Author Archive

As I read through the news feed today I could almost hear the words of my grandmother (note I said almost – I am not hearing things)…the bigger they are the harder they fall. This was somehow miraculously followed by the oft quoted words related to me by one of my professors back in my undergraduate days…

Be nice to the people you meet on the way up; you will meet the same people on the way back down.

Truer words were never spoken. In fact I could go on like this for some time, including the following:

A quote from a play called The Kings Ring that ends “even this shall pass away”.

From the movie Blade Runner, “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”

And a senior drill sergeant of my onetime acquaintance, “What goes around comes around.”

What caught my eye was the headline from Edge over at Next-Gen by Tom Ivan: “Lawsuit: Activision Created Police State at Infinity Ward “.  By now just about everyone and their brother will have heard about the infamous lawsuit by not only Messers West and Zampella (formerly of Infinity Ward) but also a group of former Infinity Ward employees – even the snail mail magazine that arrives in our mail box will have picked it up by now (that makes it REALLY old news).  So on the face of it, it’s not really that profound hearing that same said group rattling their sabers talking about the “police state” created by Activision as well as withholding bonus payments in attempt to force the development of Modern Warfare 3.

O.K. so what else is new?

Blizzard recently backed down on their Real ID issue.

 Also not news to write home about; after all it’s not that big an issue (providing the proper exceptions were put in place).   Still I can’t help but consider that this is the same company that always said it’s done when it’s done –  the famed Blizzard attitude that prevails while developers in other parts of the industry are busy dancing to the music played by their respective publishers.  For some years what seemed like exponential growth in subscriber numbers where published like Burger King used to announce how many hamburgers they have served.  Blizzard has long seemed the unassailable zombie gorilla that no developer could topple (and any who tried paid for it dearly).   On the face of it, listening to your community is usually (but not always) a good policy. But I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a case of a widening chink in the Blizzard armor.

Gordon over at We Fly Spitfires has an interesting post on a related issue entitled Will BioWare Be To Blizzard What Blizzard Was To SOE? . Here is an excerpt of the article that is a very interesting read:

Over the next few years SOE made a handful of bad decisions (most notably the NGE for SWG) and suddenly all faith in them was lost. Justly or not, SOE had turned from the Kings of the MMO genre to the butt of every harsh remark about screwing over the fan base and selling out their morals. $OE was their new name and woe was them. – Gordon, We Fly Spitfires

 

Obviously even Blizzard doesn’t think that their light will never dim or Lead Designer Tom Chilton would not have recently pointed out that there may come a time when World of Warcraft goes free to play. Likely as not this won’t be any time soon – especially not with the Cataclysm expansion on the near horizon. Then again few people expected the recent announcement that Lord of the Rings Online was going free to play either. Between the Activision lawsuits, 25 dollar sparkling ponies (few of which I see in game anymore), and Real ID perhaps the Blizzard Gorilla isn’t as tough as he used to be.

All things considered maybe it’s a good thing that Activision/Blizzard is back to being known as Blizzard.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

Say it isn’t so…

This just came across our news feed: Edward Norton will NOT be back as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the upcoming Avengers movie.  As our regular readers and listeners know, we here at NPNM love our action movies.  When we heard that they were making The Hulk we never thought that anyone could ever fill the shoes of the late Bill Bixby – the man touched our soles with his heart felt, bittersweet performance.  But after we saw Mr. Norton as Bruce banner we were sucked in to everthing he brought to the role. Now we can’t imagine anyone else in the role.

But it seems we will have to.

News has just come to us that Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige made the following announcement:

“We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.” – Kevin Feige

Well friends all I can say, as a long time Marvel and especially Avengers fan color me hopping mad.  It’s one thing to decide you are not going to use Mr. Norton in the role but is it necessary to slam the man on the wayout? Now truth be told you never know what the Edward Norton is like to work with.  Some of the things Mel Gibson has done in the last few years has us both dropping our jaws to the floor and throwing his movies out in the garbage (with the sole exception of the Passion of the Christ of course).

Sad news indeed. Hopefully Mr. Feige will come to his senses.

[posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster]

 

Bella:  It’s your fault Narcissa.

Cissy: No it’s not – and don’t call me Narcissa. Besides the Amoveo Magiatus curse is better than a trip to Azkaban isn’t it?

Bella: Well this isn’t exactly Malfoy Manor is it?

Cissy: We’ll get by…

Bella: Without magic?

Cissy: Shut up and throw another tire on the fire…I’m cold.

 

Every now and then while I am “out and about” with my co-host Fran we will drive by those symbols of freedom, those who dare to place nothing but leather and bone between themselves and the pavement…motorcyclists.  To me they always summon up images of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider.  Ah for the life of the open road, living free, riding your metal steed with the wind in your hair as “Born to be wild” by Steppenwolf plays somewhere in the background.

But what, you might ask, has that got to do with Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy in the dialogue above?

Eating Crow

 

Time for me to eat a bit of crow…those who are regularly listeners to the No Prisoners, No Mercy show know that I have on occasion voiced my ire at software that isn’t backwardly compatible, with special emphasis on that unassailable bastion of the Electronic Arts stand alone games, The Sims.  A friend of ours who is a devout follower of the series first got me interested.  It all started with Sims 1, which rapidly became Sims 2. Then of course there were all the expansion packs.  Got to have them all of course…don’t you want all the features?  One edition followed after the other as Electronic art doled out the features slow enough to keep that carrot on a stick dangling in front of the players.

Then came Sims 3….

Yes, it got rave reviews.  For the first time it was one continuous world. No instancing, problems solved, full featured game all in one.  Still, I felt burned to a crackly crunch by the fact that all the work I had done as a virtual architect for Sims 2 couldn’t be used for Sims 3. It felt like EA had told me “bend over baby” hot poker in hand.

