The Third Eye - Your Tongue?

Saw this over the wire a few days ago, was talking about it yesterday and was reminded by a Spycraft forumers post today...scientists are developing a tongue interface to give people sonar and 360 degree vision. The principle of the thing is that your tongue has a huge amount of nerve endings, which may be used to bypass the optic nerve to get sensations to the brain. It's some wacky stuff - blind guys can catch balls thrown at them with this thing on. While I think the military applications are a little iffy for land based fighters (since you need your tongue to, y'know, talk), this could be revolutionary for deep sea and rescue divers, who could navigate via sonar in the murk and can't talk anyway. The brain and its amazing adaptability never ceases to stupify me.

My Nephew


This is my new (~3 hours old) nephew, Otto Jacques Mallinson, born 8 lb. 2 oz and 21" long. The only reports of him so are include his curly hair and big feet, but I'm sure we can expect much more news when Mom and Dad are a little less tired :) wh00t!

Wise Words from a Wise Man

Over on ENWorld, Phil Reed of Ronin Arts - probably the most successful PDF publisher today - posted his top 10 selling products for the quarter. In a reply to someone noting that his feats products were in the top 4 (the trend with publishers being to include less mechanics rather than more), Phil concisely and astutely observed:

"As we all know, what people say they want and what they buy are two different things."

THIS is the great trap which I believe so many publishers fall into - fans cannot steer your business decisions - a problem exacerbated by the lack of anything approaching scientific market research for the industry. Sure, your audience can guide some decisions, influencing the order which you release stuff or how much you give them, but trying to meet their needs right now if you are not a "right now" company which can produce something in the space of a week really is a losing game. You have to go with your gut, look at the numbers, and figure out what to do next. Sometimes, you have to take a risk and put something out there and hope it works. Sometimes, the fans won't know they want it until they see it for sale.

Take for instance, our new printing partner, Mongoose. People dog their pieces for doing so much d20, a 'lack of balance', proliferation of printing and all the points that make for lively discussion on the internet. But Mongoose is one of the few print publishers that have actually grown throughout the Bad Years of late. They've entered into a number of new and expensive miniatures ventures, funded entirely by RPG sales. They've acquired licenses which have allowed them to get progressively bigger licenses and so on and so forth. Fans may hound them, but the numbers Do Not Lie - they sell. That's why we jumped at the chance to join forces with them, because combining a good reputation with the d20 crowd with their good reputation with the store owners gets Spycraft out there to the people. It makes the game grow. It won't necessarily make us rich, but it does make us succeed. And from a business standpoint, that's exactly what we need. The fact that they are supporting our endeavors in such a cheerful and collegial way makes it even better.

I sincerely believe we know what you the Spycraft fans will buy, as well as what you want. And I hope the PDF format allows us to meet both those needs, by allowing us to react more quickly to audience demand while introducing things that will benefit the game environment that you may not know what you want yet. I'm crossing my fingers, here.

My Niece


Meet my niece, Sydney Adeline Christensen, daughter of our dear friends Mark and Jessica Christensen. Mark (on the right) has been my friend for over 10 years, since we met gaming back in college (Jesus, how geeky is that?) and like many of my friends from college, has turned his gaming hobby into a serious job: first as my co-conspirator on Most Wanted and now as the taskmaste...I mean Production Manager of Privateer Press. He's the guy who makes sure your figs get to you on time and in proper shape, but for all the work he's done to help bring Privateer up to the level of a serious miniatures publisher over the last few years, he's outdone himself this time. Get your ass over to the Privateer Forums and wish him your best, you slobs!

I'm so goddamn excited - particularly considering that my first nephew, Otto Jacques Mallinson, will be joining us in just a few weeks as well. No doubt you will be seeing many pictures of me with baby(s) here post-wedding...prepare yourself for cuteness!

They've Got the Wrong Guy...

...on trial for the leak of CIA agent Valarie Plume's identity.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/06/libby.ap/index.html

It's only a matter of time before 2008 rolls around and suddenly former president and vice-president Bush & Cheney are called to the stand. The chickens are coming home to roost, boys.

Signs of the Apocalypse

1) I'm entering the last year of my 20s today. Happy birthday to me.

2) This weekend I was spotted in Vegas wearing a horned felt hat and playing a drum on a stick while buzzing on 3 liters of beer. Pics to come soon ;)

3) I just saw an ad for a new d20 supplement, "Unnatural Watches." Tagline: "These ain't your daddy's magic items!"

WTF.

Seriously, man, what the HELL are some people thinking?! "I can now tell time...IN THE PAST!" This is why the d20 market broke down in the first place. At least I take comfort in the thought that people aren't wasting trees to put out this crap.