October 31, 2005
Gamasutra: 'Postcard From SGS 2005: Wargaming Science' (My first SGS write-up - some interesting perspectives.)
Gamasutra: 'Playing Catch-Up: Infocom's Steve Meretzky' (Documenting a quirky and very worthwhile career in games.)
Gamasutra: 'Postcard From SGS 2005: What's So Serious About Game Design?' (Other half of the keynote - good practical tips for serious gaming participants.)
October 30, 2005
Off to Serious Games Summit in Washington DC (Updates may be a bit light through midweek.)
DavesWorld: 'Julian Rignall Talks To GamesAnimal' (A UK consumer gaming press legend updates us - via RamRaider.)
Gorillaz - 'Dirty Harry' music video (There's also info on their Manchester live dates - vidlink via PJ.)
Official SF-based Sony Bravia advert with 250,000 bouncing balls (I kinda want a new TV now - damn you, Sony. Via everyone.)
Popjustice interviews new Madonna album producer Stuart Price (His Les Rhythmes Digitales material was always pop-ace - this bodes well.)
LJ Scans Daily: 'Mickey Mouse and Goofy explore Energy Conservation' (That Goofy is such an energy hog.)
Yahoo! News Photos: San Diego Zoo's 12-week panda cub (There's a massive slideshow on Yahoo! for the adorably inclined.)
Rummage Through The Crevices: 'Geeky Dan & The History Of Electronic Music' (A good return for a neat esoteric-music blog.)
October 29, 2005
Google Sightseeing: 'Icelandic Ice' (Even in pixelated form, Iceland is seriously beautiful.)
1UP's NES Week series of articles (All awesome, though I like Kohler's obscure merchandise trawl the best.)
Gamasutra: 'Postcard From Austin: MMO Rant' (The ever-popular 'rant' lecture gets another airing.)
Namakoteam: Jiji looks at Square Enix's Unlimited SaGa (Some good commentary on a (rightly?) overlooked game.)
'Cassette Jam '05' cassette picture collection (Heck - that's a lot of nostalgia to deal with in one sitting - via Rolemodel.)
Archive.org: 'Coughs and Sneezes' British PD government film (Actually scary, though probably not meant to be that chilling.)
Gamedaily: 'The Time has come for Women in Power' (With amusing correction that defeats point of article, and borderline fatuous in the first place.)
Yahoo! Music Engine recommendation: Bloc Party - 'Silent Alarm Remixed' (Click if you subscribe to YME, try samples if not - great band, great adapters - the M83 remix of 'The Pioneers' is a particular highlight.)
Gamasutra: 'Postcard from Austin: Game Writers Conference Wrap-Up' (Sounds like a really good conf, part of AGC.)
Jason Forrest - 'War Photographer' music video [.MOV] (More info on the artist on the Cockrockdisco news page - cartoon viking guitar duelists++.)
BBC News: 'Online gamers unmasked' (Gamers and their avatars, here's the full article - via Wonderland.)
October 28, 2005
Yahoo!/AP: 'George Takei Discloses His Homosexuality' ('Boldly coming out of the closet' headlines sure to abound. [EDIT: kerching!.])
My Animal Crossing: 'Dog Fire' (Horrific Nintendogs pastiching from the UKR chaps, also see earlier. So wrong.)
PSVRatings/FamilyMediaGuide on High Moon's 'Darkwatch' ('Breaking and entering. Abuse of a corpse. Vomiting.' Sounds like a recommendation.)
TV DVD recommendation: Reeves and Mortimer's 'Catterick' (Surreally, bizarrely gurnworthy - here's a good interview, there's a Region 2 DVD.)
Eurogamer gives Shadow of the Colossus 10 out of 10 (I get it, I just don't want to play it - this makes me a Philistine.)
Gamasutra: 'Postcard From Austin: 'The Economics Of MMOs'' ('Turbine's Anderson described what he called “the Ultima Online hangover,” and suggested that it did not result in good examples of how to price MMOs.')
Draco interviews Monotonik net.label musician S.T. (The excellent idm musician gets some quizzing.)
EW Popwatch: 'How to endure 'Lost' withdrawal' (By watching Starz in Black, apparently.)
Mike Luckovich's cartoon: 'The 2,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq' (Luckovich is a top editorial cartoonist - this is nothing if not thought-provoking.)
'Back Dorm Boys' video - apparently the new Numa Numa (Lipsyncing never gets old - via everyone, BoingBoing has more info.)
Flickr photo set for the Internet Archive reception for the Open Content Alliance (Shame I missed this - oo, look, it's Don Knuth, among many digerati.)
Gamasutra: 'Game Law: A Case for Flexible Milestone Deliverables' (Some good advice on a major developer problem from Tom Buscaglia.)
October 27, 2005
Gamasutra: 'How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days' (Totally great article from the Experimental Gameplay Project folks.)
1UP: '13 Years Of Treasure: A Retrospective' (This is ubergeeky, but rather wonderful. 1UP++)
Slashdot: 'Blizzard made me change my name' (CmdrTaco apparently not en vogue in fantasy nomenclature.)
IC: 'Every Extend Extra's website opens' (Mmm, Mizuguchi PSP dojin goodness still warm and fuzzy.)
1UP: 'GTA: Liberty City Stories' PSP reader review (I've seen nothing better personifying the Internet.)
PR: 'MSN Search Announces MSN Book Search' (They're paying for the Internet Archive to digitize 150,000 out of copyright books, woo!)
Gamasutra: 'Gizmondo Executives Resign Following Financial Controversy' (Not surprising, I think I've been one of the more vociferous of the press regarding this story.)
