*Shrug*

Life goes on, right? Something like that. Anyway, I ought to be writing here on a semi-regular basis again, though I’d still like to move to independent hosting at some point. The brief flurry of insanity that was Robot Bomb going live will probably make for good training when that happens. Until then, I’ll be making every effort to soldier on over here.

Me? I haven’t bought it.

Sure, the game looks good. If you’ve checked out any of the spoilers (confession: I’ve seen bits here and there), you might be convinced that the newest installment in the Call of Duty franchise could actually be worthwhile.

Despite all that, here’s the deal: I’m a PC gamer. Always have been, always will be. Don’t get me wrong, consoles are lovely, but given the choice I’ll take my games hard-boiled, over PC (see what I did there? oh, puns that rhyme are fun). I’m a PC gamer, through and through, and I take pride in it.

And here’s the thing: Activision, and Infinity Ward by proxy, have collectively asked PC gamers to drop their pants and bend over. Oh, and by the way, you’re going to pay $59.99 this time around, not the $49.99 standard of the platform, all for the privilege of getting less content and capabilities than the last time around.

Modern Warfare 2, let me count the ways in which you’ve given us a weaker product:

• No dedicated servers – I’m all for the DIY ethic, but not all gamers are hardware-savvy. Some of them just want to game. A few snobbier PC gamers would suggest they go buy a console if they can’t figure it out, but I would argue otherwise. If multiplayer is essential to the experience – and it is – Activision and Infinity Ward should have used their noggins and sprung for DEDICATED SERVERS. Shipping what will almost certainly be one of the highest-selling games of the year without dedicated multiplayer servers is like selling a house with a basement, but no stairs leading down to it.
• 9v9 – Assuming you do decide to play Modern Warfare 2′s multiplayer mode, PC gamers will only able to have eighteen players per server. The standard is 16v16, and some games manage more. Would that really have been so hard for MW2?
• Steam unlock – Activision has a policy of releasing games digitally 48 hours after the brick-and-mortar launch. What that means for PC gamers that buy on Steam is that they can’t play their god-forsaken game when everyone else does. Even if they pre-order, they still have to sit around twiddling their thumbs while console gamers run around fragging each other like there’s no tomorrow.
• Massive patching – I can’t confirm this one, but I’ve heard that if you buy a retail copy and activate through Steam, there’s a 1.3 GB patch you’ll need to immediately download. Frankly, there’s no way the amount of fixes they could’ve come up with between printing the discs and now would equal that much. It’s sheer irresponsibility on Activision’s part.

Now, I know that developers and publishers scream on and on about the rampant piracy in the videogame industry. They throw numbers around like 90%, which is the number of users some companies claim are running pirated copies of their products. They wring their hands worrying about how to outsmart the pirates, and slap level upon level of DRM on their product, and then wonder why gamers get upset at them and move elsewhere.

There might be pirates out there, but there are honest gamers, too. I can’t say that I’ve never pirated any media, but I will say with absolute honesty that games are one thing I’ve never stolen. There’s no logic behind that, no reasoning as to why I refuse to break that barrier, but regardless, I won’t do it. I only buy games that are deserving of my money, and I invest enough into my computer’s hardware to ensure a smooth experience. Why am I being punished?

I’m getting a little sidetracked, but I guess what I’m trying to say is this: when developers and publishers make it clear they don’t think the PC is viable as a gaming platform any longer, it makes me avoid their products. Then they use dropping sales as reasoning to remove developmental support, which in turn ends up making their first statement a self-fulfilling prophecy.

My solution? I do my absolute best to reward the companies that still care, or at least do a good job of seeming like they do. I buy indie games, both because it’s important to encourage creativity and because I like supporting the little guy. I buy Valve products because they’re fun, and because they’ve used the Steam platform to do some amazing things with regard to price plasticity and periodic sales. I’m starting to go more for games from Eastern-European developers, too. The market for PC games is still very strong there, and the games they’re churning out are a fresh change from the boring console-ports we’re used to getting over here.

None of those changes are truly solutions, just work-arounds. At least for the time being, we’ll probably see more and more Western developers choose to no longer make PC versions of their games, mumbling one excuse or another, and to a certain extent a few gamers might make the move to console. Those of us that remain on PC will become increasingly irritable and sulky, but we’ll also get to enjoy much more variety, and dare I say more mature titles (not the Rated M for Mature kind, the designed-for-adults-with-half-a-brain kind) as we learn to branch out and explore games from lesser-known devs.

This isn’t exactly a new trend, but MW2 is a painful reminder that in the eyes of many developers and publishers, PC gamers are second-class citizens.

Robot Bomb!

In my desire to make sure Robot Bomb become something worthwhile, I’ve fallen into the habit of ignoring most all else, most directly evidenced in my lack of posting here on T+L, or on TouchGen, or on Indie Clauses, or on Blogcritics (save for that 3-part train wreck in which I offended fans of various bands by not loving the groups as much as they themselves do). My other big writing project right now, my first attempt at a novel, has temporarily been placed in second-class status – frankly, I only work on it two or three times per week, and only right before the deadline each Wednesday (or directly after, when I don’t finish in time).

