Tag Archives: Game

I made some things!

Posted by on May 22, 2016 No comments

I know I don’t post here often enough, and every time I think about it, I just kind of brush it away, but hey, I am doing it now!  Mostly because A lot of the stuff I would post regularly, I do over on the Comic page.  It’s no good excuse, but aside from the comic and work, most of what I have been doing has been pretty mundane.

Till now.

If you follow along on the comic, you know that I picked up a 3D Printer and have been having quite a bit of fun with it.  It’s been a blast.  We have made all sorts of useful things for the house and some costume pieces as well.  The most exciting thing to come from it has been a dive into 3D design using 123D Design (it’s a simple CAD program) that I have used to design some game boxes for card based games like Fluxx and the Looney Pyramid games.  Not to slight the boxes they come in, but the StarFluxx box used to travel with us in Sarah’s purse for play while we were out and it got pretty beat up.  So I designed a cool box that holds the cards and travels well.  Likewise, the Pyramid bags are cool, but they get cumbersome.

IMG_20160511_222159

Also, on kind of a dare/challenge from my Son, who is really into period re-enactment, I made a wooden looking version of one of the Pyramid games, that can be taken to events and not look like a 20th century plastic game.

IMG_20160507_171104

IMG_20160507_171057

The printer I picked up is a Makerbot Replicator 2, it was on sale from Amazon for a fraction of the normal cost.  It’s build area is roughly 11x6x6 (inches).  Since it’s not one of the new fancy versions of their printer, turns out it’s incredibly easy to work on.  If you have ever been around any sort of 3D printer, you would learn quick that all sorts of things can happen to them from jamming to parts failing.  So having something that is easy to fix and repair is vital.  

2016-05-12

This is what happens when your extruder is leaking and it’s not caught in time.

Downside to buying an older version is that you don’t get all the bells and whistles, so I have had to improvise.  One of the great things on newer versions is a build in camera to show the print as it’s happening.  This way, if something goes wrong, you can address it quickly.  Also, it’s great fun to watch something getting built.  You may think it’s boring, but it really is fascinating.  To make up for this shortcoming, I have setup two cameras that stream to the website and show the current build as it happens.  

Sometimes I am building plain stuff, other times it’s cool stuff. So if you are interested, just click this link, or check out the tab on the top of the page for 3D printing.

In the meantime, get out there and make stuff!

IMG_20160521_200400

I’m On A Boat!

Posted by on February 8, 2013 No comments

OK, I am not on the boat yet, but I will be shortly.  Sarah and I are attending JoCoCruiseCrazy 3 this year and it’s going to be awesome!  This will pose some interesting #FirstWorldProblems.  The internet on the boat, while available, is very expensive.  Many folks are going without as a challenge.  I may or may not be up for this challenge.  Of course that means that uploading my P365 pictures is going to be difficult (or non-existent).  Take heart people, I will be taking and processing my photo every day, when I get back to the Internets (or possibly at a hotspot in one of the ports of call) I will upload and label them for the days they were taken.

In the meantime, enjoy this slideshow of my P365 shots to today.

Also, check out the Trooper Adventures, who will also be going with us on the cruise.

Kuwait Adventures continued!

Posted by on January 28, 2013 No comments

Crane on the beachRapidly closing in on finishing up my full month in country, I have to say I have certainly learned and seen a lot so far.  With my Project 365 task, I have tried to keep the pictures themed to what I have been doing here and some of my experiences.  I can look back at these pictures and probably tell you all about what happened that day.

 

Recently I had a great adventure when I met up with a local, Mohamed, who got in contact with me via Reddit.  I know it’s not the safest or wisest thing to do, meeting random strangers on the internet and having them take me through a foreign country, but hey, I like to live dangerously.  (Also a fan of not getting raped or stabbed, thankfully that didn’t happen)

This meetup was to show me what gaming culture was like in Kuwait.  Boy did I learn all about it too.  I don’t want to put too much into this post because the whole reason for researching this was to have some great knowledge for the next RetroNick Radio podcast.  All my findings will be there!

In the meantime, you get to catch up on my P365 photos.  Also, don’t forget to check out the Trooper Adventures!  These Lego guys are out on a tour of whatever they can find.

Blue Ring (P365-27)

Blue Ring (P365-27)
When I got here to Kuwait, it was VERY dry. Back at home I am used to higher humidity levels so I went out and bought a humidifier. I found one in a place downtown, it cost me about 18KD (close to $60) but it really is amazing. And it looks cool too.

