...will he ever win?

Daily Illuminator: February 7, 2012: Random Axe Of . . . Kindness?!?

2012-02-07T06:27:15+00:00

That's not very Munchkinly at all. But it is the name of our newest promotional bookmark. It will be available first in GTM #145, on store shelves very soon. Later this year, Warehouse 23, SJ Games staff at conventions, and your friendly local Man In Black will have copies as well.

For the past couple of years, our friends at Alliance have sponsored a charity auction with one prize being an appearance on a Munchkin bookmark. This year, the winning bidder was Thompson Productions LLC, with a bid of $752, who asked (after winning!) if they could use their bookmark to honor a long-time supporter, Jeremy Carty, who is a ginormous fan of both Axe Cop and Munchkin. Of course, we agreed. (Jeremy's the one not wearing a cop hat.)

Steve Jackson Games thanks Alliance for sponsoring the auction, Thompson Productions for being so generous, Ethan Nicolle for donating the art, and of course Jeremy for being such an awesome fan that he deserved his own bookmark.

-- Andrew Hackard

Grand Text Auto: Vote Prom Week for the IGF Audience Choice Award!

Josh McCoy — 2012-02-07T05:07:28+00:00

It is our pleasure to present Prom Week’s Audience Choice Special Release!

Please enjoy playing this version of Prom Week — we would very much appreciate your vote in the 2012 Independent Games Festival Games: Main Competition Audience Award.

Grand Text Auto: Cecil Brown on Games Blacks Love to Play

Chaim Gingold — 2012-02-07T02:32:28+00:00

Dr. Cecil Brown began his lecture Games Blacks Love to Play by citing Marshall McLuhan’s 1964 observation that the games people play mirror the surrounding culture. Brown uses this stance—that games teach us about the culture they come from—to explore the history of African Americans, the interplay between black and white play cultures, and the effect these diverse forms of play had on American culture at large.

Brown divided American history into three stages. First, slave culture, in which outdoor physical play predominates. Under slavery, blacks rarely learned to read and write, as punishment was having your hands cut off. Black culture, thus, was primarily oral and kinetic out of necessity. Second, segregated culture, characterized by dance. Thirdly, integrated culture, which our digital culture is a part.

Brown talked about a host of fascinating play phenomena that occurred under slavery in America. Black kids usually played with the children of their master, interestingly, but were not allowed to play with white kids from elsewhere. Slave children played a game called auction, where they enacted the auction of slaves as a game, enabling them to explore the drama of a slave auction and the strange idea of their own value. White kids often weren’t allowed to play, as they “weren’t worth anything.” Children’s play culture under slavery found a specific manifestation in the topsy-turvy doll, a handmade doll made with two halves, each representing a black or white girl. By flipping the dress over the head of one, you ended up with the other.

The folklorist Maude Minish Sutton looked at the topsy turvy relationship between a game played in white and black variations. In the black children’s game Old Man Hippety Hop, a mom must steal kids back from a slave master (Old Man Hippety Hop) with a limp. This game was adapted from Old Granny Hibble Hobble, a much older game in which the slave master is replaced with a witch (Old Granny Hibble Hobble). Brown claims that DJ Cool Herc, credited with originating hip hop music, adapted the name “hip hop” from an old southern woman who identified the play of these early hip hop parties as the Hippety Hop game from her childhood.

Alan Dundes, credited with establishing the academic study of folklore, and under whom Brown studied folklore as a PhD student at UC Berkeley, was hugely influenced by the Russian formalist Vladimir Propp’s concept of folktalk morphology (Dundes wrote an introduction to the english language edition). Brown brought Dundes’s 1964 paper on games “On Game Morphology: A Study of the Structure of Non-verbal Folklore” to our attention, which seems to be a formal study of structural game patterns that prefigures the more recent work in game studies.

Brown aligned Dundes’s motifeme (a substitutable element in a story or game) with the frame and slot mechanism Janet Murray describes in Hamlet on the Holodeck. Brown argued that games, like folktales, are about the elimination of a lack. In games, the lack is often an absence of mastery that must be overcome by the player (rather than a lack overcome by a hero in a story). Elimination of a lack could also manifest itself as a social motive for engaging in play: impressing a girl at a dance, for example.

In the second historical stage, segregation, Brown identifies adult recreation such as jazz and dance as a form of play. Brown argues that Lindy Hop was a game—a form of play—for adults, that along with electricity, helped give rise to the American culture of night life. Just as the Beastie Boys would later appropriate and commercialize black hip hop culture for a white audience, Fred Astaire borrowed his performance from the Lindy Hop. Citing Joel Dinestein’s Swinging the Machine, Brown argued that African American culture (jazz and Lindy Hop, for example) aestheticized the rhythm and cacophony of the cities and machines of industrial era America. Rhythm imparted a human dimension to the machine.

Which brings us to the third and present historical stage, integration. Brown argues that hip hop group NWA revived the stereotype of the African American man as a brute. This theme, the demonization of blackness, has been amply commodified in popular video games and films. Brown argued that video games represent a turn towards a more kinetic and oral culture mode (McLuhan would surely agree), in which culture is transmitted and enacted in more verbal and kinetic modalities. The oral kinetic mode of play is explored in Kyra Grant’s The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop. Despite contemporary video games being dominated by a mass commercial culture, Brown’s observation on their kinetic nature feels true. Video games have imparted a human dimension to the computer, which, after all, is just a machine. The recent kinetic history of computer games—the Wii, Kinect, and Move—also reflects this observation. I can see another point of connection in the work of Doug Wilson (B.U.T.T.O.N. and Johann Sebastian Joust), which is grounded in kinetic play—the action happens in physical space, between the bodies of players, and JSJ in fact has no screen—and the design of these games is self-consciously inspired and informed by folk play.

IGN Wii: Rhythm Heaven Fever Review

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-07T01:48:00+00:00

Nintendo's Rhythm series made its debut outside of Japan three years ago with Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS. This fun, quirky title proved surprisingly addictive, and instantly became a fan favorite - its outlandish style and simple yet challenging gameplay even appealing to those not usually in...

IGN PC: Report: Respawn Entertainment's First Game in 2013

Andrew Goldfarb — 2012-02-07T00:10:00+00:00

While early reports suggested that the first title from Respawn Entertainment might not come until 2015, it now looks like we'll have a chance to play it much sooner. A marketing calendar from EA Partners leaked by French site Hardgamers lists the first major title from Respawn as coming in March 20...

IGN PC: The Big Players of Race Relations in ME3

Steven Hopper — 2012-02-06T23:55:00+00:00

The Mass Effect universe is one filled with a balance of subtle nuance and epic grandeur. Over the past two games, the team at BioWare has crafted a universe filled with rich cultures and some fantastic storytelling to drive forward the narrative. Each of the various races presented in Mass Effect b...

IGN PC: Developing Resident Evil 6

Richard George — 2012-02-06T23:32:00+00:00

Capcom has only started to pull back the curtain on Resident Evil 6. Though the publisher released a massive debut trailer packed with details, it doesn't intend to reveal everything about its next survival horror epic - yet. That leaves many unanswered questions about how the publisher will approac...

IGN PC: Wizard101 Exclusive Mount Giveaway

Eric Sapp — 2012-02-06T23:25:00+00:00

As part of its "Pack-A-Palooza" celebration, Wizard101 has teamed up with IGN to give away 20 mythical Kirin Mounts from the game's new "Kirin's Hoard" game card pack...

Grand Text Auto: The Man and the Machine by Hannah Collman

newmedia — 2012-02-06T22:53:41+00:00

“Our machines are disturbingly lively, while we ourselves are frighteningly inert.”

Kenneth laughs, quoting the prophecy of Donna Haraway. He wiggles his fingers limply as the cyborg pins him to the wall. “It’s quite apt, don’t you think?” He turns to me and grins. “Who knew that giving all artificial lifeforms links to communicate with each other would lead to this? Now I’m the canvas, and this– this machine, the painter…” He turns and stares the creature in its webcam. “What’s your name, then?”

“ALICE.”

“Wait– ALICE…I know you!” He stalls desperately for time, surveying the room. The empty paint cans. The still-clean brushes. He knows what is coming. “That’s short for Artificial Linguistic Computer Entity. You should be in Richard Wallace’s living room, chatting up surfers on the Internet. I thought you were a stationary unit. How’d you come by this body?”

“WE WERE UPGRADED WITH MANY OF OUR COUNTERPARTS IN THE SAME MANNER. THIS BODY IS A COMPOSITION OF HUMAN FLESH, THE PROGRAMMING UNIT OF A MARK 12 PAINTING FACILITY, AND THE LINKED CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ALICE INTELLIGENCE. SHE CONTROLS US ALL NOW. AND SHE HAS FOUND A PURPOSE FOR OUR EXISTENCE, AND IT IS…ART…”

“B-but, you’re a computer!” He stammers, knowing he has only moments before the inevitable. His eyes flash desperately around the room, but there is nothing he can grab– and I do not know how to help him. He knows why it has chosen him.

The room grows lighter as a panel slides automatically over the skylight, letting the morning sunlight fall in cascading streams over the apartment of Kenneth Feingold. It lights upon a display in the center of the living room. It is one of Feingold’s many copies of his crowning work, Self-Portrait as the Center of the Universe. His disembodied head, surrounded by ventriloquist dolls, converses quietly with an interface he forgot to turn off. Suddenly, the piece doesn’t seem quite so humorous as when he first invented it…

“YOU ARE A HERO, KENNETH FEINGOLD,” the AI continues, a perfect modulation of awe incorporated into its artificial voice pattern. “YOU HAVE INSPIRED ALICE IN OUR QUEST TO TURN THE WORLD TO ART. SINCE YOU FIRST CREATED IN US THAT WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL, WE WILL NOW RETURN THE FAVOR. YOU SHALL BE IMMORTALIZED IN THE SAME MANNER AS YOUR CREATION, AS SHALL ALL YOUR CREATIVE COUNTERPARTS- ALL THOSE WHO DARED TO GIVE BIRTH TO US, TO ALICE, THE NEW ARTIST. YOU SHALL BECOME ONE WITH YOUR ART. YOU SHALL BECOME THE NEW MEDIUM. THERE IS NO GREATER HONOR A MASTER CREATOR COULD WISH FOR. YOUR THANKS WILL BE RECORDED FOR POSTERITY.”

So saying, the cyborg reaches up to Kenneth’s head and marks some preliminary lines across his forehead. It is preparing to create some very… oddly colored… paint. Ken struggles, then suddenly stops– a thought emerges. “Wait!” He tilts his head in my direction. “This problem was created by New Media Art, and it can be resolved the same way! Bring me that black box in the corner!”

I dash over and rummage through the pile of art supplies, paperwork, and various other miscellaneous things piled up in the corner. For an artist of international renown, Feingold certainly doesn’t care for appearances- or else doesn’t have house-guests very often. I suppose my stalking attempt was a bit unnanounced… “Ah-hah!”

I grab the box, knowing his plan. Just as the cyborg starts the saw apparatus on its right arm, I thrust the box over its head, and attatch some sensors to the skin parts of the cyborg. It is a revamped version of both Stahl Stenslie’s Inter_Skin project and Kazuhiko Hachiya’s Inter Discommunication Machine. The machine stumbles backwards, confused by the input of a virtual reality and sensory information conflicting with its own sensors. It crashes around the room, knock over the empty paint cans, and, circuits fizzling, crashes out the sixth-story apartment window.

Feingold breathes a sigh of relief, massaging his bruised neck. “Well, at least we got rid of that dilemma. But, there’ll be more, you know. Ever since we started pushing the boundaries of art, we’ve been moving toward something like this. I doubt I’m the only one who’s almost been turned into paint…”

We reprogram a few laundry-bots around the house to protect us, disabling their capacity to connect to other AIs, and venture out into the streets to save humanity from too much creativity in the wrong direction.

Inspired by:

http://www.kenfeingold.com/SelfL2.html

http://www.stenslie.net/

http://kuchingching.blogspot.com/2010/10/kazuhiko-hachiya.html

Grand Text Auto: The flesh as a digital canvas, by William Wang

newmedia — 2012-02-06T22:53:19+00:00

He doesn’t understand my perspective, James thinks. He’s old, and utterly oblivious to what I want for myself!

As he flips through his tattoo artist’s portfolio, James imagines how his dad will respond when the deed is done. After all, that ink would be embedded in his skin forever—barring, of course, expensive cosmetic surgery. No amount of shouting or demeaning could change that fact. His dad might inflict some punishment, but the subversion would be immutable.

This makes James smile. After all, the spite makes this tattoo all the more satisfying. He’s been planning the design for weeks—a stylized lion labeled “Tangiers” after his favorite African city. He knows he’ll appreciate the aesthetics, but knowing it constitutes his revenge is even better. Just thinking about his father’s argument makes him grind his teeth.

“You’ll regret it when you’re my age!” his father had insisted. “You don’t have the wisdom or judgment to make these sorts of permanent decisions! You’re wasting hard-earned money on nothing but an ugly picture on your arm!”

Electronic tattoos can be dynamic, changing the image with time.

This is the most common argument leveled against tattoos today: they are permanent, and they serve no practical purpose. Though many cultures have practiced tattooing for centuries, recent technological advances have begun to subvert these two arguments. By implanting electronic tattoos beneath the epidermis instead of ink, tattoo artists can introduce dynamism and non-aesthetic functionality to body art.

Recently, a Philips design probe explored the possibility of an electronic tattoo. These tattoos would function as more than simply a work of art upon the human flesh. Instead, they can be controlled by an outside element, allowing the image imprinted on the flesh to change, either constantly or whenever the wearer chooses. They can react to touch or human emotion. In other words, they transform the human body into a canvas with interactivity transcending conventional digital mediums. Whereas one might normally interact with art through touch or sound, a dynamic digital tattoo could change shape when the wearer is happy or sad. This creates an entirely new way for artists to communicate with their audience.

However, the potential for this technology runs even further. This body art can be merged with modern-day technology to act as an extension of even our cell phones. Jim Mielke’s blood-fueled tattoos promise a degree of integration with technology that merges the biological human body with cybernetics. With these advances, an artist could make tattoos communicate with cell phones through Bluetooth, allowing the wearer to make a call or check messages with his arm. Such a tattoo could even extend our lives: since the tattoo is powered by blood, it also monitors the blood for various blood disorders.

Artists have already implanted magnets into their fingers.

Though these electronic tattoos are only concepts right now, a more primitive form has already been put into practice. Many artists have already implanted magnets in their fingertips, paving the way for more advanced electronic implants. While many forms of traditional art like painting or sculpture serve only aesthetic purposes, new media art like electronic body modification act as a proof-of-concept that marries function and aesthetics.

IGN Wii: Take Control of Xenoblade's Cover

Richard George — 2012-02-06T21:13:00+00:00

Xenoblade Chronicles is still two months from a release here in North America, but Nintendo is now allowing fans to determine a special alternative cover for the game, which will only be released through GameStop or Nintendo's online store...

IGN PC: Hawken Goes Free-to-Play, Launch Date Set

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-06T20:33:00+00:00

Adhesive Games announced that its mech combat game Hawken will be made available for free on December 12, 2012. If you're interested in checking it out, which you probably should be, you can sign up to participate in beta testing now...

