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.

The Supermandolini limited edition medals of Console Wars - to commemorate your victories in numerous alien battles, melees with large apes, or simply finishing a race amidst bazooka fire.

(via Notcot)

This month’s issue of Wired magazine ran an article about MegaPhone - turning big-screen billboards into giant game screens, your cellphone becomes a game controller, and all you have to do is call the phone number posted on the screen and you’re playing video games on the side of a building.

Recently, Palo Alto based product engineering firm MindTribe has placed a 65″ plasma screen in a front window with the same idea in mind. You dial the phone number on the screen and you are now playing a version of Tetris while standing in the middle of the sidewalk (and it’s free). Bonus: if you get a high score, your snapshot goes up on their website.

When friends or relatives won’t stop sending you photos of their children, make one of these and send it back to them:

Make your own: Faces of Oolong

(via Notcot)

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

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)

A brilliant ‘Sweded’ remake of a scene from the movie “Tron,” by les Frères Huèon.

(via Notcot)

Check out the sweet, sweet work of Greg Patillo, who is somehow able to both play a flute and beatbox at the same time.  Kind of similar to Yuri Lane, the beatboxing harmonica player I brought you last August, Greg is like Rahzel meets Bobby Militello, with a splash of Kōji Kondō.  Pretty damn impressive:

(via Ralph Lucent)

An unbelievable display; this guy beats Super Mario Brothers 3 in 11 minutes, getting more than the maximum number of 1ups possible. All I can say is Diz-namn!

(If you’re not instantly impressed, skip ahead to the 2:09 mark.)

From the nation that brought you vending machines that sell schoolgirls’ underwear comes the perfect marriage of flash games, Victorian era fashion, slapfighting, and good old-fashioned misogyny.

Behold: Rose & Camellia

(via Memepool)

While the University of California marching band is sometimes overshadowed by Pac-10 nemesis Stanford, you’ve got to hand it to Cal for their recent Nintendo-themed half time show against Washington State. As a friend pointed out, in the “Pong” sequence, the people must have had to run at least 40 yards in each direction!

(Thanks Ben!)

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.

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…)

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…

According to PCworld.com, Arm Spirit, a Japanese arm-wrestling game, was recalled from more than 150 arcades across the country after 3 people independently broke their arms while battling the machine.  Apparently, the game has 10 levels of difficulty, including a French maid, drunken martial arts master, and a Chihuahua before reaching the final showdown with a professional wrestler.   In response to the broken arms, Arm Spirit’s spokeswoman said, “The machine isn’t that strong, much less so than a muscular man.  Even women should be able to beat it.“

Broken arms from an arcade game are pretty serious, but injuries in videogaming aren’t new,  including a recent phenomenon: “Wii Elbow.”  And something else just dawned on me: there would have been more of these Arm Spirit injuries, but honestly, who goes to arcades anymore, and furthermore, who plays the arm wrestling video game?  Definitely tagging this one as ‘geekery.’

(via Arian; story via PCworld; image via MSNBC)

I’m planning on starting a Blogadilla pack… who’s in?

A friend of mine is a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA; yesterday I got a cool private tour. Here are some of the highlights (click on photo to enlarge):

A - The IBM “Deep Blue” supercomputer; defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

B - The Apple 1 personal computer (the first Apple product), for sale in 1976 for the price of $666.66.

C - Douglas Engelbart’s 1967 mouse prototype (no joke, it’s made of wood).

D - Herman Hollerith’s 1889 tabulation/census machine; it electronically “read” punch-cards; in 1911 he sold the patent to a small company known as the International Business Machines corporation (IBM).

E - Data cards from J. M. Jacquard’s 1804 programmable textile loom.

F - An example of the detailed “printing” of Jacquard’s loom (you’re looking at a woven image).

G - A WWII Enigma code machine.

H - The 1949 IBM 604 Calculator; IBM’s first mass-produced computer.

I - The Rand JOHNNIAC computer, used for scientific computing in 1954.

J - Detail of the stylish 50’s JOHNNIAC nameplate (looks like a car or a fridge).

K - IBM core memory for the 1954 SAGE air defense system computer used by NORAD.

L - The first Google Production Server, 1999.

M - The 1954 SAGE air defense system computer used by NORAD.

N - Detail of SAGE’s built-in cigarette lighter and ashtray (you gotta love the 50’s).

O - The guidance computer for a 1962 Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic (nuclear) missile.

P - The MIT 1965 Apollo spacecraft guidance computer.

Q - University of Tokyo’s Biper-4 bipedal robotic legs, 1983.

R - The 1976 Cray-1 supercomputer.

S - The 1985 Cray-2 supercomputer, with stylish fluid cooling tower.

T - The 1971 Computer Space arcade game; the first commercially available video game.

U - The Apple 1 personal computer, autographed by Steve Wozniak.

V - Detail of “Woz” autograph.

W - A pre-1956 RAMAC prototype; the world’s first disc-drive.

Maybe you have to watch the show “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” (from Craig McCracken - the guy who created the Powerpuff Girls) for this to be funny, or maybe not. Or, maybe, I spend too much time with kids. Help me.

Ferry Halim offers a line of flash games that combine the aesthetic of Japanese stationery with simplistic one-touch gameplay.
The upshot: 59 different games.
The other upshot: the games are very kid-friendly.
The other other upshot: they’re free.
I recommend “Bugs,” “Cranky Crabs,” and “The Three Monkeys.”

(via Notcot)

Free games:

•Plasma Pong: real-time fluid dynamics combined with Pong. Multiple color options. (via Sachs Report)



•Feed The Head: a web-based game where the goal is to . . . uh . . . something. [challenge: try to get the head to walk, try to get the feet to juggle 3 balls (plus the eyeball)]. (via Neatorama)



•flOw: the MFA thesis project of Jenova Chen, an awesome game (downloadable or web-based) of planktonic proportions - as a tiny plankton you swim about, eat and grow/evolve, take-on larger predators, and work your way to the bottom of the ocean (red plankton makes you sink, blue makes you rise) to fight a plankton boss. Awesome music and sounds. [challenge: try to reach the "yellow level" where you are a jellyfish].



•Mario Adventure: the ultimate Mario hack - an entirely new Mario game based on Mario game code. (via Sachs Report)