The WOW Factor

In the 1980s, the Japanese Auto Makers burst on the scene and revolutionized the car industry. They didn't do this by offering anything new, or by creating a paradigm shift. They simply offered a better product. These cars were more reliable, better made, and with more options for less price. Americans started to purchase their vehicles en masse and it created a panic within the Big Three US auto companies. The Big Three in turn made wholesale changes and re-engineered their cars to be competitive with the much more reliable and better made Japanese ones.

World of Warcraft is the MMORPG equivalent of what happened to the Big 3. Right now there are a few dominant MMOs, that have been staying in cruise control. When WOW is released, the industry will have to combat a stunning, well coded, detailed re-engineered MMO masterpiece. Once Blizzard releases their baby, I predict many will flock to it for the same reasons they bought Toyota's and Honda's, it is a better product.

There is no revolution or wholesale design change when one looks at WOW. It offers many of the things that Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot offer. What differentiates WOW from these two, is it has fixed the problems that plagued many, and is a far superior product. The graphics are nice and do not require a Cray to run. The quests are done much, much better. The land and immersion is superior.

Worlds of Warcraft will not kill any of the big MMO players. Mainly because these games are not about the world, but moreso about the people one is playing with. However, it will hurt them and cause them to look closely and makes changes to try and stay competitive.

At the end of the day, WOW will release not only a single powerful MMO, but it will cascade changes across the board and advance the genre moreso than if it were something completely different.

Woe is us!

In watching the DNC convention it strikes me odd that we in America are all doing bad, and gloom and doom permeates. We must be saved.

If we elect Kerry, all our poor citizens will have jobs, health care coverage will be fixed, social security will be sorted, and he'll even do the robot dance to boot just to entertain you.

According to the DNC, our country is doing poor and only one man can save us from the foul, evil bastions of darkness, the Republicans.

The only problem with all these hard luck stories and Republican finger pointing episodes is that they portray a false picture of where we are. Yes, we do have some big issues regarding health coverage, outsourcing, and trade agreements, but our economy is doing well and most Americans are doing better than they were 4 years ago.

There were a lot of good jobs created, and there is a lot of positive momentum in regards to both our economy and the situation in Iraq. Checking out the DNC convention, you'd think we were in the middle of the second episode of the Great Depression.

The DNC has some good issues, but in pushing a partisan Bush bash agenda, they have ensured that they will go lower than the lowest Karl Rove speech. Attack. Attack. Attack. The only problem is when someone like myself watches all these attacks, and see's the outright false message being sold it does quite the opposite of selling the Democratic party to me.

Terry McAuliffe has been an overtly vocal nastyman for the DNC for months, and I understand he's playing the bad cop. That said, John Kerry is no Bill Clinton and when you debate and make the main issue personal attacks then you will alienate many fringe voters.

Its a shame that we didn't see a convention promoting ideas, differences between the parties, and a healthy dose of information as to why we should vote for their man. All we got was the same political rhetoric repackaged and pushed out in a way that helps keep that nasty, partisan edge.

People are surpised nobody is watching the convention. Nobody should be. Reruns tend to get low ratings.

The Microsoft gaming woes

Microsoft owns the personal computer operating system market. That is a simple fact, and allows them tremendous leverage in marketing and selling other products. Not that they need to, mind you, since they make tens of billions from one piece of software every year.

They are powerful and use the Washington Lobby to perfection in a perfect dance allowing them to maintain their monopoly, crush any challengers, and still keep an appearance of being benevolent.

Microsoft was slow to move to the Internet. However, once they realized its potential, owning that market and controlling what goes on their OS has made them the software gatekeeper of our times. The demise of Netscape, which had the killer application of the Internet revolution should be proof of MS' ability to have its way on personal computers.

When it comes to games, however, the MS brass do not get it. Sure, they have a few hits like Dungeon Siege or Age of Empires. That said, you look at the next generation MMORPG games, and Microsoft is as far behind now as they were in 1996 with the Internet.

