‘Every scientist dreams of a world without ethics. Whenever a scientist sees a set of twins, he or she secretly wonders what would happen if you surgically swapped their faces. They already have a chamber set up to harness the power of their screams as they gradually realize what has happened. Every day, ethics barely prevent experiments like this from being carried out.
But what if we didn’t have these ethics? When Nazi doctors were let loose during WWII, the incredible rate of their discoveries were matched only by the inadequacy of words to atone for them. They might have been monsters, but without them, we never would have discovered the yield elasticity of the elderly, or learned what part of a prisoner’s tongue detects the taste of angel meat.
The Sims 3 is computer game based on these Nazi scientists that offers us a world of moral ambiguity, free to perform psychological experiments away from the leering eye of ethics. Which is exactly what I did. Here are the results of my findings.’
This is a strategy browser based game similar in style to Civilization. You build towns, colonize islands, trade resources in markets, research new technologies and, of course, go to war.
It’s not a bad game at all. 🙂 It doesn’t take much time to play. You can instruct it to build new buildings and then come back hours later when the building is done to start the next one.
I’m currently playing in world Lambda, so you should all come and trade goods with me. But watch out, I might attack you with flame-throwing boats. Ha! 🙂 That’ll teach you.
Slap some sense into Corey!
‘Anika’s Odyssey is a magical adventure deep into a lush and enchanted land. Break away from reality to enter a mystical world inspired by Aotearoa, New Zealand, as you meet the curious spirits and exotic creatures that inhabit this wondrous wilderness.
Anika’s Odyssey is an enchanting point-and-click adventure game, full of a surprises and charm. Help Anika explore her colorful landscape as she journeys to reclaim her beloved friend.’
‘The boy wanted his father to look at his Xbox 360 video game system.
The father didn’t want to. An argument ensued.
The boy handed his father a rifle. Shoot me, he said.
So the father did.
State police at Fern Ridge say that scenario played out Friday night between 60-year-old James Stanley Niedosik and his 17-year-old son.
The boy ended up in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest with a .22-caliber bullet lodged in his skull behind his ear. Niedosik ended up in Monroe County Prison on $250,000 bail, charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.’
‘Two teenagers believed to be imitating the Mortal Kombat video game have been arrested and charged in the death of a 7-year- old Johnstown girl – a sister of one of the suspects. [..]
They began wrestling and enacting a game of Mortal Kombat, court affidavits say. Zoe lost consciousness after being hit, kicked and body-slammed to the floor. [..]
A witness quoted in an affidavit said Roberts told her he had kicked the girl and that his hands were “lethal weapons.”
The witness said Roberts performed a back kick and the girl didn’t get up. He said he and Trujillo “cracked an egg in her mouth . . . in an attempt to see if she was messing around with them” by faking unconsciousness.
The witness said she asked Roberts whether Zoe had asked them to stop. “Yeah, she told me to stop,” he said. Asked why he didn’t stop, he said, “I don’t know; I was drunk.”‘
‘After playing World of Warcraft, the 12 year old boy knew how to cope when he was attacked by a moose in the forest.
In the article he describes how he first yelled at the moose, distracting it so his sister got away, then when he got attacked and the animal stood over him he feigned death. “Just like you learn at level 30 in World of Warcraft.”‘
This is a fun little problem solving game. Nothing too fancy. Guide your ball into a goal by placing fans or springs and the like around the place to guide it.
‘The Chinese government has clamped down on the amount of time youngsters can spend playing online games, according to the official news agency Xinhua.
Under-18s who play for more than three consecutive hours a day will have limits imposed on the amount of points they can score, the agency reported. [..]
Chinese gaming firms such as NetEase and Shanda Interactive Entertainment have until 15 July to install software which will halve the number of points gamers can score if they play for more than three hours, said the report.
Determined gamers who play for more than five hours will get no points at all and face an on-screen warning that they are entering “unhealthy game time”.’
‘Lose a game of chess to a computer, and you could bruise your ego. Lose an arm-wrestling match to a Japanese arcade machine, and you could break your arm.
Distributor Atlus said Tuesday it will remove all 150 Arm Spirit arm wrestling machines from Japanese arcades after three players broke their arms grappling with the machine’s mechanized appendage.
“The machine isn’t that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it,” said Atlus spokeswoman Ayano Sakiyama, calling the recall “a precaution.”
“We think that maybe some players get overexcited and twist their arms in an unnatural way,” she said. The company was investigating the incidents and checking the machines for any signs of malfunction.’
