You kids don't know games

From Slashdot...this article mentions this article. Today's kids playing yesterday's games and giving their spoiled opinions. Very cool idea. I get that same sort of response from my resident kid-gamer. When I show them an old game he is all "Ya that's neat. Can I play Playstation now?" I get really jacked at the old games. So many skipped classes and so many wasted quarters.
I have to get one of those "plug-into-your-TV-and-play-old-arcade-games" things. My nephew got this one and it was all I could do to not hog the thing. I need help...but I don't want any.

I'll never make it on Jerry Springer

I AM 12% WHITE TRASH!

I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com

Gotta love a good hoax

Apparently many people tried controlling Alek Komarnitsky's lights over this holiday season. And many succeeded in turning the Christmas lights on his Lafayette, Colorado home, on and off. At least they did if you can believe everything that you see on the Internet. But it was all just a good hoax as this story details and Mr. Komarnitsky admits on his site.

I think it is brilliant. Not from a technology point of view but from the idea that so many people could be taken in by what is apparently a series of photos of his house and a little program. This holiday wonder was covered by major news outlets and was covered on technology shows like The Screen Savers. Good going Mr. Komarnitsky. Maybe now the media will feel a little more compelled to check facts a little more thoroughly than the National Enquirer in the future. I only have one question. How the hell do you top this for April 1?

Won't you be my neighbour...

Mr. Roger's would have been appalled. Neighbours ignoring neighbours. We had the first significant snowfall last night and by morning it had changed from snow, to ice pellets to freezing rain. The roads were slick and messy. The end of our street was a two foot snow drift car trap. As one car got snared the line up of other cars grew.

I watched the dance from my window as I didn't have to go to work today. Telecommuting rocks.

Anyway there are three cars watching the first snared car spinning its tires and going nowhere. Do you think anyone would get out of their cars and help this poor sod? Nope. They just sat there with their wipers going back and forth. I know it was raining but c'mon, people. If the first car doesn't move, neither are you. After about five minutes of this I started to get my gear on so I could go help. Fortunately they got unstuck before I got out.
Later in the day a postal truck got stuck. One guy just drove around her (yes her) instead of helping or at least offering to help. Chivalry is in a coma. I tried to get her moving but there wasn't much I could do other than try to get her to rock out of the bad spot. But chivalry woke up when a guy in a 4-wheel drive vehicle and a tow rope was able to pull her out of the rut she was in.
Then I was able to get another lady on her way after her Neon got stuck at the end of her driveway. Again, a couple of guys in a pick up truck just drove around her instead of stopping and helping. Nice.

But remember, karma keeps score...those unneighbourly bastards are working on the wrong side of the karma ledger. Wouldn't it be great if when something crappy happened to you, a stranger in a black raincoat handed you a scorecard so you would know exactly where you screwed up? Like the guys in the truck. Say they slip on some ice and break their arm. Some guy hands them a card in the x-ray room that reads, "Next time, help people stuck in the snow you selfish bastard. signed Karma."

And if something bad happened when it wasn't warranted you would get a card that said "oops...sorry... We were aiming at the guy beside you. We owe you some of the good stuff. signed Karma".

Balance is good.

Carter Traded

Vince Carter is off to New Jersey. The Raptors get Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams and Aaron Williams plus two first round draft picks (one for 2005 and 2006).

I am sorry to see Carter go. Despite his lowered production and his penchant for being injured, he is still one of the best all-round players at his position. He demands special attention from the opposing team and is a good passer. Much of his lowered production this year has been due to his reduced minutes. If you factor in the minutes (about 7 minutes a game) then you can see he is actually pretty much on pace for his career average.

Having said that there is no second guessing Raptor's coach Sam Mitchell's decisions to sit Carter, Rose and others for not putting out an effort. I love Mitchell's attitude. The only important name on a jersey is the one on the front. Unfortunately, that is a tough sell sometimes to these millionaire ball players. But it is that attitude that makes college hoops more fun to watch. Every game means something and every player wants to win for the team. But I digress. A team attitude is also the best way for a lesser skilled team to over achieve. Make no mistake. The Raptors are lesser skilled.

