Some highlights:

GAZZA:

Oh yeah, SecuROM will eat your babies, torture your cats, and drink the last of the coffee without making a fresh pot.

It will reply to spam messages on your behalf, post naked photographs of you on youtube, and declare war on a random oil-producing country.

It will sign you up to Reader’s Digest.

It will convert all your MP3s to Britney Spears albums, and then inform the RIAA that you’re filesharing them.

It will cause Ragnarok.

Every instance of SecuROM increases the effects of global warming. By a lot.

Millions of SecuROM instances have secretly taken over large arrays of radio telescopes and are busy beaming taunting messages to highly advanced hostile aliens.

And if you tell the punters all that - they won’t believe you.

Bowmore:

SecuROM logs into your account on your MMO of choice, deletes all your characters, and replaces them with level 1 bardomancers.

BlackJaw:

It’s True!

SecuRom stole my girlfriend.
SecuRom drives in the HOV lane illegally.
SecuRom votes for nanny laws.
SecuRom is why we only have State Run Liqueur Stores in WA.
SecuRom caused global warming to wipe out polar bears (they are clearly software pirates too.)
SecuRom lied about the cake.
SecuRom made 54% of all known Lolcat images.
SecuRom crank called my grandma at 3am.
SecuRom accused Chuck Norris of piracy.
SecuRom wrote a law allowing gay marriage just so he could vote against it.
SecuRom started the Great Chicago Fire and total framed that cow.
SecuRom runs secret mind control opps for the CIA.
SecuRom is why Hon Shot Last!
SecuRom invaded Georgia.
SecuRom made me do it!

I talked to a total of five people with Verizon: Jay answered my phone call initially, eventually escalating to Josh, who had to get someone to call me back later. Both of them were nice enough. Alfredo was the name of the guy who called me back and he was not nice. I’m not sure if he was actually a supervisor over Josh or just a peer, but he would not listen to what I was saying and just kept repeating the same thing over and over like a little kid. He also tried to refuse to escalate my call to someone else, but when I pointed out that I could just call back again and get someone else he agreed to pass it up the line. Since my conversation with him was so terrible, I called back a bit later and spoke to a woman (her name started with an M, but I didn’t really get it) who let me know that he had set it up so that they would call me back, which was enough for me as the only reason I called was because I didn’t trust he would. I was finally helped by a nice woman whose name I never quite caught (I’ll call her Julie here), a manager at Verizon.

Interestingly, for me, their ultimate argument was different from the one presented in that video. Julie claimed that in the “Our Rights to Make Changes” paragraph, the clause allowing the customer to end the service without an early termination fee only applied if the prices of rate plans were changed. This is obviously not true, and if I’d thought of it then I would have pointed out that if that were the case, they should not be allowed to change the Federal Universal Service Charge at all, considering that that is the paragraph allowing them to change things.

She was going over the agreement with me, which I wasn’t afraid of as that is where it says I can do what I was trying to do, and we had a bit of polite back-and-forth over this, where she kept saying she understood my point of view and had to apologize that the wording in the agreement wasn’t clear. At this point she had already basically acknowledged that yes, the Federal Universal Service Charge was a fee set by Verizon, and I told her that it seemed pretty clear to me. She again said that the paragraph about “Our Rights to Make Changes” meant that I could cancel with no ETF only if they changed something like the rate plans.

Julie: I see where you’re coming from and I’m sorry it’s not clear, but that only applies if we change something like your rate plan. For example if you were on a $50 rate plan and we changed it to $80, then definitely you could cancel without an early termination fee.
Me: It says you can change “prices and any other conditions in this agreement” and this is a price set by you and it is a condition in the agreement.
Julie: Yes and I’m sorry it’s not clear, but that part means that if we change the price of your rate plan then you can cancel without an early termination fee.
Me: I really have to beg to differ, because if it meant that, it would say that.
Julie: I’d like to confer with my supervisor about this, so can you hold on for a couple of minutes?
Me: Sure.
…
Julie: Well I talked to him and he’s pretty much on the same page as me that that part isn’t clear, so what I’ll do is I’m going to go ahead and waive that early termination fee for you…

It was interesting how at the end she did waive my ETF without actually admitting to being wrong, but I didn’t even bother continuing with the argument anymore since it doesn’t really matter what she thinks, as long as my request was granted per the Customer Agreement.

