Michael J. Welch

Let's Get Some Firefly On The SyFy Channel

2011-03-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

Science Fiction has been a big part of our culture for a long time. It's more than entertainment. It has opened our eyes to the impossible, and made us dream of the stars. Whether we fantasized as kids about a real light saber, or we watched in awe as a real space ship left this planet, we have always watched with a "What if?" in our minds. What if there are other people out there? What if you could travel across the galaxy in the blink of an eye? What if the impossible was not so impossible?

Then a little show called Firefly came along, and asked a different "What if?" question. What if, even after leaving this planet, everything was just the same? Well, we got some of the answers to that, and they fascinated us, but we never fully got to explore it. Firefly was canceled faster than her captain could shoot a puppy, and it was forgotten.

Well, it was not forgotten by the fans. DVD sales went nuts, which led to a movie being made from a show that had been canceled before it even had a full season.

This is where I came in. I hadn't heard of Firefly before Serenity. And when I saw the previews for Serenity, my wife and I had a unanimous reaction: "That looks stupid." So we brushed it off as another bad attempt at science fiction (because, let's face it, there are a lot of those), until a friend of mine posted on his blog "Serenity and the Death of George Lucas." Wait, what? Oh, yeah. That stupid sci-fi movie. But he wouldn't stop talking about how great the movie was, and how important it was that I see it. So I decided I would.

But it wasn't in theaters anymore. And the DVD artwork looked pretty awful too. But I watched it anyway. Low and behold, it was freakin' awesome. To skip the long middle part (the one you all have been through too, or you will soon enough), I have bought three copies of the movie, two copies of the show, the documentary, countless books and comics, whatever I could get my hands on.

And yet that's not enough. There's no more Firefly.

Well, some of us have decided that's unacceptable. A few of us have made silly little fan films, sure (I'm one of those, yes), but one person decided to do it right. One person decided to really and truly make more Firefly. Michael Dougherty got Joss Whedon's blessing, then he got Fox's permission, and he made some more Firefly. He'll never make a dime off of it either. But he has done two huge things for us: He has given us more Firefly, and he gave all the money to charity.

Now, I have heard all of the complaints about Browncoats: Redemption. I know there's no Nathan Fillion. I know it's not made by Joss Whedon. And I know it wasn't a $40 million dollar movie. But you know what? It's a good movie! And it's Firefly! Why aren't we more excited about this? Why aren't we running around telling all of our Browncoat friends, "Hey, there's more Firefly!" Why aren't we telling Fox that we'll gladly spend money on more Firefly? You can't even claim it's a waste of money, because it goes to some of the best charities in the world. This is a win/win situation. We get more Firefly, Fox sees that we're still here, and charities get all kinds of money.

Well, the other day someone named Tim Brown had an idea. What if the SyFy channel aired Browncoats: Redemption? He posted it on FireflyFans.net, and it got some of us thinking. Would it even work? The answer turns out to be maybe. Yes, there are lots of legal issues there, but that's what SyFy pays their lawyers for. We just have to convince them that it's worth it for them.

Do we even realize what would happen if SyFy did air Redemption? There's been a lot of hype lately about Firefly airing on the Science Channel, because Firefly is back on the air. But we're talking about new Firefly being on the air. It could seriously reinvigorate the fandom. Fox would notice, too. If we can get excited about an independent film, how excited would we be if Joss and Co. came back to make more Firefly? And how many people would this introduce to the 'verse? How many people would go out and donate to Redemption, then buy Firefly and Serenity?

We know there's a lot of "if" coming from this plan. But isn't that the point? Isn't that why we love science fiction in the first place?

What if it works? I intend to find out.

We've set up a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BrowncoatsonSyFy, and we're asking for people's support. (Facebook pages are the new petitions, basically). You can also e-mail SyFy at feedback@syfy.com. Compared to the impossible things we've done before, this should be a walk in the park.

Firefly is Awesome Because of Fox

2011-01-21T08:23:00.000-08:00

I put up a rather contraversial post on fireflyfans.net yesterday. I've never had so many responses so fast. Makes me feel popular. Or something.

Anyway, for any of you that share the frustration that I've felt with Fox and their handling of Firefly, give it a read.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=47258

Browncoats: Redemption Review

2010-11-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

If any of you out there are fans of Firefly, or if you're just looking for a high quality independent film, then I'd like to introduce you to Browncoats: Redemption.

I watched this when it was briefly available for free streaming. I have the dvd, but I must admit that I haven't put it in my player yet - I've been crazy busy lately.

First off, these guys make me proud to call myself a Browncoat. They set this up as a non-profit charity project so that they could give the proceeds to groups like Equality Now, Kids Need to Read, Dyslexia Foundation, The Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, and The Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation. Their writer and director Michael Dougherty is one of the most down-to-earth guys I've ever talked to.

I've seen some bad reviews for this movie, and I can sort of understand what they're saying, but people forget one big thing: This is an independent fan film. Its only real flaw is that it is so close to big-budget Hollywood quality that you sometimes forget how much of a struggle it is to create something like this on such a limited budget (I would know, this is what I do too).

The characters are easily believable, and very relatable. As is the issue with any ensemble cast, you don't get to know the minor characters very well, so Mike Dougherty did a good job of choosing a few characters that we need to focus on, and giving us hints about the rest of them. The family dynamic that we love so much about Serenity is on Redemption as well. We see them through the eyes of the not-so-welcome newcomer, and watch as the status quickly becomes not quo. (Bonus points if you get that reference.)

The ship is spectacular. I certainly didn't expect to see CGI like that in a fan film. There is a scene inside the ship that is really brightly lit, and we start to see some of the shortcomings of the set, but for most of the film, the interior looks phenomenal. For comparison, just the cargo bay set for Firefly cost over a million dollars. This entire film was done for around $30,000. To pull off a set like that for the amount of money they had is impressive.

In the streaming version that I saw, the sound had a few issues, but from what I've heard they're all corrected for the DVD release.

The story does take a little while to set up, and I've heard a few people complain that they just couldn't get into it, but it's well worth waiting a few minutes for the action to start rolling. By the time you finish the film, you'll be cheering on the captain and her crew, and you'll be begging for more.

So go out and buy your dvd, give them some money to hand out to some worthy charities, and show your support for the 'verse. I can't wait to see what these guys come up with next.

Can't Stop The Serenity

2010-09-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Salt Lake City Can't Stop The Serenity screening is tentatively scheduled for October 1st. This is a charity screening of the movie Serenity, which benefits groups like Equality Now.

