Shih Tzu

02:30 am: (Two-thirds of) The Best of IFComp 04
I'll probably put up some slightly longer reviews sometime of all the ones I played, but for now, here are short comments on the games I can recommend as Worth Your Time. (If you need help running or playing the games, you can check Brass Lantern's Beginner Resources page.)

Sting of the Wasp by Jason Devlin -- You play a repulsive woman of the upper crust gliding about her country club as she attempts to cover up her (in her mind) well-deserved infidelity. Hilariously sardonic writing and fine implementation. Rating: 10

All Things Devours by half sick of shadows -- You are a scientist. You have six minutes to infiltrate your former lab and destroy your own creation. But nothing is as easy as it seems... A wickedly ingenious timed puzzle. Rating: 9

Luminous Horizon by Paul O'Brian -- A superhero game, last in a trilogy, with an innovative dual-PC setup and subtley detailed implementation. Rating: 9

( More brilliant artgame to change your life )

The official scores will probably be out later today on the contest site. Now, to bed.

10:56 pm: today's notes
So Luminous Horizon won. Doesn't shock me greatly, although in some ways I admired it more than I enjoyed it. Just my personal taste, though (traditional superhero stories don't resonate with me all that much), and I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

I caught Talk of the Nation on NPR today. One of the discussion topics today was video games, and they had someone on who was apparently the Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine. I wasn't all that impressed with him, though. I swear I heard him say that technology is just starting to allow storytelling in games and Halo 2 is the first step or something along those lines. So guess what, any stories you may have experienced before late 2003 were mere superficial illusions! I know the audio clip of Halo 2 we just played sounded like more of the same kill-the-aliens insipidity the populace at large associates with video games, but we swear, games are gonna start to have stories now! Cringed a bit there. Also, they said "Microsoft" about ten times--would it have killed them to mention Bungie more than peripherally even once? You know, the artists who actually made the game? I dunno, maybe I'm just too h4rdc0re or something, but I couldn't help wishing they were interviewing the Penny Arcade guys instead. Major props, though, to the guy in Kansas who managed to call in just to pimp Katamari Damacy.

I sound anal and bitter, but I'm probably more just tired. In actuality, the radio provided a fair bit of amusement all day at work. Just before the gaming talk they were discussing politics and the changes in Bush's Cabinet, and I swear that at one point the conversation led the host to ask her guest, without a hint of irony, "Do you think the Republican party has a broad middle?" Tee hee hee.

Aww, c'mon. It's funny no matter your political persuasion. Broad middle! Hee hee.

Then later in the evening I was listening to the local college station, and guess who forgot to play the radio edit! I heard the F Word.

Yes, I am easily amused. Sometimes.