Thoughts about C&C4, EALA, and the C&C Community

By Chrono101 | Published: August 28, 2009

TO ALL CURRENT C&C FANS:

If EALA doesn’t inject the community with some new blood now, they never will. This franchise, and this community is dying. If they stick with the same formula that they did before, C&C will become even more niche, and if C&C4 does not bring in some major money, I guarantee you they will not fund the production of another C&C game. If your games do not make money, you stop making them. It’s that simple.

Command & Conquer is up against the wall. Obviously the old “Tried-n-true C&C formula” is not working. New players pick up C&C3 for 5 minutes, get smacked in the first 2 minutes of online play, uninstall C&C3, and then never touch any C&C game ever again(nobody likes a game where they lose). If EALA doesn’t try something drastically different, then no amount of base building or resource gather will bring C&C back. EVER. E-V-E-R.

EALA is trying their hardest to keep the franchise (and the community) alive. They are taking drastic measures to reduce piracy (online all-the-time), bring in new players (new game play mechanics), and help *retain* those players (getting rid of bases, build orders, etc.). They even have the decency to close out the Tiberian Saga, just in case this is their last C&C game (instead of leaving us hanging like Kane’s Wrath).

EALA, C&C, and this community now have their backs against the wall (whether you realize it or not). EALA has already displayed its intentions to come out swinging, and they’re bringing C&C with them. Are we, as a community, going to be so blind that we can’t even tell when our own existence is in jeopardy? Instead of trying to berate EA and its employees, why don’t you try and get your friends excited about C&C4, so maybe (just maybe) in 2 years you can come back and whine and complain about C&C5.

That’s my 2 cents.

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A new room, and a new home

By Chrono101 | Published: August 24, 2009

So, here I am. Kansas State University, home of the Wildcats. I’ve been here for 2 days now, and I think I will like it here. Most of the staff seems extremely friendly and courteous, most of the students body seems friendly as well.

There are a lot of students though. I am in the Derby Complex, Moore Hall, Third Floor, Men’s Wing, Room #30. I am about to go out on my first day of classes, and hopefully I’m not too much of a number to my teachers. I would like to be treated like a student and a human being, not just a number and another “product” to make for the sake of the university.

Time will tell. Sooner or later, time will tell…

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I’m going off the grid

By Chrono101 | Published: August 21, 2009

I’ll be off the grid for the next 24 hours, as I’m moving to Kansas State University tomorrow morning to begin my college education.

I’m gonna be going into Computer Science in the College of Engineering, so I’ll see how well that goes. I hope it goes pretty well, considering how much money I’m putting into my education. I don’t have time (or money) to retake any classes.

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Boxes and Bags

By Chrono101 | Published: August 19, 2009

I’m packing my stuff up for college, and it’s like taking a little stroll down memory lane. All of these things I’ve placed and forgotten about, or things that I’ve laid down and just never took the time to put somewhere else.

It feels like I really am moving out, although I’ll be back to this room; I will miss this funny, T-shaped, 2nd story bunker I call a room.

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One more week!

By Chrono101 | Published: August 17, 2009

I am on my last week of summer break, and then I head up to Kansas State University. I’m pretty busy packing all my stuff and tying up loose ends, so I hope I can get everything done on time.

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Robots inside a computer simulation…

By Chrono101 | Published: July 25, 2009

So recently I’ve been playing around with Garry’s Mod for Half-Life 2, and I stumbled upon a very interesting addon for it. The add-on is called Wiremod, which allows a user to simulate several computer and embedded systems inside GMod. I have been working on an attack drone of sorts, and I’ve been working on some of its components these last couple of days.

I like this add-on, as it allows me to work with virtualized embedded systems, and it’s sort of what I did with FIRST Robotics Competition, except it doesn’t cost nearly $10,000 to do.

I might post a video or a couple pictures later when I get something that works a little better, but for now I’m still in the early design and testing phases.

