mssv

  • Rez

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    No comments on Rez

    Some good news in the lab, amidst all the unending software issues: one of the students may be bringing in Rez tomorrow (the famous self-styled ‘synaesthesia’ computer game) for the interests of ‘research’. Yeah, right. Naturally, I’ll have to demonstrate to the other lab members exactly how much research I’ve done into this important phenomenon…

  • The Media Lab

    ·

    2–3 minutes

    ·

    No comments on The Media Lab

    In one of the slower periods at the lab, I browsed through the mini library we have here and began flipping through The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT by Stewart Brand. It was absolutely fascinating reading – not because the Media Lab is an interesting place, but because the book is fifteen years…

  • SemiShake

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    1 comment on SemiShake

    Whenever I go on holiday, I always think it’d be a good idea to do something spontaneous and unusual. Most of the time though I don’t really bother since there isn’t anyone I know who’s around to watch, and in any case the ideas I have invariably involve a fair amount of risk or money.…

  • A Tale in the Desert

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    A Tale in the Desert – a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game with no combat, no monsters, no swords and no armour. Sounds interesting? It is.

  • DX2

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    2 comments on DX2

    I recently wrote a post in ARGN about the question of interactivity in mmoe-type games. Basically, I say that interactivity with respect to altering the story is overrated. Warren Spector, the designer of Thief and Deus Ex, both groundbreaking games when it comes to player interactivity, said in Edge that he wanted Deus Ex 2…

  • Habitat MUD

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    3 comments on Habitat MUD

    Rich emailed in to tell me about a Japanese MUD called Habitat that has over one million users. This MUD was started in 1990 by Fujitsu and upon a cursory inspection appears to have one of the most complex game communities around; Habitat even had its own Yakuza-run casinos! (note that Habitat was originally developed…

  • Puzzle Bobble

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Six player Puzzle Bobble Online! And it’s completely free! While it’s a bit difficult to decipher the Japanese webpage, it’s easy to find a download link. Given that I’m leaving for San Diego on Thursday and it’s a 7MB download, I might pass until I get back home.

  • Civ 3 democracy

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    No comments on Civ 3 democracy

    The Apolyton Civilization 3 Democracy Game. This combines two of my gaming loves – Civ3, and mmoe. The premise is that over one hundred people are democratically playing a game of Civilization 3, electing a cabinet, detailing a constitution, forming numerous political parties and even newspapers. It sounds a little far-fetched but at only 14…

  • Into the Woods

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Saw a truly wonderful musical at Oxford called Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim. The first half is a medley of various fairy tale characters including Jack and Beanstalk, Little Red Ridinghood, Cinderella, brought all together by a quest by the baker and his wife. It’s a traditional musical first half with fun songs and…

  • Google

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    labs.google.com – various neat alpha-stage applications including Google Glossary (works fairly well for the technical terms I tested it with), voice searching and keyboard searching.