May 2009

A couple weeks ago I mentioned this internet-based machinima series called The Chronicles of Humanity - it’s a Sci-Fi series made completely with footage taken from within games, combined together with sound effects and voice actors, to produce a series.

For those who missed it the first time I mentioned this series, here’s their description of the show:

Chronicles of Humanity is an original science fiction series that takes place in the 24th century. The story begins after a mining accident on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, with the colonists protesting against the Government’s unwillingness to give them better working conditions. And that’s only the beginning…

I decided to finally sit down and watch the 5 episodes that have been posted as of today, and I would have to say that my initial feelings about the series are a little mixed.

[I’ll avoid spoilers- it is safe to proceed]

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Okay, so it’s true I absolutely loved the original Oregon Trail and just thinking about it fills me with crazy nostalgia.  It’s hard to even believe that such an awesome game was made so long ago.  I think everyone in my generation who was even slightly into gaming has fond memories of this one.  It was exciting, challenging, fun and had absolute tons of replay value.  Oh, and one of the best things about it is that I got to play it at school.  Are you kidding me…getting to play a game at school that I would definitely play on my own time?  It doesn’t get much better than that.  Sure, it was “educational” but mostly it was just a killer game.  I still laugh about how you could type in the names of your party member so you would see your friends get offed by dysentery.

So I admit I’m biased towards the old Oregon Trail.  But I think the following review will be pretty fair and balanced.  I don’t dislike the iPhone version because I love the original so much.  I just think people need to know that there are major differences in gameplay between this version and the original one.  And I think this game also needs to be analyzed on it’s own merits.

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Wow…do I ever love Netflix.  I’m all about the convenience and Netflix rocks the whole convenience and ease of use thing.  I’ve never had an issue with Netflix except for one scratched DVD which I cleaned and managed to get working.  And the awesome thing is that I’ve discovered so many great movies that I probably never would have seen otherwise.  I’ve discovered even more fantastic TV shows.  I used to just watch shows live and then, when the DVR came out, I used that and loved it.  But what I love even more is being able to watch whole seasons of shows on DVD.  I just get more into it that way and I love that there are no commercials.  When I find a show I can really sink my teeth into, it’s so great knowing that I have a bunch of episodes or even seasons to watch.  Since I’m going so Netflix crazy here I guess I should say we get no referral cash or anything at all from Netflix. (I guess unless google serves up a Netflix ad).  But this post isn’t really about my love for Netflix.  It’s about some interesting developments in Netflix world.

A while back, I posted about a site called Feedflix that uses the Netflix API to do some fun and interesting stuff.  Since you can just read my previous post, I’m not going to get into detail about Feedflix.  Suffice it to say that it produces a wonderful array of graphs and stats based on your Netflix usage.  There is also information on general Netflix trends.  I really like that you don’t even have to register to enjoy the majority of Feedflix.  You can easily sign up for a Feedflix account (which has a few benefits) but you can get a ton out of the site just by entering your Netflix email and password and letting Feedflix do it’s thing.

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You would think a post with the title “App Store Clutter” would definitely be about the plethora of absolutely shitty iPhone apps that are clogging up the App Store with their sheer suckitude.  But plenty of folks have already discussed that at length and I don’t have any special ideas or solutions.  It’s definitely a complete pain in the ass because I obviously play a ton of iPhone games and the trash just makes it harder to sort through and find the gold.  But like I said, the problem has been covered all over the place.  I’m going to talk about a few things I haven’t seen discussed anywhere.  And I even believe these issues can be resolved without a ton of effort or work on Apple’s part and could really make the App Store a better experience.  So, hey, I doubt if anyone from Apple is reading this…but if you are - hook me up and run with this stuff if you think its worthwhile.

Okay, let’s start off with my problem with microtransactions.  Hold on, hold on - I’m not here to debate whether microtransactions are good or not.  I know I used to go off about them (and I mean off) on my old blog.  But this is a totally different issue and has nothing at all to do with that ancient debate.

There are just a shitload of these things lately in the App Store.  They give you some form of in-game currency or whatever for games you already own.  What’s more they seem to be very popular and selling even better than an optimistic developer would have expected.  The people who sell this stuff seem to wallowing in piles of money and that means we’ll see more and more of them as times go by.  So what?  Well, these things are completely clogging up the App Store.  And I can back it up with real numbers.

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Today I have a side-kick watching over me as I write - her name is Mo… short for “Mohawk” Maureen.

Mo’s an old lady that lives in a purple house. I can only hazard a guess as to how old she is, but lets just keep things polite and stick with “old” - I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Usually you’d find Mo upstairs at our place, often hanging out in the kitchen - she likes it there; it is so much closer to the food.

Well today she’s been moved to the basement. You see… we’re trying to sell our house, and our real estate agent recommended that we keep Mo downstairs. At first I thought she’d miss being upstairs, but it turns out she’s perfectly happy to hang out here in the computer room - she’s been milling around all day, keeping to herself, and so far she’s not been much of a bother.

To be perfectly honest, I am rather enjoying her company. Every now and then I see her taking a drink, or sneaking a snack… it is kinda nice having her around. Perhaps when we move I’ll see how she feels about living upstairs with us again, but for now I think I’ll keep her down here.

So yeah - I guess Mo will get to see all the behind-the-scenes excitement that goes into writing, I just hope she likes the links I’ve got for everyone this week:

• Commercial for Super Mario & Zelda Cereal
• Urban Medium: Vader Helmet
• Game: Cargo Bridge
• Ravage Transforming USB Flash Drive
• R2-D2 Water Bottle
• Retro Mini Handheld NES System

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No, this post is not about one of my all-time favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother…the title just worked so well.  It’s a reference to a legendary line in HIMYM, but I’m talking here not about Ted Mosby but about the Technology, Entertainment and Design Conference, which is held annually.  TED is an amazing conference that features incredible speakers who give TED Talks, or presentations, on a variety of fascinating topics.  This is not your average boring conference with dull lectures.  These speeches overflow with wonderful new ideas, make you think about the world in different ways and inspire creativity and passion.  Plus, they have the added benefit of being very entertaining and often have some humor thrown in as well.  TED’s mission is “ideas worth spreading” and I think it certainly accomplishes that.  

You can read more about TED on it’s wikipedia page, the official site or the official blog.  It’s very rare that I’ve seen a subpar or uninteresting TED Talk.  And whatever your interest, TED will likely have a speech on that topic.  We’re talking politics, art, literature, media, music, philosophy, science, business and fun.  And you’ll find a number of “quirky” lectures as well like cave exploring, comics of bygone New York, antisocial phone tricks, playing invisible turntables, close-up card magic, Zulu wire art, nerdcore comedy and flying in a wingsuit. And I just grabbed those examples by scanning a couple of pages at random.  But even though these topics sound specific, they often have much larger implications.  Or sometimes they don’t…but they’re still amazing.  There is an incredible caliber of speakers - you will surely recognize many famous names.  But sometimes it’s the “unknown” presenters who will really blow your mind.  Every speaker has something to say that they know so much about and can shed light on.

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