G3

Looks like I’m the next to last person on Earth not to own it….

WORLD OF WARCRAFT DOMINATES
HOLIDAY SALES IN NORTH AMERICA

Looks like they’re well on the way to a million copies sold by the end of this quarter.

Seems the religious right is to blame for Alexander The Bomb:

Stone blames ‘moral fundamentalism’ for US box office flop

Yeah. It wasn’t that the movie is crappy, it was the church folk who done it!

Puhlease. If the Religious Right was such a big demographic as to make sex-filled / homosexual-topic’d entertainment lose money…. somebody please explain to me Desperate Housewives, Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The Aviator, Closer, Bridget Jones, etc. etc. etc.?

Kids try out the classics. This article is freaking hilarious.

My favorite moment:

EGM: Are the TIE fighters scary?

Anthony: No. It feels like they’re trying to give me flowers.

Dillon: But flowers that you’re allergic to, so you’re trying to blow them up.

Dillon: If they made a game like this now, someone would definitely get fired.

Parker: It looks like midway through the game, they just gave up. They’re like, whatever, and just stopped.

Looks like the U.S. is at the top of the spam-producers this year. Big surprise, considering where we are on the technology + population curve.

Read the details in this article, which points out that “anti-spam” legislation “isn’t working.” <sarcasm>Gee, that’s strange. Laws don’t prevent crime? How can that be?</sarcasm>

For those of you who may have noticed a brief outage…

We blame Adelphia, and/or the nation of France.

- M

So, apparently Ted Neward of JavaGeeks.com is getting harassed by Sun’s lawyers for misuse of the word Java. This is my favorite part:

We understand that Javageeks.com is not a formal business entity; however, the trademark law is concerned with the use of confusingly similar terms in connection with the distribution or advertising of any goods or services, regardless of whether those goods or services generate revenues, and regardless of whether they are used by “formal” business entities.

In other words, “We don’t care if you’re an organized entity or not, we don’t care if you’ve ever received any sort of money from anybody over the site, we don’t even care what you do (Hell, for all they care, at least according to this missive, I could be selling coffee off the website and I’m still in trademark violation, it seems), you can’t have the javageeks.com domain name.

*sigh*

I mean seriously, what’s Sun’s deal lately? Check out this unintentionally hilarious page on how people should and shouldn’t use the trademarks.

Good grief. I hope the smacktard that Ted is dealing with decides to actually LOOK at the website before his next response.

Okay, so I’m interested to hear what you guys think of HL2 thus far. The benchmark I’ve tended to use lately is Far Cry. Here’s my take:
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HL2 unlocks at 2am tomorrow morning here in Colorado…

HL2 Set to Release Same Time Across World

So the question is: stay up late, or get up early? Or just don’t bother going to work the rest of the week? Hey, I think I feel a stomach flu coming on already!

The discovery of remains belonging to a tiny species of ancient human has been hailed as one of the most sensational finds of its type in decades… For the full story click here.

I love the gaming dynamic that drives technology, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence. Even with all the cool new games out there, AI in the RPG genre has never been all that great. The behavior of NPCs (Non-Player Characters) has typically been woefully flat, even in ground-breaking games like Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

Lets face it: the typical NPC exists either as a holder of loot or to provide a quest plot point. “You must seek Baldric the Wise and get the Amulet of Leetness.” They’re essentially scripted furniture.

Although an unlikely source, The Sims games have advanced the way we view NPCs, because any character you aren’t controlling becomes an NPC until you take control again. Thus, the Sims franchise has bestowed wants and needs on all characters to make their interactions interesting and unscripted (and hopefully fun).

This wants-and-needs approach to NPC behavior has reportedly been integrated into the forthcoming Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. (Bethsaida Softworks calls it their “The Living World” system.)

I’m really intrigued by the potential for a whole new level of gameplay. From a Gamespy article, here’s the heart of the matter:
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