If you are attempting this, you may have to try really hard to keep calm, as some of the reps you will speak to can be aggressively stupid about it (Alfredo) and may claim they have resolved your issue (when they haven’t) and try to refuse to forward you up the line. It’s important not to let them get away with this. Point out, like I did, that they haven’t resolved the issue, and you’d like to speak to someone who can. When they say they have resolved it and that they’re not going to do that, as Alfredo did, make sure you point out to them that they can’t actually refuse, since you can just call back and get someone else.

Also try to make it a point to write down the names of every rep you speak to and if you’re up to it maybe get their IDs before you say anything else to them as they may be less inclined to give you accurate ones later. The only one I asked for an ID for was Alfredo and I never actually used it for anything. By the time I asked for it he had already been refusing to escalate my issue, so who knows if he actually gave me an accurate one anyway (though asking for it may have helped in convincing him to let me speak to someone else). Julie seemed to have talked to him and knew who he and Josh were (which is why I wonder if he was a peer of Josh’s rather than a supervisor).

So, that’s over. Whew.

Some more things about Verizon and my reasons for doing this: I had thought my contract was finished because according to my account info on verizonwireless.com, I was eligible for a new phone upgrade with Verizon on their “New Every Two” deal. There is even a meter on your account info online which counts down the months until you can upgrade, starting at 24 and going to 0 but skipping numbers in between. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THIS. Apparently Verizon allows you to upgrade your phone every 20 months, not 24 months (2 years), so just being eligible for an upgrade from Verizon does not mean you are out of your contract.

I was sad to discover this the day after I ordered my iPhone, and almost cancelled my order to wait it out. But I remembered that Verizon prorates their early termination fees, so I figured with only a couple months left it wouldn’t be that bad. When I called to see what my ETF would be, though, I was informed that since my contract started 1 month before they began prorating ETFs, it was still the full $175. That, in addition to being shocked to find out I was being charged $0.20 per text message (incoming OR outgoing), is what decided me on pursuing the quest to get the entire ETF waived.

Also worth noting: in many of the things I read about getting the ETF waived in this way, the people mentioned that the reps would have their service cancel immediately and would not be very amenable to setting up a delayed cancellation. For that reason, I didn’t even initiate this process until Saturday, the day after the phone number port was initiated, so that I would be sure to be able to keep my number. I think this may have helped a little to expedite the process of getting the ETF waived, since the reps know it is unlikely they will be able to keep you from cancelling when you have basically already cancelled. They weren’t very persistent with the “we can credit the difference” argument since I wasn’t actually with them anymore and even to them it probably seems like a long shot that I would go give back my new phone and come back to their service.

Since there doesn’t appear to be a handy tag that will show you just those ones specifically, and because the link above is likely to be outdated relatively soon, here are the links to all the ones so far:

• Lost in Chinese Translation
• Is This Wall Great or What?
• A Beijing Cab Ride is a Real Trip
• A Night at the Beijing Opera
• We’d Never Win the Name Game

Update: here are the last few.

• Haggling Should Be An Olympic Sport
• Rolling With Beijing Rock Scene
• Want Harmony? Try Forbidden City
• Bye-Bye, Beijing

But don’t expect my writing to pick up here anytime soon.

I’m still busy, trying to get my game off the ground. Maybe I’ll tell you more about it when it’s further along. In the meantime, I just finished reading this, and found it very inspirational, and good advice to boot. Even added a quote from it to my collection.

The game is incredibly well executed on many levels–the production values of the graphics, animations, audio… I didn’t mind the cinematic sequences at all. I actually liked the story, so I enjoyed them. Plus you can usually still move your character around a bit during those parts. Ironically I generally ended up using that ability to try to find a place to stand that would make my guy look cool during the sequence anyway.

There are things they could have done better; I got pretty frustrated with the battles towards the end, and the fact that templars could apparently see me on rooftops from the ground a block or more away made one specific mission (where I had to kill 5 guys in 4 minutes, and there were two templars stationed near the same area) very frustrating until I figured out what was going on and wiped them out.

It would be cool if, for the sequel, there was more of an element of blending in, perhaps through disguise–and at least making some people in the crowd look a little similar to Altair. That was a bit like Clark Kent’s glasses, the idea that by walking slowly no one would notice all the weapons visible on your person. I also thought it was a little silly how much Altair disdained the use of poison; it seems like this would be an essential tool of an assassin (especially since I’ve read the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies).

But I really enjoyed the game, and if the sequel lives up to its quality, I will buy it.

—

Over the weekend I started playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and am enjoying it immensely. I never played the other Metroid Prime games, but thankfully that is not necessary.