OpenLibrary.org opens - Internet Archive & Open Content Alliance's PD library (Here's an explanatory book - great stuff.)
NaSoAlMo: National Solo Album Month (Douglas Wolk starts up his month-of-music project again.)
ARGN: 'Last Call Poker: A Full House?' (4orty 2wo's ARG for 'Gun' continues to look good.)
Small-Scale has videos and pics of International Chiptune Resistance show (6 hours of Game Boy sounds would make my head all pixel-y.)
Nintendogging.com ('The act of meeting strangers to swap Nintendogs data.' The UKR guys meta-spoof 'toothing' beautifully - check the message board.)
October 26, 2005
Canadian Delicacies: Miss Vickie's Lime & Black Pepper potato chips (Lee's Deli in SF has these for lunch now - extreeeeemely nice.)
Ram Raider finishes the Top 10 “Celebrity” Games Journalists (Very UK-centric and gossipy, but hey, I'm an enthralled bystander.)
Flickr: 2005 RPS World Championships slideshow (Certainly some mad skillz in effect here.)
MTV UK: Gorillaz holograms to play at MTV Europe Music Awards (Gorillaz are so future. Also, I like the singles on the second album more, now.)
The Escapist: 'Serious Cro' (A fun look at Croteam from Monsieur Varney.)
Business Week on 'Indie Innovation Influx' (Greg Costikyan getting good publicity for Manifesto, already.)
Yahoo! Music Engine recommendation: Boards Of Canada - 'The Campfire Headphase' (Click if you subscribe to YME, try samples if not - ubercult Warp Records idm recluses re-appear.)
'That Cloud Game' official website (Includes playable demo, latest student title from the Dyadin chaps at USC.)
GAF: 'Gizmondo's founders have record of counterfeiting, blackmail' (Actually Gizmondo Europe's Swedish contingent, but nonetheless... interesting.)
Archive.org: Troupe - Crepuscular [BKTR004] (Roundly slept on, and should not have been - glimmering CC-licensed idm! )
Gawker: 'Al and Wilma: A Gawker Flipbook' (One imagines The Daily Show will be all over this.)
Clickable Culture: 'Second Life' World Bombed, Restored (Vandals vandals everywhere...)
October 25, 2005
Derek Yu: 'Shigeru Miyamoto Saves The Day' cartoon (Nice - Derek is hopefully doing the next GDMag cover for us (not about Nintendo, though!))
Wired News: 'The End Of The Affair' (I just stop playing things, too - good piece.)
Game Informer: Microsoft, 4orty Two collaborating on 'Hex168' site. (Haven't heard much about the site, so far.)
Slashdot: John Carmack comments on the Doom movie ('No, it isn't an oscar movie, but it definitely isn't Super Mario Brothers / Street Fighter / Double Dragon.' Via Blue's.)
Gamasutra: 'Playing Catch-Up: Sensible Software's Jon Hare' (In which Mr. Hare sets the record straight about Sensi's life and death.)
'Bill Viola's Night Journey' art-game ('One can visualize this project as the first giant 3-dimensional book.' Muh brain hurts.)
'Torn Stars' mod for Independence War 2 released (Wow, epic space fun, after I-War 2 is largely dead and gone - interesting - via QT3.)
Only A Game: 'First Look: Fireball' (An intriguing-looking puzzle game design from Chris Bateman.)
Gamasutra: 'Game Developer Announces 'Top 20 Publishers' Results' (EA and Activision doing rather well, there.)
Nintendogs.com: Tricks 'N Treats Weekend @ GameStop (Stop by to get a virtual item and, wait for it, a message from Haylie Duff. Hurrah.)
Yahoo! Music Engine recommendation: 'Money Mark - Demo? Or Demolition?' (Click if you subscribe to YME, try samples if not - more summery pop from the Beasties' collaborator/carpenter.)
Archive.org: 'Open Educational Resources' beta (Multiple, freely available college courses & videos - knowledge++.)
October 24, 2005
GameTap adds DOS Infocom, Commodore 64 Codemasters titles (No 'new titles' tab, but new stuff includes Zork I-III, Planetfall, Suspended from Infocom, Terra Cognita and Slightly Magic from Codemasters - since they must have the Commodore hardware license now, more C64/Amiga stuff to come?)
Dumb Distraction reviews the Quentin Tarantino filmfest in Austin (QT is the ultimate film geek, and most of this stuff is _still_ off the radar in this 500-channel world - see day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6, day 7, day 8, day 9.)
eBay: Original promo box for Conker's Bad Fur Day on N64 (The retailer box is cute - 'Guaranteed to cause mad squirrel disease'.)
ThinkGeek: 'Gwins' toys (Designer toys meet Tux the penguin, semi-implausibly - lots of variants.)
Newsweek on Aaron McGruder's Cartoon Network-ized 'Boondocks' (Man, this is gonna be interesting - via Robotwisdom.)
Muppet Newsflash: Hensons doing 'Francis' with real-time manipulated CG puppets (Nintendo used similar tech at E3 2003 on their booth - smart.)
Archive.org: 'Carmageddon data-bending experiments' ('The player car is mutated into a jagged mass of mangled polygons.' Fun!)
Klay World: Off The Table DVD trailer [.WMV] (There's more info on Newgrounds - more fun super-indie media, hurrah for media democratization. Oh, and the Newgrounds/The Behemoth organizers who help facilitate publicity for media like this got their own office, even.)
October 23, 2005
disasterPEACE's 'The Chronicles of Jammage the Jam Mage' album (A neat imagined NES game soundtrack.)
UK Guardian: 'What's in a game?' (More intelligent game advocacy from Steven Johnson.)
