I was pleased to visit GameStop and see Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition smack dab in the middle of the “What’s hot” shelf.

I have to say, ultimate edition came out pretty well with the original and the 2 expansions integrated together as a single entity.

Meanwhile, even though Elemental, Demigod, and Sins have gotten a lot of attention lately, there’s a new update of GalCiv II in the works.

It’s well known I wasn’t a Bush fan. I may have more in common with Bush on ideology but in terms of his personality, I am glad he’s gone. I think Bush is a good man, I just don’t think he was well suited to be President.

Obama, on the other hand, is very well suited to be President.  He has far more empathy.  Pundits don’t realize how much credibility Obama gets from people when he admits mistakes.

The big bummer with Obama, of course, is that he doesn’t understand economics and seems to have a very weak knowledge of history.

If Obama had really wanted to stimulate the economy, he could have simply abolished the payroll tax for say 6 months.  That would have made quite a difference to people.

On the other hand, Obama has some truly good ideas that Republicans should acknowledge.  The free market is a lot like a wild garden. Sure, it will produce food and spread but I tend to think that the most productive way to grow food is to have a farmer (the government) providing infrastructure.

A little watering can make a big difference just like a little infrastructure can.  Better roads, better more effective court systems, more police, etc.

For example, if the government could provide universal Internet service, even if it was at a very slow speed, a lot of private sector growth could occur.  That would be a worthwhile project  - a basic level of network access. 

Similarly, spending money on roads is worthwhile for much the same reason. Anything that lets citizens communicate and mix better is likely to become an engine for economic growth.

That’s why this “stimulus” bill pains me. It’s such a wasted opportunity.

Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, I can only imagine the heights of support Obama might have enjoyed if he had launch an obviously beneficial and huge infrastructure project like a massive road infrastructure upgrade across the country or an endeavor to make sure all users have at least 512bps wireless net access anywhere that’s remotely near civilization.

Greetings!

Tomorrow February 19th we plan to release beta 3 of Demigod.

Before I discuss what to expect, let's walk through where we've been so far.

BETA 1: September 2008.

The first beta focused purely on the engine. In many respects, you could have called it an alpha. It was designed to get a scope of the performance, test out the engine features (fog of war, particle effects, shaders, Demigod models, etc.).

It was explicitly designed NOT to be fun.

BETA 2: December 2008 (intended for November but we ran late).

This second beta focused on getting the Internet connectivity set up. It was not designed (or expected) to be bullet proof but rather to provide us with data. Similarly, while the game wasn't supposed to be fun at this stage, we took in beta feedback and user experiences with connectivity to focus on beta 3.

BETA 3: February 2009

So now we're in the meat of it.  The game mechanics are pretty much set at this stage.  This is where we look at balance.  Players are welcome to suggest anything they want but obviously, anything that's a major game changer would have to wait for a future update or expansion pack.

Beta 3 will have the Pantheon persistent universe tournmanet in it.  Right now, it's forces of light vs. forces of darkness (two factions) each with its own set of Demigods.

We are open to ideas on the pantheon and what other tournaments you guys would like to see in the Pantheon and how you would imagine them working.

So how well will the Pantheon work in beta 3? The answer is not well. It is going to take us a bit of time to tweak the logic in setting up pantheon games.  

Connectivity in skirmish (custom games) should be massively better than Beta 2D but still no where near where it'll be in the final game.

The Pantheon stuff should work just not terribly well.  Between now and release we'll be improving on this dramatically as we collect more data.

The main point of Beta 3 is to test out the architecture, make bug fixes, refinements, and balance the game.

BETA 3 EXPERIENCE NOTES:

It needs to be noted that for Beta 3 that we got the tournament stuff in by the skin of our teeth for this beta. So we don't expect it to work very well in beta 3.  We're going to be taknig in a lot of data and then release beta 3A hopefully next week.

A new cut scene will be introduced that tells the story

Logging into the persistent on-line Pantheon

Online I can play single player or multiplayer

Choosing amongst different maps.

The item shop and the health crystal

The item shop, where players customize their Demigod.

 
Controlling flags provides war points and additional powers which in turn give access to Citadel upgrades.

 
The Citadel. Protect at all costs.

Fortresses protect your Citadel

Towers of light and darkness protect each faction’s territory.

Demigod includes multiple game modes including Conquest (destroy enemy Citadel), Slaughter (Kill N Demigods), Dominate (gain the most victory points), and more.

Players earn favor points during the game which they can use to purchase items that become part of their on-line account.

The Torch Bearer returns

 
Artifact shops have incredibly powerful but very expensive items.

 
Controlling portals is crucial to victory as that is where reinforcements come.  If you control an enemy portal, you also gain experience.

Despite the incredible graphics, the Demigod engine is very efficient allowing it to run smoothly on older hardware (this screenshot was taken on a ThinkPad).

Right now, we show the connection status as players are connecting.

Read this open letter from the Heritage Foundation to President Obama.

http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed021309a.cfm

When I write political blogs, I make it my business to be harsh about the poor and down trodden. If I seem like I don’t have a lot of compassion, that is probably because I don’t have a lot of compassion.

I don’t really like humans in general. I like individuals, however, a lot. Maybe I’m just the end product of the secular agenda. Humans are merely another large mammal that is barely self aware is driven mostly on instincts. Where instincts don’t fill in the gap, most humans are just a bunch of dumb apes that fill in those holes with social conditioning.

Now, in practice, my wife and I care a lot about individual people. Just because 95% of the human population is a waste of resources doesn’t mean the human race is a total loss.  We spend a considerable amount each year helping causes and individuals who have suffered due to no fault of their own.

On the other hand, whenever I meet a liberal who talks about compassion, I find they rarely do anything for others. They feel it’s their tax dollars job to help others – taxes they tend to barely pay.

For years, my observations were just that – observations. Anecdotal. Luckily, the book “Who really cares” provides statistical analysis on this sort of thing and shows that yes, the more liberal and secular you are, the more stingy you are with your own money.

Doesn’t surprise me too much that it’s usually Democrats who seem to have problems paying the taxes they owe.

For years, I’ve had a serious problem with air travel. I’d get severe vertigo when I’d travel.  I’ve tried everything from Ginger to patches to decongestants.

But at long last, I’ve found something that helps: Aspirin. 

Take 2 before the flight and the anti-inflammatory effect seems to keep the vertigo from happening. W00t.