Fighting at the White Tower (P365-26)

Fighting at the White Tower (P365-26)
This one is more of a snap shot of something I went to do today. I was guided by a great Local guy to one of Kuwaits main gaming communities. The White Tower (Facebook.com/whitetowerq8)
Here you will find the elite of the Kuwait fighting game league. It was a great glimpse into Kuwaiti gaming life. Much more about this trip will be covered on the RetroNickRadio pod cast. Www.retronick.com.

Keyboard Conundrum (P365-25)

Keyboard Conundrum (P365-25)
Spent a lot of the day working, which meant typing away on a keyboard. This one is not my regular laptop but one from a small netbook sized laptop I bought while here. I have been using it as a media PC running XBMC.
You can see from the keys that it has both english letters and arabic letters. Just in case I need to write out some letters to the locals.

Pop Pop relief. (P365-24)

Pop Pop relief. (P365-24)
I mentioned on my blog that I had a minor crisis when I left for Kuwait. I left my battery charger at home. Yeah I know! My battery normally lasts around a week, two if I conserve. You would also think I could just buy one here, but alas, no. I tried 12 places and no one had any DSLR chargers. (not even Canon ones!)
Thankfully, my lovely wife slipped my charger (and fully charged spare battery) into the mail and about a week later, it arrived. She loaded it so full of bubble wrap it was comical.
This bubble wrap may show up again. Just warning you now.

Play time is over (P365-23)

Play time is over (P365-23)
Another walkabout brought me upon this old abandoned playground. I have to imagine that there were many days of kids swinging and laughing here. On the plus side, across the street from here is a large park with a new playground that looks much safer.

Night Transit (P365-22)

Night Transit (P365-22)
Wanted to try for a long exposure night shot of the road in front of my building here. There are always cars zipping by till pretty late, and the cross road is sually pretty busy as well. My angle for the view isn’t the greatest but it gave me a chance to play around with it.

Fishing boats in the Mists (P365-21)

Fishing boats in the Mists (P365-21)
Went to the local open air market and found some of the fishing boats that supply it. The fog rolled in today so I took advantage of it.

Smug Camel is Smug (P365-20)

Smug Camel is Smug (P365-20)
We went to visit the camel breeding and trading post today. While we did not actually find the trading post, there were plenty of camels around and all of them were very friendly.

A taste of home, abroad. (P365-19)

A taste of home, abroad. (P365-19)
I love ginger beer. Back home I would find all sorts of brands to test. Here in Kuwait is almost impossible to find. Thankfully one of the stores imports Barr brand from England.
This was a backup picture I took as a “just in case”. I have started the habit of shooting a few things through out the day just to have something for later.

Chillin like a goat (P365-18)

Chillin like a goat (P365-18)
Came across this guy while I was out on a little expidition. I love the way he is staring longly at his watering hole conteplating his life……… as a goat.

Machine City during the day (P365-17)

Machine City during the day (P365-17)
The nearest large refinery looks amazing both during daytime and night time. It really does look like a giant machine city. I’ll work on getting a shot at night with all the lights.

Pocket Stuff (P365-16)

Pocket Stuff (P365-16)
At any given time I almost always have 4 things in my pocket, and my fitbit clipped to the side. Two are very basic, some lip balm (which is more for Sarah than for me), and a USB stick with some basic documents on it. The more interesting items are the 20 sided dice and the brass acorn.
Most gamers know that your dice are sacred, they have a connection to you. This one has been in my pocket for years and is very connected. Also, you never know when you may have to make a roll to resist temptation.
I always get asked about the acorn. When we started dating, Sarah and I were out for a walk and she randomly picked up an acorn and handed it to me. Not thinking much about it, I put it in my pocket. At the end of each night, I take the stuff in my pocket out and put it on the dresser, then the next morning it all goes back in my pocket. At my bachelors party, the real acorn disappeared and I was devastated. Sarah found the brass one online and gave it to me just after the wedding. It’s been in my pocket ever since.

FishEye view of the coast (P365-15)

FishEye view of the coast (P365-15)
Decided to give the DSLR a rest today and broke out my GoPro camera for a nice super wide angle view from my balcony here in Kuwait. Even in a foreign country, I still end up on the East Coast!

Old habit with new things. (P365-14)

Old habit with new things. (P365-14)
I am a big tea drinker. I had thought that coming to the Middle East would open up the types of tea I could try. Turns out that’s not the case. They are a big fan of Lipton here. I found this Red Label tea that’s not too bad, but kind of strong.
The mugs in my apartment are tiny, so I picked up this one on the base.

