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This Blog Has Moved

2005-08-25T23:50:00.000-05:00

The big news is that this blog location is now defunct. Please direct all subsequent blog reads to http://tara.teich.net/blog. All the current content can be found there. Along with a discussion of the whys of the move. Feel free to comment over there. See you in my new location.

Changes are coming

2005-08-24T11:23:00.000-05:00

I've been caught up in some backend stuff, so haven't been posting. There's going to be a few major changes to the blog coming soon. Hopefully later today. Keep your eyes peeled.

I am back

2005-08-22T22:24:00.000-05:00

I am back. I will be blogging. Though I had a lovely time away, I have nothing to report of great interest. Though I could share one World of Warcraft anecdote before I sign off for the night. Oh, what the hell, nobody tires of WoW, do they? *grin*

Last week, I logged on at some extra busy time and noticed something very strange. It seems a nudist group had set up camp in the city I was in. All around me were unclad Night Elves. "Is this some sort of strange convention? A protest maybe," I thought to myself. Then I started noticing that, in fact, it was me, not them. It was some sort of strange connection issue. It seems that I was getting some of the info about the other players in the world (like that they were there) but not what they were wearing. This amusing (but annoying) bug continued to plague me on and off. I thought it was something everyone was suffering through silently, but discussions with some friends revealed that they had seen no such thing. It seems I was extra lucky.

Finally, I'd had enough. I mentioned my woes to my company's resident WoW expert (every company has one of those, right?). He knew exactly what I was talking about and directed me to the official workaround to the problem (which oddly makes no mention of the nakedness issue, but I guess this is a family game, and we don't want anyone to accuse Blizzard of secretly putting this in on purpose to give people some sort of extra kick. For those weirdos - er... interesting folk who get off on digital nakedness). Anyway, I followed the directions in the post and my problems are fixed. No more strange conventions of unclad Night Elves. And if anyone is planning on organizing such a grouping, let me know, so I don't think I've gone mad! I can think of worse bugs, but a more amusing bug I haven't experienced.

No posts for a few days

2005-08-18T22:36:00.000-05:00

I'll be out of town for the weekend, so no posts for the next few days. And no, this is not just an excuse to tuck in and play World of Warcraft endlessly with no contact with the outside world! Who would even suggest such a thing. I will be traveling on a jetplane, I swear. More thoughts on gaming when I return.

Xbox 360 Package Details

2005-08-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

Microsoft has done it, they've announced the details of the different launch packages of the Xbox 360. I feel like I should be more excited than I am. Maybe it's because they say things like, "We're still tracking 24 to 40 Xbox 360 games for release before the end of the calendar year" (via Gamespot). Um. They have no idea what the launch titles are going to be. I want names, I want lists, I want definite games that will be coming out! None of this vague, "Um, we're gonna have games when we launch, we promise!" Yeah. Whatever.

But of some interest are the two packages, (again, from Gamespot)

Xbox 360 Core System - $299
•Xbox 360 console
•Wired controller
•Detachable faceplate
•Xbox Live Silver membership
•Standard AV cables

Xbox 360 - $399
•Xbox 360 console
•20GB detachable hard drive
•Wireless controller
•Wireless Xbox Live headset
•High-definition AV cables
•Ethernet cable
•Xbox 360 Media Remote Control (limited time)
•Detachable faceplate
•Xbox Live Silver membership

I think I'm gonna have to go for the more expensive package (if any cool games ever come out for it!) since you gotta have the hard drive, and the HD cables are a must.

PC gamer I may be, but I can't help but have hope for the next generation of consoles.

PC - Console Wars

2005-08-15T22:12:00.000-05:00

I've always considered myself a PC gamer. Sure, I have all the current consoles. But I am a Windows using, PC loving hardcore computer fan. Except for the fact that World of Warcraft is the first PC game I've played that hasn't been "research" for work in at least a year. (Yes, I play games as research, ok! My life is hard). I read the magazine that have been heralding the death of the PC game and scoff, "Oh please, consoles can't do what PCs can do!" But then there is that one unavoidable fact. I can play console games from my couch.

Search the web, and you'll find lots of PC gamer in similar straits. We like our computers, but how can they compare with a 55" HDTV and comfortable reclining position sprawled out on the couch? Simple - they can't.

World of Warcraft has got me back into playing on the PC, and what do I get for my PC loyalty (or maybe Blizzard loyalty)? Neck pain. Shoulder cramps. A lot of discomfort. The game is so good, I just don't care. But if that game were a little less awesome, I know I'd be back on my couch, chosing something maybe less fun, but certainly more comfortable.

