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Year 2006

Entries 10 Total

2006 Year In Review

Dec 31, ’06 12:21 PM

In January, I wrote my third Quicksilver tutorial, had a painful coincidence, made a cupcake-frosted ass Of myself, observed some Lynchian flyers, freaked out about Ableton Live, went to the Top Of The Rock in zero-visibility, and mocked both Blackberry users and Cornell.

In February, I emigrated to the Colbert Nation, upgraded my IIDX rig, fired a warning shot about the “true video iPod”, got my hands on DJ Max, observed the passing of a great TV show, discovered I was a warmonger, went to a pillow fight, had another round of coincidences, and tried (and failed) to guess when WWDC would be.

In March, I audited the Oscars, mourned Peter Tomarken, went to the best! pizza party! ever!, tried to track down a fellow Bemani fan, and saw Ted Leo yet again.

In April, I went to London. The trip included transportation problems, awesome sweets, and sport on telly, among other things. Also, I detailed one of my favorite obscure Konami titles, hit up Coney Island on opening day, lamented over Bemani community drama, announced my love for The Amazing Race, and freaked out over Inform 7.

In May, I “visited” David Blaine, helped Eugene Mirman protest himself, celebrated Mother’s Day, went to TARcon 9 as well as my dad’s birthday, and got deep about advertising and porn.

In June, I was impressed by Apple technical support, observed a flood at the office, turned 26 on what might’ve been the most numerically interesting day of the year, mourned the loss of Michael Bartosh, saw the last game I ever worked on released, ran into a team on the last leg of TAR10, ran into the International Parade, made a Flickr hypothesis, and reviewed the Sidekick 3.

In July, I got a promotion, went to a friend’s wedding, weighed in on Apple security issues, watched the Headbutt Heard Round The World, got my hands on Live, and lectured about empathy. I set up a Vox account, got nailed by the Astoria Blackout, flipped out at the mayor, reveled in Shyamalan Schadenfreude, flipped out at my commenters, rated candy, and spent 14 hours at Del Close 8, where we had a bizarre accident. In hindsight, July was pretty goddamn busy.

In August, I previewed VJ Army 4.0, put WWDC on notice, had some fun on a plane in the middle of security hysteria, saw Gnarls Barkley, warned about shitty DVDs, took my favorite photo of the year, and rejoiced as Lamprey Systems returned.

In September, I unloaded on Mac rumor nerds, dissected iPod games, rallied against single save games, performed data magic, and relected on 9/11.

In October, I saw Tideland and Terry Gilliam, joined the Big Pig Gig, turned my childhood trauma into prizes, got caught up in the Cory Lidle plane crash, went to Rochester for a conference, and pulled apart the Sony/Lik Sang brewhaha. I also had a chance to see Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor shortly before Mr. Altman passed away.

In November, my iMac blew up, acquired a Wii (despite the wiitards)and Singstar US, learned an important lesson from Jim Cramer, picked up two more Bemani series, and worried I might be aging backwards.

In December, I had my Macworld article printed, simultaneously slammed and lauded Konami, went to TARcon X, mocked Time Magazine, had my meal of the year, happily found the return of one of my favorite games, and got outnerded by my coworkers.

Comments (2)

Friends Rosters Are The Reason For The Season

Dec 25, ’06 3:26 PM

I hope everyone is having a happy (insert holiday of your choosing/belief system here).

Since it’s one of the few times of year that people are likely to get consoles, I thought that now would be an appropriate time to reitterate my social gaming information. This will help you from hunting and pecking for the appropriate posts.

If you have an Xbox 360, my XBL username is RemyVJA.
If you have a Playstation 3, my PSN username is also RemyVJA.
If you have a Wii, my friends code is 5457 9039 2738 5973.

If you’re adding me this holiday season, please leave me a comment or an email to let me know who you are and your appropriate return user information.

Comments (2)

Jack’s Back, Baby

Dec 21, ’06 11:50 AM

One of my greatest game loves of my late teens/early twenties was Jellyvision‘s You Don’t Know Jack. I owned the original, played the ever-living hell out of it – it was the perfect merge of game show and video game.

After the YDKJ line fizzled out (the only really notable release other than the original was YDKJ 4: The Ride, which was extremely twisted in every sense of the word), Jellyvision fell off the map a bit. They became an occasional search – one of the many things that pop into my head once or twice a year and I go “Oh yeah, I should see if there’s anything about them online.” (Other occasional searches included Lamprey Systems and a song called ‘Blue Illusion’ that was tagged as being an Orbital song but was, in fact, not.)