Though my actions haven’t shown it of late, I have no intention of letting this blog end or fade away. Most of the reviews I write from here on out will appear on Robot Bomb, but all other content should continue to be posted here. The plan, eventually, is to move T+L to independent hosting, though I’ve yet to settle on and purchase a domain.

The main point of this post, though, is more to inform the teeming masses of Robot Bomb, not blather on about T+L. So, with that in mind…

Robot Bomb.

It’s up. It’s live. It’s not perfect, but it’s functional. Posting is still slightly sporadic, but the editors and I are working on figuring out some sort of schedule. Ironically, my biggest problem right now is an overabundance of certain types of content – two writers are dead set on writing nothing but sports- and gangsta rap-related  reviews. This would be perfectly fine, but they also write more than anyone else. The end result is that our content is currently a little skewed. That being said though, it’s certainly a better problem to have than not getting enough content to begin with.

If you don’t know, Robot Bomb is a reviews site. We cover music, movies, books, and videogames, and each review has more personality and snark than a drunk Irishman

On a side note: I’m not one for code. I’ve never particularly enjoyed learning it, or trying to use it, yet this endeavor has forced me to dabble in more PHP and HTML than I’ve ever used before. I’ve certainly gained some experience, but some things still remain a mystery to me. For example:

I’d decided that Robot Bomb would go live on the 30th of October. Despite having months of time to prepare, it always seems that things like these end up going down to the wire, and Robot Bomb was no exception. The other editors and I were furiously editing posts until around 11:40, at which point I decided to work on getting the files for our template FTP’ed. Evidently I ended up adding more than was necessary, and not deleting all the extraneous files, and ended up with a broken teaser site when what I really wanted was a non-broken main site.

Zach and I had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Zach Zach Zach I FTP’ed all the stuff and it’s not working! WHY IS IT NOT WORKING?

Zach: You probably did something wrong. Delete all of it and try again.

Me: But some of it I never added in the first place, some of it was already there and I’m not sure which bits are from the teaser site and which bits I just added and I DON”T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

Zach: You’re dumb.

Me: I know! Can you fix it?

Zach: *Sigh* Hold on.

Me: *waits a moment* It’s still not fixed!

Zach: WAIT A SECOND.

…

Zach: Now look.

Me: It works it works it works! You’re awesome!

Zach: I know.

We’ve had several more moments like that since the 30th, and I’m sure there will be several more. It’s been an experience, that’s for sure. There’s still plenty more to do, but we’re off to a good start. If you haven’t dropped by yet, do me a favor and check it out!

Here’s what’s up: I’ve been writing a novel, for starters, and I’m an estimated 15% done. That might seem a little exacting, but I’m estimating the total at 70,000 words based on what I’ve plotted out and how much I’ve written as of yet. As much as I love it, finding a regular time to work on it has been… difficult.

I’m putting a lot of time into making sure Robot Bomb ends up something slightly better than still-born. My original goal was for it to go live on October 9, but that’s looking nearly impossible without cutting a lot of corners. In an effort to make it more solid, the deadline has been changed to a decidedly more nebulous October 2009. Hopefully it won’t be more than a week or two late, but I’m not holding my breath.

In slightly better RB news, there’s a good chance we’ll have some actual semi-pro video types helping out with our periodic video shoots. I’m not entirely sure how soon I can get them in on the process, but it might be as early as this week. If that’s the case, it’ll be a huge load off the rest of us. Finally, we’re revamping the structure a little bit so that it’s divided into more manageable chunks. Basically, that means I’ll be doing a little less editing and a little more shameless whoring and promoting of the website, getting referral accounts set up, sucking up to PR reps, and all that jazz. Instead of me editing and approving everything that gets posted, I’ll have four section editors that will be in charge of the individual areas of coverage. I haven’t yet informed those folks of my intentions for them (shhh, don’t tell).

Additionally, I’ve still got that pesky business known as college. When random school diversions get mixed in, it makes keeping this up nearly impossible. As a matter of fact, even this post is getting squeezed in at the Houston airport, simply because I’m tired of writing reviews of music and books, and I wanted a change of pace (ironically enough, that means going from writing for Robot Bomb and Indie Clauses to writing for T+L).

I hate to make every post on here an update on how other things are going, but that’s what it’ll have to boil down to for at least a few weeks.

Upcoming content will consist entirely of Austin City Limits Music Festival coverage, by the way. It’s this next weekend, Oct 2-4, and I couldn’t be more excited to be writing about it for Blogcritics. Everything written for it will be re-posted here as a poor excuse for content. Forgive me that laziness, but all my extra writing time is occupied with the novel and building up content for Robot Bomb.

