Showing off to Petroglyph

A bunch of ex-Westwood people that now work at Petroglyph were at the Austin Game Developer's Conference which finished today.

Marty, the CEO of the company I work for, Interzone, had called a car but then didn't need it, so he had Allan, da man, cancel it. Except when he called to do so, they told him that they were still going to charge half price for canceling at the last minute. He asked if any of use were going to the airport, and I said that I was so he told them to come pick me up instead.

I'm waiting on the corner when a few of the Petroglyph people walk up. They asked if I was waiting for a cab and I said, "No, my company had called for a car."

Just as somebody asked how things were going at Interzone, a shiny, brand new, Cadillac pulls up and the uniformed driver jumps out to take care of my bags.

"Yeah, things are going quite well. Thanks for asking."

I did fess up when I saw them at the airport. We were all flying to Vegas on the same plane and it is hard to put on airs when flying Southwest.

Granted, I was only flying Southwest because I was paying for that flight. The other flights I've been on this trip that were actually work related have been a few steps up the ladder including some upgrades to first class. I had an awesome bay view hotel room at the Marriott in San Diego. So yeah, things are going quite well at Interzone. Thanks for asking.

Not Buying Spore

I've mentioned before my opinion of Electronic Arts and their use if overly aggressive Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. For these reasons, I will not be buying Spore. The SecuROM DRM software that EA is using on the product will allow you to install it 3 times, after which time you will need to call EA on the phone, wait on hold for hours, and then try to convince an underpaid, overworked, and unappreciated phone worker that you are not a dirty filthy pirate by providing proof of purchase, reasons why you've had to install it more than 3 times, and information on which of your friends are commies too.

Oh, and if you want to uninstall Spore, don't think that will uninstall SecuROM. It is rootkit software and you'll have to go find some third party application to clean it off your system. Because we all know how safe it is going around the web looking for dodgy software that claims to remove stuff like this. After your done doing that, you can go down and see if your local crack dealer has any safe medication for your headache.

People are currently expressing their opinions of this by posting 1-star reviews on Spore's Amazon page. Small story on Game Politics about that here.

It seems like the more I try to be a legitimate user, the more companies appear to be trying to make things difficult for me. The pirates are doing fine by the way, game was cracked and available before the game was even in stores in some areas.

Never Gonna Give You Up

Jeremy just isn't getting tired of this joke. He claims he was saving the shirt for launch day, but he wore it today instead, as a tribute, since I am leaving tonight.

He also updated his CafePress store so you too can enjoy this unlicensed merchandise.










But if we want to really get embarrassing, here is a picture from 1988 I found while digging through paperwork, trying to scrounge up everything I'll need to get my U.S. taxes done while in the U.S.

I love that overcoat. Rick Astley eat your heart out. And the girl? Any relationship "issues" I may have, you can rest right there at her feet. Don't get me wrong though, I enjoyed almost every minute of it.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Time!

I was wandering around David Jones, a large Australian department store, last weekend doing some last minute clothes shopping. It was actually the much lauded, "New Sock" trip of which I posted about before.

Anyway, I wandered into the import food section which was hidden deep in the subterranean section of the store. Ironically enough, it had this sign in front of it. It is the David Jones "low price promise." Click on it for a larger, readable version. Sorry its it kinda blurry, its the crappy iPhone camera.

Why is it ironic? Read on true believer.

Way in the back I found the most wonderful thing. Jif peanut butter and Welches grape jelly! You see, although you can find peanut butter in Australia you can't find jelly. You can find jam, preserves, and all the other types of fruit spreads, just not jelly. You can't even ask for it, because you will confuse them since, like in the U.K., jelly means candy. As for grape flavor, forget about it. There is a big Australian wine industry, which means they have lots of grapes, they just don't make fruit spread out of it. They either haven't made the leap to put those two concepts together or they just don't want to waste any grapes on sandwiches when they could make more wine.

So how much would you pay for these fine imported foods? What price would you put on a tasty peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich? Lets take a look...

$15 dollars each! Are they out of their mind!?!