Author: RagManX

Follow-up on last night’s post

Last night I was finally able to get the the next-gen.biz article I linked to below.  I think, after reading the whole article, that the writer actually intends to say the new Nintendo controller could be a good thing.  I think that, but I’m not really sure.  I don’t find the article all the well written.  Perhaps I’m just not that bright.  Still, if you haven’t read it, please take 5-10 minutes and see what it says.  Then decide if my guess is worth anything or not.

Next Nintendo console and controller

There has been a lot written about the next Nintendo (currently labeled Revolution).  It certainly has lower tech specs than the XBox360 or the Playstation 3.  There is an article over at next-gen.biz about the console and its odd controller that speaks on the good and bad of the controller.  I’ll be honest here – I can’t get to the article now, so I’m speaking on it based on what little I’ve read of the article from the sites where I can read about it – I’ll update after I’ve read the actual article.  I just want to talk on a particulr quote that caught my eye at Joystiq:

Reading about the Revolution, I have quickly become bored of the constant suggestions people offer, trying to justify Nintendo’s bizarre new idea of a videogame system. If I see one more article about light saber battles, I… well. I’m just disappointed, is all. It’s like everyone is going out of his way to think up the flashiest tech demo in town, when the actual benefit of the system and its controller comes not in the amazing new gimmicks it will facilitate, or in anything that will ever require the player to flail his arm around the room.

I’m no gaming genius, and I can’t tell what will go over well with the gaming masses.  I know what I like, and what I dislike, and that’s really the extent of my knowledge.  I rarely can tell what will be a hit (my best games ever list includes the Descent, Tribes, and Thief series  – all decent sellers, but none spectacular like say Quake or Half-life) and what will be misses (to me, the blah games list includes Half-Life and Counterstrike – neither did I particularly enjoy).  But I do know the Nintendo has a pretty good track record of putting out gaming stuff people want.

Sure, R.O.B. and Virtual Boy 3D tanked, but look at the Nintendo DS.  When it was announced, loads of “experts” pooh-poohed the split screen and touch-sensitive bottom display.  The PSP was announced the winner of the handheld wars before it was even available.  Time marches on, and we can look at how each has done.  So far, the DS seems to be doing better on bringing out games people want to play.  In particular, Nintendo is picking up the much larger, less hard-core market with games like Nintendogs, Electroplankton, and Animal Crossing.  I don’t think the PSP has yet to come out with a “must by this console” game, although I hear Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City is doing well for the company.  Certainly I see more about the multimedia capabilities of the machine than the gaming options.  I’d like a PSP eventually, but I have yet to see a compelling game-based reason to get one right now.

The reason I point all this out is to give some justification for my not-so-bold prediction that Nintendo is going to do just fine with the Revolution and it’s odd controller.  Maybe the killer app won’t be a lightsaber battle game, or anything involving any kind of sword fights.  In fact, it probably won’t.  But just as games have come out for the DS that use the touch screen in interesting ways, games will come out for the Revolution that will use the available technology in interesting ways.  Maybe it will be a weapon-based game, like perhaps a martial-arts simulator with nunchuka and staff training using the controllers capabilities to support this (yes, stupid idea, but I’m trying to think way outside the realm of normal here) or the above-mentioned sword/sabre style games.  Maybe it will be some new music-style game like Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution that takes advantage of the features of the controller (Classical Concert Conductor Revolution?).  Maybe, and most likely, it will be something new that we haven’t really considered or talked about a lot.  But between the Nintendo retro-catalog, the as yet unthought of options with the new controller , and the effort to reach casual gamers, the Revolution will almost certainly do well.

I doubt it will take the number one or number two spot, but Nintendo doesn’t appear to be going for those.  Nintendo is trying to expand the market and get new people playing and buying consoles.  That’s how this new console’s success or failure needs to be measured.  That, and whether or not it’s even profitable.  But Nintendo isn’t going for the biggest console developer spot, or the broadest developer support spot, or the largest install base spot.  Nintendo is trying to get more people outside the standard gamer demographic into playing games and put out a console that will keep the company profitable long term.  And I’m fairly confident that these goals will be reached.

