Sierra Kilo

NBC and Fox teamed up to create a new way to view TV content. They’re aiming toward a YouTube-esque embedded Flash method. That’s probably the easiest way to distribute content. All you need is a web browser with the Flash plugin and you’re good-to-go. What’s more, you can embed the videos in your own site. What’s even more, you can embed clips from the video to show a certain section. I don’t have a need to take a clip from a show, or to embed shows on my site, but I like the ease of distribution. There is only one problem with it: it requires a computer.

One of the great things about TV is that you can have a large screen and content is quickly and easily accessible on that screen. Having a program guide revolutionized the way we watch TV allowing us to browse content without flipping through channels. DVRs went one step further, allowing us to save content for viewing at another time. Some DVRs go even further, allowing us to skip commercials and go straight to the content. iTunes, (official) BitTorrent, Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly, and other methods of digital distribution are a good step toward where content is heading. Unfortunately, these methods require the use of two separate interfaces. TVs are viewable from 10-feet away, have large fonts, and are controllable by 4-way navigation and a few buttons. Computers are viewable from 2-3-feet away, have small fonts, and are controlled by a pointing device (mouse) and a keyboard with many keys. Sure, there are hybrids like the Windows Media Center and the Mac Front Row, but they are TV front-end “patches” for a computer. I’ve never found it easy to set up a set-top HTPC. The UIs are never perfect and the multitude of content is never fully integrated (YouTube, iTunes, Netflix, Mira/Democracy, etc). Part of the problem is capitalism and free-market. Everyone wants their slice of the pie and doesn’t want to share it. The result is several different formats, which results in several different codecs, which never install right.

One product that I have been very pleased with, but don’t take as much advantage of as I should, is Orb.com. You install it on your PC and tell it where your media is and you can access it from any web connection. It streams it from your PC to whatever media player you have and can even be embedded in the page via YouTube-esque Flash player. There are still occasional codec problems, but one great feature is that the stream is sized according to how much bandwidth you have. I may have a movie in 720p HD, but I can watch it on my phone over 2G cellular data speed because of the compression. It works great and I highly recommend it for those who keep media on their PC and want it on the road.

I haven’t tried the Apple TV, but why spend $300 for a device that duplicates some of the same functionality you have on the PC when you could buy a Mac Mini for twice as much, use it the same way, and have extra functionality? What is really needed is an internet-connected, user-customizable set-top box that can aggregate all of this content and make it easily accessible on the TV. I think the new game systems (XBox 360, etc) show some promise here, but still only provide a “walled garden.” The device can’t be too expensive, either. Really, I’m looking for a small form-factor, cool-running, quiet computer that is pre-configured with an OS like Mac or Linux that boots into a TV interface, has remote customization via web interface, and can stream my media over the web like Orb.

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I woke up with an earache this morning, so I figured it was time to go to the doctor. We’ve all been fighting colds and sinus infections. L went to the doctor last week, got meds, and is doing better. I’m just stubborn. The kiddo is heading to the pediatrician this afternoon for the same. Hopefully we’ll kick this quick. Just in time for cold weather. Sitting at Starbucks now waiting for meds. Dad’s watching E. I hate having to ask anybody for help (dad, doctors, etc), but it usually turns out fine in the end.

Here are today’s interesting news tidbits:

Windows 7 (the next version of Windows that’s due in 2010) will have a re-engineered, stripped-down version of the NT kernel. It’s about time, right? What’s also interesting is that evidently the XBox 360 uses the same virtualization layer as VirtualPC for backward-compatibility with the original XBox games. That’s pretty cool.

The rumor that BioWare Austin is working on a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG got a little more fuel. I played the first KotOR and enjoyed it, for the most part. I would probably enjoy it more now on my XBox 360 than I did on my PC, since it seems that’s the only place I do my oh-so-small amount of gaming. Whatever they’re working on, it would be nice to see it on the 360, but it seems like the PC is the defacto home for MMOs. Voice chat or the new 360 chatboard attachment for the controller would work perfectly in a console MMO, though.

