Need for Speed - SHIFT

so i am still in the "discovery" stages of this game, which means i am still playing it. i have played many of the other games under the title "Need for Speed" and i liked them, but i can't say that i loved them. most of the time, they are about illegal street racing, where you have some agenda to be the best of the best among these black-market, hardcore tough guys with ridiculously expensive cars. in the later games, such as "Need for Speed: Most Wanted" you get to customize your car's appearance and make it look all flashy and "gangsta" (a young-un's term for "hip" or "cool"). these games relied more on testosterone than skill, being that braking wasn't really a requirement while racing and outrunning cops was more important than actually racing.

in "Need for Speed - Shift", you are a nameless driver who is trying to make it big in the professional racing world. you have a nameless race director with a catchy British accent and boatloads of racing wisdom ("...and watch out for that downhill curve. If you hit the brakes here, you're gonna spin out.").

the major diofference between this title as oppposed to other NFS games is that you must must MUST pay attention to game mechanics. this means that you can't go barreling around turn full throttle or slam into other cars at 200mph. this game is what i call a Racing Simulator which mewans that it has sort of real-world physics. you get to pretend like you are a real driver, minus the bodily harm factors and the part where you get to feel the road beneath your tires. but it is very real all the same. this game still has the visual customization options that previous NFS titles have had, but the focus is more on the race and winning, than looking good.

in prior titles, there were cheesy cutscenes and a backstory that tells you why you are driving cars and stuff. these were mostly just fluff; hot air to make the game more appealing without actually having a good storyline or decent game. in SHIFT you have no characters or names to worry about, just the other cars on the track. at least as far as i have gotten. the physics of the cars feel fantastic and i find myself wincing at approaching walls. sometimes i get to flip the opponents, which always makes for a fun replay. watching vehicles that weigh nearly a ton go pinwheeling over speeding cars makes for a visceral feeling of danger and really pumps up the adrenaline. hitting your opponents also brings into effect Einstein's obnoxious phrase "Every action has an equal, and opposite, reaction". hit them broadside and you'll likely find you have come to a dead stop. tap them with you rear wheel and get frustrated while the world spins. dodging other vehicles is apparently a full-time job.

the cars themselves are pretty detailed. they have realistic sizes and shapes, not cartooned to look cool. some games make the cars too wide or too long to appeal to testosterone-junkies that want to feel macho. this game really makes you feel like you are in there.

the visual effects also give a fantastic idea of raw speed. blasting down a straightaway at the approaching turn, you feel muscles begin to clench up at the prospect of missing the knife-edge perfection required to make this turn. you have the rat pack a bare thirty feet behind you and you know that they will make this turn at near-perfection, so it is up to you to make this without losing control or slowing down too much. for less experienced players, there is a racing line option that shows you where to be and when to brake or accelerate. i have to be honest, this game is so difficult to master that i started out with the racing line. feeling your car's tires skip sideways across the pavement is a frustrating experience.

one major flaw with this game is it's rushed feeling. the replay options are limited to play, pause, skip backwards, skip forwards and five camera angles, with no camera adjustability. this means that you can't stop at the perfect time and sometimes you are blocked by other vehicles or walls. also, sometimes the camera does a weird sort of jig where it flies up and down very fast before freezing and restarting the replay.

another massive mess up is the awkward physics bugs. while the physics feel great, sometimes the computer isn't sure of where the cars really are. you will see them blipping forwards and backwards as if the game knows they are within a five-foot radius of these positions, but not exactly where the cars are supposed to go. this makes close driving hazardous because you never know when a teleporting car is going to launch you forty feet sideways with a one hundred mile per hour forward velocity. frustrating. occasionally your own car is the confused car, which means you skip across the pavement while driving very fast. it feels like driving on gravel at incredibly high speeds. funny, but frustrating.

