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Since I changed this over to be more of a personal dumping spot than a tech/gaming hub, I’ve updated once. I suppose that’s how it is to be when you’re committing yourself at a bunch of different elsewheres, but I also suppose I should check in a little more often. Even though nobody wants to read about my day-to-day and I don’t particularly care to write about it (lie), this page should have some semblance of existence.

The thing that I would claim I’ve been doing if I were to say I’ve been doin’ my thing of late would include the following: buying books under the guise of a mysterious alter-ego, security guarding, graduating from college, continuing my internship at Comcast SportsNet New England, actually getting paid a bit to do some work with CSN, and writing obsessively about the New England Revolution. The latter is likely the most important thing to discuss, though I have some damn good stories from the first two mentions in that list (though, as a though to the though, it may be illegal for me to discuss the security guarding aspect, so that discussion ends here and now).

I started Six States, One Blog alongside good friend Martin Ryan in an attempt to tap into New England’s undercovered soccer market and, on my end, to develop myself as a sports writer. The experience has been a good one. I definitely feel like I know the game a lot better, I’m developing my skills as a sport and beat writer, have been granted credentials to training sessions. I’ve also been able to do some editing and design stuff, which can’t hurt my resume. We’ve picked up another writer in the process and have been developing a steadily growing readership. I’m hoping to eventually bring on a Portuguese language writer to add to our roster. If you’ve any interest in the Revs, check us out and stick with us!

That of course is all unpaid. Professionally, I am a security guard, working for Day & Zimmerman. It is a good thing. I’m still in the market for jobs in the field though and apply to  few a week. I think right now I have applications out at CSN, Channel 7, NECN, the Boston Phoenix, the Herald, and TruMedia Networks. I want a job. Bad. Having said that, I understand myself quite lucky to have a 40 hour a week M-F gig right now and certainly don’t take it for granted.

Emerson College seems to be in my future (unless I get a good gig in the next couple months). At the rate the job market’s developing (or not developing) it can’t hurt to stay under the security blanket of school, continue to build my network, get myself another degree, and then begin my quest to reign supreme over the world.

I think that’s it. Happy life to all. I’ll check in again within the month perhaps.

PS Memorial Day excitement and shenanigans is/are good but people dying in our defense is sad so don’t forget to keep that in mind today (if you want, who am I to say) for at least a minute or so. If you want. I don’t know.

27. Marco Scutaro’s 2009 was no fluke

Signed to a two year deal this offseason to at last solve the Red Sox’ shortstop problems of the last 6 years, Scutaro is coming off of a career year.  In 2009, he hit .282 with a .379 on base percentage, a .409 slugging average, 12 home runs, and he scored 100 runs.  If he can repeat this, he will represent a significant offensive improvement for Boston.  Those numbers are all career highs, though, and his 2009 OPS was 68 points higher than his career mark.  Given his steady defense, he won’t kill the team should he fall back to his previous marks.  Scutaro and the Sox brass, though, both feel as though in his first season as a starter he had the opportunity to blossom and the numbers are no coincidence.  If they’re right, the club will enjoy the most production from the shortstop spot since Orlando Cabrera left town.

A few years ago, HDTV changed the way viewers watch — and, some speculate, the frequency with which they attend — sporting events.

Imagine what this will do.

Tonight, the MSG Network will be the first in America to broadcast a sporting event in 3D to at-home audiences. The Big Apple’s two NHL teams, the Rangers and the Islanders, will take to the ice, by now familiar to them, and to a brave new plane in broadcasting.

This comes amidst news that Manchester United and Chelsea’s April 3 game will be the first program broadcast on Sky3D, and that ESPN3D will be broadcasting the Home Run Derby later this winter.

From the first article:

The game will be shot using 3ality Digital’s image-capturing technology, which integrates with existing broadcast equipment for pixel-perfect 3D imagery. 3ality Digital, which has more than a decade’s worth of development work behind its systems, has been the technology of choice behind a number of recent 3D sports productions, including BSkyB’s January Premiere League Soccer broadcast, the first live 3D broadcasts of NFL and college football games shown in theaters, and the 2010 Sony Open golf tournament.

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Pardon my excitement.

I spent the morning with the Boston Globe’s Mark Baard at the GAMBIT lab at MIT, getting to know the guys and gals who are leading the way in video game research.

