Currently Playing: Animal Crossing New Leaf

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I recently gave my launch 3DS to my son and purchased myself a 3DS XL so we can play games online together while he's not with me.  One of the games he's been really excited about is the new Animal Crossing...so I decided to get it for myself  and get a few days head start before I give him his copy this weekend ;)

This is my first time playing an Animal Crossing title and wasn't sure what to expect.  Yes, the art style and theme is a bit young focused, but I've been enjoying the customization options of the game so far.  You can build your town any way you want, starting by selecting a random map layout and then placing your house anywhere.  I was surprised how open the options are.

From the Game Development perspective, it was a little disorienting at first with how little they let you see of the world at once.  It is almost like you are running across a rolling pin with how the terrain folds, but this is probably necessary to draw all of the density of objects that the game allows.  You can't see very far...but the trade off for so much player choice is well worth it.  Luckily the map is always on the bottom screen so you can tell where you are going easily.

I have only played a few hours so far, but will have another post once Kian and I start playing together this weekend.

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A Race in Every State: Ohio

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 We recently headed to Cleveland, OH to run the Half Marathon and mark Ohio off our list.  Since I'm a Browns fan, I've been super excited for this race because it happens around the stadium.  My plan was to set up a tour so we could get in and see things while we are in town.

 Unfortunately, they didn't have any tours on the weekend we were in town.  Lisa researched and found out that the 5k race the day before actually has you end ON THE FIELD!  So, we decided to get into town a day earlier and walked the 5k so we could rest our legs for the big race early the next morning.

The route as really nice and gave us some cool views of Cleveland, which was great since it was the first time for both of us visiting.  Usually I like to get to the start line plenty ahead of time, but on this morning between parking and the long bathroom line...we got there literally seconds before it began.  It turned out better for the pre-race nerves!

 I didn't sleep well at all the night before, so I was nervous going in...but we did well and Lisa helped keep me going.  In the end, we had a time that was within 5 minutes of our other half marathon finishes...we are consistent if nothing else.

 Another state down! Next up...Wisconsin.

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Illinois Marathon Relay 2013

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Instead of running a normal Half Marathon this year, we decided to do something a bit different.  Lisa and I ran the Full Marathon Relay as a two person team.  So, this meant running six and half miles...resting for an hour while the other runs...and running another six and a half miles.  It sounded like an interesting challenge so we went for it!

As soon as we began training for it, we realized that it was going to be more difficult than we realized.  First of all, we are so used to running together that long runs alone are now awful.  In addition, we didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to get ourselves running again after taking such a long break.  But, we take challenges head on and worked to get ready for the race.

As race day neared, we sat down and made our plans for getting around the 26.2 mile course that winds through Champaign, IL.  We not only needed to get to the next relay station, but also wanted to be somewhere half way between each point to cheer for each other.  Lisa made us a great plan of back streets that got us around without much issue.  We decided to bike the entire course a week before so we could get familiar with the route.  It was a lot of fun, but my back was killing me by the end of a 2.5 hour bike ride :)

We decided to walk the 5k race the night before with family and friends to get our legs warmed up for the next morning.  It was nice to get out there and get rid of some pre-race jitters and ending on the field at Memorial Stadium was really cool.  We had a few friends running in their first 5k ever so it was awesome to be there and cheer them on.

There is a different feeling when you show up for race day.  All of your concerns about success start to go away and the energy makes you feel like you can do anything.  This is why we tend to run a bit too fast the first mile, but we get adjusted quickly.  I was there to see Lisa take off from the start line and then I jumped in the car with her mom to get to the first cheering location. Lisa came by at about mile 3 and we were there to take pictures and give her a high five.  We then headed over to the first  relay station!

The first six and a half miles wasn't too bad and I kept close to my normal running pace, but it was so much less fun running alone.  Once you have a running partner to talk to, encourage, and get encouragement from...it's really hard to go back solo.  The second leg for each of us was really difficult.  Having stopped for so long and then running the second half of 13.1 miles was pretty tiring on our own.  At times, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that Lisa was waiting for me and that we got to cross the finish line together.

