Sunday, September 27, 2009

Seriously, fuck off with this bullshit!

*DISCLAIMER: I SWEAR IN THIS ENTRY, A-FUCKING-LOT. (Fair warning so you cant whine about it after reading it, I'm angry, get over it)*

I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... You feel this pain, I'm sure. You just dished out a good 200-300 bucks on a shiny new iPod nano that has all the features your friends 'pods have and you now, feel technologically adequate right? Then you watch the commercial and see the NEW nano with its goddamn camera, and you look at yours and your world shrinks just a little bit? Maybe not, mine certainly doesn't but something comes to mind. Why the hell does technology have to keep moving forward like this, can't it just sit and breathe? Your iPod, or computer or Xbox or Playstation is all of a sudden inadequate. This rant isn't about iPods, but I felt it was a good place to start. This rant is about technology raping your wallet, and then all of a sudden what you just shelled out 600 dollars for is half that price. I'M LOOKING AT YOU PS3!

Down the grapevine I've heard that, if Gears of War 3 happens. It won't happen until Next Gen. NEXT GEN. Jesus christ we're just tapping into this gen. It's finally gotten to the point that the people who want this shit, the people who bust their asses 40 hours a week putting up with ridiculous bullshit for bullshit pay just to BUY the goddamn machine for the hundreds of dollars that it costs can actually afford to buy it and already we're talking about NEXT gen. Sony is already developing the PS4 and I'm sure Xbox is already in the works for their next doorstop, inadequately produced, 67% failure rate right out of the gate piece of crap.

I was lucky, I managed to score a 360 off of my friend, used, for a great price. With games, and an extra controller. (Luckily, just before he learned of the joys of Guitar Hero... so I lucked out pretty good) First run so it's currently one of the 34% that hasn't failed right out of the gate, and I consider my self VERY fortunate for this fact. I was already a couple years behind the 360 bandwagon and chances are there will only be a handful of years left in its cycle to begin with. This ENRAGES me. Why the hell do things have to move on so quickly. We're in the middle of a fucking recession and these companies think we can just pull hundreds of dollars out of our asses to entertain ourselves. The companies that make the games are either catching up to the current technology or planning ahead for what's to come? What the hell is that? When the gaming companies can't even take the time to make a proper game for the systems that are currently out because they just want to pump that bitch out and cash in on it. But that is a separate rant for a different day.

I think it's ridiculous that this kind of technology doesn't even have a lifespan of at least a decade, for the kind of money people spend on it (thousands of dollars by the end of it if you add up all the games and controllers and other this and that's that comes with buying a machine that is capable of what these machines are) you would expect that your investment would be worth it, and last. Not to just fail with a fucking red-ring-of-death after a couple of weeks with a warranty that only lasts a year (or three, after outcry forced Microsoft to extend their goddamn warranty) I'm sorry but if I'm paying more than 400 bucks for a fucking box. That shit should be guaranteed for LIFE. Not a year or two, that's BULLSHIT.

Look at the Xbox/PS2. PS2 was introduced in 2000, but by 2007, it was obsolete as the PS3 was being introduced. Unlike Microsoft however, sony still puts games out for the PS2, so I guess you don't have to consider it obsolete but it's certainly more than pointless to buy one. Its pedigree speaks for itself though as it is the highest selling console of all time, having sold over 145 million units. The Xbox, in comparison, was released in 2001 and the 360 was ushered in rather infamously in 2005. That's a 4 year life span for the Xbox and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they continue to make games for original Xbox. It's safe to consider it obsolete. This is typical Microsoft as PC's seem to become obsolete mere months after one another (not Microsoft's fault but I'm playing the blame game here). However, the quality of the 360 was not really assured until their "360 elite" was released with the championing game of the system, Halo 3.

So lets look at it like this, the elite was released in 2007, so a reliable 360 has only existed for a couple of years. I only shudder to think how many people who already payed 400-500 bucks for an xbox pumped out MORE money to buy a 360 elite. These people easily payed more than a thousand dollars just for the bloody BOX. And I wonder just how many of these there were out there. And it's safe to say that they will not even have a good 5 years to enjoy their 360. Their 600+ dollar base investment, pretty much down the drain as soon as Microsoft decides to unveil their newest cash cow, most likely to co-inside with the PS4 whenever it is released. The next gen (I hate that we're already considering that) wait let me take a step back. What will we even call the 'next' gen. THIS gen is "Next Gen". So what will the actual next gen be? Its inevitable, and it will no doubt, be expensive as fuck.

In sum, It just really pisses me off that not just myself but gamers everywhere are basically having their wallets continuously raped. Look at Games Workshop and their "Warhammer" games. I, personally, cannot attest to this but they're vagrant offenders of this as well. I've seen many of my friends continually throw hundreds upon hundreds of dollars at this game just to keep up. Where is the pay-off. When do you draw a line? I suppose, if they keep buying it you have the right to charge whatever you want. But at some point, there has to be a consensus of "okay, fuck you, we're not paying this, for this bullshit."

How long is the next gen going to last? A few years, before buzz of the "Playstation 5's" are coming about and companies are boasting that their highly successful game's sequel won't be available until THAT system comes out. Why don't we reach the potential of what's already out there. Make the most out of what's present in front of us before we worry about the NEXT GENERATION. Let's run this course for all its worth and when there's nothing left, and gaming as an industry begins to stagnate. (Oh wait, too late, games are already stagnating... again, another rant for another day) THEN lets move forward to the next generation and higher possibilities. Technology can continue to grow, but how is this consumerism we all know and love supposed to thrive when the consumers can't even keep up.

