Standard Issue Computing

Author: Ryan

  • When in Doubt, Old Games

    In the past few months, I’ve become pretty disillusioned with just about everything having to do with video games. From the unrelenting circular discourse (pricing! difficulty! boycotts! emulation! indie vs. AAA!) to AI everywhere, ruining everything, it seems like there’s never been a worse time to care about video games. On top of all that, I tried a bunch of well-regarded modern games, from indies to AA to AAA, and none of them did anything for me. With all this in mind, I did the only thing that made sense, which was to step away.

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  • X-Men: Destiny (360 / Silicon Knights / 2011)

    Best known for being recalled and having all remaining copies destroyed, X-Men: Destiny is the final chapter in Silicon Knights’ fall from grace. Beyond the lawsuits and mismanagement of a once promising studio, the game was met with middling reviews and consumer indifference. As was the case with Silicon Knights’ previous disappointment, Too Human, X-Men: Destiny overpromised and underdelivered, specifically around player choice. Having finally given it a proper go, I went in with zero expectations and came out pleasantly surprised, but not exactly impressed.

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  • Call of Duty 3 (360 / Treyarch / 2006)

    After playing through the messy but fun Quantum of Solace, my curiosity around 360-era Treyarch increased. I found a cheap copy of Call of Duty 3 at a local game store and decided to give it a go.

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  • Apple: The First 50 Years by David Pogue

    I’m a casual Apple user/fan. Which feels somewhat ridiculous to say considering that they are easily the tech company I give the most money year after year. Every day I use multiple Apple devices and services: iPhone 17 Pro, Series 11 Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, an M4 MacBook Air (my work computer), and Apple Music and TV+ subscriptions.

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  • 007: Quantum of Solace (360 / Treyarch / 2008)

    Treyarch’s adaptation of the first two Daniel Craig Bond films makes perfect sense in the context of the games they were developing at the time. In 2006 they released Call of Duty 3, in 2007 the tie-in for Spider-Man 3, and a week after Quantum of Solace, they dropped Call of Duty: World at War. Obviously the studio had multiple teams working on these projects, but licensed games and Call of Duty were what defined the studio in 2008. Which explains pretty much everything about Quantum of Solace.

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  • Underachieving in 2006

    I got my Xbox 360 about half a year after launch, in June of 2006. Here’s what I was playing, based on pulling up my achievements of that era:

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  • Ninja Gaiden II Black (PC / Team Ninja / 2025)

    I’ve loved Ninja Gaiden for as long as I can remember. When I saw the film The Wizard as a child, Super Mario Bros. 3 wasn’t the highlight for me, the brief showing and subsequent mentioning of Ninja Gaiden was. I read the Worlds of Power book cover to cover multiple times. And I, of course, played the NES game (and to a lesser degree, its sequels) over and over again (never finishing any of them).

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  • ROG Xbox Ally X

    I’d had my eye on a ROG Ally for a while. My Steam Deck has been my primary portable gaming device, but it’s starting to feel a bit long in the tooth. Knowing that a price increase on ROG Allys is a very real possibility, I decided to bite the bullet and pick one up.

    I went with the Xbox Ally X because it’s the most powerful of the ROG devices. I know there are portable devices with better specs, but they are more expensive and less-known quantities. I’ve now spent a few days with the device, and I have thoughts.

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  • Yeah, 360

    As I mentioned in my Oblivion post, I got my Xbox 360 early in its lifecycle and absolutely loved the system. While I’ve had mixed feelings about Microsoft and Xbox for the past decade and a half, I will always have a soft spot for the Blades era of Xbox 360.

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  • Installing a GeForce GTX 745 in a Windows XP PC in 2026

    In an effort to beef up the gaming capabilities of my WinXP machine, I recently grabbed this NVIDIA GeForce 745 GPU for twenty bucks.

    It’s a slim, PCIe card with a small fan that does not require any additional power (its consumption max is 55W).

    It slotted in to the motherboard nicely, and then the trouble began.

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