VIDEO GAMES | Luis' Illustrated Blog

Games, games, and more games. Ticket to Ride released on Xbox 360

July 3, 2008 in BOARD GAMES, ROLE PLAYING GAMES, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Well, I haven’t heard anything yet about when I should come in and move my stuff to my new desk. All I know is that I’m going to have to do that before my start date so I can get to work right away. When they’re ready to have me do that, I was told I would get a call. No call yet.

BOARD GAMES

After owning the game for about three years or so, Alesha and I finally got around to playing my Tales of the Arabian Nights board game. This is a storytelling adventure board game. It’s by far one of the most unique games I own. It’s a cross between a roleplaying game and a choose your own adventure with storytelling optional rules (one of 5 optional rules). Very odd but tons of fun.

When I read about the game on Boardgamegeek.com (BGG), I was very intrigued. I decided to get a copy but the only one I found was being sold on BGG by another user. I bought it from them and found, to my dismay, that it was all in German. Lucky for me, the person who sold me the copy help me get a translation for everything in the game. This was a good thing because this board game has a very important item that absolutely needs a translation, namely The Book of Tales. This book is the heart of the game.

During a turn, a player can move a number of spaces on a map of Europe, the Middle East, Asia and a bit of Africa, according to your wealth level. Once you finish your move (if you chose to move) you take a card from the encounter deck. If you flipped over a Fate card you can choose to keep it for later. If you flipped over an encounter, you have some sort of an adventure. Depending where on the map you are, what time of day it is, and what number you roll on a six sided die, the person on your left looks up what happens to you in The Book of Tales. Once they do, they tell you what or who you encounter. You then choose what you want to do, from a small unique group of decisions, based on what you just encountered. Once your choice is made and depending on what skills your character processes, the person on your left reads you a paragraph of what happens to you. The outcome can be good, bad, or sometimes, a bit pointless. Never the less, you have a small adventure. Each adventure you have changes your character in some way, either by giving you Story points, Destiny Points, a new skill, a change in your statues (for good or ill), a change in wealth (for good or ill) or even a treasure.

So what’s the point of the game? Well, that depends on what version of the game you are playing. At the beginning of the Standard and Storytelling version of the game you are asked to secretly distribute 20 points between Story points and Destiny points on a separate piece of paper, this is your secret goal called your Formula (for example if you put 12 points on Story points and 8 points on Destiny points that is your Formula). If during the game, as you travel around the board, you manage to meet your Formula (to continue from the example above…you happen to accumulate 12 Story points and 8 Destiny points) you can return to Baghdad (where all players started from) and win the game.

In The Adventure version of the game, the goal is different. If you manage to complete two quests and return to Baghdad first, you win the game. The adventure version of the game is a little more involved but just as much fun. During the Merchant version of the game, the object is to set up trade routes though out the map in order to gain great wealth. You win if your the first player to return to Baghdad with a treasure. If you’re playing the Solo adventure, you have to complete all the goals of all the other versions of the games (complete your formula, complete two quests, and obtain great wealth).

Out of all the ways to play the game, the Storytelling version is the most unique. This version of the game is different in that, instead of passing The Book of Tales to the person on your left, you keep the book, read what happens to you to yourself, and then you are given two minutes to tell the story in your own words to the people at the table. The more entertaining your version of the story, the more rewards you can get out of your adventure. If you recruit others at the table to help you tell the story by having them make sound effects for you or play a spontaneous supporting role, they might get rewards out of it as well.

I have not played this version of the game yet, but it really sounds like something that would be fun and silly to play. I can picture how much laugher there would be around the table if played with the right group of people.

All in all, we really enjoyed playing the game. Even though it was just the two of us. In fact, I was surprised my wife liked it so much. She like it so much that we played it two nights in a row because Alesha wanted to play it again. She beat me in the game we played the night before. It was a fun time. Alesha had an adventure in the Valley of Diamonds that had her laughing. The floor of the Valley of Diamonds is covered in diamonds but no one goes down there because giants snakes live down there. Alesha decided to risk going down there in a very unique way (but I won’t say what it was so I won’t spoil it for anyone who decides to play the game and investigate the Valley). To make a short story shorter, she didn’t quite succeed in her attempt and was lucky to escape with her life.

We had a blast playing this game. I highly recommend it. Up until now, there is no English version of this game, but that’s going to change soon. Z-man games is releasing an English language version. The version they’re releasing doesn’t seem to support the Merchant variant of the game, like my copy does, but hopefully they won’t change too much more. The new version will have 1000 new paragraphs that my version doesn’t have. In any case, the art looks amazing. It’s much better than the art in my copy (for a view of the new artwork click here). Depending, on how pretty the game is and depending if I happen to have a little extra cash on me, I might want to pick up a copy of the new version as well. Especially since my wife likest the game so much. As of the date of this writing, the game is suppose to come out late this year. You can already pre-order it from Thoughhammer.com.

ROLE PLAYING GAMES

This weekend, my wife invited her nephew and one of her best friends to stay over. I know that her best friend likes playing board games, and her nephew likes to come over, mostly because he wants to play my video games (he’s ten years old). I tried to play Dreamblade with him earlier in the day because I thought he’d get into the figures and the dice rolling, but the game fell flat because it was too complicated for him.

I wanted to play a game with him that he’d be into. The last time they were both over, we played Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, and even though my wife, her best friend and I had fun, her nephew was bored. I don’t have any board games that would really appeal to a ten year old boy like him. If I had Heroscape it would be a different story, but I don’t. I needed a game that was Heroscape like. I also needed a game that would appeal to my wife and her friend because I wanted them to play as well. I knew that my wife’s best friend would have fun playing anything so after thinking it over and looking into the game closet I took out, Dungeons and Dragons 3.5.