But for the rest of us, how–no, why do we keep that encroaching darkness at bay to remain in its heart? There is a part of each of us, well hidden while we’re here, that knows the darkness for the illusion it is. But it is a damn good illusion. It makes it easy to forget control–to feel helpless. When day after day we deal with new pains, of the body and of the mind, when love is a cold and broken hallelujah, we yet hold on–and not simply from fear of the unknown, or of separation. Because the “unknown” is only forgotten, and separation is the essence of the darkness in which we live.

There is–must be–another goal, something else which induces us to keep waking up each morning. It is the drive to find a mirror, to discover at some point that there was a light in that darkness all along, and that that light is ourselves. What a feeling, to see the true glory of who you really are! Because the world really is also full of love and beauty, and in the end it all exists because of you.

Hopefully Amazon’s noon (Central time) Gold Box deal today, which seems to be Rock Band, will not be good enough to entice that much out of my wallet…

Edit: dodged a bullet there, as the Gold Box deal was on the PS2 version, which I’m not interested in.

The descriptions on the net are accurate, but it should be noted that the extra races produce adventurers of a set gender, who are not allowed to change jobs. So one produces female thieves, another produces at random either male black mages or female white mages, and the third produces male warriors. They are probably still nice, but I like the ability to make characters change jobs, and the variety of different-gendered adventurers. It would be fun to see these races in the game, but now this pack doesn’t seem as essential as I had previously thought. I may pick it up anyway.

On the other hand, after playing the game awhile the idea of a shrine to buff my adventurers sounds nicer than I initially thought, and the upcoming endless dungeon answers my question of how you get elementite when you run out of dungeons (not in danger of happening anytime soon for me).

Anyway, I think I will probably pick up some of the extras, I just haven’t been able to decide which, yet.

And to change the subject completely, I checked the PS3 backwards compatibility list again a couple weeks ago and it seems there have been some improvements. The 80GB version is adequate to me now, and I intend to get one when the price drops towards the end of the year.

Defend your Castle is fun, though it made my hand hurt after playing for a while (my daughter said hers hurt also). But I definitely think it’s worth the $5. The style of the graphics and sound effects is just awesome. I love the explosion sounds (someone vocally imitating the sound of an explosion).

FFCC: My Life as a King is cool and fun so far, though decidedly mercenary. It only wants you to think that it’s a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game for $15. First, this is basically a city-management game. Which is cool, I like it so far. But don’t go in thinking you’ll be fighting monsters. Second, it is a gateway for their add-on content packs, of which there are already a few available, and each of which costs real world money. If you buy all of the ones available now it is actually $32 for the entire game, but not everyone will probably want all of them. It’s $1 each for an extra costume for your character or your second-in-command/babysitter, Chime. $3 to add 11 dungeons for your kingdom’s adventurers to explore, $8 to add the other 3 races to your kingdom (if you don’t care about having all three, you can get the ones you want for $3 apiece instead). $2 for a specific dungeon and the ability to build a shrine, which will boost adventurers for a while, and another $1 each for a castle update [edit: apparently this one isn’t available yet] and the ability to build big houses. Presumably more content will entice away your cash before long.

I haven’t bought any of this extra stuff… yet. First I’m trying to see what I can get out of it without it, but the extra dungeons and other 3 races seem like they will probably be fairly essential. The bigger houses will probably be nice and according to Wikipedia, two new $2 add-ons will be available next month, both of which sound interesting. So… not a $15 game, but that isn’t to say it isn’t worth it.

So in this game you are the child monarch of a kingdom (which you get to name–mine is Awesomeland) that has been destroyed and it is your job to rebuild the city and send out adventurers to clear the dungeons of monsters. You issue “behests” which are quests for adventurers to do certain things; you can decide to make them change jobs, attempt to take out dungeon bosses, explore, gain experience, etc. You get to form the adventuring parties, see all their stats and in the reports of their adventures you can go as far as to look at combat logs to see round-by-round how their battles went. I’m only on Day 4 or so, which is to say I probably haven’t even finished learning how to do everything yet, but so far it seems very fun and really I am impressed so far with the graphical style and just the quality of the game considering the size limitations.

