Where did the summer go!?

Obviously, blogging is one of the first things to go when my life gets too busy.

I'm meaning to get back into the habit of posting, if for no other reason than that I desperately need more practice at writing.

Sidebar: I've been debating the idea of getting augmented, if such a thing was available. I think I'd go with minor neural augmentations while retaining all my limbs and organs intact. Maybe then I could finally learn to play more than a few children's tunes on the violin?

I love that my job involves lots of travel. I've been able to see the four seasons of my beautiful Mountain State like never before, and consistently stumble upon cool things to see and do that I never knew existed.

If nothing else, my time in Japan helped awaken the inner tourist within me. Plus, my time away has helped me to really see West Virginia with fresh eyes - Always before, I took its beauty for granted.

And yet I possess a thirst for a more urban existence. Inexplicably, I long to replace my green hills with steel ones, my sleepy towns with bustling crowds. I've always longed for "the city", ever since I was a kid. I remember saying I'd live in NYC someday. (Since then, I've found out how grungy NYC can be... especially if you don't have a lot of money!)

I'm not sure where I'll end up in the next few years, but I know that my time in my home region is a brief rest before setting out on my journey once more.

Portal 2's Pre-Release ARG

So initially I was really pumped for Portal 2's ARG.
The set-up was intriguing to begin with; trying to figure out wtf regarding the Potato Sack games, then realizing the connection and finding new Portal related levels in some of my games. All of that was masterfully done.

The puzzle solutions of the ARGs were fun to read about, which is generally how I participate in those sorts of events. (I'm strictly a wiki "the events so far" kinda guy.)

Once the potential for an early release was announced (as foretold by some clever soul), I became very committed to doing what I could to aid the cause. I tried recruiting my friends as well, but of the five who could participate, only one was dedicated.

Another two were spotty with their help and refused to leave the computer running overnight. (They are obviously traitors to the cause, and in fact were likely sent by the Combine to keep tabs on what's happening.) The other two didn't even pretend to participate. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

As of 10:45 on Monday morning, current projections show that we're only shaving a handful of hours off the release.

Now that I'm a working stiff, I'm no longer in a position to stay up until 4AM for a new release; especially on a weeknight!

In other words, it would appear that this "early release" event has turned out to be a spectacular failure. True to their word, the developers put the game's release into our collective hands... Turns out that most people didn't want it bad enough, I suppose.

Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I don't think this is what the developers were wanting when they envisioned this cooperative event. What started out fun ended up transforming into frustration and disappointment. Were I a game designer, that's not what I'd want my core fan-base to be associating with my new sequel.

All I know is that this weekend ended up having a pall cast over it by mid-Saturday, and I'm left feeling quite despondent going into my very busy work week. It is doubtful I'll get more than a few hours of play-time a day until the weekend, which is exactly why I was so excited that Portal 2 could have been released over the weekend.

Do you think the event back-fired? Perhaps it is still too early to say. Some miracle might still cause the game's early release at a reasonable time, like say 5:30 this evening?

One can still dream...

Consumer Market

Youtube needs to enable a play-all function that just lets a user begin a continuous stream without being in a "playlist". I'd use it over Pandora sometimes if that was possible, but alas...

Cable - Why Pay?

The guy who wrote this article is emblematic of what the future holds for entertainment. I for one will never pay for cable TV when there are so many free legitimate options on the internet. Many people follow the legally questionable practice of downloading TV programs through bit torrent sites.

The creators of South Park recognized that fact, and took control of their show's distribution by offering it for free (with limited advertisements) on the show's official site. This seems like a progressive move, and the direction that entertainment is truly heading.

Adult Swim likewise faced the inevitability of preventing free distribution of their product, offering episodes available to watch through their website. They embraced the idea of hosting a fan-community, integrating forums and web games into their site.

I can only wonder how long it will be before these practices are adopted by mainstream media across the board.