Author: Chuck
-
The three words every geek loves to hear
“Software Development Kit.” Today Apple announced its iPhone SDK. Considering how excited I am about the release, I don’t want to imagine what it’s like for people who are actually going to have time to use any of it. I’d been saying that the real potential of the iPhone (and iPod touch) — whether it’s…
-
Touch-a touch-a touch-a touch me, I want to be Ghibli
Any game company would envy the amount of buzz around Professor Layton and the Curious Village for the Nintendo DS. For months, it’s been getting breathless previews from writers who wanted it RIGHT NOW!!!, and since its release it’s gotten extremely positive reviews. It’s not hard to see why; it’s got stellar production values. You…
-
Yojimboring
Even though I’ve gone on record as being unimpressed with the French New Wave, I still feel totally justified in my rental of Le Samourai. Movies with the word “Samurai” title have rarely let me down. And listen to the Netflix description (with most intriguing words highlighted by me): A little bit gangster film, a…
-
I hardly know her Stevens.
This week’s episode of “Lost” (I was laid low with crushing head trauma Thursday, so I’m just getting around to watching it) was called “The Constant.” If I ever start bouncing back and forth through time, the one constant I’ll be able to latch onto is that I’ve always been ridiculously easy to manipulate, and…
-
Link’s Quiver Capacity
On his blog, Lore Sjöberg announced his new project: a weekly video podcast for his Alt Text column at Wired. The first episode rates Link’s weapons. According to his blog, more will be available on Wired’s YouTube page or via iTunes subscription. Seeing as how it’s a video with drawings, and more often than not…
-
> use research on article
It’s kind of ironic that this review of the “Lost” videogame faults the game for its reliance on outdated and obsolete game mechanics, because the review itself relies on an outdated and obsolete assumption: that adventure games are no longer relevant. A game journalist in 2008 saying “adventure games are dead” is kind of like…
-
The Dude Abides?
I admit I’ve been out of the loop, politically, for the last 36 years or so, but were y’all aware that two of the three people most likely to be the next President are not white men? Even with all the time since the Democratic primary to let it sink in, I’m still finding myself…
-
More Doughty than a Fan Can Handle
Mike Doughty’s got a new album out, it’s called Golden Delicious, and I was already hooked just from hearing the 30-second samples. I’m a monstrously big fan of Soul Coughing. My first take on Haughty Melodic (Doughty’s first “real” solo album) was unfair disappointment that it didn’t sound like Soul Coughing, but over time it…
-
Since the 1800s
After the ComicCon left me beaten and senseless last year, I was looking forward to the more low-key WonderCon this year. Low-key is what I got. The little of WALL-E I saw looked good, but at this point, advertising for Pixar movies is kind of like advertising oxygen. I learned from the Shutter panel that…
-
Come on and dance
I went looking around the internet for an explanation of the title of last Thursday’s “Lost,” which was called “Eggtown.” That turned up nothing, forcing me to resort to a Steve Miller Band reference. It’s tenuous at best, but I assure you that one bad title is not indicative of my entire oeuvre. One thing…
-
The Old Man and the Realistically Rendered Water Volume
I’m just arrogant enough that I tend to automatically dismiss anything presented as a list of rules or guidelines about writing. There’s obviously a ton of craft involved in writing, independent of any concerns about talent or personal style. But attempts to codify it are always either too vague to be practically useful, or too…
-
Ready… Be fought against!
Previously on Spectre Collie, I got alarmed at what I saw as the rising sentiment against storytelling in videogames. The people on the message boards and blog comments kept saying that storytelling and interactivity are mutually exclusive, that story-based games aren’t games at all! And notable people like Will Wright were making proclamations that the…