What does this say for the industry? I can only hope not everyone is as lazy as I am. Or that most PC gamers have better desk chairs. Maybe if I had a lovely $800+ Aeron chair I wouldn't mind it so much. But that's more than the cost of most computers nowadays! Seems a bit excessive.

No. I think we have few options as PC developers. Continue to make the games that cannot be made on a console. No one has successfully put a real-time strategy game onto a console. They're huge games, complex games, and they can't be handled by a simple controller.

But there's the other benefit of developing for PC, which is that you don't need to get approval by the hardware manufacturer to make your game, unlike for consoles. If I wanted to make a game for the Nintendo Gamecube, I'd need to pitch my game idea to Nintendo. If they don't like the idea, and think it isn't right for their console, forget it. Same for all the consoles. And once you've gotten the approval and got your game made, they say when it's ready to go to duplication. There's no patching a faulty console title, they can't let crashes out the door. (Of course, a lot of people would say that's a good thing, and we should be tougher on PC developers. Hahaha. I say give them my job for a day. But we can talk about that at a later date).

If I have a fun idea for a computer game, I just need to get the money to fund it. (Which isn't so easy, as I mentioned in a previous post, to make a top-tier, AAA title nowadays costs tens of millions. And that's not necessarily including marketing costs, which can equal the game budget.) But pessimism aside, if you just want to get your idea out there, you can do it. No one will stop you. Create it, pull your friends together, make that game you've dreamed about. Post it on the web, get people talking about it. That's something the console doesn't even want to offer.

So who wins? For now, the consumer. Or, the consumer with lots of money to keep their options open and have every possible gaming platform at their fingertips. Remember though, the console makers lose money on every console they sell, so come on, stick it to 'em, buy those consoles! Ok, kidding aside, all I can suggest is to continue looking at the upcoming titles. For me, it's the "must-have" game that drives a purchase. If XBox 360 comes out with a kick-ass RPG, I'll buy it. If it launches with only a bunch of racing and sports titles, I'll wait and see. Here's hoping the RPG titles don't get pushed back into forever.

Sleep is overrated

2005-08-14T23:26:00.000-05:00

I had every intention of getting to sleep early tonight. I played only a few hours of World of Warcraft today, and logged of by 10 pm. Then I just had to fold some laundry and I'd go to sleep. But ah, the wonders of HDTV. I turned on the TV, and there's Spiderman 2 in HD. And I just can't stop watching. It looks fantastic! And the story isn't too shabby either. I know how it ends and everything, but I'm stuck, I have to see it through to the end!

No tech news for the weekend. I'm getting busy with a deadline at work and then a short trip next week, so the posts may be less frequent this week. But I'll be back. I promise.

TiVo Download Service in Beta

2005-08-11T23:39:00.000-05:00

So Engadget has a posting showcasing some screenshots of the new TiVo download service. Here's a copy of one of their images:

I guess my Netflix hopes were a bit hasty. Looks like they're just rolling out a service that lets you download shows you could have recorded anyway. Maybe there's more to it? Let's hope so. I want to be able to order movies on my TiVo!

Sequels all around

2005-08-11T23:05:00.000-05:00

As promised, I'm back on topic, topic being video games. And not World of Warcraft. I was reading an article in Electronic Gaming Monthly about how the game industry is only churning out sequels. Here's a digital copy of it. Here's the main point (and I quote):

0 - Number of original properties (console or handheld) that finished in the top 10 of games sold during ’04 in the United States

1 - Number of original properties that finished in the top 50 (Fable)

4 - Number of original properties that finished in the top 100 (Fable, Rise to Honor, True Crime: Streets of L.A., Red Dead Revolver)

Wow. That's sad.

I was interviewing a job candidate today who worked on some truly innovative and original games in the past. He was the creator of a highly respected original IP game that came out just over ten years ago. I asked him what he thought about the industry today, if he had more burning, creative concepts that he was hoping to get made. He said (and I paraphrase very roughly), "No, not really. That's not the way things work anymore. I just hope to put my creative stamp on the games that get made in some way. Where else can you get to be creative, in what other industry? I just hope to continue making games."