It was a great experience that I'm really glad we did, but I seriously doubt I will run this way again.  Running together is way more fun!

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Running Races In All 50 States

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One of the best feelings in the world is the the excitement that builds in the moments leading up to a race!  It's even better for me if it's a race that I'm running for the first time and I get to see all new sights and people.  So to make things even more exciting, Lisa and I have decided on a new long term goal of running a race in all 50 states!

In 2012 we managed to run races in three different states:
Rantoul 5k - Rantoul, Illinois (first race)
St. Louis Half Marathon - St. Louis, Missouri (first half marathon)
Wine & Dine Half Marathon - Disney World, Florida (my dream race)

We think we can get through three or four states a year and can't wait to see some parts of the country we've never even visited. When possible, we'd like the race to be a half marathon...but our rule is that as long as it's a race (5k or more)  it counts.  I've created a new blog list on the left side to list our first race in each state!

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Co-Op w/ Kian: Happy Wars

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Yup, this is my second post in a row about the games I'm playing with my son.  Since that's where most of my gaming time is devoted these days...I hope you'll understand :)

The game can be played in either single player campaign mode or in a multiplayer "capture the flag" style game of up to 15 players vs 15 players(or bots).  The objective is to take down a series of towers along the way to the enemy castle.  These towers serve as spawn points for the team that currently owns them, so you get to spawn closer to the enemy side as you make progress.

Ultimately you need to take down the gates to the enemy castle and then destroy the large tower inside.  But, there is always a Boss Monster there to make that difficult.  Players have the choice of either a Warrior, Cleric or Mage and can change that choice after each death.  I have only been playing as a Warrior and trying to level up and Kian tends to play as a cleric.  Each battle earns you Stars and experience toward increasing your character's ability to hold more equipment.

It's interesting to see the Free to Play model come to Xbox Live and so far I think Happy Wars has done an excellent job of hooking me and my son.  The game itself is free to download and play and even comes with 20 in game dollars that you would normally buy with real money.  This currency allows you to buy specific items for your characters while the Starts earned in game only let you play mini games for a chance at random stuff.  You can, however, use the Stars to upgrade the level of items you have.

The beauty is in the incentives they have created to play every day.  There is a monthly treasure map that you move one spot along each day that you log in.  Each day you receive Stars and there are also two item chests along the way as well as a special chest at the end.  There is also a group co-op challenge going on each month that has special rewards associated with it so that's what Kian and I tend to play.

There is a ton of equipment which improves the abilities and stats of your characters but also greatly improves their look.  The game is super cute and Kian is having an absolute blast with it.  We haven't yet spent any real money on the game but I likely will soon to support something that we are having so much fun with.  It's a really great game for short plays of 10 minutes or so, but you can also spend hours playing like we do.

Wait, there's a smartglass app for it?!  OK, I'll be downloading that today and reporting back how (or if) that fits into the gameplay experience.


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Co-Op w/ Kian: The Simpsons Game

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Well I was finally able to do something that has been on my bucket list ever since Kian was born...played through a game with him that I worked on!

When he comes for a weekend visit, we tend to spend most of the time playing games together.  Last weekend, I sat down a stack of games to let him choose.  As I was describing them to him, I mentioned that I had worked on The Simpsons Game and he got really excited.  Normally we play an hour or two of several games, but this time it was different.  We spent all weekend playing through the entire game together :)

It was interesting to go back and play something that I had worked on over 5 years ago and see it differently as he experienced it.  A lot of my same frustrations with the camera and controls are still there, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

At one point he got frustrated with a section of gameplay and said "This is stupid!"  I told him that I had actually designed that piece of gameplay and had a conversation with him about creating challenge in game design and how it feels great when you are able to complete it as a player.  Then we got through it together :)

Overall, it was a fantastic experience on so many levels for me and can't wait to do it again some day.  I just wish I had worked on more games that he doesn't need to be an adult to play!

