I have had the pleasure of walking the E3 show floor for the past couple of days and have been amazed by the high-quality games soon to be available. I thought I would take a paragraph or two and mention my favorites from the show. Before I do that I have to provide the disclaimer that I work for a video game company and may be promoting one of my own games. I don't think that is a real issue as there are a number of games from different studios that I mention. Hopefully I am seen as objective and not playing favorites. So in alphabetic order (to keep it fair), here they are:
Call of Duty: Black Ops III - I have always been a fan of first-person shooters and Call of Duty is the most popular franchise out there. I have played a number of COD titles and they all have felt very well put together. This one looks like it will be a great game when it is released on November 16, 2015.
Doom - Doom is the original first-person shooter. I remember playing it on the PC when it first came out and spent many hours crawling around the dungeon-like setting. The latest version is a major advancement in graphics and looks to be the same great fun available in the Spring of 2016.
Just Cause 3 - I never played the first two versions of this game but was drawn into the Square Enix booth at E3 and really enjoyed the rich environment found in this game. I sat through the demo movie more than once and look forward to the release some time this year.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Several years ago one of my coworkers gave me a copy of Metal Gear Solid and suggested I play it. I loaded it onto my PlayStation 3 but couldn't really figure it out. Today I spent 45 minutes in the Konami booth watching an expert go through a mission. There is a lot to the game and I could see why it was so tough to figure out the first time. This is one of those games that will take hours to master but will be well worth the effort. It will be available September 1st of this year.
Star Wars Battlefront - When EA released Star Wars Battlefront II for the PlayStation 2, I went and bought 2 copies. One for each of my PS2 consoles. That way each of my sons could play each other over the network. It was a really great Christmas break. When the latest version was announced, I was excited to see game play footage at E3. It did not disappoint me and I will immediately rush out and get this one when it is available on November 20th of this year.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - Uncharted has to be one of my favorite game series ever. I have to admit that I am not very good at it but my youngest son is. I could sit and watch him play for hours. It was a toss-up between 2 or 3 being better but they were all a lot of fun. I have only been able to see small sections of 4 and it looks like it will be another immediate purchase I make when it is available in 2016.
There were a lot of other games I thought looked pretty amazing and are eager for their release. I didn't mention them only because I don't have an unlimited amount of time to write this evening. Besides, these are the ones I am most excited about. Judging by the E3 crowd reaction, I don't think I am the only one.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Attending E3
This year is the first year my company has sent me to the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3, the video game trade show. I have attended one E3 previously and so while I am not new to the experience, I am reminded that it is not for the weak. I arrived Monday afternoon and shared a shuttle bus with a bunch of young video game enthusiasts. When they found out I worked for a large video game company, they were excited to talk to me and see if I knew any exciting things that were going to be announced. Unfortunately I honestly didn't have any.
I checked into my hotel before heading over to the show. The only real activity on Monday was a number of press conference events. I enjoyed one and then headed back to my hotel to get some of the work done that I missed because I am out of the office. I know, I am a real party animal. Then I spent today at the show meeting with a large number of people. As luck would have it, I ran into one of the young kids from the shuttle bus who seemed to be enjoying the chaos that is E3. I was looking for a quiet place to rest.
My time at E3 lasted past 5pm and then I started walking back to my hotel. They have shuttle buses but after my ride this morning I felt I could walk the distance faster. I was right. Besides, I needed the walking exercise. I was able to have a nice dinner with a work associate and then he asked me if I could attend one of the after parties in his place. He had a late-night conference call to attend but promised the party organizer he would be there or send someone in his place. I was that someone and couldn't let him down.
The party venue was only about a mile from my hotel and I debated walking or taking a cab. My wife told me I needed the exercise and so I took her advice. Fortunately it was still light outside as my path took me through a sketchy part of Los Angeles. When I walked passed a toothless hooker, I decided I would be taking a different way back to the hotel after the party.
