« December 2006 | Main | February 2007 »
January 23, 2007
Do you find the concepts "web2.0," "user-generated content" and "social networking" confusing? Obtuse?
Let me make it clear.
Meet Maria Antonia Sampaio Rosa, otherwise known as Mia Rose.
I found her in two quick clicks. I was on YouTube watching something LAME sent to me by a friend (how unusual) when I saw an adver-hint promoting YouTube channels.
I clicked on it (just like you just did). MiaRose was first. She was fabulous!
I expect her to be on my boob tube any day now. Not that I ever watch the boob tube....
Anyway, perfect example of what millions of pathetically hopeless, god-awful myspace pages exist to provide you with. The occasional gem. Enjoy it while it lasts. Probably a professionally set up operation designed to appear as an innocently talented young lady rising to the top.
In other news...Persistent Worlds shutdown today.
Posted by SunSword at 12:17 AM | Comments (1)
January 21, 2007
Return of the MadToad
I've added Todd Bailey's blog to my l33t list at right. I was there when he sold a cigarette to Richard for 100 bucks. It's all true.
Posted by SunSword at 02:03 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2007
My mother's latest novel in a bookstore near you!
I have an amazing family. Really. I've been blessed.
As some of you may know, my mother is a professional author with over 30 published works. Her latest novel, Icing on the Cake is in stores now! It falls into the "chick lit" category, or more to her preference, "literary fiction." I remember listening to her brainstorm on the phone about his book, and how personal some of it was. The initial reviews are great. If you're one of those guys looking for a great MMO post, point your girlfriend/wife to this one for me, would you? :)
When Liz Talbot's husband left her for a woman half her age, Liz put all her passions into her bakery. The problem is that fad diets and fitness crazes are ruining sales and she's barely staying afloat. Liz's luck seems to be changing when her ex dies without changing his will, leaving her the main beneficiary. Unfortunately one of the things she inherits is the advertising agency she left behind to pursue her dream of baking. Her partner? The newly widowed husband stealer--Brandi, with a heart over the i. As the new co-owner of Talbot Advertising, in the toilet since the death of her ex (that's right, she's now the proprietor of two failing businesses), Liz is more determined than ever to break out and make a name for herself as an artisan baker extraordinaire, providing her products can catch the eye of the Nabisco Food scout who is as elusive as he is mysterious.
Obligatory Amazon.com link. 5 Stars!
Posted by SunSword at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2007
Great news for the Stargate MMO
MGM has announced two Stargate-SG1 movies!
That brings out my inner geek (I was a huge fan of the series. I have to admit since I've moved to the UK, I haven't watched it as much, but I still want to see what they do with it.
I'm sure the guys at Cheyenne Mountain Studios are thrilled.
Posted by SunSword at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2007
Something facinating and something stupid
From Reuters, India: This article shows you what you'll find if you head off the beaten track from western headlines.Clad in a saffron robe, Gyaltsen left Tibet in July 2005 and crossed Nepal before reaching Bihar.
He lies horizontally on the ground with his hands outstretched, utters a sacred Buddhist verse before getting up to walk to the point where his hands had extended. He then repeats the same exercise, covering a distance of 7 km a day.
Only 22 days left to reach Bodh Gaya...amazing.
And now for something stupid...
Your results:
You are Lex Luthor
|
A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time! |
Go figure...I was hoping for Kingpin.
Posted by SunSword at 03:43 PM | Comments (1)
January 13, 2007
Blog update
Well, it looks like I need to have my hosting service move my account to a more updated platform in order to upgrade the site. That might delay things a week or two.
Basically, the version of Perl that valueweb is running on my account's server is from the 20th century. How quaint. As a result, I can't upgrade to the latest version of Movable Type.
As many have noted, my blog is full of trackback spam, and the manual delete process is a pain in the you-know-what.
I really really miss being able to ssh directly over to a shell account and power edit. I HATE having to ftp files back and forth. It drives me nuts. Really.
Okay, done whining.
Posted by SunSword at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2007
Cisco sues Apple over "iPhone" Trademark
Oops. I'm guessing this is what happens when your lawyer signs and faxes that contract over but fails to actually send the original executed copy via courier.
Ow.
Posted by SunSword at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2007
One Laptop Per Child initiative closer to reality
I've been watching this project with interest for some time.
[image from the linuxtoday.com website]
Yesterday, the first beta versions were revealed and this article from "Linux Today" has great coverage.
Although I'm very supportive of the project, two negative things struck me. First, the charging solution for the device is a "yo-yo" design. 10 minutes of yo-yoing for 30 minutes of light-processing (i.e. web browsing text pages). That's a lot of yo-yo-ing.
