The alternate title for this post:
“What I Have Been Doing for the Last Three Days Instead of Cleaning My Apartment, Socializing, Sleeping, Posting on Blogadilla, or Bathing.”

Before I continue, I am obligated to say the following because I am using EA Game’s graphics kit:

“This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Game content and materials copyright Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved.”


Released September 7th, Spore is an elegant combination of different types of gameplay with one grand theme: start as a single-celled organism, evolve, become intelligent, and eventually conquer fight your way to the center of the galaxy. It is available for a number of different platforms and Spore Origins (just the single-celled organism game) is available for mobile phones.

Based upon the number of hours of my life it has consumed to date, I give Spore a 5 out of 5.

Some highlights:
• You decide on the direction of your species’ evolution - become a carnivore, grow horns, evolve 6 arms, etc. I recommend you check out EA Games’ free downloadable Creature Creator.

• You go through the varying phases of social complexity - a social animal, a tribe society, a complex society, and eventually a galactic empire.

• The colonization of space appears to constitute over 95% of the entire game, and if you haven’t gotten that far yet, you still have so much more to look forward to!

Update 9/28/08:
I just finished the game.
I think.
It’s hard to tell if there’s more or not.

Update 9/29/08:
Now there is even a Spore Wiki.

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If a portmanteau is a combination of two words, then chess-boxing is a sportmanteau.

You heard me right: this sport is a combination of chess and boxing. Started by the Hip-Hop Chess Federation (RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan is apparently a huge chess buff), competitors alternate in the ring between three-minute boxing rounds and four-minute rounds of speed chess. Between rounds, competitors only get a one-minute break to take off and put on gloves, and to ponder strategies with coaches. Ultimately, a winner is determined by knockout, checkmate, or referee decision. It’s hard to believe, but elite chessboxers claim the hardest part of the sport is not taking a beating in the boxing component, but rather, coming down from the adrenaline of boxing to be able to thoughtfully play chess. Check out the Time Magazine article on the sport.

(via Phil, via Blattman)

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Find out with decent accuracy (it worked for me, at least) the “age” of your brain with this cool applet from FlashFabrica. Just memorize the position of each number and then after they dissappear, click the circles in order from lowest number to highest. Fortunately, there is no need to brush up on your Chinese language skillz to play.

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My sister buys a home and has a party.
I buy her a glow-in-the-dark Ouija Board as a housewarming present (useful around the home, no?).
It went something like this:

(Scene: Seven drunk people in the darkened empty livingroom of an old farmhouse, around 12:00AM.)

Us: “Oh great Ouija, can you hear us?”

Ouija: “YES”

Us: “Oh great Ouija, who are we speaking to?

Ouija: “YES”

Us: “Ouija, what is Jacob’s mother’s middle name?”

Ouija: “M-J-A-Z-A-Z-8″

Us: “Ouija, is there anything you want to tell us?”

Ouija: “YES”

Us: “What do you want to tell us?”

Ouija: “J-R-I-3-I-4-C”

(End scene)

Some observations:
• Ouija Boards often communicate with the living through license plate numbers.
• Some Ouija Boards might need “calibration” - though I’m not sure how to do it.
• Perhaps Ouija Boards can be drunk. Or deaf. Or illiterate.
• When returning a Ouija Board to Toys-R-Us, don’t tell them that you think it’s defective and you’d like to exchange it for one with “stronger spiritual powers.”

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• A gallery of Ouija boards
• Handmade Ouija boards
• Antique Ouija boards
• Turning your iPod into a Ouija board
• And this awesome graphic by Jeffrey Rowland
(at Overcompensating.com)

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For nearly a year now, Doritos has been subjecting us to flavor experiments.

The last Doritos “flavor experiment” I tried tasted like David Hasselhoff’s mouth.

But now they’re getting cool about it. To promote their newest experimental flavor, they have unleashed “Doritos the Quest” - an online game that has I.Q. test/problem-solving puzzles akin to Myst or Riven.

The game will be released in four parts (part 2 will come out in a week) - the grand prize winner will receive “$100,000 in treasure.” It appears that the finalists will actually have to physically compete for the grand prize - a la obstacle course, etc. - as stated in the game rules.

I really hope the grand prize isn’t a $100,000 golden corn chip.

(via notcot)

Bonus Round: Triangle Mystery

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Little Big Planet -
The perfect way to squander a Saturday afternoon: as a floppy ragdoll, you and friends can build an entire world of silly things and then spend the rest of the afternoon screwing-around in it.

Coming this Fall.

(via Notcot)

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This is what happens when you’ve worked in an office far too long - you invent games like “Hide and Go Poop.”

To be honest, I’d probably play this if I worked there.
I’d probably be Grand Champion and brag about it, too.

