Well, after the 2 whole hits I got to my blog following Kat’s Endorsement, I feel I should return the favor, and also link to something equally as amazing.

BEATLES ROCK BAND!!!!!! WOOOOO FUCK YEA!

Seriously, watch that video and try to be anything other than entranced. Simply awesome. Now if only it showed more of their shoes…

Okay, if I try to go back and make anymore changes, I need you to collectively punch me in the balls. That means YOU, internet!

I’ve just exported what absolutely must be the final version of my soundtrack for the 2 Bit gallery opening at DesignBox tomorrow. For those that don’t know, it’s an art exhibit to showcase game-inspired art from industry people in and around the Triangle area of North Carolina.

It’s sponsored by my employer, Spark Plug Games, and is being organized by our most excellent artist, Adam Capps. I’ve been brought on to compose music for the event, and this was all done in about a month.

You can call me DJ Scoplecopter.

Extended Cut

Regular Cut

Extended is basically just every song looping twice, so that it took up more time. No real reason to grab it as opposed to the other.

Since the release of Fat Princess, I’ve found myself having quite a few conversations with my female friends regarding feminism and our Industry.

THIS ARTICLE makes some really good points. No matter how much you laud something like Mass Effect as “tasteful” and “artfully done”, the fact remains that you basically pushed the right buttons at the right time, and now you’re getting sex as a reward. It’s almost like a Konami Code for nookie (Konuki Code?).

Unfortunately, we have yet to discover a paradigm for designing gameplay that doesn’t revolve around the vending machine metaphor (They’re called ‘Reward Structures’ for a reason). And I don’t have any easy answers for that– I guess that’s what evolution, iteration and innovation are for. Somebody brilliant will eventually move us forward, it just probably won’t be me.

Anyway, I don’t generally complain about how games may (not) affect peoples’ behavior or development– people are more resilient than Jack Thompson or Clinton/Yee/Schwarzenegger would have you believe– but I’m tempted to call this ‘problematic’ from a social viewpoint, just because it’s a relentlessly reinforced mindset that people fall into all-too-often (Wine ‘em, Dine ‘em, 69 ‘em, as it were) and they need to be shown an alternative mode of thought.

If the goal of art is to contribute meaningfully to a public dialogue in a unique way, then perhaps it’s time we stopped talking about games as art, and actually start getting some socially conscious (and GASP progressive) viewpoints into our games. It’s sad that The Ballad of Gay Tony is considered a groundbreaking thing, for the simple fact that it actually uses the word “gay” in a (mostly) non-perjorative way. We can do better.

So back to my point: While all the video game violence in the world won’t cause somebody to become violent or homicidal, sometimes all you need is one voice to question the status quo in a meaningful way– somebody to zig when everybody else zags– to give the dialogue a much-needed shove forward.

Our power lies not in our ability to reinforce, but in our ability to challenge.

[Gamecritics via Kotaku]

–So as you may have noticed from the preceding post– I’ve found a better way to do this if you’re on 3.0. No matter though, I’ve got valuable information at the end for importing birthdays and stuff.

So I mentioned recently that I had successfully integrated my Facebook events/birthdays into my iPhone Calendar. It’s awesome, and was one of the things that I felt was really missing from the experience until now.

Today I bring this gift to you, my discerning reader.

What You’ll Need:

• iPhone
• Facebook
• GMail
• Friends that either: A.) Invite you to cool events or, B.) Have birthdays
• (Optional) FBCal, if you want birthdays
• (Optional) Jailbreak
• (Optional) Remember The Milk account

So let’s start from the top. iPhone and Facebook should be obvious. You will need a Google account, as you’ll be using Google/Exchange syncing as the “transport layer” between FB and your iPhone.

I can’t help you make friends, but for a nominal fee I will make an appearance at your party.

The following  two bits are completely optional, but I feel add a lot to the experience. Remember The Milk (RTM) is a great todo-list service that integrates very well with gCal.

…and Jailbreak– man I could go on and on. It’s just… it’s the Mutt’s Nuts– You’ve gotta try it. The important take-away is that you can’t display your calendar directly from the lockscreen without it.

Step 1: Adding FB to gCal

First, you need to make sure that your Google account is subscribed to your Facebook events. This involves two pages (I’d recommend doing them in two tabs/windows): http://google.com/calendar/ and http://facebook.com/events.php.

1. On Google Calendar, click “add” along the left-hand side of the page, and select “Add By URL”.
2. At this point, go to Facebook Events, and click “Export Events” in the top left corner of the page.
3. Copy this URL, and Paste it into the text box in your gCal window.
4. That’s it! Your Google Calendar will always show you upcoming events, pulled directly from your Facebook account.