I’m looking forward to playing some more of it. It probably depends greatly on your mindset whether the downloadable content is worth the price. I think the prices are high for this sort of thing, but with just the most essential ones this still costs less than a normal Wii or FFCC game. I have a feeling there won’t be any more $8 add-ons, though I could be wrong. When the prices are directly compared to, for example, the prices for Oblivion downloadable content, I think they are higher for what you get. But the entry price for Oblivion is also higher by $35 to $45 depending on the platform. I think I will probably end up picking up some of the add-ons, but we’ll see.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a superhero story which is packed with clichés of the genre, and proud of it. It has Batman (Blackwolf), Superman (CoreFire), and many other characters who are not exact copies of better-known heroes from other fictions, but nevertheless feel like they aren’t breaking any molds. The world Grossman creates runs on ridiculous comic book logic, a close parallel to what I know of Marvel’s universe and probably DC’s, as well: soap operas with superpowers, aliens, robots, and more. Some of the reviews on Amazon have called it unimaginative, but it’s obvious that this is intentional. Grossman set out to create a universe with all the antics that go on in the more well-known superhero continuities, and has succeeded admirably. It is a universe of gods and demons battling among us, where no one is ever really hurt, and only robots ever die. But in the end I just have to ask, why?

We’re given a story which is presented from the point of view of the villain (Doctor Impossible) and also that of a new hero (Fatale). The viewpoints alternate chapter by chapter, with the first being from that of the villain. This is an interesting idea, but it feels like it doesn’t pay off; the villain viewpoint up front had me siding a little bit with Doctor Impossible. But while superhero clichés and stereotypes are flaunted like the crown jewels of some long forgotten kingdom, so much so that it seems there must be some intended humor to it, the story itself does nothing to avoid them. I suppose there is some slight attempt, with the minor twist at the end, but it really doesn’t change anything.

Doctor Impossible was probably the most interesting character, but really seemed unable to decide who he was. His first-person narrative voice sometimes comes off as fairly intelligent, troubled, and human, even recognizing and lambasting the stereotypes himself, but at other times, including almost every time he actually speaks, he jumps right into the standard villain role and plays his part, sometimes not even realizing he is doing so. The preposterous superhero tropes ultimately make it more difficult to relate to the characters, who only look human and live in a world that only resembles Earth. There is also at its heart the story of rejected schoolkids, the outsiders and the cliques, but I don’t think it quite works; the outsiders don’t get their happy ending, despite the sense that the whole world is encased in bubble wrap and there’s never any real danger at all. I want for Doctor Impossible something better than world domination (what would he really do with that anyway?), but because he is bullish on the villain angle, that is all he ever wants for himself, and so he can never have anything at all.

Ultimately, I don’t really understand why this story exists. The villain point of view, the apparent digs at superhero stereotypes, and the attempts to show humanity in the heroes foreshadow a depth that never actually materializes. It could be that I’m spoiled by having only recently read Watchmen, but I had hoped for something more thought provoking.

I’m scared, that it won’t work, that it won’t be good. Unconfident. There is nothing for it but to push past those fears, and I know this.

Seeing as my odds of winning are somewhere between the chance that I will be attacked by a shark (while sitting in my cubicle at work) and the probability that I will win the lottery (while not buying any lottery tickets), I will present my story here so that it may be preserved for the few (one?) who are interested:

Sunset over the Great Sea–beautiful. But lovers forget: murlocs.

Enjoy.

I’ve been starting projects and then disconnecting from them, then finding it hard to get back into them and continue. The reason for this is that I let my head get in the way, analyze too much, and that isn’t how writing works (at least for me); I have to be in it, feeling it, experiencing it. Part of the difficulty is that I have an anlytical side which is exercised every day at work. But now that I’ve recognized it, I feel much more confident that I will be able to overcome it and switch to feeling mode more easily. (And he actually told me I would be able to get past it.)

And it seems to me that the problem with being too logical at the expense of feeling is probably adversely affecting other parts of my life, as well. I feel like finding that balance, bringing back the ability to tap into my creativity, will be the key which unlocks the doorways to everything I want to be and achieve in this life. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m also trying out Dungeon Runners, which is kind of fun. Currently a level 9 Ranger.

And I just took this quiz, prompted by Damion Schubert posting his results. Here are mine (the stats said I got the same rating for Human as Half-Elf but apparently it thought Human was better for me):

I Am A: True Neutral Human Sorcerer (3rd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-14
Constitution-12
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-16
Charisma-12

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

For all the spam bots out there who seem to comprise the whole of my readership: celebrity nude picture to you, too.

Happy leap day.

But online worlds in games are too persistent, in the sense that nothing any player can do will have any meaningful impact. Quests are completed only for the amount of time it takes to read the reward message. Enemies are defeated only for the amount of time it takes for them to respawn.

Of course this makes sense with the way they are created; quests and enemies are art assets and content, the quantities of which are tightly constrained by a budget. But the future is in dynamic virtual worlds, and the way to do that is through procedural content generation.

