Black caps for the games industry January 27, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Games, Observation, Technology.add a comment
There’s a weird dichotomy going on at the moment. Whilst the financial and retail sectors place black caps on their heads and mope around waiting for the axes to fall, which of course they will, what with all the moping and cap-wearing going on, there’s one sector that thinks solidarity sucks.
The worldwide gaming industry is doing well. Very well in fact. Despite 2007 being a particularly vintage year for gaming, 2008 proved to be even better, with sales up, development up, and bank balances, well, up, up and thrice up.
But this is where things take a bit of a left turn. Because despite all of the news of gaming’s resilience, of the profits being made and the abundantly healthy percentage graphs in boardrooms worldwide, some of the biggest and brightest, notably EA, Sony, Microsoft, Eidos, and Sega, have all announced a mix of job cuts, studio closures and restructuring plans. Sure, some of these companies have ties in with other more vulnerable areas of the economy, but surely that’s no reason to start poking and prodding at their gaming arms?
Are they planning for the worst? Are they assuming that at some point in the not-too-distant future the market will no longer be able to sustain the volume of games being released, and as things start to slow at least they’ll be ready with belts pre-tightened?
Even if they had their crystal balls tuned in correctly, which I seriously doubt, I still don’t like this way of working. Not only do I not like the arguably unnecessarily negative attitude that starts to pervade and often cause more harm than good to both short term productivity as well as long-term viability, but it invariably causes a domino effect, making the rest of the industry bearish where they may have been bullish, and causing unnecessary calamity where there would not otherwise have been.
And what happens to the dispossessed as their places of work close, and their jobs disappear? This is an unsettling question, and one of the biggest reasons why CEOs should think twice before hacking and slashing. Because of course when faced with the prospect of long-term unemployment, few are going to have the patience and savings to await rosier days. Wanting to continue to eat and perhaps even to pay bills, they will more likely than not head off to new pastures, teaching, botany, tax auditing, and for an industry already short of manpower and creativity, that’s a scary proposition. When the markets right themselves, as they most certainly will, what then? Where will the talent come from? What about the creativity and skills to fill our shelves with gaming masterpieces now being used for GCSE tuition and tax credit analysis?
Well, much as it would pain me to do so, perhaps I should be reaching for a black cap myself?
Equality percentages January 23, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Observation.add a comment
I know I may have a tendency at times to dis the news establishment, but maybe I should thank them on the odd occasion for giving me daily fodder to chew on, even if it can be kinda negative chewing. Anti-chewing.
My most recent anti-chewing came in the form of discussions about equality in the work place; person A on the sofa extols “there should be more men in haberdashery!”, person B shouts “why aren’t there more women shooting guns!”. Well, if we’ve heard it once, I guess we’ve all rolled our eyes a thousand times.
This whole equality argument, most of the time boiling down to persons A and B above, just boggles me. More women shooting guns? More men haberdashing? Really? I mean, really?
What?! You have the equality police on the way?! Well shame on you. Because of course all of this depends on ones definition of equality. Is having 50% of the licensed gun-toters in the world being women what equality is all about? Of course not. And I’m not being sexist in thinking that men are better at shooting people and women are better with clothes and kids either. Men and women have their strengths and weaknesses, and it’s not a huge shock to realise that such strengths and weaknesses are ostensibly different, which is why equal-rites activists only being happy when 50% of soldiers are women, and 50% of people that haberdash are men, should be pointed and laughed at.
A better question would be are the sexes treated the same in their respective vocations? Respected the same? Valued the same? An answer to any of those three would give a far more accurate indication of equality in all workplaces than mere percentages ever could.
Bad is good January 22, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Satire, Technology.1 comment so far
I can’t count in how many ways this is bad.
What the CEO of Sony has said is that they, Sony, are making their flagship games console, the PlayStation3, deliberately hard to program for so that, in their words, it continues to give increased value, year on year, for its assumed shelf life of ten years.
Just ponder that a moment…
Today, Ford invented a new wheeled contraption they’re calling the “motor car”. In an interview today, Ford’s CEO said that they were making it deliberately complicated to operate so that only a small handful of people in the world could ever manage it. However, he also went on to say that their “driving” would in all likelihood improve year after year, and that given maybe eight to ten years of industrious study, they’d almost certainly have the skills to make it all the way from London to Brighton.
On a similar vein, Clarks have today released a new line of footwear catchily entitled “No-pain-No-gain-wear”. Uncomfortable spikes in the inside of the shoe are strategically placed to make perambulation most uncomfortable for the wearer. “Such footwear will in all likelihood take years to wear in” said a spokesperson for Clarks, “but the value gained in lowering the amount of wear and tear both on body and shoe could lead to soles being serviceable well into the next decade, something never seen before in the footwear industry.”
