I can use video games as exercise...because I'm a nerd?

Obviously, I'm a CA who's mission is to squeeze as much in as possible in the day- or face the concequences.

Exercise most of the time was not this....but then, after cleaning my room, I remembered something I could do now that I actually had a floor not covered in clothing.

Dance Dance Revolution.

Obviously, by now you know about this game, blah blah blah, and how it differs from what most consider the "standard" model of video games...the fact that you're using the controller with your feet and your body. It's one of the long line of attempts over the years to mix video games and physical activity. (I can still remember the days when I'd watch that Nick show "Wild and Crazy Kids" and the episodes with the Nintendo Power Pad and the track game...) .



(Yeah, THAT accessory went well...I mean....just look at the European version and it's a no brainer why the technology failed back then! I would have been too scared of those people on the box to even think about asking my mother to buy this thing for me if I had owned a NES!)

If I had more time around, I wish I could master the art of this. But I've never been able to hold my interest long enough due to burning calf muscles and 50 million other things I'd RATHER be doing.

But yet, when I took DDR out of my daily habit when I left high school and came here....or when I left that job as a camp counselor chasing and playing sports with kids last summer... my body...yeah...started to rebel from my Maya-filled lifestyle. In particular, those DARN CHAIRS IN THE CA LABS cause a fair amount of annoyance. I hope those things weren't ever labeled as "ergonomic" or something like that, as I can say they make my lower back cry to bloody hell after 10+ hours toiling away. (Which is not good considering I had a ruptured disc there a few years back from carrying a dictionary sized European History textbook to and from school everyday among the OTHER text books and art supplies.)

So I think, maybe I'll try this again, this whole "physical activity" thing. I will work. Then I will play with DDR. I have a feeling my body will like me better for it...I just played for like an hour and a half inbetween working and I feel a lot happier than before I started. Yay.

And on the same lines...I'm curious about Wii Fit which is coming out in a couple of months (although when it does in May- I do not own the Wii I use- so I won't be able to play it until next year- in theory). The Wii has made breakthroughs in how people aside from "gamers" view video games. Old people can play tennis, bowl...you can sharpen your skills both physically and mentally. Along side kicking butt as Mario and all the old school games I could want (as they are released on VC.) . I'm curious to see how the North American population will take Wii Fit. I'm not sure that it'll be come a big of a "fitness craze" as DDR was back in the day, but I guess I'll see...and then go back to playing Devil May Cry 4 or some other game I haven't beaten yet. Hmm.

So the message of the day I think is: This is one of the many ways video games are integrating into normal everyday life as something more than using a controller to move a character on the screen to accomplish objectives most people who were born prior to the 70's consider "useless". I've been really curious about what new innovations came outta GDC this year...how many other ways are on the horizon for games to be used as tools, not just entertainment. I probably should take the time to investigate gaming sites to see what happened.....after I do my CA work. >_>

The same thing we do every night...try to take over the world!

Yeah...I've been busy with CA-ness...ohhh...midterms coming up too. Hmm.

But, I have been twiddling with one game, called Freeciv. As its name reflects, it's a free, open source game which is essentially, a clone of the popular game Civilization. It appears to be based upon my favorite incarnation of Civilization, Civilization II.




(A screenshot from the latest game I have going on...nothing too important, I'm currently working on building things to increase my cities efficiency...like roads connecting my cities to of course, increase the number of moves my troops/workers have while within my nation's boundaries....like Civilization...)

The difficulty level I've been playing at appears to be harder than Civ II though...I thought I was really good at these sorts of games, as on Civ II I could just casually play and pillage through the world until I literally had destroyed every single other civilization out there. Buahahaha.

However, in Freeciv..I have yet to win a single game, and either I've just barely hung on, or somehow I haven't kept research up and I end up overpowered by every other nation out there. Hmm.

So therefore I must figure out how to maximize my cities' efficiency, while maintaining my troop level and keep research and technology going?? And maintain diplomatic affairs with other nations???

Jeez. Now I can see why militarism is so attractive to some nations. It's by far, at least on first glance..the easiest approach. Defeat all your enemies, and you will have nothing to worry about?

(However, thank god that by this point in society, all the nuclear weapons around would make another world war...pretty damn short. Press a button, and there goes a city, a nation, a continent. Not the most pretty and noble ways to fight a war but certainly effective.)

But yeah. Apparently I'm really enjoying this game for all the possible scenarios you could run through by running your civilization one way or another. >_> I like being sucked into a game scenario where I can potentially rule the world...or at least a small portion of it. Buahahahah.

Watchin myself make lines...yay.

Observations can further be made about Tetris. It's 8:30, I'm waiting for my class to start, and I'm a zombie because I pulled a concept all-nighter (despite I had been working on the things for the past three days...>_<) .

Yet...I can play tetris. It's just about making lines. And it's so much fun. =)

Let me show you my Psycho Powers.- SFII Turbo

OMG. I'm becoming such a Virtual Console addict.

Sonja bought King of Fighters 94 tonight. I was watching her....and not thinking about my concept homework which I was in the process of doing. Nor King of Fighters. No, I was thinking about the REAL king of all fighters= Street Fighter II.

There is nothing wrong about Street Fighter II. It was a groundbreaking video game that introduced the world to the genre of "Fighter". (Yes, I am aware there were earlier games going all the way back to like Data East's Kung-Fu Fighting...but...seriously...this game is Fighter, the start of what we know today as Fighter...).

So, I bought Street Fighter II Turbo (I don't like the remixed-ness of Super Street Fighter II, yet playing as M. Bison and the other "boss" characters is the plus to Turbo over the original... yay. ) on the Virtual Console. I love playing it. Yup.

I can sit and play it all day. We all can. It's addicting apparently, as I watched JP play after he had succeeded in kicking my butt at 4:30 in the morning. He kept on losing to M. Bison. And well...we all want to beat M. Bison, so he kept on playing for another...ehhhh...hour until he beat it. Yay. I would have done that too....if I weren't so tired....

I play Street Fighter better when I'm not tired. End of story. Yay. Good night. = )