Friends of mine will often ask me to get them discounted video games and think that I can get them any game they want. Unfortunately that is not true. I can get a limited number of video games from my company and I am happy to do that for people I know well. I also have made a number of friends at other game companies and often times they will help get other titles for me. It does mean I have to call in a favor though.
My wife sent me a text message this morning asking me if I could pick her up a number of video games. Some of them are from my company but most of them are from other places. The games are for my wife's coworkers and so I have an obligation to help her look good. Naturally I contacted a few of my friends and picked up most of the remaining titles. That means there are a few that I can't get.
I talked about this with one of my coworkers today and he shared that he has the same problem with his friends. The concept of a publisher is easy for us to understand as we are part of the industry. To everyone else, the games all seem to come from the same place. I guess the best analogy is that of automobiles. I work for Toyota while I have friends that work at Honda, General Motors, and Ford. If you want a Tacoma truck, I can help you out. Just don't ask me to get you a Corvette. I would have to contact my friend at General Motors. Furthermore I don't have any friends that work for BMW or Mercedes so if you want one of those I can't help you out. The only problem with my analogy is that it is easy to recognize car companies and their various models. Video games are different in that people don't really pay attention to who makes specific games.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Annoying Phone Calls and Text Messages
A few weeks ago I started getting a large number of calls on my personal mobile phone. I had so many calls that when I would hang up someone else would call immediately after. My number is listed on the Do Not Call registry and so it surprised me that everyone disregarded my request for privacy. It didn't just stop at calls, I also got an insane number of text messages. All of the calls were from low-paying job-posting sites, mortgage refinance places, and healthcare insurance companies.
It took me a while to figure out how all of these companies got my number and knew enough to call me by my first name. I never give out my personal mobile number and the calls frustrated me. Then I realized that I responded to an e-mail from Cybercoders and provided an updated resume that they asked for. While I am not looking for a new job, I am curious when someone says they have something for me in Utah. What a mistake as Cybercoders is really a scam to get all of the information off your resume to sell to other companies. Think about how much personal information you have on your resume that you wouldn't normally provide anyone but a prospective employer.
After getting verbally abusive with the first group of callers, I decided to take a different approach. If somebody calls or text and tries to sell me something, I immediately block that number (it has to be an actual phone number) by touching the information icon on my iPhone, scrolling to the bottom, and touching the "Block this Contact" button. On Android phones it is a slightly different process but you can have your phone reject calls from specific phone numbers as well.
I didn't stop with just rejecting calls. If someone sends you a text message with a 4 or 5-digit number, you can reply with STOP and text messages have to stop. If it is an actual 10-digit number, you can forward the message to "SPAM" or 7726 and report it. I'm not sure what they do but I hope it involves something extremely painful.
Finally I stopped being rude to the people calling me and started asking politely where they got my name. I then explain that I am trying to track down who put my information on their list so I can seek legal action. That seems to have done the trick as the unwanted texts and calls have now stopped. I never did get anyone to give up how they got my number but am satisfied with the outcome.
It took me a while to figure out how all of these companies got my number and knew enough to call me by my first name. I never give out my personal mobile number and the calls frustrated me. Then I realized that I responded to an e-mail from Cybercoders and provided an updated resume that they asked for. While I am not looking for a new job, I am curious when someone says they have something for me in Utah. What a mistake as Cybercoders is really a scam to get all of the information off your resume to sell to other companies. Think about how much personal information you have on your resume that you wouldn't normally provide anyone but a prospective employer.
After getting verbally abusive with the first group of callers, I decided to take a different approach. If somebody calls or text and tries to sell me something, I immediately block that number (it has to be an actual phone number) by touching the information icon on my iPhone, scrolling to the bottom, and touching the "Block this Contact" button. On Android phones it is a slightly different process but you can have your phone reject calls from specific phone numbers as well.
I didn't stop with just rejecting calls. If someone sends you a text message with a 4 or 5-digit number, you can reply with STOP and text messages have to stop. If it is an actual 10-digit number, you can forward the message to "SPAM" or 7726 and report it. I'm not sure what they do but I hope it involves something extremely painful.
Finally I stopped being rude to the people calling me and started asking politely where they got my name. I then explain that I am trying to track down who put my information on their list so I can seek legal action. That seems to have done the trick as the unwanted texts and calls have now stopped. I never did get anyone to give up how they got my number but am satisfied with the outcome.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
What Makes a Bad Video Game
Recently I had the chance to play a video game on my PlayStation 4 console. The reviews for the game indicated that it fell well short of expectations yet I decided I wanted to play it for myself. The largest number of comments indicated that the game could be played in 4 hours and that made it too expensive. As I could borrow the game for free and I wanted a short game, I disregarded the reviews and started playing.
The more I played, the more I realized that the game fell short in more ways than just length-of-play. The characters need to be likeable and you want them to succeed. That didn't happen. At first I thought I could like the main character but as the game progressed I found him to be too self-centered and arrogant. Had the game lasted much longer than the 4 hours, I probably would not have finished it simply because I didn't like the main character. Knowing it was a short game, I pushed through the pain to complete it.
The main character isn't the only one I didn't like. Pretty much all of them were cold and unlikable except for one. Unfortunately he didn't have enough screen time to make up for everyone else. I would have liked to do a lot more with him in the game.
Another problem with the game is that it contained enough surprises and reveals that once you played through the game, you were done. Sometimes a short game can be enjoyable if you can play it over and over. An example is that my oldest son really enjoyed playing the relatively short Until Dawn over and over.
