Ah… Aragorn. What a great character.
(via listeningtotherocks)
Source: ladyofrohan
So. Cloud computing. More specifically today, cloud gaming.
NVidia, that famed maker of graphics cards such as the one that sits in my little center of the world big ol’ laptop, is making the case that cloud gaming will be the future of the industry. Rock Paper Shotgun has an article about this here, but the gist of it is this; NVidia sees a future where they host games and simply send you the visuals on whatever device you’re using. Desktop, laptop, smartphone, whatever.
Okay, all well and good. But am I the only one that hates the idea of my games not being, I don’t know, MINE?
Listen to me. You need to go buy this.
The way the Humble Bundles work is that you pay what you want, and you get the games. This one is slightly different in that you have to spend a certain amount to get Bastion, but listen! It’s BASTION! It’s on my Top 5 List, and you only have to spend $7.50 to get the WHOLE BUNDLE! Which includes Sword & Sworcery, another excellent indie game, and a few things I haven’t played. (Amnesia has a terrifying reputation, though.)
Bastion costs more than $7.50 on Steam. If you don’t own it and you like quality, this is a no-brainer.
Jane Smiley, Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
(via awesomebookquotes)
(via listeningtotherocks)
Half-Life 2 - Exile Vilify (by Fathom216)
—-
Watch this and understand why I love Half-Life 2.
Source: youtube.com

Fancy-pants Roguelike Dungeons of Dredmor is 50% off on Steam right now. The sale includes the Realm of the Diggle Gods expansion, which is very much worth it for the $1 extra buck or so you’ll spend.
So buy it. Go on, it’s great. Fabulous, even.
WARNING: I will be ranting about American politics. Any non-American readers, I beg your pardon. You might want to skip this post. I will certainly ignore you if you comment on it.
Americans: READ ON. This stuff is important; even if it’s just my half-baked shouting, the ideas behind it are solid and, in fact, not ideas at all. They’re truths.
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Why are Americans so stupid when it comes to taxing businesses these days?
People are buying into the Democrat standpoint that we should tax the living daylights out of businesses, under the impression that this will, somehow, help the people THAT WORK FOR THOSE BUSINESSES.
Think about it. Does it make any sense for, say, your bone marrow to say, “We demand that you allow more mosquitoes to bite you and suck your blood!” No, it doesn’t. Why would someone advocate the destruction of something they helped to create?
Let me give a couple reasons why the Democratic tax plan is to be opposed with every cell in our bodies:
1) It’ll help to suck what life the economy still has right out of it. By taking money from businesses, you force them to raise costs so they can stay afloat, and inflation ensues. If businesses collapse, the economy collapses; it’s that simple.
2) It’s fracking socialism, people! Does America support socialist states? Not the last time I checked! Does the Cold War ring any bells?
On to the cheery realm of our 2012 presidential candidates, because I started leaning this way as I typed:
People may be denouncing Romney in the campaign trail right now for being too business-friendly, for not understanding Joe Average enough. Well, look at it this way: Romney worked in business. He had to work WITH Joe Average if he wanted to succeed. Obama has never had to care what Joe Average thinks of him, aside when he’s trying to get elected.
Besides, we see what Obama has done for the people he claims to understand so well: earned us a few more trillions of debt, put in place a health care system that nobody thinks is a good idea except people that are EXEMPT FROM IT, and has gotten very close to making health insurance support such “essential services” as contraception and abortions.
So, he can’t handle money, he’s giving Joe Average the shaft, and he’s an accessory to thousands of murders. Got it.
Why on Earth would you vote for this man?
Within an hour or so, I will have playtesting material for D&D Next (*cough5tdeditioncough*) on my hard drive.
Yay.
Naturally, I can’t actually TALK about it, thanks to the lovely little thing that is a nondisclosure agreement, but I can talk about it in general “I like it” or “I don’t like it” kinds of ways. And I will, don’t you worry.
One book in the pipeline. Another jostling for position. Another in hibernation. A concept for a fourth gestating.
One short story with an award but no publication. (yet) One more almost ready to submit. One more in progress.
Three fantasy settings begging for food, for more meat on their bones. One science fiction setting demanding to be used, but first, to be defined. One urban fantasy setting asking for it to be adjusted so that it makes sense, please.
Vague concepts of game ideas floating around in my head, but I can’t code a video game yet. I don’t have the knowledge.
I need to freaking FOCUS.
I want to work at Valve. It’s that simple. I’d explain why, but unless you understand, I can’t.
This manual for new employees just makes me want to work there even more. A company with no hierarchy? At ALL? Mind-blowing. Now I know EXACTLY why their games just feature a long alphabetized list for their credits.
I have to see this. I have to work inside of this. The responsibility is enormous, but all the same, I have to do this.
My entire career now devolves to this: I want to work at Valve. If they won’t have me… guess I strike out on my own?