—

A topic of contention among online world developers currently seems to be console development. Some of the top names just talked about it a bit at the Game Developers Conference. Most seem to be trying to defend their platform of choice, the PC. But as someone who is just waiting to be able to play a good online world game on a console (I have the thumbpad keyboard for my 360 controller partially in hope against the day that this will come to pass–and I’m really excited about Champions Online), I have some things to say in its favor (and some responses to the things said in favor of PC):

1. I think I’ve made it obvious here before that I prefer console gaming over PC gaming, and my reasons. Briefly: I like the ease of use, the not having to worry if a game will run on my system, and the lack of painful install, update, and system patch processes. My PC is also pretty old, but that will not be a problem before too long because I will buy a new one.
2. The installed base may technically be bigger on PC, but it probably isn’t if you consider the specs required to play your PC game. And definitely not if you consider the number of PC owners actually using their computers for games. The console market for games is definitely larger than that for the PC, which is easily verified by looking at sales numbers for games which appear on both platforms (especially those released simultaneously on both).
3. “User Interface Constraints” is, in my opinion, a cop-out statement which means, “we are not willing to work very hard on accessibility.” Many PC games (not just online worlds) often make extensive use of keyboard hotkeys for control. But no one can really argue that the keyboard was designed for playing games (even gaming keyboards are just trying to adapt them to a purpose for which they were not originally intended). People (the kind of people we need to reach in order to expand the gaming market) complain that there are so many buttons on console controllers. How can you ever imagine you will get them to memorize all your arbitrary keyboard shortcuts? And then re-memorize them if they take a break from the game for a few months? Yes, making the games work using a controller requires thought and effort, possibly a redesign of major areas of the game, but that isn’t wasted effort when you consider that it is focused on improving accessibility, meaning that it opens up the potential market for the game considerably.
    
   And finally, this one should make producing online world games for consoles a no-brainer:
4. There is no World of Warcraft on consoles.

Well, an update on what I’ve been doing:

I am starting work on a video game version of Stardust (you may recall that Stardust is the working title of my board game side project—or you may not), using XNA Game Studio 2.0, which I hope to eventually make available on the Xbox 360 (through Xbox Live Arcade or the as-yet-unannounced XNA distribution mechanism, if it is suitable). XNA was chosen because I like the ease of programming in C# and it’s kind of cool to be able to make games that work on the 360 (functionality I have not yet tried, since I don’t plan on paying the $100 for a year of the Creators’ Club until I have something worth testing on the 360). This is the first time I’ve done any graphics programming (I haven’t even done a custom Windows forms control before), so the fact that XNA makes it a bit easier is another benefit. I’m doing the graphical stuff first because it is good motivation when I can literally see the progress I am making. So far it basically just draws the board.

My birthday was last month and as a late gift (because its release was delayed), my friend got me Culdcept Saga, at my request. I’ve played through the first three matches in the campaign and I’m really enjoying it. Haven’t got many cards yet, so I’ve just been modifying my starter book (deck) to add in some cool things I’ve gotten which fit in with its theme—it started me with the water/air book. Right now I have the fourth match suspended and I’m not doing so well but it’s still the beginning of the match…

I’m reading A Darkness at Sethanon aloud to my wife, and The Last Unicorn silently to myself.

This weekend I downloaded and played the free beta of Spectromancer a good bit, and I like it quite a lot. I’ve come to the conclusion, though, that the Cleric (the only wizard type you’re allowed to play so far) is pretty underpowered compared to the other wizard types. Definitely something you should try if you like games like Magic: the Gathering. But it’s not Magic, so don’t expect it to be. No deck-building means a fairly even playing field (especially if you play against the same wizard type).

I bought, downloaded, and beat Rez HD. And I’ve bought and been playing Chessmaster Live a bit as well. And, to a lesser extent, Pac-Man Championship Edition.

If you hadn’t heard, they’ve announced the release date for Spore. Hopefully they will actually make it this time (it’s been delayed two years since the initial release window). I think that because this time they have an actual date rather than just a month or a quarter, they will probably not delay it more than a month or two if at all. I’m saving up for a MacBook Pro to effectively replace my crappy desktop at home, and I should have it by September, so that is good news for me.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out March 9, and I’m excited; I’ll definitely be getting it as soon as possible.

I watched all of Scrapped Princess and liked it a lot. Some of my friends would probably not like the ending that much (deus ex machina), or the fact that some of the surreal things were never explained adequately (or at all), but I enjoyed it. There was more emotional depth to the story and characters than in many other TV shows.

In case you’re wondering, the title of the post is just because I wish I’d posted here more often lately.

