Season one of Garrow's Law was the best thing i had seen on television (hermm.. on my BBC iPlayer) in a long time.
Now season two (here) is back, after the network announced last year the series had terminated (after a mere four episodes) and that no new seasons were planned. I cannot be brought to believe that the many protests (i read many ) at Garrow's being the best thing on and worthy of continuation have actually led to season two;
I am more of the opinion that holes in the schedule have blessed us (and a few film crews) with this wonderful show's continuation.
It does looks like the production values have come down quite a bit since last year. I like to interpret that as a confirmation of the series being brought back as programming filler. It's still great, though.
Production Value(s) - the cost of, and results obtained, from the technical skill and equipment used in film production: lighting equipment, cameras(quality and number of), film quality, software hours, and so on. In short, what makes an expensive movie look better, more polished, and so on. Always used (in the real world, whatever Wikitionary says) in the plural.
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Thursday 18 November 2010
A post full of Meaning™
The circulation of money is something i dont give a crap about; What i care about is the circulation of goods, the facilitation of which is the original purpose of money. From the way economists talk these days, you'd think the purpose of money is its own circulation.
Tuesday the twenty-third is the beginning - for me - of yet another "course" at a group called Action 4 Employment (yes, the name has a number in place of the word "for") where (i just received the form) the first step will be to review my Cvrricvlvm Vitae for the .. fourth time, this year ?
Yet it is amazing, in a bad way, how people will blatantly ignore whatever is written in it, mark my words and may i be wrong.
Example : Jobcentreplus, four weeks ago (again) : "hello mr. Bokken(not my real name), i see here you have listed you were a PA for the head of the Left Wing in the government, and handled confidential information; how would you like to clean dishes for a living ?"
Moving to England has destroyed me. This was the worst idea i could possibly come up with; Or maybe i would have fared just as badly in Italy, but one thing is for sure, i should have stayed in Boston, no matter what i had to do to make it happen. This, is not America.
And so i find my unedited posts starting with "the circulation of money..." where i would have written how the anachronistic monetary system we all use cannot survive overpopulation, the age of information, a salaried population and a slew of other sociogeographical changes that have come about since the 30s. And at the same time i am getting turned down for jobs peeling potatoes and answering telephones. If i had a dollar for everytime i read the phrase "must have excellent communication skills" i would be well off to owning a Core i7 system by now.
To make a point about the recession, i like to quote how the Mafia takes only ten percent, so with them in government i would have an extra 18% of money left after taxes. Taxation at 28% for the lowest strata is ridiculous already, when considered that the average rate of pay has declined in three years from almost £8/h to barely £6/h, resulting in a wage that earns you two-thirds of what is poverty level, so the fabled change has to happen, now.
When i first came in the UK, in 1990 (a country i more or less expected to find unchanged, it was), there was a pub on the corner of Tottenham Court Road i used to go to that would charge £2.85 for a pint of Guinnes. Today, they charge £3.20. That is fucking ridiculous. England used to be mythical for how expensive it was. In the same days, a can of Coke in Italy was 300lire, while now its 2000. that 7 times the moneys. So, a pint of beer should be £20, wages should be at anything between £20 to £35 an hour, basic, and everything would be OK. No one would be offended by a £460 weekly rent for a studio flat.
The reasons for these discrepancies are evident to me - and i wouldn't blame you for not knowing them - but if they aren't to you, i am sorry but i will not explain. Not got time, you see.
My real problem is that the society that created me, who demanded well learned young boys who could tackle any problem and understand the intricacies of class relationships, simply does not exist anymore. Just as the proud Athenian warrior who bravely chatters nonchalantly to his Trojan opponent as bronze-tipped ashen spears fly by his head has been replaced by the grunt, whose education level is better when is lower, the workplace reflects the same ideology: "We don't need them smart, we need them stupid".
I recall a saying by famous German dictator, "don't give me men of intellect, give me men of violence".
