Something attempting to be useful, mostly failing.

I find myself looking for a new phone, and potentially a new carrier. I tried to check with Sprint, my current carrier, to acquire a discount of some kind in obtaining a new handset after being about 1 year in to a 2 year contract (which they have done in the past). I went to a Sprint store and after being told that I’m essentially screwed and that I have to wait out the contract before they can do anything at all.

Mathematically, I could walk into a Sprint store, terminate my contract, pay my Early Termination Fee, walk out, walk back in, sign up for a new line of service and get a phone for less than what I would be able to right now or even what I would be able to after waiting for my contract to end.

What follows is the chat session with a Sprint rep, in all of its hilarity. Sprint, if you somehow come across this post, here’s everything you’re doing wrong. My comments in italic bold.
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I loved Deus Ex 1. I hated Deus Ex 2. I love Deus Ex Human Revolution thus far. Here’s why.

The action feels solid, stealth is handled brilliantly (with augs that add even more to it!), you feel like a complete badass finding alternate paths to flank a group of enemies, the close quarter takedowns are a welcome addition (albeit pulled from Splinter Cell) and the guns feel right (Iron sights aren’t super accurate laser sights, guns have waver and variance, bullets have drop to them). The open-ended situation handling remains from Deus Ex 1 – if you see a group of enemies, you can engage them directly, you could sneak and stealth around them entirely or use that as a tactical advantage to suppress the group, you could find a security system terminal and hack it to turn the security bots against the group, or you can divert completely around them using the environment. This allows you to play the game your way and you can complete it without firing a shot (or by using non-lethal tactics).

The spoken dialogue is amazing and well written with excellent voice actors rounding it out. Even though the Eidos team seems to have unabashedly lifted the conversation system from Mass Effect 2, they add to that side of the game with an augmentation that gives you a polygraph and a few other gizmos to help determine which conversation flows would work best for your situation. The contextual conversation choices are more cut-and-dry than just “Save the orphans” or “Murder the orphans” like in Mass Effect. It says the point you’re going to make, but there’s ambiguity behind if it’s a “good” response or an “evil” response… or there may not be a morality swing either way with a conversation. It’s fluid, realistic and believable. The first time you really use this mechanic will sell you on its use through the game, and swayed my first aug purchase away from a stealth or accuracy mod to the polygraph mods.

I’m on the fence about the augmentation system. I really liked how it was handled in Deus Ex 1. You had to go to a medibot to get a new aug installed, and based on what augmentation canister you get determines what you could actually install. Having everything open right from the get-go makes your first few choices agonizing and being able to upgrade an aug or get a new one right in the middle of a firefight really removes me from the meaning behind the augs themselves. In the story, augmentation is treated as an extremely heavy decision but the mechanic in the game is a mouse click away whenever you want to get better at something. I would have liked to see a bit more gravity behind the system, but I suppose they had to make some kind of concession for the more casual out there. Having to trudge through with the means to turn yourself into an augmented monster of destruction but not the ability to do so would have been maddening for some players I’m sure, and the converse of this argument would be all over the internets.

The hacking minigame is a welcome change of pace and is just hard enough to make you think about diving in, but there’s usually enough reason (XP or creds) to give it a shot.

The visual cues and style are incredible. Blacks and golds everywhere, with a Victorian edge and flair to everything inside of a Blade Runner styled city. Extremely interesting and it makes you wander around and really look at your environments when you’re not busy shooting/not shooting/sneaking/diverting/hacking your way around set pieces.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the game, and I can’t wait to dive into the world more.

If Bodycount has one thing going for it, it would be that it’s safe. From what I’ve seen from this demo, there’s nothing that makes this game stand out.

Guns? Check. They sound good have have enough punch to them. Nothing to write home about though – you’ve got your AR bullet hose and a shotgun. Ta-da.
Auto health regen? Yup. Can’t have a console game now without that wonder of modern medical science.
Iron Sights? In all of its remarkable uselessness. I’ve seen Iron Sights done well (Red Orchestra). This ain’t it.
Leaning? Yes. I do really like how they do this – half pull the right trigger and you go to Iron Sights with movement, full pull and you get Iron Sights and your right stick will lean you instead of move. Ropeadope marksmanship?

I’ve been trying to determine what makes Bodycount different than every other game out there. When you kill enemies, icons drop on the ground that you can pick up to replenish different skill bars. Interesting mechanic, but it really pulls you out of the game. The game assumes you’re going to die, so respawns are quick and painless… I like that.

Essentially they take the class-based systems from…well… everything now-a-days, then they grab the combo and skill shot system from Bulletstorm, and then pray that the gaming masses haven’t played a FPS since 2003.

Controls are floaty and slow, the world is not compelling, the set pieces are bland and predictable, it does nothing to warrant money from your pocket. Pass.

Regardless of my better judgement, I downloaded the Madden 12 demo, just to see where things got with the series. My opinions on the game seems to remain the same from last year. Weird AI calls (Punting on 3rd and 4?!) and logic problem still pervade the game, but the biggest sin is that the presentation is still just so uneven. For every filler shot they have (Hey! It’s the coach! Let’s watch the coach yell while the clock runs down!), it looks amazing, but there’s always SOMETHING weird going on. 5 fans in the background standing next to each other look like clones and are moving at the exact same time, for instance. During the team intros, you’ve got guys carrying team flags and banners, which is a really awesome touch, up until the cloth physics on the flags go batshit crazy and you’ve got a 30 foot flag stretched out and flapping wildly.

