lost in games

It’s the take it easy working day of the week. Weekend is just one coffee and one web browsing away. You can make your own coffee but i have some suggestions regarding your web browsing and reading.

Enjoy!

1. A video of the world’s largest model located in Hamburg, Germany. The Miniatur Wunderland. Link

2. Hilarious video. How Japanese children react to Zombie attacks. Link

3. The effects of watching Planet Earth are starting to show… Photographs of hyenas on a leash in Nigeria. Link

4. Facebook’s phenomenal growth continues. On 8 April 2009 it registered it’s 200millionth active user. This compares to 150m the site claimed in January of this year. Link

5. This is an extremely interesting article in the ongoing fight against piracy. Here’s an excerpt of the article.

“French lawmakers are poised to approve a law to create the world’s first surveillance system for Internet piracy, one that would force Internet service providers in some cases to disconnect customers accused of making illegal downloads…………The law empowers music and film industry associations to hire companies to analyze the downloads of individual users to detect piracy, and to report violations to a new agency overseeing copyright protection. The agency would be authorized to trace the illegal downloads back to individuals using the downloading computer’s unique identification number, known as its Internet Protocol, or IP, address, which the Internet service providers have on record.”  Link

The bill was defeated yesterday in French National Assembly. Link

6. How the Soviet Union built big. A list and description of 7 examples of the Soviets’ grand projects. Link

7. Four links for how Time Warner plans to charge broadband services according to how much data each user downloads. The first one is from GamersWithJobs (LINK ) and two from Dubious Quality (Link 1  and Link 2 ).  The final and fourth link is how Time Warner has made revisions to it’s original plans to accommodate lighter users of the service. (Link )

8. This is a game related link. Simon Parkin blogs about how positive aspects of a game can easily be seen as negative.

“In time it becomes possible to take a game product and write a damning review alongside a stirringly favourable one without threatening one’s integrity.” Link

9. Black and white wallpapers of retro mac games. Link

If you have any cool and interesting links email me and i will try and post them in future Click the Links.

As a new regular post, every Friday i will be providing you with links to articles, videos and pictures that i found interesting over the course of the week. The links, as you can see below, will not be restricted to games.

If you happen to find or know anything that you feel is worthwhile please feel free to email me at costas.taliadoros@gmail.com and i will try and include them in future Friday’s Click the Link.

Enjoy your weekend!

1. The gaming world was shaken when the OnLive service was demonstrated at this year’s GDC. A service that allows the streaming of games through a small box. Eurogamer has an excellent article Why OnLive Can’t Possibly Work while Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality writes about what this technology means to games prices and publishers’ profit margins. Link

2. An amazing video about Dolphins and their bubbles (Not the kind you are thinking of…). Link

3. The Watchmen movie has basically come and gone. This article tries to explain why the creator of the comic book does not approve the adaptation of comics to movies and the author of the article reaches a very personal decision. Link

4. Teens capture images of space with £56 camera and balloon. The first Link is how they accomplished this incredible feat and the second Link the pictures they managed to take.

5. Top 10 Sexually Charged Late Night Interviews Of All Time. Drew Barrymore’s flashing at Letterman should have been the No.1. Link

6. An artistic version of the life cycle of an apple seed. Link

7. Two links dedicated to Far Cry 2, a first person shooter i thoroughly enjoyed. The first link is to The Brainy Gamer’s comments on the excellent soundtrack of the game which also has a Youtube audio. Link

The second is on a behind the scenes article which featured in a special Games Developers Conference issue of Game Developer magazine. Link

8. A fantastic article on the level of depth we explore each game, especially in recent times where the supply of games has geometrically increased.

“There is a danger for the games writer, as for the consumer who is addicted to gaming as a community pursuit, that we can never fully commit to a game lest we are left behind, snagged on a title over which the zeitgeist passed a few weeks ago.” Link

It has been a relatively quiet week despite some announcements at the CES 2008. But there are still some very notable links again this week. Here we go.