Step 2: Google Sync

Now to get your Google account talking to your iPhone. Follow the guide here (and be sure to turn off contact syncing unless you really know what you’re doing). This will make sure that your google calendars are always being pushed to your iPhone. Automagically, as it were.

That’s all there is to it! Your Facebook events should now show up on your iphone.

Step 3: Getting Birthdays

This part is something you may not want to do. You’d be surprised at how many people have birthdays. However, if you’re determined to soldier on, you can create a custom calendar using the service at http://www.fbcal.com . It’s actually quite easy to do, so I won’t bore you with more step-by-step instructions.

Step 4: Improving your TODO’s

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ Is a web-based todo-list service that has plugins and apps for just about every platform imaginable– iPhone, Dashboard, Text Messaging, EMail. If you can interface with it, and you can probably use it to create a reminder on RTM. Handily enough, it also integrates into Google Calendar and your iPhone calendar:

Step 5: Getting your Calendar onto the LockScreen

This is what your Lock Screen could look like!

Learn how to jailbreak here. If you need help or want to know if it’s really all that safe (it is) or easy (yes), feel free to give me a call or drop me a line. After you’ve jailbroken, install Lock Calendar from your new Jailbroken App Store (Its real name is Cydia, btw).

So anyway, I hope this has been informative for you; and enjoy your newly super-powered calendar!

So I have a huge massive post about how to get Facebook to play nice with your iPhone on pre-3.0 OS’s (which I’ll post as soon as I have time to edit it)– and then I happen to notice that the entire game has changed. Now all you have to do is follow the pictures:

First you’ll want to go to http://facebook.com/events.php — where you’ll find a button called “Export Events”. This will give you a URL that you can use later. I recommend emailing it to yourself, as you’ll be well served by OS 3.0’s fancy-ass copy/paste technology here. (btw click the picture to go directly to your facebook events page).

Go here.

Now you need to open up Email.app and copy the calendar URL you emailed to yourself. Then you’ll be wanting to complete the attached sequence from Settings.app.

And there you have it! All your Facebook events will now show up in your calendar in real-time. (At the moment I believe it will only show events which you’ve set as Attending or Maybe Attending).

If you want Birthdays, there’s a way to do that too– but that’s for another post. The industrious among you will find what you seek at http://www.fbcal.com

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Add Account

Other (really? you need me to caption this?)

Add Subscribed Calendar

Paste Here!

So this might not make sense to some people, but in my quest to hackintosh, I kept running into a hang as it tried to load the installer. To be safe I’d downloaded the “Kabyl-bumby” bootloader (can’t make these names up lol)– as it supposedly had the most robust driver support and was the “catch-all” bootloader.

In a fit of desperation after many failed boots, I went and downloaded the “generic” iso, for the mainstream machine, thinking after this I’ve gotta say fuck it and just download Kalyway.

Wouldn’t you know… it goddamn worked? I call it Schrodinger’s Ghost in the Machine. Honest to God I just don’t think it wanted to start working until I’d posted about it on InsanelyMac.

Currently installing osx, after which I’ve got a bunch of other stuff to do to make it independently bootable. At which point I will regale you with the fully story, O great internets.

In other news, Amie found a really amazing cake while browsing the website of a nearby bakery:

Fucking... Suave...

THEY SAY THIS JAVONTE IS ONE BAD MUTHA–

SHUT YO MOUTH

BUT I’M TALKIN BOUT JAVONTE

THEN WE CAN DIG IT

I promised a post about how my hackintoshing adventure went, and so far I’ve failed to tame the beast. As soon as I get it up and running, you guys will be the first to know…. other than myself.

In other news I still owe you a post about putting your facebook calendars onto your iphone.

I also couldn’t find any good images on a Google search for “failbloat”. This surprised me.

I lied. Enjoy it you fuckers.

Well, I decided that it was time to change the theme. This will (hopefully) be a harbinger of my renewed interest in telling people shit they have no interest in hearing.

It’s weird that ever since I left my old job and started working in the gaming industry, I don’t really have time for blogging anymore– guess I’m just more engaged in my work.

Anyway later this week should see a post that some will hopefully find useful and informative. Until then just let me apologize for this theme– as official WordPress.com blogs don’t let you upload your own stuff. Bleh.

At a friend’s request, I am updating my blog so that the top listing is no longer negative and sadface.

Behold the DMV’s script-rendering of my new license-plate!

En'Taro Tassadar, Executor!

Hopefully it’s better centered on the real thing. Either way I’m pumped for when this baby arrives in the mail.

Just think of how much my car value will jump if World of Starcraft releases, too!