iPhone: Security really means Lack of Liberty

Two very interesting articles from Wired Magazine:

1. With iPhone, 'Security' Is Code for 'Control' by Bruce Schneier
   
2. iPhone's Security Rivals Windows 95 (No, That's Not Good) by Kim Zetter

The first details why companies are in love with "locking down" their devices so that no competition and worm its way in, and more importantly, how companies confuse "Security" for "Control" as a way of pulling the sheets over consumers, who are hindered, not helped, by such measures.

The second shows just how little real security the iPhone has, while its "lock-down" controls are so tight, updates can brick your modded iPhone.

That just goes to show you where Apple's concerns really lie.

The Fate of AAC Direct / All American Computers

A fellow AAC Direct client found my blog and got in contact with me, so I have learned more about what happened to the fabled, ill-fated AAC Direct / All American Computers (AAC), owned and operated by Kyle Felstein.

The Downfall
In the closing months of AAC, when you purchased a computer, the money you paid wasn't spent on your parts, but the computer that had been built before it. AAC was using each new order to pay for the one before it - they were behind, but it was manageable for a time.

The hardware resellers, however, were not amused; their payments had to wait until the next computer was ordered at AAC. Because of this, they were reticent to send out new equipment to a buyer (AAC) who didn't pay them on time; this delay, in turn, prolonged the build of each computer, which made things worse for both AAC and the resellers expecting payment.

Some venture capitalists became a glimmer of hope; however, negotiations not only fell through, but because the LiquidXS the potential investors had ordered was two months overdue, they threatened to sue AAC for the bill.

The carpet was pulled out from under them rather rapidly after that.

The Fallout
I am not certain, nor was the customer, who had ordered a LiquidXS prior to my PureXS, but apparently Kyle's assets were liable for AAC's debt. This would include his car, his house, bad things. We speculated on that based on what rumors we've found on teh interwebs and a few forums.

A week or so prior to folding their store doors closed; gleaned from a local computer store mentioned in the comments of this blog.

Apparently my PureXS may have been one of the last complete computers built there, if not the last. I can't find anyone who had a full, successful build after mine, in which case I have a bit of a collector's item.

There was at least two computers that went out immediately after mine, and both were shipped incomplete - if debt collectors are after Kyle's personal assets, I'm sure everything in the building was seized. Since Kyle didn't have the parts needed to complete the order, he had the option of leaving it with the store to be seized or shipping it as it was to the customer.

Things went bad quickly after that; Kyle never had a chance to e-mail the customer what happened, so imagine his surprise. This created a bit of a stink online - as the customers couldn't reach anyone at AAC or find any way to contact Kyle.

My Initial Reluctance to Post My Findings
The initial reports came in badly worded English, slathered in vitriolic phrases. All I knew for sure (I checked) was that AAC was indeed dead; I wasn't about to publish what could have been slander without knowing what happened - it has taken this long for the picture to become clear.

The poor unlucky souls whose orders were after mine - they spent money and got an incomplete system back - at best. If I had known AAC was going under I would have gotten a Dell XPS; I wanted the support. Having the complete PureXS in my house, I have no regrets; I've seen Dell XPS's up close to compare the quality and performance and I can deal with one last computer I support, despite having four children.

To the people who were burned for hundreds or thousands of dollars, there is no amount of anger at the service rendered that is unjustified. I would tender to my fellow AAC clientele that it appears AAC tried to hold back the end; their last bid failed, and everyone suffered in the end.

[All My Blogs about AAC Direct / All American Computers]

Transformers (PC), Quick Review

Fantastic fun if you use a trainer to circumvent the ridiculously difficult gameplay and impossible mission timers.

Hidden underneath the impossible difficulty of Transformers is a free, open city (such as seen in the Grand Theft Auto [GTA] series) with fully destructible buildings, throw-able buses, police cars, billboard signs, and of course, climbing up buildings like a monster in Rampage (or a Transformer in the recent movie). It's wild fun to run amok or collect brightly colored cubes to unlock content. Like GTA, the missions suck donkey hair.

If I were to use metrics, this game flip flops between a solid "8" and a solid "5". Every mission where the trainer works (cancels out nigh-impossible timers or makes defeating 10 Decepticons in 2 minutes doable with 1 hit kills) is good, mindless fun. Every mission where the trainer doesn't affect the clock, or can't combat the task at hand (speed out of a tunnel before it blows up a-la Return of the Jedi's Deathstar death throes, do it 6 times in one mission), inspires me to yell unpleasant words at my 32" TV.

