text:
This forum has been up since September 2006!
Sign In
Game Discussion
Rate the last game you've played!
Dr Flibble
November 2017
Since we don't make threads for each game anymore, or reviews, and week in gaming threads that can only just be called 'weekly', it might be an idea to have a thread like our movie thread so people can post thoughts and scores whenever they want. So here it is.
To kick it off I just finished
Agents of Mayhem (PS4)
- If you haven't given up on Saint's Row yet this might be worth a look. It is a single player hero shooter in which you take a team of 3 agents out into the field to stop a bunch of villains from taking over Seoul. The game has a cartoon feel to it, and in typical Saint's style it takes the Mickey out of a lot of gaming tropes and pop culture. The story was average, as was just about everything about this game. The heroes are all pretty meh, I found only a few that I really enjoyed and just stuck with them. There are loot boxes scattered all over the place and getting new gear, skins, and vehicles is a crap shoot for most things. It feels like Saint's Row 4 mixed with Diablo 3 and Overwatch. I enjoyed the playthru overall, but it is a very average game with an endgame that is a huge grindfest if you plan on levelling up all the agents and getting all the trophies. I did like this more than Gat Out Of Hell, but that game and now Mayhem equate to Saint's Row being on its death bed hacking up its lungs imo. Buy it cheap. 5/10.
Noobied by
November 2017
Resident Evil 6
Went back through this to scoop up achievements on the Xbox One version, since it was $6 when I bought it on sale or something like that, plus I was on a huge RE kick when Resident Evil 7 dropped that I went out and bought Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil Revelation 2. While I'm waiting for the 'Not A Hero' DLC to drop next month for RE7 I decided I'd revisit and finish my play-through of the previous title in the series.
It's quick-timey as fuck, and it made me realize I didn't miss the glorified action game the series had become when I played RE7 earlier this year. That said, I finished Leon's campaign and it's still the best out of the four from what I can remember, with Chris Redfield's still being the weakest by far.
Is it a terrible game? No, not at all. Is it a terrible Resident Evil game? No, it's a fun game overall minus the quick time events but I would have preferred if the entire campaign had Leon's feel to it with the original zombies and that whole feeling. It did make me miss seeing Leon and other familiar faces in Resident Evil 7, and I still don't think that fucker at the end of RE7 is Chris Redfield.
I seem to be in the minority of preferring it over Resident Evil 5.
Play it co-op, it's kind of a bore solo sometimes.
Dr Flibble
November 2017
RE6 and RE5 both have their good and bad spots. I think the tipping point for me is the recycling in RE6. Doing boss fights twice because the characters' stories intersect might have sounded cool on paper, but the reality was "oh God, not this fight again". The story was also told in a manner that would have made Tarantino jealous, which didn't help things. It wasn't until you played through as Ada that shit even began to make sense. In those respects, I think I'd take RE5 over RE6, but any battle involving Wesker in RE5 can go eat a dick too.
Dr Flibble
November 2017
Wolfenstein (PS3)
- I was curious to see the difference between the PS4 and PS3 versions and when I found this in the bargain bin going for a few bucks I grabbed it. It goes without saying if you plan on getting this get the PS4 version, the PS3 version was worse than I imagined. I enjoyed the game on PS4, but all I can really say about it on PS3 is that it was playable, just. Load times were a bit long, and while I expected some graphical differences, the texture pop was quite incredible. Nazi soldiers would be having their features popping in even as they died, and turning around fast would cause the game to almost shit itself trying to render everything. Trophies were also prone to delay. The first time it happened I thought it had glitched but every trophy would pop long after the conditions were met to get it. It's a great game, but looks rubbish on PS3. It feels like they didn't even try to optimise it. If you're looking for a good shooter on PS3, there's plenty of others to go for before this. 8/10 on PS4, 5/10 on PS3.
Dr Flibble
November 2017
The Evil Within (XBone) -
I played this back when it first came out on PS4 but with the release of the sequel I wanted to give it another go. It's not a game for everyone, but it is a game that cops more flak than it deserves. The game is pretty hard, with plenty of enemies that can and will 1-shot you, and the story is one you'll either love or hate. It leaves a lot of things unclear and many have said this equates to a bad story, but I disagree. The basic premise of the game is very clear, and then there are gaps, as there are in memories, which is part of the theme of the game. If you like your stories conventional, look elsewhere. The enemies, visuals, and sound are all great imo, particularly the bosses, which were all pretty great. The gameplay is a bit janky, but if people can forgive the Resident Evil series they can certainly find room for this. What is unforgiving in this game, is a lack of resources requiring pretty efficient bullet management, and the brutality of the enemies. The game never explains when you should run, and when you should stay and fight, and prefers to let the player have a few game overs while they figure it out for themselves. Putting these 1-shot enemies into puzzle mazes can also lead to many deaths, and if you get caught in a bad checkpoint loop, I can imagine the rage. Perhaps the Dark Souls series has conditioned me to having to redo a lot of work if I fuck up, and so this didn't really bother me all that much, but people who hate redoing anything and want a checkpoint at every corner, this game may not be for you. If you enjoy horror games like RE4-6, Outlast, etc, and can tolerate a bit of punishment, it's worth checking out. When I beat the first boss on the Bone the achievement told me that only 38% of players had accomplished this, meaning 62% of Boners who own the Evil Within haven't even beaten the first boss. Tragic. You can get the game and all the DLC for probably $15 or so. Try it. 7/10
Dr Flibble
November 2017
The Evil Within 2 (PS4) -
Straight after the first game I dived into the 2nd, and experienced mixed emotions. Unlike its predecessor, which was a pure linear experience, the Evil Within 2 is a semi-open world game, made up of smallish sandboxes linked together by a tunnel system. You're no longer alone throughout the game, as there are a few NPCs holed up in safe houses around the map who offer side missions and rewards, and opportunities for Bioware style dialogues but without the depth, choice, or consequences. The story is still kinda bonkers, and follows on from the first game. If you didn't play the first game, or rather if you didn't play the DLC of the first game, a lot of things won't make much sense, but not to worry, as this game dives into WTF-land pretty quickly regardless. There's not many boss fights, and towards the big finale every boss from the first game is recycled in a throwback battle that feels cool yet lazy at the same time. But given how few people got through the first game, most of these bosses will be new for most players. What new bosses there are however, are pretty cool in terms of design, but the bosses in EW2 are simple affairs. Shoot them until they die. In EW1 the bosses were almost puzzles, which I miss. EW2 is also a LOT easier than the first game, far fewer insta-kills and more direction as to where to go and what to do. There are no more matches to burn bodies, once a bad guy is dead, he's dead for good this time. It's interesting that the EW2 is seeing a lot more praise than the original game did after it dumbed itself down into a more generic open-world, easy, zombie game. Everything that made the original unique is gone, and while this game is getting the praise the first game didn't, I wonder how a 3rd game would fare (which is coming if the ending is anything to go by). It's a good enough game in its own right, but the Evil Within was never intended to have a sequel, and I see here what I saw with Mass Effect 2. A sequel dumbed down for the muggles which saw much acclaim, but which to me signalled only the beginning of the downward spiral. 7/10
November 2017
Assassin's Creed Origins
This is the strongest Assassin's Creed game in a very, very long time. While I loved Syndicate I did find the environments of London somewhat stagnant and I never found myself doing much exploration in that game
The setting of Egypt completely breathes life into the franchise, and the more RPG style approach to the game really works in terms of gameplay and feel. The weapon system feels more exciting as do the outfits for your character as there seems to be a wide variety to play with in terms of weapon choices and playstyles. You're not just restricted to using your Hidden Blade and a sword. You can rock a variety of weapons and tools, and the bows are really great.
I'm about six or so hours into the game and I've yet to hear any mention of Assassin orders or the Templars outside of the modern day portions of the game, which thankfully are incredibly short. I'm feeling like the game is the origin story of the Assassin order, etc, hence the title.
As of my six hours into the game I can safely say this may be the best Assassin's Creed game to date. It's so much fun and exploring the pyramids and tombs of Ancient Egypt is just exciting.
It's tied with Resident Evil 7 as my Game of the Year for 2017.
Dr Flibble
December 2017
I've been hearing good things about Ass Creed Origins. I might pick it up eventually, but I still haven't played Black Flag, Unity, or Syndicate. The last game I played through was AC3 I think. Is the story anywhere near concluding yet?
