Oh Internet

Well, today was in interesting day.
Sane discussion on the matter will have to wait until I haven’t spent the previous several hours in the pub.

Title says it all really. This comes shortly after they bought Flickr, where nothing much seems to have changed as a result of the acquisition (e.g. it’s still slower than a slug that’s been superglued and stapled to the ground,) so it’ll be interesting to see if anything happens to del.icio.us as a result.
I think [...]

As a side effect of the Xbox 360’s huge stock shortages when the console launched, the potential reselling profit margins for anyone who managed to get their hands on one are huge. Sitting around the office yesterday we were tracking one particular eBay auction where a system finally sold for £925. For this, the buyer [...]

Wow, what a weird feeling. I’ve just found out that Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer has finally been released. This was one of the last games that we worked on at Vis before the company crawled up its own arse and died.
The product was kind of in limbo, since the game had been completed [...]

The worst software bugs in history.
Some days I’m really glad that I only work on software which is highly unlikely to kill anyone:
November 2000 — National Cancer Institute, Panama City. In a series of accidents, therapy planning software created by Multidata Systems International, a U.S. firm, miscalculates the proper dosage of radiation for patients undergoing [...]

Need I remind you all that Black and White 2 will be available to buy tomorrow?

I have it on good authority that the version of Black and White 2 which was eventually accepted as ‘gold’ (ready for manufacturing) by EA was, by pure coincidence, build number 1337. Which is just so awesome.
(If you don’t get the joke, then take comfort in the fact that you obviously live a more interesting [...]

OK, pay attention at the back.
You all need to go to your friendly computer game store and buy Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC (or wait for the XBox version which will be coming out Real Soon Now.)
You know you want to. Think of our royalties the fun you could be having playing the game [...]

More gaming nostalgia: Every back issue of ‘Sinclair User’. Not that interesting in and of itself, but the page does have a more interesting link: ‘Your Sinclair’ back issues. YS is great. I used to read it and I never even owned a Speccy. It’s weird how tendrils from the magazine can still be spotted [...]

Fable won Gamespot’s ‘Most Light Bloom’ award in 2004, and the award just arrived in the office. It’s the most hilariously tacky “Mr T.”-esque medallion you’ve ever seen. Everyone’s so proud.
Picture swiped from the webcams.

Beijing has just seen the opening of the first ever officially licensed clinic for treating Internet addiction. The majority of the patients are suffering from addiction to MMOGs and are between the ages of 14 and 24.
“All the children here have left school because they are playing games or in chat rooms everyday,” says the [...]

Things have taken a turn for the ‘interesting’ recently.
The company I worked for finally shambled too close to the cliff edge and, once the dust settled, the remains were separated and sold for parts. At a similar time, our landlords told us that the flat we were staying in was being sold. Combining this with [...]

If, like me, you’re a horrible video games nerd (if it makes you feel better, I work in the industry, so I probably need more help than you,) then you’ve probably heard about Sony Online Entertainment’s Station Exchange.

This is a service for Everquest 2, which acts as an official service for selling in-game currency and [...]

A couple of interesting transcripts and impressions from this year’s Game Developer Conference, before I lose track of them.
First, some notes from a panel by Katamari Damacy’s creator, Keita Takashi. More an examination of the creative philosopy and mindset of the game than anything more detailed, but interesting none the less. It’s also a prime [...]