Unfortunately, by default (without a trainer), Transformers: The Game doesn't let you do enough of what you really want to do -

1. run around, battling Decepticons
2. saving the day
3. possibly as a team with more than one Autobot.

The first two options are in the game, but hidden behind implausable time limits that are automatically set to "Expert." To get them right, you cannot make an error. Hit a barrier while you're racing in car form? Transform into a robot, move the stick left to turn your heading a bit, and transform again and hit the gas and the boost, because you don't have time to back up, turn, and go. That is stupidly difficult.

Still, the game has good graphics, shadows, effects, and the environment is highly reactive. In each "city" area, you can earn bonus content by making a super long drift, drive fast without being interrupted, throwing something high, high into the sky for maximum air time, etcetera (5 achievements total, I can't recall them all). Melee attacks and using heavy or light ranged weaponry are separate, blocking is easy - these things are fun.

Aside from the insane difficulty of the missions, there are only three things wrong with this game:

1. The camera isn't smart, but doesn't get in your way. Controlling it yourself when you're in robot mode works fine, but it'd be nice if it auto-snapped better. There's a setting for sensitivity and I haven't tried "maximum," just "low" (default), and "medium."
2. The automatic "lock on" is jumpy. You need to keep the target fairly close to your reticule, and that's difficult when you're not in a flight simulator, but a driving simulator. Robot mode isn't so much of an issue.
   
3. The sound effects don't understand what should be loud and what should be - nearly inaudible or not played at all (that seems to be the range). I've had plenty of car crashes where I barely hear a thing beyond my own engine.

All in all, I am surprised at the quality of this game - Traveler's Tales really put some love into it. I'm having great fun with it, as are my brother and my kids.

Overlord, Full Review

Fun game hindered by its control scheme; running amok with goblins in town, collecting slave women & being evil is fun.

Overlord is a 3rd person 3d action-adventure game with RPG elements set in a fantasy world.

It's notable features are controlling a small horde of goblins (up to four kinds, each set with special abilities), rebuilding your Dark Tower, customizing your gear, and choosing to do benevolent or malevolent acts, which ultimately affects how much content you see and the ending.

Stylistically, the game looks like Fable 2 might if released today. Rolling hills, some narrow paths, townspeople wandering about; counter to Fable, Overlords areas usually loop back to one central point and are much larger, letting you traverse the world easily. Other areas are more open, and some complicated enough to get lost in (explorers rejoice).

THE BAD:
The game starts becoming un-fun once you find yourself battling the control scheme more than the actual game. The control scheme worked fine until the creators equated difficulty handling the key/button combinations with game difficulty.

For example, you can't create control groups with your minions, nor easily separate a certain number of goblins from their color group. This would be fine unless there weren't sequences where controlling disparate groups are required in the middle of a boss fight, with little margin for error. To move a group set to guard a banner, you have to aim at the banner and target lock it (if something else targetable is nearby, you might lock onto that instead), holding the target button, you then can sweep that group around like the rest of your horde. This is trickier than it sounds once you add in the fact that you are currently being attacked by a boss.

However, the majority of the game isn't filled with such instances.

There are puzzles which flip between testing your understanding of how to use your minions to solve the puzzle, and your ability to control them well enough to do it (example: boiling hot geysers that erupt and having to navigate your goblins through their timed sequences - it's obvious what to do, it took me far too long to actually get it right, and that's annoying).

There isn't much reason to play the game through again unless you like playing from both "good" and "bad" angles, the first of which is made difficult by your goblins defaulting to doing bad things whenever they can.

THE GOOD:
Rampaging though town, collecting slave girls, making the populace tremble at your presence and looting everything that your goblins can loot doesn't get old. (Unfortunately the slave girls are a single mission and they just mill about your throne saying the same catch phrases.)

While you can be "good", the game offers more to the "bad" player. It's difficult to keep your goblins from doing evil acts while moving about a city, or coming across a lonely shepherd and his sheep, so you'll find yourself reloading to keep your "good" status. Evil is definitely better, by design of the game.

Mixing up what goblins you bring changes the difficulty of your quests - coming across a horde of zombies (about 30-40 individuals) is difficult without "melee specialist" brown goblins up front and "fire throwing" red goblins in back. Green goblins can stealth at a guard marker you set and leap and pounce on any enemies that come near, surprising them. Blue goblins can resurrect fallen goblins, but die too quickly even when making a corpse run.

