Wired 14.03: The Great Escape:
I so very much want to play this. Especially in some sort of beekeeper reunion. Unfortunately the game seems more focused on individual achievement.
I know it goes against the you-against-the-world atmosphere for the game and the general gamer ethos, but I just like cooperative play much more. I think they should have at least parallel tasks and then allow you to see your teammates on those ubiquitous plot-moving plasmas.
One of the greatest games ever was the LucasArts title Sam and Max. Over the years the duo have found their way into a variety of media, including a saturday morning TV cartoon. Now, for the new serial video game picked up (yay) after Lucasarts killed their sequel Sam and Max literally return from the dead in an interactive Comic. The first two pages are up. Be sure to mouse over the image to read it.
Happy boring Friday.
Nobel Intent: Constructing neural networks using neurons:
The neurons were suspended in a liquid and connected to a grid of electrodes to form a “live computation device”—that is, a brain. Over the course of 8 hours, the neurons extended connections to other neurons to form their network, after starting out like single grains of sand.
The researchers used electrodes to stimulate and measure the pathways, allowing them to study neuronal information processing, transformation, and retrieval. The project culminated in attaching the “live computation device” to an F-22 simulator, where it successfully controlled the flight path, even in hurricane-strength winds.
Microsoft encourages employees to run their own blogs to counter the kind of negative blogging “Scoble” did. But, the problem is they are not always good at it. How, exactly, is being told that your purchase is just assumed so we don’t care about you helpful to anyone? It’s discouraging to future customers; it’s showing current disgruntled customers that not wanting their console is the only thing Microsoft will hear; it makes grunted current customers wonder why they aren’t disgruntled.
And while we get the sincere sorrow of the problems a constrained supply causes, every XBL gamer badge on the website of everyone even remotely connected to Microsoft shows where their priorities are.
The funny thing is, before I read this entry I didn’t much care. Demand outstripped supply – maybe intentionally, but I doubt it. But now, their mistakes choices are shown in a numbered list. I was specifically considered and left by the wayside. All of the reasons why just reinforce how deliberate it was. Explaining that it was the best move for the shareholders does not soothe the wound they made then aggravated one bit. Now, it’s annoying. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
It’s World AIDS Day and Doctors without borders made this Katamari-inspired ad.
Uwe Boll is something of a whipping boy for the video gamer culture. Movie after movie transforms video game stories and characters into god-awfull movies. For this, he is hated and feared by GND with sore thumbs. Personally, I’m not that bothered by him. Two reasons:
Still, some random web site has come up with a theory of why his movies suck as much as they do. And, using reasoning I have not seen for nearly two full semesters now, it’s primarily based on tax law.
On a related note the Clone Wars Cartoon Series will be out on DVD soon. Yay. Please, stay home and watch that instead of Ep. III. Send a message.
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