Second, this quote makes me wonder how connected to reality Bletsas is when it comes to what kids want:
"You have to look at this through the needs of a child [in the developing world]. A child doesn't want to play the latest video games. he wants to be able to read a book."
Huh? Developing world or not, I garauntee kids are going to want to play games on that thing. And the mesh network described in the article raises some interesting possiblities.
Other than that, it's a very exciting project with some really interesting solutions to tough technology/useablity problems.
If you're into gaming, serious gaming, and more importantly, improving the human condition, check out the article.
Posted by SunSword at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
ArchLord gains momentum
Regardless of whether ArchLord is the game for you, it is an interesting product to watch from an industry perspective. Since we announced in December that no subscription is required to play, the average number of players in the game each night is up by 100% (that is to say it has doubled). Why is this significant?
First, it is significant because the game still requires a box purchase. The game's increase in users is tightly connected to new accounts which have come from box sales. Why is this important? Primarily because retail was in significant decline only a month or two after launch. The new pricing model has had (in the very short period thus far) a significant REAL impact on retail sales and active server populations.
Okay, that's all very well and interesting for AL. I'm happy for the community and of course it makes the business much more pleasant.
The second significant item here is that it validates the assertion that the MMO audience has become more price sensitive.
The bottom line is of course that now that we've found the right price for the service, we can continue the work of actually improving the game and addressing the many and various concerns that the players have with it.
The last piece of the business to shape up is item sales. So far, they've been very popular (uptake), but are they enough to operate the game service profitably in the long term (revenue)? Early indications are promising, but only time will tell.
Posted by SunSword at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2007
E3 transforms in "E for All"
According to "Next-Gen.biz" E3 will now be a consumer-oriented show (surprise) called "E for All." That name was selected from over 3,000 entries in a naming contest.
So what's this really all about? One line from the article sums it up:
E for All will be held at the L.A.C.C. October 18-20, 2007, just as the holiday gift-buying season ramps up. Attendees will be able to buy exhibitors’ products from the show floor.
And a little more about the format...
“For companies that produce and develop games, interactive toys, and all things related, our goal is that 'E for All' will foster promotional and relationship-building opportunities that only face-to-face contact can create,” says Dolaher.
As a consumer-focused expo, E for All will be open to the public at a fee of $100 per ticket for full three-day access to the various events held at the expo, Dolaher confirmed to Next-Gen.
Now the real question is, who is going to participate? And are they going to participate in a big way? Has the demo crunch just moved to a shipping crunch? But now that it's openly and honestly a consumer show, I'm going to guess that the format will be even bigger than it was...sans the boothbabes as it's now a "family-friendly" expo.
Posted by SunSword at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2007
5 things you probably don't know about me
Well here it is. Five things you probably don't know about me...unless of course you are close family and/or friends. I'll make the assumption that all you know about me is that I've worked on various MMORPGs and I used to be pretty active in the online space.
- I was a child actor. In middle school, my mom's friend was taking her kid to a commercial try-out and invited mom along. She brought me. I did very well and was quickly signed by an agency, Holden and Holden I believe. I graduated from the Weiss-Barron School of acting. In the first year I did three nationally syndicated TV commercials for Showbiz Pizza Place, a couple of advertisment shoots, and some other smaller tidbits. I then began to try out for movies and I almost landed the very first one I tried out for, a little kids sci-fi movie called "The Explorers." I was called back three times! I so thought I had that part. In the end, the studio decided they wanted a less ethnic kid (I'll try to dig up some of my headshots from those days, but I was DEFINITELY the little brown kid with the fro.) They went with River Phoenix instead. I was crushed. At the same time, my agent was diagnosed with cancer. I turned away from the whole business, and my parents being good people, didn't pressure me at all. Looking back on it, I'm pretty happy. I mean I could've ended up like River. Of course, we're very different people, and based on #2, I doubt I would've been into the drug scene.
- I was sober until 2006. That's right folks. Although I've had a drink here and there, I'd never been truly intoxicated until this summer. Leave it to a bunch of mates from the UK, a business trip to South Korea and the wonderful libation known as Soju to end three decades of natural highs :). I'm still not much of a drinker, I suppose I'm a bit of a control freak in that regard. That said, when I visit Seoul, I favor the mixture referred to "100 years wine" over straight Soju. I suppose I always thought I'd be an angry drunk, and as Mr. Banner is fond of saying, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
- I won 3 straight MC Hammer dance contests at West Texas State Band Camp. The "type writer" was my specialty, but man I could bust a move. Band camp you say? See the next item.
- I was President of the Band at Vines High School in Plano Texas. I played trombone and bass trombone from middle school on.