I have been working in the game industry for five years, and have never worked on an original title. I worked on Star Trek: Armada 2. Hmm. Not just Star Trek, but also a sequel. Next was Jane's Attack Squadron. A flight sim, and stamped with the Jane's name. Nothing new there. Then Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest (an expansion pack), then Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna (another expansion pack), and finally Empire Earth II.

None new at all. And I'm one of the lucky people in the game industry that has managed to work on five titles in five years that all got published. That's rare, really rare. My job is great, and I'm proud of every one of those titles (some more than others). But... But... I can't help but think, "What if my studio could make the game we wanted, the game we 100% wanted, with no one else to tell us what to do? Wouldn't that be amazing?"

Just like the movie industry, the game industry is driven more and more by what marketing determines the consumer will want. There's little room for taking a risk on a creative visionary when budgets begin to rival Hollywood movies (at least the mid-sized movies, not the Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer ones). This is a cause for frustration at all levels of game development, in my experience. And we all see it happening, and we all wish it were otherwise. But we could look at those statistics listed above in two ways.

One: No one is making cool original games because it's too risky, which is why they aren't top sellers.

Two: No one is buying cool original games because they don't quite understand the concept of these things, and they want to get something just like that cool game they played last year.

Heh. Well, I've rambled enough for today, I'll be back with more thoughts on this later.

Next time, use UPS boxes

2005-08-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

Slashdot has a post with a link to this article about this guy who had no money so he made his furniture out of FedEx boxes. FedEx repaid the compliment by ordering him to take down his website. That's America for ya! Take a look at the article, if only to see his artwork. It's truly impressive. (He has his own site, which is apparently still up, despite the legal threats, but is getting too much traffic so can be slow) Where can I get some how-to instructions to make my own?

Give and Take

2005-08-10T23:20:00.000-05:00

So the good news is the Last.fm is now running at a tolerable speed! Load times seem reasonable, pages are viewable, it's working. The bad news (for me) is I discovered this during a lull when I got disconnected from World of Warcraft. There I was, taming wild bears, making the world a better place when BAM, disconnected. And I couldn't reconnect at all. So, what to do but browse the web? And blog.

But oh, it's even better, Blogger was down for some scheduled maintenace. Foiled again! But after a brief amount of time away from my computer (who ever heard of such a thing?), all is well again. WoW is up and running, Blogger is back in business, and I am once again content.

To respond to a comment left by Dinohunter71, I will return with words of wisdom on video games shortly. Or at least words. Stay tuned.

A Lone Listener

2005-08-10T12:13:00.000-05:00

To continue talking about Audioscrobbler/Last.fm (which is still really slow right now), it computes neighbors for you - other listeners who are most like you. Well, apparently I have some extremely odd tastes, because my closest neighbor is only 13% like me. Taking a look at my brother's neighbors, for example, his closest neighbor is 66% like him! How'd I get so strange? ... Don't answer that.

Another great webcomic reference

2005-08-09T23:19:00.000-05:00

Alice over at Wonderland has once again posted a great webcomic t-shirt with no explanation. So once again, I'll take this opportunity to link to the highly amusing shirt inspiration, Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Though I didn't dig through the archives to find the strip that originated the quote on the shirt, this image was up on the site:

I must plaster this image everywhere. It's just too perfect. I think I might like the wording a bit more than what's on the shirt. Ahh, yes. The perfect disdain of the gamer girl for the gamer guy.

Audioscrobbler revamped

2005-08-09T23:01:00.000-05:00

Some of you might have noticed the "What I'm listening to" link over on the sidebar. That's a link to a pretty cool site called last.fm. The idea behind the project is to let you listen to internet radio that is your music, whether you have access to your music or not. You can install a plugin so it watches what you listen to, and builds a profile up of what music you like. Then using techniques similar to what Amazon uses to determine recommendations, it figures out what other music you'd like. And you can hear it streaming for free.

For me, an obsessive organizer, I love it because it tracks what music I'm listening to. Then I can look at all sorts of lovely graphs and lists showing what I listen to and how much. How much other people listen to a given song as a percentage of all a particular artists songs, etc. That is super cool. If you are a geek. Which I am. Check out my page to get an idea of what it does! And then signup and link me as a friend. :)

Audioscrobbler is the name for the backend support, where the plugins are and other techie stuff like that. Last.fm is the radio station part of the deal-eo.

Oh. And they just completely redid the website. It looks much better now, but they seem to be having technical difficulties because it can take up to a minute for a page to load as of right now. Hopefully they'll work these problems out soon.