They were checking names at the party venue so I threw out my coworker's very Asian name and said he asked that I attend in his place. He was on the list so they gave me an elite-black wristband. I then took a special elevator to the roof of an exclusive LA club with an open bar. I found an empty space with a bartender that looked rather bored. I asked her for something without alcohol and without sugar. She stood there thinking for a moment as if I had asked for the secret of the universe. Finally she poured me a glass of sparkling water and threw a lime in it. I thanked her and worked my way through the crowd for a place to sit.
After spending all day walking around the conference, it was good to get off my feet. I strategically found a place where I could watch the Warriors basketball game and caught the last four minutes. It was an important game and so those four minutes of play took more like twenty minutes of actual time. It was well worth watching as the Warriors won. Naturally there was a lot of cheering. Unfortunately nobody could hear anything other than the loud music being blasted by the club DJ. As trying to find our company contact and having any valuable conversation was out of the question, I descended the elevator and walked a very different way back to my hotel.
I am only two days into E3 and am so ready to go home. Unfortunately I have meetings all the way until Friday and so I am stuck here for the rest of the week. I'm not sure I have the energy for many more days like today. I have decided that even though the bus may take the same amount of time to get to the conference, it beats walking.
I checked into my hotel before heading over to the show. The only real activity on Monday was a number of press conference events. I enjoyed one and then headed back to my hotel to get some of the work done that I missed because I am out of the office. I know, I am a real party animal. Then I spent today at the show meeting with a large number of people. As luck would have it, I ran into one of the young kids from the shuttle bus who seemed to be enjoying the chaos that is E3. I was looking for a quiet place to rest.
My time at E3 lasted past 5pm and then I started walking back to my hotel. They have shuttle buses but after my ride this morning I felt I could walk the distance faster. I was right. Besides, I needed the walking exercise. I was able to have a nice dinner with a work associate and then he asked me if I could attend one of the after parties in his place. He had a late-night conference call to attend but promised the party organizer he would be there or send someone in his place. I was that someone and couldn't let him down.
The party venue was only about a mile from my hotel and I debated walking or taking a cab. My wife told me I needed the exercise and so I took her advice. Fortunately it was still light outside as my path took me through a sketchy part of Los Angeles. When I walked passed a toothless hooker, I decided I would be taking a different way back to the hotel after the party.
They were checking names at the party venue so I threw out my coworker's very Asian name and said he asked that I attend in his place. He was on the list so they gave me an elite-black wristband. I then took a special elevator to the roof of an exclusive LA club with an open bar. I found an empty space with a bartender that looked rather bored. I asked her for something without alcohol and without sugar. She stood there thinking for a moment as if I had asked for the secret of the universe. Finally she poured me a glass of sparkling water and threw a lime in it. I thanked her and worked my way through the crowd for a place to sit.
After spending all day walking around the conference, it was good to get off my feet. I strategically found a place where I could watch the Warriors basketball game and caught the last four minutes. It was an important game and so those four minutes of play took more like twenty minutes of actual time. It was well worth watching as the Warriors won. Naturally there was a lot of cheering. Unfortunately nobody could hear anything other than the loud music being blasted by the club DJ. As trying to find our company contact and having any valuable conversation was out of the question, I descended the elevator and walked a very different way back to my hotel.
I am only two days into E3 and am so ready to go home. Unfortunately I have meetings all the way until Friday and so I am stuck here for the rest of the week. I'm not sure I have the energy for many more days like today. I have decided that even though the bus may take the same amount of time to get to the conference, it beats walking.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Yellowstone History
I spent a bit of last week at Yellowstone National Park. I enjoyed my trip last year so much that I came home and made reservations to go back again this year. I'm glad I did as it was a very relaxing and worthwhile trip. If you have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.
One thing we were able to do this year was take the Uncle Tom's trail down to the bottom of Lower Yellowstone Falls. Last year it was closed and we were not able to experience it and so we were happy to do it this year. To call it a trail is rather generous; it is more like a really long staircase. It is 328 steps to be exact. Naturally going down is rather easy. The climb back up isn't.
My wife, daughter, and I happily descended the stairs and got some spectacular pictures of the falls before sitting a bit to get up the energy to climb back up. As I was climbing the steel-grated stairs, I wondered about the story as to who first created this trail. I could peer through the steps and see that there were several stairs chiseled out of the rock underneath them. All I could think of was how scary the original trail must have been.