CNN SI: 'Man requests longer prison term to honor Larry Bird' ('Eric James Torpy wanted his prison term to match Bird's jersey number 33.' Via Fortean Times.)
Yahoo! Photos - National Hurricane Center runs out of hurricane letters (I really love the retro lettering on the board.)
Newgrounds: 'Lost Rhapsody' .SWF movie (Very, very silly Weird Al vs. 'Lost' barely-animated video - via everyone.)
Yahoo!/AP: ''Calvin and Hobbes' Creator Keeps Privacy' (Or: the AP stalks Bill Watterson rather unsuccessfully.)
Insert Credit points out Xbox 360 'Tetris The Grand Master' details (The Japanese arcade version goes to X360 - Western release soon?)
Improbable Research on 'cell phones in the classroom' (Some question about who is zoomin' who, here.)
Mojave Airport Weblog: 'Friday's Take-offs' (Worth it for the sublime jetwash picture.)
October 22, 2005
UK Guardian interviews Bill Murray (Oddly melancholic - via RobotWisdom.)
Zatz Not Funny: TiVo/Netflix deal to download movie rental seems dead ('No work going on'? Doh. Via PVRBlog.)
Jinjur points to a National Geographic African webcam ('We've seen elephants, zebras, steenbocks, hyenas, a jackal, an ostrich, and loads of other birds.')
Gamasutra: 'Gearing Up for Next-Gen: Cliff Bleszinski Chats About The Epic Future' (And Lunar made him cry, aw.)
Game Informer Online: 'Rock on Harmonix: The Daniel Sussman Interview' (Really good retrospective of Harmonix's output and style.)
NCSX on Sony Japan's 'Mawaza' puzzler (Psychedelic triangle light line puzzle action? Hope this gets a Western release.)
Yahoo! Music Engine recommendation: Solid Steel present DJ Kentaro (Click if you subscribe to YME, try samples if not - again, YME has lousy tracklistings for comps, but here's correct info - a great Japanese scratch+cut Ninja Tune retrospective.)
Archive.org: 'The Jonestown Death Tape (FBI No. Q 042)' (Disturbing, but hey, it's the Internet.)
MSNBC Games: 'For The Fanboys' ("'Super Mario Bros.' tanked among filmgoers, the bong-and-waffles set excluding." Also Bob Hoskins' mom!)
Nullsleep, Bit Shifter slung in jail for flyering their chiptune show (Includes shocking phonecam cell snapshots!)
October 21, 2005
Shifted Librarian announces Games, Learning, and Libraries Symposium (Good, progressive, delightful stuff.)
Jason Scott announces 'Get Lamp' text adventure documentary (Oh yes - here's the official site, mightily looking forward to this.)
Gamasutra: 'Event Wrap Up - State Of Play III' (Law and virtual worlds makes my brain hurt, in a good way.)
Gamestudy.org: English-language blog on Korean gaming issues (Korea is fascinating, and doesn't get covered nearly enough in the West.)
Insert Credit on Final Fantasy X model viewer (Hey, that's clever!)
Game Informer goes hands-on with Gun (One of my most-awaited games of the year.)
Eurogamer: Gillen reviews First-Person Shooter Creator ('Here's one we made earlier'. Good idea to show off competence of all concerned.)
Gamasutra: 'Media Consumption: Electronic Arts' Neil Young' (Hey, I thought this week's Time was cool too.)
Reset931: Add your own custom Phoenix Wright lawyerly proclamation (Write what you want in the box, submit, and Phoenix works for you! Via Brandon.)
Gi.biz PR: 'Games magazine for pre-teen boys joins growing kids portfolio' ('Readers also have the chance to win their very own Dalek!' Also, so much cover-mounted tat that it's unbelievable.)
MTV: God Of War creator on movie version ('Kurt Loder would be, probably, the best Kratos.')
BBC: 'Gates cheers on computer museum' (Missed this announcement - congrats, CHM - they have a new computer chess exhibit, too.)
PR: 'AGEIA PhysX Technology to be Incorporated in ChessBase Game Engine for FRITZ 9' ('AGEIA PhysX technology helps us continue to offer the magic of chess in new ways for new generations of players.' Uh - _how_?)
October 20, 2005
LJ: Screenshots of Beta of uber-cute 'Yogurting' MMO (Here's more promo stuff - it's being taken from Korea to Japan by GungHo.)
Official website for 'Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution' book (The reviews so far make the book look interesting - also, there's a fun tourblog, and it's from the author of 1984's 'Defending The Galaxy' game uber-guide.)
UK Resistance: 'Massive Nintendo DS design flaw revealed' (Yeah, that is a pretty bad one.)
1UP: 'King of Kong' (Notable since it has Peter Jackson talking eloquently about picking the right game creator: 'You don't go to movies because they were made by Warner Bros. or Fox -- you go because of an actor or director.')
Archive.org: V.A. - L'Arbre d'un Train [BKTR007] (Great net.label idm compilation - plenty of highlights, the Troupe track is esp. lovely.)
Swann Galleries auction of 'The Christian Fechner Collection Of Magic' (Plenty of amazing posters of various kinds, plus books, ephemera for seminal conjurers.)
Datel haxxors Nintendogs with 'Dog Trainer' (Easy money for luring the would-be Barbara Woodhouse.)
New World Notes: Homeland Security-funded research project using Second Life (Welcome to The Matrix?)
JeanSnow: PlayStation Spot Bus (The PSP Wi-Fi demos are going on a Japanese road trip!)
Clickable Culture: ''Roam Search' Adds Maps of 'Second Life' World' (Virtual worlds getting pretty crazy analysis/search tools.)
Gamasutra: 'Wrap-Up: ESA's 'A Nite To Unite' Honors Lucas' (Some of the girls at my table went a bit funny when Anakin turned up.)