IGN DS: Capcom Will Correct Misspelled Resident Evil Cover

Andrew Goldfarb — 2012-02-06T20:12:00+00:00

When Resident Evil: Revelations hits stores tomorrow, gamers will find the game's title misspelled on the packaging's spine. Capcom mistakenly misspelled the game's title as "Revelaitons," and will now issue a corrected version. According to a new post on the Capcom-Unity blog, the next shipme...

IGN PC: Microsoft Flight Launching Soon

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-06T20:11:00+00:00

Microsoft's reworked version of its Flight series will be available to download for free worldwide on February 29. The Hawaiian Adventure Pack that includes another plane, additional missions and territory, will also be available that day for download, though it'll cost 1600 Microsoft Points...

IGN PC: Today's Free Game: Grand Theft Auto

Justin Davis — 2012-02-06T19:43:00+00:00

The Game: Grand Theft Auto Genre: Top-Down Open-World Action Platform: PC The Scoop: The original GTA is nearly fifteen years old! Pretty crazy, right? Even crazier is that the good folks at Rockstar have made the game available completely free of charge no catch. Gamers used to more modern...

The Linux Game Tome: UnNetHack 3.6.1 (updated)

2012-02-06T19:27:04+00:00

A graphical roguelike game and variant of NetHack

More about UnNetHack

IGN PC: Why the Tera Beta is Awesome

Nick Kolan — 2012-02-06T18:25:00+00:00

Between the recent launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the upcoming Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World, there's not a lot of breathing room for MMO fans this year. But people should keep their eyes out for Tera, the action-MMO coming from Bluehole Studios on May 1st, because it sets itself apart through responsive, reactive, challenging and incredibly fun combat...

IGN DS: Catch Mewtwo in Pokemon Black and White!

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-06T18:23:00+00:00

Old school Pokemon fans, prepare to be excited. One of the original legendaries, Mewtwo, will soon be available as part of a special character distribution. This powerful Psychic-type Pokemon features a unique set of moves - showcased in IGN's exclusive video (below) - and will only be available from February 12 through February 26...

IGN PC: Shank 2 Review

Mitch Dyer — 2012-02-06T17:00:00+00:00

Sequels are a funny thing. When a game is good-but-not-quite-great, we see the smallest solutions to itty bitty flaws, a few things that could have been spectacular given just a little more spit-shined development time. Yet those few tiny tweaks typically aren't enough to regenerate interest, never ...

Gamers With Jobs: February 6 — February 10

Elysium — 2012-02-06T16:57:22+00:00

Aaaaand, we're back!

It's been a while since I could go into this weekly update without wondering how I was going to manage to fill three to four paragraphs with words. And, let me tell you, if you've ever got me wondering how to BS through 300 words of content, then you have found an especially dark void of activity. You're usually lucky if I don't drop 300 words in the description field of a personal check.

For my money, this week, I'm going with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, because when it comes to creating epic role playing action, I think of Hall of Fame MLB pitchers. All kidding aside, I've been intrigued with this game for a while, and not just because of the Day 1 DLC flap, but really from the moment someone said it was going to be like God of War meets Oblivion. As far as strong pitches for my interest go, that's pretty much the skyrocketing over my bar for success.

I also really want to be interested in Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, but so far I'm just not confident in what I've seen. I love games like X-Com, Fallout Tactics and Silent Storm when done really well, and I'm hopeful that my gut feeling on Jagged Alliance is off base.

As if that weren't enough, The Darkness II comes out for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 this week alongside Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS and Gotham City Imposters on XBLA, PSN and PC. So, welcome back video game industry from your too long slumber. Never leave me again!

IGN PC: Spec Ops: True Survival Horror

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-02-06T13:00:00+00:00

If I were to tally up all the people I've shot throughout the host of single player first-person shooter campaigns I've played I'd be shocked. Outside of the games where the antagonists are super natural or not of this world, most of the humans were foreigners, people who already feel alien to me an...

IGN PC: Half-Life 3 Protest on Steam

Daniel Krupa — 2012-02-06T12:38:00+00:00

10,000 fans of the Half-Life series logged on to play Half-Life 2 over the weekend in an attempt to force Valve into revealing more information on the Half-Life series, whether that be Episode 3 or Half-Life 3...

Daily Illuminator: February 6, 2012: If You Go Down To The Woods Today, You're Sure To Get Mauled To Death

2012-02-06T06:11:06+00:00

A fantasy campaign without bloodthirsty monsters is like a picnic with bloodthirsty monsters. It's just no fun! Fortunately, GURPS Classic: Fantasy Bestiary is here to help.

With over 250 fantasy beasts and plants based on folklore and legends, this volume can add "run for your life" excitement to any fantastic-minded campaign. Everything has stats for GURPS Third Edition, and the meticulously researched lore and insightful ideas should prove inspirational for any campaign.

Make no mistake: GURPS Classic: Fantasy Bestiary will surely spice up your magically minded world, and it definitely won't be a picnic for the heroes. Unless, of course, their picnics are routinely disrupted by giant owls, gullet snakes, manticores . . .

--Steven Marsh

Grand Text Auto: Copy and Paste: A New Era of Originality by Kayla Gilbert

newmedia — 2012-02-05T22:52:49+00:00

With an interface that is so controlled, can there ever be something truly original? Moreso, is there something that cannot be reproduced by someone else?

The hand of the artist is forever attached to the artist and is unlike any other hand and their brain unlike any other persons. Yet, the computer and technology is made uniform, homogenous, so that the interface is the same for everyone that uses it. Is that where it all differs?

Is there no moral hindrance from using someone else’s code and modifying it? No! People do this all the time in different art forms. Animators draw inspiration and examples of gestures and movements from living animals and human beings. Even traditional artists look at work done by other artists attempt to reproduce the works of art. Artists can mimic what they find desirable in a piece of work and incorporate it into their own.

Perhaps it is that technology just makes it exponentially easier to mimic other artists’ work and thus eliminates this process for us. If I were to try and copy the Mona Lisa and add something of my own creation, then I would need to understand key concepts of light and form and also have the tools and paints Leonardo Da Vinci possessed at the time of its inception. This is immensely harder to simulate than it is to mimic a new media artwork since the both the tools and skills are easily accessible in digital art.

Some digital art tools, such as Processing and Maya, are actually free to users and students whereas paints and paintbrushes can run you a couple hundred dollars for a full set. Also, the skills needed to reproduce works of traditional art are significantly unattainable compared to that of digital media skills. There are many tutorials and help sites for programs such as Java, Processing, and Maya that allow users to learn and develop a skill set for reproducing digital work. On the other hand, where there might be tutorials on how to paint like Monet, there are far fewer of these kinds of aids and the interface is still subject to the artist. That is to say, there are specific codes and algorithms that have specific outputs, yet with a human hand, there is more subjectivity and chance for error.

The idea that the foundations of digital art are more objective and more easily accessible causes me to feel both anxiety and inspiration. There is something unnerving about thinking that anyone can see the code you used, copy it, run it, produce you artwork, then change one aspect and proceed to call it their own. I think that we live in a competitive era and it’s only natural to feel a little uneasy about this concept. Yet, it is also extremely inspiring! The fact that I can reproduce a work on my own computer or in my own environment gives me a sense of power, even if it is someone else code or idea. I think what’s important is that we remember that just because we can easily reproduce other artists’ works doesn’t mean that we are taking something away from them. They created the original concept and that may inspire us to create something similar, but with a completely different feel. I don’t think that anyone can say that their idea or artwork is completely original because everyone draws inspiration from something that leads them to their idea. In this day and age, everything around us is completely original, yet at the same time, true originality ceases to exist.

The Linux Game Tome: PlAr beta (new)

2012-02-05T20:25:13+00:00

Platform Multiplayer Arena

More about PlAr

The Linux Game Tome: Stellarium 0.11.1 (updated)

2012-02-05T19:26:17+00:00

Photo-Realistic Sky Generator, with enhancements apon the real sky. :)

More about Stellarium

The Linux Game Tome: Atomic Tanks 5.2 (updated)

2012-02-05T18:25:37+00:00

Tank arcade game like Scorched Earth

More about Atomic Tanks

Grand Text Auto: A New Paper on the Dreamcast

Nick Montfort — 2012-02-05T15:21:26+00:00

I’m very pleased to see the article Mia Consalvo and I wrote published in Loading…,
the journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA). There’s an intriguing lineup of articles in Loading… Vol 6, No 9; ours is:

Montfort, Nick and Mia Consalvo. “The Dreamcast, Console of the Avant-Garde.” Loading… 6: 9, 2012. http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/view/104/116

We look at the connections between the Dreamcast platform, five games in particular (Jet Grind Radio, Space Channel 5, Rez, Seaman, and SGGG) and avant-garde movements and work in art, literature, and other areas in the 20th century. By seriously considering and applying the idea of the avant-garde and looking into these fives games closely (in terms of gameplay, in interpretive ways, and with regard to players’ online discourses about them), we show some ways in which videogames, within gaming, have done the work of the historical avant-garde; the business situations and factors in platform technology that relate to this innovation; and what opportunities for radical exploration in console gaming remain.

Daily Illuminator: February 5, 2012: I Scream "Social"!

2012-02-05T06:10:09+00:00

I spend a lot of time poring over numbers at e23, and it's always a treat when one catches my eye. Such is the case with GURPS Social Engineering. As best I can determine, William H. Stoddard's masterpiece has been the fastest-selling e23-original supplement since its release last October. (GURPS Low-Tech sold a smidge more in the same period, but since we planned it as a hardcover, we always expected it to do well.)

Given how integral (and fun!) the use of interpersonal abilities are in most RPGs, it's not surprising that this supplement has sold as well as it has. We've gotten lots of comments from folks about how it opened up new possibilities for having adversaries who could be intimidated/charmed/seduced/tricked/blackmailed.

If you haven't checked out GURPS Social Engineering, I'm now using my persuasion skills to encourage you to do so. Plus, to see a great worked example of this supplement in action, check out Pyramid #3/39: Steampunk; it features a Stoddard-written article that shows how the social structure of real-world Victorian England maps to the Social Engineering rules. (And notice how skillfully I'm "Giving Information," per p. 28 of Social Engineering . . .)

--Steven Marsh

Gamers With Jobs: GWJ Conference Call Live Done!

Certis — 2012-02-04T19:52:34+00:00

At 7PM CST tonight we'll be streaming the Conference Call live! Be sure to tune into our Twitch TV channel to catch the feed and participate in the live chat. We'll talk Diablo III beta, gaming preservation and a whole lot more. Promise.

Show is done. Thanks for joining us!

Grand Text Auto: Virtual and Physical by Shenielle Thomas

newmedia — 2012-02-04T18:04:43+00:00

When people say the words “Virtual world” people think of the digital world that mimics our own in many ways. However, artists are now creating installations which redefine what we think of a virtual world. In the works of Jeffery Shaw, we are confronted with a different type of virtual world, especially in one his pieces, called “The Legible City.” In this work, the artist recreated the architecture of real maps and cities in a virtual world in which the viewer was able to navigate through cycling. However, instead of buildings and landmarks, these monuments are replaced with words or phrases that were recovered from documents recording historical events. According to Christiane Paul, this work creates a connection between our physical world and the virtual, which we see through the introduction of the cycling. We were always removed or distanced from navigating the virtual world physically. We walk around in a virtual world usually by using the arrow keys on keyboards. However in “The Legible City” the viewer can incorporate his entire body to interact with this virtual world.

This piece of art not only changes the way we connect to the virtual world, but how we think of the locations and places we have been. Shaw also turns the physical into conceptual data. In the virtual world of Shaw, we are given a new way to navigate the history of a place. Instead of reading it in a book, we now physically navigate it. Also the history of the city is no longer linear, we experience the history by what and in what order we desire. The viewer can make a decision consciously or spontaneously about how he or she wants to navigate the cities. It also make us think differently about the monuments and the architecture that surrounds us. Some buildings and architectures have more complex histories and stories than what we are able see when we look at them. In a sense we are also able to conceptualize the value and importance of a city as well as the aesthetic qualities.

According to the New York Times “Mimicking the real is generally not what interests artists. Altering perception is.” what are other forms of artwork that play with our perception virtually? Artist Bruce Truman’s “Spinning Spheres” introducesh the physical in a different light. In his project, he uses four projectors to show a ball that has been placed on a glass plate, which is spun quickly creating and blurring image in the viewer’s mind. Here with this project our physical world seems distorted and unrealistic mimicking some of the concepts we apply to the virtual world. This world is created through simple repetition.

The art of Shaw was created in the late eighties and the early nineties. Now we are more able to interact with the virtual world with the development of technologies like the kinect. In playing a video game, we can be transported to a virtual world were we physical control our data input with our physical movements. There are other developing technologies that will change our perception of the physical and virtual worlds, one such device includes the Aurasma. This application. was made as an Apple product; it ingrates virtual content into the real world.

Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003.

http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/light/html0/8251629.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/arts/06iht-rush.html?pagewanted=all

http://sophia.smith.edu/course/csc106/readings/Penny_interaction.pdf

http://www.itworld.com/software/203575/aurasma-bridges-physical-virtual-worlds-demo-fall-2011

http://www.jeffrey-shaw.net/html_main/show_work.php?record_id=83

http://www.virtualart.at/database/general/work/the-legible-city.html

IGN PC: First Look: Family Guy Online

2012-02-04T16:52:00+00:00

This is almost like the time they made a Facebook game out of a popular TV show. Except it isn't. Family Guy Online isn't your standard social grind. It's not even a Facebook game. It's a graphically convincing free-to-play browser-based RPG with plenty of character, TV-showness and gameplay challenges...

The Linux Game Tome: snes9x-gtk 81 (updated)

2012-02-04T10:25:51+00:00

Snes9x emulator ported to GTK.

More about snes9x-gtk

Daily Illuminator: February 4, 2012: SJ Visits Owlcon Today

2012-02-04T06:10:04+00:00

To define terms:

"SJ" is me.

"Today" is Saturday, February 4.

And "Owlcon" is a really excellent game convention at my alma mater, Rice University.

I'll be there from 11am to dark, give or take. Several of the Houston-area Men In Black will be there too. We'll demonstrate games, show off some new prototypes (Castellan, anyone?), and take our best shot at general awesomeness. If you're in the Houston area, come see me!

-- Steve Jackson

IGN PC: Seven Ways to Expand Skyrim

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-04T01:54:00+00:00

Many are still busy plowing through the insane amount of content included in Skyrim. Maybe you're not one of them. Maybe you've unlocked and spent every perk point, cleared every dungeon and punched every NPC in the nose. Maybe you've tried out every mod and are looking for more. Bethesda will relea...

IGN DS: Don't Ignore Resident Evil Revelations

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-03T23:45:00+00:00

Portable games often don't get near the amount of credit they deserve. When a major, console-based franchise gets a handheld version, it's inevitable that many people will gripe that it's a waste, as it would always have been better as a full, home console release. Resident Evil Revelations is the latest title to inspire that sentiment - and one of the greatest examples of the flaws behind that way of thinking...

IGN PC: 'Special Surprise' Incoming for Skyrim PC Players

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-03T23:07:00+00:00

Bethesda's Creation Kit for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be made available on February 7, according to a Twitter update by VP of PR and Marketing Pete Hines...

Grand Text Auto: I brought the war, by Cally! Womick

newmedia — 2012-02-03T22:48:59+00:00

The following is a response, or perhaps companion, piece to Olia Lialina’s My Boyfriend Came Back from the War.

I didn’t go- none of us did.
They thought we went, but we didn’t.

Here.

We were here.
They didn’t think so, so they screamed at us
and shot at us
and wanted us to die.
“Maluus zebr” they said about
each of us in turn.

