Watched the Inauguration (what's the standard on that, do we capitalize it? Just realized I really don't know) on CNN and MSNBC. Recorded it as well. Before, during, and after it, I have found myself in debate with a friend of mine over it. This friend considers himself "numb" about the entire affair, such that he has no positive or negative feelings about it. He didn't seem to understand the significance of this day, not from a political standpoint, but from a human one.
As I was trying to figure out how best to explain the significance, I realized that I really couldn't do the explanation justice. There simply have been too many before who have so eloquently laid down the foundation as to why this was important. I will admit that amid the political grandstanding that inadvertently takes place in any governmental sea change the meaning may become lost if you don't look for it, but that does not mean we shouldn't look for it.
Yes, I'm aware this is some time honored tradition. Yes, I realize that it's likely a very nice and respectful note and I'm sure this whole process is somehow beautiful and deserving of respect.
However, every time I hear it, for some reason I think of this:
EDIT: Wait, wait wait... Wasn't Bush a part of the Texas Air National Guard in his military days?! How the hell could he make a mistake like calling Helicopter Pilots "Chopper Drivers"?!
We had some discussion last night with a couple of ClanAM people as to which 360 achievements everyone was most proud of getting. It got me thinking a little bit about the question and I decided I'd like to share my top ten.
The ground rules are simple: these have to be achievements which you feel particularly proud of. This means that they have to have been ones that challenged you or somehow required more skill, practice, or even luck than other achievements. They also need to be individual achievements, they can't be general blanket statements including all the achievements for one game.
So, with those ground rules in mind, read on for my list of the top ten 360 achievements I'm most proud of.
Well, I guess I'll start with this: Magical Bulletins is quite probably the greatest internet forum ever. There are 1090 topics and 2264 posts contained in this forum, and they are all made by one user.
Now, before you laugh too hard, realize that this man is actually autistic. In this forum he seems to have created a rather elaborate little world for himself.
Personally, I am in awe of his accomplishment. The level of creativity and productivity is nothing less than astounding. Sure, the end result is quite silly, but it's hard to deny that most wouldn't be able to put such a herculean effort into creating such a thing.
Also, before you make fun of him realize this: How is this different from the millions of web logs out there?
My wife and I have been really into Singstar on my PS3 lately. We originally got it for Singstar ABBA, but have since added several other collections because it is so much fun to belt these songs out. This last weekend, we went over to schultmc's house and had a Singstar party with him, his wife, and DoctorCal. It was a blast.
I've never been a believer in "New Year's Resolutions". I may have jokingly referred to having made some in the past, but I've never taken them very seriously. This is partly because of how arbitrary the day that society deems the passing of one year to the next is. But it's also because of how silly it is to require some sort of an event in order to enact change in one's life.
That being said, in keeping with everyone else's New Year's Resolution tradition, I've made my own resolution that I most likely wont keep.
I am going to try to be more diligent in making posts on my site.
Several years ago, I was very active in posting on my site. If you look in the archives (especially in the old, pre-Drupal, entries) you see that I was actually posting on a semi-daily basis. This garnered envy from friends and coworkers who saw my page rank numbers as something desirable, and all was good.
Unfortunately, a divorce, a move, a new marriage, and two harried jobs successfully broke me of my semi-daily posting habit. I've just never been able to recover.
Well, something that it seems a lot of successful .... *vomit*.. bloggers do is fill their posts with inane and random babbling until they get a real idea for something to write about. Who am I to break with the community norm?
This is a handy site that lists the prop-8 donors so you can avoid using them in your business dealings (or use them if you're a bigot as well).
Recently found out about the Conet Project, which is absolutely fascinating. This project aims to make available recordings of various Numbers Stations. We're currently seeing if we can utilize any of these sounds in our upcoming game.
We discovered recently that Fukung.net seems to have a lot of my stuff from files.samhart.net. We're not actually certain why they are all there, as much of it is very random and makes no sense when taken out of context. The only thing we can guess is that someone slurped it all up with some sort of recursive wget. Even still... flattery I guess...
Just a quick message to wish everyone a happy new year.
My wife and I spent the evening last night playing Singstar on the PS3. We primarily did Singstar ABBA, but we have some other songs from other collections that we rocked to. One of these days I really need to figure out how I can share my stellar singing with everyone here. Then again, maybe the interwebs can't handle the awesomeness that is my singing, I certainly know my dog can't and my wife has to cover her ears lest she is overwhelmed by my greatness. Singstar ABBA makes for easily my best New Year's Eve event ever.
By way of updates:
Yes, I'm working on the 2008 SVGAs, and yes I know it's no longer 2008.
