This can't last forever.
For the past eighteen months, I'd say that I was a relatively content person. Apart from the usual human materialistic bents, I haven't really longed for anything. One might say that I haven't truly pined for some time. At one point in my life, I wanted nothing more than to be with Amy. We've been married now for over 6 years. At another point, I wanted a job that didn't make me want to vomit with stress every morning. I have that now, too, and it pays pretty well to boot.
So between my married life and my career, there's really nothing I have to complain about? Well, no, not really! Even the little things are pretty cool. I can check out art films any time I feel like it. If I want to hear live music, I've got more choices than I care to explore. And the little things get even smaller. I get to ride my bike to work and it only takes me 20 minutes to get there. Other people at work drive over an hour from home. It really makes me appreciate my relatively relaxing (and healthy) commute.
And the food! I have friends from diverse cultures who invite me to partake of their home-cooked heritage every now and then. I mean, how cool is having home-cooked Indian food once in a while? I get to try new food all the time. Living in an urban area offers lots of niche choices that one doesn't find just anywhere. I'm excited about trying a nearby Korean barbeque and, from what I've been told, a fantastic sushi place with some friends soon.
Please trust me that this isn't braggadocio because in the back of my mind, I'm always wondering what the next disaster will be. After all, as I said before, this can't last forever. I've always been a rather type-A, pessimistic person so I can't help it, but I do believe that I'm taking the time to appreciate what I have. Right? In a way, I feel justified, though. It feels like I've been climbing a mountain since I was 18 and now, 12 years later, I've reached another pleasant plateau. It will be relaxing to hang out here for a bit, to say the least.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Televised Presidents
Amy and I have been researching televisions and we came to a decision last Saturday about what we wanted. We ended up finding the Sony 34XS955 to be a good fit for what we wanted currently and for future component upgrades as well. It will be delivered on Saturday and I'm looking forward to rewatching my entire DVD collection on the new set.
Of course, the new set is a 16:9 set that doesn't fit in the furniture that we have. So, we took a trip to Ikea last night and picked out a new entertainment center that should work out well. The biggest concern we had to face with this new TV set was it's weight. The CRT set weighs in at 205 pounds and not every shelving unit can support that kind of mass. It was really just a price vs. pounds issue. We chose pounds because the price for less poundage was just too high.
I've been listening to a couple later CDs by the Presidents of the USA. I hadn't realized that they'd released any new material since II and the new sets Freaked Out and Small and Love Everybody are great. I'm not sure what it is with songs about planets and small bits of fuzz that drive toy cars that I find so appealing. Regardless, I've always really liked these guys and, in certain ways, these two newer albums are consistently better than their older stuff. I still think Dune Buggy is one of my favorite songs, but Jupiter and Poke and Destroy are now also at the top of the list.
Of course, the new set is a 16:9 set that doesn't fit in the furniture that we have. So, we took a trip to Ikea last night and picked out a new entertainment center that should work out well. The biggest concern we had to face with this new TV set was it's weight. The CRT set weighs in at 205 pounds and not every shelving unit can support that kind of mass. It was really just a price vs. pounds issue. We chose pounds because the price for less poundage was just too high.
I've been listening to a couple later CDs by the Presidents of the USA. I hadn't realized that they'd released any new material since II and the new sets Freaked Out and Small and Love Everybody are great. I'm not sure what it is with songs about planets and small bits of fuzz that drive toy cars that I find so appealing. Regardless, I've always really liked these guys and, in certain ways, these two newer albums are consistently better than their older stuff. I still think Dune Buggy is one of my favorite songs, but Jupiter and Poke and Destroy are now also at the top of the list.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Poll: What Do You Think About Polls?
Generally, I think Internet polls are moronic. Most of them tend to be skewed towards the audience to which the site hosting the poll is marketed. This also ignores the fact that many times, the figures are severely skewed due to different abuses that can be leveraged against said polls by anyone willing to take the time to actualy care about the results.