I got back to my hotel room later that night and did a search to see if I could find out more about the history behind the trail. "Uncle Tom" was actually a real person who built the trail and would guide visitors to the bottom after ferrying them across the river, feed them lunch, and then bring them back up. The cost of the trip was just $1 and I imagine he made a pretty good living doing it until a bridge eliminated the need for the ferry.
Uncle Tom's trail is something of a marvel to me. I imagine all of the hard work that went into building the original trail and am amazed. I am further amazed by the new staircase that was built by the National Park Service. The maintenance required to keep the trail open is also astounding and I am glad I was able to use it this year. I am thankful that there are a number of resources I could use on the Internet to find out its history.
One thing we were able to do this year was take the Uncle Tom's trail down to the bottom of Lower Yellowstone Falls. Last year it was closed and we were not able to experience it and so we were happy to do it this year. To call it a trail is rather generous; it is more like a really long staircase. It is 328 steps to be exact. Naturally going down is rather easy. The climb back up isn't.
My wife, daughter, and I happily descended the stairs and got some spectacular pictures of the falls before sitting a bit to get up the energy to climb back up. As I was climbing the steel-grated stairs, I wondered about the story as to who first created this trail. I could peer through the steps and see that there were several stairs chiseled out of the rock underneath them. All I could think of was how scary the original trail must have been.
I got back to my hotel room later that night and did a search to see if I could find out more about the history behind the trail. "Uncle Tom" was actually a real person who built the trail and would guide visitors to the bottom after ferrying them across the river, feed them lunch, and then bring them back up. The cost of the trip was just $1 and I imagine he made a pretty good living doing it until a bridge eliminated the need for the ferry.
Uncle Tom's trail is something of a marvel to me. I imagine all of the hard work that went into building the original trail and am amazed. I am further amazed by the new staircase that was built by the National Park Service. The maintenance required to keep the trail open is also astounding and I am glad I was able to use it this year. I am thankful that there are a number of resources I could use on the Internet to find out its history.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
A Failed Computer Monitor
I flew back to Salt Lake last night as I have some things to take care of at home. When I went and turned on my computer in my home office this morning, I noticed a flicker in one of my computer monitors. Upon closer inspection there is a flickering horizontal line as well as a burned out vertical row. At first I hoped there was simply a loose connection. I turned off the monitor and re tightened everything. Nope, that didn't solve the problem. Next I disconnected the monitor from the computer and saw that even when the monitor isn't connected to my graphics card, the artifacts still exist. That indicates there is a problem with the monitor and not my computer, graphics card, or cabling.
Fortunately the monitor that is going bad is my second monitor and not my primary one. It wasn't that expensive and replacing it won't be that difficult nor painful. It has lasted over 5 years and I have to say that I am grateful it has lasted this long. If you were to ask if I regret purchasing it and wish I had spent a little more on a name-brand monitor, the answer would be, "No." I think I made the right choice then. Now I just need to find something similar so I don't have two drastically different monitors on my desk.
Fortunately the monitor that is going bad is my second monitor and not my primary one. It wasn't that expensive and replacing it won't be that difficult nor painful. It has lasted over 5 years and I have to say that I am grateful it has lasted this long. If you were to ask if I regret purchasing it and wish I had spent a little more on a name-brand monitor, the answer would be, "No." I think I made the right choice then. Now I just need to find something similar so I don't have two drastically different monitors on my desk.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Pandora vs. Spotify
My kids introduced me to Pandora streaming music several years ago and I have to say that I like the service. Recently another service has been gaining in popularity called Spotify and so I thought I would give it a shot. Once again it was my kids that told me I was behind the times and should move to Spotify. When I asked them why, they gave a number of reasons and so I thought I would check it out for myself.
My primary usage for streaming music is during my daily workout session. It makes getting on an indoor bicycle much easier when there is something upbeat to listen to. I never listen to music unless it is on a stationary bike inside a building. That means I always have a WiFi connection to the Internet. Riding outdoors with earphones on is a good way to get hit by a car or another cyclist. My preferred platform is my Android phone.