On the local political front…

Imagine you are a politician, making a name for yourself in a small town.  Over the years, perhaps you get bored with your spouse.  Naturally, one might start sleeping with one’s secretary.  Shoot, this might even lead to a divorce.  Now, suppose a weekly newspaper in the small town where you started finds this out and publishes it.  What do you do?

At this point, you have some options.  Some people, they take the honest approach, go out and say “Hey, I made a mistake.  I should have ended my marriage before sleeping with someone else.”  Others, they prefer to try stifling that weekly newspaper’s ability to print such information by threatening advertisers.  Only one business doesn’t take so well to the threat, takes the nice little mail with the threat to the weekly, and they decide to write this up so their readers know the story.  Seems some readers of that weekly don’t like it either, and will write in to show their support and chastise the politician.

Or at least, that’s how I understand the story.  I could be wrong.

More predicitions

First, he did a review of his predictions from last year.  Now, he’s written his predictions for the coming year.  Ed Felton is a sharp cookie (is that mixing metaphors too much there?), and his stuff is always good reading.  I’ll admit that I don’t find many of these predictions hard to see, so it’s not like this is a radically forward-thinking list.  Still, it’s thoughtful and there are a few especially interesting predictions there.

I especially like

(16) Broadcasters will move toward Internet simulcasting of free TV channels. Other efforts to distribute authorized video over the net will disappoint.

(17) HD-DVD and Blu-ray, touted as the second coming of the DVD, will look increasingly like the second coming of the Laserdisc.

Also, it might just happen, but I’m skeptical of

(23) There will be a felony conviction in the U.S. for a crime committed entirely in a virtual world.

Things that matter

I dislike most politicians. In general, I think they are corrupt people, and mostly liars. Sure, there are some good ones, but my guess is that there are more not-so-good ones. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the things some of our great “leaders” have done to further convince me they are criminals and not worthy of the offices where they are.

First, hit Salon for an interesting story on Jack Abramoff. To read the whole article, you have to subscribeto Salon. Alternatively, you can get a one-day subscription by watching a short advertisement. I’ve done this before. It is simple, and for this story, worth doing. Then, further up the political food chain we find this story of investigations into recent leaks of classified information. I believe you need a membership to this site (the New York Times in this case) to read the article, but you can get one for free just by signing up.

The first story above shows a large spread of corruption at a high level in congress. The second shows our executive branch trying to distract Americans from the real issue of illegal happenings in that branch by focusing on the illegal, but less serious, leaks regarding the wrong-doings. We, as Americans who want our government to do right by and for us, should be angered by the current administration’s attempt to remove attention from the real issue of executive abuse and disregard for the law. I’m not saying that finding the source of the leak is unimportant. I’m just pointing out that seeing how far this dictatorial activity by the current administration went and removing an individual who is clearly not fit for office is more important.

Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death.” Simple, to the point. He did not say “Give me liberty, unless, you know, you think you might save me a little inconvenience if you take some of it away.” As Benjamin Franklin put it, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Allowing the current administration to take away our rights and legal protections under the veil of protecting us from some nebulous threat is tantamount to saying we’ll give up liberty for temporary safety. I won’t agree to that, and I hope more people who read this feel the same.

By the way, don’t think this article means I only dislike the conservatives – I have no qualms pointing out the bad the liberals do, as well. Any politician, really. We are obligated to keep up with what they are doing wrong, to encourage them to do what is right. I just happen to see more wrongs being committed by the conservatives at this point in time.

On rejection

I randomly discovered this site today, which has a very interesting article on rejection.  I aspire to write, but have a bit of an issue with focusing on the task at hand.  So an article on rejections from publishers is interesting to me, even if it is brief.  Just for a preview bit, check this article ending bit:

•  I feel you may lay it on a bit thick with the dying donkey.
• My response: What dying donkey?

Write or play?

For either of you that read my absurdly long post this morning that I worked on when I couldn’t sleep, let me just say that writing didn’t help me get to sleep.  I ended up staying awake until I took my older son to school.  When I got home, my (almost) 3 year old was still asleep, so I went to bed and managed to sleep until 1:30 when my wife called to make sure I was up and getting ready for work.  She took the younger one to school and then went to work.  That means I got some rest, but I didn’t get to see the youngest one at all today.  I’ll hope for a more restful night tonight so I can see both boys in the morning.