There have been a lot of Kickstarter funded games getting heaps of publicity lately.  Have you backed any of them?  I like the concept provided that the good are delivered.  My husband and I backed the Shadow Run and Double Fine adventure games.  We passed on the Leisure Suit Larry and Ron Paul projects.  Have you backed a project?  If so, which ones?

April 27, 2006: Nintendo has just released the name of their newest console, codenamed Revolution. April 28, 2006: The entire internet bursts out laughing, jokes about the “Wii” (pronounced “wee”) abound and fans of the big N let out a collective groan. Why, of all the possible names, would Nintendo choose a name that’s a joke? And it only went downhill from there. Once the Wii was released, there were endless “do you wanna play with my Wii (wee)?” jokes. Nintendo fanboys everywhere were giving the big N dirty looks while trying to convince people that it was cool name. But everyone was still wondering, why did Nintendo name it that?

            Fans were excited about the “Revolution”, the first pictures showed a sleek, black tower of awesomeness with blue light from heaven emitting from the disc drive. And why else would Nintendo codename something the “Revolution” unless it was something huge?  Sure, Revolution wasn’t the best name either; it’s a bit too long and hard to translate, not to mention presumptuous, but it was cool. But for the love of Mario, why the Wii? Why use a name that they knew people would make fun of?

            Well, let’s get one thing straight; they knew what they were doing. For years, Nintendo has beaten the competition, despite first appearances, because they know their audience. In fact, they probably know us better than we know ourselves. Despite some missteps (I’m looking at you Virtual Boy), Nintendo has always come out on top, despite the odds. Think about it for a second, the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) reignited the games industry, the Game Boy made it easy to own a handheld console, and the DS helped popularize touch controls. Each of these systems had stiff competition from consoles that were technically superior, but each one prevailed with sales that rocketed past the competition. And as we know, history repeats. At the time of writing, the Wii has sold about 95 million units, compared to the Xbox 360’s 66 million units and PS3’s 62 units. So the question remains, why did they name it the Wii?

            No, it wasn’t because they thought it was funny (at least I hope it wasn’t that). They wanted something short, universal and meaningful. If they kept the name Revolution, people would most likely abbreviate it anyway, and translating it to other languages would be problematic to say the least. Wii never needs to be abbreviated, can easily be translated to other languages, and is meant to sound like the English word “we”.

            Let’s focus on that last point. Nintendo wanted this new console to be a family thing. By removing the traditional controller, something confusing to newcomers, and replacing it with a familiar object, the remote, they were hoping to involve people who wouldn’t normally even consider playing games. Now Mom, Grandpa, and even your crazy aunt wanted to play bowling.  People everywhere enjoyed the simple gameplay of golf, bowling, tennis, baseball and boxing. Even without ever having picked up a controller, anyone could play the simple games the Wii offered. Then factor in online play and classic games available through the Wii shop, and Nintendo had one of the most social consoles ever.

            Despite the numerous jokes, Wii describes the console well. Not only does it emphasize playing together, the unique spelling is meant to appear as if two people are standing next to each other, or the Wii’s unique controller. Sure, it’s not the best name, and it’s likely going to be the butt of jokes for some time to come, but it’s different and memorable. Nintendo’s never been known to go with the grain, and neither do their products. They’re different, and what some would call inferior, but that’s why Nintendo has succeeded. By consistently providing experiences different from all the others out there, they’ve amassed a rabid following of both hardcore and casual gamers. Once again, time has proven that Nintendo knows what they’re doing, even if we don’t.

I'm fine with people having their own opinion, but this one borders on outright trolling: http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/122/1220061p1.html. This is the reason people think you're biased IGN. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/i-am-alive

I love IGN, they're my main news source, but I plan on taking their opinion with a grain of salt from now on.

I recently beat a game that had a questionable but unique love story.  I'm going to try and be vague so I don't give away spoilers in the game I'm talking about here.  The main characters in this title are two teenagers that are adopted siblings.  As the story progresses, they grow closer and are comfortable in each other's presence even in mixed gender bath houses. While they never begin a romantic relationship, they are encouraged to do so by many other characters in the game.  I'm all for a good love story but I found this one a bit awkward.  Perhaps my convictions stem from this verse in the Bible:

Leviticus 18:9 says Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

What do you think?  Do you find this relationship natural or awkward?  Granted genetically there no foreseeable issues here but I still find it going against God's law.  

