Technology

Fantasy CRPGs And Distance From The Source

by

I love Lord of The Rings.  It really is a classic, awesome and epic and beautiful.  Hell, I actually think Tom Bombadil was awesome, but that’s another story.

Or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.  A fantasy road movie, two guys getting into crazy trouble and magic kingdoms underground.

How about Elric?  A buddy story gone terribly wrong among battling gods and falling kingdoms.  Also, hey, god of Jesters.

But what doesn’t feel like fantasy literature is fantasy games.  I don’t say this to diss CRPG fantasy games.  I love a lot of them, I played the first Wizardry, I know Demon’s Winter is one of the most unappreciated fantasy games of the 80’s.  I enjoyed a lot of the Atelier series.  I played a lot of Final Fantasy.  I adore Dragon Quest IX.  It’s just they don’t always feel like the epic literature that inspired them or the genre.

Read more

Home Theater PC Adventures

by

I haven’t used my XBox in a week.

This is not some great statement on my ability to focus on work – I’ve been gaming, watching Netflix, and more.  I’ve just been doing it on an accidental Home Theater PC.

I say accidental, because it’s a laptop I got to let me work out of my home office more effectively.  But as I have thought of building a Home Theater PC (HTPC), I started experimenting.  See how the HDMI goes, try out a wireless game controller, take a look at Steam . . .

. . . and end result is that this is that I’m really not using the XBox anymore, which was my prime media system.

Read more

How Blogging Helps Your Career #10 – The Trophy Case

by

(The roundup for the “How Blogging Helps Your Career Series” is here)

Ever been in an interview and wondered how you prove you know what you’re doing in that short time?

Ever tried to convince someone of your competence if, say, you’re trying to run a convention or help them with a project?

Ever wonder how, in the end, we can kind of ever prove in a few minutes that we’re good at things?  Because it seems way, way too much of our life involves that.  If you’ve ever been on the job search or tried to justify a promotion, you know what that’s like.

We have to show wins.  We have to show proof.  This is one reason I try and end every in-person interview by giving someone a copy of one of my books, because it’s hard to say “you can’t do project management” when I can self publish.*

The proof in many cases has to come quick, fast and solid.

That’s your blog.  Your blog is a trophy case.

Read more