This was fucking great. Balls to the wall demon-slaying from start to finish. There's really nothing to complain about. Doom Guy is a great protagonist, and it was fun learning about him through historical recordings found in Hell, made by demons, who regard DG as a kind of harbinger of the apocalypse (for demonkind). His actions do all the talking for him, and he meets everything with pure aggression. The game makes you feel like an unholy badass too, with arenas on Mars and in Hell full of monsters to rip and blow apart with a variety of guns and of course, the chainsaw, all while rocking out to a fantastic soundtrack. Run out of bullets? No problem, grab the Berserker power-up and punch everything to death! All the enemies from the old games are back, meaner than ever. They feel a lot like they did in the old games too, with the exception of the Pinky demons who are huge damage sponges now unless you can flank them. Also like the old games, there are secrets aplenty to be discovered around the maps. Once you're done with the campaign there's also the snap map level designer to play with if you're into that sort of thing, which is pretty cool as it allows you to set up some pretty complex things rather easily. There's also multiplayer which a lot of people poo poo'd for being boring but these people are just soulless husks. The multiplayer is basically a recreation of the old games' multiplayer, it felt like Doom 2 or Quake did back in the day, only with better graphics. It's not my cup of tea personally, because I'm not much for online shooters in general anyway, but I think it achieved what it was going for. The game is good, it's cheap as chips these days, and there's no reason not to have this. 10/10
A great remake of the original games' soundtrack can be found here for those interested:
Resident Evil Revelations 2 (PS3) -
This game has some great moments in it, and it also has some lows too. In some ways it improves upon the first game, in others it makes a right mess of things. The choice to make this game episodic was probably one of the main reasons it turned out the way it did. Each episode takes place in one location, however in each case you play through the same location as two separate teams (Claire & Moira, and Barry & Natalia), at two different points in time. The boredom and repetitive nature of this is offset by each team encountering different enemies, and the enemies in Barry's story will slightly differ depending on what you did as Claire. Similarly, Claire can make changes to the map in her playthrough, such as open doors or flick switches which will then appear as such in Barry's playthrough. I liked this idea, but it wasn't quite enough to stop me from feeling a bit frustrated at having to do the same maps twice all the time. The other new gimmick here is the two teams. In their respective teams Claire and Barry provide the firepower, while the partners Moira and Natalia act as scouts. Moira has a flashlight that can reveal hidden items and blind enemies, while Natalia has a sixth sense which allows her to sense hidden items and reveal enemy locations around her. These two characters basically just replace the scanner camera from the first game, and honestly I'd rather just have the camera. Switching back and forth between characters, juggling inventory between characters, and doing the co-op 'puzzles' that were all stupidly easy was getting irritating by the end. The fact that the final boss fight used this mechanic was really jarring as well, especially as the player didn't choose when to switch, but rather the switch occurred automatically depending on where the boss was. Now I'm Barry, now I'm Claire, now I'm Barry again. Aaarghhh. The story like a lot of Resident Evil games is bonkers and often raises more questions than it answers, which I won't go into here to avoid getting all spoilery, suffice to say you'll know what I'm talking about if you play it. Overall I enjoyed the game, and at the price you can get it these days it's worth the risk. 6/10
December 2017
I'm thinking I'm not a huge fan of point and click adventure games
because I found my time with ROM to mostly be boring. It took a really
long time to get ramped up with the story, but aside from a few select
moments the story was largely uneventful. I did really like the
cyberpunk themed world that was built up and I found that a lot more
interesting to poke around than I did playing through the majority of
the game. If you're a bigger fan of more narrative driven experiences in
games than I am you might enjoy ROM more than I did. Oh, also at times
the game feels a little heavy handed with it's presentation of gender
identity and racial equality, but I'm not sure if that is a result of it
actually being heavy handed, or my inability to relate to the problems
and situations being presented. It wasn't like it presented things a lot
differently than other games have, but I was more easily able to
understand or relate to those political ideas where in this case I
wasn't, hence my waffling on if it was actually a detracting
characteristic of the game.
Dr Flibble
December 2017
The Surge + DLC (Bone)
Underappreciated Souls-like gem. It's not as big or deep as a From game, but it's still a lot of fun. The Surge is a single player only experience, having neither co-op nor pvp, and it does not allow for character creation or modification in any way, aside from the rig (power suit) you acquire. What you do get though is a fun little action game that offers a Soulsy take on the dystopian sci-fi genre. There is a plot about a plan to save Earth gone horribly awry, and the game never loses its dark tone even in the DLC, which offers a twisted take on Disneyland in which the robotic mascots in the park have gone insane and begun killing the staff and tourists. The combat is fast and fluid, comparable to Bloodborne in speed and execution. Light weapons are fast, heavy weapons are slow and feel as weighty as they would do. The one complaint with combat I had was that despite the number of weapons you end up finding through your playthru, most of the same weapon type feel very similar, and there are only 5 weapon types. Also, for most weapon types you will have one that clearly outperforms all the others, and once you get it and invest resources levelling it up, you will hesitate to change. This is compounded by the fact that the game has no skill trees for your character, and rather uses a system wherein each weapon type has a skill ranking, and the more you use a certain weapon type, the higher that rank will be. It's a nice idea in theory, and you can get some good damage bonuses out of levelling up, but it also deters you from switching weapon types. And there are the rigs, your power suit which can be equipped with mod chips granting various abilities, and different armour types that also grant various set bonuses. These are all a lot of fun to play with. Going out and chopping off various enemy appendages to forge and level new gear is where the bulk of this game's farming element takes place. Another huge difference in this game compared to a Souls game is that, rather than smashing through what are mostly fodder mobs to get to the next boss, The Surge has very few bosses (only 5 in the main game, 2 in the DLC) and instead has regular mobs that can mess your shit up. The bosses also often have some trick to defeating them, or a special kill condition which if achieved, grants you special boss loot - a feature carried over from Lords of the Fallen. Having said that, once you figure out a certain enemy's moves or weakness, they become a lot easier to deal with. If you like Souls games at all, or sci-fi action games, and are not afraid of a challenge, give it a try. 8/10.
Call of Duty: WW2 (PS4)
- Yay, COD has gone back to WW2! Boo, COD is still COD! Like most people I was glad to be back fighting in WW2, where the game belongs, but COD2 and World At War were a long time ago, from a far more innocent age, and these fond memories only further highlight what COD is today. No more can the fans say "COD would be good again if they'd just go back to WW2". WW2 is better than the zero G space battles of Infinite Warfare, sure, but if that's the highest we're aiming for we may as well give up now. WW2 is cinematic, clumsily tries to hit you in the feels, makes no attempt to move from the caricatures of Nazi's being pure evil every chance they get and Americans being playboys who can get the job done once they've finished wrapping their cocks in the American flag and smacking everyone in the mouth with it. The cliches come thick and fast (like an American GI, no?), and despite the old WW2 skin being thrown on it, it's still a modern COD game underneath. You watch lots of cutscenes, you're not limited to ground battles as you also have to fly fighters and drive tanks or man turrets regularly. The story is OK, I guess, but is fairly typical WW2 fluff and not necessary. COD was never about prolonged exposition. The multiplayer and even Nazi Zombies mode are now chock full of skills, mods, XP bonuses, and 'cosmetics' all tucked away in loot boxes that cost real money. It'd be like throwing a Halo skin on Destiny 2 and saying it's still the Bungie Halo games we loved in the past. It's not. It's every bit a COD game of today featuring cosmetics to arouse nostalgia and separate us from our money. As for the gameplay, it's COD, you've played it if you have ever played an FPS in the past 10 years. There are some glitches and unhelpful mechanics, and everyone's favourite -the QTE- back in full force. If you're still playing COD today then you no doubt already have this game. If you're hoping this will take you back in time to the COD of old, it won't. Just go play your old COD games again. As a generic WW2 era FPS, it's not too bad, but in the context of it being a big AAA COD game and what the series once was, it's fairly average, and with the exception of the short campaign, you might even say bad. If you insist on this game, at least wait for a sale. 5/10.
January 2018
Path of Exile 8/10
One of the better RPGs I've played, a very nice change after the dramatic Diablo 3.
Gameplay very pleasant, although typical for Hack & Slash games.
Graphics a little worse than in Diablo, but less depressive :-) More sun, warm colors and much brighter colors.
Forgive me for comparing it to Diablo, but there are not many MMO RPGs behind the dead MU Online.
A highly developed system of improvements, and I like improvements. You improve your items with poe orbs, it is currency in PoE. Thanks to this you can create a unique character according to your own idea, or many builds available on the Internet.
Updates often come out, GGG studio takes great care of this game.
An interesting trading system, as I wrote above, PoE Orbs to currency. Currency, and at the same time item you can use (like jewelers at MU Online). I remember how to trade in Diablo and then they removed the auction house - in my opinion it was a big mistake. In PoE, trading is just that much fun :-)
I know better MMOs, but Path of Exile is the best MMO RPG that I know. I would highly recommend
I trade myself, that is, buy and sell PoE Currency and there are several rules.
First of all, the price of each orb is higher at the beginning of the season, with the passage of time the orbs are getting cheaper, and at the end of the league (season) are the cheapest, this applies to all types of currency in PoE :-)
Therefore, it is worth getting exalted orbs at the beginning of the season, then there are also many people willing to buy them :-)
It is best to buy PoE currency in trusted stores, where the seller's counterfeit is low (low fee). It allows cheaper to sell poe orbs, so customers buy cheap exalted orbs.
You can also earn more, so selling poe currency pays off :-)
In my opinion, the best PoE Shop to buy PoE Currency is at this link
January 2018
I just finished
. Well, or at least the new story line that is made up of nine chapters.
There is more to the add-on than that like an entire additional story
arc and a new quest hub that you will arrive at after the completion of
the story.
January 2018
I've put > 800 hours into PoE over the past many years. I recently just finished up enough of the challenges in the Abyss league to get all the MTX. This league I've managed all the end game content minus Uber Atziri, Shaper, and Hall of Grandmasters (Atlas completion at 155/157).
There are two ways to play the game; Standard - which is a persistent mode where you keep your character forever. It has all the accepted mechanics from all the leagues that run every few months, it is the vanilla version of the game.
Then there's Leagues. Every few months, GGG hosts a league that features new content (Skill gems, uniques, mechanics, etc). Depending on the reception of the new content, they might eventually be introduced into Standard. Once a league expires, any characters, currency and items in said league will be moved to Standard, and then in a few months a new league will spin up and you can start anew. I've only ever played in the leagues, and it gives me a reason to come back every few months to try out the new mechanics, skill gems, and uniques.