Making things deliberately difficult? Good for the company, your customers and the industry? Er, riiiiiiight…
Extreme Knitting January 22, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Uncategorized.add a comment
And there’s me thinking I knew everything there was to know about knitting.
I knit therefore I am January 21, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Games, Observation, Satire, Technology.1 comment so far
I have an interest, a hobby, a pastime if you will. Let’s call it knitting.
I enjoy knitting. Knitting fills any spare moment in my day; waiting for the lady to finish putting on makeup? Knock out a quick row. Holding off watching a West Wing until the phone call has finished? A jot of knit-one-pearl-one fills the spot nicely.
But it’s not just a time-filler. Oh no. There’s a lot to knitting. No, scratch that, there’s a heck of a lot to knitting. Let me give you a quick tip of the iceberg.
We could start with the patterns, the colours, the textures, the wools and the cottons. Then we can move on to knitting styles, weaves, equipment, buttons, threads, zips, and that’s not forgetting the needles, different sizes, lengths, weights, materials, even types, pointed, rounded, fat, thin. And my knitting isn’t just jumpers and scarves, how to connect this sleeve to this cuff, but it’s hats, tea cozies, puppets and dolls, there really is no end to it.
And I mean that quite literally; when I receive my knitting monthly on subscription there’s always new patterns, styles, fashion, equipment, boxes, needles, threads all fitting new techniques and technologies. Online forums are constantly abuzz with humour and passion and creation, new ideas, new directions, new ways of thinking about knitting. It’s all-encompassing and all-consuming.
What a wonderful thing to have! “I knit therefore I am!” People buy me knitting gifts at Christmas and Birthday, they ask me how my knitting’s going, what I’ve created, they all think it’s wonderful, and constantly express how lucky I am to have such a deep and enjoyable pastime, and that they wish they could have something so enjoyable in their lives.
And this goes no way to describe what I get out of knitting on a personal level. Besides the actual physical creation, which if truth be known I can take or leave, the mastery of it, the physical and mental mix, the breadth and depth of materials both documented and physical, the overall satisfaction and pleasure I get with filling any spare moment with something I genuinely enjoy and, if truth be known, am actually good at. I am so lucky to have found knitting. It hits my time, my brain and my senses on all kinds of levels. I’ve enjoyed it for over two years now, and see no signs of abating. Do you think I’m lucky? Do you envy me? A little sad, maybe a touch eccentric, but wouldn’t it be everyone’s ideal to have such a connection with something so rich and colourful, something so big and all-encompassing, and yet so personal?
Now what if I told you it wasn’t knitting, but World of Warcraft.
Still feel the same?
No news is good news January 14, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Observation.add a comment
I’m trying to weather the storm, I really am, but it’s getting too much. I simply have to turn the news off in the morning. I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to live a life of ignorance and solitude, but they’re forcing me to and I don’t know what else to do.
I blame the economic downturn. Or the credit crunch. Or the global economic crisis. Good grief why has everything turned into something that sounds like its been copied off the front of the Sun newspaper? Now that we have this dip in the financial markets, must everything come emblazoned with exclamation marks and be attributed to the world’s banking woes?
700 jobs lost in the city!
Christmas food sales down 2% on last year!!!
M&S closing stores!!!
OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS ENDING!!!!
Or so they would have us believe.
Now I’ve heard people complaining. It has been read out on more than one occasion that people are desperate for a more balanced view of the world, thankfully I’m not the only one feeling it’s lacking. And to the broadcaster’s credit they have tried; they may not have mentioned that the 700 jobs going in London, a city of over 7 million, were probably going to go anyway, and that actually another 800 jobs have opened up due to new businesses the same day, but I do remember at least 5 seconds of one particular 5 minute article were spent stating how small to medium sized companies were doing better than last year. Surely that’s something isn’t it?
Well, frankly no, it’s not. It’s abysmal. If you think glossing over a mumbled and awkward sounding positive at the end of a long and depressing downturn piece is balanced reporting, you need to re-read the definition. People shouldn’t be embarrassed reporting about something good, they shouldn’t look awkward and apologetic when they have something positive to say. Nor should they feel the need to downplay it before hurriedly turning back to bad news with grave faces and doom-laden tones.
I’m sick of this epidemic. We’ve talked ourselves into financial woes, and we’re doing a good job of talking ourselves into 360 degree, day-in-day-out, constant morose news. I want something different. I know there’s problems, but I want to hear about solutions. There’s bad things, sure, but there’s a whole ton of good things out there, companies that are thriving, improvements to the country, plans for future growth, for prosperity, something to actually get up in the morning and shock horror look forward to!
Which is all very nice of course, but do you think things will change? No, me neither. The simple and sucky truth is bad news sells, worse news sells more. We’ve entered the age where no news is good news, and I’m not entirely sure we know how to get ourselves out again.