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“Rock, Paper, Scissors” (also called “Ro-Sham-Bo”) gets interesting when you add a few more variables:

Rock beats Scissors
Scissors cuts-up Sponge
Sponge soaks Dynamite
Dynamite explodes Monkey
Monkey flings poop at Man
Man disproves Alien
Alien vaporizes Rock

(see other artworks by David C. Lovelace)

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…but is it a true story? My Spidey Senses say (and a decent amount of Googling after the fact suggests) no. Nevertheless, Craziest is an entertaining way to spend 8 and a half minutes… if you’re into Scrabble, that is.

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“The Newlywed Game” (1977):

Bob Eubanks: “Where specifically is the weirdest place that you personally, girls, have ever gotten the urge to ‘make whoopee’?”

Contestant (Olga): “Umm . . . the as$?”

A proud moment for Olga’s family:

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From the brilliant minds at [adult swim] - the awesomely awesome free Shockwave game “Candy Mountain Massacre”.

Something has gone terribly wrong with the denizens of Candy Mountain. Clad as a Japanese cosplay schoolgirl, your mission: free cupcake hostages while exterminating the explosive cookie-lobbing Keebler Elves Baker Leprechauns, bazooka-toting Hello Kitties Salutations Kittens, and the thumping Energizer Bunny Blue Rabbit.

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When?: September 24th, 2007
Where?: The Microsoft Hall of Doom, Silicon Valley
What?: The HALO 3 Prelaunch Party
Who?: Blogadilla “reporter in the field” - James
Why?: ’cause it’s cool.

Here’s James’ report:
“This last Monday evening, I was lucky enough to be invited by Microsoft to the longest commercial I’ve ever been privileged to partake in. The interesting thing about it being that everyone there was already going to buy the damn product they were hocking. I speak of course of Halo 3, that dastardly game that has taken over the airwaves (as well as the inter-tubes) for a few weeks now, and is at this very moment hogging precious time on beautiful HD TVs the world over.

I attended a pre-launch party for this game-of-games, and it was an… interesting experience. First let me say that after having looked at some coverage of other pre-launches around the world, this one kinda sucked. There was some delicious food, and even more delicious beer (thank you Tide house, even though your bartender did try to sell me on it. Why the hell would I ask for an Ironwood if I don’t already like it?), but none of the huge excitement of the others. Sorry for the bad quality photos, my phone was having a bad day; please bear with me. Here (A) is what it looked like when I walked up. (click to enlarge)

This line carried a few dozen back, and took about 5 minutes or so to get through. Obviously we’re not talking the standard late-teen to college crowd, but rather the Silicon Valley tech geeks we all know and love.

(more…)

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Having 2 boys has made me a big Lego fan and Lego knows it. Being target market #1 I’ve been notified of the coming Lego MMOG, Lego Universe. Will there be Lego guilds, Lego sex, Lego MMOG law suits, Lego 12 step programs…?

Even I may be tempted…

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In addition to the very cool Google Sky that comes as part of the newest version of Google Earth, an easter egg has surfaced: a hidden flight simulator!

To access the flight simulator, all you have to do is open Google Earth and hit Ctrl+Alt+A if you’re using Windows, or Command+Option+A (note it must be capital A) on a Mac. After you access it for the first time, the option to go back to the flight simulator remains under the Tools menu for easy access.

In the simulator, you can fly an F16 Viper or an easier to fly 4 seater, the SR22. Check it out, it’s pretty damn cool.

(via Techcrunch, via Marco)

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Check it out– Extreme Quarters:

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To belabor the joke, here is a list of Is Helen Reddy? names friends have sent me since the original post earlier this week:

•Did she Jack Abramoff?
•Or did Isaac Asimov?
•Is Kim Jong Il?
•Is William Hung?
•Is his Willie Brown?
•Does Chris Rock?
•Does Hugh Jackman?
•Does Stevie Wonder?
•Was that Vladmir Putin?
•Can Lou Reed?
•Does Courtney Love?

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“Is Helen Reddy?” is the traditional name of the game. Given that many people don’t know who Helen Reddy is anymore, a more up-to-date name such as “Does Tom Cruise?” can be used.

The rules are simple:
• Two or more players.
• Construct a question that is a wordplay on a celebrity name (usually a last name that sounds like an adjective, bonus points if you can use both first and last name).
• You have 1 minute to come up with your question (if not, you lose), then your opponent takes a turn at coming up with a question.
• The question/pun has to be legitimate sounding.

Good Examples: Does Tom Cruise? Is Martin Short? Is Alan Cumming? Is Amy Smart? Is Barry White? Is Seth Green? Does Gabriel Byrne? Does Billy Bragg? Do I smell Kevin Bacon? Did you know LeAnn Rimes? Is Liz Phair? Is Rob Lowe? Is his Willie Brown? (Willie Brown is 2x points - use of first and last name).

Mediocre Examples: Does Minnie Driver? Does Dick Butkus? Is Bryan Ferry?

Bad Examples (no points): Does John Malkovich? Is Ray Liotta? Does Lenny Kravitz?

It is harder than it sounds, but it is a great way to waste time with friends. It can even be played over instant messenger.

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