LadyCrimson

That's what I'm afraid of. Reason I ask is because the Planet Explorer's alpha is running my GPU at 99 load the entire time. The game seems to run ok that way (GPU gets warm but not super abnormally so) but it doesn't seem like it should be doing that...and the game's not doing it for everyone, seems like. Someone else said they updated/installed the above and it helped. It's weird because even if turn AA/other settings off/low, the GPU load remains the same. I'm not sure if installing those SP1 C++ files would actually overwrite the ones already there or just add to the list, either.

Had to take a break from digging underground fortresses...so I figured I'd update my Path of Exile install (that took awhile...) and play a little bit. Still not something I feel like playing a lot at the moment, but it is one of those games I might go back to briefly now and then. But I also I got a lot of hours of gameplay during the closed beta, so I finally gave them some money. This gave me points/tokens or whatever to buy their micro-transaction stuff. I looked through what they had at the moment, and seems like you'd have to be a pretty huge die-hard PoE fan to want to spend a lot of real money for enough "points" to buy most of the pets, spell effects, etc. There's one decorative "pet" that would be maybe $120 to have the points just to get that single thing. Doesn't seem like a very "micro" transaction. No thanks. That said, the one thing I do like is the stash-tab increases. So used my tokens for that, and so now, for once in a game of this type, if I ever play it for a long time again, I just might have enough stash space!

I still prefer such things to be a one-shot thing I can sit down and watch one evening. I guess I'm just don't crave that much info all the time. Edit: nothing wrong doing it the other way, btw. I just wouldn't watch them all until they were put into one giant DVD where I could pick and choose which ones I'm interested in.

So I know some games need these things, and Steam tends to like to install them when needed. I'm curious if it's something I should try to keep updated, if there's a benefit to it, ala keeping up with video drivers. Like, I have Win7-64/SP1 and I think there's a C++ Redistr. for that, but under "installed programs" none of the ones listed seem to be that. Do y'all bother with it, or only install them if a game/program demands them? I seem to have these: ...and the MS download site has these: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679 I don't even know if I need the 64 C++ Redistrib....

Watched the Iron Man 3 (really long) trailer. I have two things to say: 1 - I love Ben Kingsley, but I'm not sure about this one. 2 - the dramatic image of what seems like over half a dozen iron-men suited people is pretty awesome.

I lost my Amazon virginity this last weekend, ordering some new headphones. The pads finally wore out on my old ones. Just some Sony MDR7506's for the PC which isn't something our local walk-ins generally carry. I've listened to all the current popular brands in the $150 or under range and Sony's still the only one where the treble doesn't nails-on-chalkboard my eardrums to death, but still sounds fairly clean w/ok bass.... Anywho, it was directly from Amazon's warehouses (not one of the resellers) and I paid a bit extra to get the 3 day delivery or something. Arrived today a bit early, so that was nice. Still hate ordering online and won't unless I have to, but....I guess that Amazon is all right...

Adam's rockin' that black leather(?) jacket. I like that the doc's going to be more of a complete film, rather than in multiple installments. I'm still used to movie docs being that way and can't get used to all the "watch our daily/weekly 5 min long making of/preview clips now!" stuff. Guess I don't like having to remember to keep track of such things...I like having it all in one shot - don't have to see it as it happens.

Yeah, I don't have too much on the main C drive, even with all the games (maybe 155GB) but the storage drives are another matter. Videos (mostly gaming in my case) are the worst. Can't believe how much space we "need" these days.

Finally moved my main rig back into my office. Had to dust out the allergens first...at a glance it didn't look very dusty but using the squeeze bulb, volcano plumes of dust out of the top fans area and GPU fan outlets. 4 months and it was that bad - collects a lot slower in the den, maybe because I don't open windows in here often, plus less dust-creators. Indoors, paper products are the worst dust/fiber creators, btw...as bad as or worse than rugs/blankets. Anyway...it's nice to be back in my personal fortress of solitary tech masturbation. Gets irritating trying to be on the PC while hubs has the TV blaring in my ears or is doing whatever else. If hubs still wants to play BL2 he'll have to find us some good headset gear or just put up with the crappy sounding intercom. Sorry, sweetie. Maybe next winter I'll move into the living room again. Maybe.

Not funny but it still makes me nostalgia-smile. Plus Travolta is still adorable doing stuff like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIrP5G6WUF4 More amusing: Total Eclipse of the Heart cover. The singer is decent, but that's not the funny part.

