I’ve been flaking at work, school and life ever since the release of Fallout 3. I snagged the collectors edition of the game and haven’t stopped playing since. One thing I can say about the game this early on is it’s tough scrounging for ammo, especially after you’ve wasted all of it on a giant fire ant’s skull. Now in regards to leveling and building up your character, it is much easier than Fallout 1 and 2. In the previous games, you were lucky if you came out with a well-rounded character that could do a little of everything. Well, either lucky or just weak. In Fallout 3, with the adjustments to the way tagged skills work and the many skill-related perks in the game, a character can easily be half-decent at every skill in the game.

Of course, most players like to focus on one skill and become a master of it. I’m just surprised how well a “jack-of-all-trades” character works in this game. If I were to make a similar character in Fallout 1, I wouldn’t get past the first radscorpion cave. Check back for screens of the goodies that come in the collectors edition, later today.

What do antique telephones and dragons have to do with one another? Fuck if I know, but this controller’s design is sporting both. In light of the holiday season, Microsoft has released red and green versions of it’s wireless 360 controller that come packed with a charge kit for $65 bucks, while Walmart is exclusively selling this hideous design bundled with a wired headset for $50.

If you’re a girl, in art school or both then maybe this controller design would appeal to you. As for myself, well, I’d rather fuck a monkey with the Ebola virus than be caught playing games with this thing in my hands.

Link [via]

I can’t get enough of corny retro video game commercials.  When I saw this Street Fighter 2 Turbo promotional video posted on Dooby Brain, I just had to share it here.  It reminds me of the better times in my life, when wearing cardigan sweaters and listening to Nirvana was cool. If you pay close attention to the video, ignoring the overly rhapsodic attitude of the asshole in the blue baseball cap adorned in reverse, then you can pick up some early ’90s slang you won’t hear anywhere else.

“Did you see that new move? Aw, that was bad!” says one guy playing Street Fighter 2 Turbo. What the kid really meant is the exact opposite: the move was impressive. But, because this is the early ’90s and everyone was still recovering from the ’80s, it was considered cool to say things that make little sense. The video has some great tips, too. For example, did you know you’ve got to jump before executing Ken/Ryu’s hurricane kick? I sure didn’t. After seeing this video, who would ever want to play the game in the arcade? “Fight Balrog, instead of the crowds!”

Link

With classes starting for most students this week or next, it’s important that you’re properly geared up for school before trekking back. Cool Hunting has a nice roundup of both “analog” and digital notebooks that will suit nearly anyone’s taste, style or preference. Whether you’re heading to Columbia Law or the Clown College of Miami, this is a read you don’t want to miss. Especially on Labor Day. Nothing makes you feel better than knowing you have class in a few days.

Link

So, you want to work in the game industry. You want to live, breathe, think, screw and shit video games for the rest of your life. Unless you want to be a master of the custodial arts, game design is the last thing you’ll want to major in. As Frank Caron of Ars Technica points out, the game industry is a very brutal and competitive field. He offers some words of wisdom for those actively pursuing their dreams by suggesting more broad majors just so you have skills to fall back on in case the game industry’s doors were closed.

A few lucky souls may wind up producing art or doing programming for projects directly out of trade school, but for the vast majority, unemployment at the hands of a limited skill set will be the unfortunate reality.

Ouch. Thanks to Frank, if you want to get your foot in the door of the industry, you know what to do. Broaden your skills, whether it be computer graphics, programming or both. Last but not least, kiss as much ass as possible.  My advice? Become an indie developer.

Link

Got 3,800 dollars laying around? Smash open that piggy bank of yours because this is the deal of a lifetime. Owning every NES game made on gray cartridge (with a ton of instruction manuals) along with a mint-condition NES console is sure to earn you a gaming medal.

Now as for selling all of them, no medal is awarded for that. In fact, quite the opposite. Sadly, the seller (eBay user oceanic234) is going through some family issues and is in desperate need of money. I’d say it’s a reasonable price considering the work he’s done collecting them all and maintaining them in proper condition (unlike that lunchbox we saw). Unfortunately, I already have an ass load of NES cartridges and my biggest pet peeve is duplicates. So, thanks but no thanks.

Link (via)

Don’t get me wrong, the Donkey Kong clock was cool, but it was a motionless picture with not a lot going for it other than being just an ordinary clock. Since we enjoy LEGOs so much and regard Donkey Kong as one of the greatest inventions since blood pressure wary underwear, we’re positive this LEGO construct is sure to catch your attention.

The infamous barrel-chucking Donkey Kong and the resilient Italian plumber are recreated in LEGO form complete with sound effects, rolling barrels, a jump crazy protagonist and even a damsel in distress. It’s one of the cooler LEGO builds I’ve seen.

Link (via)

Your house plants are withering. You have two options: put them out in the sun or build a gigantic robotic arm that takes up half of your living space. Lively plants at the cost of sleeping in the bathtub doesn’t sound too bad either.

The Bartlett School of Architecture showcased their “Experiments in Time” exhibit, which included this steel monstrosity strapped with an Arduino Lilypad controller to tilt a disc into sunlight.  Seriously, all you have to do is pick your house plants up, walk outside and place them down on the ground. You’ll be set, they’ll be healthy and you get to spend the night in your bed without sharing rent with a robotic arm.

Link (via)

Editor’s Note: SEATTLE!!

In a move that shows a blatant disregard for civil liberties and personal freedoms, a Rhode Island school district will be testing out a program that monitor’s student movement via RFID chips in backpacks. Right now, 80 children are using the RFID-equipped backpacks. Buses will also receive GPS units.

Parents and faculty will be able to login to a system to find out where their children currently are and where they have been. Tracking buses is one thing but this is just too big an invasion of privacy. Watching your kids all the time is the sign of someone or something that is insecure and a paranoid freak. Hopefully the pilot program will get canned before it goes any further.

Link

We’ve seen robots of every variety. Chances are, if something is badass, there’s a robot-form of it. The Nonlinear Dynamics and Control Lab of the University of Washington have turned a dissociated group of robot fish into a communicative school of robot fish.

Using low power, low frequency sonar, the fish are able to transfer information between one another while underwater. Although only half the information was received successfully, the robot fish were programmed in a way that they’re still able to accomplish their tasks with little information given to them, much like an actual school of fish.  This technology could eventually be used to explore the oceans and study oceanic-life, opening the door to new aquatic applications.

Link (via)