 Like many Christians gamers, I feel a twinge of guilty when severing heads in Skyrim, or unleashing destructive magic from my palms.  It's easy to think we're just having meaningless fun, but this anxiety is proof enough for me that we should start to take games more seriously. 

However, I don't feel called to quit gaming, so how does a Christian proceed? We all believe games have such potential in telling stories yet we're left to live with tug-of-war raging inside us: one between questionable morality and edifying messages.

By morality I of course mean the stuff you don't want your grandmother to see: violence, sex, swearing etc.

And by quality I mean excellent production values and thoughtfully crafted messages that ask big questions of the world.

So the question becomes, can graphic violence and questionable morality still be waded through for quality story telling and thought-provoking themes?

I like to use the Bible as a guide when navigating entertainment because it is full of graphic violence, sex, cursing and spiritual forces, both good and evil. But in everything is a good and trustworthy message: Sin will bring destruction while God offers redemption.

Some might argue it might even border on hypocrisy when Christians condemn a potentially thought-provoking entertainment based on violence or sex, and there are strong redemptive themes throughout.

So, here are four questions I found helpful to start thinking more critically about games: 

1. What are video games to you? 

Are they mere entertainment? Escapism? Or do you find a deeper meaning or connection? Do you find yourself admiring the heroism of Link, descending the depths of darkness to purify and bring light? Do you suddenly feel like championing the cause of the down-trodden, just as your character goes out of their way to help the innocent?

2. What affect do videogames have on your soul? 

Do you feel spiritually uplifted after the credits roll, or do you feel sick to your stomach? What did the game teach you? That living by your own rules makes life easier? Killing and stealing is the quickest way to victory? Or that the most meaningful side quests were done to help out a stranger?

3. Does God care what we play? 

 Have you every prayed and asked God to show you something through a videogame? Do you think God can use games to reach others? If so, have you ever considered that God may have a heart for gamers?

4. Where should we draw the line? 

Is there a danger in pushing through too much garbage to get a small nugget of goodness?A guiding verse might be Philippians 4:8 Whatever is true, noble, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy... think about these things.

I believe we have been called to love videogames because it uniquely qualifies us to speak the language of a growing digital generation.

 And there are millions of gamers out there who will never seek Jesus out in a Church. But they are captives in darkness, without hope. And every night they bring their tired souls to the computer screen or Xbox and find some solace there. We are the soldiers tasked with the rescue of this digital generation. God has put the passion of gaming in our hearts to reach these people, and it is a high calling.

Our battlefield is here on the internet, using our love of games to connect with this lost generation. Let's point them to Christ with thought-provoking discussions on sites like Christ and Pop Culture and CCGR. Let's train other Christian gamers to discern the truth in the games we play, and reveal how Christ is at work in all our Red Dead Redemptions.

Having beaten Skyrim and not thinking too highly of Benny Hin, I found this youtube video absolutely hilarious.  

I thought to myself, that would be an awesome avatar.  So I downloaded the movie using http://keepvid.com/

I then added text to the movie using Windows Movie Maker.  

After the text was in place, I converted it to a gif using this free program: http://evanolds.com/movtogif.html

And now I have this:

Those still on dialup will hate me.

Lately I've been playing with SwapNote and it's been fun sending notes back and forth between my husband and members of this site.  As fun as this system is, it can be abused by sending crude drawings or recordings containing profanity.  On the flip side, this can be a great way to share the gospel and uplift believers as well as sharing a verse or two with complete strangers.  I struggle with memorizing scripture but actually taking the time to jot it down helps rather than just reading it alone.   If you'd like to be a member of our 3DS Bible study post your friend code and let us know! 

Saw Courageous with my Youth Group Saturday. Great movie! Great message! More people need to see it. When we went, it was my Youth Group, and about 10 other people.

This is not a get rich quick scheme but many people have made good money mining bitcoins.  What is a bitcoin you ask?  Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency. Peer-to-peer means that no central authority issues new money or tracks transactions. These tasks are managed collectively by the network.  New coins are generated by a network node each time it finds the solution to a difficult mathematical problem.  There will be a maximum of 21,000,000 generated bitcoins and because of this limit, bitcoins are divisible to 8 decimal places.  In other words you can send fractions of bitcoins to people.  Like many currencies the value fluctuates.  As of this blog entry its between $13 and $14 USD.