Become a fan of the Utah Browncoats Facebook Page to show your support, and watch for updates.

Does It Make A Sound - A 48 Hour Film Project

2010-06-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

Believe

2010-06-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

This is a submission for a Trans-Siberian Orchestra contest. Please head over to youtube to like, comment, and share. It's for about $15,000 worth of computer equipment. And we put a lot of heart and soul into it.

48 Hour Film Project

2010-04-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

I have signed up for the 48 Hour Film Project. My brothers will be helping, as well as Selena (the girl from Eilert and Reaverized), and a few others. But if you've ever watched the credits at the end of a movie, you know that we can use all the help we can get. So speak up if you want to join us!

Reaverized

2010-03-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Courage The Series

2010-02-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

Buying Nerd Dice Is A Pain

2009-09-09T15:10:00.001-07:00

I need some dice for the Superhero board game I'm working on. Not regular dice, but RPG dice, like D10's and such. Apparently that's a lot to ask. The only comic book store I could find on Google anywhere near my house is now a hair salon. I went down to Barnes and Nobles, and sure, they had some, but they ended up being about a dollar a piece, probably because they were in a box labeled "Dungeons And Dragons." I had really hoped to just buy some, but in the end I just ordered them from Amazon.

What happened? I thought we nerds and geeks were taking over the world? How can we do that without supplies at the ready?!

Someday I'll Get This Many Views On My Videos

2009-08-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

A Little Housekeeping

2009-08-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

I have combined this blog with what used to be at http://micsideas.blogspot.com/, and imported all of the old posts into this one.

The Illusionext blog is still up and running.

Most of my personal stuff can be found on my Facebook page. I'll continue to post on here, but it'll actually be more about any ideas that I have.

And just in case you were wondering, I'm open to discussion on any of the crazy ideas I throw out. Personally, I believe that Star Wars was as good as it was because people were willing to point out flaws in the plan. I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

How To Make A Superman Game

2009-07-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm going to cover a couple games here that have been out for a while, but bear with me. I'll get to the point.

When I first heard about Justice League Heroes, I was pretty excited. When I actually played the game, I was actually a bit disappointed. I did enjoy some of the game, but I think I can sum up my thoughts with one little tidbit about the game. It seriously has an escort mission, in which you have to keep Superman alive. Yeah, you heard me right.

I haven't actually played it, but from what I've heard the Superman Returns game was pretty bad as well.

There's been a bunch of other Superman games, but you get the idea.

So why do Superman games suck? I can't seem to find the article, but I read somewhere a while back that the problem with Superman games is that in order for them to be accurate to the character, you would have a single button. It would be labeled "Win." In order to present a challenge to the player, Superman has to be dumbed down and weakened. In the case of Justice League Heroes and Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe, it also means making mortals like Batman even stronger than they would be otherwise.

So how do you get around this? Well, I see two solutions. The first would be to go ahead and give the player their God Mode. Let them feel what it would be like to actually be Superman fighting against mortals. If more game designers put fun as a priority instead of challenge, this would be a no-brainer. Obviously the whole game can't be like that, but it should be part of it.

The other solution would be to not make the game about Superman. Make a game about Lois Lane. Superman would be an NPC. It would actually create a lot of suspense in the game if the player had no idea when or even if Superman would come rescue their character. It would make a great game if the story were about Lois finding out Superman's secret identity right at the beginning of the game (so the player and the character both have the same information), and then trying to figure out what to do about that knowledge.

Come to think of it, that's a game that I may even be able to make. :-)

A Proposal

2009-07-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

I would like to propose a new emoticon, in honor of the high amounts of traffic on my site.

...@

It's a tumbleweed.

This is Good Stuff!

2009-06-30T19:04:00.001-07:00

There's a free game design course online right now. There's apparently about a thousand of us already signed up, with a waiting list for more, so if you go to sign up, it might take a bit. But if you are at all interested in making games, I would highly suggest taking a look. He does require a book, but it's pretty inexpensive. All the requirements are listed on his blog. So check it out. You can't beat free, right?

My Kids Are So Spoiled

2009-06-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

This is the new bed I built for my son. I think he likes it.

Watching a Friend Chase Her Dreams

2009-06-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

This is a friend of mine from work, Mysti. For those of you who don't know, we do tech support. She looks a bit out of place there with the rest of us nerds and geeks in our strange t-shirts, but she's pretty good at what she does. The problem is, she doesn't want to do it forever. She wants to be a model. Not too long ago, she decided to stop thinking about it and start doing it. She's been taking classes after work and doing whatever it takes to bring her dreams to life. (There are a bunch more photos if you're curious.)

That's the way to do it. Stop dreaming. Start doing. That's why I bought my cheap little camera and started figuring out how to film things.

So to Mysti, I say congratulations. You're on your way.

To everyone else, I say this: Stop making excuses and start making things happen.

Because I'm Bored Too Often

2009-06-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

I've found this silly little game that I've been playing, and I thought you guys (if it's still plural!) might want to join in. Head on over to http://eltriant.mybrute.com and create a character. Your little dude will do all the fighting for you. It's simple and addictive, but really doesn't take that much time.

Okay, okay. The real reason I'm blogging this is because if you sign up under me I get experience points.

My New Project

2009-04-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, another blog. And I swore I would never get on this blogging bandwagon... I'm actually starting a blog as a way to make announcements and keep track of our goals in my latest project. I'm calling it Illusionext. That's the name we used for our little dragon film about a year ago, and I think it's time that Illusionext got a bit more recognition.

I'm a storyteller and an entertainer. While I may not yet be the best one ever, that's where my passion is. I intend to pursue it as fervently as I can. Right now I'm armed with just a little Flip camera and a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements, but it's enough.

Star Wars Episode III That Could Have Been

2009-04-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

I've been toying with this idea for a while. I don't know if I'll ever actually do any more with it, but I wanted to at least post the outline that I came up with. In the interest of full disclosure, the initial idea actually came from my brother, and the outline is based on the Feminine Hero's Journey (the same as The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, and The Matrix). I actually thought that Star Wars: Episode III was pretty good, but it could have been a lot better. So here's my take on it.

Star Wars Episode III Rewrite

Act 1
Stage 1: The Illusion Of A Perfect World
Anakin is fighting in the Clone Wars. He is hiding his marriage to Padme. Palpatine declares himself Emperor.