The Niantic Project

Posted by on November 28, 2012 No comments

As much as I am on the Internet and paying attention to trends and games, this one blew right past me. I only learned about Ingress while on one of these work trips and a work buddy started talking about his Android friends (the phone users, not actual androids) who were playing. I thought, “Hey, I am an Android user! I should be playing this!” So I set out to learn about The Niantic Project.

A few months ago Google came out with a fun app called Field Trip. This app runs in the background of your phone and alerts you when you are near something historical or interesting. I get a kick out of it sometimes when I am driving around and find out I am near the largest ball of twine, or the location where George Washington’s third horse is buried. Little did I know that it would lead to their new Augmented Reality game called Ingress.

Augmented reality apps have been around for a while now, but none of them actually held any value past a good “Yup, that’s a thing!” You use your phones camera or GPS to tell where you are and your phone displays something virtually where you are physically. For the most part it was only for just that, to view something. Google stepped it up a notch with Ingress. You aren’t just viewing things anymore, you are
interacting with them and everyone else around you. Under the guise of “The Niantic Project” which is the secret organization behind Ingress.

Two warring factions are fighting for the well being of mankind. A crack in the universe has caused something called Exotic Matter (XM) to leak into our plane of existence.  Much of it was concentrated around Portals. These portals can be hacked and linked up to other portals to create a field. This field is a protective barrier that covers those who live under it. Got all that? So using the software on my phone, I can go to a portal location, which is only visible on the software, and hack that portal for my given side. By
hacking it, I have the chance to gain some equipment:

  • Resonators – Attached to portals to extend their range and link to other portals.
  • Bursters – Weapons used to attack other resonators.
  • Shields – Protective devices that can attach to portals to prevent damage from attacking factions.
  • Portal Keys – A virtual link to a specific portal
  • Media – Documents and pictures pertaining to the origins of the portals and XM

Resonators come in various levels (1-8) and can only be used at the level you have reached. (if you are level 4, you can use any item L1 to L4). Each portal can hold 8 total resonators, and their combined level averaged is the level of the portal. An unclaimed portal has no level, while one with all level 5 resonators is a level 5. Depending on the total of the level of resonators, that portal may be able to link to another portal. There are plenty of charts out there to show the distances.  Resonators degrade 10% of their energy each day and need to be recharged if they are to stay active.

Bursters also come in levels and can only be used by their respective level user. It’s a simple 360 degree bomb that takes out enemy resonators. The higher the level, the more damage.

 

 

Shields can be attached to portals, like resonators, and can deflect some of the damage from Bursters. Up to 4 shields can be added to a portal, and as of now, I have only seen 3 types of shields.

 

 

Portal Keys are interesting. They give you a link to the specific portal you have hacked. This link can show you it’s status, allow you to remotely recharge the resonators, and they give you a way to link a portal over a great distance. If you are trying to link to a portal that is out of range of your local map, you need it’s key. From what I have been able to tell, hacking a portal may “Steal” it’s key from its owner, same with destroying all of the resonators.

Media objects are just some documents that lend to the over arching back story. I have managed to collect 4 if them.

 

 

Using these tools, you can add the “Mind Units” of a covered area to your factions totals. The factions are:

  • Enlightened – The group who feel that the portals are part of the greater good and look to use them to influence mankind to their way.
  • Resistance – Those who want to keep free will and mankind away from influence from outside sources.

Now, there is a larger story going on that hasn’t yet been released. The Website NianticProject.com has been leaking out documents and videos that tell us there is something much bigger coming. I guess we will have to wait and see what that is.

I am currently on the side of the resistance. Time will tell how it ends up for us.

Visiting Boston in the 1770’s

Posted by on November 8, 2012 No comments

You may have guessed by now that I am a huge Assassin’s creed fan.  So needless to say the new Assassin’s Creed III was on my “OMG I HAVE TO OWN THIS” list.  After a little prodding from a friend (ok, it didn’t take much prodding) I ordered the limited edition of the game.  The perks were just too much to pass up!