October 19, 2005
CMU's Experimental Gameplay Project is running again (One mini-game per week from multiple participants - v.neat.)
Leland Yee comments on Governator vetoing bill to 'protect nail salon customers' ('For the health and safety of all nail salon consumers, we need to do something to end these outbreaks.' Why couldn't this disagreement have happened with the game bill instead? Must have been Paula Abdul's fault.)
Lackluster.org - new Lackluster CD on New Speak Records (Check his recent MTK release, then support Esa and buy an album at his store - fine idm.)
GameSpot's 'The Warriors' Xbox review page ('We are unable to bring you a review of this game until after its release in stores because the publisher chose to work exclusively with other media outlets. GameSpot does not accept exclusive reviews and actively discourages publishers from brokering them.')
The Escapist: Trip Hawkins writes in re: last week's EA issue ('First, I will let history speak for itself in dismissing any charges that I don't care about quality.')
Reality Blurred: 'Donald Trump, Carolyn Kepcher wigs on sale' (Just in case you want to be The Donald's sidekick for Halloween.)
IC on Final Fantasy X remake for NES (Wow, this is ultrageeky - even a BlitzBall mini-game?)
Wikipedia on new Doctor Who spin-off series 'Torchwood' (The Series 1 box set is out soon in the UK - news of a spin-off is extra-wonderful.)
IGDA: Kieron Wilkinson re-kickstarts IGDA Preservation SIG (I'm sad that I didn't have time to do more with this - support his work!)
222b gets a Japanese RGB TV (For anyone who cares about insane pixel quality, apparently the way to go.)
October 18, 2005
Kikizo Games interviews Yuzo Koshiro (The UK boys at Kikizo certainly are oldskool Sega fans.)
Magazine.org: ASME's Top 40 Magazine Covers of the last 40 years (I recognize lots of these, oddly enough.)
ZeStuff: Katamari Damacy 'This Is How I Roll' unofficial shirt (There's a ladies' design, too - keeping up the one KD post per day minimum. Via Raj.)
Edge Online: 'FAQ: Yoshiki Okamoto' (He would have liked to work on GTA? Clearly he must be burned at the stake.)
Game-Science reveals Japanese Xbox 360 launch faceplates (Water Puzzle? Tangy!)
Eurogamer reviews Sony Europe's 'Buzz: The Music Quiz' (Bring this out in the States or I will scream, SCEA.)
Gamasutra: 'Playing Catch-Up: Sierra Founder Ken Williams' (Cruising the world in a yacht isn't so bad, then.)
Music Related real-life label signs Monotonik artist ST (Yay, totally great news, congrats Stefan - check his last Monotonik release to glory in his sound.)
Gamasutra: 'From Outsider To Elite: In Conversation With David Braben' (The Elite co-creator is a really nice guy, yay.)
GetGoatz.com: 'Extreme Platform Jumping School' (Possibly not unrelated to GameTap 'viral' shenanigans.)
October 17, 2005
LegalTorrents adds Revolution Void's 'Increase The Dosage' album (Go check it out - super-nice live jazz electronic material, CC-licensed.)
Touch & Go: Pinback - 'Fortress' music video (Neat animated clip with sketchy Norman warriors.)
QT3: 'F.E.A.R. of a PR flack planet' (Hiring John Carpenter just to say nice things about an unrelated game. Weird.)
Archive.org: 'Paul Alien' movie ('Paul Alien is the film that proves Seattle billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and the creator of Seattle's Science Fiction Museum, is collaborating with space aliens hell-bent on seizing control of earth.')
Expect Nothing: Lord Of The Rings in a World Of WarCraft raid stylee (Eminently silly. Via QT3.)
Private Eye: Funny Old World, Issue 1143 (Australian police discover that their dogs "are superb at sniffing out talcum powder, [but] still have no idea what cocaine smells like.")
Wonderland points to neeto new We Love Katamari print-ad (Not bored of the Damacy yet, we aren't.)
African Mail & Guardian: 'Magic watches 'protect from traffic'' ('The faithful among [Cambodia's] 95% Buddhist population have increasingly turned to religious charms to help stave off traffic accidents.' Via Fortean Times.)
October 16, 2005
Monotonik: Qeshi - 'The Eudemonic Homunculus' [mtk154] (New release on my net.label, an album of super-melodic Swedish idm goodness.)
TVShowsonDVD: Last of 'Rambo' animated series DVDs to be released (They will release every show ever made on DVD. This is proof.)
Zone-SF interviews Casshern's Kazuaka Kiriya (The CG-filled Japanese movie already has a cult following, tho it doesn't have a U.S. DVD release yet.)
Yahoo! Music Engine recommendation: Kirsty Hawkshaw's 'Meta-Message' (Click if you subscribe to YME, try samples if not - this review has a more correct tracklisting, a great summing up of the gorgeous Hawkshaw's recent musical collaborations.)
Namakoteam looks in detail at Fatal Frame II ('It's perhaps the first game since the original Silent Hill that's scared me nearly as much as that one did.')
GameDevBlog: Jamie Fristrom leaves Treyarch for mysterious pastures anew (Former Gamasutra columnist and Spider-Man game producer shifts focus.)
Clickable Culture notes that Robosapien creator Wow Wee licensed the Segway technology (That may mean I will care about their toys, hurrah.)
Yahoo!/AP: 'Q&A: Jeff Dowd Is the Real 'Lebowski'' ('A world of kidnapping, pornography and soiled rugs', indeed.)
Giantology: 'Tsunami giant causing a stir' (A little viral marketing for 'Shadow Of The Colossus', maybe? Snopes isn't quite sure yet.)