So, what is it relevant to if i know the Dust Bowl and how the Ghost of Tom Joad relates to our modern education system.. proper-waged jobs don't exist anymore, they have all been replaced by more efficient low-wage workers Not only does automation dehumanize the work rhythms, but also overpopulation drives the need for work as it becomes no longer an activity, but a commodity.
Think how the recession is once again helping the rich against the not as rich: as my money influx lessens, i must resort to shopping at Tesco discount supermarket. Less earnings for the local butcher means that he will have to fire the girl who works for him and then she will too have to go to Tesco for food.
Poverty is the best thing a rich man can hope for.
Earlier in our history it was not thus, for we worked the land - i know, a lot of idiots with a degree will think that this is a simplistic view, although it *is* shown how in 80 years we have gone from 70% self employed to 30% self employed, but in substance what we need to survive is not money, but goods.
I can't, for the life of me, get any food if not from a shop. I have no access to wildlife and even if, i have no weapons or hunting skills, and am also not legally allowed to hunt. Then it makes me mad at* the stupidity when a conglomerate says it has created jobs -
(*poetic licence)
Jobs are not created - they are controlled.
A timbering factory doesn't create jobs - the trees create jobs -
More specifically, they create work potential, by letting you work on cutting the trees, you have some activity to invest time on, and the invested time can then be exchanged for goods from those who need timber but spend time on a different job, and this, is called Work.
If a company "creates 300 jobs" they in effect are "controlling" 300 jobs that could have been performed without the need of a company in the first place - i don't need the company, all i need is the trees.I have trees, i cut trees.I Work.
Services are even more stupid: the whole concept of "service" is translated to "superficial". ie, i am so rich i can afford to pay someone else who does this "service" for me. We as a technological society have an overabundance of services, which are a drain to society and do not produce anything - forgive my marxism - and thus are a false hope of Work, as in practice we have too many skilled workers and no real Work to put them to. Sure we can have a Wage, but what future does a Wage hold?
Will i ever buy a house with it, much less two? Will i be able to retire and own a business?
I assert that no, Wages do not bring about a successful life, simply because there is no chance of career - because there are no careers - they have all been filled up: over a territory of control, all the resources already have long since a controlling entity attached to it, and they aren't budging... and from the way i see it, i doubt there will be many new resources coming to the fore.
Forget what they say in school that the more talented become the upper crust, it's the ruthless and criminal.
Do you know what it takes to be the successful manager of a large company? Do you know what it takes to be the PA of a politician, the Director of a production unit, the Sales Advisor of a group, the Buyer of a society?
Takes nothing, that's what.
Maybe i have been "excessively" educated but i haven't yet found anything challenging in any work situation i have been, yet. As today, keep your eyes and ears open, your hands and clothes clean, and do your homework, and *holy cow* the job always turns out right, for some reason. The only times i had any trouble was when confronted by dishonesty and crime, but when the business is serious it's all plain sailing.
So what is it?
I have know of the recession since 2007, long before it was in the papers. All the sudden, people just didn't have the money anymore. Because, they had no way to earn it. EVERYONE was trapped into a slave wage situation.
Why didn't the smart people who are much smarter than me by definition, since they *are* in power while i am obviously not, not noticed that the waged population was becoming excessively large, then increase the minimum wage *severely* to make THE WORKERS a commodity, and not THE JOBS ??
I was going to say something about the banks, but it would be fucking stupid. The problem is more extensive, it's how we got to be a world of slaves. If i owned a farm, i would care nothing about the money - if it went, you'll get some more. And you still have the farm. But seems people have already thought of that, and arable land is all taken up. And every other resource.
We are, gentlemen and Ladies, Royally Screwed. Me more than You.
Nov 2010 (my b-day, couple days off), 5:18 AM,
Good Luck.
Tuesday the twenty-third is the beginning - for me - of yet another "course" at a group called Action 4 Employment (yes, the name has a number in place of the word "for") where (i just received the form) the first step will be to review my Cvrricvlvm Vitae for the .. fourth time, this year ?