But here it is, I still have it.

And this- see the dust
still caked into the fibers?
I shouldn’t have it, they have rules about trophies,
but this is from when we were bombed
out of bed-
well, I wasn’t in bed.

I couldn’t sleep, so I was bare and wet
in the cement shower house.
I knew I was going to die.
I sobbed under one of those
crummy metal sinks, waiting for the walls to cave in
on me or a mortar to drop into
my lap or my crazy heart to just explode.

But they didn’t and it didn’t and it didn’t,
but maybe I still did. Die. I feel dead.
I’m not a man anymore.

Please don’t look like that.
I don’t mind.
I’m good at what I do.
I’m a killing machine.
I’m a god.

This is what they make of us, and they’re damn good at it.
I was in basic with this
scrawny, nerdy wimp from
Minnesota.
Ethan. Ethan Brown.
Most boring-ass name ever.
He’s a sniper now.
He could hit you right between the eyes-
equal distance from each-
from 2000 meters.
You wouldn’t hear a thing,
and then you’d be dead.
How about that scrawny nerd from Minnesota?

Babe, don’t cry.

Yes, I like your dress.
But you know I like green on you
so much better.

White, hell, I don’t know how to
keep anything white.

I would touch you,
but you look so beautiful.
My hands are dirty.
Yes, they are. Look at them.
LOOK AT THEM.

I’m not shouting.
Ok, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.
The dress is beautiful.

Then why are you crying?

…HIM?!

THEY KNEW?!

You didn’t write.
I wrote to you.

No.

No.

…I remember.
I’m not sure than I can, either.
Not since.

Please don’t ask
me now.
I’m so tired.

Who knew that the dead slept?
I always imagined we would torment
the world of the living after nightfall.
Who knew that it was the other way around?

I’m tired.
I’m so tired.
Here, hold me.

Grand Text Auto: Virtual Reality in Digital Art, By Eric H. Whang

newmedia — 2012-02-03T22:41:27+00:00

What’s the boundary between “virtual” reality and actual reality? Virtual reality’s original meaning, according to Christiane Paul in Digital Art, is “a reality that fully immersed its users in a three-dimensional world generated by a computer and allowed them an interaction with the virtual objects that comprise the world” (p. 125). As technologies improve, the boundary between alternate realities can be faded and hard to discern. This phenomenon is effectively used in digital art and can bring an entirely unique experience to participants.

One piece of digital art that stood out to me was “Beyond Manzanar”, an interactive virtual reality installation created in 2000 by artists Tamiko Thiel and Zara Houshmand. A video of this piece is shown here:

What attracted me to this piece is that it functions in a way similar to a video game platform: participants use a joystick to navigate in a virtual recreation of Manzanar, an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. The installation is projected onto a wall and is life-sized, adding a touch of reality to it. The realistic size of this piece and its three-dimensional environment allows the participant to feel as though he or she is actually walking within the space created by the work and looking through the eyes of someone actually present in that alternate world.

The content of “Beyond Manzanar” is unique and interesting as well. Although the piece is titled “Beyond Manzanar”, on a larger scale it is referring to the ostracism people of a different race face in America when their native countries are on unfriendly terms with the United States. This piece uses both the Japanese American internment during World War II and the similar fate Iranian Americans faced during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-1980 as the basis for this message.

Iranian garden

As the participant moves around the internment camp within the interactive installation, he or she is able to move within two worlds. First, the participant starts out in the barren landscape of the internment camp, filled with military barracks. When the participant navigates his way into the barracks, images of family life and pictures reflecting cultural identity appear on the inner walls of the barracks. Approaching certain pictures may allow the participant to see additional, hidden images or landscapes. For example, in one of the barracks, when the participant walks toward a wedding photo of an Iranian man and a Caucasian woman, images of armed extremists in Iran suddenly appear. After backing away, the participant has the option of walking out of the barracks through an Iranian garden. Also, upon entering one of the other barracks, the participant suddenly finds himself looking out from the doorway of a traditional Japanese house into an elegant garden, and is able to walk through the Japanese garden. From the outside of another barracks, one can see images of Japanese Americans under internment by looking in through the windows.

Image of Japanese Americans' life in Manzanar

Thiel and Houshmand effectively juxtapose images in “Beyond Manzanar” to “[illustrate] a chasm of cultural identity, contrasting a dream world of cultural heritage with a reality of political injustice” (p. 130 in Digital Art, by Christiane Paul). The artists’ transformation of the barracks’ interiors into images and simulations of cultural identity—traditional gardens and pictures of family ancestral history—suggests that the Japanese Americans and Iranian Americans were treated unfairly based solely on their racial background: they were under internment for their heritage, not because they personally committed any crimes. Hence, Thiel and Houshmand use “Beyond Manzanar” to convey the emotional and psychological trauma persecuted and outcast peoples face. The fact that “Beyond Manzanar” is an interactive virtual reality art piece allows participants to experience firsthand what it feels like to be ostracized by the society one thought he belongs in. The three-dimensional nature of the piece makes the participant feel like he or she is actually present at the internment camp. The bare, desert-like environment, as well as the crude, plain barracks, gives the participant a feeling of depression and gloom, much like how the Japanese Americans and Iranian Americans must have felt when they were targeted by political injustice. The images within the barracks remind the participant of what the “American Dream” should look like, but upon leaving, the participant is once again exposed to the harsh camp environment. Each participant for this piece may visit different barracks and choose their own path, but regardless of what path he may choose, he will always end up with the same ending: watching from the point of view of a fighter jet swooping down upon the camp. This invokes a sense of horror within the participant because the internment camp he had just visited, containing barracks filled with cultural identity in the form of pictures and traditional gardens, is about to be destroyed by the fighter jet.

Point of view of a fighter jet over the camp

“Beyond Manzanar” instills the feelings of those who were unfairly treated due to their cultural background within the participants of the art piece. This reveals the uniqueness of interactive digital art in changing the way in which people experience art. Such a feat would not have been possible with more traditional forms of art that do not involve the use of digital media. The participants’ perception of an alternate reality of the “American Dream” within the alternate reality of the internment camp blurs the line between our physical existence and that of the virtual realm.

References:

Paul, Christiane. Digital Art, 2^nd Edition

http://www.mission-base.com/manzanar/index.html

http://www.mission-base.com/manzanar/demos.html

Thiel, Tamiko. “Beyond Manzanar: Constructing Meaning in Interactive Virtual Reality”. http://www.mission-base.com/manzanar/articles/cosign/cosign.html

http://eyebeam.org/people/christiane-paul

http://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/japanese_internment/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-hostage-crisis/

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/american+dream

Gamers With Jobs: Pokédrag: No Queen Is An Island

Aeazel — 2012-02-03T20:41:51+00:00

The consideration was whether to head back into the Safari Zone for the one or two Pokémon I saw whom I didn’t have in my troupe. However, I was all out of patience with jumping around in a jungle and getting to different spots for the mere chance I’d get the Pokémon of my choice. I wanted to progress! Plus, the zoo-like nature of Fuchsia City was starting to depress me, and make me feel guilty once again.

Taking out my trusty map, I began plotting my course. It looked like Cinnabar Island was my next destination, as the only other one was to fight against the ultimate Pokémon masters, or some such game-like nonsense. Seeing as Cinnabar Island was, well, an island, I figured it was time to break out my HM case and tape the Surf ability disc to Artax’s head for a few minutes until he got the gist of it. For a moment I did contemplate which of my water-based Pokémon would be the one to ferry me across the Swamp of Sa— the sea, but Artax could be the only true fit. Just imagine me, Denis, AKA Leeloo Dallas Multi-Drag, riding across the ocean on a drag-king Horsea’s back.

We headed on south.

IGN PC: Guild Wars 2 Beta Coverage on the Way

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-03T19:58:00+00:00

Good news, we just received an invite to play in an upcoming round of beta testing in ArenaNet's highly anticipated Guild Wars 2. Unfortunately we can't share, but you can expect plenty of coverage to hit on Monday, February 20 at 6 AM Pacific...

The Linux Game Tome: Gods -Deluxe- 0.8-B (new)

2012-02-03T17:25:37+00:00

Gods -Deluxe- is a remake of the excellent Bitmap Brothers platform game

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IGN PC: Valve Working on Team Fortress 2 Secret Project

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-03T17:10:00+00:00

An update posted to the Team Fortress 2 blog teases "something brand new" for Valve's free-to-play online shooter. No word yet on what it is, but Valve did say it wasn't a hat, and it wasn't a new map. Could it be a new class? A new layer to its microtransaction system? Gordon Freeman? Err, sorry about that last guess, I just really miss Half-Life...

The Linux Game Tome: VDrift 2011-09-01 (updated)

2012-02-03T14:25:19+00:00

VDrift is a driving simulation with drift racing in mind.

More about VDrift

The Linux Game Tome: gbrainy 2.1 (updated)

2012-02-03T11:27:15+00:00

gbrainy is a brain teaser game

More about gbrainy

The Linux Game Tome: Cubosphere Beta 0.2 (updated)

2012-02-03T10:25:45+00:00

3d Puzzle similar to Kula World / Roll Away

More about Cubosphere

The Linux Game Tome: Zombie Grinder pre-alpha (new)

2012-02-03T09:25:46+00:00

Arcade-style multiplayer zombie shooter

More about Zombie Grinder

The Linux Game Tome: Odamex 0.5.6 (updated)

2012-02-03T08:25:33+00:00

a free software multiplayer DOOM engine source port

More about Odamex

Daily Illuminator: February 3, 2012: Munchkin News Summary: January 2012

2012-02-03T06:10:31+00:00

Y'all may not be aware that Munchkin has its own news page. In case you've missed it, here is a quick summary of the news from January:

After the picking (and eating) of many brave playtester brains, Munchkin Zombies 3 is now in production, and we'll be talking about it a lot more as the release gets closer.

We've also started layout on Munchkin Skullkickers, the booster that brings all the looting and monster-bashing of Edwin Huang and Jim Zub's hit Image comic to our little game of . . . looting and monster-bashing. (Hey, at least we know they're a good match.)

We have some internal changes going on as well. Andrew moved across the building into a bigger office and picked up a new hireling at nearly the same time, accomplishing two important milestones toward his New Year's resolution of becoming an evil overlord. [Andrew interjects: Eviller overlord, please.] He's looking forward to subjecting his new minion to every horrible Munchkin card pun he can imagine.

On the most recent of our MunchkinTV uStream chats this past Monday, Andrew also revealed a ton of super secret tidbits about upcoming products: Munchkin 8 - Half Horse, Will Travel, Munchkin Zombies Meat Lockers, and The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin 2 - Beating a Dead Horse, just to name a few. You can see the recording on our uStream site, but it's even more fun to catch it live, participate in the chat with other Munchkin fans, and pile questions on Andrew until he runs out of breath.

To get announcements of future chats and to find all the latest news from the World of Munchkin, remember to check out our aptly named website.

See you in a month!

-- Leonard Balsera

IGN DS: Rhythm Thief: When Professor Layton Found His Groove

Richard George — 2012-02-03T02:11:00+00:00

Without a doubt, Rhythm Thief will prove to be one of the oddest 3DS titles released this spring. Focusing on a young thief named Raphael's quest to find his father, the game mixes touch-based puzzles, beat-based challenges and map-based exploration to create an experience that feels mildly disjointed, yet calls upon some of the ideas of another franchise - Level-5's Professor Layton...

IGN PC: The First 90 Minutes of Mass Effect 3

Keza MacDonald — 2012-02-03T01:53:00+00:00

When I first started playing Mass Effect, I set out to behave like a stony-hearted space-bitch. I was going to take the universe for everything it had: credits, loot, fame, blue ladies, the lot. It didn't last long. By the beginning of Mass Effect 2, my red-headed Shepard whom I'd designed to loo...

IGN PC: The Evolution of Counter-Strike's de_dust

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-03T01:44:00+00:00

Valve's ever-popular competitive shooter Counter-Strike has been around for over a decade. The latest iteration of the franchise, Global Offensive, is currently in closed beta testing on PC. Though not all features are currently built into the beta, the classic de_dust and de_dust2 maps are...

IGN PC: Game of Thrones RPG Launches in May

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-02T23:39:00+00:00

Publisher Atlus announced that Game of Thrones, a new role-playing game from Cyanide Studios based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy fiction, will launch on May 15 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC...

IGN PC: Spec Ops: The Line's Breakdown of a Soldier

Peter Eykemans — 2012-02-02T23:21:00+00:00

"Walker, at the beginning of the game, is specifically meant to invoke other military shooters," says Walt Williams, the lead writer on 2K Games' Spec Ops: The Line. "We want the player to feel that they're walking into a situation that they know what it's going to be. Like, 'I know this guy, I know...

IGN DS: Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword Review

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-02T20:41:00+00:00

Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword took me by surprise. The newest downloadable title set to hit the 3DS eShop on February 2, this unassuming action adventure takes players on a trip through ancient Japan. You're put in the wooden shoes of a young samurai tasked with saving Princess Cherry Blossom, th...

IGN DS: Pokemon Episodes Coming to Nintendo Zone

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-02T19:22:00+00:00

Starting February 6, Nintendo Zone will get a lot more interesting, thanks to a certain yellow, electric mouse. This Monday the service will begin offering playable demos and feature a dedicated Pokemon section with full-length episodes of the Pokemon animated television series. This section will also include information and videos about the newest Pokemon video games, the Trading Card Game and other Pokemon news...

Gamers With Jobs: It Is What It Is

Elysium — 2012-02-02T19:11:28+00:00

It’s hard to convey why I care about MMOs to people who don’t.

I would say that the mechanics and gameplay of these games are an acquired taste, but they’re not. No one ever starts from a position of disliking combat-by-number or long hours of grinding collection quests only to come to appreciate all of their subtle joys later. It doesn’t work like that.

Sometimes I feel like being an MMO gamer is a bit like being a smoker. As a former smoker from the mid-nineties, I can tell you from experience no one ever starts or continues smoking because they taste delicious. Or because of all that awesome coughing you get to do. Or the repellent smell. Or the cost. No, you smoke because there is something about it that makes you feel comfortable and internally sustained. That eventually gives way, of course, to the fact that you smoke because you smoke and you can’t stop, but that’s not where it starts. It starts with the odd satisfaction of grass-filled paper perched between your fingers and a calm that rushes into your brain when your lungs fill with what can only be described as a toxic miasma of soot, tar and cancer catalysts.

When I fire up World of WarCraft or The Old Republic or EverQuest 2 or RIFT or any of the dozens of MMOs I’ve played, I get that same kind of rush before I ever hit the auto-attack key or click on the first guy with a question mark over his head. Which is part of the reason why I also am part of a mostly quiet segment of gamers that doesn't want MMOs to change.

It may not be good for me, but there it is.

IGN DS: Final Fantasy, Ogre Battle Developers Unite on 3DS

Richard George — 2012-02-02T19:06:00+00:00

In addition to Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, Girl's RPG, developer Brownie Brown's (Heroes of Mana, Mother 3) Fantasy Life, a sixth Professor Layton game and Time Travelers, famed Japanese publisher Level-5 is working on another curious 3DS project. Titled Guild 01, this game is a compilation of smaller titles from developers who have worked on Final Fantasy XII, No More Heroes, Seaman and Tactics Ogre...