The controls still feel sharp on the run, but if I were to have one major complaint against the game’s control scheme, it would be this: Please, please, please PLEASE just pick a kicking method. This year’s PAT/Punt/kickoff mechanic was different than last year’s, which was different than the year prior, which was different than the year prior. Any one of those methods would be fine – just pick one.Out of all the things that need revised, that’s not it. No one cares about HOW they kick, so long as the ball goes in the air.

Madden will always sell. They don’t even have to try. EA puts in enough new stuff to make the series grow JUST ENOUGH to warrant that next purchase from the football fan. Me? Yeah, I’ll pass this time around. Maybe next year.

Recently I had a discussion with a friend regarding teaching computer science and producing actual programmers out of university. I’m posting the original post and my response for a few different reasons, but primarily I want to archive it for review later on in my career to see how my mindset and the topic in question has changed.

Keith B. : Computer Science college = more theory, little application. Why isn’t there more “we will make you a motherfucking programmer!” courses?

My reply, with added line breaks for readability:
I apologize in advance for the amount of hot air I’m going to lay down here. What developers do is a craft (yes, I’m going to mention that ugly phrase ‘Software Craftsmanship’. Deal.) and the trappings of which follow any other craft or art. Schools can teach you the basics and principals of the craft as well as rounding you as an individual with other topics that may or may not pertain to said craft. However, for the practitioner of the craft to fully bloom, they must build – not only on their own but under the tutelage of other more experienced developers. Schools can facilitate this using labs and other free-form projects, but sadly, this doesn’t occur too often in my experience or from the experience of others I’ve talked to. Schools aim for simple regurgitation of information, not the application thereof; it’s easier to put a binary pass/fail on such things which gives them metrics to pass along to the regents or greater shareholders of the school.

The true craftsmanship of development and programming comes in to play when you have that understanding of the tools, the application of the tools, and then the desire to continually improve on your art, the mind knowing how to flex the tools to its whim, the drive to do so and finally the work ethic to see it all through. These are all things that CAN be taught; but taught through experimentation, failure, retrospect and improvement.

Consider the carpenter – there’s a lot of parallels with that vocation and ours. They can be shown the hammer and read about the history and uses of the tool, but a student of the craft will never build a house on that information alone – they must swing the hammer and pound nails to perfect their skill and art.

What follows is some hilariousness from Time Warner Cable/Road Runner’s tech support. Long story short, anything that requires a solid data connection lags out. Hit the jump for the entire transcript if you’re in the mood for pain or watch a tech blame Google’s servers for being slow.

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Had an awesome time on Friday spinning at a company outing in the middle of a campground. I got to roll through a huge range of music during the 5 hour set.

Started off with some downtempo and trip-hop stuff while people were eating lunch – low energy stuff to acclimate them to having music in the background and to facilitate conversation. I also threw some Latin flavors in there for a little spice. It fits well into a mix and is like the lime in a gin and tonic – contrasting, but refreshing. During activities, I progressed into some funk and soul, bouncing back and forth between new to old  - RJD2 has a lot of work that meshes amazingly well with some James Brown era music. From there, I was requested to get into something a bit more upbeat, so I moved into the Dance portion. A little bit of house, a little bit of breaks and some traditional club dance stuff. Oh, and a Nine Inch Nails dance mix. That may be a little bit of heresy, but it sounded good. From there, I moved on to the mashup portion. Daft Punk and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme might have gone a touch over the top, but that’s kind of the point of a mashup.

Lesson learned:

• Speakers are heavy. Getting someone to help carry them will make setup and teardown way easier and leave a lot more energy for the gig.
• Speakers are fucking heavy. Having a spotter for getting them on the stands is sort of essential if you don’t want to compress more vertebrae than you can count to.
• Park as close as you can to the setup location. Be lazy. No one gives a damn if you can carry your gear a mile uphill both ways.
• Spend the time getting all of your levels right. Just because you’re not going to use the mic much does not mean you’re not going to use it at all. The dynamics of a mic are way different than music – get some ears on the far end of the range to give you a thumbs up.
• Having a portable fan is a lifesaver. In a closed area, there may be no air moving and the place could smell like ass. Outside, there could be no air moving and the place could smell like ass. Move some air around so nothing gets too stagnant and you can actually breathe.
• HYDRATE LIKE WHUT.

I love Latin (OK, Brazilian in this case) inspired chill out tracks. Especially when it’s hot as balls outside.

The flow on this makes me want to get a very large fan, an iced beverage, a large lawn chair and a gigantic plastic palm tree. I would then set up shop outside on my front lawn, drink said drink in said chair under said plastic palm tree with said very large fan running at full tilt with this song blasting, with my middle finger firmly extended in Nature’s direction.

Of course, that’s when the freak thunderstorm rolls in and zaps my boastful ass with a shot of lightening.

I’m getting ready for a few DJ gigs, so I won’t be posting for a few days. Based on my traffic numbers, that may depress all .3 people reading.

I think I fell asleep and dreamt about being an old man, ranting hysterically about music. I hate when that happens.

I also have the distinct mood to listen to some Prefuse 73.