To say I think PoE is one of the best ARPGs is probably a bit of an understatement. The amount of builds and interactions with skill gems vs uniques is staggering. Granted, majority of them might not be end game content (by end game content, I really mean post-game content, as a lot of players consider the final boss to actually be the START of the real game within the atlas), but those builds are fun, never the less.
Unfortunately, the learning curve is pretty steep when you are looking to minmax, as the nuances of the game are pretty technical (doing your homework in the wiki for PoE is mandatory). But it always feels great when your build comes together and does well.
I agree fully with Skeeny's rating and encourage anyone who's into ARPGs to wait for a new league to start and jump in.
For those interested, here's
my build
for the Abyss league.
January 2018
No rating but Stellaris is fun and punishing. It didn't at all click at first and I jumped into Ironman mode. I recovered from a slow start to be a reasonably powerful and advanced empire only to have the most powerful declare war on me and stomp me. Whoops!
Monster Hunter World has been solid so far. The increased focus on story is silly and I am not far, but it's relatively pretty and feels nice to finally play a game on a console (only ever played on PSP and 3DS). They've continued to make strides in accessibility without sacrificing the core gameplay that much, and it's not even too terribly slow an introduction, which the last 3DS one kind of suffered from. There are still things not explained that newbies might not grasp, but they're not needed early which is good.
February 2018
I finally finished Disgaea 5 this past weekend. Having always been a fan of the series, I thought I was going to be super into this one. But I don't know. The dialog can be straight up horrible at times and legit can be cringe worthy. But at other times, it's still pretty compelling... mostly when the game tries to take its self more seriously. Sad thing is, ALL the games in the series are like this.
But he combat in the game is still exactly what I remember, it's still fun to minmax and rewarding when you completely steam-roll the map. I never had to grind the entire time and just went from map to map. I kept a party of 6, so they were about level 100 by the end. And while the combat is fun, it's ultimately unchanged from the previous entries of the series. The only major difference is that there are new animations to watch, which have always been over the top and flashy. Definitely helps with the repetition.
Ultimately though, I think I might actually be done with the franchise. I don't believe there's any more it can really offer, specially after 5 games with no real evolution to combat. Coupled with the story being hard to swallow at times due to cringiness, I'd rather back out now before I go into another and end up hating it.
Probably put this at around a 5/10, very middling.
February 2018
I haven't played video games in a bit. Tried meddling with Shadow Warrior for an hour on Xbox One but found it to be a bit shite.
February 2018
Mass Effect (PC)
- I've never played through these, started this one awhile back, but put it to the side after getting control of the ship. just got back in the other night. feels dated, but fine enough. Should I download the 2.77GB textures mod that's out there?
Borderlands (PC)
- Playing this with TheOneB, Orion, and 8Drawt. looks nice in a lot of spots, yet muddy in others. First time through, Lv22. seems aight.
Paladins/Battlegrounds (PC)
- Paladins is a decent Overwatch clone imo. but it's been going a bit downhill in some ways. they just released a rough alpha battlegrounds mode.
Pokemon Revolution Online (PC)
- A fan made pokemon MMO. it's ok. I looked at it last year, but didn't really play. now I just updated it and got to and beat Brock. looks like 4 regions on the map, and 32 badges.
February 2018
Secret of Mana Remake -
Recently finished this over the weekend. If you look at the steam page for it, it has a lot of really drastic reviews on both ends of the spectrum.
A lot of people seem to take issue with the voice acting and the newly remade soundtrack. It seems most people recommend swapping to the Japanese voice overs and the original OST. And honestly, when I first started playing, I did as well. But after an hour or so, I swapped back to the english dubs and new OST and it really wasn't that bad. I think I know the reason. The game definitely doesn't put it's best foot forward. The initial voice acting up to the point you reach the town is definitely not that great… in fact it was pretty bad. Same for the music. The few tracks you hear up to the time you get to Potos Village were mediocre at best, but the Potos Village them is just… bad. So again, users just swap to the original OST and leave it there. But the thing is, it gets better. Both the voice acting and the OST, I've come to believe are actually pretty good. Important characters were cast well. Gemma, Sage Luka, Watts, Undine, Gnome, all of their voice acting is more than okay, it's pretty good. Same for the OST. Once you get out of Potos Village, all the tracks are pretty good, and some are excellent. But most people are left with a bad first impression and won't give it another chance. Which, I don't blame them, this is entirely the game's fault.
The gameplay is a bit more cut and dry, but I do think there's a bit of confusion. Some people complained that there is bad hit detection. I believe people are confusing hit detection with damage buffering/delay. In the original game, you could spend about 4 years charging up a high level attack, unleash it no a group of enemies and… nothing happen. No miss, no dodge animation from the enemy, just nothing. This was poor hit detection. The remake does not have this issue. In fact, the game had added hit sparks and sound effects that assure you that your hits have gone through. But also like the original game, there is something similar to damage buffering. If an enemy takes damage, recoils, lays on the ground, and receives damage… that's all that enemy can take at the time. If another character hits that enemy while it's in it's on-the-ground state, that damage won't register until that animation is complete, creating this strange delay. And once you start using magic as well, this becomes a bit more apparent. That is still present, but it's not poor hit detection. Actually, now that you aren't locked into the four cardinal directions like the original, hitting things in the game is easier now than ever to hit things. That coupled with being able to map items, weapons, or spells to the bumpers as shortcuts, battle feels pretty good. I mean, it's still a slow paced battle system considering you still have to wait for your action gauge to hit 100%, but that's just how the game is. But shortcuts aren't the only thing, like the newly added mini-map (which uses the original game's maps, which is really cool and it's nice to see the original game within the new). Also, using the D-pad to swap between characters quickly has been really useful as well. I find myself in the remake swapping characters frequently depending on who's using what weapons. Ultimately, I think the battle system is either on par, if not better than the original.
But there's one thing I've saved for last. Something that I think it the games biggest offense. And that's the exclusion of an online feature. Honestly, all the issues that any negative Steam review has mentioned, I could blow off if only this game had online. I'd consider any issues just kind of nit-picking since I'd be able to play a childhood game in a more modern form alongside my friends. This is the game's biggest flaw. And what's sad is the excuse the developer's gave for this:
"You have three players sitting next to each other on the couch with three controllers – all playing at the same time. I think a lot of the enjoyment that people have in their memories of the original game relies on that playstyle. We felt it was best to have that recreated in the same way." - Oyamada, Producer
This is flawed on so many levels. The biggest of which is that having online wouldn't take away from those that do want to have the local co-op experience. It is no excuse to not include the feature. Specially with us older gamers who grew up with the game, our close-knit group of friends have moved off and gotten jobs elsewhere. Online is the only option we have now. And to turn a blind eye to this is selfish and lazy. This is ultimately why I can't recommend this game, specially at $40. It's a huge disappointment and shows that the developer doesn't actually care about the players. And what's sad is that I did like this game. I want to recommend it. It's just that it could have been so much more. It's a situation where I'm more disappointed than mad. The only hope is that one day they'd include an online mulitplayer update… but I am skeptical to say the least.
Dr Flibble
June 2018
Vampyr (PS4) -
This is a slow game. If spending a LOT of time talking to NPCs doesn't interest you, stay far away from this one. The game is probably 50% talking, 25% map exploration, and 25% combat. If that's not a deal breaker for you, then you might enjoy Vampyr quite a bit. The game is basically an RPG that allows you to level up your powers and weapons with a combat system that reminded me a bit of The Surge. You play a vampire who is also a doctor living in London during a time of World War and plague. A lot of the gameplay involves talking to NPCs to find out what ails them, what secrets they have, and helping them when needed. The game has a really interesting motivator to make the player want to help these people, as helping them and unlocking their secrets boosts their XP gauge, which is how much XP you can get from them by eating them. Kinda like fattening lambs for the slaughter. I thought this was a pretty cool mechanic. Of course should you not want to kill everyone you meet, that's fine, but you'll be missing out on a lot of XP, which means you won't be able to level up as much, which means the game will be harder. The combat is fun and has a Soulsy quality to it in that there is stamina management and parries etc, but for me, while I found it mostly enjoyable, I was getting bored of fighting the same clumps of dudes over and over again. There is not much enemy variety.
The story was interesting and some of the NPCs you encounter were fun, but this game is a lot more generic than a game like Vampire The Masquerade with all those cool families and ghouls. I also didn't like some of the choices they made with their vampire lore, particularly in regard to the Elders. The soundtrack is basically non-stop violin scraping which suits the mood of the game but can get a bit irritating. Or at least it did for me. The combat was fun enough but could have been better. There were plenty of boss fights but most of them were pretty forgettable.
Overall, it's worth a look if you like vampires and don't mind a slow pace game. I'm sure it will be in the bargain bins soon. 5/10
Add a Comment
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Sign In
Create a New Account
All Discussions
Game Discussion
NooBTooB Episode Discussion
Gaming News
Gaming Culture
Game Reviews
Media Discussion
User Generated Content
Events & Game Nights
Help and Questions
Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)
Site Discussion
Off-Topic Discussion
Hall of Fame
↳ Noob's Choice Awards
↳ Noob's Choice Awards 2015
↳ Noob's Choice Awards 2014
↳ UGC Awards
In this Discussion
Dr Flibble
June 2018
January 2018
February 2018
February 2018
January 2018
February 2018
January 2018
Most Popular This Week


text:
Becoming a Manager of A High-Performance Work Team
In recent years, employee teams have proven to be an effective means to increased productivity and profitability for more and more businesses. The purpose of this article is to help you shape any team into a high performing work system. The article focuses on helping you acquire the skills needed to manage any team at a level of high performance. It will help you define the role of the team leader and the roles of team members, and it will enable you to effectively communicate these responsibilities in order to create an environment of shared values and minimum conflict. By using this article, you will understand how best to apply the team concept to the workplace.
