the-inbetween.com

I Quiiiiiit

I should be thankful that this eBay auction (!!) grew so far out of my price range. That money would be better served staying in my bank account in anticipation of my upcoming return to joblessness. Yes, as of June 8th, I shall be free of this place.

What will come next? Who knows. I thought I had something in line, but there's been no word on that: never a positive sign. In the meantime, it shall be a return to (hopefully temporary) frugality. It hasn't been too long since I've been broke and indebted, so it shouldn't take long to readjust to a lack of spending.

This was the first time I've ever had to "officially" resign, so I had fun writing a "formal" letter of resignation. It was quite therapeutic. The xHTMLized version follows (Warning! stupid, fluffy, snooty, non-sensical writing with a number of errors and obscure references):

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New Release Day

Millions of nerds are collectively creaming their pants today as that Rings movie is officially released. Not me. No, today marks the release of two far more interesting things: Skinny Puppy's Greater Wrong of the Right and the XBox release of Metal Slug 3. While the anticipation for these titles doesn't make me any less of a nerd, it does make me a hipper nerd.

While it will accompany me to the cash register the next time I'm in HMV (or wherever else it might be found), I have to admit that I've had the leaked advance version of The Greater Wrong of the Right for well over a month. The unfinished, unmastered version that OhGr wasn't particularly happy to see out in the wild (also see RadioHead, and to a lesser extent UNKLE's Never Never Land -- my prerelease version's intro track has some samples that, I assume, weren't permitted for use in the final album). It's a little different. A little weird. Not quite like Skinny Puppy of old as much as a combination of the newer OhGr/Key stuff, which is good; I'm all for progress rather than stagnation. Not particularly harsh, though my definition of harsh is out there compared to the norm, so I'm not a good judge of that.

Not the greatest album ever, but it is a good one and one that does grow on you. Or just me. Whatever.

As for Metal Slug 3. I had the fortune of encountering it at a downtown arcade two weeks ago, and while it kicked my ass, I begged for more. Yes, it does feel a bit odd paying that much for a four year old arcade game built for a decade+ old arcade board, and released for the high-powered polygon pushing Xbox. But hell, these type of classic-styled shooters need all the support and encouragement they can get. They're the last bastion of two dimensional game design, and they need to be preserved. I mean, without these games, where will people get pixel art and animated sprites for their forum avatars from?

But support of the genre is a motivating factor for purchasing Metal Slug 3. The better games like this fare, the more likely we are to see other niche games localized -- even if it might be by god awful XS.

Elections

All of a sudden, it's federal election time. Unlike the US, where it's months and months and months of non-stop campaigning, here we do things quick. In Canada, it's a few weeks of "when's the election? when's the election?" followed by "BAM! Election time!" for, like, a month and then, BAM!, we either have the same dipshit goverment for another four or five years or another dipshit government for four or five years. At least here out choices for lousy government aren't restricted to two parties.

Anyway, I was looking through the elections site and I came across the "Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration" page. Look under "Political Parties who lost their eligibility to become registered" and you will see the Absolutely Absurd Party. It's too bad that they aren't registered -- they'd get my vote!

My best guess would be that this party came about because, apparently, there have been changes to the law that requires 50 candidates to become an eligible party with benefits. You do need 250 members now, instead of 100, but that's easier to manage than 50 candidates. Interesting...

Before the Long Weekend

The last place I worked at had a policy wherein any three day long weekend would be treated as a four day long weekend. So on the Victoria Day weekend, I'd be able to take the Friday off in addition to the Monday. My current employer isn't as flexible. So, here are some tips to make the last day before the long weekend more tolerable:

1. Extended lunch: Order the dish that takes the longest to prepare. Don't rush the food. Nurse your drinks (for added enjoyment, make that drink a Stella). Take a long detour on the way back to work.
2. Distract yourself during the course of the day: Get a new high score in Every Extend. Read every single new entry in your rss/atom aggregator. Play Monkey Snowfight against co-workers sympathetic to your long weekend cause. MS Paint something!
3. Make an early escape: Backdoors and hallways are essential. Always carry a pad and paper so that it looks like you are going to a meeting. Set your computer's screensaver to not start for 45 minutes to give the impression that you were recently at your computer (make sure you leave work stuffs on the screen). Avoid cameras and co-workers in a Solid Snake like dash for the exit.
4. Drive safely! I can not emphasize this one enough. Today, I was witness to the worst driving I have seen since the winter's first snowfall. It was horrible. Don't let some idiot rushing through a red light just so he can get home one minute earlier spoil all the work you have achieved in steps one, two, and three.

These tips carry the "Mike Nowak Tried and True" Seal of Approval. Guaranteed to expediate the arrival of the long weekend!

Premier Liar

I'm not one to talk politics much, but god damn the Ontario Liberals are pissing me off something awful. Complete cock-gobblers. The worst part of all the fun new taxes that the Liberals have instituted are the health care premiums.