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Focusing Forward

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2012 was a pretty rough year for me in a lot of aspects of my life, but I've made it through and am figuring out how to go forward.  It wasn't all bad and I did have some fantastic people helping me get through. But, there are some things I want to focus on in 2013...so I guess you would call these my New Year's resolutions:

Blogging
My blogging took too much of a backseat this last year and I intend to fix that.  Expect regular updates across a variety of subjects :)

Game Design
There are several books on Game Design that I want to read this year and some other activities that I want to do in order to make myself a better designer.  I'll be updating you with what I learn.

Fitness
Now that I've lost the weight I need to, I'm working on keeping it off and improving my overall fitness.  I'll continue running and posting about races as well as trying new workout classes, etc.  I plan to start Triathlon training at some point soon!

Photography
I've been having a lot of fun with my Canon T3i DSLR and want to learn more about the art of photography.  I'll be posting about what I learn along the way as well as some sample photos that hopefully don't suck.

Co-Op w/ Kian
Now that my son is living apart from me, I'll be focusing on our game time together through online services like Xbox live and Steam.  I'll post about how it's going as well as looking for suggestions on new games we should try.

Keep in touch and let me know what topics or individual posts you'd like to see!

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Disney Invents Juggling Robot!

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I can't wait to see how this gets integrated into the next wave of shows at Disney World :) Credit goes to The Disney Blog for finding this.

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Zombie Run 2012

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As soon as I was finished with My Extra Life Gaming Marathon, it was time to do my first Zombie Run! I mean...who needs to sleep right?  Also, I couldn't let Lisa do the run alone and hear about how she got infected because I wasn't there to be slower than her and get caught in her place.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but assumed it was a 2 mile run where I'd need to speed up occasionally to avoid Zombies.  Oh man, it was way different.  We each were given a belt with three flags on it and in order to "survive" we had to make it to the end with at least one flag left.  They put is in groups of 9 plus an ROTC guide and loaded us on an evacuation bus so we could get to the evacuation helicopter safely.  Along the way, the bus stops and we find that our driver has been infected!  We opened the rear door of the bus and everyone poured out and ran toward the bridge.

As we approached the bridge, I got my first eerie feeling.  It was a single person bridge that we had to cross with a zombie standing at the other end. The guide yells "We have to run for it!" so we all took off across the bridge.  The rest of the evening was us jogging to the next point and then all out sprinting...not what I was expecting!

As we approached one of the locations, I was looking behind us as a group of slow moving zombies were coming our way.  Then suddenly a couple more came running out of the brush right beside of us and I turned to stare one in the face!  I was able to turn quickly and get away with all of my flags, but that got my heart rate up quite a bit.  It got dark during our run and a good portion of it took place in thick woods.  It was pretty freaky overall.

We got through most of the encounters without losing a flag...until we ran into some of our friends.  They decided to wrap their arms around us and hold us down until another came and took our flags!  It was a rough encounter, but a lot of fun.  They had great costumes and their makeup was professionally done.

The Zombie Run was a total blast and I'm really happy we did it.  Next year we are talking about changing roles so we are Zombies while our other friends get to experience running the race. I was able to hold onto one of my flags and make it out alive!

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Extra Life Recap

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My first time participating in the Extra Life 24 hour gaming marathon was a huge success!  Not only was I able to stay awake and play games for 24 hours, but more importantly my goal of $1000 in donations was reached.  Thank you so much for contributing!

I started at 5pm yesterday Friday evening so I would end at dinner time and then get a somewhat normal night of sleep.  I then had a Zombie Run that evening and ended up seeing a movie...but more on that next post :)

I had a decent list of games to play from everyone who donated and was able to get to all of them for some period of time.  I even had to spend time failing at Dance Central...sigh.  I used a big chunk of time Friday evening and Saturday morning to play co-op with my son, which is one of our normal routines. There was a great mix of games,old and new, so I had a really great time overall.

I'm sure I will do it again next year :)

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Extra Life Marathon - One Final Plea!