Stage 2: The Betrayal or Realization
Obi-Wan discovers that Padme is pregnant, and reluctantly decides to tell the council. Padme is taken away, and Anakin is told that the child will learn the ways of the force in anonymity. Palpatine offers an alternative through the Dark Side, and Anakin realizes that he is Darth Sidius.

Stage 3: The Awakening - Preparing for the Journey
Anakin dreams of his mother's death, and sees a vision of Padme dying. He decides that he can not lose Padme. The council sends Obi-Wan after General Grevious to keep him away from Anakin. After being rejected again by the council, Anakin accepts Palpatine's help, who renames him Darth Vader.

Act 2
Stage 4: The Descent - Passing the Gates of Judgment
Vader storms the Jedi Temple to find Padme. Palpatine has convinced him that all Jedi must die, and executes the order for the clone troopers to destroy the Jedi as well. Yoda escapes death and then sends Obi-Wan away with Padme. Vader returns to Palpatine as Mace Windu comes to arrest him. Vader kills Mace Windu. Palpatine tells Vader where Padme is.

Stage 5: The Eye of the Storm
Vader finds Padme, who says she barely recognizes him. He promises to change for her.

Stage 6: All Is Lost
Yoda faces Palpatine and loses. Obi-Wan comes to stop Vader. Vader blames Obi-Wan for everything, and they start fighting. Padme is hurt in the crossfire. Vader loses, but Obi-Wan is unable to kill him.

Act 3
Stage 7: Support
Palpatine rescues Vader. Padme is taken to a hospital.

Stage 8: Rebirth - The Moment of Truth
Vader's cybernetics are attached. Padme gives birth to twins.

Stage 9: Full Circle - Return to a Perfect World.
Vader begins his reign with Emporer Palpatine, and hunts the Jedi. Padme lives on Alderaan with Leia. Yoda retreats to Dagobah. Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tattooine.

Time Travel Is Not Good For My Wife's Brain

2009-04-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

If any of you aren't watching this little show called Terminator, you're seriously missing out. Hulu has the most recent episodes, but if you're really behind, I suggest you go rent the first season. Or buy it. You won't regret it.

Anyway, last night was the season finale (Let's hope it's not the series finale). I won't get too spoilerific here, but there was a bit of time travel at the end. My wife absolutely hates it when they do that. Add to that the episode of Dollhouse that was on after it, which was not in chronological order, and she was lost. It quickly reminded me why she never watched Journeyman with me. At first I was confused, because she liked Quantum Leap (Isn't Hulu awesome?!), and Journeyman was similar, but she said it gave her a headache.

Here I think is the difference between the old time travel stuff we've seen, like Quantum Leap and even the first Terminator movie, and the new crazy stuff like Journeyman and the new Terminator series. Quantum leap generally had standalone stories. For forty some minutes you were transported to a seemingly random place and time, and at the end of it, you left. The next time you came, it started all over. In the original Terminator movie, we followed Sarah Connor's timeline, which was affected quite a lot by two people who came into her life out of no where. In all honesty, when they were from didn't really matter to her at the time. You could easily enjoy the movie without trying to understand the time travel aspects of it.

Before I get to Journeyman and the new Terminator series, I should mention Terminator 2, as well as Back to the Future. Both of these movies (and I know there are a lot more, but these are my examples) had two timelines each. They both had a time that wasn't quite so pleasant, then the hero went back in time and changed it. Somewhat more complicated, but still not too crazy.

Unless you want to count the paradox that is the end of Terminator 2 (this is the part where my wife's head explodes). The Terminator was destroyed so that Skynet wouldn't be created. But if Skynet wasn't created, then the Terminator wouldn't even be built, let alone sent back in time to stop Skynet. Which would mean that Skynet would be created, and he would be sent back. Yeah, spin-dee-go-whirly with the gray matter. There are two ways to deal with this problem. First, you can say that the universe explodes. Hate when that happens. Second, you can say that the timeline splits, creating a multiverse. You then have alternate realities. For Terminator 2, we had 2. If you count the entire Back to the Future trilogy, there were a few more than that, but not much.

Okay, now we get to my point. Finally. There was at least one different reality for each episode of Journeyman. Every time he went back in the past, he changed his present. He even came back once to find out that he no longer had a son, but a daughter. For Terminator, someone over at io9 did some work and found 10 different timelines, and I'm sure after last night's episode they're going to have to modify that list. I find every one of them fascinating. My wife, on the other hand, would rather not read that article.

So, all of this ridiculously long post brings me to two questions. First, is this the reason that they aren't advertising the time travel aspects of the new Star Trek movie? The movie doesn't even make sense to me without them, and Trekkies (or whatever they call us today) are already familiar with the idea, but are they trying to make sure my wife is still willing to watch the movie? Second, how is this so different from any mystery movie that gives you clues in a seemingly random order?

All right guys, I know I have at least three readers for my blog. :-) Tell me what you think.

UPDATE: Now That's Just Wrong

2009-03-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

NASA needs a name for a piece of the International Space Station, and they've decided to put it to a vote. The choices they offered are Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity, and Venture. Now, anyone who knows me knows what I voted for (and they'll let you vote once a day, so I keep going back). Apparently there's a lot of people who agree with me too, because Serenity was up to 89% of the votes.

Until Stephen Colbert decided to butt in. Yeah, Colbert. The Comedy Central guy. (I'll warn you, the site makes the unpardonable sin of making the video play immediately.) This is just sick and wrong. I don't watch much tv, so I apparently don't even know how to pronounce the guy's name, but I still highly doubt that he has much of anything to do with space, and I'd be very surprised if he's done anything worthy of getting even a small rock named after him, let alone a space station. He's a comedian. And he seems to think we should vote for him. Uh, no. Sorry.

But he's winning. (The numbers on the site don't reflect the suggestions.)

Gratefully, NASA doesn't have to listen. From their rules:

NASA will take into consideration the results of the voting. However, the results are not binding on NASA and NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency, its needs, and other considerations. Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names. NASA’s decision shall be deemed final.

So basically, we need two things. We need people who actually care what the thing might be called to vote, and we need to pray that NASA isn't so stupid as to take a suggestion like this seriously.

Go vote. And go back tomorrow and vote too.

UPDATE: While Colbert didn't win, NASA didn't take it's own poll very seriously anyway. It has been named Tranquility.

What is With People Anyway?

2009-03-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

"If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all."

