So I went to the Sony Metreon in San Francisco the night before the Playstation 3 launched. It was truly a sight to see. All these people waiting in line to be the first to have a chance to own a Playstation 3. I have conflicting feelings about the whole thing. Part of me thinks, “wow, it’s great that people are so into gaming that they are willing to wait up to 72 hours just to buy a console”. Part of me thinks, “do people even care about games at all, or do they just care about cool technology?” Nonetheless, I think this is really a pivotal moment in the games industry. The future of games lies in the hands of who wins this console war: Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo. Or more importantly, it depends on who loses.
I talked with a few people in line to buy the PS3, and there were two things that really shocked me:
- A LOT of people were buying the PS3 in order to sell it on ebay for a hefty profit. If you do the numbers, a PS3 60GB costs $600. The next day, the consoles were going on ebay for about $3000. So for about 48 hours of standing in line, the profit margin is $2400 or about $100/hr. Not a bad return.
- There were no PSPs in sight and there were Nintendo DS’s all over the line. It was wierd that a Sony event would be such a good advertisement for Nintendo products. Also, there was one person I talked to who had a PSP and wanted to bring it, but in a wierd twist of irony, he said that his PSP ran out of batteries so he couldn’t bring it.
In any case, it was definitely a good experience. When I was walking up and down the line, what I was looking at were the people. I wanted to know the types of people that are playing games these days. I wanted to know who these people were that I was working so hard to entertain. Seeing all those people, you realize that gaming is really a cross gender, cross cultural, cross generation phenomenon. It will get harder and harder to deny this fact. On the other hand, the PS3’s focus on technology over games is such a startling contrast to what I want from the gaming industry. From statistics that I am reading about, people are buying less than one game per console. Then why are these people buying a console? If it is just because it is cool technology, I think it is a bad reason. If it is just to make money, I can kind of understand it. But, what keeps me in the games industry is the potential of games, not technology.
I can’t believe it! I’ve been published in a book! This is the first time that I have ever been published in a book. It’s really exciting seeing my name in print. The book is called: Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America. It’s wierd to see how I felt nearly two years ago when I first went to Australia. It seems like an eternity ago, but I still feel the same. Here’s a quote:
It seemed like people in the U.S. were so focused on making money that they forgot what was really important in life. It felt like success was measured by how much money you made, how fast of a car you drove, how much plastic surgery you’ve had, and how hot your wife/husband is. It just seemed like such a fake society. I didn’t leave the U.S. for a better job, I left the U.S. for a better life.
Strangely enough, despite it all, I am back in the U.S. again, mainly because the jobs are better here. It may seem hippocritical, but when I was in Australia, I still yearned for a better job. If I couldn’t have both, then I couldn’t stay in Australia.
This wasn’t the way things were planned, but somehow life seems to throw us curveballs. The only thing you can do is to keep a clear perspective and reach for your goals. There are always setbacks along the way, but as long as you are heading the right direction… maybe that’s all that matters in the end.
So I haven’t been scuba diving in almost 6 years! The last time I went scuba diving was during my trip around Australia when I dropped by the Whitsundays and took a 5 day boat trip to learn how to scuba dive. After all those years, I’m finally going again… only this time, instead of seeing the Great Barrier Reef, I’m going to go see the kelp forests of Monterey. I took a refresher course a few days ago, and it all started coming back again. It’s wierd, I was worried that I had forgotten everything, but it was still there. My lungs still remembered what it was like to breathe through a regulator underwater, my muscles still remembered what it was like to move through the water as if you were flying through it. And in the end, I remembered what it was like to live again… to truly experience all that life has to offer.
I can’t wait for my trip this weekend. It’s not something you can ever truly explain to anyone… the wonder of being under water… of seeing a world so different from your own… and finally feeling at peace. I’m not an adrenaline junky or anything, but I have tried a good number of extremish type sports and recreation activities. I’ve gone all terrain vehicling on the dunes, skydived, bungie jumped, and snowboarded. At some point while doing these activities, you find a balance… where the excitement has died down a little bit and you just become happy with the world. You see the world from a different view, and that makes all the difference. In skydiving, it’s that point after you’ve reached terminal velocity where you see the whole world below you. You realize how small you are compared to everything else. You see the curve of the earth from the sky. In snowboarding, it’s the breathless moment when you are going down the hill and really feel free. Like no problems can hold you back, because in this moment there is nothing but you and the mountain and the cold breeze blowing at you.
I hope I can regain that perspective I had when I scuba dived 6 years ago. I hope I can find that inner peace.
Have you ever read an anonymous blog and wondered “Who is that?” I guess that’s the situation that I am in now. I know, it’s wierd that I am talking about another anonymous blog from my anonymous blog… but this is one of those things that I just have to know about. It’s so frustrating, I could rack my brain for hours trying to figure out and never get any closer to an answer. :( So the problem with anonymous blogs is that you don’t want to ask the person about the person they are talking about, but at the same time you want to know what that person is talking about.
Anyway, enough with my circumlocution. In other news, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming holiday. I think I’ll really figure some more things out. It’s time to make some big decisions. It’s things like this that really make you feel alive. Also, I’ve been convinced to go scuba diving again in Monterey. I haven’t gone diving since 6 years ago when I went to the Great Barrier Reef! Hopefully I don’t kill myself. Ah, the things I do for fun…
