The Real Value of PS Plus

You've been told to put your money where your mouth is. So you do, and before you know it, you're investing your life savings in renewable diapers.

Seriously though, crappy jokes are one thing, but there is a lot of merit to the idea of "putting money" where one's pie hole is. Behind the saying is the idea that if you REALLY believe in something, or you REALLY want something to happen, you'll actually throw money at it. That's significant because money is the one thing most people have a hard time giving up.

And the value of money, while different for everyone, is also significant to everyone. So when someone tells you that something is "free" your ears are of course going to perk up. Everyone's ears perk up at the idea of getting something for free.

Playstation Plus gives players free games. Sony very cleverly shrouded PS Plus by first providing it as a perk for loyal customers, but then eventually made it mandatory for playing online. Most gamers aren't worried about the idea, because Sony butters up the situation with some legitimately good games every month at no charge.

Most of my Playstation library is made up of PS Plus games because I'm one of those guys who works a retail job and barely has any expendable income to pay for a full priced retail title. To me, PS Plus is a great opportunity to have fresh games coming in all year that can keep me playing, interested, and challenged for less than the cost of a full priced game. It's almost the only way I can get new games under the income bracket I live on. Even when I come across more money, I put it toward real things that matter-like working on a broken car or buying necessary things for my wife and children.

As it happens, as much as I enjoy games on PS Plus, I also don't play them that much any more. I have had to think long and hard about how I love Spelunky so much, and admire the storytelling of Ether One, and love the gameplay mechanics of Rocket League, and appreciate the efforts of Never Alone. Truth is, when I have a couple hours to enjoy a game, I don't want to play any of those. The only reason I can come up with as to why I'm not interested in picking them up is because I actually invested nothing in them in the first place. I got all of those games for free. Because of that, enjoying them or getting something out of them doesn't create any consequence.

To nail this point down, I purchased Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition from Nintendo's Humble Bundle for $1.00 (I know, I'm a cheapskate. But I made sure every penny went to the developer.) I played it for an hour, enjoyed it and then set it down so that I could focus on beating Splinter Cell. One month later, the game came out on PS Plus. I downloaded it for free, and I never started it up. I never have any INTENTION of starting it up.

I like the game. I'm actually looking forward to playing it on my Wii U. But I still won't play it on my Playstation, even if the Playstation version allows me to earn trophies and play online with my friends. I don't care. I actually paid money for the Wii U version. I invested in it. I put my money into it. In my mind, the Wii U version is worth more.

I know that we are technically "paying" for PS Plus games because we pay for the membership and the games are part of a membership. I understand that. But the fact of the matter is that Sony actually just wants money to support their network and they use the games to sweeten the deal and keep people subscribed. If PS Plus money only went toward online play and data backup features, the majority of subscribers would drop their subscription for 6 months out of the year.

The truth is that with any game, or any item for that matter, we value things more when we actually pay for them. Free things might be cool, but they're also worthless, because you didn't assign any value to them in the first place.

I have always enjoyed Mario games. I loved Super Mario World and Super Mario Sunshine and the New Super Mario Bros on Wii and DS. More than any of those games, I've played and loved New Super Luigi U, and Mario 3D Land (on which I obtained 5 stars on my play file). The only reason I love those games more is because I paid for them. And I want to keep returning to them because, in a way, they are giving back to me what I put into them.

Playstation Plus is still cool, and I will still subscribe, but I don't really value the idea of free games like I used to. The fact is that I want to put my money in the things I REALLY want and REALLY believe in. And those are the games that I forked over money for.

Growing Up Slowly

I wouldn't call myself a baby Christian anymore. I've seen enough, heard enough and read enough to be well-versed in the Christian life.

That's what I want to think. It's what I want to believe.

Then, as I was driving home from work, I realized that I actually haven't lived an independent Christian life. Throughout my growing years I was always living with another Christian who was spiritually older then me. They were the ones who would remind me that Sunday was coming up and that I should go to church, or that it would be ideal to attend to Wednesday night prayer service.

When I was actually alone, with no other Christians to remind me of how Christian's ought to live, I would go back to my old ways and forget what day it was. I would forget to read my Bible and pray, I would forget about the Christian artists that I would listen to all the time around my Christians brothers and sisters. I would ALMOST act like I wasn't saved.

When I first realized how I had been living for the last 4 years since I've been out of college, I actually wondered if I was legitimately saved, but I remember so clearly the day I prayed and asked for salvation. Just as clearly, I remember a few times where I prayed the salvation prayer again, just in case I wasn't authentic the first time. I'm definitely saved. I think what I have been living is just a lack of personal accountability to my own self. It's a lack of spiritual maturity.

Punctuality is extremely important to me, especially when going to work or arriving at a meeting. That is a grown up feeling and a mature sense of responsibility. Strange then that I have always felt almost zero pressure to be at Sunday School on time, or to even attend at all. It's just a lack of maturity because, spiritually speaking, I've never seen the big deal about being late.

It only hit me because I just got done visiting my best friend Tim Cunningham. He has always been an old soul, but his spirituality is also far ahead of his physical age. Seeing the leadership and focus that he brought to his family was inspiring, especially since the full credit could be pointed to God before Tim even said anything. He has a career that would drive any woman insane, especially considering the time he puts into it, but his relationship with God seems to trump any negative aspects it could have on his relationship with his wife, Julie (also a dear friend to me).

I won't get into too much detail about Tim's life. If you want to know more you can visit his website at www.cunninghamfineart.com. But I say it all to say that everything that I lack in my life compared to Tim is entirely because Tim has a closer relationship with God than me. And the only reason Tim has a closer relationship with God than me is because, up until this point in my life, I never embraced my Christian walk as my own personal responsibility.

I hope I can turn this responsibility into a real relationship with God that is independent, self evident and real. I also hope God will unite my family and draw them closer to Him through my relationship with Him.

Here we go.

Being a New Dad

Parenting is one of the greatest mysteries of life. Both to a parent and non-parent, the scope of the differences between being a parent and not being one is as wide as the gap between men and women. I knew before my little girl was born that I was going to go through some changes in my life. I had no idea it would be this significant. Talking is a common mistake ignorant people make. Like most ignorant people, I did plenty before I was a dad, and I do plenty still. I remember making all kinds of claims about how I would be emotional but not that emotional, how I would do this or that and teach them this is that or make them do that one thing that I never got to do growing up. Its not wrong to make assumptions about your ideal self, but it can hit hard when you find how wrong you were. Besides all of my talk, I also had a lot of fears. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to love my child the way other parents loved theirs. I was worried I wouldn't connect with her, that I wouldn't be comfortable holding her or that I would be driven mad with her constant crying. Strange how all of those things are true about other people's babies, but not my own. I felt a part of my mind being unlocked: Like I gained access to a small portion of that supposedly untapped 90% of the brain everyone has.

Im still in the early stages of this new chapter, yet I am already discovering things about myself that I never knew I was capable of. I can feel myself growing out of bad habits that used to haunt me. I have even less interest than before in the ways of the world; the hip, modern, stylish and new. I care less about movements and the latest gossip. In contrast, I find myself more and more concerned about where our government is going, how our education is lacking, how the economy is doing, and where our nation as a whole is headed.

The person I want to be now for my little girl and for my wife is becoming an even more difficult goal, but again, there is a sense of urgency and resolve welling up inside me that simply didn't exist before Peighton was born.

Also, I never quite understood what it was for parents to "have joy" in their kids. Now it makes perfect sense. When an older person would tell me about the "joy of parenthood" it sounded like some intentionally vague description to avoid sounding like they hated it. I understand now that it is the most perfect way to describe it. Being a daddy just makes me happy.

It's still early to say definitively, but I now have a renewed zeal in Christ as well. There are plenty of things happening that could just as easily be attributed to this however. Nonetheless I am excited that I have a growing concern for the things of God, and I hope it becomes a bigger deal in my life as I continue to grow as a Christian, husband and parent. As I see some of my closest friends becoming or expecting to be fathers, I get happy for them. They're about to enter a whole new life. One that's grand, life-altering and ultimately happier than anything they've yet experienced.

My Ten Favorites

IGN has a a great schedule of articles where each writer is contributing their personal lists of favorite games of all time. It inspired me to create my own list for the very first time. I love top ten lists, but they sure are hard to put together.

These games are not in order and they are not what I consider to be the greatest games of all time. These are my favorites. These are the games that I have spent more time playing than any others. These are the games I look back on fondly. These are the games that make me glad I'm a gamer. My list, in no particular order, follows.

