Sierra Kilo

I think Breakout would be a good game type to apply to the PuzzleQuest model…an RPG meets Puzzle mashup…except it would be more like an RPG meets Arcade mashup. It would allow for short, yet satisfying game sessions. I could imagine the “paddle” being your character, the ball being some kind of magical energy, and the bricks being an enemy stronghold. Your character would have to shoot the magical fireball, then reflect it back with his shield. If he didn’t reflect it back, he’d have to expend more magic to generate another fireball. Once you break through the stronghold, you have to kill the enemies, who can now rush out to fight you. In later levels, the strongholds would have archers, catapults, and other mages that would shoot back. You gain experience points and level up by defeating enemies and capturing strongholds.

It could definitely use a little more design, but it sounds like fun to me. Take my favorite arcade game, mix it with my favorite genre, and serve.

So says this guy. Personally, I like some of what Microsoft tried to do. Unfortunately, I think Microsoft is their own worst enemy.

One thing that Vista tried to do that wasn’t a bad idea is to use hardware acceleration for graphics. If I have to stare at a screen with a bunch of windows, it would be nice if had interesting visual effects. Those visual effects might slow down my computer, though, while trying to draw them. I’ve got a graphics card in there for when I play games, so why not use it to power the effects when I’m not gaming? Great idea. The problem? Most business systems don’t have a gaming-level graphics card. Most casual home users don’t either. So you make an option to turn it off, right? Well, the problem really isn’t the graphics, it’s the rest of the subsystems that is dragging your system down.

Another problem Microsoft has is that they commit to native backward compatibility. I would love to see Microsoft fork Windows into a Win32-compatible OS and a brand new, designed from the ground up with next-gen systems in mind OS. If my copy of Office 2007 doesn’t work with the new OS, then that’s tough. I should have bought the Win32 version. The new version would have a stable foundation, manage system resources better, and be secure (from hacks, viruses, ad/spyware, etc) from the ground up. It should have an API that is easy to learn and easy to master. It should be a renegade, non-apologetic, fresh take on the OS. It should be modular, allowing Microsoft and their partners to add onto the system while maintaining the stable foundation.

Apple did something similar with the Mac in the early 80s. A small group worked separately from the core company to break new ground. This is what Microsoft needs to do. They can definitely afford the manpower and if the new OS delivers what it should, they would have no problem getting customers to drop their copy of Office 2007 on a less stable system for Office 2010 on a rock solid system. Backward compatibility be damned, give me raw, stable, unbloated power.

So I was just thinking…time travel will never become available to me or anyone I come in contact with. Why? Because if I (or anyone I ever come in contact with) were ever able to travel backward in time, I would contact myself and let myself know. And since I’ve never been contacted with such information, it will never happen.

I guess there may be extenuating circumstances such as the Time Law of 2246 that states that time cops will erase you from existence if you ever try to contact yourself (directly or indirectly), but at some point, somebody will have had to break that law before it was made and leaked the information to somebody in the past.

There is the chance that backward time travel is limited to the last, say, 20 years, in which case there is still a slight possibility that time travel could be available, I just wouldn’t know until at least one second from now (or one second from then, etc). There’s also that chance that if I were to ever become aware that time travel was available, it’s not guaranteed that it would remain available, since the fact that I knew about it could jeopardize the possibility of it actually happening.

There’s also the chance that time travel is limited to forward travel only, in which case I’d never know until it was public knowledge. But once I knew, I’d be able to write my own future, since having knowledge of the future allows you to plan ahead. I could totally clone myself! I’d go 10 minutes into the future and tell my future self to go 10 minutes into the future, etc, until I had a few copies built up. I’d probably use myselves to build something. Maybe start my own game studio. What’s odd about that is that the “oldest” me will actually be the first me that I told, not the original me…since he would actually be 10 minutes older than the original and would have had to live an extra 10 minutes longer than his copies.

How’s that for a quick thought?

Edit: Hmm…scratch that clone thing. If I told future me to go into the future, he would cease to exist in the present, leaving the first me by myself until 10 minutes from then, when the future me showed up from the past. Is that right?