Space vs. price is still the reason I don't use SSD. The old style is still fast enough for my needs. They're also great for any use that still requires a ton of constant disk writing (eg, lots of wear and tear/constant fragmentation potential). Maybe for my next PC.

Something feels different about the turn based combat GUI. Is the hotkey bar changing for every party member's turn (vs. hotkeyed assigned spells/just press attack or cast)? I'd find that confusing/weird I think, but I'd get used to it.

Not that I'm aware of. They're basically like honeybees, but tend to form much smaller colonies. They're just intimidating looking, like mini-flying teddy bears, like in this photo. Not usually very aggressive, but they can sting. Sadly, they're becoming more rare. (edit: I looked up Carpenter Bees - they're a different species/sub-species or whatever ... not the same. Most don't even appear to be nearly as "fuzzy" as bumblebees on the abdomen) Ahhh so tired this morning. Maybe it's the humid/grey weather. Have to go out, tasks to do...but when I get back home I think I'll take a long nap.

The second movie I ever saw him in, and while the movie wasn't that great, it's still his best scene ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLRoGVfPUxU

I was going to watch Lincoln this weekend, but forgot all about it due to an excessive mining/digging obsession. Ah well, weekend over, back to reality. Also, baseball.

Walking Dead finale - a bit anti-climactic, but decent. More importantly, soon it'll be Breaking Bad time!

Lets plays actually seem quite popular on youtube, I guess people are interested in seeing how other people play and how the experience differs to their own? I sometimes watch lets plays to see how other people do stuff, but my main use of lets plays is a way to preview and review a game. Screw big news site reviews, watching someone else play the game is a million times better. Yeah, that's why I usually watch Let's Play's, too. I don't often watch entire Let's Plays's ... I'll jump/skip around the first couple, to get an idea of interface/gameplay without spoiling myself too much. I find that a lot more helpful than written descriptions. But occasionally a LP-er is very entertaining/funny, if you're familiar with the game already, and then I'll watch for the comedy hilarity/the LP's charisma...but that's not often.

No, single player. It'll have a MP/team mode or something but I have no clue how that'll work. Maybe something like a castle defense mode. Exploring/questing does sorta feel/look early MMO-ish so far, but it's more like a cross between Minecraft/Spore (creation) + vastness/exploration/freedom of the MMO/open world.

They move all content into the cloud ? Hush, you. Don't give them any ideas. ....that would definitely put me off (new) gaming permanently.

I liked their simple FAQ list, especially the answer to the "How long is the game?" type question, heh. And from the looks of things, they probably won't have trouble at least getting the 400K. Over half-way there in 4 days. So yay.

You Shall Not Pass. At least not with the gear I had. I've been busy. Lots of tunnels/caverns you can't see, too.

Help, I can't stop mining in Planet Explorers. Now I know how Dig-Dug must have felt. After playing a fair bit with the 1st chr. to see the quests - everything from fetch/kill-this to 'fortify/protect this area" - and see the various enemies (they get hard fast) I started over so I could dig a "cave house" in that spot better/more elaborately. Screw building forts with stone blocks or using fast travel/running overland. It's much more fun to tunnel under the earth instead.

My first ugly gun Sadly I have no dye to color it with yet. The iron/copper colors are funky. Soon as you make it, you can wear/use it. Kills stuff fast, so that's cool. The outfit is pretty silly, however. Mining for resources suddenly turned into wanting to tunnel out a cave-home. Because I can. With ledges and a bed and fires. It's going very slowly... I'll build a "real" house at some point.

Anyone else suffer from irritating cowlicks? I've had straight hair all my life and the main cowlick is the top/back of the head, right side. It's not so much a whorl as an area of hair that likes to split left on one side, right on the other, meaning it can look like I have a part going half way down the back of my head. When I was younger it wasn't very noticeable/wasn't bad, even with really long hair, but the older I get the more unruly and "split" it becomes, causing my straight hair to no longer be so straight (gets wavy at certain lengths). And now it seems like I have one close to the nape of my neck, causing it to want to not lay flat back there either. My scalp is having a mid-life crisis or something! I've had short hair many times, but then you still have to style it to control cowlick issues and I hate hair that's "work." I just might finally shave my head. Maybe get a cat face tattooed on the top. Then probably a divorce from my utterly aghast husband.

Since the last 4-5 pages have largely been about a single KS project/controversy, perhaps it's time to split it off. Stay tuned. Edit: done, hopefully got all the relevant ones. Further/continued discussion on the Susan Wilson KS controversy can be done here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63570-susan-wilsons-kickstarter-discussion-split-topic/