The Continued Story of Marty Stinestein- Part 2: Its Business Time

Note: This post does not contain any plot spoilers from any side quests or main quests. Though throughout this series some of the consequences of stupid actions in Fallout 3 will be revealed.

After a week of exploring the wasteland, Marty has become a successful businessman owning TWO fancy suits, a fedora hat, a nice multilevel home (with no toilet), and... his own ROBOT BUTLER. Unfortunately, his new employers did not like the rugged adventure look. To please his boss, he got a slick new haircut and shaved his beard (he kept his mustache). Now, lets see a snapshot of Marty's life and learn what happens when you piss off your robot butler (Spoiler Alert: it doesn't end well).

Marty wakes after a restful night's sleep and is almost ready to face the world.

Marty heads downstairs and asks his robot butler, Wadsworth, to tell him a joke so he can start his day off on the right foot. Wadsworth responds that his joke emitters need to recharge which angers Marty.

Next Marty heads to his locker so he can get dressed for work.

Look how stylish Marty looks in his suit and hat.

Marty draws his assault rifle to take care of some unfinished business. "What do you mean your joke emitter needs to recharge, how hard is it to tell a joke?... Oy!"

It doesn't end well.

So, this week we learned that it is not a good idea to attack your robot butler (even if you think he deserved it).

Shalom, and tune in next week for... The Continued Story of Marty Stinestein- Part 3 where we will find out what happens when you, uh?... do something. I'll tell you what, if you have any ideas for what Marty should explore next submit it in the comments.

Video Game Violence and the Link to Actual Violence with "Scientific Evidence"

Via Kotaku I just watched an episode of Penn & Teller's BullSh*t outlining the problem of video game violence and discussing the link to real violence. Now (as it is easy to tell by reading this blog) I am a gamer and do tend to play violent video games so I don't think there is much of a link between fantasy violence and real violence (at least among emotionally stable adults). Yet some individuals that I know have big problems with this stating that a) Violent video games will make an individual more violent and b) gaming is a socially isolating experience. If you know anyone like this I recommend that they watch this show.

I will concede that playing too many video games violent or otherwise is bad (after all too much of anything is bad). Playing too many games can lead to repetitive motion injuries (ie. Carpal tunnel syndrome), eye strain, and in the long run the sedentary lifestyle associated with gaming can lead to obesity. But gaming alone does not make kids more violent. Most (not all) kids learn the difference between right and wrong, and fantasy and reality at an early age. If they can make this distinction, acts of "simulated violence" shouldn't lead to real violence.

The program feaures Jack Thompson and other anti-video game activists who give there two cents as to why they feel that video games are destroying today's youth (which is fairly entertaining on its own merit because of how ill informed these people are), but also features the views of gamers, researchers, and others that don't feel that video games are infecting today's youth. Oh, and they also let a 9 year-old gamer fire an AR-15 assault rifle (can you guess what happens?). So I encourage you to watch this show which has been embedded in three parts below. Though I feel that I need to mention (and I know I'm not the first to say this but...) that it is up to parents to pay attention to there kids (and the games/ amount of time they play), not government regulations.

Also, as a scientist I feel obligated to point out that correlation doesn't equal causality. No Jack Thompson there is not a "CAUSAL LINK" between "teens playing violent video games and increased aggression by teens" (the word you may be looking for is "correlation" assuming that a "substantial body of...evidence" actually exists).

PART 1



PART 2



PART 3

Introducing Marty Stinestein

I bought Fallout 3 during Steam's half-off sale and began playing with my character Marty Stinestein last night (the first name Gordan goes over the character limit).

He specializes in barter, science, and energy weapons. I'm really bad a picking skills for this type of game so I'm sort of going to have to learn as I go. I have a feeling this game will be quite fun, though I don't like how your personal vendettas against livestock get the whole town on your case...sheesh who would have thought cows were sacred in post apocalyptic Washington DC. Anyway...without further adeu.... here's Marty!

Marty sits and ponders something

Marty may have a big nose but hes got a heart of gold...wait, what?

Marty bonds with his new friend who proceeds to call him a wanker and walks away...how rude!

News! Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead DLC, and USB Microwaves!

1.) Steam's Weekend deal is Fallout 3! Originally priced at $50, it will be $25 until midday Monday July 6. I've heard that this is a great game and this may be a great opportunity to purchase it if you (like me) are a little on the fence about buying Fallout 3. See Chris Livingston's 1fort.com and Pentadact's "Fallout Girl" for some great storytelling in Fallout 3.

2.) In a recent interview with Computer and Video Games. com Doug Lombardi of VALVe (best Games Developer EVAR FTW) announced plans to announce(confusing right) a new DLC pack for Left 4 Dead by the end of the summer. Lombardi's world are below:

"We plan to keep supporting Left 4 Dead 1. There will be some announcements coming before summer's out about what's coming there, and then we haven't shown everything that's in Left 4 Dead 2 yet."


Hopefully the new DLC includes some of the features announced in Left 4 Dead Too (melee combat for example). Though I really do believe that L4D Too is offering a great new experience (after all, the second half of that quote mentions that there are still plenty of new features in L4D Too that haven't been announced). (Story seen via Kotaku)

3.) This last story as seen on Gizmodo.com (follow the link to see the Beanzawave in action) Heinz is currently developing a small desktop microwave called the Beanzawave. It is powered by rechargable batteries and presumably will also be powered via USB. I can image this being used as an excuse by large corporations to cut lunch breaks ("What do you need a break for, you can make Beanz at your desk?" MI rite) or for some gamers simply too busy to go to their kitchen to make their beans and hotpockets. This invention is sure to revolutionize desktop eating for years to come.

Happy Fourth of July ol chaps!

Shalom