Bare Minimums

When you make a product, there are certain standards that should apply. For newspapers, for example, you expect clean editing, the right pictures with the right articles, etc. For games, you expect a clean, understandable rule book, all the pieces to fit and be there. For food, you expect it to taste right and not kill you. For MMOs, we seem to have... no real expectations except a "smooth launch," which really just means not too crappy of a launch. Games that have smooth launches tend to be smaller, niche games, basically because they are not stressed as heavily during the initial week.

A Few Random Updates

Not much to post today before I go to be responsible. If you play the Secret World, my character there is Escutcheon. Send me a tell in game if you want to play. If you want a role play Illuminati guild, I humbly suggest these guys. I should be on this weekend and potentially this evening. Have fun. Shoot zombies.

Speaking of zombies, Telltale's The Walking Dead Episode 2 released recently-ish. I totally missed the email or whatever update thingie would have let me know that. Here's a review. I may set aside some time this weekend to play it myself. I probably will not. They promise another episode in August. But, it is Telltale, so, don't expect it.

Oh, and an article from Politico for the zombie tag. I honestly never thought I'd see a headline like that ever written just because, you know, mythical cannibals tend to steal the headline. Maybe next week, we'll have manticores making headlines.

Making Content Last

Some games have lots and lots of content. Some games… don’t. MMOs, for the most part, need to have not just loads of content, but they need more content that their players can readily access. Let’s take SW:TOR, Guild Wars 1 and The Secret World as our samples.

July 4, 2012

My Independence Day thought: During the power outage, some guy commented -- sarcastically -- "Oh, the power is still out. What a great country we live in."

I wanted to say: "Uh... yeah. 99+% of the year, you are capable of literally using satellites to look down on other countries and Skype ACROSS THE GLOBE. Some people can SKYPE INTO SPACE. In almost place at almost any time, I can get food, lemonade and cookies. We're a freaking great country."

Also, we celebrate by blowing things up.

Edit: I got to see the fireworks and hear the show. So, all's good. Let us label today: Productive.

Actual Supreme Court Decision

"It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices." This is probably the most important quote from Roberts' opinion for the Court. Now, this isn't a law blog, so I'm going to spare you a lot of details. But, after joking on the Supreme Court yesterday, I figured I'd give you a quick run down of my thoughts on the matter. If you don't care about the Supreme Court case, then uh, don't click below.

Official Supreme Court Predictions

Ok. My official prediction. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court finds in favor of Predator in Alien v Predator. Kennedy writes for the majority, as always, noting that "They've got lasers and space ships. Game, set and match." Concurring, in full, Thomas writes that "We cannot overlook the technological superiority and ranged combat power of the Predator."

Ginsburg dissents, citing Aliens "superior numbers and acid blood."  Scalia concurs in part, but dissents in part, noting that "It would not be a total curb stomp. Some of those ugly mother f****** are going down."

No decision will be reached in Batman v Superman, with it dismissed for lack of standing. Roberts, writing for the court, notes: "This shit'll never happen. Now, Lex Luthor v Joker, that is a ripe issue for the court." Sotomayor, in addition, noted that "If an evil doppelganger Batman or Superman were to challenge his good opposite, we would be able to revisit the case. However, this would not be a precedent setting case, as the evil nature of the alternate universe Batman or Superman would, necessarily, differentiate them from their good counterpart."

Also, on the legal question, "Who you gonna call?", the Court will remand the decision to New York, with Kagan noting while reading the decision that "Cats and dogs living together is a matter for local state regulations." On the second legal issue, in a per curiam decision, the Court finds that the answer is "Yes" to the question: "Are you a god?"

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P.S.,

Inspired by Tapper's #otherSCOTUSpredictions Twitter hash tag.

The Secret World: Giving a Character Character

Below, we have some fun character development for The Secret World. It is my not fact-checked application to the guild we mentioned in the last post. I'm not willing, you see, when it comes to applying to guilds to jump through hoops. But, if I get the opportunity to, you know, apply in character? I'll take the time to do it.

I don't think some of these things are real things. This character probably is as "realistic" as a standard academic you'd see on "Bones" or "White Collar." In short. Not really. Plus, he swallows a magic bee.