Clipmarks | kidora's Games collection

Pop That Bubblewrap !

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:37:02 GMT

clipped by: kidora
clipper's remarks: For those of you with obsessive compulsive disorder who just can't let go of the bubble wrap at the end of the day.
This one is for you

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

Bandai Asovision has taken possibly the most enjoyable side benefit of having a gadget obsessed life and made it 100% legitimate with the PuchiPuchi, a gadget that emulates the joy of popping bubble wrap. The PuchiPuchi simply features eight buttons that each make a popping sound when you press them: for extra enjoyment, the creators have sought to include bonus popping sounds like "door chime" and "sexy voice" every 100 pops, and there's also a one-in-a-thousand chance that your PuchiPuchi will be a super special "puchi lucky" toy with a heart shaped bubble. Frankly, the concept is so absurd -- and, well, Japanese -- that it might just work. Still, we've got to admit to hoping that each PuchiPuchi includes a healthy portion of real bubble wrap on the side.

Tags: Asovision, Bandai, Bubble wrap, BubbleWrap, Pop, PuchiPuchi

Tags: bubblewrap, gadget

Rubik's Cube Proof Cut To 25 Moves

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:17:08 GMT

clipped by: kidora
clipper's remarks: Finally ... maybe now I can solve the dam thing!

Clip Source: science.slashdot.org

"A scrambled Rubik's cube can be solved in just 25 moves, regardless of the starting configuration. Tomas Rokicki, a Stanford-trained mathematician, has proven the new limit (down from 26 which was proved last year) using a neat piece of computer science. Rather than study individual moves, he's used the symmetry of the cube to study its transformations in sets. This allows him to separate the 'cube space' into 2 billion sets each containing 20 billion elements. He then shows that a large number of these sets are essentially equivalent to other sets and so can be ignored. Even then, to crunch through the remaining sets, he needed a workstation with 8GB of memory and around 1500 hours of time on a Q6600 CPU running at 1.6GHz. Next up, 24 moves."

Gaming On A Saturday Night Anyone?

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:39:17 GMT

clipped by: kidora
clipper's remarks: No longer hiding in your parents basement playing Dungeon and Dragons anymore are you? Nope you now do your gaming in a world that is made up of ones and zeros.
Oh geeks of yore that once rolled the dice and played the card you now develop c. tunnel syndrome due to abuse of the mouse and the joy stick (get your mind out of the gutter). I salute you and your never ending quest in the search for magical mystical games, and the passing of the torch to the web 2.0 generation.
Be proud, play loud, and don't piss-off the Dungeon Master.

Clip Source: www.techcrunch.com

217 million people worldwide play online games, according to new figures released by comScore.

The study took into account all sites that provide online or downloadable games but excluded gambling sites. The 217million users account for 28 percent of all people online.

Yahoo! Games led the pack, attracting 53 million unique visitors. The fastest-growing Top 10 gaming property was the WildTangent Network.

The report appears to count visits to the actual gaming sites as opposed to actual user numbers. Under this methodology, online worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft attract a smaller share of the market as many users would not regularly visit a central page (such as with Yahoo Games) but play directly via a desktop client. Notably though, traffic to secondlife.com is surprisingly close to the visitor numbers for worldofwarcraft.com.

Tags: games

Using Voice Chat In On-line Role Playing. Yes or No?

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:46:41 GMT

clipped by: kidora
clipper's remarks: The part about the 11 year old boy is hilarious.
While I enjoy chatting with people online, I don't think anyone wants to hear my southern twang. I would rather let the illusion stand, whatever the illusion happens to be.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Recently I logged into World of Warcraft and I wound up questing alongside a mage and two dwarf warriors. I was the lowest-level newbie in the group, and the mage was the de-facto leader. He coached me on the details of each new quest, took the point position in dangerous fights and suggested tactics. He seemed like your classic virtual-world group leader: Confident, bold and streetsmart.

But after a few hours he said he was getting tired of using text chat -- and asked me to switch over to Ventrilo, an app that lets gamers chat using microphones and voice. I downloaded Ventrilo, logged in, dialed him up and ...

... realized he was an 11-year-old boy, complete with squeaky, prepubescent vocal chords. When he laughed, his voice shot up abruptly into an octave range that induced headaches and probably killed any dogs within earshot. Oh, and he used "motherfucker" about four times a sentence, except when his mother came into his bedroom to check on him.

Tags: voice, wired, wow, role-playing, games, online