When I started at Freeverse, Jellyvision did provide me a bit of game design knowledge through their Jack Principles, which I still think should be required reading for most game designers.

My quiz game hankering was only recently quenched by picking up Buzz: The Big Quiz while over in London. While Buzz is great – and tough, given the European roots – it was missing something. Something Jack-like.

In any case: Joystiq reported today that, at long last, You Don’t Know Jack has returned, online, in daily Flash bits. Sort of like a game podcast, without the syndication or enclosures or automation.

My world is one step closer to completion. Now to just order this copy of The Ride…

Comments (4)

In Lieu Of A Real Holiday Gift

Dec 19, ’06 7:55 AM

There was an audiobook I was planning on buying at least one of my friends for the holiday season; in a perfect world, I’d buy it for all of you.

Apple had to go and make it free this week. Great for giving it to everyone – not so great for making it look like a heartfelt gift.

So friends, download John Hodgman’s Areas Of My Expertise today. Before the hobos take over.

Comments (2)

Some Thoughts on Gordon Ramsay at The London

Dec 18, ’06 10:19 PM

I will readily admit that when it comes to fine dining, I am often out of touch. If you take all the places I’ve eaten since moving to the city over three years ago, and compare that list to the Michelin Guide NYC 2006, I have all of one star of dining experience. Granted, I did eat there twice – but it’s still the same star. I tend towards cheaper fare, but my eye drifts from time to time. Problem: I don’t like to fight for tables.

When the opportunity arose to eat at the new NYC restaurant of a familiar chef who has eight Michelin stars under his belt, I thought, “Maybe it’s time to give this a shot.”

So two months ago to the day, I called up and made reservations for Gordon Ramsay at The London for tonight, Katie’s 27th birthday. The restaurant, as of our visit, is just about 4 weeks old.

As I sit here, I realize it’s hard to do the meal justice without sounding like I’m gloating. I don’t want to gloat, and it’s certainly not my intent here – I want everyone to be able to experience food like this at one point or another in their lives. Food is one of the greatest pleasures in life – so many of my favorite memories revolve around eating and drinking with friends. Don’t deny yourself the opportunity, should it arise, to have a truly great meal.

My dinner consisted of:

  • A glass of 1985 Veuve Clicquot Rose (quite refreshing, lovely color, nice rounded taste that wasn’t easily classified)
  • Amuse Bouche: Gordon’s signature white bean cappuccino, flavored with mushrooms and black truffle (I broke my “no mushrooms” rule for this one, and it was worth it.)
  • Lobster ravioli, poached in its own bouillon with celery root cream, shellfish vinaigrette and chervil velouté (The velouté was actually what made this dish – it added just the right balance to the lobster.)
  • A bottle of 2004 Schaetzel Gewurztraminer. (Yes, I drink Gewurztraminer with just about anything, and this is probably the best bottle I’ve ever had. Lovely gold color, just the right level of sweet, good viscosity – drank more than I probably should have.)
  • Roast cannon of lamb with confit shoulder, candied onions, Imam Bayildi and marjoram jus (I was not crazy about the Imam Bayildi. I was extremely crazy about the rest, particularly the confit shoulder.)
  • Palette cleanser: Roasted pineapple with vanilla yogurt and crystallized cilantro (was hoping to have this, and if there’s any complaint, it’s that I finished it too quickly.)
  • Valrhona chocolate fondant with milk ice cream (to be honest, this was the most disappointing course – it wasn’t bad, but everything before it was excellent, so since this only came in at “good”.)
  • Treats off the bon bon cart (at this point, my stomach was swearing at me, even after sedating it with a lime-vanilla marshmallow). Katie’s dinner replaced the ravioli with a “mosaic of fruit de mer”, the lamb with a pigeon and foie gras dish, and the added bonus of a birthday scoop of strawberry-pomegranate sorbet.

I wasn’t surprised the food was excellent – the real test was going to be the service. As a frequent Eater reader, I had seen all the reports coming in – things about two hour seating time limits, inconsistencies, photo bans, and so on. I regularly have to deal with less than stellar service, so I lowered my expectations a smidge.