a big factor in the game is the points system. i have mentioned this last because i am not sure how i feel about this. stars advance you through the game, to each level and unlocking new cars and parts (like turbochargers and suspensions). you get stars for completing objectives in race events. for instance, driving at top speed or getting all the corners on the track perfect. sometimes they are very easy, like getting 480 profile points (i will explain profile points in a moment) which takes perhaps fifteen seconds. the reason i am not sure i like this is becuase the makers made some stars laughably easy to get and others insanely hard to get. case in point: a race requires that you get all the corners mastered on a track called nordschleife (don't bother trying to pronounce the name, it's German). the main problem is that nordschleife is about 12 miles long and even with perfect driving in the fastest car, you will race one lap in about 5 minutes. most tracks have 1 or 2 minute laps. nordschleife also has about three hundred billion different turns that are exceedingly difficult. mastering the corners means you will literally spends hours perfecting the track. kind of a waste of time, in my opinion. so obviously some stars are only for the true-blue racers while the rest is for casual gamers.

as for profile points, they tell you if you are a precise driver or an aggressive driver. some actions fall into the aggressive category (such as spinning an opponent off the track) and some fall into the precise category (such as mastering a corner or passing an opponent without touching them). they have no real bearing on the game aside from that they unlock various visual effects, such as decals or paint jobs. sometimes gaining a new level will give you boatloads of cash to blow on cars and parts. profile points make the game fun in that you can see if you are a road-bully or a track ninja, but they have a minimal role in the overall game.

as for the game as a whole, i really like it and i think it is an excellent timekill. the ESRB rates it E for Everyone and i wholly agree. there is no violence, aside from flying cars, and zero offensive language. skimpily-clad females are at an all-time low for NFS games (there are zero of these ladies) and because of a lack of story, there is no suggestion of anything questionable. this game is truly for all ages. even my mom likes to occasionally test her skills. i hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

If Things couldn't get more Ridiculous...

so for a bit of background on this rather huge development in my life, i'm going to have to tell you all about the single most massive subject in my life. from this occurrence, every other little problem in my life has been a long-term side affect.

when i was ten months old, i fell into a bathtub and turned the water up all the way. for some reason or another, the water heater was set as high as it could go. so as i fell in i spun the tub's knob and the temperature soared to somewhere in the estimated vicinity of 174 degrees F. i have, as such, sustained major burns all over my body. also, because of how i was positioned, i lost all the fingers on my right hand.

after years of searching, we found a surgeon that was willing to put fingers on my hand in a way that agreed with me. Dr. Khouri performed many simple skin grafts and such to prepare for the coup d'grace: he took my toes and put them on my hand. the thumb when i was seven, the finger when i was 8. so i have gone practically my entire life with this 'disability'. i honestly don't see it as a disability.

don't call me a hero (poorboy, hoagie, whatever) or a trooper , i can't take it anymore, for one thing. also, i don't see me as being different from anyone else. if i did i would perhaps call this a 'challenge' or a 'misfortune'. it is what it is. i simply learned at an early age not to need my right hand. unfortunately my brain really and truly was wired for being right-handed, so my handwriting sucks and my fingers aren't quick enough to play good guitar, but ah well.

i digress. the main thing is that i had LOTS of blood given to me over the years. an estimated 50 units in 12 years. i found out yesterday that i now have a virus thta has most likely been incubating inside my liver for at least a decade. it is a misunderstood virus, and i would like to say that i have never had sex in my life... not by any specific absitnence vow or geekiness, i'm just not needing that. in fact i've never even had a girlfriend, not because i'm gay (lol, nope, not gay) or whatever, i just can't get a girl to like me. not a charismatic type.