The breakdown is as follows: those that earn $20,000 or less will pay zero; those that earn $20,000 to $36,000 will pay $300 a year more; those that earn $36,000 to $48,000 will pay $450 per year; those that earn $48,000 to $72,000 will pay $600 a year; those that earn $72,000 to $200,000 (pretty fucking large margin there) will pay $750; and those that earn more than $200,000 will pay $900 per year.

I haven't seen actual percentages for these, which would be more revealing, so I made the calculations myself. Someone making $20,000 is going to pay an additional 1.5% of their income, while someone that is getting $200,000 will pay a mere 0.45%. In other words, for ten times the salary they only pay a third more in taxes.

Way to stiff it to the low-middle class there McGuinty!

What about those in the very large $72,000 to $200,000 range? Well, regardless of where one falls in that range, one has to pay $750. For the low end of the scale, that equates to 1.042% of income; but for the high end of the scale, that's a low 0.375%!

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
DALTON?

At least set the premiums to a fixed percentage. I'm sure you'd be able to get more money that way too (especially off the six-digit salary duders), and you'd be able to do it while being equitable. But what the hell do the Liberals know about equity and accountability anyway?

The Ontario Liberals can suck my left nut -- the other one is reserved for the Federal Liberals.

Halo: Combat

Notwithstanding Microsoft's stupid pricing schemes, I finally got a copy of Halo. For some reason, Conflict: Desert Storm is a Platinum Hits game, yet Halo is not...? The most proven and critically acclaimed titles for Xbox my ass, they're just the ones they can't milk for all their worth anymore.

The latest scheme sees $49.99 Halo (should be $29.99 damnit) being packaged in an Action Double Pack with a ho-hum Platinum Brute Force and a two-months free trial subscription to Live for only $10 more ($59.99). This is going to be the best available deal for a while, so I went with. Naturally, the two month subscription doesn't work with existing accounts. God damnit. Not much of a deal then, is it?

Since I won't be playing multiplayer Halo in the foreseeable future, my impressions of the game are restricted to the single player campaign. After about two hours, it's... alright. Shooting the little alien dudes is enjoyable, but not mind blowing. The ring's backdrop is great, but the immediate environments (so far) are boring. A well made and constructed game, but not the console epiphany that many claimed it to be. Maybe this will change when I get further into the game, but so far... eh.

Possible Uses for the DS

If you have ever used a real-time multiuser visual chat -- or something similar -- then you know you are going to encounter dicks. It's inevitable. Nintendo's Pictochat seems like a nice little application, but... a visual multi-user chat on a system that can auto-detect other clients nearby is bound to see the inevitable dickage as well.

Also, will randy Brits take to the DS and go "toothing" Nintendo-style? I'm sure the conservative Big N would love to see that application.

Toxic Cloud of Death!!

When we moved to this part of Mississauga a year and a half ago, we did so with the assumption that this would be a quieter area. Since then, there's been: one refinery explosion, one triple shooting (last week), and one toxic cloud (today). I'm starting to rethink that "quiet" thought.

Having a Government of Ontario Air Monitoring truck sitting two houses down from you for the whole evening is just slightly unsettling.

The DS

The Nintendo DS: the premier strapless portable system.

You know what? I kind of like it. Granted, it's not the best looking system around, and, granted, the initial game library already pales in comparison to the PSP's, but I think it has the most potential for originality, and in this day and age that's a good thing. Two screens, capable 3D performance, four face buttons, microphone input, bluetooth AND WiFi, and a touch screen with stylus -- and it is supposed to be backwards compatible, considerably cheaper than the PSP, and the size isn't bad either. Sounds good to me.

The most fascinating aspect of the DS is the touch-screen input. Sure, it's not original; I've been using a Wacom for years, Pocket PCs and Palms have had them for years, even the Newton had one... ten years ago ("Eat up Martha"). However, this is the first time that a machine that focused on play over function has had one of this calibre, and definitely a first for a game focused system -- let alone one with some decent processing power to back it.

When I think of the input, I can't help but think of online toys and applications done in Flash and Proce55ing and Director. When I think of the DS's potential, I think of the likes of Soda's Moovl and Constructor, and iSketch, and various visual chats (which Nintendo is doing) and other such digital toys. Playful things. Playful things that wouldn't be as playful with a cumbersome stick or d-pad. And it is that comparison that makes me excited for the DS.

Seriously, thinking about something like Moovl done with the Nintendo touch and with a focus on gameplay makes me all tingly on the inside.

Now the onus is on the developers to meet that potential.

Thoughts on E3's Day -1: PSP

E3 is in full swing and three time zones seperate me from it. All the event reporting is making me feel like an info junkie. At this point, I'd rather be there not for the games (though that's part of it), but so that I can get first hand footage and spare my browser from the constant refreshing. It doesn't help that here's about a million other geeks trying to load the exact same updates at the exact same time, bringing the likes of Gamespot and IGN and even the whole Nintendo site to its knees. DGDS - Distributed Geek Denial of Service.