A quick Transformers movie review for you:

I saw it on Friday night. I stuck the DVD in my XBox 360 (which upconverts to 720p HD) and viewed it on my 50-inch DLP. First off, the movie is very good. There is a good bit of nostalgia embedded in it, which helped. Acting is very good. Shia LeBouf’s dialogue is great, and he delivers it very well. Everybody else’s dialogue is a bit hammy. Hearing Optimus Prime, I was instantly familiar with the voice: a great voice-casting move. The plot wasn’t the worst I’ve seen. If it weren’t for the hammy dialogue, I’d say it was better than average.

The biggest complaint I have is the robot design. One great part about the original cartoon series and the toys were that the robots were easily recognizable in their biped form. Not only that, but their “disguise” form was easily recognizable while in that form. Optimus Prime’s grill and windshield were prominent on the toy. Not so much in this movie. I had an extremely hard time making out which robot was fighting who. Too much CG gray and chrome flashing around. The one robot’s acrobatics when dodging fire from the tank would have been much more enjoyable if I could make out who it was. I think it was Ironhide, but I’m not sure.

Another complaint I have is that Optimus and Bumblebee had the most screen time. When Jazz got ripped in half, I really wasn’t too upset because he only had one line anyway. Also, if Bumblebee was going to change into a new Camaro anyway, why couldn’t he have been a VW Bug to start with? The Decepticon characters weren’t fleshed out at all. The little boom-box (was that supposed to be Soundwave?) got the largest treatment, while Barricade hardly got to transform at all before he was killed. The movie is called Transformers, so how about focusing on the Transformers?

So besides the CG overkill, hammy dialogue, and lack of Transformer screen-time, it was a pretty good movie. Somebody had said that the movie had so much testosterone, it would turn girls into men. I’d have to agree. Car chases, beat-downs, and city destruction is great. It would just be nice to make everything out as it’s happening and have a little more invested in the characters.

I picked up on this news a couple of days ago, but just saw this video. One word: Tight! The original game was one of my favorites on Nintendo and the new one looks to be one of my favorites on the 360. The visuals are gorgeous and it looks like it might mix in a little Force Unleashed-type environmental carnage. As long as the plot has legs, it would be a very fun single-player game.

If Web 2.0 is social networking and asynchronous client-side data, Web 1.0 was server-side scripting, and (I guess) Web 0.1 was straight HTML.

If we consider the current generation of MMO as version 3.0 with enhanced graphics and no “zoning”, MMO 2.0 was the jump to 3D, MMO 1.0 was 2D, and MMO 0.1 were text-based.

What’s happening now is that “Web 2.0″ is starting to bleed into MMOs, where social gaming is rising. There’s a big focus on community and collaboration. Tachevert has a rant about the tried-and-true-yet-old-and-busted DIKU design (get sword, kill thing, get bigger sword) where he mentions community-generated content, player-driven economies, and a master/apprentice-type advancement/training system. I think these are all MMO 4.0-type goals. Depend on your fellow man, not a faceless corporation, for your entertainment. Podcasts are a good example of how community-generated content can be entertaining. Sure, there are some duds, but there are also some gems. I would rather watch some podcasts than watch 90% of TV shows. I could definitely get behind player-created quests. You’d still have some weak content, but you’d also get content created by the guy who is a great Dungeon Master, but can’t get his friends together to play. See MMO Ideas #2 - Player-created Content for more on this subject.

Raph’s Metaplace (which I can’t stop associating with “Meatpalace” now, thanks Damion) looks to be heading in that direction. The only problem is that instead of creating content, players will create the actual game. While that’s cool by itself, we’re still passing over the player-generated quest idea. That’s fine in the case of Metaplace since it’s focusing more on social networking and creating a more casual interface. Until I take a look at it, though, I can’t really get an idea of how it’ll fit in the genre.

