A Bit of Perspective
And while I’m talking about the homebrew community (which is too often used as a fig leaf by software and media pirates), here’s a rather stunning article from today’s Gizmodo:
image © Gizmodo
I’m outraged that the Obama administration is supporting the RIAA on the case against Jammie Thomas, a single mother of four who has to pay them $1.92 million for downloading songs. That’s more expensive than murder and six other crimes[...]
Heck, you can do all these crimes, and the total amount will be only $2.2 million. Of course, you can’t really quantify years spent in prison using dollars, but I don’t care. The case of Jammie—and many like hers—is still absolutely outrageous.
Now look, I’m rather a fan of the Obama administration in general, and I don’t even want to think about how much of my work has been stolen over the years, from the software I’ve helped to create to the strategy guides that wind up retyped on FAQ sites a week after they come out. But this is silly.
Sony Courts iPhone Devs
Some notes about the approval process for PSP Mini games, from Pocket Gamer:
There is “no requirement for content approval” apparently.
Games will however go through a shortened quality assurance process to make sure they work properly on the various PSP hardware.
Significantly, this process is labelled as being “transparent, trackable and predictable”, with developers setting their own release dates.
This suggests Sony has learnt from Apple’s approval process for the App Store, which is regarded as being neither transparent, trackable or predictable.
image © casualgaming.biz
I find the “no requirement for content approval” extremely dubious. Is Sony really going to let Mini developers churn out porn apps for its handheld console and sell them through the PlayStation Store?
Also, isn’t this the same company that routinely releases new PSP firmware to shut down the homebrew community and has devised some of the most destructive copy protection malware in history? Are we really supposed to believe that they’re suddenly a friend of the little developer?
Plus, the install bases for the PSP and the iPhone/iPod Touch are just about dead even, despite the fact that the iPhone has been on the market for a significantly smaller time frame. If Sony really wants to start poaching disgruntled iPhone app developers, they’d better hope that the imminent release of the PSP Go exceeds all expectations, and that recent accounts of Apple reforming its approval process are bunk.
Shadow Complex
Last entry of the day. My friend Christian wrote a simply amazing piece for Gamasutra.com on whether or not progressive-minded gamers should consider boycotting Shadow Complex, a game based on concepts from author Orson Scott Card, who is an active campaigner against gay rights.
From the article:
While I feel passionately about the issue — it’s a matter of public record on my personal blog, Twitter, and Facebook, which are all read by members of the industry — it has nothing to do with “The Art & Business of Making Games”, which is Gamasutra’s mission and motto.
What does, however, is an examination of a boycott of a game, arising because some members of the gaming community feel strongly that one of the creative talents behind it is too strongly linked to a political cause.
My delight at reading such a thoughtful piece of true gaming journalism is equalled only by my disappointment that it’s such an exception to the rule. Hopefully the games biz will continue to grow and mature to the point where that’s no longer the case.
Rock Band DLC 8/25
Next Tuesday’s list of downloadable content for Rock Band is a good one:
Tracks available on Xbox 360 (Aug. 25) and PLAYSTATION 3 system (Aug. 27):
• Billy Idol – “Mony Mony”
• Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
• Fleetwood Mac – “Don’t Stop”
• Fleetwood Mac – “World Turning”
• Jet – “She’s a Genius”
• Tom Petty – “I Won’t Back Down”
• Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
image © Bryan Stratton
“Of Course Green Koopa Troopas Walk Off Cliffs!”
Some Friday video game hilarity for your viewing pleasure:
Laying the Smack Down
Here’s a bit of video game inside baseball for those who have any interest in such things: For as long as I can remember, a certain website has always had the exclusive first look at THQ’s WWE SmackDown vs. Raw series of wrestling games. That franchise is particularly near and dear to my heart, since I wrote the storylines and dialogue for it for five years, and I’ve written or co-written almost every WWE strategy guide that’s come out in the past decade. Plus, several good friends of mine continue to work on the series, and now that I’m no longer mucking up the game design process, they’re accomplishing some fantastic results.
image © THQ, GameSpot
Whether you’re a fan of the WWE product or not, there’s no denying that there’s an enormous fan base out there who will hungrily devour every scrap of information about it, especially when it comes to the games. So I was more than a little miffed when the aforementioned website, after enjoying months of page-view-padding exclusive looks at WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, crapped all over it with a C+ review that complained of a general “been there, done that” feel to the game—but never once considered that that might be due to the fact that they’d been playing it for nearly six months by the time the review came out. It seemed like a classic case of familiarity breeding contempt, and it was especially frustrating, because I truly believed that SvR09 was a big leap forward from the previous year’s installment, and I’d like to think that I was in a pretty good position to judge such things.
