I must confess, there is something…gratifying about debating with a global warming alarmist (specifically people who are certain mankind is causing global warming and specifically it’s caused by CO2) who gets in my face about their superior belief system and being able to pull out the fact that I drive an electric car that is powered by my 20KW solar array that also powers my house which is also heated via geo thermal.  Match that buddy.

I started my company when I was still a teenager. And I can tell you, looking back, I wish I knew now what I knew then. Starting a company with no capital and no partners is most definitely the hard way to do things. But I had no money and none of my friends were comfortable taking the necessary risks. The result was many years of long hard slogging. Sheer brute force in terms of hours being put in.

Capital trumps time. Anyone who says time is money really has no idea what they’re talking about. Time is pulling the plow by yourself. Money is a tractor. 

But I didn’t know any of that back when I started. And even if I did, it wouldn’t have made much difference because I didn’t have any money. What I did have, was time and I used it. All of it. To build my company up.

Time, not being an infinite resource, means that choices were made. And if I was putting all my time into the company, I wasn’t putting it in at home. During this time, I got married had a kid, another kid and then another. I didn’t spend the kind of time at home that I knew, deep down, I should be. 

As I began to learn that capital trumps time I concluded that once I had capital, I could really start to do amazing things. Because then I could afford to bring in people who were more talented than myself in a given area but were less fond of the crazy level of risks a start-up involves. Together, we’d do some amazing things.

In the last several years, the company has been successful enough to generate a substantial amount of capital. And with it, I have been fortunate to bring in people with great talent. And so I started thinking of all the amazing things we would do. I would put in crazy hours to do it, of course, but we would go and do amazing things.

Then Steve Jobs died.

And suddenly I realized something. What is the objective here? My oldest child just turned 15. My other two are no longer little either.  And I have been missing out on them. And my wife.

For all the success and amazing accomplishments of Steve Jobs, in the end, nothing could save him. Death can come at any time.  And I realized that if I found myself on death’s door, I would regret deeply not having spent more time with  my kids when they were…well, kids. 

That isn’t to say I will retire or stop working really hard. But at the same time, you know what? I think I can find a better work-life balance.  Maybe just 40 hours a week instead.  I can use the capital we have to help direct the amazingly talented people we have in the right direction without having to jump into the trenches and help execute every step of the way. 

It may mean we’ll release fewer things per year but it also means we’ll have to pick and choose carefully what we do want to focus on and I think, in the longer view, that’s a good thing.

Because no matter how successful you are, you never know when your time is up. And while I admire the accomplishments of Steve Jobs, his biography makes clear, he wishes he had found a better work-life balance.

The random maps are definitely getting better and better. I’d almost have guessed this was made by a person with the inland quasi-island and such.

Here’s another:

https://store.stardock.com/

Not only is it easier to go through all of Stardock’s programs but many programs you’ve purchased can be re-downloaded directly from the new store, no client required (and we’re adding more all the time).

For years I had my weekly Wednesday pilgrimage to the local comic book store to pick up the latest issues of the comic books I liked. I’m not a collector. I just like reading comic books.

That time, however, is over.

Instead, I use the ComiXology iPad app. And not only is the reading experience superior (due to the way they turn the comics into a quasi-motion comic) but it’s so much easier to go back and re-read a series.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to go back and re-read something only to find I am missing an issue here or there because, when you have thousands of them, they tend to get mixed up.

In the past month, I’ve already spent more with comiXology than I have spent at the local comic book store in the past 2 years. It’s just so convenient and frankly, addicting to just be able to find what you want, click, and start reading.

What’s the best Battlefield 3 weapon?  I don’t know.  But for me, I’m using a decked out F2000. It fits my particular, admittedly crappy, style of playing.

My style, such as it is, comes from playing too many years of Duke Nukem 3D where I was rewarded for charging in, Leroy Jenkins style and killing a bunch of people.  It doesn’t work so well in a game where one hit means you’re dead. 

The F2000 assault rifle is nice because it has little kick to it so I can spray a bit. I do aim, but I tend not aim..well.  I do fine with shotguns as well but the F2000 is also a long range weapon (unlike a shotgun).

My favorite scope is the IRNV which is totally cheesed right now because it effectively lets you see, even in the day, other soldiers that you would not normally have any chance of seeing.  They’re going to fix it soon so I’ll enjoy it while I can.

It’s amazing how quickly you can pick up all kinds of weapons. Made me feel much more knowledgeable when talking to my father-in-law this weekend who has real knowledge on real weapons.  “Sure, the AK-74M is a good weapon but I find it climbs too much…”

This is me in the debugger so bear that in mind as you watch this:

http://screencast.com/t/QJhXaIbR

One of the changes to Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a significant update of the graphics system. This is done so that Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion remains state of the art visually.

Example:

BEFORE:

and…

AFTER:

Two challenges for AI champions and sovereigns:

#1 Have them intelligently improve themselves over the course of the game (without cheating):

Done.  Level 10 means he’s been beating the crap out of monsters and enemies.

Second challenge: Get him to use this power intelligently in tactical battle…

Nope, not there yet.

Some years ago, Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced the Gamers Bill of Rights. 

Chris Taylor and I were very concerned with some of the practices of game developers and publishers that we believed were driving consumers away from purchasing games (or at least not pirating them).

We maintain the site: www.gamersbillofrights.org.

Stardock has tried to adhere to the GBoR and has not always been able to live up to the spirit of the document.

Moreover, as the years pass, the GBoR is becoming increasingly dated (does anything still make you put a DVD in the drive to play it? Are there any copy protection schemes still installing root kits?).

To that end, we invite you to post your own list of things you think developers and publishers do (not just PC but in general) that you believe are counter productive or even harmful to those developers and publishers in the long run.