1. Final Fantasy VII

Final famtasy VII is a dead giveaway. I had been playing games all my life, but this was the first game that showed me games could make me laugh, cry and pee all over myself out of fear. FF7 wasn't a scary game in the least, but sephiroth was a character you feared. That dude murdered EVERYONE. Despite making it through the entire game three times, I never beat Sephiroth. Not because he was too hard, but because I was just too scared to travel to the bottom of the crater to try. I was too young to be able to overcome the emotions I had about that character. I was so attached to Cloud and the rest of my party that I didn't want to risk Sephiroth killing all of them. To this day, I have never beat this game start to finish. Still, with the timeless drama and tragedy of the plot and the superb characters, ff7 taught me that games could tell stories, and that alone changed my gaming life forever.

2. SSX3

The best dreams are the ones we have almost tasted. SSX3 came out at a time when I was snowboarding literally any time I had the opportunity. As I learned to stop, carve and get a third of a second of airtime in real life, I was going home and busting mad tricks in SSX3. The physics of the game and ridiculous courses can't even be mentioned in a sentence with "realistic" but be careful. The way clothing ruffled in the wind, the birds sang and tweeted off of bare branches in a quiet lonely mountain landscape and the expertly crafted animations of the characters snowboarding through that powder, A passby would use that word. I spent hours cruising through the snowy mountain landscape moving from event to event. You could fast travel in the game, but because touching the d-pad ever so slightly would cause your character to lean just an inch to the left or right, making an easy relaxed turn down the hill into the next slope style event. I explored every inch of that mountain...well almost. I made it to 99% completion. I couldn't find the other hidden cash snow flakes, but boy did I try. This game, more than any other, was fantasy fulfillment.

3. Metal Gear Solid 2

Mgs2, like ff7, taught me the kinds of stories games could tell. It excelled in Hollywood cinematic flair, but also created the most interactive environment I have personally ever seen or heard of in a game. Flour bags spilled flour and revealed infrared lasers, fire extinguishers blinded guards, the stem of a wine bottle could be shot off, guards could be hidden in lockers, boxes and a guard would shake his butt if you pointed at his crotch, begging you not to kill him. I've never seen that much detail in a game, and I spent dozens of hours beating it again and again playing around with those environments. Yeah, Raiden sucked, but that gameplay was something else.

4. Maximo: Ghost to Glory

This game is a close win. Ninja Gaiden almost took the cake for being the hardest game I have ever played. But Maximo wins out, making it my crown of action platforming skill. It took me three months to beat this game. Thats significant when you consider that during that time, I literally did nothing else, all day. I just played games. This game is harder than ninja gaiden because, besides the unforgiving platforming action, it's very possible to get a game over and have your save file deleted by the game. You only have so many lives and chances. If you exhaust them, you have to start from scratch. As hard as ninja gaiden was, it allowed me an infinite number of continues. When I beat the last boss in Maximo, I had only a few lives left. I was flirting with the chance of losing three months worth of hard work. The last boss fight was a perfect finale too, because it took place in a pitch-black castle, where your enemy would only be revealed by random lightning strikes in the storm outside the shattered stained glass windows. I barely won that fight. My heart was pounding.

5. Double Dragon 3

My earliest days of gaming were spent playing coop with my brother. We still do it today in the rare event of finding the time, the game and the platform. And the money to support such things. Double Dragon 3 is my earliest memories of coop. The fitting soundtrack was perfect and the adventure took you across the entire globe. I played through this game with my bro dozens of times, and it is among my fondest memories of childhood. We would later move on to other coop experiences. But this was the first.

6. Tales of Symphonia

This is an odd one. The story wasn't the best ever, the blurry environments frustrated both my eyesight and my opinion of good design and the combat system, while a really fresh action rpg, eventually became more repetitious than most jrpg's. It wasn't the best at anything but it was really, really good at everything. Tons of side quests and extra content, coop, and just enough charm and character to absorb you. I beat this 60 hour adventure five times. Once with my sister, Taylor. Great memories and probably the one game that I have invested the most time in. I wouldn't give it any awards, per se. But it's one of my favorites. I just had a ton of fun with it.

7. Dark Cloud 2

Such a gem. Although I only played through the game fully one time, it was the only game that I ever invested 100 hours into a single game file (I probably did in WOW, but I can't confirm that). Of the RPGs on this list, this is the one that I look back on most fondly. I played this game when I was becoming discontent with my seclusion in Canada, feeling alone in the world and helpless in my situation. Seeing Max fix a broken empty world to build a better future was something that really struck me. That gameplay offered more variety than even ff7 and the music was sublime. The combat was intense, intentional but forward thinking. When you fought with a weapon in this game, you did so with the intention of causing it to grow, because that was the only way to level up. The story, about a boy who was looking for his mother, his source of comfort and security, also resonated with my desire to move away from childhood, but also remember what is so important in it. This game gave me a certain kind of peace in those uncertain days. Again, something I was surprised video games could do, but I was very thankful during that time that this game was doing that for me. Among RPG's, this one might be my number one. I wish I could revisit it today.

8. Super Smash Bros. Melee

I could have been a professional player at smash bros. melee I murdered all of the friends with Link. Match after match after match playing against 3 level 9 AI's (free for all. I could do two lvl9 on one but three was just stupid) my buddy Lance matched my skill with Roy, and we spent plenty of time in the fountain of dreams, dueling it out neck and neck. There are several games on this list from the Nintendo GameCube, and several more that almost made the list, but this one is the game I would recommend to anyone who owned that cute little cube.

9. Dynasty Warriors 3

I've played a LOT of dynasty warriors, but 3 was my first experience with the series. My brother and I discovered this game together, And after playing the demo a dozen times, convinced our dad to buy us the game. we unlocked all forty characters and collectively killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers together. This is probably the most time my brother and I spent together in any one game, and, despite being a mature adult, I miss the simple pleasure of the hack and slash action of these games. As shallow as the story might be in the battles, if you look harder through the menus and character relationships, its actually one of the deepest stories you'll find in gaming.

10. Resident Evil 4

The scariest game of all time is resident evil 4. I beat this game literally more times than I can count. I knew every secret, enemy location, weapon upgrade and could quote every gorgeous cut scene. I earned five stars in every stage with every character in mercenary mode, earning me the hand cannon. I beat the piss out of this game. Yet even when I was at my finest hour murdering zombies, the intensity of this game still gave me the occasional jump. You can't beat that. I owned this game on GameCube, rented it on ps2 and bought it again on pc. I played this through my Highschool years and college. In fact, this is the only game on my list that I played during college. That says something.

Honorable mentions:

Contra: Shattered Soldier was the sequel that the world should have received better. I loved playing the original with my brother, but this one holds a particularly special place because it was the first game that I worked for and bought with my own money. I think I ended up playing that game more than I should have, because I was just so proud of the fact that I had earned it. I played a ton of coop with my friend Lance, but I played it by myself even more. Again, a game I never beat. Super hard, but crazy fun.

Way of the Samurai: talk about a choose-your-own-adventure. This game could be beaten in an hour, but the sheer depth of the characters, the conversations and events that happened in every corner of this game made it such a rich experience for me. Every time you play this game, as long as you make one decision differently, will create a completely different experience. Even winning and losing changed the storyline. The glorified rock, paper scissors combat and the danger of your precious swords breaking made the game dangerous, rewarding and urgent. The number of times I beat this game is in the dozens. This game almost beat resident evil 4, but I KNOW I didn't play this are more than re4, so it ultimately lost

Gun: this game only makes it because it was really fun and fulfilled my fantasy of playing a western. I LOVE westerns and this game totally nailed it. A fantastic story, great gunfights and enough sidequests to make an rpg jealous. It falls short on the list because, while there were a ton of things to do, the activities ultimately didn't last that long. The game could be completely beaten in under 25 hours. Because of that, I Ultimately didn't sink months of my life into this game, but that's only because I ran out of content. I did EVERYTHING there was to do in this game multiple times.

Ff12 is, in my opinion, a technically superior game to ff7. The combat is more fun and the story is more focused and mature. The overall design is more consistent and the world is more captivating. Ff7 beat this game to make it on my list because ff7 came first, and I played it more. Now this is tricky because ff12 also came out my freshmen year of college. I had to beat the game in a single 5 week span before I went back to school after Christmas break. I went through the game a second time when I got out of college and got married. Ironically, I also didn't beat this game. The first time I went through it, I got to the end but had to leave for school and the second time I was 80 hours in and just got burnt out (I was trying to level up all party members equally. big mistake) If I had the chance, I would go through this game again, and it might just be giving ff7 a run for its money.

Just for kicks, here are the games that might make the top 10 list ten years from now. These are games that I am currently playing and having a ton of fun playing, with no end in sight.

Spelunky: a score chasers dream. Spelunky captures the rogue like in a side scrolling platformer the dungeons are different every time you play. The game is notoriously difficult and fun. The game is endlessly replayable, and crazy as it may seem, it's actually perfectly fair in its difficulty. I love the randomness of the game, the instant challenge it provides and the drive that it gives me to beat my high score. I also love that I can start it up and play it for five minutes.