Until next time, I leave you with a thought: if a college-age girl wears a North Face jacket despite the fact that it’s 92 degrees outside, does that absolutely, definitely make her a sorority girl, or could she merely be silly? Discuss amongst yourselves.

I’ve managed to score a press pass for the Austin City Limits Music Festival, courtesy of Blogcritics. This means several things. First of all, it means I’m going to ACL for the second time in as many years, and without having payed for either experience. That’s pretty awesome in and of itself. It also means I can sell my two day passes I’d previously acquired. No, I’m doing any scalping – my friend Nick is picking them up at cost, theoretically in exchange for allowing me to crash at his apartment in Austin.

With regard to all of you internet-people: no, this isn’t a meaningless gloat (though that would be horrifically annoying, huh?). This is where the announcement bit comes in: I’ll be working with the wonderful editors over at Blogcritics to produce a three-part series covering ACL, hopefully published at the end of each day of ACL (Friday-Sunday, October 2-4). Additionally, I’ll be tweeting the whole business, which you’ll be able to follow here. Finally, I’m trying to arrange an interview with Suckers, an indie-rock outfit from Brooklyn, New York. That’ll go up on Independent Clauses, which I’ve mentioned so many times previously that if you haven’t checked it out already, there’s probably something wrong with you.

See all that? I’m earning my keep with this press pass. Don’t think I’m not!

Finally, there’s this: I don’t know all of the bands that are playing. Sure, there’s a list I can look over, and a handy schedule with which to figure out where I should be at any given time, but there are over 100 bands that will be performing over three days. Frankly, I haven’t heard of half of them, and I don’t want to miss any wonderful indie-gems just because I don’t know how awesome they are. Check out my planned schedule below, and if you think I should make any changes, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Friday, October 2nd

Saturday, October 3rd

Sunday, October 4th

I hate to be anything that even vaguely resembles a fanboy, but I find their announcements absolutely fascinating. Apple has managed to take something that most companies relegate to either a press release or one of a handful of trade shows and turn it into some sort of massive party/lovefest/shindig where the crowd treats company executives like rockstars and treats rockstars like, well, regular folks. Quivering journalist-types and tech bloggers hang upon their every word, frantically posting updates to their website, and mere mortals such as myself eat up those updates like so many delicious cookies. Second-hand love like that requires talent, folks; talent that Apple has in spades. I enjoyed today’s “It’s Only Rock And Roll” event as much as any other of their announcements (well, almost: I was practically jumping up and down in excitement when the iPhone and iPod Touch were announced two years ago). There was just one problem.

The 3rd-gen iPod Touch has no camera.

Not only that, the 5th-gen iPod Nano does have a camera.

What. The. Hell?

There are plenty of possible reasons for this, and I’m not going to bother to go into them today (or any other day… go read a tech blog if that’s what you’re looking for). I’m trying to look at this from the semi-rational perspective of a gamer. Sure, a camera could have potentially been used in a few gimmicky games here and there, but it has no significant impact on my gaming experience. The chip upgrades and increase in storage capacity, on the other hand, will make a measurable difference.
It boils down to this: yeah, I’m bummed that the much-rumored camera won’t be making an appearance in the new Touch. I was also wishing for other cool iPhone tech, like the digital compass. That being said, I don’t really need a camera in my iPod, I just like having gear with more stuff crammed into them. What I was really wanting to upgrade for was gaming ability, and the new 3rd-gen makes admirable advances in that regard.

Let’s do a quick comparison:

My current iPod, a 1st-gen Touch, has what can only be described as non-existent battery life. I can game on it for perhaps 15-20 minutes before getting a 20% warning, which is entirely unacceptable from a gaming perspective. A new Touch, on the other hand, should get around 2-3 hours of play before giving up the ghost.

I’ll be able to load things wicked-fast, which is not possible on a 1st-gen Touch. They can only go sorta-fast.
My storage capacity will double when I go from 16 Gb to the 32 Gb of a midrange model. You know how many more games that is? A lot more, that’s how many.

Other improvements include multiplayer over Bluetooth, use of OpenGL 2.0, and a built-in speaker. The 1st-gen Touch has none of those things, my dear friends.

On a slightly more general perspective, I will no longer be a second-class citizen of the App Store (see earlier articles). I can play anything and everything, even if it’s dumb like Booyah Society. That is cause for celebration.
Oh, and one last parting note – I’ve got a soon-to-be-retired 1st-gen iPod Touch which is just begging to be destroyed in the worst way possible. Any suggestions on what to do with it? I’ve got a few ideas so far:

1. Shoot it.
2. Smash it with a sledgehammer.
3. Run over it with a car.
4. Try to resurrect it with a fresh battery (the root of its many failings), inevitably fail, and proceed to go through the earlier options in reverse order.

Let me know what you think! In the mean time, I’ve got a 3rd-gen iPod Touch to order…

October 22, I can’t wait for you to arrive.