I Read Stuff!!

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Work

We've been taken over by the Borg (Read: Motorola). I've been in so many training meetings I've been declared legally brain dead. I have a money management mandatory meeting today.

You like that alliteration. I got it at Target. It was on sale.

So it'll probably be another week before I get back into the blogging swing.

Friday, February 16, 2007

MLE

Spike just signed a deal to bring you the MLE. That's Major League Eating. Yeah... Soccer can't get on TV to save its life, but competitive eating receives the green light.

Just think about watching an hour long show of people jamming hot dogs into their face. That is some family TV fun!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Valentines Day!

Yea! Valentines! (a day late)

Happy Valentines from a Code Monkey

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

What Are You Playing

Ever wonder what the wide world is playing on their gaming rigs? You don't? Well, what's wrong with you? Don't you want to make sure you're playing the same games as everyone else? Don't you want to respond intelligently when someone asks you how to unlock Sarge on Cars? (The number 2 highest selling game of '06)

Well here is the list of games you should be playing if you want to have a feel for the public mind. The Top 100 selling games of '06.

Madden's dominance really blows my mind. I don't have a problem with it being in the top 100, but number 1? Seriously, it's the same game every year, but lots of people drop $50 over and over again. At least recycled genre titles have different maps and strategy options.

Speaking of recycled genres, Gears of War and Cars are the only non-sequel games. Cars doesn't really count since it's riding its movie coat tails.

It's a sad day when Microsoft gets a gold star for originality.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Chair... Couch... Thingy...

How often would you re-arrange your living room if your furniture could do this?



Oddly enough, I think I would want my furniture to remain roughly static. Except for the occasional big event, or maybe when I played indoor fetch with my dog.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

GameStop Doesn't Mind High Turnover

In a classic draconian maneuver, GameStop issued a proclamation that any employee caught selling M rated games to minors would be immediately fired. If the said employee is a regular exploited hourly, then the manager is fired as well.

The first problem with this is enforceability. The one of the two people that would report such an incident would be the manager. The manager sure as hell isn't going to say a thing if he might get fired. That leaves the 14 year old kid that just bought the M rated game.

Now you might think that the kid won't say anything either, but it turns out that the ESRB does Mystery Shopping. The mystery shopper audit checks how well retailers do at denying minors access to M rated games. Shockingly 65% of the time the underage kid is rebuffed. That means at least 35 people will be fired from GameStop every 6 months.

When I was a cashier at Best Buy they didn't care who I sold too as long as I mentioned the extended warranty. That has probably changed recently since Best Buy is a part of the ESRB, and they don't want the government regulating their sales practices.

Ultimately these kinds of changes are a good thing since nobody wants underage kids playing ultra violent video games. I just want to make sure that all media is treated fairly. That means CD's with explicit lyrics, rated R movies, and Stephen King novels are treated the same way as rated M games.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Motorolian

It's official. I'm now a Motorolian, as in I work for Motorola. Instead of being one of 200 employees, I'm one in about 80k. I'm not a beautiful and unique snowflake.

I have been issued a bunch of numbers that represent me to the system. Ultimately it's probably a good thing since my name is not unique among the Motorola work force. Thankfully his middle initial is 'A' so we can be identified without resorting to one of our many Motorola id numbers.

Return, I will to old BRAZIL.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Boston Has No Sense Of Humor

What would you think if you were driving down the highway and you saw this:



A portion of the population would recognize it as the Mooninite Err. They would laugh and drive on, or perhaps steal it and sell it on eBay.

That portion of the population is not a part of the Boston Police Department. They went on high alert. They shut down bridges, tunnels and the Charles River, so they could bring in bomb squads to remove the magnetic board.

I understand that it's a suspicious device, but there needs to be some alert levels between Normal and Ape Shit. Atlanta, Chicago, and New York all managed to figure out the devices were benign. They didn't shut down their cities.

Now Boston looks like a bunch of idiots. What do you do when you look like an idiot?

Sue.


Games
GameInterestRelease Date
Civilization IV1
C&C 31
Company of Heroes1
Half Life 21
Half Life 2: Episode One1
Supreme Commander1
Call of Duty 22
Darwinia2
Dungeon Runners2
Dungeon Siege II2
Far Cry2
Galactic Civilization II2
Hitman: Blood Money2
Jade Empire2
Neverwinter Nights 22
Prey2
Psychonauts2
Sam & Max: Episode 12
Titan Quest2
Dark Messiah Might and Magic3
Defcon3
Heroes of Might and Magic V3
Indigo Prophecy3
KOTOR II3
LEGO Star Wars3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance3
Space Rangers 2: The Rise of the Dominators3
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl3
Stubbs the Zombie3
War Front3
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos3
Infernal35/8/2007
Shadowrun25/9/07
Pirates of the Burning SeaM6/1/2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars?6/5/2007
Two Worlds?6/26/07
Sins of A Solar Empire?8/1/2007
BioShock18/21/2007
Mass Effect19/7/07
Age of ConanM10/30/07
Crysis1Fall 2007
Elveon?Fall 2007
Half-Life 2: Episode Two1Fall 2007
Portals1Fall 2007
Spore1Fall 2007
Stranglehold?Fall 2007
Tabula RasaMFall 2007
Team Fortress 22Fall 2007
Dragon Age?Winter 2007
Fable 2?Winter 2007
Field Ops?Winter 2007
Halo Wars?Winter 2007
Gods & Heroes: Rome RisingMWinter 2007
Haze?Winter 2007
Hellgate: London1Winter 2007
HuxleyMWinter 2007
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men?Winter 2007
Left 4 Dead?Winter 2007
The AgencyMSpring 2008
Empire Earth III?Spring 2008
Guild Wars 2 MSpring 2008
Jericho?Spring 2008
Sacred 2?Spring 2008
Savage 2?Spring 2008
Time Shift2Spring 2008
Universe at War: Earth Assault3Spring 2008
The Witcher?Spring 2008
CellFactor?2008
Darkest of Days?2008
On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkeness: Episode 122008
Warhammer OnlineM2008
Alliance: The Silent War??
Alone in the Dark??
Assassin's Creed??
BioWare MMO??
The Crossing??
Dungeon Hero??
Fallout 3??
Lego Batman??
Mythos??
Overloard??
Space Seige??
Culdcept SagaPC??
Gears of WarPC??
God of WarPC??
Beautiful KatamariPC??
OkamiPC??
Resistance: Fall of ManPC??
Odin's SpherePC??
Castle CrashersPC??

1 - I will buy it
2 - I'll buy it at discount
3 - Other people think it's good, but I wasn't interested when I first heard about it
M - Mainly Multiplayer. See if friends get interested.
? - Find out more about this game
PC? - Will it be released on the PC?