Yet it is amazing, in a bad way, how people will blatantly ignore whatever is written in it, mark my words and may i be wrong.
Example : Jobcentreplus, four weeks ago (again) : "hello mr. Bokken(not my real name), i see here you have listed you were a PA for the head of the Left Wing in the government, and handled confidential information; how would you like to clean dishes for a living ?"
Moving to England has destroyed me. This was the worst idea i could possibly come up with; Or maybe i would have fared just as badly in Italy, but one thing is for sure, i should have stayed in Boston, no matter what i had to do to make it happen. This, is not America.
And so i find my unedited posts starting with "the circulation of money..." where i would have written how the anachronistic monetary system we all use cannot survive overpopulation, the age of information, a salaried population and a slew of other sociogeographical changes that have come about since the 30s. And at the same time i am getting turned down for jobs peeling potatoes and answering telephones. If i had a dollar for everytime i read the phrase "must have excellent communication skills" i would be well off to owning a Core i7 system by now.
To make a point about the recession, i like to quote how the Mafia takes only ten percent, so with them in government i would have an extra 18% of money left after taxes. Taxation at 28% for the lowest strata is ridiculous already, when considered that the average rate of pay has declined in three years from almost £8/h to barely £6/h, resulting in a wage that earns you two-thirds of what is poverty level, so the fabled change has to happen, now.
When i first came in the UK, in 1990 (a country i more or less expected to find unchanged, it was), there was a pub on the corner of Tottenham Court Road i used to go to that would charge £2.85 for a pint of Guinnes. Today, they charge £3.20. That is fucking ridiculous. England used to be mythical for how expensive it was. In the same days, a can of Coke in Italy was 300lire, while now its 2000. that 7 times the moneys. So, a pint of beer should be £20, wages should be at anything between £20 to £35 an hour, basic, and everything would be OK. No one would be offended by a £460 weekly rent for a studio flat.
The reasons for these discrepancies are evident to me - and i wouldn't blame you for not knowing them - but if they aren't to you, i am sorry but i will not explain. Not got time, you see.
My real problem is that the society that created me, who demanded well learned young boys who could tackle any problem and understand the intricacies of class relationships, simply does not exist anymore. Just as the proud Athenian warrior who bravely chatters nonchalantly to his Trojan opponent as bronze-tipped ashen spears fly by his head has been replaced by the grunt, whose education level is better when is lower, the workplace reflects the same ideology: "We don't need them smart, we need them stupid".
I recall a saying by famous German dictator, "don't give me men of intellect, give me men of violence".
So, what is it relevant to if i know the Dust Bowl and how the Ghost of Tom Joad relates to our modern education system.. proper-waged jobs don't exist anymore, they have all been replaced by more efficient low-wage workers Not only does automation dehumanize the work rhythms, but also overpopulation drives the need for work as it becomes no longer an activity, but a commodity.
Think how the recession is once again helping the rich against the not as rich: as my money influx lessens, i must resort to shopping at Tesco discount supermarket. Less earnings for the local butcher means that he will have to fire the girl who works for him and then she will too have to go to Tesco for food.
Poverty is the best thing a rich man can hope for.
Earlier in our history it was not thus, for we worked the land - i know, a lot of idiots with a degree will think that this is a simplistic view, although it *is* shown how in 80 years we have gone from 70% self employed to 30% self employed, but in substance what we need to survive is not money, but goods.
I can't, for the life of me, get any food if not from a shop. I have no access to wildlife and even if, i have no weapons or hunting skills, and am also not legally allowed to hunt. Then it makes me mad at* the stupidity when a conglomerate says it has created jobs -
(*poetic licence)
Jobs are not created - they are controlled.
A timbering factory doesn't create jobs - the trees create jobs -
More specifically, they create work potential, by letting you work on cutting the trees, you have some activity to invest time on, and the invested time can then be exchanged for goods from those who need timber but spend time on a different job, and this, is called Work.