Why Teams?
During the last decade, it became increasingly apparent that "no man is an island." Teamwork is an essential operational tool that is now more crucial to producing results than ever before. As organizations within the public and private sectors continue to restructure in favor of work teams, teams are being used more than ever as an effective and beneficial method of managing employees and doing business. This leads to more attention and resources being allocated to the development and leadership of teams.
As the focus tightens on teams, team-building activities and leadership processes are gaining momentum as vital management activities. Consequently, team leaders and managers must stay on top of the latest in team training and development to leverage this increase in opportunities and responsibilities.
The prevalence of teams has increased in recent years for a number of reasons, including:
The first definitive study of work teams was conducted in 1990 by the Netherlands Institute for the Working Environment in cooperation with the General Employers' Union. Some of the reported effects of implementing work teams were:
The study concluded that work teams improved the quality of the work environment and led to higher productivity (in a broad sense of the word). Obviously, a high-performance work team can be an invaluable asset to an organization as well as to the individuals involved.
There are many resources that focus on the team itself and how to improve its efficiency (including Building an Effective Team ), but the purpose of this discussion is to focus on the people behind the scenes the team leaders, managers, facilitators and coaches and provide them with a step-by-step program for improving their own performance in achieving team excellence.
I. The Team - Are You an Effective Leader?
Before we begin, take a few moments to complete
the following quiz to assess the current functioning of your work team, as it relates to
your performance as the leader. This will give you a framework by which to benchmark your
abilities as a team leader as you progress through this article.
If you answered "yes" to numbers 1, 2, 6, 7 and 12, and had more than seven "no" answers, congratulations! Your team is in sound shape, and you're doing a bang-up leadership job. If you had seven or less "no" answers, or answered "no" to any of questions 1, 2, 6, 7 or 12, your leadership abilities probably need a little work. However, don't despair; you're in good company. No matter what your current leadership abilities are, there's always room for improvement.
If your team needs improving, the improvements must begin with you, as the team leader. There are various steps you can take and exercises you can perform to become a stronger leader, and we will examine some of them in this article.
Back to Outline
II. Team Building and Leadership Building - The Whole Is No Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts
"People cannot be managed. Inventories can be managed; People must be led." Ross Perot
In every team, each member has four distinct areas of responsibility, and it is your responsibility to make each member aware of them. They are:
How do you ensure that you're communicating these responsibilities to your team members? Leadership specialist and author Donald J. Bodwell recommends listing each of these roles on a sheet of flip chart paper, along with an explanation of each, and taping it on the wall of the team meeting room. This will help keep the elements in front of the team as they work toward meeting their objectives. Note: Each should receive its own page so that the text can be written large enough to be seen across the room.
Just as each team member has a well defined list of duties, the team leader (or manager, coach or facilitator) has four distinct areas of responsibility, similar and complementary to those set forth for his team players:
Within these areas of responsibility, the following are some of the specific duties of a high-performance team leader:
Leadership occurs any time someone attempts to influence the behavior of an individual or group, regardless of the reason. It may be for one's own goals, those of others, or for organizational goals. Degrees and styles of leadership within this basic framework differ tremendously.
The traditional "command and control" leadership that carried many organizations to high levels of performance during periods in the past when competition was not so great and things didn't change very fast has passed its time. The demands on the total organization are too great for a few people at the top to carry all the weight.
Enter work teams and the newest principal in the leadership arena: the team leader.
Exercise #1: Quick Team Check
You can use this assessment tool to see how well you are leading your team at any point in time. This Quick Team Check (QTC), as the name implies, is easy to administer and score. You should give every team member a copy of the QTC, and allow them to score their own assessment, as the total QTC score is simply a tally of their answers on the 10 items. Note: On the surface, your team will be evaluating its effectiveness, but there is a deeper meaning to this exercise. Your team's scores, to a large extent, will reveal how effective you are as a team leader. Be prepared to accept their evaluations and make changes as necessary.
Have each team member review the statement list (below) then, according to the following scale, indicate the extent to which they agree that it is true about your team right now. Have them place the number of their response in the space to the left of the statement.
Required time:
10-15 minutes
5 - True
4 - Somewhat true
3 - True sometimes and false sometimes
2 - Somewhat false
1 - False
Total Score: ______
(Adapted with permission from Glenn M. Parker, 25 Instruments for Team Building, HRD Press, 1998.)
Interpreting the Results:
37-50 = High Performance
Whatever you're doing as a team leader is working and should be continued. The team dynamics are overwhelmingly positive. However, the enemies of high performing teams are complacency and stagnation. Therefore, spend some time with your team identifying the factors (e.g., leadership, training, support) that have produced your excellent results and plan to invest in these assets. Address the few weakness areas the survey reveals.
23-36 = Average Performance
The team is doing OK, but improvements are needed. As a team, identify the areas where your scores were low, analyze the causes of the situation, and develop a plan to address the issues. You, as team leader, should also analyze the specific results for each of the 10 areas on the QTC and formulate proactive measures you can take to bring your team's functioning up to the positive end of the performance continuum.
10-22 = Below-Average Performance
You and your team need to take a hard look at these results. Develop a plan that includes short-term actions to produce immediate results and provide incentive, as well as take steps to address the long-term issues dealing with the team's lack of effective team fundamentals.
The QTC is excellent fodder for stimulating ongoing discussions to improve your future performance. Here are some ideas for facilitating subsequent discussions:
Exercise #2: "Warp Speed"
The purpose of this exercise is to practice communication and problem solving as a team unit and to practice establishing team processes in a confidence building situation.
Required resources:
Your team (ideally eight to 20 people), a stopwatch and a tennis ball
Required time:
30 minutes
Have the team stand in a circle facing one another. Explain that you will toss the tennis ball to one of the team members, and they are to continue throwing the ball one member at a time until each member has caught and passed the ball once. The last participant then tosses the ball back to the starting team member, thus completing the process. Instruct the team to note who threw the ball to them and whom they threw to. Also, make them aware that you will be timing the process. If the ball is dropped, just pick it up and continue the process. On your signal, the exercise begins. When they finish, announce how much time the process took (usually around 35 to 45 seconds).
Now, tell the team to repeat the process, but cut their time by half. Give them two minutes to discuss amongst themselves their approach to the problem: How will they complete all of the steps in the same sequence in half the time? Invariably, teams will improve the time to execute the process by about half, sometimes slightly better. However, they will have to have made some change in order to achieve the objective perhaps by moving closer together.
Repeat this process three or four times until the team achieves their lowest possible time. The fastest possible process (two to four seconds) involves having the team members sort themselves into the perfect order of flow; that is, a straight flow in one direction with the starting/ending team member swiping the ball across the outstretched hands of his fellow team members.
When you are finished, help the team members process the experience by asking them to explain what they learned from this exercise. Other questions include: "How many of you thought it wasn't possible to cut the speed in half the first time? After you achieved one success, did you think you could repeat the success a second time? What had to change in order for you to achieve success each time?"
Point out that the team managed to get from 40-plus seconds to just a few. Ask them, "Would you have been able to achieve the fastest performance right off the bat?" The answer is, probably not, but ask them what happened that allowed them to ultimately get to such a superior level of performance.
What can you learn and take away from this experience? This exercise allows you to teach team members how to build on previous successes an important lesson for every team leader (and team member).
Back to Outline
III. Vision - Begin With the End in Mind
Becoming a successful team leader requires that you help your employees shift from an individual mindset to thinking and operating as part of a high functioning team. The good news is that the majority of people sincerely want to excel as members of a team, as well excelling as individuals. They want to be part of something significant. They want to do important work and experience new challenges. They want to grow. They want to relate to other people whom they trust and respect. Perhaps most importantly, they want to create meaning in their lives. Joining like-minded others in the pursuit of a common goal is one of the ways in which they can do this.
All of this works to the benefit of the team philosophy: When members are committed to the overall success and vision of the team, the rest generally falls into place. The problem often lies with defining and implementing that vision a responsibility that rests with the team leader.
Each team needs to have its own unique and clearly defined vision that reflects its particular purpose and its personal character. The team vision or mission is the "unifying force" that brings together the diverse members on a team. To be truly effective, a team vision or mission must reflect the shared ideas and values of everyone on the team. Of course, the team vision must also support the organizational vision and align with other related teams.
Take note that there is a difference in a vision that has been created jointly by every member of the team and one that has been written by a few executives in a mahogany paneled room and this difference can mean a world of difference to the effectiveness of the team. The team mission statement must be more than a few flowery words on a piece of paper; it must reflect the shared vision of the team, as determined by the team. If the team isn't involved in the creation and implementation of the team vision, they won't buy into it.
A deeply felt team vision creates unity and tremendous commitment within a team. When all members of the team agree upon and understand their vision, everything else flows more easily. It creates within individuals an inner frame of reference by which they may govern themselves, and the need for management control, criticism or intercession is greatly reduced. If your team members have bought into the vision as a changeless core, defining what their team and organization stands for, your job as leader will be immeasurably easier and more edifying.
