ITU – Page 13 – The Distant Sound of Trumpets

Quiet time

From the online adventures of Garrg the Warlock (Shadowmoon server).

Yep, that’s me, the adventurous Garrg. Rejoining my transludic lighthouse quest I have set out across the sprawling world of Azeroth – the picture shows me taking a brief rest from my attempt to swim around the entire continent. Join me, water lovers.

Future of book secured

Back in October I reported on the progress of our text-book project (very dated info here).
Now, I’m thrilled to report that we’ll be signing a contract with a major publisher.
Final manuscript will be due some time this summer. Yep, book-making is a slow and careful art.

DAC calls for papers

The Digital Arts and Cultures 2005 conference CFP was just put online:

The 6th DAC conference invites critical examinations of the field of digital arts and culture, which challenge existing paradigms. We call for papers which examine both theoretical and hands-on approaches to digital experiences and experience design. Since the inaugural DAC in 1998 much has happened, and research has matured from early investigations into the problematic nature of new media towards questions of emergent dynamics, user centered design and various forms of interactivity. At the same time, the realization has grown that users of digital media not only are active participants, but also have to be taken into account at all stages of the design and production of digital experiences
How do practitioners (programmers, artists, designers etc.) cater for this kind of active and demanding user? What kinds of experiences can we create? How can these experiences inform us? How do we as academics analyse and evaluate digital experiences? DAC has always been interested in exploring the ways in which digital media do things that traditional media cannot. We believe that the focus on �experience� in DAC 2005 will illuminate the possibilities of digital media beyond the functional perspectives of �usability�. What are the aesthetic and cultural implications of digital design as experience?

– Read the whole thing

Levels of terror

I remember being scared by the Lovecraftian horrors of the original Alone in the Dark game.
Today, film reviewers are scared of the recent adaptation. But for different reasons:

Washington Post: “Supremely idiotic.”
San Fransisco Cronicle: “So mind-blowingly horrible that it teeters on the edge of cinematic immortality. “
The New York Times: “So inept on every level, you wonder why the distributor didn’t release it straight to video, or better, toss it directly into the trash. “
Entertainment Weekly: “Far be it from me to dismiss a man’s effort (Uwe Boll) in a sentence, but the film on your teeth after a three-day drunk possesses more cinematic value.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “One of those rare instances of a movie being so bad … it’s still really bad.”
New York Daily News: “No better than whatever you might pick up while wearing a blindfold at Blockbuster, even if you happen to reach into a trash can.”

And they say games don’t make for good cinematic material…
See more reviews at Metacritic.

The Sony Wars

I’m not angry.
Actually, I expected it.

I once spent a multitude of hours trying to cancel my AC2 subscription. It was very, very hard.
And so today, I wanted to cancel my SWG account.

It can’t be done.
It’s not possible.
There is no way to do it.

At the SWG website there are instructions:

– Launch Star Wars Galaxies and log into the game using your Station name and password
– At the auto patcher screen, click on the Edit Account option
– Select the Cancel Subscription option
– A new screen will appear that asks you to confirm your cancellation. Select Yes or No, and then click on Submit

It’s not true.
It’s false.
It’s counter-factual.

So I’ve emailed them. More reports as the war continues.