A years or so ago, I picked up a Dungeons and Dragons Basic Game box. It looks like a board game box and it comes with miniatures, pre-generated character sheets, dice, an adventure, basic rules, and a bunch of boards that you can put together to make a dungeon. I brought that down, put it on the table and pretty much treated as if it was a board game. Of course, an hour before, I had to quickly read the adventure so I could take the players through it and I was familiar enough with the rules, that I thought I could play through it without really having to look many of them up.

Besides my wife, no one else knew what to expect from the game. I was not going to make it a heavy Role Play experience. All I was going to do is run a good old fashioned mindless “Hack and Slash dungeon crawl”. Having the minis and the boards helped a ton. The game played without any complications. It also helped that my wife was familiar with the game and she took it upon herself to lead by example, showing everyone all the endless choices that could be made in the game. All in all it was a hit with them. They were having a fantastic time playing the game. We played for four hours before my wife asked if we could stop because she was really tired and wanted to go to sleep. Everyone else at the table wanted to keep on going. They all thought that the game had stopped just as it was getting interesting. I was very surprised how much they liked it. In fact, the whole next day, they were constantly asking me when we would be able to play again. Unfortunately circumstances that day made it impossible to get back to it. Never the less, I got a new appreciation for the game.

Up until that day, I thought that if you were going to play D&D and just run a Hack and Slash Dungeon crawl, you might as well just play a video game that does that, like Diablo, Baldur’s Gate, or Champions of Norrath. Playing the game that night showed me that playing over a tabletop is much more fun. Yes, the fighting it s bit slower but because it’s not a scripted video game, you can choose to do much more creative things. This makes a huge difference, and makes the game much more fun than just playing a video game. Lesson learned.

Speaking of video games…

BOARD GAMES/VIDEO GAMES

Ticket to Ride came out on Xbox Arcade on the 24th of June. I’ve been reading the reviews, just to see what people say about it. Over all the game has gotten dissent reviews. Some player are even shocked at the way the game makes them feel. Like this quote from the Official Xbox magazine site:

Turns unfold steadily but relentlessly, and since you can perform only one action per turn, every moment is significant. We found ourselves at the edge of our seats with Ticket to Ride, hoping our rivals didn’t take certain stretches of track before we could. Yes, on the edge of our seats during a board game! In fact, we got so set on completing our Destination Tickets that the end of the game nearly always caught us by surprise.

Not all the reviews are like this. The IGN review is down right odd. For example this statement in the review:

It’s also a shame that there’s zero story built around the action. There’s no need for much, but something to tie it all together would have really helped this game gel.

Uh…someone should remind him he’s playing a board game not a roleplaying game or a first person shooter. How much story does UNO or RISK have?

Anyway, most everyone likes the game. The thing most reviewers are disappointed with is the visual presentation. They say it looks a bit dull. I agree, compared to the other modern board games on Xbox Arcade, Ticket to Ride doesn’t look as good. Still, it’s about the game play and as far as that goes, they all agree it’s a fun game.

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Comments Off on Games, games, and more games. Ticket to Ride released on Xbox 360

Board games on the Xbox 360. A little piece of Heaven. Digital board game tables.

June 19, 2008 in BOARD GAMES, FAMILY, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

So the person who is in charge of putting the schedule together and generally telling us whose crew we are going to be on, is no longer working for the show. Why? I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going to miss him and that now we have to go directly to the producer to know whose crew we will be working on until they find a replacement.

I e-mailed the producer earlier this week to find out if my status has changed. If I am still going to be starting work on the first or second week of July. The answer I got back was sort of the same. I might actually start the 14th of July which is the third week of July. Well, no big deal. At least I’ll be working soon and won’t have to worry about money.

BOARD GAMES/VIDEO GAMES

I’ve been writing a lot about board games through out my blog. That’s because I think they are great fun. Most people, when you say board games, they think, Monopoly, Scrabble, or Risk. These games aren’t bad games but they often bring a lot of baggage with them. Usually when you think of these games, you think, “I used to play that when I was little” or “Man, I played that game to death”. You don’t think, “Boy, I really want to go play that”. Well, there are a ton of new board games out there made by smaller companies that once you try playing them with friends or family, you do say, “Boy, I really want to play that again!” Unfortunately, you won’t see commercials for these games but you can often learn about them through word of mouth or even by playing them on your Xbox 360. Which brings me to my topic today, of board games on the Xbox 360.

If I was to say, “The Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, or Carcassonne,” the board game geeks would think, “Modern classic board games”. Some of the more adventurous of you would say, “Hey I’ve played one of those. I loved it!” I think most of you would say, “Huh, are they Beatles songs?” Well, the Xbox 360, will hopefully change all that. It seems that the best selling games on Xbox Arcade (which is the place you buy and download games on the Xbox 360) are board games. Though UNO is the best selling, other board games are doing well in their own right. The Settlers of Catan is one of these games:

Ever wanted to try it? You can, using your Xbox 360.

You can also play Carcassonne:

…and Lost Cities. Lost Cities is the ultimate “couples game”. At least it seems that way, because if you look at any “Geek List” on Boardgamegeek.com on: “Couples games“, it’s almost always somewhere on the list. Last time I played this against Alesha, she really beat me pretty good.

The newest modern board games on the horizon for the Xbox Arcade are Ticket to Ride (pictured below) and Alhambra (no picture for that game yet, sorry).