The Doldrums

 

Summer is usually the time for the release of all the big budget blockbuster movies.  The same cannot be said, however, for the mmo industry – at least not this particular summer.  All the big budget, blockbuster, “triple A” mmos seem due out this fall and beyond.  And so sets in the doldrums of summer.  You know the feeling – When all those mmos that were bright and shiny now seem to lack their luster as your characters all reach the level cap and your interest wanes.   It is at that point where the talent of developers is tested to the full….how do you keep your audience interested? What is your endgame like? Is it a system of inventory management catering to the bank sitters of the virtual world? Do you try and convince your customers, but more yourself, that you really can continue to put out content faster than players can consume it? (Turbine once claimed they could do it and we know how well they succeeded).   And so it was that as I played my gnome warrior that somewhere in the distance a siren call sounded.  It was the promise of creating a virtual world without the programming necessary to do it in Fallout 3.

Back again, back again

 

And so as I munch on my bit of crow I find myself once again indulging in the virtual world of the Sims.  The most pleasant discovery was revealed when at the end of a pleasant evening when I attempted to take the Sims disc out of the drive only to discover it missing. I had just spent an entire session without it!  A quick re-check of the instruction booklet revealed that apparently EA had indeed learned the lesson taught by Spore and reconsidered their DRM (digital rights management). Now it only requires on line validation.  New tools have also been provided made easy tasks that once took innovation – like the basement tool that opened the world of subterranean development without disturbing the surface above.

Hook Line and Sinker

So I seem to have once again grabbed at the virtual carrot dangled by EA, even if it was only the result of the “dull-drums” of summer mmo play.  Thanks to the good graces of our friend and frequent guest Saylah I have also been able to discover the talents of artists who bring a new aspect to the world of Sims…grunge living.

Grunge is something we have discussed on past show.  Most recently Tipa of West Karana fame told us how she enjoyed EQ2’s Freeport precisely because of its grunge.  It seems the tinge of foul air emanating from the City of Freeport provided Tipa with a bit of fresh air simply by being different.  One particular artist that has seemly devoted a great deal of time to bringing an urban air to the world of the Sims is called Cyclonesue. When I found that my poor starting sim (my own version of Bellatrix Lestrange) couldn’t even afford the starter homes in my virtual Paris I decided to take a clue from Cyclonesue and provide a real starter home…

You have seen them I am sure.  If you have ever traveled country back roads you will occasionally come upon small roadside rest stops out in the middle of nowhere. Usually they are little more than a place to eat your lunch and rest your butt.  So I decided to bring a touch of realism to Sims and make a true starter home that would have fit right in to Easy Rider…a road side rest stop.  It is those wonderful touches that Cyclonesue’s work made possible:  The heap of burning tires, the faded fabric on the mattress put up on cinder blocks, the bathroom with the broken toilet, filthy soap dispenser, and even a puddle on the floor. And thanks to an artist whose name I don’t have at the moment, there is even a Harley Davidson motorcycle in the drive way to zoom around the virtual world of the Sims with “Born to be Wild” playing in the background.

Sadly, the one thing that is missing is any sort of a magic system – something that many a Sims aficionado has longed for. So my virtual Bellatrix Lestrange will have to settle for a new life as a muggle as she works her way up from roadside thug to evil crime boss.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

Welcome to another back page for Friday Afternoon.

Imperfect Citizen…

the whole thing reminds me of the place in Sims 3 called “outstanding citizens’ warehouse” where you go start a criminal career. Such is the name for the Whitehouse version of the cybersecurity bill which is now being called “Perfect Citizen” – considering that this version of a cybersecurity program would fall under the review of the National Security Agency I could have thought of a lot better names for the program.  The name just screams “illegal wiretaps” even if it isn’t the case. T his is from this morning’s report that crossed our news desk from Politco.com

 “ A NOT-SO-PERFECT CITIZEN – Few seem satisfied that the White House’s forthcoming cybersecurity program – dubbed “Perfect Citizen” – will fall under the NSA’s purview. While the program is meant to secure critical IT infrastructure from crippling cyberattacks, such as a plot on the power grid, the WSJ’s scoop still prompted skeptics on Thursday to compare the once-secret plan to the NSA’s heavily criticized wiretapping program launched during the Bush administration in 2007.” – Poltico.com, Morning Tech Report

Playdom continues to acquire Facebook Developers, and with the new released by the San Francisco Chronicle one can only wonder “Why?” – do they know something we don’t know or are they just playing the proverbial long shot.   As more source continue to quote slipping numbers for both Facebook games and Facebook in general it begins to summon up images of the aftermath of the “dot-com” expansion and subsequent crash.  This from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Inside Facebook, which analyzes user data that the social network provides to advertisers, noted that in the last 31 days Facebook registered 320,800 new active members – first-time users and those who logged into Facebook for the first time in over a month. The figure is notably low compared with the astronomical 7.8 million new active users registered in May, which represented a 6.7 percent monthly growth….”They don’t necessarily need to grow user population to become a profitable, highly valued company,” he said. “They do need to maintain their value proposition and keep users engaged even as the novelty factor wears off. It’s not about getting users to sign on, but about getting them to log on.” – San Francisco Chronicle, U.S. Facebook growth sputters in June

Um…what was I saying?

 

Breaking news from a new study by the University of Iowa…too much gaming makes your mind wander.   Via Kotaku.com , the study found that exceeding the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics (a limit of 2 hours a day of television and gaming per day) causes attention problems. Here is a quote from our Kotaku.com news feed that brought a smile to my face…

“Those who exceeded the AAP recommendation were about 1.6 times to 2.2 times more likely to have greater than average attention problems.”

At first, this completely shocked me. Then I found a neat picture of a bunny and posted it at the top of the article. Hello there, bunny! – Kotaku.com

 

I suppose it’s fortunate that I am neither a child, nor a teenager because I exceed my maximum recommended dosage a LONG time ago.

