With sound, networking, a solid widely used gamepad interface, and excellent graphics capabilities the XNA platform seems ideal for small games development. The only reservations still present are against the relative immaturity of the community (as opposed to Ogre’s which is superb) and the lack of distribution mechanisms. The distribution problem is slated to be resolved with a rating system within the developer community, but this just comes back to the other problem.

There is, still, a significant amount of community generated content for learning and using XNA, but I worry about the platform if it does not attract a higher concentration of mature developers. We shall see.

This sounds like a huge time saver in the long run, but right now its turning into a significant time sink.  I figure if this functionality would be useful in my personal project, it would likely be valuable to others as well, so I’m going to try to integrate it into Ogre.  Should also prove a useful exercise in using Ogre as well.

Its been a never ending onslaught of rushed deadlines and hurried fixes for the last several months, but now things are starting to calm down to a point where side projects can be addressed again. McLarin Adventures, the game that has eaten up so very much of my time, is really starting to play and act like a game. It has come a long ways since I joined the team a little over a year ago. The lag on the UMPC has finally been sufficiently dealt with, and most of the stability bugs have been squashed.

It seems all the hard work has been rewarded as the entire team is going to the Game Developers Conference this year. The game won’t be entered into the IGF this year, but it should be ready for ‘09 at which point there will hopefully be a Serious Games division. In the mean time though, San Fransisco will be a relaxing change and the opportunity to network with more industry people should prove quite entertaining.

“The way I see it, on all real games, you’re trying to get across some idea,” Wynn said. “(Role Playing Games) try to get across various political struggles, or something philosophical. I think you’re always learning something in a game, even if it’s just combat and layouts.

“We’re just taking it a little bit further where the processes you’re learning in the game aren’t just applicable in the game. You can use them in real life.”

It’s always entertaining to have your opinions syndicated.

D’Souza asks why no one asks Atheists to speak at tragic events, and I too question this.   Why do people look for supernatural comfort?  Why is faith in your fellow man not enough?  Perhaps this is a poor time to speak of “faith in your fellow man,” after the acts of a sociopath, but how could the explanation of supernatural evil be any more comforting than the idea that it is just one disturbed individual.

Force teachers to compete for their salaries; their pay would be based directly on the success of their students. If only 10% of their students are proficient in the requisite material, then the teacher makes less than a burger flipper, but can climb to higher paying salaries by improving their students’ performance. Many schools already participate in a testing system, why not use this as the basis for their funding?

Education NEEDS to be competitive, our educational standards are embarrassingly low internationally. If future generations are really going to clean up all the mess that the current are creating they need to be as well educated as possible, else we are all of us doomed.

As a video game itself, it falls short. The input is laggy, the menus are convoluted, and the gameplay could use some work. The only things that really seemed polished are the character animation and sound, but even some of the sounds seem out of place. If this is really the result of about 8 years/iterations of these games, I’m really quite puzzled by both the fact that it continues to sell and the fact that EA managed to get exclusive rights with it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, including gameplay and polish, I would give this game perhaps a Suck minus.

I shook the hand of the man who invented Tetris, saw Shigeru Miyamoto talk about Mario, and Eiji Aonuma talk about Zelda (both of these talks were nothing less than spectacular), and met the directors/developers of many studios who make some of my favorite games.  Most of the vendors/studios were giving out tons of swag; picked up numerous t-shirts, mugs, stickers, etc.  One of the things I got was a free copy of Madden 2007, which I will rant about later.

After talking to many recruiters and other developers I’m feeling much more marketable now.  Not necessarily in comparison to them, but in comparison to what they are looking for.  It really puts the industry in to a slightly more friendly and tractable perspective.

In short, the conference was an absolute blast. Will definitely have to make it a habit.

Our culture has BRAINWASHED itself into thinking that BEING FAT is NORMAL! Does this make any sense? Fat people have shorter lives, suffer poorer health, and have less energy than do people in good condition. Why would anyone accept a lesser life when presented with opportunity to be healthy? Several explanations jump to mind: laziness, apathy, masochism. Unless they have a serious issue that is effecting their health in general, there is absolutely no reason for this. And no obesity is not some sort of disability. If it is, its only on so much as stupidity.

Many of the few that actually realize that their state is not optimal, nor desirable choose to try to better themselves, however pitifully it is. Not all, but many seem to just not realize how the body works. They think just by eating less, or eating almost an arbitrary selection of food will help them lose weight. This might work for a lucky few, and by “lucky few” I mean about 0.0001% of those who try, which effectively makes it an urban legend. The real key here is to actually exercise. I’m not referring to the TV gimmicks of dancing around with some strange contraption for 20 minutes a day. No, actual exercise. Running, biking, swimming, jumping rope. And do it for at least 1 to 2 hours per day. Drastic? No. How much TV does the average American watch per day? Probably more than 1 to 2 hours, during which time they are likely getting fatter.

Another issue that is holding back our sad and inept fellow Americans is the bureaucracy. This isn’t an attack on corporate America. Its an attack on human nature, because bureaucracy is an extension of human nature. Companies put all sorts of unhealthy material in food: high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, trans-fats, etc. They put these in there for two reasons. One, its cheaper. It saves them money so they can put out more product and gain more profit. There is nothing wrong with this, its the way capitalism works. Deal with it. Two, it makes the consumer want the unhealthy product more. The problems with this are so obvious they hardly need to be pointed out. The real problem is when these companies push to make these chemicals legal. High fructose corn syrup for example is the sweetener in almost 90% of the food the average American consumes. This chemical is little used outside of America because of the health hazard that it creates. There are actually healthy alternatives to HFCS that are used throughout the world, but are illegal in the US. The FDA banned them for being hazardous in spite of the fact that there were no documented health risks. The reasons, presumably are to protect corn farmers and keep money in the US. This seems to fall outside of the FDA’s jurisdiction. And the most important reason: HFCS suppresses the bodies natural ability to feel satiated after eating. It inhibits the stomach and convinces the brain to keep eating. Rampant consumerism is the answer.

In recap, most fat people are brainwashed victims of their own stupidity and need to read some information about health, look at the outside world, stop eating fast food, and above all else turn off the TV and exercise.