Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
I am totally in agreement with Sarcastic Gamer over the Microsoft Surface (called so, I’m assuming, because it takes up more surface area than more of your standard sized furniture), a interactive table of sorts that Microsoft is toting as the coolest thing since sliced bread, only bigger.
Now, I’m not saying that it doesn’t do some REALLY cool stuff, it certainly does, but the personal electronics gig is all about downsizing and portable-izing gadgets and gizmos…so why the super sized fries here? Below is a Sarcastic Gamer parody that will have you in stitches.
vThe latest video from the Little Big Planet crew, done in a Croc Hunter style species profile, gives a pretty good look at what gamers might encounter in the highly anticipated game. Looks phenomenal.
I had to actually check the publish date on this post at Sarcastic Gamer to make sure that it wasn’t Friday, a day when they regularly ply outright lies masquerading as genuine gaming news, both because they’re sick bastards and because it’s fun to see how far plonk will circulate on the internets.
But no, it was posted today.
You can now live your virtual dream of becoming *drumroll* a DQ Tycoon. Oh yes, the peanut buster parfait, the simple chocolate dipped cone, the endless franchising opportunities, all this can be yours thanks to GameMill Entertainment and Sparkplug Games. Expect to:
Dairy Queen Tycoon will be one of the first time management games to have a strong brand behind it on the PC. Throughout the game, players will create Blizzard® treats, dip Dilly® Bars, and decorate the popular DQ Cakes. After hours, the player will manage the operation of up to four DQ stores, upgrading machines, managing staff, and keeping business running smoothly.
Erm…okay. I guess it’s like Papa’s Pizzeria, but with icecream?
We love Spore. Everyone loves Spore. From Will Wright fanatics to Sporenographers…it is the game to watch for at the moment. It’s like the golden child of the gaming industry, that coming beacon that shall light the path out of the old, tired paradigms and into….you get the picture.
All is not rosy in the Spore community at the moment, despite its usually god-like positioning. Apparently someone got wind of a chunk of digital rights management (DRM) software that does a little more than many gamers are comfortable with. Called SecuROM, the code blocks people from installing the game more than three times, in an effort to curb the tear and share phenomenon of software piracy. Most people are cool with this. Sure some people are bringing up all kinds of inane circumstances that might force you to HAVE to install the game over three times, but most recognize the anti-piracy efforts and have graciously accepted.
What people (particularly at Amazon.com)don’t seem to like, however, is that it also sends data packets back to the company, causes all kinds of software and hardware problems and is an absolute beast to try to uninstall. Some of the biggest Spore fans out there are calling for a boycott of this, and other EA published games featuring what gamer advocates are labelling “malware“, software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent.
Some things just below together, no matter how odd the pairing might seem at the outset.
Not that I mean to overdose on the Flickr apps, but I’ve been uploading and editing photos all day, digging around in the API, and when you’re that immersed in something, you’re bound to come across some neat apps built by other, similarly mesmerized, people.
So if you’re the type who things the standard slideshow is way too boring, and you’re also old enough to remember the visceral pleasures of Wolfenstein 3D, then your day has finally arrived. A fellow API explorer has made it possible for you to run around the 3D maze from Wolfenstein, looking at your Flickr pictures on the walls.
Dubbed “WolfenFlickr“, it’s a little bizarre and random to be sure, but also a great mash-up nonetheless, blending old school with modern trends.
Just in case you’re not addicted enough to your computer, I thought I would pass along dangerous combo of two of the most soul-swallowing creatures out there: Flickr + Sudoku.
This handy dandy procrastination site allows you to search for any picture tags you like, meaning that you can play mix and match with any subsection of the Flickr universe you’d like. Like video games. Or cheese. Whatever floats your boat. You can register and save your game, making for quick escapes from snoopy bosses.
Just don’t expect to interact with your friends and family for a very long time…it’s near impossible to stop playing.
Written by experienced game designer Pascal Luban, there’s a very interesting article over at Gamasutra called “The Megatrends of Game Design”. The purpose of this series of articles isn’t speculation or hypothesis, but rather a look at some of the strongest trends in game design that are currently manifest in the industry. P art I has been published, and details three Megatrends, their driving forces, and their effect on the market. I highly recommend that you read the full article, which is insightful, interesting and very clearly written. But, for a quick snapshot:
Megatrend I - The necessity of increasing the commerial life span of games. Why? Devs need to recoup escalating development costs. How? Multiplayer gaming, downloadable content, merchandising, and online distribution are all methods used by companies to stretch the buzz of a game’s release and do better than break even.
Megatrend II - The emergence of fast gaming, and games relying on micropayments. What? Casual games, mobile games, games for instant gratification and not much investment on the part of the gamer.
Megatrend III - Increasingly believable universes. A direct cause of the “why” in megatrend 1, in my opinion. Luban outlines the development of outdoor environments, real-time impact of atmospheric effects, automatic integration of character animation with the environment and completely interactive environments as as components of this overall trend.
An ex-Nintendo executive, the always out-spoken Perrin Kaplan (former VP Marketing & Corporate Affairs) split at the end of 2007 and recently announced the formation of her own apparently marketing-oriented company: Zebra Partners.
In a recent panel discussion at PAX 2008, in which she was participating in a discussion about sex and violence in video games, she had one of the most quotable gaming quotes to emerge for a long time:
Parents who use video games as a babysitter shouldn’t have sex to begin with.
Ah I love the smell of social responsibility in the morning…
THQ and Volition, the publisher-developer team behind the controversial Saints Row games, have announced a very special Collector’s Edition for Xbox 360 owners interested in getting their game on and showing off their faux thug aspirations.
Now you too can buy the game in a box with a thrilling gun motif, a limited edition art book and even, oh dare I say it, a free USB key shaped like a golden bullet. But that’s not all! You also get a map of lovely Stilwater (handy for marking your turf as you rise through the ranks, and a sexah shot of a woman blowing smoke away from the barrel of her hubby’s gun.
Keep an eye out on October 17th for retail and online available. Gee, you know, I can hardly wait.
Nothing shocks me anymore. I realized that while reading this story and thinking, “Well yes. That makes perfect sense.”
Apparently, a twelve-year-old Norweigian boy put his World of Warcraft skills to the test when he and his sister accidentally angered a local moose. The boy dug deep and came up with some survival skills learned from his years in Azeroth.
He distracted the moose away from his sister and then cast feign death, “just like you learn at level 30 in World of Warcraft.” And it seems the moose was like, “Wow, I’m getting good at killing things by merely looking at them,” because both boy and girl survived the encounter with nary a scratch.
From gadgets to gizmos, whether you do Windows, Linux, XBox, Playstation or Wii, old school hacker, lEE7 and n00b unite here on the Tech channel. We've got your back.
Nothing shocks me anymore. I realized that while reading this story and thinking, “Well yes. That makes perfect sense.”
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