 

Slaying the Beast

 

Playings in WoW have long been used to slaying mighty dragons and terrifying beasts…now it appears that they have slain the mightiest beast of them all…Blizzards Plane for Real ID. This comes to our news feed via Slashdot.

“Earlier this week, Blizzard announced that they were going to be implementing changes in their official forums (for StarCraft II when it launched, and for WoW prior to Cataclysm) that would require users to post under their real names, as part of the Real ID system. After perusing nearly 14,000 European and 50,000 US forum posts, the majority of which decried this move with various levels of vehemence, it looks like Blizzard has given in to the pressure. From the official statement: ‘We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.’

 

[posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster - still  with no Real ID, and loving it]

“Will our mystery challenger enter and sign in please?”

 

Back when I was so young that my biggest decision was whether I should read my comic book or eat my Fudgicle there was a game show on called What’s My Line?  Each week those words would be heard as a panel of celebrities were blindfolded and tried to identify someone’s identity.

Now it’s not news that people on the internet love pseudonyms.  In fact, with the exception of our developer interviews, our guests use fake names so often we have begun to think we are interviewing fugitives from the law.  We had, of course, received multiple emails about something called “Realid” from Blizzard – but we receive so many fake missives pretending to be from Blizzard (Phishing expeditions) that we assume that they are all fake.  Not to mention that there wasn’t much reason for me to concern myself with it. I did, of course, scan the messages from Blizzard to determine if they are real or not, and found one tell me I could “friend” other players using my “Real ID” (real name).  I dismissed it nearly immediately. After all, the person I travel the virtual highways and byways of Azeroth with the most sits across the table for me at breakfast every day – and if there is a question about my co-host’s identify at this point I am in BIG trouble.

So it is that I hadn’t paid much attention to the matter when I scanned through all the spams our filter catches each day and found one on the same subject by an irate Blizzard Customer.   Then I scanned the morning headlines from local news and saw comments on the subject by Keen from Keen and  Graevs , The Ancient Gaming Noob , and Scott Jennings over at Broken Toys .  But the best quote by far was simply a one liner….

Blizzard are about to ban themselves from their own forums.” – Melmoth. Killed in a Smiling Accident

As we all know by now…

 

And when I say ALL I MEAN all – when even the Washington Post  carries the same news it is either a slow news day or a big issue (I will assume it’s a slow news day).  The thing about the Washington Post carrying news from our favorite industry is twofold. First, it tells of how fast news travels around the global village that constitutes the internet.  If you miss a day it’s old news. Second is reminiscent of something a co-worker told me once. She said that by the time the suburbanites start using a phrase or catch on to a particular trend she knows its passé – the same goes for the main stream media covering mmo news for the most part.  For those of you who, like me, either didn’t care or had the audacity (as the No Prisoners, No Mercy Team did) to take the long holiday weekend off here is the official blurb from the official source:

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players—however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well. – Via Ars Technica, Source Post  

The Washington Post article was quick to point out that the angry replies are now over 2,000 pages long (and probably growing exponentially).

Two problems leap immediately two mind, the first and most important being the real identity of children (and like it or not those nasty teenagers that hurl epithets at you over general chat ARE LEGALLY children).  If there has not been some provision made by Blizzard to exempt children, especially young children, the whole concept of using a real identity is a class action law suit waiting to leap out at Activision (the deepest pocket in this case) and yell GOTCHA!!!

The second problem, I have already experienced to some degree.  It was recently mentioned by Scott Jennings over at Broken Toys:

Especially if you’re female. Because in the New Facebook Order, levelling while female is the new driving while black*. Of course, if you don’t want people to treat you differently for being a woman, you could just not post in the forums – Scott Jennings, Broken Toys

On occasion I have experienced this myself. One instance pops into mind immediately – I was fishing Azeroth when this gnome walks up to me and drops a line in the water.  It doesn’t take long for the trash talk to start (this was back in the days when I was delusional enough to play a Night Elf).  The youth of the player behind the pixels, whether physical or mental or both, became immediately apparent. When I pointed out to the young man in question that I am, in fact, an overweight middle aged nun and no doubt old enough to be his mother there ensued a long, long pause…followed by short gnome feet running speedily away.

As to the rest, there is an old adage that says “boys will be boys” – followed quickly by what should be an addendum to the adage:

Asshats will be asshats.

Real name or no, Blizzard is right about one thing – the official forums of any game have so many flames that the Great Chicago Fire pales into insignificance.   Real name or no that will not stop until the asshats find out just how perceived is the perceived anonymity of the internet.  Real name in hand it is a relatively easy thing to find just about anyone. And when someone says on the forum “if you don’t like it come and get me” eventually some will. 

In the end analysis real id doesn’t affect anyone here on the NPNM team personally.  No one here even reads the forums let alone posts in them.  Still, it makes for some interesting reading.

See you online,

Millard Filmore

[Posted for Millard Filmore by The Webmaster who will never give out a real identiy]

*Side Note:  For those of you living under a rock and haven’t heard of the expression “driving while black” a local example is a man who was stopped by a police officer from the Chicago Suburbs when he saw a gentleman of African heritage driving a Cadillac through his town.  The officer from reasons which I can only presume was prompted by insanity, assumed the driver had stolen the car.  The officer soon discovered that yes, the physician driving the car not only owned it but probably even paid cash and probably paid more in taxes than the kind officer made in a year.

