It was bound to happen sooner or later:

• Joichi Ito on WoW
  Notes from Joi Ito's talk at the 23C3 in Berlin
  (tags: joiito wow games 23c3 berlin)

One of the games that I am really looking forward to is Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. For those who don't know the Wario Ware line of games, these games are absolutely brilliant, and make use of the innovative and unique features of the game platform. Smooth Moves is a collection of minigames that parody or lampoon other video games. Built for those with ultra-short attention spans, it's also completely crack-smoking.

• The Future of Games
  Everything they predicted has come to pass.
  (tags: games future)

Coming in 2007 for the Nintendo DS:

Let's hope they bring it to the US -- I love the idea of stylus-directed attacks.

New York Times Technology writerDavid Pogue about his experiences with the Wii.

Online, there are already gripes and legal threats regarding Wii-induced muscle aches, which is pretty much what you’d expect from nerds who haven’t moved their bodies in years and live in a litigious society. I have equally little sympathy for people who wind up with nicks and bruises because they ignore the huge, on-screen warning that, before every game, advises you to move furniture out of the way.

Now, I already know what kind of hate mail I’m going to get. “You’re a terrible parent,” it’ll say. “Your kids should be outside getting fresh air and sunshine, playing stickball and walking a mile to school, uphill both ways!”



Yes, O.K., sure. That would be great.



That would also be 1950.

A few months ago, David Beckham made news with his problems with his BMW X5 -- it seemed that everytime he left it parked somewhere, someone would manage to steal his armor plated SUV. Police suspected the work of high-tech car thieves using a laptop and a transmitter to crack BMW's keyless entry system, but it seems that there is a much easier way to break into a BMW, and it involves a 900 Euro toolkit. The Google video below shows just how easy it is to open a BMW's lock.

(The first part of the video is in German, just keep watching, it's subtitled for those parts, and then switches over to English):

Still haven't gotten that Wii yet? It looks like you might have yet another chance to pick one up online, as this Friday morning (12/29), between the hours of 7am and 11am PST, they'll be putting up the Nintendo Wii for sale on Amazon. From the sales page:

Wii Available for Purchase 12/29: The Nintendo Wii will again be available for purchase on Amazon.com on 12/29, Friday morning, at some point between 7am and 11am PST. We will be limiting purchases to one per household. We anticipate that we will sell through our inventory very quickly as demand for this product continues to be very high. At this time, we do not have any information on future Nintendo Wii offers, but we will post updates on future availability on this page.

Good luck!

• University of Rochester Press Release: A Reason Why Video Games Are Hard to Give Up
  (tags: games)
• TIME.com: 50 Coolest Websites
  (tags: websites 50 cool)

Everyone knows that if you're looking for a game console, you're going to hit the big 5 retailers: Best Buy, Fry's, GameStop/EB, Circuit City and Target. While Target isn't a specialty electronics retailer, they are everywhere, and while you're there shopping for games, you can also pick up other items you might need around the house. Well, it appears that America's least liked Home Improvement Store, the Home Depot (or the Home Despot as we tend to call it) that they weren't happy just supplying tools -- they've also added video games to their inventory. So now you can get that lighting fixture and your game console without ever leaving Home Depot.

New numbers on the console sales figures:

• XBox360. 7.74 million units worldwide. 300,000 Japan, 4.95 million US, 2.49 million other countries.
  
• Wii. 3.19 million units worldwide. 1.01 million Japan, 1.32 million Americas, 0.86m other countries.
  
• PS3. 1.18 million units worldwide. 480,000 Japan, 700,000 Americas.
  

For the last year or so scientists have been talking a great deal about alternative energy sources. We all know the basics of energy production -- natural gas, coal, and oil, but it seems the trend now is to take a local crop and resource and use that as the core component of their new alternative fuel.

Farmers in the midwest, with their vast fields of corn want corn-based ethanol, while the people of Michigan want to use peat as the ethanol derivative of choice. Guess who has one of the largest supplies of peat? Yep. Michigan. There are many different ways to derive ethanol, amongst them sugar beets, which in terms of inputs, actually requires less resources than corn. (Minnesota and North Dakota are where 50% of the U.S. sugar beets come from)

This week, the spotlight has been on compressing coal to a liquid -- with production costs at $45 a barrel, it's considerably cheaper than the $60 a barrel for gasoline, but liquid coal and peat are far from being carbon neutral sources of power -- we'd just be replacing our dependency of foreign oil to a dependency on some local resource, and polluting up the world with different carbon emissions.

