I have to admit I didn't think Occupy Wall Street was going to last. For some time I though Americans need to start sticking up for themselves and protesting but that too many people are too content with just bitching on the internet. OWS seemed a bit unsure of itself too in the beginning.
Now though it's just growing, it seems more focused and prepared to explain its actions. I hope it continues to grow and if it continues to be ignored by politicians and dismissed by the media I can only hope that everyone takes notice to their government ignoring its people and vote accordingly.
Your average citizen is getting a load of butt hurt from corporations and the government. I do think the people are partially to blame. We've been too content with things the way they are. The bank bail outs should have never happened. It's time we get some payback.
I would never advocate violence or damaging property. So long as people keep it clean and nice as they have been it will only help the movement grow and being peaceful is the way to win. That said if someone cut the head off the charging bull statue on Wall street I can't say I would be upset.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Enjoying Source Tree
I've recently learned about SourceTree which is a Mac GUI client for Git, Mercurial and SVN which has recently been bought by Atlassian. I do still like working on the command line but I like this quite a bit and I can see myself continuing to use it.
Atlassian is currently give away free licences for SourceTree so if you would like to consider I suggest you do it now.
As you may know there is a similar application called Tower but it's Git only. Given that it's pretty similar I can't see myself paying out for Tower. That and I do use bitbucket primarily for my personal stuff (git for work) it's just not for me.
I think I'd be very happy to recommend this to my co-workers and try to get it used at work but unfortunately SourceTree is a Mac only app. I would love to see a Linux port. On the off chance its developers see this please make it happen!
SourceTree has a load of features, many of which I haven't had time to check out yet so I'm not going to talk about them but I really love the visual history and the ability to select various diff tools like DiffMerge, TextWrangler and DiffFork amongst others. I haven't tried it but I'd like to see if I can do diff with Vim just because Vim is awesome.
As I mentioned they are giving away licenses. I'm sure they'll start charging at some point. I don't know how much but I'd suggest grabbing it now to check it out while it's free. If you want a source control GUI application for OS X you can hardly go wrong with SourceTree.
Atlassian is currently give away free licences for SourceTree so if you would like to consider I suggest you do it now.
As you may know there is a similar application called Tower but it's Git only. Given that it's pretty similar I can't see myself paying out for Tower. That and I do use bitbucket primarily for my personal stuff (git for work) it's just not for me.
I think I'd be very happy to recommend this to my co-workers and try to get it used at work but unfortunately SourceTree is a Mac only app. I would love to see a Linux port. On the off chance its developers see this please make it happen!
SourceTree has a load of features, many of which I haven't had time to check out yet so I'm not going to talk about them but I really love the visual history and the ability to select various diff tools like DiffMerge, TextWrangler and DiffFork amongst others. I haven't tried it but I'd like to see if I can do diff with Vim just because Vim is awesome.
As I mentioned they are giving away licenses. I'm sure they'll start charging at some point. I don't know how much but I'd suggest grabbing it now to check it out while it's free. If you want a source control GUI application for OS X you can hardly go wrong with SourceTree.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Do people want shorter games?
Blake Snow has recently written an article for CNN talking about how games should be shorter. He's not the first person in the gaming industry to say this. The article also states that some feel the best compromise is add-on expansions and of course these will no doubt cost money.
I think that is part of the problem. Publishers are looking for numerous ways to make more money out of their games. You can almost guarantee these shorter games will still come with a$50-$60 price tag and we'll be told it still costs a lot to make a short awesome game and then be asked to pay out for expansion packs.
Another reason I think games don't get completed is because there's no good reason to complete the 5th or 6th sequel in a series that doesn't really innovate and uses graphics and violence to mask it's story and dialog that resembles something written by a 12 year old. So people get bored quickly with them but they will move onto the next sequel because all their friends are playing it and they don't want to be left out of the loop.
I feel one of the reasons the quality and innovation is dropping is because of the first point which is publishers being more concerned about milking consumers for every penny they can. They now have an option not to release a finished product. If it's buggy it can be patched later so the company can focus on making as much content as possible and saving some to be a paid for add-on or they'll be cheeky and put it on the disc and yet charge you for it. They feel it's better to just hammer out more of the same crap and then decide which bit ships first and which bit they sell later.
As much as we like to talk about gamers being more mature you wouldn't know it by the games. Their focus is pretty narrow and still caters quite a bit to teenage boys. I just don't think people see value in a lot of games.
Now of course every game doesn't have to be 60+ hours long. Of course you wouldn't finish all of them. But we shouldn't give up on good long games because we feel people don't like them or because it's more profitable to sell the rest of the game later as an add-on. Perhaps rather than having a new game out every month maybe they should spend more time making fewer better games that sell well because they're a standard of excellence.
