Tag: games

Sim NYC

Elliot Hanson is recreating the entirety of New York City pixel by dimetric pixel in SimCity. The interview has some stunning images, but there’s even more on Elliot’s own blog, The New York City Journals. I especially like how some projects are seasonal or event-driven, animated by scripts built into the objects — for example, there is a Thanksgiving day parade

musing on sim city / ge mashups

Machine Gun Range

This obviously-better-than-Disneyland is the end of a long gravel road surrounded by calloused khaki hills, stubbly with low chaparral. Berms rise like jetties, breaking up the desert into protected fields. There’s a flamethrower range, too, but I never get to take a gander. The line is always too thick with little kids. They tote and snuggle the stuffed animals they brought to immolate.

hmm, i might actually enjoy that too 🙂

Online Firefly

Landing Firefly on the Multiverse platform would seem to be a sure-fire promotional move. But satisfying the show’s committed fans will not be easy. Online communities like FireflyFans.net, the show’s premier fan site, have generated an endless stream of fan fiction, art, blogs, podcasts, meet-ups and even a fan-produced documentary, Done the Impossible, which briefly broke into the top 1000 in DVD sales on Amazon.com.

this has the potential for awesomeness and a huge timesuck. fuck that elves / mage shit

Gears of War

Thus it is with Gears of War. Every element is simultaneously totally familiar and a bit surprising. Sure, you have to dodge enemy fire, just like every shooter in history. But the mechanics of hiding behind objects are executed with iPod-like elegance. A single button lets you feint from object to object, and a single trigger lets you pop out to fire off a shot before ducking back again. The ease of dodging transforms each rubble-strewn scene into a spatial puzzle: What can I hide behind? Where can I scootch over to get a better shot?

not being a gamer made me miss that the gaming industry has totally taken over from hollywood in creating compelling ideascapes. this stuff ropes you in.

flOw A game of zen

Mr. Chen’s concept hinges on users unknowingly setting their own difficulty level. “Not with an option box that says easy, medium and hard. I want the player to control it subconsciously, based on what they’re doing.” In the face of a frustrating enemy, players are free to avoid the fight and search for more food, evolving into a more potent form. (The first squid-like enemy, encountered at level 5, was made excessively difficult on purpose to see if players would instinctually flee from an unfair fight.)

flow: the exhilarating sense of engagement we get when we’re wrapped up in a task that is perfectly matched to our skills. If it’s too easy, we get bored; too hard, we get frustrated. But hitting the precise mid-point puts us in “the zone” of flow.

Gates plays Petals Around the Rose

The game does work well with real dice. Comex reports that one major convention was largely disrupted when they arranged for the gift shop at the hotel to stock a large supply of dice, then introduced Petals Around the Rose to many conference attendees. “It was amazing, distinguished looking ladies and gentlemen in neat business clothes could be seen crawling on their hands and knees in little working groups all over the hotel. While speakers were saying important things on lecture platforms, the rattle of dice and mutterings about answers almost drowned them out from all over the dimly lit halls. We don’t like to do this too often. Makes enemies.”

Even the Microsoft guys agreed that Petals Around the Rose offers a good excuse for doing a bit of applications software. Indeed, Bill scratched out a program for the game on a napkin and passed it over the seat so that it could see daylight in Personal Computing.

heh. took me 2 min