Minecraft: Minecraft is a textbook videogame. It is more videogame than any other game I have ever played. It is the definition and bare bones, no-fat added parfait of pure gameplay. It nails the mystery, danger and challenge by the nature of the design, without any incentives from the player or computer. Surviving and improving my place in the world is what keeps me playing this game. I have already sunk 50+ hours into this game and it threatens to do more. It's the ultimate video game toy box, that's easy to pick up, put down and pass around.

Hearthstone: Blizzard's card game hits all the right spots in addiction, pick up and play and incentive. Its optimal to log in every day, but not required. Its beneficial to spend money, but only if you suck at the game. In a perfect blend of strategy and luck, I enter a game knowing that its up to my ability to plan and be proactive in my attack, but I know a curveball can be thrown at any mminute. I think about this game way too much, but it's so ey to pick up and so easy to put down given how little time it takes to okay a game. I see myself playing this, minecraft and spelunky for years to come.

Two Jobs

Ambition is a two-sided coin. Many view it as a positive thing to have, with too few people who can actually embrace it. On the other side, there are and have been plenty of men who's lives are consumed by it.

I have been harping on my wife since we've been married that I should get a second job so we can have some extra money to throw around. It wasn't just to live frivolously. I would honestly like most to have a fat savings account so I could react quickly when there was an emergency car repair or if we needed to make an emergency trip to see family. For the last couple of years, she kept convincing me that it wasn't necessary and that the costs would outweigh the benefits since we would never see each other.

Well the time came when the baby was born that she could no longer work (or at least neither of us wanted her to) and my income from a single job wasn't bringing in enough to pay the bills. So hubby needs to get a second job so we can get ahead. I was already partly employed with a security installation company, though as a salesman. Now they need technicians to install the equipment. Cool, I say. I would be good at that and I've always wanted to do something technical.

So once I get through training I begin installing in the afternoons and then working the overnight shift at the gas station, my primary job, it goes downhill pretty quickly. I'm so tired from working the overnight shift that I don't wake up from a call to get an install. Three times I show up late because of this, and three more times I am expected to go service an account or perform an installation and I have to cancel due to other responsibilities. I get chewed out by my supervisor, then I get chewed out by the office (who I'm sure has no authority to do so, but it happens anyway) and then I get chewed out by the customer when I finally arrive later that day.

Then when it comes to the installs, I am pretty slow. Now, thats ok with me. I understand that I'm learning and I'm driven enough to want to get faster at it. After all, more speed=more money since I am paid a flat rate for each install. But for the first three weeks, I have to travel to each house twice (a 45 minute drive each way, without traffic) in order to completely finish the installation. Then when I leave and assume everything is fine, I get a text from the office saying that I forgot a signature. I don't get paid until I get that signature.

Three trips out and three days later I'm ready to get paid on that account. YES! $50 coming my way! Then I get a call from the office asking me to go fix someone's system. Apparently it is screwing up. So I go fix it in half an hour and then call the office to tell them the job is done. The office then tells me that since I didn't call them to tell them to shut the alarm off remotely, the police are now on their way to the house and I get fined $75 for my negligence.

Four days and 16 hours later, I am $25 in the hole.

And thats why I quit. Because I'm not a charity.

Mind you, all of that is my fault. But there is no way to be in the mindset to think that pre-emptively when you're running on 3-4 hours of sleep. Coupled with the fact that I never see my family and that I'm putting useless miles on an already near-dead car, and the second job causes me to be late for my primary job twice in two weeks and you find that having that second job just doesn't make sense, financially or otherwise.

Would I like to make more money? Absolutely. Do I need to make more money? Definitely. But installing security systems simply doesn't work.

And that, world, is my attempt at managing two jobs.

I may attempt to get a more basic, less demanding second job, but for the next couple of weeks, I think I'm just going to stay in recovery mode, because I love sleeping a full 6 hours.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

I have written about Nintendo a few times on this blog. This post is going to be another one. I will narrow it in a bit, though and focus more on the games than the company.

For the last five months I have been playing Animal Crossing for the 3DS. If you don't know anything about it, try watching some videos of it on Youtube. Watching other people play it through a web browser doesn't exactly do the game justice, but it will give you some idea as to the gameplay and objectives of the game. The remainder of this post will assume that you have watched those videos or played the game for yourself.

Nintendo games carry with them a sense of magic. Mario is most commonly known for carrying that magic, but the truth is that pretty much every game Nintendo makes carries it to some degree or another. It's a company that works so hard on the game, budget doesn't really matter, nor does the timeline. They just pour time and money into it until they are in love with it. That love ultimately carries over into the player's heart. Animal Crossing is a product of that love both from the creators and from the players. It is a game that is so distinctly "Nintendo" that if any other company attempted to copy it, they would just look stupid.

Other games have attempted it in differentiated form, and have even profited from a decent go at it (I think of Harvest Moon, Farmville and Second Life). But those games don't carry the same love affair with their players that Animal Crossing does, and there is good reason for it.

If the game could be compared to anything in reality, it would be compared with a long walk. Picture your favorite season, the perfect weather, an afternoon with no appointments and the rest of the weekend off of work. It is a world where there are no consequential obligations, mandatory jobs or stressful decisions to make (unless you're freaking out about how to decorate your room). In Animal Crossing, the act of bug catching or fishing is mandated only by your desire to actually do so, because if not for that, the game would never make you do it. You can do anything you want in Animal Crossing, or anything you don't want.

Gaming convention would argue that a player needs an objective or an incentive. Animal Crossing SORT OF has those, but not really. Certainly not as they're traditionally presented. Like a long walk, you play the game simply to enjoy it; to take in the world and relax. Like the walk you used to take to your best friend's house, its predictably familiar, but every trip will carry something just a little different. But even if it doesn't, its still just a pleasant walk to make for the sake of it.

Animal Crossing is a reminder that life, in the grand scheme of things, is simple. It is a reminder that human needs are simple, that goals, desires and dreams are not just common, but perfectly alright to have. And that no matter how big we want to be, we all still want to have what our characters in Animal Crossing have: A place to live, a few things to get around to, and a surrounding of friends to share them with.  

Mainstream Gaming

The discussion of journalism as it relates to video games goes back as far as the early days of Nintendo Power. A recent article at Kotaku contributed very well to recent arguments that gaming journalism needs better writers who speak to the "people" (that is, normal people who wouldn't be interested in reading about games anyways).

If video games can be talked about to a common man, and be discussed by a common man, then they will have reached the pinnacle of a truly mainstream audience. They will be as relevant as books, movies and popular music. I agree with her sentiments entirely, as well as the articles she references, but there is a greater problem that the wider gaming audience is missing that is keeping gaming from becoming truly mainstream.

That problem is consistency. It is haste. It is ubiquity. It is complication. There is no "one" platform that a neanderthal can point at and say "video game." No, there is a bevy of boxes and systems. A capitalist free-for-all of whatchamacallits and doodads that all play games competently in their own unique way.
The problem is there isn't one game system. There are fifty. And all of those game systems have different buttons, different games, different costs and different barriers to entry. This wide conglomerate of devices that make up the gaming industry makes the everyday consumer's eyes glaze over. It is only the gaming elite that understand that Mario is ONLY on a Nintendo. Fewer still within the elite understand that the Wii U actually has a backwards compatible library known as the Virtual Console where you can play the original Super Mario Bros. It is a game that is twenty years old and arguably single-handedly responsible for the creation of the market as we know it today, but only a fraction of a percent of the worlds population knows it can still be played on a modern console.

The amount of devices available today is bewildering. Working a retail job at Best Buy full time plus coming home and reading tech articles for an hour isn't enough to keep up with the movement of technology as it relates to the consumer. That's part and parcel of the modern age. Change is good. Competition is good. But neither are helpful when you're trying to alter a nation's culture.

Books became wildly popular because they accomplished two things: They were widely accessible and they were consistent. Once the printing press was invented and education became more accessible to common folk, there was a ravishing thirst for literature. Books were still expensive, but they were freely accessible, especially thanks to Benjamin Franklins creation of the library. Imagine what the book industry in America would have looked like if there was no consistent language. Imagine an early America where you could only read Pride and Prejudice in Spanish. "To read The Secret Garden, young man, you ought to learn French." Would Moby Dick be heralded as a classic if you could only read it in Russian? Here's the best part: Now after these books are released, lets come up with four brand new languages that people have to learn in order to keep reading; any book that we publish henceforth will no longer use French, Spanish or Russian. They'll be written in Turkish, Georgian and Irish. In the year of 1954, The Lord of the Rings will be published as a Turkish exclusive.

Books became mainstream in America because they were all printed in English. Movies became popular because they were easily accessible and could be experienced at any theater. The same is true of music. In any generation of the modern age, there was never more than one standardized format for listening to music. The entire world transitioned from vinyl to cassette. There weren't five different formats to enjoy music on. The same thing happened when CD's replaced cassettes.

