So what is it lately with companies sending out emails/press releases/etc announcing an upcoming announcement.

Here is an example of what I’m talking about with the names removed to protect the innocent.

Heads up Nick:

_______________   will release findings of ___________ on Monday, October 29th.

Thank you for that.   This just seems to be happening more and more.  I’ll get emails like, “Hey, just wanted to let you know we have an uber super secret announcement coming tomorrow so get ready!”  Here’s an idea, how bout you just send me the announcement.

So I here I sit on a plane on my way back from Seattle. Flights across the country generally give one a lot of time to think about things. This particular trip took me to an event unlike any other I’ve been to. The event was called the Community Lock-In for Halo 3. Microsoft’s biggest game ever was set to launch on the Xbox 360 on September 25th, and they were kind enough to invite 17 members of the Xbox and Video Game community to their headquarters to get a taste of the game. I don’t know if you’d call a 12 hour marathon session a taste, I guess that’s more like a buffet. The event was great, and I met a lot of really awesome people from a lot of sites that I’ve checked out from time to time. We were even taken to the Best Buy midnight launch where we got to wander around and help promote the game and just generally take in the insanity that ensued there. And trust me, it was pretty fucking insane.

So yeah, I’m on a plane and my mind is wandering. Marty O’Donnel’s (who I got to meet) Halo Soundtrack is blasting through my headphones and I’m looking out an airplane window at gorgeous setting sun and an amber sea of clouds. Ironically, in Amber Clad is the track playing on my Halo 3 Zune. See a trend here? I’m in fucking Halo mode. I’m constantly thinking about it. Between the total conversion of Evil Avatar.com and the contest we are doing over there to help promote it, to the taste of the campaign I got yesterday all I want to do is eat, breath and dream Halo.

Oh shit, there goes Steve Vai jamming that theme out. Tight.

Speaking of the campaign, how bout that opening cinematic. I mean, jesus christ could it get any fucking better? I mean, ok, we knew the chief wasn’t dead (obviously) but that’s not what was so great about it. It’s that possibility of what’s going on with Cortana and the chief. There’s some higher level shit happening there, and I simply could not WAIT to find out. Cortana mentions how the AIs are allowed to choose their Spartan, this was actually something from the Halo books. And the way she talks about the chief, well it frickin tugs on my heart strings.

Anyway, enough about Halo for now, I just can’t wait to get home and play it.

You know, it’s weird. These past two years of my life have been pretty surreal.

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So it appears like the US Government wants to fuck up even further are already paltry broaband penetration in this country thanks to an expiring bill. Congress would pass a new bill in its place which would levy taxes on internet access for cable, dsl, and other various means of access the great WWW.

If the moratorium is allowed to expire, states would be allowed to levy discriminatory taxes on digital subscriber line, cable modem, wireless and even BlackBerry-type data services. First enacted in 1998 and renewed after some debate in 2004, the existing law prevents state and local governments from taxing “a service that enables users to access content, information, electronic mail or other services offered over the Internet.”

Each time the bill has come up for renewal, state and local officials have opposed making the ban permanent, arguing it’s best for the policy to stay flexible so states can re-evaluate whether collecting such taxes is necessary for their operations. So far, they’ve won over politicians on that front.

The bill is set to expire on November 1st, and if nothing is done in time we could see net taxes in place pretty quickly. The US already ranks on the lower end of the scale in terms of broadband penetration, speed and cost. Something like this could only hurt it further.

Source

I think I’ve decided today that I need to train myself to live on 5 hours of sleep.  I normally go to bed around 11 or so and wake up at 6:30, but this simply is cutting into my gaming time.  On top of all the games I want to play, I have the articles to write related to those games.  Combine that with a 40+ hour work week, taking care of a dog, housework, a wife, and whatever else real life throws at me and I simply don’t have enough time in the day to do what I want.

Day 1 is now.   I will increase my “awake” time.

If this quote isn’t living proof that Electronic “Fuck your mom in the ass” Arts has too much power and money, I don’t know what is. EA’s CEO John Riccitiello made the following quote:

“When you’ve got a competitor like Take-Two on the sports side, and they launch a football title using some of the industry legends, you want to make sure that ends up being a blip and is not repeatable, because we like to defend our franchises aggressively.”

Wow. Talk about arrogance. Sounds like EA wants to buy an exclusive license for something they really couldn’t get an exclusive license for. Here is an idea EA…make a game that is fucking good instead of destroying all chance for competition. Focus your efforts on, oh I don’t know, game improvements and design instead of buyouts and assimilation.

Source: Gamasutra