Games designer/theorist Jane McGonigal wrote a great book a while ago called Reality Is Broken, which argues that the reason humans spend three billion hours a week playing online games is that games are better and more engaging than reality as most of us experience it, in part because games tap into the best parts […]
Video Games
Posted inVideo Games
The Biggest Nerd Prom in the Northwest: A PAX Dispatch
I spent my Labor Day weekend mostly at the Washington State Convention Center, wherein I was surrounded by motley and colorful crowds. Men with goatees and fedoras abounded, as did girls with candy-pink and Smurf-blue hair. Countless enthusiastic fans were dressed as either David Tennant or Matt Smith’s version of the Doctor. Last weekend downtown […]
Posted inCrafty
1-Up to Happy Knits
Spotted last night in the window of Happy Knits on Hawthorne: Hit the jump for closeups of Mario, Bowser, the Fire Flower, a star, and a Bob-omb. In conclusion, these are great and I want all of them. Especially Bowser.
Posted inVideo Games
Now NASA’s Thinking with Portals
Valve Via Valve comes the excellent news that “an anonymous tech at NASA” has managed to covertly arrange for Portal 2‘s Space Core to be launched into spaaaaaace. This is my favorite thing that I have learned today.
Posted inBooks
At Last, Duke Nukem Reads 50 Shades of Grey
This is the guy who does Duke Nukem‘s voice. The fact that his name is “Jon St. John” is fairly remarkable, but not nearly as remarkable as the fact that someone got him to read 50 Shades of Grey. In Duke Nukem’s voice. Also remarkable: Man, I’d heard from various snarky lit snobs that 50 […]
Posted inVideo Games
Game of Thrones Recap: The Videogame Edition
GAME OF THRONES Not pictured: Skyrim. 1) I’d hoped to do a full, thorough review of the Game of Thrones videogame that came out a few weeks ago; the game’s release was timed perfectly with the ending of the show’s second season, and since the Great Bearded Glacier’s next book is probably a couple of […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Tonight at Cartopia: Alien and Blade Runner
Tonight, kicking off a weekly series of screenings at the Cartopia food carts on 12th and SE Hawthorne: Alien at 10, Blade Runner at midnight. Free admission! Food that comes from carts! Bittersweet remembrances of olden times long past—O! Those halcyon days when Ridley Scott made good movies!
Posted inVideo Games
Wreck-It Ralph Hits Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start, Goes Directly to Nostalgia Level
Pixar’s got Brave coming out soon, but after that? Wreck-It Ralph, which has a trailer that’s just a tiny bit like The Truman Show‘s—thanks, in part, to some well-deployed Talking Heads. Not a bad touchstone, there, and then PAC-MAN GHOST and Q*BERT and BOWSER and etc. It’s like a goddamn Roger Rabbit for videogames, which—considering […]
Posted inVideo Games
In Which George R.R. Martin Finds Yet Another Way to Taunt and Anger His Fans
The Game of Thrones RPG came out yesterday (we’ve got a review copy en route, and I’ll blog some impressions once it shows up), but hey, look at this: A digital version of author George R.R. Martin “Maester Martin” from the game, where the bespectacled fellow awkwardly talks about how he’s writing a history of […]
Posted inVideo Games
The Diablo III Beta Is Open To Everyone This Weekend
Blizzard Entertainment Let’s assume you’re a fan of Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo series, but just don’t have the patience to wait for the May 15 release of Diablo III. Now that I type it all out that’s a pretty likely scenario, so it’s probably a good thing that as of an hour or so ago, the […]
Posted inVideo Games
Daniel Johnston Recruits Portland Talent for His Comic/App/Album
Daniel Johnston‘s new comic book/album features a bunch of Portland guests. Space Ducks: An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness—its humble title notwithstanding—was the result of the songwriter’s lifelong dream to make a comic book, and there’s also a fancy iPad game app that goes with it too. Johnston’s accompanying new album, Space Ducks: Soundtrack […]
Posted inEvents
This Sunday: Ground Kontrol’s Portland Pinbrawl 2012
Ah Spring! That special time of year when the sun returns, love blossoms alongside the tulips, and Ground Kontrol attracts a swath of the region’s finest pinball wizards for the annual Pinbrawl tournament! As you can see from the above poster, this year’s event goes down on Sunday, April 22. Doors open at 10AM, registration […]