  • Along with a copy of the game, Assassins Creed III Limited Edition contains the essential items for gamers to ignite the American Revolution:
  • A stunning 9.44-Inch Assassin statue featuring Connor poised to strike with tomahawk and hidden blade
  • An embroidered 28-Inch x 48-Inch Assassins Creed-inspired colonial flag
  • A 3-Inch x 3.25-Inch sturdy metal belt buckle to proudly proclaim your allegiance to the Assassins
  • George Washington’s Notebook, a unique look into Washington’s life that also includes Assassins Creed III concept art

The flag is now hanging on the wall at my desk at work and the statue is right by the TV.  Of course, there was a small delay in getting this to me.  Some sort of storm or something.  UPS apparently has a hard time driving 2 hours when it’s a week after a huge storm.  (I don’t want to rant too much, but UPS sucks sometimes.) Needless to say, I was without the game for a week after release.  To alleviate my woes, I signed up for RedBox and rented the game to get me through the weekend.

All that aside, the game is beautiful.  It’s everything you could want from a colonial AC game.  I love touring around Boston and seeing sights that I have seen in modern day.  The story is great and really has me questioning the motives of the last few games (In a good way).  Sadly there are still quite a few bugs in the game.  Nothing gamebreaking but a few things here and there that really take me out of the experience and potentially have me cussing up a storm.  The usual “Stupid Ezio” moments of jumping to the wrong place or to my death are replaced with “Stupid Connor”.

Most of all I just love the sight seeing!

So if you were wondering where I was, Ill be in Boston, circa 1770’s, for a few more Days/Weeks.

We’re Back!

Posted by on July 16, 2012 No comments

This was the start of our London Journey

Hey all!

We are now back from London!  We had a total blast the whole time out there and I took a metric F-Ton of pictures! (They use the metric system over there.)  Most of them are the touristy style pics, you know, because that’s what we were.  I did manage to set up and take some good solid pictures that will require some post processing and tweaking.  Those will be trickling out over the coming days.  Sarah actually as a very good day by day accounting of our trip over on her website.

 

Sarah got a few snaps of me taking snaps

I did want to touch on a few things that really made the trip though. (from a Gadget/Tech/Game perspective, that is.)  For my photography stuff I brought the whole backpack of gear, but rarely used all of it.  For general city travels I used my messenger bag and typically just the camera and my 18-270mm lens.  It was great for all around shooting.  On a few days I brought my 35mm with me, but rarely needed to swap it out.  I found that carrying around my full 15-20lb bag of gear would wear me out fast.  Also, I am not ashamed to say that a lot of shots were done in AUTO.  I was there as a tourist, I liked some of what I saw so I wanted a picture.  These were for memories, not art.  I know there are some photogs out there that claim they would never use the AUTO setting on their camera……they are full of crap.  It’s there for a reason.  To get the memory you want at a good quality.

Setting up for a shot of the London Eye

That said, I also set up a number of shots specifically to be processed and done in an artistic way.  These were set in M and bracketed.  The downside being that 1: I have a large number of photos to go through, and 2: Sometimes I would forget I was bracketed and ended up with some shots all over the place in exposure. (what, I was tired!)  All of my Touristy shots are in my gallery on the site here.  My Artistic shots will be trickling out as I work on them and probably uploaded to Flickr.  Keep an eye out!

 

Actually, we had good Signal everywhere

We had a very fun experience with Cell phones while in the UK as well.  My friend loaned me an old iPhone 3G for the trip and my wife as using her unlocked Motorola Razr Maxx.  First thing at the airport I tried one of the kiosks to grab a sim that we could at least use to call our driver. It was an O2 card that was 10£. Sadly, I didn’t use it at all, it had no data and we found our driver before needing it.  Next, while out we hit up a local shop that dealt in various phone stuff. I picked up a 3 sim that had the low end of texts and min, but unlimited data for 15£. Since we were only using data while here it would be perfect. It worked perfect in the old iPhone but in the wife’s Motorola it wouldn’t get any data. The guy said to go to the 3 store in westfields and they would fix it.

Had I realized (or not been tired from the plane) there was a mall right next to me, I would have just gone there.  The 3 store was shit for help. Their on staff folks were clueless and their phone support couldn’t figure out the Android APN settings.  We decided to hit the O2 store and got a sim that had 500mb data topped up to 1.5gb. The Guru was enamored with the Motorola and set up the APN very quickly. Everything worked great! Again, had I been more aware of my mental state, I would have just had them top up the card I bought at Heathrow.

As a side note, while out and about we noticed that O2 had better service with better coverage, but 3 had that unlimited data factor for cheap.  The final score board was 1 O2 Sim from the airport never used. 10£ 1 3 Sim from random store, never used 15£ 1 3 Sim from random store, used in iPhone 15£ 1 O2 sim from O2 store, used in Motorola, 20£

Yeah, that’s a game.