So it was with no small amount of amusement that I saw today that Gamespot.com had been given the exclusive first look at SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, while that other website has to content itself with posting the box art for the new game.
Game over? You’re damn right it’s over.
image © THQ, GameSpot
(Disclaimer: I have no dog in the race between GameSpot or its competitors. I also haven’t spoken with anyone involved in the production or marketing of the game, so I might be completely off-base with my observations here, which are solely my own opinions. Take ‘em with a grain of salt—or a chair to the head.)
Making Sense of the Health Care Debate
I’m not going to use this blog to argue for or against the various philosophies of health care reform that are currently being debated in town halls filled with gun-toting lunatics across this country. But since finding and affording quality health care can be extremely tricky for us self-employed types, I figure that it can’t hurt to at least try to make it clear what exactly is being proposed (and, perhaps more importantly, what isn’t).
Factcheck.org, a financially independent, non-partisan voters’ advocacy group, published an excellent article debunking seven of the biggest myths about the health care reforms under discussion. Regardless of your politics, there’s probably something in here that will disappoint or offend you, which is usually the best sign of true non-partisanship.
Also, PDXers who are uninsured or underinsured might want to take a look at the above YouTube video of my friend Sandra’s presentation at Ignite Portland 6. Unfortunately, she doesn’t offer any quick or easy solutions to the healthcare crisis (then again, it wouldn’t be much of a crisis if those solutions existed, would it?). But it’s a great presentation, and knowing some of this stuff ahead of time is probably better than finding it out at the worst possible moment.
Your Daily Dose of Fab
A few Beatles bits of note, in anticipation of 09.09.09:
- The Beatles: Rock Band “Ticket to Ride” video, set in Shea Stadium, is up on thebeatlesrockband.com.
- While you’re there, check out gameplay trailer #3, featuring “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Drive My Car,” “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds,” “Dear Prudence,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Helter Skelter” (which promises to tear my voice up worse than “Ace of Spades” ever did), “Come Together” and “Don’t Let Me Down.”
- And I thought I’d seen this confirmed elsewhere a while ago, but Gizmodo reports that there will be stereo and mono versions of the complete Beatles catalog boxed sets. If you don’t know why getting the Beatles stuff in mono is a big deal, they also have a great article that explains exactly why.
Ready For Prime Time?
From today’s Gawker:
Have you seen the insane video of a woman yelling “Heil Hitler” at an Israeli-Jew who supports health care reform at a recent town hall meeting in Vegas? Well, her name is Pam Pilger. She’s on Facebook.
Not only is she on Facebook, but there’s a pair of YouTube videos of her delivering the offending exclamation and being interviewed just prior to the meeting.
Now, honestly, I couldn’t care less about what she said. Unless she’s doing it during the first half of the 20th century, a woman shouting about Hitler is the definition of a wingnut. And a wingnut is the rhetorical equivalent of roadkill: against your better judgment, you’re compelled to sneak a glance at it, and you wind up seeing something that can’t be unseen and makes you feel a little bit worse about the world you live in.
What interests me is the reaction to what she did. Ten or fifteen years ago, this would have been nothing more than a local news story. There’s a chance that it might have made the CBS Evening News, if it was a slow news day and the broadcast needed some sensational B-roll footage.
But now, thanks to YouTube and a legion of bloggers, it took Pamela Pilger less than four days to become a bona fide worldwide Internet Celebrity. Google News has about 15 articles for “pamela pilger” right now, and the first one went up only 20 hours ago. There are over 1200 hits for “pamela pilger hitler” on Google.
I have to wonder if she ever imagined her outburst would attract that kind of attention? She at least had the sense to lock down her Facebook account, but is that something she had the foresight to do when she first signed up, or did she do it after the hate mail started pouring in? And does the attention scare her, or is she thrilled that her soapbox is larger than she ever dreamed possible?
Secret Origins
Another blast from the past, courtesy of Google. In the summer of 2004, I wrote an article celebrating the 20th anniversary of the comics store where I spent the better part of my growing-up years in Barre, VT. It was published in Burlington, VT’s Seven Days, the alt-weekly newspaper that published my very first professional work (a review of a Sex Pistols reunion show) in 1996.
7D wasn’t interested in just another “local business survives two decades” story, so they asked me to contribute my reminiscences of how I became a comics fan and what an influence the proprietor, Mark Patterson, had on my life. I eagerly accepted the challenge, which gave me the opportunity to add about about 50% more schmaltz to the piece than originally planned. It’s sappy, it’s highly sentimental and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.
image © Mark Patterson
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