SUMMARY:
If this sounds appealing, buy the game. If not, try the demo, but be aware that the un-fun sequences are later in the game.
[original version]

Overlord - Review

Try out Overlord. It's rather fun to run your minions (small horde of goblins) amok. Make sure to do bad things, it's more fun - you see more content.

The game starts becoming un-fun once you find yourself battling the control scheme more than the actual game. The control scheme worked fine until the creators equated difficulty handling the key/button combinations with game difficulty.

That said, it looks like Fable only with better shadows and wider, more open areas that all loop back and cross link (so you can wander a bit and, yes, get lost). If not wider, certainly the paths are more numerous and the areas 5-7x larger than the typical Fable one.

You get to customize your Dark Tower, enhance your gear, but I'm right at the point where that is starting to matter so I haven't explored this much other than to create a nifty sword by sacrificing a butt-load of goblins.

As I said before - the last chapter's end was more about me fumbling with buttons (as my brother and I have been trading off on a GamePad) than fighting the game itself. Keyboards help (I can select each group more easily) but you can't create or select Control Groups ala RTS, so splitting your forces becomes problematic; couple this with a few boss sequences where you have to - quickly and accurately - and that you have to target a battle banner to get that group to move by looking at them and centering your view on them - and that's pretty much stupid. I've had to do this only twice, however - once on a boss, and once while navigating boiling hot geysers.

I complain more loudly than the amount of content should proportionally show - evidenced by the fact that I played this game all weekend when I had the chance, or watched my brother, Esteban, play.

Got TV-Out Working!

All I had to do was plug the Adapter to the secondary port of my Master X1900 XT, not the main one, and turn off Crossfire, and then Pharra can "see" the TV and start outputting to it.

MAME LOOKS GREAT!

DVI to Component Out Adapter doesn't work

The darn ATI DVI -> Component Out adapter [see post] I bought does nothing.

I set my resolution to 800x600, then went to Advanced, Adapter Tab, "See All Modes," set 640x480, 32bit color, 60MHz (didn't see 30MHz for interlaced TV), and shut Pharra, my PureXS [blogs|shrine], down. I turned on the Sharp 32" TV, rebooted, and nothing. The TV never got a signal.

Perhaps X1900 XT's can't do this. Perhaps I should turn off Crossfire... but not, it should have gotten a signal at least.

Bleh. $25 for the adapter and $20 for the (far too short) component cable). And here all I wanted to do was run MAME.

ATI DVI -> Component Adapter and Component Cables en route

They're on their way!

Brand	SAPPHIRE
Model	100907
Features	DVI to HDTV Adapter

Brand	CABLES TO GO
Model	29112
Features:
	Velocity component video interconnects by Impact Acoustics will improve the performance of your progressive scan video sources by providing a much better interconnect solution than the “throw away” cables that are included with most consumer electronics products. The oxygen free copper center conductor and foamed PE dielectric work to maintain 75 ohm characteristic impedance. The dual braided oxygen free copper shields and aluminum foil sheath offer protection from environmental noise and interference. Robustly constructed using color coded molded connectors that attach to an ultra flexible jacket, Velocity cables are the epitome of easy installation and identification. 24K gold plated heavy duty connectors ensure long lasting, highly conductive signal connections. Connectors: RCA Plug x3 to RCA Plug x3 Oxygen free copper conductors for efficient signal transmission 100% Aluminum foil and braided OFC shield protect against noise and interference Bonded cable construction provides for neat and easy component video connections Molded connectors feature precision made 24K gold plated contacts to ensure long lasting quality Ultra flexible jacket for easy installation UL listed
Specifications:
Type	Component Cables
Length	3 FT
Color	Blue
	A high quality component video interconnect, a perfect upgrade to the cables that come with consumer electronic components. Ideal for connecting progressive scan video components to monitors and other devices. Weight: 0.38 lbs

Hopefully this will get my PureXS working with MAME on the 32" TV.

Supreme Commander did get better...

Recall the beta review (which was still true post-release) where I ripped Supreme Commander for playing like frozen crap pushed through the grating behind your computer's power supply.

Things have gotten remarkably better.

