December 2011
1 post
November 2011
6 posts
Batman: Arkham City →
This feels more like my kind of game than Batmetroid did. I mean, I know there will be Metroid elements here as well, but it feels more open, less constricted. I know that may end up making it feel…
“The fundamental design of the game became ‘Here’s a stop sign in your gameplay, you can stop now and come back in a day, or you can keep on playing and it will cost you three bucks, or a buck, or ten bucks, or whatever it is,” he said.”Not just because it seems unsavoury and I think people will burn out on it, but once you go down that road and start designing the...
bricked →
My son has totally been sucked in by Lego Star Wars, so we’re doing that. I’ve been sick this week (possibly related?), so I’ve been going to bed early. My gaming week has been LSW only. Seriously,…
September 2011
1 post
Mister is so old-school, he makes old-school look... →
Stake Land: Superb. I see the various things people will say it has borrowed: Young boy narrator being led by a worldly but broken mentor (Zombieland), fast but unintelligent cannibals (28 Days…
August 2011
2 posts
two movies →
Sucker Punch (Japanese title: Angel Wars)
What an entirely pointless movie this is. It’s a lush love letter to glorified decay, but Zack Snyder is better off pursuing adapting the work of better…
July 2011
4 posts
The Caretaker - some interestingly haunting soundscapes crafted from 78 rpm records. Thanks to The Other Michael.
Sure, there are tons of young people out there who want to work in gaming, but trotting that argument out whenever people complain about working conditions is not just cynical and nasty - it also shows a pretty tenuous grip on reality. Yes, you could continually burn out your staff and replace them with fresh, naive graduates. Yes, in the process you’d conveniently replace people asking for...
But this isn’t the first time Sanchez has taken a UFC video game and used it for all it’s worth, as the submission specialist whose last two brawls were voted “Fight of the Night” actually uses THQ’s “UFC Undisputed” franchise to help him visualize his fights before heading out into the octagon for real.
“When the first UFC game came out (“UFC...
Trenched! It’s a Good Time: Trouble Thinking: “The past three games before Trenched took place in a turn of the century world of stacking dolls, a suburban neighborhood on Halloween, and a heavy metal album cover. I wish more developers would try some new things with setting. I can understand being conservative with gameplay, it’s hard to QA and a big gamble. But I refuse to believe it’s that big...
May 2011
7 posts
a joke →
Three old men are talking about their aches, pains and bodily dysfunctions.
One 75-year-old man says, “I have this problem. I wake up every morning at 7 a.m. and it takes me 20 minutes to pee.”
An…
The visuals in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus are a return to form for Terry Gilliam. The establishing shots of unusual landscapes, particularly the deserts and mountains, but most especially the monastery, were magnificent on the level of Darnkness’ tower from Time Bandits. The contrast and saturation, vertical pans to expose and enforce the cheated perspective, the details layered so...
Obama Urges Obama To Back Immediate Budget Cuts. Newt Gingrich Releases US Diplomat At 67. Mexico’s Slim Ups For Likely White House Bid. Report: Lockerbie Bomber Had Whooping Cough Last Year, CDC Says. Tiny Spy Planes Could Push Drive For Online Video.Libya Expose Risks Of Fame. UN: Libyan Refugee ‘Crisis’ Agrees To E-sale Model Apple Requires. Gadhafi Forces Bomb Rebel-held Town...
Shit My Students Write: In conclusion, TMI. →
shitmystudentswrite:
Like I said in the introduction, Planned Parenthood has affected me directly. Knowing from doctors telling me in the past and friends encouraging me, I knew after I lost my virginity I should go in for an annual. I scheduled at the campus clinic and the test results came back fine and I went on…
“Gamification is also being used in corporate contexts, where employees can earn points for dealing with boring tasks such as updating documentation. Gartner even claims that more than 50 per cent of organisations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes by 2015.
Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but I thought that doing your job actually involved doing your job, and there was...
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } cherry blossoms, originally uploaded by chronovore.