This market observation is consistent with movie media as well. The whole world went from VHS to DVD. Then from DVD to Blu-Ray. (There are still some people making that transition) but notice there aren't 3 different brands split down the middle, fighting for the consumer wallet-share. In certain times, there were formats that fought hard to become the standard, but once the standard was picked, the others drifted away into oblivion.

The problem is technology and the constant movement toward "bigger and better." Instead of staying stationary and creatively working around barriers. The creative side can be seen historically toward the end of a console's lifecycle, and the games reflecting in dynamo developers creative methods of pushing aged hardware to it's gum clenching limits. After that brief re-taste of a golden age gone by, the old hardware is set aside to make room for the bleeding edge. It is at this stage, when the old begins to get pushed out, that the biggest sales in the console generation occur. The innocent and unknowing consumer sees the bargain happening at his local retailer. After hearing for years about this great entertainment box, decides to finally fork over the cash and jump in on the fun. Then as he sits down in front of the tv that night, he turns on his Xbox 360 only to see advertisements for the Xbox One, only one of many of the latest and greatest game systems. Now he feels pretty stupid.

Such was the case of the Nintendo DS, the Wii, and the Playstation 2. Radically popular consumer devices that are still used today. Yet once the consumer picked them up, they were no longer relevant to the watercooler conversations, and thus get written off as a fad investment by the majority user.
For games to be mainstream, a platform must be mainstream. For this great pass time to be accepted in popular discussion, it must be widely accepted in a single, consistent, unchanging form. An example would be the Playstation 4 or the Xbox One. But instead of a new generation of consoles coming out in ten years, the market must hold itself still and offer no new, updated products. Time alone will allow the platform to mature to a point where every living room has one; when that happens, the product will have completely matured and the ecosystem it provides will be completely populated. By providing a consistent, unchanging platform, a consistent experience can be delivered to the end user. THAT is what the average consumer needs in order to make gaming a part of their lives.

When the average consumer makes an investment in something, they don't consider that they will need to upgrade the device or service in a few years time. They see a need, provide for the need and then close the case. An example would be a common item like a refrigerator or an oven. Go sell an oven or a fridge to someone and ask them what they need the item to do for them.

"Sir, I see you're shopping for fridges."
"You're an astute, observational young man. Why, yes I am."
"Sir, I perceive that you have particular needs that you need this fridge to provide."
"Most definitely, young man. It must be a fridge of fridges."
"And this great fridge which the world will knock on your door to marvel at. What should it do?"
"I need it to keep my food cold."
"How long will you keep this fridge that you're purchasing today?"
"I'll keep it until it breaks."

A videogame system in the eyes of the average consumer is not different from a fridge, an oven, a bed, or even a television. Once it has been purchased and plugged into the living room, its simply another part of the house. It is not something they look forward to or anticipate using, its simply something they will occasionally use and tell their friends they own. If that user, then, is to be a part of the wider conversation of gaming, and is to pick up that newspaper advertising the latest gaming headline, that game system needs to be relevant for the next five, ten and fifteen years. Otherwise he won't know what on earth anyone is talking about.

Ultimately a mature console cycle creates a massive used-game market, which negatively impacts margins on games and hinders the purchase of newer games. The answer to that issue is to make digital sales a priority. Thus, maximizing profit for creators and allowing greater access of titles to the user. If it ends up holding true that this is the last generation of living-room game consoles, the efforts of Sony and Microsoft to offer online memberships for game libraries makes a lot more sense, as it allows more control to content providers and ensures profitability for creators over the long term. Its not unlike a cable provider.

 The only alternative to a consistent hardware platform is a unified software that is adopted across multiple manufacturers (SteamOS) but thats not necessarily the best solution. SteamOS provides a flexible, long-term living room solution for gaming, but the nature of PC development will insist on cutting edge hardware on the side of the end user, which means they will eventually need to upgrade. Of course, upon upgrading, all of thier old games will still work, which does eliminate many barriers. Unfortunately, its a less than desirable solution in a situation where its reasonable to expect more. As great an idea as SteamOS is (and I am in full support of it) it will not be able to contribute to a national culture that accepts gaming as a pass time of the everyday consumer. If Valve decides to put a long-term cap on how powerful the hardware is allowed to be in any given SteamBox, then my argument against SteamOS will not stand. But I doubt that's going to happen.

If console manufacturers are interested in this vision becoming a reality, the strategy will need to be implemented in this coming generation (Wii U, PS4, Xbox One). Sony and Microsoft already provide a subscription games service, so they are well on their way. Nintendo has been making progress by providing digital copies of games before the retail version is available. Eventually a subscription service from Nintendo may be appropriate as well, but their software offerings and excellent eShop format may end up serving them just fine. Despite the strength of the PS4 out of the gate, Sony is the company I would be worrying about long-term. Because they removed the Playstation Eye from the console package, consumers will have to adapt to a complicated controller that may hinder them from picking a game up quickly. If I had to pick the best companies suited for this long-term play, I would choose Nintendo first, then Microsoft.

Nintendo's Wii U is best suited for this strategy because of the casual nature of the controllers. The Gamepad doubles as a tablet and the secondary controllers mimic the everyday tv remote. The Wiimote is perfectly functional for casual play, while the gamepad lends itself to deeper, more complicated control schemes, while offering a second screen experience built-in. The software library certainly doesn't hurt them either. Using the eShop to advertise classic game experiences like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros and Wii Sports will provide nostalgia and familiarity, which can provide an entry-level gaming experience for the everyman. The eShop also doubles as an effective digital billboard, where new games are readily provided and the latest news from Nintendo can be watched via Nintendo Direct (which is a genius strategy, I don't care what anyone says). Again, for the Wii U to be truly mainstream, it has to be in everyone's living room. That can only happen by not releasing another console in five years; a temptation Nintendo will have a tough time fighting.

Microsoft's all in one strategy is unappealing for gamers, who understand different devices and their functions. But the average consumer can gain a lot from having everything in a single box. The ability to connect a cable box to the experience is a big win. Music and movie services are also more easily understood on the Xbox, and the casual gamer can play using Kinect, which is easy to understand and great for parties. Long-term, the Xbox will have an easier time fighting the upgrade cycle. The perverse amount of RAM and the flexibility of the system (plus the massive hard drive) will give Microsoft some nice leverage ten years down the line. But again, ten years isn't enough time. Fifteen years, even twenty years may be necessary.

Do console upgrades need to stop entirely for the rest of time? No. But they do need to be slowed significantly. Long enough for familiarity to set in. Long enough for everyone in the world to have the opportunity to own one for themselves. Of course, none of this HAS to happen either. Over the course of a decade, its difficult to say just how much profits will be affected by used-game sales (a priority on digital will not completely solve the problem) and maintaining consumer interest for such a vast period of time will be a huge obstacle to overcome. But if it is decided that these console cycles are long enough and technological relevance is too important to the industry, gaming will only continue to be a hobby enjoyed my hundreds of millions of gamers. Not billions of everyday people.

Insecurity

I found an article on Yahoo.com (which is undergoing some fantastic changes these days) that really kicked me in the tooth. Since the site is set for my homepage I will typically rummage through headlines to see what's on in the world. When I came across one said article just before going to bed, I was too moved to not write about it. The link is provided here.

http://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/6-signs-partner-secretly-unhappy-224700244.html


I can imagine that it caught my interest because no matter how confident I am that my loving wife loves me, there are too many dramas on tv for me to blindly believe I am producing the happiest wife in existence. So I looked it up and discovered more about myself than any other particular person. Specifically the note that the accumulation of stuff is a sign that one is insecure.

The thought isn't new to modern psychology, nor to any mature adult in the age we live. But the idea is rarely beholden in the mirror. I realized in reading this article that my constant thoughts about technology aren't different at all from the desire that some have to collect furniture, or stamps or to go drinking, or to smoke pot. As common as all of these activities are, what is more common still is the ultimate goal of each activity: escapism.

In fact, the vast majority of addictions are a means of escapism, which is a HOT word in the world of gaming. Relation? hmmmm...

Recently I was wondering why I still think about games as much as I did in my childhood. Alone in my thoughts, I was coming to the conclusion that I simply hadn't matured as much as I would have liked, even after all those years in college of not having games readily available to me. But upon reading this article, I'm convinced it has to do mostly with insecurity. If I don't feel accomplished in my life, I think about what games I want to play. Conversely, if I succeed or even excel at something, games are the last thing on my mind; not just in the moment, but oftentimes for several days following. Yesterday I sold my very first house as a real estate agent. When I went to pick up my 3DS today out of habit, I put it down less than five minutes later because I couldn't maintain an interest in it. After several passing conversations at work today and coming to grips with the importance of the job hunt I am undergoing (moving to Texas next week, desperately need job.) All I wanted to do was come home and play games.

