writhaus

Like a lot of people, I am something of a pack rat. I accumulate things that seem awesome and completely must-have at one moment, only to have those things lie around and gather dust for years before I rediscover them. This happens with books, dvds and videogames.

Knowing that I would have an ideal chance to clear off some of the things lingering on that dusty shelf with my new adventure, I loaded my computer with the games I had bought from Steam, Valve Software’s online gaming store. I had bought the complete Valve collection when Half-life 2 was released, but never played passed the boat level. With time being short, but knowing I would want to play some games, I loaded all the Source Engine powered games I had, Half-life: Source, Half-life 2 and Half Life 2: The Lost Coast. I also rebought The Longest Journey with its sequel Dreamfall at the same time.

Having nothing to do and being sick over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday combo, I started Half-life: Source. I had bought the game when it was originally released and liked it, but never played very far into it. I was immediately impressed how great the game looked, even using it’s original late-90′s textures. Things were fluid and smooth. My Vaio laptop and its Nvidia 8400 GT were wholey up to the task of running the game. The only problem I encountered was late in the game, a storm drain that was supposed to be open was locked. I hunted around desperately online and finally had to use no_clip. It was unfortunate, but didn’t mar the gaming experience for me. Overall, I rate Half-life: Source a solid 9. The game is a classic, and I am happy to see Valve treat it as such.

When I finished it, I immediately launched into Half-life 2. The game was equally smooth and at times, down right frightening. Given the modern rise of survival horror, I liked seeing Valve’s take on the genre. After playing many hours with textures from the 1990′s, it was a breath of fresh air to see everything textured in fancy moderness. Given that even now, Half-life 2 is not a new game, I was impressed with just how cutting edge it still looked.

With the sequel, Valve mixes it up a bit including a few vehicle levels. I didn’t mind them much at all since there were a great deal fewer jumping puzzles to deal with. Basically with Half-life 2, everything that was in the original only got better. I’m tempted to rate it higher than the original, but the fact that it’s a sequel takes away a smidge. I finally settled on rating it exactly the same as the original, which is about as high an honor as I can bestow upon it.

Squeezing the last bit of Half-life goodness out of my Steam account, I ran through Half-life 2: The Lost Coast. It’s mostly a tech demo, but an amazingly beautiful one at that. I enjoyed their commentary bits, and the peak inside the making of games it gave. I also liked running the test program. While The Lost Coast warned me I only had a 2ghz processor in my laptop (a Core 2 Duo T7300), the test ran at 55fps. While the game as mentioned above isn’t new, it was still nice to see that a notebook had the horsepower to run the game properly. Given it’s demo nature, I give The Lost Coast an 8. It’s pretty, short and informative.

Now all I need to do is find a Wifi hotspot so I can download Episodes 1 and 2! That’s right, I bought The Orange Box. That also means I have a copy of Half-life 2 I can gift to anyone who is interested that doesn’t mind installing Steam to get it. If you’re interested, post in the comment section. Let us know why you are deserving of something valued at dozens of dollars! We’ll make a decision in the next week or two.

Next: The Longest Journey!

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With the year over, it’s that time when people lazy from stuffing their faces over the holidays phone in their work by doing “Year in Review” lists. Here at writhaus, we definitely aren’t above such things, either. You might remember just a few months ago, our 2006 music list. I liked writing my portion. I liked highlighting tracks from lesser known performers, too. Hopefully that trend continues with my segment of this post.

Driving around in February handing out resumes, I heard a track that immediately annoyed me. That’s certainly not the best way to start one of these things, but bear with me. Writhaus music guru Dave and I were driving around L.A. and Sirius’s Left of Center played this strange song that just kept repeating, “Can you feel it?” over and over. Immediately after, the next song was by the same band. It’s the first song of 2007 that popped for me. It’s “Energy” by The apples in stereo. These guys had a really great year and have been featured on a lot of these lists. All the attention they are getting is deserved. The album (New Magnetic Wonder) is great and “Can You Feel It” actually did grow on me.

Another in the group of songs that didn’t immediately grab me was Survivalism by NiN. The song didn’t really click for me until I bought the album and listened to Year Zero in its entirety. After that I had a new appreciation for that song, but my favorite track from the album is still “Capital G.”

I tried very hard to get the most out of the L.A. music scene. One of the bands I saw was Nick Black. The title track from their album “Hollow” is haunting and beautiful and stands out from the more traditional rock tracks. The album is really well crafted and worth the download on iTunes.

A band I tried to see but always failed is Moonrats. Their song “FLM” infected my mind instantly when I heard it, with it’s raw feel putting me in mind of Archers of Loaf. Here’s hoping they are still together when I finish doing my gig here in Ukraine so I can finally see them perform.

From Against Me!s sellout album “New Wave“, “Thrash Unreal” currently is the most played song in my iTunes library. It has great lyrics and a well put together sound. The album doesn’t feel like a sellout, so you are pretty safe buying it.

William Tell‘s album You Can’t Hold Me Down holds two songs for this list, “Fairfax” and “Slipping Under.” Both songs have been in heavy rotation on my iPod. Tell’s musical resume is very strong, and the album leaves you wishing there were a few more songs on it.

Two bands that had label problems hit back in a big way this year with strong debut singles. Jimmy Eat World‘s “Big Casino” and The Starting Line‘s “Island” are both worth mentioning.

Brad Paisley, about the only good country music singer to come about in the last 15 years, had a great album hit this year. 5th Gear added two songs to my 2007 playlist: “Ticks” and “Online“. You wouldn’t think a song about blood-sucking arachnids would be much fun, but the idea of a superhero named The Tick probably didn’t sound awesome the first time you heard about it, either. How can a blogger not like “Online” since it pokes good-natured fun at those of us in the nerdery.

In July, for a week, Matt Pinfield took over Sirius’s Left of Center. One of the tracks I got to hear him spin was “I Wish” by Brinkman. Just how do you tell a girl you’re sorry for that one night stand and let her know it’s not her, it’s you? Give the song a listen.

Test Your Reflex is a band I had never heard of before 2007, but I absolutely love their single “Pieces of the Sun.” Sure, it’s a ballad, but those aren’t inherently bad, are they?

The Dallas, TX band The Vanished popped up with a song on my list: “Chemical Reaction.”

Studying Russian, I managed to find a Russian-language pop song I enjoyed a good bit. Рыжая translates to “Red Haired Girl” and feels like a great summer song. I only have a basic idea what the lyrics Aviator are singing are about, but still, it’s a fun song.

That’s my list for 2007. As always, the year started slow, but there were plenty of songs I loved in the end. There are quite a few more, too, like that new album from The Bravery, Arcade Fire and others, but they get enough press as it is, anyway. Do these bands a favor. Track down their music. You’ll be happy you did.