I've met lots of really smart programmers that don't even seem to talk about coding during lunch, much less program during free time.
I'd certainly code more at home if I didn't have a family and lots of other interests besides programming.
I got it for PS2. Not exactly the best looking game of its time. But some unforgettably great concepts.
You play the game inside someone's psyche. Early on you come across a suitcase that is crying and it needs your help to find a missing tag. I really laughed out loud when I realized it was emotional baggage. :)
Later in the game you have to solve some puzzles by looking through other people's eyes and realize that they see things differently than you.
Fonzie jumped the shark because the show was running out of ideas. We won't ever be out of ideas for software.
Sure, at work I dig around lots of legacy stuff and stitch it together. But it never feels assembly line to me even when I'm not thrilled about a specific task. I'm always solving the most important problem of the moment and trying to think about the best way to do it (in terms of balancing time, knowledge, clarity, efficiency, etc...).
Only in the last few years I've seen some of the best software I've ever encountered. Ableton Live is unbelievably insanely great. Max/Msp/Jitter is an inspiring playground I could stay in forever. There is some great hacking out there and plenty of culture to support it.
Mel was a requirements driven programmer that had the luxury of only having to write code for one platform at a time. None of his code as described sounds possible to abstract and maintain across platforms. I'm going to guess he evolved towards hardware engineering rather than software engineering.
I definitely consider it an overreaction to call the described approach over-engineering. Separating simulation and presentation in to separate threads is common and very practical in many games (2d or 3d). It is also common and easy to support a single threaded mode that just runs both simulation and presentation update from one thread. The single threaded mode can make debugging certain issues much easier, but it is rare to have a desire to ship single threaded.
I really miss it. I thought I got more done personally. In the 90's I worked places where most programmers had a door. In the 00's almost no one where I work has a door anymore.
At work I sit about 10 desks away from users. But immediately next to me are programmers (both working with me and are not working with me). Most of my users talk more often and not terribly understanding of breaking a programmers "zone". So they are close enough for necessary feedback and interaction, but not too close. As a programmer, I find programmers are much more quiet and peaceful to work next to. :)
A very nice description of the goal of marrying skill, demand, and passion:
If what you want to do and what you do well overlap, you still need to monetize it.
If what you do well and what you can get paid to do overlap, you still need to make sure the work is desired.
If what you want to do and what you can get paid to do overlap, you still need to do it better than your competition.
The picture gives me a sense of the youthful inspiration and commotion much like the articles does. A great picture and a great article. Anybody in their 40s founding startups these days or have we just accepted our waterboarding?
The most perplexing thing for me is that Stephen Wolfram's kind of hyperbolic self promotion is something I normally see coming from companies that are trying to mask their lack of success. I actually think that Mathematica is an interesting and educational tool to use. Too bad it is a failure at affordability. Wolfram Alpha is not much to boast about in my opinion, but certainly an "answer engine" is a great goal and I would love to see more innovation here.
The title should be "Controlling a Katamari with a Giant Trackball". I hope Namco immediately hires her and releases a new version of Katamari Damacy bundled with it.
Yeah, I think this is a lame point. Covert Action was a collection of mini games inside a larger game and it wasn't hard to follow at all. It just wasn't a great game because some of the mini games were not really that exciting.
We have an overload of advice from a small number of experienced game developers who have been saying lots of really obvious things for years. The consumer should have fun and not the designer or programmer. Duh!
He states that he doesn't actually know how B&H is doing financially so there isn't any proof that they are a successful business other than his description of personal experience. He states that they are not open for business as much as they could be which I would find annoying as a customer. The site shuts down that often? You gotta be kidding me.
Any business trying to compete on thin profit margins and/or is too dependent on loans to keep their business running is certainly not going to thrive in this economy. Unfortunately, I don't think customer service will be the deciding factor for many companies right now.
But yeah, as far as personal experience I avoided Circuit City too as the only experiences I had were so negative. I wouldn't say other stores like Best Buy have any more than a tolerable customer experience on average.