November 2008


guitarhero.jpgA couple of months ago a music executive said that royalty rates for songs used in video games are “paltry” and a game executive replied by saying that really, the music companies ought to be paying the gaming companies for promoting their songs.

This argument could really be applied to any license, music or not. It used to be that a game could profit enormously by having a connection to an established license. But now that media consumption patterns have shifted, those licenses profit just as much by being featured in a game.

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mit.jpgEver wanted to take a course to learn something that may enhance your ability to get a really really good jobs? But you didn’t have the time or the money to go to school. Ever dream of going to an ivy league school…hmm I don’t know like MIT but didn’t have the marks, money or even knew what the application process was.

Well thanks to the open source era you can now get online courses for free from a miriad of great universities including MIT.

How you may ask? Well MIT developed an OpenCourseWare site. You have access 1800 courses ranging from Engineering to health sciences, they even have cources for Humanities and the arts.

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ufc_91.jpgLast night’s UFC 91 fight between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar was epic in more ways than one. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who saw the similarity between it and the Rocky series, but I just couldn’t help bringing it up never-the-less.

Randy Couture is a legendary fighter a-la Rocky Balboa. Many believe he is past his prime. He came into the ring yesterday as a UFC Hall of Famer, a 5 time Championship holder, and present Heavy-Weight Champion. As if all of that wasn’t impressive by itself, he’s also 45 years young. His fighting yesterday had “Rocky 5″ written all over it.

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Only two days ago did I procure the Grand Theft Auto clone Saints Row 2, but I already feel the need to write about it.

Yes Saints Row is a GTA clone, but that does not mean its creators should be ashamed of it. Clone just mean someone took a good idea and build on it. That’s called innovation and if people refrained from cloning and improving good ideas then we would still be driving around in Ford model T’s.

Now, let’s take a look at this game from the perspective of its most likely user: a GTA IV player who’s looking for even more goodies from a sandbox game.

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the_godfather.jpgLet’s get something straight, this is a list of Hollywood movie quotes that are overly used in everyday life.

This list is purely an opinion piece and is based on my personal experiences within my circle of friends and acquaintances.

If you disagree with this list, then I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse: Write one yourself! Feel free to use the comment section on the bottom to do so.

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1632.jpgI wanted to share with you this series of books I’ve been devouring for the last year or so. It’ll seem like I’ll be revealing some spoilers here but that’s not the case.

1632 by author Eric Flint is the first book in an expending series known as the Ring of Fire. It’s a feast for history and technical buffs. To make the introduction short, it’s about a small (about 2000 souls) West-Virginian town being thrown back from the year 2000 to the middle of the Holy Roman Empire (Germanies) smack in the middle of the Thirty Years War.

For those who lack background in this war, it was a turning point in Europe. Its conclusion, the Peace of Westphalia, was the cornerstone of the balance of power in Europe up to World War I.

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ABC NEWS declares OBAMA victory 11:05 pm eastern.

abcnews.go.com – watch it live now

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