Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Mickey Mouse is Dead to Me!

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On April 3, 2013

In Fulmination, Soapbox

mickey-mouse-dead-mouse-trap-disneyI started by giving Disney the benefit of the doubt when we all heard about its acquisition of everything Star Wars. The latest news has me wondering if my trust was misplaced.

If you haven’t heard yet, Disney is shutting down the LucasArts division, thereby throwing 150 programmers into unemployment. If that wasn’t tragic enough, all those great Star Wars titles are now a thing of the past, any projects that were in the works (ex: Star Wars 1313) has been canceled, and it leaves me wondering what will happen to existing titles that relied on the LucasArts backing?

This isn’t the first victim of Disney’s chopping block; remember they are ending the Clone Wars series. It’s ironic that the company that is responsible for creating childhood memories, is slowly dismantling mine! I’m now legitimately concerned about SWTOR because I was just starting to get back into that game. The Clone Wars series was highly successful so obviously how well a product is doing doesn’t mean its safe from Disney executives. The tumultuous start of SWTOR might be a blemish Disney doesn’t want to salvage especially now that LucasArts is gone.

I’m angry that all those programmers that developed so many great titles are just cast aside like dirty laundry. I certainly hope it was an issue of redundancy that often accompanies the purchase of another large corporation. As far as the titles are concerned I hope that Disney will absorb them into their collective of video game media and try to keep those titles alive and functioning.

Disney is doing the gamer and Star Wars community a huge disservice. I hope they plan to make it up to all of us but it damn well better be something extraordinary! Something akin to the invention of Mountain Dew and Cheetos!

/end rant

The MMO Times: OMG! Change Your Profile Image!

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On March 29, 2013

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

mmotimesheaderIssue 69: PAX East is over and thus the news slows down. I mean all the great new information was already unveiled last weekend so there isn’t much to talk about that will usurp all the residual buzz. I tried to put together a few articles for your Easter weekend.

The first SWTOR expansion has an official release date (and don’t forget that this weekend is another double XP weekend), a new Turbine title related to the DC Universe, Runescape 3 and Neverwinter news and more! Check it out!

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Book Review: A Storm of Swords

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On March 28, 2013

In Book Review

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

My [rating: 5]
Click here to see this review on Goodreads.

The best book of the series (so far). Obviously I have two more to go (for now) but of the three I have read thus far, this is my favorite. It seems like the 1k+ pages moved quickly as new twists and surprises were unveiled.

The epilogue of this book has me reaching for book 4 almost immediately. It leaves you with so many things to wonder, none of which I want to mention specifically because I don’t want this review to contain any spoilers. I know these books are long but if you are still reading your way through the first two, I encourage you to keep going because book three changes the story quite a bit!

View all my reviews

Soapbox: “Social Activism” is Trolling

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On March 28, 2013

In Soapbox

trollfaceEven as I am typing this post I can already hear the subtle sound of exploding heads just because of the title. I will admit it right now, before all of you, that I am a Facebook troll. My trolling is augmented when Facebook becomes inundated with pro-<insert controversy> or anti-<insert controversy> posts. You know when I do it I’m just trying to piss you off, most of the time I could care less if you know where I stand on the issue.

By the way, I hate to rain on your [pride] parade but I really doubt a justice of the Supreme Court is going to base their decision on how many of you changed your bloody profile pictures on Facebook. In fact, just like me, they probably don’t give a shit. Changing your profile pictures is probably about as effective as changing your t-shirt. I should hope that they will vote based on their own rationale and the facts that have been presented to them.

Although now I have this rather humorous, and ludicrous vision of all the justices sitting in the Supreme Court with a computer hooked up to a projector and they are all looking at Facebook and counting how many profile pictures are red equal signs.

I don’t care if people want to be gay. It’s their lifestyle and I’m not the one whose judgement matters. I will say that if a gay couple wants to be legally married, then that’s just peachy with me. However, the moment religious institutions start to be persecuted because they either A) refuse to perform a same-sex marriage because it violates their beliefs or B) because they won’t acknowledge a same-sex marriage as a legitimate marriage then I have a problem. If you want people to respect your lifestyle then you need to respect the fact that other people will not necessarily agree; its a two way street, folks.

But I digress; this isn’t about gay marriage.

Yes, you can post whatever you want on Facebook, change your profile to be an equal sign, a peace sign, or a blasted middle finger. It’s not going to rally the troops, cause a revolution or incite some kind of movement. Let’s be honest people, call it what it really is.

It’s trolling.

The MMO Times: It’s PAX-tastic!

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On March 23, 2013

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

mmotimesheaderIssue 68: It’s PAX East week so there will be several posts that talk about what was unveiled. The one everyone is really anxious about is Blizzard’s “Something New”. We already knew about the Diablo III PS4 migration so if you weren’t paying attention to the PAX news then I guess you will have to read on to find out what Blizzard unveiled (I’ll be honest though, its not really that epic).

Beyond that we have a couple of new tidbits about the upcoming Age of Wushu MMO (due out April 10th). The first piece of news about Patch 5.3 for World of Warcraft. A new MechWarrior Online trailer. And more!

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Soapbox: Forking & Dongles

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On March 22, 2013

In Fulmination, Programming, Soapbox, Technology

overworked-290x290The tech industry is full of phallic terminology. Every day I make a double entendre about something in the computer and/or programming industry. Granted I’m cognizant of my audience and anyone that might be able to hear what I’m saying. In the case of Adria Richards vs A-Predominately-Male-Industry, while I don’t dismiss her right to be offended, the way she handled it wasn’t prudent either; especially when the comments weren’t even directed toward her.

Be that as it may, the tech industry is dominated by males; and, as a male myself, most of us are neanderthals! I’m not saying that women are not welcome in the tech industry, in fact I encourage more women to get involved because its already too much of a “sausage-fest”. Yes, there is a time and a place for certain remarks and perhaps those boys at PyCon could have picked a better time for their sordid conversation but boys will be boys; and in an industry where stress is as necessary as caffeine, stress needs an outlet. Actually most of the women I know that are in this industry often partake and sometimes take it to a whole new level.

If women like Adria Richards cannot handle an industry full of “forking code”, USB dongles and “fscking” a computer then perhaps you’re not a good fit. I don’t care how much you tweet or blog about how “sexist” these terms are, you cannot change decades of standard vernacular. People, like me, will not stop using appropriate terminology just because it might sound inappropriate (in which case I ask who’s the real pervert).

There are lessons on both sides of the debate here. Be more aware of the volume of your conversation and courteous of those around you. At the same time, be careful what you post on the Internet because the world will see it and you just don’t know what you will stir up. Tibetan Philosophy states “Don’t start none, won’t be none” (source).

/end soapbox

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