October 15, 2005
Yahoo!/AP: 'Penn & Teller Will Go 'Off the Deep End'' (New NBC special on Nov. 13 - no bullsh*t.)
Gamasutra: 'Microsoft Confirms Launch, Publishers For Xbox 360 Live Arcade' ("Capcom, Atari, Sega, Namco, Q Entertainment, SNK Playmore, Harmonix, Llamasoft, Konami, Electronic Arts, and Hudson Soft"? Wow.)
San Jose Museum of Art 'ArtCars FamilyFest' is tomorrow, Sat. 15th (For any Bay Area-ites - there were some very cool cars last time I went.)
Business Week: 'Indie Gamers Hit the Right Buttons' (Good article reported on at IndieGamesCon, which we wrapped up earlier this week.)
Amazon: Chris Kohler's 'Retro Gaming Hacks' now available (Spiritual sequel to my Gaming Hacks, gueststars a couple of hacks by me, even - I also note that Halo 2 Hacks, Half-Life 2 Hacks and PSP Hacks are imminent.)
BBC America's 'Anglophenia' blog (Good witty stuff, why can't I find an RSS feed, though?)
Sun's chief gaming officer Chris Melissinos isn't happy about Xbox 360 ('One of the most overblown, inconsistent and bizarre campaigns that has ever surrounded a game system launch.')
Gamasutra: 'Last Call Poker ARG Promotes Activision's Gun' (4orty 2wo's first big ARG since 'I Love Bees', and therefore well worth checking.)
TV Squad: 'Colbert's looking good' (The Colbert Report starts next Monday on Comedy Central - set your TiVo!)
Esquire: 'My Outsourced Life' (Article of the year. Via everybody.)
EW: New James Bond to be officially revealed tomorrow (Wow, didn't know it was so soon - I heard it was David Cross - UPDATE - it's Daniel Craig, innit?)
PR: Habbo Hotel connecting to N-Gage with 'Habbo Islands' (Shame N-Gage hardware is so clunky - the games look better and better. Via ClickCult.)
SF Weekly cover story on SF CG outfit Wild Brain (Oddly enough, I just picked up a hard copy at the train station - good article.)
October 14, 2005
NCSX gets the Taiko Drum Master hats in stock (Just make sure nobody whacks you on the bonce by mistake.)
Guardian Gamesblog: 'New Blood for the Next Generation' (Several of the games mentioned are going to be prominent in next year's IGF - I hope we can help get the word out.)
Kikizo Games interviews Tetsuya Mizuguchi (He looks like such a dreamboat in the title illustration. Not that I...)
Rockstar's webstore: 'Grand Theft Auto 3 Kubrick Box Set' (These are very cool. More merchandising here.)
AnimeonDVD reviews the U.S. version of the Kingdom Hearts manga (Here's the official page - this looks like fun.)
1UP: 'Gaming Rhapsody: Fifth Movement' (Nich's series finishes with a honkin' great Tim Follin reader mention. I dig.)
Game-Science: 'Katamari Damacy PSP Pouch campaign details' (Mm, I've always wanted a pouch like the King of the Cosmos.)
Archive.org: 'Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon' PD movie (Yum, the brilliant Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, plus bonus Nazis.)
Yahoo!/Billboard: Flaming Lips finally finish 'Christmas On Mars' movie (As featured in the 'Fearless Freaks' documentary, looks wonderfully unhinged.)
MMORPG.com: Win an MMO Beta-testing holiday to Amsterdam (I'm sure there are better things to do on holiday, but I can't think of any - via Wonderland.)
October 13, 2005
Whedonesque: Alyson Hannigan co-starring 'How I Met Your Mother' picked up for whole season (I actually enjoy this show, God help me.)
Gamasutra: ' Tokyo Game Show Conversations: Bandai's Makoto Iwai' (A good piece on what Namco and Bandai are doing in bed together, and why.)
Newsarama: Harvey Pekar's Playboy ad for 'The Quitter' (It's the reality TV of cartooning, or something.)
IC: 'Fire Pro Returns edits' (Wrestling game character generators are often pure gold, as in this case.)
LJ: Massive 3D 'Duck Hunt' model constructed (Oh Internet, how I love thee - via IC.)
GamersWithJobs: 'The Definition of a Gamer' (Do you have to be hardcore to be in the club?)
Eurogamer reviews 'Bone: Out From Boneville' (Shame this didn't quite turn out as promising as many hoped for.)
Future Snowboarding U.S. digital magazine version (Snowboarding - eh - but this is a darn cool digital magazine implementation.)
Yahoo!/Hollywood Reporter: 'Pegg briefed on 'Mission' sequel role' (The Cruise gets all Spaced.)
Insert Credit: 'al|together visual novel festival results posted' (Lots of translations of homebrew J-visual novels now available, neat.)
Newsarama: DC announces 'The Stories Of Alan Moore' TPB (Collecting his early work at DC - great Bolland cover, too.)
October 12, 2005
Berkeley's MSRI hosts 'Maths of The Simpsons/Futurama' lecture on October 16 (The author of the seminal tracts quizzes the originators.)
eBay: David Freeman's insanely large vintage console/handheld collection (He's also selling his computers and his calculators/typewriters - I hope a museum can get the lot.)
Gamasutra: 'The Esoteric Beat: Crash, Cram, Disaster' (Some more interesting picks from Rossignol - I like the car crash visualizer.)
1UP: 'In The Name Of Love' (Fan art, fan fic, fan everything, cavity searched for your pleasure.)
Game Informer Online goes hands-on with Guitar Hero (Loving the rhythm action genre and Harmonix, I'm eagerly awaiting this.)