- I briefly had a radio show at the University of Texas radio station. I'd always wanted to have my own show (I did some voice-over work as well as the acting above). I was a freshman and the station producer blew me off when I showed up at the station asking for my own show. I kept pestering him and he finally said that if I could come up with the funds to underwrite my show, I could have a midnight slot. Much to his surprise I showed up a week later with my proposal for an R&B show called "Making Love... with Anthony" underwritten by a local business. I also won an award for best station ID.
Hmm...whom to ping?
I'll start with these two and move on from there...
- MrTact, i.e. Tim Keating of UO.
- Falcor over at netassassin.com
- Mr. Ktat aka Tim Hodges of Codemasters.
- Mike Perry has been added for bein' a smart Alec. Or is that a smart Mike?
- Last but not least, Thomas Tong ladies and gentlemen.
Posted by SunSword at 12:41 PM | Comments (3)
I've been "memed"
I've been infected by the "5 things you probably don't know about me" mental virus.
Now the question is, do I succumb to the desire to get more attention? Well, DUH this is a blog. What's the point if not to embrace words that have the word "me" in them more than once??
But I'm sleepy right now. So you'll have to wait until tomorrow to learn my deepest darkest secrets.
Posted by SunSword at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2007
How I got back into the game industry
Thanks to Damion, I got to read a "way back when" post on UO by Dan Rubenfield. Mostly he concentrates on the amount of ganking and griefing that went on in UO, but it brought back some memories.
One of the stories he told is almost an exact retelling of the event that brought me back to Ultima Online, and more importantly prompted to me to leave my cushy Unix consulting gig to return to the game industry.
From his site:
Everyone talks fondly about it, but there’s never a happy story.
It’s always the shared moment of getting slaughtered in a dungeon, losing your stuff, hiding traps in your backpack and killing people who snooped and more.
But regardless of the tone, people still loved it. The fucked up moments, the slaughter of the innocents, the absolute depths that you could sink to.
When it first released, people would break into your house, steal all of your stuff, sapping you of thousands of hours of gameplay. Then, not content with having ruined your experience, they would leave you a book on the floor of your now empty house, with a note in it.
“You Suck”
When they broke into my house, they left all the furniture stacked in the back, with a book in the armoir. The book said "Thanks for all the cheese."
Now, I don't have the best memory, so I'll give you the romaniticised version of what happened next. I called Raph Koster on the phone (whom I had met when I was working in QA at Origin through an informal game design group called "Project Brainstorm" (memories anyone?)).
As the story goes, I told Raph, "Dude, you need to hire me so I can fix your game." A few months later and I was working my first large system in UO: House Security. Looking back an the resulting system, it seems like a fairly crude game design solution, requiring chat commands for a lot of functionality. But it sure did make houses more secure!
Thanks for the memories, Dan. Happy New year!
(As an aside, it seems like a UO day for me, as it keeps coming up. This morning I ran across the MMORPG.com Interview with UO Producer Aaron Cohen.)
Posted by SunSword at 05:04 PM | Comments (1)
A Solid State of Being
SanDisk on Thursday released a 32GB drive for commercial notebooks that stores information on flash memory chips rather than the magnetic platters that make up a traditional hard drive.
The article comments how solid-state memory is faster and possibly more durable than regular disk drives, including a link to an interesting story about a science project that successfully recovers data from some SD cards after a potentially disasterous crash.
I have certainly noticed how many flash cards have entered my life over the last two years. Between our three digital cameras and various USB keys, I must have 20 or so flash drives. In fact, every time I go to Seoul, I make it a point to pick up a few more 2GB USB keys.
On the downside, a 32GB hard drive is very limiting. My fricken IPod is 60GB. I'm not sure who's in the market for a laptop with 32GB storage, I don't care how lightweight it is...but of course hope is on the way. There are industrial flash devices that have capacities in excess of 256GB.
So the obvious question is, when can I get USB ports installed in the back of my head? :)
Posted by SunSword at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2007
A day in the life of a community manager...
Kyle Rowley, COG's RF Online Community Manager extraordinaire has penned a very readable article on MMORPG.com.
For those of you who are not familiar with myself, or my alter ego “Laeth” I’ll do a quick introduction. My “real name” is Kyle Rowley and I’m the Community Manager (CM) for Codemasters Online Gaming’ Sci-Fi MMORPG Rising Force Online (RFO). Professionally, some could call me a n00b in the Community Management business – I’ve only been CM for RFO for around 10 months after all – so my words are not to be taken as the bee's knees on what community management entails, or how one would go about doing this for a living; but it should provide some insight for those of you who are interested."
Certainly no n00b, Kyle has done an excellent job representing a difficult project developed in a far away country through a significant language barrier.
As a bonus, there are a few shots of some of my co-workers and our office out in the middle of the English countryside.
Posted by SunSword at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)