My Baby Girl
Happy Birthday Nikkole! I know that this post is a little late in the making but Happy 8th Birthday to my princess! We love you!
Posted on 26 April '10 by lisa, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Happy New Year (belated)
Sorry for being so late with this, but Happy New Year to everyone. Our New Years Eve was fairly uneventful, just the way I like it. We stayed in with the kids, watched a movie, and played some cards. Everyone stayed up to watch midnight come and go and usher in 2010. Now we’re just winding down from the holidays, with just one more Christmas pot luck coming up this weekend.
I also have a fair bit of pictures from Christmas that I need to upload, so I’ll get around to that asap and post a notification when it’s done.
~MikeR.
Posted on 6 January '10 by mike, under Family. No Comments.
New blog
I’ve decided to create the subdomain mike.roessing.ca for a more personal blog. I figure most visitors to Roessing dot CA, namely family, won’t care so much to read about my thoughts and opinions on video games and WAR specifically (or whatever I happen to be playing at the moment), so I’m going to keep this blog more family related and use the new blog for my personal thoughts and what-have-you.
~MikeR.
Posted on 30 December '09 by mike, under Computers. No Comments.
Christmas… come and gone
Another Christmas has come and gone. All of the anticipation and excitement leading up to that one day, and sadly it’s over before you know it.
I consider Christmas to be all about the kids. I wasn’t always like this, but now that I’m older it’s far more exciting to see the magic in their eyes than to wonder what’s in that carefully wrapped box addressed to me. I still enjoy sitting down and watching all of the Christmas specials (I made sure to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Garfield’s Christmas Special, and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown) but it’s not quite the same without one or more of the kids sitting there with me. I’ve always been a nostalgic sort, but Christmas is one time that I can not sit there and wish I was young again and just enjoy the “atmosphere”. It was also nice because everyone was here this Christmas; last year it was just Lisa, Nikkole, and I.
I think the kids got just about everything they wanted. Austen got more tools than he knows what to do with and has decided to separate them into garage tools and basement tools. Matthew got Wrath of the Lich King, an Action Replay for his Nintendo DS (it’s like the old Game Genie for the NES), the big WoW miniature starter set, and a bunch of other stuff he really wanted. Nikkole got her pink Nintendo DS with a game (actually two!). Santa also brought them new sleds since the ones we had got thrown out during our move as they were in really rough condition.
Lisa got a brand new pair of super comfy slippers and a new book. Included with the book was a printout of a web page from Sears.ca showing a stand-up mixer. Sadly, when I ordered it Sears was out of stock (despite their website saying otherwise) so it had to get delivered. Estimated date; January 12, 2010. Fortunately I received a phone call yesterday and it’s in so I will go pick it up today. She was so excited about it… I had hinted about getting something from Sears, but made sure I steered her away from the mixer idea completely.
I believe I was really lucky this year, as I received a brand new red metal tool chest from Lisa. I’ve wanted one for quite some time but they are just so expensive, or so I thought. I also got a veritable slew of new books; The Infernal City, the second and third omnibus’ of Gotrek and Felix, The Ghost King, and Dog River Confidential. I’m seven pages away from finishing The Infernal City and will move on to the second omnibus soon.
I can’t wait for next Christmas. 
~MikeR.
Posted on 29 December '09 by mike, under Books, Family. 2 Comments.
Electronic Arts brings out the chopping block (again)
News is out that Electronic Arts is shutting down Pandemic Studios, half of a $775 million purchase that also included BioWare, putting up to 200 people out of a job.
Not to detract from what the people out of a job are going through now, but is it any wonder what happened to Mythic and WAR, knowing how EA treats its studios and developers? Origin Systems, creators of the incredible Wing Commander series, was acquired by EA and then shut down in 2004. Chris Roberts was the man that first got me heavily interested in computer gaming (and lit the spark that got me into programming)… EA’s “touch of death” killed them off not long after Wing Commander 4 (the only one in the series produced under their influence). Westwood Studios, creators of the venerable Command & Conquer series, was gutted in 2003. At least EA allowed any willing employees to assimilate under EA Los Angeles. Now, another studio is going under and I can’t help but think Mythic is next on the chopping block. They’re losing 40% of their staff, up to 80% of which is content developers.
I knew it was a bad sign when Mythic announced the EA buyout, as did many others. I knew it was a bad sign when shortly after, Sanya Thomas left the studio. More recently, Mark Jacobs left EA after the BioWare acquisition. I can’t help but feel that Mythic, as well as Warhammer and DAoC, would have been much better off if they simply stayed independent and true to their vision. It may have meant a later release of WAR, but given how things have turned out under the (mis)management of EA, it certainly could have meant a much better game as well.
Here’s hoping BioWare doesn’t come under the death-ray gaze of EA’s (mis)management in the future. Dragon Age may have been a huge hit, but it seems that as soon as a studio has a mediocre release the chopping block comes out.
~MikeR.
Posted on 20 November '09 by mike, under Computers, Sigh..., Video Games. No Comments.