• The game doesn't become a jerky, choppy, chop-fest anymore. The game does, however, slow down. Basically it's as though the game speed itself was automagically scaling (some RTS's have a game speed slider most of us leave at "100%" - well imagine that that slider automatically decreased as your computer begged for mercy, and that's what happens). I still find this annoying because a 4v4 game will become slow and drawn out; however, it is actually playable versus before where you couldn't accurately click on units.
  
• Supreme Commander no longer has a CD check. Just install the game and play it.
• Choosing where each player's start location is in a Skirmish / Multiplayer match is now easy - the menu color codes things for you so you can tell.
  

Man Arrested for Using Unsecured Wireless Connection

Uh, this is stupid. It seems the world of computers is "Don't get caught." Because reality and law aren't meshing well. I won't bother defending it or going into the issue - only state that it's another example of the way people working changing faster than existing models can cope.

Why MMORPGs are as Contradictory as Our Views on Life, and we Love Them Still

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are ludicrous because they set up the same hypocritical, contradictory expectations we have in life in a game world, and then we fall headlong for it.

• Everyone is equal. This is made true on a religious level because all you have is your account, your monthly payment, and your invested playtime. Buying gold outside the game is seen as bad because this breaks the equality bit and invites the outside world of "Other people have more money than I do."
• Everyone can reach lofty goals. Nevermind the fact that it's not true, it is important that you do not tell people that they are worth less than others, even if it's true.
• Clear directions on where to go, and what to do. Most people in the real world aren't leaders, or, by definition, even very smart - they like clear instructions, from a General, a dictator, a body of Government, or their daily job. But they want to think that, given the right opportunity, they could do so much better, like what they see on TV! And MMO's present that equal playing base - or so they like to think. This is another reason the masses hate the hardcore players who blaze through the game - they don't do it following the instructions.
  

The truth is...

• Human beings don't want to believe others are more important than them - the selfish gene tells them they are the most important (this impulse which becomes thought can be overridden).
• Human beings don't want to think they can't achieve great things, that would be conflicting with the above. Everyone is vaguely aware of IQ - intelligence quotients - but try not to think about it, or try to think of why it doesn't matter (they're partly right, but EQ - emotional quotient - solves that problem, and I've never met an IQ meaning minimizer who knew about it).
• Because most people aren't stunning intellectuals or even particularly decisive, they like to have their decisions fed to them, and think "That sounds right!" But they don't want to admit that - at least not in the United States of America, land of the free (thinkers).

Now I will ramble. This was written before the above was more clearly thought out... feel free to stop. I display it only because I like giving my readers access to some of my research.

I tried some World of Warcraft Private Servers
No, really, it's stupid... and not just because I can only connect to the very first private server I connected to and no other.

I logged into a "High XP" server, which apparently grants much less XP than "Funservers" and got to sixth level in 12 kills, finding the next Defias bandit that was about my level each time I could. All I had on me was the gear they dropped.

Every NPC in the world had a conversational link to the Auction House, which had nothing in it, which lead me directly to my problem - as much as I'd like to see level 60 for virtually no work playing by myself without jackholes, MMO's don't function without other people.

I set WoW up on my wife's computer as well, so I'll try that and see how it goes as I didn't connect to any private servers yet.

MMO's Are Still Stupid
The experience was great for identifying to me why MMO's are stupid: all games become repetative, and MMO's survive by, largely, keeping a carrot in front of your face (whether or not you can ever get that carrot, such as Warlord on WoW PvP), and social interaction. Big world, lots to do, clear directions.

MMO's, at their core, are hallow. You can't take the stuff with you, and people only want you for your stuff. Think I'm lying? How many people have level 1 characters whom their "friends" are willing to game with no matter how low level you are, help you out, and never "expect" you to make them a profit back one day, return the favor, if not to them, to the guild? If you can find that, you are likely playing with your brother, or your father. Even real life friends can't be bothered to follow you around, predominantly.

MMO's main reward is stuff, they say - makes me wonder if Dove's love of MMO's is partly related to him being able to figure out what to do with his character and the interaction he gets with the people in the game - whether he chains death to a plot NPC that low levels need or talks with his guild - it's not about the carrots for him, it's about those most fascinating to play with creatures - humans. It's the same law of Multiplayer Versus games - a human is always more thought provoking than a computer AI. Computer software has yet to demonstrate volition, only reaction.

