A few days ago, I got a letter in the mail that invited me to a class reunion. I won't tell you which... let's just say I have several gray hairs to prove high school was a long time ago for me :lol: .

The same day, there was a show on the History Channel called "History Rocks," where they take a song and make a historical rock video from it. One of the segments was about Pong... from the early '70's. Scary thing? I remember when the home Pong first came out: my aunt bought one (for some ridiculous amount of money), and her and her then-husband would play for hours.

My point? Video games have advanced incredibly since I was a kid. Back then, two paddles and a black-and-white screen was state of the art. Now, it's a motion-sensitive controller with 3-D full color graphics (on a console considered "underpowered"... kind of hilarious, really).

A few years later, Space Invaders hit the arcades. Three buttons, two colors (black and white... a couple of strips of gel were slapped on to give the screen color) and endless gameplay... literally: you could play as long as your skill held out. Nowadays, the vast majority of games have a definitive end, usually after a few hours (10-20; 40-50 if it's really good, and 100+ if it's Final Fantasy :) ).

Move on to the mid-'80s and games are in color; Robotron was the game of choice among my friends and I. Hours spent with two joysticks and an intense amount of violence... so much so that a few parents wouldn't let their kids go to arcades with Robotron! "You'll be warped by it!" they'd say. If they could see the furor over Manhunt 2, I think they'd change their minds.

The console era by now has moved on to the Nintendo Entertainment System, which has replaced the Atari 2600 (I played two of those into the ground) as console of choice. No real competitors in this era; Sega's Master System really never caught on, and Atari is having it's own crisis (neither the 5200 or 7800 made as big an impact as the 2600; the company is only a shadow of it's former self, and goes bankrupt). Nowadays, 4 home systems are available (PS3, XBox 360, Wii, and PC), as well as 2 handhelds (PSP and DS). Competition is fierce.

Back then, people would go to arcades to play each other and gain bragging rights. You'd see many of the same people day in and day out, plugging in quarters and racking up ridiculously-high scores. Now, you go on the internet, meeting people from around the world, and compete for items to sell on eBay (at least, that's what I hear :) ). There are no more arcades around me; they've gone the way of the Atari 2600.

As much as they've advanced, though, I feel something is definitely missing from today's gaming atmosphere: the face-to-face interaction between people. I can log on, fire up a game of DoW, and (if my connection holds... good luck with that :lol: ) play someone in, say, England... and never see their face. I could play nice, and wish him good luck, or say incredibly rude things about his playing... and wouldn't matter, since the worst that could happen is I leave a bad impression; in the coin-op days, bad sportsmanship could get you beaten up.

Also, craftsmanship has taken a beating these days: if a PC game is released without at least 3-4 patches it's considered "unsupported." Without at least 1 patch, many games are completely unplayable (Temple of Elemental Evil springs to mind here). In the 2600 days, it was very rare to get a game that had bugs (one of the only games I can think of is Demon Attack; if you rolled the score over, the whole game crashed to a black screen).

Lastly, some of the gameplay seems to have been lost with the newer games: much of the fury of a Robotron seems to be missing in today's games, in favor of resolution and ease of play. It took me a long time to get good enough to beat wave 9 on Robotron; in that time, I could have beaten several of today's games several times over.

So, as I sit and think it over, I wonder: in another 5 years (when I'm sure I'll get my next class reunion invite :lol: ) what will the gaming environment look like? Will people be buying half of a game at a time, and patching the rest over the next year? Will face-to-face technologies bring some of the calss and sportsmanship back to gaming? What will true 3D gaming be like (as in holographic TV's... they're most likely 3-4 years off at our current rate of advance)?

It will definitely be interesting to find out, won't it?

...but formalizing it isn't.

Monday's class this term is Software Applications/Programming. It's basically a beginner-level software engineering class: specification, design, programming, testing, and implementing an application. Sounds easy enough, right?

Okay... no, it doesn't sound easy... because it really isn't. I've been writing short stories for years; after a lot of practice, it's nearly second nature: have idea, start writing, finish writing, show off cool story (boy, my ego... going to have to have it shrunk again... ;) ).

What's missing from this sequence? Planning. Short stories are spontaneous.

Software isn't.

First, you have to have the idea. Simple enough.

