Play This Thing offers this review of “Photopia” (a text game by Adam Cadre). Photopia is very, very linear. It has very simple puzzles. It’s barely interactive at all. And yet it works. Photopia could be a short story, but it would lose most of its impact. It’s difficult to explain why that is without…
Carolyn, my five-year-old, wept in the middle of “Owly 2: Just a Little Blue.” The Owly books use no words, just icons and facial expressions to tell some very complex stories. Carolyn likes stories about adventure and friendship, and she’s a visual learner. Once I helped her interpret the first few speech bubble icons, she…
Gravitation: an autobiographical video game. I’m sick right now, or I’d give a better description. Not quite as emotional for me as the same designer’s Passage, but another short game that illustrates the possibility of packing games with an emotional argument. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their…
Grand Text Auto introduced me to the excellent indie mini-game Passage. Play it. It takes a few minutes to download and about 5 minutes to play. I’m misty-eyed. Play it! Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9)…
Retro Sabotage remixes Pac-Man. Lots more where that came from. Via MetaFilter. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Quick visit to see my mother and siblings.Things Past #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 8) Odo confronts his reputation as a…Trials and Tribble-ations #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch…
Lisa Zyga, Physorg.com: The basis of the 2×4-inch “Digital Tattoo Interface” is a Bluetooth device made of thin, flexible silicon and silicone. It´s inserted through a small incision as a tightly rolled tube, and then it unfurls beneath the skin to align between skin and muscle. Through the same incision, two small tubes on the…
Aardvarchaeology has a fascinating piece on abandoned suburban treehouses. These sites and their formation processes reflect children’s psychological characteristics. Kids have little sense of order, short memories and strange rationality. They also have no idea that childhood is brief and transient. They will happily fill their treehouses with junk without any thought that they might…
Up Right Down already features over a dozen versions of the same story. What’s yours? (Via) THE PLOT: In a bistro in Paris a young woman (A) tells her three girlfriends (B, C, and D) about the affair she had with an American tourist, who returned home promising to write, and hasn’t. It’s been over…
I just noticed that Google Maps has added Greensburg to its street view service. How long has this been available? Here’s a look up Seton Hill’s lovely sycamore-lined driveway.View Larger Map Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.Quick visit to see my mother and siblings.Students…
Boing Boing interviews Bjarne P. Tveskov, a Lego designer who created many of the classic Space sets from the 80s. I still have all my space legos, and my kids and I regularly play with them. My LEGO career started when I was 17 years old; I saw an ad in the Sunday newspaper, they…
This message arrived in my in box today. The author gave me permission to answer it here. It must have been fate that led me to your site which I perused with great interest. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a 57 year old male, separated after nearly 27 years of marriage, now…
The Lego brick system was patented 50 years ago today. Gizmodo offers this timeline. Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Visiting the #scienceofpixar exhibit @kaminsciencecenterQuick visit to see my…
Great satire from The Onion. Breaking News: Series Of Concentric Circles Emanating From Glowing Red Dot Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Quick visit to see my mother and siblings.Things Past #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 8) Odo confronts his reputation as a…Trials and…
Interesting historical anecdote of an early attempt to make an artistic statement with photography, using visual elements that were acceptable in painting, but considered controversial in photography: Rejlander’s “Two Ways of Life.” (via Metafilter). Useful, perhaps, as a point of comparison for what happens when video games cross the line, and attempt to make serious,…
One hundred different people hitting a drum, from age 1 to 100. A short film by Lenka Clayton and James Price. Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Quick visit…
I don’t remember where I was when I saw a link to Cursor*10. I thought “Cooperate by oneself” was a good example of “All your base are belong to us” English, but it actually makes sense. It’s like time travel. Very cool. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark…
1up: Ten years ago, Westwood released its point-and-click adventure game adaptation of Blade Runner. Blade Runner was, if nothing else, a towering achievement in terms of evoking the original film’s memorable aesthetic. The game’s mo-cap sprites moved against dim, smoky noir backdrops; every exterior shot felt exhilaratingly accurate, while interior locations were ominous and claustrophobic.…
Video games didn’t start with Pac-Man (1980), Space Invaders (1978), or Pong (1972). Similar:Today I didn't save the world, but I did help a student while power-walking at the mall.Quick visit to see my mother and siblings.Students are trusting software like this to do their work.A former student working in SEO shared this. I…
Great 1972 Rolling Stone article about a foundational computer game. Reliably, at any nighttime moment (i.e. non-business hours) in North America hundreds of computer technicians are effectively out of their bodies, locked in life-or-Death space combat computer-projected onto cathode ray tube display screens, for hours at a time, ruining their eyes, numbing their fingers in…
I know what you’re thinking, but my story is that I’m gathering information for a research project on gender in science fiction. Yeah, that’s it. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Visiting the #scienceofpixar exhibit @kaminsciencecenterQuick visit to see my mother and siblings.Things Past #StarTrek…