What's the solution? Obviously renewable fuels are better than expendable fuels and the less pollutants they leave behind the better. While my own preference is that biomass derived ethanol is best, but it has to be done in a way that doesn't strip us of our own natural resources -- corn takes a vast amount of land and water, not to mention that corn is a edible food source for humans. I've always liked the idea of Biodiesel from Algaculture, as it requires neither farmland or freshwater, and has a very high energy yield compared to corn or soybeans.

Bill Amend, cartoonist of FoxTrot, has announced that he'll be cutting back on the number of strips that he does from a daily strip to a weekly one (appearing only on Sundays). A press release has all the details, including Amend's desire to get out of the house and try some new things. In his most current storyline on the daily strip, he gives a clue as to how he'll be spending his days.

Burning Crusade does release in January after all...

• Korea considering gold farming regulation
  (tags: mmog virtual gold money korea economics games)
• The Escapist - Confessions of an MMOG Cross-Dresser
  (tags: gender inequality mmog)

When I played MMOGs, most of the time I had a female avatar. This isn't much of a secret as my game friends know my true identity, but the game is a bit more bearable as a female than a male character. Even in the virtual world, traditional gender roles apply -- men are supposed to be self-reliant, independent and never ask for help or show weakness, while women are supposed to be more social, and ask for help. In MMOGs, being social and able to ask for help are paramount to succeeding in the game, while being independent will often get one's character killed.

In Confessions of an MMOG Cross-dresser, Bruce Sterling Woodcock (SirBruce of MMOGChart, not Bruce Sterling of Islands in the Net) recollects his experiences with in-game crossdressing.

In most games, players don't have a choice of their character's gender -- if you're playing Tomb Raider, you are Lara Croft and you are female. If you're playing Super Mario Bros. you are Mario or Luigi and you are male. However, as games have gotten more advanced, the choice of gender for a character is now an option in many games (and almost all MMOGs) and three to five times as many males than females are likely to gender bend in MMOGs.

When I was working on Diablo II, I'd often read the message board and see posts by players expressing their anger over our decision to make our only pure magic class Sorceress character female (as opposed to the male Sorceror character we had in Diablo), saying that they refused to play a female character. These posts used to amuse me a great deal, because in most games, it is the women who had to play men in games, and now with a gender switch, male players were suddenly complaining (quite loudly, I might add) of what women had endured for the past two decades in games: being forced to play a role in a gender that was not their own.

Alice of Wonderland had this to say about Boys, Gender and Games:

Christmastime really hammers home awareness of gender-ised play, I think, seeing all the pink stuff on the shelves for girls, and the camo-and-guns stuff for boys. But while I'm often disheartened by the candyfloss inanity of the girls' toys, I've been really struck at how oftentimes the boys' fate can be worse.

While the games market is dominated by boy games, there are a fair number of gender neutral games, and a really small amount of girl games. If you go to a toystore, there's the girl section and the boy section, and they're about equal, with the gender neutral stuff (legos, block toys, stuffed animals, exercise gear) in the middle. That's the way games should be too, but they're not -- boy games take up a disproportionate amount of the videogame section when it really should be equal to the girl's section, and we have the male-dominated games industry to blame for that. While Hollywood seems content to produce movies like Titanic and Pride and Prejudice, there's no equivalent game studio willing to produce a blockbuster game for a largely female audience, and I feel a big part of this is simply because game developers don't know what attracts female gamers. Of all game genres so far, the MMOG has one of the highest female population rates (at 20%, most of them introduced to the game by their signifigant others). The Sims is a higher percentage, but the Sims is not really a game, so much as a simulation software toy.

More in the extended about my own journey to the female side, and further observations of gender roles in MMOGs.

According to the Hamilton Spectator, scalpers hoping to make a nice profit on their PS3s have begun returning their PS3s to the stores that they bought them from. Unable to make the profits expected from a short supplied item (whose supply turned out to be not so short before Christmas), scalpers are choosing to instead return their unopened systems.

Go Capitalism.

While it's never too early to declare the PS3 a failure, the $600 dollar price tag on the system reminds me of the ill-fated launch of the NEO-GEO console system. Vastly superior hardware -- truly arcade quality technology for 1990, but with such a hefty price tag against systems that cost half as much (TG16, Genesis and Super NES were its competitors back in the day) it was never able to gain much of a foothold in the market. I suspect that unless the PS3 price drops substantially ($150-$200) within the next 12 months, the PS3 will have priced itself out of the casual gamer market.

