Passing the 7th Position in the Rule of Doubling

In a brief follow-up to the previous post, I have now definitely decided on the iPhone. It was the web that won it.

Now then, to the issue of the day. Portal. Hot freaking damn. Way back when Portal was newly announced and everyone was drooling over Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 Episode 2 (I'm sorry, that is such a mouthful), I myself was more interested in Portal.

And man was I right to be. This game kicks ass. It's funny, crazy, quirky and above all, original. Truly it is the class of the Orange Box, as many have conceded in the time since the Box was unleashed.

Incidentally, what a freaking dumb name. Orange Box. It's so...Meh. Mind you, the box art is far worse.

Another great game is Metroid Prime 3 Corruption. Easily the best controls ina first-person shooter to date. I can't wait for an online game with similar controls - which I am reliably informed is inbound in the form of the 32-Player online Medal of Honor Heroes 2. Finally a reason to play a Medal of Honor game.

I know I can't wait to be blasting fools with my Wii. EA, I salute you.

Speaking of the Wii itself, my Remote Jackets showed up. I have my spare Remote in one - so newbies to Wii can't kill me - but my own personal Remote, with a rechargeable battery, is Jacket free. Well, it has one. I just don't put it on it.

The Writer's Guild is on strike stateside. Wowsers bowsers. That shit is real. I hope it gets resolved properly and fast - imagine the turmoil if the actors and directors went out in sympathy.

iPhone is out this Friday at 6:02PM. Yes, that's right. 02. O2. Get it?

Clever...But really lame.

Tomorrow I'm off to an interview for a job. Assuming I get said job, it should bring in moneys to buy all the things I'm wanting - starting with such games as Super Mario Galaxy, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Guitar Hero 3 and some maybes like Geometry Wars Galaxies, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and a Disney game I might pick up to review for All Your Disney dependent on how much I earn.

And then later, of course, the iPhone, ahead of the MacBook a couple months later.

I should probably also upgrade my Desktop. I'll do that after the MacBook though. Things that need doing:

Replace Graphics Card with a higher memory DX10 number
Replace Pentium 4 with Core2 Duo
Replace one Optical Drive with Blu-Ray capable equivalent
Replace one optical drive with HD-DVD capable equivalent.
Maybe add another Half-Gig of RAM

That'll bring it in line with the peripherals and its peers - read, my brother's media centre monster.

Lastamly, I'm soft-announcing a delay in Six's development owing to other commitments the team has. I can however just about promise a 2008 launch. We may launch, however, with some of our niftiest features not in place yet. The content uploading and everything will be there, it's just of the flashy stuff like in-page notifications may be released in our 1.0.6, 1.1.2, 1.1.8 etc. updates.

"We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

Jens

PS: Anyone else think an open, multi-platform competitor to Xbox/Games for Windows LIVE would be a great idea? I sure do. And I have some ideas for it.You better believe it. Anyone who would like to see that happen, get in touch.

Six

Recently, I have been teasing you with Six, a Top-Secret project being worked on by the team behind The New GizzedInc (And part of the original GizzedInc team) and also the founders of the WiiDS Main Site Project.

Here is the announcement:

Late last year, I began to think about how gamers often group together in sub-communities. This leads to the kinds of disagreements and unfriendliness the internet is renowned for.

Even sites pledging inclusiveness often end up fostering the opposite. And much of this is expressed in content. Further, these sites are often selfish. They refuse to allow users to attempt to get other users to look at their sites, allowing only links in signatures - and with thinly veiled contempt.

Meanwhile, the greater internet was moving towards large, inclusive communities and also community content sharing sites.

After thinking for a while, I came up with an idea which I intimated to my partner in Web Endeavours, KingCDR (Our network's Head Developer and Chief Technologist), and which I will now reveal to you.

Six is the codename for a Gamers' Community site which has inclusion as its focus. Further, it is a community content sharing site dealing with content related to gaming.

At it's centre, Six gives users their own personal page (Currently codenamed "Places") on which they have a blog, links to content they like and links to their friends. But the page will also contain links to portals for that users content.

Content hostable by users of Six will include Pictures (Intended mainly for screenshots and avatars, though photos and other images are fine), Video (Intended mainly for distributing footage of games - such as speed runs and showing off exceptional moves, but which we hope users willl find many gaming-related uses for on their own), Audio (Podcasts. We hope to allow users to subscribe on the site and be prompted with and listen to new podcasts they have subscribed to when they log in) and Games.

Yes, games. Users may upload Flash games they have created to play on the site as well as downloads of homebrew games on platforms - hopefully for any open/homebrew capable platform, including niches.

Of course, we will also offer a forum. We are unlikely to use the system of having forums tailoring to many individual needs and instead once again put a focus on inclusiveness, using more general boards.

Further, we will have a unique User Rating system, as well as ratings and comments for all content - including Blog posts. Other potential features are game ratings and reviews from users, chatting and more.

And the future could hold more. I'll leave it up to you to speculate on that.

I'll take your questions. In the Comments below, or via E-Mail

Paul "Jensonb" Douglas

Six: The Reveal Is Dated

After kicking the grassroots campaign for GizzedInc Network's upcoming project, codenamed "Six", on this blog with curious and slightly other-wordly post regarding the codename, I can reveal that I will finally be spilling some of the beans as to what Six is on this Blog's 1st Birthday. August 21st.

What I can tell you right now is that Six is a website and geeks will love it. It draws on some new ideas, some that have been used before, and focuses them all for maximum impact.

KingCDR, GizzedInc's Chief Technologist and Developer has completed the R&D phase of development already and is currently working towards a base-functionality internal Alpha of the site for testing at least over the rest of the Summer and Autumn. We plan a Private, Invite-Only Beta, as well as a more public Applied-For Beta, likely to be held in Early- to Mid-2008.

I can say very little else at present, without spoiling the surprise for August 21st. It's going to be great. Trust me.

Jens Out.

Six

6

That's a pretty significant number. A magical Number. And soon, that number will open up a new world order. And you just might get to be there.


There's Something Coming

Get Ready. The Future's on its way.
And we're taking you there.

This Year

Six Will Blow the World Wide Open