Stumbling Toward 'Awesomeness'

The market is flooded with cheap ‘TN’ TFT panels. TN (twisted nematic) panels are terrible when it comes to reproducing color and have a very limited viewing angle. I used to have one and if I just slouched in my chair (or sat up too straight) the black level would change drastically. These panels are much cheaper to manufacture, so vendors have been flocking to them for years.

As artists, we need at least _decent_ color, even on our home machines. Because it can sometimes be difficult to determine the actual panel used in a diaplay, and because I care, I have compiled a list of > 24″ monitors and their panel type. I really would have liked to have seen this last week.

I really needed a stick of 800mhz DDR2. There’s a Best Buy somewhat close to here so I went over. When I get there, I see they have one stick of Kingston Value RAM, however it’s 145 DOLLARS. Thinking this was clearly a typo, I headed to the ‘Geek Squad’ guy at the register who scanned it and told me:

‘Nope, that’s how much this kind of RAM costs, it’s really a special kind‘. (yeah ‘value’)

I replied that it certainly was not. That is should be under 50 bucks ‘at any store’, he then laughed and told me that they match prices, but not ‘online only stores‘, to which I replied: ‘name a store, any store and that’s the price I will use‘. He said Fry’s (a popular brick and mortar store in Palo Alto) and we pulled up the website. The same RAM was 33 DOLLARS! Not on sale; nothing.

He called the manager, who came and said they couldn’t price match with a difference that large. I leveled with them… ‘Guys, look, it’s one stick of ‘value’ RAM. My PC is broken. I rode my bike here. Fry’s is in Palo Alto. I would pay double what it is at Frys, I am not tryin to rip you off, but I will not, on principle, bend over and take it like this; five times normal retail price is ridiculous!‘

The manager, seeing people behind me, started to talk down to me ‘We aren’t ripping you off, you are trying to price match to another store’s black friday ad! we only price match to real, non-sale prices!‘

I said ‘Look, it’s not a sale item, your own guy brought it up, name any store, where will you price match to?‘ He thought for a min ‘Central Computers, on Howard..‘ (they are not a chain and it would probably be more expensive..) ‘Ok, pull that up!’ We pulled the site up and the ram was 34 DOLLARS!

He turned to me quietly: ‘50 is as low as we can go.‘   ‘Sold!‘

I used to think Best Buy was decent, when you needed a component, if they had it, why go anywhere else? They are such a large chain that they can really discount items because they purchase in bulk. Like I said, this is what I used to think… While I have been in Germany the past 4 years apparently things have changed.

Have any of you seen anything this bad? Charging $145 for something all other retailers have for < $35 is just wrong. It irks me that they pay these ‘geeks’ in their ‘squad’ to tell people lies from behind this knowledgeable facade.

I am now living in San Francisco! My last day at Crytek was October 31st, and it was pretty difficult for me as it is one of the best companies I have ever worked for. I have so much respect for all the guys that helped constantly push the envelope and make Crytek the renowned world player that it is today.

I started last week as a Creature TD at Industrial Light + Magic; about the only thing that could wrench me away from Frankfurt. I have always been so interested in creatures and anatomy, and, from a young age, considered ILM the best of the best when it came to these. I feel very lucky to be able to join another great team of people, and not only that, but learn so much from them on a daily basis.

I don’t know what effect that will have on this blog. I can continue to comment on games stuff, but, being a large company ILM is a lot more restrictive in what I can do (even in my spare time!) versus Crytek. Not to mention I will be very, very busy the next few months.