Here's my wacky conspiracy theory -- Sony deliberately has a shortage on their game system at launch -- the system costs too much to make, and with not much supply, and a ton of demand, the shortage of systems and their instant sellout becomes news -- free advertising (which is important, considering their PS3 commercial is really awful). Of course, when Sony realizes that instead of gamers getting their hands on this system and being evangelists for their next-gen console, but rather entrepeneurs making a quick buck reselling the system, and notices just how effective Thanksgiving was for Wii evangelists (by the time Thanksgiving came around, most of my friends had seen it, and my family had seen how fun it was), they realized that the shortage was hurting them get a foothold on this market -- they were not only losing to newcomer Nintendo (who seemed to also have a supply problem) but to the XBox 360. Realizing that the manufacturing loss of $300 per console was far better than losing the console war for the next 5 years, they release their stockpile of PS3s unto the masses (who balk at seeing the $600 price tag and turn toward the cheaper alternatives).

Joby GP3-01EN Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Flexible Tripod for Digital SLR Cameras

by Joby, Inc

The multi-segmented, rubberized legs of the Gorillapod can twist and curl around many objects to keep the camera steady. The Gorillapod's small size and low weight means that it should fit itself inside many photographers bags without much trouble.

The new SLR Zoom Gorillapod lacks the sliding lock plate of the SLR and regular Gorillapods, but allows for the mounting of your own tripod head by using an optional adapter (included). At $50, it's $10 more than the SLR Gorillapod, and almost $30 more than the standard gorillapod, but if you've got the heavier camera, the additional money is well worth it.

news on sina.com.cn, in which China Telecom, one the biggest ISPs in China, release an official statement:

中国电信称，据我国地震台网测定，北京时间12月26日20时26分和34分，在南海海域发生7.2、6.7级地震。受强烈地震影响，中美海缆、亚太1号、亚太2号海缆、FLAG海缆、亚欧海缆、FNAL海缆等多条国际海底通信光缆发生中断，中断点在台湾以南15公里的海域，造成附近国家和地区的国际和地区性通信受到严重影响。

China Telecom has confirmed that, according to China institute of earthquake monitoring, at Dec 26, 20:26-20:34 Beijing Time, 7.2 and 6.7 magnitude earth quake have occurred in the South China Sea. Affected by the earthquake, Sina-US cable, Asia-Pacific Cable 1, Asia-Pacific Cable 2, FLAG Cable, Asia-Euro Cable and FNAL cable was broken and cut up. The break-off point is located 15 km south to Taiwan, which severely affected the International and national tele-communication in neighboring regions.

据悉，中国大陆至台湾地区、美国、欧洲等方向国际港澳台通信线路受此影响亦大量中断，国际港澳台互联网访问质量受到严重影响，国际港澳台话音和专线业务也受到一定影响。

It was also reported that communication directed to China mainland, Taiwan, US and Europe were all massively interrupted. Internet connection to countries and region outside of China mainland became very difficult. Voice communication and telephone services were also affected.

中国电信称，受余震影响，抢修工作遇到较大困难，加之海缆施工具有一定难度，预计影响还将持续一段时间。

China Telecom has claimed that due to the aftershock of the earthquake, the repairing works would be very tough. In addition undersea operation is also not easy to handle with. So this phenomenon is going to exist for certain period.

BBC has even more details about the quake and the outage, saying that it could take 3 weeks to repair.

In South Korea, broadband provider KT Corp said six submarine cables had been affected, interrupting services to customers including banks.

Some foreign exchange trading was reportedly affected.

"Trading of the Korean won has mostly halted due to the communication problem," a dealer at one South Korean domestic bank told Reuters news agency.

Of course, as far as gaming goes, for all you MMOG players that have to face Asian guilds killing your spawn, now's the time to take advantage of their (essentially) three-week downtime to have your way with the ubers.

• Feng shui investors brace for year of fire on water - Yahoo! News
  (tags: fengshui hk china superstition)
• Gamasutra - Nintendo Announces Korean Push For 2007
  Koreans developing games for Wii can only be a good thing
  (tags: korea games nintendo)

Popular enough that people are willing to trade their PS3 straight up for the Nintendo Wii.

Looking at Craigslist.org, there are an astounding number of people willing to trade their PS3s for a Nintendo Wii. Sometimes they want the difference in cash, but occasionally there are the ones that are willing to take the loss to possess a Nintendo Wii.

There are theories behind this of course -- that the profit to be made on eBay on a Wii is much larger than the profit of a PS3, and with Sony back to making blue lasers again, the PS3 is now able to make their way to the retail stores without shortages.

Retailers, unaware of the shift in the console gray market, continue to bundle the PS3 with the games and accessories they otherwise wouldn't sell (and make a nice profit margin on) at a cost nearing $1000, putting it outside the reach of most consumers.