That's not to say stuff isn't fun, every friend I have who plays MMO's (my cousin Paul, Kevin, Dove) like their stuff to varying degrees. It's that only two of them "get it." Paul is quite trapped by stuff, he works hard for his stuff, he grinds his stuff, it's all there is, and every "friend" he has in WoW is merely another WoW player who is great at getting stuff fast. Uh huh. I call that not being self-aware.

Disclaimer
I'm sure Blizzard should baninate my account, which would be great, because it got hijacked and I only realized it when I started getting e-mails from their GMs about what I (wasn't) doing on an account I (wasn't) using. It's probably already banned. Maybe they can ban it again.

Good Weekend

Connections
Well Maria's school took precedence over her watching Connections and answering more questions, but that's not for lack of trying on her part: her mother told her to wait for summer. She asked me if I would promise to work with her on it after school.

How many kids ask for that? Connections was made in the late 70's, right?

Maria's Weekend Out
My mom and dad kept Maria for most of the weekend and they had a fabulous time. Dulce got a chance to be the biggest daughter and boy did she have work to do, but she enjoyed it. Still, at the end of it all, when Sunday at 3pm came and Maria came home, Dulce was the first to run up and hug her sister, followed closely by me, then Alejandrita. Jose Francisco, who had been napping, stirred, and Maria ran off to greet him with as much enthusiasm as we greeted her with.

Mom took her to see a retired horse ranch in Alachua. The ranch isn't retired, the horses are... former Police horses, race horses... all kinds of horses and ponies.

Disk Space!
Jock gave me a SATA cable for my new 400GB Western Digital Hard Drive because frickingFrys.com / Outpost.com didn't label the item as OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer, which often means "You get nothing but the bare unit, no cables, no box, no software." I couldn't use it. For three days it was very pretty, and utterly useless. Jock solved all that by bringing a SATA power adapter and controller cable.

2nd Hard Drive Cures Ills
Having my SWAP file on the 2ndary drive has made Supreme Commander imminently more playable, but far from smooth. I can now complete my 1v1 games with 500 units apiece without much problem, and a disastrous 4v4 game that was simply too stuttery to control on my $3,600 behemoth (PureXS) became choppy, but playable. I can't stand choppy, so I refuse to face more than 2 AI (no 2v2) which severely cripples the game still.

Armed Assault also runs a lot better in this configuration, and I have a feeling Oblivion would a well, if I could but run it - there's the Oblivion official patch, the new unofficial patch, and all the MODs that I needed to find new versions of, or find if the old ones worked with the newest patch(es). By the time I got all of that sorted out, I'd lost my motivation to play.

Marguerite
Billy came over with his son, Zach, and his daughter, Marguerite, who is Dulce's friend. They spent an hour here, which was all Billy had - poor guy has been so busy with the migration to Outlook (e-mail) at work. It was good of him to take what time he had and let us know he hadn't fallen off the face of the planet, his children screaming as he hurtles away at 1,700 kilometers per hour, being left in space a burnt husk as the planet careens away on it's orbit.

Betcha don't usually get that visual.

Family has been sick, and speaking of sick...

By Wednesday, 3 out of 4 of my children were sick, excluding my oldest daughter.

I woke up on Thursday morning early (6:15am) so I sat down to wait for 7am at my computer. I knew something was wrong when nobody got up. Not my firstborn, not my wife, not even the baby boy. At 7:25am I crept in and saw the children all looked like they had sweated all night long. My wife was in similar shape, so I cleaned the living room and kitchen (save washing dishes, noisy dishwasher) and waited for 8:25am, at which point I called work and told Rich my situation, and to ask a manager to call me back if they'd like. I wasn't sick, and while my family could have survived without me, I would not have felt good about that.

Now here's the cool thing - I kept everyone hydrated all day, made the kids stay still (broke our TV rules and set up hours of Blues Clues and Azumanga Daioh for them, the latter of which I watched as my children can't watch any anime without me - not because I like anime, but because I know how quickly something inappropriate but funny to Japanese folks can crop up) - but it was the cleaning in the morning Maria Alejandra kept thanking me for at the end of the day.

Friday, I've done much the same, but they've been more self-managing. Jose Francisco still looks like he's in the process of turning into a vampire - his eyes are red, he has rings around his eyes, he holds his mouth open all the time, and his lips are flush and his face is pale. Vampirism! That's it!

Speaking of Sick...
I've had all the Supreme Commander I can tolerate in one single day, I think. Friday being easier, as I haven't had to ferry food and drinks to bedridden family members, but rather help Maria (well, both of them) with the kids.