Now, you have to specify what it can and can't do. This is a pretty formal declaration of the limits and constraints of your idea... basically, "When is it done?" Which is a lot easier said than done.

Next, you have to present the idea. I don't really like standing in front of people and talking. Face-to-face with one or two people is fine; more than that, and I feel the need to find a corner and hide.

Then you get to think about the classes within the application, what tools to use (Java? C++? VB? FORTRAN?... ok, not FORTRAN... I have no idea how it works), and how much time you feel you can spend on it.

Now, you can type the code. (The "easy" part. Right? :p )

Which makes me wonder...

What the **** have I gotten myself into?

Add all this work to the other two classes (I can almost sleep-walk through Group Dynamics; Introductory Calculus, not so much), and I have a feeling my blogs are going to get spaced apart a little more than they have (so have patience, tekmet: no need to poke me... :) ). So, if I tend to disappear every now and again, you have a good idea why.

Of course, it could be worse... I could become this poor guy.

We've all run into these topics whenever we've looked over the forums of our favorite games: "Fictional Universe A vs. Fictional Universe B." Some are serious ("Necrons vs. Protoss"); some are not ("My Pretty Pony vs. Warhammer 40K").

Most of them turn into bloodbaths and insults after the first 20-30 posts.

The setting is familiar: original poster sets up a vague scenario by which character/race A will face character/race B in a fight to the death. The first few posters then try to dissuade further participation in the name of peace and sanity, whilea few others begin the debate rationally by citing their "facts and figures" as to why their favored champion shall win. Meanwhile, a group of foaming-at-the-mouth fans decide that this "sacrilege" shall not stand, and the insults and twisted logic ensue.

The participants fall into several well-defined categories: the logician (who will post an exhaustive list of statistics, charts, and other data in order to cut the debate off at the knees; unfortunately, the "wall of text" is so intimidating, no-one wishes to read the well thought-out argument); the frustrated fan (who's arguments get increasingly annoyed as they are discarded as "fanboyism"... which is ironic, considering that they make real sense); the bystander (who doesn't actually know anything about the subject, and randomly bumps a dying topic with pointless questions... probably to watch more bloodshed); and, finally, the fandroid (who's entire line of reasoning ranges from "My game sold more copies! I win!" to "Mass carriers = instant win!" to random personal insults that end up moderated and deleted).

When the dust settles, and the topic sinks to the bottom of the pile, and everyone's served their suspensions and bans, a month or more may pass... and a new versus topic will pop up, and the cycle begins anew.

If you stop and really think about it, though, who really wins? If, for example, Warhammer 40K (which is a favored target in RTS circles) "wins" the debate, and is proved so overpowering that none shall stand before it, do the participants actually win anything? If they do, I haven't seen any tangible rewards.

Do the fans win? I've seen game fanatics spew some pretty hateful things in defense of a certain RTS, which has tempted me to find all copies of the game and smash them with a large brick. I'm pretty sure that's not the impression the rest of that community wishes to be associated with.

Does the developer win anything? If the fandroids are pushy enough, I'm sure some who were thinking about buying games from that company might reconsider if the on-line community is as hostile as the topic's more hateful contributors are.

Does the game's characters win anything? Considering that it's unlikely they'll actually meet (for example, I sincerely doubt Relic's RTS developers and Bungie's FPS developers are secretly planning a "Space Marine versus Master Chief" crossover game), no real ground is actually gained by either side.

Debating the games based on relative merits can be informative; debating (or violently arguing, which is more likely) about their characters is frustrating, and nothing is ever really accomplished. In the future, we may be better off without them.

If I don't update as much as I have been (not that I can be accused of being remotely CLOSE to being regular...), it's because this term, things are a LOT more advanced than I've encountered before. Six months from grraduation, though, so I shouldn't be surprised.

I dug up my copy of StarCraft, like I threatened to last blog... it's even slower than I remembered it being. Not as terrible, though: with almost a year of DoW under my belt, I've found more eveil ways to beat the SP than I did before. I'm 2 missions from ending the Terran campaign... part of me is wondering if I should cheat my way through the Zerg (I never liked them), but being opposed to cheating in general, I know I won't.

My Programming instructor wants me to enter the school's technical contest in October. "You'll basically be competing against yourself," he informs me... which either says a lot about the skill I've busted my *** for, or says very little about the level of skill of the other people in the school... oh, well. I will enter, just to see how I do stack up, and if I win, it's just another nice little addition to a resume...

