Journeys

Format: PC
Publisher: Lighthouse Interactive - North America, UK, Benelux, Scandinavia
Publisher: dtp entertainment AG
Developer: Artematica
Genre: Conspiracy Adventure
SRP: $19.99
ESRB Rating: Mature

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

OS: Windows® 2000 / XP / Vista™
CPU: 1 GHz Intel® Pentium® processor or AMD® Athlon™ processor
RAM: 512 MB (1 GB recommended for Windows® Vista™)
Video: 64 MB DirectX® 9.0c compatible or better video card
PC CD-ROM: 4x (or PC DVD-ROM drive)
Sound: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card
Available Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
DirectX®: 9.0c
Other: Mouse, Keyboard and Speakers

Belief & Betrayal is a point and click third person adventure puzzle game. While outside of my usual gaming comfort zone, I was intrigued by the premise of the title. As anyone who knows me is aware, I am a research addict, and historic mysteries are one of my favourite research topics.

The storyline opens with our main character, journalist Jonathan Danter preparing for a trip to Florida, where he will be interviewing Cardinal Gregorio, a seemingly questionable representative of the Vatican. While preparing for the trip, Jonathan receives a disturbing call from Scotland Yard. The caller, an Inspector Twining, tells Jonathan that his uncle has been murdered and that he is afraid Jonathan’s life may be in danger. Jonathan argues with the officer, stating that his uncle had died ten years previous, but the Inspector insists that Jonathan come immediately to London. Almost as soon as he arrives in England our young hero is thrust into the secret world of ancient societies and intrigue.

Read more

On The Way To The Web: The Secret History of the Internet and its Founders
Michael A. Banks
2008

On The Way To The Web is one book which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a definitive history on the internet. The amount of research and time which was obviously spent on compiling and organizing the short but colourful history of this wonder known as the Web is very worthy of recognition.

For those of us who remember the coming of the internet, On The Way To The Web is a journey back in time, revisiting many events, products and ideas which seemed so futuristic and impossible twenty years ago which have now become common place or fallen by the wayside. I personally had forgotten all about ventures such as GameLine - the innovative download service for Atari 2600 games and game updates. While I’m sure that many of today’s gamers think that XBLA, Wii Shop and PlayStation Network were all 21st century inventions, GameLine was here first. Reading about GameLine again, I have to wonder where our games industry would be today if Atari hadn’t experienced the downslide it did right at the time of GameLine’s launch.

Like spelunkers finding their way through a deep dark cave, technology innovators such as Bill Louden, William Von Meister and others lead the way forward from the days of ARPANET, primitive BBS systems and proprietary communication software to the birth of ISPs, TCP/IP, global email, portals and that entity we all love to hate, AOL.

On The Way To The Web presents a comprehensive time line of where we started and the complicated path we took to get to where we are today in our global internet community. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how we became such an inter-connected society, the wonders and miracles of communication technology.

…and taking a deep breath before rolling into the next list of projects. August has certainly been an incredible month - Digital Storm, Mendella here for a two week tour, the Abbotsford Airshow - busy, tiring, but oh so fun.

While the tournament component of Digital Storm wasn’t as well attended as we’d hoped it would be, those who came to play had fun. It’s too bad the weekend was marred by a thief who made off with two 360 Elite hard drives, but I’m sure that in the long run, the thief will be enduring some serious payback. The show put on by the boys in Mendella kicked some serious butt and won themselves some new fans and friends. As always we’re indebted to our crew and sponsors for the assistance in putting on a fun event - and we wish those who are moving on to the World Cyber Games Canadian Nationals the best of luck on their road to Cologne and the Grand Finals.

The day after Digital Storm ended, we had a houseful of friends over for a barbeque. It was great extending some BC hospitality to Dave, Jo, Luke, Jason, Toby, Lewis, Tom and Sam - and serving up some fine Canadian steaks. It’s also nice to be able to offer our friends an atmosphere to relax in where they will always be welcome and find support for their dreams. Maybe we’ll even have the renovations done before they return in 2009

We spent BC Day at the Tom Lee Music Hall in Vancouver, where the boys had a 3pm performance. I managed to get some great shots in, and now that I’ve gone through and picked the top…70…I might just get around to putting something in the gallery on this site lol. I was going to put them up on Facebook, but decided I’d rather put them here. After the boys’ show, we were treated to dinner at a Thai restaurant in Yaletown by Dave, Jo and Luke. The food was incredible - almost as good as the company we were in. Unfortunately we had to cut the evening a bit short due to the fact that our parking time was going to expire and we didn’t want those parking lot hawks making off with our wheels.

During the week we made preparations for Mendella’s Saturday afternoon performance out here in Aldergrove. We’d hoped to be able to host a small-ish Battle of the Bands for some local groups, but due to logistics and a few other issues, the bands who wanted to participate couldn’t. Friday afternoon we took everyone to the Abbotsford Airshow, introducing Dave and Jo to the President’s Club while the boys, with Mike as their guide, wandered the static displays until early afternoon when they were able to join us in the President’s Club. They definitely made an impact among the crowd, making new friends all around - especially with the USAF Strike Eagle Demo team. The photo shoot we were able to conduct after the show ended for the day was very exciting. I haven’t processed those photos yet, though. Soon, soon. According to reliable reports, the Demo team was still talking about the band and the photo shoot at the Airshow Reception party later that evening. We had hoped to have the band perform at the President’s Club on Sunday, but couldn’t due to scheduling issues with the Airshow. Perhaps another time - I know one Demo team who would love to see them there again - then again, I know a band who would love to meet up with their friends in the Demo team again.