Online and Offline

 

Virtual worlds and game worlds aren’t always the same thing – that is something we discussed with Dr. Richard Bartle when he was a guest on the show.  I have heard definitions given that consider virtual worlds limited to online persistent worlds, but even online worlds aren’t “online” 24/7. There is little doubt that the more dynamic of the two are online virtual worlds – or synthetic worlds as author Edward Castronova (Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games) describes them. Here is a quote from an interview with the author:

“In virtual worlds—or synthetic worlds, “virtual” having lost much of its meaning—only the icons around which human interactions flow are nonreal. The interactions themselves are as real as any we have outside synthetic worlds. When six soldiers take out a machine-gun nest at Fort Bragg, the machine gun is real and the teamwork is real. When the same six soldiers take out a dragon in a synthetic world, the dragon is not real but the teamwork is. In synthetic worlds, the things we trade may be fantastic, but the process and value of the trade is real.” – Edward Castronova

Whether you call them a virtual world or a synthetic world, the common misconception is often that the interactions are as non-real as the pixilated world in which they take place.  Perhaps the perceived (and erroneous) conception of the anonymity of the internet does something to people – like putting a normally demure person behind a mile long back up of cars on a hot August day, in a car without air conditioning  (a catalyst for road rage if ever there was one).

Initially my concept of a virtual world was limited to movies like The Matrix and games with persistent worlds like World of Warcraft. Author Castronova takes the concept further:

Finally, I can see a forest of unruly and unstoppable little worlds that breed in peer-to-peer environments, hundreds if not thousands of alternative spaces, each one with a slightly different take on what “fantasy” means, all of them collectively creating a powerful condemnation of the social and economic and political and relational assumptions of the “real” world. – Edward Castronova

I will be the first to admit that I hadn’t considered chat rooms, and even blogs as a virtual world.  Yet the term “blogosphere” seems to have grown out of it. I won’t even begin to debate the etymology of the word. But the fact that it is so apropos in describing a world within the world of Marshal McLuhan’s global village is what seems to stimulate the use of the term.

Most offline single player games I wouldn’t consider a virtual world at all – Not, at least, those games like the Half Life series which are really a story on rails. Let the player stray from the intended track just once (I did) and the game comes to an abrupt halt.  Anytime a player has a choice of going forward or not at all, it seems to exclude it from definition of a virtual world.   Sand box games like Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion may not be online, but they certainly resemble virtual worlds. But are they persistent?  If you define a virtual world as those which continue to exist even after the user exits certainly those fit the description.  However, unless purposefully programmed to do so, they do not simulate actions which would have occurred in real time once the game has been shut off.

 

Worlds within worlds

 

It is not the pixilated part of virtual worlds that I find fascinating but rather the persistence. Author Edward Castronova extends the definition of synthetic (virtual) worlds beyond the boundaries of common definitions.  If we think of the books written by J.K. Rowling there is little doubt that she has created a fascinating world.  Millions of people the world over (myself included) would give their eye teeth to spend some time in it.  Yet, barring time spent at the new Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando, Florida and watching Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows (due out this November) that isn’t possible.  On the surface of it all it seems like it would be thrilling to be part of the process that brought the Harry Potter stories to life, yet the very act of “breaking the proscenium” seems like it would make the virtual world seem less “real”. I have come to think of it like watching a magic act. If you try and figure out how it was done, it becomes simply a trick – the sense of amazement gone out of the whole thing.  In the end, if you don’t know how the trick was done – if Hogwarts persists only in your mind, it seems as if it would be a lot more “real” than if you saw the famed castle as the production of computer graphics set to film.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

(posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster)

Are social games the waves of the future?  Richard Garriott thinks so  …

“So, I believe the casual gamer and the social gaming platform represent the largest ever yet seen emergence or change within the gaming industry. And all of us in the development community have a choice to either participate and lead in this journey or get left behind.” – Richard Garriott  

 

Brad McQuaid thinks so…

“I am pleased to announce that I am a co-founder of a new company based here in the San Diego area.  We’re starting small and growing as needed.  Our focus is going to be on bringing some sophistication to casual/social gaming.” – Brad McQuaid

Steve Jobs seems to disagree.  Between the IPAD and the Iphone, Apple has thrown it’s had in the mobile applications ring:

“The transformation of the PC to new form factors like the tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways,” – Steve Jobs

 

By some accounts the social gaming ship has already sailed.  However, Playdom  is still busy buying up facebook game developers  to the tune of millions of dollars.  On the one hand saying social gaming is losing millions of players when the number of players could already fill a largish country doesn’t amount to much – but nothing says all those customers are paying customers.

As for the No Prisoners, No Mercy team we tend to believe that the man behind the apple, Stephen Jobs is the most likely to have things sussed. Still the FCC and broadband providers are still busy providing the fly for Mr. Jobs ointment.   While the people who busy themselves about the business of trying to afford broad band at least one politician, republican representative John Shimkus, is busy pointing the finger in the opposite direction.

Here is an excerpt from this morning’s Tech report by way of Politico.com:

Over the weekend, Republican Rep. John Shimkus slammed Google as the culprit behind the FCC’s new, forceful push for explicit authority over broadband providers. “This is a political debate by major interests on the West Coast that have helped support the Democratic Party, so that’s why they’ve supported this agenda,” Shimkus told C-SPAN’s “The Communicators.” When pressed then to reveal who those “interests” were, he said: “You know who they are. Our friends at Google are one of the major focuses; they have their interests. … They have supporters and allies, and that’s what this is about.”

 

Our first thought is to give Google a thunderous round of applause and a virtual standing ovation.  The wee problem is that, as well all know, give a politician an inch and he will take a parsec.   The opposite end of that particular pendulum is the Internet kill switch that messers Lieberman-Collins-Carper want to place in the hands of the Feds – that same bill that has just cleared the Senate Committee on Homeland Insecurity and Government Affairs.

If mobile applications are the future, the President Obama is busy doing his part –

This morning the president signed a memorandum that would mandate Federal agencies find ways to free up 500 megahertz of airwaves for consumer mobile broadband services over the next 10 years. President Obama said in a statement that “few technological developments hold as much potential to enhance America’s economic competitiveness, create jobs, and improve the quality of our lives as wireless high-speed access to the Internet.” (source).