The Nintendo Wii, on the other hand, bundles for around $500-600, still less than an bundle-less PS3 and becomes the console market's new method of obtaining a Wii -- on eBay, a non-bundled Wii console can reach upwards of $400, making the bundle extras truly extras, as the amount to be made on those bundled items can be far less in order to make a profit.

With Christmas over, one might hope to see sanity return to eBay and craigslist, but it seems the Wii shortage has just begun, and retailers, now aware that the PS3 is an overhyped, expensive console, have shifted their bundling focus onto the Nintendo Wii -- Gamestop/EBGames now offers a Wii bundle for almost $700.

Here's a quick breakdown of the $679 bundle, with retail cost of item in parentheses.

• Nintendo Wii system (system, remote controller, nunchuck, stand, sensor and Wii Sports) ($250)
  
• Wii 1 Gigabyte Memory Card ($60, although you can get a generic one for ~$13)
  
• 1 additional Wii Remote Controller ($40)
  
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess ($50)
  
• Trauma Center: Second Opinion ($50)
  
• Red Steel ($50)
  
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance ($50)
  
• Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz ($50)
  
• Madden NFL 2007 ($50)
  
• 1 Year Product Replacement Plan
  

Toys 'R' Us and their bundles aren't much better (unless you're the eBaying type) . Priced at $489, $539, and $589, they come with the console and 4, 5 or 6 games and a $39 "Starter Kit" which includes a 512 MB Memory Card, a controller cover, and a system tray (one already comes with the system -- why do you need another?)

And don't even bother looking at Amazon for the Wii -- the third-party sellers have effectively turned the little $250 console system into a $1000+ bundled game system.

We're only one month past release of the console, the busiest shopping month at that, and I suspect that by March/April, supplies should be far more adequate, and that by June/July, people should be able to walk into their local store and pick one without much hassle. And then of course, there's the rumor that Nintendo will start releasing Wiis with other colors and without Wii Sports, effectively lowering the console price to sub $200. Remember, it only took four months before Nintendo released the black and pink versions of the DS Lite in the US -- expect a similar color strategy for the Nintendo Wii.

Of course, if you just can't wait to score yourself a Wii, the rumor is that retailers have begun stockpiling the consoles in anticipation of New Year's Eve sales -- December 31st is the next shipment date for those of you who wish to camp outside stores.

• E! News - The Subject Was Roses...and Stormtroopers - George Lucas
  Stormtroopers and a planet of Naboo float at the Rose Parade, with 200 501st Stormtroopers marching.
  (tags: roseparade 2006 marching)
• 'Termite guts can save the planet', says Nobel laureate
  Making carbon neutral ethanol via termites
  (tags: termites science biology environment carbon)
• Saying Yes to Mess - New York Times
  "Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds (who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes”) and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and
  (tags: mess organization clean lifestyle time)
• Nintendo Wii steals the Christmas show - Sunday Times - Times Online
  (tags: wii nintendo)
• Online Eco-Stores (TreeHugger)
  (tags: eco environment online shopping)
• BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Is it OK to go online on Christmas Day?
  (tags: bbc online holiday)
• MERRY GEAR SOLID: Secret Santa
  (tags: mgs konami games flash)

• Elf Yourself
  (tags: art animation flash game)
• NORAD Tracks Santa 2006
  (tags: santa holiday norad 2006)

• Aquaman Left Spyware on My Hard Drive | You Don't Know Jack - BETA
  You Don't Know Jack is back (as a dis or dat, but it's better than nothing, I suppose) This particular one is about software and superheroes.
  (tags: ydkj flash fun games superhero)
• An Essay by Einstein -- The World As I See It
  (tags: einstein philosophy)
• What's Your Energy Footprint?
  (tags: ecology green environment energy)
• Large papercut installations
  (tags: art paper artist papercraft)

• In-game ads fail to influence consumers, says specialist // GamesIndustry.biz
  (tags: advertising marketing games)

Last year, we bought some gingerbread kits from Trader Joe's, and I MacGyvered some pastry bags out of Ziploc bags for an impromptu Gingerbread House party. Everyone had a good time, and we turned out two houses. One that turned out exactly like the one on the box, and another that looked like... a Gingerbread House of Horror. Because we had so much fun last year, we wanted to host another one this year, and asked for input on two possible dates for the party. We got responses back from people saying they could make one date, but not the other, and it was split pretty much down the middle, so we decided to host the Gingerbread House party on both days.