If your team is unclear as to its vision, or has not yet defined its vision, as team leader this must be your foremost priority. It will take time, patience, ingenuity, understanding, skill and compromise to design your team's vision but it's a necessary step.
The first matter is to call an all-team council. At this council, you'll want to make certain that all team members feel comfortable and understand that their contribution is vital, regardless of the history of past team functioning. You can use the following icebreaker, called a "Slogans Session," to get your team thinking and working together to formulate your team vision. Often, a non-threatening activity such as this can open up the discussion and really get all team members involved in the process.
Such team-building activities "put all participants on a level playing field and provide an environment for dialog, interaction and effective communication," says The Corporate Training Institute's Tim Buividas. "They allow people to experiment with different behaviors and ideas in a safe learning laboratory."
Exercise #3: Slogans Session
The purposes of this activity are to give team members an opportunity to reflect on the current character of the team; to furnish an opportunity to assess the team with images rather than numbers; and to provide a springboard for defining and implementing an all-team vision with mission statement.
Required resources:
A copy of the "slogans" handout (below) for each person, writing instruments and chairs set around a round or rectangular table
Required time:
30 to 45 minutes
Handout: Slogans
Back to Outline
IV. Conflict Resolution - The True Test of Leadership
One advantage a team has over an individual is diversity of knowledge and ideas. However, with diversity comes differences, and differences can lead to conflict. These conflicts remain the number one problem facing most work team leaders. Research shows that although most managers are aware of and have received conflict-resolution training, they fail to give sufficient priority to resolving conflicts.
Not all conflict has to be bad, however. Conflict within a team can lead to new ideas and innovative ways of doing things, put the spotlight on underlying issues, agitate for needed change, bring about greater efficiency and productivity, and ultimately lead to improved communication and closeness. But negative conflict, left unchecked, can quickly escalate into a crisis situation. Nothing can immobilize or destroy a team as quickly as destructive conflict.
Conflict arises from differences in opinions, backgrounds, values, attitudes and experiences. Destructive conflict often stems from factors such as poor planning, faulty communication, vague objectives and expectations, a climate of distrust or disrespect within a team, undue pressure to meet deadlines, budgets or responsibilities, personality conflicts, resentment and competition.
In order to deal with conflict effectively, you'll need to understand the causes of conflict and the impact of conflict on individuals and on the team as a whole. As team leader, you must recognize conditions for potential conflict, try to derail conflicts before they escalate, and manage situations when and if they arise.
The key to healthy conflict management is communication. Examine the following barriers to communication that are sure to lead to conflict, and be alert to whether they are occurring in your organization:
How do you, as a team leader, eliminate these barriers? There are five generally accepted methods for managing negative conflict:
Whatever methods you and your team employ, conflict must be purposefully dealt with, for well managed conflict can be a source of innovation and growth.
Back to Outline
V. From Mediocrity to Excellence - Leading the High-Performance Team
Within most organizations, team excellence is an absolute prerequisite to organizational excellence, since much of the day-to-day work is accomplished at the team level. Organizational excellence can only be defined in the context of individual excellence and team excellence.
Team building is the process of leading an average, or even inferior, team into the realm of high performance. It is a systematic way to enhance a group's ability to execute and achieve at consistently high levels. Using team building techniques, an effective team leader can guide his team from mediocrity to excellence in teamwork.
For a tangible depiction of the
range of teamwork, it is helpful to lay out a teamwork continuum. In this example, the
negative end of the continuum is defined as mediocrity in teamwork and the positive end as
high-performance teamwork.
|Teamwork Continuum Mediocrity in Teamwork -------- High-Performance Teamwork
Where, on this continuum, is your team? Mapping where you are today, where you can be tomorrow, and where you should be ideally helps bring your work into focus.
The challenge for every team is to improve their ability to function at the positive end of the continuum, and to continuously accomplish higher and higher levels of performance. To do this, every member of the team must strive to continually improve their team skills and their ability to add to the whole of the group.
Change is usually inconvenient and often uncomfortable. But a forward thinking leader will embrace change as a path to an increasingly higher functioning team.
|There are many variations in the creation of
successful teams, but we can identify certain hallmarks of high-performance teams. They
By understanding and internalizing these qualities of highly effective work teams, you can help advance your team toward excellence.
Improving Meeting Efficiency
Improving the efficiency of your meetings can also be a great asset. If it often seems that your meetings are nothing more than a necessary evil, your team may benefit from the following tools and exercises. But remember, "the key to any successful activity is the real transfer back to the workplace," says Buividas. "If the activity cannot relate to the workplace, it should never be done."
Exercise #4: "Meeting Monsters"
The objective of this activity is to identify the types of behaviors that disrupt team meetings and to develop tactics for dealing with problem behaviors in meetings.
All team members and leader(s) - ideally five to 20 people.
Time limit:
60 to 90 minutes
Physical Setting:
Chairs around a conference table or tables arranged in a U-shape. As an alternative, three or four sets of tables are spread out around the room so that people can sit in teams of four or five members.
Materials and resources:
Handout: Meeting Monsters
Many of these "monsters" are disruptive to the team process and can subvert your goals. Here are two ideas for reducing disruptive behaviors and minimizing their impact during team meetings:
But remember, Bowde cautions, "A high-performance team leader must be careful to avoid slipping into the roles of steering or facilitation. Your role is to teach and encourage high-performance team behavior and to provide options and approaches when the team becomes stuck. A facilitator who 'oversees' a group or seems to be steering the group, can also cause individuals to 'quit and stay,' a situation where group members lose interest, enthusiasm and ownership in the team processes."
Team Member Evaluation
Part of your role as team leader may also be team member evaluation. Two methods for evaluating and tracking individual performance are the performance agreement and the team member self-assessment.
Exercise #5: Team Member Self-Assessments
Team members can effectively use this tool with little or no direction. Have team members spend 15 minutes at the end of the workday each Friday to review and record the week's accomplishments and shortfalls, and to devote an hour during the last week of the month to a similar analysis of the month's successes and failures. The individual appraising his or her performance should develop a checklist that they feel reflects all of their expected roles and goals, as well as addresses the four areas of responsibility described earlier to ensure that all are adequately performed.
Additionally, set time aside at the end of the year to individually review with your team members their progress and to develop a plan for their personal development during the upcoming year.
Exercise #6: Performance Agreements
The focus here is on results, not methods. In focusing on results over methods, the agreement unleashes greater human potential and advances individual accountability. The agreement can be in the form of a contract or a letter; it's not material to the success of the exercise. In the agreement, responsibilities and consequences are clearly spelled out. These predetermined consequences then become the natural result of the team member's performance not a "reward" or "punishment" arbitrarily handed out by you or other management.
With a well-defined performance agreement, each individual team member will have a clear understanding of the results of their choices. They will know, for example, what will happen if they regularly miss team meetings, if they're uncooperative, etc. (reprimand, reassigned, etc.) Or what will result if they consistently advance the team mission, or if they fulfill their appointed responsibilities, etc. (recognition, advancement, bonus, etc.) The consequences, negative or positive, will be clearly laid out. As you can see, performance agreements can be liberating and motivating.
A note or two on the subject of compensation and reward: In general, most teams will not attain high performance levels unless there is adequate recognition for the accomplishments of all team members. This can be achieved through feedback, public recognition, praise, monetary compensation, fringe benefits and/or promotion. It's just a basic fact of human nature that we all desire and perform better with rewards. You will see better results both on the team and personal level if you tie in an increase in performance with an increase in reward.
Back to Outline
VI. Win/Win
"You can't change the fruit without changing the root," the saying goes. For team management and coaches, trying to improve your team leadership without understanding the principal of win/win can be as successful as trying to uproot a weed by hacking at the leaves. Win/win is more than a technique or program; it's a total paradigm of human interaction.
In an interdependent relationship such as a team, the win/win principle is really the only viable method of interaction. Essentially, each member of the team, including you, must feel they are "winning" in their job. Winning, not in a competitive sense, but in mutually beneficial cooperation. Wining in the allotment of responsibilities, the management of resources, the conducting of meetings, the resolution of conflict, the earning and rewarding of compensation and in each of these areas, the team manager must strive to discover solutions that will please and benefit everyone. Anything less than win/win in interdependent situations is a poor second best that will negatively impact the long-term team relationship and performance.
Within a win/win paradigm, the value is on the team: we can do it, we can achieve, we are responsible, we can cooperate and pool our time and talents to create something better together. Using win/win, you can create a team of highly effective members who work together to compete against self-imposed criteria and external standards of performance.
Back to Outline
VII. Conclusion - Teams Work
People usually bring to their work some experience with teams. Whether through Camp Fire Girls or Little League, most employees have participated in one team or another during their lifetime. Work teams, though different, are an extension of these early teams. Work teams have been important since people first formed organizations to accomplish tasks too big to be performed by individuals alone and they will remain important as long as people continue to live and work together.
And, as organizations continue to make the advantageous move to teams, motivated, well trained and caring team managers will remain an indispensable human asset. The task that lies ahead for leaders is in meeting the challenge. Aristotle said, "Without definition there is no meaning."
As Buividas puts it: "Starting today, leaders, coaches and managers need to re-define, re-communicate, and re-commit to ensure that all employees have the same basic understanding of the team, its goals and their individual roles in creating its success. If leaders took time every day to clarify the vision, conflict would decrease, members would be more aligned with the mission and purpose of the team and the organization, productivity and profitability would increase, customer satisfaction and loyalty would increase, and a workplace based on trust and mutual values would be established."
