commented out

This afternoon my dog, Satch, passed away. He’s been my buddy for eleven and a half years, and it’s going to be pretty weird without him. He was a mix between a Belgian Shepherd and a Labrador. Every morning he was there to greet me when I woke up, and he was always at the door to welcome me back home.

It started in the morning, as he was incredibly lethargic. We took him to see a vet around noon and had tests run. X-rays came back showing that his heart was enlarged, so the vet recommended an ultrasound to see if it was fluid causing the swelling. Satch was taken into a room to wait for the technician and the vet sent us on our way and said he’d call us with the results later in the afternoon. No more than five minutes later we were called back, and we walked in just in time to say goodbye. I hadn’t expected it (neither had the vet for that matter) since I was just playing with him last night, and he was as excitable as ever. Less than twenty-four hours later, he’s gone.

He lived a good life, though, and while he will certainly be missed, he’s left us with many memories of a wonderful friendship, and a few offspring.

The next project is a full redesign for a church web site. The overall aim of this project isn’t so much a visual update as much as a code update. There are several goals with the new design:

• Update markup to a standards-based design
• Construct a new backend allowing for easy updates of hosted media
• Uniform layout and interface for a simpler user experience

Updating the code structure is the first priority. After that comes content organization and an administrative interface to allow for media uploads and quick news updates. A skeletal version of the site is up and running at http://www.firstbaptistunion.org.

In other news, I’ve also been persuing some Unreal engine mapping. The current work in progress is dubbed “The Learning Process,” since it’s the project through which I’m reaquainting myself with the Unreal toolset. Screenshots? All right, fine. Here are a couple work-in-progress shots:

More shots as I make gradual progress.

No posts in around a month and now you get a tired rant. Enjoy!
Relevant link: Jack Thompson’s Open Letter to Bono

Wonderboy lawyer Jack Thompson, best-known for his crusade against the gaming industry, reaches out to U2’s Bono in an apparent attempt to save his soul. The basic gist is this: Bono is one of six primary investors who run an investment team called Elevation Partners. Their goal is to help media companies create and distribute content. Apparently, they’re looking to acquire Take Two Interactive, a well-known video game publisher responsible for marketing the infamous Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Let me take a moment to state my own stance on the issue of violent video games. I think it’s really just the next big media target. Dungeons & Dragons was once a major cause of homicidal teens. Rock music and action movies also apparently cause kids to kill. I’m not at all surprised that gaming causes it, too. It’s an interactive experience which, according to experts like Mr. Thompson, helps delude the addled teenage mind, driving an average kid to homicidal rage. Wait, I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, watched plenty of action movies, and I’m listening to some pretty heavy guitar riffs right now. I’ve also played every entry in the GTA franchise (except the new PSP release). Pray for me; how long before I succumb to evil? Maybe I should enclose this paragraph in sarcasm tags.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that the GTA series hasn’t gone to lengths to outdo its mature content with each release. Violent games don’t make kids kill, but I’m sure they can lend some colorful ideas to kids who aren’t too stable as it is. This is what the ESRB was formed for, to slap ratings on this stuff to help parents do their job. That’s what it comes down to, good parenting. If little Johnny is feeling particularly stabby this month, a diet of immersive violence might be a bad idea and his mother should take the Mature rating into consideration. Long story short, games can be fun (no matter the content) when enjoyed responsibly. But I digress.

What gets me is the way crusaders like Jack Thompson will twist things, like his description of the Playstation 2 Dual Shock controller:

Sony and Take-Two designed the GTA: Vice City game to utilize the PS2’s Dual Shock controller, which sends a visceral jolt back into the hands of the player each time he kills. Thus, the entire system is a biofeedback, operant conditioning system which desensitizes the user to the act of killing.

Are you serious? A visceral jolt? Electric fences deliver a visceral jolt. Tazers may deliver a visceral jolt. The Dual Shock vibrates a little. Does that mean my cell phone delivers a visceral jolt when I get a phone call? Cingular and Motorola designed my phone to desensitize me to social contact. Those fiends!

Quoting Bill Gates:

Here is what he said recently on 60 Minutes: “These action games transport you to a world you think is real.” Exactly. That is why they are dangerous.

Yeah, I can see how someone lacking a clear definition of reality and fantasy could be affected. This just brings us back to the parenting thing. It’s a parental responsibility to instill a strong sense of reality in their children and realize if they may be missing it.

All right, I’m done ranting. I suppose the major point I’d like to convey (so you don’t feel like you just lost moments of your life) is that it would be nice if people in prominent media positions, like Thompson, could put their energy to more constructive use. Time and money would be better spent educating people on content and ratings. Mature rating? Buy it for your college-graduate son, not your elementary school nephew. At the very least, give parents a resource where they can get help explaining these things to their kids.