The Escapist: 'Conquest Of Origin' (Nice piece on EA's assimilation of the Ultima creators.)
Gamasutra: 'Hayes’ Day Out - Talking Xbox 360 at the London Design Museum' ('Jonathan, make sure you design a console that my wife will let me bring into the house'.)
Civanon.org: 'Break the cycle of Civilization addiction' (Yes, the domain is registered to Take-Two and Civ IV is out soon, but it's still fun.)
Game Boy Micro TV ad from Canada [.MOV] (You know, if the humping mice like them, that's enough for me.)
Google Video: ' The Legend of Zelda the Light of Courage' (Intentionally terrible, genius Zelda animation 'from DIC' - info in this post - via QT3.)
October 11, 2005
Jason Scott helping to show 'The Future Of Pinball' documentary at Vintage Computer Festival (The documentary, about Pinball 2000, is long-awaited and looks v.cool.)
Internet Archive: lots of cool jobs available (Just as a public service announcement - geeks, flock here and go to a better place!)
WWMnA on wearable pianos (Congrats, Professor Tsukamoto of Kobe University! Don't let Billy Joel near them.)
Gamasutra: ' Question of the Week Responses: The Future Of Mobile?' (Coray Seifert's response is particularly interesting, criticizing the carriers.)
GameCloud: 'Going Through The Age Gate' ('Publishers are required to request that third-party sites posting their demos and trailers do so behind an age gate.' Uhm.)
Wired News: 'The Tortured Language of the Law' (Clive Thompson is on the ball, as always.)
GamerDad: 'I'll Resell If I Want To' ('Pre-owned games make developers mad.' Or some of them, anyhow.)
Eurogamer reviews Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for DS (Out this week in the States, best thing since sliced McBeal.)
PR: Ubisoft publishing Dogz for GBA (Rebranding of the old Dogz virtual pet in the post-Nintendogs era, heh.)
Hollywood Reporter on Fear Factor's transition from TV to video game (Also a part 1 on 24 and Law And Order.)
Gamasutra: 'Playing Catch-Up: Spacewar Champion Bruce Baumgart' (Frank Cifaldi talks to the first ever video game champion. Allegedly.)
October 10, 2005
Beak's 'El Hacedor EP', from my net.label Monotonik, playlisted on KZSU Stanford (Neat review of the EP, too - CC-licensed material++.)
Yahoo!/Reuters: 'World Beard and Moustache Championships' gallery (The overall 'freestyle' winner certainly has an, uhh, free style.)
ABC News: 'Dolphins sing 'Batman' theme' ('When we presented him with a Batman doll, he received a fish for producing a specific rhythm.' Via Fortean Times.)
Hardcore Gamer Magazine now has 4 PDF issues available (You can subscribe to a paper-version, too - hope the hybrid model is working for them!)
Kieron Gillen & Jim Rossignol editing game journalism compendium for O'Reilly (Rumor has it I will be doing something for this, if I have time - hopefully so.)
PaidContent: 'Commodore to Buy Dutch Music Site Lyzia' (Does anyone else get the impression the new Commodore owners are sans clue?)
Yahoo! News Photo: A post-arrest Boy George in New York (Apparently serial killer chic is back in.)
Randy Smith reviews Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (I personally enjoyed this game a lot, btw - click through for the real review, heh.)
Wiley's 'BitTorrent For Dummies' book is imminent (And wow, by reading the PDF excerpts, apparently the authors used LegalTorrents extensively for examples/recommendations - excellent!)
Gamasutra: 'Game Developer October Issue Showcases Top 20 Publishers' (The latest issue is out now - more info on Top 20 Publishers next week.)
October 09, 2005
LegalTorrents adds new Epsilonlab net.label torrent (In fact, here it is, 800+MB of funky house from a neat label.)
Dr. Andrew Broad updates his list of Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy games (Obsessively wonderful - I'm hoping to interview him for a forthcoming project.)
Archive.org: 'Know Your Enemy: The Viet Cong' ('US Army film intended to familiarize US troops with the tactics employed by the Vietcong.')
Levelord's report of his Russian visit (The oldskool level designer is very, very honest, isn't he?)
Guardian Unlimited covers winners of 2005 Ig Nobel prizes (Glad to see Neuticles is a winner.)
Mojave Airport Weblog's pics on testing for airliners to avoid ground-to-air missiles (Wow, Department of Homeland Security in full effect.)
Commodore 64 'Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker' music program freely available (Includes a PDF of the source code with notes - neeto.)
Clickable Culture points out 'three dimensional' Second Life search engine (It 'provides three dimensional spatial coordinates to places and objects in cyberspace' for the 'virtual world'.)
October 08, 2005
UK Resistance: 'Joanna Dark's FHM Airbrushing Shame' ('A shameful use of Photoshop to enhance her fading looks.')
'You Knit What?' weblog (Dedicated to bitching about terrible knitting patterns. I love the Internet. Via Fort90.)
1UP's Kimi visits Alcatraz for the City Of Villains launch party (Mainly worth noting for my old co-worker Sean Fish in a cape - perhaps precious to me alone!)
Insert Credit: New tracks from video game band Tanguy's Ukulele Orchestra (From the recent GameHotel Paris event, including Katamari Damacy, ohmy.)
PaidContent covers interesting speech by BBC's Ashley Highfield ('Archivists will be the sexy new job.' Wasn't it already?)
Gamasutra: 'Taming The Dragon: Next-Generation Asset Creation for PS3' (100,000 to 170,000 triangle models in PS3 real-time cut-scenes? Wow.)
Gadget Candy - Future Publishing's new 'girl gadget' weblog (The poll is the ultimate hilarity - 'Men with iPod Shuffles - Hot/Not/Gay?')
