A new era in the worlds best comic has begun:
Well, not really, just an interview. So here’s the thing. I’ve been working on a piece for EGM on the ins and outs of intellectual property in the games business. I get a ton of work done, get the early sidebars into the next issue, then start working on the full feature. It hits me (because I’m an idiot) that the most vocal person on the topic is John Carmack.
Carmack’s an odd duck. He’s pretty much responsible (not entirely solo, but certainly will be in the history books) for both the first person shooter genre and the modern 3d graphics paradigm (Doom). He’s also a first class geek, and both a somewhat seclusive heads-down worker, and a vocal critic of software patents. So, on a whim (and on a Friday, with my deadline hours away), I put in a cold call to iD software PR, who were very polite but clearly skeptical that John would be returning my call on 24 hours notice to talk about something nowhere near the iD Software 2008 PR strategic plan.
But then 20 minutes later, I get an email saying that he’s not around right that second, but that if I can wait until Monday, he actually wants to talk to me. So I get my deadline pushed, and I get my hour on the phone with him.
He’s clearly both brilliant and eccentric in a “I made so much money I could just spend my life in the desert launching rockets” way, and it was one of those few “golly” moments I’ve had as a journalist. You can hear some juicy bits from my interview on last weeks podcast here. I’ll link the article when it’s up.
I’d be posting more often here, but Age of Conan has eaten my brain.
There is plenty wrong with this game. But the bones - the look, feel, action and experience - are just awesome. This will keep me satisfied in MMO land for a long time to come.
I’m sort of not sure what to say. Everything that can be said about the game has pretty much been said. Michael Zenke and Shawn Andrich all covered bits and pieces of how I feel about it, along with every other game writer on the planet.
So I prefer not to. The people who made the game are obviously brilliant. The game is, ultimately, sad because of that. It’s not a world I want to escape to. It’s not a world I find entertaining. It’s not a world I have anything to learn from. I don’t find it funny, exciting, or rewarding. I find it depressing.
Moving on.
Amen:
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Click through for the explanation.
I simply can’t believe it, but Jeff Green has confirmed that Games for Windows, a mag for which I’ve been writing for the past year, has shut down the printing press.
This gets me on a few levels, none of them good. Obviously losing a gig sucks, that goes without saying. But I was also so proud to be part of what Jeff and his team had been building for the past year - a thoughtful, intelligent print magazine about gaming.
I refuse to buy into the negativity which is rising in me. I will not go quietly. I believe there is a market for good writing, and that people DO notice and care. Something will rise from the ashes, somewhere.
In the meantime, I’m just sad and angry.
I’m a bit of a wonk when it comes to playing around with media. I love goofing with Photoshop, and for absolutely no good reason, have learned how to do all the cool stuff with layers and paths and whatnot over the years. But honestly, 99 percent of the time all I really do to a picture is crop it, maybe sharpen it and pull some color cast out of it. Maybe if I’m feeling frisky I’ll tweak the contrast or touch up a blemish.
All of that works better for free now. The new (free) web-based Photoshop Express is unspeakably good for what it does. Definitely take it for a drive.
Bill is the coolest person in the world.
He decided he wanted to create a pirate adventure for his son. So he did, complete with burried treasure, maps, and long-lost-relatives. It’s one of the most awesome stories ever told, and of course, because Bill wrote it, it’s brilliantly written.
Read in order:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
He makes me sad for the kind of dad I am. And I think I’m a good dad.
There’s nothing worse than stereotypes that cut too close to the bone. This gentleman is a genius.
I present an excerpt of #62: knowing what’s best for poor people.
It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things.