It isn’t worth more than one playthrough. I could possibly accept getting 8 hours out of a $50 game, if it were as satisfying as, for example, Fable.  Spore feels…incomplete.  It feels more like a technical demonstration of an engine that may be used to build games.

Any game must have one(or more) of three basic qualifications to be a successful game :

1. competetive or cooperative multiplayer

2. an engaging storyline

3. repetetive skill based gameplay with the option of possible advancement of character or avatar

For examples, MMOs tend to have 2, racers and fighters 3, MMO 1, RTS 1 and 3…etc. Spore is a sandbox game, like GTA3, or the Sims. GTA3 had #1, the Sims had #3. Spore does not really have advancement beyond the minigame nature of the eras, and all advancements and customizations are effectively erased upon entry to the next “level.” You are able to tend towards a societal type, such as agressive, or militaristic, but this does not affect the game enough to make it worthwhile to explore all paths.

There is no depth to Spore. The game is incredibly broad and encompasses RTS, turn based, and exploratory sandbox styles…but it does none of these even acceptably well. There is no replay value, no skill required, and no cooperative or competetive online play.

Simply put, the game is meant for 5 year olds, and beyond a graphic overhaul from recent Maxis offerings offers nearly nothing new or interesting. It crowning achievement seems to be the creature creator, which really could (and maybe should) have been written as a free flash game to play on cell phones. I’m pretty disappointed.

Someone recently sent me this :

I graduated college with a computer information systems diploma. Nobody wants me because I have no experience, school lied and said i could find a job easily and that they would help.

I know it doesn’t sound enticing, but if I were you I’d do the following (This is coming from a director managing a department. I am responsible for all hiring decisions.)

1. Get a certification in the technology of your choice if you can. This will prove that you not only have the theory you got from your degree, but also the “new” knowledge.

2. Start in an entry position, if you’re good you’ll move up quickly.

3. Start using technology at home, tailor your experimentation to the kind of job you’re looking to get.

4. See if you can get involved in a project that has some visibility. If you’re doing web development, make a website. If you are interested in servers and networking, volunteer for a non profit organization. Most places will accept this as experience.

The people at your college were full of it, no one wants to hire an unproven recent graduate with no experience. The bright side is that as you advance in your career, you will find that the degree will be of importance when going for higher level jobs. Many jobs paying over 100K per year require a degree.  For now, you’ll have to pay your dues again.  A degree doesn’t pay off until you’re at least a few years into your career.

In the address bar of the new Google Chrome, you can type about:<item> much like Firefox.  

Does anyone know of a complete list of these about commands for chrome?  A quick google search turns up a few Mozilla lists, and some of them carry over, like about:cache or about:memory, but about:config doesn’t work.

I can’t find a list specific for Chrome anywhere, someone help!

Here are some basics to get you started

about: — show version info

about:version — same as about:

about:network — network tools

about:stats — a message, shh! this page is secret!

about:internets — a message, the tubes are clogged!

about:cache — show the content of your cache

about:plugins — show all information about currently installed plugins

about:memory — show memory usage from chrome and others web browsers running!

about:crash — crash the tab! and show the friendly crash image

about:dns — show dns info, like time

about:histograms — histograms resume

about:% will crash the browser!!!

If you live in Las Vegas, you owe it to yourself to check out House Seats Las Vegas.

http://houseseatslv.com/

$80 per year, and you get free tickets to tons of shows that aren’t selling well.  Everything from concerts to blue man group.  All free, and you can get more than one ticket.  Totally worth it even if you only see 1-2 concerts a year for free.

A guy at work turned me on to this, and he goes to see 5 or 6 shows a week.  This week he got me a ticket for Stanley Clarke for free.  They opened up on Thursday.  He says most shows don’t show up until 2-3 days before the actual show, but many are available for weeks at a time.  Many popular shows aren’t available until that evening, but he’s seen some of those crazy $200 a ticket shows for free by checking the night of the concert.

Let me know if you sign up, we’ll go see some concerts together.

At the recent PASS meeting for the Las Vegas Chapter, I gave a quick talk on filtered indexes for SQL Server 2008.  I posted a powerpoint presentation over at slideshare.net, check it out!