As I think more and more about it, videogames were a fair-weather hobby for me growing up. It wasn't until my teens, when I was pulled out of school and began to struggle with loneliness, that it turned into a passionate hobby. As I saw life passing me by and my relationship with my father began to dwindle, games became a bigger and bigger part of it.

Then when I went to college and got saved, videogames went back to being a passive interest again. I did have computer games that I would play, and there were still gaming magazines that I read, but I never put those things above going out and having fun with friends, which is something I find myself doing these days. Video games are very much an escape, as well as a hiding place.

It points to a passionate need for God. Not only in my life, but everyone's. We all have "hobbies" that we have to keep in check, but for some of us its more than a hobby; its a security.

As for the source of my insecurity now, I'm willing to bet it has more to do with money, jobs and income than anything else. Being away from my close friends and family certainly isn't helping anything either. And with my beautiful wife having a baby on the way, the pressure is greater than ever. Part of me wants to hide in a fantasy world, but now that I realize where those desires come from, I just want to be a stronger man. For my wife and for my baby.

Keeping In Touch

I have been a busy bee the last few months. Particularly in the last 30 days, I have had projects and tidbits to do from sunup to sundown. So, like everyone in society, I put off calling loved ones and spending time with friends to get work done. Doing so is sometimes necessary, to be sure. To say otherwise, I would risk sounding like a bum who has never seen a full time job. But its something all us full-time job people see now and then. This time though, it made me do some thinking.

After attending Josh Whitcomb's wedding down in Cincinatti (which was a lovely event. Maybe the best I have seen). I was slapped in the face at just how important friends and family are. This post isn't something thats going to give you a friendly reminder about spending time with loved ones. I want this to be a charge. You seriously need to INVEST in the people you love.

Seeing Josh and Andrew (together we made up the groom's side of the party), two very close, very dear friends of mine reminded me how much I missed them. And if I had not seen them I don't think I would have known how big of a hole was in my life.

Those two men are irreplaceable friends. I have never and will never have friends like them. Having not seen them for over a year (two years in the case of Andrew) and doing an awful job at keeping in touch with them, I was blown away at how familiar being around them felt. It was like we set our friendship down, moved to different states, left it alone for two years, and then picked it back up where we left off. Nothing was lost and nothing was spoiled. It was like the Twinkie of relationships.

But by not being near them, I picked up some really dumb things. Particularly time-wasters that most of us are guilty of like the internet and tv. But I did those things because I didn't have my buddies near me, and thats where my inspiration to write this came from. My wife is my best friend, solemnly replacing two other men who I call "brother" (Josh and Tim Cunningham) which is whats supposed to happen. But that doens't mean I can put those guys away, and the great divide known as "distance" has beaten our ambition to keep in touch into an apathetic bowl of soup. The crazy thing is, if you're reading this, you're probably not spending enough time with friends or family.

I know there is a time and a place for all things, and distance is something that makes ANYTHING difficult, relationships especially. But actually reflect on your own life and think of anything you can do to make that distance a little smaller, even if that means playing word-with-friends with your grandma. The greatest thing to come out of the 21st century will be developing a method of consistently keeping in touch with loved ones. But that method might just be taking an hour out of your day to pick up a phone.

Mornings

This post is going to look more like a diary entry than an educated rant.

I was painting an apartment through this morning and early afternoon. It's a task I perform now and again for our landlord, who graciously deducts a bit from our rent as payment and goodwill. It has allowed us to keep a healthy and respectful relationship with the man who could kick us out on a whim and has served as a nice supplement to income. Besides that, I like doing it.

The apartment that I'm currently painting for him is the...maybe the 6th one I've done for him. Considering how small the complex is, thats actually a huge number. The funny thing is, the first time I painted an apartment for him, I had never done any painting before in my life. He gave me a quick lesson, offered some advice upon my calling him for Q&A and then inspected it with me there once I was done. The first couple of times he gave me some advice on what to do next time, general tips for speedy work and other such words of wisdom.

Now that I have become more comfortable with the task, I can actually think about OTHER things while I am painting. It has become something that I can be relatively at ease about (though I wouldn't call myself even an amatuer by any stretch). So today I was thinking. Why do I read the news so much?

Ever since I moved to Pennsylvania, I have been reading the news everyday. Quite a bit of my reading is tech news (my favorite) but it is almost always supplemented by business news, U.S. News and politics. I will read basically anything on the internet that classifies itself as "news". And this is something that I have only been doing since I have been married in the state of PA. Until today I hadn't really thought about WHY.

Listening to the podcasts that I do, Car Talk, What the Tech, A Life Well Wasted, The Game Informer Show, The Motley Fool, 60 Minutes, Truth for Life and Focus on the Family, I noticed that I often dream while I am listening to these shows. When I'm listening to cartalk, I carefully soak in the facts that are communicated to the callers about what could be wrong with their cars and how nice it will be when I finally know how to fix them myself. In What the Tech, I carefully listen about the occasional conversation that takes place about programming languages and operating systems. Listening to Game Informer, I wonder about how hard it would be to actually make a simple game, like something that would look like it came from the original Nintendo or even the old Atari systems. Then when I listen to general radio shows like 60 Minutes I think about how fun it would be to have my own podcast and interview people. That would rock.

But mostly when I am at home and I have nothing pressing to be doing I will just read the news. and today I finally realized it: It's because I don't have a constructive hobby. Back when I first got married I wanted to the be best man that I could be for my wife: I wanted to get up extra early every morning so I could get an early start on the day and get loads of stuff done before she even had a chance to wake up. But the fact was that all I could do was write. I could work on my book, write poetry, maybe do some blog work. The thing is, our apartment is so small that when I type on the keyboard (something I am exceptionally loud at...and proud of.) It would wake her up. In addition to the waking, it is a sound that also annoys the snot out of her. So unless I was willing to sit outside or go to some coffee shop (we aren't close enough to one to justify it...and I ain't sitting in the grass with a laptop. That's lame.) doing any kind of writing on the computer is out of the question. At the time I was writing some letters to friends and loved ones, but in this age it is both uncommon and inconsistent to receive a timely reply. So it's not something I could do every morning.

I think at one point, I decided I would just get up early, have some ME time and goof around on the internet. Aside from facebook and youtube, basically the only other thing you can do on the net that doesn't involve typing is reading the news. And so i developed the terrible addiction of being a news junkie. My wife pointed this out to me just a few weeks back. But it actually soaked in today.

If I actually took my mornings and focused; if I woke up with the purpose of doing something constructive, I'm willing to bet this bad habit could be broken very easily. Hopefully when we get to Texas, Amber and I will be able to get a two bedroom apartment, where I can close the door of the second bedroom and get some writing done without disturbing her. Or maybe I could learn to program, or record and edit sound, or write games? For those who are willing to wake up in the morning, there is a whole world of opportunity to be seized before 10 A.M.

The Trucker's Blessing

Just a few nights ago I was lieing in my bed, mildly depressed at my current state. I sometimes get frustrated because, having earned a bachelor's degree in business management, I argue that I should have a better job than I have.

I enjoy my job and I am sometimes proud of what I do. But when I spend my time working alongside highschoolers, I wonder just how far my degree got me. Now, the guys that I work with who are attending highschool are exceptional young men. They are smart, witty and relatively hard workers...I take that back. They're just smart and witty. But they're highschoolers, so you can't expect them to have a great work ethic. I at least have to hand it to them just for HAVING jobs; I didn't get a job until I was out of college.

So I guess I deserve what I'm going through in a way. But sometimes I just wonder what all the studying was for. So I was depressed and preparing myself for a night's rest. Oftentimes when I go to bed after a hard day's work the bible verse pops into my mind, "The sleep of a laboring man is sweet." Yet another example of the Bible having absolute truth. There are few things sweeter than resting my head on that pillow at night.

But then the very next day I had the opportunity to talk to my wife's grandmother, who we all affectionately call "Granny." and who I love very dearly. She told me she was seeing me grow in both spiritual and practical maturity. I could hear in her voice that she was proud of me, even though I was working an entry-level job; and she reminded me multiple times in that conversation that God places us in these places for a reason. He doesn't just stick us somewhere and forget about us. That was so relieveing to be reminded of.

Then another blessing came to me that night as the store was closing. I got called to the front of the store to answer a question that the team-members at customer service couldn't answer...again. When they simply attempted to explain the situation over the head-set I knew it was going to be a headache.

A customer had Sirius/XM in his big-rig truck and his old head-unit was broken. Intelligently, he had the geek-squad protection so he was just bringing it in for a swap-out. The tricky part was, no one was sure what to replace is WITH. So I took the time to help them along and talk with them and explain stuff. It all worked out in the end, but while we were working stuff out we started talking.