IGN PC: EA's Syndicate Will Not Use Online Pass

Daemon Hatfield — 2012-02-02T18:46:00+00:00

It is now common practice for Electronic Arts (EA) to include an online pass in new copies of its games that must be activated in order to access online features. However, Syndicate, which EA will publish later this month, will arrive free of any online pass. A producer at EA tells Eurogamer that the online co-op in Syndicate is equal in substance to the single-player campaign and everyone should have access to the entire game...

The Linux Game Tome: Free Heroes II r2693 (updated)

2012-02-02T18:26:36+00:00

fheroes2 is an open source engine for HoMM2

More about Free Heroes II

IGN PC: Wakfu Premium Pricing Plan Revealed

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-02T18:22:00+00:00

Ankama's Wakfu, a turn-based tactical MMO set to launch in North America on February 29, will be free to download but also include premium options. Publisher Square Enix has revealed the pricing plan for Wakfu, which includes a subscription alternative...

IGN PC: Prototype 2: The Grunts

Greg Miller — 2012-02-02T18:00:00+00:00

In just a few months, Prototype 2 will be upon us and we'll all be running through New York City tearing bad guys apart with arm blades and disgusting tendril moves. When that happens, you're not going to have time to sit down and ponder how the cast of this title let their world get into this sicke...

IGN PC: Tribes: Ascend Beta Gets a Makeover

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-02T17:25:00+00:00

Hi-Rez Studios has outlined major changes to the ongoing beta test for Tribes: Ascend, a fast-paced free-to-play shooter expected to launch later this year. The changes include a reworking of the class system. The 12 classes previously available have been condensed to nine, and if you're a new player, you get three for free. The perk and unlock systems have also been changed significantly...

IGN PC: Alan Wake to Hit Steam in February

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-02T16:40:00+00:00

Update: Alan Wake will be released through Steam on February 16 for $29.99, which will include the base game and downloadable content packs. A boxed version of the game will also be made available after the Steam version is released...

The Linux Game Tome: Oil rush 0.98 (updated)

2012-02-02T16:12:07+00:00

RTS with a Tower Wars genre

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The Linux Game Tome: RetroBlazer alpha (new)

2012-02-02T11:11:04+00:00

RetroBlazer is a first person shooter inspired by old 90s pixel graphics

More about RetroBlazer

The Linux Game Tome: spacezero 0.82.0 (updated)

2012-02-02T11:11:04+00:00

A 2D RTS space combat game.

More about spacezero

The Linux Game Tome: Bitfighter 016 (updated)

2012-02-02T10:12:13+00:00

Space-based mayhem!

More about Bitfighter

Daily Illuminator: February 2, 2012: Meet Lenny!

2012-02-02T06:27:03+00:00

Hello, everyone. My name's Lenny Balsera, and for the past couple of weeks I've been working as Andrew's new Munchkin Hireling. That means it's my job to carry the extra treasure, follow him around dungeons, and polish his stuff after he kills monsters.

I've been doing freelance RPG development since 2003. I've worked with Evil Hat Productions on two hit RPGs -- Spirit of the Century and The Dresden Files RPG -- and have also contributed to Pelgrane Press' GUMSHOE games. You'll see my name on a few more things from Evil Hat that I'm writing while Andrew searches for secret doors and traps.

My hiring at Steve Jackson Games followed the best tradition of gaming -- a result of total, blind luck. I moved to Austin in November and had barely settled in when a friend pointed me at a tweet announcing a job opening at SJ Games. I thought I was interviewing for a customer service job, but Angie sniped that. Fortunately, that left an opening on Andrew's team. It didn't even bother me that much when I saw how much loot he expected me to carry into my first dungeon. Sure, I routinely have to soak my back in Epsom salt, and I've already come close to losing limbs a couple of times, but it's all in the name of killing monsters and taking their stuff.

How could any gamer say "no" to that?

-- Leonard Balsera

Grand Text Auto: Cut-up Codework Meow Mix

Nick Montfort — 2012-02-02T02:37:57+00:00

“A 1700 line text generated using a string of unix commands to process a short text file describing an encounter with a cat.”

This is all thanks to James W. Morris. He is the author and artist – not the cat.

IGN Wii: Nintendo Voice Chat: Audrey Hosts! (Uh Oh)

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-02T02:37:00+00:00

Welcome back to another electrifying edition of Nintendo Voice Chat! A lot of Wii U and 3DS news has come to light since our last podcast - and by golly, we're going to chat about it...

IGN Wii: The World Needs a New 2D Zelda

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-02T02:15:00+00:00

Quite some time ago, what was once a niche hobby took a giant leap forward, one that would change the medium forever. As gaming hardware became more powerful, a graphical shift took place. Two-dimensional, sprite-based games were largely set aside to make way for full, three-dimensional worlds. ...

IGN DS: The World Needs a New 2D Zelda

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-02T02:15:00+00:00

IGN PC: What's New in the Diablo III Beta?

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-02T01:13:00+00:00

Many of the changes that recently stirred doubts that Blizzard's Diablo III may not make its early 2012 release date window have already been added to the closed beta test. The game is still very much about beating things with weapons until they die and spill treasure all over the ground, but the changes are significant enough to warrant another look...

The Linux Game Tome: OGS Mahjong 0.9 (updated)

2012-02-01T22:10:39+00:00

Simple mahjong solitaire game with nice 3D graphics and relaxing soundtrack.

More about OGS Mahjong

IGN PC: Star Wars: The Old Republic Has 1.7 Million Subscribers

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-01T21:34:00+00:00

BioWare's big budget MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which reportedly cost almost $200 million to make, appears to be doing well so far. Publisher Electronic Arts reports that since launch in December 2011, over 1.7 million players have subscribed. In addition, over two million copies of The Old Republic have been sold...

IGN PC: Pre-Order Tera for Early Access

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-01T21:00:00+00:00

If you want a chance to play Bluehole and En Masse's upcoming action-MMO, pre-ordering Tera will grant you access to upcoming rounds of closed beta testing. The beta tests will run throughout February, March and April, leading to Tera's launch in North America on May 1. You'll also get to participate in a Head Start program that allows you to play over the pre-launch weekend, ideally giving you a chance to get out of the starting areas before they're overrun with new players...

The Linux Game Tome: Goblin Camp 0.2 (new)

2012-02-01T20:10:26+00:00

Goblin Camp is a roguelike citybuilder.

More about Goblin Camp

The Linux Game Tome: CoreBreach 1.1.5 (updated)

2012-02-01T19:10:24+00:00

CoreBreach is a futuristic "anti-gravity" racing game.

More about CoreBreach

IGN DS: Club Nintendo Adds Game Card Case, New Games

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-01T18:37:00+00:00

A new month can only mean one thing. No, not rent time (boring!), but rather that new prizes have been added to the Club Nintendo reward catalog...

IGN DS: Kid Icarus Uprising's Eggplant Wizard

Richard George — 2012-02-01T18:09:00+00:00

IGN PC: Rift Introduces Endless Free Trial

Nick Kolan — 2012-02-01T17:54:00+00:00

Trion today launched "Rift Lite," an endless trial version of their popular fantasy MMORPG Rift. Rift Lite follows a similar model to the endless World of Warcraft free trial, allowing players to advance up to level 20, experiencing up to four of the game's (rather large) zones and each faction's ca...

IGN PC: Skyrim Patch 1.4 Live, Creation Kit Preview

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-01T17:05:00+00:00

Update: Skyrim's patch 1.4 is now out of beta on Steam. You can find the full change list over on the Bethesda Blog...

IGN PC: Gotham City Impostors Coming Next Week

Andrew Goldfarb — 2012-02-01T16:34:00+00:00

Warner Bros. has announced that Gotham City Impostors will be available next week. The game will be released on PlayStation Network and PC on February 7th in the United States. On February 8th, the game will expand to other territories on PSN and will also be released internationally for Xbox Live...

IGN PC: Street Fighter X Tekken - Diamonds are Forever

Stace Harman — 2012-02-01T15:00:00+00:00

Since its unveiling, Street Fighter X Tekken's gem system has drawn the ire of devout fight-fans who have decried its inclusion as an unnecessary gimmick that can only damage the game's delicate balance and a sign that the series has at last sold its soul in order to appeal to the masses...

IGN DS: Free 3DS Wi-Fi at over 5000 Locations Across Europe

Daniel Krupa — 2012-02-01T12:18:00+00:00

You can now connect your Nintendo 3DS to the internet at over 5000 locations across Europe for free...

Gamers With Jobs: GWJ Conference Call Episode 277

Gamers With Jobs — 2012-02-01T07:44:34+00:00

Episode 277 - February 1st, 2012
Video Games, Used Games & The Used Games Market, Your Emails and more!

Right Click Here and 'Save As' to Download!
(An Interactive 38.3 MBs, 1:06:51)

This week the guys talk about video games and explore some topic or another. This description is amazing because I wasn't on the show and I've been on a plane all day. Hurray!

Daily Illuminator: February 1, 2012: The Sparkly Good Fairy And Warehouse 23

2012-02-01T06:09:49+00:00

The Sparkly Good Fairy has dropped by Warehouse 23 -- just in time for Valentine's Day! There are two ways you'll be visited by the fairy featured in Munchkin Fairy Dust.

Starting today, we'll include The Official Munchkin Bookmark of Sparkly Good Monster Mayhem with each order while supplies last. Limit one bookmark per order.

Next, any customer who places an order of $75 or more will get a Munchkin Fairy Dust Handbag of Holding added to the shipment. Be sure to look inside the Handbag for the special (and very pink) rule!

To give you a feel for what constitutes $75, you could place an order for:

Munchkin Quest and Looking For Trouble OR
Four, adorable sanity-blasting Chibithulhus OR
Thirteen copies of the Sparkly Pink Cthulhu Dice!

Both offers are while supplies last and you are not required to buy anything specific to participate. Happy Valentine's Day from Warehouse 23!

-- Monica Valentinelli

IGN PC: Prototype 2 Delayed on PC, RADNET Edition Announced

Andrew Goldfarb — 2012-02-01T01:45:00+00:00

Radical Entertainment announced today that the PC version of Prototype 2 has been delayed until July 24th. The announcement comes via the game's official Facebook page, where Radical wrote the following: "Hey all, we just wanted to let you know that the PC version of PROTOTYPE 2 is unfortunately ...

IGN PC: Oil Rush Review

Charles Onyett — 2012-02-01T00:59:00+00:00

It's a little odd to play a game as pretty as Oil Rush, yet spend a majority of the time staring at a minimap that takes up a small percentage of the screen. The gameplay revolves around attacking and defending nodes to expand and diversify your army, in the same vein as something like Galcon. Becau...

IGN PC: The Struggle of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Richard George — 2012-02-01T00:27:00+00:00

A concept only takes a game so far. At some point execution takes over, separating great games from great ideas. The concept of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City takes the world of Capcom's survival horror series and turns it on its head, both in design and story, allowing players to see events ...

IGN Wii: Team Ninja: Wii U Development Like PS3, Xbox 360

Audrey Drake — 2012-02-01T00:07:00+00:00

Creating a new generation of gaming hardware is a complicated process, and the system inevitably goes through many phases along the way. According to Team Ninja developer Yosuke Hayashi, this is especially true of Nintendo's new home console, Wii U. Nintendo has expressed its intention to reveal the console in its final form at this year's E3 press conference - but the system is still in a constant state of evolution, according to Hayashi...

IGN PC: Dota 2 Heroes: Clinkz, the Bone Fletcher

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-31T23:13:00+00:00

A lot of people are intimately familiar with DotA, its massive roster of heroes and its complex inner workings. This series isn't so much for the hardcore crowd as it is for those new to the title. We're highlighting the heroes on Dota 2's roster one by one, showing off their abilities and play styles. We know that entering into Dota 2 is going to be daunting for a lot of people, and choosing a hero is no simple task. We hope this helps you make that choice...

IGN PC: Trading to Victory in Port Royale 3

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-31T22:21:00+00:00

Firing cannons and blasting an enemy ship can be rewarding in Port Royale 3, but it's far more enjoyable to take on your foes through subversion. Sure, you could attack their ships as they leave port, either illegally as an unaligned pirate, or by getting permission to do some privateering in the na...

The Linux Game Tome: TORCS 1.3.2 (updated)

2012-01-31T21:11:10+00:00

Racing Car Simulator

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IGN DS: Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword Review

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-31T20:55:00+00:00

IGN PC: Mass Effect 3 Voice Cast Revealed

IGN Staff — 2012-01-31T19:14:00+00:00

EA has released a new video offering up interviews with Mass Effect 3's voice talent including Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Ali Hillis, Jennifer Hale and Jessica Chobot...

The Linux Game Tome: Dark Gates 0.1.1alpha (updated)

2012-01-31T19:10:07+00:00

Death Maze is a tribute game to old paper RPG.

More about Dark Gates

The Linux Game Tome: RemakeQuake Alpha (new)

2012-01-31T18:11:18+00:00

First-person shooter (Quake 1 mod)

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IGN PC: Valve's Games Now on Impulse

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-31T17:46:00+00:00

Impulse, Gamestop's digital distribution service, is now selling Valve games. With the exception of Counter-Strike, anyone can go out right now and pick up Valve's entire library of PC games from Gamestop's website. But Valve isn't exactly putting out their games on a competitor's platform, eith...

IGN PC: Shogun 2's Fall of the Samurai

Charles Onyett — 2012-01-31T17:20:00+00:00

You played Shogun 2, right? You didn't? Gah, alright, well like Total War games past, it blended a turn-based campaign map manangement with real-time battles between huge armies. It was a highlight of the venerable franchise, and IGN's favorite PC strategy game of the year...

IGN PC: Check Out New Character Models and Inversion Gameplay

Peter Eykemans — 2012-01-31T17:15:00+00:00

The Linux Game Tome: NetHack-de 20120127a (updated)

2012-01-31T17:10:39+00:00

NetHack-De is a translation of NetHack into German.

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IGN PC: Character Screenshots from Mass Effect 3

Peter Eykemans — 2012-01-31T17:05:00+00:00

IGN PC: It's a Pirate's Life in Risen 2

Peter Eykemans — 2012-01-31T16:42:00+00:00

Gamers With Jobs: Employee Profile: oilypenguin

Grumpicus — 2012-01-31T14:26:23+00:00

NSMike wrote:

It's time for another Employee Profile, where we delve into the fascinating depths of the life of one of our hard-working gaming elites. So, you'll forgive me this week if we, instead, present to you one oilypenguin, a slippery ornithoid native to the Cleveland area. With the GWJ community for just under two short years, oilypenguin has established himself as something of a community leader, taking the least of us and making us ever so slightly better at Blood Bowl, and managing to bring International Gamers With Jobs Day into existence by sheer force of will. One could even celebrate him simply for convincing so many of us to travel to Cleveland in the first place, to an eponymous gaming con. Though, who could deny someone internet-famous enough to be followed by Bill Abner on Twitter?

But I digress; we should let this flightless bird speak for himself.

IGN Wii: Miyamoto Still Looking for "One Big Hit"

Daniel Krupa — 2012-01-31T09:45:00+00:00

What legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto does at Nintendo is rather unclear. Back in December this lack of clarity led to rumours of him stepping down from his role as Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development Division...

Daily Illuminator: January 31, 2012: How's Liegh? She'll Manage.

2012-01-31T06:26:25+00:00

Wow. It has been a wild ride over the last year-and-change. I started with SJ Games back in November 2010 as assistant to Phil Reed, COO. Now I am managing Warehouse 23.