I've been noticing this for a while now, but I finally found some examples that aren't full of profanity. The internet seems to be overflowing with people who insist on making extremely negative comments. Why they feel this need is beyond me. It seems like they could find something productive to do, but then again, that would defeat the purpose of the internet.

First example. Take a look at Wired Magazine's gallery for the new Tesla Roadster. Gorgeous car, ridiculously expensive, insanely fast, and all electric. Now, I have to applaud the fact that there's no "First post!" on this (I'd bet that Wired would just delete it anyway), but if you look at the second post, it starts with "B O R I N G !" Yeah, it's so terribly boring that you decided to not only read it, but take the time to comment on it.

Another example. The Sci-Fi Wire recently changed their format completely, and they've been getting all kinds of complaints ever since then. There was a recent article about a Harry Potter actor getting murdered, and some genius decided to put "Why state the obvious? And why is this story, tragic though it is, deemed suitable for inclusion on this site?"

I think you get the point. I'm in some ways glad that I don't have a blog popular enough to have to worry about these things.

So Apparently My Idea's Been Done

2009-02-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

I've been gathering research material for the board game I'm working on, and making some progress. Then I bought this Transformers board game from Wal-Mart, and it has almost exactly the game mechanic I was planning on using. Now, this doesn't mean that I'm going to quit working on the game, because mine will have a bit more depth than the Transformers one, and mine has freakin' Superman (no offense to Optimus Prime or anything), so it just has to be done. Stay tuned. If you're still reading, that is. :-)

My Prediction For Sarah Connor

2009-02-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

I have a prediction on how Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will end. At least, this is how I would end it.

We'll jump back for a moment to Terminator 2.

John Connor: Can you learn stuff you haven't been programmed with so you could be... you know, more human? And not such a dork all the time?

The Terminator: My CPU is a neural net processor; a learning computer. But Skynet pre-sets the switch to read-only when we're sent out alone.

Sarah Connor: Doesn't want you doing too much thinking, huh?

The Terminator: No.

Skynet controlled him completely, which logically means that Skynet has direct control over every single terminator and machine that works under it. Skynet is a single computer that has become a single consciousness. In effect, a single person.

Now, Sarah Connor's strategy for keeping Skynet from taking over is to make sure that no computer ever becomes that powerful. This seems a little extreme to me. One computer tries to take over the world, so all computers are evil? Wait, uh... No. I don't think so. Call me ridiculously geeky since we're talking about computers, but that sounds like racism to me.

We've seen a few terminators that have been perfectly capable of not only protecting humans, but getting right close to loving them. There's even a small group of people in the series that are trying to keep John Connor from falling in love with Cameron. If he's in love with a machine, how can he fight them?

Well, there's the problem. There is no "them." There is only one machine that they have to fight.

And here's my solution. If I were fighting a big powerful machine, you know what I would want? My own big powerful machine. And I believe that's what John Connor will want to do. We've already seen him embrace technology. We've seen him trust machines. I personally would like to see the series end with an army of terminators marching on Skynet.

How awesome would that be? Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about... :-D

I Don't Think Anyone Understands Autism

2009-02-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Jenny was just diagnosed autistic last week. Honestly, it doesn't mean a whole lot to us, except that she gets to go to preschool now. She barely meets the qualifications for autism.

I have been reading up a bit on autism lately, and a news article just happened to pop up that I found rather interesting. There's a belief out there that autism is being caused by vaccines (there's also some that believe it's caused by the way our food is processed).

Now, I'm not the only person who thinks that autism is pretty closely related to ADHD (I was diagnosed with adult ADHD about 6 months ago). They seem pretty similar to me.

Anyway, I have a theory on why we're seeing it more than we used to. I think it's just that. We're seeing it more. It's not that it is happening more, it's just that it's diagnosed more. No one said I was ADHD when I was a kid, they just said I was really active. It wasn't until recently (after a head injury that seems to have made it worse) that I even worried about it. I tend to think that a lot of people I knew growing up would have been diagnosed autistic if they were kids now.

I also have a problem with calling anything of the sort a disorder, but that's another rant for another day perhaps.

Five Ways to Fix Broken MMOs

2009-01-31T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is in direct response to the Fidgit article "Five reasons MMOs are Broken," and since no one ever reads this blog, I'll probably post this in the comments for the original article as well.

Let me start by saying that I don't play MMOs. I tried Guild Wars, and hated the grind. I'm too cheap for WoW. I'm looking forward to seeing what some of the up and coming MMOs have to offer, especially Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I'm not holding my breath.

5) The problem: subscription fees

The solution: A one time fee, or a subscription. Not both. It is ridiculous to think that for me to get into WoW now, I would have to pay almost $100 for the games, and then have to pay $15 a month to play the game that I already payed for.

4) The problem: aggro

The solution: Don't make the enemy AI so obviously stupid. There is a real world precedent for the strongest one in the team to be a distraction, but at some point the enemy should figure out that they're being played.

3) The problem: button lock

The solution: Get rid of all the freakin' numbers already! You don't hear people in the military referring to anyone as an "E5 Soldier," they say "Sergeant." No one (well, outside of the geek community) says their health is down to 50%, they actually describe how they feel. And is it so much to ask for a minimalist approach to the HUD?

2) The problem: static worlds

The solution: Start with user generated content. I don't necessarily mean importing 3d models and textures, I just mean let the player actually build something. As far as the quests go, don't make them so easy. If it's something that people will have to team up to do, and takes them a very long time, then it's something they can be proud of. Especially if there was another group racing to do the same thing.

1) The problem: you can't play with the people you want to play with

The solution: Is this really a problem? Everyone I know that plays WoW is usually talking to their friends at work about the raid that they're going to do that night. In any case, the best way to make more advanced players want to group with new players is to have some sort of reward for it that can't be achieved any other way, just as teachers do in the real world.

My MMORPG Idea

2009-01-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

MMO ideas are like (insert your own analogy here) - everybody's got one, and they all... whatever. But anyway, here's mine. Just so my reader (if I have such a thing) is aware, I don't really play MMOs. World of Warcraft is not my thing. There are a few MMOs coming out that look promising, but as of right now, I don't play.

So far I'm calling my idea "Sovereign." Honestly, it wouldn't matter whether it was sci-fi or fantasy. I would like to see a game that encourages people to really group together. None of this "Yeah, well, so-and-so is in my guild, so you don't want to mess with me!" garbage. I mean get together and make a city.

The player would start in an existing city where there is no PvP. There would be NPCs that could do pretty much anything you need - sell, trade, train, whatever. This stuff is pretty normal.

