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US: Don’t Vote.
For any American citizens who read this blog: Don’t Vote.
Apparently your opportunity to register to vote ends very, very soon. [Via]
Spore, or: The Battleworm 4000 (and kids…)
So, there has been a lot of talk about Spore since it’s initial release almost a fortnight ago and since I’m in the middle of a series of lectures for our new gaming based unit in Communication Studies, I figured I should definitely try it out. I’m still thinking all of the logistics through, but one thing is clear from the outset: while Spore does have a win-condition (unlike The Sims which is basically endless), it’s not a game, it’s a toy. Or, rather, it’s not overly satisfying as a game (the gameplay is, to be frank, not all that exciting), but as a toy to build cellular organisms, new species and even space-faring civilisations, it’s absolutely brilliant. Also, even with the weirdest creatures, Spore makes everything cute. To justify that point, I’d like to introduce one of my species, the Battleworm 4000:
And make sure you watch the video all the way through to meet the kids! More on Spore, I’m sure, in the coming weeks …
Annotated Links of Interest: September 14th 2008
Links of interest for September 12th 2008 through September 14th 2008:
- YouTube bans terrorism training videos [SMH] – “Terrorist training videos will be banned from appearing on YouTube, under revised new guidelines being implemented by the popular video-sharing site. The Google-owned portal will ban footage that advertises terrorism or extremist causes and supporters of the change hope it will blunt al-Qaeda’s strong media online campaign.” [Via] I wonder what definition of ‘terrorism’ YouTube and Google will be using to enforce this rule?!
- Video Game Snapshots [Gamasutra – Persuasive Games] – Ian Bogost review the emerging design-your-own-videogame tools and suggests they might best be considered tools for personal and social communication rather than meaningful game design platforms. This is not so much a criticism as a look at computer games through the eyes (and rhetoric) of Web 2.0: “There is simply no magic box we can put in front of the world which, when a button is pressed, turns what it sees into a video game. … There are lots of things one can do with web-based game making services. One of them is to try to create hit games that generate ad revenue and earn public renown. Another is to create art games meant to characterize the human condition,… But perhaps the most interesting uses of these tools are the informal ones that so closely resemble snapshots in spirit and function.”
- Photoshop for Democracy Revisited: The Sarah Palin File [Confessions of an Aca/Fan] – Henry Jenkins takes a closer look at the various photoshopped versions of Sarah Palin making their way into US political discourse in the lead-up to the election. Some are flattering, some satirical, but all are participatory!
- Large Hadron Rap [YouTube] – Kate McAlpine’s outstanding rap explaining what the hell CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is actually supposed to be doing! Lyrics and downloadable version here.
Annotated Links of Interest: September 5th 2008
Interesting links for September 4th 2008 through September 5th 2008:
- 19% of U.S. Households Watch Online TV [NewTeeVee] – A new report from The Conference Board shows that 19% of US households watch broadcast TV online: “In its study of 10,000 households, TNS and the Conference Board found that of those who watch TV online, 43 percent tune into the news, the most popular category. Thirty-nine percent watch drama shows, 34 percent sitcom/comedy shows, 23 percent reality shows, 16 percent sports, and 15 percent user-generated content.”
- Wikipedia vandals target West Australian politicians [The Australian] – “According to giant online encyclopedia Wikipedia, West Australian polician Matt Birney has a small penis and premier Alan Carpenter is helped by the outlaw bikie gang Gypsy Jokers. … As the State election draws nearer, volunteer editors at the site, which has more than two-and-a-half million articles, are scanning the entries of WA politicians to ensure inaccurate entries are removed as quickly as possible. … Alan Carpenter’s Wikipedia entry was vandalised three times late last month. It said he was sacked from the ABC, had a drug addiction, “destroyed the teaching profession” and insisted “teachers are overpaid and underworked kretins (sic) of our society”. But two minutes after the final act of vandalism, editor Rror removed the offending material.” (That’s pretty quick editing! Who’d’ve thought so many people were watching WA politicians’ wikipedia pages?) [Via Anna @ iGenmasters]
- Google backs down over browser amid privacy concerns [The Age] – “Google has made an embarrassing backdown after it was revealed the company would have rights to any information entered into websites by people using its new internet browser. A day after the Google Chrome browser was released, a controversial clause in its “End User License Agreement” (EULA) has been removed following concerns it breached people’s privacy and copyright.” (I’m delighted that clause is gone, but credit to them, it disappeared pretty quickly after blogosphere unrest! It’s interesting, too, that in The Age Google backed down … for the BBC it’s a “tweak“.)
Links for September 2nd 2008
Interesting links for September 1st 2008 through September 2nd 2008:
- The Newest YouTube Stars: Campaign Managers [The Trail | washingtonpost.com] – “As of yesterday afternoon, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama had uploaded 1,410 videos on their YouTube channels — 224 from McCain and 1,186 from Obama. Surprisingly, some of the more interesting, revealing of these videos were posted by their campaign managers. While they may not have been watched as heavily as others, these four videos tell us about the respective campaigns’ differing online strategies. For all the talk about McCain lagging behind Obama in using the Web, credit Rick Davis of the McCain campaign for going first.”
- Google to Offer Its Own Web Browser [NYTimes.com] – “Google said Tuesday it plans to begin distributing its own Web browser. The move is likely to heat up its rivalry with Microsoft. Google, the Internet search leader, confirmed the long-rumored browser in a posting Monday on its Web site. Google said the free browser, called ”Chrome,” will be available for downloading on Tuesday.” Keeping with the cool kids, Google have introduced Chrome via a comic book (drawn by Scott McCloud, no less!); there are a few more conventional words a Google’s Official Blog, too.
- Kids to parents: get out of my face(book) [The Age] – “More mum and dads are signing onto Facebook and receiving mixed reactions from their kids. … When Matt Florian signed onto his Facebook account recently to check the status of his 400-plus friends, he had a friend request. It was from his dad. The junior at Sherwood High School, Montgomery County, Merryland, US, didn’t panic. He simply took a deep breath and pondered his options – “what are the social implications of ‘friending’ your folks?” He could accept it or ignore it. If he accepted it, he had the option of limiting parts of his Facebook profile that his dad could see. Facebook users around the world are contemplating similar questions when they log onto their accounts.” (Yes, this is a recycled Washington Post story from six months ago. Clearly the Australian internet runs quite slowly! :P)
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