‘A 14 year old boy from Brevard, North Carolina was nearly killed Sunday while trying to stop his Xbox 360 from overheating.
The boy’s mother told local news that his Xbox 360 kept turning itself off after about 5 minutes. Her son had read online that he could stop it from cutting off by cooling the power supply. “I saw him put the cord on top of a box in the living room”, said the boy’s mother. “When I left to go next door he was playing a game but when I got back he was laying on his back on the floor and unconscious”.
While his mother was away the boy had taken the power supply and wrapped it in plastic and tape. In an attempt to cool it off, he submerged it into a pan of water with the cord still plugged in. The boy had regained consciousness by the time paramedics had arrived. He was taken to the Transylvania CommunityHospital in Brevard where he spent the night.’
Throw villagers into the air to kill them, then steal their money.
That’ll teach ’em.
This one doesn’t really make much sense. Fake? Or clever dog?
(3.9meg Flash video)
see it here »
It’s kinda like a backwards version of the old classic. You’re the asteroid. Destroy the ships.
‘The biggest bank in the virtual world of Second Life has closed its doors after a run on its deposits, putting at risk hundred of thousands of real dollars of savings and investments.
On Thursday, Ginko Financial – which is owned by Brazilian from Sao Paulo whose real name is Andre Sanchez – stopped accepting deposits, froze all withdrawals and converted account holders’ balances into “tradeable debt securities” called Ginko Perpetual Bonds.
The bonds can be bought and sold on the World Stock Exchange (WSE), the largest of three sharemarkets in Second Life. The exchange is run by a Melbourne-based man whose real name is Luke Connell.
Ginko attracted deposits by offering to pay 0.10 per cent daily accrued interest, which equates to a 44 per cent annual return.’
‘Draw your way to the finish, get through level after level of mazes with this addicting paint ‘ball’ game.’
‘Jesuit missionaries may soon venture into Second Life, intent on saving virtual people from virtual sins.
Writing in the Italian Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, whose contents are approved by the Vatican, Father Antonio Spadaro has told fellow Catholics that they shouldn’t be wary of venturing into Second Life’s virtual world, arguing that the online alternate universe might be the perfect place to land converts, Reuters reports.
“It’s not possible to close our eyes to this phenomenon or rush to judge it,” Spadaro said. “Instead, it needs to be understood … the best way to understand it is to enter it.” A regular contributor to the Jesuit journal, Spadaro has also lauded Tom Waits as a Christian role model.’
‘Video-game publisher Take-Two Interactive has done it again.
The company, which has come under fire in the past for offensive content in its games, is now testing the taste barrier with its latest sports video game, All-Pro Football 2K8, which features O.J. Simpson, unquestionably America’s most infamous athlete.
A customized video clip on the Game Trailers Web site shows Simpson game highlights as his team, “The Assassins,” moves down the field. Toward the end of the clip, Simpson scores a touchdown, prompting a large hooded mascot above the scoreboard to make stabbing motions with a large knife.’
(3.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A couple who authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.
The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal. [..]
Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing “Dungeons & Dragons” series, to give their children proper care.
“They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games,” Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.’
‘The virtual communities created by online games have provided us with a new medium for social interaction and communication. Avatar Machine is a system which replicates the aesthetics and visuals of third person gaming, allowing the user to view themselves as a virtual character in real space via a head mounted interface. The system potentially allows for a diminished sense of social responsibility, and could lead the user to demonstrate behaviors normally reserved for the gaming environment.’
(2.1meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Watch the teeth, Ginger!’
‘Microsoft said on Thursday it expects to spend more than $US1 billion to repair widespread hardware problems in its Xbox 360 video game console after a large number of them broke down.
Microsoft said it would extend the warranty on the Xbox 360 to three years after too many of the consoles succumbed to “general hardware failure,” but the company provided few other details about the extent of the problems.
“We don’t think we’ve been getting the job done,” said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, which also makes the Zune digital music player. “In the past few months, we have been having to make Xbox 360 console repairs at a rate too high for our liking.”‘
Tricky but amusing sorta game.
‘An Adelaide woman has been arrested in the United States for allegedly trying to kidnap a 17-year-old boy she had met playing role-playing game World of Warcraft on the Internet.
Police say 31-year-old Tamara Broome encouraged the boy to leave his home in North Carolina to join her in Australia.
The chief of detectives in the city of Greenville, Lee Moore, says the pair began a relationship while playing World of Warcraft.
“The best that we can discover is that they wanted to meet,” he said.’