In that city your home would be in a sort of apartment complex. You might give the player an instance of their own sort of home that they could play with a bit, kind of like Playstation Home has now.

What would set this apart though would be the ability to leave the city, go to the PvP area, and build a home. This would be a persistent addition to the game, meaning that even after you log off, the house is still there. Here's where the problem with a persistent world becomes the strength of this game. So, you're not online. Your house is just sitting there, and you're hoping no one attacks it. What's the best plan? Some security would help, and that would definitely be in the game, but the best way is to find someone who can defend it. And it would take more than one guy to have it always defended, so you'd end up with this small community of people all helping each other out.

It would of course be best for that community if each member had something more to contribute than just a sword (or whatever weapon they have). The community should be self-sustaining. Forget the NPC's. Let the players have professions that help each other. Soon those communities would become cities and maybe even countries. Alliances would be formed, wars would start. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.

I would also allow for players to become some sort of gypsy, nomad, mercenary, traveling salesman, or other type of character that doesn't necessarily have a home. Maybe a vehicle for a home. Not everyone feels like being friendly.

Okay, so now the weakness in my plan. It would only work if there were a LOT of people in the game. No, we don't need 11 million like WoW, but there would have to be quite a few, and it would probably have to be worldwide so someone can watch your house at night.

The technical requirements might be a bit of a pain, but not impossible. We already have games where we can build our own stuff, and we already have vehicles. It would also require a lot of professions. A bunch of mini-games would have to be thrown in for those professions, like raising livestock, mining, that sort of thing.

Anyway, the benefits of this kind of game would mostly be the sense of community that would develop. The other would be that players would have a sense of obligation to continue playing on a regular basis, because other players depend on them.

So there's the overall plan for an MMO. I have plenty of ideas for some of the little details, but they're things that I'd like to see in any MMO, so I'll save them for another post.

Technically, I'm Overweight

2009-01-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah, that's me. The fat guy. Oh, wait. No I'm not! Anyone who's ever seen me would describe me as the tall skinny guy, but according to my BMI, I'm overweight. 6' 2" and 200 lbs is a BMI of 25.68. And anything over 25.00 is overweight.

Now, I did notice the little disclaimer after my results, "BMI can not determine between the overweight and the more muscular." But here's the thing. I'm not that muscular either.

So, to use what is probably an outdated phrase, what gives? Honestly, I have no idea.

I'm not going to get into all of my opinions on the types of models and actresses out there. That's been argued way too many times already. It's one thing for a couple of industries to tell us that we need to be super thin, but it's another entirely for this calculator to be used on every last one of us. I had never even considered it until I found out that my life insurance would be higher because of it. It just seems to me that something so fundamentally flawed shouldn't be so commonly used.

Narnia Lives On!

2009-01-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know my posts are totally random, but whatever.

I love the Narnia books. They are probably some of the best I have ever read. Sure, they're written for a younger audience, but they don't insult your intelligence, and they manage to make you think of things that don't even seem to be in the writing. C.S. Lewis was probably one of the smartest people to ever walk this earth. His religious writings are definitely worth a read as well.

So I was not happy when Disney dropped the Narnia franchise. I didn't really care about Prince Caspian. The book wasn't that great. It was mostly just to bridge The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. For some reason, Disney decided that Caspian didn't make nearly enough money (It grossed about twice what it cost), and they wouldn't do The Dawn Treader.

Wait, what? No, bad! Bad! The Dawn Treader was the best book of all of them! This is bad!

But, apparently Fox has decided to pick it up. This makes me very happy.

By the way, for those of you who are wondering how I could be happy about Fox taking over something after what they did to Firefly, the Fox 2000 movie company is not the same as Fox TV. And Fox TV has been kind enough to bring us Terminator and Dollhouse anyway.

Why I haven't even played the new Tomb Raider game

2009-01-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

I'm seeing all over the place how one of the most famous names in video games is having a lot of trouble lately. There's a rather good article at gamesetwatch about making Lara Croft more female friendly, and another (from the other end of the spectrum) about making it an M rated game.

Well, I can tell you three very specific reasons that my wife and I didn't buy the last game. They're the same reasons we still haven't finished the one before that.

One - Give me the freakin' camera already! I can't stand having the camera yanked around with the excuse of "cinematography". I'm all for making things as pretty as possible, but I don't know how many times I've been lining up a jump and the camera moved. And in case the developers haven't noticed, that makes the controls a little difficult.

Two - There's only one solution for the puzzles. The player's not allowed to come up with a solution, just to figure out what solution the designer wanted.

Three - the difficulty is not consistent. This is why my wife gets frustrated. She makes it through most of the game without having to stress much of anything, and then she gets to a boss fight, and suddenly she can't get past it because she doesn't know some combo move or another.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've linked to the same list repeatedly. None of these complaints are new. They're all at “Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!” This isn't some obscure list, it's published annually at Gamasutra (the site for the game industry, for those who don't know). All the designers need to do is read what their peers have said.

Personally, I like the Tomb Raider games, there's just a few things that make the game almost unplayable. It's not that we don't like the story, or the look of the game, or any of that. It's just a few design tweaks. I hope to see the Tomb Raider games keep going for a long time.

I am Superman!

2009-01-23T04:44:00.001-08:00

Apparently I'm Superman. Or, well, a rip off of him... Wait a second. Uh, anyway, see for yourself.

Noble and true, you are the hero other heroes aspire to be. You are a natural leader, selfless and kind, who will put the lives of others above your own, and are steadfast in your pursuit of justice.

Take the quiz!

And There It Was

2009-01-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

One of my ideas from my last post actually showed up right after I posted it. Yes, I know that means someone has worked on it for years already, but it was nice to see it. The characters in the new Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe game actually take damage, specifically tearing their clothing when they get hit. It's not much of an indicator of your health - you still have to watch the health bar at the top of the screen, but it's an improvement. I like it.

Bye bye Linux. You'll be missed.

2009-01-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

VS

This is really going to tick off one of my old mission friends, since he's a huge Ubuntu supporter, but I no longer run it. I have been using it for more than five years on a couple different machines, and it's even saved me a lot of headaches at times.

But here's the problem - If something goes wrong, I don't have a clue what to do. Yeah, I know, I can do a quick Google search and find the solution most times (most anyway), and the Linux community is always really helpful, but I really don't have time to fight with it. If something happens in Windows, I just fix it. It's pretty rare that I can't find the solution on my own. Linux assumes that you love the command line. Sure, Ubuntu does a really good job of putting the GUI right out there and making it easy, but like I said, if something goes wrong, I'm up a creek without a paddle.

