Bill Loguidice's Blog, page 66
April 12, 2018
The BAFTA Games Awards Sale – Cuphead, Destiny 2, Wolfenstein II, and much more!
The BAFTA Games Awards Sale just launched in the Humble Store on Thursday, April 12 at 10 a.m. Pacific time! The sale will be live through Monday, April 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
The post The BAFTA Games Awards Sale – Cuphead, Destiny 2, Wolfenstein II, and much more! appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 11, 2018
Name your price for The Humble Software REBundle: VEGAS Pro: Discover Creative Freedom
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-04-25 11:00:00 PDT.
What happens in VEGAS Pro… should be shared. Professional video editing is within your grasp with our new software bundle! Get VEGAS Pro 14 Edit, MAGIX Video Sound Cleaning Lab, MAGIX Photostory Deluxe, plus goodies like Soundpool: Blockbuster and MAGIX Vintage Effects Suite. With all of these tools, your creations will be too awesome to just stay in VEGAS Pro.
Pay what you want. Normally, the total cost for the software in this bundle is as much as $928. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Redeem your keys. Software keys can be redeemed according to the individual instructions on your download page. For more information, please check the full system requirements here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the developers, WDC, and, if you’d like, a charity of your choice and, if you’d like, a charity of your choice via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like the bundle or like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Software REBundle: VEGAS Pro: Discover Creative Freedom
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Pay what you want for The Humble Book Bundle: Gaming Comics by Titan (Assassin’s Creed, Warhammer, Dark Souls, etc.)
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-04-25 11:00:00 PDT.
These are a few of our favorite things. Comics about games? Our Humble dreams have come true. Titan Comics is back with a library of awesome titles like Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Warhammer: Dawn of War III, Dark Souls: Winter’s Spite, and The Evil Within: Interlude.
Pay what you want. All together, these comics would cost over $197. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Read them anywhere. These comics are available in multiple formats including CBZ, PDF, and ePub, so they work on your computer, e-readers, iPads, cell phones, and a wide array of mobile devices! Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publisher, Titan Comics, and the charity, AbleGamers via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Book Bundle: Gaming Comics by Titan
The post Pay what you want for The Humble Book Bundle: Gaming Comics by Titan (Assassin’s Creed, Warhammer, Dark Souls, etc.) appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 10, 2018
Pay what you want for Tooth and Tail, Endless Legend, Endless Space 2, and more in the Humble Strategy Bundle
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-04-24 11:00:00 PDT.
A different kind of think tank. Get your head in the game for our newest bundle! You’ll score titles like Tooth and Tail, Endless Legend, and Endless Space 2 – Standard Edition. Plus, your purchase will support the Whale and Dolphin Conservation!
Pay what you want. Normally, the total cost for these games is as much as $224. Here at Humble Bundle, though, you choose the price!
Redeem on Steam. All of the games in this bundle are available on Steam for Windows, and some for Mac and Linux too. Pay $1 or more to access Steam keys. Please check out the full system requirements here prior to purchasing.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the developers and Whale and Dolphin Conservation via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like the bundle or like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Strategy Bundle
The post Pay what you want for Tooth and Tail, Endless Legend, Endless Space 2, and more in the Humble Strategy Bundle appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 9, 2018
Pay what you want for The Humble Book Bundle: Game Studies by MIT Press (Atari, Nintendo, Warcraft, etc.)
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-04-23 11:00:00 PDT.
We’ve never MIT a book from this press we didn’t like. OMG, MIT brought Humble a bundle of gems from their game studies catalog. Pick up titles like How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design; Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System; Developer’s Dilemma: The Secret World of Videogame Creators; and more!
Pay what you want. All together, these ebooks would cost over $400. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Read them anywhere. These books are available in PDF format, meaning you can read them anywhere at any time. Many titles are also available in ePUB and MOBI as well. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publisher, MIT Press, and the charity, Worldreader via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Book Bundle: Game Studies by MIT Press
The post Pay what you want for The Humble Book Bundle: Game Studies by MIT Press (Atari, Nintendo, Warcraft, etc.) appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
Team 17 Sale is now live – Worms, Alien Breed, The Escapists, and more for Steam!
The Team 17 Sale just launched in the Humble Store on Monday, April 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific time! The sale will be live through Monday, April 16 at 10 a.m.Pacific time.
The post Team 17 Sale is now live – Worms, Alien Breed, The Escapists, and more for Steam! appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 6, 2018
Kerbal Space Program, Dead Rising 4, and RUINER are the May Humble Monthly Early Unlock games!
Happy Friday! We’re excited to announce the new Humble Monthly Early Unlock games* for May are Kerbal Space Program, Dead Rising 4, and RUINER! Humble Monthly subscribers can get the games right away for $12 (or less, for longer subscriptions), plus more games to come on Friday, May 4 at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Games are yours to keep, plus you get 10% off in the Humble Store and unlimited access to the Humble Trove.
*Customers in Japan will receive Kerbal Space Program, RUINER, and a $4 Humble Store credit.
