Truthfully, I am not one to do much 3D work usually, but this might actually get me to try. I would need to learn how to model something in 3D first, but I could probably just find some templates online to use for a simple game. Anyone have any links for anything like that?

Anyways, if you want to find out more about Unity, here is a link to the release notes.

Jobs

Back when I was last blogging, I was halfway through my job at Yahoo. I ended up leaving Yahoo to work at Blockdot, an adver-gaming company here in Dallas that specializes in… well… gaming. Mostly Flash work, but some Director (ew…) and iPhone work as well. While there, I was tasked with developing a lot of different multiplayer games. Some of the games I developed are no longer online, but one that you can find online is Chicktionary. Chicktionary is a word game where you get 7 “eggs” to form 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 letter words. This was my first full AS3 game at Blockdot (don’t ask. I didn’t wait this long by choice…), and I must say I am very proud of it. The framework for the “MSN” games is still in use at Blockdot.

About 4 weeks ago, I left Blockdot to pursue an opportunity as a Technical Account Manager at Adobe. This job is completely different from what I have been doing for the last 8-10 years of my life. I was a bit nervous at first, but this has ended up being a wonderful opportunity for me. The people are great, the work is amazing, and I get to work on the FMS team. I have already learned a lot about FMS that I didn’t even think existed. You’ll be hearing a lot more from me about this on the blog.

Gaming

Most of my readers knew this already back in 2006, but I am still very much into gaming. Whether it be Xbox Live or World of Warcraft, you can usually find me playing some type of game in my free time. When I decided to start blogging again, I thought I would include a category just for games. I will be talking about what games I am playing, what I think of them, etc. This isn’t just a blog about Flash anymore (like it ever was!).

Flash, Flex, AIR and Apps

I also wanted to start blogging again, because I am going to be working on some AIR apps in my free time. I have an idea for an AIR app that involves World of Warcraft (yes, I am still addicted). You will be hearing more about it soon, and hopefully I will be releasing a beta of it in the next couple weeks or months, depending on how busy I get at work.

Work in Progress

So yeah, about the redesign. This is still a work in progress. In the transition to WordPress, all of my posts forgot their category. So I am going to have to recategorize everything. Also, if you are using IE6… die. Then, upgrade. Because my site won’t work in your piece of crap browser. This site was a pretty quick job, so I haven’t really validated any of it. I know it works in the most popular browsers, and really that’s all I care about. So if you want to comment about it sucking, do so. But know it won’t be fixed for a while.

Resubscribe

I know many of you have probably given up on my RSS feed but when you get a chance, please resubscribe to it. I promise I will update more than once every 3 years Also, if you would like to contact me, please feel free to shoot me an email or contact me any other way (you can find the info at the bottom of the blog).

Video & Erectile Disfunction

Now, onto the meat of the story. Video. I am not going to proclaim myself to be some video expert, but I know one thing. Autoplay is bad, especially on the front page of your site. Not only autoplay, but autoplaying advertisements. When the first audio I hear from your site is…

Believe it or not, erectile disfunction affects a lot of guys…

… you are doing something wrong. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t most video online on demand? It plays when you CHOOSE it to play. Not when THEY choose it to play. Sure, YouTube autoplays, but you know going in, that they are an all video site, and you also know that there aren’t any ads about ED in their videos (yet).

Of course, I don’t really expect any better from ESPN. They don’t exactly have the best track record. Tricking users into clicking on content you have to pay to see. Making a ton of your content “Insider Only”. Fucking up Fantasy Drafts. I could go on (seriously, I was just finding a way to vent my Fantasy Draft frustration)…

A Solution?

Yes, it’s simple, don’t autoplay. And if you do autoplay, make sure there is a cookied option to disable it. I understand that you think you are making the next big wave into advertisement here, but at least disable sound? Most other video advertisements do.

The Rules

Rules are simple. Just pick all the teams you think will win. Whether it be your alma mater, or just a blind group of picks, anything works. Remember though, it’s pretty rare that 2 #1 seeds make it to the final game.

The Signup

Go to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men . You want to join Group #66748. The password is bl0gg3rs. If you want to just reply in the comments, I will use the system to send you an email to join the group.

Group: 66748
Password: bl0gg3rs

Best of luck.