So when Windows 7 showed up, I decided to give it a try. It was a testament to how little I used Ubuntu when I found that I only had one file on the computer, and I didn't even need it. Now, just to be clear, Windows 7 isn't the reason I dropped Linux, it just happened to come at the right time. I was ready to put XP back on that machine (we won't even get into why I'm not using the Vista cd that came with the laptop).

I'm still a big supporter of open source software. I love OpenOffice.org, and GIMP is freakin' awesome. If you're not using Firefox, you're really missing out (all though IE8 that came with Windows 7 is pretty impressive). But I need an OS that I understand, and that I know how to fix quickly when something weird happens.

And just in case you're wondering, Windows 7 is pretty sweet.

Crazy Kids!

2009-01-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded a huge Flickr set of pictures of the kids. These were included in the "Monster Book of Monsters" that we made for Genae for Christmas.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

2008-12-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

I got my Dr. Horrible DVD in the mail today. I've never been so excited about the mailbox. Now, I don't know for certain why, but no one has been talking about the special features, especially the Evil League of Evil applications, so I won't get into them (I haven't even watched the whole thing yet). But I'm sure many of you (okay, if anyone actually reads this) know that I sent in my own application. I think I'm safe to say that I didn't win. And yet I had this strange excitement to see my video listed in the "Dishonorable Mention" part of the disc along with more than 600 other people.

Ideas That Have Already Been Done

2008-12-24T07:10:00.000-08:00

I was going through a list of ideas that I had been keeping, and noticing some of them had already been done. One of them was No HUD. The first place I saw this was on an indie game called Dead Wake. But then I remembered that there was no HUD for the first part of Half Life. It only appeared after the main character got his power suit (or whatever it was called).

The screen shot above is from Unreal Tournament 3 (It's actually from a mod I found), which has a fairly clean HUD, but I still find it distracting. It just screams "I'm playing a game." In the real world, we don't have a percentage on our health. We have three major indicators. The first is pain. I'm not sure that there's a better way to indicate this than numbers, but we haven't even tried to find anything. The second indicator is our appearance. You would think that with today's technology characters could actually bleed when you shoot them, rather than just spraying blood momentarily. The third indicator is the effect an injury has on our body. It has always amazed me that I can still run just as fast with 1% health as I can with 100%. In the real world if I had injuries over 99% of my body, I'd be lying on the ground slowly bleeding to death, not running to the next room for a health pack.

Anyway, that's one idea that I'm starting to see a few other people have.

100 Things I Apparently Have To Do

2008-12-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

I got these off of Tiffany's Blog. Not sure where they came from, but it seems like a fairly decent list, so here goes.

Anything that I've already done is in bold. 49 out of a hundred isn't bad.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched an amazing lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

Current Project - Justice League Board Game

2008-12-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

My current (slowly moving) project is a board game that I'm trying to include a few RPG elements in. I'm using the figurines pictured above. Each character will have different abilities, which makes it difficult to keep it balanced. In real life, would anyone want to be Flash? I don't think so. Superman all the way.

The game will go in two stages. First you'll go around the board fighting villains (on cards). The second stage has proved problematic. I've got a few ideas, but none of them seem quite right. I'm trying to make it fairly open, but it has to have an ending.

The biggest reason I'm working on a board game is for practice. I'm not a programmer. I do art and design, and board games require no programming. Sure, there's a lot of numbers involved, but not like writing a 3d engine.

A Story That Never Gets Old

2008-12-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

I was reminded earlier today of Romeo And Juliet, and it occurred to me that the story is completely timeless. This story could very easily be rewritten beat for beat as a science fiction epic (imagine a stasis chamber instead of faking a death). It could be a fantasy story as well (use magic to fake death). I think this is why the story is so well received. Anyone in any setting can relate to it.

This gives me two ideas. The first would be to write the sci-fi version of Romeo And Juliet. I don't know if I'll actually do it, but it's a fun idea. The other is that stories, even in games, should be written to stand the test of time. I used to think that in order for a story to be special, it should be entirely original, but the more I study and the more I think about it, the more I see that for a story to really resonate with people, it should seem familiar. Take Star Wars for example. Everything in it is borrowed from something else. The story is the same story as every other hero's journey. And yet we love it, and it will be around for as long as Shakespeare.

Keeping Things Separate

2008-12-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

I started another blog that I honestly don't expect anyone to read. I know that sounds a little odd, but this is me we're talking about. I wanted a place to keep my game ideas. So if you're curious, give it a look.

Starting Another Blog That No One Will Read

2008-12-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've been tossing around the idea of using my other blog for a place for game ideas, but I decided eventually to use it for more personal stuff, since so many people keep asking me what's been going on in my life. Whether they read that blog remains to be seen. But I decided that I should still have a place for my ideas. So here it is.

Now, anyone who's looking into the game industry probably has the same question I had a few years ago. What do I do to protect my ideas? Well, to put it simply, you give them away. Stay with me. It'll make sense. Four reasons for it: First, you can't copyright an idea. Sorry. Second, the only way you're ever going to get someone to let you make your game ideas is for them to know what they are. Third, ideas aren't games. The Force Unleashed had a great idea, but the execution was a bit lacking. Fourth, your ideas aren't original anyway. Take a look at almost any movie, and I'll bet that you can find another movie exactly like it. Compare The Wizard of Oz and Titanic sometime. You'll be surprised. And honestly, is there a real difference between the ideas for Halo and Doom? A little bit, sure, but the big differences are in the execution.

So, stay tuned for a really strange view into the mind of a very odd person.

The Firefly Effect

2008-12-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

I was reading a bit today about Little Big Planet, and I realized that I'm doing the same thing I didn't understand people doing with Firefly. I have avoided the game because of the hype. My wife refused to watch Firefly for two years after I bought it, simply because I was so excited about it. And she's not the only person to do that. I've even read about people worrying that Dollhouse may have the same problem, being a Joss Whedon show. But here I am, not playing Little Big Planet because it's been talked about so much.

It's worth noting that when my wife did finally watch Firefly, she liked it. She wasn't nearly as excited as I was about it, but she did like it. So I should probably give Little Big Planet a try (I think there's even a free demo).

But my question remains - Why are we so afraid of what the crowd is doing?