From the gaming side of things, we had a great meetup with some of the RetroNickRadio fans out in the UK!  You can find the details of that over at the RetroNick site.  We were also clued in to a little hole in the all Arcade located right near the London Eye.  I got very few pictures and didn’t have enough time to really explore, but it was a great find.

 

 

I know this post is starting to drag on so I will cut out here.  Expect some more excerpts from the trip in the coming weeks!

PAXEast 2012

Posted by on April 12, 2012 1 comment

I am back from PAXEast 2012 and I have a few days of recoup before I have to head out on another business trip! (oh the life of a jetsetter #notreally).  I wanted to throw out some thoughts on PAXEast before I had to run off again, and I am finally awake enough to do so!

First of all, PAXEast has gotten HUGE!!!!!!! (Seriously, it could use some more exclamation marks, it’s that huge.)  They expanded this year to include more of the convention center.  So much so that I didn’t even find some of the show floor until Sunday, because it was hidden behind some of the crazy big displays.  I followed my basic rule of “No standing in a line for 2 hours to see a demo/trailer that I can just watch on Monday”. Which means, or course, I hardly got to see any of the good demos on the show floor.  Seriously, if I can’t see the demo from outside your booth, I am not going to waste 2 hours of my con to watch 5 min of footage!

Aside from all of that, there were some great things to see there!  Borderlands 2 looks amazing as usual.  Assassin’s Creed 3 was there, but the only thing they had on the outside of the booth was the same trailers we have already seen.  Those were my two big finds.  Lots of small booths and little games to see, but I think it was a bit overwhelming due to the glut of booths and the overpowering of some of the big names.  Farcry actually has a bus!  A FULL BUS!

I attended the show with a friend and Podcast Co-Host, RetroNick, so there was lots of visits to the Retro Gaming rooms.  After all these years I learned that if you have a second controller hooked up while playing Duck Hunt, you can control the duck!  Also, I apparently can identify the sound of the atari 2600 game Surround from across the room.  You guys remember how hard Space Ace was?

The Table Top area was also kind of screwed up.  Last year there were tables everywhere and you could pop down and play whatever you liked.  This year the Magic folks and the D&D folks had ½ the room reserved for their games.  So you would go in and see tons of tables open, but couldn’t sit unless you were playing an “Authorized” game.  The open gaming area was very small and always packed.

The main theme of the con, at least from our point of view would have to be Mass Effect.  Tons of great Cosplayers from ME there. The panel was great with awesome information, and the chance to sit and talk with some of the writers was outstanding.  I swung by one of the rooms and just asked about the time of their signing and the person I asked was the lead writer for Mordin.  We talked about the script and choices.  Big highlight to my trip.

Overall, great trip.  Looking forward to next year!

If you want to see some of the various media I took at PAX, check out these links!
Walkthrough of the PAX East floor

Mass Effect Photo Set
PAX East Photo set

Working through the Trilogy (again)

Posted by on March 26, 2012 No comments

Lately I have been suffering a little PTMED (Post Traumatic Mass Effect Depression, it’s a thing).  I tried to go play some Old Republic, but found myself too distracted with all of the huge range of emotions I experienced with my playthrough of ME3.  (Note, still liked the ending).  As I have mentioned before, I never did a second playthrough, only the single story, and single save.  The quick recap about this meant that I was able to experience the whole story in a very unique way.  It didn’t get convoluted with alternate choices or multiple stories.  (Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I wanted to do).  I have now experienced the whole story, and I loved it.

So, what do you do with a story you just finished and loved?  You experience it again!  I made the decision to run through the whole story again, starting at Mass Effect 1, and working through the whole trilogy.  I experienced a small snag in this though.  My ME1 disk went missing!  I had pre-ordered and bought the collectors tin for ME1 and had the tin, and the bonus discs…..but no game disk!  I checked with Gamestop and they wanted $30 for a pre-owned copy (WTF!!!).  Amazon had new Platinum editions for $19 (UPDATE, it’s $16 now!!!) with prime shipping so that’s how I went.  It arrived on Friday.

To accompany this epic playthrough I also splurged and purchased the N7 branded G155 Personal Gaming Environment.  I have a number of trips coming up that may end up with me in a place that might get boring. (assuming I don’t get out and take pictures.) So I picked up this case so I could take a 360 with me.  I will probably have a post about the case after I get it wit photos and such.

