TECH2

Whenever I drive the stretch of I-5 between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, I feel like Luke Skywalker sensing a powerful presence nearby. That’s because I know that just north of Seattle lives one of the true legends of the audio industry: Bob Carver, founder of Phase Linear, Carver Corporation, and Sunfire, and the pioneer of numerous audio technologies during his four-plus decades in the industry.

While both games have some impressive (and ancient) pedigree, and cover similar topics… and genres… and play mechanics…

OK, on paper they’re the same game. But so far they’re shaping up to be rather different. Also, Elite’s current beta form actually has a fair amount of playable game in it, a good year (decade?) before Star Citizen does.

Let’s have a look.

In the grand scheme of things, there’s no such thing as a “new year.” Nor are there “weeks” or “months” really. I know these are just convenient constructs for the human mind to wrap around something complex and inexorable like “time.”

Yet even knowing this, I can’t help but get a little nostalgic this time of year. The idea of one thing ending and another thing beginning brings to mind, well, this one thing ending and this other thing beginning, but in a nostalgic way.

I speak, as I so often do, of Star Wars.

We’re 5 episodes into the second season. Here are some thoughts on how it is so far, the new cast members, and other various nerdstuff.

I wasn’t a big fan of 3 to be honest. I got bored quickly, not least from the brown-on-brown aesthetic.

I wasn’t even planning on getting 4 until I saw the trailer. OK, it looked pretty awesome. And blowing up irradiated monsters in my old home town had to be at least a little fun. Right?