'Videogame Aesthetics: The Future' article (This is good stuff, hopefully going to reprint on Gama. Via Shacknews.)
Distributed Proofers/Gutenberg index of the Internet Archive's book-scanning efforts (Sometimes DP and the Toronto scanning don't get much notice - hopefully Open Content Alliance will help change that.)
Yahoo! Finance listing for 'Borg Warner Inc.' (Found accidentally, just a company name, I just like it 'cos I think of Bugs Bunny with metal assimilation plates in his face.)
Portable Gaming Mag - free digital subscriptions available (Here's some more info, magazine format but digital-only, interestingly.)
October 07, 2005
Archive.org: RetroCore Akihabara Special 2005 (A useful video trawl round the video game stores and arcades of Tokyo.)
EW Popwatch: Regis Philbin, Donald Trump duetting on 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' for Reege's Xmas album (I think I'd rather listen to Merzbow.)
Grand Text Auto: 'IF Comp 2005 Gets Game' (Almost forgot about this - bound to be some good and awful text adventures in here.)
Eurogamer: Kieron Gillen reviews cult PC title Space Rangers (The kind of thing that should be on Manifesto Games?)
Insert Credit: 'Reiko's new outfit unveiled' (On the Ridge Racer heroine's new look - 'other virtual girls, please take notes.')
Yahoo! Music Engine recommendation: London Elektricity's 'Power Ballads' (Click if you subscribe to YME, try samples if not - awesome vocal drum&bass meets catchy hook city, they have a fun tourblog, too.)
Cobalt Pet: 'Focus on the bbc' (Apple-ite bneely points out: 'Receiving the BBC on a shortwave radio in North America is a fluke.' Darn you, BBC!)
XFM Dublin: 160-minute Lackluster interview idm music special [MP3] (Featuring the Monotonik veteran, played on the XFM Chillage Idiots show recently, yay.)
eBay: 'Nintendo e-Reader with over 1000 e-Cards' (Insanely big collection - I was thinking about buying it, but it's epochally unnecessary. But cool!)
Gamasutra: 'Media Consumption: Wideload's Matt Soell' (On 'We Love Katamari': 'Someone figured out how to take popping bubble wrap and turn it into a game.')
October 06, 2005
Carl's Warehouse: Mario gets into flooring, thanks to ripped-off art (It's-a-me, the copyright police - via PTB.)
Yahoo/AP: 'Honda Designs Car Friendly for Dogs' (Not just dogs, dachshunds - we're sold!)
Archive.org: 'Scanner Recordings: Hamtramck, MI, September 2005' (A whole month in Speex format - people should do this worldwide.)
IC wiki on 'The Gamers Quarter' web game mag (A bit of an IC offshoot, it's definitely worth a look.)
GameSpot's (redesigned) X05 coverage (Useful for a borderline skeptical PD0 preview, for one.)
IGN previews Superman Returns for Xbox 360 (Sad/cool for me, after I worked on a not-so great Superman game - I think EA can do it right.)
Andy Baio takes Upcoming to see Professor Yahoo! (It's the dawn of Web OS/2 Warp.)
Infospace's new cell phone game 'MTV Robobouncer' [.PDF] (I love how tenuous this is - 'crazy MTV−style setting'.)
KOTV story on violent game legislation in Oklahoma (But the accompanying picture - oh my, it's Mortal Monday all over!)
Gamasutra: 'Soapbox: Pirated P2P Games: Free Electronic Distribution for Independent Studios' (Actually from one of the Perplex City folks, this is pretty far-out.)
Music Thing: Official Moog tracksuit launched (Mmm, 'B-Boy munchkins'.)
The Triforce on English pub games with unsexy 'Erotic Mystery Phrazes' (I miss English pub quiz machines, bah.)
October 05, 2005
Insert Credit on the hidden Arwing in Zelda: Ocarina Of Time ('Hot Coffee'-style, this was actually hidden - but not so objectionable!)
GamerDad reviews 'Barbie & the Magic of Pegasus' ('Overall, The Magic of Pegasus is an enjoyable game if you don't mind repetition and don't get hung up on changing your outfit as often as Liberace or Cher.')
Edge Online interviews Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble creators (Of Space Invaders: 'The alien design was inspired by The War Of The Worlds by HG Wells.')
IGN: Microsoft's X05 invite includes Joanna Dark 'secret' content ('Hold on to the glyph key in order to gain level 5 clearance!' Where's the Cheetos?)
8BitPeoples: New freely downloadable Mesu Kesumai EP (Mmm, Creative Commons-licensed bleep goodness.)
Control-V grumps about The Escapist's ads, gets shot down (Actually, I'm darn impressed that they got a Carlsberg ad.)
BBC News: Comedy legend Ronnie Barker dies (Porridge and Open All Hours are complete classics, *sigh*.)
Insert Credit wiki: 'Fighting Game Move Notation' (An excellent summary of the various conflicting styles.)
'Through The Rabbit Hole' ARG book website (Comes with limited-edition Perplex City cards, too.)
1UP: 'Hidden Worlds Of Warcraft' (Mmm, forbidden MMO places.)
Gawker: Time accidentally makes David Cross father of Melissa Etheridge's children (Most excellent.)
October 04, 2005
Lost Garden's remarks on Nintendo DS' 'Brain Training' (In Japan, at least, it's a remarkable breakthrough - good analysis here.)
Gamasutra: 'Playing Catch-Up: Bubsy's Michael Berlyn' ('I don’t have to manage a $2 million budget with a team of twenty people, most of whom couldn’t even write a check because they’re so dysfunctional.')