If a company "creates 300 jobs" they in effect are "controlling" 300 jobs that could have been performed without the need of a company in the first place - i don't need the company, all i need is the trees.I have trees, i cut trees.I Work.
Services are even more stupid: the whole concept of "service" is translated to "superficial". ie, i am so rich i can afford to pay someone else who does this "service" for me. We as a technological society have an overabundance of services, which are a drain to society and do not produce anything - forgive my marxism - and thus are a false hope of Work, as in practice we have too many skilled workers and no real Work to put them to. Sure we can have a Wage, but what future does a Wage hold?
Will i ever buy a house with it, much less two? Will i be able to retire and own a business?
I assert that no, Wages do not bring about a successful life, simply because there is no chance of career - because there are no careers - they have all been filled up: over a territory of control, all the resources already have long since a controlling entity attached to it, and they aren't budging... and from the way i see it, i doubt there will be many new resources coming to the fore.
Forget what they say in school that the more talented become the upper crust, it's the ruthless and criminal.
Do you know what it takes to be the successful manager of a large company? Do you know what it takes to be the PA of a politician, the Director of a production unit, the Sales Advisor of a group, the Buyer of a society?
Takes nothing, that's what.
Maybe i have been "excessively" educated but i haven't yet found anything challenging in any work situation i have been, yet. As today, keep your eyes and ears open, your hands and clothes clean, and do your homework, and *holy cow* the job always turns out right, for some reason. The only times i had any trouble was when confronted by dishonesty and crime, but when the business is serious it's all plain sailing.
So what is it?
I have know of the recession since 2007, long before it was in the papers. All the sudden, people just didn't have the money anymore. Because, they had no way to earn it. EVERYONE was trapped into a slave wage situation.
Why didn't the smart people who are much smarter than me by definition, since they *are* in power while i am obviously not, not noticed that the waged population was becoming excessively large, then increase the minimum wage *severely* to make THE WORKERS a commodity, and not THE JOBS ??
I was going to say something about the banks, but it would be fucking stupid. The problem is more extensive, it's how we got to be a world of slaves. If i owned a farm, i would care nothing about the money - if it went, you'll get some more. And you still have the farm. But seems people have already thought of that, and arable land is all taken up. And every other resource.
We are, gentlemen and Ladies, Royally Screwed. Me more than You.
Nov 2010 (my b-day, couple days off), 5:18 AM,
Good Luck.
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Doctor House
Since nobody from House M.D.'s production team pays me, i will not stress too much to point out the subtle reasons why House season 7 sucks ass; instead, i will just state the obvious.
Kill the show before it kills the characters.
House, MD had a great four seasons before it went tits up;
Doctor Gregory House - the character - is the head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital (Diagnostics does not actually exist as a specialty, it was invented for House, as diagnostics - testing - are done individually by your attending physician depending on who is treating you and what your illness appears to be), where he tackles extremely hard cases often reaching his solution trough combined insight and exceptional medical knowledge.
Let's assume you have never watched House, ever, and are about to watch the first episode just now, here is what you find out:
The show is fun because of the main character. Differently from ER, the supporting characters are all just satellites, they only exist to hmm... support..hmm.. well.. obviously.. the main character.
Greg House solves all his cases because he is soooo smart;
Being that he is soooo smart, and he gets engrossed in the case, he often passes off as rude, as he has little time for "boring stuff" like telling his patiens information about their health, or cheering them up, or being polite.
The drastic measures, risks he takes, subterfuge he uses, tricks, unethical practices and mindgames generally
end up saving his patient's lives. Great TV stuff.
Reviewers like to quote how similiar to the character of Sherlock Holmes he is. In a very superficial way, he is.
Anyway, Greg House is soo smart, he passes off as rude to people as a result.
A funny result, because You (the viewer) know that in fact his only concern is for his patient, and in fact Gregory House has a heart of gold.