Anyway, a little food for thought. Maybe I'll have something more important and focused to say next time but until then...

PEACE

Saturday, September 19, 2009

An unorganized update about change.

Usually I've got a focus, a vision, and I try to avoid the 'today I had a shower and I tried this awesome new shampoo' rout of blogging so many enjoy to entertain but consider today's entry a 'update' because I'm not angry at the moment and I don't have anything particular to say. There's just a lot to talk about. Why haven't I really bothered to speak my mind lately? Let's just say I was getting to know the BC Bud... ANYWAY

First off: I moved from Nelson and I don't think I could be any happier about it. Moving there seemed like a stoners dream, a hippy culture, a town trapped in a time warp. What more could a young hipster like myself ask for right? WRONG. The lazy 'entitled' citizens of that town slowly began to alienate me. Feeling like you're one of the few people you know that just puts in an honest days work can be a tad frustrating day in and day out and by the time I got out of there I was glad to be out.

Now I live in Nova Scotia, I find myself on the other side of the country in a region dominated by maple trees and Tim Horton's. When I left B.C. I left it in the wake of Gordon Campbell somehow getting another term as the provincial Premier, on the cusp of ushering in an Harmonized Sales Tax, a tax that Nova Scotia enjoys. Good or bad? I don't know. I just know I hate Gordon Campbell and I'm very relieved I don't have to waste time and energy projecting my hate toward him in a very 'force-like' dictate hoping that maybe, just maybe, I could maybe strangle him with my mind or something. You know, Darth Vader style.

As the fog of THC clears my mind I begin to see things more clearly, think with just a little more fire and passion and feel certain joys coming back to me. The flip side of things is I cannot sedate my frustrations with a toke anymore, at least for now. I see it as a good thing, I'm reading a lot more, writing a lot more. I feel clearer, and honestly I couldn't thank it more because I've needed it for a long time and I knew that as long as I lived in Nelson I would not get it. I can't watch the news because guaranteed I will see something that, if I were in the right frame of mind, would inspire a very aggravated rant on this here website for all of you to read. So hopefully I'll start to utilize my little frustration outlet a little more often as well.

Things are different here in Nova Scotia, people smile and ask you how you are as you pass them on the street as opposed to glaring at you scathingly or asking for any spare change you might have. People are joyous, polite, courteous, they think! B.C's a depressing state, and it single handedly fueled every ounce of my fleeting 'Canadianism' as I've more and more found myself inclined to call this country I live in "America Jr." Things are not like that over here and for that I'm thankful. I see the maple trees that line my yard. The giant war monuments just beside my house and that gleaming national symbol. That red and white flag waving mightily in the wind and in my soul I feel that perhaps this is more like Canada than anywhere else I've ever been, and Tim Horton's is actually good... something I never imagined to think possible.

Change is imminent for me and its for the better. I find myself in a not dissimilar position to when I first arrived in Nelson. Things were optimistic, everything seemed like it was within my grasp. I hadn't quite found a job closing in on three weeks of residency and that wears on my mind but I know that I will gain employment, even if I have to swallow a bit of pride and look for yet another kitchen related job that I don't want. Maybe like when I applied at Thor's Pizza, I will find a job that offered friends and people that I won't forget, and relationships that I hope to continue on for the rest of my life.

Ignatieff is on the cusp of triggering yet ANOTHER election. I was practically screaming for the Liberals to push anyone to the front other than Stephane "shrugged shoulders" Dion but I'm not convinced, this could be due to the Conservatives rather effective attack strategies. Harper's smarmy as fuck and I still don't like him, but to be honest I don't see any change on the horizon
as far as the political forefront is concerned. If it were up to me, I'd cram Ignatieff, Harper and Layton into the Magic 8 Ball that is Canadian Politic's, shake it up, and spit out three new candidates. If these morons haven't realized after two very close elections that Canada doesn't really want any of them. A third will not change that. Ignatieff is not the "Obama" of Canada. If you asked me. I would want someone who bled Red and White and Maple Syrup. Who stood up for Canada and what it was. Who would not just bend over to wipe the ass of the americans whenever their furrowed brow was pointed at our direction. In effect, someone who was not America's Bitch. But I'm not convinced that day will ever come, Political ENDRANT.

I sit here with the future a complete blank slate and I'm excited to start making something of it. School isn't outside of the conclusions I could jump to though it's not quite in the cards just yet. At the very least, I need to get my drivers license first and well it's a hell of a lot easier to get one of those in Nova Scotia than it is in British Columbia. I want to start writing more, something a bit more focused than random moments in my notebook, which, Brad and Michelle if you happen to read this, I'm almost finished. I've got so many ideas and a lot of passion to keep my hobby going, I just need to channel my focus to see whatever I chose to push toward the end. I've got story ideas I've left floundering and betrayed, others that I've been building in the hope that enough preparation may help my efforts once the actual 'writing' process begins. When it comes to me and writing, I can hardly make my mind up and my ADHD is just as evident with it as it is anything else in my life. But I've proven myself to myself in the past and its time to do that again.

Everything is open, and this is the first time in my life I've honestly felt like I could do anything I set my mind to. Hopefully this will open a more optimistic page in my life's grand book. But I've never banked too much in hope, or faith. I've only ever really put stock in myself and so far I've done pretty good. Until next time, I promise I'll be spitting bile and taking names next time when I don't quite feel inside my own mind.

PEACE!