Raph did whip together an interesting design idea that sounds like it could be made in Metaplace. It’s a multiplayer industrial building game with a few different levels of gameplay. Sounds fun, but lacks an element of visceral combat that would land it in the same box as Second Life, There, The Sims Online, etc. It’s a “toy” game. Getting a large number of people to play toy games like they play WoW will be a hard sell. I love SimCity, but there comes a point where you spend more time as a manager overseeing the world, and less time interacting with the world.

I’d like to see a game that takes pieces from all of these ideas. Imagine this idea: Terraforming a new world. Each server is a different planet, completely untouched by humans. The players must terraform and live on the planet. Each planet is completely different; different landscape, different climate, different flora/fauna, etc. Each player starts with tools and supplies. The tools are basic, and the supplies are limited. The players must use what’s available to not only survive, but to build a new civilization. Think along the lines of “Lord of the Flies,” “The Swiss Family Robinson,” “Survivorman,” a little of “Red Planet,” and a little of “Lost.” The players will need to find what resources are available on the planet and how to best use them. The first players will be the risk-takers. After all, are the berries on that bush poisonous, will they give you enhanced senses, or are they just tasty? The environment would play a huge factor, too. Players would need to build shelter for the cold winter, right? Obviously the planets would be habitable, but even on our planet there are extreme conditions. Combat would come in to play in several ways. Players would need to hunt game, defend themselves from predators, and (depending on how “Lord of the Flies” things get) defend themselves from other players. The basic tools combined with the players’ basic knowledge and some kind of training system (skill-based with archetypes) would allow them to create more advanced tools from the available resources.

An official Wiki would serve as a great place to announce findings and give information. It could even be tied to the game by giving players a citation ID for certain events. The first player to see a creature, for example, would see a “Wiki Citation ID” allowing them to reference their sighting in a Wiki article. They could, then, choose from a list of approved scientific names, enter a (profanity-filtered) nickname, and enter the creature’s description and other findings. Other players could edit the article, adding or correcting information.

The crafting system could be widget-based. There would be base widgets, component widgets, and enhancement widgets. Base widgets are the starting point: a pistol body/chasis. Component widgets add to base widgets, defining functionality: a handle, a trigger assembly, a .45 caliber chamber, a .45 caliber barrel. Enhancement widgets add to component widgets, enhancing functionality: a barrel extension, a handle stock, a scope. Combining different widgets would produce a variety of items. I used a gun example, but this could be as simple as a flint axe: a wooden haft, a flint shard, a length of twine. The system would know that when the haft is used as the base, the shard and twine as components, it would produce a flint axe. Some enhancement widgets could be one-time use or refill items: gun oil (one-time use, improves condition of mechanical objects), sharpening stone (refill, improves condition of edged items). When a new item is created, it’s given a citation ID, which the creator can use to create the Wiki entry. When an item is created that matches an existing configuration, it’s automatically named based on the Wiki entry.

A group of people could form an official organization, which gives them a web portal. The portal would function similar to WordPress, TypePad, or other content management system (CMS) for weblog entries, links, etc. There could be a few different rules applied here for site moderation, etc. All of it would be tied directly to the game, though. This would all lead toward the all-important APG.

The best part about that idea is that it is the ultimate sandbox. The developers give the players rules, tools, and resources, then lets them run with it. The society, government, and economy would all be built from the ground up by the players. This would also lead to modularity, allowing developers to add to the game over time. Nobody says the web portal would need to be completed on launch. The Wiki probably would, though. New widgets for crafting could be added over time. New areas and resources could be opened up later. NPCs and developer-driven content could even be added afterward (think SWG Theme Parks).

…if I only had the time, energy, patience, and funding…

Tuebit brought up a good point about grinding. He references TF2 saying that it’s “Instant fun.” I’ve found that multiplayer frag-fests like TF2, UT, R6V, Halo, BF:V, etc. are a load of fun in short play sessions. Each session, for me, is usually broken into 4 parts. The first few minutes is usually spent dead. I have to get used to the play style, the map, the objectives, etc. Once I’m past that hump, I start figuring out the strategies, shortcuts, and best routes. Once I’ve figured all of that out, I spend some time on the top of the heap, racking up kills and completing objectives. The last part is usually boredom. I’ve “beat the game” and figured out exactly how to optimize my play for the best score. At that point, there is no higher I can climb, no secrets to find. I can see the Matrix and bend it to my will.

