Symphony

The video says it all. This indie runs on your MP3s, and I find the concept even more interesting than Audiosurf.

Exponential shades of gray

Be sure to be aware of the following issue next time you scale down any picture. I noticed it but didn't have a clue about what was going on.

The Shrike

One day...

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission (prev. CC2)

OK, this is not fresh news, but mainly me missing out this event. Can't believe I didn't notice them.
Still, the first batch of screenshots has been released for the sequel to the oooold game.
You can find them here.
The title has been firmly established now, and we avoided the "II".
Bohemia Interactive (they're Czech, I know the name doesn't really sound that Slavic) are on this one.
There's also a forum here.

Day of Lolz: Heavy Rain Super Score

Rejoice comrades, for this is the return of the Day of Lulz!!
This time, the object of derision is that mound of silly reviews for Heavy Rain.
Let me give you a good reason about why I stopped reading reviews since many years (that should be near a decade actually): Zero proof of integrity, and I don't see why what worked in the 90s would have changed by now, with all those Famitsu-wannabes.
Perhaps once again allowing more attention than that deplorable system of Metacritic deserves, let's look at their Heavy Rain page.
Notice, first, the literally insane number of perfect scores for such a game (100%):

We're enjoying it immensely... It is a game like none other. [Mar 2010, p.66]
- Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)

I have never played anything so momentous or revolutionary as Heavy Rain. In the coming years I expect the game's influence to be felt throughout the industry in terms of gameplay, storytelling and interactivity. This is a game that deserves all the plaudits it can get. So please go out and buy Heavy Rain and reward those that have made such a groundbreaking videogame event.
- Boomtown

An emotionally engaging thrill-ride from start to finish, Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain is a superbly crafted interactive experience, told expertly through it's stunning visuals and believable characters.
- GamePro

Heavy Rain is a rare experience that can be enjoyed by a watching audience and not just the person with the control pad. It's also one that you'll certainly want to play through at least one more time just to see what you missed and perhaps reach a better outcome.
- Total Video Games

Quantic Dream puts forth some truly incredible ideas and concepts as to what a game can be, but they’ll stay ideas and concepts until gamers are willing to accept that they deserve more than another GTA or Call of Duty clone. Heavy Rain is without a doubt one of the most impressive games of the last five years, and it shouldn’t be missed by anyone.
- Gamervision

Everybody can breathe a sigh of relief, because Heavy Rain was definitely worth the long wait. This is an intriguing murder mystery that will have you guessing all the way to the end. Best of all, the narrative is one of the strongest I've seen in years.
- Gaming Nexus

You can literally hear the watery sucking noise.
I mean, it's obvious Sony is banking a lot on that exclusive to finally make their dream come true, make the PS3 that mature and artsy console they always wanted to make. How in Hell could this game really take so many perfect scores, really?

Kudos to ImpulseGamer and their ridiculous 99 score, whatever that nonsense is supposed to mean. Like, you know, "we couldn't give a perfect score because we are objective and independent professionals, but it's pretty close so there. So close that it's only missing that 1% which we don't even know what it's supposed to correspond to."
It's pathetic. How do you make a difference between 75 and 77, 93 and 94?
How more farcical can this be? Nothing makes sense at all, but it's a good way for your magazine to be picked up by those meta rankings!
Which is probably the sole reason why Edge decided to go with those silly scores as well (see their 100 for Bayonetta... "trying to remain socially relevant" someone commented).

But that wouldn't be perfect if I didn't tell you the full story. Luck of all lucks, my first pick among that miasma of reviews was VideoGamer's. I feel so sorry for the naive poor souls posting in the comments section.

I give them the Objectivity Award!!!

Admire:




(Click on the picture for a full screen view.)

And last but not least, someone please explain why the hell each of Eurogamer's reviews, for each single country it's edited for, gets listed there? There's the vanilla model, then those three special editions for Spain, Italy and Portugal.
That's four "different" reviews, each of them giving the game a score of 90. How clever!

Not laughing yet?

Technology for the sake of it

Some people like to go for predictions, probing the crystal ball, fiddle about and lay a five to ten years schedule of the next technological steps and evolutions in certain domains.

Like here. There are other places like that, but it doesn't matter much.
The point is, the increase of those specific technologies is essentially boasted as a positive thing.
But those are gimmicks, gadgets, gizmos.
It's geek bullshit, and doesn't make life better.

Healing technologies, devices to harness energy, compounds that pollute less, advanced methods to provide food of quality and water to people and the democratization of information via Internet is what matters.

Touch screens don't help humanity. If anything, they piss me off to no bounds. Tweet spam is noise and anyone should be able to know by now where to get information from. Facebook and simili are fascist cop-shit systems that call for collecting void-friends.
Cellphones that always have to be connected and crammed with a gazillion useless applications are meaningless and tiring. I have one, I barely switch it on, and if there's some important message I need to know about my work or something, there's a nice recording system associated to the phone in the office that is meant to receipt them. Because when I'm out of the office, I really mean it.
These systems all generate anxiety. There is nothing cool about them.
They turn us into rats running dizzy through abstract mazes. It's the dogma of "more more more", "now now now" and that abusive "I want it before yesterday" mentality.

That is not Life.

"Socialization" via Internet generates remoteness and solitude.
Video and games on demand are just another way to milk people until prices really mirror the loss of the physical supports.

They talk about tablet-PC, no keyboard or whatever, and it's almost like if buttons are old school... filthy.
We're supposed to think OnLive is cool and better for everyone.
Surely, it is not. Whoever thinks needing to be connected to a server in order to play is progress is bat shit crazy. It's disguised slavery, not empowerment.

Things are really going too fast. We don't even have time to enjoy and explore a given technology.

We already hear about potential new console projects, even more powerful.
Like we ever needed that now. The problem is not the current generation of consoles, but the fact that it's largely about shovelware and war or shooting (FPS and RTS).

At least I think I'm gonna stick to Flowery sodomistic shaping of minds in any possible way for the coming of the carbon tax.

I think I miss the 90s.

iFad

Apple's iPad.
Right.
Moving on.