First of all, unlike most Gingerbread Houses that you see nowadays, we actually used real gingerbread -- we prepared it the night before, and baked it a few hours before the party (to make sure we'd have enough gingerbread for all the houses). We also got some boxes of Graham crackers just in case people wanted more structural material. Our guests brought things to decorate the houses with (it's a good use of that leftover Halloween candy lying around) and we made two types of icing (cement-like icing and decorative frosting) with multiple colors. The results were fantastic.

flickr photoset: Gingerbread Houses (2006)

Here's a sample:

Woot Sells PS3? Wii, Wii!

So, hey, check it out: there’s this awesome new gaming system that we just can’t stop playing. Too bad it’s so hard to find in stores – we guess they just didn’t make enough of them. It’s called the Nintendo Wii, and holy mother of Zelda, is it ever a blast. If the Wii is cool with polygamy, we might ask it to marry us.

The controller – so easy! No more intricate push-this-twice, pull-that-three-times trickery, just easy waves of the hand. The console – so cute! It actually makes our gaming room look better, unlike the bulky, ugly consoles we could mention. How does Nintendo keep the price so low on that thing, anyway? And the games, good Lord, the games! Not to mention those adorable avatars. We’ve already created virtual versions of the entire staff, so we can beat each other virtually-bloody instead of actually-bloody, like we usually do. The only problem is that none of the nose options are as big as Jason’s actual nose. But that’s a minor quibble.

In fact, we love the Wii so much, we want to give a Wii to everybody on our payroll. To fund this Wii-for-the-People program, we're selling this Sony PlayStation 3. The SIXAXIS wireless controller is basically the same complicated gazillion-button-style controller you know from past PS models, but at least you won’t be fighting Grandma for gaming time. Along with the usual roster of ho-hum games, the PS3 can play CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs, and the 20GB hard drive can store music, videos, and music videos. It’s certainly, er, rather full-figured, for those of you who want a lot of heft for your money. And its HDMI capabilities give you polygons and frames-per-second out the wazoo, if you prefer that stuff to having fun.

Best of all, for every PS3 you buy, we can buy Wiis for two of our employees. So when you get frustrated by those intricate combo-button moves, or bored by the underwhelming game offerings for the PS3, keep the spirit of the season in mind. Remember all those happy Woot staffers whose lives have been changed by their super-fun Nintendo Wiis, paid for by you. Heartwarming, isn’t it?

* shipped today via FedEx Next Day with Saturday delivery. Rural and snowbound areas may cause delivery delay out of Woot or FedEx control. Warranty: One year

Features:

* Plays video games and stuff

This morning Nintendo made available through the Wii Shop Channel (under Wii Ware) a trial version of the Opera Browser for 0 Wii Points. This is the first program I've purchased through their Shop, so it was fun to see the little animated 8-bit Mario they've got running around while the software downloads.

This is a trial version, which implies that the full version has more features. The trial version is a very stripped down browser -- it has support for Flash, and appears to run at a resolution of approximately 800x 600. On our 20 inch non-HDTV, the letters are hard to make out when zoomed out all the way -- zooming in one level makes it much easier to read, and the browser has included a single column mode which zooms in and squeezes the content into one column to make it easier to read.

The web is eerily quiet when surfing on the Wii. This is likely caused by an expectation from the Wii and the TV to bombard us with both video and audio, and surfing the web in silence feels like an awkward pause in the dinner conversation. Surfing feels really passive on the Wii, and entering URLs are painful using the onscreen keyboard, and javascript seems to be partially enabled at best. I managed to crash the browser (and the console) a few times during my trial run. Some web forms (the ones that take an input without a "go" button) won't work on the Wii, and letters normally hidden into a password field on input on forms are not hidden.

I think the internet browser experience is better on the computer at the moment (though digital photos look pretty good on the Wii). Flash sites work great on the Wii, and while my own site doesn't quite render properly on the Wii (it's due for a redesign anyways), my random sampling found that many sites did display fine.

Flickr: Nintendo Wii: Opera Browser

Electroplankton

by Nintendo

The cheapest copy of Electroplankton I could find was with Play-Asia, for $53.10 (including shipping) for the Japanese version, but it's still a good $10 less than Amazon once shipping is applied.

Electroplankton also recently won the British Academy Video Games Awards in the category of Audio, as well as a nomination from the MTV Video Music Awards for best video game store.

• NPR : Best Fiction of 2006
  (tags: books fiction bestof 2006 npr)
• YouTube - Line Rider - Urban Run
  (tags: games linerider flash video youtube)
• Electrolytic Etching of Brass - The Steampunk Workshop
  (tags: art howto diy etching brass design tutorial)

Author J.K. Rowling's website has a little puzzle which fans can solve to discover the title of the last book.

Harry Potter Walkthrough below, answer to the title in the extended.