Still working on our first game for our company. Expect some screenshots and possibly video later this month or early next month (at the latest)
Japanese Role Playing Games (or JRPGs) have been a dominating force in the global video game industry over the last 20 years. Ever since "The Warrior" first appeared in the classic NES game Dragon Warrior, we, the collective gamers of the world, have been hooked. We reveled in the exploits of Alis in Phantasy Star, cried when Aeris was murdered in Final Fantasy VII, and roamed time trying to prevent planetary destruction in Chronotrigger.
But the JRPG genre has become increasingly clichéd lately, and many recent JRPG releases have not lived up to expectations. Additionally, we've seen a rise in both quantity and quality of Western Role Playing Games (WRPGs), which have raised the bar globally for role playing adventures. Will the JRPG makers catch up, or are they doomed to be second fiddle to western developers?
I've been playing a lot of Far Cry 2 lately on my 360 (in case you can't tell from my gamercard) and I've been struggling with a very simple dilemma: Do I actually like this game?
On the one hand, it is an absolutely gorgeous game. The engine renders incredibly believable jungles, wind swept savannas, and dune-filled deserts. It produces the most realistic fire I've ever seen in video games which can race across grasslands and leap from tree-top to tree-top. And explosions shake, shatter, and shred the flora in spectacularly devastating ways.
But on the other hand, this game is one of the most repetitive pieces of shit I've ever encountered. Every mission contains 90% driving and 10% action- and that 10% action feels like the same 10% action for every other mission. Also, the story shares nothing with the first Far Cry game. Unlike Final Fantasy games which have different stories but similar settings and accouterments, Far Cry 2 is militantly Alzheimeric with regard to what has come before. Mutants and Dinosaur suggestions? That never happened! We've been in this unnamed African country the whole time!
So, do I like this game, or really, really hate it?
I've been terrible at updating lately. My only excuse is that a lot has happened. That's a lame excuse, I know, but there you have it.
First of all, I've been on-again-off-again traveling for the last month or so. We had a family get together with my wife's family in late October. We had Thanksgiving just last week.
In addition to this, my father passed away and I had a funeral to fly to. My father was an incredible guy, and, really, he deserves many posts all dedicated to him. Perhaps someday I'll do it. But today I am too stressed and busy to do it any sort of justice, so I'll just mention some highlights.
By the way, I'm sure I don't need to even mention this because the news is all over the place, but various homophobic and discriminatory anti-gay propositions passed around the country last night. So before we get too celebratory that we finally elected an intelligent president, we need to begin taking a hard look at why so many people think still think it's acceptable to have legal, government-based discrimination against an entire group of citizens.
It's almost like electing a black man marked the end of a very long civil rights struggle for one group of people in this country, but these discriminatory propositions highlighted another civil rights struggle that is, unfortunately, likely just beginning...
Okay... turns out you don't suck... While it was a squeaker here, you seem to have wound up tipping for Obama. Color me impressed.
Generally speaking though, I'm absolutely thrilled by the results of last night's election. For Obama to win with such an overwhelming majority is something else. I wish I had more to say about it, but I don't. I'm simply too busy and too stressed.
Why am I stressed? Well, as I mentioned previously I am working at trying to make a company work. I may as well spill the beans and say this company will be a video game company and we are currently working on our first game that targets Xbox Live Arcade. We hope to have the game done by early 2009 (and really hope that we can get it for sale by Spring/Summer 2009). Unfortunately, we don't have the money to hire on enough people to make this more expedient, so I've been largely going at it myself (with another friend helping out occasionally with some code).
That being said, we are very much interested in any funding we could find. If you (or someone you know) would be interested in investing in a start-up video game company with some great prospects (our founders include software industry veterans, we have a list of 50 titles in various stages of planning, and former game projects we've been a part in have had a user base of over 132 million) please feel free to contact me at the following address:
We have a business plan we'd be happy to share with serious investors as well as a company overview explaining who we are what we plan to do.
As for other reasons I'm stressed, I haven't mentioned this yet but my father has taken a turn for the worse. They recently took him off of his pills (that have kept him alive this long) and are "easing his suffering" while we wait for him to pass. As you may or may not know, he is a fighter and could last some time. But, without the pills he's been on for the last few years that time is now very limited.
Anyway... I've just been busy as hell and in dire needs of things to calm down again. Hopefully this election being over will at least contribute to that need in some way.
Welp, according to recent polls just in, Florida just tipped towards Obama. Yes, that's right, one of the more conservative sections of the nation and Bush's trump card just polled higher for Obama than McCain.
This is wonderful news and everything, but my only response is that Indiana (the state I live in) really does suck. I mean, let's take a look at Indiana's chart, shall we?
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At the time of this writing, that's 48% McCain to 45% Obama.
Seriously... What the fuck, Indiana? You're letting retirees and redneck gator trappers out think you. Then again, I did see four SUVs out on the road today with "NOBAMA" hand painted on their windows. And I still do find examples of overt racism every day I leave my house. So, maybe I really am surrounded by more idiotic racist fucks here than I would be down south.