Many people have gone out and bought the actual versions of these games after having played them on Xbox Arcade. Woo hoo! The more people out there that play these games, the more people I might be able to get to play with.

For more pictures and reviews of these games, go to TeamXbox.com

MORE..BOARD GAMES/VIDEO GAMES

A few months back I wrote a post called: Comparing the pros and cons of Video games and Board games. In the last line of that particular post I wrote this:

Maybe someday board games and video games might become one. We’ll have video tables were we move physical pieces around on a digital board that can read what you are doing and we’ll have the best (and worst) of both worlds.

Well, guess what…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSnRb2XsAHI&eurl=http://purplepawn.com/2008/06/14/digiboard-enters-the-crowded-field-of-interactive-computing/ http://youtube.com/watch?v=rP5y7yp06n0

For more info on products like these, click on the following link: Gizmo Watch

I found out about this stuff from reading Purple Pawn.

FAMILY

On Friday, I spent the entire day alone with the kids. They woke up at the same time in the morning. I fed them both. Played with them both for a few hours, then I put them to bed for their naps, just a little bit later than usual (and at the same time, which is very unusual for them). They slept well and, wouldn’t you know it, they both woke up at the same time. I went and got them both, fed them while I got ready for a small day out. After lunch I got the kids ready, put on my iPod ear buds, turned on a gaming podcast and we went outside for a walk.

Munchkin, pushed her little brother on his stroller (as I guided it) and she pushed it to the little playground we have in our housing community. Once there, she began climbing and going down the slide. I picked up the boy, sat down and watched his sister be a little daredevil. The sun was shining and a small breeze often cooled us down. The boy and I followed Munchkin around as she played. At one point she decided to play in one spot, picked the curving latter thingy in the playground and began climbing it in all sorts of ways. She was being quite fearless in some of the things she was doing on it. Her brother and I sat a foot away and watched her. We must have sat there for a good twenty minutes.

It’s moments like these that make life worth living. I was so happy I was there with my kids and for the hour and twenty minutes that I was there with them in that playground, there was nothing wrong with the world. Nothing to worry about, no money problems, nothing to stress about, just the breeze, the kids, and the innocence of trying out new things. It was heaven on earth. I kissed the boy, I encouraged the girl, and I was soooo happy. I’m going to miss this kind of thing when I go back to work.

When we got back to the house, I fed Munchkin her dinner and she surprised me by eating it all up in just a few minutes. I gave her treats as a reward. Meanwhile I managed to keep the boy awake for an extra hour until his official bedtime (if I don’t do this, it makes for a very rough night). Then I gave Munchkin a bath, which she loooooves to take. She had a blast splashing around in the tub. Afterwards, I took her out, brushed her teeth and put her to bed (which of course she didn’t want me to do). She stayed awake for a few hours after and I even came in once and “kissed attacked” her. She laughed and giggled and then fell asleep a few minutes after.

It was a great day. I love my kids. They are amazing gifts. I hope I could be a good father to them. I really want to raise them right. Thinking about the day, make me want to cry for some reason. God, I love them so much.

It was the Feast Day of St. Anthony that day. He must have prayed for us to have a little piece of Heaven that day. Thanks, St. Anthony.

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Simpsons Ride invite, Mother’s Day at my house, playing Tigris and Euphrates online, Monastery: The Board Game, Munchkin problems

May 15, 2008 in BOARD GAMES, CATHOLICISM, FAMILY, MY WEEK, SPONSORS, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

I haven’t heard anything yet about getting back to work, but that’s mostly because I haven’t called in to see how things are going. I’m thinking of doing that sometime next week if I don’t heard anything from them.

Meanwhile, I checked my e-mail and I received an invite to go to a preview party, at Universal Studios, for the new Simpsons Ride this Friday. At least we get a small reward for having killed ourselves working on that thing. Can’t wait. I’ll let you know what I think.

FAMILY

For Mother’s Day, my family got together for dinner at our house. We ordered Tai food and pretty much talked and laughed a lot. One of our conversations was about the Indiana Jones movies. We then started talking about how silly and ridiculous Temple of Doom was. I got up and put the movie on, since I own the DVD. By the time we were done with dinner, we were all sitting around the TV watching the movie, making fun of how lame it was, and just having a great time watching it. It was a good fun evening.

BOARD GAMES/VIDEO GAMES

So I decided to go on Board Game Geek to play a game of Tigris & Euphrates using their Play-by-web version of the game on the site. I was doing fairly well for about five turns and then I just got my butt kicked. I ended the game tide for third place out of four people which isn’t very good but I had a blast. In fact, I had such a good time that I immediately joined two more games after the the last one was over.

Tigris & Euphrates is a game designed by Reiner Knizia and it’s by far, one of the most counterintuitive games you’ll ever learn. It’s fun and very very cut throat but it’s difficult to explain and learn. I played it against a free computer program and learned to play it using that before I bought it. It took me three games before I understood what I was doing and then it took me two more before I could even begin to figure out what strategies to use to even have a chance at winning. The first time I played it live, I discovered how crazy cut throat the game really was. The last time I played it was with my brother, his wife Deborah, and my wife Alesha. Alesha got mad at me during that game because I made a move that really messed her up big time. I haven’t played the game with her since. I didn’t really know she’d react that way. Now I’m playing that game online with complete strangers and were really beating each other up in the game and we’re fine with it. Go figure.

