Sometimes to kill a little time I’ll do the daily crossword puzzle on Yahoo! Well, today I was just beginning it when I came across a clue I wasn’t exactly expecting:
Cool, huh?
I had heard about Microsoft laying off several thousand people, but never did I think it’d ever involve anything to do with video gaming–particularly Ensemble Studios. Those who’ve known me for many years will understand that this is a big deal to me. Why? Because, Ensemble’s games got me through some tough times. In fact, there was a time I lived, breathed, ate and played nothing but Age of Empires. Of course, those days are far distant to me, now. Yet, then I hear about Microsoft closing down Ensemble.
At first, I just couldn’t believe it. “What about Halo Wars?” I asked myself. That should have kept ES open, right? Well, apparently, they’re done with the development on it. So, MS seems to have thought they didn’t need them any more. Hmm…typical Microsoft. And I could understand if MS was in a tough financial situation. But, they aren’t! They’re not bleeding cash. They’re not in dire straights like the auto industry. No. They just didn’t make what they had told analysts they would. Therefore, we have greed to blame again. We’re good for that in America.
Greed. Greed. The big “g”-word. It’s disgusting, really. Anyway. I wish everybody at Ensemble Studios the best of luck. God knows they’ll probably need it in this crazy job market we’re in, which, again, is all because of greed.
I’ve put an “in memory of” pageholder up at Throughtheages.com. Eventually, the idea is to make it a sort of memorial with pictures and editorials about the Studios and the great games they produced. Of course, that’ll be an unfolding process, much like everything I do.
After a few months of being pestered, I finally created an account on Facebook. Right now I’ve got a few people listed as friends, though in the future I’ll probably have more, no doubt. The funny thing about it all is that I discovered that many people who you might think wouldn’t be on it actually are–such as the big boss where I work, interestingly enough. Anyhow. Signing up to Facebook actually had me looking at myself, trying to figure out who I am. Also, it forced me to retake a look at my web presence.
Of course, I’ve had the blog for a bit now, and I’ve been on the web since 1995, so I’ve been around. However, even with all of that, I don’t truly show who I am. My writing, well, I haven’t done enough with it. I haven’t set myself up for any sort of success with it. Well, that’s about to change. I’m currently working on a new site that’s dedicated entirely to my writing. In fact, I’ve even chosen a pen name–well, sort of: E. M. Lizotte. Obviously, it’s my first and middle names initialized followed by my last name. It’s simple, and easy to remember–I think.
Anyway, I’ll soon have emlizotte.com fully operational, but don’t worry, my personal blog’s not going anywhere.
