Too few hours in the day //Jafoca.com

So I found a fascinating article on Kotaku today about the concept of “mature video games”.

Quick summary: Maturity in games should be about more than gratuitous nudity and ‘adult’ language.

I totally agree.

Two of my favorite games ever include Mass Effect and The Witcher arguably fall in the proper category of “mature” games.  Why?  Amazing story, adult themes, in depth character development.  These are things I crave.  
Mass Effect 2 is on the horizon now, and I am seriously thinking I might have to buy an Xbox 360 again if it doesn’t come out on PC at the same time.  Thats right folks, I bought an XBox just to play Mass Effect.  And it was one of the best experiences of my gaming life.

Just recently I have also ventured away from my reading norm, consisting mostly of Tom Clancy.  I started reading a series by Karl Schreder, Sun of Suns is the first book.  I found reading this sci-fi, space operaesque book truely rewarding as – it is a significant step up in maturity level from my prior reading.  Since discovering this new series, a renewed interest in scifi literature, and overall more mature content matter, I have been reading more than ever!  I have finished the (existing books of) the Virga series, loved them, and now have moved on to Counting Heads by David Marusek

Anyway, that was a long and winding way to say that – for adults, adult content makes any medium more rewarding.  Games and books, its all the same.  I played thru Mass Effect in 1 weekend, I was so engrossed in the plot line, characters, interactions, etc.  And now I can’t wait to get back to reading Counting Heads – it has been keeping me up much later at night than is wise.

Heh – forgot one perl I was going to include yesterday.  It seems like my taste in books is ‘growing up’ rapidly, the question becomes will video games grow up to accommodate their aging fanbase as-well?  Mass Effect was protested because it had a, not shown but alluded to, sex scene!  I didn’t mind that I didn’t get to see any alien private parts, however the story line leading up to this scene was absolutely engrossing – I get goosebumps and shivers just reminiscing about it now.  All the tension, all the emotion – Mass Effect made it real.  I want more.  BioWare, the developer of Mass, has promised just that.  Please, I beg, some of you other developers produce games that are mature, in the mature sense of the word.

Mature content is vastly different than crude content.

Michigan is an automotive state.  Our economy statewide is married to the industry, as much as I wish it were not.  And now it seems that a long time of trouble for the US automakers has become so critical that the “Small Three” have been begging like paupers for the past two weeks trying to get a government funded bailout for the industry.

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One of the larger aspects of my work at Blue Sky Sessions is google.  As a local web firm dedicated to providing quality online marketing solutions and SEM, I must closely watch the search engine to find out how to use search results and paid advertising to leverage our client’s online presence.

Just today there was some news from the goog that was a bit unusual — google has published its green energy manifesto.

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Sometimes you need some rain to really enjoy the sunshine.  This weekend was one of those times for me, and wow did it ever rain!

This morning, however, on my commute to work through downtown Grand Rapids, the sun started to poke through and it was amazing.  The beams seemed to target specifically the new buildings on the medical mile, and they glistened.

Made me wish I was a better photographer, or at least could do basic HDR processing….

I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer.  The opening ceremony was spectacular, world records are being

via Editrix on Flickr

broken almost every day, and Michael Phelps has just been a phenom in the pool – which is great.

However, I can’t help but feeling that there is something of a taint over the games this time around.  Amid accusations of doping it is hard enough to enjoy sports that have lost some levels of legitimacy (at least I am confident that Phelps is not doping…), yet China has been cheating the Olympics in another way – repeatedly.

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