This is why we can’t have nice things
When I read that EA sent out a press kit for Godfather II that included real brass knuckles, I thought to myself: that is ridiculously cool. Apparently, now they're recalling all of them due to questionable legality of the contents. I understand, from one perspective that you can't publically agree with sending out potentially illegal weapons but the other side of me hates the fact that the legal structure constantly prohibits overwhelming acts of coolness. I say you send a nice thank you letter in the return shipping box and keep the knuckles.
EA would like its brass knuckles back, please - Ars Technica
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Slavery Still Alive: In Our Classrooms
I found this funny. Apparently, some teacher decided it'd be a good idea to demonstrate slavery by binding two black girls and having them crawl under a desk. Apparently, afterward, one of the girls was upset. I wasn't aware that the girls were forced to participate, at least it wasn't made clear in the article. Frankly, I just crawled around on a dirty public school floor with my limbs bound -- I wouldn't exactly be excited. Is this is something close to the desired result? I don't see where the teacher went wrong. It seems like the parents are more upset than the kids are -- which is understandable: most people are stupid ergo, most parents are stupid.
Source: Associated Press
Stocks Plummet by Over 9000! Wait, no…only 700…
I understand why, it's front page news. But really, this shouldn't be that big of a deal. First time in twenty years (I actually remembered that earlier today, I'm really becoming a suit). The bailout, IMO, was a good idea. Even the 'no' votes probably thought it was a good idea. However, the bill came way too fast. Granted, it sort of had too but even still it's was rough and old people don't like rough. It actually upset me that senators were worried about political suicide when considering the welfare of the American citizens and the economy.
So the bill failed. I don't expect it to get passed now after such a big loss today. Mr. Smith has to be sitting pretty in his grave right now. Lassiez faire economics at its best. My post-undergraduate life just got all sorts of crappy now. With banks not hiring, consulting and research are the only fields really left to a finance-minded person like myself. Honestly, I've always considered those jobs to be fake jobs -- huge wastes of money. Consulting and research is great and needed but not to the extent of ridiculous 100-200 grand salaries.
This is all a sign, stop traveling the path of a suit and return to your game development fantasies.
OpenGL: (Not So) Smooth Moves
Well, once again, I'm super late with the news. Apparently, OpenGL 3.0 was released yesterday. I saw the headline and I almost jumped out of my chair. Sweet hotness, it was finally out. Thankfully, reading initial impressions from more experienced OpenGL developers has completely sucked all that energy out of me. My risk of heart complications from elevated blood pressure are now over.
So, anyone who has been following OpenGL a little knows that it is the only real competitor to DirectX. This fact and the fact that it's open to any OS makes it kind of a big deal. The problem with OpenGL is that implementation sucks due to massive complexity issues. The OpenGL code is pretty damn old, around 15 years old. Now you're probably thinking, I guess that's old. In the tech world, that's ancient. Think about the hardware capabilities between now and 15 years ago. Huge difference exists there.
It's OpenGL 3.0 though, it can't be that old if there was a 2.0 in between. Yeah, the funny thing about OpenGL is that all they seem to do is patch the code constantly to keep up with modern features. All this patchwork makes for a really crappy design and hence the bad support due to complex implementation.
So what, if this is how it's always been, what's the deal with the fuss over 3.0? Well Khronos (the people now in charge of OpenGL) promised a clean break from OpenGL 2.1 with a complete rewrite of the entire API. This new API would be significantly more modern and feature increased speed and easier implementation. Every got super excited (in their pants) and then hit with a 10-ton anvil when the bomb dropped.
To sum things up: Promises were broken and I feel hurt as a game developer and Linux user.
People wonder what happened and many speculate they avoided a complete shift to appease their main market: CAD developers (think engineering software). It's nice to know they are happy with recent developments as a CAD developer responded on the GameDev.net Forums:
"After hearing these news, we will be starting the end-of-life plan for our OpenGL renderer in the very near future (XP compatibility and quad buffered stereo are the only features holding it back), and will be focusing on D3D10 exclusively from now on."
Awesome, they pissed off the game developers and the CAD developers. At least they still have OpenGL ES for the mobile market.
It's crap like this that makes me wonder why I use Linux. Our community needs to get it together. Times like this require us to either screw OpenGL and develop our own graphics API or rally to take OpenGL from Khronos and do something positive with it. Obviously, they lack the vision and guts to handle modern development. I mean if Microsoft did it with DirectX 10 then it should no problem to attack it with OpenGL.
Source: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=504623
Man, Ninja Gaiden only had one sequel…
Tecmo is done. Itagaki recently announced his resignation and lawsuit on Tecmo for unpaid wages. I'm not sure if Tecmo realizes that Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive were the only real games paying their light bill. Honestly, Team Ninja was Tecmo. Horny old dunkard, Itagaki was the revenue stream.
I only hope that, since in this day and age there will probably be no reconciliation, EA does not take the opportunity to purchase Tecmo and the Ninja Gaiden franchise.
The gaming industry has taken another blow, a moment of silence...
I wonder who will get the chance to scoop up Itagaki? Please say Capcom: Rockman Zero meets Ninja Gaiden? Too sick. Street Figher Action/RPG? Hah, lemme stop -- we all know he needs to take his ass to Sega and finish up Shenmue because Yu Suzuki is slacking!
source: ArsTechnica
Punishment of the Rich
"A former broker at Bear Sterns was sentenced on Tuesday to three years of probation and a year of home confinement and fined $300,000 for his part in an insider trading case." - NY Times by Reuters more...
Apparently, a crew of him along with 12 others were charged. They grabbed themselves over $17.5 million through their actions. Assuming they divided it somewhat evenly, they man is sitting on around $300k-$500k after the fine.
I don't know about you but being forced to a vacation with a $300,000 in my pocket doesn't sound too bad. There's a bit of stigma attached to finding a new job but it doesn't say that he's lost his license to be a broker (though I would assume he did). I'm sure he'll find work again after the year.
Is this an example of the legal system coddling the rich?
The man's name is Ken Okada which lends itself to him being of Japanese descent. Asians tend to have a more favorable position than Africans in the light of Western culture so, is it a race issue? Would a black man get the same treatment?
Personally, I don't think race can really be ignored but the significant factor is his financial situation. I'm considerably suprised that he is simply put on probation and not sentenced to even a little jail time. I mean the guy in Wall Street went to jail and he was white. I hope punishment for SEC violations continue to be so light when I'm out of college. I'll definitely commit some high-income insider trading and then just bloody retire afterwards.
Sally Forth…to Independence!
So Kosovo declared indepence very recently. Is it me or is this crazy? I remember learning history in high school and reading about countries declaring indepence and fighting for it. However, that learning experience is that of an age which has passed. It feels surreal to hear that a region is declaring indepence.
With Russia voting for it to be declared null and void it seems like Kosovo may have a fight on its hands. Now, I'm not one for the death of hundreds of people but I find it so exciting and I hope this doesn't just fizzle and die but continues to rage and inspire not just Serbs but people everywhere that there are still intolerable acts that you should stand up against.
For the first time, I think ever, I feel the world is alive. Not just my world is alive but the whole world is waking up from an extended hibernation.
Source: New York Times
The Floodgates Are Open
I just opened the blog up to anonymous comments. Hopefully, I won't regret this decision and get spammed. I didn't want to deter anyone from commenting just because they'd have to log-in first.
Just a note: Blogger is owned by Google. Consequently, your Google account (ex. gMail) will log you in and allow you to comment.
