On Monday I snagged Petri Purho‘s Choke on my Groundhog, YOU BASTARD ROBOTS. It’s a Windows game, and well worth your time. Games like this make me very happy; there are no strict penalties for slow reflexes. It’s an old school shooter with an insanely enjoyable spin. I don’t want to give too much away, because I think the process of figuring out a game like this is almost as much fun as the gameplay itself. My only real complaint is that the game is too short, but in the comments on Petri’s blog you can find information about creating your own levels.

I find it refreshing to play a game that is just all about fun. There is no score. There is no limit to how many lives you have. Actually, being bad at the game makes it more fun. It’s a very clever game that you can play for five or ten minutes and walk away feeling very satisfied that it was time well spent.

On Wednesday, I read a post on Petri’s blog about Braid, which was released on Xbox Live Arcade that day. I have been follwing Petri’s blog since I first saw Crayon Physics last year. I’ve played many of the games he has posted and have come to respect him as a developer and a game designer. So when he said that he was planning to go out and buy an Xbox 360 just so he could play Braid, I figured that I should play it too.

If you own an Xbox 360, I hereby declare that you are obligated to purchase, play, and love Braid. Some people may look at the 1200MSP price tag and cringe. Worry not, fellow gamers, this title is well worth the money.

Braid is a side-scrolling platformer that feels very comfortable. It’s a puzzle game that is all about time manipulation. Since you are free to move back in time, there are no strict penalties for death. If you die at the end of a level, there is no need to start all over. Just rewind a little bit and try that jump again.

There are six worlds and each has its own rules for how time works. Figuring out what the trick is at the start of each world was a lot of fun. The puzzles are all very reasonable, as well. Some are easy and some are really hard, but they’re always reasonable. A lot of care went into the design of this game. If you are having trouble figuring out a particular puzzle, you can move on and come back later. The game isn’t linear.

It didn’t take me long to finish the game, but I think I would still rank it in my top 10 games of all time. It is an experience that will stick with me. Braid is a game with a message. I think I know what it was trying to tell me, but I could easily be wrong. This is a game that cries out, “Please discuss me with your friends!” Jonathan Blow and David Hellman have made a wonderful product and are worthy of our praise.

Now that I mentioned David, I supposed I should also note that the game looks beautiful. Screenshots don’t do it justice. Everything is constantly moving and the backgrounds can get extremely colorful. I’m sure that the painted visual style of the game has something to do with Braid’s overall message. So much thought went into this game that I can’t imagine any design decisions were made just because they would “look cool.”

Thanks to Jonathan and David for making a great game that made me think. Thanks to Petri for making such a strong recommendation and convincing me to buy a game that I otherwise would have probably overlooked. And, most of all, thanks to everybody who buys this game and supports the future development of great independent titles. I could definitely stand to see more of this on XBLA.

I’m one of the voice actors and my main character is going to be starring in a short spin-off podcast. He is a mad scientist named Dr. Wilheim Von Martinez and he is going to answer science questions from listeners. Since this new podcast won’t be announced until Ralph and I work some things out, we have no questions to use for the first few scripts. I am asking you folks to help out. Think of some questions and email them to: wilheim.vonmartinez@gmail.com.

It doesn’t matter how simple or complex the question is. If it’s something that is common knowledge, that is acceptable as well. He isn’t going to answer any of them correctly anyway. I want to get in the habit of writing scripts based on random submissions from internet-type people rather than getting to comfortable writing an entire show based on my own ideas. Thanks in advance for anything you guys can send my way.

Wake up from your dreaming, sheeple! You have been deceived by advertising budgets topping $1B dollars into believing you love something when better alternatives exist! Free your mind from the Sodacracy of today and look forward to the Poptopia of tomorrow!

RC Cola is where it’s at, comrades, so drink and be merry!

Note: My claims of soda superiority do not cover RC Edge Maximum Power Cola.

I understand that Amnesty International is working with the best possible intentions, but I fear that their methods are terribly pointless.  I bought their Instant Karma double CD because the artists and songs were outstanding, and now I’m on their mailing list.

