LHC Webcams
Pretty cool - check out the Large Hadron Collider in action.
Spore - Is the DRM worth it?
Right now there is a huge uproar over EA’s use of DRM for it’s much anticipated new game, Spore.
Personally, I’ve been waiting for this game for quite a while (since Will Wright mentioned it at SxSW a few years ago.) so even with the DRM I went ahead and purchased it. Alot has been made about the fact that you’re not really purchasing this game when you shell out your $50. Because of the DRM model, you’re actually renting the game and at any time EA can shut down their authentication servers and you’re screwed. This has happened in the past (Yahoo!) and it has pissed off a lot of people.
In this case, I’m not so sure that I mind. Why?
Spore is revolutionary… in a lot of ways. The developers have made it super integrated and incredibly easy to share user created content, be it videos of your creatures on youtube or actual creature files that you email to your friends. This in itself is worth the DRM…
The gameplay is quite fun… I’ve made it through the Tribal phase so far and I’ve found the gameplay quite refreshing… an excellent mix of casual vs. hardcore features… and (I’m sure by design) I keep finding myself distracted by the creature creator as I evolve… I try out new appendages and outfits… I continually restart planets just to go a different path. The replay value is immense.
Another reason the DRM doesn’t bother me - to fully enjoy the game you really need to be connected to the net. For those of you worried about shutting down the authentication servers, well - EA has an opportunity to make some recurring revenue from this game model. Think about how cool it would be if you could pay $0.99 for a model of your favorite character from star wars, and some of that revenue could go to the creature’s creator. This could extend the game’s long tail enough to keep the auth servers going for a reasonable amount of time…
The other reason it really doesn’t both me - This game, of all games, deserves to make as much money as it can. The gaming scene is already way too much like the music scene. Designers and developers never make as much as the should… at least this way the team that developed the game is going to get as much as they can out of it… and they deserve it for making something that is so unique and pushes technology so much further than it had to.
I’ll make sure to post some of my creatures as I have time to play. Now back to client work!
Back From Seattle
So - first trip to Seattle went very well… I had a great time and I really liked the city. Something cool about being able to get coffee on any corner that isn’t “fourbucks”…
Brit and I had a good time at the Google Hack-a-thon, although we both have decided that App Engine still has a lot of growing to do. The guys at Google mentioned that they’re going to eventually support languages other than Python so we’re probably going to hold off on developing Brave New Fiction further until they start supporting PHP.
Lots on my plate for the next couple of weeks so I’ll be posting less frequently - but here’s something I will do - play-by-play fantasy football. Jaime and I have won our money league the last two years in a row (thanks to a quick thinking Romo pickup and Tom Brady’s amazing year). So - in our 14 team league we picked 6th this year and here’s who we ended up with:
Tony Romo
Vince Young
Joseph Addai
Lendale White
Matt Forte
LaMont Jordan
Andre Johnson
Calvin Johnson
Anthony Gonzalez
Donte’ Stallworth
Chris Henry
Brandon Stokley
Dwayne Jarrett
Donald Lee
Mason Crosby
Philly Defense
I tried like hell to land another Johnson at receiver but both of em got swept up before our pick… Surprised that Addai fell to us at 6th (a guy in our league took Stephen Jackson @ 2) and we traded our 3rd and 5th to get Romo (could’ve had Reggie Bush and Chris Chambers). My roommate actually had the 14th pick (our draft is serpentine) and ended up picking Randy Moss and Terrell Owens back to back… the room let out a collective ~gasp~.
Oh well - we’ll see how we do - playing on house money for the next ten years anyway.
Lack of Updates
Between taking care of my now neutered puppy and having to deal with all of the pipes bursting in my house, updates have been less frequent than usual. So - here’s a quick update on what’s going on in my world:
- Figaro Interactive is now a contributing member in the Apache Foundation - thanks to a project full of geocoding Brit threw together a CouchDB script for storing Google Geocoded JSON data and it is now included in the CouchDB wiki
- Brit’s also posted a nice review of Mint.com - a financial service that he got me into that’s really helping stretch out the paychecks (and help save up for that vacation to Greece next year)
- Figaro will be going to Seattle for the Google Hackathon and Penny Arcade Expo - first time for me to spend any time in Seattle - looking forward to the rain and the coffee. Hit us up if you’re going to be there… we really want to meet some App Engine developers. Also - App Engine docs for download - gotta love it.
- Watched my hero, Brett Favre, play his first preseason game as a Jet… looked young and decisive. Really hate to see him in green and white but it’s better than purple and yellow.
- While couped up with the puppy I’ve been watching a lot of (bad) TV… interesting facts:
- The former lead singer of Presidents on the United States of America is now an adult film composer - didn’t even think they used composers in porn movies… shows how many I’ve watched (can’t find his alt name for a link… but he said so on VH1’s 100 Best Songs of the ’90’s so it must be true).
- Krist Novoselic (former Nirvana bassist) is now a politician - an interesting move for a former grunge rocker
- Bobbly Flay never wins throw downs… is it rigged or does he just suck? Guess you can’t really go to someone else turf and tell them that they aren’t that great and still get them to sign a release.
- Way to go Michael Phelps - although it’s ridicuolous how meaningless world records feel this year… I think all of the atheletes should go back to swimming trucks and mustaches.
