No, it is true. My father bought an Xbox 360.
While I don't know if he is intendin to flip it, he certainly put down money for the machine. That said, it is a core machine. The idea that 360 units are just now becoming available for the second wave of the early adopters is unimaginable.
Theoretically the people buying now are the people who would have shown up within the first week to get one after all of the preorders had gone out. I suppose my father fits that bill.
Set the way-back machine for May of 2003.
My college friends and I reconnected after a couple of months of not playing Neverwinter Nights together. Come to find out they have left the old stomping grounds and established an online server of their own. They invited me back into the old D&D fold and made me a DM, a head of one of the guilds, and a community manager over more than a thousand registered members of the site's forums. It was a great experience.
At the peak of our popularity we would have hundreds of people on at any given time, and the forums were full of exciting role-playing, discussions, and technical improvement suggestions. I think we even cracked the top-ten most popular Neverwinter servers.
Lately, we have been collaborating on a different project. Given the sheer brilliance of my friends, I am very excited to work side-by-side with them to make this one happen. We have been conducting regular development meetings, and I am finding a comfortable role as a project and creative manager for this endeavor.
The excitement over the project couldn't have been fueled any more, unless I had spent more time at GDC.
This collaborative opportunity has not only fueled my excitement over the project, but also deepened my respect for the talented friends I have. This is how work should be. It feels good to be making and contributing to something, rather than just playing someone else's game.
. . .Not that there is anything inherently wrong with Final Fantasy X-2.
For anybody who has heard Ray Parker Jr's Ghostbusters song and thought it sounded like a Huey Lewis & the News song, this one is for you.
I have previously noted how concerned I have been by some community contributions. While I can't do much to improve the others' malaise-inspired efforts, I can clean up some of the trash strewn about the site.
I didn't think the GameSpot Terms of Service were so difficult to abide by. Unfortunately, some contributors can't honestly evaluate games on their own. They have to plagiarize someone else's work. That is not only sad, but absolutely dastardly.
If people steal to earn the honor of a badge located on your GS profile. . . no telling what they do [or did] to pass a test in high school. . . a conjecture that may not be entirely popular to make, but may be statistically significant.
So, one of my GS friends is part of a community watchdog organization which works to crackdown on the miscreant behavior in the online streets. Intrigued by the intellectual and sometimes pseudo-intellectual contributions of the group I joined their ranks. I can see why they do what they do. It is good, ethical, and community improving work. Keep it up!
. . .and as for you Fabrice, Private Eyes *clap clap* are watching you.
For an industry with offerings lacking suitable substitutes, I am surprised just how elastic the offerings of games are. For most games being released it seems you either bring a game to market with online play or you don't sell.
Black got marked down for not having online or any multiplayer (among other things). Metal Gear Solid has entered the online experience with Subsistence. Even Final Fantasy and Warcraft brands have moved to the MMORPG genre.
Warcraft has supported online for years, but the MMORPG is the ultimate deposit in the online bank account. You don't have a game, unless you have online.
Microsoft has basically laid down the gauntlet and told all developers what the requirements for developing for their platform would be: Online play, customizable soundtracks,
etc. . . Truly you either bring those features to the table or you don't ship for the 360.
I'm not saying it is impossible to be successful without online experiences. Unfortunately for Microsoft's rules, Oblivion has departed from that formula. Does Condemned have online play? Should Full Auto really have had online play? It certainly would have suffered more without it.
So how much of this is required by the consumer, and how much is required by the competitive market? Splinter Cell has online multiplayer, is that why Konami added multiplayer for MGS? Perhaps it was a natural growth of the brand based upon players' demands. Pretty soon I suppose Metal Gear Ac!d will have the ad-hoc wireless multiplayer option (which would be great).
The bastion of single-player and single hardware multiplayer experiences, Nintendo, is finally caving to the online multiplayer requirements. I suppose since their competitors are doing it, they have to. Either that, or they are placing another patch of road on their way to obsolescence. It just has to be done. If you can't supply with the costs, and product requirements, being what they are, then you don't supply in that market.
The two-paddle Pong game just won't cut it anymore. It has to be online against someone far away. . . and you need a $400 console to play it. Take-Two has read the revelation and is being an obedient servant of the online masses.
Let's have a party, there's a full moon in the sky
It's the hour of the wolf and I don't want to die
I'm so happy dancing while they're quivering
But he can't get me
-Lyrics courtesy of Oingo Boingo
From the Dead Man's Party album, "No One Lives Forever"
Monday, March 20, 2006
The cold, driving rain came down like broken pixels. . . the air was light with spring humidity and the ground was heavy with wet cement. It was another Spring day in San Jose.
Even KC and the Sunshine Band couldn't pierce the awful gloom which had descended upon the most populous city by the Bay. One could only hope the San Jose Convention Center held brighter news.
What a horrible day to have a curse.
I really should know better than to darken Cryptobadger's real blog.
He finds the most obscure, but compelling, content with which to siphon away my time. Behold, Accordion Hero*!
They better have some classic They Might Be Giants and Al tunes in there. Six Fat Dutchmen** should make an appearance as well. Good Accordion music is hard to find. Not because it is all bad, but because few can master the untapped potential of the instrument. . . of destruction.
*Apologies to GameSpot for linking to a competitor. The truth must be told.
**You know it is obscure when you must resort to a Wikipedia reference.
For my first time through, MGS3 is pretty fun.
It makes for some good gaming when I am at home during sick days.
Back in 2002 I got Mononucleosis. I remember being so, so tired. I was on bed rest for a week and then was limited to 1/2 days at work for another two weeks to allow for a full recovery. During that time I played a lot of Neverwinter Nights.
Shortly thereafter I got a PS2 and never looked back. Lately I have not been feeling well and have taken the time to play MGS3 when I have not been sleeping. Besides the standard fares, Subsistence has been the staple of my "down" time.
The verdict is still out on the Snake versus Monkey mode. All-in-all the extras have been superb. They were actually the first things my wife and I watched. Now I can play the game and get the full experience.
Tastes like chicken.
While I do not have the Document of Metal Gear Solid, I do have the recently released documentary. . . and a very nice documentary it is. . . I think. Truth be told, I'm going home now to watch it with my wife.
. . . we are into those sorts of things.
If it wasn't for documentaries we have been watching lately, I don't know that I would've been prepared for the corruption and secret combinations which run throughout the Metal Gear Solid world.
The real world, I'm sure, has far more, perhaps in the same locations too.
I'll leave it at that.
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