That is the character and the story, as well. House was great because it was a "slash-comedy" medical drama, and could be quite touching at the end.
Then season one went, season two came, then three, and slowly the ideas begun to dry up - as they do.
By season four G.H. was addicted to Vicodin, and although we all know he was as an addict more responsible than most clean people, the writers decided to precipitate the situation; Hallucinations begun taking on whole episodes. House breaks down and completely loses character as "the man in control" becomes a shadow of his former self in season five.
But my biggest complaint - and the death of the series, in my view, was at the end of season five, the episode before the last.
The whole catalyst of the series, love between G.H and Lisa Cuddy - his boss and ex- love interest - finally arrives, symbolizing G.H.'s acceptance of his need of humanity, that he always felt would make him mediocre and less of a doctor.
That was it. That was the moment we all waited for and the one thing that would have blossomed the character into something new and better.
G.H.'s psychology is a man who has obtained brilliant insight and great ability with great effort at the expense of his human side - and he fears he might lose his "powers of deduction" if he were to ever step down from his pedestal and accept the help of "those who whine and make small talk"; But the love of Lisa Cuddy saves him from damnation and at the same time saves the great mind of Gregory House, MD, diagnostician extraordinaire.
But no.
The writers just had to go and mess it up.
All of the sudden, G.H.'s motives for being who he is are gone, and he is just an imbecile who does stupid things because they make him giggle. Gone are the subtle subterfuges and hints of genius that shaped his actions, replaced by pee-and-poo humour.
Cuddy's love ends up being an hallucination and we have to wait for a year for a love story that doesnt interest us anymore. G.H. now has to beg for love when he had it coming to him through sheer magnetism and his doctory-awesomeness. His brilliant mind led him to do things that looked weird, but had a reason behind them that shaped the series and made it great , while now he just does stuff randomly.
And to make it all worse, he doesn't do any more medicine! WTF??
Wilson's character just stares at stuff, Lisa acts like a cheap trick, the whole cast just stumbles about doing not much, just repeating a collection of their dullest lines from the past six seasons.
Hey, it's ok, shows do end, and mistakes do sometimes happen.
Even Vanilla Ice said "sorry" for his music.(btw, kudos on the awesome going by your own name, when you'r called Robert Matthew Van Winkle )
But House needs to end. Possibly, with the heads of the writers covered in ash, the symbol of shame.
On a lighter note, fortunately Doctor "big Nose" Taub saves the day with his top notch acting. Can't believe this guy still hast had any major hollywood role.
He'd look great as a detective.
First post not dealing with computers in a long while. Enjoy :)
Kill the show before it kills the characters.
House, MD had a great four seasons before it went tits up;
Doctor Gregory House - the character - is the head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital (Diagnostics does not actually exist as a specialty, it was invented for House, as diagnostics - testing - are done individually by your attending physician depending on who is treating you and what your illness appears to be), where he tackles extremely hard cases often reaching his solution trough combined insight and exceptional medical knowledge.
Let's assume you have never watched House, ever, and are about to watch the first episode just now, here is what you find out:
The show is fun because of the main character. Differently from ER, the supporting characters are all just satellites, they only exist to hmm... support..hmm.. well.. obviously.. the main character.
Greg House solves all his cases because he is soooo smart;
Being that he is soooo smart, and he gets engrossed in the case, he often passes off as rude, as he has little time for "boring stuff" like telling his patiens information about their health, or cheering them up, or being polite.
The drastic measures, risks he takes, subterfuge he uses, tricks, unethical practices and mindgames generally
end up saving his patient's lives. Great TV stuff.
Reviewers like to quote how similiar to the character of Sherlock Holmes he is. In a very superficial way, he is.
Anyway, Greg House is soo smart, he passes off as rude to people as a result.
A funny result, because You (the viewer) know that in fact his only concern is for his patient, and in fact Gregory House has a heart of gold.
That is the character and the story, as well. House was great because it was a "slash-comedy" medical drama, and could be quite touching at the end.
