I recently stumbled across some awesome Gource videos and decided to make some of my own. Gource takes the commit history (code changes) in a project and then basically turns it into what looks like a game. Little avatars fly around and zap files while you watch the project grow and evolve.

I ended up using the imperial march for both of em, because Youtube's audio selection is limited. It fits for the R2-Db one, but D3Up could use some diablo music. I didn't look too hard for D3 music, but I figured it would probably fall under some copyright laws and not let me use em anyways.

So, here are the two videos I did:

Enjoy!

I've updated the projects page to now include the D3Up.com project with some information on what it's all about.

I've been bouncing pieces of the app off /r/diablo for about a week now as I created the components for the site, but I think it's finally ready for some actual testing in a larger scale. I haven't spent an incredible amount of time on the app, I really just wanted something I could plug numbers in to determine if something on the AH is an actual upgrade and what exactly it would do to my statistics.

So without further ado, I present to you: D3Up.com, an app designed to help you fine tune your character, find upgrades and share information.

So, what exactly can the site do right now? Here's a brief overview, I'll go into more depth after the list.

• Anyone can create "Items" for sharing, selling, whatever they'd like.
• Anyone can view any "Item" created by anyone.
• Anyone can view any "Hero" created by anyone.
• Users that create "Items" can go back and edit them with the edit button found below while viewing the item.
• Users can create "Heroes", which serve as representation of your character or a character you'd like to build.
• Users can equip "Items" they've created onto their "Heroes", which will update the stats of the character (fairly) accurately.
• Users can use the "Gear Compare" tool, which allows them to compare an item they have equipped to another item they've created (of the same slot). It will generate a detailed DIFF of the stats you'd gain or lose.

Read on for more :)

For the last 2+ years, Corey Frang and I have labored away on building the engine that powers R2-Db.com (and EpicAdvice.com). I can honestly say that I'm proud of the work we have done and the progress we made. We developed some revolutionary ideas for the traditional "Item Database" model, we had our moments in the spotlight, and made some mistakes along the way.

Unfortunately, the passion behind R2-Db.com has diminished a lot since the launch of the game and neither of us play Star Wars: The Old Republic anymore. I could write an 10-page article on what went right, wrong and why we stopped/slowed development, but that's not what this is about.

What I want to talk about is the most positive thing (well, besides the experience) to come out of the R2-Db.com project.

As I sit here this weekend, eagerly awaiting the release of Diablo 3 this Tuesday, I've been desperate for games to play. Here's where the problem comes in: almost all of the games I've played over the past couple years have been MMOs. I've cancelled all of my monthly subscriptions to them, and I just can't justify paying a subscription fee for a game I'll only be playing a couple hours a month, if even that.

I'd love to hop in an one of my old games (or all of them), see what's changed, talk to some old friends and just screw around. However, I can't justify keeping a subscription, or multiple subscriptions active, while I'm not actively involved in the game.

This lead me to start thinking about all the different models companies use to charge (or not) for their games. There's a lot of games that are free to play, some games use micro-transactions and others have a monthly fee associated to their accounts. Companies mix and match these different payment models, but you never see a MMO that goes "Free to Play" after you've been a loyal customer for years under the Subscription Model.

So, my question is: Why? Why can't I just go back and revisit these games, with my characters, without having to re-activate my account?"