Woot’s deal-of-the-day is a $130 Zune media player. Why does that tempt me so? I’ve got a perfectly suitable 60GB iPod that works well in my car, with my Mac, and in my pocket. I don’t know anybody with a Zune, so the whole “welcome to the social” thing is out. Maybe it’s just gadget envy? It’s been a while (a conscious decision) since I’ve bought any gadgets, so maybe I’m just craving something new? Hmm…got a phone I like, got a media player I like, got a car I like, got a laptop I like…I’m not completely satisfied with my digital camera, but it works…so I’m not really missing anything.

A new Command & Conquer FPS? The first one (Renegade) didn’t work. I think that it could work if they incorporated elements of RTS. I may have mentioned this before, but it would be very cool to be playing a (an?) RTS and be able to select a unit, zoom in to ground-level, and control that unit. I think the game Savage did something like that. I could picture something like the Battlefield series with a RTS layer on top. When you’re not in direct control of a unit, it would rely on RTS-type AI (i.e. following orders). When you are in direct control of a unit, you could run around on foot, or hop in a vehicle as a pilot or gunner. That would be an excellent C&C FPS.

A live action Justice League movie? Sweet. JLA is the ultimate superhero team for me. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. I loved the episode of Smallville (named Justice, which was just on again the other day) where Supes, Green Arrow, Flash (er Impulse), Aquaman, and Cyborg get together.

Ok, but make this standard a true standard. I love the fact that my phone, Bluetooth headset, and camera all use the mini USB plug. I wish the iPod used the same plug. I’d much rather carry a USB-to-mini-USB cable and a USB wall charger than a pack full of cables…so make standard…um…standard.

Listening to Official D&D podcast about the 4th edition. I’m an old school 2nd edition player, so I never got into 3rd or 3.5(th?) edition. I played it once, shortly, last year. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t get a good taste for it. I fear 4th edition will be so much different than 2nd edition that I won’t ever get it. I guess it doesn’t matter, since I don’t play, but for me, if it’s not 2nd edition, it’s not D&D.

Speaking of RPGs, I have an idea about a web-based RPG that plays like WeeWar. I think that turn-based play style and AJAX interface would work well for a group-based RPG. I’m still trying to learn web development, but it’s a bit different from Windows Forms. Maybe someday…

Raph Koster’s Areae.net has announced their new venture: MetaPlace. It’s supposed to let you create your own web-based MMO. Until I see it, though, I don’t think I’ll wrap my head around exactly what it is. It sounds like fun, but it also sounds a little MySpace/Facebook App-y. The site is having some problems right now, but whenever I’m able to, I’m going to sign up.

Another cool app that I found is Mint.com. It looks like an online Quicken. You enter your accounts, it downloads your transactions, and allows you to manage your money. All the while, it is looking for ways to save you money and earn you money from better interest rates. It sounds a little spam-y, but we’ll see once I get it all set up.

Jack Thompson thinks that he’s in Grand Theft Auto 4.

Halloween candy (specifically, Almond Joy, Butterfinger, and Milky Way).

V8 + pepper + hot sauce (beware of too much hot sauce…oy, I’m sweating). It’s a good way to get some healthy things (not sure which ones, don’t care) into your system.

Apple iLife (iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand). Despite the lack of options, it’s actually fun and easy to record a “podcast.” A buddy and I tested the waters this weekend. The verdict: fun, but we need to organize our thoughts a little better (episode outline) and work on our dialog (”um”s, “like”s, “alright”s, “$*&@”s, etc) if we were to ever release to the public. Plus, we would need to keep the time under an hour with organization and editing.

WeeWar.com.

Munchkin sounds good. It’s in the cart, along with Half-Life 2 Orange Box for the 360 and a new car power adapter for the iPod. Waiting on one more item before I checkout. Munchkin rules sound a bit complicated for a newbie (and the newbie’s non-gaming family/friends), but still fun.

Did you know you can send a text message to a cell phone from AIM? Just enter “+1<10-digit phone number>” as the buddy name. Your buddy can even reply back to your IM.

