Category: Asides

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Kindle 2

Since I had a review request: I like it. It does a few things well and a few others well enough.

I do not intend to make much use of the Kindle store. I have review and library copies of recent books. I will use this for the many free and public domain books around, many of which folks are converting to the Kindle format. I hope that prevents unfortunate line breaks, which are distracting.

I have not yet had a long reading session with it, but it seems as easy on the eyes as advertised. I have found it uncomfortable for reading things that I am used to seeing on a larger page or screen, but it is the right size for a paperback. It is light, thin, and small, and the button layout is good. Like a real book, you still need light; unlike a real book, you need not hold it open, which allows for more comfortable and flexible reading positions.

Continue reading Kindle 2

Silicon I have loved

“Finished” Fable 2 last night. Slightly disappointing ending itself, but the buildup to that ending… by Saint Meier, it’s magistral. Of course I say “finished” because it’s not really-really The End(tm). Now I got a bunch of post-ending quests that opened up, so we’ll see how that goes.

That’s not what I wanted to talk about. I’m still in a reminiscing mood this week, so after talking about games, I started thinking of all the little and not so little machines I owned throughout the years. It struck me as amazing how in only two decades and change the available power at our fingertips increased so much. I know we know this, but it helps to map it out and visualize it.

Continue reading Silicon I have loved

Games I wanna see remade

Reminiscing with Syncaine about Syndicate (that’s a nice pair of Syns) on my previous post reminded me about those games that urgently need to be made again for the enjoyment of today’s spoiled achievement and gamer card generation.

– The aforementioned Syndicate, because it was godly fun. A squad of four cybernetically-enhanced agents packing miniguns in a dense urban area? Sign me up.
– Crusader: No Remorse. Just think of all that property damage riding on top of a modern engine with physics and particle systems. Yum.
– X-COM (Or UFO: Enemy Unknown, depending on which side of the pond you are): Because it was one of the greatest games ever  and pretty much the noble granddaddy of the tactical squad games.
-Paradroid. I don’t expect you whippersnappers to know what I’m talking about, but running around as a robot in a derelict spaceship hacking and assimilating other robots to stay alive was way too much fun.
– System Shock. This one is pretty much self-explanatory. I wouldn’t mind it one bit if someone remade System Shock 2 either.
– Deus Ex. No, don’t tell me about Invisible War. That was a bad sequel. The original Deus Ex was fraggin’ lightning in a bottle that needs to be caught again. At any cost.
– Ultima V. I know I’m getting into tenebrous territory here, but Ultima V was to me one of the high points of the series. I’m not getting into arguments about which one is better.
– Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. A dark horse in this list. Did everything right, this one. Later installments were hit or miss.
– Carmaggeddon. Good luck getting this done in today’s saccharinized society.
– Supercars 2. An awesome, awesome little top down racer with violent vehicles.
– Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Often imitated, never surpassed.
– Elite. And no, don’t tell me I can play EVE for my Elite fix because it’s not the same and you damn well know it. Also, while I’m at it, I’d just like to mention that Frontier was better than most people gave it credit for. It just had a ton of bugs. Still, remaking Elite (and remaking it properly that is) is a tall order.

I also want my very own magical pony and a Secret of Monkey Island MMO. There, I said it.

More than the sum of its parts

I’m still in a circular mood (360, circular, get it? har har). Got Fable 2 recently just on the strengths of its many positive reviews and because I generally tend to like Peter Molyneux’s games a lot. Yes, even back to Populous. I played it when it came out. I’m old.

Well, it doesn’t disappoint and most of the praise thrown in the game’s direction is well warranted. Fable 2 does a lot of things very right, and a few things wrong. However, the more I play it I’m finding out those wrong things were done wrong essentially because they had no choice. But all in all this is one of those games in which the general feeling of the whole being way more than the sum of its parts is really strong and noticeable.

Thoughts follow.

Continue reading More than the sum of its parts

Non-Gamers

On the way back from the conference, I caught the opening of The Price is Right on TV. If you have not seen the game show, the first game is “Guess how much this item is. Whoever is closest without going over advances. If everyone goes over, we do another round of guesses.” They showed a fancy table then asked the four contestants to guess. $2400, $2195, $1200… You, as a gamer, know that the proper answer for #4 is $1201 (or possibly $1). You know this without even knowing the item in question, because unless it is some fantastical table worth more than $2400, the largest ranges available are $1-$1199 and $1201-$2194, and you can get a do-over on $1-$1199. But no, he went with $1900, and the item was $1400.

If you ever wonder about the failure of strategic thinking in your pickup group, remember this man who chose a $295 range over a $994 range that included the $295 range. He had 699 options that were strictly better than the one he chose, in a competition for real money and items, and he went with $1900.

On an unrelated note, I also caught the tail-end of Rachel Ray’s program, which was right before. I never knew that there were commercials for K-Y jelly and cottage cheese. Not together.

: Zubon

Tyler Cowen on Blog Subversiveness

Why blogs should cover some topics randomly

Think of a blog as competing with both Google and Wikipedia, among other aggregators. If you knew you wanted to read about “the minimum wage,” you could bypass Tyler and Alex and Google to the best entries (some of which might include us, of course). But with Google and Wikipedia you must choose the topic. A good blog writer can randomize the topic for you, much like a good DJ controls the sequence of the music. Sometimes you might trust us more than you trust other aggregators, but we can’t count on that and arguably the other aggregators improve at a rate faster than we do.

Flying puffin!

: Zubon

Matters of Etiquette

I found myself in an unusual position last night (no – not that sort of position you dirty minded so-and-sos!) While on the train home, I noticed that a guy with a laptop sitting across the carriageway had an embroidered logo which identified him as obviously being a fellow WoW player and also a fellow member of the gnome munching Horde.

Conundrum: do I make it known to this total stranger that I a) recognise the logo b) that I also play and c) I, also, am a member of the superior Horde. This is Britain – strangers don’t talk to each other. That’s just not the done thing. On the other hand, just like public school oldboy networks and esoteric and obscure societies like the Freemasons and Aston Villa supporters, being a stranger was second to being part of something larger. Just because you have never seen the person before in your life does not stop you being siblings becauase of your shared experience.

I did have a secondary concern which was this: the logo was embroidered on the back pocket of his jeans. Saying something about it would imply that I had been looking at his arse¹.

In the end, I figured what the hell. He was the one wearing the logo and why else would you do that if you didn’t want to announce your interests and allegiances. Even if he did say “WTF? Were you looking at my arse you pervert?” I figured I was never going to see him again so as we were getting off the train, I simply said “Horde for life, right?” He looked askance at first then grinned and said “Yeah. I tried Alliance but I couldn’t stand it.”

“I know what you mean” I replied and then legged it for my next train as fast my legs would carry me.

What about you? Would you talk to someone because you recognised they played the same game as you? Or has someone stopped to talk to you because you were wearing your favourite Green Linen Shirt?

¹I want to try to explain but that’s just digging a hole I won’t be able to get out of so just trust me when I say it was entirely innocent and circumstantial.