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Batzanne, originally uploaded by Suzanna.
April 2011
8 posts
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last week urged Kan’s government to at least double a sales tax to 10 percent and to implement increases as soon as possible. Japan’s total public debt will reach 204 percent of gross domestic product this year, according to the OECD, the highest level among nations tracked by the group.
Japan maintains its credit grade for now because of...
THE GAGA SAGA « AL'S BLOG →
Darn it to heck.
Glitch developer Tiny Speck raises $11m. I’ve been interested in The Game Neverending since I first heard about it. Some time later, I learned that it was transitioned into what became Flickr. Tiny Speck are some of the people from the Flickr team; that GNE project was a multiplayer online game where items were shared. One of the things people could share was photos, and that portioned...
allergies →
I’m a poster boy for hay fever today: red, sticky, itchy eyes; runny nose; itchy throat; and for the first time ever, ringing ears. Seriously, what is with this? Apparently we just shifted into
March 2011
6 posts
le saboteur →
So, this is another one of those games which stops just short of being INSANELY AWESOME. Executive summary: Open World Game in which you’re a Resistance operative in Nazi-occupied Paris. …
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 東日本大地震支援チャリティー, originally uploaded by maggot.
quake →
Hi! We’re all fine; Osaka was shaking but largely undamaged. We’re also in a wide bay with no direct ocean line of approach, so no tsunami here. The northeastern part of Japan is in some truly dire…
December 2010
2 posts
regarding the "currently listening to" field →
The guy in the song Lips of an Angel is a dick. How did this song become popular? Is it that common to talk to your ex secretively on the phone, to want to go back into an unhealthy relationship…
well kinect'd →
Work got a Kinect for the shared area xbox. I played some Kinect Adventures! during lunch. It’s definitely something that would make a party more fun; it’s weirdly magical, the way that the Avatar…
September 2009
22 posts
seen on /. →
Slashdot IT Story | Bad PC Sales Staff Exposed:Q: What’s the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman? A: The used car salesman knows when he is lying.
YOU WILL BE BAKED. AND THEN THERE WILL BE CAKE. →
Like the cake in Portal, Microsoft Office Excel 2007’s “Compatibility Mode” is a lie.
a good weekend; kids still champs →
Interesting weekend for me: even with the wife away on a business trip, the kids were both largely angelic… but I worked hard to make it easy for them. Saturday I made breakfast for them; the boy…
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } ahiru2, originally uploaded by andrew_alfonso.
bugs →
So it’s 03:15, and I’ve spent the last 2.5 hrs. hunting what turned out to be four blood-filled mosquitoes. They were lucky, then they were really unlucky. If they’d just snack and be on their way,…
COFFEE! →
Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend: OM-f’ing-G this is good coffee. First sip shot my eyebrows back with such force that my hairline has receded further.
Slashdot Technology Story | Nissan Gives Electric Cars Blade Runner Audio Effect: ‘A campaign backed by automakers and some lawmakers to make electric or hybrid cars noisier in a bid to increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists has taken a strange, Blade Runner-type twist. Nissan sound engineers have announced that the Leaf electric car set for release next year will emit a...
ASCAP desperate, reaching at straws →
CNET News: Music publishers: iTunes not paying fair share (via /.):Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other…
“(818): I cant believe that bitch gave me herpes. she said those bumps were just...”
– texts from last night - schadenfreude lulz galore
Hey, The Steve, where's my complimentary Genius... →
Apple could make a bajillion more dollars on iTunes Music Store by putting a “jump to store” button next to the artist name on the iPod Touch and iPhone’s Now Playing screen. This button exists in…
huh? does Tim Powers know about this? →
D23 lures Disney fans - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety:Disney also used the confab to unveil Double Dare You as a toon production label with Guillermo del Toro to produce scarier…
how to do a sunday properly →
Excellent day yesterday. My wife’s students from last year have been long-promised a BBQ party at our house for all-hands passing the national nursing exam. So we planned the weekend around it;…