Different genres of social media have changed the world, but they are not omnipotent. In most cases this is a good thing, but not in the case of Operation Rainfall. It has been a purely well meaning social media movement that should have led to a great boon for the North American gamer public, but instead has served as a reminder of how stone aged Nintendo of America's (NOA) corporate thinking remains.
The debate over whether video games can be considered art or not has intensified in recent years as games like Braid and Flow have taken the digital aesthetic experience to new heights. These new games are great examples, but there are much older ones that present compelling arguments as well. The best is a 1986 ZX Spectrum/Commodore 64/Amstrad CPC game called Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Anybody who spends most of their day on the internet should know all about lulz. Lulz are most often jokes made at the expense of web users, as popularized on 4Chan. Today, a consortium of hackers called LulzSec is attempting (and in some cases succeeding) in efforts to shut down some of the games that offer web users a giant share of their online fun. World of Warcraft, League of Legends, EVE Online, and Bethesda Softworks have all been targeted by LulzSec's hacking efforts in the last week,...
Speech recognition software made it easy to search Google on your smartphone, and Google Goggles made it easy to find answers from camera snapshots on your device. But now Google's bringing similar technology straight to your desktop, and with faster results—faster than Google Instant.
Do you love video games? Would you devote your free time to creating your own game—one superior to the games you already have? Or at least one that has more Neil Patrick Harris jokes?
Video games consoles have long wanted to be more than just consoles. Nintendo Japan called the NES the Famicom because they wanted to make it the sole family computer. Obviously that didn't work out, and most efforts to make consoles into all-in-one entertainment systems have had similar fates. Sony has done the best job with the Playstation consoles, probably because they have experience with other types of electronics that most video game companies do not.
In 2008, Audiosurf came out on Steam, creating the psychedelic music game genre. If you haven't played it in the intervening three years, you're missing out on one of the coolest things in video games. The player selects any MP3 on their computer, then the game builds a unique level based on that song, which the player must then navigate whilst playing a block-matching, Tetris-like puzzle game. It's an incredibly compelling audiovisual experience, one with immense replay value and surprisingl...
Do you remember when video games came on tiny chips in plastic cartridges? When the CD and 3D graphics just meant ugly games with long load times? Before epic cinematics, spoken dialog, or cordless controllers? Do you still have all of your old games and lament that the consoles, cords, and controllers required to play them have either been stolen by exes or broken while moving apartments?
Looking for another Angry Birds fix? Well, drop the lame birds and pick up the zombies—Stupid Zombies, that is. You'd think that killing "stupid" undead beings would be easier than knocking off a few "angry" vertebrates, but it's actually more challenging—and more fun! Who wouldn't enjoy killing zombies with a shotgun blast and watching their heads roll? Armed with a shotgun and a strategic mind, your goal is to take out all the living dead with as few bullets as possible, trying to achieve t...
Well, The Prophet Blog and Chart Rigger must be squirming in their matching trash bag onesies right now, because their stinky princess K$UX‘s new track is a proper T-U-N-E.
This tutorial will walk you through the steps required to install the Ubuntu 9.10 operating system (Karmic Koala) on your computer. I have a Suzuki Kuiper 1411 HKS notebook computer with 2.1 GHz Intel Dual Core processor, 4GB RAM and 320GB hard drive. It has a dedicated 256MB Nvdia GeForce 9300M GS graphics card and 1270++MB of VRAM in SLI mode.
Did you know that you can use Gmail to make free phone calls to anywhere in North America? We're not talking computer to computer, but actual free phone calls to cell phones and home phones. All you need is a Gmail account, a microphone, and speakers plugged into your computer.
The last few months of WikiLeaks controversy has surely peaked your interest, but when viewing the WikiLeaks site, finding what you want is quite a hard task.
Note: Little Brother is available as a free ebook download. Warnings
Below, 10 step-by-step instructional videos for transforming yourself into a Na'vi being this Halloween. Step 1: Choose your favorite Avatar look from the list below. Step 2: Apply your chosen look. Step 3: For the dedicated fans with (more than a little) time on their hands, learn the Na'vi language and your transformation is complete!
For as long as I've loved SCRABBLE, I can't believe I've never come across this before. "CRAZIEST" - A short story by Liz Dubelman about words
"Life is difficult." That's how Scott Peck's best-selling book, "The Road Less Travelled", begins. That life is difficult is not news. Over two-thousand years ago the Buddha said it too: Life is suffering. The sanskrit word the Buddha used for suffering is dukkha. Dukkha doesn't refer to physical pain, necessarily. It refers to something more akin to our English word 'dissatisfaction'. Adages abound in our language which attest to the universality of dissatisfaction in our daily lives. "The g...
What Hand Do I Read - And Why ?This is the first tumbling block for some budding palmists, so let me give you some real begginning tips.