I think the issue is an important one, and I agree with his take on it, with a caveat: the whole scandal surrounding Mass Effect (which the article provides good links to) is actually good for the industry (and even Mass Effect itself). No, sex doesn’t traditionally sell much better than no-sex in video games, but Mass Effect will do fine. This fracas ultimately won’t have a noticeable negative impact on sales and may even help a little. Harry Potter books were catapulted to unbelievable success in part because they were surrounded with a similar controversy–they were banned in some places–but I’m not saying this is good because it will help sales.

The Mass Effect ordeal is significant because it marks the recognition by the mainstream of a leap forward for the game industry in terms of maturity. The American Library Association, on the last week of September every year, celebrates Banned Books Week. They do this because a large portion of the greatest literary works in history have been stigmatized and banned in their time; the Harry Potter series is only one of the most recent examples. They also do it to promote the preservation of our civil liberties, but if history did not show the quality of the works people of the time have demonized, the idea probably would never have come about.

Works with this sort of impact–enough that they can bring these types of subjects to the fore, and of a quality to be ardently defended–are the mark of a mature (or maturing, in the case of video games) art form. The games industry so far has much more limiting boundaries of what subject matter is considered controversial than, for example, film or literature. But it is also maturing much faster than either of those media have, and I look forward to the day when games can begin to approach the same type of range of expression that those can present. Every new controversy means the boundaries are pushed just a bit farther, so make no mistake: that day will come. The industry will drag its detractors kicking and screaming (is anyone ever dragged any other way?) into that new world, as did the other art forms that have gone before, and it will be good. That is why this upheval is a step in the right direction.

Perhaps we should each do our beloved medium a favor and go pick up a copy of Mass Effect.

Time’s up. What a cool concept, huh? And what a well-written explanation! I’m sure it wouldn’t quite be the same but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone made an MMO out of the idea. It may be a niche market, but it could be a fun game, and who knows? Maybe the concept has appeal to many of us who can’t be troubled (or don’t have time) to leave the house for it. Treasure Hunt Online…

—

This weekend I bought Galactic Civilizations II, as well as its two expansions, Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor. I was really sold on the concept by Twilight of the Arnor including different technology trees for the different races, and I’d never gotten to play Master of Orion, though I have not been deaf to the singing of its praises by various of my friends. And, wonder of wonders: my computer meets the minimum requirements (though not quite the recommended–and rightfully so). I had also read good things about the new expansion, and was aware that the game scored very highly in reviews. Twilight of the Arnor does not actually release until April, but fortunately for me, pre-ordering it grants access to the latest beta version.

So, my experiences with the game so far.

Jumping into it, I noticed the tutorial videos but decided to see if I could figure any of it out by myself. I clicked the New Game button and was presented with many options for what type of galaxy to play. I skipped to the next page and was asked to choose a race. Back to the tutorials; I didn’t know what the bonuses each race received would mean in gameplay terms and hoped they would explain a little.

The tutorial videos stuttered; I checked the forums, got the latest video and audio drivers for my computer (wow, there had been about 70 new versions of the video drivers since the one I had previously). The videos in the game still stutter, but that is just due to the age of my machine; if I reduce the resolution (which requires restarting the game) they work fine. Which is good enough for the tutorials, but I still haven’t gotten to watch an in-game video for more than the few moments it took me to skip it. Incentive for me to save up for that new computer, but I digress.

The tutorials explained a bit to me about the first turn and some other things, enough that I decided to try out a new game. I started with a small map and looking at the races, decided on the Yor Collective and the Technologists party. I enjoy being able to research new technologies in these games. For the points you get to distribute to other bonuses, I spread them out over many different things.  After starting, playing a while and then restarting again a couple times, I settled on putting those points into huge research bonuses and some good morale bonuses (at the time I thought morale affected whether colonies would defect to other civilizations; I now believe it is based solely on loyalty and influence, and has nothing to do with morale). I was playing a medium galaxy now, with four random opponents on Beginner difficulty (and with random intelligence for the opponents).

If you’ve never played Galactic Civilizations II, it is a lot like Civilization 4 (and I assume the other games in the Civilization series, but I haven’t played those). If you haven’t played any Civilization games you can skip this comparison. Influence is Culture, Morale is Happiness, etc. There are differences, of course. You can’t just go create a settlement wherever you want because you have to find habitable planets to colonize. Trade routes are established a bit differently, and there’s no “What’ll you give me for this?” option in the diplomacy interactions. Also, you research weapon and defense technologies and then design your own ships which use them (this part is really cool, and another thing I was looking forward to), rather than just unlocking specific military units.

