[Modern Family] Ch: 56 [Games, Gadgets, and Girlfriends] (Patreon)

[June 23, 2009] [Tuesday Afternoon] [Jason's House]

By Tuesday afternoon, Jason's recording studio looked more like an electronics repair shop than a gaming room.

Several smartphones, empty packaging boxes, screwdrivers, and plastic opening tools occupied one end of his desk. His primary monitor displayed YouTube's upload page, while the second showed the folder containing his latest recordings.

The past two days had been surprisingly productive.

He'd finally finished editing the Palm Pre teardown he'd recorded earlier, followed by complete reviews and teardowns of the Nokia N97 and the recently released iPhone 3GS.

Each phone had received a proper examination. Jason tested their screens, cameras, speakers, browsing performance, keyboards, and general responsiveness before taking them apart to examine their internal components.

His enhanced memory made the technical work considerably easier. After studying repair manuals and circuit diagrams, he could identify most major components without constantly checking references. Even the more complicated disassembly procedures became manageable after he understood how everything fit together.

Of course, knowing how something worked didn't automatically make handling tiny screws any less annoying.

"Look at this. Five different screw sizes just to reach the board. Nokia's engineers clearly hate anyone who tries to open their phones," he'd complained while fighting with a stubborn internal bracket on the N97.

Fortunately, all three phones survived their encounters with his screwdriver collection.

Once the individual reviews were finished, he'd recorded a comparison featuring the HTC Magic, Palm Pre, Nokia N97, and iPhone 3GS.

Rather than simply reading their specifications, Jason demonstrated their strengths and weaknesses through practical tests. He opened identical webpages, compared camera photographs, tested typing speeds, played music, and examined how smoothly each phone handled everyday tasks.

He particularly enjoyed discussing the differences between the operating systems, knowing how dramatically the smartphone industry would change over the coming years.

The completed videos had been edited into shorter segments to accommodate YouTube's upload restrictions and published on The Grid Lab.

Their early reception was encouraging. Viewers were already debating which phone offered the best value, while several requested additional comparisons.

Fred8900, naturally, had appeared in the comments almost immediately.

Jason was beginning to suspect the guy spent more time monitoring his channels than he spent actually playing games.

Meanwhile, his primary gaming channel hadn't been neglected.

Over the previous two days, Jason had streamed Red Faction: Guerrilla, spending several hours exploring Mars and discovering increasingly creative ways to demolish buildings.

The game's destruction physics had quickly become his favorite feature.

During Monday's stream, he'd attempted to bring down an enemy communications tower using nothing more than his trusty sledgehammer and several strategically placed explosive charges.

"Alright, watch closely," Jason had told his microphone, leaning forward in his chair as he tossed his last remote charge onto a steel support beam at the base of the tower. "You don't need a rocket launcher if you understand basic structural engineering. We take out these two southern pillars, weaken the back strut with the hammer, and the whole thing tips cleanly into the canyon."

He glanced over at his secondary monitor, where the live chat was scrolling rapidly.

CableGuy87: I give it ten seconds before he blows himself up.

PixelQueen: Did you even check where the wind is blowing? Or where you parked?

ShadowSniper99: Hammer time!

Dex: BOOOOOMMMM!!!!

"Have a little faith, Cable," Jason replied with a grin, backing his character away from the base of the tower while equipping the detonator. "I checked the angles. The getaway truck is parked plenty far back. Now, witness the beauty of Martian physics."

He clicked the trigger.

The remote charges erupted in a chain of fiery blasts, tearing through the lower steel supports. For a second, the massive metal structure groaned and leaned toward the canyon edge, just as he'd predicted. Then a secondary support buckled on the opposite side, twisting the entire frame as it gave way.

Jason's smile vanished as the shadow of the falling tower expanded directly over the dirt road behind him.

"Wait. No, no, no, the other way..."

With a deafening metallic screech, the enormous communications array came crashing down directly onto his parked vehicle, flattening the truck into a smoking pancake of scrap metal before exploding in a secondary fireball.

Jason stared at the burning wreckage for several seconds while the chat window went completely berserk. Finally, he leaned toward his microphone.

"Totally calculated. Didn't even like that truck anyway. Honestly, this is why nobody trusts me with heavy explosives."

His viewers had thoroughly enjoyed the disaster.

PixelQueen: 10/10 structural engineering. You should apply for a city construction job.

CableGuy87: Someone legally prohibit this man from approaching buildings with a hammer.

Fred8900: That was weak. Destroy something bigger.

Jason laughed, reading the messages aloud as his character stood stranded in the middle of the dusty Martian wasteland. "Destroy something bigger? Fred, my ride is currently on fire. I have to walk back to the safehouse unless an EDF patrol is polite enough to donate an armored car."

As if on cue, an enemy recon buggy crested the nearby ridge, its mounted machine gun already spinning up.

"Oh, look at that. Delivery service," Jason said, swapping back to his sledgehammer as he sprinted toward the oncoming vehicle, weaving between rocks to avoid the gunfire. "Hold on, chat. Let's see if we can hijack a bigger toy for Fred."