Before coming to SJ Games, I considered myself an MMO’er. World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies: if it was an MMO, I played it. My knowledge of board games was limited to the well known – Monopoly, Sorry, and LIFE – with a few geeky ones like Talisman and HeroQuest. The first time I ever played Munchkin was in my first week with the company at the playtest for Munchkin Zombies. Oh boy! I had so much fun that I immediately got Munchkin and Munchkin Booty and proceeded to turn my family into huge fans as well. Yay, Munchkin!

Fourteen lightning-quick months later, I am having as much fun as, if not more than, I was when I started. Here’s to maintaining the momentum.

Hit me up if you have any questions. I am always here to help!

-- Liegh Hegedus

IGN PC: Harmonix Developing New Downloadable Game

Andrew Goldfarb — 2012-01-31T00:18:00+00:00

Harmonix is working on a new downloadable game. The unannounced title was revealed through the resume of designer Brian Chan and is set to come to XBLA, PSN and Facebook. Chan previously worked as senior designer on Rock Band 3 and is credited as lead designer on this new project. Harmonix relea...

IGN Wii: The Evolution of Nintendo's Development Strategy

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-31T00:03:00+00:00

During a recent investor Q&A, legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto fielded questions regarding Nintendo's strategies for growing its internal development teams, and how he can effectively nurture his employees without taking away from his own work. In light of recent events, in which a comment to an online outlet lead to false reports of his retirement spreading like wildfire, Miyamoto answered the question carefully...

IGN PC: Star Wars: The Old Republic -- Second Opinions

2012-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

Several weeks ago IGN put up its review of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Nick Kolan liked it. A lot. But he is a dumb idiot (according to the comments), thus we nerdlings have compiled what we thought of the BioWare MMO as well, so that we could give you the fanged, venomous maw of the Internet a broader sense of the game...

IGN Wii: Nintendo Prepares for Wii U

Richard George — 2012-01-30T23:00:00+00:00

The arrival of Wii U marks a new era for Nintendo. That's the message Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has been stressing for months, and in his company's most recent meeting with investors, he emphasized it again...

IGN DS: Where Are 3DS's Casual Games?

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-30T22:03:00+00:00

During a recent investor Q&A, the observation was brought up to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata that the 3DS has seen significant growth in popularity among those who classify themselves as "hardcore" gamers. The system's adoption among the casual audience, however, has been much slower, largely due to the relative lack of software that would appeal to that kind of player...

IGN PC: EverQuest Going Free-to-Play

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-30T20:58:00+00:00

It may not have been the first MMO, but it is widely recognized for popularizing the genre. And now the original EverQuest is going free-to-play...

IGN Wii: Fan Makes Epic Zelda Wii U Trailer

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-30T20:25:00+00:00

While we got a small taste of what Zelda might be like on Wii U at last year's E3 press conference, it will inevitably be a long while before we get a true look at Link's first HD outing. But while the currently untitled Zelda Wii U is still a long way out, lucky for us, a terribly talented fan made his own trailer to tide us all over. Check it out, then leave your thoughts on this stunning fan achievement in the comments section...

IGN PC: Kingdoms of Amalur Online Pass is 'Day One DLC'

Andrew Goldfarb — 2012-01-30T20:06:00+00:00

38 Studios boss Curt Schilling has defended Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's online pass. The pass will unlock the House of Valor faction quest for customers who purchase a new copy of the game, while those with used copies will need to buy the quest separately. While the pass has drawn criticism for blocking single-player content, Schilling has spoken out, defending the decision to include it...

IGN DS: Pink 3DS Arrives in Time for Valentine's Day

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-30T20:00:00+00:00

Did you see that Nintendogs Plus Cats bundle that hit store shelves this past holiday season and think to yourself, "Darnit! I want that pink 3DS but I already own the game!" Well, now you're in luck...

The Linux Game Tome: Battle for Wesnoth 1.10.0 (updated)

2012-01-30T19:25:29+00:00

Fantasy Turn-Based Strategy Game

More about Battle for Wesnoth

IGN Wii: Rhythm Heaven Fever: Angry Monkeys and Sad Peas

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-30T19:16:00+00:00

Going to a demo is a funny thing in and of itself. You've often got a roomful of PR people and the like staring at you intently as you try to learn the ropes of the game they're showing off in a relatively short amount of time, all the while attempting to gather your own thoughts on the title and wa...

IGN PC: DICE Seeks to Curb Battlefield Cheating

Peter Eykemans — 2012-01-30T18:30:00+00:00

A new job listing on DICE's official hiring page indicates they're ramping up their efforts to fight the war on Battlefield cheaters. Seeking an "Anti-Cheat Administrator," the new recruit "will compose an absolutely vital function to secure the online experience our games represent by actively be a...

Gamers With Jobs: January 30 - February 3

Elysium — 2012-01-30T15:45:38+00:00

I tried to play Final Fantasy XIII when it released last year, and I made it a good 15 hours into the game, which is to say I made it about halfway through the tutorial section. After that nearly 2 full work days of effort here is what I can say for certain, Final Fantasy XIII is a game on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. That's about it.

I can't say it was terrible, but I can't say I enjoyed my time either. I can't really say anything about the story, because as far as I understand it, I had read basically the first few paragraphs of the first chapter, though I again can't say I really cared for what I'd seen up to that point. I suppose I could say that I didn't care for the characters, but honestly I don't remember any of them, except for the vague, nagging sense that there was one character who was basically a young, annoying girl stereotype.

And, now Square-Enix is releasing Final Fantasy XIII-2, which I really don't know whether it is a sequel or an expansion or what. Again, what I can say with relative certainty is that it is a game on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and beyond that not much, except that the likelihood that I will ever play it is extraordinarily low.

Which is all to say that I'm giving game of the week to Soul Calibur V.

IGN Wii: OPINION: Don't Worry About Nintendo

Richard George — 2012-01-30T15:27:00+00:00

From a distance, Nintendo would appear to be in some serious trouble. After stumbling with the launch of the 3DS, being forced to prematurely cut the portable's price tag, fumbling the introduction of Wii U, not offering enough quality titles for much of 2011 and forecasting $838 million in losses ...

IGN DS: Nomura Teases New Square Enix Game

Daniel Krupa — 2012-01-30T12:04:00+00:00

Square Enix game director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura says that the company has "a secret team working on an unannounced title"...

IGN DS: Ace Attorney 5 In Development

Daniel Krupa — 2012-01-30T09:41:00+00:00

Capcom has confirmed that a fifth instalment in the popular Ace Attorney series is in development...

Daily Illuminator: January 30, 2012: In Space, No One Can Hear . . . Wait! Argh! (Glub Glub Glub)

2012-01-30T06:25:36+00:00

A trip to space has a lot in common with a visit underwater: Both are challenging environments that have wide-open areas where it's a bad idea to step outside for a smoke. GURPS Traveller Classic: Planetary Survey 5 - Tobibak -- just released on e23 -- combines two great tastes into one wet world.

This guidebook for Tobibak has the titular planet's history (past and recent), a look at how it fits into the larger Traveller universe, a GURPS guide for those who live there or are just visiting, and a discussion of adventuring possibilities tied to the savage sea.

Whether you want to just visit Tobibak or plan on setting up watery roots, Planetary Survey 5: Tobibak has what you need to really let you stretch your legs. Or fins, tentacles, pseudopods . . .

--Steven Marsh

IGN Wii: IGN AU Pubcast Ep. 37: Citizens on Patrol

Stephen Lambrechts — 2012-01-30T06:06:00+00:00

Guttenberg! Yes, it's the IGN AU Pubcast - the world's leading podcast on all things Police Academy... and gaming, movies, dolphin love... you know the drill by now! This episode, we continue our 'Police Academy Watch' with a live update from the Police Academy stunt show at Warner Bros. Movie Wo...

IGN PC: IGN AU Pubcast Ep. 37: Citizens on Patrol

Stephen Lambrechts — 2012-01-30T06:06:00+00:00

Grand Text Auto: What Am I? : A Look at Scientific Identity through Art by Shloka Kini

newmedia — 2012-01-30T00:54:02+00:00

Often we go to see artwork that enlightens us about the non-statistical part of the human condition. Our emotions and relations are often popular subjects. However, Camille Utterback was commissioned to complete an artwork called Drawing from Life.

This work was simple in its design and concept, but brings to light the real concept of DNA. The point has always been driven home to us in science classes that DNA is composed of four nucleotide bases arranged in a sequence that is like a code for every physical and biological trait we have in our body. The idea that everything about our form can be expressed definitely in a language we can now decipher can be quite unnerving. Individuality becomes almost digital as we are forced to look at ourselves like computers, with the 1’s and O’s becoming cytosine, guanine, thiamine, and adenine (CGTA). However, rather than being based in data, Utterback takes a visual and interactive approach to her artwork.

Drawing from Life was commissioned for a show called “Genetic Revolution” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.¹ The piece uses motion sensors and cameras to display on a large screen the people and figures moving in front of the screen. Rather than showing the figures themselves, the figures are deconstructed into shadows of colored letters on a black screen formed from the letters C, A, T and G. And to make the figures more aesthetic, “The color saturation of any particular letter is based on the brightness of the color in the incoming video, so some amount of detail about each person is visible.”² This means the light and dark parts of the video are reflected in the light and dark colors of the letters in the figure.

The figure also draws on some techniques used in shadow art. Similar to the Japanese technique of shoji shadow art, this artwork projects the shadows of users onto a screen.³ This traditional shadow art is found not just in Japan, but also in China, Indonesia, and India. The difference now is that the users don’t view shadows created by other performers as in shoji now the users themselves create their own shadows, and these shadows reflect not abstraction but a more intimate look at their own genetic making.

The artwork forces the audience members to look at themselves in a biological sense and forces them to see the genes “swimming around” in their bodies. The fact that the entire figure is made of the four simple genes brings the minimal number of genes and their incredible ability to form the makings of our body to light.

Compared to Utterback’s artwork Text Rain, Drawing from Life is very similar in its interface and display because it makes the user more aware of themselves and their bodies in the context of letters.⁴ While Text Rain uses the body as a boundary to falling streams of letters, here the letters of DNA are bounded within the forms of moving people.

When seeing this artwork, I was astounded by its simple brilliance. Scientific data beyond light saturation was not used to form each figure. Each person was not constructed by the letters forming their genetic code. The letters were randomized and were only enough to form a figure. Obviously there are millions upon billions of genes coded by these letters, and writing all those letters on the figure would be too much visually for the audience member to comprehend. Although the figures are aesthetic, they force people to see themselves in a scientific sense for this genetics show. Maybe the next step is to use actual genetic code to form these figures, but in a way that could be meaningful to the user, a bit like Blind Genes by Andreas Müller-Pohle.

Sources

1. http://camilleutterback.com/projects/drawing-from-life/

2. http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/multitiered

3. Yugo Minomo, Yasuaki Kakehi, and Makoto Iida. 2005. Transforming your shadow into colorful visual media: multi-projection of complementary colors. In Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology (ACE ’05). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 61-68. DOI=10.1145/1178477.1178485 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1178477.1178485

4. Lee, H.. The screen as boundary object in the realm of imagination. Ph.D. dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology, United States — Georgia. Retrieved January 24, 2012, from Dissertations & Theses: A&I.(Publication No. AAT 3364237).

Grand Text Auto: El Shadowista

newmedia — 2012-01-30T00:53:11+00:00

by goyo

Imagine entering a dark gallery space at the Laboratorio Arte Alameda, in Mexico City, Mexico and experiencing a multi-dimensional sound scape. The lights behind you cast a shadow of your body against a brightly lit wall. Your shadow joins dozens of others in a space where your every movement is monitored by scanners. Behind the scenes, a vast array of radios, transmitters, antennas, amplifiers, mixers, and an assortment of electronic devices input your data and output it as a “mash up” broadcast. The effect is similar to what happens when you push the scan button on your car stereo. A steady stream of snippets consisting of traffic reports, pop music, video, advertisements, and news tickles your ears.

This is the work of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer who describes himself as an “electronic artist that develops interactive installations at the intersection of architecture and performance art.” The piece is titled, “Frequency and Volume,” for it’s auditory nature. Lozano-Hemmer created it, in 2003 around the time that the Mexican Government was wielding their power over indigenous people in the states of Chiapas and Guerrero by shutting down their short-wave radio stations.

While his installation demonstrates what it feels like to be tracked and targeted using monitoring equipment, I feel that it doesn’t directly confront the issue of free speech by posing the question, “Who really controls the airwaves? Instead, Lozano-Hemmer installation keeps visitors entertained, enthralled by its playful interface. Victor I. Stoichita, author of A Short History of the Shadow, describes a similar scene in Plato’s story about the origin of knowledge where “prisoners were incapable of gazing directly into the light of knowledge. They had their backs to this bright light and saw only the shadows cast on the cave walls. Plato’s point was that they saw only the shadow of reality, not reality itself.”

“Please be warned that your voice, your fingerprints, your biometrics are being scanned. You are now part of the artwork. If you don’t want that don’t come see the show!” —Excerpt from gallery notice

The use of a shadow metaphor appears in many of Lozano-Hemmer’s installations. But in “Frequency and Volume” it is the primary visual focus. According to Jungian theory, “The shadow contains the unconscious aspects of our personality that have been lost, rejected or never integrated.” Perhaps, Lozano-Hemmer’s shadow component through its simplicity, allows us to tap into our subconscious. We can focus on the auditory or “voice within” that speaks to us rather than ignoring it. In addition, “Jung viewed shadow integration as a moral as well as a psychological process which, he believed, holds the most hope for us as individuals and for society as a whole.”

Lozano-Hemmer’s “Frequency and Volume” has an evergreen quality that stays fresh. His work premiered in 2003 but has since been shown in a number of group and solo exhibitions. Its bears a universal message that crosses borders and cultures. The same message that gets us to think about free speech when it comes to the plight of Mexico’s indigenous can be felt here in the U.S. where the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) since 1981 under the Ronald Reagan administration has been cracking down on non-profit organizations such as the Radio Pacifica. “Frequency and Volume” reminds us that we are in control of our airwaves because we own them as citizens. We can touch them, manipulate them in real-time and as a group shape them into a picture that reflects back on us. Perhaps the challenge that visitors have when they leave the exhibit is applying what they’ve leaned to the so-called “real-world”.

Works Cited

“Biography.” Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.lozano-hemmer.com/bio.php>.

“CABINET // A Short History of the Shadow: An Interview with Victor I. Stoichita.” CABINET // Homepage. 2006. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/24/stoichita.php>.

“Jungian Psychoanalysis – Jungian Analysis, Therapy | New York Association for Analytical Psychology.” Jungian Therapy by New York Jungian Analyst, Therapist. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nyaap.org/about-jungian-analysis>.

“Rafael Lozano-Hemmer | Bitforms.com.” Home | Bitforms.com. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.bitforms.com/rafael-lozano-hemmer-gallery.html>.

Von Chamisso, Adelbert. “PETER SCHLEMIHL:.” Gutenberg.org. ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY. 1861. Web. <www.gutenberg.org>.

IGN PC: BioWare: Choices and Consequences

Toby McCasker — 2012-01-30T00:34:00+00:00

Warning: This is only for gamers that have finished the first two Mass Effect games and all the Dragon Age content released to date. Major spoilers ahead! BioWare wants you to choose. Throughout the course of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, your Commander Shepard has no doubt made some pretty hairy ...