So now, the story:

I began at the edge of the galaxy, and colonized the other habitable planet in my star system on the first turn (I’ve since been reading about strategies and this is not really the best option–colonizing a higher-class, further away planet first is probably better in the long run). I started working on more colony ships (though I hadn’t realized that as the Yor I already started with technology to make colony ships that could travel faster, so I was just making the default ones), since from my short learning stints on other maps I had been stuck with only two planets when the rest were taken by the other civilizations. This time I ended up with about five planets.

Contact was soon made with the other civilizations of the galaxy: the Drengin Empire, Krynn Consulate, Iconian Refuge, and the Arcean Empire. I established trade routes with them all and, having been attacked in my last learning stint with little or nothing to defend myself, made sure to research the weapon and armor technologies. Soon I had the most powerful military in the galaxy (with just a few very moderately powerful ships which were nevertheless more powerful than anything the rest of the galaxy could offer), and everyone was friendly with me.

I know most people play these games for the fun of conquest, but whenever I do, I tend to avoid conflict. I don’t like my things getting destroyed. I just enjoy building my influence and researching new technologies; I loved getting cities through culture in Civilizaiton 4, and this game was no different. I was happy to have the strongest military because it meant everyone was friendly and left me alone. Even when the extremely warlike Drengin declared war, it was with every civilization except mine. And each time the Arceans and Iconians asked for help, I’d give them something (not defenses against the beam weapons which was what I was using, of course), because I didn’t want the Drengin to win. I knew that if they did, the peace on my side of the galaxy would end.

The United Planets (UN, basically) convened periodically and one thing that was enormously fun for me to win the vote on was the war tax. This vote succeded twice, creating a law where all civilizations which were at war had to pay 15% of their income, and it meant everyone except me had to pay.

After the Drengin fought for probably several months on three fronts, they eventually succumbed to the Iconians and surrendered all they had. I was leery of the Iconians, more than the Arceans and the Krynn, because in the previous learning stint they had been the ones who had attacked me. Now they had almost half the galaxy. I didn’t think I could defeat them in a war (even though my military was still considered the most powerful). But all the remaining civilizations, including the Iconians, were still friendly with me. There was a good possibility I could win the game.

The Iconians declared war on the Arceans, who may have been the weakest. I spoke to the Iconians, though, and traded them Alliances technology in exchange for ending their new war and some other technologies, and then offerend an alliance in exchange for another tech or two. They accepted and without skipping a beat I addressed the Arceans and then the Krynn in the same way, trading them Alliances tech (so they would be capable of making alliances) and then trading them an alliance. Thus, I won the game by allying with every other civilization and uniting the galaxy.

Now I am starting a new game with a large map, five random enemies all of normal intelligence, and normal difficulty. I’m trying out the Dominion of Korx, and my goal is to win through having lots of money, influence, and by not being at war, which I enjoyed in the game I just finished. Next I think I will try a huge map with a full roster of nine opponents, and if things work out well with the current game I will again choose the Korx.

I’m having a lot of fun with the game. I’m looking forward to trying out the campaign mode, and the other features (the editors, and possibly more fleshed out technology trees for some of the races) which are not yet available in the beta.

I really like this one:

Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, HuntingAndFishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6. I can’t seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I’m thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn’t work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks …Troubled User
——-
REPLY:

Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed not to allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 installed and work on improving the configuration. I suggest installing the background application YesDear 99.0 to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to do this before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as CleanAndSweep 3.0, CookIt 1.5 and DoBills 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program NagNag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0, but beware because sometimes these applications can be expensive.

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install SecretaryWithShortSkirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

WARNING!!! Attempting to install NewGirlFriend 8.8 along with Wife 1.0 will crash the system.

(see Wife 1.0 manual, Apologize, High Maintenance & Secretary with Short Skirt)

Bill, who will be age 6 on June 15, has three apples and a carrot. Suzy gives him one anti-matter apple with a magic spell on it that keeps it from exploding on contact with anything other than a normal-matter apple, and constrains the explosion such that it will only vaporize the anti-matter apple itself and one other, normal-matter apple. The magic spell has no other effects. A train leaves from Point A (a small city in the little-known country of Nation 1) heading northwest at a constant speed of 100 miles per hour towards Point B, a thriving metropolis in the heart of Nation 2, which is a distance of 250 miles from Point A in a straight line. The track is a perfect straight line (tunneled through the earth). It is April 6. The train is enchanted such that it can go from a complete stop (relative to the earth) to 100 miles per hour and back again instantly without gory consequences for the passengers, and does so. If Bill hangs his carrot from a string on the end of a stick and holds it in front of a donkey he is sitting on, and the enchantment on the train has no other effects, how old will he be when the train passengers reach the station at Point B (in whole years, counting each whole year only on or after his birthday)?

