You made your way across 2 aisles of parking rows just to harass a woman about the Obama sticker on her car. She didn't ask for an argument and she wasn't there to pick a fight with you.

You may have strong beliefs, but it doesn't give you the right to be a jerk. After she told you to stop harassing her you wouldn't stop. You kept following her, keeping up with her as she tried to buy groceries. "Why are you voting for Obama?" you said. "You have a sticker on your car! Why are you voting for him?"

You should know that personal opinions can be private. Not everyone is comfortable debating abortion or gay rights with complete strangers (especially ones that are forceful and care not to listen in the first place).

And worse, your wife just stood there outside your "McCain-Palin" sticker adourned white Cadillac, watching over not saying a word.

I know you probably won't get this message since you are way above Newgrounds's age demographic, but maybe your kid or grandkid who visits this site knows you do this to people, and maybe since your wife couldn't stand up to you maybe your kids can.

And to the woman who was just trying to shop, I am sorry that I didn't say anything. You were just trying to buy your groceries, but instead you got harassed by an older man who wanted nothing more but to tell you that your choices were wrong. Whether you're Democrat, Republican, or whatever... basic courtesy and kindness to others is far more important than your need to tell someone they are wrong.

-John

Hi guys,

Busy month of August, let me tell you that much.

In early August I went to Casual Connect, a sort of minE3 for Casual Gaming which brings together some of the players in the industry for demos, conferences, and development conversations. It's really more work and less play, but it was definitely interesting to see how gaming has impacted all these new markets. I wouldn't have ever guessed there was a market in 65+ gamers! Also, it was really awesome just to explore Seattle with Dan and enjoy the nice Summer weather up there.

The week following The-EXP + Fiancee and Ido (Flash: Portal Version) came to visit the Armor Games Office and it was a blast! We did all the really, really important Southern California things such as going to Medieval Times and Disneyland. It was a lot of fun. Yeah we're total dorks.

Just a week and a half later and it's off to PAX! I finally got to meet Tom for the first time which was neat... you feel like you know someone so well already from all the updates they provide on their site that it leaves that awkward "man, I know so much about him but how much does he know about me?" feeling. But I was quite flattered that he knew about the RPG I was working on (still working on for that matter) so I was pretty happy. Also met the great team behind Transmigration and Marvin Spectrum, two games I find very, very attractive. Also met PixelJam's team, who are also sporting chaps.

And this week... well I guess it's September now. Got a new Atari-style / western-flared / keepy-uppy / puzzle-based shooting game coming up. It's done, I just need to sit on it for a few more hours to assure myself that it's up to snuff.

Friday I take off for a Florida vacation with my girlfriend. We're celebrating our five year anniversary on that trip so it'll be a blast :).

See you soon Newgrounds!

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I'm working overtime to get a bunch of games played before September. In case you didn't know, it's going to be another amazing fourth quarter in the gaming industry (soooo many good games again this Christmas). If you have a game on your wish list most likely it is coming out, sort of like last years amazing end-of-year. Spore, Fallout 3, Gears 2, Viva Pinata 2, Banjo/Kazooie 3, Little Big Planet, the list goes on.

So here is what I am playing right now on my various systems (I am REALLY A.D.D. when it comes to gaming and I rotate games constantly):

Wii: Mario Kart Wii, because I have some tough competition coming up when I see my dad next time (got him a wii for Christmas, he is becoming a Mario Kart guru swiftly)

PS3: Drakes Fortune... if you ever liked Indiana Jones this is as close as you can get to having a similar grave-robbing/bad-guy killing third-person fiesta.

PS2: Metal Gear Solid. It's really hard going back and playing MGS 1 on a PS2, because the graphics have not dated well. I am hoping to play MGS1-3 before #4.

XB360: Half Life 2. I feel bad that I never actually beat this game and given the amount of love good gamers give it I had to dig in.

DS: The World Ends with You. This psychotic DS RPG from the creator of Kingdom Hearts is a lot of fun, if not totally confusing and crazy at the same time.

PSP: Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. I play this only when I travel, but it's a lot of fun. It takes hours to beat each battle and seriously, I doubt I will finish this game this year.

Mac: Peggle. OH geez, Peggle is the most addicting casual game I have ever played. Nice job Pop-cap.

I am still convinced that instead of the tank trophies it should have been a "Glowing Piece of Radical Rock" from the Agro Crag with a podium ceremony, but looks like common sense wins that argument.