Then season one went, season two came, then three, and slowly the ideas begun to dry up - as they do.
By season four G.H. was addicted to Vicodin, and although we all know he was as an addict more responsible than most clean people, the writers decided to precipitate the situation; Hallucinations begun taking on whole episodes. House breaks down and completely loses character as "the man in control" becomes a shadow of his former self in season five.
But my biggest complaint - and the death of the series, in my view, was at the end of season five, the episode before the last.
The whole catalyst of the series, love between G.H and Lisa Cuddy - his boss and ex- love interest - finally arrives, symbolizing G.H.'s acceptance of his need of humanity, that he always felt would make him mediocre and less of a doctor.
That was it. That was the moment we all waited for and the one thing that would have blossomed the character into something new and better.
G.H.'s psychology is a man who has obtained brilliant insight and great ability with great effort at the expense of his human side - and he fears he might lose his "powers of deduction" if he were to ever step down from his pedestal and accept the help of "those who whine and make small talk"; But the love of Lisa Cuddy saves him from damnation and at the same time saves the great mind of Gregory House, MD, diagnostician extraordinaire.
But no.
The writers just had to go and mess it up.
All of the sudden, G.H.'s motives for being who he is are gone, and he is just an imbecile who does stupid things because they make him giggle. Gone are the subtle subterfuges and hints of genius that shaped his actions, replaced by pee-and-poo humour.
Cuddy's love ends up being an hallucination and we have to wait for a year for a love story that doesnt interest us anymore. G.H. now has to beg for love when he had it coming to him through sheer magnetism and his doctory-awesomeness. His brilliant mind led him to do things that looked weird, but had a reason behind them that shaped the series and made it great , while now he just does stuff randomly.
And to make it all worse, he doesn't do any more medicine! WTF??
Wilson's character just stares at stuff, Lisa acts like a cheap trick, the whole cast just stumbles about doing not much, just repeating a collection of their dullest lines from the past six seasons.
Hey, it's ok, shows do end, and mistakes do sometimes happen.
Even Vanilla Ice said "sorry" for his music.(btw, kudos on the awesome going by your own name, when you'r called Robert Matthew Van Winkle )
But House needs to end. Possibly, with the heads of the writers covered in ash, the symbol of shame.
On a lighter note, fortunately Doctor "big Nose" Taub saves the day with his top notch acting. Can't believe this guy still hast had any major hollywood role.
He'd look great as a detective.
First post not dealing with computers in a long while. Enjoy :)
Saturday 6 November 2010
Mmmm ... Minecraft
There is this game that you can buy (or steal off the web, but i occasionally do encourage people to buy games) for maybe ten pounds, thats called Minecraft and its been coded by a single man.
That was the thing that got my attention, and i wanted to check it out, so off to YouTube i went, and i saw this video called Surviving the First night - intriguing to say the least.
So, that was the beginning, and now i' playing Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmminecraft at least an hour a day.
I have also just uninstalled Fallout new Vegas which turned out to be crap.
Now, either i'm an idiot when it comes to games, or i got it right and everybody else has got it wrong.
(you can't see it, but there is a large chunk of post missing :/ i deleted it, it was pointless)
In short, Minecraft is awesome. The environment is more than huge.. it's limitless, and although there is limited scope within the game (it's easy to survive, and once you get past the point of abundance all there is left to do is build stuff, which makes it a sort of 3d Sims/SimCity), its just nice to walk around and do whatever takes your fancy and that, is something FNV doesn't have.
My point is, the resources that make up FNV have just been spent unwisely. That many people could have created a much larger, much better game just by letting go of some old (1990's) idea that just don't work.
For someone of my age its easy to see, but for the younger, i will explain.
Around the years of Diablo, C&C, and all that stuff, games drifted into the oblivion of Cool Graphics.
Back then (we had a number of independent publications, a large userbase, and all the games movement was less commercialized) there were still people who claimed that bling graphics were the death of games, not their salvation; Today, it seems our prophecy has come true just as the last of the prophets has disappeared.