Turns out, that wasn’t necessary. All of the wait staff was attentive, pleasant, and polite; pretty much everything I want out of wait staff. When a small photo crew showed up to take some press shots, our server gently asked us if it was okay. (As a quasi-photoblogger, who am I to object?) My only complaint was that one of the wait staff had such a thick french accent, I often had a hard time understanding him.

The strange highlight of the evening was hinted at early on, when our first server mentioned casually in conversation that tours of the kitchen were available. (I can’t imagine this is the case on busier nights, but this was a Monday.) After dessert, Katie asked if it would be possible, and a few minutes later, we were back in the kitchen. The kitchen is fairly massive, as one that supports two restaurants + room service should be. We got to meet Neil Ferguson, the Chef de Cuisine, as well as Gordon himself (who I should note, for the sake of those who have only seen Hell’s Kitchen, was both polite and very sweet). There’s also a nice large private table where they serve a nine-course chef’s choice menu for six to eight.

Quick word about the decor – the restaurant has around twelve tables, and the space is balanced nicely between too intimate (read: crowded) and too sparse. The look is suitably modern yet tasteful.

Given how fickle the NYC dining scene is, I have no idea how Gordon will do here in the city – but as far as my unrefined palette goes, I was extremely happy, and plan on making a trip back sometime next year.

P.S. Long time readers may remember that when I used to do restaurant recommendation lists, I referred to Aureole (the source of my single Michelin star above) as crossing the “costs more than the top of the line iPod” line. Taking into account Apple’s current pricing levels and the amount of wine at the meal, this meal also crossed that line – but I can safely say that a meal at Gordon Ramsay doesn’t necessarily have to break that threshold.

Comments (2)

Oh God, Not You

Dec 17, ’06 11:37 AM

Everyone’s all up in arms today because Time Magazine, in an effort to cop out from making a decision that means absolutely nothing in the long run, has named You – yes, you – as the Person Of The Year. By playing the horrible, horrible Web 2.0 card:

And we didn’t just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.

…they utterly fail to consider that almost all of these things were happening last year. And most, the year before that. I expect the market demand for Lebowski mirrors to go through the roof. I also expect Chrysler’s marketing department to get axed.

Chrysler, you see, is sponsoring this year’s online article for Person Of The Year, and if you watch the ad, you’ll notice the immediate irony:

The hell I’m not!

I look forward to the Person Of The Year 2007 being “Everybody”, followed by “Humanity” in 2008, and as a complete twist, “Those Guys” in 2009.

Comments (1)

TARcon X

Dec 11, ’06 1:10 AM

Name Tags

Tyler & James Win

Katie & The Winners

Kim's Captive Audience

While not quite reaching the epic fun levels of TARcon 9, TARcon X was a hit. Racers appeared, drinks were had, and we left happy.

Flickr Photoset: TARcon X

Comments (0)

Good Konami

Dec 10, ’06 1:42 AM

I have always been interested in games that cross between the virtual world and the real world. There’s something that really hooks onto me when there’s a connection to the world outside the console/network.

I recently picked up Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops; the first real Metal Gear game for the PSP (not that I minded the Acid series as a diversion). Despite playing like most Metal Gear Solid games, it doesn’t follow all the conventions – the most major diversion being that Snake has to recruit soldiers throughout the game to help accomplish his mission.

The primary method of “recruiting” is to knock out an enemy and then drag him back to your truck or other team members. This is certainly a workable method, but a little tedious depending on the level size.

While I was monkeying around in the menus, I noticed one labeled “RECRUIT”. The three options were:

  • Access Point Scan
  • GPS Scan
  • Password

While the Password option is almost exactly what it sounds like, the other two are extremely cool:

The GPS Scan option requires the GPS add-on for the PSP, which just came out and thus I don’t have. But if you get said module, selecting this will show you locations you can go to with your PSP to acquire new soldiers. That’s right – you have to walk with your PSP to the right spot to acquire game resources. Essentially, you are participating in geocaching.

The Access Point Scan option does not require an add-on. The concept here is that every wireless router in the world “contains” a soldier. As you get your PSP closer to a wireless router you haven’t accessed before, the on-screen signal grows stronger. Once it reaches a certain strength, you receive the soldier. (If you can’t get close enough, it is possible to mash the Circle button to help “boost” the signal.)

