Rara Racer Is Awesome

Rara Racer is made of epic win!

That is all.

VGA: We’re Better Than This

I turned on the Spike TV Video Game Awards tonight because, you know, it’s the only video game awards show out there. For us developer-types we get the AIAS awards and the DICE summit and all that good stuff, but as far as consumer-facing awards shows go, the VGA is it.

Which is really unfortunate, because I could only make it to the first commercial break before turning it off in disgust. Yeah, I know, it’s Spike TV. What did I expect?

Still, you’d think they could do us the slightest bit of justice. Games are pretty mainstream now, and a lot of very talented people have worked damn hard to make that happen. So what does the VGA open with? Jack Black having sex with his game consoles, dancing on stage in his underwear (against a backdrop of overweight balding guys in recliners, also in their underwear) while singing about how awesome video games are, and then enlisting the assistance of his illustrious musical ally to drive off the specter of “healthy relationships” (depicted as a doting young woman in a heart costume).

Oh, and there were scantily-clad women with angel wings all over the place. Because all gamers care about is blood and tits, apparently.

Don’t get me wrong: on its own merits, the intro was pretty funny, in its particularly low-brow way. And in no way am I knocking Jack Black; I mean, that dude’s awesome. But come on… fucking your 360? Depicting “healthy relationships” as an enemy to be defeated? Way to roll back 15 years of social progress, Spike. I’ll enjoy explaining that one to my non-gamer parents next time they ask what the hell I’m doing with my life.

Mortgaging Our Future

Via CBS:

Several officials say the White House and congressional Democrats have agreed on $15 billion in loans [to the U.S. auto industry], which is less than half of what the car chiefs were seeking.

They say the breakthrough came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bowed to a demand by President Bush that any aid come from a fund that had been intended to help Detroit produce more fuel-efficient cars.

(Emphasis mine.)

So we’re taking money away from green initiatives and funneling it into the accounts of greedy and/or incompetent (take your pick) corporate executives. Again.

Does anyone else find it odd that Bush — oil man that he is — demanded Congress steal funding from projects which, if successful, would have resulted in a drop in oil revenues?

And on the flip side, why did Pelosi capitulate? I thought we voted for change.

Somebody Gets It

Back in September, before our $700 billion market bailout became a reality, I opined that the money was being targeted at entirely the wrong place:

If the borrowers were enabled to pay their debts, the lenders’ revenue stream would reappear. With this influx of money, the lenders could settle their own debts…

So, who are our borrowers? A lot of them are homeowners whose variable-rate mortgages have recently adjusted upward, resulting in unmanageable monthly payments. They are probably trying to sell and move somewhere more affordable, but they owe more than the property is worth and don’t have the assets to make up the difference…

…I propose that our $700 billion forms a fund to help U.S. homeowners get out from under untenable mortgages. In short, the fund would cover some or all of the difference between the owed amount and the fair market value of the home, based on homeowners’ need and ability to contribute.

It seems I’m not the only one who thinks that way. Via NYTimes.com:

“You can’t just say, ‘Credit isn’t moving through the system,’ ” [Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the oversight panel monitoring the bailout] said in her first public comments since being named to the panel. “You have to ask why.”

If the answer is that banks do not have money to lend, it would make sense to push capital into their hands, as the Treasury has been doing over the last two months, she continued. But if the answer is that their potential borrowers are getting less creditworthy with each passing day, “pouring money into banks isn’t going to fix that problem,” she said.

(Emphasis mine.)

So the bailout became a reality, was subsequently expanded (multiple times!) in both size and scope, and still the economy continues to slide. Something is not working.

Meetings with Treasury officials so far have made her question whether they understand that “household financial health is profoundly tied to the economic health of the nation,” she said. “You cannot repair this economy if you can’t repair those families, and I’m not sure the people directing the bailout see that as their job.”

Yeah, it’s not like they were elected into their current positions by those same families. Oh wait.

I’m glad Ms. Warren gets it. Now I just hope she can convince the ones holding the purse-strings to help the people who matter. We’ve heard that companies like AIG are “too big to fail”. Well, the American middle-class is a hell of a lot bigger, so… priorities, anyone?