broom's blog

Last of Us

When my friends heard I was playing “Last of Us“, their common question was: “is it really that good”? It’s probably because this game got so much attention and praises. In fact it was all over game medias. After finishing this game my answer is YES. It’s indeed a wonderful game. Probably the best game we’ll ever have on PS3.

Breathtaking graphic details, zombie and apocalypse theme, top-class action engine (pretty much the same as Uncharted), almost perfectly mixed fighting and stealth scenes, “Last of Us” is equipped with all these above. And these points already make this game no less than any AAA level game. However, what makes “Last of Us” really distinguished is its story and the way it tells a story.

I feel like in SFC and PS era, I was often emotionally moved by games. Because at that time the graphics of a game can’t compare with movies. What gamers do was to watch pixelated characters and scenes and read text lines. It’s more like reading a novel and there is a large space for imagination. But since the PS2 era, games have been more and more cinematic. There were games with 15 minutes or even longer opening movies. Big titles (Final Fantasy) brags about the amount of cut scenes and their successes made this a trend.

Gamers like cutscene movies in games, because a game with 30~60 hour length have a much better chance than a movie to build a complete fantasy world. And these movies brought this world to “live” for gamers who have this world in mind. But cutscene movies are still movies. If games want to compete with movies, it’s not enough to only rely on length. Games still need to have attractive stories and engaging scripts. And games must utilize its advantage: interaction. It’s an art to properly putting interaction parts into story scripts, and it’s the uniqueness of games.

Unfortunately in the XBox 360 and PS3 era, I saw the whole game industry desperately lack of good script writers, especially those who are good at writing scripts for games. Shooting/racing/sports games started to dominate screens and great RPG/ACT/AVG were diminishing. In a word, it’s getting boring, and its “art” level is sliding. 10 years ago I was proud to be a console gamer and frowned upon anyone who thinks games are childish. In the past 2 years I was really disappointed about console games available on the market and beginning to think maybe iPhone would actually take over.

“Last of Us” finally shed me some light of hope. The story is comparable with any popular TV shows. If you’re watching Walking Dead, consider this game as a wonderful short alternative. The fighting pace of this game is controlled very well so you can enjoy it with sweat in hands and don’t get exhausted or bored. The voice performance is brilliant and I simply can’t get enough of the girl’s voice.

If I have to pick one bad from this game, its puzzle solving parts are kind of 1990 and a little too much. Well, maybe they were designed just to let Joe and Ellie enjoy more time together.

Citi Bike

在Citi Bike推出的第一天，看到那个蓝色自行车实物又读了几篇新闻之后，我就在理发店排队的时候下单订了一年的会员。然后足足等了两个周才收到钥匙。现在用了Citi Bike有两周了，写下感想。

先简单介绍一下这东西是怎么运行的好了。纽约市里设置了很多组自行车架，会员可以从任意一个架子取一辆车，骑到另外一个有空位的车架还车。单次租借时间30分钟（年付的话延长到45分钟）之内免费，超时每半小时额外收钱而且收的挺多。当然你也可以在25分钟的时候到一个架子那儿还了立刻再租出来，由于车架的密度挺高隔几个路口就有一个，所以只要是在覆盖范围内基本上可以算是随便用的。每个会员同时只能借出来一辆。

价格是很多人最关心的问题，我从开始用Citi Bike开始在路上被人问过不下五次了。按年付的话95$，租一个月要25$，只租一天的话要10$。基本上年费是很划算的，按月还算凑合，按天就很贵了除非骑很多次才划得来。参考价是纽约乘一次地铁要2.5$。年付是需要网上订然后会收到一把钥匙，按月和按天都可以直接在车架旁边的自动柜员机上办理，用信用卡付钱，然后接下来一个月或者一天里用这信用卡在柜员机上刷一下就可以拿到一个临时密码用来取车。

使用感受就是对有些人会很方便很有用。比如我以前上班是要换一次地铁，一共坐10站。现在我家门口就有一组车架，于是我每天骑车到一个express train的地铁站，然后坐两站就到。单程平均交通时间从35分钟降到25分钟。下班去城里一些地方以及周末出门的时候也经常可以骑车，免费快捷。Citi Bike的自行车很好骑的，结实顺畅，有三档变速。座位高度很容易调。不过这些自行车很重，基本上很难骑太快，也不会让人有骑很远的欲望。加上30/45分钟的单次时间限制，很明显这系统就是设计来让人交通用的而不是骑车在公园里遛弯的。

相对于自己买一辆自行车，Citi Bike有一些独特的方便之处。比如commute如果是骑自己的车那就得把车抗上地铁或者锁在地铁站，这在纽约是很不可取的做法因为纽约偷车很严重。。再就是用Citi Bike有时候可以骑车去某地然后地铁回来或者坐地铁去别处。总之就是可以用来做单程交通，自己的车就总得弄回来了。在纽约自己有自行车的人通常都是拿来运动的，纯用来交通的恐怕只有送外卖的。

