Taking the high ground.

I’ve said before that I think Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” ads don’t sell Macs. If you own a Mac, they make you laugh. If you don’t, they’re still pretty funny. If you own a PC and you’re angered or embarrassed, you weren’t going to switch to Mac anyway, I suppose.

However, I have to say that Apple certainly seems to be leading the discussion. Their competitors can’t come up with anything genuinely funny themselves, so all they do is respond to Mac. Like the laptop shoppers who decided that Macs were too expensive and bought a PC. Like Verizon, whose new catch phrase is, “There’s a map for that.” Which apes Apple’s iPhone commercials.

There’s a lot to be said for having a position in marketing that is so good and well known that all your competitors can come back with is, “Oh yeah?”

I have to say something about Windows 7 here: Those new ads that say the consumers are designing the software? That explains a lot.

Peyton Manning… best ever.

I’ve seen more than one article lately that says that Peyton Manning will be the best quarterback ever when he retires. Maybe before he retires. He’s on the verge of breaking lots of long-standing quarterback records.

I know it’s absolutely fascinating to watch him work. The system the Colts use has not changed even with a head coaching change. His offensive coordinator admits that he just sends in suggestions and then Peyton calls all the plays.

Peyton is a master of audibles and deception, and his accuracy is phenomenal. He does everything so very well that he makes it look easy. He makes superstars of his receivers (not the other way around).

I’ve spent hours watching some of the greats like Staubach, Marino, Montana, Aikman, and Warner, and I believe that Manning is in a class by himself.

Your Bayonetta update.

There’s an English-language Japanese version available now. (?)

I can wait until January 5, I think.

Secret costumes have been revealed, now with less secret.

The game is selling out in Japan.

UPDATE: Although early sales were heavily weighted towards the XBox, supposedly because the graphics are a tad better there, things have now straightened out and the PS3 version is outselling the Evil Microsoft one. As it should be in Japan.

Height issues.

Why is Mickey, a mouse, as tall as Donald, a duck? Why is Goofy taller than both of them? Especially when Pluto is so short?

Do you wanna unplug my avatar?

Game design is like parenting.

Parenting is not about giving your children what they want. It’s about giving them what’s good for them.

The longer I remain in the game design biz, the more I think that game design is like parenting. Sure, the players want broken cards that let them win easily… but the kids want ice cream for breakfast too.

Of course, occasionally you can give the kids something they’ve been clamoring for. But only in moderation. Most of the time, it’s up to you to make things fair and safe and fun for everybody. Just like being a game designer.

Game design is knowing when to say no, and when to say yes. Your children… I mean, your players…. will thank you for it.

Am I an arrogant, self-important bastard?

Why yes, of course. All Mac users are.

Let me make perfectly clear, however:

1. I do NOT drive a frakkin station wagon.
2. I don’t buy organic food.
3. I don’t drive a hybrid car.
4. I don’t use teeth-whitening products.

Everything else, oh yeah. Hell yeah.

Always look on the bright side of life.

We’re watching a six-part special about Monty Python with lots of new interviews and insights. I’ve always liked Holy Grail the best. But I’ve changed my mind after hearing them talk about Life of Brian.

I didn’t really understand before how careful they were in making Life of Brian. It doesn’t make fun of Jesus. It doesn’t make fun of religion. It makes fun of dogma and people who misinterpret and misuse religion. And those people, they certainly deserve it. As Cleese says in the interview, “It’s not blasphemous, it’s heretical.”

Of course, the idiots in America that protest films they’ve never seen came out in droves to protest it. But they always do. Idiots always act like idiots, that’s what’s nice about them, they’re predictable. Of course, the movie is in many ways about people like them, so it’s doubly funny. Of course, the protests by the idiots in America brought thousands of people to see what the fuss was all about and inflated the box office considerably. Brian bless ‘em.

Life of Brian has more developed ideas and longer bits, with better acting and cinematography. The bit with Pontius Pilate (“We have no Woderwick!”) they actually go back to three times and it’s damned funny every time.

This film also features the best ending Python ever wrote for anything. The final song is so catchy that people were singing it as they left the theater when I saw it the first time.

Anyway, Brian officially replaces Grail on my Top 100. If you haven’t seen Life of Brian in a while, or Brian forbid if you’ve never seen it, give it a try. It’s a wonderful, funny movie.

(Yes, the film came out in 1979, just before our son was born, and no, as we were asked dozens of times, we did not name our son after Brian of Nazareth. Although with my newfound respect for the film, I don’t feel quite so much like I should disabuse that notion.)

Bayonetta PS3 commercial.

Vader channels his inner James Earl Jones.