There has always been a side of me that wanted to become a Hacker. A sort of technology spy who can infiltrate anyone in the world’s system from their own home and go behind the scenes undetected. There is a kind of fantasy in that. Now though, after being hacked even in a small way, I don’t see it as such an admirable fantasy to take on anymore. Here are some quick thoughts on my experience with Malware (which may or may not be over).

• Feeling of helplessness (sounds cheesy, but it is true).
• A supreme lack of understanding of how my own web site works. Seeing that I had no idea where to start to look for the Malware or which PHP files actually did what.
• A new understanding at how bad this problem really is. Probably why Google has started this new initiative to tag any site that may be hacked. It is so bad that someone big needed to step up and take control.
• There are services out there where you can pay a monthly fee to in order to have someone look over your site and keep tabs on anything suspicious going on. I have to say, though on first blush that sounds like a waste of money, I was so frustrated for a couple hours that I really considered doing it.
• You feel like a jerk. I put myself out there on the web via this site and then I could be partially responsible for spreading Malware to visitors? Not a good feeling at all.
• There are people who want to help. Even though I didn’t need them, I was pretty impressed at how many communities there are out there that want to help people with this insanity happening to them.

Ultimately, I didn’t have to do anything complicated. I never figured out how to really get into the deeper recesses of my site to find the specific issues, but I took some actions at least. Finally, when I asked Google to recheck my site, it seems that the issue had moved on and my site was no longer blacklisted. At least for now.

Yes, it may have been the movie where Angelina Jolie got her first big break, but being a Hacker is bullshit and if you are one, you shouldn’t be proud of it. It is criminal and unkind and unless you are saving the world from some computer A.I. gone rogue or an alien invasion, you should go get a real job for christ’s sake.

From here on out it is only about the collected Trade Paperbacks or Graphic Novels for me. And even those will be only when I make a special trip, I presume. This will encourage me to only pick up the best of the best now, rather than trying things out with single issues on a whim.

I have to say, as ridiculous as it sounds, the moment I decided to do this was actually quite profound for me. I was standing in the comic store (Lee’s Comics to be exact) with a friend of mine, Neal, and I said to him, I think this is it. I told the clerk to cancel my subscription (where they hold the comics behind the counter for you each month) and I bought my last round of single issue comics forever. We drove away and there was a part of me that seemed to be left behind as cheesy as that sounds. At the same time there was also a weight lifted. As my wife or mother would tell you, I’ve accumulated quite the collection over the years and they aren’t doing too much for me anymore. Just sitting there in their huge boxes slowly decomposing. As someone who always told himself he would never grow up enough to do this, for whatever reason it just felt like it was time. I don’t even think it was about growing up at 37 (lord knows I still haven’t). It was more about a feeling that keeping up isn’t required anymore. If something should be consumed because it is a great story then it will come my way sooner or later. I just have to focus and be patient. I don’t have to force it and try to “collect them all”.

As a final send off, I want to give a shout out to my three favorite shops over the years. I hope that my decision isn’t related to some downtrend happening for them. I actually think things are on the upward trend for comics right now.

• Comics and Comix – My first real comic shop. As a young one, I couldn’t believe places like this even existed.
• A-1 Comics – This is the shop I went to for most of my life. I even kept going there after moving away and commuted back to Sacramento to pick up the books every other month or so. I was a loyalist! Also, the owner is a great and honest guy who used to play for the 49ers. Giving him my patronage was easy.
• Lee’s Comics – This one was a recent addition to the monthly trek. Sometimes even weekly as a group of friends at work convinced me to go most weeks as a great tradition. This was also the shop where I made the call. I’m sure I’ll return there from time-to-time though.

Thanks to Reed, Ryan, Kevin, Mac, Weezie, Goody, Yosh, Neal, Phil, Joe from A-1, and many more for partnering with me on the never grow up thing. I am no longer going to be able to say I was one of the first to read books in the single issue format like Watchmen (which I read that way when it came out in 86, issue #1) or The Walking Dead anymore. But I’m very happy to see comics starting to become a more respected medium via all of the Film attention. It is a long time coming for our modern versions of Myths. Bob Kane or Frank Miller my not be seen as Homer quite yet, but I’m pretty sure Batman is going to achieve Odysseus status someday soon, if not already. Video Game characters are not far behind.

A bit of a retro photo blog post from late November. I wanted to time capsule this one around the time we took the photo. This was a very illusive cache which required a return visit and even though it was right under our noses the whole time, we finally found it. Ah, the sense of achievement!

• Get some kind of GPS device. (I use my iPhone which has a special app so it is even easier.)
• Go to Geocaching.com and look up your zip code. (Again, with an iPhone you just do a “look at my current location” and find the ones that are nearest to you.
• Find one on the map that is near enough to your current location or home.
• Set out on your first treasure hunt using your GPS device and by following the directions on the site or entry.