Ha ha. You thought I wasn't going to talk about World of Warcraft. But I can't resist. Here's my character with my pet cat. Gotta love my furry boots. I'm at level 13 and I still can't stop playing. Though I did. Stop, I mean. At least for long enough to write this post.

Cannot blog, playing Warcraft

2005-08-08T23:23:00.000-05:00

I might have had something to say. Yup. Maybe. If I weren't so busy playing World of Warcraft. The game is huge! I was going to try to meet up with a friend today to play, but it turns out he was on the other side of the world. And us low level folk gots to walk everywhere. It would've taken us all night just to find each other! So. Still running around with my giant cat, who has caused me to spend a bit too much time with the hunting and the gathering. You see, my cat only likes meat and fish. Darn finicky eater. So fishing I go, to keep him happy.

I'm sleepy, must sign off. But for anyone listening, I'm here, I'm addicted, and we'll return to our regularly scheduled blogging shortly. I hope. :)

Oh Warcraft, Do Not Steal My Life

2005-08-07T21:37:00.000-05:00

It is even worse than I feared. World of Warcraft isn't just good, it's addictive and awesome. I've put in over 10 hours of play in less than a day. "Eh, that's not so much" you say. But wait. I almost didn't go to my yoga class this morning. Despite it only being about two hours that I'd be out, it was a struggle to get myself out the door.

I almost didn't write this post. In fact, the only reason I stopped playing at all today was because I got disconnected and I took this as a sign that maybe I should eat something. And despite it getting rather towards the later hour, I'm debating whether I should play "just a little bit more" today.

I'm daydreaming about how nice it would be if I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. "Think how much I could level up my pet!" Yes, I have a pet. And yes, it is a cat. A giant, ferocious cat that will eat anyone who tries to mess with my Night Elf Hunter.

I've heard people talking about their "crafting" in MMOs. They sit around sewing online. I've always laughed at them. I can laugh no longer; I have now joined their ranks. Of course, mine is a more serious trade, leather working isn't quite sewing, but... who am I kidding, it's sewing!

But wait, my shame is not complete! To work leather, you need animal skins. I started out the game, and noticed some lovely cute little bunnies and deer in the woods. These are not monsters to kill, but ambient, non-violent animals. "Aww, how cute!" I said at the time. I couldn't have imagined that in few short hours I'd be eyeing them with knife in hand, silently taking them out so I could craft a few more pairs of boots. How low have I stooped!

It's like Diablo 2 but more. More options, more classes, more skills, more time suckage. I played all the way through Diablo 2 twice, and started at least five other characters. I cannot possibly do the same online - this game is just too big for that! Oh, I fear what WoW will do to me. But I hear it calling, I have been too long away. I must go!

My Will is Strong, but Blizzard is Stronger

2005-08-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

I finally caved in and bought World of Warcraft today. If you don't know what it is, then you must not know anyone that plays PC games. It's a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG) made by one of the top PC game developers. Just about everyone I know is playing it. It comes up at work almost everyday, in some context or another. Almost everyone knows someone (not at my company of course!) who just plays this game all day and doesn't get any work done.

Well, I thought it would be a bad idea for me to buy it. I am known for getting addicted to games. (I think it took me 4-5 years to get over Civilization, by which time, the sequel was out, and I could see I was never going to escape). But I need to know what all the excitement is about. I've never played a MMOG, and this one has a lot of people I know playing it. So, I'll crack the box this weekend, and report back in a few days. If I can pull myself away... Wish me luck!

I need more RPGs, will Code Age deliver?

2005-08-04T21:03:00.000-05:00

I am a rabid console RPG fan. Yes, I do foam at the mouth and bite if you keep me from my needed fix of role playing fun. But don't worry, the affliction isn't contagious. Or I don't think it is...

Anyway, I was at E3 this year, and while I wasn't willing to wait in line to go into the Square Enix theater and see what they had, I couldn't help but watch their movie reel all the way through at least three times. The most interesting thing they were showing was a new concept called Code Age.

This is a whole new series of games, of which one of them is a PS2 RPG (Code Age Commanders) that looked really cool. Well, 1up now has a preview of the game, and apparently, Square Enix has no planned US release date for the title! Now that's just crazy talk. We want our RPGs. We need our RPGs. They can't keep them from us, oh no. I think we must let them know that no game is too strange for us, we can handle whatever they want to send us.

Of course, my pile of unfinished (and some unstarted) RPGs isn't really decreasing. So maybe I shouldn't be so excited about a game that may not be coming to our shores. But when did reason ever weigh into need?

