I've been browsing through Ebay's 2006 Analyst Day report. I can't say I like their plan of mixing up Ebay, Skype and PayPal into some weird "power of 3" application. What exactly is the point of transferring money (with PayPal) through Skype, or following some products on Ebay through Skype?

Ever since Ebay bought Skype, things have slowly been heading for the worse. There was only one basic reason for Skype's huge popularity.

Simplicity.

Install, call and talk.

If other IM had allready been offering users something as simple, with similar quality, Skype wouldn't have had a chance. But they did and the guys have now cashed in, and we end up with some marketing gurus adding some very unwanted features to the program.

This is what happens when you throw a couple of enthusiastic marketing guys in a think tank and tell them to come up with ways to increase profit. Browsing Ebay on Skype? Do you see the (what I am sure they believe is obvious) connection there? But when you are deep down in customer relations zone, you sometimes forget that not everyone is as serious about your products as you are. In fact, nobody is.

We've seen this sort of behaviour from Microsoft all the time. It's amazing how they ended up with the idea that all Office programs should be able to do just about everything the user could come up with.

Remember this image? http://www.jadetower.org/muses/wlsimages/complicated-using-Microsoft-Word.jpg

It's a parody of course, but there is truth to it. The two most hated creatures of all times: Jar Jar Binks and that horrible Office paper clip. I get angry just thinking about that paper clip.

If you ever get in the mood for some self torture, try reading through the source of a html document generated by Word.

Ok Saturday morning ramble almost over. There is a point to this post. What was it again.

Yes, simplicity is hugely overlooked in designing of modern programs Gui's.

I've been so swamped with work, I've only managed to squeese in 100 hours of Oblivion so far. Not a single day off in 2 months now, I could just as well live in China and work in a Nike factory.

As a dedicated follower of any trend set by caesarbites, I thought I should post my first 100 hour stats :)

Main Stats

(Play time: 100:07:55)

Race: Nord
Birthsign: The Thief
Class: Pilgrim
Level: 27

Strength: 94
Intelligence: 69
Willpower: 83
Agility: 93
Speed: 93
Endurance: 80
Personality: 97
Luck: 68

Major Skills

Armorer: 67 (Journeyman)
Block: 71 (Journeyman)
Blunt: 69 (Journeyman)
Light Armor: 78 (Expert)
Merchantile: 56 (Journeyman)
Security: 59 (Journeyman)
Speachcraft: 94 (Expert)

Minor Skills

Athletics: 55 (Journeyman)
Blade: 30 (Apprentice)
Hand to Hand: 20 (Novice)
Heavy Armor: 41 (Apprentice)
Alchemy: 55 (Journeyman)
Alteration: 7 (Novice)
Conjuration: 15 (Novice)
Destruction: 56 (Journeyman)
Illusion: 22 (Novice)
Mysticism: 25 (Apprentice)
Restoration: 60 (Journeyman)
Acrobatics: 72 (Journeyman)
Marksman: 37 (Apprentice)
Sneak: 83 (Expert)

Factions

Arena: Bloodletter
Mages Guild: Associate
Fighters Guild: Apprentice
Thieves Guild: Bandit
Blades: Knight Brother
Order of the Virtuous Blood: Brother

Main Stats & Summary

Days Passed: 72
Active Quests: 19
Quests Completed: 32

Skill Increases: 664
Training Sessions: 60
Novice Skills: 4
Apprentice Skills: 4
Journeyman Skills: 10
Expert Skills: 3

Bounty: 0
Fame: 23
Infamy: 5

Days Jailed: 2
Items Stolen: 3950
Items Pickpocketed: 22
Trespasses: 0
Assaults: 27
Murders: 0
Horses Stolen: 2
Largest Bounty: 250
Creatures Killed: 436
People Killed: 103

Places Found: 86
Locks Picked: 159
Lockpicks Broken: 39
Souls Trapped: 1
Ingredients Eaten: 20
Poitions Made: 460
Oblivion Gates Shut: 1
Horses Owned: 1
Houses Owned: 2
Stores Invested in: 0
Books Read: 232
Skill Books Read: 13
Artifacts Found: 1
Hours Slept: 148
Hours Waited: 45

Days as a Vampire: 8
Necks Bitten: 8
Jokes Told: 1617
Diseases Contracted: 10
Nirnroots Found: 27

If so, you should enjoy this comic: http://www.hlcomic.com/view.php?date=2005-05-01

If not, why are you even reading this? :)

Oh, it's a great comic btw, both technically and humorous as well

I love it :)

The game has more than it's fair amount of bugs though, I've experienced a few, but nothing I couldn't get passed with minimal efforts.