1. Click the eraser.
   
2. In the mirror, click the farthest doorknob, and look for the Christmas tree.
   
3. Click on the center of the door next to the mirror and a wreath appears.
   
4. Then click on the top of the mirror and you'll see a garland.
   
5. Click on a cobweb next to the door.
   
6. Look at the chimes in the window, click the second chime to the right and hold down.
   
7. Chimes turns into key, and opens the door.
   
8. Click on the wrapped gift behind the door.
   
9. Click on the gift again and figure out the title yourself by playing a game of hangman.
   

Who Killed the Electric Car?

by Sony Pictures

The first part of the movie tells the history of the EV1 through engineers, salespeople and drivers of the vehicle, and then halfway through turns the movie into a murder case, examining the suspects behind the destruction of the car. The movie is a lesson on how corporate decisions on marketing a product, government regulations and consumer decision processes interact.

At the end of the movie, we are left with a feeling of waste, and that we should all be running clean, electric vehicles instead of the gas-polluting cars that we drive today. It's also somewhat sad that GM (which is now in massive financial trouble) who was a pioneer in the field of electric vehicles essentially threw away the costs of research and development on the EV1 as well as a potential 10 year lead on the competition in the electric vehicle marketplace.

• Seeing good in everyone
  Menlo Park man goes for 40 years to give presents to those in juvenile hall.
  (tags: santa menlopark volunteer)
• Students sell work online as Web changes art world - Yahoo! News
  (tags: saatchi art auction business selling student web)
• John Nack on Adobe: Great Photoshop CS3 beta resources
  (tags: beta mac photoshop tips art photography cs3)
• Toy gun convertible into robotic-humanoid form - Google Patents
  The original patent for the Transformers Decepticon Leader Megatron.
  (tags: transformers patent megatron decepticon 80s)
• Transformers Streaming page
  The Transformers Live Action Movie trailer
  (tags: transformers movie michaelbay stevenspielberg hd trailer liveaction)
• Hurty Elbow : Frank Lloyd Wright's GINGERBREAD HOUSE
  Even though it says Gingerbread, it's Graham Crackers.
  (tags: franklloydwright architecture art food grahamcracker house holiday)
• The Nativity of the Awesome on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  (tags: flickr nativity holiday toys)
• Game Develoeprs Change Light Bulbs
  Games industry "light-bulb" jokes.
  (tags: gamesindustry jokes humor)
• Before & After magazine
  (tags: art design logo howto diy graphicdesign typography)
• Miyazaki's Clock
  (tags: miyazaki clock tokyo architecture japan art animation)

Someone showed me the link to MyHeritage.com, which uses some kind of face-matching algorithm to determine who you look like. Here's what it came up with for me:

Matching celebs it does a pretty good job. I used a picture from Neil Gaiman's appearance at SJSU and it matched him up with 75% accuracy to himself.

• Wired News: MySpace Passwords Aren't So Dumb
  MySpace users have better passwords than corporate drones.
  (tags: myspace business security computers network statistics)
• Mike Libby - Insect Lab - Beetles
  Clock Work Insects. Neat.
  (tags: clockwork art artist robot sculpture)
• | Nintendo - Customer Service | Wii Remote Wrist Strap Replacement
  Nintendo is sending out replacement straps for older Wiimotes.
  (tags: wii strap recall replacement nintendo games wrist)
• I Heard It Through the Diet Grapevine - New York Times
  This has got to be the nastiest diet fad I've ever heard of: lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper with water.
  (tags: diet food fast mastercleanse)
• Fellowship of the Ring - HD vs DVD
  A good comparison of HD and DVD for Lord of the Rings.
  (tags: hd dvd technology tokien lotr)
• Shrek the Third: Extra-Large QuickTime Trailer - Moviefone
  Shrek 3, coming in May 2007.
  (tags: art movies animation cg shrek3)
• Diabetes breakthrough
  A possible cure for diabetes?
  (tags: diabetes health science medicine news)
• Heart Attack Grill - Home of the Double Bypass Burger - Taste Worth Dying For!
  In Japan, they have girls dressed as French maids serving food in what they call Maid Cafes. In America, we have the Heart Attack Grill, where waitresses are dressed in nurses' outfits serving up burgers like the Quadruple Bypass Burger (8,000 calories!)
  (tags: cosplay food meat restaurant parody burger)
• Eragon - Rotten Tomatoes
  Whoa. 15%. This can't possibly be any good.
  (tags: eragon movie reviews)

A really well done montage of Jeremy Clarkson on TopGear about his dream car, the Ford GT:

It's an excellent reminder that sometimes, the dream is better than the reality.

Brilliant. It's playable and edible (which comes in handy if you don't like where someone has placed a certain piece).