A second reason for listening to streaming music isn't really for music but for comedy. This is generally done as I travel to and from the airport using public transportation. It also means there isn't any WiFi and I use my phone's LTE Internet connection. For this, I will alternate between my iPhone and my Android phone. It just depends on which one is more easily reachable.
Finally, when I am working from home I like to listen to music and so I will have some sort of streaming music during mundane tasks that don't require much thought like doing expense reports. This is generally run on my Linux computer as I have a really nice sound system connected to it.
Given this background, here are my simple and initial observations:
I started listening to Pandora first and so I have the most experience with it. My memory of it initially is that it is very easy to set up. I created one station called "A Little Bit of Everything" where I entered a number of artists that I like and Pandora plays music from those artists as well as similar bands. After a while I found that my taste in music is so varied that I often end up listening to a lot of stuff I don't really like. Instead of constantly rating songs with the "thumbs down" button, I created a new station for just one artist: Angels and Airwaves. Pandora streams me music from Blink 182, Boxcar Racer, +44 as well as Angels and Airwaves along with other similar bands like Simple Plan. It is great music to listen to while working out.
When my kids had me look into Spotify, I set up an account on my Linux box and was immediately turned off as I was told to download the Spotify computer program. With Pandora I can just use my browser and don't have to install anything. Both streaming music applications require apps for smartphones and provide them for both Android and iOS. I assume they are also both available for Windows Mobile devices but don't really care. I don't have one of those, nor will I ever.
The first platform I loaded Spotify onto was my Android phone and it was a painless process. I typed in "Angels and Airwaves" into the artist section and saw a listing for a number of songs from that band and only that band. I assume that if I wanted to add Blink 182, I could do so but have not played around with the app enough to figure out how to do it. I did notice that there are a lot more Angels and Airwaves songs than I have heard on Pandora and so I believe there is a lot more music to choose from with Spotify, it just takes more effort to set things up the way you want them.
My son claims that Spotify has higher quality music than Pandora. At first I thought that meant more music song choices. Then my son explained that Spotify uses a higher sampling rate for their music and so the same song on Spotify will sound better than on Pandora. I'm not sure about that as they both sound pretty good to me. Perhaps I need a better set of earphones to tell the difference.
Currently my Spotify experience is rather rudimentary and so I still need to spend more time setting up the service. My initial impression is that if I take the time, it will be a lot better than Pandora, I just haven't done so yet. Until then it is easier to continue listening to Pandora and occasionally switch to Spotify when I want a more concentrated "Angels and Airwaves" experience.
My primary usage for streaming music is during my daily workout session. It makes getting on an indoor bicycle much easier when there is something upbeat to listen to. I never listen to music unless it is on a stationary bike inside a building. That means I always have a WiFi connection to the Internet. Riding outdoors with earphones on is a good way to get hit by a car or another cyclist. My preferred platform is my Android phone.
A second reason for listening to streaming music isn't really for music but for comedy. This is generally done as I travel to and from the airport using public transportation. It also means there isn't any WiFi and I use my phone's LTE Internet connection. For this, I will alternate between my iPhone and my Android phone. It just depends on which one is more easily reachable.
Finally, when I am working from home I like to listen to music and so I will have some sort of streaming music during mundane tasks that don't require much thought like doing expense reports. This is generally run on my Linux computer as I have a really nice sound system connected to it.
Given this background, here are my simple and initial observations:
I started listening to Pandora first and so I have the most experience with it. My memory of it initially is that it is very easy to set up. I created one station called "A Little Bit of Everything" where I entered a number of artists that I like and Pandora plays music from those artists as well as similar bands. After a while I found that my taste in music is so varied that I often end up listening to a lot of stuff I don't really like. Instead of constantly rating songs with the "thumbs down" button, I created a new station for just one artist: Angels and Airwaves. Pandora streams me music from Blink 182, Boxcar Racer, +44 as well as Angels and Airwaves along with other similar bands like Simple Plan. It is great music to listen to while working out.