Saturday’s outdoor performance in Aldergrove was definitely unique. After a week of hot, sunny weather, I bet you don’t have to try very hard to guess what it did on Saturday. Yes - it poured. It was windy. There was lightning and thunder. But we still had a great time, again with a great crew. This was the first time we have had an opportunity to work with Ryan and Curtis from Sonic Voodo Productions, and I think that we all worked extremely well together, and we are definitely considering doing more shows with them in the future. While the weather did put a big dent in the audience size, those who came to watch and listen enjoyed the band’s performance. I must make mention of Dave from Sweet Max. If not for his loan of a guitar amp, the show may not have gone on. The Fender DeVille we’d rented for Lewis didn’t work properly and had an awful squeal in its valve. While it was a cold and windy afternoon, working with great people always makes the worst situations seem more fun. The experience of performing in such conditions was a learning experience for the boys in the band as well - and they seemed to be having a good time too. Packing up in torrential rainstorms isn’t all that much fun, but we got the job done anyway.

We all had some relax time, and then it the was boys’ final Vancouver performance for this year. They rocked The Roxy, and have been invited back anytime they’re in town. This was followed up by dinner at MileStone’s in YaleTown, which was relaxing and great time - even though we all knew that our friends from the UK would be going home the next day.

I met up with everyone the following afternoon to provide the extra vehicle needed to get everyone with instruments and luggage to the airport on time. It was a bitter-sweet parting - knowing that they would be back next year, and that they will soon be off to record their first commercial album. I am thankful for the time I got to spend growing a deeper friendship with everyone, and I especially enjoyed meeting Dave’s wife, Jo. I am definitely looking forward to seeing her again, as we have so much in common and get along quite well.

So…what are we doing now that our events are done for the year? Well - we have sites to design for a certain rock band and their management. We have planning to do for next year’s event, PAX is coming up at the end of August, and of course there’s Greg’s final sentencing date in September. I need to get out and interview some studio people and spend more time writing - but I’d also like to get back outdoors and do some more shooting. Scott and I went up the east side of Harrison Lake on Saturday to shoot, and it was great to just get out there and drive, looking for those amazing shots.

And now that I’ve updated the venerable blog as much as I intend to tonight, I believe I will head off for some sleep while listening to the thunder overhead and the stupid dripping drainpipe outside our room. It definitely needs fixing before winter. It will drive me crazy, which means that I will in turn drive Scott and Mike crazy.

Get Rich Playing Games has got to be one of the most useful and entertaining “how to” books I have read recently. I can usually gauge the usefulness of a book by how much yellow highlighter I go through, how many post-it notes stick out from among the pages, and by how many research leads I garner. Scott Steinberg has penned another winner, and in my opinion the value of the information he shares in Get Rich Gaming far exceeds the cost of the book - which is very reasonably priced, by the way.

Get Rich Playing Games covers almost every aspect of the game industry, from pre-startup stage to getting the product on the shelf and beyond. Scott Steinberg doesn’t only focus on the game developers and designers, though. Throughout the book he discusses the important roles other people in the industry play, from the number crunchers and audio designers to the journalists who write the reviews. What I consider important about the inclusion of these different vocations within the videogame industry is that almost anyone who has the passion to work within the industry can probably find a career position for which they are perfectly suited. Not everyone has the knowledge, talent or passion to be an engineer or an artist, and Get Rich Playing Games shows that you don’t have to be able to paint the next fantasy art masterpiece to work in gaming.

As with Scott’s other books, he has enlisted the opinions and experiences of those who have been involved in the gaming industry for a very long time and know of which they speak. Throughout Get Rich Gaming, and especially in the Expert Insight section, readers are given the chance to tap into the collective intelligence of the videogame industry without leaving home. Scott Steinberg talks with the CEO’s of the biggest companies, such as Bruce Hack of Vivendi, and he talks with those who came up through the gaming ranks such as Dennis Fong and Jonathan Wendel. You can read about both the good and the bad experiences of industry gurus such as Will Wright, Richard Garriott, Tommy Tallarico, and Jane Jensen to name but a few.

Get Rich Playing Games is an honest look at the methods which worked, and those which didn’t. It shows that with the drive for success, a roadmap is an excellent plan, and so is having a sense of humour, but what I think is the most important lesson in this book is - if you don’t take a chance and leap, you don’t know how far you will go. Scott shares an honest - and humourous - view of his own leap of faith into the gaming industry, and he tells it like it was - sink or learn how to swim. Unlike many of you reading this review, it took me decades to find my passion - or perhaps the passion was there all the time, I just hadn’t opened the right door. I highly recommend that those of you currently toying with the idea of working in the videogame industry take the time to read Get Rich Playing Games, you will garner new insight and you will definitely learn how to focus your talents and interests into finding a place among those who have achieved success in this great industry.