They want to tear down Guantanamo Bay.  Great, I agree that the stuff going down there goes against everything America stands for (ie. freedom, justice), but I don’t think yet another petition is going to actually close it down.  If they can get 500,000 signatures then “we’ll have the power and strength needed to tear down the real Guantanamo Bay.”

Umm, I hate to burst your bubble – it’s a really wonderful bubble, truly – but no, you won’t.  There are over 300 million American citizens, and over 60% of them oppose the war in Iraq.  Have 500,000 of them signed petitions to withdraw the troops?  I don’t know, but the important part of petitions is enlightening the decision makers about what the masses desire.  Over 200 million people want a thing, and it ain’t even close to being done.

Seriously, do you believe collecting names electronically will force the military to close down a (to them) necessary military installation?  Did you notice the uses of the word ‘military’ in that sentence?  If there is one thing the military has never done, and must never do, is listen to public opinion.

The second magic number comes from your favorite group of wussies, the Democrats, combatting W.’s veto of the SCHIP cash.  This example is just absurd, whether you agree with the politics or not.

Here’s the quote from Governor Dean’s camp: “over 90,000 letters were sent, with every single member of Congress getting at least one.” That’s a real number, so here’s the magic number: “let’s get to 125,000 letters by the end of the day. Congress can’t ignore 125,000 letters from ordinary Americans demanding health care coverage for children.”

Why, exactly, is that?  See the above point on the Iraq war.  They can, and they are ignoring those letters.  Want proof?  You, Gov. Dean, noted that they have ignored 90,000 letters, so what exactly is it about those last 35,000 letters that is going to cross the tipping point?  Better stationary?

Well intentioned?  Most probably! Arbitrary?  Most definitely!

Update: Not to keep picking on Amnesty, but their “Amnesty Wireless” website contains an image with this text: “Last spring, Amnesty Wireless members organized to call for the immediate closure of the cruel and inhuman prison at Guantanamo Bay.”  Why are they bragging about doing something that didn’t get anything done?  Yesterday I screamed at all the stupid drivers sharing the road with me and they didn’t get any better, maybe I could use that to start a wireless company.

Nice, in that sitting-on-a-tortoise sort of way.

That’s for this.

• Firefox 2.0 fails on me often, but with esoteric tweaks it won’t take ALL of my RAM
• IE7 is a release version but crashes more than any other Windows browser ever
• Opera is excellent, and if all of Google’s apps would support it I wouldn’t need the others
• In fact, since Firefox won’t load GCalendar today they are on an even playing field
• All Mac browsers are retarded – and by that I mean behind the curve from Windows ones

• 4.5 was released officially
• 5.0 beta was released on BetaNews but the link is gone now (I have it installed)

This post is to let everyone know that I’m nearly ready to print a run of the long-awaited Fueled by Vice Shirt. And when I say I’m nearly ready I mean that I have all the necessary materials prepared aside from the shirts to print them on, since I don’t know how many people want these things, and what sizes of shirts to purchase. I’d much rather do a run of several shirts rather than make them one at a time since it would require set up and clean up after each shirt if done the second way, and would end up being way more time consuming. So I need you, my loyal reader’s/fan’s/friend’s/people who like shirts/ input. If you can start to send me emails concerning the number of shirts you would like, and the size’s that you would require I’d like to try to do a pre-order type deal over the course of this week.

To make it easier for me to sort out the mails, use the handy Pre-order link at the end of this post.

In case you’ve forgotten what the design is looks like, I’ve provided this tiny-ass image to refresh your memory:

I’m anticipating the going price of the shirts to be around $12, unless you’re local and can buy your own shirt and give it to me sometime this week. I have little idea of what it will cost to ship these puppies so the price might fluctuate a bit depending on that. It’s going to be a single color print, white, so keep that in mind if you will be bringing me a shirt to print on. Otherwise I believe black will be the color of choice unless I get an overwhelming opinion to the contrary. Then I might be more flexible.

Pre-order your fueled by vice shirt today!

God Bless you, Sam L.  God Bless you.