The House of Munch

The Reckoning Arrives For Amalur and 38 Studios

Apparently, trying to build a WoW-level MMORPG without adequate funds is a bad business plan. Who knew?

When Kingdoms Fall

My take on 38 Studios and their seemingly imminent collapse.

The Inequality Speech That TED Won't Show You

Nick Hanauer is a wealthy Seattle-based venture capitalist. He gave a TED talk on income inequality and how the middle-class, not the 1%, are the real “job creators” in the United States. The curator at TED decided the speech was too political and won’t release it. Here is an example of “too political”. Especially pay attention to his point about purchasing power at the end of the quote. That is where the really power of the middle-class in the US Economy is felt.

Since 1980 the share of income for the richest Americans has more than tripled while effective tax rates have declined by close to 50%.  

If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy  would lead to more job creation, then today we would be drowning in jobs.  And yet unemployment and under-employment is at record highs.

Another reason this idea is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough superrich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the median American, but we don’t buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, we go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally.

I can’t buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can’t buy any new clothes or cars or enjoy any meals out. Or to make up for the decreasing consumption of the vast majority of American families that are barely squeaking by, buried by spiraling costs and trapped by stagnant or declining wages. 

The Real Reason There Will Never Be Offline Single Player in Diablo 3

Paul Tassi nails it. The auction house is the driver for Blizzard with Diablo 3. And the only way to make it work is to have every item generated server-side, not client-side. And that requires a constant internet connection. Which also makes their connectivity problems yesterday, in my opinion, somewhat inexcusable. When you know the basic playability of your product hinges on a solid, steady connection, you have an obligation to have it ready on Day One. I was surprised at how unready Blizzard appeared to be.

You cannot sort items by buyout price or initial price. You CAN sort by DPS. But that is useless if you cannot see what the prices are relative to that. The result is that currently people are simply putting up ridiculous prices in the hope that people stop trying to find a proper price and just give up and spend too much gold for an item.

It needs to be fixed ASAP or using the auction house will be a very frustrating process.

Pretty simple.

Now You Can Really Be Breakin' Necks and Cashin' Checks

My take on Blizzard’s real-world auction house for Diablo III and whether you can make a living at it. (Spoilers: No, you can’t.)

In tech, some bemoan the rise of 'brogrammer' culture

I started working in the Internet industry in the mid-90s, aka “The Olden Days”. For me, programming and code-writing has always been fueled by coffee and an intense desire to be left alone until I finish a project. I don’t understand why writing code has to be transformed into this pathetic attempt at infusing a white-collar, sit-down job with copious amounts of machismo. For two reasons.

First, as a man talking to men alone….we write code. Our jobs don’t involve feats of strength or some other artificial measurement of what it means to be a man. And that’s fine. If you allow your self-worth to be defined by someone else’s concept of it, then all the popped collars in the world will not help you. You are still a man if you sit in front of a monitor.

(An aside…what genius thought a popped-collar was a manly thing to do? All it does is increase your douchebag quotient by 1000%.)

And talking to everyone in general…this article nails the biggest problem with this idiotic movement: It alienates women. Anything that all but chases off more than half the population is probably not a good thing to pursue. Never mind that it’s just sexist, stupid and wrong. Writing code is all about who can do it quickly and cleanly, two things that are not determined by gender. Hell, you would think this industry would be more meritocratic and gender-blind for precisely that reason.

This brogrammer bullshit sucks. And the sooner it dies off, the better.

Awesome…

theclearlydope:

WORTH SEEING!

comedycentral:

I challenge you to only watch this once.

From 2004, it’s The Beastie Boys doing a killer performance of “The New Style” with Dave Chappelle on a boat in the East River. Neal Brennan posted it on his YouTube channel and says it was shot for the third season of Chappelle’s Show but never aired.

RIP MCA.

This Is Why Religion is Less and Less Popular

You know what people don’t like? Pastors who think Christianity is compatible with beating your child because they’re gay.