So I usually don’t use this space to talk about my personal affairs. However this particular incident creates a segue into something that has pissed me off for quite some time.
Creative Commons License
AJAX Games
I made a comment recently on a blog that was talking about streaming HTTP, AJAX and other hot web technologies. I realized that as far as Google and del.icio.us know, nobody has made a game using these technologies. I hope that this post will help me to find, create or inspire games that do so.
An Awesome Homeowners Association
So an issue that has come up lately is the evil that are homeowners associations. Basically what happens is a developer makes a bunch of houses all the same. You know, those large gated communities. And to get around rules about density and such they make a homeowners association. The way its supposed to work is that the HOA benefits the people living there because they protect property values and provide municipal things like parks and pools. It supposedly fair because there is a board of directors that is democratically elected that makes the rules. People moving to these communities, who own homes there, must follow these rules or risk penalty up to and including foreclosure. So basically people buy houses and give up their right to property in exchange for whatever protection and benefits the association provides. Lots of people like this. They like to live in white bread ‘burbs where every house is perfect and matching, and they don’t care about their own freedom. They care more about seeing a bunch of perfect lawns than right to property. Others, as you can imagine, are quite pissed to find out that they can’t choose their own color curtains or fly a flag in their own yard.
Linux Sound
In the past Linux’s major shortcoming was lack of support for common hardware. You simply weren’t able to make Linux work unless your computer was comprised of parts from a relatively short list. Nowadays that problem is mostly solved. Nowadays if your computer is made up of parts that are even remotely standard then Linux will most likely work with all of it. And in most cases for very standard hardware Linux will work better than other operating systems. The key example being the Nvidia video cards where Linux performance often exceeds that of Windows thanks to Nvidia’s excellent driver.
Summer Project?
So this summer I’m going to keep working from 9 to 5 every day. /me sighs. And I’m going to be almost totally alone in Rochester with 3 gentoo linux boxen, a pile of money and lots of free time. Given a lot of that time will go into just fooling around and playing Puzzle Pirates and such. But I’m definitely going to do a coding project. I just need help in deciding what to do.
Next Generation Console Meta-Conversation
I already spoke on what I think about Nintendo and their recent announcements. But I want to have a meta discussion also. Mainly to point out a few things that I’ve noticed over the years, how they’ve changed and how they’ve stayed the same.
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Nintendo Revolution Insight
Nintendo made a lot of announcements yesterday at their E3 press conference. I’m not going to go into great detail as to what those announcements were, if you need that information there are many game sites who already have it covered. I suggest Planet GameCube as their coverage is the most complete. What I want to talk about is what my expectations where before the conference and what they are now. I want to talk about the good, the bad and the unknown of what Nintendo is doing. And as always I will blab about what I think they should do in the future.