The new poll at Gamespot.com is such a perfect embodiment of the model that I just laughed and shook my head when I perused the possible answers. For posterity, here is what the poll is asking followed by the possible answers:
This phenomenon, obviously, embodies my main problems with any poll. My choices have been pre-selected for me by someone else. In addition, I must pick one and there cannot be any gradations of the severity of my answer, no caveats, no amendments, and in short, no grey areas. In real situations, there is never a time when such a problem as "the near future of the game industry" can be reduced to a single phrase answer.
So, what is my opinion? My opinions are a bit more cautions. I speculate that gaming is here to stay, but there will be some lessons learned over the coming months. In terms of culture and politics, the US government will certainly have more things to say about the distribution of games to minors in the US and increased regulation may indeed follow. As for hardware development, other sources have speculated that this new generation of console hardware is being pushed to market faster than the market actually wants it. There is also the ongoing debate concerning the glut of average cookie-cutter game titles clogging the shelves. Comparing the current development trends with the events that led to the game industry crash of 1983 isn't too far of a stretch.
Ultimately, all I can do is speculate. I can even peruse the previous paragraph and disagree with some of those points. But, what I cannot do is reduce my opinion to a single declaration or a reactionary exclamation. I do believe that gaming is indeed here to stay, but it has to change and evolve both financially and creatively or it will die again. Perhaps what the game industry needs is fewer simplistic polls and a little bit more careful, calculated consideration. That careful consideration is out there, too. It's just a lot harder to find.
The new poll at Gamespot.com is such a perfect embodiment of the model that I just laughed and shook my head when I perused the possible answers. For posterity, here is what the poll is asking followed by the possible answers:
Sony and Microsoft's game divisions took a financial beating. THQ, Midway, EA, and Nintendo take quarterly losses. The Gov't is cracking down. You scared?As for the current results, they are very close to what I would expect from any group of teenaged hobbyists: Gaming is here to stay by 59%. While I believe that to be true to some extent, I can't help but notice that there are some elements of all four options that should be considered if one were to truly consider "being scared" of the state of the game industry.
- What me worry? It's all part of the business.
- Gaming is here to stay.
- Nah... well... maybe a little.
- Run for the hills! The end is near!!!
This phenomenon, obviously, embodies my main problems with any poll. My choices have been pre-selected for me by someone else. In addition, I must pick one and there cannot be any gradations of the severity of my answer, no caveats, no amendments, and in short, no grey areas. In real situations, there is never a time when such a problem as "the near future of the game industry" can be reduced to a single phrase answer.
So, what is my opinion? My opinions are a bit more cautions. I speculate that gaming is here to stay, but there will be some lessons learned over the coming months. In terms of culture and politics, the US government will certainly have more things to say about the distribution of games to minors in the US and increased regulation may indeed follow. As for hardware development, other sources have speculated that this new generation of console hardware is being pushed to market faster than the market actually wants it. There is also the ongoing debate concerning the glut of average cookie-cutter game titles clogging the shelves. Comparing the current development trends with the events that led to the game industry crash of 1983 isn't too far of a stretch.
Ultimately, all I can do is speculate. I can even peruse the previous paragraph and disagree with some of those points. But, what I cannot do is reduce my opinion to a single declaration or a reactionary exclamation. I do believe that gaming is indeed here to stay, but it has to change and evolve both financially and creatively or it will die again. Perhaps what the game industry needs is fewer simplistic polls and a little bit more careful, calculated consideration. That careful consideration is out there, too. It's just a lot harder to find.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Just One Word: Plastics
I went to see the Game On and Body Worlds exhibits at the museum this weekend. The Game On exhibit was fun but not very informative. There was some interesting information about a few games like The Sims and the Pokemon phenomenon, but largely the exhibit was the games themselves, which, let's face it, are the only thing most people care about.