Back to Outline
VIII. Resources
Tim Buividas, The Corporate Learning Institute.
Center for the Study of Work Teams, University of North Texas, P. O. Box 311280 Denton, Texas 76203-1280, (940) 565-3096
Donald J. Bodwell, Electronic Data Systems, (972) 734-3026
G. M. Parker, "Team Players and Teamwork" (Jossey-Bass, 1990)
G. M. Parker, "Cross-Functional Teams: Working With Allies, Enemies and Other Strangers" (Jossey-Bass, 1998)
C. A. Townsley, "Resolving Conflict in Work Teams" (CSWT Reports, 1999)
G. M. Parker and R. P. Kropp, Jr., "50 Activities for Self-Directed Teams" (HRD Press, 1994)
Back to Outline
Copyright © 2013, Virtual Advisor Inc.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dear friends,
This problem with date insertion. I am using back-end as oracle. Actually, in ORACLE, i created a table forummessage, having a column named as "dateofposting date". I created a servlet for storing/inserting the values. But, unable to store date value from the servlet into that table named forummessage. It is saying that java.util.Date and java.sql.Date are not compatible; so, i can i make it compatible and store it.
Please, tell me how can i insert date value(s) from servlet to a table using PreparedStatement.
thank you
urs madhukar


text: Newborn Baby Newborn Care Your baby's skin: Nappy Rash Treatment One of the first things you will notice is how soft your baby's skin is. It needs to be cared for and protected.This delicate skin has some tough jobs: it lets her sense and learn about the world around her, lets you communicate with her through touch and also protects her from the environment. That's why it's important to keep your baby's skin protected and healthy. It's helpful to know that nappy rash is common, more than half of babies between the ages of 4 and 15 months will develop nappy rash at least once in a two-month period. But don't worry, most common and mild cases will heal within 3-4 days with extra care. Prevention first To help avoid rash, change nappies regularly. Even the best nappies need to be changed to protect your baby's skin. Look for a nappy with a wetness indicator that can absorb runny poo, like Pampers New Baby. It's super soft and helps keep your baby's skin protected and dry. Treating your baby's nappy rash: Change wet or soiled nappies frequently to decrease moisture on the skin. Gently clean the nappy area with water and a soft flannel, or use gentle nappy wipes like Pampers Sensitive Wipes Pat dry baby's skin. Do not rub. Allow the area to air dry fully. Protect the skin: Gently apply a thin layer of protective ointment or cream with zinc oxide and/or petroleum. Keep your skin dry with a soft, absorbent, high-quality nappy that locks wetness away. Make sure that nappies aren't too tight so wetness stays away from the skin. Talk to your doctor if: A rash is severe; when it's raw, blistering or bleeding. The rash looks unusual. The rash doesn't get better even with extra care. You might also like:


text:
Available ebook formats: epub mobi pdf rtf lrf pdb txt html
Jezebel Jorge is a practicing witch, medium, and a Reiki 2 light worker. She likes to have her genre described as Witch Lit - Sizzle and spice and some things Not so Nice.
Unlike most authors, the Voices running amok inside her head are sometimes spirits reaching out to tell their stories from the other side. Ghosts like to embellish just as the living, but there is usually a bit of truth entwined within her fictional stories.
Jezebel uses over twenty years of being around the inner workings of the wrestling business to make the pro wrestlers in her Ring Dreams series jump right off the page and into the squared circle. She takes you behind the curtain, immersing her readers in an industry where the truth is often stranger than fiction.
She lives in Nashville, TN with a spoiled rotten Golden Retriever / Great Pyrenees mix named Harry Potter and Odessa, a very vocal Spirit Guide with an affinity for snakes.


text:
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Singing for Your Supper
One of the secret treats of my summer is to go out for a preliminary walk first thing on Sunday morning while my coffee is brewing and the day is still fresh. The mist is rising off the Allegheny River and sometimes there are some pretty amazing colors – peach, pink, even baby blue – up in the sky.
Aspinwall hosts a flea market and farm to market produce stand in our local municipal parking lot on Sundays and it's a very entertaining event. A lot of retired people show up to see what's going on, it's like a party; everyone knows each other and the vendors are standing around, gossiping. I've picked up some pretty nice vintage lace for curtains down there and the tomatoes and fresh picked corn can't be beat.
Before I leave the flea market I have to wander past the bookseller. He's a long-haired groovy dude who looks a lot like one of my uncles and he sells hardback books for a dollar. I've found a couple of first edition mysteries in his stacks and even with a TBR pile that is threatening to topple over every time someone opens my front door, I can't say no to a book for a buck so I end up buying more and taking them home.
Last Sunday I got all intellectual and bought Selected Poems by Lord Byron. I seemed to have missed the Regency period in my study of English Literature (Capital E, Capital L) so I thought it wouldn't hurt me to actually force myself to read this one. The funny thing is that once I slowed down enough to translate 19th century syntax, I actually enjoyed it.
The first thing was I knew he was a Lord, a British peer. I had already picked up that much. I also knew he was a bad boy because my grandfather nicknamed one of my childhood associates 'Lord Byron' (his real name was Will) and I was smart enough even at twelve years old to draw the obvious inference. What I didn't know was that Lord Byron was writing and struggling to make a living at it. His poem Don Juan was pre-sold by subscription:
From CANTO 221
But for the present, gentle reader! and
Still gentler purchaser! The bard – that's I –
Must, with permission, shake you by the hand,
And so your humble servant, and goodbye!
We meet again, if we should understand
Each other; and if not, I shall not try
Your patience further than by this short sample –
"Twere well if others follow'd my example.
I have to put just a bit in here about how really bad George Gordon was. Nowadays we are such "well regulated creatures" that we haven't had a bad boy Rock'n'Roll star lately. I think Lord B qualified:
"On April 15, 1816, to escape scandal, Byron left England. For the rest of his life his wondered the Continent in self-imposed exile. In Geneva he began a friendship with Percy Shelly, who was there with his wife Mary Godwin (Frankenstein). There, too, he finished the third canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and had a brief affair with another ardent and aggressive admirer, Claire Clairmont, Mary's half-sister. A daughter, Allegra, was born of this liaison.
Byron then moved on to Venice to perhaps his most debauched period as well as the beginning of his most creatively productive; in Italy he finished the fourth canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, wrote The Vision of Judgement (1822) and the sixteen cantos of Don Juan, considered to be his best and most mature works. In addition to his various semi-permanent mistresses, he kept in his rented palazzo an ever changing harem of Venetian women; by Byron's own count there were more than two hundred."
Introduction - Christopher Moore
I've tried to imagine the life going on in that Venetian palazzo. It must have been a constant uproar of wife, mistresses, children, servants, mistresses, vendors, priests, English visitors, and dogs. Now I don't need dead silence to work but I do need relative calm. It's any wonder he found the time to write!
This last bit is what made me decide the book was worth a dollar. I imagined L.B. locked in an upper room, above all the turmoil going on downstairs and out on the Venetian canals, the noise, the singing, barking, laughing, loving, living distractions, with him sitting at a desk knowing that he needs to pop out a couple more stanzas for those loyal subscribers back home who will then send him enough cash to keep the whole extravagant circus afloat. He settles in, takes a big sigh, braces his shoulders for the task ahead and:
From CANTO III
Hail, Muse! Et cetera –
- George Gordon, Lord Byron
8 comments:
Wow, selling writing on subscription. Something we cculd all learn from? Or maybe it's called "an advance"?
And what is it with no "bad boy" rock stars in popular consciousness recently?
Tory, call it what you will, I'd like some. : )
And I've noticed the lack of bad boys lately. God knows the girls are acting up, but where are the Jim Morrisons, the Mick Jaggers of this generation? Sure they were bad, but they had fun.
Are the current bad boys so well managed that we never find out about them anymore? If so, that seems a pity.
- Annette said...
I've seen a few wannabe bad boys (who the hell was that jerk who hosted the MTV awards the other night?) but you're right. None of them truly qualify. Perhaps we are in the Age of Wild Women and the Bad Boys are taking a breather.
Interesting and educational post, Martha.
I miss the bad boys. Do you remember the Brut (?) commercial where a bar full of women look up as a whole band of good looking guys walks in and one woman says: "Where have you guys been?"
- Joyce Tremel said...
Very interesting, Martha. I never knew all that about Lord Byron.
I'll take your word about the lack of bad boys. I never pay attention to that stuff.
Justin Timberlake might be a bad boy if he ever escapes his handlers...
- Jenna said...
Y'all should check out Diana Killian's Poetic Death series. I've mentioned my friend Diana before - she's the one who writes the yoga mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime - but she also writes a series about an American school teacher in the lake district in England, who has adventures and mysteries rooted in the 'bad boy' poets and their work. The first book, IIRC, 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors' had to do with Byron and Allegra and all that. They're a lot of fun.
Excellent post, Martha.
Jennie, thank you; you've got me curious. I've dipped into Shelley so now I may have to go back.


