Toni Westbrook dot Com

The Joy of Computer Science and Engineering

I make no secret that I am a huge fan of Telltale Games, as can be seen in my first post on what a top notch gaming company they are. I urge you to check them out if you haven’t heard of them before or seen their creations.

I just got through playing the final installment in the Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People series – “8-bit is Enough” – and I’ve got to say, they’ve yet to let me down – the game was simply awesome. I won’t give anything away, but as you Homestar Runner fans know, the Brothers Chaps have an affinity for the 8 bit world, both poking fun and reliving the joy that was gaming in the 80s. All that is brought to new light in “8-bit is Enough”, with the 8-bit world bleeding and mixing into the game world of Strong Bad. For a retro geek like me, it was fun, hilarious, and just a great time to play. The puzzles were pretty good, not great, but on par with previous Strong Bad adventures – but the retro feel of the game was the real champion here – cavorting and battling against pixelated baddies was very true to the spirit of Homestar Runner and ripe with in-jokes of our arcade past.

Featuring everyone’s favorite Trogdor, this one was definitely my favorite in the series, with the first episode being a close second. If you’re into adventure games, retrogaming goodness, the Homestar Runner gang, or just having fun, I definitely suggest playing the entire series, it’s a lot of fun at a very reasonable price.

Links to check out:

Telltale Games
Homestar Runner

WARNING
This borders on a rant – I get into moods where I like to rant, and this is one of them. Treat it accordingly

A (semi) quick thought before I go to bed. There are times in my technology filled life of smart phones, streaming, bluetooth, web 2.0, multitasking, scheduling, interoperability, synchronization, single sign on, and coordination that I honestly just get sick and tired of being efficient all the time. I understand the theory in that by working smarter, not harder, you can get more done – but what’s the point?

People have a lot of reasons for being more efficient – one of the major points: getting more done in a shorter amount of time. The theory is that we either don’t like doing crap, or there is a reward for doing crap, so we devise ways of doing more crap in less time so we have a bigger reward – this reward being the extra free time we saved from doing the crap quickly, or a payment we received in exchange for doing the crap.

The Fisherman

One of the problems that comes into play is we usually take the time we’ve saved by being efficient and put it back into activities surrounding the crap again – either working more or devising even better ways of being efficient for work in the future.

My friend Leah had read me a story once, and I’ll do my best to only semi-misquote it here. It concerns a business man talking to a guy fishing on a beach. The conversation goes a little something like this:

Businessman: Why don’t you go get a job, you lazy fisherman?
Fisherman: Why should I get a job?
Businessman: So you can make it into a career.
Fisherman: Why should I have a career?
Businessman: So you can climb up the ladder, make a lot of money
Fisherman: Why do I need a lot of money?
Businessman: So you can invest it, build up a retirement fund
Fisherman: Why do I need a retirement fund?
Businessman: So you can live out your final days relaxing, fishing on a beach somewhere

Obviously the story leaves out any points of the fisherman having a family, responsibilities, or supporting himself, but the point is still there. The dig here is not against business, but the attitude of the businessman, this “prerequisite of happiness” thing where you’re constantly working to get to somewhere that can be reached without doing all that crap in the first place. The bigger paycheck, the larger office, and the faster car always seem more appealing from far away, but when you’re actually there, they give no happiness compared to the proverbial sitting on the beach and fishing. And if that truly is the goal, then why not cut out the middle man?

The Driving Force

We live in a nation of bigger, better, faster, compete, win, more, more, more. It’s driven into us in a number of ways – we must excel in all that we do. Our country’s finances operate on capitalism, and it’s a survival of the fittest game. And while this drive pushes us to achieve amazing things and delivers us glory, does it truly make us happier in the long run? Especially considering new abilities are often paired with new issues?

All this is the subject of a much more detailed and lengthy article than I could write, and I’m definitely not arguing against progress. But there are many times in my life when I want to unplug – when I’d rather hand write a letter to a friend than send them a Facebook message, or give them a call on the phone instead of text messaging them. There are times when I don’t want to be the fastest or the best, I don’t want to be connected wherever I go – I just want some quiet, some peace, and some happiness.

I think what it really comes down to is needing balance – it’s something I’ve been working on quite a bit the last month or so. As odd as it sounds, I need to put more fisherman into my life.

Like many PS3 owners, I didn’t waste any time trying out the new open beta of Playstation Home when it went live a few days ago. Due to large influx of users when the service initially opened up, I was unable to get on right away, so I spent some time on the net reading the initial responses of those lucky enough to manage to get connected early on.

I found the typical mix of those screaming about how much the service sucked, what has Sony been doing for the past couple years, why do I have to pay 40 cents to buy custom clothes, Playstation Home is the anti-Christ and should be destroyed, etc – and those defending the other side saying it was still in beta, it’s a free service, shut up, etc.

Reality is usually somewhere in between (though I side more with the “shut up” people – those who honestly complain that much about a free, beta service are in need of a serious dose of life-priorities), and eventually I got online and was able to gauge things for myself.

Visuals

The first area you encounter when logging in for the first time is your apartment, which you can decorate with different furniture, wallpaper, devices, etc. It overlooks the sea and its pretty serene. The graphics, as have been commented on, are fairly good – definitely not the best of what the PS3 can pump out, but considering the CBE is taking care of processing a complex, semi-unpredictable MMO environment, they are very good. In other areas such as the mall and movie theater, Sony has incorporated videos onto screens, and they are clear and crisp.

Speed

With all the nice visuals and player processing, the PS3 does remarkably well with little lag (that I saw). The only time I noticed lag was first entering into an area when I’m sure initial setup was going on. Past that, running around the square or the mall, everything was very smooth.

Communication

Home supports keying in text from the controller, using a USB keyboard, or a USB microphone. I tried both the controller and a keyboard. Keying in things from the controller is definitely a huge pain and limits the amount of communication that can go on. There are some preset messages that help a bit, but they only get you so far. After hooking the keyboard up, I definitely had a lot easier of a time talking to the couple other people I could tell had a keyboard hooked up, but I’m guessing the majority of people (for now) are only using a controller. I did hear a few people voice chatting in the game, and that seems like a great option as well for people who don’t mind having their voice heard. I may try with a headset next time.

Entertainment

I personally am not so big on chatting – I rarely use AIM during my personal time, and prefer email or non-real-time messaging such as Facebook. So while talking to people was enjoyable for a little while, I was looking more at Home for other entertainment it provided like online games, such as bowling, pool, and video games found in the bowling alley. The arcade games available include a break-out clone, echochrome, and dropping blocks/match up style game called “Carriage Return”. They were fun for a bit, but I probably enjoyed bowling the most. Up to four people can play per lane, the interface isn’t too bad, and you can chat/heckle while playing, its pretty fun all in all.

Overall

Home is interesting – I hesitate on making any final judgment since its in beta and a lot of content/areas aren’t available yet. For me, I think if Sony opens it up more, adds more consequential interaction/games it will be more enjoyable. I don’t see myself using it too much until that happens aside from bowling every once in a while. Dancing in the music area is kind of funny to watch (as 50 people line up and do the running man), but even that gets old after a while. I think Sony could do a lot of things with home, add parks with chess/checker boards, add go-kart arenas with racing, minigolf, etc – I think that could be a lot of fun. We’ll see how it goes. All in all, its a neat experience for now, and holds a lot of potential – I definitely don’t see it being the travesty a lot of other, less forgiving PS3 owners do.