For me, two things stand out. One is that the console gaming market needs to grow. That is, it should appeal to more than just young males, to females and younger/older people. Nintendo mentioned this when they introduced the new “TV remote” controller.

The other is that with the increased capability of the hardware, the game development cost is growing out of hands (ArsTechnica, GameSpot and News.com). Some game production costs seem to rival those of movies and it is highly likely that the costs won’t come down. Most of the cost increase, I think, is in the increased/more-detailed artworks. Although Microsoft and Sony promised better developer tools and middleware solutions to ease these developer complaints, it is indisputable that it is becomingly very difficult for smaller (and probably more creative) game developers to survive.

In these sense, I have a high hope that Xbox Live Arcade (“XBL Arcade”) can solve both issues. XBL Arcade is a way to play downloadable “small” or classic games such as “Bejeweled 2″ or “Joust” on the Microsoft’s console. All XBL Arcade games are supposed to have demos, and if people like some they can buy full versions. You can think of it as a “shareware” game that was popular on PC except that it is distributed only through the Microsoft’s console network.

Not only this is a great outlet for smaller gaming outfits, but this is a great way for many people to enjoy simpler puzzle-type (or brain-teaser if you like) games. Although there have been “classic collection” games on disks so far, I don’t think those were that popular. This way we may be able to nurture more creative games instead of standard NFL or WWII games with glitzy graphics.

Sure, XBL Arcade was introduced a year ago, but I don’t think neither Microsoft nor the game developers had proper strategies developed. Also, Microsoft was trying very hard to establish itself in the traditional console market as a newcomer, so it seems this project was given less attention. And then they already knew that Xbox’s life was coming to an end (or Xbox 360 was coming).

This time, it seems it’s going to be different. For one, every Xbox 360 owner gets an Xbox Live account free. Although this XBL Silver account won’t let you play online mode of the DVD games, it allows you to enjoy XBL Arcade along with some other basic features. Of course, one still needs to connect the console to the network, but it greatly increases the target audience for XBL Arcade.

What’s still not known and which is probably the most important thing for XBL Arcade to succeed is the price for each XBL Arcade games. For me, $15 would be the maximum I would pay for buy-once type of games. I’d like it to be around $10 a game, but we’ll have to see. It just can’t be “expensive”. Otherwise, XBL Arcade is doomed. And I do think that Microsoft should subsidize this for the first year or so to make it a real success if the numbers don’t add up initially.

Although not discussed by Microsoft, I think the XBL Arcade could really charge like a real arcade. That is, one would pay $0.10 or $0.25 per play. These type of micro-payments might seem difficult at first, but Xbox Live already has a concept of “points”. So you can say one “XBL points” for a play, for example.

For me, the most interesting genre for XBL Arcade is definitely puzzle games. One of the games my wife and I enjoyed at an arcade in Korea a few years ago was “find-the-differences-in-two-pictures” type of games. Or those “bar”-games that some places (even arcades) have that have hundreds of quick games. This type of games will work really well with the per-play model since the contents need to get updated regularly, and paying for the whole game (or whole collection of games that I may not play) would be too much.

I hope Microsoft can set up good pricing models. HD gaming is all good and nice, but I believe this will make home-gaming truly popular.

It was fun and all that, but it somehow reminded me of what Microsoft used to do in the beginning to recruit a certain type of young freshly out-of-college kids to build up their “culture”. In this respect, this “GLAT” is more like a personality test than anything else.

I think Google is doing the right thing for the long term (although “Google Labs” is more like a semi-research arm of the company). This kind of recruiting method is specially effective, I think, to a technology-oriented company like Google and Microsoft (well, it used to be, at least, for Microsoft).

It was an interesting diversion for me to go through the questionnaires (I couldn’t solve most of them frankly), but it also got me thinking how a certain type of recruiting method is not right for most, but for a few.

Some random dialogs from my daydreams…

Microsoft: You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the Web.
Google: I’ll never join you!
…
Microsoft: I am your father.
Google: No! That’s not true! That’s impossible!
Microsoft: Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
Google: Nooooo! Nooooo!

