Businesses and investors rely upon a multitude of metrics to determine the strength, stability, or general health of a company. I have written before about WACC. Many are familiar with market cap[italization], revenue, income statements and just about everything else released in quarterly financial reports. The real factor separating analyst houses from the lay investor is the amount of historical and far-reaching present data available for analysis.

The first crop of Xbox 360 Achievement sites have already been gathering momentum for their leaderboards, individual account tracking, and artificial sentience. When will we start seeing qualitative analysis techniques applied to players' achievements?

We could have metrics such as:

The Time-to-Points Ratio - The average points a player earns within an hour of play time.

The Game Turnover Period -  The average time a player takes to complete a game or a benchmarked number of points available.

The Sim/Sentient Victory Report - The ratio of successes a player has against a computer versus a true online opponent.

The Disconnect-to-Play Ratio - The relationship between the number of disconnections and the number of online matches.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. The metrics available for measuring are almost endless. If you wanted to choose someone to watch, to play against, or to have on your multiplayer team, you could refer to these metrics to help you decide. I would imagine companies would look to these same metrics when deciding who to endorse as part of their marketing budget.

It may seem overly analytical, but the uses could possibly be far reaching. Perhaps it just seems cold and calculating. Microsoft might publicly say it takes the fun out of playing together. My guess is they'll secretly be tracking these metrics soon if they don't already. If they aren't, somebody else will be.

It's all too familiar. The burning lap courses demand precise driving, boosting, and turn management within a painfully narrow amount of time. The frustration of repeated denial is only compounded by the lamentations of my daughter who refuses to go to sleep.

White Mountain seems to be the most notorious of the raceways. Whether it is within the Criterion Racer GT or some other turbo-installed conveyance, the outcome seems to be all the same: an AWESOME Silver medal. Hardly enough to provide the perfection required for another achievement or an excuse to do something else to drown out the cries of the progeny.

So here I sit, crashing, burning, dropping, or scattering my virtual components across the unforgiving raceway in search of a gold medal and another 25 points. As the shrapnel flies every direction I just think I could be the one sequestered in the crib for a pleasant nap instead of throwing up my hands in disgust at another egregious piloting error.

Amped 3 has gone back to the rental store.

DoA4 still afflicts and torments me.

GRAW is shelved until a second controller or an XBL Gold membership drops from the sky.

I can't bring myself to play any more Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires.

So, I am back on Burnout thanks to an opportunity to borrow a copy from my father. I figure this will keep me busy again, unless I borrow Full Auto from my wife's friend. She bought it. I'd like to think I can squeeze some easy points from that title. Of course, I'd also like to play a game I'd enjoy.

My wife and I were doing our budget tonight. It seems I have been making a lot of game purchases what with the 360 and the DS lite and all.

I would discuss the financial straits of keeping up on the game habit, but I have to go pick up the tuxedo for my friend's wedding on Friday.

Be back soon!

I enjoyed the customizable player feature in Amped 3. It was a great opportunity to give myself the hair I never had, but always wanted.

The shirt and tie was so . . . right. But it would've been a white shirt.

I have been a fond fan of theatre for some time. Throughout junior high, high school, and college I participated in whatever production was going on at school. My friends and I would eagerly travel around Orange County hitting all of the local venues showing anything of interest. While I saw a lot of them and played in a few, I never really got into musicals. All the singing and dancing just didn't feel natural. 

West Side Story, while a fine show, is probably one of the best examples of the counterintuitive nature of musical theatre. A bunch of street gangs in New York merrily prance about and sing of dedication to their fraternal order of superiority. People fall in love, people die, police officers are openly mocked. It's like Grand Theft Auto, but . . . it's a musical, and it has substance siphoned from the Bard.

Though a few exceptions exist, as a general rule I don't like musical in my theatre. Give me Fools, give me a decent rendition of the Miracle Worker, but keep your Annie outta my theatre.

What I never knew I loved was musical comedy in my video games. The end of Amped 3 was excellent. My wife and I enjoyed the campy, over-the top, deliciously random presentation. I lament the loss of Indie Built, but I hope the leaven of the Amped 3 team is leavening Take-Two Interactive and other companies. We need more games that are just plain fun!

From Berlin Hilton to pyramid marketing schemes to Evil Game, it was one big send up to all that comprises the twisted, mainstream culture. In true Robot Chicken fashion, it is drawn from many disparate influences.

The game was not merely satire but a well executed arcade snowboarding game. I am glad for the points lust because I found another excellent game I would have otherwise passed over.

I need one of Darth Vader's meditation chambers . . . just so I can regulate my gaming time when the wife decides it's time to do chores.

;-)

. . . I wouldn't have any appointments.

Today was the second day I dedicated to getting the Committed award in G.R.A.W. The difference? Today I played the whole time. I played and played and worked and played. Unfortunately, the game has denied me again.

*grumble*

Why do I keep afflicting myself this way? I could have played more Uno or more PDZ. Instead I sank more time into an otherwise passable game.

The things I do for points.

Galaga pales in comparison to centipede. The bugs were faster, the shooting was faster and the mushrooms. . . yeah. you could shoot those things.

Galaga let's you get two shots off while the enemy barrages you. Centipede allowed you to shoot all you wanted but the enemies swarmed you like nothing else. Ah, the good old days of shooters. Now I can relive those arcade days. . . for a price.