Maybe my obsessions about biometrics should be redirected towards “Behavior Modeling.”
Continue reading “Behavioral Engineering is fascinating…”
Category: article
Fragmented vs. Overpriced – what is the future of online offerings?
I keep seeing a conflict concept which rises up between “tons of cheap but horribly fragmented offerings” and “singular, expensive, but high quality.” I cannot see a clear resolution (so am I blind here?).
Continue reading “Fragmented vs. Overpriced – what is the future of online offerings?”
The End of Violence: ?? / !
I watched Wim Wenders’s The End of Violence (1997), a couple nights ago, in lieu of sleep. Continue reading “The End of Violence: ?? / !”
Dougal Disincarnate: 1977 out of 2012
Read William Gibson’s short story Dougal Disincarnate last night. Then I couldn’t sleep. Continue reading “Dougal Disincarnate: 1977 out of 2012”
Top 10 Trailers of 2011 (a mix of movies, video games, and not-actually-video promotional materials)
I think it’s interesting to keep track of great marketing maneuvers. The kind of things that are easily lost in time (especially if the product promoted is eventually revealed to be garbage. That doesn’t mean the trailer was bad! ). This list is mostly designed to catalog why certain strange things impressed me. I listed 15 things, because I didn’t have the heart to cut 5 of them. They’re listed in order of personal importance, not necessarily in order of quality or import to society (because it’s my blog – neener neener).
Continue reading “Top 10 Trailers of 2011 (a mix of movies, video games, and not-actually-video promotional materials)”
Midichlorians: Mysticism as Technobabble (or: Part One of Why Everyone is Wrong About the Prequels?)
I think I’ve now gathered enough nerdy notes to write an epic treatise on why the Prequels are in fact dramatically misunderstood and under-appreciated. Since it is so popular to hate George Lucas instead of thinking for yourself, I think it’d be worth writing something.
Below is one piece of the puzzle: explaining Midichlorians
Continue reading “Midichlorians: Mysticism as Technobabble (or: Part One of Why Everyone is Wrong About the Prequels?)”
Sleeping Gods: The meaning of “video games” (as computer-driven interaction systems?)
This was initially posted as a response to Tadhg Kelly’s blog post Techthulhu [Games and Future Fantasy] [@ whatGamesAre.com].
I think lack of sleep, yesterday’s ruminations on biometrics, and a few weeks of dissecting the philosophy behind joss whedon’s entertainment efforts all came together for me just now, to make a perfectly crazy ass rant. I started to re-read this and cringed. it might seem to contradict itself from once sentence to the next? is it one of THOSE crazy-as-fuck level rants? … huh. I dunno. but some of it struck me as very interesting. So i’m recording it here in my blog. hopefully revisit later (to either rethink it, or revise it to be easier to read). woof.
::: Continue reading “Sleeping Gods: The meaning of “video games” (as computer-driven interaction systems?)”
User Feedback based design, and Biometrics
I’ve become very interested in “redesigning the game, after I gather mass of data.”
(I guess it’d be neat to change a game on the fly while gathering usage feedback, but since the tools I would use aren’t going to be widespread anytime soon – much more interested in iterating on a game which can end up widely distributed). Continue reading “User Feedback based design, and Biometrics”
The lure/illusion of short time investments (re: game play)
Just commented on Christian Nutt’s feature at gamasutra : The Rise Of Dragon Age II.
I’ve been saying for years that “I’m just not an RPG guy” (though it seems I’ll avidly play every other genre). I think of it as a question of time : when I hear a game has more than 30 hours of gameplay – I hesitate to buy it. Because I know I won’t be experiencing everything it has to offer. (would you buy a DVD/Bluray if you knew some parts of the feature would be omitted?) Continue reading “The lure/illusion of short time investments (re: game play)”
Marketing Concepts: the Calculated Climate Change of Bulletstorm
After reading Andrew Vanden Bossche’s High Aspirations for High Scores article on Gamasutra, I’m really surprised at all the ways Bulletstorm’s “Echoes mode” demo failed to hold my hand, and found it to be a major stumbling block in the game’s otherwise stellar promotion.
Would like to try and dissect the marketing experience so far, here: Continue reading “Marketing Concepts: the Calculated Climate Change of Bulletstorm”