Two minutes and one smashed windshield later, he was behind the wheel of a stolen EDF military transport, heading toward a massive three-story barracks complex down the road.

He pulled over a short distance from the barracks and attached his remaining demolition charges to the front bumper of the heavy transport.

Once everything was secured, he climbed back behind the wheel, floored the accelerator, and sent the vehicle hurtling toward the perimeter fence. At the last possible moment, he jumped out, sending his character tumbling across the dusty ground as the driverless transport smashed through the fence and barreled straight into the barracks. Jason scrambled to his feet, pulled out the detonator, and triggered the explosives.

The resulting explosion took down the entire front half of the barracks and sent the roof collapsing inward in a glorious cloud of red dust and flying debris.

Fred8900: Hahahah that's how you do it.

By the end of Monday's session, he'd accumulated enough entertaining footage for a gameplay video without commentary. He'd spent part of Tuesday editing it before returning his attention to The Grid Lab.

However, tonight's streaming plans involved an entirely different game.

Prototype.

Jason leaned back in his chair, looking at the game's promotional artwork he'd opened in his browser. From what he remembered of his previous life, Prototype had originally been released during the first half of June 2009.

In this reality, however, its release had been pushed back to June 21.

He'd noticed the revised date while browsing upcoming releases earlier that month, although he hadn't bothered investigating the reason. At this point, he'd stopped expecting every historical event to follow his memories perfectly.

Still, he remembered enjoying Prototype immensely.

Running around Manhattan as Alex Mercer, sprinting up skyscrapers, consuming enemies to steal their appearances, and transforming his arms into ridiculous biological weapons had been incredibly entertaining.

He could already imagine his viewers' reactions when he started throwing cars at helicopters.

"Yep. Goodbye Mars, hello Manhattan," Jason muttered, checking the time.

Before leaving, however, he wanted to finish uploading a short Red Faction highlights compilation he'd edited earlier.

Unfortunately, his internet connection had other plans.

Jason watched the upload progress crawl forward at a painfully slow pace.

He'd already compressed the recording into a reasonable file size, sacrificing as little visual quality as possible. Even so, his upstream bandwidth was struggling. The estimated completion time fluctuated whenever the connection slowed, occasionally adding another twenty minutes to the process.

"Seriously?" Jason glared at the progress bar. "Twenty megabits down, and you're giving me dial-up speeds on the upload? Come on."

He checked his internet connection, confirmed that nothing unusual was consuming bandwidth, and eventually accepted that there wasn't much he could do.

The Grid Lab videos were already online, and his scheduled stream wasn't until that evening.

Sitting in front of a progress bar wouldn't accomplish anything.

Besides, he still needed to buy Prototype.

Jason checked that the upload would continue without his supervision, disabled the computer's automatic sleep settings, and left the machine running.

He grabbed his wallet, phone, and car keys before heading downstairs.

While passing the kitchen, he glanced toward the rooftop staircase. The new Kalamazoo grill was installed in its outdoor cooking area, although he'd spent more time studying cooking techniques than actually experimenting with it.

He'd deal with that particular project another time.

For now, Manhattan needed a genetically enhanced lunatic.

Jason entered the garage, where his white Audi A8 L stood beside the Nissan 370Z. He chose the Audi, settled into the comfortable leather driver's seat, and started the engine. "Alright, Alex Mercer," he murmured, clicking his seat belt into place. "Let's go pick you up and terrorize New York."

With that, Jason backed out of the garage and headed toward the nearest video game store, hoping to find a PC copy without having to drive all over Los Angeles.

...

Halfway to the game store, Jason remembered the expensive grill sitting on his rooftop and decided he was doing a terrible job of putting it to use. He'd spent much of the weekend studying cooking techniques, and the more he learned, the more interested he became in trying them himself. A good steak seemed like a sensible place to start.

At the next traffic light, Jason changed his destination to a shopping mall. He could pick up Prototype, buy some high-quality meat, and perhaps find a decent bottle of wine.

Twenty minutes later, he parked the Audi in the underground garage and took the escalator upstairs.

The game store was his first stop. A large promotional display for Prototype occupied the front window, with Alex Mercer standing against a ruined Manhattan skyline.

Jason headed straight to the PC section, found the last copy, and checked the system requirements.

"Score. Last copy on the rack, and I didn't even have to brave three different GameStops."

After paying, he placed the game inside his shopping bag and wandered toward the bookstore.

He'd been thinking about developing mobile games ever since the idea occurred to him while reviewing his finances. The smartphone comparisons he'd recently completed had only strengthened his interest. He knew touchscreen gaming was going to become enormous over the next few years. Games like Fruit Ninja and Candy Crush had made their developers fortunes in his previous life, and he could remember plenty of other successful concepts.

Unfortunately, remembering how a game worked was considerably easier than knowing how to build one.

Inside the bookstore, Jason found the computer section and began examining the shelves.

He picked up an introductory C++ programming guide, followed by a book covering algorithms and data structures. Another title explained the fundamentals of game development, including graphics, collision detection, and basic game physics.

He also found a book about developing iPhone applications using Objective-C.

