{"id":170,"date":"2004-07-28T23:56:17","date_gmt":"2004-07-29T04:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=170"},"modified":"2004-07-29T09:40:49","modified_gmt":"2004-07-29T14:40:49","slug":"i-could-have-danced-all-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=170","title":{"rendered":"I could have danced all night."},"content":{"rendered":"

As MMORPGs go, City of Heroes<\/a> is quite the accomplishment, drawing even players like me who said they would never play such a game. However, it now may be on the verge of yet another conquest: capturing the growing Sims market with the release of their latest expansion, Hero Dance Party. <\/p>\n

I had logged on to soothe my crime-stopping Jones with one of my newly created avatars, the Darkstar Deputy Vinsand’r. (Some comic book aficianados among you will find that name vaguely familiar. He is the cousin of both Koriand’r and Komand’r, better known as Starfire and Blackfire in the DC Comics Universe. The Darkstars group is also borrowed from DC.)<\/p>\n

As I prevented muggings and earned the thanks of the citizenry, occasionally conversing with the local heroes, the new update arrived. Vinsand’r stood motionless as new information came to light. Immediately, I was intrigued by a new emotive option: “boombox.” Without hesitation, I dropped some phat beats<\/a> at the tram station, and like lemmings to the sea, heroes were drawn to the power of techno marvel from my woofers.<\/p>\n

When the rave came to its close, I contemplated if it was simply the urban area that had brought out such house-lovin’ heroes, so I moved the party uptown<\/a> in front of the snooty Ms. Liberty. Even she couldn’t stop the funk<\/a>. While she stood helplessly by, houses were robbed, aliens invaded willy-nilly, villains went unthwarted.<\/p>\n

Armed with this knowledge and refusing to allow this new wonderdrug to stain our streets, I pondered the use of this new arsenal. After all, would crime be so rampant on the streets of Paragon City if the criminals and heroes embraced their common love of jungle beats, poppin’ and lockin’ and the masterful flair<\/i>? <\/p>\n

My first test subjects were members of the Skulls street gang. Despite their voodoo heritage and their commonplace loitering at local clubs, they seemed disinterested<\/a>. This may have been due to their being in the middle of a mugging, I later concluded.<\/p>\n

I thought to myself, “Of the super gangs in the city, which would most likely be slave to the rhythm?” So my next experiment was with the automaton Clockwork. They, too, were somehow able to ignore the power of happy hardcore<\/a> which currently has the heroes of Paragon City in a death grip. But while I was attempting to coerce them, I was challenged by another hero<\/a> to a dance-off a la Breakin’ 2. Well, I am not one to back down from a challenge. Still, her righteous moves<\/a> were not to be reckoned with, and despite my superior beats, I was forced to concede to being “served.”<\/a> We cannot all be Turbo.<\/p>\n

I was disheartened but I thought maybe my lackluster performance could be attributed to fatigue. I had danced in several parties that night already, and very nearly stopped a crime. Perhaps, it was time to hit the sack. So I stopped at a local eatery<\/a>, logged off, and brought on a different character to let the mighty Vinsand’r rest up for his next challenge.<\/p>\n

As I returned, refreshed as OmegaPrime, I was immediately accosted by the latest supervillainous threat, the Soul Train<\/a>. Try as I might, I could not avoid them, and was eventually dubbed a foo’. The streets of Paragon City grow more dangerous daily, gentle reader. Do not venture there without your parachute pants and your cardboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As MMORPGs go, City of Heroes is quite the accomplishment, drawing even players like me who said they would never play such a game. However, it now may be on the verge of yet another conquest: capturing the growing Sims market with the release of their latest expansion, Hero Dance Party. I had logged on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73iP8-2K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=28","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":0},"title":"The Eternal Question","date":"1\/21\/2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The link from Czelticgirl. The astute and moving commentary from one of our fallen heroes. Strangely compelling. I found it impossible to stop watching until the end. Luckily, I was rewarded when he really started to work that mic. Other people who should apologize for not knowing better: William Shatner\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Found Art"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=89","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":1},"title":"Crack is cheaper.","date":"4\/1\/2004","format":false,"excerpt":"After all, one can only resist so long. I officially became a MMORPG'er last night, having received my beta client for City of Heroes. Already I love it. You get to survey the area from rooftops, leap down on criminals and save the innocent, all while the mega-powered fly overhead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "For the geek in you"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":614,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=614","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":2},"title":"Two words.","date":"11\/17\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Dog. Welder. The Pop Culture Addict presents... Comic Books A member of Section 8, a real and recent team in DC Comics Hitman series. Make sure you read their tactical analysis. Thanks to Czeltic Girl for the heads up.","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":320,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=320","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":3},"title":"I’d sure like to knight him…with a steamroller","date":"5\/18\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Titles I hereby bestow upon George Lucas in light of his continued desctruction of his own accidental masterpieces from the early 70's (an homage to McSweeney's Lists): Defiler of Memories Wonder-reaver Ruiner of Heroes Pilferer of Joy He Who Should Not Write Dialogue Profit-mongering Awesomeness Collapser Care to add any?","rel":"","context":"In "Best of the Buddha"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":281,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=281","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":4},"title":"My heroes are imperfect. I do not ask why.","date":"3\/18\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been in a state of self-analysis lately, determining why I'm willing to put myself in a position of wage-slavery when all of the people whom I admire have avoided such servitude. Not surprisingly, it comes down to courage. They have had the courage to work toward their dreams, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=241","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":5},"title":"Heroes","date":"2\/10\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Ok. I've found him. My hero model for sketching. The person whose art most jumps into my brain and bashes it around like Jean Claude Van Damme in those multi-take split-kicks he does in every movie. Blood continues to gush from my brain as the sound of meat being slapped\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Found Art"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}