The final game runs better, but 4 players with 500 units apiece still slows down Pharra. What I dislike, ultimately, is that it's not a strategy game, it's an arcade game. The only strategy revolves around what order you build things in and what units you produce. For all of Chris Taylor's boasting about it's strategy game controls, and it has the best I've seen, there's not much to do with that. You just overwhelm.

Sure, there's strategy in the rock, paper, scissors, air supremacy, naval supremacy, land domination game-play - but it's all about momentum. That's it. Just keep up momentum.

After a while, and many games, you come to see what is like in a thing - and it's the momentum, and I just don't care to keep it up - it's always the same.

RIAA debacle reveals hidden truth

Everyone knows:

1. File sharing copyrighted material is illegal.
   
2. You have to use a Peer to Peer file sharing program and send copyrighted files for the RIAA to go after you - though there are plenty of noted exceptions, it goes without saying: If every claim the RIAA made was totally specious, every defendant would hold their innocence and show up to court to avoid summary judgment.
3. The RIAA is attacking people with intimidation.

What's fascinating about this whole debacle isn't that the RIAA is ethically and morally wrong in how they attack people, making false litigious claims, suing whole families and so on...

It is fascinating that the Internet public at large has galvanized into a pure hatred of the RIAA, one that is not reflected in the outside world. Joe Schmo has no real opinion of the matter, or might even say "File Sharing is wrong!" Certainly Republicans with vast investments actually support the RIAA for supporting their interests as shareholders.

What this tells me is that the legal problems with the RIAA isn't really the issue: the issue is a kind of business/cultural revolution, one that only people involved in the Internet really have the ability to know about and partake in.

As I've pointed out before:

1. RIAA: Guilty of not following the market
2. One Man Understood What Market He Was In
3. Suing Innovation

...business models have changed, but moreover, how people want to interact with content has changed, and how they want to treat it. These things aren't going away with Fascist strong-arm tactics - at least not in this country.

So remember next time you hate the RIAA, remember your own hypocrisy: are you downloading free music, but smart enough to do so over encrypted bit torrent protocols? Realize what you are: you're a revolutionary engaged in an illegal activity, active in something that isn't recognized as a revolution (so you won't be treated nicely). calling something a grand revolution which isn't. It's just the standard, changing market, shifting to yet another piece of technology that changes the way people do things faster than business models, and laws, can adjust.

We are not idealic soldiers if all we do is sit back and download. We are opportunists, waving our fists in the air hoping one day we'll be legitimatized. As of yet, the market has not found an equilibrium, and sitting back and bit torrenting only helps further the need for change - it does not create balance and harmony in and of itself.

How to Cure your Children of Wanting to Play MMO's

Answer? Let them play them. But make sure to

1. Be there with them.
2. Have them follow you and your guild members.
3. Give them enough rope to hang themselves.
4. Do everything you can to make their stay better, literally, that way they won't think you conspired against them, and on the surface, you didn't. You let the stress of the MMO and the Guild do it for you.
   

I got back on City of Heroes / City of Villians, though the latter wasn't part of the picture when I left, joining my friend Kevin in Virginia. After a few nights playing, my 10 year old daughter, Maria de Guadalupe, asked me if she could play with us. I realized the game came with a 14 day free trial so I said "Sure."

Now you might ask "Why is a father introducing his TEN YEAR OLD GIRL to the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games?!"

Here's why, and the result of the evening, in an e-mail I sent to my friend Kevin and my lovely Latin wife...

Last night was too much fun. And most of that was either

• Watching Maria become frustrated with MMO's or
• Watching my minions slay the enemy.

I genuinely wanted to give Maria de Guadalupe the chance - it was just like D&D, I just laid all that rope out there (the old adage of giving the D&D players enough rope to hang themselves and sitting back as the DM) and did nothing on my own part to make her time miserable, other than demonstrate how a team can be frustrated with another team member's ineptitude. After that, she, once again, got stuck on some stairs with enemies hitting her, and we risked ourselves to save her, and I'm sure she understood that. Nobody likes to watch their friends go through hardship because they did something wrong.

