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Tag Archives: Opinion

It’s Official

I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

I’d like to think of myself as a fairly mildly-tempered person, but this is just beyond the point of stupid.  Minecraft is a LEGO simulator!  Anything you can make with LEGO you can make in Minecraft as well, with each having their own advantages and disadvantages!

I had already lost a lot of respect for Minecraft just because of the ridiculously dumb fanbase it has, but this would almost be enough to make me lose respect for LEGO too.  Sadly, with actually cool sets released like this Fallingwater one, it will have to try a little harder to lose my love.

Why People Hate DRM

All the stink that both Diablo III and Ubisoft are causing on the “always-on” DRM made me have to double back on my opinion of it. And actually, an article by Ars Technica released yesterday actually helped me change my mind from being neutral on the matter to being against it.

Yes, I used to be on the side of “When the hell aren’t you connected to the internet, so what’s the problem?” camp. Everywhere I am, I have Internet access, even to the point of I can turn my phone into a hotspot. Hell, I don’t even have to worry about caps on either landline or mobile. I have no reason to care if I’m connected to the Internet or not, because it’s so incredibly easy to do.

But, over the past couple days, I’ve noticed more and more just how problematic DRM is. It doesn’t make life easier for those who buy it, it complicates matters and punishes you for buying the game. The truth of the matter is that pirates will always find a way around DRM in games, music, and movies, and will end up with a product that, while illegal, is incredibly easy to use. Read More »

WWDC 2011 Predictions

Apparently at least a couple of people get humor out of my predictions, so here we go again.  Guesses for the keynote being delivered tomorrow in regards to iOS5, Mac OSX 10.7, and iCloud.

iCloud:

  • All music labels will be signed on, and they’ll do something like show it off as the “First proper cloud music system” as a swing at Amazon and Google.
  • Will have a Zune Pass style music subscription option – $x dollars for unlimited music streaming.
  • All songs you buy will be tied into your account.
  • Apps will have API access to connect certain data into the cloud (Up to a certain limit of storage or something, I imagine)
  • Will replace MobileMe, and have a significant price drop and/or be free.
  • Will tie in “automagically” with your existing Apple Store ID.

iOS5:

  • Will officially kill off support for the 3G iPhone and respective iPod Touch.
  • Full integration with iCloud, which will be the bulk of the features.
  • They won’t do widgets, but they will allow live updating icons.  That’s about as close as they’ll get.
  • They will do tweaks to the notification system, but it still won’t be as good as Android or WP7.

Mac OSX

  • Integration with iCloud.
  • More stuff about the App Store.
  • Overview of some of the features, with maybe a few more hidden ones shown.  Nothing too overly exciting.

And I’m calling it now, but there will be one more thing somewhere.  No idea what it will be though.

On Terraria and First Impressions in Video Gaming

As a general rule, I like to give games about ninety minutes to hook me into it. As far as I see, if I can’t get a good idea of what the game is about and whether I’ll enjoy playing it in the timespan of ninety minutes, then the game isn’t worth my time. The first impression that you get from a game needs to hook you into it, as it tends to normally set your opinion of the game and outlines the rest of the time you’ll play in that game. First ninety minutes of any GTA game? You’re shooting people, killing hookers, and driving cars. First ninety minutes of any shooter? You’re introduced to the plot of the game, picked up a weapon or two and have started killing things. First ninety minutes of a racing game? You’re driving a car getting to understand how the AI works, how the cars handle, and everything like that. The list goes on. But, having been ninety minutes into Terraria, I’m honestly not seeing the point yet.

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Portal 2

I love when there’s a long, in-depth article about something that I was going to post about, especially when I agree with it almost a hundred percent.  Portal 2, while a generally good game in many respects, had a significant amount of flaws in it.  Is that a reasonable statement?  Of course.  When you have a game as perfect as the original one was, it’s incredibly hard to get above that specific bar and you’re bound to have some issues.  So, with that lofty statement said, I highly recommend reading this Ars Technica article about Portal 2, and then checking out my brief commentary on the matter.

(On a side note: There are spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you haven’t finished the game).

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