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Want to learn to play Dwarf Fortress? O’Reilly has a 238-page book to teach you.
It’s in the programming section. Ha.
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E3: In Halo 4 the (mostly) silent hero finally gets a voice.
video Like many shooter heroes Halo‘s Master Chief seldom speaks. Conventional wisdom says the absence of a specific voice makes it easier to identify with the hero, projecting parts of ourselves into the game. During a short video demonstration of Halo 4 at E3, Master Chief again breaks this genre
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Cheat Sheet 6/12: Disney plugs Wreck-It Ralph with Fix-It Felix, Verizon drops phone plans, and Crytek freezes Timesplitters 4
We wake, unblinded by the Retina Display, to see the sun shine once again over earthen headlines. Disney plugs Wreck-It Ralph with the playable Fix-It Felix, the game from the movie about the “bad” guy from the game. Verizon to drop ordinary phone contracts, pick up “Share Everything” plans. Far
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Cheat Sheet 6/11: New Mac laptops unveiled, Peter Molyneux exploring social media, and Black Ops 2 on Wii U outed.
That tingling in your left eyelid was indeed a psychosomatic reminder that Apple would announce new products today. -Apple announces new laptops, including much-rumored retina display Macbook Pro. -Magazine scans show Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 planned for Wii U. -Peter Molyneux discusses projects to
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New video series takes a close look at the ridiculous portrayals of women in games.
A couple of weeks ago Anita Sarkeesian started a Kickstarter project to document female tropes within videogames and how they impact society. The Kickstarter aims to create videos to educate players and developers about these common stereotypes in hopes that they will see videogames with a more crit
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How Hollywood is trying to make movie-themed games less terrible. Good luck.
Movie studios have a habit of capitilizing on their blockbuster titles with a videogame of the same name and basic plotline. The games rarely do their cinema sisters justice. But by redrawing characters and rewriting plotlines, Warner Interactive’s new market strategy will attempt to transform movie
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E3’s "booth babes" are finally getting widespread attention, critique.
Models hired to demonstrate at conventions, or booth babes, stand around in heels for long hours and fairly low pay. While they might help attract some attention to their employers’ booths, their presence is controversial. Including scantily clad women in a booth can distract attention from the adve
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Disney’s Wreck-it Ralph tries to charm us back to theaters on the 8-bit bandwagon.
In the 8-bit arcades of yore, villians are flat characters–to say the least. With Wreck-It Ralph, Disney hopes to round one out for the sake of empathy, family fun, and a fresh roll of coins.The 3D animated feature goes beyond the CRT to show you the senstive, high-BMP side of Ralph (voiced by Jon C
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Media coverage of drug abuse popularizes such abuse.
Stimulants help people be more alert and focused, which often helps with studying for school. High school students share their Ritalin and Adderall,, as the NY Times reports, but even more problematic is how illicit stimulant use tends to rise after such articles are published. Vaughan Bell at Mind
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Education architecture takes a left turn toward the future.
Where does recess end and hookie begin? Architects and educators from Norway to Thailand are blurring the line between classroom and playground. Gestalten has recently published a book documenting the most wonderous examples. Our school grounds inspired lava monster and red rover–the next generatio
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E3: Pikmin 3 and the melancholy of joy of murdering your friends.
video The Pikmin games were always proof that, when presented with the right amount of colorful cheer, the most horrifically sad acts can be digested as easily as candy. The E3 demo of Pikmin 3 carries on in this tradition with a game about a helpless protagonist who’s only path off an alien planet
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Welcome to your new LEGO block — human DNA.
Despite public trepidation, nanotechnology continues as a new standard of Western medicine. Molecular biologists at Harvard are in the process of nano-sculpting DNA tiles–strands of synthetic DNA programmed to build off each other to form shapes to act as prescription drug couriers. Little children