Author: Bigglesan

Twitter Updates for 2010-08-11

Posted on by Bigglesan

Twitter Updates for 2010-08-10

Posted on by Bigglesan
  • Can you get from Amazon to Piratebay in 6 clicks? No google, no keyboard, just mouse clicks! I just did, I’m pretty impressed with myself 🙂 #
  • Recount! It was 5 clicks, even better than I thought. I’ll post links later today if no one can beat me. 5 clicks from Amazon to PirateBay! #
  • @evilpookie Yeah, but I really wanted an Android phone. #
  • I’ve favourited a YouTube video — The Presets – This Boy’s In Love http://youtu.be/ZTSYQkyknK0?a #

A Trailblazer?

Posted on by Bigglesan

I’ve been using the internet for some time now. In fact I’m not ashamed to say that my first experiences were with Lynx! So I think I have a pretty good handle on finding my way about, and finding what I need.

So when I read a post today on Gizmodo that talked of a competition, where, with no keyboard, no google or bookmarks allowed, participants where challenged to get from one site, to another totally unrelated site my interest was peaked.

At lunchtime when I had a few minutes spare I took up the challenge for myself. The starting site was amazon.com and the destination piratebay.org I imagined a convoluted journey through a bizarre assortment of sites, but instead found myself at my destination in only a few clicks. I suspect posting that path here may be a bit of a spoiler for anyone wanting to try it out, so why not give it a go yourself before reading on (and then post your results in the comments!)….

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Spoiler Below!

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Here’s how I did it, each bullet point represents a click.

  1. At Amazon I realised they had a blog, this seemed the most likely source of external links.
  2. The very first article today mentioned an LA Times article, and a newspaper is likely to have a lot of links!
  3. At the LA Times website I quickly headed for the Technology section of the paper.
  4. A handy tag cloud on the site had ‘piracy‘ as a keyword
  5. Here it was just too easy, the final link click that took me directly to thepiratebay.org was in an article titled “Even Pirate Bay can be downloaded on Pirate Bay. Dated August 17, 2009″

So that’s it, 5 clicks, about 2 minutes of my time. Anyone got another challenge for me?

Are Squad Level Turn Based Games Dead?

Posted on by Bigglesan

…and where is the Role Playing in many recent RPGs that thrust a predefined character into what is ultimately a very linear storyline?

On Kotaku today there is a thoughtful article lamenting what seems to be a bygone era. The true Role Playing Games of the past. The article brought back many fond memories, and showed me just how we’re being taken for a ride by developers these days, a roller coaster, action packed ride, but with our appetite for consoles I don’t see us getting off the rails any time soon.

Anyway, I wrote a comment there, and it got so wordy I though I might post it here as well, as a mini article of my own.

I fondly remember playing older games like Darklands with it’s rich storyline and environment and party based gameplay. I’m a huge fan of what I term Squad Level Turn Based gaming, a genre that includes some stellar classic games like Laser Squad, X-Com, Soldiers at War and the Jagged Alliance series as well as newer forays into the genre such as Silent Storm.

All these games kept me awake night after night, week after week with engaging and thoughtful gameplay, and often extremely tough opponents. Never boring!

Recent attempts have missed the mark, the unofficial remake of X-com I saw recently was unpolished and amateur, the games I held high hopes for such as the most recent Fallout and Dragon Age became more of a button mash than a thinking exercise.

The closest in recent years was the original Neverwinter Nights, that game found the balance (IMHO) between tactics and action. While also presenting strong role playing and character development. We could write our own adventures, play other peoples, run a world of our own designing, play co-operativly online, enjoy persistent worlds, or get together for an adventure with friends on a LAN.

The focus on consoles seems to me to be what has sped up this decline. I think younger gamers are being trained into a short attention span, button mashing, fast paced gaming world, and it’s a great loss.

Addendum: if you like Turn Based gaming, you may really enjoy Battle for Wesnoth. Their own blurb sums it up perfectly: “The Battle for Wesnoth is a Free, turn-based tactical strategy game with a high fantasy theme, featuring both single-player, and online/hotseat multiplayer combat.” It’s open source and there is a huge variety of content that’s been developed for it, from races for multi player to full campaigns.

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-29

Posted on by Bigglesan