Map of the Dead

Need to know where to get supplies, where to avoid, or just get a lay of the land?

Map of the Dead will do all of this and more! Type in the address of interest and bask in the awesomeness. I suggest doing this before the actual zombie apocalypse. Well, you know... because the internet will be down.

FitBit

Product Review: FitBit Ultra

As I mentioned earlier, getting shape has really become important to me. FitBit is helping me do this. The product itself keeps track of how many steps I take during the day as well as how many flights of stairs I've climbed, making it easy to see how active I have been. It also shows me how inactive I have been. Seeing lows numbers can really motivate you.

The FitBit Ultra is more than just a little device that clips on my waist band and tags along all day... it is a suite of tools. The FitBit website ties into the MyFitness Pal database and helps keep caloric intake and expenditure as accurate as possible. You can also tie it to Endomondo, which is great for tracking data on hikes, runs, or any other movement based workout.

I am a bit of a data whore. I love seeing graphs and charts showing my progress. My FitBit dashboard give me this. I can see how many steps I've takem, like I previously mentioned, but I can also see how well I am sleeping. You can put it in sleep tracking mode by holding the button down until the stop watch starts. The wrist band it comes with is a bit of a joke to be blunt. I ended up changing the settings to "sensitive", in regards to movement while in sleep tracking mode and I just clip it to my boxer's waistband. As you can see on April 25th, I slept VERY poorly. This is accurate.

Sad news is, that the FitBit Ultra is not water proof, nor can it talk to my Smartphone.

Good news is, I am willing to look past both of these decisions due to very good battery life and ease of use.

I am hoping FitBit and SlimKicker integrate. They are ripe for pairing. They both have achievements and could feed off of each other well.

Wishes for the device/system would be...

• Allow more than one base station or sync to my phone
• Waterproof
• Lower price point
• Rubberized inside surface(for better gripping)

Don't let my wish list fool you, I am enjoying the FitBit Ultra a good deal. I give it a healthy Cheskitech approval.

SlimKicker - Level Up Your Body

Being healthy and staying in shape has become very important to me.Watching what I put into my body and how well I keep my body tuned is also important, but it is also very boring. This is where SlimKicker comes in.

SlimKicker taps into our drive to achieve and to be rewarded. The last word is the most important.  Reward yourself for being healthy and for completing challenges, which in turn "levels up your body". Losing weight is great and is the most common reason people start "getting in shape". It is also hard. Giving up your favorite foods... getting your butt off of the couch... gets harder and harder if you don't see results right away. Rewarding yourself for doing well on challenges, e.g. Giving up Soda for 7 days, and getting to see your progress as you go, makes it easy. Those bite size chunks of achievement make this work.

I have rewarded myself with a wireless set of gaming headphones. I have put money towards tinting the windows in my Scion tC. Now that I have gotten to Level 6, I feel great. I have't had soda in 60+ days. I feel great. I repeat that because I do. I am past the hump at which so many fail.

Thanks SlimKicker for taking something I love, gaming and achievements, and coupling it to what I need to do.

You can find the iPhone app in the AppStore, but not an Android app just yet in GooglePlay. I hear they are working on it. The website is always getting updated. While being a relatively new site, they are making progress quickly. You can see my Dashboard view to the left. It is your one stop shop to Level Up Your Body. The community is growing rapidly as well.

I hope to see integration with my FitBit someday, but I'll understand if that takes a little more time. Try it out. It works.

Diablo III - Beta

Where to begin... Diablo III has been a much anticipated release for years. Blizzard has taken their time to make it true to the previous titles. The polish level is high, as we have come to expect.

I started my Beta experience as a Demon Hunter and as you can see, I am Forever Alone. No friends. This I hope, changes and lends to the hours of fun I can foresee running Co-Op through the multitude of dungeon levels that is Diablo III.

You will find familiar music, voices, characters, as well as lore from Diablo 1 and Diablo 2. This makes it easy to fall right back in. You can tell that Diablo III builds on lessons learned from World of Warcraft. Even the login screen is very similar.  This trend continues throughout your experience. Art style is the most obvious similarity. At times I felt as though I was playing a modernized and gloom filled WoW dungeon in isometric viewing. This is not a bad thing. I am quite enjoying myself.

You will notice in the screenshot that you have a quest... Kill X number of Y and report back. Yet another similarity to WoW. See the chat menu in the bottom left? Diablo III is, to be blunt, Diablo lore fused with WoW and placed on a modern engine. Once again... this is NOT a bad thing. The time that I was playing zipped by quickly. I was having fun. I look forward to playing this with friends.



I will be playing until the Beta closes its doors. I will continue to toss screenshots into the slideshow below.

All in all, I am excited to play and I am happy that this game is finally being released.

Pandorum

Pandorum

I haven't enjoyed a space horror in a good long while. The last ones that comes to mind is Event Horizon and Sunshine.

The movie is full of twists and turns. There are a few OMGWTF moments as well.

Atmosphere is established through well done sound and lighting. The imagery is exciting and adrenaline inducing.

What the crew finds waiting for them is horrifying to say the least. I won't give anything away, but... nothing is as it seems.

MorpHex Robot is AMAZING

You have probably already seen this...but if not... This thing is amazing. I hope that in 5 years or so it can do my laundry.

SPAZ - Space Pirates and Zombies

I finally started playing Space Pirates and Zombies, SPAZ.

I had meant to get around to it earlier, but you know how it is... backlog and all.

The game has some scale too it and will suck hours of your life. At least you'll have fun doing it. The $10 price tag more than fair. I would be happy with $15(or more)



Before the main menu, you are greeted with a message from MinMax games, which is a 2 person shop. Thanking you for buying. After 6 hours in, I agree that you should buy this game.

The audio in this game is cracking me up.The background chatter is filled with humor. A nice change of pace to encounter a game that is both fun, pretty, and doesn't take itself too seriously(don't let that put you off)

I mentioned scale a bit ago, this image will say it all. Each numbered dot, is a whole system.

Ship customization is fun and you look forward to building your ships to your liking. Even down to orientation of armor and weapons. The there is more going on with the game environment than the top down view will lead you to believe. If you are beating down on a no good bounty hunter and you get too close when their ships reactor core goes critical, you will take damage. I learned this when I was being... no good and took on a civilian star base. BOOM! I cheered... then BOOM! I cried. 

Here is a screenshot slideshow. I will continue to update it as I play. You can also head over to the picture section using the navigation bar at the top of the page to see this and other galleries.