64bit operating systems (like Windows 7-64bit) pave the way to expanding games in interesting ways.  Bigger worlds, more players, more unit types, more stuff.  It wouldn’t be fair to those who don’t have 64-bit OSes to have to pay for features and content they can’t use.

So the question is, would you support the creation of future DLC that is only available to those who have 64-bit?

To vote, go here: https://www.elementalgame.com/journals

Follow @draginol

Generating about 2.5MWh per month in power.  Far more than I use.  DTE buys the excess energy at 11 cents per KWh.

In our local school district, it’s $7,600 per student.

Mind you, this is just the state’s contribution to it. That doesn’t count other sources (local and federal for instance). The total amount is allegedly $12,000 per student.

Next time someone yells about the “Slashing” of a few hundred dollars per student, we’re talking a tiny percentage cut.

If you paid a teacher $100,000 per year to teach a class of 30 students, that would be $3,000 per student.  There are, certainly, other costs involved but then again, few teachers are making $100,000 pear year (in fact, the average is less than half that).   

As some people know, the initial release for Fallen Enchantress will not have multiplayer enabled. It was decided early on that 100% of the design and development focus for Fallen Enchantress would be on delivering a world class single player experience.

But after release, lots of things become possible.  Advocates of multiplayer tend to be vocal. To gauge genuine interest, how many Fallen Enchantress players would be willing to pay a dollar to support the development time for a multiplayer mode (Internet cooperative / competitive).

To vote, go to:

https://www.elementalgame.com/journals

Please only vote if you are actually in the beta (the admin poll will display what % of users are actually registered users).

Result: 60% would not pay $1 for MP DLC. 40% would.

Let’s look at 3 web stats that tell us a little bit about the demographics of who visits us.

First, we’ll use our homepage: Stardock.com.

Then, we’ll look at our most popular game, SinsOfASolarEmpire.com

And lastly, we’ll look at our most popular desktop utility, Fences.

These stats are for the month of April, 2012.

Who visit Stardock.com?

• By Browser: Firefox (34%), Chrome (32%), Internet Explorer (24%)
• By OS: Windows 7 (58%), XP (34%), Vista (6%)
• Top Resolution: 1366 x 768 (20%)

Who asks for support?

• By Browser: Internet Explorer (33%) , Firefox (32%), Chrome (30%)
• By OS: Windows 7 (73%), XP (17%), Vista  (6%)
• Top Resolution: 1920x1080 (20%)

Who visits Sins of a Solar Empire?

• By Browser: Firefox (40%), Chrome (30%), IE (22%)
• By OS:  Windows 7 (72%), XP (16%), Vista (13%)
• Top Screen Resolution: 1920x1080 (21%)

Who visits Fences?

• By Browser: Chrome (34%), Firefox (31%), IE (29%)
• By OS: Windows 7 (64%), XP (29%), Vista (5%)
• Top Screen Resolution: 1366x768 (18%)

So what can we take from this?

Stardock.com gets the lion’s share of traffic (90%). Fences gets about 2X the traffic of Sins of a Solar Empire. And support gets a relatively small number of visitors (though bear in mind, we’re still talking about millions of visitors a month in each so it’s all statistically interesting still).

What I find interesting is that when it comes time to ask for support, it’s Internet Explorer users at the top.  It’s the only unusual bump IE gets in visitors (it’s last in every other category).

If you’re looking for a non-politicized (just the facts) site for global temperatures here’s a good one:

http://www.drroyspencer.com/latest-global-temperatures/

All it does is use the NOAA satellite data to measure the atmospheric temperatures. No more. No less.  As a result, it doesn’t rely on readings ground stations which have tended to be somewhat inaccurate or affected by ambient temperature changes due to man-made construction (i.e. as an area gets urbanized, it gets warmer).

Regardless of where you stand on climate change, the numbers probably won’t make an advocate of either side very happy.

If you’re looking for a non-politicized (just the facts) site for global temperatures here’s a good one:

http://www.drroyspencer.com/latest-global-temperatures/

All it does is use the NOAA satellite data to measure the atmospheric temperatures. No more. No less.  As a result, it doesn’t rely on readings ground stations which have tended to be somewhat inaccurate or affected by ambient temperature changes due to man-made construction (i.e. as an area gets urbanized, it gets warmer).

Regardless of where you stand on climate change, the numbers probably won’t make an advocate of either side very happy.

We just finished a Star Trek TNG marathon.  Let me first say that a lot of TNG episodes don’t hold up well. Burrrr. Some of them are really bad.

But in general, TNG still delivers and there are some truly amazing episodes in there.  Below are my top 5. Please comment below what your favorite ones are.

1. Inner Light
2. Yesterday’s Enterprise
3. The Best of Both Worlds (I and II)
4. Darmok
5. Chain of Command

Ironically, had I put this together back in say 2000, when the show was still somewhat “Fresh” I would have rated episodes like Parallels and Tapestry and All Good things way up there.  But this is what I mean by episodes not holding up when looking back on them (imo of course).

Listen to me bitch and moan while I play Beta 3 of Elemental: Fallen Enchantress.

What television series would you recommend to someone to start from scratch?

For instance, I’ve never watched Lost but I don’t think I could handle 7+ years or whatever it was of shows mainly because I heard the show ended up like X-Files where the creators were kind of winging it.

Any suggestions?