Two, maybe three E3s ago I wrote an article on a then upcoming title called Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. The game was cancelled shortly thereafter yet even now, years later, it remains our third most popular article. I opened it with the following words:

Sometimes it seems as if it's the flip of a coin as to whether a title based upon a film/TV show will succeed (more often than not, it's actually quality of the game), but science fiction as a whole has generally survived the translation. Perhaps it's the fantastical storylines, the often beautiful backdrops or, it could be that only those that are truly successful get made into games.

For political/budgetary reasons what appeared to be a promising action title wasn’t made. Yet, the continued popularity of the article would seem to indicate that Stargate holds a certain fascination with gamers – or at least with the readers of this site.

Stargate Worlds (SGW) has been in pre-production for two years and recently entered the production phase. As I write this, the first “playables” should have been delivered. A few miles down the road from my apartment the developers at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) are stepping through the Gate into what is to be the first translation of a television show into a massively multiplayer game.

Because I live so close to CME, I’ve been privy to the knowledge there was going to be a Stargate MMO long before it was announced to the public. I am, well…I revel in all things Stargate to the point of being a complete nerd. That being said, as much as I look forward to my favorite television universe entering the online realm, I’m wary. I know how difficult it is to translate a movie/book/TV to game and vice versa.

Originally, this article was to be a preview of Stargate Worlds after the Game Developer's Conference. I was holding off because I wanted to place it along with a review of Sony’s Stargate Online: The Trading Card Game and Skyzone Mobile’s title, Stargate SG-1: Entropy. I thought they’d make a nice trilogy for the day. After returning home, pouring over my notes, following up with Cheyenne, playing the other games I realized – I can’t actually preview something I haven’t seen! Ok, that’s a new rule here at GamersInfo.

But, there was also this niggling voice in the back of my head. You see, I’m not “there” yet on the design of the game. I want to be. This is Stargate! And as a gamer and a member of the industry the last thing I want is to see an MMO not meet expectations – every one that doesn’t quite make it hurts the industry as a whole. I grappled with this for a while. A long while.

First, I thought it might be the fanboi issue. But, I do more than write for this site and I’m pretty good about keeping those two parts of me separate. So, I chewed on it; I talked to people who know me and asked if they thought it could be me; I talked to people who know design and (without mentioning the title) asked about the elements that concerned me. Then I chewed some more. What to say?

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This weekend was Thanksgiving here in the US. For the first time in many years I spent it with family. Some of them I hadn't seen in as long as 10 years. Some as little as 4...The reasons I won't go into but suffice it to say, all twenty of us at one table was a lot. Since I've gotten sick I overload easily and 4 days was enough stimulation to last me until next year.

One of the defining qualities of my life is an inability to belong to a group. It's not that I don't want to - I wouldn't mind finding a "place" of comfort and belonging. I just don't fit in well. Too often I find myself observing. But, I fake it well enough that I tend to enjoy myself more often than not, and most people don't know. It works. But not with my family. Sometimes, I think I sprouted in a garden and someone whom I look like picked me.

Bitching about my family is not what this entry is about.

Early in the first day I noticed that I had to be very careful with my language. This is difficult for me because I've made it a point when speaking to use as broad a vocabulary as possible; I do this so that my meaning is clear and concise. Nothing irks me more than when people try to interpret what I mean based upon their own assumptions. (It's odd, I don't do this with writing when the norm is to use a broader vocabulary when writing.) But, in doing so I found I made several people uncomfortable. I know this for a fact because I was accused of using "$2 words".

Later, I was relating an anecdote that I found amusing about a friend of mine and how we'd argued about genetic determination and recessive/dominant genes and I was shocked he'd never heard of Mendel's Peas. We're 14 years apart in age and I haven't kept up with biology journals for the last 4-5 years so I'd not heard that eye color was no longer based upon a single trait. Because of our age difference, he knew this. I was adamant in my stance. We were both correct based upon what we learned.

The people I was talking to? I lost them at the word genetics.