It has been an announcement packed day, so there's a lot to wrap one's head around. Which is absurd as E3 doesn't start until tomorrow!

The Sony PSP. The black version sure does look sexxxy, but the hipster laden promo shots make it out to be large. Very large. And I sure hope that screen is durable, as I wouldn't want to see it get damaged bouncing around like that, strapped around your neck! Seriously, what the hell is with that strap? Is that how you're supposed to carry it around? I think I'd rather wear a large "Rob Me" sign instead.

The absolute best thing about the Gameboy Advance SP is the size. You fold it up, stick it into your shirt pocket, take it with you wherever you go, and move on. It's invisible so no one will know that you are a geek loser. The PSP, however... I can't imagine carrying that around. I'm sure that it's powerful and full-featured and the games are fine, but if it's going to stay near the home because of its bulkiness, I might as well stick to the Playstation 2. (And add some of the expected peripherals, and this thing becomes MASSIVE.)

I can't comment on any of the games, as I've seen very little about them (are any playable on the floor? Or, at least, shown running on the actual system and not an emulator?), but the initial list doesn't fill me with enthusiasm. One of the main arguments against the Gameboy Advance is that it is rehash/port/remake central. To combat that stigma, I clearly remember a Sony exec saying that they will work hard to ensure that it doesn't happen on the PSP. The initial list of "revealed" games is as follows:

Conference attendees were treated to a dizzying video montage of new versions of many classic PlayStation 2 games, which looked almost identical to their original versions. Clips of Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer, Wipeout, Dynasty Warriors, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Medievil, Ape Escape, Spider-Man, Metal Gear Solid, and a Capcom fighting game were shown in rapid succession--and to an enthusiastic response from the crowd.

If that's not rehash city I don't know what is. And while the possibility of new Wipeout and Metal Gear Solid titles is nearly enough to sell the system, I can't help but feel that those two titles will be very familiar. Very similar to their PS2 counterparts. However, disregarding the retreading, the library does look impressive; some official footage would be nice though.

Edit. Metal Gear Acid? Hmmm... not quite as familiar. Now we know what Kojima's drug of choice was for Sons of Liberty.

Enter the Monotony

Things are getting monotonous, even in the games I play during my free time. Final Fantasy XI is like work, only with negative cash flow. I log-in, work on my Job for a few hours, I try to get into a group to speed up experience hunting, the group turns out to be badly managed, collapses, and I end up losing a lot of time with little to show for it. I get enough of that every weekday from nine to five, I don't need it in my games too.

Yet, strange as it is, I'm not about to give up on Final Fantasy XI just yet.

In the meantime, though, I've sought out quick-hit games to break the monotony. Every Extend (which I mentioned last post) fits the bill nicely -- the quick twitch play with the imposed three-minute time limit makes for a nice spur-of-the-moment impulse game. My (weak) high score thus far: 1,321,200 on light (13 ST, 53 CH).

In addition to that, I've been splurging on a lot of older games. Again. Visiting this place for the first time didn't help matters much -- the amount of old PC games they have is amazing. Picked up Shogun: Total War, Tempest 2000, and Thief (so I can finally see what all the hype is about) for $12CDN. Total. Also picked up some older budgety PS2 games...

... which means -- along with a Microplay purchase this afternoon -- I have acquired Gungrave, Gungriffon Blaze, and Gunvalkyrie this week. For a moment I started to think about getting Gunmetal for the sake of consistency, but I thought the better of it. Now if I had seen Gunstar Heroes, that'd have been a different story.

System Selector Pro + Every Extend

If you're like me and you have multiple consoles, you know that keeping them all connected is a pain in the ass. Especially if you have more consoles than inputs on your tv. This is why the System Selector Pro from Pelican is a life-saver. It doesn't do much to solve the cableing mess -- it adds to it, really -- but it makes connections manageable, and that lets you forget about the ugly spiderweb of cables behind the tv since you no longer have to switch inputs everytime you want to play one of your older systems.

Just look at all those inputs; it's like a harem for cables! Eight AV/S-Video inputs, three Component Video, three ethernet (what sells it and sets it apart from the competitors!), and back-lit buttons on the face, all in a sleek entertainment system friendly package. Thumbs up.

The Three Minute Contest is a Japanese indie game developer contest with the restriction that all games must last three minutes (duh). I passed on the link the first time I saw as I can't read Japanese, but after seeing Every Extend mentioned in a number of places I gave it a look. It's a great little original action game that's worth a play or two. If you like ABA (rRootage, Tumiki, A7Xpg), you'll like Every Extend.

Also, here's (supposedly) the Three Minute Contest entries page and an interview with Every Extend's creator. In English and en Francais. C'est bon.