The Escapist has introduced a new feature or column if you like where readers of the site and hence gamers, post their stories and articles which revolve around videogames. It is called Everyday Gamer and I have read a few of these and they are great stories which any gamer can relate to. My favourite one is Games are for kids by Mark Patience . Link

Next, it’s the review at Zero Punctuation of Silent Hill: Origins on the PSP by Yahtzee Croshaw. I have played the game and his review nails my experience with good humour. Link

Dubious Quality has written an article regarding the console war and people’s predictions with regards to 2007 (and how accurate they were) and now for 2008. It is a long one but worth reading. Link

The final link is about the person who designed my all time favourite game, Civilization, Mr Sid Meier. He will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards this February. Mr Meier was also the second person (after Mr Miyamoto) to be included in the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame, which is an an elite group of interactive entertainment industry legends. Link

Hey all,

After three days at the office it is time to pack it in and start thinking about how we will spend our weekend. Preferably on games and football (Big game, Apoel Vs Anorthosi). Oh and some anime too. Final three episodes of Ghost in the Shell: SAC Season 2.

Anyway, what about this week’s Click the Link?

Well, the first one is a blog post on Rock, Paper and Shotgun by Alec Meer. It’s a nice Christmas story of him trying to show and explain to his dad what he does for a living. Playing and writing about games. It’s a story which feels familiar to many people. Link

Next a video about next week’s XBLA release of Omega 5. This game was developed by Hudson Soft, the guys behind the Bomberman Live. Link

There is a very interesting article at CVG regarding the increased popularity of the Co-op mode in games and how developers nowdays are tackling it. Link

Last a BBC report on the rising costs of developing games and how it is affecting the industry. Link

That’s all folks. I am heading out. Next stop, the town of Silent Hill.

See you back on Monday.

Yeap, the site has released the 50 games for the year 2007 list. I don’t know whether you agree with this list but it is an interesting one. Crackdown in No.4 and Phantom Hourglass in No.5? You can check the top 10 list here.

Burnout Paradise new demo - Joystiq
Big PSP firmware update in Japan - Kotaku
Top 10 Game Design Innovations - Next-Gen
Manhunt 2 Appeal successful - Shacknews

Now Whos’s being naive, Kay? - Level Up
Aberrant Gamer - Gameswatch 
Halo 3 Forge: Illusion Self Portrait - Ozymandias 
SMG and Nintendo’s continuing critical dominance - Gamecritics 
DMC4 demo on PSN and XBL in early 2008 - Joystiq 

Monday Morning Quarterback: - Level Up
Dean Takahashi - Call of Duty 4 Review 
First Look at X360 Fall Dashboard update - Arstechnica 
Metallica to debut new single in Rock Band -  Destructoid

It’s a dark, cloudy Friday and hopefully at some point it will also be a rainy Friday.

I hope that this Friday’s Click the Link help you get through these difficult and final office hours…

• N’Gai Croal, one my favourite videogame journalists, has written an article on having “repercussions” on what we do in videogames in the real world.

• MTV Multiplayer has a nice story of one its female employees playing Mario Galaxy in turns with her boyfriend. But what happens when she leaves town though? MTV Multiplayer

• Retro Studios tells Gamasutra how the company got the go-ahead from Nintendo to develop the Metroid Prime trilogy on the Gamecube and Wii and discuss some of the issues they had with all three games during development - Gamasutra

• The final link is another report on the effects of some forms of entertainment to young viewers and adults which was prepared by the University of Michigan. TV, film and game violence seen as a threat

That’s it for me. I am looking forward to a weekend of Apoel, Arsenal, Ratchet & Clank and early Christmas shopping.

Have a great weekend!!!

Fall Xbox 360 update touches on social networking - Engadget
Developer Interview: Casey Hudson on Mass Effect - A+E: The Mercury News Interactive
Nintendo faces new piracy threat - Gamesindustry
Assassin’s Creed is fastest selling new IP since 2002 - Gamesindustry
Next-Gen’s 2007 Christmas Buyer’s Guide - Next-Gen
DS: 12 Games of Christmas - Eurogamer
Things i have done: Felt Weird after finishing a game (Half Life 2, Ratchet & Clank, Call of Duty 4) - MTV Multiplayer
Wiimote accessory-less toy, more gun - Engadget