Of course that's not the easy and more profitable option in their mind. They rather pump out cheesy pop rubbish and drive down the perceived value of games.
If long games are so unprofitable then why make a shorter game and then waste resources on add-ons that very few, if anyone, will buy rather than focusing on a new game? It just seems contradictory and instead they're trying to push this idea onto everyone that everyone else hates long games which to get them to accept buying a shorter game for the same price and then pay more for add-ons.
I don't believe we have that many more games these days to fight for gamer's attention. One quick check for game counts shows that the number of games for current systems (aside from the Wii) are pretty much on part with old systems
800 for the NES (excluding pirated carts)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nes_games
915 for the Sega Genesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_Mega_Drive_games
784 for the SNES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_games_(A-M)
691 for the original gameboy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_for_the_original_Game_Boy
812 for the Xbox 360
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_360_games
691 for the PS3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_3_games
1218 for the Wii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games
I would even say that if we're making more games for a wider audience (ie more games for causal gamers) then any one market casual or 'normal' gamers have fewer options if their tastes don't cross. Either way it's not a case where we have twice as many games or more.
I wish gamers would wise up to what publishers are doing and boycott the stuff they're trying to pass off but I'm concerned that's not going to happen. Gamers are quite enthusiastic and are happy to settle for less than the best just to get more of their favourite hobby.
I think that is part of the problem. Publishers are looking for numerous ways to make more money out of their games. You can almost guarantee these shorter games will still come with a$50-$60 price tag and we'll be told it still costs a lot to make a short awesome game and then be asked to pay out for expansion packs.
Another reason I think games don't get completed is because there's no good reason to complete the 5th or 6th sequel in a series that doesn't really innovate and uses graphics and violence to mask it's story and dialog that resembles something written by a 12 year old. So people get bored quickly with them but they will move onto the next sequel because all their friends are playing it and they don't want to be left out of the loop.
I feel one of the reasons the quality and innovation is dropping is because of the first point which is publishers being more concerned about milking consumers for every penny they can. They now have an option not to release a finished product. If it's buggy it can be patched later so the company can focus on making as much content as possible and saving some to be a paid for add-on or they'll be cheeky and put it on the disc and yet charge you for it. They feel it's better to just hammer out more of the same crap and then decide which bit ships first and which bit they sell later.
As much as we like to talk about gamers being more mature you wouldn't know it by the games. Their focus is pretty narrow and still caters quite a bit to teenage boys. I just don't think people see value in a lot of games.
Now of course every game doesn't have to be 60+ hours long. Of course you wouldn't finish all of them. But we shouldn't give up on good long games because we feel people don't like them or because it's more profitable to sell the rest of the game later as an add-on. Perhaps rather than having a new game out every month maybe they should spend more time making fewer better games that sell well because they're a standard of excellence.
Of course that's not the easy and more profitable option in their mind. They rather pump out cheesy pop rubbish and drive down the perceived value of games.
If long games are so unprofitable then why make a shorter game and then waste resources on add-ons that very few, if anyone, will buy rather than focusing on a new game? It just seems contradictory and instead they're trying to push this idea onto everyone that everyone else hates long games which to get them to accept buying a shorter game for the same price and then pay more for add-ons.
I don't believe we have that many more games these days to fight for gamer's attention. One quick check for game counts shows that the number of games for current systems (aside from the Wii) are pretty much on part with old systems
800 for the NES (excluding pirated carts)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nes_games
915 for the Sega Genesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_Mega_Drive_games
784 for the SNES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_games_(A-M)
691 for the original gameboy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_for_the_original_Game_Boy
812 for the Xbox 360
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_360_games
691 for the PS3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_3_games
1218 for the Wii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games
I would even say that if we're making more games for a wider audience (ie more games for causal gamers) then any one market casual or 'normal' gamers have fewer options if their tastes don't cross. Either way it's not a case where we have twice as many games or more.
I wish gamers would wise up to what publishers are doing and boycott the stuff they're trying to pass off but I'm concerned that's not going to happen. Gamers are quite enthusiastic and are happy to settle for less than the best just to get more of their favourite hobby.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Murdock Block
Someone has created a nifty little Chrome extension that allows to block all Murdoch owned websites. It's called Murdoch block and obviously I think everyone should install it. In my mind it's unfortunate that you can still get to the sites or remove some sites but if it helps wean you off of Murdoch owned media then it's all good.
The creator has also published the source code if you're interested. It's hosted on Google code.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Everyone should boycott News Corp
I believe with the news of unethical phone hacking done by News of the World and it coming out that News Corp's other tabloids it's about time people stand up to Rupert Murdoch and boycott his 'news' companies. This isn't something that has happened just in Britain. You can go onto Wikipedia and get a list of controversies related to Fox News including things like doctoring photos. If you dig further around the net I'm sure you'll find plenty more information that calls into question the ethics of Fox News.
