Update on Vex

Apparently, he won his first qualifying round, the crazy bastard. You can read all about it in his blog. He even picked the same crappy blogger template I have!

What I'm reading now

Thanks to the fact that none of the three bookstores I've been to have the sequel to There Will be Dragons by John Ringo, I have now snapped up the next three Honor Harrington books to read on the plane rides. The next technical book I am planning to read (though I haven't bought it yet, so who knows) is Painless Project Management With Fogbugz.

What I'm playing now (besides UO. Duh.): Galactic Civilizations beta, and Katamari Damacy. (And in the I'm-harder-core-than-you department: what game finally gets me to break down and buy a bloody PS2? GTA3? Kingdom Hearts? Metal Gear Solid? No, it was KATAMARI! Maybe I'm not harder core than you.)

Oh and because I'm thinking of it now and probably won't remember later otherwise, someone remind me that I want to do an article on Python generators when I get back.

What you really came here for

It's kind of late, considering I have to get up at 6 AM to catch a plane. I haven't really talked about UO in about a week, though, and since I'm going to be gone on vacation for a couple of days, I feel the need to squeeze in a few thoughts about the giant crafting discussion before I go.

So you're wondering: was it just a tempest in a teapot? Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? In a word, no. If nothing else, we helped raise awareness internally of how sorely crafting needs an update. I believe we're gaining momentum on allocating time to it. Exactly when that will be, I can't say. A few months, at least, for certain, as we need to book a big chunk of time.

As for what that publish might contain . . . I can't say. It may look nothing like the stuff I posted a couple of weeks ago. It will surely not be exactly what I posted; with the massive hue and cry raised by the mere suggestion, I'm not going to push for items to break retroactively. I still think it would be better for the game in the long run, and I'm not going to rule out the possibility it could still happen, but *I'm* not going to be the one to champion it.

Things I think might make it into the final design: probably more control for crafters, maybe new craftable-only properties, maybe a new wearing-out system *for newly crafted items only*, almost certainly repairing in the trade gump. Unique craftable resources as loot drops from various PvM activities? Maybe. (If so, I will definitely push to spread those around, you 7500 people who offered that feedback :) Updated, easier vendor interface? I give that one a "probably". Player BoDs? Maybe.

Anyway, I want to thank all of you who went out of your way to read the blog and took the time to comment. Have fun with pub 32, and try not to burn the service down while I'm gone.

Congratulations, Vex!

From the Full Tilt Poker site (copied here because the news has scrolled a long way down):

Vex is London bound!

Vex is joining AI_Doctor and our three Full Tilt Poker pros at the British Poker Open. He earned his seat at the table by beating 57 other players. Look for Vex and the rest of Team Full Tilt on British television.

Better than drugs?

I've started biking longer distances to work lately, which has left me more worn out than usual. As a result, I've been collapsing into bed around 10:30, about an hour and a half earlier than I am accustomed to.

As a side effect of this, I have been sleeping more soundly and having some weird, weird dreams. This morning I had a recurring vignette where I would be griping about Steve Martin and how he used to do this great, ironic, biting comedy (like "Cruel shoes" and The Jerk), but now he just does unimaginitive pablum (like Cheaper By the Dozen). And then it would turn out he was standing behind me. Oh, one of these variants involved a friend housesitting the house next door to him and someone's pet goliath birdeater. Yeah, that woke me right up.

I also had this wacky dream where I was making a movie about someone making a movie. The guy who played Miles Silverberg on Murphy Brown played the director of the movie-within-the-movie. It was basically about how the production fell apart, sort of like a situation comedy version of Lost in La Mancha. The kicker (and one of the few things I still remember clearly) was that they were in the field shooting and the camera broke, so they had to make do with whatever they could rent nearby. It turned out that the replacement camera only shot in ultra-widescreen (a la The Great Escape), which ended up meaning that when the film was screened, it had to be halted 10 minutes before the end for a reel change. Not even remotely technically accurate, but it's funny what your subconscious dredges up when you are asleep.

What I'm reading

Just started On Basilisk Station, the first Honor Harrington book by David Weber, which has sucked me in pretty effectively. I just finished There Will be Dragons, by John Ringo. Both of which were motivated by finishing all the currently available books in the March Upcountry series, which is by both of them. All are good military SF, if you're remotely into that.

These are not the droids you're looking for

(Not a post about UO crafting, so if that's the only reason you're here, you should probably stop reading now.)

I'm very excited to see Sin City doing well on Rotten Tomatoes. Rodriguez' last two films were disappointing but I have high hopes for this one. It's not going to be a film for everyone, but if you don't have an issue with depraved violence and a cast of characters that are morally ambiguous at best, you should think about giving this one a look. (Of course, now the film will turn out to suck and all my credibility will be destroyed . . . )