Interesting Links for 7-3-2011

[andrewducker]

• Every T-shirt in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
  (tags: scottpilgrim clothing movies t-shirts)
• Switching To Facebook Comments Silences The Trolls — But Also Drops Comment Count Dramatically
  (tags: comments facebook blogs identity)
• Costs of DNA Sequencing Falling Incredibly Fast (Cost of Understanding It Falls More Slowly)
  (tags: dna biology science sequencing)
• Trailer for a porn version of Requiem for a Dream. Now that's...unlikely. (And very NSFW)
  (tags: video porn DarrenAronofsky wtf)
• Simple blood test for Down's syndrome is on its way
  (tags: babies pregnancy mother science)
• Gender Differences and Casual Sex: The New Research
  (tags: gender science feminism sex sexuality society sociology)
• Who killed Adventure Games?
  (tags: games adventure videogames funny)
• 70% of the Public Finds Piracy Socially Acceptable
  (tags: copyright piracy denmark morality research)
• If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?
  (tags: ipad apple tablet)
• Live music: government backs Lib Dem peer’s bill
  (tags: libdem music pubs uk)
• Anyone able to answer a question about AV and tactical voting?
  (tags: av voting uk)
• The greatest art-work of the twentieth century (A review of the first book of Cerebus)
  (tags: cerebus comics review)
• Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software
  (tags: software technology jobs law ai)

Comments

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

That trailer is awesome.

[andrewducker]

You are pretty much its target market...

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I would dearly like to unsee it please.

[andrewducker]

I know a few people that feel that way about Requiem For A Dream, which is a masterpiece, but pretty much defines the word "harrowing".

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with the adventure game article... they crawled up their own [backsides] with their increasingly abtruse puzzle "solutions" and excessive linearity in their attempts to be clever.

I think the niche has been occupied with role-playing games, who these days usually have the added merit of multiple solutions. (Or at least if there's a "One True Solution" to a problem it usually is better set up and makes a lot more sense.)

-- Steve has noticed he has a lot less patience with old adventure games than he once had... he'd like to think it's exposure to better solutions rather than a diminishing attention span.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

I saw a trailer for a porn parody of Deal Or No Deal the other day and now none of them surprise me.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

Adventure games are "not quite dead yet" - Telltale Games are making sequels to the Lucasarts classics like Monkey Island and Sam & Max, which I (as a big fan of the originals) think are as good or even better.

I agree with the article author that the puzzles in Gabriel Knight 3 sound bad. I've played Gabriel Knight 2, and thought the story was good but the puzzles were a bit flawed, and it sounds like 3 is worse. IMO the best games are the Lucasarts ones, and others in that style (e.g. Teen Agent, Flight of the Amazon Queen).

I think adventure game puzzles are like cryptic crossword clues. With the bad ones, you think "Well, I guess it could be X", and it might or might not be, and either way you feel unsatisfied. With the good ones, as soon as you think of X, you think "Yes! Perfect!" and feel sure it has to be right even before you actually verify it.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

You caught this one yet?
http://devour.com/video/creepy-girl-in-hotel-hallway-gag/

[andrewducker]

I hadn't! But I have now, and it's awesome. Thank you!

Oooh - you left somehing for me the other day, and I can't remember if I got to it!

Time to go rake through my email backlog (458 items and counting)

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

Apple have hinted that the Air is, in fact, the post-PC device.
Jobs has commented that manufacturers now rushing to release tablets as 'post-pcs' are somewhat missing the point. Your tablet isn't supposed to be your main device. Especially if it has an OS that isn't actually designed for tablets.

[andrewducker]

Jobs has referred to the iPad as Post-PC (along with the iPod Touch and iPhone) before...

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

ok

then yes, requiring a pc would make that a bit odd

[andrewducker]

I suspect that eventually they'll get around to making it possible to register the iPad without a PC. How hard can it be?

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

hmm.

that won't really be possible until iDevices can act as standalones. That won't happen until Apple sorts out its Cloud strategy.
Given word of the new datacentre and MobilMe upgrade, that may be relatively soon. It still needs near ubiquitous wifi access though, which is nowhere near as close

[andrewducker]

Well, if they can activate online via iTunes then how hard can it be to do exactly the same thing directly?

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

replace 'possible' with 'practicable'