I’ve been tinkering with growing things for the past year or so. It started out as a single-pot herb garden and it’s turned into a multi-pot, yard-hungry monster. At first, I got some sweet basil, oregano, jalapeno, yellow pepper, bell pepper, mint, and cilantro. They did fairly well in the large pot together. I had a few jalapenos, a few yellow peppers, good oregano, good basil, and good mint. The bell pepper and cilantro didn’t do so well. The winter did away with everything but the basil, oregano, and mint. The basil was an extremely tough customer. In fact, he’s not even living in the original pot anymore. He spread into the lawn and the other pots I had out. At one point, he was growing in the space between the concrete patio and the house! When we went on vacation, I didn’t water, so everything died. I cut everything down, relieved that I’d be able to start again and manage it better. Well, the basil has made a comeback again. It’s taken over nearly all of the pots. He’s even back in the original pot (where oregano lived), and he’s kicked mint out, too! He’s also decided that the watermelon patch would be a great place to live, so he’s set up shop there, too.

Speaking of watermelon, I got 2 pint-sized black diamond watermelon plants and a 2-pint canteloupe plant earlier this year and put them in a moist area by the patio. They proceeded to take over a 10×12 area of the yard. The canteloupe didn’t fare too well, but the watermelon is thriving. I pulled 2 melons last week, but I pulled them too early, so they were still a bit immature. I’ve got 5 more on the vine that will hopefully get nice and large. Once those are done, I’ll probably mow the bugger down for the winter.

I’d like to set up a raised planting bed for all of this nonsense next year. It’s been a pain mowing around the melon patch and it looks pretty ugly. Green beans need a more permanent home, too. We’ll see how it all goes next spring. I may not do anything at all and just save on the water bill

APG: Auxiliary Pervasive Gameplay

Check out what Raph says:

…the adoption of even the basic web technologies into AAA MMOs is minimal, even though everyone clamors for them — a guild update on an RSS feed, doing crafting on a cell phone, chat interfacing to IM networks, and countless other things that have been tossed around for years but nobody does.

In today’s fast-paced, wirelessly-connected, technology-savvy world, there are some companies that offer pieces of APG. Twitter, for example, while not a game by definition, embodies several of the social aspects that have become a part of online games. They offer an API to allow developers to grab data for use in applications outside of the Twitter.com site (i.e. Auxiliary). Tweets (micro-blog-like updates) have an RSS feed, allowing other software to pick them up as they are posted. One of the best features, however, is the ability to send and receive Tweets via text message on your cell phone (i.e. Pervasive). So, basically, wherever you go, you can be connected to Twitter without actually visiting the site.

If the same ideas were applied toward online games, it’s possible that the game would become wildly popular. A while back, World of Warcraft was likened to golf, saying that it had permeated the business world. Salesmen would group up with current and potential clients in-game and go on a raid instead of hopping in a golf cart and playing 18 holes. Now, when you think of a businessman, what is one thing that comes to mind? Suit? Wingtip shoes? Briefcase? What about a BlackBerry? The device was the posterchild for “push” email, allowing the owner to receive email on the phone as it came into his mailbox (asynchronously), instead of checking for it periodically. It was a tremendous hit. Now, imagine being able to play portions of an online game in much the same way, either from a mobile client or a website. You could communicate with your in-game friends without being tethered to your workstation. You could craft items for your guild while waiting for a flight. You could receive a notification that your guild’s base is under attack while driving back from a meeting. Then, you could swing by a Starbucks, pull out your laptop, fire up the game, help your buddies defend the base, then be back on the road in time for the 3:00 appointment you have.

A more common example might be Joe Gamer (me) who can’t/doesn’t want to do the 4-hour raid, but would like notifications of how it’s going. Joe Gamer, who could log onto the website, craft a few items, put them up for sale in-game, and get notified when they’re sold. Joe Gamer, who may not be the level 60 hero of the realm, but who likes to help keep the rat population down when he can.

Sci-Fi Wire says Tobey Maguire will produce and may star in a Robotech movie. While I don’t mind if he produces the heck out of it, I hope he keeps his goofy mug off the screen. At the very least, I hope he doesn’t play the part of Rick Hunter! That’s all assuming that it’s a live-action remake of the original series. I hope they keep the F-14 style for the Veritech fighters, and the same visual style for the other vehicles. In other words, do the cartoon justice, don’t go nuts just to make it look “out of this world” and “futuristic” (ahem…Transformers). I’m disappointed enough with the G.I. Joe movie so far, don’t take another fond childhood memory and “reimagine” it. What’s next? Alvin and the Chipmunks? Heathcliff? My Little Pony (not that I was into that, just making a point)?