-
New Conversations
·
2–3 minutes·
6 comments on New ConversationsAt GDC this year, I remember hearing some writers talk about the sorry state of story and dialogue in action/adventure games. One of the promising games that they looked forward to, though, was Mass Effect – apparently it would have a brand new conversation system. Over the months, details emerged. In effect, the game would…
-
Echochrome
One of the most innovative games that’s come out of this year’s E3 is Echochrome for the Playstation; basically, if M. C. Escher could’ve made a computer game, this is what it would look like. I have some questions about the control scheme, difficulty level and gameplay (e.g. does the guy keep on walking all…
-
Bits and Pieces: Left Turns
The research at U.P.S. is paying off. Last year, it cut 28 million miles from truck routes — saving roughly three million gallons of fuel — in good part by mapping routes that minimize left turns. Incredible – something that seems obvious in retrospect, but in practice hard to implement. Interestingly, it wouldn’t work in…
-
Bookmooch
Along with selling a whole bunch of games, I’ve started addressing the problem of my overflowing bookshelves. Granted, I only have two bookshelves, but I’m not really at a stage in life now where I have the space to keep hundreds of books. A couple of weeks ago, it was getting so bad that I…
-
Bits and Pieces: Centuries
Weather In a book about weather (called ‘Weather’) that I’m reading, there’s a fact that blithely states: Driest location: The Atacama Desert in Chile has virtually no rainfall (0.08mm annually), except for a passing shower several times a century. Not several times a year. Several times a century. What impresses me about this is not…
-
Transformers – not enough robots
That’s what this wonderfully incisive Movie Preview Review says, anyway: http://www.ifilm.com/efp I’m going to see the movie – for the robots.
-
On the other side of silence
A little while ago I manage to acquire the last four years worth of In Our Time, a Radio 4 panel discussion that covers every subject under the sun in a very engaging and thoughtful manner. I’ve been working my way through the archives, usually alternating between topics that sound interesting (e.g. Agincourt, Tea) and…
-
Ratatouille: A terrible experience
Update: Jen Winter has contacted me and apologised for the email, which I’ve accepted. All sorted now. Ratatouille is, by all accounts, a magnificent movie. Potentially Pixar’s best, and that’s saying a lot. And of course, it’s a very important film – these movies cost a lot to make and if they fail, that’s tens…
-
A Dream of Madness
During a tour of the Pearl River Delta region of China, for one night I stayed at a place called the Ocean Spring Resort. It’s a new holiday resort surrounding a famous hot spring, with hotels, a theme park, spas, health centres, water features, pretty much everything that a resort needs. Oh, and it’s massive.…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
mssv 