To those that are watching me, I'm sorry I haven't really been online this year. This year has been rather busy and I've spent a lot less time on around here, though I'd want to rectify that.

My trip to the US and Canada last year was fantastic; I have to thank everyone who I met up with at the various cons I went to; you really helped give me a unique experience, it was seriously a pleasure to meet every one of you. I'm gonna try and play catch up in the future.
Bleh, it was so much easier finding free time when I was on holiday. Who would have thought? :p

As a side note, I am still using this account, but I'm usually signed into my alt account these days. I've For anyone wanting to keep in better contact, my alt account is  cantstopgrowing. Its a bit more fetishy, so I won't watch anyone or talk with them unless you tell me you are comfortable with it.
Note me also if you'd like my skype ^^

I hunger for information.

I am going on holidays shortly, mostly to North America, and will be gone a long time. Until the end of the year, in fact. So I'm asking around for stuff to do and places to see XD. I have some people to visit and some events lined up; but I am still fielding suggestions. So If you are familiar with North America and have suggestions, please help me fill the lists! I imagine I will only get to do something like this once in my life, so I may as well make the most of it.

Things I have lined up:
- E3 in LA
- PAX in Seattle

Thing I wanted to line up but couldn't:
- comicCon (no tickets :()
- Burning Man (clashes with PAX)
- dragon con (clashes with PAX - WTF spread your damned nerd cons thinner plz)

Potential Theme related events I could attend:
-AC in Pittsburgh
-Rainfurrrest in Seattle
-FurFright in Connecticut

Things I have been told I absolutely must see:
- Chicago
- Yosemite
- Kennedy Space Centre in Orlando
- Museum of Natural History in Washington

Other dots on map for professional or friendly visits:
- Montreal
- San Fransisco
- Vancouver

So yeah... I seem to be missing reasons to visit the middle bit in particular. But any suggestions would be awesome. In return I offer you this link: http://i.imgur.com/Pw4Xk7H.gif


On an unrelated note, the trailer for Anchorman 2 is out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ-JX-7B3uM

I am already disappoint.

The city of Canberra commissioned a piece of art for its 100th anniversary, which ended up being a hot air balloon called 'skywhale'.

http://www.smh.com.au/act-news/canb.....516-2joa3.html

I am totally on board with the sky whale bit. But can someone please explain why its draped in boobs?

As the great Jacky Chan said in a meme... My head is full of fuck.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new.....-1226634241881

Hearing that we'll be able to actually print organs within the next decade, it got me thinking. First, I thought that in 50 years, when I am nearing 80, I could be able to just print a new body and have a second life. But then, if that's the case, then why not print a custom built body? I'm gonna be a dragon and fly and shit and live forever. Eventually in space.

What body are you gonna print?

And if anyone thinks this is just idle daydreaming, can you please explain why the fuck not?

I always assumed i would be old before I would say that games aren't what they used to be. Check out this gem; it has everything from copyright violations to $100 in app purchases, to monetised ammunition.

http://au.ign.com/videos/2013/04/24.....ket-free-games

The sad thing is I can't bring myself to say this is a terrible game. Sure, they have been... audacious with their character and pricing; but it's functional and not exactly whacked together. Don't get me wrong; this is nothing close to a good game. But there are plenty of worse games out there.

Tbh I think the games industry is lost. Not in terms of losing its soul or anything ethical; rather, it has no idea where things are heading, or how to make a dollar anymore. The traditional premium model; that which views games as a product; is failing. Games are released, rocket up the charts and then plummet a month later. Priced have not increased over the past 15-20 years, but game developer numbers and years have exploded. The real money is in digital distribution; which has been largely cornered by non developers, and non traditional publishers. Sure, games like skyrim can generate a billion dollars, but this is the exception, not the norm. It's getting harder and harder to turn a profit under this model, unless you are one of a handful of IP's.

The rise of mobile has blown the market up; both in terms of accessibility for consumers and developers, as well as innovating new minetisation features, which view games not as products, but as services. Under the old market, there were 200 million gamers. Now there are over a billion, but their expectations are different. They don't view games as an experience; rather a form of entertainment to play in bursts, where they put the phone down as quickly as they pick it up. They don't want high price point games; they want dollar apps, or even less.

This means that games themselves must adapt. A team of one to 10 people is all that is needed to meet this demand; but they must monetise the game in ways that aren't from the point of sale. This means that gameplay must be different; and in order for the games to stay up the top of the chart, they must be open ended. There can't be an ending to the game, which means thee can't be a story. Just a basic concept, with basic mechanics that can be picked up as easily as they are put down.Those that get it right will rake it in. Those that don't will fall by the wayside.

Companies like EA and Zynga have been slammed for trying to chase the Facebook social network side of gaming. Ea just let go of close to 10% of their workforce, and zynga's revenue just keeps on slipping. The app store is dominated by small indie developers which are making games that traditional gamers would consider shit.

But that's what the market is. THQ failed by sticking to the traditional buisiness side of things. We're it not for the exceptional (and legacy driven) success of wow, then activision wouldn't be doing so hot now either. This is a market and trend that cannot be avoided for any developer or publisher.

From here I see a lot of bloodshed in the industry; giants will fail, new companies will rise and fall in their place. And from the point of view of the traditional gamer, games will get worse. On the whole, anyway.

If you're anything like me then you check the ingredient lists of manufactured food products as well as the nutrition facts grid, just to monitor what kind of crap you put in your body. I bought some musli bars which has this ingredient listed second:

'evaporated cane juice crystals'

Back home, this particular ingredient is listed as 'brown sugar'.

What a country XD

I finally arrived in America after a brutal series of flights, and the first thing I do is get into a taxi... and don't put my seat belt on. I made the motion and held the buckle in my hand, but I thought to myself "No. Not today."