so, i'm done pussyfooting around it: i have hepatitis c. when i heard that, my first thought was motherfucker! are you kidding me? the 'you' i am referring to is probability, i think. not really sure. i talk to myself alot to pronouns get muddled. but on the whole i wasn't really surprised. not that i was expecting to get a viral infection (which has practically been in my fucking body since i was a kid) but i'm kinda tired of everything and i don't follow what i believe in. i think this is god's way of saying hey, dude. you seriously need to reprioritize. my parents have been making a big deal about it, praying with me and such. i don't really feel all that bummed about it. honestly i couldn't care much less. life was getting dull, anyhow, why not throw in a potentially life-changing infection? however the sypmtoms have been pointing more and more towards my having had this since an early age. it's slightly relieving to know i'm not a lazy douchebag but, in fact someone with a virus. i don't want to be a lazy douchebag! now i know it isn't really something i could have changed on my own.

so this is life in the world i live in. it's like yours, but with more lame jokes, more laziness and a dog named Trypanosomiasis. or Tryp if you're too lazy. although she is Trypanosomiasis when she's bad.

i have a car now!

i had a car previously, except it didnt work. my 12 yr old nissan altima gxe finaly has a functioning water pump. now i need to save up for a better car. preferably one with a decent sound system because i love to blast my music, whatever it may be. 3 months ago it was industrial like nine inch nails and now it is deathmetal like cynic and veil of maya. next week will probably have me whistling frank sinatra again. 'cuz that's me. also, im like a tiny bit high right now. i really need to stop smoking but the opportunity always happens along when im feeling low, so inhaling a little THC into my lungs sounds like a nice stress-relief. i hate the smells though. smoke is gross and thoroughly undesirable. i dont smoke cigarettes and i only occasionally smoke weed so i dont often smell like smoke, which is good. especially since everyone from my childhood thinks im a goody two-shoes (including my family, entire) and i dont want to ruin that image, especially since it isnt really me. what is me would be the view of a book nerd with an obsession (reading) and speaking of which, i have the final volu8me in the Dark tower series beckoning. i'll see you all in another 500 pages!

Star Trek

so i just watched the new star trek movie and it pretty much ruled. i was leery at first because of the vague anti-trek vibe i felt from the director as well as other important people involved but it turned out 100% awesome. the casting was righteous and the graphics even better. and somehow the time-paradox excuse didnt suck like i thought it would. i mean that seems to be the easiest way out of a storyline discrepancy, yet j. j. abrams pulled it off without having messed up the trekkie feel to the movie. they simply cut the technobabble (which i love) and added a dash of humor (which i love). and anyways, explosions rool. massive palnet-size explosions are even better. and moon-sized spaceships are simply EPIC. who can pass up a moon-sized craft that looks like a supremely evil sticky-bur? if that shit got caught on God's cosmic jeans i think he would freak out a little bit inside. let's not forget that harold "roldy" from 'harold and kumar' makes a surprisingly good ninja-swordsman. i never thought the guy would make a good actor. zackary quinto was the obvious offspring of spock so obviously he would be spock 40 years later. obviously. so that's my rave about the movie, which i may or may not be buying when it comes out. my monetary situations always seem at the mercy of other people... :\

Posto Numero Uno

so i suppose there must be a first post to any blog, right? even though i have no readers, it will be archived for future purposes, i am sure. this happens to be my very very very first blog EVER and i will tell you a bit about myself:

first, i really don't like to use the shift key. this is because i am short 5 fingers, the result of an accident that happened many years ago. i am willing to talk about it but i must be asked first, :) it's just how i am.

i am from mid-missouri and was born here. i am twenty years old (male) and single. my main hobbies are videogames and reading. i love to ride my bicycle (song moment!) but i am not terribly physically active. i prefer to live vicariously through videogames because medical complications make it hard for me to be active.

my musical interests edge towards rock (namely deathmetal) but also include techno, johnny cash (although i have yet to find any other artists in country music i can listen to), and the occasional rap song. the only two musical categories i cannot stand are country music (excepting JC) and nearly all classical.


so if you like this first post, let me know. i will try to continue posting and perhaps gather some more listeners of my bizarre tale as i chronicle it here in these pages.