♪ Snow! Snow! Snow! ♪

2008-12-08T16:39:00.000-08:00

Sure, we've been teased a couple times this year already, but today was the first big snow. Well, I say big, but in reality we had a few feet by this time last year. Today we got a couple inches. But hey, it's snow! And it hasn't melted yet!

How Do First Graders Get a Grown Man All Emotional?

2008-12-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

I've been volunteering at my daughter's school for a few months now, mostly just helping out in their computer class. Last week I brought in my computer with a trial version of the newest 3DS Max and did a real basic run-through of how a computer model is created and animated, using Wall-e as an example, since he's made of fairly basic shapes. The whole presentation, including the 10 minute clip from the Wall-e DVD, lasted maybe 20 minutes.

Well, I'm fairly certain that they spent a lot longer than that making all these Christmas cards. Tasha brought home a bag full of them, all thanking me for "drooling" Wall-e for them (yes, most of them spelled it that way).

It's good to know I'm appreciated sometimes.

Full Screen Hulu On The PS3!

2008-12-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

We turned off our DirecTV service a few months ago. It was getting hard to justify paying $70 a month for something we can get online for free at Hulu. For a long time we were watching it on my 21" computer monitor, which kind of works if you remember to disable your screen saver (why hasn't anybody written a Firefox plugin for that?). Then Sony updated the Flash player for the PS3, and we could watch it on the tv again. No full screen playback, but we could zoom in enough to fill the screen. Well, until a new version of Flash came out. Then it stopped working. I tried a few pieces of software designed to stream internet video from your pc to the PS3, but most of them require way too much processing power.

The latest update to the PS3 not only brought Hulu back, but it added full screen playback. And it's ridiculously simple to use. A mouse and keyboard might even make it easier.

This raises two questions. First, why hasn't the television industry realized that this is the future? I can watch what I want, when I want, and I don't have to worry about filling up the hard drive on some DVR. Second, why on earth would anyone pay for cable or satellite?

I Love Having Kids Around

2008-12-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

Keith (my four year old) did the funniest thing the other day. He'd never seen Star Wars, and I thought that had better get corrected pretty quickly. We were watching The Empire Strikes Back, and I was curious how he'd react to the plot twist. I wasn't disappointed.

"Darth Vader is his FATHER!? I thought his father was a good guy!"

My P-A-L-N

2008-12-01T09:10:00.001-08:00

My new plan is that I have no plan. I'm going to have this as a personal blog. Why not, right? No promises on how often it'll get updated, but it should be fairly regular.

My first instructable

2008-11-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

Take a look at the instructions for this, and tell me what you think. I'll be working on a Batmobile next.

Evil League Of Evil Application - Detonation

2008-10-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Face it, nobody reads your blog

2008-09-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

I set up Google Analytics on this page when I started it, and so far I've had 3 people view it. Me, my wife, and one friend. Whoo-hoo. Er something. Now, I know the blog is only a week old, but everyone keeps telling me that blogs are "so last week" or whatever the term may be. So, for the next little bit I'll be making a plan.

Stay tuned. Oh, yeah. I'm talking to myself again.

Stop that, Mike.

Okay. I'll stop.

Good.

No problem.

Let's see how Evil you really are

2008-09-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

The Evil League of Evil is now taking applications. For those of you who don't know what that is, go check out the greatest video to ever hit the internet, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Lego Batman - Now that's more like it

2008-09-24T07:44:00.001-07:00

We picked up Lego Batman yesterday, and I have to say that this is more what a video game should be like. This game knows it's cheesy, and loves it. The priority for Traveler's Tales was obviously to make it fun, not to make it difficult. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good immersive game, but it's nice to just play sometimes.

What has been great for me is the two player mode. You don't end up dragging each other around quite like the older Lego games did, so it's actually quite fun to have a second person join in (in this case, my wife).

Sure, there have been a few times that either me or my wife have yelled at the TV, but it wasn't one of those "Bad game designer, no Twinkie!" things. It was "Harley, quit jumping around so I can smack you!"

The Force Unleashed - Review

2008-09-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

I finished The Force Unleashed for the PS3 last night, and I have to say that a lot of my original impressions still hold true after completing the game.

This is the first time since I turned on invincibility in Lego Star Wars that I really felt like I was playing Darth Vader. It's great to just walk in and start owning the place. It's also nice to see the Apprentice use the run and gun approach instead of trying to manipulate things. That aspect of the game was really fun.

The game was a bit longer than the 6 to 8 hours I've heard, all though not a lot more.

I still love the camera. I love having control of it. My wife, however, hated it. She didn't like having to keep track of that at the same time as the rest of the game. To each his own, I guess. What bugged me though is that the camera control went away as soon as you start a boss fight. During one of the fights there was a pillar in the way, and I couldn't see myself. I was even able to run completely off the screen on more than one occasion.

There were a few other things though that I didn't like, and I've read about them elsewhere also.

Let's go back a bit to the trailer. The Apprentice just reached up and pulled a Star Destroyer out of the sky. Freakin' awesome. That was the moment when we knew we wanted to play this game. Well, fast forward to the present, when you actually get to do this, and it's not so much fun. For some inexplicable reason, you have to turn the Star Destroyer so it's pointed directly at you before you can bring it down. That wouldn't be quite so difficult, except they keep sending waves of Tie Fighters at you, so you can't target the Destroyer without blasting them first. And since the targeting system wasn't really designed for things that are far away, it's pretty much a pain in the neck. By the time you get rid of the Fighters, the Destroyer has moved back to where it was, and you start over.

The targeting system does have its share of bugs. If the guy you're after throws a grenade, you're going to target that grenade instead. The manual said you can lock on to a target, but I could never get it to work. The box around your target is a facing polygon, which makes perfect sense, except I'm pretty sure it faces the character, not the camera. So when the camera goes weird on you during a boss fight, the character may be facing the camera, and you can't see the targeting system anymore.

Overall the game was actually quite good, there were just a few things that really bugged me. Now, I've never been a game tester, so I don't know exactly how it works in those places, but you would think that someone would have them go through the game and answer one simple question about each map: Was it fun?

One thing that I really liked was the story. It's awesome to see games that really do have a plot behind them, along with some great character development. It really is a whole new chapter in the Star Wars saga, one that's quite a bit better than the prequels.

If you do go play the game (which I suggest if only so you can have some real fun with the lightning), head on over to Xbox.com for some hints. They're quite helpful, and they apply to the game in general, not just the Xbox.