CATHOLICISM/BOARD GAMES

So I was reading up on some board game news at the Board game news website and I read a really interesting article about a new board game coming out, from Ragnar Brothers, called Monastery. It’s a 2-4 player game and it lasts 90 minutes. According to the article players:

…experience two days of monastic life. Within each day are three rounds of tile placement and scoring (divided between study and toil), three service rounds (Matins, Sext and Vespers), and a night round.

Wow, how cool is that? To win the game:

…players must collect the letters of the abbey’s motto ‘Libera Nos Quaesumus Ab Omnibus Malis Amen’. The letters become progressively more expensive and players must decide whether to buy letters or recruit extra monks.

As far as I can tell, with my ridiculously bad understanding of Latin, the motto means something like, ‘Liberate us so we could be completely free from evil, amen.’ (if I got this wrong, please feel free to correct me). Wow, religious Latin in my board game.

From the articles I’ve read so far on this game (one on Board game news and the other on BGG), it sounds really pretty darn cool. It looks like there is a lot to it and the theme of being a monk is remarkably well represented in the game:

You start the game with one monk in the Abbey, and monks move about to construct tiles, study, toil, use icons (in the advanced game), or pray. The plastic monk figures are designed to tip forward in prayer, which scores you the value of the tile and takes the monk out of service until it returns to the Abbey. Most of these activities score points for a player, and those points can retrieve letters or additional monks from the “letter grid.”

What other game can you think of where praying is a positive, point giving benefit? I hope it comes out in the U.S., I’d love to buy myself a copy.

MY WEEK

I’ve been fighting with the Munchkin all week, to get her to eat. I sit her down and feed her but she refuses to chew and swallow her food. She just packs the food in her cheeks like a hamster. I’ve tried tricking her by offering her yogurt or even a snow cone while she has food in her mouth, so she could swallow it, but she’s found a way to swallow the yogurt and ice without swallowing the actual food. It’s real frustrating. She only wants snacks treats and milk but not real food. It’s such a pain.

SPONSORS

So I got a new sponsor! Hurray! Thank you Direct TV for advertising on my site. My sponsors are located right in between the “Hi Welcome” greeting and the “Page” “Top Commentators” areas on the right hand side of the blog. Please click on their links and make it worth their while to advertise on this blog. Thank you.

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Storyboard Revisions, Heroes, Chase, Birthday, Rome, Selfcenteredness, Caring for Your Introvert

March 13, 2008 in ANSWERING COMMENTS, BOARD GAMES, BOOKS, CATHOLICISM, introvert, ROLE PLAYING GAMES, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

I’m doing Storyboard revisions on Lance’s show this week. All the other storyboard artists on the show were too busy to help, so they asked me to do it. I’m so happy they did because I’m having so much fun doing it. I’m enjoying going to work again. Doing the same thing over and over for sixteen years tends to get old after a while so doing a different job all together tend to be refreshing. I’ve found myself very focused on what I’m doing. Storyboard revisions can be tedious or fun depending on how much creativity your allowed. It’s an interesting challenge because you’re trying to adjust shots or add shots to an existing show so that they run seamlessly into each other. It’s also challenging working out shots from scratch because your trying to find the best way to tell the story or the joke while working out how to put them all together like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s so fun!

ROLE PLAYING GAMES

Urge to role play…rising….

For my birthday, my compadres (my daugher’s Godparents) got me Star Hero, a table top Role Playing Game (RPG) setting book for the HERO System RPG . It’s funny because they got it off my Amazon.com wish list and had no idea what it was for. Star Hero is a book that helps you run a game in any sci fi universe that you come up with. Thing is, getting and reading this book has inadvertently rekindled my table top RPG itch.

What is a table top RPG? The simples way to describe it is, it’s like playing pretend with your friends with rules. Some people like to do Live Action Role Playing (LARP), which is like improve theater, but most people just sit around a table and play it like a board game. Role playing was invented by E. Gary Gygax (who just recently died a few days ago) and Dave Arneson . They were miniatures wargamers. They where the ones who invented the famous (or infamous, depending on who you speak to) Dungeons & Dragons RPG and in doing so, invented RPGs.

When I was in high school my friends introduced me to RPGs through my love of comics. My friends and I played superhero RPGs where we created superheros and played out adventures with them. It was so fun. We had these really involved back stories written up for our characters and it really felt like a giant collaborative story we were all coming up with. It was my first introduction to creative writing and story telling. Since the games took place in our imaginations, they all seemed so much larger than life to me. The system we used to play these games was what is now called the HERO System but at the time was just called Champions .

Getting the Star Hero book really brought back memories. It also made me want to start up a game. Problem with playing RPGs is that they requires a lot of work and a lot of time to play (a minimum of about three hours to play and at least a day to prepare) if you want to get the most out of it. Otherwise you get a lack luster game that feels kinda shallow and dissatisfying. Still, it made me want to play anyway.

BOARD GAMES/VIDEO GAMES

I’ve been playing a play-by-web game of Chase over on the Super Duper games website against someone I don’t know and I’m having a really good time playing it. My opponent is really nice and helpful but he isn’t holding back at all and is just working me over. I really recommend the site, it has all kinds of abstract games you can play. The best part about it is that you can play them on your own time. It’s been a week since the game started and I’ve been making a move a day. It’s great! I get an email whenever it’s my turn, I click on the link in the email, and it sends me straight to the game board on the site so I could make my move. I feel like I’m playing a game without having to spend much time doing it.

Of course, like it always happens to me, I get all obsessive about the game, thinking about it all the time and worrying whether the move I made isn’t going to get me into more trouble. I’m so lame about these things.

