It's that time of year again!

'Twas the day after Christmas
And all through our home,
Conditions resembled the Downfall of Rome.
The toys were all broken, and under the tree
Lay tinsel and stencils and piles of debris.
The children, chuck full of turkey and roux
Were claiming they had nothing, but nothing to do.
My wife in her nightgown, and I with my pills
Were gazing with loathing at the great mound of bills.

I hate Steam. No, make that "I _HATE_ Steam!" Dealing with Steam has never been easy for me. It seems that EVERY time I am required to interact with Steam, something goes awry.

Today I broke down and acquired Mafia II. Got home, opened it up and saw that authentication via Steam is required. [Queue the ominous music.] So I start the install process and instead of installing the game and then going to Steam, you are _first_ required to open a Steam account. Okay, I can deal with that. Create the account, copy the account info to MyDocuments, and receive the happy message that I am now the proud owner of a new Steam account. Then I continue with installing the game. Finally, it's all done and ready to go!

Or is it?

Warning: Rant ahead! Proceed at your own risk!

[Historical trivia: The obviously most common literal translation of a given race or tribe's native language term naming that race or tribe is "The People".]

I've been forcefully reminded that there is nothing at all wrong with Humanity that couldn't be improved if we simply got rid of all of The People.

There's no denying that Man is a social animal. A man on his own, without the beneficial interactions with other people is pretty much good for nothing. Except maybe for there being less aggravation in his life. Or absence of the frequent reminders of how whatever it is he is doing, he's doing it "wrong". The People always seem to appear wherever people congregate to properly educate those other people about what is "proper" and "right" and therefore what will be permissible and what will be tolerated. And what things won't be tolerated or go unchallenged. The People know these things are true, because God (or gods) are on Their side, obviously. And because, just as obvious, alternate opinions or points-of-view are patently stoooopid and should be shunned, eschewed, belittled, and demeaned to demonstrate just how stoooopid and wrong-headed such alternate thinking is. After all, if such opinions were NOT stooopid, those would be the opinions that The People espoused, as opposed to the undeniably "right" standards and values currently held by The People.

Ever since Velociraptors banded together to haul down larger prey, anyone or anything outside of the pack was either A) something to be preyed upon, or B) something to be avoided. With an emphasis on A. Throughout the annals of recorded history, interactions between different groups almost always boiled down to "Us = Good; Them = Bad." With "Good" being defined by whichever group proved to be dominant in the interaction. It hardly matters which historical group is cited, almost invariably it can be seen that that group perceived itself as Righteous, Just, favored by God(s), while all others were NOT righteous, just, or favored by God(s). Didn't matter if the group was dominant or oppressed, it's members rest assured that They were "right" while others were "wrong". Even the Jews, held in bondage by the Egyptians for generations, viewed themselves as "the Chosen People of God".

Video Game Sales Make Surprise Plunge in April

We've arrived in May, and Wall Street is wondering, "What the heck happened to the video game industry???" Seems like, unless the developers and manufacturers are keeping the pedal to the metal, turning out Gold and Platinum releases on a weekly basis, "There's something wrong happening!" Or is it just that the llllooooonnnnnggggg economic recession is putting a crimp in people's wallets, such that they are now budgeting to spend on only "the really Good games" (whichever those might be)?

Epic Event, or Epic Fail?

If you are one of those people that thinks BioWare is the greatest thing since sliced bread and should not be criticized for anything, run -- don't walk to the nearest exit. Though there are some Good Things here, there's also some Bad. Those of you that remain, I leave it to you as to which side of the balance is weighed down more. Also, if what you read here prompts you to voluminous commentary, I'll post this article in its own thread in the forums. That way you can comment at length without any sensation of claustrophobia imbued by that tiny Comment box.

For those that would like to view the raw data spreadsheet, you can click here .

Well, after a contentious beginning, the vaunted BioWare Bazaar EPIC event has finally started with the much anticipated auctions. That is, much anticipated in the US (not including Florida or New York) anyway. HOWEVER, it takes a certain amount of hide-and-go-seek to get to where the auctions are being held. (Anyone at BioWare ever hear the terms "user-friendly" or "intuitive interface"? Apparently not.)

Anyway, here's a shortcut: click here

Reflect on your all-time favorite video game(s). What are the parameters of all that gaming goodness that make you so love those game titles above all others that are "out there"? Now reflect on who the people are that made those games soooooo lovable. Who designed and developed those games into the masterpieces that you grew to love? Nine times out of ten, those people were, first and foremost, devote gamers themselves. Gamers making games for others that love games that they will love to play as well. When a gamer designs a game, his or her foremost thought is to make a Work of Art that hopefully others will remember fondly, and maybe even drag out of the closet years later to play "just one more time". Passionate people making games that they want others to be passionate about as well.

