vickiho.com

vickiho.com

Real old news

This made me so happy today. I found a digitised copy of the Singapore Chronicle (what later became the Straits Times) from 1831, the year the paper was started.

And this is the in-game newspaper in Red Dead Redemption, set around 1900. A brother from another mother! (Screen grab from this YouTube video.)

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under  //  video games  
Comments (0)
Posted 4 days ago

The guilt cycle of games

Image from Flickr member plance need watering


The addictive and almost compulsive nature of social games, it seems, plays a lot more on guilt-tripping you than being truly enjoyable.

I was talking to two developers from Breakdesign recently, and they brought up the concept of games which nag you—the ones which tell you that you have friends waiting for your next move, or virtual pets/crops which will die from you ignoring them.

This explains the explosive growth of social games such as Farmville. And remember those Tamagotchis? I had a Neopet too, I confess. And every time I logged in, he'd be parched or starving or dying from neglect.

One particularly insidious game I've found has been Words With Friends. It doesn't nag you with dying crops, but you do have real-life people waiting on the wings for your next move.

My initial excitement at playing started to turn into dread whenever my phone went off with each new request. And I eventually found myself dutifully responding to my list of Words With Friends requests whenever I had a spare moment, as if it were an e-mail inbox.

So this morning I deleted the game. With 6 requests in a big red bubble over my games folder on my phone, what used to be yet another obligation is now cleared. My phone is mine once again.

If only we could do that to e-mail.

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under  //  iphone   video games  
Comments (0)
Posted 1 month ago

Not just in GTA

This always happens to me in the game when I drive unskillfully (which always happens, as well). Looks like someone else was doing this in real life.

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under  //  out and about   video games  
Comments (0)
Posted 8 months ago

Katamari Prince in Picasso

I was at the Picasso exhibition on loan to Helsinki this week, and I think I found the prince from Katamari Damacy in one of the paintings.

The painting is from 1926, called The Painter and His Model.

Whoah!

(Original photo of the painting was found on this site.)

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under  //  art   video games  
Comments (0)
Posted 8 months ago