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Tomorrow night I begin my 24 hour video game marathon to help heal kids.  If you have already donated to the cause, I really appreciate it.  If not...there's still time!  I'm just a bit shy of my $1000 goal, so would you help me out with even a $1 donation?

HERE is the link to donate, or give me cash/check in person and I'll get it entered in for you but I need it by Friday afternoon to get it entered in time.

If you donate, you get to help pick the games I play...check out the list HERE

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Half Marathon Training Update

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It's been way too long since I've given an update on my training progress for the Disney World Wine & Dine Half Marathon!  There is now just 25 days until the event and I've made huge strides since completing my Couch to 5K course earlier this spring.

Yesterday I completed my first 11 mile run...took two hours of constant running at an average of 10:55 minute miles.  I still can't believe that I'm now capable of this kind of run, but it was a slow build up of endurance over many weeks of training.  I'm convinced that it would have been way more difficult if I didn't have my running partner, Lisa, to keep me motivated on these long runs.  I'm super excited (and relieved) that she will be there to run the half marathon with me!

I've had some struggles along the way...with the major one being a knee injury on my first attempt at 9 miles several weeks ago.  My IT band (the muscle that connects from the outside of your knee) was injured and made it really difficult to run more than a couple of miles.  The distance I could get with each run varied, but I was getting really concerned about making it to 13.1 miles.

A few weeks ago, I started looking for something to help and came across this IT Band Strap that holds the muscle in place and keeps it from rubbing against the knee.  This was a miracle for me.  Once I started using it, the pain went away almost immediately and I was able to do longer runs again.  Not only that, but it's allowed my knee to heal over that time and I CAN run without it now...though I'm not going to do that until after the race just to be safe :)

Aside from this injury, it's just been a matter of slowly increasing my run distance each week and getting ready to run the 13.1 on November 10th.  I'm right on track and can't wait to experience my first Half Marathon, especially since it's at my favorite place on earth.

I'll update more as I get closer to race day!

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Extra Life: Update

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When I originally signed up for the Extra Life Gaming Marathon, I had no idea what kind of support I would get and tried to set a realistic goal of $500.  It only took about three weeks to hit that mark and we still have another six weeks to go!  You guys are amazing!

So, I've decided to double my target donation amount to $1000! Keep getting the word out and support me in my endeavor to help kids.  :)

LINK

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Extra Life - Game List

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Here's the initial list of games available for my Extra Life gaming marathon!  If you donate to the cause, you get to help select the games I play.  This list will continue to grow up until the event, so if you have other ideas of games that I should add...let me know :)

Current Games To Be Played:
Games Chosen from Any Donation:
Bastion - Vanessa Reynolds
Strong Bad Episodes - Marissa Torrison

Games Chosen from $24+ Donations:
Monkey Island - Jeff Edwards
Catan - Keith Staines
? - Michelle Wess
Dishonored - Kenny Schwarz
Zelda II - Mike Flavin
Shadow Complex -Kevin Yanes

Games Chosen from $50+ Donations:
Final Fantasy Tactics - Lisa Krause
Dance Central Kinect - Darren Dienst
Co-Op w/ Kian (his choice) - Lesley Wells-Lewis
You Don't Know Jack - Sarah Durall
Madden 360 - Tim Ahrberg
Stranger's Wrath HD - Henry Schmitt
Red Faction: Armageddon - Volition, Inc.
Minecraft 360 - Mike Block


List of Games to Choose From:

Xbox 360:
Amazing Spider-Man
Battlefield 3
Borderlands 2
Brave
Dirt 3
Dishonored - 1
Dragon Age 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Gears of War 3
Madden NFL - 1
Mass Effect 3
Metro 2033
Mortal Kombat
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Rage
Rock Band 3
Saints Row: The Third
Skyrim
SSX
Tiger Woods 13
You Don't Know Jack - 1

Xbox 360: Arcade
Bastion - 1
Catan - 1
Dungeon Defenders
Fez
Minecraft - 1
NBA Jam: On Fire Edition
Shadow Complex - 1
Stacking