Inane detox January 8, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Observation.add a comment
I’ll start with a disclaimer; I’m a bloke. I like blokey things, cricket, beer, video games. So perhaps I am the least qualified to comment. On the other hand, maybe an objective voice into the ether is exactly what’s needed.
Because it’s all just madness; we reach the new year, with all the new possibilities, the future laid bare, sweet and virgin as the untouched snow, and straight away we’re hit from all sides by seas of stuff lamenting about last year’s excesses, about weight, about “detox”, removing signs of aging and collagen re-plumping. I mean, collagen re-plumping!
It really is no surprise that so many people hate Christmas, and with all this self-flagilation to follow, it’d be no surprise at all if most of them were women!
But of course I’m a bloke, I’m not supposed to understand any of this. Which is fine. Until I get bought a moisturiser for Christmas. I like presents and was most appreciative, but I simply have no clue whatsoever what to do with it. Not a one. I wash my face, I shave, put some stuff on afterwards to calm everything down and I’m done. But now I have this tube of gloop that I’m supposed to rub somewhere to, what, make me feel smoother? More moisturised? No, I’m sorry, I don’t buy it, and don’t much care whether it’s from a leading ladies skincare specialist or from Asda, my brain thinks it’s all a load of balony designed to suck the pounds from my wallet, and it defies anyone to prove it wrong.
Being ripped-off in any shape or form sucks, especially when it’s playing on people’s fears, the thing that gets me here, the real head-slapper, is that information debunking all of this nonsense is everywhere. If I’ve read one article lamenting the nonsensicality of “detox” I’ve read ten, and I’ve seen enough articles on tv telling me to “eat healthily and exercise” to replace my DVD collection ten times over.
But. But, but, but, but.
Cupboards are still full of slim-fasts and weight-watchers, bathroom cabinets still overflowing with unctions and tinctures designed to make ourselves feel better about our supposedly bad genetic lot, and we just keep buying. We pander to any quick fix we can find, anything for our skin, hair or diet that gets highlighted in bold and underlined on the January edition of every women’s magazine. No rational thought behind any of it, we just keep buying.
Why don’t we just get it? Why can’t everyone just see sense? These people, these companies, they don’t want us to get slim, or to be healthy or happy with what we see in the mirror. Really, they don’t. Because if we were happy, content, balanced individuals, we wouldn’t buy any of their stuff, and they wouldn’t make their millions. They love the fact that we worry, they encourage us to look in the mirror and see flaws and fear the natural aging process, it serves them all very well indeed.
But it really does suck. And I think it’s wrong. But alas, I’m a bloke. I’m not supposed to understand.
Ye olde worlde in 2009 January 7, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Technology.2 comments
Another year another MacWorld.
Another year another Consumer Electronics Show.
The first I have nothing to say about because, well, they had nothing to say themselves. New 17″ MacBook Pro, new software, new keynote speaker. My problem is when I read “new” my brain actually wants “exciting”, and there just wasn’t any to be got. I guess it’s a tough call for Apple to perform on cue every year, probably one of the main reasons this is their last show. Hopefully something will show up as the trees start to turn.
The second has started with usual fervour, as well as the usual fayre. I use that psuedoarchaic word deliberately; it engenders feelings of ye olde worlde, of wood fires and blacksmithing. Because what CES doesn’t seem to provide any more, is anything actually worthy of note. Hmm, maybe that’s a touch unfair; TV’s really are getting insanely thin, laptops are getting so small that they’re becoming constrained by finger size alone, and there’s more stereos, wireless transmission systems, cameras than you could shake a stick at. A hundred sticks. But if you follow tech, actually, even if you don’t, you already know things are going to get smaller, thinner, faster, lighter. In fact, I will be so bold as to put my current annual wage on the table, and categorically state that in five years time such things will definitely be smaller thinner and lighter than they are today. Man I’m such a psychic.
In place of technowidgetry(TM), my 2009 has started with a whole bunch of low-tech fun to help manage the perpetual cravings for input. Galaxy Trucker has turned out to be a bit of a gem, and even Magic: The Gathering has provided some excellently brain-melting times recently. Hey, it may be a bit “out there”, but it got in the top 31 games that “games designers must play”, so I’m definitely allowed that one.
But of course we all know that too much face-to-face can be traumatic in such a short space of holiday time. Thankfully, Santa just knew; he delivered to the household the first seven seasons of The West Wing, and the halls rejoiced. What he didn’t do was leave a note explaining how I missed this the first time around, nor tell me how a series about the American presidency be so damned entertaining. (Actually I ask the same about my other insane time-sink, but I don’t really want to talk about that now; if I ignore it perhaps I’ll forget I have it installed and do something more productive with my time)
So perhaps 2009 will be the year of ye olde-worlde pursuits, of eye-contact, of face-to-facedness? Is that the sound of my significant other running away in panic…? Pfft.