The customer, who had been driving his truck for 20 years, insisted that he needed Sirius radio for the metro opera and classical stations. In all my years I have NEVER heard of a trucker that listens to opera. To add to it, the man had an immaculate comb-over and a gentlemen's tone in his voice. It was puzzling, to be short.

Then I asked him how he got into this pompy music.

"Oh, I went to Juilliard" He says to me.

"That legendary school of music?" Says I.

The very same. A trucker went to one of the world's most recognized music schools. I ended the conversation there, finished up and then went on my way. But as I walked away, I began to ponder just what this man was. He seemed to be in the exact same boat I was in, except he was at least 60 years old. With every step I was more tempted to turn around and learn more. Then, by Divine Work, he called out to me and said he needed one more thing. "Oh, its over here" I said, and we began to walk across the store to retrieve the product.

Then I caved and asked him "So, whats your story? What did you do after you graduated?"

Turns out the man went straight into the opera. He told me stories of how he travelled the world, living out his music career in the greatest concert halls in the world, singing all the great operas. Then, twenty years into his career, he suddenly was struck with an incurable lung disease. He was forced to quit within a 2-year period.

"Then, I was forced to get into my second job. And that was driving."

I don't entirely understand the situation, and I can't be the one to make the final judgment. But when you graduate from a college like THAT, and you have a 20 year career like THAT, then SURELY you can get a job teaching. Or something. But instead the man chose to drive a truck. A good job. A hard job. An honest and honorable job. But that man was still over-qualified for it.

Yet despite his career absolutely tumbling and having to resort for the remainder of his life to a job that would never give him  rest or particularly good pay, the man was happy.

You could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, sense it in his calm, easy walk. The man was content in his life. He drove his truck, listened to the music he so loved and then came home to his wife. It was a pattern he had, and he was content to do it.

If a man like that can be content. If a man like that can be happy. I have absolutely no room to be disappointed by my circumstances.

Fighting the System

Through my teens and through College I always got high on the idea of being an individual and seperating myself from the norm. I mean, whats NOT cool about being completely independent, completely seperated from any description? It earned me a reputation among my peers, whether good or bad (it really depends on who you talk to).

Now that I'm out of the social stress and awkwardness of being around people 24/7 I find myself continuing to "fight the system" in unique ways. Sometimes I do it at work, like drinking from cans instead of bottles. Or by recommending a product that is considerably cheaper, but identical quality to customers just because I like the underdogs (it doesn't help profits and it doesn't help a customers self-confidence. Which is why people buy expensive things.)

I even "fight the system" in my purchases. That's one of the reasons I got a Windows Phone. I was bored of the iPhone, but more importantly, I wanted to have something no one else had. I wanted to support the underdog and watch them rise to power! I wanted to turn heads with my completely unique operating system!

Nerd.

I was tired of Apple dominating smartphones and I wasn't about to root for Android, which was a broken mess enjoyed by the masses cause they just didn't know any better (I know, I know. Thats just what I was thinking at the time. Settle down.) So I went with Windows Phone and the underdog Lumia 900. A great phone in many respects.

But then I got burned. Not realizing that Microsoft would have a crappy strategy with the Windows 8 platform, I bought in. Then I find out the system had barely any apps to speak of. There were hardly any games worth picking up, and the ones that were actually good cost 5 dollars. PFT! for a CELL phone game!? Then the software update came that wasn't even compatible with my phone, making my sexy piece of hardware outdated in a six-month period.

Lately I was thinking about getting the Raspberry Pi as a desktop platform for my work. I don't need a massive processor, and I don't need all the bells and whistles of a $300-400 laptop. I would just buy a 19 inch screen, all the cords I needed and have a functional computer for 160 bucks. Plus I'm pissed at Microsoft for screwing me over with my phone and I can't afford a Mac.

But then it hit me: Why am I doing this? Like, what am I ACTUALLY proving? I'm reminded of basically every rebellion in history. Here's how it usually goes: a bunch of people get upset at the big guy, they do things to upset him or to disrupt his influence, and then they get squashed like little bugs and people write about them later. Or the rebels lose interest and quit, in which case people just forget about them.

You can fight the powers in the business world. But it Ain't gonna do much. It's true in politics too. Now we should still do whats right when a government is trying to take over our lives. But technology and consumer products can't take over your life (not in a literal sense anyways).

By fighting the system in the world of consumer electronics, and consumer products in general for that matter, the only person you are hurting is yourself. I could get that little Raspberry Pi and not have to fork over the money on an overpriced laptop, but then I wouldn't be able to multi-task in my web browser or watch youtube videos. I also wouldn't have access to Office. Which is a pretty big deal if I'm trying to put in applications. By fighting the system when I got my Windows Phone, I gave up a really useful PDA and all the coolest apps on the market. I also gave up great customer service and long-term OS updates. I was proud of myself for the first couple of weeks, but after reality sank in I realized I was just acting stupid. And in that stupidity I wasted hard earned money and gave myself a compromised product.

Don't fight the system. Popular products are popular for a reason.

Nintendo, oh Nintendo

I don't care what anyone wants to say, Nintendo is like a crazy jester that was backed into a cliff-side by all the sane citizens of the village. As he stands on the edge of this cliff, quietly wondering what he is going to do, he plays the same horn and tells the same jokes, hoping the townsfolk will accept him for who he is. The townspeople, bewildered, have compassion in their hearts for this jester. They want to nurture him, feed him, educate him and make them a part of their happy village, but every time they approach the jester, he backs away like a scared little lamb. They chased him to this cliffside as they desperately tried to reason with him, but now it looks like he wants to jump and nobody is sure what they should do about it.

Thats Nintendo. That Jester is Nintendo.

Tooting the same horn, trying the same cheap tricks, showing the same stoic confidence they always have while keeping that happy-go-lucky attitude with all their press releases. This is a company that refuses to pick up and move even when its obvious that the meteor is GOING to strike the town you've been living in. The WHOLE world is changing right now.

Europe is going bankrupt, Microsoft is re-hashing ALL of its products, Apple's stock price is in freefall for seemingly NO reason, the entire stock market is artificially inflated, the President of the United States is forcing a healthcare plan on a society that wants nothing to do with it. The Canadian Loony is worth more than the American Dollar, Japan's manufacturing bubble is popping, South Korea is about to get a bomb dropped on its butt.

EVERYTHING is changing right now. EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is adapting and moving and strategizing, fighting desperately to stay alive and keep things moving.

Everyone EXCEPT Nintendo.

For the last 25 years, this company has relied on Mario, a console every 5 years, a handheld every 5 years and a fanbase that refuses to let them die. That's IT.

Lets get one thing straight here. The fanbase Nintendo found with the Wii is a fanbase they will NEVER get back. I've personally talked to the mothers and fathers who owned a Wii. They are now obsessed with iPads and smartphones and all the cute 99 cent games they can find on there. In another 5 years there will be something else for them to obsess about, but it ain't gonna be a Wii or anything else Nintendo makes, unless they truly change.

I am going to sound a little crazy in this post. But hopefully you'll at least consider what I'm talking about.

Nintendo is actually competing with the biggest, most powerful, most influential companies in the world. These companies are putting strategies in place that make any single persons interaction with computers or technology an interaction with that company.

Microsoft got into the console business for the very reason that is happening today. Bill Gates envisioned a day where there would be a tv in every living room and a computer connected to it that fed content to the viewer. Thats what the Xbox does now and when they reveal the Durango in a month, thats what its going to do. In addition to that, there is Windows Phone for your pocket and then Smartglass to make it a tv remote. Windows 8 for laptops, and the Surface for taking to the office or to class. Pretty much anything you would call "technology" is a business Microsoft is now in.

Apple TV? The iPad? the iPhone? The Mac? All a single ecosystem

Samsung TV's? The Galaxy phones? The Galaxy Tabs? Samsung washers and dryers now communicate with their smartphones.

Google is doing the same thing. Sony is (poorly) doing the same thing. LG is trying to play middle ground by partnering with Google and just making good products in literally EVERY category.

But Nintendo, who makes ONE thing, is sitting in a corner doing the same thing they have always been doing. A console every five years. A handheld every five years. Make a Mario game. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Then again, amidst all the chaos right now, the only companies that AREN'T panicking are Apple and Nintendo. Nintendo is like the Apple of videogames, come to think of it. Both are innovative, bull headed, consistently stick to their own agendas regardless of what everyone else does, and both have massive cash reserves. Both are hated by many, faithfully loved by a few and survivors through dark times despite everything...and everyone else is panicking and second guessing themselves. Microsoft speaks for itself, and Samsung's great leader insists that the company must be in a "perpetually state of panic."