In a speech Larry Summers (Director of the White House’s  National Economic Council) likens the move to the opening of the land grant colleges and the transcontinental railways (source )

The big question on our minds is, after the FCC is done with wheeling and dealing with broadband providers will we all get railroaded.

I have been gearing up this week – more on that later.

But I am not the only one, gearing up. Washington has been gearing up, while Internet providers are attempting to tighten their fist around the lines that hold together the global village.

Tightening the fist

 

This morning’s news feed included an item from Politico.com that Congress is busy tightening their fist around the internet . Regular readers will know about what is now called the “Lieberman-Collins-Carper cyber security bill”.  The Senate Homeland Security committee is, apparently concerned over the mistaken impression it feels that the public has that the bill gives the President of the United States a kill switch.  Politico.com is reporting that “the three lawmakers will offer a manager’s substitute that would require the president to obtain Congress’s permission in order to declare a cyber security emergency and take control of crucial IT systems for more than 120 days.”  I am sure that we don’t need to belabor the point (but I guess we will) that this of course means that the bill would give the President of the United States permission to simply shut down the internet…

Oh pardon us, “take control of crucial IT systems” for FOUR MONTHS without anyone’s permission at all.

And who, I wonder, gets to decide exactly what constitutes a “crucial IT system” – and we are still wondering about what is no doubt the myriad “hold harmless” clauses in the bill.   It sounds like the bill gives Carte Blanche   to a handful of power hungry politicians..  

Opening Closed Doors

 

Remember those “public” hearings held early this month by the FCC to decide on what action should be taken to regulate internet providers intent on bring scaling rates to their customers (read charge what they please, and shut down who they will).  It seems that it only took an advertisement in the Washington Post by a group called Free Press to bring the meeting out in the open. Here is an excerpt from an article you can read here:

“FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s top deputies are meeting behind closed doors with industry lobbyists to cut a deal that would effectively hand over control of the Internet to Verizon, Comcast and AT&T,” the Free Press statement said. “President Obama, you promised to take a ‘back seat to no one’ in protecting Net Neutrality and free speech online. Don’t let our Internet go the way of Wall Street and the Gulf of Mexico.” – Game Politics.com

 What do you call a football stadium full of lawyers?

Sounds like the start of a joke doesn’t it?  The answer in this case would be attorneys for the defense.  An article that recently crossed our news desk () has us wondering if court would be held in a football stadium as the judge uttered what would be history making words:

“Will the defendants in rows A through F please rise?”

 

It seems that a group of Virginia lawyers calling themselves The US Copyright Group, has told a Federal Judge that “they ‘see no problem’ with suing 5,000 Bittorrent users as John Does.” Here is an excerpt from the article:

“The firm also said that it is doing all these John Does a ‘favor’ by giving them the ability to defend the case in one jurisdiction, combine or join other Doe Defendants’ filings and the ability to receive ‘uniform decisions by the Court.’ Lawyers doing people “favors” seems as alien as clowns doing roadwork.” – Game Poltics.com

Gearing up subscriber rates

 

Move over Blizzard…Gamasutra reports  that Wizard 101 has reached 10 million registered users in 20 months. The catch, is that this does not equate to 10 million paying customers.  There is no denying, however, that Wizard 101 is a tremendously popular game (one member on staff here played it for one day…but we will never tell who) – and as long as the bottom line stays in the black, the game is gold.

Getting My Ass in Gear

 

Welcome to the family…welcome words as long as it is not being said by someone with connections to a certain criminal organization which I am certain does not really exist.   But when those words are accompanied by a big hug, and spoken by someone who is not referring to a recent marriage, they are especially comforting – especially if you have ever reached the point in your life when you had no family (I have).  One of the best qualities, about what is sadly the most least appreciated aspect of life, is that family is what, and who, you make it.

So what you might ask, has any of this got to do with mules with gear shifts?

Quite simply this…recently the words above gave me pause to consider other definitions of “family” no matter how nebulous or even, perhaps, dubious.   A guild (at least those few rare shining examples) can be like a family – even if only in some tenuous way (and if you don’t think those particular ties that bind are tenuous, tell a guildie you live near him and ask him to help you move).  You might also extend this thinly stretched definition down to a roster of characters (especially in those of us who have very prominent cases of “alt-it is”).  

Think of it this way: the first character in your roster to the level cap is like the patriarch or matriarch of your virtual family, doling out the virtual dough as the character supports the alts coming up through the ranks.  But what happens when someone who normally abhorred the horde suddenly discovers the friendly faction  that has all the action?  When Blizzard creates faction transfers, those matriarchs that supported the alts suddenly “bleed away” leaving the lower ranking characters in the lurch.  Now this may not be a problem for many a month, if ever. But there is always the possibility (as I discovered) that one day you will be waxing poetic about the reminiscences of places like Ironforge and Stormwind – places which would now hand you your ass, but not until wearing it around as a hat for awhile.

Such are the circumstances in which I found myself upon my recent return to World of Warcraft (WoW).  Our regular listeners to the No Prisoners, No Mercy Podcast know that my cursor has hovered perilously over both the delete character and close account keys on many occasions.  However it was not badgering, beleaguering, or bemoaning  by my co-host that brought me back. Rather it was show 64, recently recorded with Saylah from Mystic Worlds about why people continue to hear the siren song of WoW and return again and again. And so I found my level 45 “super, mega, ultra lightening gnome” warrior suddenly cast into the cold harsh world of the Alliance side, forced to fend for herself.

Ah but it is the challenge of getting my gnomish butt in gear (and good gear at that) which serves as the impetus for many an enjoyable hour of gaming – that, and the fact that my co-host, who is my own dear sister, sister, mother superior, spends many an hour gaming with me.