And, as I told you, when she wanted to watch her Spanish soap opera I reminded her that you and I had gone through a lot of trouble so she could play, and what were we going to do now that she's leaving? (Soap Opera: Not like the States, they last only 6 months a piece and this one is about an ugly girl who has the most beautiful personality and intellect, literally titled "The Ugly More Beautiful," or translated I would say "The most beautiful ugly girl." Sweet show, actually. Imagine an American Soap Opera that stars an ugly lead girl. The actress is kinda like Carrie-Ann Moss/Princess Leia: pretty only if you really truss her up, and they dressed her way down for this show - Like Carrie, she's the unbeautiful progeny of two other famous actors. Unlike Carrie, she can act very well, and has, up until winning the lead on this show, made a living in comedy shows.)

Anyway, so she got to feel

• "MMO's dictate when you can play them because of who you have to play them with."
• She got to feel "Pulls are bad."
• She got to feel "Not being able to navigate the world is bad."
• She got to feel "There are some real creeps out there." (Start area creeps trying to flirt with her father playing a girl character - she's 10, and she's a girl, she's not stupid, and she can read, and all she told me afterwards were there were some really bad people online.)
  

She also got plenty of good. She seemed to like seeing you, but she told me afterwards you didn't talk much. I told her "You weren't in the room with me, but you're right, he's kinda quiet. When he talks, it's usually interesting." That, she knows, is like her mother. She enjoyed our social RP before you joined us most of all, I think. I will never, ever show her Second Life. Actually she wouldn't like that either - too many creeps.

But... I'm glad. If she had liked it I would have kept playing with her and taught her how to be responsible concerning the time spent playing. Either way, as she likes her NDS and some PC games, I knew MMO's (as they are the future) were going to be in her life at some point, and I figured, opportunity knocking with her saying she wanted to play with us, there was no better chance to teach her the ins and outs.

Lastly, one day my 10 year old little girl will be reading Daddy's blog, and she won't mind coming across this. She knows I do lots of things like this to teach her about the world, rather than just try to tell her how it is.

RAIDEN III, Lord of the Rings, Left 4 Dead and Supreme Commander

The Lord of the Rings: Online Sucks. It's largely like the World of Warcraft; however, in this game, getting lost on your 3rd mission and wandering around for forty minutes is FUN. Apparently it gets worse.

I downloaded Raiden III and am in love with it - I might acquire the PS2 version. Dual player support on one input device is supported in the PS2 version, and perhaps the PC - I can't read Japanese. At any rate, it's really a remake of Raiden II in 3d with modifications, and that's grand. It has replay modes that show you Seibu Kaihatsu's best playing through the mission you completed in one life, and demonstrates how to beat bosses and evade their attacks. The greatest thing about the Raiden Shoot-'Em-Up series is that if you play correctly, there is always a way out - you are never hemmed in by shots until you are dead unless you just aren't playing well. Actually Raiden III was developed by MOSS, licensed by Seibu Kaihatsu. I just thought it sounded cooler.

I want Left 4 Dead to come out.

I got Supreme Commander as well, but haven't installed it yet. So many games.

"Super Gas Chamber Tycoon 1943"

This post against the post that supports the "Super Columbine Massacre RPG" has the funniest quote I've seen all day.

Next I want to see "Super Srebrenica Massacre RPG" and "Virginia Tech: Perfectly Executed".

At least "JFK: Reloaded" waited, you know... a while.

Lord of the Rings: Online

So I downloaded that and tried it - there are 6 days left. I'm on the Vilny server, top left option. It appears to be an RP server, as I saw only one name that wasn't RP, and saw several people use "OOC:" in their chats.

Executive Summary
The game leaves me unimpressed. It is a very good WoW clone. That's not exactly a compliment. It is artistically pleasing, and the first MMO with that distinction since WoW that I've seen.

Accessibility
It's not as user friendly as WoW and that might really kill it. In WoW, you pick up quests that are clearly identifiable and immediately do them. You can pick up several and accidentally do them. In this game, I spent two hours and didn't get near as many quests done, nor could I follow them as easily as in WoW. Hard to explain, but it just happened that way - I was a member of American Mensa, so I don't think it's because I'm just dumb. That said, it wasn't boring or punishing, because I kept playing.

To do anything with your levels you have to find a trainer, which is kind of homosexual, but expected. Perhaps I'm just used to WoW's inventory system, but I like it better than LotR:O. The inventory system appears to be a functional copy, without directly copying - I'm sure Blizzard has patented something.

The game does not assume you know about the lore of the Lord of the Rings, and each race lets you choose a nation / land of origin, which alters what color hair and skin you can have. Making a red-headed Pharra required that she come from Rohan, not Gondor, which I thought was cool.