As far as the trade being a good or bad thing for Toronto...I think it is too early to tell. Mourning may never show up. He may just retire (kind of like Olajuwon) did to the Raptors a couple of years ago. The two Williams will certainly beef up the front court and may improve the rebounding situation. But they won't command the kind of attention that a Vince Carter does so they won't make their teammates better. From that perspective, Raptor fans should get used to the style of scrappy basketball they have been exposed too lately. The Raptors will have to execute and beat teams on hustle and desire more than talent (not that they really ever had an edge in that department but at least Carter was a legitimate threat that freed up other players). So as far as this season and probably next season goes, the Raptors lost on this trade. But...(there's always a but) the draft picks could swing this in the favour of Toronto. The picks come from Denver and Philadelphia (I'm not sure exactly which year belongs to which team). I don't think either Denver or Philadelphia are poised to make a run at a championship (Denver can be good but in the West they are just going to be good not great) so the picks should be pretty good. They may be able to package one of the picks to make another deal that may fix or alleviate their salary cap woes.

Good luck in NJ VC. I hope he finds what he's been looking for the last couple of seasons. It will also be interesting to see if he gets some other nick name. Air Canada doesn't fit any more.

Sheriff Playstation

According to this news story at Slashdot, it looks like Grand Theft Auto is the latest in home security.

The G-man wants you.

I finished Half Life 2 a couple of weeks ago and haven't had time to express myself on the subject. In a word, Half Life 2 is AWESOME. It looks great, sounds great and plays great. What more can you ask for.

Eli Vance..voice by Robert Guillaume (you know..Benson)
Posted by Hello

Half Life is all about the experience. Doom 3 was able to scare you with things jumping out from the dark, but I was still somewhat disconnected from the experience that should have been great. Half Life 2 delivers on immersing the player into the game. I really felt a part of the story. The only time I felt disconnected was when I wanted to interact more with the characters that you meet. For example, there were times when people would tell you something and then pause as if waiting for a response. I really wanted some way to interact and respond. Hopefully, HL3 will give the gamer that opportunity. But that didn't take that much away from the experience overall. I still felt a wide range of emotions while playing. Everything from helplessness to pity to fear to elation. The game is really that good.

Valve has already released extras for those that have bought this game. For example there is now a Half-Life 2 Deathmatch which allows you to run around with the gravity gun finding inventive ways to off your opponents. They have also released the SDK which allows modders to use the same tools the developers did to create levels or entire new worlds/games. I haven't tried any level mapping since Duke Nukem but having the tools available and knowing the engine allows so much freedom I may invest the time to try this out.

I have also been playing some games that were included in the package I bought that I never thought of buying when they came out because I wasn't convinced there was much value in them. Specifically, Counter-Strike Condition Zero. But I have been pleasantly surprised at how much fun I have had playing the bots in this game. The bots that make up your teammates are usually pretty stupid (don't follow orders and get in your way on a regular basis) but the enemy bots act pretty well together. And the missions which require you to get a certain kind of kill (eg. kill 3 enemies that have been blinded by a flashbang) really make you think of strategy. Along with Condition Zero there is an expansion pack included called Deleted Scenes which continues the carnage. While I haven't enjoyed this quite as much it does provide a good distraction.

The money I spent on the original half life was easily the best money I ever spent on a video game. The money I spent on Half life 2 is shaping up to be just as good a purchase.

It's not all fun & games.

Electronic Arts (EA) is arguably the largest and most successful game developer/publisher in the industry. I would think it nearly impossible to find a hard core gamer who hasn't played at least one EA title. But apparently the company doesn't understand people when it comes to their employees and more specifically, the employees that build their games. They also don't understand that for every employee they abuse, they may also be abusing their family. (Although the rant on this link is long, it is well worth the read)
When people go above and beyond the call of duty, they deserve to be recognized and compensated. EA doesn't seem to do either.

We consider our artists to be “creative” people and our engineers to be “skilled” professionals who relish flexibility but others use the outdated wage and hour laws to argue in favor of a workforce that is paid hourly like more traditional industries and conforming to set schedules.

I think this misses the point. The problem is that the managers of the engineers and artists seem to think that mandating 12 hour days seven days a week somehow constitutes flexibility. EA's problems can be placed squarely on these managers' shoulders. There seems to me to be a disconnect between the "creative" and "skilled" and these managers who are probably more worried about meeting some ridiculous deadline than providing an environment that is compatible with creativity and skill. The managers are clearly taking advantage when they try to use wage & hour law exemptions.
I also know from my own experience that skill and creativity can diminish drastically when you start to feel the effects of prolonged pressure from what may seem to be arbitrary deadlines.