It is that simple. There are 935,939 (as I write this) Geocaches in the world right now. Grows every day. Anyone can hide one and anyone can find one. This is a voluntary activity on both sides. All you have to do is chose a container that will last, put some trinkets inside with, ideally, a log book and pen so people can sign it when they find it, and go out and hide your cache and log it on the site with its GPS coordinates. Most people give some clues on where it is specifically hidden to give people a better shot of finding it seeing that GPSs have a margin of error of 10 to 50 feet. But once you get close enough it really becomes that treasure hunt feel. And once you actually find one it is even better than finding loot in a video game (if you ask me). I even find myself looking up on my iPhone app wherever I am (airport, restaurant, market) to see if there are any caches nearby. It is like a meta/mini game going on ALL the time, everywhere you go, that is sort of a secret.

The other interesting side of it which has parallels to many open-world games is that you are doing something in public in plain sight that most of the other people in the world around you have no idea about. Often, in fact, they look at you like you are either stealing something from someone or like you have lost your keys down a drainage ditch. When I step back to think about how silly my wife and daughter and I must look when we are looking for these things it really does crack me up. There’s even an organic name for the people who don’t know about Geocaches which was stolen from Harry Potter…muggles. They just don’t know about the magic I guess (I don’t know, I’m not a fan of the books).

Of course, the whole thing works on the honor system. Each cache has multiple small objects inside and when you take one you have to leave one of equal or greater value. Usually they are just small toys, but sometimes people leave things that say something about themselves so there are little stories attached. Then the logs themselves have even more to say. The log inside the first cache we ever found (about 3 weeks ago) near our own home had entries from Alaska and Spain in it. People do this on their lunch break or spend an entire vacation going from cache to cache. People planting the caches often tell a story about why they hid it or some history about where it was hidden seeing that when you find it you are standing right there and can explore further if you are in a significant location (like a State Park).

We’ve been doing it for only a short time now and each time we go out we have found, on average, 1 out of 3 despite the clues. Sometimes you are just standing right on top of it and never quite find it. But when you do it is pretty gratifying. Each time we have done it we just grab a bag of trinkets to trade, all get in the car and start driving in any direction. Then we check the iPhone and start heading toward one in the car. Then when we are close we jump out and Lia takes the iPhone and guides us to the actual spot on foot. Then the search begins.

You can also log your experiences on the web site and read about others who have found the cache you found or found the one you didn’t find. This info is accessible via the app as well, which is nice. They can be anywhere too. In a parking lot, out in the sand dunes, up in a tree, on top of a building, under some pine needles. Each one has a difficulty rating and a size rating for more clarity. Some are near parking and some require a hike.

I have been wanting to try it for years. I found out about it maybe as much as ten years ago before there were so many and just never committed to doing it. I’ll admit the iPhone ended up being the clincher for me because it is so easy and well designed and it links directly to the web site so you don’t ever have to go there via a computer.

So if you are into hiking and exploring and want a clear and fun goal to helps drive that achiever side of you, I highly recommend Geocaching. It gets you out the door and yet still feels like you are going through the world looting gold from goblins. Just make sure you leave something for them as well. Goblins hate it when you steal from them.

And don’t forget, as seen below, it is all about the lighting.

P.S. There may actually be a limit to how many times you want to go on It’s A Small World. With a 7 year old we certainly tried to find that ceiling.

Here are a few of the events that I know of which occurred around this small resurgence of the game:

• SWRC put up on Steam.
• Euro Gamer runs a retrospective on the game. (Thanks to Brett for the link from his site.)
• The Rebel FM gaming podcast plays SWRC as part of their “Game Club” (like a book club) which is a series where they cover beloved games which people may have missed. Another honor! Each Episode covers a campaign of the game.
• Episode 1 link here. (or you can get it off iTunes if you search for Rebel FM)
• Episode 2 link here.
• And finally, I was invited to come onto the third episode of the podcast to talk about the game with the guys. They have had some classic games on their podcast so to be able to come onto the show and represent the game and talk some history and war stories was great fun. Thanks Anthony, Arther, Tyler and Matt!
• Episode 3 (with me!) is here.

Making larger scale games is such a difficult and complex thing that when it works out OK in the end (despite many challenging times which were usually my own fault, sorry guys!) it is always a great feeling to know that at least some of the fans really liked the work you put into the thing. I know for the most part the team was very proud of the work that they did and to have it be remembered only adds to that pride. Especially when you are making your mark on a big fictional universe with a lot of noise around it.

Here are a couple videos in case you have never seen or played the game:

Here is a fairly randomly chosen quote from a user on a GameSpot forum (thanks for the kind words!):

“As long as you are a fan of first person shooters I say got for it.

This is a wickedly fun game. The single player campaign, although a tad short, really sucks you in mostly because of your squadmates and the different personalities.

Not to offend some, but I absolutely DESPISE the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy…and I HATE the “special” editions of the original trilogy. I don’t know what motivated me to try Republic Commando years ago when it came out, but I am so glad that I did. Even a hater like me loves this game!

My fav Star Wars games are X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, and Republic Commando.

If, like me, you happen to be into the older school of Star Wars do not let that deter you from playing this game. It is indeed fun as hell!”

