It seems that each passing day is one where I read a blog, or an article about how our human rights are being taken away from us.  Some of these arguments really do cause me to take pause, whether it be the legalized robbery of a failing airline industry, the rising prices of video games and movies, or the more recent movement to exploit loopholes in the FCC jurisdiction.

The exploitations that I am referring to are the FCC and their efforts to continue the fight for net neutrality.  They have already lost a pinnacle battle in the courts and seem to be losing ground with every trial.  It’s only a matter of time before the power is shifted from the people and into the hands of major corporations.  If the battle for net neutrality is lost forever, we can all expect to see the same form of robbery that we complain about every time we step foot into an airport.  The nickel and dime charges,  the lack of support and quality regulations, and the arbitrary fees for the smallest of details like choosing an aisle seat.

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After 20 hours of “walk forward, kill something, cut scene, repeat”, and 30+ attempts to kill the same cheap boss, I have only this to say about Final Fantasy III….

Final Fantasy,
like digital razor blades.
I just want party control.

Windows Mobile 7 devices might be coming out in time for Christmas this year.  That’s good news since my Blackberry has a huge crack on the screen.  I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a newer smart phone, but I haven’t been very excited about any of them.  Apple can lick the bottom of my shoes, and only then I might think about an iPhone, but until that happens I am still looking for something to grab my attention.  My interest has been peaked by the mention of XNA support for Windows 7 phones, so it could be the first phone that I actually bother to buy games for.  I just hope that they deliver the phone on a service provider that has service.

There is something about this time of year that always depresses me.  We are at the height of many things (in gaming) over the next few months.  GDC, E3, Quake Con, and many other events that are filled with boundless information and jaw dropping news.  It’s even a time when many game developers are slowing down from their pre-holiday crunches and their blood pressure has lowered after hearing the good news of more work to come.

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I recently found myself backing up around 100GB of data.  I originally attempted to simply copy the folders onto my external harddrive, but quickly discovered how incredibly broken the Windows copy system is.  If Windows copy isn’t taking 12 hours to copy, it’s crashing and giving up on the first sign of failure.  This usually forces you to have to start from the beginning because you don’t know what files have been properly copied or which files are corrupted.  Enter TeraCopy.

WARNING: Don’t download from the creators homepage, it has a virus =(. This is a sad thing for such a great application.  Instead, try to find it on a safer site that scans their files for viruses.  I got mine from download.cnet.com.

I copied my content in a few minutes, not hours, and it never crapped out once.  This is a must-have for anyone who deals with massive amounts of data transfers.  One bad thing that I’d have to say about this freeware tool is that the interface is a little clunky and unorthodox, but it gets the job done.

There is something that has been bothering me for some time now and it’s due to get off my chest.  I really don’t like Apple, and everything they stand for. » Read more..

I sometimes wonder if I’m in the right place.  People around me seem to be so complacent with their average lives.  Not that “average” is bad.  The middle class accounts for 45% of Americans, but being “complacent” with “average” seems… well… less than average.  Maybe I’m just crazy, or maybe everyone around me thinks that 30 is the new 55. » Read more..

This could be you.

The holidays are a strange time.  For me, it is about spending time with friends and family.  It is about inviting people to your home as well as going to theirs and enjoying good food, cheap wine, and a lot of laughs.  But somewhere along the way people seem to forget that.  They become so consumed by obsessive consumerism that they forget their place.  Their attention is absorbed by the little things like cleaning beyond anything socially acceptable.  And it is all to give the impression that the rest of the year is like that one day you spend in their home.  I don’t know what it is about it that bothers me; maybe because it feels fake and I’ve never been a fan of anything that goes against it’s own nature.

I can’t wait until the holidays are over and people go back to being real, the traffic near the malls return to normal, and I can plan for a real vacation that doesn’t involve climbing shaky ladders and working with high voltage lines.  There is at least one good thing that spawns out of Christmas and the holidays; people tend to be a little nicer to each other, even if it is just for “the spirit of Christmas”.

I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with games =), and I’d love to tell you what I am working on but I have to be tight lipped until I am certain that things are going to work out.  It is going to be a very busy new year.

My recent trip to ITSEC really got my blood boiling as you can see from my previous entry, though I always get a little irritable around this time of year.  Through most of the year, my nose is down in the mud, churning out code and dealing with my usual array of managerial duties at work while finding time for my family at home.  It all seems to work fine until the holidays.  I finally take a break from the insanity and lift my head up to see the world and I’m always disappointed.  More death and mayhem on the news, more thoughtless “reality” shows popping up, and more kids driving BMW’s and talking on $400 mobile phones about how hard their life is.  » Read more..