The time it takes to do that depends on how much I’ve played it before and how long ago it was. Sometimes 20 minutes is all it takes. It also depends on who else is playing. If there’s a really good clan playing, the second part of the session lasts longer because I have to try to figure out the other players’ strategies as well as the workings of the game. Despite the added frustration, that is probably the most fun. It’s oh-so-satisfying to lay waste to the points-leader. Even more so when it’s a humiliating end (driving him off the edge, sneaking up behind and knifing him, dropping a grenade at his feet from above).

The same metric (for me) can be applied to MMORPGs. Learn, Improve, Master, Grind. When you’ve mastered something, it doesn’t make sense to keep doing it because there is no goal. Once you’ve mastered it, the bar should be raised, and a new goal should be set. This is a problem with level-based MMORPGs because the method of gaining experience points is the same. Once you’ve mastered the method, the only goal left is to repeat until you can’t repeat any more due to limits in the game. I wonder if there would be a way to measure when a player has hit a plateau and throw a surprise at him, requiring him to change his routine and work toward a new goal?

Am I back from the dead? Not quite. Besides being very busy at work, I’m also very busy at home. I’ve also been laid up all week with a cold along with the wife and kid. I stayed home with the kiddo Wed-Fri, congested and altogether miserable. It wasn’t fun (yes, sometimes being sick can be fun). I’m still a little stuffy, but heading back to work tomorrow. Maybe getting back in the routine will clear the rest out.

Ever since I switched to Time/Warner cable, my PC has been sitting in the corner, powered off. I’d been meaning to get it back up, so I did that this evening. It’s now in the “office” (guest room) with my Windows laptop. I’ve got 3 screens going on now. It’s starting to look like a true geek’s setup. One day, I’ll plug the analog cable into the card so I can record some SDTV. The PC has Orb on it, so I can stream video from it. I’ve never really had a chance to do that, but dog-gone it, I can! There are a few new features that are pretty nice. I’ve even shared a few videos. I also got Miro, the IPTV/BitTorrent/Podcast program. Set Orb up to look at it’s folder, so I can stream those videos, too.

Half-Life 2 Orange Box for the 360 came the other day. I had a chance to play about 15 minutes of TF2 (fun, yet feels like I’ve been there, done that) and about 30 minutes of HL2 (mostly listening to scripted events). I really want to play, so maybe I’ll log some time after the kiddo goes to bed at night. I also got the Munchkin card game. The TRS guys were talking it up, so I thought I’d check it out. The rules are not very easy to follow. Anybody have a step-by-step list of what exactly should/can be done during a player’s turn?

Well, off to take some Tylenol Sinus Congestion Nighttime, play some HL2, and crash.

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Live was also good last night. I was a little disappointed in the length, though. It seemed like Live played less than Collective Soul.

What I found the most disturbing is that even during a truly “get out of your seat and rock out” song (I, Alone), nobody really rocked out. The theater was full of old fogeys. Granted, the height of Live’s popularity was between about ‘92-’95 (12-15 years ago) and all of those fans are my age (30) or older, but if we had been closer to the stage like those folks, we would have been jumping around, rocking out. As it was, we were in the front row of the second section, on the side, rocking out (but not jumping around). So, I say to all of you old fogeys my age and greater: don’t get front-row seats at a rock concert and just stand there. You don’t have to start a full-blown mosh pit, but the whole section should be jumping, hands raised, rocking out. A small sea of bouncing rock fans is a great sight.

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Live (Live)

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…just ended. Not bad. A few new songs, a few older ones. Hard to believe it was 12-14 years ago when I first heard them. They ended with “Shine”…their best. Now for some Live. woot.

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