QMX has a shiny new store

2008-09-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Any of you who know me saw this coming. Firefly. So here it is. QMX has launched a shiny new store, and if you visit Firefly Ship Works, you can find a coupon for Serenity stuff. Oh, expect to hear more about Firefly Ship Works, since they're making a ridiculously awesome replica of my very favorite ship.

How is Comcast getting away with lying to us?

2008-09-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Wired has a very thorough examination of the recent issues with Comcast, which is certainly worth a read.

I left Comcast about a year ago, even before all this was in the spotlight. It was quite obvious that if I ran a torrent program, my internet connection went to almost nothing. The other thing that bugged me, which no one seems to care about, is their "Burst Speed." They claim that you get higher speeds for the first 20 megs, when in reality I found that after 20 megs I got absolutely nothing. Most youtube videos are larger than 20 megs. Before Comcast introduced their VOIP service, there were no problems, but I think, in my area anyway, that they didn't quite have the infastructure they needed.

So I went with Qwest. I had sworn that I would never use DSL, but there I was. I found that it was better to have things go slow than to not work at all. (About six months after I joined with Qwest, they started offering a 7 megabit connection as opposed to the 1.5 I had been using. I was pretty happy at that point. Now if we could just get those fiber optics...)

I have seen a lot of arguments about how Comcast is the only option you have for internet. You supposedly have no choice. Well, yes you do. You just might have to give up more than you want. It's a free market society. You're not forced to buy anything from anybody.

Here's the problem. We're supposed to know what it is we're buying. I don't care what an ISP does, as long as I know about it when I sign up. Comcast blatently lied to us, telling us that we would have unlimited access. They even denied throttling it when they were called on it. And yet, for some reason, we're just letting them get away with it. That seems wrong to me.

There is only one thing that will speak to Comcast and tell them that we don't approve. Money. If enough people leave their service, they may just feel it in their pocket books, and get the hint.

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein

Happy Birthday, Mr. Emoticon

2008-09-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

Aargh! Sorry, had to.

Anyway, today is the birthday of the emoticon. For some reason, it seems to be a controversial subject.

There's of course the debates on which emoticons are acceptable. That's a pointless argument, since all of our chat programs replace them with graphics anyway.

There's even quite a few arguments against emoticons, too many to list here, so give it a quick search. The gist of it is that we should be able to express ourselves without them, especially if you consider yourself a writer of any kind.

Well, I may not be a professional writer, but I've done my share, and I think emoticons are one of the greatest ideas to reach the internet (aside from Talk Like A Pirate Day, of course). See, here's the problem. Sarcasm just doesn't come across in text. A lot of emotions don't, actually. Sure, I understand that some people over use it, but it actually is quite necessary. No one is going to put it in writing that they're using sarcasm. They're just going to put, "Yeah, sure. :-)" And it works. It's short and to the point.

Of course you can't use it if you're writing about someone, because in that case it's considered acceptable to describe someone's feelings. But that's not the case when you're the one talking.

Besides, you can't kill the emoticon. It's too big. I say live on anyway. :-)

Spore and the DRM Fiasco

2008-09-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

I'm sure anyone reading this has heard about the horrible reviews that people have left for Spore, and everyone seems to have already put their thoughts in, but there were a few things that I wanted to mention.

First is that this is nothing new. DRM has been a pain in the neck from the beginning. Steam does similar things. My copy of Portal is now tied to my Steam account, which makes it a bit difficult for me to give the game to someone else. I also know a few people who have switched from Windows to Linux just because of Microsoft's ridiculous DRM. And yet somehow it became cool to complain about Spore's DRM. I wish people had started complaining earlier.

The other thing I noticed is how long it took EA to respond. It seems to me that if your customers are mad at you, you should try do something about it. The message they're sending is that their priority is to keep people from playing the game. I doubt that's the mesage they wanted to send, but that's what people heard. In any case, this is not going to be an easy thing for them to fix.

But I thought Video Games were the Root of All Evil

2008-09-17T06:28:00.001-07:00

Today the internet seems to be all over this report about how video games are actually good for kids. There are two things I find interesting about this.

The first is that it says it's the "first national survey of its kind." How have we been arguing about this for so long and never done an actual study? We've been playing video games for decades now, and we've been listening to people tell us they're awful the whole time. Somehow we're just now getting around to doing something about it.

The second thing I find interesting about the report is the list of things that are supposedly good about games. Some of them seem a bit far fetched, like "civic learning opportunities." You know what's good about games? They're fun. Period. People, especially kids, need to play. They need to escape from reality for a while. That's not to say that learning games don't have their place, but we don't need to justify why we play games.

It is good to see a bit more acceptance of games. We're going through the same growing pains that most other entertainment forms went through. It'll pass, if only because the gamers get older and start running things.

The Force Unleashed - First Thoughts

2008-09-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

I've played through the first few levels of the Force Unleashed, and I have to say that all these reviews that are knocking it so hard really don't make sense to me.

How many people have complained that the demo wasn't like the game? Well, it is. Sure, a few of your force powers aren't quite as strong, but that's because it's the beginning of the game. They'll get stronger.

Another complaint is the camera, and that boggles my mind, because I love the camera. I hate cameras that go wherever they feel like, and this one gives me control of it. Thank you. Finally.

As for the length of the game, we'll see how that plays out.

I think the real problem that this game has is the hype. We were all expecting something ground breaking, and all had our own ideas of what it would be, but then the actual game came out and it wasn't what we were expecting. Personally, I look forward to finishing the game. This is a game that has a good story, excellent characters, amazing effects, and fun game play.

Oh, and throwing Storm Troopers around doesn't get boring. I'll do a full review when I finish the game.

I'm a Website Admin?

2008-09-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get involved in the local Salt Lake City chapter of the IGDA for a while now, including volunteering a while back to maintain the calendar. When I asked if there was anything else I could help with, they mentioned that they needed someone to help with their web site. I am not a programmer. I don't really do code. Yeah, I know HTML isn't exactly difficult, but it's not really my thing, so I've never done much of it. And yet I volunteered anyway. So far all I've done is imbed that calendar and update some links, but hopefully I can make it something worth bragging about. I'm the type that decides what I want to do, then figures out a way to do it. Should prove interesting.

Finally getting on the blogging bandwagon

2008-09-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

I've been considering making a blog for a while, but never actually got around to it. Well, Blogger makes it pretty easy, so here it is. I'll be covering everything entertainment and pop culture, mostly games and movies.

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