Corporate America and the financial gurus that manage it insist that if a company isn't growing, its dying. That if a market is penetrated it can only shrink and become unprofitable and so the day traders of the world look to the big boys for their ROI's. If you listen to the radio and tv shows and investor shows, tech companies come up more often than oil, because its a massive, lucrative business. Its a money-hungry power struggle in the world of tech and the big companies who have made it this far are fighting tooth and nail to win the approval of the customer and the investor, but mostly the investor. Because the customer doesn't do the hiring in corporate America. The investor does.

Nintendo and Apple, despite being massive financial successes in their time, and having to hear the cries and complaints of their customers and of investors in what they are doing wrong or right, just quietly smile, retreat to their offices after a hard day at the press event and go back to doing whatever the heck they want. And they always, ALWAYS make money doing it. Maybe they aren't as successful as company A or company B, but they're certainly never for want of their piece of the pie.

Nintendo, as a company, is the father and mother of video games. No matter what anyone else does, they know what they're doing, why they're doing it and what needs to happen next. Everyone else is going to panic and invest in market A or B in order to diversify "risk" but Nintendo is happy to do what it has been doing for the last 25 years.

I was reading a blog on IGN earlier today. The writer innocently wrote about the games he goes back to time and again every year. The games he just can't get enough of and can't wait for more of. He talked about why he liked them or challenges he created for himself on them. It was such a refreshing thing to read. Not just because of the description of simple, innocent joy that gaming can be, but because it brought me back to earth. I've spent my whole post-college career looking at profits of company A or B, while telling myself when I go to work "its not about the money. Its about the customer" and then I come home and criticize company A or B for not meeting financial goals.

Sure they've got jobs to do, but this whole stock exchange thing is only 100 years old. Men should do what they enjoy, find a single thing to be good at and do it for the rest of their lives. As an obscure song taught me just before I became married, "Decide what to be and go be it."

Oh, by the way. That blog I was reading? Almost every game that the writer mentioned was made by Nintendo. Much to my surprise, the comments that followed, the majority of the 900 of them (just a few hours after his post) were agreements from his readers, that they too kept going back to Nintendo games.

The father and mother of video games, despite being surpassed in sales and "market share" and "mind share" and competitors winning the love of the common "mature gamer" and "hardcore gamer," Nintendo still made the games that these gamers came back to after so many years. It was inspiring.

Maybe the whole world just needs to be more like Nintendo.

Disruptors

2013 is already almost half over. That thought is depressing in a way, because as I get older and stay busy, days seem to pass faster and faster. Its a fact that old people warned me about since I was little, so I guess I saw it coming. Its still overwhelming though.

Nonetheless its never too late to make a list. In the last couple of weeks I have been keeping my eye on some companies that are really rocking the boat of convention. In a way, they're actually going back to old principles. Lets get to it.

Company #1: Freedompop

Freedompop is an upstart that took their sweet time getting started. I don't know the whole story, but reports of them getting their service out seem to go back over a year, and they only just recently got their service rolled out. Nonetheless, its a huge deal. This is an internet company that is using a similar strategy to Clear, who provides hotspots at home and on the go for a flat rate every month. Freedompop one-ups that strategy by offering mobile hot-spots for sale (not lease) and just for owning that hotspot you get 500mb of data every month. JUST for owning the thing, which costs you NOTHING. If you get a hotspot meant for home use, you get 1gb of data per month.

It gets interesting from there because afterwards they charge (although very affordably) by the megabyte. I can't blame them because they're a business, and I can't argue with them because the rate they charge is still cheaper than Verizon or AT&T. But this solution is PERFECT for the grandparents that only use the internet for email. Its PERFECT for the student thats broke every month just paying for food and rent. Its PERFECT for the family that wants to take a vacation once a year but doesn't want to fork out a couple hundred bucks for some "convenient" internet solution.

I love it most of all because its one step closer to a more afforable internet. Not that its horribly expensive now but...I'm a cheapskate.

Company #2: T-Mobile

Not all that different from Freedompop, but this is still a big deal. In an effort to be fiercely competitive, T-Mobile is targeting the "affordable" smartphone market. I pay over $150 a month to AT&T for the cell phones my wife and I use. Of course we are in a two year contract as well, so if we are displeased with the service, we can basically just shut up and deal with it.

T-Mobile is offering unlimited data with no contract. Want the latest phone? Pay for it in monthly, no interest payments. WHAT!? That strategy is basically what I'm doing with AT&T. But if I do the same thing I'm doing at AT&T and take it over to T-Mobile, I will suddenly be paying $50 less per month AND have unlimited data.

How could I NOT be in love with that? People need to jump on this bandwagon (and I will too as soon as my stupid contract is up).

Oh and by the way, they also have the latest and greatest phones from Samsung, Apple and Windows. Yeah, thats a win.

Company #3: Raspberry Pi

Though technically not a company, it is a movement. Produced by Cambridge University and manufactured by Sony (if my research is to be believed) the Raspberry Pi is a little computer that costs $25. $35 if you want the internet capability (and who doesn't?)

This is huge for a couple of reasons. The guys making this thing only had education on their minds when they made it. I think that is noble and wonderful; but this is also a world where people do things with things that weren't intended to be done. Which is awesome.

The Raspberry Pi is intended for education, but it can just as easily be a computer for poor, a productivity suite for a small business owner, a spare computer for the kids to use. It is also a hobbyists' dream. Its a cute little device with a cute name that can be used for a million different things.

Personally, I want to use it to learn how to program and as a no-distractions computer for writing. Even buying all the stuff needed for the computer brand new, I can spend $150 getting this little guy up and running. Since I have a Best Buy discount, I'll spend $80. Imagine if I already owned a mouse and keyboard, with a monitor? Its a $50 computer, people!

Mark my words: We are going to hear a lot about this little computer in the coming years. This is the beginning of a movement.

There are other disruptors in the world. Aereo, Roku, Amazon with their Kindle. I might get to all of these companies and products in a later post, but I just had to get these three off my chest. I'm too excited.

The Mistaken Belief of the Free-to-Play Model

There has been an awful lot of talk about the emergence of social games and free-to-play entertainment. Quite a bit of the talk outside of the general news article is hype-fed proclamations that a new age is coming and the structure of the video game industry will be turned upside down; the prophets of this new age claim that free-to-play models will eventually power the financing of every game that is released from this age onward.

Free-to-play is a new idea in video games, and a delightfully original one at that. The income alone that powers the advertisements, while it may or may not be enough to justify the cost of production for the developer, at least allows the developer a little bit of reward for their work, while also agreeing with the desire that everyone should have a crack at their app. That "free" price tag under the title of a game when a gamer is browsing through their app store is a no-commitment welcome to a shot at an original piece of work. Even though many would argue that ninety-nine cents is an extremely reasonable price, the argument still stands that "free" is always more attractive than "cheap" and while everyone has their differences about what a single dollar means to them, "free" means the same thing to everybody.

The accessibility of the app store, combined with the advertisement and micro-transaction powered income model, at least gives everyone an open, no risk opportunity to try something new. For such an easy-going, open market to exist is the developers dream. We are finally at a place where computers fit in our pockets, and we can customize them to perform the exact tasks that we need them to do no matter where we are. This is especially exciting for the budding game developer. There have been plenty of notable free-to-play games that were just made by two or three guys. Not that they are revolutionary works of art, and I typically delete the games after an hour, but I look at the credits of the app, seeing that only a few people worked on it, and I know I made their day just by downloading their game and giving it a shot. Thats a dream come true for the basement programmer.

Then there are more expansive games, made by teams of more than fifty people. Big budget games that take a developer dozens of people more than a year of dedicated programming and designing. And lo, these are free to play as well! Just like the budding, basement game developer, these big companies are powering their games using advertisements and micro transactions as a means of income. Initially, this idea has worked out very well for the developers, who have banked very well for being frontiersmen in this new idea. I love it when people find new ways to make money, and I applaud them when they do. I also get very excited about growing markets. But I've got a big, bulky question mark floating over my head about casual-gaming and the new free-to-play model that is literally taking over mobile gaming and internet gaming.

First lets talk about advertisements. I'm sure we have all actually taken a second out of our day and realized how many advertisements we are buffeted with on a daily basis. Lets go through a typical day.

I wake up and get some cereal. While I'm pouring by breakfast in a bowl I get hit with a "Enter the vacation sweepstakes!" with a big airplane picture hovering over my golden oats. Then I get dressed and head to work. On the way, I listen to radio, which is financed by an advertisement every 3 or 4 songs, who tells me with a deep voice that they want to "see me in a Kia". Meanwhile, I'm driving by billboards that are telling me how low I can get my insurance. At work, I spend all day throwing advertisements at people, asking them if they would like to try our new "Cherry Berry Chiller" and follow-up with how golden and cool they will feel inside while they are drinking it. Then I come home (hearing and seeing the same ads I drove by eight hours earlier) and turn on the tv with my wife, which is financed by 33% of airtime being dedicated to commercials every hour. Then I have some me time and I get on facebook to find out what my friends are up to. Right next to my best friends status update about his new painting, I see an advertisement for another computer, or another leather coat, or another single woman who wants to date me (I never knew I was that desirable until facebook told me). Then when I turn on Playstation 2 to play a snowboarding game, I see nothing. No banners, no trailers, no offers. Nothing.