ANSWERING COMMENTS

Maria wrote:

Well, it’s clear to me that you are really a cartoon interrupted by reality. Those poor guys need a life, too.

Have you given any thought to any number of podcasted novels? My friend Rob Suarez wrote one which I am enjoying, called Murder by Design. His site also has links to the novels he listens to: http://robsuarez.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Maria! I should have written that on your blog but I’ll do you one better and recommend everyone to go to your blog and say happy birthday. Also, I read the post named, Oh! The humanity! it’s really great.

Speaking of great posts, Maria also wrote an article for Rosary Army called The Family that Plays Together… It’s about board games and I love it. Oh, and by the way, when you’re at her site, be sure to pick up one of her books. I just ordered Darknet this Monday. Can’t wait to read it.

Thank you for the book suggestion Maria, I downloaded the first two chapters.

Yelda van Eijk wrote:

Wow, I can so relate to your obsessions-story. I never imagined that another person could have that same ‘issue’, if I may call it like that. My obsessions are throughout the year, not just when I’m very stressed -or maybe I am always stressed :). I used to play Everquest as well (Taoni, halfling druid) and I played Guild Wars for a while. At the moment I am in the middle of my ‘Rome’-obsession. I watch the TV series, I read books about it, I listen to podcasts about it. I try to emerge myself in that world. I don’t have it at work though. Since I work in a photoshop, I can’t help customers while laughing out loud from Fr Roderick’s jokes
It is so great to hear from another person that he also lives ‘inside his head’. I thought it was just me and that it made me very weird. Well, maybe it does. But at least I’m not alone anymore

Thanks for the comment Yelda. My obsessions are throughout the year as well only they go into overdrive when I’m stressed.

Yeah, in Everquest I played a halfling cleric named Sammo. It took over my life. It was awful, I promised myself I’d never play a MMORPG again and so far I’ve kept that promise somewhat intact (although I once played Flyff for about thirty minutes or so.)

As for the Rome HBO show, my wife and I enjoy that show very much as well. We are currently watching Disk 2 of Season 2. Both the show and your comment set off my “Catholicism obsession” so bare with me.

While watching the show, it’s very cool to see how different Roman people behaved in a pre-Christian world. It’s interesting to see how the pursuit of pleasure and power was something that was encouraged. It gives great context to the world Jesus was born into. It also really makes you realize how radical his teachings must have sounded. In a world were helping people who are sick or in need, who aren’t your friends or family, is seen as a sign of weakness, to have Jesus do so, must have been crazy. It also shows how alien the Romans must have looked at the Jews who held to the Commandment, “Though shall not commit adultery”. It seems that, adultery was one of the things the Romans also encouraged. Then, of course, along comes Jesus and shocks both Jews and Romans by raising the bar still higher by saying:

27 You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery. 28 But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart. ”

Mathew 5: 27-28 (DOUAY-RHEIMS Bible)

They must have felt as angry, indignant and upset as even our modern society does, where lust is used to sell everything. Above all, they seemed to really love to get revenge for every slight done against them. Then of course Jesus comes along and says:

27 But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. 28 Bless them that curse you and pray for them that calumniate you. 29 And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. 30 Give to every one that asketh thee: and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. 31 And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner. 32 And if you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if you do good to them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also do this. 34 And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks are to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, for to receive as much. 35 But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest. For he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Luke 6 27-36 (DOUAY-RHEIMS Bible)

They must of thought he was nuts. Hmmm, come to think of it, there are many places in the world today that are trying to rid themselves of these teachings, in order to become more like the Romans.

Writing about this stuff reminds me of a quote from G.K. Chesterton :

“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.” – ILN, 7/16/10

He also said:

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” – Chapter 5, What’s Wrong With The World, 1910

If you’re obsessed with Rome, I encourage you to read the works of a famous African Roman who had a fascinating Roman life. My uncle August, (A.K.A. St. Augustine of Hippo) . His autobiography, The Confessions is just amazing. He wrote about how he ran away from his mother (who chased after him) as he traveled through out the Roman world, sleeping around with women, and seeking out wisdom from all the famous Philosophers of his day only to find it in the most unlikely place. After finding wisdom, he then wrote about how he saw the Roman world around him. An incident with one of his best friends and his addiction to the blood lust in the Colosseum comes to mind. It’s an amazing book. It’s part theological analysis of the universe and God, and part autobiographical adventure. While I’m on the subject. I also recommend The City of God, which is also by St. Augustine, but this one is his analysis as to why Rome fell (which he lived through). I’ve provided links to the free versions of both books above if you want to read them right away. Just click on the underlined names.

Phew, had to get that off my chest. Sorry. Thanks for baring with me and thanks again for the comments

leah wrote:

Luis, thanks for sharing about your obsessive-thing. I go through phases when I’m really focused on (okay, obsessed with) one thing, too, and I’ll spend all my free time amassing all the info I can get. Until I read your post today, though, I didn’t connect those phases with being under stress, but now I can totally see that. Thanks – that makes a lot of sense for me and is a very helpful insight!

I’m also very introverted and have a hard time coming out of myself in social situations. I find that what I really need to do is focus on developing a genuine interest in other people – each other person is another “self”, another human being with all the dignity and value that entails. Ask them about themselves, see what they are interested in, what their world is like. It can be fascinating and is a great way to get out of the inward-focused interior life I find myself in so often.

