"It's here to stay" or "it's here Tuesday", which one?
Greetings everyone! Especially those of you checking in from Athens, Greece!
I was checking my Google Analytics page today, and I made a rather fascinating discovery... while the vast majority of the visitors to this blog in the past 4 weeks are from the US (1,212 visits), the country with the next highest number of visitors is Greece! Isn't that wild? 80 visits from Greece in the past month. 63 of them from Athens! 15 more from Iraklion, and 1 each from Thessalonica and Kallithea.
The other countries in the top 10 (after the US and Greece) are Canada, Germany, Slovenia. UK, Australia, Spain, Belgium and India.
The US visits are predominantly from California, but visitors from 39 other states have popped in as well, the rest of the top 5 being North Carolina, Washington, Kentucky and New York.
Who would have thought there'd be so many people around the country/world that had nothing better to do! It's so cool!
Speaking of things that are cool, two of your fellow blog readers (that have blogs of their own) have recently interviewed published authors about their most recent books! Kris Denby has an interview with Ken Scholes, author of Lamentation (which some of you have read, I know), and Shellie (at Layers of Thought) has an interview with Blake Charlton, author of the buzzworthy fantasy release Spellwright, which I may add to my read list.
How cool is that? Getting to interview a published author about their stuff. These aren't self-published wannabe's, these are big names! I wonder what I'd have to do to score an interview with someone famous like that?
I've been recently compiling a series of "Favorite" lists, for different games, books, movies, albums, etc., that I love, and I've been revisiting the game Oblivion. It came out in 2006 and I've put hundreds of hours into exploring the game, and tinkering with dozens of mods. It really is a terrific game. So I got the itch today to look online for any news of the next Elder Scrolls game - it's been 4 years, I thought there'd be info on it. Nothing official from Bethesda, but I did find a quote supposedly from one of their developers talking about a new Elder Scrolls title possibly coming out in 2010, after Fallout: New Vegas is released.
I bring it up because I wondered if I just wrote an email to Bethesda and asked them, if they would sneak me some info on the new game, and some screen shots, so my blog could break the news of the game to the world - a world exclusive scoop! It would be even better than interviewing an author, wouldn't it! And with my global audience, it would be the perfect platform for them to make the first public announcement of the game!
No, of course, I'm not serious. Sheesh! They wouldn't give me the exclusive... especially since I was banned from their official forums, lol... let's just say their forum rules make no allowance for my type of humor...
The latest PCGamer has the first screen shots of Crysis 2, which looks amazing. Looks like it takes place (at least in part) in New York City, which is overrun with alien baddies. If you played the original Crysis, you know how incredibly photo-realistic the graphics were, on that tropical island. Imagine a new, better, more-optimized graphics engine, rendering NYC and Central Park... I can't find the screenies online anywhere! I may have to scan them from the magazine and post them here - you won't believe the clarity. HERE is a video of the game engine, for PS3. HERE is another.
I found a couple smaller screenies on Gamespot of Crysis 2...
Meh, not bad. The pics in the magazine are better, including some great foliage shots from inside Central Park. In fact, these two pics might even be concept art, instead of in-game screenies.
Anyway, I hope the next Elder Scrolls game has a similar engine. Something like this would be nice...
Even though someone posted that pic on the Elder Scrolls V forum at Gamespot, I doubt it is really from the new game. But I think it shows what I hope the final graphics of the new game would look like. Yes, that's done with software, it ain't a photo. Man, if ESV comes out this year, I would be a happy boy...
Speaking of gaming tech advances, check this nonsense out...
I started a new book last night: Black Sun Rising, by C.S. Friedman. It's sort of a fantasy-sci-fi hybrid. The prologue didn't do much for me, but I'll give it a few more nights to hook me.
I think I've covered enough disparate ground for the night. I'm going to pull the plug for now.
Dave
PS Oh, I forgot to mention it! I will end up owing far less in taxes this year than I thought I would! Yay me!
Greetings everyone! Especially those of you checking in from Athens, Greece!
I was checking my Google Analytics page today, and I made a rather fascinating discovery... while the vast majority of the visitors to this blog in the past 4 weeks are from the US (1,212 visits), the country with the next highest number of visitors is Greece! Isn't that wild? 80 visits from Greece in the past month. 63 of them from Athens! 15 more from Iraklion, and 1 each from Thessalonica and Kallithea.
The other countries in the top 10 (after the US and Greece) are Canada, Germany, Slovenia. UK, Australia, Spain, Belgium and India.