So, have you ever come across or fabricated any similar humorous word problems? What were they?

Karma is about creating opportunities for spiritual growth.

Our souls do not have enemies or hold grudges. We volunteer to don antagonistic roles towards each other in life for the purpose of enabling demonstrations of Who We Really Are in the face of that which we are not. And we do it to broaden our horizons of experience, that the color and awe in the experiences which really define us may be more vivid.

The cycles are made to be broken. Break them! Break them and find your true Self.

And I will endeavor to do the same.

When I first started the demo I was sort of surprised I was having fun with it. I’ve been describing it to my friends as kind of a cross between Dynasty Warriors and Diablo. The combat is very reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors or Ninety-Nine Nights, but then it throws in the multiplayer and random items & levels that were in Diablo. The levels it generates aren’t like Diablo, though… they’re more akin to the narrow paths you get in Ninety-Nine Nights (a game I bought and had fun with for a while but was much disappointed with when it ended before I could equip a level 7 sword).

In the trailers I have seen it always seemed to me that the graphics wouldn’t be that great or would have a lot of framerate hits, but I didn’t really notice anything like that, and it did look pretty good, at least until I got into the second area, where it was too dark to see much (even with the game’s brightness turned all the way up I had a really hard time finding the skeletons that were attacking me).

The music was ok except when there was a combat type of track that couldn’t have been more than a minute long (and was probably much less), set on an infinite loop. I turned the music down to one step above max at that point.

The camera turns too slowly and requires you to manually turn it too much. Having to think about the camera is distracting and a bit annoying in combat.

I kept wishing I could run faster between combats.

From what I played (it started my character at level 15 and I think I got to around level 20), spells seem fairly useless. They do very little damage and generally take all your action points which you could be using for the more powerful normal attacks.

The cinematics, voices, and story in general seemed a little bit silly. I’m not really sure what was going on.

It might be kind of fun for a while with friends to play with, but it usually takes a little more than repeatedly pressing A to keep me interested in a game. I have a friend that really likes games like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors 2, though, so I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it. Maybe he’ll bring it over and we’ll play co-op sometime.

Do yourself a favor and read this book.

I’ve been staying pretty busy at work this week, motivated by the opportunity to finally start implementing things for a new project. I’ve also been off kilter¹, at least as far as writing is concerned, since Disney World.

I came up with a new idea for a small video game project which I’d like to do but don’t know when I’ll get the opportunity. My home PC is making scary noises, so I don’t know if I feel comfortable using it to work on projects. I just bought an external hard drive, though, so I should be able to do stuff now without fear of the old drive suddenly crashing and losing everything. The worst that will happen is that I won’t be able to work on stuff until I can save up for a new computer. Which is pretty much what is happening now anyway, so I might as well do what I can with what I have, right?

Christmas is coming up. The holiday time off will be nice.

I got on a scale yesterday and was surprised.

I like Portal and Team Fortress 2 a lot. I’m starting Half-Life 2. Haven’t yet finished Mass Effect, or Assassin’s Creed. I may over the holidays.

I’m planning on going back to doing cardio when I work out now, because I’d like to lose some weight.

Also, this is pretty interesting.

Anyway, the trip was really fun. We did almost everything we wanted to and the crowds weren’t too bad.

I still haven’t posted pics of my Mini, but I will before too long; I took them a couple weeks ago. In the meantime, the comments and user pics on this item are hilarious.

Assassin’s Creed is waiting at least until I finish Mass Effect.

Anyway, I hope the insurance will cover it; otherwise, that really sucks. Also, it’s a good thing no one was in the car.

Super Mario Galaxy is awesome so far.

Saw Beowulf Saturday night in 3D (not IMAX, though). I love it. The visuals, the action, and the story… all were worth the price of admission. Better than most of the junk you can see at a theater… but I don’t think it should be PG-13. It will almost be a disappointment when it comes out on DVD, I think, not to be able to watch it in 3D. Here is a pretty good review of the film (which I got the link to from Neil Gaiman’s blog).

It’s completely ridiculous, but in a good way. Don’t let the live actors fool you; despite the relative lack of cartoon artwork, the film is a cartoon. But it’s a fun one, and if you look really hard you might notice how the story plays with the elements of fairy-tale adventure.

It begins as a standard princess fairy tale, albeit one in which the silly tropes of the likes of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and the rest of the Disney princess movies are exaggerated to absurd proportions. But at the end it takes some fun liberties, turnin