In the end, family is who you make  it, especially if it is a level 38 night elf druid played by your own sister.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

(posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster)

UPDATE:

Here is the latest from Politico.com regarding the fiasco going on with what is now called the “Cybersecurity” Bill (I call it the “Big Brother” Bill):

MCCAIN’S MOVE ON CYBERSECURITY – The Lieberman-Collins-Carper cybersecurity bill may have cleared the HSGAC unanimously on Thursday, but that didn’t stop one of the committee’s members from signaling his concerns with the bill. John McCain said he ‘had to be convinced’ that cybersecurity reform requires an expansion of government.

The senator took aim at two items in particular: the bill’s creation of a White House-level cybersecurity position and its hiring and training provisions. McCain then filed amendments that would scrap the first position while requiring DHS to deliver a report on its hiring needs. Curiously, the senator did not officially pitch either amendment for a vote; an aide to McCain said Thursday he planned to ‘wait until the floor to try to amend the bill.’

Rematch

Muhammad Ali v Leon Spinks, Evander Holyfield v Mike Tyson, Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs…some of the most famous rematches in history* 

Now you can add one more match to that illustrious list…

 

Ravious from Kill Ten Rats  vs. Saylah(Lauren) from Mystic Worlds and Tipa “da’ knife” from West Karana .

 

It seems we rubbed more than one of our listeners the wrong way with show number 61  the return of Good Nun/Bad Nun .  One of the more outspoken members of the community who emailed us was none other than Ravious from Kill Ten Rats, who tells us he is a regular listener to our show.  So it was our pleasure to give Ravious some air time to have his say in a rematch…

O.K. – a round table discussion (but that doesn’t sound very dramatic does it?)

As is our usual policy, we bring you early release via our Podbean site here and on Itunes. The show will be released on Virginworlds tommorow.

Please note that archival versions of past shows are only available on Virginworlds and Itunes.

*Yes, I know that the Billy Jean King only technically counts as a rematch.

for you baby I would, swim the sea
nothin’ I’d do for you that’s too tough for me
I’d put out a burnin’ building with a, shovel and dirt
and not even worry about, getting hurt
ain’t that tuff enough?
 

 -From Tough Enough by Johnny Clegg

Welcome to the “Tough Enough” edition.

 

Tough Women

 

Let’s start with five tough women (pictured above). The first is, of course, Signourney Weaver (top left)  as Ellen Ripley from Aliens in one of our  favorite moments from the movie – where Ripley confronts the Alien Queen in a mechanical loader and screams the famous line “Get away from her you bitch.”  The second woman is Jenette Goldstein (top row, 2^nd from the right) in another of our favorite roles, from the same movie as well, portraying Pvt. Vasquez.  Private Vasquez is the tougher than nails marine that seems to be the first in a type of role that gets repeated in later movies. Top right is actress Linda Hamilton from the Terminator movies as Sarah Connor.  She is depicted in the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day where the character first becomes the sort of character you want on your side in a fire fight in the middle of a jungle…an urban jungle.  The next (bottom left) is from the recent James Cameron movie Avatar.  While Signourney Weaver’s cigarette toking Dr. Grace Augustine is fairly tough, as often happens it is the character actors that shine the brightest in their roles. (More on that later).  The character in this case is, of course, Pilot Trudy Chacon as portrayed by Michelle Rodriguez. And yes, we noticed the similarities between the Trudy Chacon and the Pvt. Vasquez characters, but since both Aliens and Avatar are James Cameron films it seems reasonable that the movie maker borrow from himself, eh? Still, we would have liked to see actress Jenette Goldstein in the role of Trudy Chacon, but Ms. Rodriguez did a marvelous job as well.  You might want to also add actress Jessica Biel in the list above as Charisa Sosa (not pictured) from the newly released “A-Team” movie (but more on that later)

The toughest woman above is not an actress at all…and anybody who us knows that we will naturally include her in any list of tough women.  In fact I am told Julie and Fran quote her each night before they go to bed.  This woman may not look tough but she is – tough as titanium. We can list her meager possessions here:

3 dresses

1 sweater

1 pair of sandals

Underwear made from flour sacks.

1 plate

1 spoon

1 book

1 crucifix

1 rosary

And of course one canvas bag to put it in.

That’s it. That’s all this woman owned, period. 

Actress Signourney Weaver tells a story of the time she attended the academy awards and she heard a young actress from one side say, “ look at her that must have taken a lot of surgery”. To which Ms. Weaver replied “I worked for this body.”  As much as each actress worked out to get the well chiseled look, few people are tough enough to live in such poverty by choice as the woman on the bottom right, and do so while spending a large part of her life caring for the sick in a leper colony.  And THAT my friends is ONE TOUGH mama Jama. This is the same woman to whom President Ronald Regan once presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, of which he said that she was the only recipient likely to melt the medal down, sell it, and use it to feed others.  She is, of course, the toughest of the tough. She is Mother Teresa.

 

The Tough Team

by Julie Whitefeather

 As I see it, in every article for this website, somewhere there has to be a tie in with the video game industry – so here it is.  The tough team in this case is the A-Team.  Anyone who has ever played World of Warcraft (WoW) has seen the Mr.-T commercial he did for WoW (remember the phrase “night elf Mohawk”?). If not you can see it here. For those of you too young to remember, Mr. T was in the original televised series of the same name.  In the recently released movie version the role of B.A. Baracus was portrayed by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (WWF Raw). There may even be some of you who rarely see movies yet still recognize the voice of the leader of the A-Team, Liam Neeson as Colonel John “Hanibal” Smith (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Batman Begins).  Those of you who say to yourselves “That voice sounds familiar” will remember the same voice actor portraying your father in Fallout 3.

So there’s the videogame tie-in.

Members of the 2010 A-team are also portrayed by Bradley Cooper (“Alias” –Will Tippin) as Lt. Templeton “Face” Peck and Sharlto Copley (District 9, Wikus Van De Merwe) as Murdock.  Another familiar face (and especially voice) is Gerald McRaney (Major Dad, Simon and Simon) as General Morrison. And of course the runner up to the “tough women” list above Jessica Biel (Abigail Whistler, Blade: Trinity) as Cpt. Charisa Sosa.