Wow, thank you so much for the insight Leah. I think the key word in what you wrote is, “developing a genuine interest in other people”. That is exactly what I need to work on. I’m the most self centered person I know (which shows how interested I am in other people, if I haven’t talked to anyone who is more self centered). Being married and having kids is helping me out with this problem because it’s awfully difficult to stay self centered and still care for them at the same time. Still, it’s a struggle I face everyday. I’ve definitely taken your insight to heart and it’s helped me out a great deal in the last few days. Thank you.

By the way, I’ve been meaning to post this link for some time. It’s an article I read about introverts that really hit home for me. It’s called: Caring for Your Introvert. Take a read and let me know what you think.

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Baby birth eve, Last day of work, The Dragon Page Cover to Cover, Portrayal.

January 31, 2008 in ANSWERING COMMENTS, FAMILY, PODCASTS, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Wednesday was the last day of work for me. As of this day, I’ve heard that the writers are back in at the negotiating table. Hopefully an agreement can be had this time. I hope it happens sooner than later. I’ve got enough saved to last a month or so but you never can tell.

The Universal Studios Simpsons ride deadline was Friday. We didn’t make the deadline. I worked Saturday but I spent time at home with my wife and baby girl Sunday. We had a lot of errands to do. I went back into work on Monday and it didn’t seem like much was done by anyone on Sunday even though some of us worked that day. When Wednesday came, it still looked like there was a lot of work left to do. Doesn’t seem like the work will ever end on that project. It did for me though. Pray for us.

FAMILY

My son Dante Gabriel will be born this Thursday January 31. He’s in breach position so it will have to be a C-section. It’s exciting and worrisome at the same time. Hope all goes well. Munchkin will have a crazy day. She’s going to be passed around like a baton for the next day and a half from Godparents, to Aunt, to Grandparents. Once she’s gone I won’t see her till I pick her up at my parents the following evening. I wonder what she will think is happening? I hope she doesn’t freak out when we bring the new baby home and she discovers that we can’t give her all our attention all the time like she’s used to.

In a strange way, getting layoff right now is turning out to be a really good thing. It means I’ll be able to help out when I’m needed most. On the other hand, the money would come in real handy now more than ever.

PODCASTS

I often listen to a Podcast called: The Dragon Page Cover to Cover. It’s basically a podcast where they interview hot Sci fi/Fantasy books authors, as well as discuss Fantasy books and writing. It’s a great podcast for people who like reading Sci fi and Fantasy books. The podcast is great when they keep to the topic of fantasy books, but the thing about Sci fi and Fantasy books is that they tend to bring up subjects that are often controversial, like politics, religion, or secular philosophy. Therefore, sometimes the hosts of the show, which seem to me to be secular humanists, tend to say things about subjects like Christianity that maybe they shouldn’t say. As is typical in these discussions they tend to be subtly and not so subtly anti-Christian and even anti-Catholic. Most of the time, I tend to ignore stuff like that because this kind of bigotry is so normal in California that, even though it bugs me, it’s usually not worth making a big stink out it. Thing is, sometimes, I just can’t stand it anymore and I have to say something. In the case of The Dragon page podcast, I couldn’t keep quite about something that was said by one of the hosts.

I think that this host is great. I have nothing against him personally and I find myself being really disappointed when he isn’t on show because he’s working or something. He’s great because he’s a published author of many best selling books and he often gives great insight to the inner workings of publishing. He also goes out of his way to help people learn to write and has a general reputation of being a stand up guy. Thing is, I get the impression that he’s a fallen away Catholic and as many fallen away Catholics, he tends to give out a small air of disdain about Catholicism, it’s dogmas, and it’s hierarchy. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that this bias comes through once in a while in his comments.

There was a particular episode where he brought up something that seemed to me to imply a lot more than just the surface statement. It bothered me so much that I called and left a message asking if I thought I heard him right or if I was just reading more into his statement than he meant. He was good enough to answer my question. I’ve listen to the answer a few times and think he did his best to answer as best he could. I think I understand what he was trying to say but I’m not sure. Problem is that my question was rather long and had a lot of examples, I think there where multiple questions or statements in it and only having heard it once, it’s difficult to just answer everything in a nice little package. It’s obvious that he has read some books about the history of Christianity and since I haven’t particularly read the specific book he mentions in the podcast, I don’t know exactly what information he may be referring to that I don’t have. I do get the impression that the book he talks about puts forth an anti-orthodox theory stating that there where many legitimate Christianities in the beginning and the strongest ended up surviving. While an orthodox Catholic would say that there was only one true Christianity from the start and there were many heresies that tried claiming they were truly Christian but were proven wrong. Of course these kind of arguments use the exact same data but each use a different way of interpreting it based on the interpreter’s world view. I’m not a relativist so I think only one of these points of view is the correct one.

In any case, I’m thinking of maybe sending him an e-mail just to follow up and to thank him for answering my question. I admire his work and the good things he does for others and I hope that he continues to do well.

If you wish to hear the question and the answer, the episode is Cover to Cover #293A. My question begins in the 2:30 mark. Let me know what you think.

For some reason, this entire event has called to mind a quote from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. It goes like this:

There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing.

Foreword to Radio Replies Vol. 1, page ix

BOARD GAMES

Besides playing Lost Cities and Lord of the Lord of the Rings – The Confrontation: Deluxe Edition against my wife this week and losing both games to her. I thought I might play a game with you. I was watching one of the latest Board Games with Scott video casts and he reviewed a party game that really caught my attention because of how clever the premise is. I will let Scott explain it in the video so I won’t go into it here. In the video, he actually plays a round of the game with the audience after explaining the game. I thought it would be fun so I played along. I was thinking that maybe you can also.

