Crysis is not that great and here's 10 reasons why

I bought Crysis on the day it shipped.  In spite of mediocre placement by Wal-Mart, I happened to see it there and grabbed a copy of what everyone has said is the greatest first person shooter and play it for myself.  Sadly, I've been very disappointed.  Not because it's a bad game.  It's not a bad game at all.  In fact I like it a lot, I just liked it more when I played it the first time and it was called Half Life 2.

Here are 10 problems that I think shouldn't exist in a game if it's supposed to be so "revolutionary":

1. I can hear through binoculars.  Apparently the nano-suit connects your ears to your eyes.
2. Sound is unaffected by the environment.  It's not just that the jungle and buildings don't quiet or distort sounds like you would expect.  Remember the binocular issue above?  Well, you can hear a helicopter clear on the other side of the island if you point it in the right direction.
3. I was behind a rock with a guy sleeping on the other side and quite a good distance away.  His two buddies were looking away.  While prone and this rock separated us, I uncloaked and the soldier woke up and started looking for me, talking about "seeing something". 
4. Bad guys don't see the bodies of their friends as something to be concerned about.  Picture 3 guys walking around casually.  I pop one in the head and he goes down.  The other two come hunting for me.  After a few moments, one declares that it "must have been an animal".  I think if we have animals that are shooting guys in the head, we need to be more worried about them than the aliens.
5. The game leads you by the nose the same way all of these games do.  The only difference is that this is outside so you have more room to work with, which admittedly gives you some options in how to complete a task.  But don't let that fool you.  When you either kill a certain number of guys, and/or get past a certain point, the game responds the same way.
6. The only way to take a weapon from a guy in the truck is to blow up the truck.  Sure, you use the gun on the truck, but you can't take that one with you.  If you want the ammo you have to blow up the truck.
7. Since when is seeing a soldier "take a leak" a feature?  Apparently it is to PC Gamer who touted that as one of its evidences of how great this game is.
8. Helicopters have miracle vision and radar.  I'm pretty sure that if we can come up with the technology to cloak ourselves to the human eye (I'm special forces, remember) then I'm sure we can hide a heat or other signature from a helicopter.
9. Your interaction with the environment is pretty much limited to "WWHD" or "What Would Hulk Do?"  Hulk Smash!  Hulk Throw! and that's pretty much it.  Some things will allow you to "use" them, but those are pretty obvious.  But am I supposed to be amazed that after I blow a guy up with a grenade that I can pick up his at and throw it?  That's right.  Whatever you pick up, unless its ammo or a weapon, can only be dropped or thrown.
10. The weapons are boring and unremarkable.  I would have hoped that in 20 years or so we could have something more exciting than a gauss rifle.

Be honest with yourself.  If you were to take this game (single player) and do it in the Source engine by valve, everyone would be yawning.  The graphics are great, I'll admit.  But the gameplay is slightly above mediocre and the A.I. just plain sucks, not to mention the omniscience that the bad guys often exhibit when they shouldn't.

Crysis is hype.

Microsoft says "Oops! My Bad" and Reverts

I've tried hard to like IE7, but I just can't.  Unfortunately there are times I have no choice but to use it.  For instance, if I want to use the Birds Eye feature of Live Local maps, it won't work unless I use IE.  I also have to use it at work. 

One of the most annoying things IE7 does is that any time there's an embedded object (like a Flash applet), the applet won't work right away.  Instead, it says, "Click to Activate" which is just retarded.  I don't mean that as a pejorative either.  It is something that must have required mental retardation to come up with.

Thankfully, Microsoft realized after 3 days (that's Microsoft time...it's a year and a half to you and me) that it was really stupid and are removing it, assuming that we know what we're clicking on and don't need Big Brother Bill to to protect us from our own clicks.

It’s important (and cool) to note that this change will require no modifications to existing webpages, and no new actions for developers creating new pages. We are simply reverting to the old behavior. Once Internet Explorer is updated, all pages that currently require “click to activate” will no longer require the control to be activated. They’ll just work.

IEBlog : IE Automatic Component Activation (Changes to IE ActiveX Update)

Sleepy

Sleepy, originally uploaded by gazelem67.

Amazon thinks very highly of me!

When I went to amazon.com's homepage I saw the following.

I'm very flattered that they would think that I am Christ, but I can assure everyone that I'm not the Messiah.

Music Review: Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride

The new CD called Carnival Ride by Carrie Underwood is the country singer's second album since she won American Idol.  While I don't think Carnival Ride will be as successful as Some Hearts, musically it is stronger and more mature.  Gone are such corny tracks as Jesus Take the Wheel and Inside Your Heaven as well as the "I'm a small town girl in this big, big world" songs like I Ain't In Checotah Anymore" and Don't Forget to Remember Me.  Carnival Ride finally succeeds in leveraging Underwood's greatest asset, which is her strong, clear voice.

Like any recording, there are tracks that can't seem to measure up to the rest, but that's to be expected.  I'm not particularly fond of Feet Flat on the Floor and Twisted, but the rest are much better.  I was pleasantly surprised to listen to her cover of Randy Travis' hit I Told You So and found it to be faithful to the original without trying to "make it her own" (i.e. ruin it).

The best tracks are All American Girl, So Small and I Know You Won't.  They are good vocally and lyrically and showcase her vocal strength, especially I Know You Won't. 

The album even has a few funny "hooks" in Last Name and The More Boys I meet.

All in all, it's a very good album and is definitely worth buying.