In a recent review that proves the point of one of my fine arts professors (oft discussed before in these pages and on our show) Roger Ebert proves the prof’s point that the arts (yes even movies) where done for the common person and not the reviewer. His lead in paragraph is as follows:

“‘The A-Team’” is an incomprehensible mess with the 1980s TV show embedded inside. The characters have the same names, they play the same types, they have the same traits, and they’re easily as shallow. That was OK for a TV sitcom, which is what the show really was, but at over two hours of Queasy-Cam anarchy, it’s punishment.” – Roger Ebert,

 

The obvious question is to wonder if Roger’s delineation of the movie as “an incomprehensible mess” is more due to a lack of powers of comprehension on the reviewer’s part than the movie’s script.  In a manner that I am sure must be totally uncharacteristic, and belying what must certainly be his astounding powers of observation, he points out to us that the characters all have the same names. Amazing that isn’t it?  By the end of the first paragraph we find ourselves forced to resort to utter shock by Mr. Ebert’s further powers of analysis by revealing the fact that, yes, the characters were shallow.

As amazing as Mr. Ebert’s powers of analysis are, might I respectfully (ok perhaps not too respectfully) suggest that if he wants good drama and in depth characters that he go rent an Ingmar Berman film, and perhaps go back to typing reviews on a manual type writer.

Amazing as it is, some films are done simply for the fun of it as, spell it with me Roger…E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-M-E-N-T.

Part of what Ebert has a hard time with is the lack of fluidity where the film inter-cuts between scenes – this is more along the lines of “you be the judge”; I had no problem with it, nor did my companion nor anyone else in the theater. I think Roger is the lone wolf on this one.  Effective or not, it is simply a technique used to tie together parts of the script. Roger goes on to complain about the physics in the movie, ‘Bored out of my mind during this spectacle, I found my attention wandering to the subject of physics’, bad guys who monologue too long and hero’s who always seem to know what the bad guy is going to do.

In the end it’s a good thing that Hollywood directors don’t follow Roger’s movie making advice, otherwise I would never have been able to enjoy horrible movies like the “Die Hard” series and any of the James Bond films.

Toward the end of the review Ebert pens the words “I don’t want to be tiresome, but…” to which I can only reply.

Too late, Roger – Much too late.

At this point I will risk adding the advice, next time grab some popcorn and at least try and enjoy the movie.

Tough Enough to Try Again

 

Another question that rises to mind was triggered by the news that Brad McQuaid is going to try and build another company.  Those of you who are not new to gaming will remember the names Sigil Games and Vanguard – both classic examples of how not to develop a game, not to mention never have the chutzpa to call your game a “WoW killer.” If not you can go back to articles of yester year and read  Brad McQuaid and  Chutzpa and Sigil: The Flipside . The new company he will be starting will be concentrating on “sophisticated casual and social games”, with no further explanation on exactly what that entails. You can read the advert on his blog site here.  The question remains, however, (aside from exactly what he means by “casual and social”) is whether or not he will still garner the trust of the industry.  After all, as the old adage goes, we learn from our mistakes, and  Mr. McQuaid has said repeatedly in his blog that he has learned from his.  Certainly the shadow of his former employees, who were told to gather everything they needed for the rest of the day and meet in the company parking lot, and then summarily dismissed, will still loom large.  Does he deserve a second chance? We think so and even if he isn’t good at business he is good at making games.

Tough enough for a tough market

 

Onlive-The first question anyone should ask who is considering going into any sort of business is what they can bring to the table that someone else hasn’t already.  One of those who has brought something new to the table is Onlive.   They hope to be the answer to those developers/publishers who come out with a game that few computers will run, then simply shrug their shoulders and say “well it’s a high end game.”  The solution, of course, is a streaming game, like a remote terminal.  It sounds like a great idea, dependant on whether or not the ping rate to their servers will move faster than an arthritic pigeon.  Even if that is the case, and it could well be, the question then becomes one of pricing.  Would you pay $14.95 per month to play single player games?  Our news feed tells us they will offer games “including Mass Effect 2, Assassin’s Creed II, Borderlands, Dragon Age Origins, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and Metro 2033.” You can read more here .

Connect with Kinect- How much would you pay to play a game without a controller? Certainly it is an amazing concept, as our regular guest Saylah says it is “full of win”.  The idea of playing an MMO with Kinect certainly excite the imagination, but the real issue is pricing – or so say a couple of the articles that recently crossed our news desk.  The first tells us that, “Microsoft’s Kinect motion camera is that the platform holder is still struggling with some aspects of its launch strategy for the device.”. The second source tells us that it is a done deal:

“Well, none of this will come as a big surprise here, but it’s always nice to hear it straight from an official source. Microsoft has confirmed that a $199 version of new Xbox 360 will be coming in the fall to replace the now-$149 Arcade, which is no longer in production. In addition, the company’s also spilled a few more beans — Kinect will be available as a bundle with the new Xbox 360, and though there isn’t any official pricing information on that one just yet, we’ve seen some telltale evidence on that front which would lead us to believe it’ll run somewhere in the neighborhood of $399 for an Elite and $299 for the Arcade. So now you know.” – Kotaku.com

 

Warner Brothers –  At any time in the last week or so, if you were playing word association and I gave you the name “Turbine” odds are that you would follow up with “Warner Brothers”  (Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment), the company that bought the developer of Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online not that long ago. The subsidiary of media giant Time/Warner now owns Monolith, TT Games, NetherRealm Studios, Turbine Inc. and is reported to have an interest in RockSteady (developer of Batman: Arkham Asylum). Recently Samantha Ryan, senior VP of production and development told Gamasutra    the following:

“But after the rapid expansion it’s time to focus on internal depth and growth, not more acquisitions. We’re actually I think going to go through kind of a settling period for a little while,” she said, “where we’re going to focus on getting all the stuff that we’ve just acquired well-integrated, and really focus on the games.” – Samantha Ryan, senior VP of production, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

 

That sound you hear in the background is the No Prisoners, No Mercy team applauding.  Good news for Turbine, and sound advice that Starbucks should have taken.