I'm back to tutoring 5 days a week: math, programming, and VB programming (which is not the same as real programming :lol: ). I'm not the strongest VB programmer in the school, but together with the other tutors, there's no way anyone should fail Intro to VB. If they do, they need to be euthanized for safety sake... or maybe just beaten with stale spaghetti.

If I get the time mid-week, I might throw out an editorial on the rampant abuse of vs. topics: it's just so ridiculous that so many people want "their" universe/characters to be "overpowering" against the rest of the known gaming worlds.

Got to cut this a bit short... I have some printing to do for classes tonight. See you all soon!

So I wander onto GS on Monday (or Sunday? the days just blur into each other...) and check my usual haunts. Things have been quiet, so I'm mostly checking the gang's blogs, seeing how everyone's faring, etc.

Right at the top of the DoW:DC board is a thread: "There's a fight on the SC2 boards." I check, and sure enough: "Necrons vs. Protoss." And all the DC regulars are there. Wow.

Just as a little background: DC has put up with some really obnoxious Blizzard internuts. A "zero-tolerance" rule seems to be in effect there now: if an "SC vs. 40K" topic comes up there, it's hit hard, fast, and mercilessly (kind of like an SM rush for posters :) ).

C&C3 has seen it's (un)fair share as well; just because it wasn't "perfectly balanced" out of the box (what game is?), it was thrashed mercilessly.

So, with the honor of the Chapter and the Technology of Peace firmly in hand, I charged to the support of my comrades... and played nice, polite and intelligent.

"HUH?!?" some of you are saying right now. "You hate StarCraft; it's documented, and legally notarized, and... stuff." Which is true... to a point.

Most of my extreme reaction is due to the internuts I've seen here ("WTF!!! SC IS THE BEST >>> UR GAMEZ!!!" is the common warcry). I have no patience for one-sided, rules-altering arguments (like the SC vs. C&C3 fight: "Only dark energy can beat an Overmind... but your Chronosphere still doesn't count, n00bs!"), and that's the flavor of debates with the fandroid elite.

It was clear that these debates were different: a lot of the participants actually wanted to learn about WH40K, and actually contributed to the discussion in positive ways (there were a few exceptions... I won't name names, though, since I can't really remember them). In three (?) days, my respect for SC was restored (somewhat), and a general cease-fire was asked for. I think it's still holding over there, too.

The moral of this story: ...is there one? Is it really over? Can Protoss defeat the Tau (the concensus on that was "No"... in fact, it was decided that WH40K is so overwhelmingly overpowering, SC didn't stand a chance, from both sides of the debate)?

And now, I'm considering finding my SC disks and re-installing the game. Stay tuned...

Ever have one of those weeks that just blew by and left you feeling like you've been run over by a freight train?

It started off all right: a lazy Sunday with nothing to do but watch kid's movies with the little ones. No major issues except a bit of a heat wave in the area, and some AC balancing (I like it warm; my wife likes it frosty. We couldn't get it nice enough for either of us).

Then bad things started to happen.

First, the fridge went on the fritz. The freezer was near absolute zero, but the fridge was almost room temp. A good friend of ours took our food to his house and stored it for us while we thawed out the entire unit (twice) and got it back where it's supposed to be... on Thursday, 3 days after it acted up. Non-dairy creamer isn't nice 4 days in a row.

PC issues: my subscription to Norton expired, so I got a new AV/firewall for the wonder machine... only to wrestle with the firewall for 2 days trying to get it to let Firefox access the internet. It turns out I forgot to set a prompt for access, and it was blocking me because I wasn't thinking. The family PC genius drops the ball... OUCH.

One good thing: I picked up the first two Horus Heresy books on Thursday. "Horus Rising" just blew by; I started reading at about 4PM Thursday, and finshed noon Friday. I could not put it down. Even if you're not a 40K fan, read the book. It's very descriptive, and shows a side of the IoM I'd never seen. Book 2 I'm taking my time with: I've only finished the first 130 pages. Not as good... but still a good read.

