The Save Spot

zombie fire ants

Yes, you read that correctly.  There are zombie fire ants.  And here I thought Umbrella corporation had finally been defeated.  But according to the news, a certain type of fly has been introduced to control the fire ant population in Texas.  They lay eggs on the ants, then when the egg hatches it burrows its way (ewwww) into the ant and slowly eats it’s brain.  Which I suppose is an ironic fate for a zombie.

Rock Band? Yuto rips “Freebird”

 

 

      

We are gearing up for another GAUGE.  This time of the mini-variety.  Which means it’s time for me to practice up on my Rock Band skills.  Admittedly out of the three of us, my skills are the weakest.  However, I believe we’ve all been put to shame by 8 year old Yuto.  I am rightfully put in my place.

Plants vs Zombies

  

 

 

One of the great things about the internet is the random things you stumble across. Plants vs. Zombies is one of those things.

The song is performed by Laura Shigihara who writes songs for video games, as well as performs them.  I’ve never heard her work before, but everything on her website is fantastic, and I look forward to a long career from her.

 

Kotaku, a question

 

 

 

 

Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that the number of posts on Kotaku’s pages seem to be decreasing at an alarming rate.  I’ve noticed this pattern over the last couple of weeks.  But before I said anything, and potentially looked like an idiot (or is that more of an idiot?) I wanted to make sure.  And now I am. 

Kotaku, as with all Gawker Network, sites use “more” button you have to click to read the rest of the article.  Can we all just agree this is a stupid idea?  The main reason for having a design like that is to track what articles are “viewed”.  It certainly doesn’t help the reader any by having to click a link 1 paragraph into a story.  Especially when Kotaku stories are very short to begin with. 

Gawker Network recently announced it was cutting back staff, despite making a profit.  They sited “troubling economic times” as the reason.  So who did they cut?  They cut employees from The Consummerist - a website devoted to helping people with financial issues.  So their most (socially) important website they cut when it’s “needed” most.

And that’s exactly what worries me - Kotaku, and the rest of the Gawker Network, are making a lot of “bottom line” decisions instead of thinking of the consumer.  I think companies should be allowed to do whatever they want in order to make money.  But as a consumer, and as one of their customers, I don’t like the direction they are going.  I’ve left websites (Eurogamer) and stores (I’m looking at you Circuit City) because of poor value/customer experience.  Kotaku is no different.  I find myself going there less and less, and I don’t even bother to check out Gizmodo anymore (for the same reasons as listed above).

Kotaku, while a little heavy on the nerd snark at times has always had valuable news.  But if I have to click additional links to read something, and sift through more advertisements with less content, then I’ll just find another place to read about games. 

I suspect any day now they’ll just have one post, and it will be a link to an advertiser. 

   

Windows: reloaded

 

 

 

This is one of the funniest parodies I’ve ever seen.  As a wise man once said, “it’s funny ’cause it’s true.”

 

 

 

Fallout 3 Diary: Day 13

 

 

 

I’m playing Fallout 3, and it’s captured my imagination like few other games have.  So instead of writing about the game in a standard “journalist” way, I want to capture my impressions in a more “immersive” way.  Every time I fire up the game, I can’t help but envision myself as a survivor of a post-nuclear world.  How would it feel to roam the wastelands?  How would I respond to the strange, terrifying, and brutal world?  Would I choose to remain faithful to God?  Or would I respond to the horrors around me by becoming a monster myself?

All of those reactions are captured in these diary features. 

 

Today was a hard day.
 
I had a long hike today.  Frankly I never thought I’d make it.  I ran out of water a few clicks back, and I am starting to feel the heat of that thing the upworlders call “the Sun”.  I have to admit, I miss the comforts of the vault.  Living underground wasn’t great, but at least I had food and water. 
 
Eventually I made it to a place called “Germantown police HQ”  I’m not really sure what that means, but it looked like I might be able to scavenge for some parts.  That was a mistake.  Instead of finding parts, I found supermutants.  With clubs.  Why must supermutants always have clubs?  With nails?
 
It took some work, but I found through trial and error that my shotgun was pretty effective.  It only has 2 rounds, so I have to let them get pretty close before I squeeze off a few rounds.  I’m glad my dad taught me how to shoot back in the Vault. 
 
In many ways today was the most disturbing day yet - I hacked into an old computer terminal.  Looks like it was an old abandoned medical facility for people immediately following the nuclear blast.  I found myself surprisingly disturbed by what I read.  For some reason it made all of this miserable wasteland feel more personal.  All those people who died.  Are we humans destined to kill one another for ever?  Am I destined to kill people to survive?
 
Today was a hard day.

   

Human Trebuchet

 

 

 

This has nothing to do with video games.  It’s just cool.  And if by cool I mean utterly terrifying…  Although if you squint really hard you could pretend you were playing Age of Empires or something. 

   

 

Gaming Culture Officially Mainstream

Ok, maybe video game culture has been mainstream for a while already.  But as a cubicle-dwelling business professional, it often feels like gaming as entertainment is atypical - perhaps a straightforward consequence of adult responsibilities.  So I was pleased when during a routine check of the Bloomberg financial news and data service I saw an article with the following headline:

“Mark Peroff Wins ‘Final Fantasy’ Maker’s Law Business by Discounting 20%”

To me this said a lot!  Bloomberg is an established, respected source of business news and they could have titled this article “Mark Peroff Wins Square-Enix Law Business…”  I wonder if the Bloomberg news team expected higher click through rates or google search hits by including ‘final fantasy’ (hey, why not!)  Or, did they expect that more readers would be familiar with Final Fantasy as a franchise than with the company that produces it? 

Either way, this is a nice call-out for gamers in the business world.  You are not alone!  Or maybe it’s simpler than all that - now more than ever finance professionals need an escape, and what better way than a good RPG?  An excellent suggestion, and I think I’ll act on it right away!

 

Classic Gaming

 

 

 

There’s two things I love - video games and good deals.  That’s why I am very excited about a new site called GOG.com. 

GOG.com has taken it upon itself to update classic games (think 1990’s) to make them DRM free and Windows XP/Vista compatible.  Right now they have a limited selection of titles.  With most games costing $5.99.  Which frankly is a steal.  Or as they say, “for less than the cost of a lunch at some lousy diner you can own some of the greatest games of all time.”

Now I haven’t bought any games from this service.  I don’t know if their customer service is awful, or if something fishy is going on.  But I am encouraged by this.  I’ve long thought game companies should distribute old games for cheap prices. 

I also notice that they have a pretty limited selection of games.  But the games they do have are all worth playing.  Here’s hoping Gog.com is everything it’s supposed to be!