Graphics
The graphics are incredibly good and smooth. The bad part is that everything is easy to see even in the dark, so nothing is very scary. I did experience the "Dread" effect when I saw a Nazgul though, my screen got dark and contrasty and my vision blurred - that was disorienting so I backed off quickly. Neat, but I haven't seen it used since.

Combat & Classes
The combat feels kind of like WoW with a Warrior, having played around with a Guardian and a Champion (Warrior Tank / Warrior DPS).

I must say that the LotR setting has hurt the game classes, although I'm sure it will save the game as far as people actually joining it. I'm sure it will be a commercial success, a viable game, but not a killer MMO.

The reason? Well since The Lord of the Rings canon says there were only five wizards during the end of the Third Age, "Lore Masters," "Minstrels" and "Burglars" all suffer. We have three classes that are really "Warriors with different skill trees" in WoW:

Captain - a Warrior who handles group buffs and agro.
Champion - a Warrior who hurts things.
Guardian - a Warrior who handles agro and tanks.

That's really a whole lot of warriors.

Other than that, there's a Hunter! Which is really a ranged Warrior.

Perhaps, at higher levels, the differences will be more pronounced, but there's a 15 level cap in the BETA (out of 50) and this is what I've seen so far.

Minstrels heal, supposedly, as does the Lore Master class - which is "NOT A WIZARD!" but pretends to be. How... strange.

Split Servers
All of that said, it is better than I expected, and should be a viable game. Once again, the game is split into servers, which is homosexual, so you can't play with your friends like you can in Awesome Guild Wars, which is un-awesome in about every OTHER aspect, if you're holding it to the MMO candle.

Lifetime Membership and stuff
For $199 you can get a lifetime membership if you order now, and pre-ordering gives you rights to $10 a month instead of $15 forever, if you don't opt for big bucks.

It Will Probably Sell
Given the licensing and the setting, I think this MMO will not die horribly. It will probably find its niche, like City of Heroes, etc., and do well.

Remember, Dave hates MMO's, with a Passion
Also, bare in mind, I hate MMO's. I hate their repetition, the way they force you to play them, the way you can't tinker with a darn thing, etc. I hate that I can't hear a cool story from Dove or Kevin and go home, fire up the game and go meet them, lose interest and do it again in a few months. All I can do is live vicariously, and I'm content with that.

Lastly, I'd Like to Play it More
The terrain is really neat and I was really surprised about the names given to the characters. None of this "Prestochango" the Druid shit, or "Idoitfrombehind" Rogue bullshit names. I'd like to see what being in a Fellowship (party/guild) is like. But unlike City of Heroes, other than the setting, I can't think of why I should.

Oh yes, you can inhabit Monsters starting at level 10 and use them to attack other people in certain "free" zones where this is to be expected. From what I've read - you get the option to buy non-reusable buffs for your character for your trouble. Yay. Not. But nifty idea otherwise.

Random Updates

God of War II versus Greek Mythology (PS2)
Take a multi-part online video look at the mythos behind God of War II.

Rainbow Six: Vegas cooperative mode (PC)
This game is incredibly fun. So far, I'm good at blowing myself up with hand grenades, as is my friend, Kevin. When not enjoying the thrills of bouncing our grenades off of steel railing back at us, we enjoy ducking behind doorways, cars, walls, and arcade systems for cover, and killing the enemy. We use Teamspeak to communicate via voice.

Armed Assault (PC)
I'll mention it again, this is the seminole military simulator. My friend Dennis is hooked on this. Jock hates change - all change, even good change, like High Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting, because "it makes things harder to see."

Well - duh. That's what happens in real life. But he plays the game anyway.

PS3 Dominates Folding@Home, but that doesn't mean what we think it does

The Folding@Home numbers (which show the PS3 as accounting for 2/3rd of all calculation power when it numbers 27,000 to almost 200,000 computers) imply a fallacy.

According to Folding@Home, GPUs account for the greatest amount of calculations (while CPUs are necessary for others). But the only GPUs supported are flagship tier ATI 1900XT & 1900XTX (presumably 1950XT as well), not Nvidia nor 1800XT's.

This makes the PlayStation 3 greatly weighted against the PC, because not only do they have seven Cell processors (GPUs, in Folding@Home's eyes), but most PC's don't have the required videocard to even try to take on the PS3.

This makes the PS3 seem to dominate computers, when the reality is that it's not an even playing field.