It’s like how the package art on action figures was always so epic, and then you open it and you have this little injection-molded plastic turd with like one articulated joint. I would happily pay $12 to see movies based on these trailers. But will the games live up to them? How could they possibly?
News
Apple Store Is Down, Rumors Abound
I hate to pull the trigger early, but the Apple Store is down and we all know how much Apple loves Tuesdays. Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned or think anything of it, but it all started last night when Dan Lyons took a jab at John Gruber.
Can’t tell you what, obviously. But there’s something brewing. Gruber doesn’t know about it, but
…
Dungeons & Dragons x Microsoft Surface
Your DM commands you to watch this video or perish in the swamp to the east of the bog that’s west of the cottage.
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.3693034&w=425&h=350]
Roomba Creators Create Robot That Is Gross and Squashy
Basically it’s an alpha version of the T-1000:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbqHERKdlK8&hl=en&fs=1&]
“Each cell is filled with a jammable slurry.”
Mmmmm … jammable slurry …
(Via io9)
GTA IV: Inherent Vice City
Writing about the Grand Theft Auto video games for the Time 100 issue, I unpersuasively argued the following semi-flippant point: the Houser brothers who write and create these games are the spiritual successors to Balzac and Twain and Wolfe. They are societal super-reporters, stuffing the gaming experience with detailed observations …
First Impressions of Google Wave
This is very brief, because I’m rapidly closing a piece about my first impressions of Wave for the magazine, which is a whole different process. So I’m not going to do a list of features. You probably know them anyway. For a more thorough introduction, try Lifehacker’s walkthrough.
My main impression is this: it’s much, much less like …
Ninja Nuisance Can No Longer Be Ignored
Yesterday a Brooklyn man was attacked by a neighbor wielding a samurai sword. The man apparently escaped with cuts on his head and hands, despite a chorus of onlookers chanting “finish him, finish him!”
This is hardly an isolated incident. Ninja attacks are on the rise.
Still Waiting for a Google Wave Invitation
I feel like one of the millions of starving children who unlike Charlie Bucket didn’t get a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory and subsequently died in poverty and obscurity. For I have not gotten an invitation to Google Wave:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw&hl=en&fs=1&]
Sorry, But This Swarm Game Is a Serious Problem
Perversely, I am attempting to solve Geo-Defense Swarm in a “clean” way — i.e. w/out resorting to drugs (other than the usual cocktail of caffeine and alcohol), genetic modification or consulting online strategy guides. Honor demands it. For some reason.
But I am getting manhandled by this thing. Still haven’t beaten level one on …
GeoDefense: TNG
I know Lev is a Wurdle man, and I respect that about him. I do. But it must be asked: Has there ever been a better game than GeoDefense Swarm? No, there has not. As someone observed somewhere, “it is the thinking man’s tower defense game.”
The Future of Twitter Revealed to Be What You Already Thought It Was Going to Be
Well, now there’s apparently reasonably pure water ice fricking everywhere. I’m not even surprised anymore. Maybe they ought to just start listing the planets that don’t have ice on them.
The Nerd World Halo: ODST Review
Everybody knows that when I fill out census forms, under ethnicity I put ‘Halo fanboy.’ So yeah, I liked Halo: ODST. (For the spelling I would also accept OSDT, OTSD, and the M-for-mature title OSTD. Cue laugh track. Followed by Wilhelm scream.)
But why, Lev? Why did you like it? Draw close, my children.