Happy 2013

The snow keeps falling,
Wishing you Happy New Year.
Make the best of it!

Since you've made it this far, you might be interested in reading:

State of the Videogame Industry, March 2015
Recently, Electronic Arts closed Maxis. Maxis made such games as SimCity and it's hugely successful spinoff, The Sims. People are going around being all sad about it. Yes, people are losing their jobs, and that is bad. But from the perspective of the gaming industry's health, I think it's a good thing. With the recent reveal of Electronic Access by Original Systems, I started thinking about this cycle. Survival of the fittest applies to the game industry too.
Insanity: 2020
Do you remember back when 2020 was supposed to be the glorious future? It was supposed to be this bright future where everyone would be happy, everything would be beautiful, and technology would solve all our problems. It's 2020, so I'm officially living in the future, but none of the good parts happened, nor did my clothes transform into polyurethane (not that anyone wanted that). From where I stand, 2020 feels a lot like 2019, just like 2019 felt a lot like 2018, and so on for every year, back to the dawn of time.
Fallout Shelter
Fallout Shelter first came out on iOS and Android ahead of the Fallout 4 release. Naturally, I checked it out, and I later played it on Steam. I noticed that radiation reduced the maximum health of dwellers, instead of being a separate stat. I didn't know that Fallout 4 would work that way, too. I've heard that Fallout Shelter is better than Fallout 76. Granted, this is a time waster kind of game with microtransactions, but it actually works!
WebGL
Soon after I learned how to program back in 2003 or so, I wanted to program 3D stuff, just because I thought it was cool. Unfortunately, the Python wrapper to OpenGL sucked. Majorly. I could manage, but I had to do without whizzbang features like shaders, framebuffers, and HDR. At least I was happy texturing things and using shadow mapping. I even wrote the article on it.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
Since I have expressed my thoughts on the first installment, I figured that it is time to talk about the Zerg. It's something that you need to talk to your kids about. Though they might have thoughts about experimenting with them, Zerg are very dangerous. While Zerg abuse is not a top killer, once addicted, the subject's fate is certain.
The Stanley Parable
Before I continue, I have to say that The Stanley Parable comes in three editions: a demo, a mod, and a pay-for game. I have played all of them, but I'll focus on the latter. The demo is something entirely silly, and not really related to the others. The demo is constructed in the same thematic vein as the others, but has none of the same content. The game is an expanded version of the mod, and builds on the ideas from it.
Bioshock
I remember when Bioshock came out. People kept raving about how it was such a good role-playing game. After realizing that in a month I would never be able to use a mall gift card, I had money to burn. Having come off of an RPG that I rather liked, I figured I might check Bioshock out. What happened made Bioshock the most disappointing game of all time for me.
Bioshock 2
Bioshock 2 is a game that I never thought I would play or even own. It's also a game that doesn't need to exist. It's a sequel to a not-RPG that summed everything up on it's own. I found the whole thing a little surreal, but mostly dissonant, and free of emotional sense.
Welcome to the New Andrew Bailey
Hello and welcome to my blog. If you've been here before, things might look a little different, especially if you came in through the homepage. I have implemented a few things I have gathered by doing research for my podcast, and several hours of toying around.
Maintenance
Insanity: BitCoin
State of The Andrew Bailey, March 2014