As of July 2011, there are just over 6.8 million bitcoins in existence.  New coins are slowly "mined" into existence by running a program that searches tirelessly for a solution to a very difficult math problem. When a solution is found, the user may tell everyone of the existence of this new found solution, along with other information, packaged together in what is called a "block".  Blocks contain 50 bitcoins at present. This amount is an incentive for people to perform the computation work required for block generation. Roughly every 4 years, the number of bitcoins that can be "mined" in a block reduces by 50%.  In other words, while the bounty is still 50 bitcoins, hop on this gravy train!

You have two options when it comes to mining for bitcoins.  If you have a good video card, you can try going solo and crunch numbers for weeks or months for a big payout. Or, if you prefer a steady payout, you can join a mining pool and equally share the bounty for your share of work put into it.  If you have a slower video card, a mining pool will be the only way you can stand a chance at finding the blocks before someone else does.

The better the hardware, the better the hash rates you'll get.  ATI is taking the crown here.  Here's how my systems fare at my house.

My hubby and I have quad core 860's with 5870's getting 346 Mhash/s
Our kids dual core with a 5570 is 67Mhash/s
Our myth tv pvr front-end with a 4650 gets 21.6Mhash/s 
Lastly my dual core laptop with a GeForce M230 gets 8 Mhash/s (I don't bother mining with this one)

The higher the hash rate, the more my video card contributes to solving the mathematical problem and thus giving me more of the reward.  Overclocking can increase those numbers but it will also increase the heat generated and the electricity needed to power the system.  The next hurdle is seeing if this is worth jacking up your electric bill.  With those systems in place I can get a bitcoin every 4 days.  With a bitcoin value at $14 I can make $105 a month doing this.  How much of that will get sucked up by a higher electric bill is to be determined.  For those who leave their systems on 24/7 anyway, why not have it make money for you in the process.

Once you earn a bitcoin you'll have to decide what to do with it.  I converted mine to USD using Mt. Gox. There was a .0005 fee to send my bitcoin there and then Mt. Gox took .30%.  Once I had it in USD I sent it to my dwolla account for .25 and then sent it to my bank account.  All said and done I got $13.70 of my $14.

Here are some helpful links to get started.

Bitcoin client
Python GUI Miner put this in the extra flags section: -v -w128
Slush's mining pool

sources: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Introduction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

Nintendo has threatened to brick 3DS devices that have been modified by hardware or software. To protest, Defective by Design will be sending bricks with a note to the chairman of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime.

What do you think about this?  Does Nintendo have a right to render devices we purchase as useless?  Last time I checked, 3DS's are still selling for $250.   Once we buy the device isn't it ours to do as we please? Is it wrong for me to put a sticker on my DS? Can I change the casing if it cracks or scratches?  We have replaced the scratched screen on our DS Lite, we have cleaned the broken trigger buttons in an attempt to repair them.  If the repairs fail it's our own fault, I don't blame Nintendo.   I can understand this tinkering voids the warranty.  If the system broke while it was under warranty I would have send it back to them to fix.

I understand that people modify the hardware beyond standard maintenance. Perhaps for these individuals their system should be blocked from the Nintendo network so they don't interfere with "vanilla" systems.  I think bricking the device by rendering it useless is going too far. Here's an quote from the Terms of service (chapter 3).  I think they mean business:

"You understand that the Nintendo 3DS System specifications and the Nintendo 3DS Service are constantly evolving and that we may update or change the Nintendo 3DS System or the Nintendo 3DS Service in whole or in part, without notice to you. Such updates may be required for you to play new Nintendo 3DS games, enjoy new features, or continue to access the Nintendo 3DS Service. After the Nintendo 3DS menu is updated, any existing or future unauthorized technical modification of the hardware or software of your Nintendo 3DS System, or the use of an unauthorized device in connection with your system, will render the system permanently unplayable."

What about software modifications?   That's awfully vague.  Chances are the DS Cart system I'm using is violating the terms of service.  The kicker is that I am not using it to pirate games.  I use it so I have all my games with me and don't have to worry about losing them.  Have you seen how small these DS cartridges are?  Again I don't agree with hacking the system to ruin the game play for other people.  I think Xbox has taken the proper approach to block non standard systems from the network.

Has Nintendo gone too far?