It is busy this time of year in the AbleGamers Lab (also known as my office floor). We have a few things in house and ready for me to put them to the test.
eDimensional has sent us a Access Controller, this is a one handed game controller. I am looking forward to giving this thing a run for it's money. Also on tap, the folks at GoodWork Systems sent us one of their programmable gaming mouses, and the new Frag Pedal for testing. I loved the last frag Pedal, so I can't wait to see what has improved. Last the people of WolfKing sent us over a WolfKing Warrior, again, this guy looks promising.
If you are a regular member of the site, and you want to test any of these things out, drop me a line at the "contact us" at the top of the page. You must be a member in good standing (meaning you have been on the site a while, and participated), you will need to be able to write a review of the product, and you must return it when you are done.
What else has been going on? Well I can honestly say, "Thank god fall is over!" I love fall, but for some reason this one was not great. I lost my job, we had that car wreck, I started a new job, but did not like it, and now I have started my new new one (started my 3rd week today). So far so good on this one, great people, solid company.
AbleGamers did get an invite back to GDC this year as speakers. This is great for the site. Sadly, I am still looking at how I am going to pay for it. Last year the place I work took up the tab, this year, not so sure what I am going to do...
Final thought, we have done our best to reach out to the people over at Mythic, makers of WARHAMMER ONLINE. So far, this has been a total flop... they know we are there, they have acknowledged that they have our email, and request, but that is the end of it. We want to ask them about the onscreen keyboard issue that was spoken about in our forums... We will wait and see.
This December 13th is the 9th anniversary of my most major MS attack - the one that left me permanently disabled on my right side. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis the very next day. It seems my body has kicked off the festivities a bit early this year though.
I woke up yesterday and my left hand was tingly and numb like I slept on it wrong. By lunchtime, my whole left side was numb/tingly and I lost most of my strength. It was hard to stand up, walk, or raise my left hand. This is the suck. So far, this is not as aggresive an attack as I had 9 years ago, but it pisses me off just the same.
I seem to have gotten a lot of strength back after sleeping last night - which I was quite pleasantly surprised about. I guess I will choose to be happy about that and not dwell on the fact that I still cant really feel anything on that side very well right now.
Yes, the threat of further disability is something we have to consider as a possibility everyday - but it is something that I never want to think about too much. And yet here it is. I was so hopeful that being part of this new drug study would shield me from the MS a bit. I dont even know if Im on the med or the placebo. I was hopeful though, but not so much right now. I am just sad and mad mostly. I have been here before and its not a good place to be.
Perhaps this is just MS's way of reminding me it's still here and active 9 years later. This is just all the more reason to keep up the fight for the needs of all ablegamers. I need something to keep my mind off of all of this so I believe Im going to go gaming for the rest of the afternoon as best as I can with my gimpy hands. I feel like blowing things up and killing orcs. That always makes me feel better. Gaming therapy - mmmmmm.
Ok, I went to the doctor on Friday. He told me he could hear my heart murmur. I thought I had grown out of it. My mom has one and so does my grandmother. My grandmother has a pace maker. My grandfather had a heart attack less then a week before she got her pacemaker.
Doc called me last night and told me that my potassium is low and this could lead to a cardiac issue if it keeps going down. I need to eat bananas and if it doesnt go up he is going to do more tests. He has me in for an Echo cardiogram in a few weeks here. Which scares the hell out of me. But oh well. I also have an Arrhythmia. I love the idea of issues with my heart that I thought were no big deal. The cool thing is that if the doctors before him had taken the time to listen, they would have found it as well. But no one has ever really taken the time to listen. A quick listen then done, but then again they did not know to look for it cause they did not know it was in my history. Yay me! You think Doctors should read medical records for once in a while they would know these things. Either way now I am getting treated so whatever it is it doesn't get worse.
After getting a few emails from people asking where my latest rant is .I’ve decided I’m going to post what I’m working on in my AG blog. Currently, like most people I’m having some financial issues not to mention the fact that the air mattress for my bed is all messed up, which I’ve been going back and forth for a month. Trying to get the one I need. Even with all that going here’s what I’m working on:
I’m putting together a list of gaming industry contact info. So when the revamped site is up and running we can reach out to of the industry. I emailed Double Helix Games last week. They are part of the team that made Silent Hill: Homecoming. (One of my favorite game series) If anyone wants to help, I’m trying to track down contact info for the makers of LittleBigPlanet.
I’m also looking for some intro music for the AbleGamers Podcast. It’s a bit difficult since unless I putt something together myself, whatever track I use has to be licensed under Creative Commons. I’ve got the guy whose going to be the voice talent for the intro already. I’ve got a voicemail number setup which sends all voicemails as .wav files to my email so they can be added in the Podcast Once I get all the initial crap out of the way I can sit down and record something.
As for my next rant I‘ve got a few.ideas in the works. Since my computer is 5 years old and there’s really no point in upgrading any parts. Also the fact that the PS3 fairy seemed to skip over my apartment the night my broken PS2 was under my pillow. It makes it slightly difficult to rant about all things I’d like to. I’m working with annoyances I notice and read about rather then experience. So deal with it!