Artist Austin Houldsworth of the UK has come up with a device that drastically speeds up the process of fossilisation. Entitled Two Million & 1AD, Houldsworth is capable of creating a fossil in a few months (which otherwise might require thousands of years). Houldsworth is currently experimenting with objects such as a pineapple and phesant, but ultimately hopes to fossilize a human. Houldsworth proposes:
So I have Followed since the first CKY, I love the work you guys have created over these many years, I have wanted to meet and kick it with the crew and just have a good time and here is my opportunity.
Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has become the number one reference site on the web, used by anyone and everyone, written by anyone and everyone. With over 18 million collaboratively written articles, there's backgrounds and descriptions on practically everything—if it exists, there's probably a Wikipedia page for it.
Warnings dont try this at home
Child abduction is not funny, but this will be. I've seen some sketchy ice cream truck drivers in the Cincinnati area and have always wondered which are for real and which are secretly out to steal unsuspecting children and their $2 in quarters. Heres what you do: Get a crappy looking ice cream truck. Get one of the creepier looking guys to drive it. Plant a child on a street corner/ busy area (similar to the child in the bad grandpa sketch). Truck pulls up innocently. Kid goes to get ice cre...
All the Jackass actors put on a dog collar that shocks. Everyone gets their own collar. Their are remotes that can control the dog collar. By pushing a button on the remote, it will give a shock to a specific collar.
Prose for performance is different than performing with poetry. Learn about the basics of prose from a communications and public speaking expert in this free instructional video. Perform prose interpretation - Part 1 of 11.
A Self-Protection Guide 1) You can help protect yourself from violent crimes.
Professionally and academically speaking, I am a computer scientist, but I also enjoy lock picking as a hobby, so I thought I would share what knowledge I have with this. Before we start doing anything, first we need to understand the fundamentals of how locks work and then acquire and familiarize ourselves with basic lock-picking tools.
Who doesn't love Star Wars? No one, that's who. And if you love Stars Wars, logic would follow that you like lightsabers, so central are they to the tale's mythology. It's part sword, part laser, and makes a sound like a humming motor have multigasms. If I saw one in real life, I would struggle not to lick it, even though that would mean death.
Some of you might be using Tor to host hidden services, and some of you might not even know what hidden services are. If the latter's you, do not miss this article. Why? Because you can host your websites and services on the I2P darknet. It's safe and secure—it's anonymous.
The most recent viral video on YouTube is just that. A viral video. After seeing all the hype and 'support' that the 'movement' is getting, I want to tell you that this is a misleading video and somewhat of a propaganda campaign. These are strong accusations against such a 'humanitarian' cause, but I'm here to show you why.
For our final part of recognizing crowd control, we shall look at the mind. It's the most complicated thing in the universe, but also the most easily influenced. What makes us to gullible? What methods to commercials, companies and the media use to influence our position on things? These are just a few of the questions we will answer.
How many of you know all the amendments of the Constitution? Do you even know how many there are?? Well, many of the people I speak to don't. And let me tell you, that's a bad thing. Knowing even the basics of the Amendments can have a profound effect in your lives. Ever got pulled over by a cop? Did you know you can deny his request to search your car (unless he sees something 'suspicious')? If you own a gun, you sure know about the Second Amendment. Here's a neat one: a public phone booth i...
Does this video prove that otherworldly intelligent life has visited Earth? No. It does not prove anything other than there are designs ‘etched’ onto the surface of a field. Does the video immediately above prove that otherworldly intelligent life hasn’t visited Earth? Yeah, you saw it coming; no, it proves nothing more than humans are able to ‘etch’ designs in a field of grain.
Yes it’s the 21st century and yes, everyone’s busy, everyone’s connected. Accept it. Move on. Be happy.
If you are looking for ways/opportunities for you to be politically involved you have come to the right place. Here is a series of links that will take you to a webpage of a location where you can volunteer in and make a difference. In each section you will find:
Sergio Peralta Advisor: Jessica Davis
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. Minecon 2011 went really well. If any of you World Members attended, please post about your experience to the community corkboard. The opening ceremony was amazing! Here's a video of the release: After the release, we attended the panels for Scrolls and Cobalt. We then attended the Official Mojang Panel.
A degree in nursing from Kaplan University addresses the challenges and scenarios real nurses work through on a daily basis. Kaplan University’s Master of Science in Nursing (MSN program) is based on relevant material to help ensure our students are prepared for their careers. Our online nursing degrees are based on flexible coursework; students enrolled in the Kaplan University School of Nursing program are already nurses and there is no easier way to cater to the ever-changing schedule of a...
SHAITAN n pl. -S an evil spirit 60 points (10 points without the bingo)
At GDC 2011 this past March, three of the world's best game designers participated in a contest called Game Design Challenge. Each presented their vision for a game that fit the prompt "Bigger than Jesus: games as religion" before an audience, with applause to determine the winner. Jenova Chen, John Romero, and Jason Rohrer all spoke, and Rohrer won in a landslide with his revolutionary game called Chain World.