Gaming
The early Hominidae who walked the earth fifteen million years ago, our first ancestors to deviate from the family of lesser apes called the Gibbons (Hylobatidae), did not traverse the oceans or fly. But we could walk before we could reason; and more to the point, we could also run.
When I was a child I harboured a secret from the world. It concerned the places I couldn’t see, but knew of in a way that didn’t really avail itself of words. I am talking about indistinct realities. But then again that doesn’t really do them justice. They are not simply indistinct, or emotional; they are, properly speaking, beyond.
One of the most famous images imparted by the ancients to posterity is that of the eternal Sisyphus rolling a boulder up a hill without rest. The conclusion of the parable is well known: steps away from the summit, Sisyphus, through some fated contrivance of the Gods, loses his hold and sends the boulder tumbling back to its nadir. He sighs heavily, and Sispyhus returns to begin his task again, bearing a symbolic weight far in excess of the load he is forced to push. Sisyphus earned his punishment by defying the Gods (and specifically Hades), and his lesson is clear: by the work of day you will find yourself rewarded — or punished — in the longish night of death.
It’s no secret how the Japanese operate; constant, steady improvement is preferable to innovation, and ultimately everyone is a beneficiary.
I am writing principally to inform you, Mr. S_____, that your proficiency in the ascendancy of various and differential rock formations is highly desirous to us, particularly with regard to the area of, ahem, "human resources" and, ahem, the betterment of certain of our... "assets". You see, my agency conducts business of an occasionally clandestine nature...
The sad, twelve-year legacy of Duke Nukem Forever's perpetual development cycle finally came to an end last May. Fans everywhere will doubtlessly continue to pray for this game's delivery, but if such a thing ever does come to pass, it will not be at the hands of 3D Realms. Read the following article from Wired for an object lesson in too much success, and the pitfalls of perfectionism. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/
In real live news today, an Australian mother called the police after her son refused to stop playing grand Theft Auto 4. Apparently the cops arrived around 4 am and told both the child and parent to chill out and go to bed. If my mother had her way, more than thirty minutes of screens would be a felony. But have courage little man! One day you will have your own apartment, television, and disposable income, and NOT EVEN THE POLICE will be able to stop you from playing GTA4 at 2:30 AM.
AN OPEN LETTER TO SANTA, FROM THERESA AND THE DWELLERS OF VAULT 13 Dear Santa, Let me start by telling you that the dwellers of Vault 13 are dissapointed. We don't have many chances to celebrate down here, and pretty much our only two holidays are Christmas and Halloween. The latter has been getting progressively worse since we ran out of booze, and the only thing people can think to dress up as is mutants. Headless mutants, giant mutants, major chest wound mutants ... except of course for Lyle, who still thinks it's funny to dress in drag and hit on me. So you can understand why Christmas means alot to us.
Increasingly, videogames are striving to imitate the unexplored worlds of human imagination — from barely-probed ocean depths to the stalward nebulae and distant stars of space simulations. The accuracy of recent attempts, however, is remained as far from the mark asd early scifi pulp magazines. More often than not, the ocean depths and voids of space are filled with life, pirates, battles, and immidiacy — immitations that do not depict the true nature of these depths: cold, lonely, enormous and terribly hostile. It's hard to communicate the experience of deep sea diving, or to imagine space flight. A few haunting releases — like Wholfin's video of an underwater squid birth — offer us clues.
Every so often I encounter a game that, in expressing beautiful art direction, stunning animation, and gorgeous visuals, comes across more as a cinematic and visual experience than as a gaming one. The latest release from Damp Gnat, Icycle, does precisely this. The game's premise is delightfully simple: the world has entered an ice age, and you alone inhabit it. You have nothing else to do but ride your bicycle in search of a friend.
The Onion strikes again! As we have all long suspected, violent videogames might not be giving our children the skills that they need to survive the coming apocalypse. Hilarious. Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children for the Apocalypse?
Movie poster-inspiring name aside, Captain Forever is a classic 2-d shooter (imagine asteroids) with a twist. All of the ships in the game are built from a simple set of modular blocks, like Lego or the International Space Station. if a ship's command module is destroyed before all of its modules are trashed, the surviving pieces crumble into space, and can be picked up and added to your own.