The post Kerbal Space Program, Dead Rising 4, and RUINER are the May Humble Monthly Early Unlock games! appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 5, 2018
Up to 80% off Steam racing games in the HS Festival of Speed!
The Festival of Speed just launched in the Humble Store on Thursday, April 5 at 10 a.m. Pacific time! The sale will be live through Monday, April 9 at 10 a.m.Pacific time.
The post Up to 80% off Steam racing games in the HS Festival of Speed! appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
The Tipping Point Theory and why Windows and Facebook aren’t going anywhere
With all of the recent news about Microsoft reorganizing how they internally classify their Windows division and all the issues Facebook is having with the mishandling of our personal data, it’s all-too-easy to have the knee-jerk reaction that both of their respective days are numbered. Linux fans are eager to say that their time is finally here (which they say every year) and Facebook detractors are quick to point to what that social network did to MySpace.
My “tipping point” theory maintains that once something reaches a certain critical mass, it’s all but impossible to unseat it unless something truly radical happens. I put Windows and Facebook, as just two obvious examples, in that category. Sure, there were plenty of operating systems prior to the rise of DOS/Windows, but nothing that had reached the same critical mass of 90%+ market share. Microsoft has the critical mass, momentum, and resources to maintain a mass majority of the OS market share for at least another decade, and probably several more assuming something truly radical doesn’t happen (an example of something radical is that using your smartphone as your computer suddenly becomes appealing).
In terms of Facebook, everyone likes to point to what happened to MySpace, but MySpace was just a relative blip in time and certainly didn’t pass the critical mass tipping point. Facebook now counts its active users in billions, with a b, and again (stop me if you heard this) has the critical mass, momentum, and resources to maintain itself as the dominant social media network for at least another decade, and probably several more assuming something truly radical doesn’t happen (an example of something radical in this case might be the unexpected rise of a “superior” (more appealing) alternative, which is easier said than done – just ask Google and Apple).
Now, in terms of Windows, and, by extension subscription services like Office and Photoshop, there are those out there who bring up the very real alternatives, including Macintosh and Linux on the operating system side, and, on the app side, all of the free Office-like programs for Office and open source alternatives to Photoshop like GIMP. However, there’s more to it than just being a similar alternative, free or not.
It’s an issue of being “mostly compatible” versus being 100% compatible. It’s hard enough in the business world to accommodate for different versions of Word, as just one example. For instance, in my day job I’m a Senior Technical Writer for a company that supports the air traffic control industry, and even maintaining the integrity of relatively straightforward templates when going between different versions of Word is difficult. If I had to worry about programs that were only partially compatible, or did things or reacted just slightly differently than Word, I’d go really nuts. And frankly, as good as many programs are, it really is hard to truly substitute for certain programs like Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat Pro, etc., when a specific file format or feature-set is needed, particularly as you transition from, or interact with, legacy versions of files.
For the average person, I think none of that really matters – any decent tool would be fine, even the free browser-based ones (and that’s often what I recommend) – but as long as there’s a stranglehold on this stuff in the professional world (and for those who need to interact with the professional world), only the “real deal” will do, if only for the fact that you can ensure better compatibility and that it’s a known entity. The same applies to Windows, of course–and it’s not just the lack of sophistication of users as some would like us to believe. It would be real work and expense to transition away from what’s been the standard for decades, and the benefits wouldn’t necessarily make themselves felt in terms of greater productivity and related cost savings.
It’s kind of like with Facebook. For all the bitching about it (both absolutely justified and not), it long ago reached the type of critical mass that will be impossible to upend in the short- or medium-terms, no matter how much they bungle things behind-the-scenes. (And boy are they bungling, which is leading to an exodus of users, but percentage-wise, it’s just a rounding error.)
And to address the obvious, Linux has of course succeeded masquerading in the form of Android on mobile, but obviously not on the desktop. There had to be a new category of devices, unhindered by a massively entrenched entity, for it to find its footing. Of course, it didn’t hurt that a large company like Google has been the guiding hand either. Google is Android, and there’s no real equivalent, no real god-like guiding hand, on the true Linux side.
To summarize, there’s the wishful thinking when you’re personally not really a fan of something like a Windows or Facebook, and then there’s the reality of how hard it is most of the time to unseat a powerful, post “tipping point,” incumbent.
The post The Tipping Point Theory and why Windows and Facebook aren’t going anywhere appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 4, 2018
Pay what you want for the Humble Book Bundle: Bizarre Books by Chronicle
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-04-18 11:00:00 PDT.
This is one bizarre bazaar. Chronicle Books has hopped on the caravan to Humble, bringing a mini marketplace of some of their oddest titles. Get Cats Are Weird, Chain Saw Confidential, How to Swear Around the World, Zombies Hate Stuff, and lots more. Plus, your purchase will support the Book Industry Charitable Foundation!
Pay what you want. All together, these ebooks would cost over $215. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Read them anywhere. These books are available in PDF, ePUB, and MOBI formats, meaning you can read them anywhere at any time. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publisher and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Book Bundle: Bizarre Books by Chronicle
The post Pay what you want for the Humble Book Bundle: Bizarre Books by Chronicle appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