I'd decided to do some browsing with their computer and couldn't understand why, on a cable modem, it was so damned slow. The next day, I couldn't install Adobe Reader. A little looking and I'd found damaged sectors on the hard drive and noticed that Windows ME had never been updated. So, I started with Service Pack 1 from 2001. When I explained the maintenance I did I saw that glazed look again.

I've been working with computers in general since the Commodore 64. I did homework on a Vic20, an Apple IIc and IIe and one of the first Macs. I did this in the home of the people I was now speaking to. My home business used to be outsource Medical Billing for Physician Offices - done online. I am of an age that had to learn to stop writing everything down before typing it but could be trained to do so. Computers have always been a part of my life. I've been working with gaming support sites for 7 years; I've been in the Games Press for five.

My mom said to me, "now that you're into this, what will we have to talk about?" Apparently, I've mutated beyond human.

This is a lot of set-up for my point.

We spend our days in this virtual world with each other. I was in a home with 20 people. The only other people that spend time in this virtual world were my ex and my own children. That left 16 people who are completely ignorant of the Wii, the PS3, Windows Vista (hell, Windows XP), YouTube, Myspace and all of the other social gathering places we take for granted. They don't know about copyright issues with abandonware - they don't know or care about abandonware. Two of them owned a computer and as I said, I spent time updating Windows ME on one.

75% were partially to completely ignorant.

They didn't have iPods, HDTVs, PS2s - though 3 had cellphones (6 if you count myself, my ex and my kids). I am the only one who blogs. No one other than my immediate family and my sister had heard the term blog. All of them except for me still owned VHS tapes (some had both VHS and DVDC - I simply own no VHS). This includes my ex.

The referred to me as a techhie. I'm not a technophile by any means, just compared to them.

And it leads me to wonder about those of us who live in this virtual world of ours and take everything so damned seriously...

Should we not slow down just a little bit and look at the (very probable) 75% of the population behind us?

I think that phrase is partial lyrics from a Dave Matthews song. No, I'm sure of it. *Googles which one not actually using Google but since it's now the verb* So Much To Say Well, whaddya know.

It's been a busy weekend/Monday in my nick of the woods. Or rather my corner of life. The launch for the Playstation3 went off horribly on Friday with riots and shootings and shortages and just general negativity. Sony has done a terrible job not just at providing product for the consumer but at managing expectations and marketing so that the consumer didn't have a "dog eat dog" mentality when trying to obtain one of the few units on the planet. It's disappointing but not unexpected that they tripped so badly. Actually, it's disappointing that it's not unexpected.

Then, on Sunday, Nintendo launched the Wii. I really like Nintendo because they take risks (but don't ever get me started on their PR company - even the giant IGN threatened to boycott coverage of them at one point because their PR company is so awful). They took a huge risk with the Wii and it payed off. Games can be games again, not movies. They're fun, innovative and they get you off the couch. My son boxed until he needed to wring his shirt out on Sunday.

I think what most impressed me were the people I waited with for 7 hours on Saturday at Wal-Mart. These were good people. Kind people. We'd talked about the horror of the PS3 launch and someone made the statement that they didn't think we had to worry about it with this crowd. I took him to mean that because it wasn't a large crowd there'd be no violence and made the statement that I didn't believe people waiting for a Wii would act in the same manner. He said that was what he'd meant, too.

You see, never, in any marketing I'd seen for the Wii was I made to feel like I "had" to have it or I'd be less of a gamer. That it was the "next best" thing. Only that it was something new, something fun. The choice was mine.

And never did I feel like it was this great new compilation of tools that was going to make my life easier. It was "just" a gaming system. Not a "music/video/dvd/mp3/mpg4/toaster/waffle iron/wash your car/solve world hunger" item. It's a game system. I like that. Keeps the price down, too. And lo and behold, it came with FUN games installed.

I've had a little time with the PS3 and I'll end up with one eventually - it is my job after all. I can't say that I won't enjoy the products that are produced for it, because ultimately the products are what matter. But, right now, I'm enjoying the machine. Odd that.

I was going to talk about Viva Pinata, writing too many reviews at once and people who don't appreciate your efforts, but I think this is enough for one entry. Back to the coal mines.