Why is this cool? It’s wardriving to acquire game resources – except since you’re not actually connecting to the router, there’s no legal grey area. The soldiers you receive from this scanning are (apparently) generated based on the MAC address of the router; I’d love to see if there’s a pattern to the types of soldiers based on router manufacturer or model. Beyond trying to crack the system – searching this city for wireless routers is just plain fun. It’s a mini-game that gives me another excuse to roam the city. I’ve already picked up eleven soldiers from the elevated stretch of the subway I ride every day – I can only think of the possibilities.

(I realize that, in many ways, this is essentially a modernized version of the Barcode Battler. This isn’t a bad thing – the Barcode Battler concept was a good one, even if the execution was incredibly crappy. Yes, I owned one. Shut up.)

In closing – kudos to Konami for including two activities that I would’ve never thought to associate with gaming into MGO:PO.

Comments (1)

Bad Konami

Dec 8, ’06 9:14 PM

Email received, Thursday, 2:55 AM:

From: KONAMI INSIDER To: Remy Subject: Konami Insider: Take the Konami Customer Survey Dear Remy, Thank you for being a Konami Insider. Please visit our survey so we can continue to make the games YOU want to play. http://www.onlineregister.com/konami/survey/ Sincerely, Konami

I am not naive enough to believe that my feedback to any web survey will provide enough weighted guidance to allow for the things I want to be made. But I am naive enough to think that such a survey would have the reasonable illusion of trying to solicit my feedback. Question one of this four question survey:

Common sense violations encountered in this question:

  • The acronym “NGC” has never been in widespread use. While I know what it’s supposed to expand to, the average Joe will not. (I suppose I should be thankful the survey did not use “GCN”, as I’ve seen a number of places.)
  • There are no listings for any now-current gen consoles: the PS3, the Xbox 360, the Wii.

Question two:

Common sense violations encountered in this question:

  • The code name “Nintendo Revolution” has not been in use since the console was renamed the Wii on April 27th, 2006. This is over six months ago.
  • No one – and I mean no one – refers to a “DS” as a “Nintendo Dual Screen”.
  • The Gameboy Micro, as far as I know, is not being made any more, and bombed fairly badly compared to all other Gameboy Advance versions, never mind both versions of the DS.

Question three:

Common sense violations encountered on this question:

  • Why is Super Mario the example given for “Platform Games with Cartoon Characters”?
  • Why is Gran Turismo the example given for “Action Racing Games”?
  • Why is there even a category of “Mission Based Driving Games”? And, again, why GTA, which has classically been defined as a “sandbox game”?
  • Why do you offer such specifics as “Life Simulation Games”, “Fishing/Hunting Games”, and “Wrestling Games”, while you simultaneously neglect genres that Konami has at least something of a reputation for – such as Stealth Action Games (e.g. Metal Gear Solid), Music Games (e.g. Dance Dance Revolution), Adventure Platform Games (e.g. Castlevania), or Shoot-em-ups (e.g. Gradius)?

Question four:

Common sense violations encountered on this question:

  • This question does not contain the phrase “you, yourself,” unlike the previous three.
  • Why is an example needed for “Renting game from a video store”? Or for “Visiting the game publisher’s website”? Or, hell, even “Seeing advertisements online”?
  • It’s obvious just from the depth of this question and the 76 radio buttons that the point of the survey is not to actually make the sort of games that I want to play, but instead to refocus their advertising budgets appropriately to hit more “top influences”. It’s not the dishonesty of the survey that bothers me – it’s the principle of being so willing to take advantage of your customers. To lure them in with the half-empty promise of listening to them, and then blatantly try to suckle effective advertising channels out of them.

This, by the way, is the thanks you get for completing the survey:

I am baffled as to how anyone could think a survey like this provides anything remotely useful.

Comments (1)

In Print: Working Mac – January 2007

Dec 5, ’06 4:55 PM

I’m happy to announce that I’ve been published a second time for my Quicksilver work.

This time, you can find my contributions to a MacWorld article, entitled “Working Mac: Launch Your Productivity” in the January 2007 issue, which should be on newsstands now and online within the next month. The article covers tips using all three major launchers (Butler, LaunchBar, Quicksilver) for OS X. Dan Frakes and Rob Griffiths also contributed.

I realize, looking at the article, that it actually got chopped down from what I had originally written – which bodes well, I guess, for my ability to write lots about Quicksilver.

For those who missed my first printing, my original tutorial was published in O’Reilly’s Mac OS X Panther Hacks.

I hope to be able to announce my third printed Quicksilver endeavor within the next month.

Comments (3)