King of the Nerds!!!

Coming my via Rock, Paper, Shotgun and coming their way via Mercury News is the ominous heralding of an epic alliance between hardware giants and cash whores Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD (plus more).  Their sworn duty?   To safeguard justice and prosperity in all of PC Gaming Land.

How dangerously barren is the PC market?  Well according to the above Rock, Paper, Shotgun it’s down by 6% year over year.  But from the Mercurary News article comes this little gem:

The numbers don’t include ad revenue associated with online gaming Web sites, which offer “casual” games such as Poker or Scrabble to a wider set of game players.

They also don’t include revenue from monthly subscriptions to virtual worlds known as “massively multiplayer online” games, or MMOs.

And this:

…the NPD numbers don’t include digital distribution, or sales of games downloaded to computers directly from Web sites such as Valve’s Steam.

Other writers have written more eloquently than myself on the dangerous situation in the gaming retail market.  Gamespot’s bloated revenues, thanks to sales of used games, and the lack of consumer protection for video game buyers are only the largest facets of using traditional methods of statistical tracking in a market that is on the bleeding edge of technology.

None of this is to say that PC Gaming is dead.  Creativity and enthusiasm for the platform is abundant and I can only hope that this Axis of Power in the PC gaming world uses its monetary and physical clout to encourage new and exciting ways to improve the market and level the playing field.  In truth, what I see happening is that same clout being used to enforce draconian and limiting factors that cut out the little man while Microsoft and its brethren feast off the tasty morsels of our hopes and dreams.

Now if you excuse me I’ll be ignoring this bull and enjoying a little Steam.

Both my current reads are going to take me a little longer than usual.  Wolfe’s Shadow and Claw is a re-read inspired by a series of posts by Dylanfanatic of wotmania’s Other Fantasy message board.  I’ve been a lurker on the wotmania boards for some time a DF is a real smart guy and his in depth reading of Wolfe’s fiction made be feel like a bit of a schlep.

Check out his posts on Shadow of the Torturer, Claw of the Conciliator, Sword of the Lictor, and Citadel of the Autarch for some fantastic insight into to these lesser known (by the world at large, at least) literary classics. I also recommend this essay (pointed out by DF) by Neil Gaiman called “How to Read Gene Wolfe.” Or, if Gene Wolfe isn’t you cup of tea, at the least check out OF Blog of the Fallen for a mature look at new and classic “genre” fiction.

The Orphan’s Tale: In the Night Garden is more of a lyrical fantasy, in a similar prose style to Patricia A McKillip.  The way the story works, as smaller oral tales told within an over-arching background tale (like 1001 Nights), I can go at a slower pace.  I have yet to decide if the simile heavy prose is something I can stomach to make it to the second book.

On another note I’ve, *sigh*, started a re-read of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.  Re-read isn’t exactly the right word since I picked up the unabridged audiobook version of Eye of the World and might end up doing the same for the rest.  Anyway to keep with my wotmania theme I would likely to highly recommend this chapter-by-chapter read through of the book.  Hopefully it will continue with the rest of the series.  This thread, summarizing Sanderson’s (the man chosen to finish the series) comments on re-reading the series is also worth looking into as one returns to “Randland.”