Xbox 360: Kinect
Biggest Loser
Dance Central - 1
Disneyland Adventures
Fruit Ninja
Gunstringer
Kinect Advenutres
Kinect Sports
Kinectimals

Playstation 3:
Disgaea 3
Heavy Rain
Metal Gear Solid 4
Resistance
Resistance 2
Sly Cooper Collection
White Knight Chronicles

PC:
Civilization 5
Darksiders 2
Diablo 3
Kings Bounty
Lord of the Rings Online
Portal 2
Sam & Max Episodes
Starcraft 2
Stranger's Wrath HD - 1
Strong Bad Episodes - 1
Tales of Monkey Island Episodes - 1

3DS:
Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Mario Kart 7
Pilot Wings Resort
Super Mario 3D Land
Super Monkey Ball 3D

iPad:
Chess
Civilization Revolution
Dice with Buddies
Final Fantasy Tactics - 1
Monopoly
Risk HD
Sid Meir's Pirates
Summoner Wars

Windows Phone 7:
Angry Birds
Wordament
Zombies!!!

NES
Donkey Kong Jr.
Excitebike
Legend of Zelda
Metroid
Super Mario Bros.
Zelda II - 1

Gameboy
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Metroid Fusion
Minish Cap
Warioland 4
WarioWare, Inc.
Yoshi's Island

Extra Life - 24 Hour Gaming Marathon

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After supporting the cause last year, I've decided to join the Pixel Damage Podcast team and participate in the Extra Life Gaming Marathon this year! On October 20th, 2012 I will be playing video games for 24 straight hours for charity. Want to help make my efforts a success?

Donations:
Go HERE and sign up to support me.  In addition to the proceeds going to the Kentucky Children's Hospital, I'm adding the ability for you to help choose what games I play! (Kickstarter has inspired me).  I will be playing on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, Windows Phone, iPad and 3DS.

Any Donation Amount:
You get to vote from a list of games I create and I'll play the three games that receive the most votes for an hour each.

Donation of $24+ (just $1 an hour!):
You get to choose any game from my list for me to play for X amount of time (depends on how many games are chosen). You can also choose another game if you provide it for me to play :)

Donation of $50+ (with Co-Op!!!):
You get to choose any game you'd like for me to play!  I'll do my best to get a hold of a copy, but be flexible if it's an obscure title :)  My hope is to play this game for an hour, but it will depend on how many games I have to get to.  In addition to this, I will play this game with you Co-Op during that time!  We will arrange a time that works for you.

If you have any other suggestions for my personal donation rewards, let me know :)  I hope you'll support me and help make this awesome!  I will start my list of games soon as well as a list showing who has donated and what games are being chosen to play as I know them.

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Gaming Podcasts!

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This past week I appeared on not one...but two podcasts about the gaming world!

I made my second appearance on the Pixel Damage Podcast hosted by Mike Block and will be joining as a semi-regular on the upcoming episodes.  We talk about gaming news, what we've been playing and anything else that's on our minds concerning the gaming world.  This episode can be found HERE.

Next was my second appearance on The Grey Area Podcast hosted by Jenesee Gray. We talked a lot about what I'm up to lately as well as current gaming news and topics. The episode should be available tomorrow.

If you have any follow up questions from what you hear, let me know!

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Half Marathon Training Begins!

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I finally finished the Couch to 5k running plan last week and have to say it was a major success.  By the end I was running a straight three miles in about 30 minutes which is better than I had hoped for with no experience running as of 10 weeks ago. HERE is the plan that I used and would suggest it for anyone that's considering running.

People keep asking me how I stay motivated to run consistently and the truth is I do enjoy it, though I hated running when I was younger.  A lot of it was learning to run properly and building my endurance safely.  But, here is what I go through on EVERY run:

First Mile: My legs hurt and I feel like I'm going to hurt the whole time
Second Mile: The pain is mainly gone, but now I feel run down and question why I'm doing this.  I consider just walking but always push through.
Third Mile: I forget all of the pain and quitting and now feel like I could run forever!  I usually increase my pace a bit here and push hard to finish the mile.

