Defining the lifecycle of internet connected player experiences.

Covers the complications of early LCD technology in relationship to realtime interactive devices such as video game consoles.

I have many ideas. With each idea I am striving to mold a unique 'thing' rather than a fleeting blog post which remains current one day and falls prey to a 'backlog' in short order. Allocating new domains to each idea would be quite costly. So I created a website that could spawn off as many subdomains as needed to hold many of the mini-site projects I often come up with. XRZ87 is as a name is short, simple, and unique. It's only drawback is its syllable count.

This site will host technology based art projects and game based research mini-sites. Pending projects include a site on game port differences across console platforms, and a commentary collage art piece on the game industries love affair with reality based graphics.

Online Forever Project, aka OF Project is a movement towards preserving the network software for early game consoles. As technology continues to evolve, being able to still experience games online helps to frame the early years of online console gaming. The activities behind the project have been ongoing for years, but only just recently are we starting to release the results of our research efforts.

A key goal of OF Project is not only to restore and preserve network functionality, but also to prevent users from being placed in the same position they were in when game publishers originally managed the servers. As such, all software developed or acquired in relation to OF Project will be released to the public. Players deserve the right to network these games without the restrictions of a central authority or corporate control.

Launched in April of 2003, OnlineConsoles is a shining example of how efficient front end interface code and stunning graphic design can help encourage consistent traffic. The entire front end, including all XHTML, CSS, and graphics were developed from the ground up. For the backend, an existing code base was used, and then procedurally modified over time. The site has maintained #1 Page Rankings in Google, MSN, and Yahoo for 6+ years running. Also referenced in the book O'REILLY "Gaming Hacks 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools".

Since launching, it has been nothing short of a collosal project. It is comprised of 3 seperate web communities. Each covering 1 of 3 consoles to first take advantage of TCP/IP networking functions for online play. The site is still going strong today, with new players each day becoming involved with these consoles online for the first time.

I wanted to start a website which allowed other dj's to sell their mixtapes on consignment over the internet. So I built a music community around this which ran from 1999 through roughly 2004.

Before starting this site I was frequently going to underground warehouse parties as well as djing. It was a great website to be involved with at the time. However, the underground music scene as I knew it then would come to a grinding hault. Cities (starting with Chicago) started cracking down on illegal warehouse events. While they were breeding grounds for various illicet activities, they were also epicenters for experiencing music on a cultural level that differed so greatly from the mainstream commercial machine. You had so many people getting into djing, in so many diverse genres of music.

This site ran well for about a year, but after the widespread crackdown on underground events in Chicago, people began moving on. So I changed the site to focus specifically on Drum & Bass, and ran an Internet Radio Station for a few years. It had a decent listener base, but due to rampant stream ripping of the station, and frustrations with where the community was headed, I decided it was time to close the site down.

This site was a very important stepping stone for me, as it would pave the way for OnlineConsoles. A site that not only was a success in and of itself, but would lay the seeds for my involvment in Media Archivism.

One last remnant of MixedCulture still exists: the IRC channel (#mixedculture) on EFnet. It is generally comprised of old members of the site, who still idle in the channel despite the site being long gone.