The US visits are predominantly from California, but visitors from 39 other states have popped in as well, the rest of the top 5 being North Carolina, Washington, Kentucky and New York.
Who would have thought there'd be so many people around the country/world that had nothing better to do! It's so cool!
Sunroof FAIL
Speaking of things that are cool, two of your fellow blog readers (that have blogs of their own) have recently interviewed published authors about their most recent books! Kris Denby has an interview with Ken Scholes, author of Lamentation (which some of you have read, I know), and Shellie (at Layers of Thought) has an interview with Blake Charlton, author of the buzzworthy fantasy release Spellwright, which I may add to my read list.
How cool is that? Getting to interview a published author about their stuff. These aren't self-published wannabe's, these are big names! I wonder what I'd have to do to score an interview with someone famous like that?
I've been recently compiling a series of "Favorite" lists, for different games, books, movies, albums, etc., that I love, and I've been revisiting the game Oblivion. It came out in 2006 and I've put hundreds of hours into exploring the game, and tinkering with dozens of mods. It really is a terrific game. So I got the itch today to look online for any news of the next Elder Scrolls game - it's been 4 years, I thought there'd be info on it. Nothing official from Bethesda, but I did find a quote supposedly from one of their developers talking about a new Elder Scrolls title possibly coming out in 2010, after Fallout: New Vegas is released.
I bring it up because I wondered if I just wrote an email to Bethesda and asked them, if they would sneak me some info on the new game, and some screen shots, so my blog could break the news of the game to the world - a world exclusive scoop! It would be even better than interviewing an author, wouldn't it! And with my global audience, it would be the perfect platform for them to make the first public announcement of the game!
No, of course, I'm not serious. Sheesh! They wouldn't give me the exclusive... especially since I was banned from their official forums, lol... let's just say their forum rules make no allowance for my type of humor...
The latest PCGamer has the first screen shots of Crysis 2, which looks amazing. Looks like it takes place (at least in part) in New York City, which is overrun with alien baddies. If you played the original Crysis, you know how incredibly photo-realistic the graphics were, on that tropical island. Imagine a new, better, more-optimized graphics engine, rendering NYC and Central Park... I can't find the screenies online anywhere! I may have to scan them from the magazine and post them here - you won't believe the clarity. HERE is a video of the game engine, for PS3. HERE is another.
I found a couple smaller screenies on Gamespot of Crysis 2...
Anyway, I hope the next Elder Scrolls game has a similar engine. Something like this would be nice...
Even though someone posted that pic on the Elder Scrolls V forum at Gamespot, I doubt it is really from the new game. But I think it shows what I hope the final graphics of the new game would look like. Yes, that's done with software, it ain't a photo. Man, if ESV comes out this year, I would be a happy boy...
Speaking of gaming tech advances, check this nonsense out...
Yeah, I know, I'm torn as well... equal parts cool and ridiculous. No one is going to have one of those things in his/her house. A giant hamster ball... HERE is a link to an article on it, if you'd like more info...
And now, the Ka-Flump of the Day.
I started a new book last night: Black Sun Rising, by C.S. Friedman. It's sort of a fantasy-sci-fi hybrid. The prologue didn't do much for me, but I'll give it a few more nights to hook me.
I think I've covered enough disparate ground for the night. I'm going to pull the plug for now.
Dave
PS Oh, I forgot to mention it! I will end up owing far less in taxes this year than I thought I would! Yay me!
4 comments:
ouch poor kid! lol.
wow dave, your stats are impressive! that is so cool!!!
the main picture is awesome, by the way.
and I'm glad that you owe less than you thought! Thank you Jesus!
Every time you post a mountain picture, I'd swear I've seen the view before in Greece.
Today's pic, for instance, is a lot like the "Dragon Lake" in Mount Smolix.
Just mentioning ...
I'm more excited about New Vegas.
Hey, I started using Google Analytics after you mentioned it last time. I'm liking it quite a bit. Lots of stats, and I don't know what some of them mean, but I like looking at the numbers anyway.
What a strange video game concept. It looks like something you'd see in an arcade or something.
Dry! Are you my Greek connection? Sweet! I had no clue!
Logan: I'm stoked on New Vegas as well, of course (Fallout 3 is also one of my all-time faves), but maybe once we see some real pics and info on the new Elder Scrolls game, you'll get stoked on it as well...
Abbie: Yay for lower-than-expected taxes! Presents for everybody!!1!
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