As I begin increasing my distance to eventually be around 5, 5, 8 for my normal runs...i'll be curious to see how the feelings change.

Next up...training for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon at Disney World! I have 21 full weeks to train and have spent the last few weeks researching and modifying my plan to be ready for 13.1 miles on November 10th.  I have some friends that are going to be running with me, so there's lots of motivation to keep going.

I've been doing three miles, three times a week recently and am now adding an additional EZ run on Sundays along with 2 days of cross training(elliptical).  I've also added in 2-3 days of upper body and ab workouts each week so by the time I get to Orlando I should be ripped ;)

My Tuesday and Thursday runs will slowly increase to about 4 miles each at my normal running pace of 10 min/mi then my Saturday runs slowly increase in distance until I get to the 13.1 adding about a mile every other week.  The long run will be at a little slower pace at first until I discover what kind of pace I can keep up for that long of a distance.  I'm nervous, so wish me luck.

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Co-Op w/ Kian: Disney Universe

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My son and I love Disney and video games...so yes we were excited to finally get around to Disney Universe :)  The basic premise is that they've created a Virtual Reality simulator that let's people visit their favorite Disney Movies, but a virus has caused things to go wrong.  It's up to you to save the (virtual) world!

The nice thing about this kind of setup is that they could create any number of worlds, including DLC packs, and the gameplay fits with any of them.  There are also TONS of costumes to choose from and unlock and they did a great job of encouraging replay of levels in order to get new costumes as well as some that you can purchase.

The problem, is that the gameplay itself is very basic and really gives few options rather than spamming the attack button.  Each costume does have four levels that are upgraded by finding a chest in each of the levels, but he the upgrade just gives you a more powerful weapon.  While this is helpful, I would have loved to see some new abilities.

Don't get me wrong, we really enjoyed the game.  The pacing was done well and the levels were in 20 minute chunks or so which is perfect for our play sessions.  We had a great time killing the enemies together and using cooperation to not hit each other during the combat.  They also included some challenges to be found along the way which added some new gameplay for a minute or so and there was some diversity there.

We really enjoyed playing in some of our favorite movie locations and Kian is asking for the Phineas and Ferb DLC maps...so it looks like they will get more of my money!


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Couch to 5k - Weeks 7 & 8

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Weeks seven and eight were very similar, consisting of three 25 minute and 28 minute runs without breaks.  I'm still finding that the gradual increase in running time is doing well for me and my endurance as well as my pace is increasing with each run.  My last run can be found HERE on Runkeeper (imported from Garmin), though I don't like how they add in my warm up and cool down walks to my overall pace.

You will find a section like the one above in most of my runs.  No, this isn't an error in my watch...this is my dog deciding to stop abruptly and take a dump on the sidewalk.  This is me coming to a dead stop, backing up to pick it up...then hitting him over the head with the filled plastic bag for making me stop ;)

I've been really enjoying my Garmin Forerunner 910xt and find the Garmin satellites are extremely accurate.  It even shows accurately what side of the street I am on.  I really love their website and software, but I don't like that I can't choose exactly what stats I show to the public like with Runkeeper. You can check out the accurate results of my run HERE on the Garmin Connect site.

One more week to go then I start training for the Disney World Wine & Dine Half Marathon!

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Couch to 5k - Week 6

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Week Six turned out to be a bit rough for me.  I pulled a muscle in my left foot on my 2nd run of the week and had to take nearly a week off from running.  The good news is that the muscle pull came from a 5 mile run that I did with a friend...I wanted to see (and learned) how far I could push my self.  So, I did the three runs across two weeks but am now back to full speed and on track again.

I'm now in the point of my 5k training that there are no longer intervals in my run. It started with a straight 22 minute run and next week will move up to 25 mins.  I'm anxious to see how my body handles no walking breaks, but so far so good.