One would think that spectacular graphics help create a great video game. In the case of this one, it had great graphics but that wasn't enough to make up for the other faults. I have also played a number of really great games with less than stellar graphics.
You may be wondering the title of this really bad video game and I will politely decline to give it. There are already a number of horrible reviews for the game and so one more won't make much of a difference. However I know how much work goes into a video game and don't want to belittle the development team any more than has already been done. It also underscores the importance of looking at reviews before buying a very expensive game.
The more I played, the more I realized that the game fell short in more ways than just length-of-play. The characters need to be likeable and you want them to succeed. That didn't happen. At first I thought I could like the main character but as the game progressed I found him to be too self-centered and arrogant. Had the game lasted much longer than the 4 hours, I probably would not have finished it simply because I didn't like the main character. Knowing it was a short game, I pushed through the pain to complete it.
The main character isn't the only one I didn't like. Pretty much all of them were cold and unlikable except for one. Unfortunately he didn't have enough screen time to make up for everyone else. I would have liked to do a lot more with him in the game.
Another problem with the game is that it contained enough surprises and reveals that once you played through the game, you were done. Sometimes a short game can be enjoyable if you can play it over and over. An example is that my oldest son really enjoyed playing the relatively short Until Dawn over and over.
One would think that spectacular graphics help create a great video game. In the case of this one, it had great graphics but that wasn't enough to make up for the other faults. I have also played a number of really great games with less than stellar graphics.
You may be wondering the title of this really bad video game and I will politely decline to give it. There are already a number of horrible reviews for the game and so one more won't make much of a difference. However I know how much work goes into a video game and don't want to belittle the development team any more than has already been done. It also underscores the importance of looking at reviews before buying a very expensive game.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Back to the Normal Routine
For the past month or so, my normal routine temporarily changed. It all started when my company decided to redo the floors in our gym. That meant no exercising at work for 2 weeks. It also meant I got to refresh my memory of the marina showers. I prefer the ones at work a lot more.
Next I had my usual winter ski trip with my wife. Every winter, I like to take a few days to try and ski someplace new. We thought about visiting Telluride in Colorado but opted to stay closer to home because of snow conditions. Instead we skied at Deer Valley, Snowbird, and Alta. Due to our seasons passes, the price of lift tickets amounted to absolutely nothing. Throw in the lack of a need to find a hotel room and the trip came in at a bargain price.
Finally I had a business trip to London and took my youngest daughter who has never been out of the country. We had a great trip and I got a lot of good work done. It just meant a departure from the normal routine.
This week I am at in my office in the Bay Area with everything back to normal. Don't get me wrong, I love to mix things up every now and then. Not having to go to work because of a ski vacation is a good thing. However now I am glad to be back on a regular schedule with my normal exercise and shower facilities available. It also means I have time in the evenings to test more video games. There are a number of new ones that have come out. I have spent some time watching my son play Horizon Zero Dawn and today a friend from EA picked me up a copy of Mass Effect Andromeda. They both look to be spectacular games. When I am on my boat during the week, I can play without feeling any guilt at all. Now my only decision is which one to play first.
Next I had my usual winter ski trip with my wife. Every winter, I like to take a few days to try and ski someplace new. We thought about visiting Telluride in Colorado but opted to stay closer to home because of snow conditions. Instead we skied at Deer Valley, Snowbird, and Alta. Due to our seasons passes, the price of lift tickets amounted to absolutely nothing. Throw in the lack of a need to find a hotel room and the trip came in at a bargain price.
Finally I had a business trip to London and took my youngest daughter who has never been out of the country. We had a great trip and I got a lot of good work done. It just meant a departure from the normal routine.
This week I am at in my office in the Bay Area with everything back to normal. Don't get me wrong, I love to mix things up every now and then. Not having to go to work because of a ski vacation is a good thing. However now I am glad to be back on a regular schedule with my normal exercise and shower facilities available. It also means I have time in the evenings to test more video games. There are a number of new ones that have come out. I have spent some time watching my son play Horizon Zero Dawn and today a friend from EA picked me up a copy of Mass Effect Andromeda. They both look to be spectacular games. When I am on my boat during the week, I can play without feeling any guilt at all. Now my only decision is which one to play first.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Report from GDC 2017
Once again I attended the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this year. I have managed to attend every year since 2013 but never write about it. The conference is really for companies that make technology for creating and playing video games. It is also a great place to go if you want to get a job in the industry as companies look to hire at the event.
I had a meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday and so I spent the morning at the Expo before heading to my late-afternoon appointment. I wish I could report that I saw a number of exciting and new technologies. Unfortunately I cannot. There seemed to be a lot relating to virtual reality but that has been the case for the past several years and so it all seemed a bit old. The most interesting technology seemed to come from students creating new ways of controlling games. They all looked very much like early prototypes but everyone seemed like they had a lot of fun creating them.
This year's show seemed smaller than usual and I didn't notice a large number of companies looking to hire people. I'm not sure if GDC represents the current state of the industry. Perhaps we need to wait until E3 and see if that is more exciting. I sure hope so.
I had a meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday and so I spent the morning at the Expo before heading to my late-afternoon appointment. I wish I could report that I saw a number of exciting and new technologies. Unfortunately I cannot. There seemed to be a lot relating to virtual reality but that has been the case for the past several years and so it all seemed a bit old. The most interesting technology seemed to come from students creating new ways of controlling games. They all looked very much like early prototypes but everyone seemed like they had a lot of fun creating them.
This year's show seemed smaller than usual and I didn't notice a large number of companies looking to hire people. I'm not sure if GDC represents the current state of the industry. Perhaps we need to wait until E3 and see if that is more exciting. I sure hope so.
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