Topics

1

Video Games / Fallout 3 tribute

« on: January 19, 2010, 12:27:19 AM »

Bethesda sent me some stuff.  Here's what I did

http://imgur.com/bUKA9

http://imgur.com/IWMg4

http://imgur.com/43RjW

http://imgur.com/Rz8fA

2

Video Games / Bethesda shows some love

« on: November 21, 2009, 06:07:57 AM »

The following is an e-mail exchange I had with someone that works for Bethesda.  I was asking if there was any place I could buy the posters you see all over the place in Fallout 3 (Vault Boy and the family playing football)

Initial message:

Subject: Fallout 3 absent from one aspect of my life
Message: I have spent a great number of hours walking the wastes, fighting radscoprions, Deathclaws and mutants of many shapes and degrees of difficulties.  I applaud your abilities to make the wastelands fun and educational while I take a baseball bat to the head of some raider after my oddly large collection of tin cans and iguana on a stick.

However, as i walk around, I see hundreds of posters promising a better future for myself underground with the smiling Vault boy and a family playing the football I was never given for Christmas, yet i cannot find anywhere online to purchase it.  I need to get to word out, but I am stuck as my Xbox is currently on an airplane being flown to meet me here in Iraq.

There are many things I love.  Women\'s roller derby, The Cardinals baseball team and obscenely large computer monitors, but none of them prepare me for the wastelands and the problems I will encounter there.  I hope you can point me towards a remedy for this problem.  There are no Vaults in the middle east, but I can start building for my brighter future

Thank you

Sgt Francis Horton

response:

Hi there

Are you looking for the poster? Sorry, we don't have those available.

Best of luck to you in Iraq.  Thanks for playing Fallout 3.

If you shoot me your mailing address out there, I might be able to send along some Fallout stuff.

All the best, and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Matt (name withheld)
Sr. Community Manager
Bethesda Softworks

Me again:

Wow, I hardly expected a reply.  Now you are the people that created one of my favorite games, and you're nice enough to reply to me.  You can reach me at:

Sgt Francis Horton
367th MPAD-PAO
Unit 117
APO AE 09374

Anything you send to decorate my room or desk would be greatly appreciated.  I'll send you pictures if I get anything.

Thanks and keep up the good work on your end.  You guys prove that there are some companies who know you don't have to sacrifice a good story to make an excellent game.

Him:
No problem -- it'll be awhile, I just started my vacation (flew back home to see my alma mater hopefully beat the Buckeyes).  And because of what you're doing out there, I'll give you a pass on being a Cards fan (I'm a Tigers fan).

I'll see what I can find for you when I get back.

cheers

Matt


I don't know what I'm going to get, but I'll post pictures as soon as anything shows up.  At the least, the poster that came with the expansion packs.  Either way, I thought it was really cool he responded and has enough love to try and send me stuff.  Great game and great people

3

Video Games / Iraq Experiment

« on: November 10, 2009, 06:31:39 AM »

Alright all, I have a proposition:

We are trying to spread our sphere of influence and our media relations, and as the token geek and gamer, I wanted to put together a little CoD4 war.  GIs vs. Joes if you will.  We are still new here and don't have all of the equipment necessary for an undertaking like this (Such as, My Xbox.  Damn military transportation) but if it goes well enough, I'll know we can do it on a larger scale.

What I would need is a team from you, four to six players, who would be available some night.  Once we start to work out more details, I'll update this thread.  I want to have something tangible to show some of the larger web sites to see if they would sponser/advertise us, but I need the foundation laid.

Let me know if anyone would be interested in doing this.  We aren't all that good, especially if we can.t screen cheat, so don/t worry about your skill levels.  just come to have fun

4

General Discussion / Leaving for awhile

« on: July 15, 2009, 09:31:01 AM »

I know I'm not a regular poster here, but for those that know me, I have to announce that I am leaving to go to Iraq in September.  There are quite a few other training dates I have to hit between then and now, but september 25th I leave for good until coming back sometime in July 2010.

For those of you in Saint Louis, there will be a party some time in September.  I'll keep you updated with contact information and whatnot.

And don't worry.  This isn't the first time I've done this.  I know how to run away from danger with the best of them

5

Video Games / End war

« on: May 23, 2009, 10:34:29 AM »

Mollaram and I will be kicking off some End war in a half hour.  1 PM CST

6

Video Games / Gamer day, gamer night

« on: May 22, 2009, 06:58:58 AM »

Alright, this Xbox live Gold account is going to waste.  Time to get back into the fold of actually gaming with other people.  I have for multiplayer:
CoD4
Left 4 Dead
End War
Chromehounds

I'm free most evenings around eight at night CST, most weekends, pretty much any time I'm not at work or school.  Anyone want to play? Anything I should pick up that you like to play?  Lets' get this party going

7

The Podge Cast / KTNG Ep 7

« on: November 06, 2008, 09:37:56 AM »

Phil, stop cursing.  The beeps throw me off.

