I woke up three times that day. And, like every other day, I woke up to screaming -- a screaming which slowly escalated and transformed into an electric pulse. Groaning as I rolled over onto my back, I tried to open my eyes; I failed, and threw my arm back against the vibrant pulsating clock behind my head. Silence. Not even a second later, the omnipresent noise started up again, more powerful, increased in its anger from a forced silence. I denied its voice for a second time. And once ...

I plan to get "back to my roots" with articles more focused on game design, development, and critique of popular games and mods, but every now and then, I may update with a little more personal posts. As for now, enjoy this one. Contrary to the name of this post, this really isn't going to be focused on a pretty girl . There could be some overarching reasoning to my naming the post this, but I don't plan on fleshing that reason out. I'm probably going to be write less and less about my pe...

I know I said I was done blogging here, but I made this entry in my primary blog over at Polycat.net (my primary/personal site), so I decided to mirror this entry here, since I really liked it. Anyhoo, enjoy. I'm feeling a bit philosophical this morning, or reflective, nostalgic, or whatever you want to call it. And, as I was on my way to work, I was thinking about my own self, my personality, my character, my "inner-being," or, once again, whatever you want to call it. While I was thinkin...

So, after a mere 7 months of blogging at JoeUser, I'm closing down this blog, and will simply continue blogging at my www.polycat.net , which received a software upgrade and major facelift this weekend.I just don't find much of a point in keeping up multiple blogs, and I do so love my primary site (where I've been blogging for 3-4 years). So... adios.

I've been keeping myself busy the last week with the new job, and a whole lot of pieces for FileFront , here's this week's rundown: For Gamers Weekly, Vol. 4 UT2k4 Strategy Guide, Pt 1. UT2k4 Strategy Guide, Pt 2. - Frag.Ops Gamers Are Growing Up Editorial The Suffering Review

I just did a strategy guide for Unreal Tournament 2004 yesterday; this guide covers all the game's weapons and vehicles, along with general gameplay tips, Onslaught tips and Deathmatch tips. This is just part 1 of the strategy guide; part 2 will cover my favorite UT2k4 mod: Frag.Ops , and should be done by Thursday.Anyway, go check out the strategy guide at http://articles.filefront.com/98

And, to end the night's updates, I'll link to you an editorial I did for FileFront on " What Makes a Successful FPS? " The article mainly covers the basic "traits" a first-person shooter has; but I focus mostly on mod'ing. Now, trademark snippet, and I'll return you to your regularly scheduled programming: Take Half-Life for example: the game was praised for its incredibly immersive single-player campaign, which put a focus on experiencing all the events of the game through one man's eyes (th...

FileFront posted a review that I did on the new "hit" game Thief: Deadly Shadows . I really didn't find a whole lot in this game fun... I mean, it was cool sneaking around for about a half-hour, but that's really all the game had to offer. Anyway, read the snippet, check out the full review if you want. I'll say this now, and get it out of the way: Thief 3 retains the stealthy-ness and stealing-ness of its predecessors. From the moment you start a new campaign in the game, you're taught to c...

This week has been a very World War II-inspired week... And it fits, being that last Sunday was the 60th anniversary of D-Day. I'm covering a far lighter aspect of World War II myself. I'm not a big fan of reminiscing over a large amount of people that died (though I'm certainly not against praising their heroics). Anyway, here are my two contributions to the gaming side of World War II over the last week: Call of Duty Strategy Guide - In this little strategy guide, I cover a bunch of general...

FileFront has posted For Gamers Weekly, Vol. 2 today. This is the second issue of my little gaming webzine, which covers everything from game news, to cool scientific stuff, to other nerdy things. This week's issue covers things such as school that went up for sale on eBay, gaming piracy over the last year or so, and a bulldozer-turned-death machine that wrecked havok in a small town in Colorado.

Time to catch up on posting links to reviews and such. FileFront posted my Manhunt review today, here's a really tiny snippet on this gory, twisted, and cool-for-an-hour-or-two stealth game: First of all, this isn’t an article about my search for a man to call my mate. In fact, it’s far from it. If anything, this review is about a bunch of ugly bastards searching for one man, and that man doing everything in his power to make said ugly bastards experience their last few seconds in brutal, p...

The title is a bit melodramatic, but I figure that's kind of what I'm doing. I'm not starting over a totally new leaf in my life or anything… Rather, I'm correcting the leaf I've been trying to lift for the last couple months by going back to the lifestyle I feel most comfortable in. There was a comment made to my last entry , and I'm not talking about little_whips very odd comment that couldn't have been more off the mark, though I can definitely see where he got it. However, the comment that ...

To begin this post, I'd like to inform everyone that I'll be starting a new job tomorrow doing programming for the University of Michigan's solar heliospheric space research department. I'll only be working there for about 3 months; so, basically just the summer. I'll be working around 30 hours per week or so, and also still working my FileFront job. It should be nice change of pace as opposed to simply sitting at home all day watching TV, playing games, and waiting for assignments from FileFr...

So, I spent all Friday night working on this new project for FileFront , and I had a TON of fun with it. Be sure to check it out, it's called For Gamers Weekly ( http://forgamers.filefront.com/3 ) and, as you may gather from the name, it'll come out every week, written by me. I think it's a great read, but I'm a little biased, so go see it for yourself.

Having just returned from a 9pm showing of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , it is with great joy, satisfaction and one hell of a big grin that has been plastered on my face for the last three hours that I tell you that this movie is cinematic brilliance in every way. The change in directors was, in my mind, the best thing that could happen to the franchine. The new director, Alfonso Cuarón, took over for Chris Columbus (who directed the last two films ) and is did an absolutely re...