It’s that time of year again, and the Cancer Society of New Zealand is actively collecting money to fund cancer research into cancer causes and treatments, providing support to people affected by cancer and other initiatives such as public awareness programmes.

More information is available at the Daffodil Day web site.

Chances are incredibly high that you know someone who has suffered or is suffering from cancer. If you haven’t already given to the cause, I urge you to make a donation.

I can’t believe New Zealand is jumping on yet another television bandwagon and creating its own “…got talent” show - New Zealand’s Got Talent - based on the hugely successful American series.

From an easy money standpoint, this might seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, like New Zealand Idol, Stars in Their Eyes and various other Kiwi-made bandwagon shows, this is doomed to be a failure for the simple reason that New Zealand hasn’t got talent.

Here’s my predictions:

• Performance distribution:
  • 60%: Rapping, beatboxing, hip-hop & breakdancing
  • 20%: Singing
  • 10%: Band/instrumental
  • 10%: Other
• The first season will have fewer acts and fewer episodes than its American counterpart
• There won’t be a second season.

Looking forward to it.

Well, it’s finally happened. I bought 48.34 litres of 98 octane petrol today for $103.88. Ouchies.

Given the nature of our business, it’s a very common scenario that we will need to find information or screenshots for games. Fortunately, since game development is a very technical business, most every game has its own dedicated web site.

What is unfortunate however is the industry’s never-ending fascination with Flash-based sites. Waiting for a site to load and then not being able to cut and paste text or save screenshots to disk because the whole damn thing is rendered using Flash is not my idea of a good time.

I got a hilarious - and unprovoked - message over MSN today which pretty much sums up the situation I’m trying to describe:

/tries to grab a wallpaper image from lego indiana jones site

“You do not have enough points to buy this item. Go surf around the site and find more treasures.”

Oh ffs

Why so many site makers decide to glam up their sites at the expense of speed and usability, whilst simultaneously crippling people who are trying to use their assets to promote their game is beyond my understanding.

I can’t remember the last time I opened a phone book… and yet the things still get delivered to me, no questions asked. I’m not even in the damn thing.

In this modern world where a large percentage of the population has an Internet connection, is it about time we started “opting in” to phone books?