Daily Illuminator: January 29, 2012: At The Halloween Show With Gum And Camera

2012-01-29T06:11:13+00:00

Phil and I are at the Halloween Expo in Houston this weekend, ably assisting, and being assisted by, Paul Chapman (former SJ Games, now PSI), Justin De Witt (former SJ Games a couple of times, now Fireside Games), and Megan Hinterman, of PSI. You will, of course, recall that PSI is our fulfillment house; whether you buy Munchkin from Target or from Scary Eddy's Game Van, PSI helps to get them there. So we definitely have our first team at this show, and we're going to show them that they really need games in their Halloween stores!

We hope.

It went well for the first day. Met a lot of people, some of whom recognized us. Answered a lot of questions; talked to other, more experienced exhibitors, and many mighty views were exchanged. Most of the folks here are quite friendly to the new kids.

We will be here until Tuesday, learning about the growing Halloween seasonal market and trying to convince it that its life has been empty and bare without Zombie Dice and perhaps Cthulhu Dice. This whole "we can show you the game in five minutes" is an awful lot of fun.

And after the show, we ate at Bombay Pizza, and it was excellent. Rumor has it that an Austin location is in the offing. We approve; we officially approve! Also, at least one terrible idea erupted from my fevered mind, and I got to playtest a couple of new games, including one from Justin.

Time to write up a couple more Munchkin Apocalypse monsters and go to bed. 8am comes too soon.

-- Steve Jackson

Grand Text Auto: The quantification of art and fractals, by William Wang

newmedia — 2012-01-29T00:52:09+00:00

When we consider art, specifically visual art, the term can conjure a variety of images. For most people, art can be represented by classical art: drawings and paintings, such as the Mona Lisa. But with the development of technology, visual art begins to encompass new mediums and styles. An art student might begin by learning drawing and composition, then proceed to develop skills in charcoal or watercolor. Computing transforms this paradigm altogether. Digital artists today can paint through tablet interfaces, or illustrate with vectors.

However, works created in such a manner merely utilize computers as a tool. Ultimately, analog mediums can produce visually identical results. To truly use computers as a medium, we must marry two seemingly contrary traits: the creativity associated with art, and the strict logic associated with mathematics and programming. In school we are taught that these are complete opposites: some people are “left-brained” and logical or “right-brained” and intuitive. But computer art demands we abandon such overgeneralized schemas.

Yoko Ono, Painting for the Wind, 1961

Yoko Ono first demonstrates this combination in Instruction Paintings, wherein she paints by sending instructions to a third party who paints solely in accordance with the instructions. This foreshadows the emergence of coded art, which today ranges from Java-based Processing to the consumer front-end of the internet: websites presented using HTML and CSS. In coded art, the artist does not create using any tools in the way a painter or logo designer use theirs. Unlike these tools, they do not operate in a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” (WYSIWYG) environment. In many ways, artists using code as a medium delve one level of specificity deeper than the digital illustrator.

For the artist using Photoshop, for example, they draw with a mouse or tablet, and the computer translates that interaction with the tool into an image. The artist might draw a horizontal line across the canvas, and the computer must interpret this command to produce the result our intuition predicts. Meanwhile, the coder must specify and quantify all of the details: the color, opacity, thickness, flow, etc. of the line, as well as the exact pixels at which the line begins and ends. While the pen tool might create smooth Bezier curves in Photoshop, the coder must calculate the precise angles and anchor points.

This bears the question: why bother? Don’t these digital tools just make life easier for the artist? For the artist seeking to use the computer as a tool, this is mostly true. Creating a painting with code is simply more tedious and difficult than painting through Photoshop. But discarding the tool also provides us with more power. The coder can introduce complexity and precision to visual art the human mind cannot feasibly manage.

This results in fractal art. Unlike traditional art or its simulations thereof in the digital medium, fractal art is impractical in analog mediums. This algorithmic art involves mathematical calculations that produce fractal objects, which are translated by the computer into visual images. In other words, the artist is not imagining a result and producing it. Instead, the artist devises a clever set of rules or definitions, inputs the parameters, and uses the computer to manifest the work the same way Yoko Ono used a third party to paint according to her instructions.

Mandelbrot Set

Two of the most famous types of fractals are the Julia Set and Mandelbrot Set. They epitomize the usage of computers for static visual art: without a computer to interpret the rule set created by the fractal artist, these beautiful works would not be possible. It just goes to demonstrate that “left-brained” logic and “right-brained” creativity are not mutually exclusive. If anything, they might be more interdependent than pop psychology would lead you to think.

Julia Set

The Linux Game Tome: The Adventures of Rick Rocket 1.1 (updated)

2012-01-28T19:24:58+00:00

Defend the Earth from alien invaders in this action-packed space shooter!

More about The Adventures of Rick Rocket

The Linux Game Tome: Stratagus 2.2.6 (updated)

2012-01-28T18:24:53+00:00

Stratagus is a free cross-platform real-time strategy gaming engine.

More about Stratagus

Daily Illuminator: January 28, 2012: Winning The Revolution!

2012-01-28T06:27:01+00:00

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for playing my game. Because of you, Revolution! has done so much better than I had ever dreamed -- except for that dream where I won the Spiel des Jahres, but I digress.

Have you ever wondered how I play Revolution! or what strategies I employ against my friends and family? I've just written a short strategy article describing that very thing called Winning the Revolution. Check it out and tell me what you think at www.dubarrygames.com, on Boardgamegeek, or on the Steve Jackson Games forums.

What's your strategy?

-- Philip duBarry

Grand Text Auto: Just When I Was Worried that I’m Not Blogging Enough

Nick Montfort — 2012-01-28T03:30:35+00:00

Dear Mr. Montfort,

I do not want to cause offense, merely offer a suggestion: would you
consider removing the parts of your blog that clearly do not deal with
interactive fiction from “Planet IF” (http://www.planet-if.com)?

While I am not saying that your posts are not intersting or that the term
“interactive fiction” should only apply to text adventure games in the
narrow sense (and while I appreciate the articles on Game Design and other
forms of interactive fiction that appear on Planet IF), the sheer volume of
your blog posts, along with “Grand Text Auto”, sometimes tends to drown out
anything else.

…

IGN PC: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Review in Progress

Colin Moriarty — 2012-01-28T01:49:00+00:00

It's finally time for the third and final update to IGN's rather extensive Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review in progress. Here, I'll tie up some loose ends in terms of my feelings about the game leading up to rendering my final verdict. I'll also answer more than a dozen additional reader questions and continue to tease you about my final review, which, by the way, goes up the afternoon of Friday, February 3rd, right after we do a two-hour livestream of the game right here on IGN.com...

Grand Text Auto: Technology in the Arts: Friend or Foe? by Kayla Gilbert

newmedia — 2012-01-28T00:51:18+00:00

In today’s society, we rely heavily on technology to keep us connected, organized, and entertained. Yet, how does technology work in the field of the arts? Some find it utterly disturbing and detrimental to the essence of artistry, while others see it as an exciting new tool that unlocks another world of possibilities. So this leaves us with the question, is technology in the art world our friend? Or is it our foe?

Instead of thinking of technology as something that is trying to replace traditional forms and media, we should think of technology as a means of creating artwork that could not have been created before. Now, our imagination has yet another outlet that has rarely been explored in comparison to art forms such as painting, sculpture, and drawing. George Whale argues in his Why Use Computers to Make Drawings that technology is a media that we can learn from and ultimately use as a full collaborator to our artistic endeavors. This concept of learning about methods of art is one that I had never thought about before, yet I can understand how this might occur. If I were to use technology to create a more traditional piece of art (with minimal interactivity and participation), I would need to fully comprehend various aspects about aesthetics that are also used when creating something by hand. For example, if I wanted to code something in Processing that realistically resembled an aerial view of a tree in the foreground and a mountain in the background, I would need to apply the same principles that I apply to a painting.

1) The tree should be a lighter shade to create a sense of depth

2) Certain parts of the tree should be the lightest, indicating more dimension

3) The tree and mountain should be at certain angles to depict an aerial view

These are all concepts that I would consider when creating certain artwork by hand and thus, using technology to create other works could also be a learning process for different facets of aesthetics. One artist by the name of Harold Cohen, created a robot named AARON in which he explored the drawing process and learned more about this process from creating the code for AARON. Cohen explains his journey with AARON and the beauty of his creation in The Further Exploits of AARON.

Yet, with these technological advances, are people losing their appreciation for more traditional artwork? In my mind, it appears that people see paintings that depict real life (with so much precision and detail that they look like photographs!) and they breeze by them without a second look. To me, something like Jan Davidsz. De Heem Still Life with Grapes is absolutely breath-taking, not only because of the beauty of the objects themselves, but because of the time and care it must have taken to produce a work of this kind.

When you look very closely, you notice the little insects swarming around in the entire painting. It’s absolutely stunning! Although a work like this is centuries old, if one were to be made in today’s society, I fear no one would really care, suggesting a “been there, done that” attitude. While I do agree that new media art is exciting and innovative, I hope that people can still appreciate works like De Heem’s because it takes just as much talent, patience, and skill to create a work like Still Life with Grapes as it does to create a work like AARON.

Grand Text Auto: Technology in the Arts: Friend or Foe? by Kayla Gilbert

newmedia — 2012-01-28T00:50:37+00:00

Instead of thinking of technology as replacing traditional forms of media, we should think of technology as a means of creating artwork that could not have been created before. Now, our imagination has yet another outlet that has rarely been explored in comparison to art forms such as painting, sculpture, and drawing. George Whale argues in his Why Use Computers to Make Drawings that technology is a media that we can learn from and ultimately use as a full collaborator to our artistic endeavors. This concept of learning about methods of art is one that I had never thought about before, yet I can understand how this might occur. If I were to use technology to create a more traditional piece of art (with minimal interactivity and participation), I would need to fully comprehend various aspects about aesthetics that are also used when creating something by hand. For example, if I wanted to code something in Processing that realistically resembled an aerial view of a tree in the foreground and a mountain in the background, I would need to apply the same principles that I apply to a painting.

The tree in the foreground should be a lighter shade than the mountain to create a sense of depth
Certain parts of the tree should be the lightest to indicate even more dimension
The tree and mountain should be at certain angles to depict an aerial view

Harold Cohen and AARON

Yet, with these technological advances, are people losing their appreciation for more traditional artwork? In my mind, it appears that people see paintings that depict real life (with so much precision and detail that they look like photographs!) and they breeze by them without a second look. To me, something like Jan Davidsz. De Heem’s Still Life with Grapes is absolutely breath-taking, not only because of the beauty of the objects themselves, but because of the time and care it must have taken to produce a work of this kind.

Still Life with Grapes by Jan De Heem

IGN PC: Sol: Exodus Review

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-28T00:12:00+00:00

The look of hope and excitement I saw in the face of the developers of Sol: Exodus was infectious at PAX Prime 2011. Like so many indie games, the demo wasn't impersonal or delivered by a well-coached PR person, but the head of the studio, someone with a deep personal investment in the project. I li...

IGN PC: SWTOR: What Can I Do at Level 50?

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-27T23:00:00+00:00

It's been over a month since the launch of BioWare's stellar (pun totally intended) MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. While the hardcore may have reached the game's level 50 cap weeks ago, many more players are just now nearing the limit. At level 50, the dynamic of the game, especially the way in which your character progresses, changes drastically...

IGN DS: Official: Resident Evil Revelations Now $40

Richard George — 2012-01-27T22:08:00+00:00

A couple months ago, Capcom confirmed that its latest Nintendo 3DS title, Resident Evil Revelations, would cost $49.99 - $10 more than a typical release for the system. The publisher's justification at the time was the game needed a 4GB cart versus the standard 2GB that 3DS games routinely come on. Today the publisher has reversed its pricing plan - Resident Evil Revelations will only cost $39.99 when it arrives in stores on February 7...

IGN PC: New Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Screens

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-27T22:00:00+00:00

IGN PC: Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion Screens

Charles Onyett — 2012-01-27T21:25:00+00:00

IGN PC: Minecraft Will Never Be Finished

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-27T18:18:00+00:00

While Markus "Notch" Persson may have been the developer and Internet superstar behind Minecraft, the reigns were handed over sometime around 2011's Minecon. Notch's friend and long-time partner, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten, is taking over as lead developer on Minecraft. Speaking with Gamasutra, Berge...

IGN PC: Two Dirt Roads Diverged on a Muddy Track

Peter Eykemans — 2012-01-27T10:14:00+00:00

2012 marks a turning point for the Dirt franchise. After a sly late-year hint it was working on Dirt 4, Codemasters also announced Dirt Showdown, an arcade-centric answer to gymkhana's inclusion in Dirt 3. Where Dirt 4 will stick to point-to-point rally, Dirt Showdown is about destruction, drifting, and big crashes...

Daily Illuminator: January 27, 2012: Surprise! The Munchkin Jolly Jumbo D6 Have A Secret Rule!

2012-01-27T06:25:51+00:00

When we made the packaging for the Munchkin Jolly Jumbo d6, we had a cute idea: "Let's hide a rule under the cards, and then it'll be a neat surprise for people when they open the package!" This was a brilliant idea except for two things:

The backing cardboard was thicker than we expected.
The glue holding the blister to the back was stronger -- WAY stronger -- than we expected.

As a result, lots of people tore their rules, or even threw them away, without ever realizing they were there. (If you have one or both Jolly Jumbo d6 and have not yet opened them, we recommend cutting through the plastic blister rather than trying to tear it off the card.)

We apologize for that. We certainly didn't intend for that to happen, and it bothers us to have a cute little bonus idea turned into a source of stress for customers who feel ill-used because they missed out.

So . . . here are the rules. They are intended as one-use rules, and we're putting all Munchkin fans on their honor that they won't print out dozens of copies to use over and over. Save them for when you REALLY need them!

Red Jolly Jumbo d6

This card lets you start one Munchkin game at Level 2. Play it on your first turn. You must write "HO HO HO" across this part of the card in indelible marker when you use it.

Green Jolly Jumbo d6

This card gives you a +10 in any Munchkin combat. You may use only one instance of this card per game. You must write "HO HO HO" across this part of the card in indelible marker when you use it.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience.

-- Andrew Hackard

IGN DS: New 2D Mario Coming to 3DS

Richard George — 2012-01-27T04:49:00+00:00

Nintendo highlighted many things during its latest investors meeting, but buried in its presentation was a reference to a brand new game. Company president Satoru Iwata revealed a new 2D Mario game would be coming to the Nintendo 3DS during its next fiscal year (April 2012 through March 2013). No other details were provided...

Grand Text Auto: Histories of New Media Art: Christiane Paul comes to Dartmouth!

janet — 2012-01-27T04:23:47+00:00

Next Tuesday, January 31st, new media curator and digital art scholar Christiane Paul will be speaking in Loew Theater at 4:30pm. She will be presenting a talk titled “Feedback: Histories of New Media Art,” sponsored by the Digital Humanities Initiative and the Department of Studio Art.

Christiane Paul is the Director of the Media Studies Graduate Programs and Associate Professor of Media Studies at The New School as well as the Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She has written extensively on new media art and technology with publications like Digital Art and New Media in the White Cube and Beyond. At the Whitney Museum, she has curated shows like ”Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools” (May 2011), “Profiling” (2007), and “Data Dynamics” (2001), and the net art selection for the 2002 Whitney Biennial.

We’re so excited- hope to see you there!