We're finding out more and more about the ethics of News Corp with stories coming forth of everyone from Gordon Brown to 9/11 victims possibly having their phones hacked.
Rupert Murdoch has already been sued by his shareholders over nepotism over his purchase of his daughter's company Shine. Since the the hacking quite rightly they're modifying their lawsuit. I believe they see what sort of people are running the company and want to try and stop it or limit the damage as much as possible. I would believe by getting his whole family on the board will only lead to more problems. I suspect they agree and don't want that.
I'm certainly not the first and most likely not the last person to call for a boycott against News Corp. I think everyone that disagrees with the tactics used by News Corp should spread the word and ask people to boycott them. If you're in a country where News Corp operates (especially in the US and UK) please contact your government representatives and regulatory bodies and let them know how you feel. The more they hear from people the more likely they are going to listen and do the right thing.
We're finding out more and more about the ethics of News Corp with stories coming forth of everyone from Gordon Brown to 9/11 victims possibly having their phones hacked.
Rupert Murdoch has already been sued by his shareholders over nepotism over his purchase of his daughter's company Shine. Since the the hacking quite rightly they're modifying their lawsuit. I believe they see what sort of people are running the company and want to try and stop it or limit the damage as much as possible. I would believe by getting his whole family on the board will only lead to more problems. I suspect they agree and don't want that.
I'm certainly not the first and most likely not the last person to call for a boycott against News Corp. I think everyone that disagrees with the tactics used by News Corp should spread the word and ask people to boycott them. If you're in a country where News Corp operates (especially in the US and UK) please contact your government representatives and regulatory bodies and let them know how you feel. The more they hear from people the more likely they are going to listen and do the right thing.
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Braid creator on indie game development
Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid and the upcoming 'The Witness', gave at talk at UC Berkley on the subject of how to developing indie games. It's a very interesting 38 minute talk (followed by 40 minutes for Q&A).
You can find it on the Witness blog (also includes a downloadable copy of the talk and the powerpoint presentation) and the talk isn't about what tools or libraries to use. It's how how you should go about programming and optimisation. I think it's a very valuable talk. Everything mentioned won't apply to every project but obviously it will be very helpful for tiny teams working on indie games and you may find it helpful in other areas too so I think every developer should listen to at least the first 38 minutes of the talk.
You can find it on the Witness blog (also includes a downloadable copy of the talk and the powerpoint presentation) and the talk isn't about what tools or libraries to use. It's how how you should go about programming and optimisation. I think it's a very valuable talk. Everything mentioned won't apply to every project but obviously it will be very helpful for tiny teams working on indie games and you may find it helpful in other areas too so I think every developer should listen to at least the first 38 minutes of the talk.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Command line parser for Gumtree feeds
Just a quick note (I realise I haven't posted too much) but I've created a tiny python script to browse gumtree feeds via the command line. If you would like to use it and or improve it you can grab it from my bitbucket repository.
I will probably provide updates at this page as well. You will note I have a couple things noted in a TODO comment. I'll try to add those in soon. Really the script isn't anything you couldn't have done anyway. I did it in a lunch break but if you're learning Python it may come in quite handy.
I will probably provide updates at this page as well. You will note I have a couple things noted in a TODO comment. I'll try to add those in soon. Really the script isn't anything you couldn't have done anyway. I did it in a lunch break but if you're learning Python it may come in quite handy.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Google CLI search with Python
I found an entry on r/python for a Google CLI search script done in Python which you can grab from here. I think the author did a really good job and I enjoyed playing around with it. I think the only thing I'd change is to add the functionality to open a result in your browser using the webbrowser.open() method.
Some people may ask why you would want to do such a thing like search Google via the command line. I personally like it because sometimes it's just nice to be able to do it when you're working on a remote system and more importantly if you're searching at work it can look like you're busier than you are!
So on that note I've been developing Python scripts myself for browsing reddit and for browsing Gumtree. Again, it allows me to look busy when I'm not but also they're nice little projects to do over lunch breaks.
I will most certainly end up sharing my various CLI apps too for people to use but I would also encourage others to do the same and create their own especially for those just learning and as an added bonus browsing reddit can look like important work.
Some people may ask why you would want to do such a thing like search Google via the command line. I personally like it because sometimes it's just nice to be able to do it when you're working on a remote system and more importantly if you're searching at work it can look like you're busier than you are!
So on that note I've been developing Python scripts myself for browsing reddit and for browsing Gumtree. Again, it allows me to look busy when I'm not but also they're nice little projects to do over lunch breaks.
I will most certainly end up sharing my various CLI apps too for people to use but I would also encourage others to do the same and create their own especially for those just learning and as an added bonus browsing reddit can look like important work.
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