When my kids had me look into Spotify, I set up an account on my Linux box and was immediately turned off as I was told to download the Spotify computer program. With Pandora I can just use my browser and don't have to install anything. Both streaming music applications require apps for smartphones and provide them for both Android and iOS. I assume they are also both available for Windows Mobile devices but don't really care. I don't have one of those, nor will I ever.
The first platform I loaded Spotify onto was my Android phone and it was a painless process. I typed in "Angels and Airwaves" into the artist section and saw a listing for a number of songs from that band and only that band. I assume that if I wanted to add Blink 182, I could do so but have not played around with the app enough to figure out how to do it. I did notice that there are a lot more Angels and Airwaves songs than I have heard on Pandora and so I believe there is a lot more music to choose from with Spotify, it just takes more effort to set things up the way you want them.
My son claims that Spotify has higher quality music than Pandora. At first I thought that meant more music song choices. Then my son explained that Spotify uses a higher sampling rate for their music and so the same song on Spotify will sound better than on Pandora. I'm not sure about that as they both sound pretty good to me. Perhaps I need a better set of earphones to tell the difference.
Currently my Spotify experience is rather rudimentary and so I still need to spend more time setting up the service. My initial impression is that if I take the time, it will be a lot better than Pandora, I just haven't done so yet. Until then it is easier to continue listening to Pandora and occasionally switch to Spotify when I want a more concentrated "Angels and Airwaves" experience.
Monday, June 1, 2015
The Power of Mentoring
I spent the past weekend in Moab, Utah with my youngest daughter and wife. It was a lot of fun and even though I have been to Moab a number of times, managed to do some very different things. Normally we go down and make sure to visit Arches National Park. This time we bypassed it and spent most of our time in the Sand Flats Recreation Area. It was a lot of fun.
I made reservations for the hotel several months ago and let my good buddy Brett know that we would be in one of his favorite parts of the world. He asked if he could come along and maybe invite a few friends. They all made arrangements to stay in the same hotel and I thought it would be fun to take my wife's Jeep on some of the world-famous Jeep trails in Moab. My youngest daughter did not like all of the company. Furthermore she wanted to hike to some of the well-visited sites inside of Arches and thought Jeeping would be boring.
While I am an expert skier, I am a novice when it comes to four wheeling. Brett has a lot of experience taking guys like me and helping them build their courage. He also brought along another expert to help with the learning process as well as another novice to coach. All us novice guys had to do was to follow the experts up and down the right lines. It was great having proper coaching and by the end of the trip I was much more confident in my off-road driving abilities. More importantly, I was watching my daughter in the rear-view mirror and she had a constant grin. Half-way through the trip I asked her if she wanted to stop riding in the Jeep and go hiking. Nope, she wanted to keep going.
So what does this have to do with computers? Any time you find yourself trying to learn something new with respect to technology, try to find yourself someone who can mentor you. You will progress much faster than if you try to figure it out on your own. It will also be a lot more fun.
I made reservations for the hotel several months ago and let my good buddy Brett know that we would be in one of his favorite parts of the world. He asked if he could come along and maybe invite a few friends. They all made arrangements to stay in the same hotel and I thought it would be fun to take my wife's Jeep on some of the world-famous Jeep trails in Moab. My youngest daughter did not like all of the company. Furthermore she wanted to hike to some of the well-visited sites inside of Arches and thought Jeeping would be boring.
While I am an expert skier, I am a novice when it comes to four wheeling. Brett has a lot of experience taking guys like me and helping them build their courage. He also brought along another expert to help with the learning process as well as another novice to coach. All us novice guys had to do was to follow the experts up and down the right lines. It was great having proper coaching and by the end of the trip I was much more confident in my off-road driving abilities. More importantly, I was watching my daughter in the rear-view mirror and she had a constant grin. Half-way through the trip I asked her if she wanted to stop riding in the Jeep and go hiking. Nope, she wanted to keep going.
So what does this have to do with computers? Any time you find yourself trying to learn something new with respect to technology, try to find yourself someone who can mentor you. You will progress much faster than if you try to figure it out on your own. It will also be a lot more fun.
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