I am not going to post any spoilers, not now nor in the near future. I've played about 14 hours now and it's safe to say I am taking my time.  I've spent almost the entire time in 2 small cities / towns and only done a handful of missions.

As games only fall in two basic categories when I'm concerned, "Great", and "Not great", I am extremely thrilled having finally found one which I can put in the former.

This collectors edition I bought is also the most extravagant game package I've bought so far. The coin is a nice touch :)

Due to my lack of oblivion I wasn't planning on playing Oblivion yet. However, since my cousin bought 2 copies of the collectors edition (due to a faulty delivery service, remember NEVER to preorder games) I had to be the nice guy and buy 1 copy from him.

Considering my current workload, this isn't a smart move at all. Considering I have a relatively new girlfriend, this isn't a smart move at all.

However, I am not known for being smart, so I just bought the damn game. I don't play that many games anymore, I try to stick to the best of the best, and I have no doubt Oblivion does qualify there :)

I will of course be playing the PC version.

Hopefully it won't arrive until next week though as this weekend like the last few should be a work only weekend.

First, the official release date is now May 31st.

Second, according to Gabe Newell it took him 7 hours to play through it "last time". 7 hours after 2 years, give me a break.

Then this: Newell:  "You’re on top of an exploding building, okay, so how do you not all die. It answers a bunch of those questions.  It also raises some questions about what the G-Man’s real role is in the Half-Life universe, so there are some surprises there for people."

I thought those questions were raised in HL and then again in HL2. Perhaps time to answer some questions instead of raising the same ones...

Then of course the continuing silence regarding TF2:

GI: One of the games that I still play is Team Fortress 2…Newell: I’m not going to say anything about Team Fortress

(DJ-D10: I am sure he meant TFC and not TF2 :) )

GI: Awww…that hurts me. (laughs) Newell: It hurts me too. (laughs)

GI: Well can I at least ask if you would ever do a Source enabled Team Fortress Classic? Newell: (pause) I’m not going to say anything about Team Fortress right now.  I love that game. Everybody at Valve loves that game.

You can read the full interview here: http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200603/N06.0324.2249.59492.htm

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

Interesting read.

There are so many things in this world that I simply don't understand. Since it's a Saturday morning and I am desperately looking for excuses not to work, I thought I should post a few of those, even if it isn't a game related topic.

I don't understand why people like to watch karaoke shows (like all the Idol shows).

I don't understand why people on Survivor get into arguements, knowing it will get them voted off.

I don't understand why anyone would buy any brand other than Sennheiser when getting new headphones.

I don't understand why everyone thought Civillization IV was such a great game.

I don't understand people that start playing Half-Life 2 but don't finish it.

I don't understand people that don't drink coffee in the morning.

I don't understand why people choose to believe in god.

I don't understand people that bypass the process of forming an opinion, and go straight to having an opinion.

I don't understand why people get hooked on sukoko.

Oh, and I seriously don't understand why players cheat in multiplayer games.

Some volatile issues there perhaps, but these are still all things I just can't understand.

I've figured out the reason - (see part I). I am not getting to old, phew.

I am just not interested in the majority of games anymore (hmm maybe that means I am getting to old?)

I can't even begin to try to understand why people play Tony Hawk Awesome Figure Skating XII. I can't understand how the console world works. When you can play games like HL2, why would you seriously consider playing some platform game for instance? Unless you are 10 years old obviously.

Having said this, I've stopped looking at myself as a hardcore gamer. I don't own any consoles, and I am never getting one.

Now, on a positive note, I decided to revisit San Andreas. In short, it's just as much fun as it was the first time, and fully deserves my rating of 9.8. It's the closest to being the perfect game of all games I've played. Without those two series, GTA and HL, I wouldn't be playing games at all anymore.

Star Jacker

Now this is nostalgia! :) This game was published in 1983, I remember playing it a lot around '85 to '87. I got so good at this game I even considered breaking the world record, which was somewhere around 28 hours of non-stop playing. However in order to do so you had to have someone to take over while you ran to the bathroom or grabbed a sandwich. I searched for a replacement and tried to use the guys who were the best among the rest, but the gap was to big.

I remember playing once for over 3 hours straight. Then I desperately needed a bathroom break, so I let my friend take over. I had 5 shuttles when I left, but when I came back 2 minutes later he had lost 4 of them :)

Years later I tried the game again on an emulator. I was neither any good at it, nor did I enjoy it.

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