Asherons Call 2 was a disaster and despite heavy marketing and money, sold poorly. Mythica was cancelled after years and millions funding it. Microsoft's rival Sony owns the market with Everquest, and with Everquest2 and Worlds of Warcraft both being released this year, MS will continue to fall behind.

Micrsoft, in typical fashion, is trying to buy its way in, hiring the Everquest Architect Brad Mcquad to attempt to stop the bleeding and to get in on this market. Will it work? Time will tell as it seems Sigil's game won't be out for a while. However, if Microsoft insists on using it's technology, then I predict the same result that occured when they tried to migrate hotmail from Solaris to NT.

MMOs will be a multi billion dollar industry soon. I wonder how many of those billions will be revenue from Windows inserted into the gaming domain to try to crush the MMO equivalent of Netscape.

Power corrupts......absolute power...absolutely

The truth regarding absolute power corrupting has been proven many times. However, the latest evidence comes from our humble gardener, Saddam.

According to the AP, Hussein appears depressed and demoralized in solitary confinement, spending his time writing poetry, tending a garden and reading the Quran.

I have a tough time comparing Saddam to Sam Gamgee, but really it does make one think what would've happened if this man had not wrestled power away in a Ba'ath power struggle, and had followed a different road.

If we look at ruthless leaders, it's easy to forget that they were not born megalomaniacal villains, but were products of power.

Josef Stalin studied for the priesthood.

Adolph Hitler's goal was to be an artist, but he was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts.

I look at the situation in Sudan, and realise that dictatorship is a step up from anarchy, but recalling the nastiness done by those in positions of power really makes it the lesser of two evils.

This week at the Democratic convention in Boston, while all the self important people explain how our lives should be, and our money should be spent, I hope they take a moment and realize that the Darfurs, like the Auschwitz' of the past demand our attention, and that the future priests, gardeners and artists should be given the chance to fulfill their dreams in democracies.

Moving Sucks

After spending the previous month packing and moving my stuff, my sole link to sanity was comedy. Nobody is better at making one realise how silly life is than Stephen Wright...

In that vein, and since I need comedy more than I need another GW, JK, or MMO rant, I present you random Stephen Wright quotes, which make as much sense as moving does:

• What's another word for "thesaurus"?
• When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask if I'm leaving.
• When I was a kid, we had a quicksand box in the backyard. I was an only child . . . eventually.
• I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. So I had to buy them again.
• For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
• I bought a house on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how I got there.
• I have a hobby. I have the world's largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen some of it.
• My school colors were clear.
• I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wakeup letter.
• I'm taking La maze classes. I'm not having a baby, I'm just having trouble breathing.
• When I was in high school, I got in trouble with my girlfriend's Dad. He said, "I want my daughter back by 8:15." I said, "The middle of August? Cool!"
• My girlfriend's weird. One day she asked me, "If you could know how and when you were going to die, would you want to know?" I said, "No." She said, "Okay, forget it."
• I went for a walk last night and she asked me how long I was going to be gone. I said, "The whole time."
• My buddy got busted for counterfeiting. He was making pennies. They caught him because he was putting the heads and tails on the wrong sides.
• He's in a minimum security prison now; he's on a whiffle-ball and chain.
• Hermits have no peer pressure.
• Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories .
• There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
• How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't live there?
• Did Washington just flash a quarter for his ID?
• I just got skylights put in my place. The people who live above me are furious.
• Imagine if birds were tickled by feathers.
• I got stopped by a cop the other day. He said, "Why'd you run that stop sign?" I said, "Because I don't believe everything I read."
• It doesn't matter what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature.
• Yesterday, my eyeglass prescription ran out.
• I'm a peripheral visionary.
• I make my own water - two glasses of H, one glass of O.
• Ballerinas are always on their toes. Why don't they just get taller ballerinas?
• The other day, I went to a tourist information booth and asked, "Tell me about some of the people who were here last year."
• Why in a country of free speech, are there phone bills?