Kotaku: 'Cheap N-Gage Knock-off Hands-on' (I think these surfaced a while back, but it's fascinating to think about.)
GameDaily.biz: 'Sony's Brush With Vatican Could Affect Console Battle' (Hyperbolic headline of the week!)
GamerDad: 'Life Lessons From a Bad Game' (Is this article really comparing small children and PR representatives?)
Hyperfocal Design examines the HDR lighting in Day Of Defeat: Source (Some neat comparisons of Valve's next-gen lighting effects, soon coming to most games near you.)
Engadget/Joystiq interviews Miyamoto ('About four years ago, my family and I bought a dog.' Otaku-stalkerazzi - what breed is it? I'm curious.)
Gamasutra: 'ACMI Announces 'Best Of The IGF' Exhibition' (A great-sounding Australian exhibition showcasing IGF winners.)
Yahoo!, Internet Archive, others set up Open Content Alliance (Here's the NYT article about it - good stuff.)
O'Reilly/Kohler's 'Retro Gaming Hacks' has details page, cover now (Out soon, with a new hack from me - the cover reveals that the foreword is by Al Lowe.)
Andore Jr.: 'Operas that never were: Galaxian On The Beach' (From the most off-kilter game humor site ever - also see 'games as art (on the side of vans)', and Metroid jingle analysis. Via Nich.)
Gamasutra: 'Designer's Notebook: The Unique Design Challenge of Pinball Simulations' (This is deliriously tangential, fun for all the family.)
October 03, 2005
Zap2It: Serenity takes 2nd place at box office with $10.1 million (I saw it - spectacular, would heartily recommend the movie to all, even Firefly neophytes.)
MTV News: Andy Milonakis working on hiphop album ("We're definitely not gonna do some hokey, gimmicky comedy CD" - via TV Squad.)
OCLC library news letter on 'how libraries can attract Gamers' (Nice to know they care - via Della Rocca.)
GameSpy interviews Sega's Yuji Naka (Excellent, if detail-oriented interview, because the interviewer knows her Sonic.)
Metropolis Tokyo's 'Big 600' Tokyo trivia feature (Part two just added - go trivia go! Via Jean Snow.)
4Gamer: Video and screenshots of Falcom's PC version of Xanadu Next (The N-Gage version was eh, this looks nicer - Western version, anyone? Via #ic.)
Scientific American: 'Protein Gives Bald Mice Luxurious Locks' (Maybe they were going for the Skinner from the X-Files look? Via Fortean Times.)
IC Wiki on obscuro NES game 'Cocoron' (Visited in your dreams by a magical being called Tapir? Nice. The wiki's newly added Melty Blood page is also v.useful.)
Nature.com: 'Quicksand can't suck you under' (Mainly worth it for the accompanying illustration.)
October 02, 2005
Piyokun: Den Den Town Japanese game store Google Earth tour (Useful, if you're in the area.)
New York Magazine's long profile of Conan O'Brien (Very readable - via News From Me.)
Gelfmag: 'You Must Be This Tall to Enter the Factory' (Another fun obscuro-news round-up from the Gelfs.)
Unfiction forums on 'Last Call Poker' alternate reality game (Extremely interesting - ARGN has a synopsis - pokerbots and a super-complex story - here's the press release announcing "'wakes' to be held in cemeteries nationwide where poker fans will play Tombstone Hold 'Em.")
GAF: 'Joanna Dark is looking for apartment in stockholm' (Oh viral marketing, you have a lot to answer for.)
1UP: 'Pop Culture Pariah' (Good piece, even including a Steven Johnson interview, but I dunno.. are we overly defensive, sometimes?)
Derek Yu's 'NES love' artwork (Check out the rest - his Garbage Pail Kid series rocks, too.)
Insert Credit: Best of the IC wiki, Part 1 (I post a few of the good IC wiki links I've noticed recently.)
TV Shows On DVD: Complete Canadian run of 'The Tom Green Show' out later this month on DVD (And it's pretty darn cheap, too.)
October 01, 2005
UK Guardian profiles Jon Stewart ('Combines the irreverence of Chris Evans with the wit of Armando Iannucci.' Via Robot Wisdom.)
TIGSource makes an awesome 'Obey Costik' poster (We're hoping to support Manifesto somehow, woo.)
LJ: Umilicious and Fort90 rock some 1UP backlash (Not sure I've been paying enough attention to the 1UP blog-scene to grok this.)
Gamasutra: 'Wrap-Up: CTIA 2005 Mobile Conference' (Brandon's round-up makes mobile gaming interesting, yay.)
Game Ads: TV ad for Atari's 'Pole Position' (This pretty much completely rocks.)
Joystiq finds trailer for Sandler's 'video game tester comedy' Grandma’s Boy (The game biz, subject to hilarious derision yet again.)
Pitchfork Media interview Boards of Canada (They're brothers? Blimey. I also missed a good recent Chris Cunningham interview at Pitchfork.)
UK Guardian on 10 years of PlayStation ads (Chris Cunningham's weird Scottish girl probably still my favorite - via Aeropause.)
GamerDad: 'LongShot #98: Too Real?' ('The problem is the epic letdown of a world that doesn't react like the "real" one on the screen.')
eToychest: 'How WiFi Will Work with Animal Crossing' (This game is gonna be adorable.)
PSO World: Phantasy Star Universe shows 'personal machinery' assistants (Much like the mags in Phantasy Star Online - really digging the look.)
Indie game 'Brothers Project' needs a coder (Game art looks neat - can anyone help a Brother out?)
Polly Tracker C64 music competition results announced (I helped judge this - some great tunes, look for a Monotonik Pollytracker-composed compilation soon.)