[video src="http://ia360629.us.archive.org/3/items/bgws_044/bgws_044_lq.mp4" /]

Directly underneath this paragraph is a small thumbnail of the drawing I came up with (it’s a bit difficult to see). DON’T CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL UNTIL YOU’VE PLAYED THE GAME YOURSELF. After you’ve done so you can look at what I did. In the comments section below I will write what my score was. Did you manage to beat my score? No fair pausing the video. I didn’t.

ANSWERING COMMENTS

I don’t have a specific comment I want to answer this week. I would just like to thank everyone that has commented positively on the last cartoon I put up. Because of the response, I’m planning to make another one that will follow a similar style also involving Superman, Batman, and even Spiderman this time. I’ve already started writing it and it’s gotten a bit out of control in how long it is. I’m even thinking of animating it a bit more than the original one and I might have to use Adobe Flash to do it I haven’t made up my mind yet if I’m going to go that route. Now that I have a little more time, I might be able to do something as elaborate as that. Stay tuned.

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Comparing the pros and cons of Video games and Board games

November 22, 2007 in BOARD GAMES, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Well, I’m back on Lance’s show. I got quite a few scenes and I even managed to meet my layout quota by Friday. I’m very glad that this week we only have a three day week. WOO HOO! Happy Thanksgiving! Act I of Lance’s show is pain because it has a riot in it (a riot on a Simpsons show? What a surprise! NOT!). Luckily he managed to split up the scenes of the riot to different artists so no one person ended up with the whole thing. It really makes life easier on us that way.

Lately, they been cracking down on scene quotas around here. We have more artists on the show than we really need. This means that only the artists that can produce the right amount of work will be kept. Production is really looking around to get rid of some of us. I really need to start making sure I meet quota.

VIDEO GAMES/BOARD GAMES

I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons of board games and video games in relation to each other. Though I enjoy playing them both, I’ve discovered that I like board games more lately.

If you were to come over to my house and looked at my video game collection, you would probably say, “Wow, you have a lot of video games.” I do. When I was single, I had a little extra money on hand to buy video games and I had the time to play them. Not anymore.

Now I have to be wise as to how I spend the money so I could make sure to have enough for bills, necessities and emergencies. This means that I don’t have the cash to be spending on video games or video game systems. Also, the free time I get, I try to spend with my wife and baby girl so I don’t spend any time playing video games the way I used to.

Interactivity

Now that I’m married, I’ve come to realize that video games tend to be mostly solitary games that often times tend to be exclusive. Even if your playing a multiplayer game against someone on the internet, they still tend to be, you alone in a room against someone else who is also alone in a room.

Still, I really like video games. I’ve been dying to play games like BioShock and Halo 3. Those games sound so awesome I can’t stand it! Thing is, I haven’t got the money for an Xbox 360 nor do I have the time to play the games even if I did (well, maybe I could play Halo 3 with my wife, ’cause she likes the Halo games and they are cooperative).

This is one of the reasons I’ve been playing board games more. With board games I can spend time with my wife and family while playing a game.

It’s not that video games can’t be played with or against someone in the same room as you. You can and it’s great to play that way. I’ve spent many hours playing Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Baldur’s Gate, Champions of Norrath, and Halo 1 and 2 with my wife and we’ve had a great time with them.

The problem I’ve found with video games is that even when your playing along side someone, there is still a level of detachment from the person you are playing with because your sitting next to them and watching a screen and not sitting across from them and looking at them.

Board games tend to provide that extra level of interactivity with the person I’m playing with that I never realized I was missing. Now a days the board games coming out are so good that they give some video games a run for their money as far as game mechanics are concerned. And of course no video game can get you as immersed into a game and give you all the freedom you could ever want as well as a tabletop role-playing game.

Still…a game like BioShock or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion can come pretty close.

Immersive Factor

Best thing about video games is that you can play them alone and have a great time. Something that is really difficult to do with a board game. Also, they are often times, instantly immersive, creative and they are great for problem solving and getting you to think (my all time favorite game, Civilization II, has all these qualities.

Ironically, this game was based on a board game. Who knew?

Barrier to Entry

On the other hand, video games have a difficult point of entry. You have to buy an expensive system or computer to be able to play them, and then, if you’re new to video gaming, you have to learn to use the controllers (something that the Nintedo Wii has been trying to fix with quite of bit of success).

Some people find it impossible to get the hand, eye coordination required to play some of the more popular games and therefore don’t find video gaming to be fun at all. Not to mention that some people get motion sickness from some video games.

For years I tried to get my family to play video games with me and, for the most part, have failed. Not so with board games.

A board game has a real easy point of entry. All you have to do is buy the game, read the rules and your ready to go. No electricity necessary.

Only thing is, that some board games are a little more complicated then others. This means that some people might have a harder time understanding some games than others.

Their brain just doesn’t work that way. So even board games have some problems as well and yet the social aspect of board games is hard to beat. Something not even playing an Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG) can do.

Longevity

As time goes on I’ve become painfully aware of something. As I’ve stated above, I own quite a few video games. Thing is, the game systems that run them are becoming obsolete. This means that in a few years, I might not be able to play them anymore.

I like the games I bought. I think they hold up even thought the graphics aren’t as good as they are now. I still think they are fun to play but if my Playstation, Nintendo, or Xbox doesn’t work anymore, how am I to play them?

Some game systems are backwards compatible and some are partially backwards compatible but how long will they be made that way? Eventually, a system will stop being compatible with my games.

Does this mean I have to re-buy my games? Will I always have to hunt down old systems if mine no longer work? That stinks.