text:
Admit it. You've done it. You've done it out loud or you've done it in your mind. You've done it at everybody wearing a Mets uniform, and you've been doing it since a year ago Saturday night whenever the situation has called for it. You've done this:
The Mets celebrated the first anniversary of "TWO HANDS!" by not dropping a road game they had in the palms of their mitts from the fifth pitch, the one Jose Reyes deposited over Camden Yards' human-scaled left field wall (bandbox or not, it's a marvelous change of pace to witness a Met not have to deploy a cannon to hit a baseball out of a baseball stadium). Hisanori Takahashi found his groove, Jeff Francouer homered to the opposite field — OP@CY surely playing like the opposite of Citi Field — and somewhere in the middle of all that, the Mets' second baseman acquitted himself really well.
That wasn't the case one year earlier. At the end of a decade when second base devolved from showcase (Edgardo Alfonzo) to sham (Roberto Alomar), then miscast (Jose Reyes) to mistake (Kaz Matsui), the state of the position reached its logical 2000s nadir when Luis Castillo, on the night of June 12, 2009, failed to catch a pop fly off the bat of Alex Rodriguez at Yankee Stadium. There were two outs in the ninth inning, there were two runners on base and the Mets led by one. All Castillo had to do was catch a pop fly and they would have beaten the Yankees. It wasn't the simplest of pop flies, judging by Castillo's unsteady route under its arc, but it wasn't all that complex for a 14-year-veteran who had been voted three Gold Gloves by National League managers and coaches, the most recent of them less than four years prior.
It was a pop fly. He was a second baseman. We had a one-run lead with two outs in the ninth. How hard could have it been?
It wouldn't have been hard at all had Luis Castillo brought his bare hand to his glove hand once the ball hit the glove. The second hand helps out the first hand. The second hand ensures the ball will stay in the first hand. Together, they form two hands and secure a third out.
Well, we know that didn't happen. We know Luis Castillo used only one of the two hands he was issued at birth. He also called on absolutely none of the common sense the good lord presumably gave him, futzing around after the ball bounced out of his glove and onto the ground. Instead of staying with the play and firing the ball home to possibly nail a sprinting Mark Teixeira and send this abomination of a game to extra innings, he disinterestedly bounced a throw toward the infield.
Mets lose. I let out a scream that, one year later, is just now leaving our solar system.
In the wake of Luis Castillo's dropped popup, it became the night of the long knives around here. The first victim, I declared, had to be the perpetrator of the crime. Release Castillo Now, I demanded. As extreme as it sounded, even to me, I was dead serious. Send the rapidly deteriorating Mets a message. Send him packing ASAP! Get Joe Pisarcik, Jr., out of my sight forever.
Of course the Mets didn't do that. The Mets would never do that. They owed him a ship-ton of money and — though it was of no help to the team at the time — Castillo was experiencing an offensive renaissance…for him. His on-base percentage after that game was .376. Luis was exponentially better in 2009 than 2008, which is to say he was darn adequate when he wasn't committing the most egregious, embarrassing error in club history.
I would yell "TWO HANDS! USE TWO HANDS!" at him for the rest of the season. So would you. So would everybody. We'd yell it at Castillo and we'd yell at it any Met who attempted to settle under a baseball in flight. Last month in Flushing, on a night that eventually became the antithesis of a heartbreaker but at the time was just a game we were losing to Washington, Pudge Rodriguez popped a ball to very short right with two outs in the top of third. Castillo backpedaled and, despite multiple entreaties from all of us fielding coaches in Section 109, chose to use one hand to make the catch. The ball was caught, but nobody was satisfied.
"These guys," the man in the next row turned to me to say — "they never learn."
No, they don't. Almost none of them. In the seventh Saturday night in Baltimore, Cesar Izturis lined a Takahashi pitch to left. It wasn't the game, but it was a key moment. Julio Lugo was on first, there were two out, we were up by one. We wanted Hisanori to get through seven. We wanted the lead to remain intact. Mostly, we wanted Jason Bay to catch the ball. And he did…with one hand.
Do they ever learn? I don't know. Luke Scott hit Frankie Rodriguez's first delivery of the ninth to Angel Pagan in center. Angel, who seemed learning-challenged most of 2009, used two hands. It was a delight to behold.
Wishing for Luis Castillo to be unconditionally released following his dropped pop fly proved a fantasy. He continued his pretty decent offensive season the rest of last year. He wasn't going gangbusters in 2010, but I'd finally, sometime during the 9-1 homestand, decided I'd "forgiven" him. That sounds rather haughty, I realize, for Luis Castillo didn't consciously do dirt unto me personally, but c'mon. Dropping the last out of a Subway Series game at Yankee Stadium? Of course it was personal. It was personal for all of us. I didn't boo Luis Castillo the balance of 2009, but I was highly stingy with my encouragement. It took until May of 2010 to give him the requisite hand — even one hand — when the starting lineups were announced.
Luis hasn't played lately. Went onto the DL with a foot problem. His absence meant we'd see a little of Alex Cora (which is exactly how much of Alex Cora you'd want to see) and quite a bit of Ruben Tejada. It's been so long since we've been given an extended glimpse of a genuine middle infield prospect — the winning touch of Argenis Reyes notwithstanding — that I wasn't sure how to judge what I might be seeing.
I had no problem figuring out Saturday that Ruben Tejada is pretty damn good at second, even if he's actually a shortstop. He was in the middle of an around-the-horn double play early and made a sensational jump and throw to retire Adam Jones later. Ron Darling compared him to Roberto Alomar, presumably the pre-Met version. Tejada was showing himself to be a free-range second baseman, unencumbered by age, injury and lack of mobility. He also singled and scored what proved to be the winning run in the sixth.
I'm not sure I'm ready to anoint Ruben Tejada the second baseman of the future or even the present. He's supposed to be a shortstop and he's only 20 years old. He's batting .185 and is obviously raw. But he is exciting and the Mets are winning.
Ruben Tejada's posting, at least as far as 2010 is concerned, appears to be temporary. Luis Castillo's foot won't keep him out forever (though with the Mets you never know). He'll be back soon enough, laying down bunts and getting to grounders six inches to either side of him and probably holding onto pop flies, however many hands he chooses to use. Maybe the Mets will still be winning with him, too. Luis Castillo has proven to be not a total schlub no matter how horrendously onerous his contract still looks and how far over the hill he was when Omar Minaya insisted on signing him to it. The memory of June 12, 2009 has faded somewhat. I'm not really mad at Luis Castillo anymore.
But I gotta tell ya: I haven't missed him in the slightest since he's been out.


text:
A Tyler snake expert pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to smuggling seven Peruvian snakes into the United States by concealing them underneath his jacket.
William Lamar, 63, was caught with the snakes in August at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He had purchased the snakes at a market in Lima, Peru, and flew with them in his jacket to Miami and then to DFW, where a Transportation Security Administration officer found them while Lamar was trying to board a commuter flight to Tyler.
The snakes were all small, about six inches long, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Lamar transported them in plastic cases in his jacket.
The latest news from around North Texas.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, five of the snakes were venomous. The five Peruvian pit vipers included three Bothrops barnetti and two Bothrops pictus. The other two snakes were an Oxyrhopus fitzingeri and a Pseudalsophis elegans.
Lamar is a partial owner of Colorado-based ecotourism company Green Tracks, according to a representative who answered the phone at the company's listed phone number Tuesday. His biography on the company website states that Lamar also conducts research on reptiles and amphibians for the University of Texas at Tyler.
A university spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Lamar has been an adjunct professor there but was not able to confirm his current status with the school.
Lamar is the author of at least three books on snakes and reptiles and has been a speaker at an event for the Austin Herpetological Society, among other events in that field.
According to several articles posted online, Lamar has spent decades doing research in the Amazon and leading tours in the region.
According to U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, Lamar stated in an Eastern District of Texas courtroom that he knew he was violating the law by transporting the snakes in his jacket without proper authorization.
Lamar was not available for comment Tuesday.
He could face up to five years in prison at sentencing, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
More Dallas-Fort Worth-Area Stories:
Son Remembers Youth Pastor Killed in Crash
Dating Service Delivers Duds, Not Dreams: Former Employee
90,000 Ladybugs Released in Valley Ranch
City Funds New Home After 911 Calls Went Unanswered


text:
- About
- Details
- Postage & Returns
- Reviews
The Royal Baby Monkey by Kipling. Join Prince George & Princess Charlotte in welcoming little Louis into the family. Celebrate and commemorate the newest addition to the royal family with the Royal Baby Monkey.
A limited edition collector monkey in a box.
- Size: 8.5 L x 7 H x 5 W cm
Want help with ordering or need more information? Can't see what you want? Call us! If Kipling have it, we can get it cheaper than anywhere else on-line!! Please contact us on 01637 876698 & we'll be happy to help!
How your item will be sent
Order before 3pm and your item will be dispatched the same working day. All orders will be posted FREE via Royal Mail 2nd Class (48 Hours) delivery. Fancy it quicker? Then select the 1st Class (24 Hour) option for only £2.99!
For shipping large items of luggage outside mainland UK, please contact us as an additional charge will be required.
Returns Policy
If you want to return your order within 14 days of having received your goods. A full refund will be issued if it is clear the products haven't been used or damaged in any way & in their original packaging. When returning items you will be responsible for them until they reach us. Postal costs incurred by yourselves will not be reimbursed.


text:
Pena is a solid righty out of the pen, but is nothing truly special. His K/9 is 6.88, and his BB/9 is 2.91 this season. He also gets ground balls 46% of the time, not bad for a reliever. His fastball clocks in at around 95 MPH, and he also throws a slider and the occasional change up. His slide piece has solid movement on it, as does his change.