Games today suck. Not all, GoW was cool, but many do suck. Gameplay is limited, content is little, and all of this because of the massive requirements of great graphics. Have a pixel sticking out, and everyone shouts blasphemy; Meh. I played games that *were* pixels, and i had lots and lots of fun.
Wasteland (horrid 2d graphics, no animation) - still unbeaten, though the Pool of Radiance and Champions of Krinn series comes close. Neverwinter Nights (part one, not part two) was awesome as well, nice graphics too.
Wipeout2097 - still the best racing game ever, on PlayStation (not PSOne, or PSP, or PSX, or PS2, or PS3. Just *PlayStation*)
Tekken 3 - still the best fighting game, on PlayStation.
C&C - awesome, and although SUPCOM is just as good, it was ten years earlier.
DAOC - gaaaahhh, best MMORPG still, after 10 years.
and so on.
Would i spend ten euros on Minecraft? I did. buys me the alpha of the game, plus free access to every patch and eventually a copy of the retail game, though i doubt there will ever be one.
(shit i cant seem to be able to keep my posts short)
There was a great game once - a game that wasn't afraid - and it was called Mount&Blade.
In development it was great, then they fucked it up just before release, and it sucked. Also, since it took maybe five years to release, it was kind of passe' by the time it came out. I hate to say this but fear Minecraft will go down the same route.
But i do hope it makes a pretty penny for the guy (Mr.Notch) who designed it, hopefully he'll make enough to set up his own studio and make great games.
That was the thing that got my attention, and i wanted to check it out, so off to YouTube i went, and i saw this video called Surviving the First night - intriguing to say the least.
So, that was the beginning, and now i' playing Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmminecraft at least an hour a day.
I have also just uninstalled Fallout new Vegas which turned out to be crap.
Now, either i'm an idiot when it comes to games, or i got it right and everybody else has got it wrong.
(you can't see it, but there is a large chunk of post missing :/ i deleted it, it was pointless)
In short, Minecraft is awesome. The environment is more than huge.. it's limitless, and although there is limited scope within the game (it's easy to survive, and once you get past the point of abundance all there is left to do is build stuff, which makes it a sort of 3d Sims/SimCity), its just nice to walk around and do whatever takes your fancy and that, is something FNV doesn't have.
My point is, the resources that make up FNV have just been spent unwisely. That many people could have created a much larger, much better game just by letting go of some old (1990's) idea that just don't work.
For someone of my age its easy to see, but for the younger, i will explain.
Around the years of Diablo, C&C, and all that stuff, games drifted into the oblivion of Cool Graphics.
Back then (we had a number of independent publications, a large userbase, and all the games movement was less commercialized) there were still people who claimed that bling graphics were the death of games, not their salvation; Today, it seems our prophecy has come true just as the last of the prophets has disappeared.
Games today suck. Not all, GoW was cool, but many do suck. Gameplay is limited, content is little, and all of this because of the massive requirements of great graphics. Have a pixel sticking out, and everyone shouts blasphemy; Meh. I played games that *were* pixels, and i had lots and lots of fun.
Wasteland (horrid 2d graphics, no animation) - still unbeaten, though the Pool of Radiance and Champions of Krinn series comes close. Neverwinter Nights (part one, not part two) was awesome as well, nice graphics too.
Wipeout2097 - still the best racing game ever, on PlayStation (not PSOne, or PSP, or PSX, or PS2, or PS3. Just *PlayStation*)
Tekken 3 - still the best fighting game, on PlayStation.
C&C - awesome, and although SUPCOM is just as good, it was ten years earlier.
DAOC - gaaaahhh, best MMORPG still, after 10 years.
and so on.
Would i spend ten euros on Minecraft? I did. buys me the alpha of the game, plus free access to every patch and eventually a copy of the retail game, though i doubt there will ever be one.