I have found that the GPS on my phone is not very accurate when running and was adding about 20% to my distances and making my times seem better than they should be.  After trying a couple of other apps to confirm this is the case, I decided that it's time for me to get a GPS watch.

After doing several days of research, I settled on the Garmin Forerunner 910xt with heart rate monitor.  This watch not only has extremely accurate run data but is also designed to handle swimming and biking info.  I plan to add these two activities to my training in the near future and felt it was best to spend the extra money to get a watch that will work long term for me.  It arrives today and I can't wait to try it out!

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Couch to 5k - Week 5

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Week 5 turned up the run/walk ratio intensity to much more running than walking.  The 2nd run was 8 mins running, 5 mins walking, 8 mins running...while the final run was just a solid 20 minutes of running with no break!  That is quite honestly the longest that I've ever run straight and I actually felt like I could keep going...I hit some kind of stride in the last 5 minutes.

My runs are coming with ease now and I find that i'm able to push my speed since I have no concerns of finishing strong.  Only one more week of run/walk/run before the last 3 weeks of the program are long runs and gradually building my endurance to 3 miles without a break.  Wish me luck :)

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Couch to 5k - Week 4

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Week 4 sends the intensity up a notch with the run/walk ration now at 2/1...run 3 mins, walk 90 secs, run 5 mins, walk 2.5 mins, run 3 mins, walk 90 secs, run 5 mins.  I'm still really enjoying the timing method since it gives me short spurts to look forward to and keeps my mind focused.

My first run of the week ended up a distance of a 5k!(3 miles) and the overall time was 34 mins since I do a warm up and cool down walk.  So, I paid closer attention to the distance on my 2nd run and was able to complete the 5k in 28 mins.  The third run got the time down to 27 mins and the overall distance was 3.98 miles.

I'm not at all concerned with distance right now, but am having fun seeing how my time improves with each run and wonder how things will progress as the program has my run/walk ratio getting even further apart.  I look forward to my run each day and found that I'm having to fill the off days with strength training since I need to let my legs rest.

Sarah says she wants to get some pictures of me running with Bailey so maybe I'll have something to share soon :)

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Q&A: What Is A Typical Work Week Like?

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Today's question comes from Cody (coteee26) who asks:

"What is the typical work week like in the industry?"

This varies greatly depending on what stage of development your project is in, even with that...it varies greatly so below is what I have experienced over my career at mainly larger game studios.

During Pre-Production a Game Designer will spend a large amount of their time in brainstorm sessions trying to nail down the ideas that they want to pursue for the game.  A lot of time is usually spent playing games of similar type and doing competitive analysis.  The focus of this stage of development is to create a compelling set of features and get everyone on the same page about where the game is headed.

The pace is generally relaxed and people feel free to explore ideas and focus on the types of things that get thrown out quickly in later stages of development when the going is fast and furious.  Work hours tend to be more 9-5 and spouses aren't acting as single parents.

Once you start moving into Production, the focus changes to implementing and iterating.  You've, hopefully, just spent Pre-Production proving out your ideas and are ready to get moving.  Building that first version of a mission or balancing that new player attack almost always gives you ideas to improve and sometimes even find your ideas didn't work at all the way you hoped.  

The meetings start to lessen a bit as people are at their desks more...but there is usually still a fair amount with continual reviews of your work, etc.  Home life can stay normal for the biggest chunk of production, but at times you'll work extra because you fall behind, hit bugs, or just really want to make that certain part of the game shine.

Post Production is when things change to "Stop adding stuff and make sure it's not broken".  It is often a very busy time with lots of bugs needing fixed and the final polish needing to go in to get your scores up.  Meetings are almost non existent at this point and you often feel chained to your desk.  If a top priority bug comes in, you will get a phone call any time of the night to get in and fix it now...or else everyone else could be hosed and unable to work.  

This is by far the most stressful part of development in my opinion, but also feels very productive and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  You know it's the last chance you have to make this as special as you can and soon everyone is going to be able to experience your hard work.  After this...the cycle repeats for your next title, unless you get tossed onto something else that needs help finishing! :)

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