Comradery

World of Warcraft brings a new meaning to the word addiction. I can’t say I have ever been more addicted to anything in my life. This game has even forced me to pretty much halt any poker addiction I currently have/had. I am currently a level 53 Orc Hunter (7 more to go!), a level 23 Undead Mage, and a level 12 Troll Priest on the Burning Legion server. I am a member of The Vague, a small 30-40 person guild. None of us are truely addicts in the WoW sense (50+ hours a week, etc), but we all get along quite well in the game. Most of our members are developers/designers in the Dallas area, with a few implants from the San Fran area (Danny, Mike, Christian, etc). If you are ever in need of finding a quick pickup group to quest with though, there is always someone doing the exact quest you are, making it VERY easy to level.

Economy

The one thing that amazes me in this game is the economy. You could literally sit at the Auction House all day, and make gold like a mad man, and still have a damn good time. Or, you could farm Copper, Silver, Mithril, etc through mining, and sell that at the Auction House, or craft it into Armor/Weapons to sell as well. There is also a skill for fishing, where you can create Savory Deviate Delights that transform you into a random character (Pirate, Blob, Skeleton, etc) for 30 minutes. These sell for quite a hefty price on the Auction House, but why? Because they are cool, and for no other reason. I can’t count the amount of high armor items I have that won’t sell on the Auction House, yet if I have Abel create me a Leather Ball that you can simply throw to friends, it will sell in no time flat.

PvP

Hmmmm. How do I word this. PvP is both the bain of my existance, yet the thrill of a lifetime. There is something about constantly fearing for your life while doing simple quests in a contested area. Yet, having a 12 year old level 60 Rogue decked out in epics corpse camp your level 25 body, can be quite frustrating. I still don’t understand why Blizzard can’t implement a system that disallows the same character from killing an opponent for 15 seconds or so, after they have killed you 3 times consecutively, but oh well. I think I am one of the few people that thinks Battlegrounds are a perfect answer. Most people have said that Battlegrounds have ruined world PvP. While that might be true, there seems to still be plenty of raids in Orgrimmar, etc.

No end in sight

I see no end in sight for my love of this game. There is just way too much to still be explored. Hell, I still have 5 other classes to get to 60 So, in closing, if you have noticed the lack of updates, you know why. If you are on Burning Legion, or want to get in touch with me in WoW, send a tell to Aeigelus on the Horde side, or just comment here. We are always looking for more developers, designers, or just plain addicts. Either way, if you play, comment with your server/in game name.

Who is going?

Who all is going to MAX? If you are, leave a comment here, and lemme know how to reach you, maybe we will get together for dinner or at one of the parties. Don’t forget to sign up on introNetworks as well. As of now, I dont recognize a single name in my “social circle”.

The conference itself

This conference is looking to be one of the best of the year. From Zorn, to Flash 8, there will be PLENTY of sessions to drop in on. I can’t forget to mention all of the parties, etc. that there will be, so that should keep me busy as well. You can count on me blogging the event, so even if you aren’t going, you will know what happens.

Privacy and a Great Design

One of the great features of LinkedIn is the fact that it is private. Only people that know you can get connected to you, as they have to know your email address. And how can you go wrong with that design. Not only does it look great, it’s very useable.

Connections

So, I am constantly contacted about Flash freelance opportunities, and every so often, I just can’t take a job due to workload. So LinkedIn is usually my way to find a couple replacement suggestions for the job. If you have a LinkedIn account, add me to your contacts. My email is josh [AT] joshdura [DOT] com.

mod_rewrite to the Rescue

I had looked at mod_rewrite before, and truthfully, it confused the hell out of me. All the special characters, etc. were just too much for me to digest at the time. Then, Lisa McMillan wrote this article, and it inspired me to get off my ass and learn how to do this. So, below you will find the code to use (just paste it into your .htaccess file, of course, modifying the Feedburner URL). One note: In the Feedburner config, don’t use http://www.joshdura.com/?rss=1 for your feed URL, as it will create an loopback to Feedburner, and will be unable to retrieve your feed. Instead, use http://www.joshdura.com/?rss=1&.

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^rss=1$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://feeds.feedburner.com/JoshDura/rss? [R,L]

If you want to link to a certain section’s feed, just do the following…

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^rss=1&section=links$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://feeds.feedburner.com/JoshDura/Links/rss? [R,L]

http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/cm/LCtest/