The Man Who Wasn't There

Ugh. So, there's been this bickering back and forth between Harmonix and Activision concerning a simple patch for Rock Band that would fix the compatibility issue PS3 Rock Band players have been having. All it does is allow the PS3 Guitar Hero 3 guitar to play with Rock Band. It went like this:

Harmonix said they had the patch ready to go on December 4th. It was approved by Sony. Activision threw a temper tantrum and blocked its release.

Activision came back a day later and blamed it on Harmonix. But they said something that I thought was very interesting: "Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision."

An agreement? For a patch? I thought that was a bit strange. There's no reason why Activision should be involved with a patch. Unless there's money involved. And that underlined portion certainly sounded like Activision wanted to see dollar signs.

Turns out that's right on the money. This interview at the Boston Globe says it point blank:

"We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology," said Activision spokeswoman Maryanne Lataif.

*sigh*

What's not being said is that Activision paid $100 million for RedOctane and they want to protect their investment. Whatever the costs to gamers. And this is the only way they can try to hamper Harmonix legally.

Apparently, The Golden Compass is Godless and hopeless. So says the Vatican.

"In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," the editorial said.

I don't know about anyone else, but that sentence strikes me as odd. Personally, the entire series is filled with hope and nothing but hope. But that's not the part that drew my raised eyebrow. It was the the second part concerning "individualistic capacity to control the situation..."

I used to work with someone who is a very devout Catholic and who loved having his thoughts about whatever subject be known. To him, Lord of the Rings is a work that espouses Catholic beliefs and it was a story about good versus evil. Alright. Well, let's take a look at that series. It concerns a Hobbit named Frodo who prevails against adversity, evilness and death to destroy the Ring, a Ring that destroys the concept of free will, in a sense, and turns all those who touch it evil.

In other words, it's about the individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events to bring forth an outcome that frees the world from a tyrannous villain who wants to control someone's free will and subjugate everyone to his nefarious plans. Now, change the words "tyrannous villain" with "the Magisterium" and you have the exact same plot as The Golden Compass. Additionally, you could change the words to ones that reflect Narnia, and again you'd have a very similar situation.