↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A (Start) 09.30.06
Posted by Shawn Struck on 09.30.2006
Pac-Man for fun and science, a reason to visit Hot Topic, and... my last Saturday column for 411 ever.
Good morning, Dear Readers! As you enjoy this lovely weekend, while 411 Mania Games is undoubtedly your first stop for all the great gaming news, pressing previews, riveting reviews, crafty columns and fantastic features during the week, this column isn't going to just rehash what you've all read before. NO, think of me as your video game sherpa!
Yes, a sherpa, guiding you through the twists and turns of The Week That Was In Gaming to call you attention not to the huge mountaikn temple visible from space, but the interesting flora, fauna, and shrines that you might otherwise have missed. Oh, and I don't have a yak.
You view this column with the mouse-click of determination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension that can astound, a dimension of sites, a dimension of whatever crosses my mind. You're moving into a column of both the geeky and the obscure, of video games and pop culture at large.
You've just crossed over into... the ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A (Start)!
Coolest Masters Thesis EVER (via ruby_wednesday)
Media Technology student Wim van Eck loves video games, but has long thought that there was something a little... inorganic about game behavior and enemy AI. As he says in his introduction:
For me computer games are predictable. They are pre-programmed, and will not do anything except what their programmers programmed them to do. If the programmer did not think of it, it can not happen. Donkey Kong will never get tired of throwing heavy barrels at you, or strain a muscle, or get hungry and just eat the princess. After playing a computer game for some time, you know what you can expect from it. But is it possible to take the unpredictability of an animal, and merge this behavior with a computer game, by this replacing parts of the computer code by animal behavior? Can you play a computer game against an animal? What will be the differences? We wanted to explore these questions and their possibilities.
He built a maze for the insects to walk around in, with its proportions and layout matching the maze of the computer game. The position of the animals in the maze is detected using color-tracking via a webcam set up, and linked the movements of the crickets to the ghosts in the game. This way, the real animals
are directly controlling the virtual ghosts!
Some might think this is creepy, but I think this is fascinating. This is yet another way the medium of video games is being turned on its head. Hopefully Mr. van Eck will get to unleash his creative talents in a game studio or computer lab somewhere.
Metal Gear Solid 4 to include "Real People" (via
Dark Zero)
At the Tokyo Game Show Hideo Kojima has announced that he plans to include people from the real world in the forthcoming PlayStation3 title, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It is a big change for the series but Kojima-san has refused to reveal any more details on his decision beyond demonstrating how the Japanese actress, Yumi Kikuchi, has been faithfully rendered to be included in the game.
Remember a few years ago when celebrities doing voiceover work for video games was all the rage (I still think Lance Bass made an excellent Sephiroth)? Will this open the door to actual celebrity cameos becoming more common? Does this mean I can finally, FINALLY live out my dream of popping out from under a
cardboard box, pulling out a tranquilizer gun and capping Carrot Top right in the brain? Stay tuned to 411 Mania as this develops.
This has got to be the coolest custom project I've seen this side of Rob
Cockerham.
Nate used Photoshop to enlarge an image of Wolverine's claws from the X-Men movie that he had downloaded. This allowed him to print out the image until it fit exactly onto the 1" x 1/8" Aluminum Flat Bar that he had purchased for creating the claws. Once the basic shape was on paper, Nate traced around it onto a piece of wood that he had cut to 1" x 13", which was the calculated maximum length of the claws. This length was determined to be the longest length that could fit on the back of Nate's forearm. Once the wood had been traced, Nate gathered up his aluminum and headed to his Grandfather's barn, where he cut the wood out on a band saw, sanded it on a vertical standing belt sander, and used it to trace out the aluminum claws. The aluminum claws were then cut out VERY CAREFULLY on the band saw and sanded lightly on the belt sander. The next step was to put each claw under the wire brush wheel to give them a "brushed aluminum" finish, which Nate determined would look closest to "adamantium", which Wolverine's claws are actually made out of.
This is my Halloween present to all my readers. Go forth, and be awesome.
Humans! Cover Your Shame With These!
Not that you're out of luck if you want some wearable, off-the-shelf video-game inspired wear. Office Lendorff sells knit sweaters and scarves with video-game-inspired pixel-art. I love this scarf -- if only I was living somewhere cold enough to merit ever wearing one-- I guess that's that's the tradeoff for living in an
area where a "blizzard" is more likely to conjure visions of ice cream than snowstorms.
You can check out the collection of pixel-themed
scarves here. Or you can head on to Hot Topic, and after you've elbowed your way past the suburban teens rebelling against authority buy buying things and pick up some official World
of Warcraft T-Shirts.
This has got to be the coolest custom project I've seen this side of 
Not that you're out of luck if you want some wearable, off-the-shelf video-game inspired wear. Office Lendorff sells knit sweaters and scarves with video-game-inspired pixel-art. I love this scarf -- if only I was living somewhere cold enough to merit ever wearing one-- I guess that's that's the tradeoff for living in an