Anyway, I looked at the list of Game nominees today and decided that the task of picking and choosing is not going to be as easy-peasy as originally thought. It's easy to remember the popular games from the last few months of 2007, but when you span that list all the way back to January you realize just how many good games were produced in 2007 it's mindblowing. I haven't made any decisions yet and I am going to spend my time on this one. It's one thing voting for monthlies, but it's another voting for a yearly award. We'll see how it goes down.

As for my own stuff I'm in the process of four different projects. I have an RPG in progress, complete with 40 different cities and an Oregon-Trail sort of gameplay experience. I also have a Text-based choose your own adventure sort of thing in progress right now too, that plays more like a riddle-based/exploration game than anything. I also have something coming up with BoMToons whenever he finds time, and finally I am working on a sequel to TBA called TBA++ or TBADX, I haven't decided what yet... something as ambiguously named as the first.

Have a good dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :).

I'm just keeping the song going in the news feed.

In better news, I am working on an Interactive Fiction, which is like an interactive story that you type commands for. Imagine a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, just completely text-based. It should be done in a few weeks! The storyline has a bit of metagame, which should lead for some extra fun.

Thanks for the support of my latest game, Compulse. I appreciate it!

And you should really buy one of my Ball Revamped balls, now available in real-life form. They are squishy and can be thrown at people or walls if you so choose. I had to choose the Pantone colors for these things to true accurate colors from the game, so the soul I had to pour into these things should be enough for you to spend the few bucks on them :). Ball Revamped first started on Newgrounds oh-so-many years ago.

Take care!

How far are the video game patent laws going to go?

As mentioned in a previous article, video games are coming under heavy fire from patent holders, who announced that they own the writes to gameplay mechanics or hardware. The most recent victim? Guitar Hero.

In 1999, Gibson filed a patent to protect a "System and method for generating and controlling a simulated musical concert", which by definition is what Guitar Hero is, kind of. Looking deeper into the patent, you'll see that the actual technical device it looks to control is a head-mounted 3d display, in a addition to a virtual musical instrument. But as we all know, it's not necessarily the device that it is protected... it's the method of technology that is outlined in the list of points made in the patent filing.

So Guitar Hero is under fire from Gibson, a popular guitar and instrument company. They already tried to break down Activision, who in turn is trying to kill off the patent in a US court. But now Gibson is becoming SERIOUS BUSINESS, launching lawsuits on big box retailers who are selling Guitar Hero products: Wal-Mart, Gamestop, K-mart, and Amazon to name a few. Why? They are selling products that infringe on copyright.

But wait, wasn't Guitar Hero made over three years ago? This begs to ask why Gibson wasn't making the claim then. It's no secret that Guitar Hero exists in the world, especially since it has made over a billion USD since launch. But maybe that was why Gibson waited... if they win this patent lawsuit, Gibson is entitled to a huge load of cash for each sale that is made on the Guitar Hero game franchise.

So who's next? Are rhythm games with any sort of simulated music/gameplay experience up for lawsuit? Poor Coolio-Natio :(.

The patent for Gibson is 9 years old and who knows what they actually did with it themselves, but I feel the who ordeal is painfully unnecessary.

Read the Patent
Activision Calling Foul
Earlier Yahoo Article

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/15/har monesica-is-exactly-that/

Anyone who makes an NES cartridge into a harmonica is my hero.

Will you be my Smash Bros friend?

3995-6182-7242

On February 17, 1998, a patent by Namco Ltd was approved by the United States Trademark and Patent Office (#5718632) . This patent was a page 12 document outlining the technological process of a smaller game being loaded and played while the larger game was being loaded... otherwise known as the preloader game. This helps prevent "wastage of time", on the behalf of the user and the system.

What this means is that if you put a game in your preloader, Namco reserves the right to seek monetary compensation in the court of law. Seems silly right?

A patent allows a technological process to be protected from other's monetary or personal gain. In return, a public record of the technological process is made which can help stem new ideas, technologies, etc. So basically, if you discover a process or technology that is unique, you can patent it so that if anyone else wants to use the process, they have to get permission from you... you basically own the right to let people use your work legally.

I'm not saying that Namco is going to sue you... granted, a lot of indie game developers are really under the radar of such an attack, especially one of this nature... but it is always interesting to see how protective people can get over processes, even ones that are so simple and occur often in games.

But given that they are specific processes... doesn't this mean you can patent specific gameplay elements as well? By US Patent standards, yes you can, and it has been done before. We'll just have to see how this all plays out in the future... especially because most of these patents last 20 years.

Read the Patent
Gamasutra Patent Article
Kotaku Article