July 19, 2008 12:43 am, Tachevert —
Podcast
We’re back on a regular schedule! The ninth episode of Tweak and Geek is now live. East Coast / West Coast, iPhones, voicemail, and herding cats — this episode has it all.
July 17, 2008 6:43 pm, Emi —
Found on the Net,
MMO Discussion
After a lot of speculation, rumors and prayers - EA and BioWare are indeed developing an MMO with Lucas Arts based in the time frame of the Knights of the Old Republic game. I for one couldn’t be happier with the announcement! I’m a fan of BioWare and I’m a fan of Star Wars. KOTOR was a great game and I think they could really pull off something amazing.
In my wildest dreams I would have been working on this project, but alas it wasn’t meant to be. I’m not holding it against them though and I really am highly anticipating this title. I hope that it’s a brave game that breaks the DIKU mold that WoW has solidified, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I’ll be insanely happy to just be able to run around the Star Wars Universe once again with my friends. I won’t even get pissed off at all the jedi around because, well, in this time frame a server full of jedi would actually make sense.
July 15, 2008 5:15 am, Tuebit —
Chatter
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then here’s to Tachevert and his new occasional column, Morning Coffee, the aptly named reflections on his reading during morning caffeine.
For my new irregular missive, I plan to cover ruminations and thoughts occurring during an entirely different sort of morning routine. Those sort of deep thoughts one only has when …
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July 14, 2008 10:41 am, Tachevert —
Chatter
I picked up a new skill this weekend. The grinding is going to be a bit painful, unfortunately… literally.
How many virtual world developers does it take to learn to surf? All of them… or maybe none.
A crew from Metaplace decided to go learn to surf, with varied results. OK, fine, I’m the only one who couldn’t make it to a standing position. Still, it’s fun to tear away from geekdom and go grind in that RL MMO I’ve heard so much about.
July 9, 2008 2:30 pm, Tachevert —
Chatter
Fine, I checked out Google’s Lively Virtual Worlds too. I didn’t really have the patience to do much, but feel free to come watch Charlie the Unicorn with me.
July 9, 2008 10:34 am, Tachevert —
Reviews
I finally finished a book that’s been sitting in my “Throne Repository” for several months, so today I’d like to share The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World.
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The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World
Wagner James Au
The Making of Second Life at Amazon.com
This book chronicles the growth of Second Life through the middle of 2007, as witnessed, researched and interviewed by former Linden staff journalist Wagner James “Hamlet” Au. It covers everything from the basics of Second Life to reviews of Linden Labs business practices — and, yes, furry sex.
In summary, I found it to be a relatively pleasant read (with a few dry spells). If you’re interested in commentary on user-generated content or the growth of virtual worlds, or if you’d like to know more about Second Life in particular, it’s a reasonably good introductory read. If you’re already an online worldbuilding samurai, there are some fun anecdotes, but you might feel that the book is recapping things you’ve heard in 3 years of blogger journalism on SL.
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July 8, 2008 6:31 pm, Tachevert —
Chatlogs
Tuebit: Kodak has announced the world’s first 50 million pixel CCD image sensor … will ship with petabyte NAS.
Tuebit: I thought it was a good point.
Tachevert: wow.
Tachevert: imagine the pr0n.
Tuebit: rofl
Tuebit: See … now there’s a problem.
Tachevert: the waxers are going to have to improve their methods.
Tuebit: pr0n is better when it’s lacking certain details.
Tuebit: rofl @waxers
Tuebit: I mean, who wants to see the genital warts.
Tachevert: lol
Tachevert: mmm, cauliflower.
Tuebit: ahahahahahallrlrlrlololl
Tachevert: (damn, we should post this.)
Tuebit: ok, that was an rlol.
Tuebit: There’s ice-tea on my install notes.
Nota Bene: rlol is my attempt to start a new acronym, meaning “real LOL” — one REALLY laughed, instead of politely saying lol to indicate that the intent for something to be funny was noted.
July 8, 2008 8:38 am, Tachevert —
Chatter,
MMO Discussion
No, not Mystery from The Pick Up Artist.
When I play video games, I often find that at some point I understand everything. The mechanics, the numbers driving things, the stories, any bit of relevant character motivation — everything.
On the other hand, when my thoughts drift to other media, I realize that I often don’t know everything. I may even have a good idea, but I often don’t know. In the Dark Tower series (and as always, I repeat my plea — o, mighty Stephen King, if you ever decide to license MMORPG rights for that world, think of me), there are tons of things referenced… alluded to… but never settled. (Dang it, what ever happened to Roland’s belt?) Did Gandalf ever do anything other than look pensive and make shiny light-beams? (Yes, I know, it’s all in other books — still, Lord of the Rings left me wanting more.) Why, exactly, DID Rick go to Casablanca? Just how long has Bob from Twin Peaks been wreaking havoc from the Black Lodge? It’s all too easy to leave a plotline unfinished, but it often seems that a masterstroke is to omit just enough information to whet a participant’s appetite for a one’s world.
Why, then, do video games insist on hiking up their skirts and showing us whether or not they’re natural blondes?
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