Board games don’t have this problem, (the game “Go” was mentioned by Confucius in his “Analects” around 511-479 BC and yet you can still play it. It doesn’t require a “game system”) although they do have their own.

Some board games go out of print. This means that if you don’t buy a board game right away you run the risk of it disappearing. This means if you want to play it, you might end up buying it on e-bay for double the price.

Then there are the games that have a limited runs and then they’re gone. Sometimes they are good enough to get a re-release (Case in point: Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization and Ra) but that’s no guaranty (Case in point: Dune the board game).

Is One Better?

I’m not saying one is better than the other (although it sure does sound like it, doesn’t it?). I like playing games, period.

Right now I’m into board gaming because it fits my needs better. Although sometimes I wish I could play the latest and greatest video game out, I think that my time is better spent in important things like spending time with my family.

Board games allow me to do both. Maybe someday board games and video games might become one. We’ll have video tables were we move physical pieces around on a digital board that can read what you are doing and we’ll have the best (and worst) of both worlds.

Feel free to disagree all you want. I want to know what you think.

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In the Shadow of greatness: How I got my Job on THE SIMPSONS.

August 29, 2007 in Featured, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

So while I wait for show #8 to start up again, I was put on show #9. The Director of Show #9 is Chris Clements and the Assistant Director (A.D.) is Matt Faughnan (whose directed his share of shows and has also directed some Simpsons DVD menus. Yes, those things need directors also.)

Chris has a very interesting internet hobby that I will talk about under the video game section below. Meanwhile I just thought I’d really quickly tell you something about my history with Chris.

If you’ve listened to any of my interviews, you know that I started on the show as an intern right out of high school. I used to drive down to Rowland Heights high school after school and take an animation class. That is were I learned to animate and how I got my internship. Well, I met Chris at Rowland because he also took the animation class. In fact Chris actually went to Rowland. Chris was one of the “star” artists in the class. He’s one of those people who seem to be able to do what others find difficult with perfect ease. It’s very annoying. Animation seems to be a natural extension of his being. When he does it, it looks effortless. Not only that but he can draw really well too. He just seems to be able to assimilate the principles of drawing as if they were obvious. Like I said, it’s annoying.

Anyway, it turned out that in the summer of 1993, Chris and I were picked for the three month internship to the Simpsons’ studio. The thing is, I was not (and I’m still not), anywhere near as good an artist/animator as Chris. Man, did I have a tough time. The good thing about being with Chris was that because he was so good, everyone assumed that I was good also. The bad thing was that once they saw my work compared to Chris’ I was given a pat on the head and a look of pity. It was really frustrating. Chris and I managed to get some small things to draw here and there on the show so that we could show what we could do. It was obvious whose work everyone favored. It was very difficult for me. I had given up a scholarship to Otis (an art school in LA) in order to take the internship. I really wanted to get a job out of the internship because if I didn’t, I would have to find a way to go to school without the scholarship. I remember there were many days when I came home and just started crying in frustration at how bad my stuff was. I saw in Chris’ work what I didn’t have.

After the three months were up Chris and I got hired. To this day, I’m still convinced the only reason they hired me was because they felt sorry for me. They didn’t want to hire Chris and leave me out. I worked my butt off at the job that season. In the end, it wasn’t good enough. When hiatus time came and I was laid off, they had no plans on hiring me back. I spent my hiatus going to drawing classes. I reapplied at the show and thanks to the goodness of one of my all time favorite directors to have worked with, Jeff Lynch, they hired me back. I actually owe Jeff my career.

To make a very long story short, Chris quickly rose through the ranks. He became an A.D. after about four or five seasons (I think) and he’s recently became a Director. Now he is my Director, and you know what, I don’t mind at all. I actually really like him as my Director. I’ve worked under him in a couple of his shows now and they have all been a lot a fun. I’ve learned to appreciate the people that are annoyingly good at what you are trying to do. It forces you to strive to improve yourself, but more importantly, it keeps you humble. The fastest way for an artist to stop improving is for him to believe he’s learned all he needs to know. Having someone better than you will always give you something to shoot for.

VIDEO GAMES

Chris has a website. It’s at www.nickelarcade.com . Go visit it right NOW! It’s full of flash based video games that he’s created himself and they are all FREE. There are a lot of Simpsons artist that go and play at the site. Most of the names on the site’s high score sheets belong to Simpsons artists. Go and see if you could beat their scores. Chris makes the games for fun. It’s his hobby (crazy). The site has been up for years check it out.

MY WEEK

So I put up my Italy trip journal. If you look up under the Amazon ad, you will see some tabs. One read, “Home” another, “About me”, but the third one reads, “Illustrated trip to Italy” Click on that tab and you can read it or just click HERE.

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Luis' Illustrated Blog

You are browsing the Blog for VIDEO GAMES

Games, games, and more games. Ticket to Ride released on Xbox 360

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Board games on the Xbox 360. A little piece of Heaven. Digital board game tables.

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Simpsons Ride invite, Mother’s Day at my house, playing Tigris and Euphrates online, Monastery: The Board Game, Munchkin problems

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Storyboard Revisions, Heroes, Chase, Birthday, Rome, Selfcenteredness, Caring for Your Introvert

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Baby birth eve, Last day of work, The Dragon Page Cover to Cover, Portrayal.

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Comparing the pros and cons of Video games and Board games

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Immersive Factor

Barrier to Entry

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Is One Better?

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In the Shadow of greatness: How I got my Job on THE SIMPSONS.

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

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Interactivity

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Barrier to Entry

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Is One Better?

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