Up until a short while ago, videogames have been free from obtrusive advertisements, and let me just say those were good days. in 2005, EA got incredible amounts of criticism from both gamers and press for using real world advertisements for Axe deoderant in their Need for Speed games. The argument was made that video games, like books or movies, were an escape from reality, and seeing advertisements removed the fantasy from it. EA defended itself by saying it was a way to justify the cost of developing the game, which everyone knew was a lie from the bowels of hell, because the Need for Speed series was enjoying its most successful days.
The Need for Speed series was enjoying success from a dedicated fanbase that was willing to throw fifty dollars out of their wallet to escape into the fantasy. They had a good reason for being upset: fifty dollars is a lot of money, but its money well spent on a great game, and the players understood and agreed with that. They felt like their purchase had been cheapened, however, when, like so many other entertainment formats, they had advertisements shoved down their throats.

That was an age when gaming was still an exclusive pass-time to gamers.
A lot of average, everyday people didn't understand it (and still don't). Oft-heard criticisms sounded like, "fifty dollars for a stupid game? Stop wasting your time and money." then there were more personal ones like "find something more constructive with your time; videogames are for kids." and now, seven years later, those same people that I can pick out from my past are now playing Words with Friends and Angry Birds.

Who changed? The developer, the games or the audience? All three actually, in that exact order.
If I asked any of those new "casual gamers" who made Angry Birds, they wouldn't be able to tell me. Even though they see the developers name every time they start the game up, they don't know who made it. Likewise, if i asked them what they appreciate most about angry birds, they might be able to muster something like "I like the big red bird" The same goes for Words with Friends and every other casual game on the market. Its not because these companies are not memorable or that the games themselves are unintelligent, its because casual gamers don't care. This is the harsh reality that the game industry needs to get its head around: "casual gamers" are not gamers.

I do not mean the title of gamer to belong to the elite hobbyist that plays at least an hour every day. I use the title loosely. A gamer can be someone who enjoys an hour of gaming once a month, and only if friends are present and participating. I would call that person a casual gamer. But that is not the same person that the industry refers to when revenue and growth statistics are thrown into the airwaves. The "casual gamer" the industry is talking about has absolutely no interest in video games, has no interest in sharing them with anyone, and has no interest in investing any more than a dollar into a game for the rest of their lives. They don't enjoy videogames. They don't appreciate the world that it sucks them into, they don't like the characters that try to interact with them on the screen, and they certainly don't want to post a high score to beat all their friends.

The origin of the "coverted" casual gamer looks like this: She was on a bench waiting for the bus. There was no one left in her contacts list to call, there was nothing she wanted to do on the internet, there was nothing interesting on facebook, and she just wasn't in the mood to take the book out of her bag and start reading, so after gazing through the app store and seeing the game that the world simply will not shut up about, she thinks "whynot?" and downloads the game and plays it for five minutes. The industry would now label this girl as a "casual gamer" when she has absolutely no interest in playing video games. She downloaded Angry Birds because she was bored and it was her last resort.

The example I gave above is not a special case. It comprises the entire market that mobile gaming is building itself around. Free-to-play games have plenty of tricks to suck this market in and get a few dollars out of them. These strategies work, and I am legitimately happy for the company that enjoys this success. But right now casual gaming is being treated as the industry-saving economic boost that will restore sales growth in a stuck and static market; and that perception is dangerously misleading. It's about time that someone came out and just said it: casual gaming is the Furby of electronic entertainment. Remember Furby? Sure you do. Everybody's mom wanted one. All the little kiddies loved them. They were so cute and cuddly and filled the black hole in everyones life. That is, until people got bored with the idea and moved on. The same thing happened with tickle-me-elmo, and again with the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Tamagotchi, Harry Potter, Silly Bandz, Lite-Brite, Etch-A-Sketch, and the Spice Girls.

Normally I wouldn't care about this, because its just an example of people finding a fad and cashing in on it. I'm a huge supporter of that. But it has come to a point where the big boys are questioning their entire income model. Nintendo is in a complete panic. They created the touch screen for gaming, but they have since been surpassed. They created motion controls for gaming, but have since been beaten. Now they're on the verge of releasing a product that combines both technologies, investing their livlihood into its success, and the public couldn't care less. Sony is losing money left and right; having its hands in too many markets, the company has lost a competitive edge. Now it is looking to its entertainment division to pick up the slack, while the inside of the division is shaking in its boots, wondering whether or not to release a new console. Microsoft is gambling more than it ever has on its Windows 8 operating system, after releasing Vista and 7, which the public just didn't come after in droves to adopt. Meanwhile, the video games division is trying to balance having every form of entertainment in one box, something their biggest competitor seems to have mastered overnight.

There is a lot of fear in the industry right now. A lot of that fear stems from the roots of the public interest. Video games really just aren't being talked about right now. This is coming from a guy who checks half a dozen video game web sites every day looking for a new article to read. On top of that, consoles and developers have finally hit a brick wall on affordable technologies. building games bigger than they already are is dangerous to a budget like a foreign explosive to a bomb disposal team Hit the right switch and you're golden, hit anything else and your world is over (see: Kingdoms of Amalur). Want to know why this is the first time in gaming history that consoles have extended their life cycle to 150% of their expected use? Now you know. Game development cannot extend beyond its current budgets and still remain profitable. Big games like Call of Duty take too much time, too many people and too many resources to be any bigger than they already are. For the first time, going bigger isn't just risky, it's plain stupid. If the Playstation 2 had been the latest technology for 7 years instead of five, game critics would have torn series like Call of Duty apart for being horribly repetitive and looking too much like its predecessor. Now, these games are getting away with it because they have to. The whole industry has to. The attitude of quiet confidence in simply not moving that companies had has turned into a frozen panic in the wake of growth of "competitors"

Amidst all this confusion, a platform, built by a company that has never openly supported video games of any kind has become the dominant contender, supporting casual free-to-play games by the thousands. Besides that, sales of consoles are beginning to slump; the market has been penetrated, the products have matured, and one single company emerges from the ordinary and begins dominating literally every form of digital entertainment we enjoy.
To say it plainly, Apple is a behemoth that has made so many calculated advances in so many industries with so much unparalleled success, companies are beginning to view it like the Angel of Death, dreading when the unstoppable power will come for them. But the games industry is an nut Apple will not crack. How do I know? Because Apple itself has made one active, calculated, risky move in supporting games. It is called Game Center, and it completely sucks. The fact that, being this far in the game, Apple hasn't made any moves toward requesting developer support for video games speaks worlds about what they know about the industry. What says more is they just don't get how essential physical buttons are to gaming. If they did, you had better believe they would have made a controller by now. But fanatic Apple analysts haven't even spotted so much as a patent. Talk about lazy.

I do not point any of these things out to call gamers to arms, or to announce the apocalypse of interactive entertainment. I'm saying all of this to send a message to the negatively fused critic who thinks this industry has approached a cliff. This free-to-play fad will pass (notice Facebook's horrendous IPO and the leech known as Zynga following closely behind the falling stock price). Free-to-play gaming has worked for the few who jumped on the idea, but it is not going to work for everyone. The practicality has made it an attractive alternative for the cheap gamer, but the constant pressure to pay more will drive them away shortly. Gamers as a whole simply will not be kosher with a constant reminder that they could spend more and get more; that pressure is equal to that of a salesmen coming back to your door every morning to remind you about the same product you refused to buy yesterday. Games are only getting away with it right now because its new. Once the idea wears out, free-to-play advertisements and micro-transactions are going to die just like the old furby.

I love video games, and throughout my whole childhood I wanted my parents to give a tenth of an inch of care about my favorite pass-time. I would have mowed the whole lawn, taken the trash out all summer and gotten A's in all my classes if I could sit down with my dad for an hour to play a game with me. But when I grew up I finally came to grips with the fact that its just not going to happen. My dad is never going to be interested in games like I am, and no matter how bad I want him to like them, he's just not going to.

The gaming market is shaping itself into the boy I once was. It is conforming and bending its own rules, its own understood convictions and principles just to get people who can't stand games to give just five minutes of their time to enjoy the things that we enjoy. It started out as a novel idea, but now its turned into a passion that is destroying the way the industry depends on its own survival. No matter what changes in the world of entertainment, there will always be those who play games and those who just don't care to. Until these recent years, that separation has driven the industry to new heights of greatness; now we have descended into a little boy that just wants attention from people who don't even know who he is or what he is here for.
-Tyler Shippam