不足之处也有。一个是曼哈顿实在不怎么适合骑车，街道十分繁忙且绝大多数没有隔离的自行车道。曼哈顿的车尤其是出租开得还都很猛，骑在它们旁边还是有点惊心动魄的。就算有自行车道，骑着也还是觉得很吵。布鲁克林骑车的感觉相对好很多。

还有一点是随着开始用Citi Bike的人越来越多，热门的点儿拿不到车或者找不到停车位的现象开始出现了。比如我早晨如果到那个快车站比较晚的话，就很可能没地方停了。虽然那个点儿有大约50个车位的样子，但还是经常会停满。这样的话我就得找一个附近的别的点儿停车，大概在200米外，也还不算远。我也遇到过一次下班时间在市中心一个点儿发现车都拿光了的情况。虽然Citi Bike的手机App会显示每个点的剩余车数和车位数，但是实际上有点滞后加上会有一些坏车在等待维修，所以不是特别准确。最近看到等待维修的车越来越多了，热门地段的点儿经常会有四五辆，希望不要发展到太多。

Fitbit Flex上手简评

Pre-order的Fitbit Flex付款出了点问题，于是一直拖到去Florida前一天才收到。正好旅游的时候用上了，到现在用了大约三周，可以简单评论一下了。

这东西是个腕带，基本上就做两件事：计步器和监测睡眠。有网站也有手机app，你也可以用它来记录体重，进食和饮水量，但这些都得手动输入我稍微试了试就懒得弄了。如果在减肥的话每天记记体重可能还行，吃东西要在一个巨大的数据库里面找还是挺麻烦的，除非天天吃快餐之类标明了卡路里的”标准食品“。

计步器计得还是很准的。每天的默认目标是一万步。我每天如果除了通勤没有别的活动的话大概是7000步，所以就得做些别的活动来达到目标。算是个鼓励人运动的方式吧。腕带上轻敲两下会显示当前的进度。还要说的一点是这东西不显示时间实在很不方便。。我经常习惯性的抬手把它当表看。

睡觉质量其实是我比较感兴趣的环节。监测的结果十分可悲。根据这东西的监测我大概平均每天晚上都要醒十来次，翻身不计其数，看图就是这个样子。有时候睡得很晚的话会看到自己睡得比较死。而如果晚上醒来次数特别多的话第二天也确实会感到没睡好。算是对睡眠质量有了些量化的了解吧。

一个附加功能是振动闹钟。由于在手腕上所以还挺好用。这种产品感觉唯一合适的形态就是腕带，我很难想象成天带着一个放在兜里的东西。Fitbit Flex这个腕带还挺舒适的，戴着感觉还不错。充电方面大约五六天充一次，充电速度不算快大约要几小时，如果能再快点充电就好了。

Florida之行 – Miami和Everglades

Miami我们玩的没太多好写。。吃了个饭，然后去海边发现Ocean Drive封路了，于是转了半天停车，然后去South Beach随便扑腾了几下。然后xw还被水母蛰了一下，救生员给了瓶白醋说淋一淋就好了，一淋果然就好了。

South Beach的酒店都很贵。我们晚上跑到机场旁边的一个叫Homewood Suites的住了一晚，还挺不错的，100多点，设施很新有泳池早饭也不错。在一个湖中间，有鸭子出没。

Everglades是个很大的国家公园，但可以让人游玩的部分并不多，主要还是为了保护环境设立的。开车过去很快就进入地广人稀的区域了，风光还是挺不错的。我们先去了南边的Royal Palm visitor center，在那儿走了两个短短的trial。看到了很多鳄鱼，那种叫Anhinga的会对着太阳展开翅膀晒的水鸟，还看到了一头大乌龟从路边钻出来试图过马路。。

之后我们又去了北边的Shark Valley visitor center附近坐Airboat。所谓Airboat并不是气垫船，而是屁股上装了一个超大的电风扇的小铁船，靠电风扇向后吹风前进。噪音很大，速度很快据说能开到60mile/h，然后我们坐在上面的游客都没有安全带，船长有时候把船开得贼快还玩玩甩尾，挺刺激的。。。这个船牛逼的一点是不管面前是水是草，可以一律碾过，特别适合Everglades这个环境。坐这个船主要也是看动物，各种水鸟，鳄鱼，船长还给讲解讲解动植物生态，去Everglades玩还是可以考虑坐坐的。不过貌似竞争很激烈一路看到无数Airboat的广告，价格差别也很大。。慎重挑选吧。