Steve

A little video called "Fun Theory", that has a great deal to do with Jane's theory on using ludology to solve real-world problems like getting folks to use the stairs instead of queuing for the escalator.

-- Steve found it fascinating. And a hoot to watch.

Back when ODST was still in development Bungie posted, in one of their Weekly Updates, about the "Brute Pimp" glitch that would sometimes have a Brute Chieftain stay in "patrol" mode in an encounter, calmly walk up to the player with a princely swagger in his step, and show you he knows how to work his "pimp hand". They also said that it'd been fixed...

...but apparently it's not completely fixed.

-- Steve unknowingly saw this glitch last night after sniping a Brute Chieftain at long range, then watching it slowly walk down the street right at him growling out combat dialog. Steve, however, is a cruel gangsta and gunned the pimp down long before it got to fisticuffs.

Here's a brief documentary including a deleted scene from the live-action TV ad for Halo 3: ODST, as well as showing some of the props creation and animating the inserts.

-- Steve's impressed.

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=ODSTViDoc3

Bungie has released a new "ViDoc" featurette on the design of Halo 3: ODST and in it I just noticed an interesting... reference? nod? schtik? game mechanic? Apparently as you're walking through the abandoned city some of the payphones will start ringing, and if you pick up you get placed in contact with a damaged AI. Sounds... familiar. *grin*

-- Steve's looking forward to lots of nostalgia coming a week from today. (?!?!)

Spotted via several sources, I present The Cat Piano; a delightful animated short film well worth watching.

-- Steve loved the superb narration... or would it be more proper to refer to it as an excellent poetry reading?

IGN launched their own trailer for Halo 3: ODST today, very much in the vein of the "Believe" campaign for its illustrious predecessor crossed with the Neill Blomkamp "Landfall" shorts. It is good. Really good. It takes some artistic license, but in the interests of exposition for those unfamiliar with the series so I'm willing to grant it.

Go watch. Now.

-- Steve's looking forward to the Sept. 22 release date... even if he can't actually play the danged thing until that weekend, dangit.

Smith & Tinker is Jordan Weisman's new holding company for ex-FASA intellectual property, if I have that quite right; I do know he (through the company) has reacquired the rights to the Battletech universe from the wreckage of FASA Interactive and Microsoft. So they and Piranha Games look to be creating a new MechWarrior game, set before all the others in the "old" Inner Sphere days of 3015. Which, by the by, is the era I played the most in my misspent college days...

-- Steve's eagerly awaiting more.

PS: Apparently battletech.com is going to be releasing MechWarrior 4 as freeware to mark the 25th (!!) anniversary of Battletech. Cool, but man I'm starting to feel old again.

edited to add: More details available at the Escapist, including the juicy tidbit that they're looking at including battlefield roles for all classes of 'Mech in multiplayer and that you can gain experience for playing the same type of machine over time... so it's not just a long grind up from Locust to Atlas, and even the little guys can win out against the big-bads. *chafes hands* I can't wait.

-- Steve'll remind folks that there are plenty others there, including this week's tips on how to take down the office bully.

The space shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to launch tomorrow at 7:17am EDT (11:17 GMT) for the first docking of a full shuttle mission to a fully-occupied International Space Station. The weather forecast is good (better than 90% chance of an on-time launch) and should make for a great backdrop.

NASA TV will of course carry it live, as may some news providers. As before, I'll be catching it from NASA's live web feed. This time, though, it'll likely be on my Origami minislate while consuming First Coffee of the Day.

-- Steve still watches this stuff as eagerly as he did as a kid... indeed, as he used to watch commercial and military aircraft at runways as well. There's just something special about manned flight that never loses his interest.

edited to add: It's an extra-special event for fellow Canadians interested in the space program, I should mention. Julie Payette, who last visited the space station ten years ago, will be riding Endeavor up to meet Bob Thirsk, one of Canada's first astronaut class who is now part of the first six-man crew of the ISS. So for the first time in our history we'll have two Canadians in orbit, and they're even from different missions to boot.

I love living in the future.

http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/specialevents/2009/se090317pm.rm

Some will remember my post of yesterday (?) about the UN forum on Battlestar Galactica. Well, the above is the entire forum, though sadly in Real Media format. Still, thought it would make good viewing.

-- Steve just heard the beginning, with an unfortunate delegate (Akio Akasawa?) struggling with the names of the 12 Colonies. After all, English isn't his first language, let alone mangled Greek.

Apparently some retro-gamers rebuilt the arcade quarter-eater Contra on the PS3's LittleBigPlanet level builder.

-- Steve is truly impressed; that stuff is well done.

(PS: apparently the Konami Code works, too.)

found via the Escapist

For your edification, the main theme of Dr. Who as performed by a pair of Tesla coils acting as square-wave emitters. (And a beat box, 'cause expecting lightning do drums in addition to lead and bass is a bit much, no?)

-- Steve happily got his geek on to this one.

-- Steve's amazed at the spectacle... and wants to know the make and model of that camera.

Spotted via Kotaku, "real life" Spy Hunter:



-- Steve spent more quarters on that game than any other... and it looks like he wasn't the only one.

Back home from a week away with family (including finally meeting my new niece!) and I've got a ton of catching up to do, but in the meantime I spotted this on Kotaku this morning and thought I'd pass it on as amazing.

Rock Band. Expert. Tom Sawyer. 99%, 899 note streak, nearly a quarter-million score.



-- Steve won't be picking up Rock Band, but that video makes it look AMAZING.

It's stuff like this that makes me hang around Halo fandom as much as I do:

I Want Master Chief, a torch song machinima video. A very good torch song machinima video. Good enough to garner the two leads front page interviews at bungie.net.

-- Steve likes Master Chief too... but not in that way.