The exhibit introduced Pong and Space War (running on a Vectrex) right away and proceeded immediately into the golden age of the arcade with original cabinets running Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaxian, Missle Command, Galaga, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. Generally speaking, they divided the remaining sectors into home computing (Atari 400-ST, C64/Amiga, Specturm), home consoles (Oddessy-current gen), multiplayer gaming, and finally a nod to Japanese arcade culture with a couple video games available for play and two pachinko machines that were only for display.
Some of the oddities that were on display included a selection of handhelds from the late '70s through today that included those really awesome mini arcade cabinets from the early '80s that I so badly wanted when I was a kid but never got for Christmas. I was pretty well-stocked with Atari stuff, though, so I can't complain. Most of that stuff was under glass, though, so nobody could break it. The most impressive item on display was one of the first arcade cabinets made in communist East Germany. According to the display, it included a limited selection of perfectly horrible games. As the display indicated, the games were particularly bad because each one was individually approved by the government. Most of them were based on hunting because the leader of East Germany at that time was an avid hunter. Anyway, the cabinet is only one of three left in the world. Even though it wasn't running and nobody could touch it, I appreciated seeing that the most.
The exhibit had a listening wall devoted to game music, too. They got a lot of the old stuff from the guys who run c64audio.com which made for some good listening with a nice selection of tracks from the original greats like Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, and Tim Follin. Sadly, though, the modern listening station was glutted with selections from Hitman and licensed music from rock bands. I like the music from Hitman, but there's so many other games with great music that could have been selected. At least the exhibit got the old stuff right. I just know it was the fault of lawyers. Those people ruin everything they touch when it comes to art.
Body Worlds, while not quite as fun, was much more informative. The full-body plastinates were the most interesting from both a creative and a scientific perspective. I can't really say too much about it as it is not my area of expertise, but it is certainly a must-see. I think the website presents enough information to inspire a visit to see the whole thing. If the Body Worlds exhibit comes to a city near you, I highly recommend going to see it.
The exhibit introduced Pong and Space War (running on a Vectrex) right away and proceeded immediately into the golden age of the arcade with original cabinets running Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaxian, Missle Command, Galaga, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. Generally speaking, they divided the remaining sectors into home computing (Atari 400-ST, C64/Amiga, Specturm), home consoles (Oddessy-current gen), multiplayer gaming, and finally a nod to Japanese arcade culture with a couple video games available for play and two pachinko machines that were only for display.
Some of the oddities that were on display included a selection of handhelds from the late '70s through today that included those really awesome mini arcade cabinets from the early '80s that I so badly wanted when I was a kid but never got for Christmas. I was pretty well-stocked with Atari stuff, though, so I can't complain. Most of that stuff was under glass, though, so nobody could break it. The most impressive item on display was one of the first arcade cabinets made in communist East Germany. According to the display, it included a limited selection of perfectly horrible games. As the display indicated, the games were particularly bad because each one was individually approved by the government. Most of them were based on hunting because the leader of East Germany at that time was an avid hunter. Anyway, the cabinet is only one of three left in the world. Even though it wasn't running and nobody could touch it, I appreciated seeing that the most.
The exhibit had a listening wall devoted to game music, too. They got a lot of the old stuff from the guys who run c64audio.com which made for some good listening with a nice selection of tracks from the original greats like Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, and Tim Follin. Sadly, though, the modern listening station was glutted with selections from Hitman and licensed music from rock bands. I like the music from Hitman, but there's so many other games with great music that could have been selected. At least the exhibit got the old stuff right. I just know it was the fault of lawyers. Those people ruin everything they touch when it comes to art.
Body Worlds, while not quite as fun, was much more informative. The full-body plastinates were the most interesting from both a creative and a scientific perspective. I can't really say too much about it as it is not my area of expertise, but it is certainly a must-see. I think the website presents enough information to inspire a visit to see the whole thing. If the Body Worlds exhibit comes to a city near you, I highly recommend going to see it.
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