Portal 2
Valve announced it will create a sequel to Portal. Lots of Portals and cake. …only the cake is a lie.
Phobia: Salt Vampires
Today Wired features a short piece on Star Trek’s Cheesiest Creatures. I followed the link and was greeted by a childhood terror I had long forgotten about, the salt vampire. I had no interest in the show itself. I just happened to glance at the screen when Kirk had kissed some hot space cadet and morphed into Greedo’s homely grandmother. The exact image featured in Wired was imprinted in my brain and was brought to mind anytime the lights went out.
Securing the Jedi Vote
Are there enough Star Wars nerds in NC worth woo’ing politically? Christopher Knight thinks so.
10.26.07Fun Science Videos
Discover Magazine ran a contest for the best 2 minute video that explained basics behind String Theory. The winner is titled String Ducky. I think the narrator may be Dexter’s real-life seester, not to be confused with steupid Dee Dee. I just learned of the results this morning, which is quite a coincidence given our recent dinner conversations. The video reminded me of another scientific short I enjoyed. It is a 10 minute video promoting a book titled Imagining the Tenth Dimension. The video does a fantastic job illustrating the lower dimensions and gracefully moves to describe what it higher dimensions might entail. It concludes by explaining how the author believes this fits into popular variations of String Theory.
10.11.07Peggle: An Unexpected Treat
Yesterday Valve released The Orange Box, a collection of 6 games for a mere $50. The game includes 3 segments of the Half-Life 2 story, an innovative first person puzzle game called Portal and the sequel to the first team-based first person shooter game I can recall, Team Fortress 2. It would be a crime to turn down such a spectacular collection, especially since I did not own any of them. I pre-ordered the package so Valve granted me an additional 10% discount and access to TF2 beta tests nearly a month before the game was released. (The married man must manage his gaming budget with great care.)
I never expected I would neglect the first 2 weeks of the beta playing Peggle Extreme, the last game included in the series. The game is hardly worth mentioning among so many distinguished and promising titles. It seems to have been included as an after thought; regarded as a sort of Cracker-Jack prize. Peggle centers around a set of blue and orange bouncy pegs. The object is to touch all the orange pegs with a pinball that is launched from the top of the screen. I’ve learned that my computer lacks such simple pleasures. I threw down an additional $10 for the complete version of the game, Peggle Deluxe. Later I learned I am not the only one that finds value in cheap, simple “casual” games. It wasn’t long before I turned my attention back to TF2, but I still start up Peggle when I have a few minutes to spare between obligations around the house.