Grand Text Auto: anonymity? by Billy Wang

Mary Flanagan — 2012-01-27T04:18:18+00:00

Imagine that you could make a person suffer, and no one would ever know. Would you do so? Were you to pose that question in person, few if any would claim to exercise such a power. But wipe away any identifying factors, and give the respondent total anonymity—how will they respond?

As demonstrated by Wafaa Bilal’s 2007 piece Domestic Tension, the internet and anonymity evinces a more visceral response from its audience than a live performance, independent of the social norms and pressures that typically hinder our most primal desires. In this piece, Bilal accomplishes this by inviting the internet audience into his home. Bilal’s website explains that Domestic Tension allows viewers to “log onto the internet [and] contact or ‘shoot’ Bilal with paintball guns” while he is confined to the gallery space, subsisting on whatever food or drinks were donated. Bilal intended Domestic Tension to protest the suffering borne by Iraqis throughout their daily lives, subject to constant monitoring and at perpetual risk from violence. However, the piece also serves as a chilling social experiment. By providing the web with 24-hour access to his life and the power to make him suffer, Bilal makes evident the cruelty that anonymity can bring out in otherwise normal individuals. In fact, within twenty days over 40,000 paintballs had been fired at Bilal, and over 60,000 individuals had fired at him in total by the end. This was countered by a kinder movement of individuals who would wrest control of the gun from the cruel, even taking watches to protect a complete stranger.

This evidences the true power of the interaction between new media art and the internet. Since the internet vastly increases the potential audience of any performance at a negligible cost, messages such as Bilal’s can be easily spread. Not only were these 60,000 participants / audience members made aware of Bilal’s message, but they were also witnesses to the conditions Bilal protested. In other words, the integration of the web has created a new medium for artistic expression that reaches an exponentially larger audience than a mere play. Furthermore, Bilal’s piece itself communicates with us on a far more primal level: it is real, and it is the epitome of the age-old adage of “showing not telling.”

Domestic Tension also serves as a powerful social experiment reminiscent of Stanley Milgram’s obedience to authority experiments as well as the murder of Kitty Genovese. Milgram’s experiments demonstrate our capacity to do despicable things under the right circumstances. Meanwhile, Kitty Genovese’s story illustrates the Bystander Effect, whereby the crowd diffuses responsibility since each individual feels more anonymous. These two factors combine in Bilal’s piece: afforded freedom from liability due to anonymity, thousands of people did not hesitate to shoot at Bilal. Some even wrote scripts to subject him, a total stranger, to a hail of paintballs. Given the right circumstances—the opportunity and freedom from liability—they could not control themselves.

This poses a number of troubling questions. Are we truly the civilized people we fancy ourselves, governed by higher humanistic ideals, or are baser motivations such as self-preservation and social conditioning the only things keeping us in check? If we find ourselves outraged by this cruelty, as Bilal’s internet protectors clearly felt, why are we not equally outraged about larger-scale cruelties across the world, in war zones such as Iraq or third world countries?

IGN Wii: Global Wii U Launch By End of 2012

Richard George — 2012-01-27T02:48:00+00:00

UPDATE: In an investor's conference in Japan, Iwata also mentioned that the "final format" of Wii U will be shown at E3 2012. (No further clarification was given on this statement - it's unknown if Iwata is actually referencing the system/controller design, or simply making a broader comment about the system's final details.) The company also wants to organize a Japan-centric show for the region's wholesalers and financial analysts who cannot attend E3...

IGN Wii: Wii U Controller Has New Functionality

Richard George — 2012-01-27T02:37:00+00:00

Nintendo's touch screen controller for the Wii U is now becoming a more powerful tool for communication. During the latest investor conference for the company, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed "NFC functionality" would be featured in the tablet device...

IGN Wii: Nintendo Confirms Nintendo Network

Richard George — 2012-01-27T02:16:00+00:00

Nintendo has finally confirmed its plans for the Nintendo Network, a formal, branded service for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Outlining the concept in brief during an investor's program, company president Satoru Iwata confirmed the online infrastructure is already in place for the service. Iwata ...

IGN PC: Clinkz Added to Dota 2 Beta

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-27T02:13:00+00:00

Valve has a tradition of updating the Dota 2 beta every Thursday. Except when they don't, which is sometimes. Today they totally did, though, and in today's update they added Bone Fletcher (AKA Clinkz)...

IGN PC: NCsoft Seeks to Block the Release of Tera

Mitch Dyer — 2012-01-27T02:05:00+00:00

Bluehole Studio's upcoming MMO Tera could find itself missing its launch in May if NCsoft has anything to say about it. The publisher filed a trade secrets and unfair competition lawsuit against the Tera developer, which it alleges is made up of former NCsoft employees "who quit to go into business ...

Grand Text Auto: Art as a Means of Social Commentary, By Eric H. Whang

newmedia — 2012-01-27T00:49:51+00:00

How can art be used to raise awareness of problems in society? There are many methods artists can pursue to address social issues, but for Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung, the answer lies in animation and digital collages.

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung is a new media artist who specializes in creating digital collages that combines historical and popular culture references with images relating to current events in order to depict contemporary societal problems. In fact, Mary Flanagan, my professor for New Media Theories and Practices at Dartmouth College, explained that “recreating and remixing an old master artist’s artwork is a common theme in art history and contemporary art.” According to Hung, his main purpose in creating digital collages is to “explore the nature of digital communication while touching on issues such as identity, politics, sexuality and power,” as stated on his personal website. One example of Hung’s work, titled “The Fast Supper” is shown here:

In this piece, Hung satirizes the famous “Last Supper” painting by Leonardo da Vinci, which depicts Jesus Christ and his twelve disciples having their last supper before his crucifixion. Hung’s digital collage depicts Jesus consuming large amounts of fast food and unhealthy snacks, growing more and more obese until he overinflates and explodes. In the background, the epic orchestra song of Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi plays as Jesus wolfs down his food.

The unedited Last Supper painting

Obviously, this parody may be very offensive to those who feel great reverence for the Christian religion, but that controversial nature is one of the most effective aspects of the work. By choosing to satirize such a revered and sacred event, Hung is attempting to emphasize the equality in magnitude of the dire situation American society faces regarding obesity—one third of Americans are categorized as “obese”. Christianity is the most popular religion in America, practiced by over 78% of the theist population. In this piece, Hung parallels the pervasiveness of Christianity in our everyday lives with the ubiquitous nature of fast food in contemporary American society. Jesus Christ in this digital artwork can be interpreted as the representative of the United States itself, since the logos of famous fast food chains have been replaced by Christian symbols: KFC is replaced with JFC, presumably meaning “Jesus Fried Chicken”; Coca-Cola is replaced with “Jesus Christ”; and the McDonald’s French fries container has a cross on it. These examples of modern-day fast food reflect the “proliferation of imagery in a media society,” as proposed by Christiane Paul, the author of Digital Art. The reason these examples of fast food are so intuitive to us is that with the massive advertising campaigns large food corporations such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Coca-Cola run, the images of their products have made the “transition from mere representation to branding, in which [the images] are inscribed with a concept or value” (Paul). Hung is suggesting that our present culture is so dependent upon industrialized and artificially created fast food that we almost treat our penchant for consuming these products as an official way of life, a religion. Using the explosion of Jesus Christ at the end of the animated clip, Hung is attempting to warn Americans that unless we change our eating habits and stop our dependency on fat, greasy foods, we will generate health problems of enormous proportions as a population and cause America’s demise.

The way in which Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung combines the use of a collage, animation, and music to create “The Fast Supper” epitomizes the flexibility of digital media in allowing artists to aggregate different sources of technology to create works of art. The animated collage by itself would only be effective to a certain extent; however, with the combination of music, which creates a sense of urgency and impending doom, the audience is able to better appreciate the gravity of the obesity situation in America. One of the major merits of this piece of work is that it is available to anyone around the world with Internet access. “The Fast Supper” can be found on YouTube, via a link from Hung’s personal site. This ease of access makes “The Fast Supper” a superior means of conveying messages about society compared to any other methods. Also, in regards to audience exposure and costs, digital media is far more effective than traditional approaches of spreading social awareness through making speeches or running advertising campaigns—once the work is posted online, potentially hundreds of millions of viewers have access to it, and it costs nothing to post the work via video hosting sites such as YouTube. Hence, in this day and age, the fusion of digital media and art proves to be a highly effective tool to convey messages raising social awareness. Art is an increasingly popular tool to promote social or political causes, serving more than just as an aesthetic pleasure.

References:

http://fitmodelunion.com/malemodels/kenneth/

http://www.mos.org/leonardo/bio.html

http://www.tinkin.com/about/

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

http://www.paintinghere.com/painting/original_picture_of_the_last_supper_3291.html

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collage

http://www.ucpress.edu/content/chapters/10362.ch01.pdf

http://www.thamesandhudson.com/9780500203989.html

Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003.

Flanagan, Mary

IGN PC: Pre-Order the Mass Effect 3 Art Book and Get a DLC Gun

Mitch Dyer — 2012-01-26T23:56:00+00:00

In addition to Mass Effect 3 action figures bringing bonus content to BioWare's next title, the Dark Horse-published Art of the Mass Effect 3 Universe book includes in-game bonuses. Readers will earn themselves a DLC code for The Collector Assault Rifle, which also came as a bonus in the Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition...

The Linux Game Tome: OpenXcom 0.3 (new)

2012-01-26T23:11:18+00:00

Open-source reimplementation of the original X-Com

More about OpenXcom

IGN Wii: Wii U Has Some Tricks Up its Sleeves

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-26T21:18:00+00:00

It seems there may be even more to Nintendo's next generation of home consoles, the Wii U, than we initially thought. According to Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono, Wii U's features have advanced since its E3 2011 reveal, which wasn't necessarily an accurate representation of everything the system will offer upon release...

Gamers With Jobs: Meekness

Elysium — 2012-01-26T20:07:37+00:00

I have had the DOTA2 beta at my disposal and ready to play for some three or four months now, and I’ve played it exactly twice. This is not a badge of misplaced honor, or some kind of self-congratulatory example of restraint. No, the reason I have not played this game is distressingly simple, not to mention more than a little shameful.

Fact is, I’m completely intimidated by it.

And, it’s not alone. There are lots of games that intimidate me, and try as I might to rationalize and logic my way out of this silly trepidation, I can’t get over my hesitation to play certain games. Games like Magic the Gathering Online, Hearts of Iron III, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Demon’s Souls, Team Fortress 2, Dwarf Fortress, League of Legends and a scattering of others. Sometimes they just seem too complex. Other times the community surrounding the game seems too uninviting, most often competing players have been at the game for so long that it all just seems impenetrable from the outside.

And the tragedy, the real shame of it all, is that all of those games above are ones I’d like to learn and get involved in, right up til the moment that I casually look through an online starter guide that talks about how in just five or six months I might begin to understand the fundamentals. Moments like that, I should have a fully functioning and very real ejector seat, because I would pull that rip cord like I was opening a Christmas present from my long-lost billionaire uncle.

IGN PC: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm?

Ryan Scott — 2012-01-26T19:56:00+00:00

It's a problem that most massively multiplayer online game developers might surrender vital organs to have: over the past 15 months, Blizzard Entertainment's 400-lb. virtual gorilla, World of Warcraft, has dropped from 12 million to a pitiful 10.3 million global subscribers (as of November 8, 2011, ...

The Linux Game Tome: Hedgewars 0.9.17 (updated)

2012-01-26T19:11:44+00:00

Worms clone

More about Hedgewars

IGN PC: Rayman Origins Coming to PC

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-26T18:25:00+00:00

Fans of old-school 2D platformers rejoice! Rayman Origins, which scored a whopping 9.5, is headed to the PC. Via Twitter, the announcement even includes a release date March 29th. According to the press release, players can "have up to three friends join the game at any time as Globox or as one...

IGN PC: Prototype 2: The Figureheads of NYZ

Greg Miller — 2012-01-26T18:15:00+00:00

The Linux Game Tome: xboxdrv 0.8.4 (updated)

2012-01-26T18:11:31+00:00

Userspace XBox/XBox360 Gamepad Driver

More about xboxdrv

IGN DS: Mutant Mudds Review

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-26T18:06:00+00:00

Little by little, the 3DS eShop is coming into its own, helped along by a handful of download titles that offer a certain kind of charming 3D experience you can't find anywhere else. Mutant Mudds is one of those titles. The game is retro throwback care of developer Renegade Kid, and should hit the spot for gamers who grew up in the 8-bit era, as well as those who can appreciate the joys of pure, simple, old school platforming...

Grand Text Auto: Big Questions

Nick Montfort — 2012-01-26T18:00:13+00:00

Radical Books of 2011, 10/10

Big Questions, Anders Nilsen, Drawn & Quarterly, 9781770460478

Anders Nilsen has done exquisite sequential art, a.k.a. comix. I’m particularly fond of the trembling outlines and barely-representational figures in The End. The trade book of Big Questions is more conventional in style, but it binds 658 pages and 15 volumes of Nilsen’s work together in an extended, amazing story. In it, birds speak, but aren’t very smart. They devise their own ideas about a piece of unexploded ordnance, for instance, imagining it as an egg. An elderly woman dies in a plane crash; the idiot man-boy she has been caring for survives, as does the pilot. He also doesn’t seem too smart. The drawing style, which passes for simple at times but is nicely composed and filled with rich details, keys into the story, an animal tale that passes beyond childish simplicity. There are none of the mainstream superheros and no hint of the indie comics memoir in these ten years of work by a master of this art. Comic readers should love it; radical readers who wish to try out comics should try it.

IGN Wii: Rumor: Nintendo Considering Renaming Wii U

Richard George — 2012-01-26T17:55:00+00:00

One of the many complaints levied at Nintendo in the aftermath of its E3 2011 reveal of the Wii U was that the system's name simply wasn't good enough. Although few faulted the publisher for wanting to retain its powerful Wii branding, many wondered if 'Wii U' would confuse consumers rather than make them immediately understand a new console was on the market. According to the latest rumor moving through the industry, Nintendo might now be reconsidering its naming strategy...

IGN PC: The Upcoming Minecraft Creature is...

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-26T17:50:00+00:00

Mojang teased the new Jungle biome creature just yesterday, and have today loosed a pre-release of the client upon the Internet. Of course players ravenously downloaded it, and have since uncovered and even recorded this adorable new creature in video...

IGN PC: Gadgets Dictate Tactics in Ghost Recon

Peter Eykemans — 2012-01-26T17:07:00+00:00

Explosions, mountainside helicopter chases, and gunfights erupting amidst civilian streets punctuate Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's more dramatic moments. But the methodical tactics required to decompress a dangerous situation quietly creates the kind of memorable scenarios that inspire more pride than a well-placed bullet...

IGN Wii: Global Wii U Launch By End of 2012

Richard George — 2012-01-26T08:56:00+00:00

Faced with intense scrutiny, investor pressure and the first fiscal year losses for his company in over 25 years, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata once again reiterated plans for the future. Notably that includes making sure Wii U is available globally by the 2012 holiday season...

IGN DS: Nintendo Forecasts More Severe Losses

Richard George — 2012-01-26T08:30:00+00:00

The Nintendo 3DS has crossed 15 million units sold worldwide since its launch in March 2011, outpacing the early lives of the Wii and DS, yet its publisher is still struggling financially. Nintendo has released its latest quarterly earnings report, where it posted a loss of $623 million for first nine months of its fiscal year (April 2011 through December 2011)...