I'm taking an RTS break of sorts: I reloaded my old copy of Unreal Tournament, and have been playing off-and-on when the spirit takes me. It's not a storyline-type game (like Doom3; the first FPS to actually scare me... not an easy feat, considering the fact that I must have seen 100's of horror movies in my time), but it's a bit less brain-intensive, and allows me to just act and sharpen my (lagging) arcade-honed reflexes.

Music: Iced Earth, one of my top-10 favorite bands, released a single from their upcoming album, based on the Something Wicked trilogy on the '99 album of the same name. "Ten Thosand Strong" just hits you and won't stop; the re-recorded "Something Wicked" trilogy is mean and dark, a lot darker than the original release. As much as I miss Matt Barlow on vox, "Ripper" Owens (ex-Judas Priest sub for Rob Halford) was an incredible pick-up... and so far, he's shone on "Glorious Burden" and the single.

Well... I suppose I'd better get some sleep... and probably dream of Garviel Loken and the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus slowly turning to the dark side... 'Til next time!

*sigh of relief* After what seems like the absolute worst term in college history (stress-wise, that is) I'm finally getting some time off to regroup for next term. The final tally: one (borderline) F (economics; final grade will be a B+), one mid-C (Java 2; final grade will be an A), and one A (Data Structures; final grade will be an A). Next month: Math 3 (calculus), Group Dynamics (working and playing well with others; I think my D&D years should be counted as credit for this, but... ;) ) and Software Applications and Programming (how to make a program from the ground up; this will be the awesome class!). I've been asked back as a tutor for math and programming again, and I've accepted (it's fun, but sobering: a lot of people say that they wouldn't have passed their classes without me... which is a lot more credit than I think I deserve).

I haven't touched a game in 2 days: studying;

"Spiderman 3" (very good; ending was a little weak in my opinion, but the action and storyline were fantastic);

"The Misplaced Legion" by Harry Turtledove (a Roman legion is magically transported to an alternate world and hired as mercenaries by Videssos, and empire much like the Byzantine Empire; compelling reading for history buffs and fantasy fans alike);

and "The Deadliest Catch" (on Discovery Channel; it follows the lives of Alaskan crab fishermen in the Bering Sea, one of the most brutal environments to fish: one boat sank at the start of the season, killing 3 men; it puts life and career in perspective like nothing else). Nevertheless, I feel like I haven't really missed them: Wrestling with the Java app for the final project was a fun game in itself.

Music pick: Symphony X- Inferno. Part Dream Theater, part Iron Maiden... the only thing good about New Jersey (kidding). They are releasing a new album in June (or July) with some amazing cover artwork (it's my current laptop background). If it wasn't so big, I'd upload it to the blog, but instead, I'll link to it: Paradise Lost Cover Art.

On a final note: my union idea. I still haven't started it. I'm sort of on the fence about it. If you know anyone interested in a union for debating RTSs and swapping tips/favorite obsure games, let me know.

Klaatu Varada Nicto!!! 

I decided to spruce the place up a bit... I'm not a PhotoShop guru, or a Paint wizard, but I do have a warped sense of humor, and a Java JDK; a dangerous combination :lol: .

I picked up Company of Heroes on Friday; when I get down on myself, a good game picks me up. I found a Collector's Edition gathering dust (one good thing about where I live: no one has a clue what's good, or collectable) and snatched it up. First impression: tough game. Ultra-realistic, too (maybe a bit too realistic: I haven't heard so much swearing since my Navy days). Not for kids.

Just to liven things up: I mentioned Helloween a couple blogs back. Just to show that I'm serious about their talent, check out "I'm Alive" here. Judge for yourself.

One more day of cla$$ left: Data Structure final on Wednesday. I'm studying as much as I can bear, and maybe a little beyond. Hopefully, I don't burn out.

Til next time...

Two finals down, 1 to go... and I'm not feeling overly joyful about it.

Java II: 75% on the final. I'd feel worse about it if it wasn't the 2nd highest grade on the test. As it stands, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I studied like crazy for that test; then I sat down, took it, and realized much of the questions were on stuff that was brushed over or ignored. I respect the instructor (you've gotta love a programmer/engineer/motorcyclist/sky-diver with a twisted sense of humor), and I understand why he teaches the way he does: he focuses on the truly important programming stuff, not how to make the app look "pretty." I just wish the people who wrote the test saw things the same way.

