The Importance of Console Exclusivity

Lo and behold, a post with an actual point to it from me.  Imagine that!

So I look through my backlog for all the games I have for all three consoles that I want to play.  To my somewhat surprise, nearly all of the top items were all exclusive to that specific console.  The games I could get on either two or more game consoles were pushed further back.  Maybe I subconsciously did that?

A few of them aren’t that recent, either; for example, Project Gotham Racing 4, while a fairly old game, is nearly at the top of the list, along with Halo 3, meanwhile on the PS3, I have both Uncharted games on there (both of which I have played and beaten before).

And it’s not to say the multiplatform games are better or worse, for that matter; I have DJ Hero, Way of the Samurai 3, Tekken 6, BlazBlue, and a host of other games that can easily be comparable to the top games on my list, but yet they’re not as important to me in regards of must-play value.

It’s a very odd effect that exclusive games have like that; their main purpose is to sell systems per se, with being an outstanding game and experience almost an afterthought to push a specific aspect of the console’s graphics and/or control scheme.  And yet they’re always gravitated to first.  Very odd indeed.

Should Contest Winners Feel…Guilty?

This one’s been a couple months in the making, but I figure now is the best time to get my thoughts on it out, what with it being the holidays and all.

So I entered this contest to win Alienware accessories and whatnot through their official Twitter account.  I answered a basic trivia question and won a briefcase.  Pretty solid deal, right?

It gets better and worse at the same time.

So I enter the big trivia contest, where the winner gets an Alienware M17x; this is a laptop worth about 3,500 dollars, and an incredible prize.  The way it’s set up is you have to get all 10 qualifying questions right, and then it’s a best of 3 between the people who did (get 3 trivia questions right first, and you win).

In the end, I did end up winning off of a Diablo III question; but truth be told, as amazing as the prize is, I’ve always felt a little bit of guilt about it.

Not because of any illegal means or cheating I did; I did win the contest legitimately, as it was a speed-based contest and I was quickest on the questions I answered.  No technicalities and the like, I was just quicker by as far as about two minutes, and as close as two seconds.

That being said, a fair amount of people also got two questions correctly, and ended up getting nothing for their efforts; I always felt bad about that.  In particular, a few people who I really respected because of the competition did not get the laptop.

After I won, everybody in the actual contest was extremely gracious and respectful of the win; however, some of their friends were not.  In the case of one, he was unhappy that I had one because I was currently a corporate designer, and thus didn’t need the laptop (essentially I should’ve been able to afford it on my own I believe was his point).   This is a pretty absurd point, but I did feel bad about winning, and still do.

I’m just not certain why I should.

Anyways, there’s my random rant on the Aliennware contest.  It was run incredibly well by them, and I do thank them greatly for the competition; it was definitely worth the effort for all involved.

Full Disclosure: Nearly everybody who was in the running for the laptop got at least a 120 dollar briefcase, or a 150 dollar watch.  Some got both and/or multiples.  So nobody was really missing anything.

Christmas Vacation Attack!

So I’m going to visit the family from the 15th through the 29th; two weeks solid of family interaction and glorious holiday fun.  It’s been planned for a while, and my unemployment certainly wasn’t going to stop it.  But naturally, there are always some caveats, especially now;

I can’t do in-person interviews for jobs in Philly; this can kinda put a damper on my job search.   This isn’t really a huge hassle, but the next one is;

I cannot do any design work while visiting the family.

This one’s really more on my not having a laptop that has Adobe on it that isn’t 20+ pounds (my Alienware has it, but that is most certainly not being lugged around).  So I’m essentially stuck with all the creative ideas, just flowing around and with no way to send em out.  I also can’t do the freelance work I was normally doing, so I can’t make more money to spend on random stuff like DJ Hero (which I just bought; thanks Best Buy Retail Outlet Auction!), and I can’t take more time to get acclimated to my new apartment (which I am really liking).

That being said, it’s packing time!  4 days early, but early is better than late.  I need to get a cab ride set up as well so I don’t get stuck.