Finally, some memorable quotes from the game.

Thanks for all the fun folks. It was good to relive some of those memories years later.

The cooperative mode is even cooler in this title, though I’ll admit it is damn hard and I don’t know if I will ever beat it. Even with a partner. I hate you Alex!

Can’t wait to see what the guys come up with next. The series seems to follow (as they have said themselves) the evolution of the video game controller with the first game covering the pong paddle and this one the D-Pad. What next!?

Look how insane this game is. WTH…

Check it out for only 600 points. Now being an iPhone owner myself I hope they port it someday. Seems like a perfect fit.

METAL GEAR SOLID PORTABLE OPS
3BR (Three Bullet Review)

• HIT: All the things I loved about the Metal Gear Series but with a tactical army building element as well.
• HIT: Higher polish and production values than I’ve seen on some 360 games.
• MISS: Slightly over complicated controls for a PSP which by-in-large were not needed.

I would never in a million years think I would be putting a PSP game on the top of this list. I didn’t even think I’d own a PSP during 2008 let alone become a huge fan of the MGS series. For those who have been following “Operation Shadow Moses” where I played all the current MGS games to date within a month (1 and 2 in two days) when I finished the PS2 games I really wanted more. So I went out, bought a PSP and got Portable Ops to continue where MGS3 left off story-wise. I went in with low expectations being on the PSP but the army building elements reminded me of some weird Japanese version of Jagged Alliance. I was playing the same good old Solid Snake but also building my own army and deplyoing them all over South America. It was a devilishly interesting way to shift the franchise and the production values were typical Kojima in that they put some current gen games to shame, even on the handheld. They tried to do a bit too many things with the “controller” on the PSP seeing that complicated mechanics are hard to execute on that damn thing, (cramped hands and fingers) but other than that it was the surprise of the year for me.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
3BR (Three Bullet Review)

• HIT:One of the more immersive shooters with a stark sense of place I’ve played in a long time.
• HIT:A great open world structure pushed into areas that some western big budget competitors boasted but never could execute on.
• MISS: Potentially too hard-core for its own good with certain very unforgiving and punishing design choices.

This one was an honorable mention last year but at that time I had just played a bit of it and wasn’t yet sure. I played STALKER throughout 08 and as I thought it was just going to be a distraction while I wait for Fallout 3 it turned out to be an amazingly well done and at times terrifying game. For a small Eastern European developer (see my post about “The Other East” for related commentary) GSC Games does a wonderful job on a small budget and staff in giving me a new take on a genre that I was growing fatigued of. The alien feel of a wholly Eastern European esthetic combined with well done and tension building underground “horror” elements kept me playing way more than I had anticipated. The open world structure added to the sense of a grounded and naturalistic flow to things. Repetition in missions and too many unforgiving “old school” design choices which seemed to want to be forgiven just because they were for a hard core crowd just can’t be ignored anymore. Plus, after the fact, reading the original book it was based on as well as the famous movie gave me even more appreciation for the full experience they accomplished. I feel like even on release this game was overlooked and it is unfortunate that it didn’t get the support it needed. They did do a sequel and more are coming I think, so over time maybe it will become a strong series.

LEGO STAR WARS SAGA
3BR (Three Bullet Review)

• HIT:Boiled down pick-up and play fun with an E-rated familiar shell.
• HIT:Cooperative (semi-asymmetrical) same-screen play designed into the experience.
• MISS:Ridiculous and difficult puzzles which sometimes feel totally out of place from the rest of the action-based game.

Ok, so this one may not really be fair because I’m playing with my daughter and that probably has a barring on how much fun I’m having, but this game is really well done at its core regardless. Though it is a game that people have talked a lot about over the years, I missed the boat and only picked it up last year to play it with Lia as a first entry point to the SW Universe. Turns out I like the game in general for its simple and accessible controls and loads of things to look for and collect and destroy. I think everyone and their mother has played this, so no need to go into detail, but there is just something intriguing about how they discovered a somewhat unlikely mixture of things to make a game out of and how in hindsight it is actually a perfect combo. As I’ve been reporting on playing with Lia, there is nothing like watching your 6 year old child take down an AT-AT for the first time by herself.

Well, there are my picks for the top GIPLY. Maybe it isn’t the best concept for a GOTY list, but I just don’t tend to play at the same pace as the rest of the industry these days so I just play what I want to play in any given year. So who knows what the pool to draw from will be in 09. I will say that one of the BIG games I did play during 2008 and was actually chosen by many as their real GOTY was Fallout 3. Hands down, as far as big titles that came out that I played in a timely fashion, Fallout lived up to all my expectations and more. It really does deserve all the praise and I look forward to playing the DLC. As a huge fan of the series, a big thanks to Bethesda for not fucking it up.

I’m super proud of her and this is such a perfect forum for her type of humor and life stories it is uncanny. Plus she is nearly done with her first novel so this is good timing for networking and pushing her name out there for looking for agents, etc.

If you think you can make it on short notice here is the link. Read her Bio!

Break a leg you liar…