That pretty much sums it up for now. I’ll post again soon.
-Tim
Ok, so I often have these thoughts to go through my mind that I can't actually get into a story that has anything to do with gaming. So instead, I think I'll post them here.
Here is one of the more profound things I have typed in a while. This was in response to someone who was speaking about the way society has become a culture of people willing to divorce because we can easily find another mate. Tell me what you think:
I think life has become that way in general. If you don't like something, you can just throw it/him/her out, and get another one. You seem to be a somewhat deep and very intelligent individual, so perhaps you will get my meaning when I say the following. Sometimes I have found the most absolute truths in children's cartoon programming. You know, those life lessons that they try to teach children while watching cartoons? Sometimes I think we forget those. For instance, one I was watching not that long ago that was on in the background after fresh Prince of Bel Air on Nick at night had a very interesting message at the end of it. The show was all about this kid trying to get back the feeling they had when they met someone at summer camp. They were not appreciating the friend that they had and began to wonder if they should have stuck with their other friend.
Although I only walked in on the last three to five minutes of the show, I was able to extrapolate what the gist of the show was about. The narration at the end said something like "it's not the people or the objects that we miss from our pasts, it's the feelings that we had during our times with those people or objects that we want to feel again". I thought to myself, wow that's pretty profound for a cartoon, but after a few minutes the meaning kind of sunk in.
We often forget those life lessons taught to us as children. This is a good example because it was absolutely true. You don't miss your ex whom treated you badly But suddenly wish you were back together with. You miss the feeling of being with someone, the feeling of connecting to another individual. The same thing can be said about almost anything we start to miss. Particularly when missing the exploits that we took part in when we were young. We do not actually miss being in those days, we miss feeling carefree, irresponsible with no care in the world. The moral of the story was to appreciate what you have not looked back at which you used to have.
Perhaps we would all be better off if we would watch a cartoon once in awhile and remember some good basic human values.
Hey guys, I have a lot of great news for AbleGamers, and some not so great news...
So let's start with the crappie news, and why I hate September s. As you can all see it started with a car accident. The wreck messed up my back and neck, and for those that know the nature of my disability, this was not cool, it took me over 5 years to get my back to "stabilize" so that for the first time in a long time, I was not on any medication for pain or anything... all of that has been tossed out the door.
So now I am back in PT. Oh but the month is not over. Last Monday I was let go from my job of 2 years. Long story, but now I am looking for work... so that is why the site has slowed down a lot, I have just been spending my time looking for work. I will get into the details as to why later, but I am focused on new work...
Lastly, Michelle Hinn, A very good friend of AbleGamers, a super supporter, and the one that has worked to get us and our mission in front of some great people. I do not have all the details, but she is having a very bad time medically, and she needs our prayers. She is a wonderful person, and has given her life to getting people back into the game...
So anyway, I hate September s...
That said, apparently Septembers are great for AbleGamers! We are about 2 weeks away from releasing our new site... it will not be perfect, because we are waiting for the front page component (the one that gives us the great layout we have on the front page) will not be finished in time for the launch... the maker was suppose to release the new one in June, but they just do not look like they can get their act together and we are now into October and we are still waiting...
Also, Harmonix maker of RockBand has sent us a message that the like what we are doing, and sent us 2 Rock Band Special Editions, one for Xbox and one for PS2. We are going to raffle them off to raise some money to get to GDC again this year (because my company paid for it last year, and as I said a few paragraphs up). So look for that to be happening soon. Please tell your friends and family about it as well, so we can get the tickets sold, a winner and in people's hands by Christmas.
Second is some work I have been doing with the folks over at http://gamingmouse.com look for some real good news in the very near future, they are working on some cool stuff for us.
Lastly we just got a WolfKing Warrior in the AbleGamers Lab, so I will be working to get that into the hands of an AbleGamer to get it reviewed...
It's finally completed!!! My Guitar Hero Pedal video. I'm still getting used to it, but I can do alot more with the pedal. I hope this inspires. I'd like to thank Ben for taking the time to make it.
So last night I'm just about to film the pedal video and all of the sudden my 360 shuts down and I get the 3 quater red ring I turn it off and back on, same thing. Freaking out, I unplug everthing, get it out in the open and throw a fan on it. 20 minutes later I plug it in and throw on the power and she lights up green. She made it through intensive care. I was too afraid to turn it on for the rest of the night.
In any event, I have taken some photos of my pedal that will give you a feel it's awesome power haha. Howerever, the sight is not letting me post the photos. If anyone has any ideas as to why, please let me know.
Well Folks I have great news! I have recieved my Guitar Hero Pedal from Mr. Heck' himself. Sorry I don't have a video yet. I was just too excited to do up a video before I told you all.
I said I would post an honest review...Well it's amazing! One thumb up twice haha
For some reason though, the wangy doesn't work in battle mode. I think that's the games fault, not the Pedal's. I don't battle anyway. I'm just extremely excited to have it.
I promise I will have the video completed before the end of the week.
PS If you have any questions about my mini controller and how I use it, let me know. I'm here to help in any way I can.
And remember...Two heads are better than one, but one arm is more than enough to kick someones ass;)