Well, only in my daydreams… :p

Although I’ve always been interested in computer and video games, I am, by no means, what one might call an avid, hard-core gamer. But still, I’ve followed a handful of the fan websites and posted more than a few hundred posts so far on some of the message boards.

And recently, one of my friends introduced me to a web community with a seemingly popular online activity feature often known as “oekaki” (it literally means “picture drawing” in Japanese). It’s basically a drawing message board where one has to draw a picture on his/her computer using a simple painting tool and where others can make comments on it.

I’ve never thought of myself as being good at drawing. Actually, art was one of my most dreaded subjects when I was in school, and I remember I barely managed it. I did take drawing lessons when I was really young, but I didn’t continue for long.

Anyway, what surprised me was that I kind of liked it. As I have learned this year through a digital camera, this was one of the many ways that one can express oneself. Before that, my main outlet is through playing music or singing, which has been the main conduit ever since I was a kid. Then later during my high teen years, I’ve learned to manage with writing (I am still pretty bad at it, but much better than before). And this year I somehow manage to learn to recognize and internalize better what I’ve been looking at without much care.

This very crude way of drawing pictures online was a bit addictive, too, as was the digital photography. I am not even close to “good,” but am turned out to be good enough to express few things. Maybe, I am constantly looking for is to find a sufficient means to express myself…

Anyway, I thought about these recent “addiction”… It seems it came after the 9/11 incident. Although I don’t seem to get affected on the surface, it seems, subconsciously, I am in a listless, helpless mood. Actually, I stopped watching any of the news programs on TV after the second week after the incident. I stopped following it closely (I did initially, though), but it seems it is still bothering me at some level.

Or, it could be just a totally different thing… I need something better to do… Like finding a soul-mate (as my parents remind me often enough)… Anyway, it’s definitely true that I lack certain drives these days… Maybe, I am just in a down cycle…

Yeah, November last year was about the time… Last winter, I noticed I was getting unfocused, listless and somewhat depressed. I lost interests in most of the stuff, especially gayo and maintaining the web site. The only interest I had was Dance Dance Revolution. Maybe I will talk about that later. Looking back, I think it was combination of both work and weather. I was seriously getting bored at Microsoft and the awful memory of the previous winter was probably dragging my spirits down (or it could have been my lack of human interaction in the area and the fact that I am getting old).

I mean, as far as I am concerned there is only one person whom I feel that I befriended new (grr… I can’t come up with a better sentence) in the Seattle area. Now that I am back in the San Francisco Bay Area, I feel more “comfortable” although it isn’t exactly what I remembered three years ago.

I guess I am desperately (? not really…) looking for some ways to put some sparks back into my life: different place, a new job, etc. As far as my new job goes, it’s definitely a new challenge for me. I’ve never thought of taking a managerial responsibility this soon, but it’s something new. I don’t know if I like it though. And as for the Bay Area… I like the weather and all, but the area is definitely getting crowded. Maybe all this side things aren’t really what I need; maybe I am looking at wrong places to find a solution to my happiness.

Yeah, I knew this was going to be a head-less mumble…

Last Saturday I got together with some of my old Stanford folks. Out of five, two were married for several years now. One recently got married (it was more ceremonial) and two others plan to get married by the end of this year. Wow. I guess if you decided (or determined?) to get married, everything happens fast. Interesting, I thought. The thought of a possible social pressure dawned on me there.

Anyway, enough about this… Back to work.

However, what I do remember was his view of the role and function of the human brain. He defined it as a modeling tool (he also talked about how computers act as augmented extensions). This description rang so true to me. I had a similar idea but it wasn’t clear and defined at all. And he made it so clear.

We each have an idea (or a model) of what ourselves and our surroundings (the world) are like. We have formed (and continues to modify) as we grew up, accumulating, processing, and evaluating our interaction (or experiences) with the outside (of the brain) through our sensory systems. Humans have similar shape, dimension, and sensory systems and live on the same planet, so our models (or views) of the world are pretty similar (I think “similar” is the key word, here).

If there were a sentient being somewhere in other galaxy with different dimension, shape and sensory systems (which is very likely), their model of the world would be completely different from ours? How would they act? Can we understand each other?

All these are very fascinating thoughts. I am grateful to Mr. Adams for making things so much clear.