July 7, 2009
BDD on Tony Pena
Leave a Comment »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI


text:
Even as Tesla Motors labors to build out its North American network of "Supercharger" recharging stations, the electric carmaker has unveiled an additional system that promises to get its vehicles juiced up and ready to run in less time than it takes to fill a traditional car's tank with fuel.
At an event at Tesla's Hawthorne, California design studio late on Thursday, founder Elon Musk showed off a system that can swap out a Tesla Model S's depleted battery for a fully charged one in around 90 seconds.
Motorists need never leave their vehicles. The driver simply parks the car over the designated spot and a platform rises from the ground, removes the 1,200-pound (544kg) battery from the underside of the chassis, and replaces it with a new one, all in around a minute and a half.
During Musk's demo, a screen overhead showed video of a motorist filling an Audi sedan's 23-gallon (87L) tank at a Los Angeles–area filling station, a process that took nearly four minutes. Musk took the opportunity to swap out a second Tesla's battery while he waited.
Unlike the company's Supercharger stations, which allow Tesla owners to recharge their batteries for free for the life of the car, Tesla plans to profit from the battery-swapping operation, CNNMoney reports.
A firm price for the service hasn't been set, but Musk has said he expects each swap to cost at least $50. During Thursday's demo, the Audi driver paid $99.83 to fill up, though many car models feature smaller tanks.
Faster than the pump: Elon Musk demos Tesla's new battery-swapping system
The batteries that are swapped in are just loaners. Each swapping station will stock about 50 batteries, which drivers are expected eventually to return in exchange for their own, original batteries. Their batteries will be fully charged, but they'll have to pay for a second swap to get them back.
If returning to the same swapping station is too inconvenient, customers can optionally pay to get their batteries shipped to a different service center, or they can keep the new batteries. In the latter case, they'll need to pay the difference in value between the new batteries and their original batteries, based on the batteries' respective ages.
Each swapping station is projected to cost around $500,000 to build, but it won't all be money out of Tesla's pocket. The 90-second swapping time helps Tesla meet the "fast refueling" requirement for zero-emissions vehicles set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which allows the cars to qualify for government clean-energy credits.
Because Tesla cars burn no fuel and they're manufactured in such small quantities relative to the big US automakers, Tesla actually earns surplus energy credits, which it can sell to other companies. Last quarter, such sales brought in $67.9m, which helped Tesla post its first-ever quarterly profit.
Musk said that if there is sufficient interest, Tesla would also consider licensing its battery-swapping technology to other companies.
Meanwhile, Tesla has been working hard to expand its network of free-to-use Supercharger recharging stations, which it expects to cover 80 per cent of the US and Canada by 2014.
The battery-swapping stations will be installed as an additional option at select Supercharger locations along high-traffic routes, and the first stations are expected to appear late this year. ®


text:
The first two decisions you make affect the sex of your Commander Shepard and or to import your own character from Mass Effect 2. Importing a character allows you to start at a higher level (up to Level 30) and attribute up to 20 Power Points to you and your Squad Members. This is a HUGE advantage.
- See Character Save File Guide if you are importing a Mass Effect 2 character.
The third decision, "Choose Your Experience," DRASTICALLY changes the gameplay -- like whether you have dialogue options or not.
- Action - There are NO dialogue options in this mode, so you won't be getting Paragon or Renegade points for those choices and you won't be able to hear all of the dialogue. You will NOT be able to choose Shepard's appearance. You also won't get to choose a Class.
- Role Playing - This is the standard Mass Effect experience, including dialogue options and standard combat. You will be able to choose Shepard's appearance. You get to choose a Class
- Story - This option allows you to coast through the story with dialogue options but very easy combat. You will be able to choose Shepard's appearance. You get to choose a Class
This walkthrough will primarily cover Role Playing.
Assuming you didn't choose Action, you will now be able to choose your Class and Psychological Profile. The former affects what Weapons and Powers you can use and the latter affects small, but specific dialogue options.
As part of Psychological Profile you will choose between Kaiden Alenko and Ashley Williams. The character you choose will NOT appear in the game.
- See Classes and Psychological Profile for more information.
In the opening cutscenes you meet old acquaintances like Kaiden Alenko or Ashley Williams and Admiral Anderson, and a few new characters, like James Vega as well. The Reapers have arrived and, after the long cutscene, you must escape the attack.
Follow Anderson using the waypoint indicator (click the RIGHT THUMBSTICK to see your target). You must run using the commands shown to clear the gap with a running leap. You begin with an M3 Predator I pistol but you have some Powers as well. Be sure to check out both the Weapons and Powers menus to familiarize yourself with the abilities at your disposal.
The first several enemies you see are Husks. They can take quite a few shots from your pistol, but they will ignore you for the time being.
Climb down the ladder by approaching it. The next few Husks must be attacked directly with melee attacks. Approach them from behind and hold MELEE to kill them with a Heavy Melee, or just tap it, since they are weak enemies.
After the Reaper destroys the building top, enter the flaming building and Salvage the Med Kit for a First Aid Power recharge (100 XP). You can now select First Aid from your Powers menu to heal yourself.
Approach the door and Heavy Melee the Husk. Now you can open the door.
In the cutscene with the young child and Anderson, you'll be able to gain some Paragon/Renegade points. Remember that the top right option gives you Paragon points, and the bottom right Renegade.
Pick up the Heat Sinks (these are the game's ammo) and you can use your overheated gun again. Pause the game and choose the Squad menu to see your Reputation rating.
After the Dreadnought is taken out, hop down and talk to the friendlies. Several Cannibals will appear. These easy enemies will take cover and fire at you. You should do the same. Aim for their mouths. You can direct Anderson to use his Concussive Shot by selecting it from the upper left of your Powers menu.
You can salvage another Med Kit just before rounding the corner to face more Cannibals. Even if you don't need it, the Salvage action always gives you XP (50 XP this time).
Kill the Cannibals and hang a right. The radio you are looking for is on the right side of this area. After using the radio you will unlock the M8 Avenger I for use. This Assault Rifle should be your weapon of choice for the Cannibals.
After you run out of ammo, the Normandy SR-2 will come to the rescue.


text:
Exercise is Important175
Product Details
Instant Download
A practical, evidence-based Inservice Training educational article, complete with Q&A.
PowerPoint slides covering how exercise is important for Alzheimer's elderly, also available in MS Word format,including teacher notes and discussion to make your teaching job much easier!
Additional handout materials on the topic, from official sources.
Unlimited copying rights for educational use within your facility. You can train as many within your facility as you want, at no additional cost! Once you order, simply click on the link provided and you've downloaded the file!


text:
Forensic Photographers in Sacramento, California, United States
Here are the listings of Forensic Photographers for Forensic photography work in Sacramento California United States. Each Sacramento photographer has its profile with portfolio of photography work, specialities and other details. You can use the filter facility on the left to exactly find an appropriate photographer in your area.
Free listings 1 Forensic Photographers in Sacramento California United States get listed here →
Howard Godfreyno portfolio
United States, California, Sacramento
Nearby cities:
- Anaheim
- Antioch
- Bakersfield
- Berkeley
- Burbank
- Carlsbad
- Chula Vista
- Concord
- Corona
- Costa Mesa
- Daly City
- Downey
- El Monte
- Elk Grove
- Escondido
- Fairfield
- Fontana
- Fremont
- Fresno
- Fullerton
- Garden Grove
- Glendale
- Hayward
- Huntington Beach
- Inglewood
- Irvine
- Lancaster
- Long Beach
- Los Angeles
- Modesto
- Moreno Valley
- Murrieta
- Norwalk
- Oakland
- Oceanside
- Ontario
- Orange
- Oxnard
- Palmdale
- Pasadena
- Pomona
- Rancho Cucamonga
- Richmond
- Riverside
- Roseville
- Salinas
- San Bernardino
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- San Jose
- Santa Ana
- Santa Clara
- Santa Clarita
- Santa Rosa
- Simi Valley
- Stockton
- Sunnyvale
- Temecula
- Thousand Oaks
- Torrance
- Vallejo
- Ventura
- Victorville
- Visalia
- West Covina
Get free quotes →
Get listed →
Advertise here →
Find Forensic Photographers Near Sacramento
The above results list Sacramento Forensic Photographers. You can expand your search and find local Forensic Photographers in the surrounding areas of Anaheim, Antioch, Bakersfield, Berkeley, Burbank, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Concord, Corona, Costa Mesa, Daly City, Downey, El Monte, Elk Grove, Escondido, Fairfield, Fontana, Fremont, Fresno, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Glendale, Hayward, Huntington Beach, Inglewood, Irvine, Lancaster, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Modesto, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Norwalk, Oakland, Oceanside, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Palmdale, Pasadena, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Richmond, Riverside, Roseville, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Clarita, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Temecula, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Vallejo, Ventura, Victorville, Visalia, West Covina, or the state of California.
Why you should choose a local photographer serving Sacramento, California?
There are many reasons why someone would hire a professional Sacramento Forensic photographer ... Some Forensic photographers offer video shooting as well. Hiring a Sacramento Forensic photographer is an important decision that requires researching local photographers, learning a bit about photo equipment and style and finding the right personality. Be aware that some of the better Forensic photographers are booked up to 2 years in advance. Be sure that all of the details are clearly outlined in your contract with your Forensic photographer. By hiring a creative, experienced and reputable Sacramento Forensic photographer, you can ensure that you'll get high-quality and professional photos.