by Mike Shea on 28 July 2003
There is an excellent article on Game Girl Advance on the problem with voice in massive online RPGs. He brings up a good point. Bringing our real voice into a fantasy game forces a reality into our fantasy. Perhaps we should be stuck with a keyboard for a while longer. On the other hand, people have been playing Dungeons and Dragons with voice for thirty years with no need to type to one another.
The Eye-Toy is attempting to create a controller out of thin air, letting you punch and kick while a camera records your movements. While data density is quite a bit higher, I just can't see it catching on. Game producers won't produce specific content for a peripheral that only 1% of the market has when everyone else has a boomerang controller that the system came with. While voice may ruin role playing, it is the only viable communication mechanism for consoles.
Richard Bartle, an expert in multi-user dungeons (MUDs) has an excellent article on The taxonomy of MMOG players. I'm not sure exactly where I fit, perhaps I'm all four.
I made a re-marked up local copy of Politics and the English Language by George Orwell. This is the best single article on writing I've ever read.
I love the english language. Every time we come up with a sentence, it is like we are giving birth to an idea greater than ourselves. Take this headline for example. Poetry.
This is what happens when you remove checks and balances from government:
With Republicans controlling the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has turned to Republican lobbyist Mitch Bainwol to replace Hilary Rosen as its chairman and CEO.
Say goodbye to musical freedom and technical innovation. Your grandmother is about to be arrested for downloading her favorite big band music.
A list of Robert Rodriguez's top five most influential movies revalidated what a great director Rodriguez is. Anyone who has The Thing, The Killer, and Road Warrior on their list can't be that bad even if he did make Spy Kids 3D. Anyone who makes a movie like Desperado can be forgiven for just about anything.
Specs on the Portable Playstation have been posted. It can play movies, music, games, has a 16x9 display, 802.11 wireless, 7.1 channel sound, USB and is already being referred to as the Walkman of the 21st century. Of course that is like saying that the Walkman was around in 1903. I have a feeling we will see better "21st century" gear around 2099. Still, the PSP could be my ideal portable game system.
I'm thinking of getting a Gameboy Advance SP. Not sure why, I never leave my uberconsole but I love the idea of worlds in your pocket. I'd probably get Golden Sun, Super Mario Advance 2, and Metroid Fusion for it.
If you haven't started using Mozilla Firebird, the best web browser on the planet, here is why you should. I keep finding new features about this browser that I like. Highlight a word, right click, and search for it on google. Type the name of a link on a page and hit return and open that link. It also includes the best tab-based browsing, popup blocking, and usability of any browser I've ever used.