"Alright, between these four, I should at least figure out how not to crash the phone," he murmured, adding it to the heavy stack in his arms.

His enhanced memory would certainly help with learning programming languages, although he suspected actually writing functional software would require plenty of practice.

He was examining another book when a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Are you cramming for a Caltech final I don't know about, or are you just trying to bench-press the computer science aisle?"

Jason turned and found Alex standing beside him. She wore jeans, a dark green top, and her usual glasses, with a canvas shopping bag hanging from her shoulder. A hardcover book rested against her chest.

"Depends," Jason replied, shifting the heavy stack in his arms. "Does the snark come free, or do I have to show a receipt first?"

Alex smiled before inspecting his selection. "C++? Algorithms? Objective-C? Since when are you interested in programming?"

"Since I realized the guys coding the games make way better money than the guys screaming at them on a microphone."

"Wait! Did they start monetization?"

"Not for me yet. Still grinding up the numbers. Right now, my biggest claim to fame is dropping a communications tower directly onto my own getaway truck on Mars."

Alex laughed, remembering he'd mentioned streaming Red Faction recently. She picked up his game-development book and examined the cover. "Okay, seriously. What's with the sudden coding obsession? What are you planning?"

"I want to develop a mobile game," Jason explained. "Touchscreen gaming is taking off fast, and we're barely scratching the surface of what those phones can do. I've got a couple of ideas that could do really well if I figure out how to build them."

Alex considered his explanation before looking through the other books he'd selected.

"Well, don't jump straight into game engines," she said, slipping into tutor mode as she flipped through his stack. "Start with basic command-line exercises. Get your syntax and logic loops down on small programs first, or you'll just end up burying yourself in spaghetti code."

"That's the plan. Crawl first, then figure out how to make things explode on a three-inch screen."

"Just don't assume reading the textbook means your code's going to compile on the first try," Alex warned, sliding the book back onto his pile. "One missing semicolon will ruin your entire afternoon. Trust me."

"Good to know. If I put my fist through a monitor over a missing semicolon, you'll be my first call." Jason glanced down at the hardcover tucked against her chest. "What about you? What's the haul today?"

Alex turned the cover toward him. It was a new 25th-anniversary edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. "I came in for this. My old paperback is basically held together with scotch tape at this point, and I've been wanting a nice hardcover edition for ages."

"Solid upgrade. It's been years since I read that one."

"Wait, really?" Alex looked genuinely surprised, her eyes lighting up behind her glasses. "Okay, prove it. Favorite part?"

"Definitely the Vogons vaporizing Earth for a hyperspace bypass. There's something weirdly relatable about the entire human race getting wiped out over a zoning permit," Jason replied.

Alex laughed. "Right? The universe is completely absurd, and everyone's just arguing over bureaucracy and looking for a decent cup of tea."

"Chaos defeated by sheer pedantry. No wonder you love it," He said.

"Hey, somebody in this town has to have taste." She eyed his towering stack of manuals again. "And apparently somebody else woke up today and decided to become Steve Wozniak."

Jason laughed as they started walking toward the registers. "Hey, I contain multitudes. Speaking of new hobbies, I'm also branching out into cooking. Had that new grill installed on the roof over the weekend."

"Oh, Haley told me," Alex said dryly. "Her exact words were that it looks like a spaceship had a baby with a steakhouse."

"Honestly? For Haley, that's terrifyingly accurate."

"Have you cooked anything on it yet?"

"Not yet. I'm heading into the market downstairs to pick up some thick ribeyes, though. Figured I'd start practicing with something simple."

Alex gave him an amused look. "Let me get this straight. You bought a commercial-grade outdoor kitchen, and your grand culinary debut is... seared meat?"

"Hey, getting a proper crust and a perfect medium-rare is a science. You of all people should respect the thermodynamics involved," Jason replied.

"Uh-huh. Well, once you're sure you won't give me carbon monoxide poisoning, I expect a sample."

"A sample? Please, you're getting a full three-course dinner. Just don't grade me on a curve."

They paid for their books, then continued toward the central escalators.

Alex checked her watch and frowned. She still had an hour before her cello lesson, which gave Jason an idea. He suggested grabbing something from the café near the escalators, and she agreed after making him promise they wouldn't lose track of time.

They found a small table overlooking the lower floor, ordered two lattes and a plate of pastries, and spent the next twenty minutes talking about everything from Jason's programming ambitions to Alex's upcoming lessons. By the time they finished, Alex was laughing at his suggestion that she should become his official game tester, provided she didn't write a ten-page report every time she discovered a bug.

Before leaving, Jason slipped an arm around Alex's waist and kissed her. She returned the kiss, resting one hand against his chest. 

"Call me tonight," Alex said, stepping back with a warm smile. "And try not to let Objective-C break your brain."

"No promises. Enjoy the book, beautiful."

After another quick kiss, Alex left, and Jason continued toward the gourmet market.

There, he purchased several thick ribeye steaks, two New York strips, fresh rosemary, thyme, garlic, and some good butter. He also selected a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon after asking the wine attendant for a recommendation.

With the meat packed in an insulated bag with ice, Jason returned to his Audi.