Microeconomics: there's no words to describe how utterly painful that cla$$ was. If I never hear the words "opportunity cost," "marginal utility," or "price elasticity of demand" again in my life... The final was a &^%$ing torture test: 100 questions, with many that we just breezed over in class; I blame the instructor for this one (I've never seen a teacher who failed so badly to control a cla$$!), because she knows that the cla$$ is a real nightmare, and did nothing real to prepare us for the final. Even if I marginally bomb it, though, I still get an 'A' and life goes on...

StarCraft 2 was announced this weekend, and the floodgates just exploded! Every forum I haunt mentions how SC2 will just destroy the competition. The trolls were out in force; no RTS was safe. It seems to have prompted the mods to crack down on the least offensive ones... and leave the big ones alone. (Somehow, I managed to stay out of mod-jail this time; yay, me! :P )

It's given me second thoughts about my union idea, however: SC is the one game I have trouble staying reasonable about. Any mention of it seems to fill me with an intense urge to leap through my internet connection and strangle an internut. How am I supposed to remain calm and rein in a truly offensive poster if I can barely keep myself from doing the same thing back at him? I'd have to abstain from SC discussions... which wouldn't get monitored unless I found an SC fan who can keep the peace... so many details *sigh*...

On a brighter note: I finally have my Java eval project working! It took about 10 days longer than it was supposed to, but better late than never...

One test to go, then vacation!!! Can't wait...

[UPDATE- I got the grade for my Economics final: 58% :evil: ... the instructor informed me that I had the highest grade on the final, and wanted to know what the %$#@ went wrong. I don't really blame her for being upset, either: it was a national standardized test given all the students, and she had no say in it's contents. Still, I pass the course, with no real damage done to my ego (or my final grade). It just reinforces the fact that I'm never going to be an economist :lol: . ]

Halfway through May... and it feels like March outside. I wish the weather control people at the NWS would stop messing around and let it stay late spring up here: rain + chill = depressing. (I know there's no weather control... but hey! we all need some eccentricities... :lol: )

Finals this week: Monday is Java (should ace it... not to brag, but I'm very good at what I do); Microeconomics (no way in Hell I ace this one; I was very lucky to get an 80 on the mid-term. However, with my curent average, I could get a 50 (out of 100) on the final, and still get an A for the course); Wednesday is Data Structures in C++ (although that final might get postponed until next week... a lot of material was thrown at us in a relatively short time; I should get an A out of this exam, too... once again, I'm scary-good with C++). After that, I'm done until June 11th (another 3-day-in-a-row week each week next term; are they trying to kill the programmers?).

With all the studying I've been doing, I've kind of fallen out of touch with the game boards and unions. Priorities are priorities, however, and school comes first. I've been trying to keep up while I'm at school (Wi-Fi on campus), but with finals comes a lot of tutoring and such. One of these days I'll have to actually learn how to juggle physically, because I've done a lot of it chronologically in the past week.

The Helloween album rocks! It's amazing that these guys still have the drive to keep putting out awesome music after all the insanity they've been through. Right now, I'm looking into picking up Blind Guardian's and Gamma Ray's last releases... if I can find them.

Our oldest went to Boston on a field trip on Thursday; I'd like to apologize to Boston for letting him go there... :lol:

On to games: I'm currently working my way through C&C3 on Hard difficulty, but an annoying little glitch has started plaguing me: every other map, the game crashes. The best way I've found to deal with it is to block my internet access until I'm done (updates are killing me gamewise: if it isn't Microsoft, it's Norton... or maybe SpySweeper..), but I'm 1/2way convinced it's a memory leak in C&C3 itself... if the next patch didn't %$&@ the game to pieces, I'd think of downloading it.

Still playing Dark Crusade. I'm just hooked.

Last thing: I'm still seriously considering that union I mentioned. An "RTS DMZ Union," non-game-specific, where RTS gamers can come, share tactics/strategies, help people learn the games they enjoy playing, and clue people into obscure-yet-quality RTSs they've played... and even debate which RTS is better, in an intelligent, civilized manner (absolutely no trolls invited...too much of that $%#@ on the game boards for that). If anyone is interested, steer them this way, and I'll take any (reasonable) suggestions seriously ("topless dancing girls" is not reasonable, for example). I won't move on it for about another week or so, due to finals, so there's still plenty of time to round up the troops and hammer out final details.

Until then, keep the faith, fellow gamers!