Over the course of the last 2 weeks I have packed a 40 hour work week into 3 days, reinstalled Windows on 3 separate PCs, worked my first Friday in over a year, and managed to start playing Animal Crossing again. WTF indeed. I am back now, and plan to keep a regular schedule on updating my blog.
The end of January saw the end of days for one of my favorite developers: Ensemble Studios. Ensemble created my favorite RTS game in Age of Empires 3 and it is sad to see them go. Halo Wars, an XBOX 360 exclusive, is their final title. With the Jan 23rd announcement Halo Wars went gold, Ensemble is effectively done. The Halo moniker alone will insure their last title will be a big seller, but I still feel chafed by the whole affair. For one, RTS games have never been received well on consoles...if you believe what you read. For two, I'm irked by a PC only developer putting out there last hurrah on a console. That's what happens when you're owned by Microsoft I suppose. Lastly, I'm confused by the decision to close Ensemble. From all I've read, Ensemble has done well for MS financially speaking. They've pushed 20 million units of software out of the door for MS in the last decade. MS cited it was a business decision, "This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path.". I don't get paid to make tough business calls but I'm struggling to understand the idea of shutting down a popular developer who is turning a profit for you. Rest in Peace Ensemble Studios.
Speaking of Microsoft, I had the pleasure of fixing an ornery Vista system last weekend. Not having the time for much gaming during the work week, I had been looking forward to moving forward through my backlog. Vista's blue screen of doom had other plans. After applying the recommended BIOS update...which resulted in no sound and a fragged exterior hard drive...I was left with no option but to format and reinstall Windows. Having rid myself of all the crap Dell puts on your PC, I'm actually a happier Vista user now. Too bad the journey here sucked.
The end of January saw the end of days for one of my favorite developers: Ensemble Studios. Ensemble created my favorite RTS game in Age of Empires 3 and it is sad to see them go. Halo Wars, an XBOX 360 exclusive, is their final title. With the Jan 23rd announcement Halo Wars went gold, Ensemble is effectively done. The Halo moniker alone will insure their last title will be a big seller, but I still feel chafed by the whole affair. For one, RTS games have never been received well on consoles...if you believe what you read. For two, I'm irked by a PC only developer putting out there last hurrah on a console. That's what happens when you're owned by Microsoft I suppose. Lastly, I'm confused by the decision to close Ensemble. From all I've read, Ensemble has done well for MS financially speaking. They've pushed 20 million units of software out of the door for MS in the last decade. MS cited it was a business decision, "This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path.". I don't get paid to make tough business calls but I'm struggling to understand the idea of shutting down a popular developer who is turning a profit for you. Rest in Peace Ensemble Studios.
Speaking of Microsoft, I had the pleasure of fixing an ornery Vista system last weekend. Not having the time for much gaming during the work week, I had been looking forward to moving forward through my backlog. Vista's blue screen of doom had other plans. After applying the recommended BIOS update...which resulted in no sound and a fragged exterior hard drive...I was left with no option but to format and reinstall Windows. Having rid myself of all the crap Dell puts on your PC, I'm actually a happier Vista user now. Too bad the journey here sucked.
2 comments:
Okay I am going to clue you in on something. I know you are a young man and you have to learn things the hard way but here it goes.There are certain things in this world that you just don't do and if you do do them then you deserve what you get. Case in point, if the girl you are dating is the youngest of three or more siblings then you need to run away. You are dating what we call a princess. This girl has been spoiled to death not only by her parents but she has been given a free ride by her older siblings as well. There is no pleasing this girl...ever. She (or he for that matter ladies) is going to expect you to bow down and worship the ground she walks on because that is what mommy and daddy has done her (or his) whole life. Think about it, the oldest child has gotten the snot beat out of him by the parents because they are going to be all super strict on their first born, but by the time princess buttercup comes around they have either chilled out or are just too tired to care anymore. (Can you image what kind of monster that last Duggar kid is going to be? Seriously. At the very least he is going to be an evil dictator of a small central American country.)
But even worse than that is buying the newest Microsoft operating system before it has been on the market for at least 6 years. This is not an operating system, this is a program in beta (at best) and you are there to work out the bugs. You know what the funny thing is? Microsoft isn't paying you to be a beta tester, you have paid them for the privilege losing your data on a nightly basis. FUN! Bill Gates is swimming in a vault full of money life Scrooge McDuck while you are wiping your hard drive clean for the fourth time in a month. (OH! Look! He is rolling back and forth in all that money laughing at you. muahahahahahahahahahaha) You know what operating system I bought when I got my new computer 3 months ago? That's right. Windows XP baby. You know why? Because sorry saps like you finally worked the kinks out of that operating system and have now moved on to Vista. So long losers, here is a picture of me resting in your labors. *Slurps a drink in a coconut husk*
*laugh*
More true than you know my friend. To combat this I finally got around to dusting off my previous PC and having it ready to play the games Vista doesn't make nice with.
Ah well, there is a lot I'm willing to go through for 'motion blur' in my games.
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