Flickr: Carcasonne Gingerbread by zendonut
cthulhia's Livejournal

Remember how I was saying that this weekend might be the one to snag a Wii or a PS3, well it turns out that it's not just gamers that have this piece of information, as USA Today announces Sunday as "Game day for PS3, Wii".

Many stores, including Toys R Us and Circuit City, will promise in Sunday ad circulars to have the Wii in stock, making that day perhaps the last best chance for fans, says Andy Estes, whose Nearby Networks firm runs the PS3seeker.com and Wiiseeker sites. "We believe there are going to be Wiis held and released Dec. 17 and that will be the last shipment before Christmas," he says. "We think there might be a PS3 shipment about the same time."

Amazon is also rumored to be getting in a stock of Nintendo Wiis and Playstation 3s to sell online during the next couple of days as well.

• EQ2-Daily Blog » Wiieally Interesting Way to Play EQ2
  The video is far, far, far too long to sit through, but the basic gist of it is that this player managed to get his Wiimote working to control his EQ2 character for basic movement.
  (tags: wii eq2)
• How long in the freezer to chill a Coke from 89F to 35F? | Ask MetaFilter
  Even Adam Savage of Mythbusters has an answerto the question.
  (tags: coke ice soda howto mythbusters)
• So, what's your sign? You crash here often? - Yahoo! News
  Astrology and car accidents. Which sign are the most likely to get tickets and accidents?
  (tags: astrology car accident statistics)
• Al Gore cracks up scientists in SF
  (tags: algore politics science)

According to Autoweek, the Pontiac Solstice bested the Mazda Miata in sales. This is a big deal, as the Miata has been the top selling two-seat sports car since its premiere in 1989. The Pontiac Solstice (which was featured as a project in the Apprentice), managed to outsell the Miata by almost 2,500 cars this year (18,361 Solstices vs. 15,873 Miata), with over 300 of those in the month of November. Both cars were released in 2005.

I've always found the Miata to be a really great car to drive -- the small size and the excellent handling combined with the drop top just makes you realize just how much fun driving can be.

The two cars are pretty similar to each other -- two seat roadsters priced near 20,000 (Solstice: 22,115, Miata: 21,030) rear-wheel drive, 4-cylinder engines (Miata 166hp, Solstice 177hp), with mpg that are nearly identical (Miata is 25/30, while Solstice is 20/28) to one another. Even the way their features are listed on the website are similar:

I'm not a big fan of this latest version of the Miata -- the car is uglier than the previous generation, and heavier too. The Solstice isn't easy on the eyes either -- every time I see one, I suddenly feel the need to lose my lunch. (Remember, the Solstice comes from the company that made the Aztek.

I have a suspicion that given the style changes on the Miata for this model, that people who are looking for a roadster, are looking elsewhere -- used 350z roadsters can be had for less than the cost of a new model of either of these two, and used Miatas can sometimes be found for no more than a couple thousand dollars.

The Solstice has a crazy upgraded version set to release next year -- priced at $27,000, the GXP model promises 260 hp and mpg of 25/31 -- making the Solstice GXP one of the most powerful compacts out there that still manages good gas mileage.

As for me and my roadster choice? I'm saving my pennies for an electric Tesla.

2007 PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS TO HONOR VIDEO GAME PIONEER WILL WRIGHT WITH VANGUARD AWARD

December 14, 2006, Los Angeles--The Producers Guild of America is pleased to announce that the 2007 Vanguard Award will be presented to celebrated game designer Will Wright whose creative vision has inspired some of the most critically acclaimed and popular video games in the short history of the medium. The Vanguard Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in new media and technology, will be presented to Wright at the 2007 Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, January 20th at the Century Plaza.

I think I've made it pretty clear that I think a Playstation 3 at this moment in time is a very expensive 11 pound brick, but if despite everything I say, you've just got to have Blu-ray or if you're still looking for a 60GB Playstation 3 for Christmas for someone, you can buy a PS3 bundle from Sears for $900. The bundle includes 5 good games: Resistance: Fall Of Man, Call Of Duty 3, Madden NFL '07, Need For Speed: Carbon, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. (There just isn't all that much out for the PS3 yet).

It's all available online -- no camping or line standing required.

Sony's also recently announced that they intend to ship 2 million PS3s by the end of the year.

