Even the best…

So news broke this week in the wake of Bill Gates’ final few days of an old internal email chain he started regarding trying to simply get ‘MovieMaker’ working in Windows XP

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/library/2003Jangatesmoviemaker.pdf

Link to email chain.

I found these internal emails so interesting as it highlights the problems of working in a large software team, its hard for one person to take responsibility or be able to seize the reins and change something. I’ve noticed in organisations of any significant size when something goes wrong for the consumer its generally not one persons ‘fault’. Most people are limited in power in a company and unclear as to how to act when a problem arises that is not specifically within their job description.

This scenario seems to be held true in this email chain as the recipients try to organise who is going to fix which part, but it is difficult. Do they cross into someone else’s territory? Do they ask the other person to fix their end? What if that person is of higher rank? , are they going to hold a grudge that could affect your job security.

I admit  I often get annoyed when one thing made by the Windows team does not work with another part flawlessly, “its the same team  I scream hopelessly at my screen”. Even though the reality is that the two teams of developers under the umbrella of ‘Windows’ have probably never even met.

Of course its so amusing in this case as the consumer is actually the boss of the entire company suffering at a system which he believed would be of a higher quality and co-ordination better than it actually is. Many people have many different views of Gates. I personally am going to miss him from having a figurehead role at Microsoft, especially if he is constantly calling out the developers internally like this as I do dream for that one day that everything in my house is beautifully compatible and synched with everything else. Sigh a boy can dream ..

Realism in games

 

Wandering around Weston -Super Mare last week my friends and I stumbled into the nearby arcade on the pie (surprise surprise). After the usual air hockey and shooting galleries  I spotted ‘Police 24/7′ in the corner and my mind raced back to an article  I read years ago of this arcade cabinet being realised in Japan. The special part of this game is that it uses sensors to actual map your movements onscreen. Admittedly this is basically just used to allow you to crouch or move left and right to take cover, but it really brought me into the game. A lot has been made of the Wii’s motion sensing but  I really think this sort of tracking has a lot more potential in it- or at least should be added as a part of other motion sensing concepts.

Unfortunately I only last around 5 minute before I was taken out by some cheating AI..seriously its the only plausible way i got shot…

COD5 – back to the past?

So yesterday I heard the Call of Duty (COD) series would be returning to the  time old WW2 era and  I cringed. Granted this is a random rant (then which of mine aren’t?) but I cannot be the only person who is disappointed with this decision. I’m usually not a big Call of Duty fan, but i did enjoy the 4th instalment mainly due to its modern setting.

While i have always been a history buff i find games based on WW2 simply lacklustre and repetitive. How many times can you make a game where everyone from about the age of  8 knows how the story goes. The Nazi’s were evil, we get it. If you played all the games in the past few years it would probably take you longer than WW2 actually  lasted and this just highlights the lack of creativity in the FPS genre recently. COD4 was a breath of fresh air in the regard, the story was fresh and clever and  I can’t see how moving to ‘the pacific’ battle on COD5 is going to deliver the same effect.

Short of being historically inaccurate (which so far COD has strayed from) the weapons are going to pretty much be the same as the first 3 games and  I can’t see there being much mission variety. Its not even like there has been that much of a hardware leap since the last WW2 version of the COD series, I just can’t see this games unique selling point..

But hey what does it matter its still going to sell tonnes regardless due to the franchise, I just hope the series doesn’t turn into a unimaginative cash grazer.