Well…new for me that is. 
A few months ago we decided to get rid of all the music which we “lent” instead of bought. We literally got rid of all of the MP3’s from which we could (miraculously) no longer seem to find the CD in our closet. To make sure our taste would not “get lost” with this cleaning operation of our ipod and PC, we made a list of all of the artists and bands from which we used to have digital music. One of these bands was the “Red Hot Chili Peppers”. So their name ended up on the “should buy” list, and eventually the album “Stadium Arcadium” ended up in the Amazon-Cart. I am not really an expert on the RHCP, to be honest we didn’t have this album but their “Californication”. So when this (double!) CD ended up in the mailbox, I didn’t really know what to expect. The only song that I knew from this album was “Snow”. I’ve seen their performance of this song from the Grammy Awards 2007, where flea “dressed” in yellow was bouncing up and down the stage like he was trying to impersonate big bird (as some youtube visitor subtle described it).
I can’t even give you an estimate on how often I’ve seen these two words on a screen. But, the funny thing is that I can’t really remember the last time I was confronted with them. And this kind of got me thinking why? To my opinion, this is probably because the “time” and style of games have changed. In the good old days of Pacman, Space Invaders or (later) high-tech(!) games like Boulderdash, we were confronted and irritated by “Game over!” on way too many occasions.
Boulderdash
The gaming concept was simple:
Challenge the player with a Task which seems “easy” and do-able. But limit them in the amount of attempts and/or time. When the player has managed the task, award the player with a “well done” and tell the player next stage (or lvl) has been reached. Then: Slightly increase the difficulty of the task. And offer this task to the player.
All games were “designed” to be manageable by the smallest child, but over time offered a real challenge to any skill of player. Way too often I was annoyed, irritated and angry that once again I failed lvl 32 because I ran out of time. The annoyance, anger and irritation would all be converted into motivation on my next try to “crack” the lvl. And: at a certain moment, I would actually crack the lvl and “finish” the game. Straight after that, started looking for the next game to prove to that I was “invincible”. (muhaha)
Nowadays, the words “Game over” will only be found when playing “Classic game collection XVI”. And to be honest, it seems the words have actually been banned by each and every marketing department in the gaming industry. Cause “Game-over” will result in annoyance to the player, and might lead to the player turning of the game: To spend time in a “more” useful way. Or it causes the player to switch to a game of a competing gaming company. Ever since the industry discovered that the total playtime increases when the game actually never ends, “the words” started to get rarer. It’s like the experiment with a rat in the labyrinth. Instead of punishing it with electro-shocks when it makes a wrong turn, rewarding it with cheese when it makes a right turn will cause the rat to get through the labyrinth much faster. And will cause the rat to enjoy it in a way, waiting for the next trip through the labyrinth. To be honest, I think the rat was quite pissed when the experiment was over and it was time for him to grow an ear on his back.
It’s a matter of fact that no matter how much you suck at a game, Mr.Gamecreater will make sure you still get “rewarded” to give you a “you’re an ace”-feeling. As long as you don’t push the “off” button on the system, Mr.Gamecreater will be there to hold your hand and be proud of you. Shortly after the never-ending games were introduced by Mr.Gamecreater, he came to the idea to charge 20% less for his games in the shop. And actually charge the player for the time he spends “on”. After all, when Mr.Gamecreater has to hold the players hand and tell him his god, he should get paid for it, shouldn’t he?
So what’s this way too long article all about Steph? Read the rest of this entry »
All praise to Amazon, they have a hell of a speed when it comes to delivering their orders. Ladies and Gentlemen: it has arrived! That’s right; yesterday I got a call from the secretary in the top-floor that another package (more info later) had arrived. Since I am an honest and loyal employee I of course only went up to get the package on my midday break and left the package closed until it was time to go home.
Ok, figured you wouldn’t believe me… I went up straight away to pick up the package and opened it to look what was inside. But, not kidding you this time: I actually did leave the smaller box inside of the Amazon package closed. I bet my wife wished I’d already opened the package during working hours. Let’s just say there was a lot of flashing at home in the evening (sorry fellows: not THAT kind of flashing). The Canon EOS 450D has around 150 different settings to adjust light, color, shutter and HUE effects. May wife was the “subject” for the, I estimate around 150 pictures.
Some of you might think now: “WTF? It’s not even your birthday yet, and you’re using your B-Day present. I always have to wait until I shook all of the relatives’ hands and smiled like I am actually enjoying myself!!”
Quite simple folks: I am the master in the house…
K… Didn’t even convince myself this time: Let’s just say there’s another Amazon package on the way with… You guessed it, the “B-Day”-Present for my wife. So here comes the actual trick fellows (pay attention): Technically seen, the Birthday of my wife is only in 2 Months…BUT, since I of course would never tell her she can’t touch the present until July: She can unpack and use it straight away. Might wanna write this trick down for your next birthday.
Anyways, since the weather is in between more and less rain I have not yet managed to make any pictures to post here. So the picture of me reading the user manual will just have to do… Hopefully more on the weekend.
Ever since I moved from Holland to Austria I wanted to get more into photography. During my first year I made quite a lot of pictures using my old Pentax SP1000. After a year, my work and lifestyle adjusting caused me to kind of forget about photography. Even when my brother changed his Pentax MX for a Canon EOS (D) and after he gave me his good old MX, I didn’t really get back into it. After considering, reconsidering and waiting for the right “affordable” Camera to be available I finally clicked the “Add to Cart” button on Amazon:
This baby is on its way, and should be arriving before the 12th of May (Happy birthday Steph!). According to various online Test reports the Canon EOS 450D should be one of the best cameras to get (back) into photography in its price class. I’ll be looking out for the postman for the next week, the sooner I get this camera the better!
Well, this it: I am the proud owner of an own blog. Not sure what to use it for, no ideas on what to blog about. But hey, there’s a few million blogs out there, most of them anyways make no sense: so consider this my addition to the stack.
