The Old School

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:16:40 -0700

arcadenation: After 20 years, Space Paranoids finally became a...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:49:30 -0700

After 20 years, Space Paranoids finally became a reality. In 1982, when TRON came out, such 3D graphics — as seen in the fictional game — were impossible to create on the computers of the day. For TRON: Legacy Flynn’s Arcade was re-created in the California Adventure Theme Park and put alongside many vintage arcade machines. From what I could tell Space Paranoids was recreated by housing a more modern computer within an arcade shell using an LCD monitor for the display. It now resides in Starcade located in Tomorrowland at the Disneyland Theme Park.

Space Paranoids can be played online. I’ve played both and it’s practically the exact same game. Not sure that the arcade version has the easter eggs that were part of the Flynn Lives alternate reality game.

Photo

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 09:11:18 -0700

Photo

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 07:24:35 -0700

-clu-: Kon Trubkovich, Glitch

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:50:26 -0700

-clu-:

Kon Trubkovich, Glitch

knowledgethroughscience: Scientists at Princeton University...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:21:14 -0700

knowledgethroughscience:

Scientists at Princeton University used 3-D printing to create a functional ear that can “hear” radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.

“The design and implementation of bionic organs and devices that enhance human capabilities, known as cybernetics, has been an area of increasing scientific interest,” the researchers wrote in the article which appears in the scholarly journal Nano Letters. “This field has the potential to generate customized replacement parts for the human body, or even create organs containing capabilities beyond what human biology ordinarily provides.”

The finished ear consists of a coiled antenna inside a cartilage structure. Two wires lead from the base of the ear and wind around a helical “cochlea” — the part of the ear that senses sound — which can connect to electrodes. The ear in principle could be used to restore or enhance human hearing. Electrical signals produced by the ear could be connected to a patient’s nerve endings, similar to a hearing aid.

Photo

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:33:52 -0700

"God we fuck up teenagers’ heads. We tell them that biological conditions are moral punishments and..."

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:33:04 -0700

“God we fuck up teenagers’ heads. We tell them that biological conditions are moral...

gameandgraphics: Animal Crossing’s KK Slider (or Totakeke in...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:37:13 -0700

gameandgraphics:

Animal Crossing’s KK Slider (or Totakeke in Japan and Europe) tote bag, at sale at Culty.

Seen at Tiny Cartridge.

I have no need for a tote bag, but OMG WANT!!

Photo

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:51:54 -0700

bradofarrell: This year at E3 during the Xbox panel during a...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:05:25 -0700

bradofarrell:

This year at E3 during the Xbox panel during a scripted “trash talk” bit someone made a scripted rape joke (male gamer to girl gamer who sucks at a game: “just wait, it’ll all be over soon.”) and then they acted like it wasn’t a big deal and then they released an expensive, anti-consumer (DRM on physical games) piece of hardware. And then Sony just released the PS4 which is just the PS3 but better graphics and $100 cheaper than the Xbox. So THAT happened.

But then Nintendo just quietly released a bunch of great looking sequels for all of it’s major franchises (Mario, Pikmin, Donkey Kong, and Smash Bros.) and every single one of those games interestingly features playable female characters who haven’t been seen in decades like Dixie Kong and Princess Peach - and Pikmin now has a new female hero.

One of my favorite things about Peach in the new Mario game is that one of the power ups is a literal “cat suit” and Peach’s “cat suit” doesn’t sexualize her at ALL. You can’t even see her boobs. She just looks like she’s wearing over-sized footie pajamas it’s so cute. Also they added a pink letter to the Mario logo just to accommodate Peach’s re-inclusion into the franchise as a character with actual agency!

So at the end of the presentation they tell you to go to the Smash Bros website to find out about new characters. And then they announced this character, Wii Fit Trainer, on the site. And in an interview the director said he gets thousands of requests for almost every video game character under the sun and he’s gotten absolutely zero requests for this character and he put her in the game to be funny and defy fan expectation. This character is literally “hey fuck you we’re the ones making the games around here, and we’ll be goofy and funny if we want to and also check it out another female character in Smash.”

Also the inclusion of the Animal Crossing villager is interesting because Animal Crossing is VERY popular with girls and even though the villager is male I’m 100% certain his alternate costumes will include the girl default villager character. So that’s neat. The three Smash characters they announced were two girl(ish) characters from two girl(ish) games and then Mega Man.

Also in the new Animal Crossing game boys are allowed to cross dress and all of the animals are explicitly genderqueer in the dialog. Characters say stuff like “Boys can ware make up if they want to, I mean, it’s 2013, who cares?” and just today a jock rhino was looking deeply into my eyes and asking me to hike a football and I asked him if he loved me (which was one of the option out of other options about sports) and he was like “Oh I guess a lot can happen when you look into someone else’s eyes like that, huh?” He didn’t even care that we’re both guys. Also in the new Pokemon game you can be black.

Basically what I’m saying is Nintendo is quietly and systematically making their games more socially progressive and Microsoft made a rape joke and then said “what? it was a joke.”