n0wak

Sins of a Solar Empire is a great game, but it really plays more like an RTS than the kind of asynchronous style game that Neptune's Pride seems to be. I've been meaning to start a game but haven't bothered thus far. I don't know why since part of it is very similar to an idea I've wanted to implement for a long while (albeit in a simplified fashion) so I can consider it "research." That said, is there a way to make a server/universe/galaxy (whatever they call it) that's thumbs only? I'd be all over that.

To be perfectly honest, I'm kind of sick of every damn application getting achievements and leaderboards and badges and experience points. It diminishes the whole point of an application. If I'm visiting your site, it better be because your site is of value to me; not some external reward system. The novelty of those wears thin after a while and it does more harm than good.

Some credit for the shot would be nice! Also, as arbiter of the camera I am not posting that one picture of me and a couple other Idle Thumbs people after they had a bunch of drinks. YOU KNOW THE ONE. Here is a crappy MacBook photobooth shot of me in a dark room

Ahh yes. I guess the thing is when you fall into a routine and pass by a building every single day twice a day, you kind of stop appreciating what you have right under your nose. I should go back and visit it again one day. It's a nice little museum in a nice building (in a nice larger complex. Love the Brookfield Place atrium. RANDOM FACT: the police station for those shitty TekWar TV movies was the bank inside Brookfield, then-BCE, Place.) I am hoping, hoping, HOPING that I get to visit it and go up the Dempster Highway up to the arctic circle this June. Depends on work and what not. We'll see.

I'm here til' the end of the month. Then (probably) Paris for Aprile, although I don't have an apartment or anything lined-up yet. That's how I like to roll.

I thought I disliked Zynga about as much as possible, what with all the scams, shadiness, and downright deception (look into Zynga + Haiti charity for the latest shitshow), but then that guy came up for the acceptance speech proving me wrong.

This has been my last three months. I'm down in Cannes. Don't know anyone here and there isn't too much to do. Been traveling around a bit, but all of that is alone, and while my big fucking old 30th birthday was really nice the day-to-day has been pretty annoying. So all I really do is work, which lets me afford the traveling, but... yeah. The most social contact I've had in the last month has been basically with the dude from whom I sometimes buy kebabs. Mahmud. Nice guy, but a little loud. Also, this week it's been fucking colder down here than in Toronto WTF. That said, I can see the fucking Mediterranean from my apartment so, really, I have no bloody complaints! (I do miss my game consoles though. )

I had a free ticket for it last year but got an on-site job that I couldn't really leave for a week during that period. Nothing this year. :\

THE CLOUDS ARE JUST REPAINTED BUSHES!? I also just read recently that Zelda: Links Awakening was partially inspired by Twin Peaks.

The Yiddish Policenauts Union The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles of Riddick Exile and the Kingdom Hearts

EA Presents: Paradise City Lost

Where abouts?

Jesus Christ, we're up to 50 already? And me being XBox-less

Well, this was a pleasant surprise this morning

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4_7goH48i4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4_7goH48i4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Holy shit, it's THE ARCADE GAME

People. I have seen the light and now can be added in Words with Friends. I am n0wak, won't you share some words with me, friends? It is pretty great, although I'm somewhat annoyed that the quintessential version of that game is on a platform with the worse possible controls for that game. I wish I could get this version of the game, with all the challenges and everything, on something with an actual, tactile d-pad or stick. That's not to say that the controls in Pac-Man:CE are bad -- they're really good (and customizable) for an iPhone game -- but there's a level of precision you just can't get by rubbing your finger around on glass.

That guy's a troll. Period. Every time I see something he writes, steam shoots out of my ears. It's a shame, really. I think he has some good ideas and I like how he approaches the medium, but his constant trolling instantly and completely turns me off all of his projects. Rather than making work that stands on its own above the stuff he doesn't like, his approach is to make stuff on the same level footing... and then belittle everything else. That's no way to go up, in my books. Ok, I'm done I stole a pizza yesterday. I went to the store, gave them my money, and completely stole it. No one else can have it now. I have a long history of stealing things that I paid for.

Four words: Consequence Live for Never It's so good. http://www.myspace.com/consequencenz Also, I posted this to Twitter and might as well repost here. My favourite albums of the year (with my definitive Top 25 on top)

I'd like to report that almost two years after the fact, I have beaten my high score and it currently rests at 1,360,200. Still not good enough for the tops, though. The Facebook version of the game got me back into the full version.

Yes. I employ a white list strategy. If I trust your site, I'll let you run javascript; otherwise, GTFO. Auto-refresh you don't really want to do because it's too invasive. What you want is a notification that new posts have been added, with a reload only on user request. Something along the lines of what the Twitter and Tumblr dashboards do (or, hey, the above mentioned YayHooray).

I'm not much of a fan of "for everyone" forum software like vbulletin and the like because, unless you have a really competent dev behind it, it's hard to remove that shit and focus it on what your specific community really needs/wants. That's why I always like custom solutions that are basically built around the community rather than the other way around. http://yayhooray.com/ has always been nice, and iterated on many, many times over. A few other private ones that I can't link to are pretty good too. They also tend to generally remove the cruft in the design and focus on what really matters: what people are saying.

Street Fighter IV Honourable mentions: Space Invaders Extreme 2; Canabalt; Hook Champ.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80XH6uc1R-I&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80XH6uc1R-I&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>