It's my right as an American (tourist).

What a country XD.

So recently I have found myself engaging in a number of gun control discussions around here. For the record, I am about as firm a gun control advocate as you can get. If anyone’s interested in participating in that discussion, or otherwise cares what I have to say on the matter, a good journal would be here:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4221357

However, the other half of this recent gun discussion has been about what effect violence portrayed in the media/videogames has on real world gun violence. Of course, this is the half that organisations like the NRA have been hysterically screaming at. Of course, for them this is just an ‘out’ to the true core of the issue – as can be attested if not by solely through common sense, then certainly by their actions where they have recently released their own video game, originally targeted for audiences far, far younger than the typical shooter. (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/15/t.....ame/index.html)

However, as opaque as the motivations behind their words may seem, that doesn’t inherently make them any less true. This is an issue that is very close to me, as I myself have developed violent video games, including one well known shooter title. In fact, the very game I am working on right now is another shooter. No one wants to think that they have a negative impact on the world. Am I a part of the problem?

I have often approached the issue dismissively, viewing such a viewpoint as mere conjecture. Sure, it MAY be possible that violent games have a negative impact, but then again, the argument could easily be made that it has a positive impact. After all, such games may serve to get the rage ‘out of the system’, allowing the user to vent their bloodlust in a completely harmless manner, as opposed to merely supressing it. Unless there was dada to back any claims up, speculation was a waste of time.

Until recently, I didn’t actually know that such studies had been taken, and their results were cause for concern:

http://pjackson.asp.radford.edu/202.....aggression.pdf

This study found that violent video games had a negative effect on aggressiveness, making aggressive players more aggressive. I could see how that could potentially be extrapolated out into actual acts of violence, including shootings.

However, I am still wanting more information on the matter before I shift my position. And I don’t think that it’s due to cognitive dissonance on my behalf. It is good to hear that the US government is going to invest a significant amount of money into researching the issue further (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2.....s-and-violence)

I hope that they examine this issue from ALL angles, including potential benefits as I have speculated, and then lay it down for the world to see and deal with. It would be interesting to see if ‘aggressiveness” has much to do with shootings in the first place as well.

So... what do you reckon?

They're bullshit.

So 2013 is a good couple of hours old now... I guess it's time for a good dose of cynicism. I just got back from a party where NY resolutions were briefly touched upon - people sharing their goals and ambitions. I had heard plenty of others from friends and family in the days leading up to it, and now I am looking at a journal list plagued by such resolutions.

Look, if something is genuinely important to you... then just do it. Do it because the change will make you happier, not because some arbitrary point in time has been reached. If that's your motivation, then you will fail. Like just about every other new years resolution ever.

A main one I seem to have come across is from people who want to lose weight, or get fit. I don’t know, perhaps it's because I have personally made some great strides in the last few years that is skewing my sample. It seems to be a talking point. But if anyone reading this has such an ambition, then you have to really ask yourself if you want it. Do you want to be 20 kilos lighter, or do you want to lose 20 kilos? Because they are very different things.

Any fool can lose 20 kilos. All you have to do is go on the Atkins diet for a couple of months, or something equally stupid. It's an easy resolution to attain. But if that's it, then you won't actually be 20 kilos lighter. Because that weight will come straight back on if you don't actually change your lifestyle. That's how it got there in the first place, after all. Then you’re back making the same stupid and unhealthy goal in 2014.

Being 20 kilos lighter requires a lifestyle change. A big one, really. If you are willing to go through with it, then good luck with it. If you're anything like me, you won't regret it, and you won't ever want to go back. But if you aren't willing to go through with it, then don’t fool yourself. That’s the lifestyle you chose, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. Just learn to be content with it. Just be happy with who you are.
Fuck new years resolutions, and good luck with 2013 :)

I was aimlessly browsing as I wait to go home for Christmas, and I decided to check out some Google trends.

http://www.google.com/trends/explor.....rry&cmpt=q

Seems that searches on 'furry' has been fairly consistent through the years. But then I thought, but furry is a word used by the public at large for a plethora of other things. How much would searches on the 'fandom' be drowned out by searches about "cute furry puppies!" or "concerning furry growth on foot"? So I upped the anti.

http://www.google.com/trends/explor.....orn&cmpt=q

Lols. Oh Scandinavia, North America and Oceania... I see what you did there.

Merry Christmas everyone.

I participated in a seedy journal and I caught a nasty meme.

Comment on this Journal, and I'll...

1. Tell you something I learned about by looking at your FA page for 13 seconds 2. Tell you a color you remind me of 3. Tell you my first memory of you 4. Ask you a question 5. Tell you something I like about you 6. Give you a nickname 7. Tell you the object that is to the left of me 8. Dare you to do this yourself in your journal

I haven't actually come across a legitimate argument against gay marriage yet, but this video still left me dumbfounded by the vacuousness of the resistance.



What is outrageously funny is that everyone approached for comment says something unbelievably stupid. From referring to the PM as a man to stuttering intelligibly for 20 seconds before giving up. I know with things like this you can often interview 100 people and then chose the stupidest 4, leading to an inaccurate representation. But these weren't random vox pops, they were all people of some form of a station.

Have not laughed this hard in a while.

It's international talk like a pirate day. Though since its not international write like a pirate talks day, you might not get the right vibe from this journal.

Regardless, there's booty to be plundered.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/0.....osit-in-field/

Granted, plundering industrial grade diamond from a crater in Russia may not feel piraty, it's a damned lot closer than just speaking like one.

'They' need to make a movie or game based on this theme song.



And 'they' should call it 'Decent into Mushroom Kingdom'.

...or something much better.