This post was a bit shorter than the others, but I feel it’s important to put this stuff in some sort of public forum so I can remember it later.  If you read all the way through this, Congratulations/Thanks/My Apologies!

Video Games or Television: Which is Worse of a Productivity Waster?

So I moved recently; in my old apartment, I had the usual deal in Philly: Comcast Cable Internet and TV.  In my new one, just the internet.  This caused some concern on my part, mainly because the Vikings are actually winning and I prefer to watch those games live, as well as I’m addicted to TV.  A few days in, however, I’ve noticed two important things.

1: There are many online alternatives to get you television shows.  I don’t mean illegally downloading them, either.  I heard a lot about how people would switch to a combo of Netflix + Hulu, and save hundreds of dollars a year while not missing much.  I tried it, and am now a full believer in it.

While Hulu doesn’t bring a lot of HD to the table (which does sadden me quite a bit), it’s also very convenient and a great site.  If the rumors about a pay wall are true, I doubt I’ll be against it.  Also, Netflix’s library, while small to them, is not small to me.  Just a massive collection of great shows and movies.  And a fair amount of them are shown in HD as well, like Legend of the Seeker; Netflix also works on my 360 and PS3, so I can get the TV experience without the massive costs.

In regards to sports, NBC is -really- hooking it up here.  Not only are they going to stream the Olympics, they also stream Sunday Night Football for free, in HD on the main cam, with four separate cameras to watch at any time.  They also use the same Silverlight-powered player that Netflix uses, so the file quality is quite robust.  Another nice thing that NBC does is have small previews running at all times of all the camera angles, so you can switch in-progress and not have it be all jumbly.  Definitely comparable to MLB.TV’s amazing online service.

2: I Wasted More Time Watching TV Than Playing Video Games

This was a bit of a surprise to me.  While the main hiccup about Netflix + Hulu (can’t really discover new shows except through their suggestions or word of mouth) is still prevalent in my mind, that little caveot does not excuse the fact that I watched way too much television.  Much more than I played video games, in fact.

On average, I play maybe an hour of video games a day, maybe two if I feel awesome and it was a good day.  This has gone up a little due to my freelancing allowing it, but still, 90 minutes on average.  Nothing too terrible.

But TV, I easily watched over two-three hours of TV a day; especially when I was doing corporate design, and thus 9-5.  I’d plop down, usually take a nap, then watch TV and just surf the internet for a long time.  Not very productive at all.

Now, with just the Netflix+Hulu combo, I watch maybe one episode of a television show a night. Maybe 40 minutes of programming, since the commercials are either taken out or lessened.  With that time free, the amount of things I’ve been able to get done is absolutely staggering; firing off logo concepts, slide designs, animations, all right out of the gate, and much quicker than usual.

I’ll never have cable again.  I realize now it’s cost me way too much time and money, and it’s just not worth it in terms of being able to get things done.  It perpetuates laziness, unfortunately.  Can’t have that!

So there’s my glorious rant about all that jazz.  Hope you enjoyed the cure to insomnia!

Regards to All,

Bronson-Lee

The Curtain is Up!

Heya.  If you’re reading this blog, you’re either a family member, a close friend of mine, or you’re really random and somehow stumbled upon this blog while looking for something entirely different, in which case, enjoy my random madness!

Cliff’s Notes about me: I’m 20 years old.  I live in Philadelphia, PA (home of some terrifyingly odd people), and I’m a graphic designer and media artist.  Until recently I was the in-house graphic designer and Chief Technology Officer of an online video startup, and I’ve got about 4 years freelance experience in addition to that, so I’ve had quite a fulfilling career path so far.

Everything else you don’t get to know!

Now this blog will only contain long bursts of madness and the like; the short bursts are all contained on my Twitter, which is located on the right side of this blog, as well as www.twitter.com/bronsonlee.

My (newly created) Flickr stream is www.flickr.com/bronsonleek; my print portfolio is located at www.bronsonlee.carbonmade.com.  My motion graphics portfolio is currently located at www.youtube.com/bronsonlee.

I’ll end this bugger for now; lots more stuff coming.  Freelancing allows for more free time, and this blogging thing can keep my mind sharp.