Too bad those passionate people aren't in control of the industry anymore.

It seems that scientists won't be satisfied until they "prove" that absolutely EVERYTHING will kill us....eventually. Now word has come out out that _sitting_ is deadly. [That means YOU! Those all-nighters with the latest/greatest computer games will be the death of you yet!]

Now all we need are studies "proving" that standing and/or lying down will do you in and we'll have the complete set.

Experts: Sitting too much could be deadly
LONDON — Here's a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly. Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health. And it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it occurs.

Or lack thereof, to be more precise.

Consider: My mighty Warrior (from any fantasy RPG of your choice) starts his day by strapping on a w_i_d_e array of armor that includes components for arm, leg, head, torso, and family jewels protection. Next he straps on an assortment of weapons for up-close combat as well as long range deathdealing. Since the world as of yet has not developed ATMs, most of my available cash, consisting of umpty-hundred gold, silver, and copper pieces is placed in a miniature Bag of Holding coin purse. Lastly, I grab up a backpack that contains all of my other worldly possessions. Fully accoutered, I sally forth to face the world. Only to have an evil archmage skewer me with a Death spell of some sort, making me keel over without a scratch on me.

Now, the question I have in mind is: What kind of loot would you expect a scavenger to find on my corpse? If loot-finding works for NPCs the same way it does for player characters, the answer is, "Hardly anything at all."

I've come to the conclusion that democracy sucks. Any system that allows a block of people (sometimes that block only being close to the majority) to dictate to the entire population that "You CAN have this; you CAN'T have that" means that that group gets what it wants, but others outside of that group have to settle for watered down "compromises', or often nothing that they want at all. You can see it in politics. You can see it in business. You can see it in democratically run common interest groups. And now you can even see it in the game stores.

Adventuring is for young people. How else can you explain starting characters that have next to nothing in the way of skills and abilities? (Also known as being Level 1-3.) When a game such as Dragon Age: Origins introduces a main NPC that is nearing retirement age, yet that character has abilities equivalent to a fantasy world's version of a high school graduate, it seems quite innocuous, to say the least. _Especially_ when the character in question has a backstory that is thoroughly fleshed out. The more you see of that character's biography, the more you've got to be asking yourself, "Has this character been on Hold all those years or what?"

Playing the latest, greatest RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, I am reminded that in nearly every fantasy adventure RPG, the best choice for your hero is the Rogue/Thief/Assassin. He or she may lack the sheer bashing power of a dedicated Warrior, and he or she will never be able to hurl the mininukes that Mages eventually master, but in the opening chapters of any adventure it is the Rogue that almost invariably CAN get the job done.

Borderlands seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I have just _got_ to speak up about a foundation premise that supports post-Apocalypse-type games: the ready availability of ammo.

In games like Borderlands and Fallout 3 you have game environments of modern civilizations where the civilization seems to have seriously broken down. It seems like everyone is at constant war with everyone else. You have a few pockets of relative quiet -- communities where order is maintained, or else.... But most of the gameboard is based on "He who shoots first and most accurately is allowed to survive." Most of these games involve scrounging the wasteland, looking for the Biggest, Baddest weapon that can be found.

But what good is the Biggest, Baddest Weapon if there is no ammo for it?

It's probably different for the current generation, seeing as they were barely more than toddlers when they first got introduced to computers -- and computer games, of course. But I have vague recollections that seem to go as far back as the Stone Age when the kids in the neighborhood excessively played "Cowboys & Indians". Or, in the case of the neighborhood where I grew up, "War". Very simple rules: First, you needed a toy gun of some sort. Then split into two teams and take up positions at a distance from each other. Then start stalking each other, hoping to sneak up on an opponent, aim your toy weapon, and then yell, "Bang! You're dead!" Of course, thereafter ensued the inevitable argument of, "Am not! You missed!", "Did not!", "Did so!" Because of the inevitable arguments, "Cowboys & Indians" is generally a short-lived phase and we all moved onto other toys and games.

Or did we?

That's NOT "Do they make you stupid?" It's more along the line of, "Do they do too little to make you think well?"

I became a hardcore gamer via a path that started with Chess. I moved onto boardgames, then on to paper-and-pencil RPGs. Then video games appeared with the advent of Pong. Of course, video games existed before Pong; it's just that the only place you could find them was in an arcade where you spent vast quantities of quarters/tokens to get in several hours of gameplay. But arcade games are NOT what I considered to be "real" gaming. They seemed much more like playing a sport than like playing what I had grown up thinking of as being what a game should be. That is, something that made you think.