So, I am now 10 hours into Mass Effect 1 and the experience is amazing.  First off, it’s VERY difficult to transition from ME3 controls down to ME1, you can tell they improved on quite a bit.  Outside of that, though, it’s been outstanding.  It feels like one of those movies where I have been transported back in time and given the opportunity to make new choices, knowing what I know now!  My favorite moment so far was meeting Wrex for the first time (again) with the Dialogue

Wrex: Do I know you human?

Me: * Not yet
* You will
* Shut Up

For those that are curious, I am playing through as BroShep.  My first was with FemShep, and my Romance options were ME1: Liara (Duh), ME2: Garrus (Comedy Option), and ME3: Traynor (Stress Relief).  I would be happy to explain these if you ask, but I think I know how I will steer things this time around.  I will certainly keep you updated on the progress both here and on Twitter.

The Single Play-through.

Posted by on March 7, 2012 2 comments

The long awaited trilogy ender Mass Effect 3 came out yesterday.  I picked up my copy from GameStop, pausing quickly to ensure the cover is set to FemShep, came home and got everything ready.  I set about migrating over my save games from the previous ME games, just as I had done before.  Thankfully, it didn’t take long since I only have the single character, the single play through.  One run, one set of decisions, one story….my Shepard story.

Mass Effect is one of those epic adventures that BioWare has created to have a bazillion different choices along the way and different outcomes.  They do this to increase the playability of the game.  It’s a great idea and it makes the game full of possibilities.  The problem I have with this is that the story is not done yet.  I haven’t reached the end.

People have told me that it’s like reading a book more than once, or watching your favorite movie again.  The difference being that, when I do that, it’s the same story.  It hasn’t changed, branched off, turned evil.  All of the decisions in the book/movie are the ones I enjoyed and delight in experiencing because they still lead in the direction of the ending.

Mass Effect allows you to change the path you take to the ending so drastically that it could be considered (and often is) a different story.  This isn’t so bad except that I knew that it wasn’t over yet.  Mass Effect 3 is supposed to be the ending we are all waiting for.

Imagine if you will, you are watching Star Wars: Episode IV.  The first watch through is great, you are rooting for this young do-gooder Luke who flirts with Leia, crys over his aunt and uncles deaths and then goes off and helps the rebels win against the evil empire.  Now, say you watch it again, only this time, Luke abandons his aunt and uncle, flirts with Chewbacca, sells out Han Solo to Jabba, and steals the Falcon to use on the Death Star run to blow up the Death Star, only to demand money from the rebels to do so.

Now you have to wait till Empire Strikes back comes out.  You are now invested in two very different story lines.  Yes, you can play them individually, but when it comes to an important decision in the next installment, The good side was ok, but the bad was so much fun and OH MY GOD WHAT DO I PICK?!?!?!

By playing through just the once, from 2007, when ME1 came out, to now, I have had one story.  My Shepard story.  I lived with my decisions, be they good or bad, I have made my choices, and lost a few people.  When I wander around the ship, I get flashbacks to events that happened there.  They are not muddled with other play-throughs, they are the memories of Shepard, they are my memories.  No confusion, no regrets.

Now, I need to get back, apparently the world needs saving…..again.

Testing FRAPS with SWTOR

Posted by on January 30, 2012 No comments

A long time ago (blah blah galaxy) I tried my hand at some Machinima video capture.  For those who don’t know, Machinima is using video game footage, re-edited together to make a video.  A lot of folks use the medium to make music videos, some people have ran with it and made full series of funny videos (like Red Vs. Blue).  Well, a few years back some friends and I tried to make a series called Stupid Hobbitsess.  It was made using the Lord Of The Rings Online game.  Unfortunately, the videos were pulled from YouTube because of Digital rights for some of the music used.  (less than 30 seconds worth).  So now, they only exist on my Hard Drive.  I may see if I can get them up here somewhere.

Anyways, I used a capture software called FRAPS.  It’s one of the popular choices for Video Game capture.  Problem is, back in the day, when I ran the capture on my old system, it would lag the game…..a lot.  On a while I decided to try and run FRAPS behind The Old Republic and see what the hit would be.  I was amazed to find that there was no lag at all.  Now, it is an updated system and FRAPS has been updated quite a few times since then so it may be more streamlined.  Below is a sample capture of some in game footage.  This kind of stirs the creative juices a bit, well see if anything comes from it.

Ninja Edit:  Looks like the old Myspace page for Stupid Hobbitsess is still up with the videos.  If you dare venture into Myspace land, you can see them here