Before I do much delving, let me first mention the great cause going on in the lab this weekend. Since Friday morning, and going forth through this evening and into Sunday morning, the people making GAMBIT run and their friends are gaming, gaming, gaming with little stop as they take part in the 2010 Complete Game-Completion Marathon. They are taking donations in the effort (and will keep the opportunity to donate open for the next few weeks) to benefit Haiti in the country’s post-earthquake phase. Check out the event and donate if you’re so inclined here.

I met some great people and had some great conversation. GAMBIT was developed, very uniquely, as a research-based game development lab. Any game that comes out of GAMBIT originally started as a question. For instance, Eitan Glinert, who as a graduate student at MIT founded GAMBIT and now is the President at Fire Hose Games (the company will be debuting its first game, Slam Bolt Scrappers, at PAX East at the end of next month), explained a game he created while with GAMBIT. Audiodyssey is a DJ game developed successfully with the intent of making a game equally accessible to blind and sighted. “It started as a lunch time discussion about all the new gamers playing the Wii,” Glinert told me, “and us wondering who can’t play it.”

I learned much on the day. Did you know Singapore sees a massive, massive market in the gaming industry and is trying to structure much of its economy around it? The country’s government partially funds the lab. In exchange they send top students to learn at the lab with the expectation that they will come back ready to work in the industry at home.

I also had the opportunity to discuss the future of narrative in gaming with story-guru Clara Fernandez-Vera, who teaches a Writing for Games class at MIT. She stated her belief that story should not be kept separate from gameplay itself and that cinematic cut scenes force the player to see story as reward. “Games don’t have to be like movies,” she said. “The game should drive the story. It doesn’t need to be an interactive movie.” Clara was awesome, as evidenced by her home-made Monkey Island get-up.

I also met Matt Weise, GAMBIT’s lead designer. He had a lot of really cool stuff to say with regards to game history, foreign games, cultural studies and gaming, and the importance of old aesthetics in modern design. “For a while, there seemed to be this idea that games follow a linear progression in terms of quality: what’s newest is best,” he said. “It was all about better representing reality. But lately, maybe, there seems to be more of an appreciation for older games or different types of games.” Weise agreed that Mario’s recent return to 2D is an example of renewed appreciation for old design, and likened the idea to modern appreciation of black-and-white film.

I also had the opportunity to discuss tensions between game theory and game design in education and to delve into the theory-behind-the-theory insofar as how film criticism has helped to shape modern game criticism and theory.

I had a great morning in Cambridge. GAMBIT hosts open houses every Friday afternoon and I definitely recommend stopping by if you have a chance and/or interest. I owe, and therefore offer, my thanks to GAMBIT for having me and to Mark Baard of the Boston Globe for taking me along.

*As of writing, the lab has raised $4,180 in support of Haiti relief efforts.

A little info about the Haiti earthquake relief benefit event (that’s a mouthful):

February 26-28th, GAMBIT will be hosting the 2010 Complete Game-Completion Marathon to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti. Teams of players will gather at our MIT lab to attempt to complete a game in one sitting. Participants will independently seek sponsorship on a dollar/hour basis with all proceeds going directly to relief efforts in Haiti through Partners in Health, and with support from the MIT Public Service Center. The labs will be open 24 hours a day through the weekend to accommodate the teams, with snacks and refreshments available for the players.

The games being played have been developed at Singapore-MIT’s GAMBIT game development lab.  I’ll have a full recap of the event this weekend.

As such, there is no doubt that I will purchase, delve into (hopefully topping 50 hours), and probably defeat and enjoy the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII.  Having said that, as a fellow, I am becoming a bit concerned about what seems to almost be a  chick-flick type of game, based on the trailers.

I mean, listen to the song.

Now, I’m certainly in touch with my feminine side.  For instance, I consider myself a Lady Gaga fan and for a long time considered Love Actually a guilty pleasure (it is now just a regular pleasure), but when I think Final Fantasy I don’t really think of anything quite as effeminate as this (except for FF10-2, which I don’t count).  Am I exhibiting some sort of inherent sexism based upon the game starring a female lead character?  Or am I right to say that this is looking a little…girly?

Still looking forward to it all the same.  Just over a month now!