(shit i cant seem to be able to keep my posts short)
There was a great game once - a game that wasn't afraid - and it was called Mount&Blade.
In development it was great, then they fucked it up just before release, and it sucked. Also, since it took maybe five years to release, it was kind of passe' by the time it came out. I hate to say this but fear Minecraft will go down the same route.
But i do hope it makes a pretty penny for the guy (Mr.Notch) who designed it, hopefully he'll make enough to set up his own studio and make great games.
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Bleeeah.. Bose.
i didnt get in the new crew of the Bose store.
Two things happened this week, and i am going to cover them in reverse order - in order of importance, that is: I didnt get the job at Bose (sales), and i witnessed something weird at a Starbucks. Two weird things, actually.
First, about Bose (they have a very nice store on Regent Street, perhaps the nicest and poshest street in London):
Apparently, they are expanding (new shop in Westfield) on the grounds of the soon-to-be success of a revolutionary new technology; I myself, during the interview, have witnessed this technology and i have to say, it's impressive.
Surround sound without surround speakers.
No speakers. Incredible.
Of course i waited a little .. say ten minutes .. before saying " its the reverse of a shotgun mike", without adding "with reversed noise cancelling technology". Didnt want to be the smart ass.
Shotgun mike is essentially a tube, and makes sound directional (whereas normally sound propagates omnidirectionally); in addition, filters on the edges of this "thunder stick" emit (i assume, but this isnt even necessary) inverse-phase signals that cancel the sound that excapes laterally.
In susbstance, what you hear is the reverb of a sound bouncing off a wall, and that is how sound is directed, and how it appears to be surround even if there is no surround.
Frankly, they could have just asked me ten years ago.
But no, they had to spend "ten years in research".
Anyway, i dont want to sound harsh, as i have some good words about Bose coming up.
Another part of their new technology is a cavity within a television's flat screen's back, which creates strong bass without a subwoofer; This cavity contains several speakers which i assume, are projecting out sound boosted by the proximity effect. Each of these - six - speakers i also assume is tuned to play a certain number of frequencies and its multiples, therefore always having the appropriate frequency according to what bass note needs to be emitted. Its not genius, but i am sure that the electronics that analyse the needed spectrum and assign the various speakers to construct it (remember, its *something*, that once distorted by proximity effect, comes out as "that which you need") must be absolutely brilliant.
But Bose, that lion's roar sound that you begin the demonstration with, was shit. I could tell - almost - immediately what i was hearing, but even before - almost - i had the "its too boomy" thing nailed.
Hopefully, you won't see this as a disgruntled's rant.
Seriously, i'v known since *ever* that you get a boomier sound when you place speakers nearer cavities, walls and other reflective surfaces, and any other encloosure - for example, put the subwoofer near the corner of the room to have the sound bounce off the walls, up toward the celing, and down through the floor hopefully through the concrete that makes up the building's skeleton, spreading the vibrations thus.
But of course, you get a sound "too boomy", but you can devise a system that calculates what the end result needs to be, and changes the original sound to get there.
I could have worked this out for them when i was a kid.
Finally, i used to own Bose stuff, the 5+1 satellite system, it was complete crap, at least the first series. The 802 i mentioned at the interview, were very loud i must admit, but not necessarely great. They seriously cannot compete with professional studio speakers on that level, unless of course they get ready to ramp up the list price to £5k per pair .. No joy here either.
But the noise cancellation headphones Bose supplies to the military are quite something.. when i tried them almost twenty years ago, i was so impressed that to this day when anyone with a Bose shirt on suggests i try some headphones (even in-the-ear) i feel i must comply.
This is also why i imagine they have implemented some sort of phase-reversal in their Magic Boom Stick - or directional sound projector, as we should call it.
Right, thats enough about Bose, my life would have massively turned around if i was allowed to sell their products because underneath it all, i like the brand and they are better than many. And apparently, they take pride, which is important.
Earlier in the week something else happened, But i think i will post it separately :)
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