire server if you ever feel like a stroll through the wilds. On a completely different note, my Deluxe Edition of Trent Reznor’s Ghosts I-IV arrived the other week, and I have been meaning to take some photos and post them. Keep an eye out for that in the next couple of days. For the record, those are sidereal days, not the “I’ll post an update soon!” days that both Phill and I seem to have been working in recently.

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photo credit: Just-Us-3

Sometimes mistakes in browsing the interblarg can lead to rare gems. It would make me feel better if I knew that these independent film pieces were seen by a larger audience, but sometimes I feel that they are wasted on youtuber’s and other similar comment whores. Im not sure what the entity in Terminus is trying to acheive. Maybe it is a sadistic, malevolent being who uses interpretive dance as his medium of agression. Maybe he is just misunderstood. I will be on the lookout for Trevor Cawood from now on.

I finally had a good run through the new NiN album, Ghosts I-IV. Two cd’s, four movements; 1:50:07 of amazing aural architecture that leaves you quite breathless. The concept of the release is a modern overture that constructs scenery through music.

“We began improvising and let the music decide the direction. Eyes were closed, hands played instruments and it began… The end result is a wildly varied body of music that we’re able to present to the world in ways the confines of a major record label would never have allowed – from a 100% DRM-free, high-quality download, to the most luxurious physical package we’ve ever created.”

The first movement is mellow à la Into The Void with a very smooth, flowing soundscape. The imagery evoked lies somewhere between sand dunes and synthetic forests. The progression through movements II – IV, however, journey into realms dark and twisted. Here, industrial themes and mechanical noises reign supreme. For some reason I am drawn back to Deus Ex over and over again when I shut my eyes and let the sounds wash over my body. I am under no illusions that Deus Ex won’t feature heavily in a later post.

The first “Oak” review is coming soon, having started the bottle on Saturday on the rocks, then a mixed attempt on Sunday, the verdict should follow shortly.

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