Thursday, August 31, 2006

in COLOR

i am a consumer. as such, it can be determined that a fair portion of my income is eaten by such consumerism. by relinquishing said portion of my income, i feel it necessary to gripe when things aren't up to par.

so, without further ado; how exactly does one pay $60 for a game, and receive a manual, in black & white?!? i don't know about you, but that's not good value to me. some may argue that development cost has surged, thus driving the price of games up. not so, says i. with the advent of in game advertising, there is now a way to offset rising development costs. because of this cost offset, i see no reason to subject gamers to the atrocity that is the black & white game manual. while seemingly a small issue, it in fact makes a huge difference to overall presentation, and subsequently gives a better understanding of the game.

here are some examples;

DEAD RISING has a 99% black & white manual (as the cover is color) WHAT?!?! UNacceptable. thankfully, dead rising isn't a terribly deep game requiring good hearty exploration of the manual. i took a short look at the manual, and immediately tossed it aside upon discovery of it's non-coloredness. this gives the game the feeling of being cheap & rushed, leaving a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. i like things to BE cheap, not FEEL cheap. this is CAPCOM after all. not very next-gen if you ask me.

Saint's Row, on the other hand has a completely color manual, and it makes all the difference in the world. upon opening this game, i FULLY expected a black & white manual. imagine my surprise when i found a full color manual staring back at me from the open case. while not a small developer, THQ isn't known like CAPCOM is. sure, hardcore gamers have heard of THQ, but even the most casual of casual gamers will know the name CAPCOM. yet, here is a full color manual, staring back at me in defiance of the publishers 'status' as a smaller developer. bravo THQ, bravo.

and finally we have Oblivion. DANG. DOUBLE dang. BETHESDA really did a fantastic job. i happened to purchase the 'deluxe' version by quasi-accident (it's not the one i intended to buy, but didn't tell the clerk to grab the regular one instead). this thing SCREAMS presentation. first, there's the game manual, glossy, beautiful and WOW is there a lot of stuff in there. accompanying the game manual is a history of the lands and different races that inhabit said land. it's printed on semi-rough manila paper, and the print is of the burnt umber variety. it looks and feels quite nice.

i paid $60 for each of these games, and it makes me wonder exactly how is it that BETHESDA can, not only manage a full color game manual, but another disk and rather well made 'history of' booklet, and CAPCOM treats me like some redheaded step-child, and tells me to read the paper.



Tuesday, August 29, 2006

taxes.

today, whilst conducting my normal we browsing activities, i came across this article. 
who do these people think they are? don't get me wrong, i understand the need for taxes. specifically a usery tax. how DARE the IRS tell me i haven't paid enough tax on something when they steal 23% of my income every two weeks. i pay more than enough. think about it. there are between 140 & 150 million workers in the US. at $10 an hour with a 23% income tax, that's somewhere around 330 million a year to the government. that's not including sales, or state taxes. wanna puke yet? i do. i want to start a revolution of the mind. i want the land of the 'free' to be the land of the free. i want people to know that fearing your government is simply a mental prison. when i about this, i get gawked at like i'm a raving loon.  well, i suppose that could be true.  i just ask that you think about it.  now stop.  think again.

Friday, August 25, 2006

a thing that made me go hmmm...

i was sitting around the other day, as it's something i'm rather fond of doing, when i asked myself the following question: "fil, why are you okay spending 400 dollars on an ipod, but not on a new xbox?" well, after much deliberation i've decided that the biggest factor in that decision is portability.

i love my ipod. really. i don't really go anywhere without it, but all it does is play music, right? wrong. it can play movies and such but thats not what i'm referring to. it's a portable hard drive, with music & movie capabilities. that little device manages to bring me a little bit of joy every day. there's something great about finding a new trailer online, converting it to ipod video, and showing all of my friends the cool new movie coming out.

my 360 has a hard drive too. that hard drive can play music & movies as well. hell, it's even portable. here's the catch. i need my 360 to hear/view anything on that hard drive. bummer. the 360 is HUGE. don't get me wrong, i'm really diggin' the 360. '
geometry wars' rocks my ass, 'uno' is somehow just as fun as the 'real world' version of the game, and i've been playing 'hexic' like a rhesus monkey on crack. and those are just the XBLA games. i haven't even touched on 'Oblivion', 'Saint's Row', 'DEAD RISING', 'DOA4' & 'Table Tennis'. so what's my problem?

well, to be honest, i find it a little weird that the games i'm playing the hell out of, are not the ones i paid up to 60 bucks for. i've been playing the XBLA games, which incedentally DON'T need a 400 dollar console to played. at first, this irked me quite a bit, and then i figured '
hey, if you only need to spend 5-10 bucks on each game, that means more games.' hooray! (edit: saint's row has now taken over as the game with most hours logged)

so, here i go to rack up some achievement points, or, more likely, get my ass kicked by geometry wars. all the while, streaming music from my ipod. it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world. who woulda' thunk microsoft & apple would get along so well. rodney king, eat your heart out.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

registration.

i have an issue. (what's new, right?) i don't get website registration. i was trying to read some articles today, and the NY Times, the Chicago Tribune, and a few others were requiring me to register in order to read the article. this is the message i recieved:

'Please register or log inThe story you requested is available only to registered members.Note: Member name is no longer used to log in to this site.Please log in with your e-mail address and password.
Registration is FREE and offers great benefits:
Full access to today's news and information on chicagotribune.com
Full access to extensive coverage and commentary on ChicagoSports.com
E-mail newsletters including Metromix Events and Tribune's Food and Drink e-mail'

i don't get it. i don't WANT another log in. if it's free to read the articles, then i should not have to register to read them. this whole 'password for EVERY website you visit' business is getting old. quickly. i work at a credit union, and already have about 30 passwords to remember and update on 30, 60, and 90 day intervals. the LAST thing i need is another one. i can understand having to log in to use certain features, sure. but to READ?? assinine. i am hereby boycotting any site that says i have to register to read it's 'free' content. instead of money, you now require information from me, so your content is no longer 'free'

Monday, August 21, 2006

bushness

bushness. such a simple word. bushness. it is simply a statement. a definer. an ender of all that is sentencey. think of [stop] in a telegram, and you have bushness.

know from this day forward, when it comes time to end a statement; bushness.