Tough Enough to Survive

 

There are many things the No Prisoners, No Mercy team have in common and one of them is an Alma Mater – University of Illinois.  The University is taking the time to preserve video games that go back over the last four decades including “a 1993 version of Doom, various editions of Warcraft, and even MIT’s Spacewar! circa 1962.”  When Jerome McDonough, Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois spoke to Arstechnica to answer the  obvious question “Why” he responded as follows:

The really simple, one-sentence answer is because games are important. In the United States we’re looking at about 80,000 people who are directly employed by the gaming industry and maybe another 240,000 people involved in related, tangential industries that rely on gaming companies for their existence….In the United States, we have two thirds of American households as active gamers….You also can’t understand some other parts of our cultural world unless you preserve some of the game world.” – Jerome McDonough, Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois

You can read the entire interview here.

Last and least

 

Last and certainly least has got to be one of the dumbest ideas to come across our news desk in a long time. It seems that the California Legislature is considering license plates that turn into small electronic bill boards when the car to which they are attached stops for more than four seconds.  Here is a quote:

“The bill’s author, Democratic Sen. Curren Price of Los Angeles, said California would be the first state to implement such technology if the state Department of Motor Vehicles ultimately recommends the widespread use of the plates. He said other states are exploring something similar.” -  source

Now granted the news does come to us via Slashdot, still it makes us pause to wonder if the good Senator mentioned above has a keeper somewhere that isn’t watching him carefully. Living in Illinois we do, of course, understand when states have difficulties. After all, we live in a state where our governors seem to end up in prison.

Wish you were here – bring ammo.

 

Perhaps it is a matter of being less willing to be drawn in by what is promised by MMOs (both in development and in play) at some point in the near or distant future.  After all, as Paul Barnett pointed out when he was a guest on the show, if you tell a player something “is in development” they will take it to me that it is promised for “next Thursday”, when in fact it might not ever be delivered at all.  Part of it, I am sure, is more of a willingness to “clean house” as some of our guests have done (especially in face of Internet providers that seem to feel they have both us and the FCC over a barrel.  Perhaps it is even that I too find myself saying “one more turn” as I play Civilization Four.   Whatever the reason, I find myself turning more toward some of the stand alone games that are soon to hit the shelves…

Fallout: New Vegas is, of course, one of them.

It isn’t the fact that members of Obsidian (Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone) worked on Fallout and Fallout 2 that I find promising (in fact that might give me pause more than anything else).   This time around Bethesda Softworks is the publisher rather than the developer.   What is promising, and even thrilling, is that these are the same devs that brought us Neverwinter Nights 2, which “gave great story.”   Yes I will admit to being a Fallout 3 fan girl.  Once Bethesda released the “GECK” tool  for modding the game, I have been modding it and playing it ever since.

But it isn’t the sandbox nature of the game that is so interesting, although that is certainly a large part of it.  While I do appreciate getting away from swords and sorcery now and then it isn’t the big guns that I find to be a drawing card – more than anything else it is the great story.  Fallout 3 has character that I enjoyed interacting with and even (at least on some level) cared about what happened to them in the game (like Moira).  My best hope for Obsidian’s version of the next addition to the Fallout series, Fallout: New Vegas, is that it will have great story and characters that are just as engrossing as I found in Fallout 3.

Recently a couple of question and answer sessions came across our news feed via Bethesda. Here is an excerpt. You can find the complete sessions here. 

Will each faction have a radio station?

Josh Sawyer: Not every faction has a radio station, but I hope people are happy with the radio stations, DJs, and music selection we have.

Will the PC retail game be able to be activated via Steam?

 

Jason Bergman, Senior Producer at Bethesda Softworks: Yes. Fallout:

New Vegas will fully utilize the Steamworks SDK. This means that

retail PC copies will activate via Steam. We are also using Steam for

achievements and other features (but not multiplayer, of course. FNV

remains a single player only game).

Will the Fallout: New Vegas Version of the GECK ship with the game, or

be downloadable on release?

 

JS: Yes. In addition to the normal GECK functionality F3 modders have

come to expect, the F:NV GECK will allow modification of ammo lists,

ammo subtypes, the hardcore “basic needs” rates, and a lot of the

other new bits of data we have added. It will also contain the F:NV

dialogue editor, which can be used with or without the standard F3

dialogue editor.

Will there be any sort of party involved? A few companions to tag along?

JS: Yes. The player may have one humanoid and one non-humanoid

companion at any given time.

 

These answers alone are reason to cheer – with the biggest reason is that those modding skills I have learned in GECK will be put to good use in Fallout New Vegas. I foresee many, many hours of modding New Vegas in my future, starting with an undead Frank Sinatra.  And no disk in the drive or always on DRM? More good news.  Companions in the game?  A positive answer to that one is important; I hate to travel alone.  And I have got to tell you that I just love the radio stations in Fallout 3 and I am glad they have returned to this game.   So until October 19, 2010 (the current release date) I will have to satisfy myself with Fallout 3, a postcard from New Vegas and the trailer below.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

Update

One of our favorite subjects to discuss around here lately (as I am sure you have noticed) is net neutrality. Well it seems that in other countries the net is very, very far from neutral.

Onlive:  By now most of you have heard of the service meant to make hardware restrictions a thing of the past by streaming your favorite games – today the service went live. We will see who well it fares.  For those of you who haven’t heard of it there is E3 coverage here.

 (posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster)

E3 Trailer