• brandintel - Tracking Next gen consoles
  brandintel is tracking the buzz and consumer sentiment on the next gen consoles. The current winner? The Wii, of course.
  (tags: wii games statistics)
• pantsketch: Battlestar Galacticsimpsons
  (tags: art fanart simpsons bsg scifi animation humor)
• Kotobukiya's New Akihabara Store
  Kotobukiya, a very popular manufacturer/distributor of Japanese Toys just opened their first shop in Tokyo, in the land of the Otaku - Akihabara.
  (tags: akihabara tokyo japan toys anime videogame otaku)
• Dallas Morning News: We are living in the Golden Age of Bacon
  (tags: bacon food)
• Recipe: Louisiana Gingerbread (Stage Planks or Mule Bellies) - New York Times
  (tags: gingerbread recipe food)

I was watching Ghost in the Shell when I saw these buildings in the background. I'm pretty sure I've seen photos of this place before.

Does it really exist? Or did I just imagine it?

Photo by Nora Vass, Stitching by Gergely Vass

EDIT: I've located it. It's Montreal's Habitat '67, designed by Moshe Safdie, who also designed more recently the Vancouver Library Square.

Flickr: Vancouver Library Square

A lot of sites are reporting that the following retailers have units that they aren't releasing until Sunday. According to GoNintendo, Best Buy is stockpiling Wiis to be sold on December 17th, with at least 40 units in each store. I've heard similar rumblings about Gamestop/EB getting similar memos (but not as many units).

The BestBuy memo goes so far as to outline their reasons for doing so:

• This is the last competitve weekend for holiday shopping, which encourages a large amount of traffic to our retail stores once customers realize the system is available.
  
• Customers shopping for other products will have the ability and be encouraged to purchase the gaming console.
  
• The system is more readily available than other competing gaming systems.
  

According to sales figures just released, this past weekend (European Wii Launch) Nintendo sold 325,000 Wiis and 240,000 copies of Zelda: Twilight Princess. In addition, Nintendo of Europe also claims that 515,000 Nintendo DS handhelds were sold last week -- a record for the dual-screen console.

• YouTube - Bob Saget - Danny Tanner is Not Gay
  Bob Saget sings "Danny Tanner is not gay" to the tune of "I want it my way".
  (tags: humor video fullhouse)
• The 9/11 Truth Movement's Dangers, Nation: Dishonest Government Leads To Cynical Theorists - CBS News
  1 in 3 people believe the government was behind 9-11 to justify war on middle east.
  (tags: 911 9-11 truth conspiracy politics)
• GameSpot: Top 10 Boss Fights
  Top Ten Boss Fights as rated by Gamespot. Many many classic games here, from the era when game bosses were hard, and continues were few.
  (tags: top10 games classic)
• Kororinpa - Wii Game
  Kororinpa is a Japanese Wii game that combines the rolling of Super Monkey Ball with Katamari Damacy like cuteness. Let's hope this gets brought over to the US.
  (tags: wii game kororinpa japan)
• The Madness Of Nintendo Collectors: Will Sell PS3, Wood To Fund Habits
  (tags: nintendo nes cartridge collectors collection)
• Virtual reality can lead to false memories
  (tags: brain virtual reality psychology memory)
• New Sony viral marketing ploy angers consumers from Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog
  Sony tried to drum up some publicity for their dying PSP game platform by hiring an ad agency to a little viral marketing for them via youtube. They went a little too far though, by buying up a domain name and hosting a website, as the website smells a li
  (tags: sony viral psp youtube design howto)
• Squirrels to be given contraceptives
  (tags: squirrels overpopulation)
• Past global warming suggests massive temperature shift in our future
  (tags: carbon warming global environment science climate)
• Mission in Snowdriftland
  A really cool flash game done by Nintendo.
  (tags: nintendo europe flash animation game)
• IGN: IGN's Top 50 Lost Loose Ends
  They say that if you show a gun, you've got to use it -- according to IGN, there's at least 50 guns shown that haven't been used yet. More proof that LOST makes no sense whatsoever.
  (tags: lost tv looseends list badwriting)
• Persuasive Games - Disaffected!
  Take on the role of a Kinko's-like store as an employee. Humorous and available for both Mac and Windows.
  (tags: advertising work employment humor game activism art culture games indie)
• IGN Readers' Choice 2006 - The Top 100 Games Ever
  One of these days, I've got to come up with a list of my favorite video games of all time.
  (tags: top100 videogames games best)
• The Hottest Collectable Computers - Forbes.com
  (tags: collection computers electronics apple)
• YouTube - SPC (Self Parking Car)
  A Lego car that parks itself. It's like the Lexus, but it actually works. Made with the Mindstorms NXT kit.
  (tags: lego car ai parking.)
• Nintendo Wii launch breaks UK record | Reg Hardware
  Nintendo sells 112,000 Wiis over the weekend in the UK.
  (tags: wii games sales console)