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Vacation

By Chrono101 | Published: July 12, 2009

Right now I am sitting in San Francisco. I’ve been here all week on vacation, and I have to say it has been a pleasnt experience. I spent a couple of nights in a hotel near Union Square with a close friend, and I spent the latter half of the week staying with some friends (thank you Molly and Michael for your hospitality, it was great). My friend Kim and I have thoroughly explored the city and county of San Francisco, and we’ve covered most of the city. From Chinatown to Downtown to Richmod to Castro, I can safely say I have never walked more in one week than I did this week.

This was my first real vacation that I took without my parents, and it went really well. Hopefully I can grub together enough money to take more in the future. I think I might visit Washington D.C. next. Anyway, I’ve got a lot to do still, as my flight leaves tommorrow back to Kansas, and I need to make sure everything goes smoothly.

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Book Review on What Would Google Do

By Chrono101 | Published: June 4, 2009

I recently recieved the book What Would Google Do as a graduation present, and after a few days I managed to read through it. The book is by author/journalist/internet-guy Jeff Jarvis, who brings up several thought-provoking ideas on how the internet is basically taking the entire economy and throwing it up on its head.

In the book Jeff shows, through example and statistics, how companies will have to start acting differently if they want to stay afloat during the Internet (or “Google”) age. He cites the “Dell sucks” phenomenon, which he helped cause, as an example of how Dell felt the sting that the internet could bring to a company who is not open, and how that company reconciled with its customer base, talking on their terms, and speaking to them as another person, not as a corporate entity.

Jarvis then goes on throughout the rest of the book and shows the reader how other companies could follow Google’s policies and ideals in order to help them succeed in the information age. He gives models of restaurants, manufacturers, cable/phone providers, utilities companies, and even health care and government agencies.

Overall it’s a well-written book, and it explains internet concepts in simple, plain terms. If you’ve ever used the internet before, you will understand what Jarvis is saying, because he “gets it”, just as Google has “got it”. You can order this book off Amazon.com, and you can read more about Jeff Jarvis on his blog, Buzzmachine.com.

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Site Updates

By Chrono101 | Published: May 26, 2009

I’ve made some further updates to the site, so hopefully it runs smoother and is more streamlined. I’ve changed the sidebar around a little bit, getting rid of some widgets that I didn’t think were very helpful, while adding a few more that I thought would be. I posted my Personal Links and my Blogroll.

However, probably the most notable change right now is the change from the standard Wordpress search feature to an integrated Google search bar. You can access the search function on the search page, or you can just use the search form on the right. Results will keep you at here at chrono101.com, or if you decided to follow the search links they will redirect you to the appropriate site. Hopefully it saves you a step and a few clicks if you ever feel the need to search for something whenever you are browsing around here. If anybody gets any errors or malfunctions, just comment here and let me know.

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New Job, Same Old Stuff

By Chrono101 | Published: May 22, 2009

So I’ve recently gotten a new job. I’m working as a clerk at a gas station two blocks from my house. It’s not a bad job, it’s just probably going to be rather monotonous, with me cleaning up messes, stocking shelves, and selling things to people. It will be a decent summer job though, and I should be able to rake in a couple thousand dollars by the end of the summer.

I’ve been playing a lot of World In Conflict lately, and it is interesting to see how over time people change their general strategies on how they play the game. World In Conflict has clearly reached the mature stage of its lifetime, in which the hardened veterans have every single detail worked out on which units are better, how many units they’ll need to beat a certain map, and where all of the best hiding places on the maps are. I personally like to stick with attack helicopters (AH-64s), and I fly around and blow up tanks and heavy artillery units. It has been getting harder though, as most of the new players are gone and the veterans all know how to counter four or five heavy helicopters flying around, blowing up their units. I’d like to write some articles sometime on game-play life-cycles, and how they can affect a game’s long-term scenario. Today is not that day, however, as I have a new job to learn and a new routine to get into.

Welcome to 7-11, how may I help you?

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