8

General Discussion / Blacklung, Francis is Quitting it

« on: October 10, 2008, 06:55:04 AM »

Tuesday I will quit smoking.  No patch, pill, gum, mantra, nothing, just wake up and don't smoke anymore.  Since I have no problem letting myself down, but always feel bad when I let others down, Adam has graciously decided to help me out by letting me add my own podcast and blog to Spooky Outhouse.  These recording will be short and sweet, 3-5 minutes tops since no one wants to hear one person talk for an extended period of time.  I'll also post up regular blogs which will pop up on the main page.

If this does well enough, we can expand it into people trying to quit other vices or lose weight or something along those lines.  Right now though, I'm only worried about my first few weeks and getting through them with my sanity intact.  Look for the first upload sometime this weekend

9

General Discussion / New Hitchhikers Guide

« on: September 17, 2008, 07:05:31 AM »

http://http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/17/douglasadams

Opinions?  They keep calling it the sixth book, but there already are six books.  Anyone know anything about this guy?

10

General Discussion / Oh My...!

« on: September 15, 2008, 08:31:03 AM »

George Takai's wedding with photo slideshow

http://http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/people_george_takei

11

General Discussion / LHC turned on, Still alive

« on: September 10, 2008, 09:42:38 AM »

Granted, they haven't thrown anything in yet, but the inital test shows that we are all still here.

Luckily, the good people of Reddit and Fark have prepared the scientists in Geneva for any problems that may arise
http://http://blog.reddit.com/2008/09/crowbar-headcrab-and-half-life-strategy.html

12

Media Review / The Corner

« on: September 03, 2008, 06:00:32 AM »

I haven't really watched Law and Order since Jerry Orbach died, but I've always been a fan of shows like that.  I think my main complaint is the story revolved only around the case being investigated and the lawyers at trial.

Before all of this though was a show called Homicide: Life on the Streets.  It was about homicide detectives in Baltimore, MD, and it followed them around on their off times and their working hours.  It showed the evolution and difficulties of the characters.

The show was based off a book by David Simon called Homicide: Life on the Mean streets of Baltimore.  Simon is also the head person behind HBO's "The Wire"  The was one other book he wrote.  It was The Corner

For a year, Simon lived, worked and played in the drug fueled ghettos of Baltimore, following around drug dealers, talking to them and becoming friendly with them.  From the early morning people looking for the first bump of the day, to the inevitable gang wars every night from midnight to one in the morning.  He made friends and lost them to violence, he witnessed countless crimes that he cannot speak out about, and he wrote the book.

There was a miniseries made that I haven't seen yet, but the book is riveting.  There is not real plot, other than the survival day to day of street thugs, hoppers, bumpers and all the other denizens of the Corner.  It is an incredible work of non-fiction that gives a reality check to my own constant reading of Heinlein and the like.  I'd suggest it for everyone just to get a feel for how the other half lives

13

Video Games / Beautiful Katamari

« on: September 02, 2008, 02:47:56 PM »

I love Katamari Damacy, and those who don't are strangely off.  I picked up the 360 version as one of the first games when I bought that glorious fun machine six months back.

I've finally found a bit of time to get into it, and it is much more of the same stuff, but improved in a few key ways.  Not everything is about getting as big as possible in a small amount of time.  The most memorable one I've come across so far is one where I had to get a Katamari up to ten thousand degrees to make Mars.  And there were plenty of things to run over that would cool you down.

The only real complaint I have with it is the King is never satisfied with my work.  This is a throwback from the other games as well, but he's a bit more insulting towards the prince this time around.  He asks for six meters, I give him ten, but I still get boos from the crowd and he tells me how bad I am at the game and gives me points and a sound byte that conveys disappointment.  This has caused me to yell at the TV on a number of occasions, but I've been disappointing people for years, so I manage to get over it and move on.

All in all, fun game, great to play while drinking and another wonderful soundtrack that I can't play in my car because of the property damage I cause hitting mail boxes.

14

Introductions / I've kinda been around

« on: July 09, 2008, 02:45:08 PM »

I'm Francis and you may know me from a few other forums and podcasts.  I'm kind of a big thing in theses tubes.  I like drinking, smoking and dicking around with computers.  I am sometimes described as nine kinds of awesome and I look forward to infecting you all with my writings just because I'm a friend of Adam and he feels a begrudging necessity to do so or else I pout and throw things.

I like Peanut Butter as well