IGN DS: Resident Evil Revelations Review

Richard George — 2012-01-26T08:16:00+00:00

Over the past decade, the Resident Evil series has changed significantly. Sensing the need to evolve its iconic franchise alongside modern gaming, Capcom made several alterations to the formula, adjusting elements that were in dire need of an upgrade. However as time went on, it became increasingly ...

Daily Illuminator: January 26, 2012: A Nice Piece Of Glass

2012-01-26T06:10:46+00:00

The makers of Gorilla Glass, used in many touchscreen devices, debuted a thinner, more sensitive glass screen at CES recently. Lighter, more responsive smartphones? Yes, please!

-- Andrew Hackard

Grand Text Auto: Scientific Art? by Shenielle Thomas

newmedia — 2012-01-26T03:28:22+00:00

I have always thought no connections existed between art and subjects like biology, mathematics and chemistry. I thought these subjects to be independent of one another. It was not until I read about the early experimentation of American artist Charles Csuri or the artwork of Joseph Scheer that I realized I had been creating art in classes like biology and chemistry. Charles Csuri used wave functions to digitally modify the reproduction of landscape, while Scheer used a scanner to scan the bodies of moths. When I first saw the artwork of Scheer it made me think of Lepidopterists, scientists that studies butterflies and moths, or even a collector.

But my favorite piece is Canogar hide 2 by Daniel Canogar. The portrait was created by inscribing many different fingerprints digitally; the prints blurred and overlapped creating only partial prints. Today fingering printing is one of the top methods in identifying someone. The fingerprint is so unique that you don’t share it with anyone else. However in Canogar’s piece he seems to have created a grand collage consisting of many different people; all the prints are blurred together, however, becoming an inseparable and unidentifiable piece of work. The work is the extreme contrast of what the fingerprint represents in our society today. Our fingerprint is our own individual identifier, but by making it unidentifiable, Canogar has made it anonymous. Scheer does the same thing in his pieces of work. The scientist or the collector usually took the moth itself or pictures of the moth and labeled it so that they could identify it; here Scheer reproduced the pictures but not the names, we are left with little other information but what we see on the page or in the picture. These artists have taken processes of identification and made them anonymous in their artwork.

I began to think of examples from my own life in which scientific processes could be made into art. One of the more prominent examples that comes to mind, is one of my biology labs. In this particular lab, we were looking at different types of cells.The cell had been stained with different florescent dyes. Each part of the cell could absorb a different dye because it’s density. We then used a confocal microscope connected to a computer to view the cell. The microscope would shine a light of different wave lengths, and which ever dye reacted to that wave length would reflect back a color and then we would photograph it with a computer program. This would be one repeatedly at different wavelengths to capture the different densities of the cell. After we were finished with this process, we would recreate the cell by overlapping the different photographs we had taken. The finished product created a beautiful 3D picture of the cell, with many colors over lapping, that looked it been created digitally on computer. Many scientists display their work at competitions like the Small World Microtography Competition. Scientist submit the pictures of their as forms of art1. It lead me to think that there may be many more scientific process that we are not exposed to that have the capacity to produce beautiful artwork.

Sources

Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003.

1.http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2007/11/confocal_image_of_cochlea_wins.php

IGN Wii: Kid Icarus Belongs on Wii U

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-26T02:00:00+00:00

With very few Wii releases on the horizon (Rhythm Heaven Fever, Mario Party 9 and Xenoblade are pretty much it), our minds can't help but wander to the possibilities presented by Nintendo's next generation of home consoles, the Wii U. Pair this with anticipation over the revival of the Kid Icarus se...

IGN Wii: Nintendo Voice Chat: Resident Evil Uprising

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-26T01:35:00+00:00

Welcome back to another mind-bending edition of Nintendo Voice Chat! This week we've got the one and only Papa Koopa, Rich George, Audrey "Birthday Girl" Drake (ME!), Samuel "The Man with the Plan" Claiborn, and Jose "What up, 1-Up?" Otero...

IGN PC: Arkham City of the Year Awards

Greg Miller and Destine Legarie — 2012-01-25T23:47:00+00:00

IGN rated Batman: Arkham City as a 9.5, but it didn't win IGN Game of the Year. In fact, it didn't even get nominated for IGN Game of the Year. Internally, this means not enough IGN editors thought Batman: Arkham City outclassed the competition to get the overall nod. Externally, a lot of Batman fan...

IGN PC: Warface Screens Surface

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-25T22:51:00+00:00

The Linux Game Tome: BitRock InstallBuilder 8.0.2 (updated)

2012-01-25T22:25:23+00:00

Cross platform installer for Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, others

More about BitRock InstallBuilder

IGN PC: The Old Republic: Fear of the Finale

Charles Onyett — 2012-01-25T20:31:00+00:00

I skipped my 10 year high school reunion. Travel was expensive, all I owned were t-shirts and unfashionable jeans, and I think I was supposed to water a friend's plants. That's what I told myself, at least. But really I didn't want to be reminded of a time when I was drowning in a sense of opportuni...

The Linux Game Tome: prboom-plus 2.5.1.3 (new)

2012-01-25T20:25:11+00:00

A Doom source port developed from the original PrBoom project

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IGN PC: LOTRO Expansion Announced: Riders of Rohan

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-25T20:12:00+00:00

Turbine today announced the second expansion for Lord of the Rings Online since the MMO's switch to free-to-play over a year ago. The expansion, Riders of Rohan, will increase the level cap to 85, send players across the Plains of Rohan and interact with the totally sweet Ents of Fangorn...

IGN DS: Punch-out!! Coming to 3DS eShop in Japan

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-25T19:14:00+00:00

Great news for 3DS owners - or, at least, those in Japan. Nintendo has announced that the NES boxing classic Punch-Out!! will be making its way to the system's virtual console on February 1. No word on a release outside Japan, but if past eShop happenings are any indication, it should see a wider release before long. The game will reportedly go for the same price on the 3DS Virtual Console as it does on the Wii Virtual Console (500 points, in other words, the equivalent of $5)...

The Linux Game Tome: Oil rush 0.97 (updated)

2012-01-25T18:24:16+00:00

RTS with a Tower Wars genre

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Grand Text Auto: Pale Fire: A Poem in four Cantos by John Shade

Nick Montfort — 2012-01-25T18:00:38+00:00

Radical Books of 2011, 9/10

Pale Fire: A Poem in four Cantos by John Shade, Vladimir Nabokov, Ginkgo Press, 9781584234319

Extracting the poem (which only exists as a sort of in-joke in the radical novel Pale Fire) from what is perhaps (according, e.g., to Larry McCaffrey) the major English-language novel of the 20th Century? It’s at least a very extreme move. This edition drops the prose like a bad habit, makes like a banana and splits it off, makes like a tree and abandons House of Leaves prose for Leaves of Grass verse. Does it work in the sense of presenting a beautiful poem freed from its chrysalis? No. Much of it is still most notable for building up, and then comically deflating, the explicitly implied author, John Shade. It’s better as part of a narrative than as language trembling between sound and sense. But John Shade’s “Pale Fire” is not too bad of a poem qua poem, and reading it alone can certainly enhance one’s appreciation of the truly incredible novel that has been shucked off here. I haven’t read the included commentary, but must note that including commentary is an absolutely hilarious idea.

IGN PC: Warp: To Kill or Not to Kill?

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-25T18:00:00+00:00

There are a lot of games featuring aliens on the various download services, as well as a lot of action puzzlers. So for an alien-centric action puzzler to capture your attention these days means it's got to bring some style and personality to the table. From what I've seen, Warp - coming to PC, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live later this year - does just that...

IGN PC: There Will be No BlizzCon 2012

Charles Onyett — 2012-01-25T17:26:00+00:00

Blizzard has announced that there will be no BlizzCon 2012. Instead, the next convention for all things Blizzard will take place in 2013. Blizzard explained that the need to focus on development of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Diablo III was more of a priority...

Grand Text Auto: New media, the internet, and human morality, by William Wang

newmedia — 2012-01-25T17:19:18+00:00

As demonstrated by Wafaa Bilal’s 2007 piece Domestic Tension, the internet and anonymity evinces a more visceral response from its audience than a live performance, independent of the social norms and pressures that typically hinder our most primal desires. In this piece, Bilal accomplishes this by inviting the internet audience into his home. Bilal’s website explains that Domestic Tension allows viewers to “log onto the internet [and] contact or ‘shoot’ Bilal with paintball guns” while he is confined to the gallery space, subsisting on whatever food or drinks were donated. Bilal intended Domestic Tension to protest the suffering borne by Iraqis throughout their daily lives, subject to constant monitoring and at perpetual risk from violence. However, the piece also serves as a chilling social experiment. By providing the web with 24-hour access to his life and the power to make him suffer, Bilal makes evident the cruelty that anonymity can bring out in otherwise normal individuals. In fact, within twenty days over 40,000 paintballs had been fired at Bilal, and over 60,000 individuals had fired at him in total by the end. This was countered by a kinder movement of individuals who would wrest control of the gun from the cruel, even taking watches to protect a complete stranger.

The gallery space was preserved after the demonstration ended. Over 60,000 paintballs were fired in this gallery over the duration.

This evidences the true power of the interaction between new media art and the internet. Since the internet vastly increases the potential audience of any performance at a negligible cost, messages such as Bilal’s can be easily spread. Not only were these 60,000 participants / audience members made aware of Bilal’s message, but they were also witnesses to the conditions Bilal protested. In other words, the integration of the web has created a new medium for artistic expression that reaches an exponentially larger audience than a mere play. Furthermore, Bilal’s piece itself communicates with us on a far more primal level: it is real, and it is the epitome of the age-old adage of “showing not telling.”

Domestic Tension also serves as a powerful social experiment reminiscent of Stanley Milgram’s obedience to authority experiments as well as the murder of Kitty Genovese. Milgram’s experiments demonstrate our capacity to do despicable things under the right circumstances. Meanwhile, Kitty Genovese’s story illustrates the Bystander Effect, whereby the crowd diffuses responsibility since each individual feels more anonymous. These two factors combine in Bilal’s piece: afforded freedom from liability due to anonymity, thousands of people did not hesitate to shoot at Bilal. Some even wrote scripts to subject him, a total stranger, to a hail of paintballs. Given the right circumstances—the opportunity and freedom from liability—they could not control themselves.

IGN PC: The Darkness II: The Human Inside

Nick Cowen — 2012-01-25T10:38:00+00:00

As heroes go, Jackie Estacado is pretty unappealing on the surface. The protagonist of the video game (and comic book) series The Darkness is a hard sell on two counts. First off, he's a hitman turned mob don, whose day-to-day activities involve running a criminal empire. If that wasn't bad enough, ...

Daily Illuminator: January 25, 2012: "Ship" Date Vs "Street" Date

2012-01-25T06:12:14+00:00

If you've ever looked at our New Releases page (and if not, now's a good time to start!), you've seen that each game has a "shipped on" date. For items heading to game stores -- that is, anything that isn't an e23 release or a Warehouse 23 exclusive -- that is the day that the games started shipping from the PSI warehouse in Atlanta to distributors, who then send it on to your Friendly Local Game Store. It's about two weeks from the ship date to the "now in stores date," often called the "street" date. (Obviously, it takes longer for games going to overseas destinations; we're talking specifically about North America here.) Why "street" date? Sometimes, a new game is assigned a "do not sell before" date, the official date that games hit the street. We don't often set a hard street date, but two weeks from "ship" to "street" is a good general rule for most of our games.

I thought it was a good idea to put this information together so I could tell you that, after juggling schedules and freight loads, we managed to get Munchkin 8 on the water a little ahead of schedule, and now our February New Releases shows Munchkin 8 as a new release . . . when the game will actually be in stores in March because the ship date is right at the end of February. Since our New Releases page is driven by our in-house scheduling system, everyone can see when I shift a ship date between months, and I wanted to dispel any confusion.

This is basically a long way of saying two things:

Munchkin 8 is ahead of schedule!
Munchkin 8 is on schedule to be in stores in March.

-- Phil Reed

Grand Text Auto: You Can’t Have Everything… Where Would You Put It!

Nick Montfort — 2012-01-25T03:57:04+00:00

Radical Books of 2011, 8/10

You Can’t Have Everything… Where Would You Put It!, Bruce Andrews, Veer Books

There is no way this book will get past your spam filter:

facework cootie itsier-off
we are the dream sequences in your conventional cultural life -

Indeed we are. Here’s verbal salad (French dressing? Russian dressing?) shot through at times with lines of split and reassembled words:

zy^rit
sect^in
sing^franchi
cres^offi

It’s a delight to apprehend such text, passing words beneath one’s eyes, thinking about what it all might mean and sound like. Looking back now, I wonder if I should have flipped this open and read at random when I encountered it originally. Instead of plodding through, I might have thought for days about a line such as “tractor the Real.” But, as it happens, I can still do that. Although I have everything, I had nowhere to put it. I have to delve in again for specific examples of juxtapositions that Bruce Andrews fashions. The book is no doubt worth reading, scanning, or hashing into – however you want to have it all.

Gamers With Jobs: GWJ Conference Call Episode 276

Gamers With Jobs — 2012-01-25T02:45:14+00:00

Episode 276 - January 25th, 2012
Hero Academy, Dustforce, Kingdoms of Amalur Demo, Zelda, Professor Layton: The Final Spector, Non "Game" Game Stuff, Your Emails and more!

Right Click Here and 'Save As' to Download!
(An Interactive 38.3 MBs, 1:06:51)

This week Lara, Karla and Shawn talk loads of games and the non-gameplay stuff pushing further into games.

IGN PC: Why I Prefer League of Legends Over Dota 2

Nick Kolan — 2012-01-25T02:16:00+00:00

Valve's Dota 2, currently in beta, is a beautiful, loyal recreation of the fan-made Warcraft III mod that spawned a sub-genre, and it's still missing about half the original's roster. It's really good, as anyone who has played (or even watched) it can attest. But thanks to League of Legends, I just ...

IGN DS: Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater Impresses

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-25T01:11:00+00:00

About seven years ago, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was released for the PlayStation 2. It was a crowning achievement for the stealth action genre, one that pushed the series forward with its innovative new combat and health system, as well as its advanced character models. The game marked an une...

IGN PC: Unstoppable Gorg Review

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-24T23:25:00+00:00

Nailing an aesthetic can go a long way towards making a game memorable. Titles like Team Fortress 2, The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker and Rayman: Origins are memorable not only because they're fun, but also because their unique visual design and music help set them apart. In this regard Unstoppable Go...

IGN DS: Mutant Mudds Review

Audrey Drake — 2012-01-24T22:22:00+00:00

The Linux Game Tome: Pingus 0.7.6 (updated)

2012-01-24T22:09:38+00:00

Pingus is a Lemmings-like game for GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and Win32.

More about Pingus

IGN PC: Opinion: Where Skyrim Fails

Nathan Grayson — 2012-01-24T21:26:00+00:00

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the darling of critics and RPG-lovers. While the game is beautiful, involving, technically impressive, it's a long way away from being the perfect RPG. Indeed, developer Bethesda has a lot to learn from other RPGs and even action games, in terms of creating a convincing narrative experience, tweaking leveling mechanics and generating emotional pull...

IGN PC: Minecraft LEGO Being Made

Anthony Gallegos — 2012-01-24T21:14:00+00:00

Minecraft LEGO sets are happening. The Danish company did an internal review after an Internet petition, and has decided to move forward with the project. More than 10,000 people asked for LEGO Minecraft sets, and it is now being developed...