Author Archives: The Extremist
Equilibrium is not a state of peace
Equilibrium isn’t a state of harmony. Peace and harmony reign when multiple potential influences exist without coming into conflict. Everyone agrees, or possibly even agree to disagree. Sometimes “agreeing to disagree” simply isn’t possible. Sometimes something is too important for … Continue reading
Experiments in website design
For those who haven’t noticed, I’ve changed the layout of Entropy. Again. I’m pretty sure this means I’ve spent more time on developing the site than actually publishing through it. Those that know WordPress would probably instantly recognise the theme … Continue reading
Google has (finally) revamped their image search results page to work/look more like Bing’s (Google: http://j.mp/crjcTV, Bing: http://j.mp/9eH4XW). It feels a whole lot slicker and faster, though. *EDIT: A friend discovered that to experience Google’s new image search results pages … Continue reading
Thunderbird 3.1 on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx 64 bit
About a month ago Mozilla released Thunderbird 3.1. The problem is that Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) ships with Thunderbird 3.0.x. Normally this isn’t an issue because the newest version of something as big as a Mozilla project is usually in … Continue reading
Testing the ‘aside’ special condition in the Twenty Ten theme’s loop. I wonder what it looks like?
What does Eugène Terre’Blanche’s murder mean for South Africans?
A(nother) man was murdered in South Africa today. This one happened to be on a farm, and happened to be white. If the latest (2009) statistics on farm attacks from the SA government are to be believed, we’re looking at … Continue reading
“The only people who need to have firearms are the law enforcers”
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Bheki Cele and heard him speak informally about the state of crime in South Africa. I don’t know how much of the conversations in private meetings like that are appropriate to disclose, but suffice … Continue reading
A lament for the PC FPS
‘Twas a great day in gaming
When the godfathers of gib
John Carmack and Romero did hack and ad-lib.
For they gave unto PCs +mlook in Quake
and changed forever the gaming landscape.
For many a moon all had their voice:
Consoles had Mario, Sonic, and Final Fantasy IV.
If strategy and shooter were your poison of choice
what better control than mouse and keyboard?
But alas! Alak!
This Golden Age of understanding was never to last
For consoles were simply uncontent with their lot.
What started as a strategy, became action game
And but one announcement later, Halo: Combat Evolved.
“lol consoletards need aimhacks built in,”
at Microsoft’s Halo did the 1337 cadre jibe
and of the graceless, unwieldy, Xbox controller
there was much diatribe.
“It’s clumsy and all-thumbs lol,”
did the Half-Life players joke
“We’ll pwn u n00bs, aimhack and all.”
For many a year the game journos did implore
That consoles were now suitable for ‘the core’
So many Xboxes and PS2s were bought,
But gaze upon what you have wrought:
Interfaces designed for controllers, mice are ignored,
Settings dumbed down for those easily bored
Server browsers, LAN games, fine-grained control
Chained to the altar of the conquering Console
“It’s better this way,” the new high priests assure.
“Developer consoles are a disease we must cure,
You don’t need mods or LAN or any such part,”
And with a grin and a jerk they stab at the heart.
The PC First-Person Shooter is dead. Long live the Console Shooter.
Continue reading
Christmas Gamer of the Week
Just a quick mindless post on “Boxing Day“, 2009. Saw this on Mashable today and just had to share it.
If you need an introduction to this memelet, check out the video below first, also courtesy of YouTube and Mashable:
And finally…
Elevating games to an art: Publishers, stand up for your medium!
Rather than providing a synopsis of an 8 minute video, I would just like to highlight a quote from James Portnow (previously from Activision, now running his own studio called Divide By Zero) as delivered by Floyd:
“”
I posted this here because I wanted to discuss that quote but YouTube’s commenting system sucks, and I’d much rather discuss it with Hellforge than with YouTube.
As someone who draws pictures is differentiated from artist, as an average novelist is to an author that creates literature; shall there be games that blur the line between entertainment and art as opposed to games that exist for entertainment alone? Is it possible? Is it worth it?