Trouble with Packaging

2005-08-04T08:35:00.000-05:00

Ever had trouble opening the darn packaging to a new toy? All that molded plastic, and no entry method? Apparently, we're not the only ones. Discovered a new webcomic (new to me, not new to the world) via this quiz over on Bioware's site. Ctrl+Alt+Del seems pretty good so far!

Joss Whedon is Good

2005-08-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

Just reading some of my usual blogs and there's a post over at Wonderland showing an amusing t-shirt that says "Joss Whedon is my master now." Well, I'm a big Joss Whedon fan, but I felt like there might be some context I was missing there. And lo and behold, a web search turned up the answer - PvP, a web comic, had an amusing strip that can be found here.

For those who don't know, Joss Whedon is the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as the fun but short-lived show Firefly which Joss somehow managed to turn into an upcoming movie, Serenity. I think Serenity is one of my most anticipated movies of the year (along with Cameron Crowe's new movie Elizabethtown.) Firefly showed a lot of promise, with an interesting cast of characters, though the situations they found themselves in weren't always all that great. But I was eager to see where things would go. Well, from what I've seen in the Serenity preview, we're gonna get a chance to see a whole lot more of where things go. Yay, fall movies!

TiVo + Netflix around the Corner?

2005-08-02T20:16:00.000-05:00

I came home to a service message on my TiVo informing me that the TiVo privacy policy has been updated pertaining "primarily to the addition of new functionality that will enable TiVo subscribers to download content to their Series2 DVR."

I went on the web to see their full privacy policy and read this tidbit:

If you affirmatively elect to use the Online Scheduling feature of the TiVo Plus service or download content to your TiVo DVR using a TiVo content delivery service ("CDS"), TiVo will collect the Personally Identifiable Viewing Information associated with fulfillment of your individual request(s).

Hmm. A January press release from TiVo tells us

To provide consumers even more convenience and control over their entertainment experience, TiVo is developing a new content delivery service that will enable TiVo® Series2™ subscribers to search and access broadband content.

Maybe I'm just chompin' at the bit here, but combine that with the news that Netflix is "close to offering online movie downloads", and maybe we're gonna be able to download movies with the click of a TiVo remote soon. Wouldn't that be awesome?

There's been talk for some time about a partnership between Netflix and TiVo. And it makes a lot of sense to me. And hey, it'd get me to switch from Blockbuster to Netflix in a heartbeat.

Blizzard North is no more

2005-08-02T09:42:00.000-05:00

That's the branch of Blizzard that made the Diablo games. Two posts that I see take this to mean different things. Gamebiz seems to think this puts the idea of a Diablo 3 in doubt. Nooo! But. Gamespot takes the opposite view, as their headline reads "put on 'unannounced project'--likely Diablo 3"

I'll prefer the latter option, since I'm eagerly waiting for another Diablo.

Fanmail for Tara

2005-08-01T21:01:00.000-05:00

Today, I received a piece of "fan-mail". Or so it claims on the envelope. This was in response to the Associated Press article I tend to talk so much about. This is one of the funniest responses I have seen yet. The fellow sending this, who addressed the letter to "Woman Tara Teich, 26", really had nothing to say except some religious quotations. Yup. Really.

There were four full pages of this stuff, but I'll just post an image of the last one, because it's my favorite.
"Do USA women want evil thoughts?" Hmm. I think we do. He lists "proud and foolish and unpure desires." As far as I've experienced life, most desires tend to be foolish and many are unpure. Otherwise where's the fun?

Just to be clear, what you see is pretty much what I got. There was no context (ok, a little context, "This is fan-mail. Not an order."), no explanation, no analysis of these quotes being thrown my way. Nope. He just thought, "Hey, she seems puritanical and holy, I think she might like to have some quotes to add to her arsenal!"

The best part is the closer. "Bye!" and then his name. Which I've thoughtfully blurred to protect the innocent.

I don't really know what more to say. Except if you have some scripture you'd like to share, apparently I'm your gal.

Personal Hypoxicator

2005-08-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Yes. That's what I said. It's a personal hypoxicator. For all your high altitude training needs. I think I'll get one of these so I can be in good training for sitting at a desk at a high altitude.

A Letter to Hillary Clinton

2005-07-31T21:36:00.000-05:00

Over at Game Girl Advance there's a post about this letter to Hillary Clinton. It's good. Give it a read.