Today's Mighty Oak


In 1993, what would become the best-selling PC game of the 20th century 1, and for many, what ushered in the CD-ROM format, was released.  Myst was a phenomenon, spawned a series of five games, an ambitious (and still on-going) spin-off MMO, three novels, a comic book, many, many remakes and my love-affair with the power of online communities.

Now, Cyan, the company that created Myst, is back with a new venture: Obduction.  Twenty years after Myst, once more, Cyan is beckoning players to immerse themselves in a new world and discover what they can about this strange environment.

The game was funded through Kickstarter, and they reached their stretch goal to include Oculus Rift support, which I think is going to be an amazing addition.  Pre-orders are still being taken, so you have time to jump in if you’re interested, but even as excited as I am for the game, I think I’m just as excited for the community.Cyan, though best known for the Myst series, has created other games, although they were primarily set for a younger audience.  Obduction looks to be a more mature game, once again flinging the player to far-away worlds filled with mystery and possibly something sinister.

During the days of Myst releases and URU being played out online, the Myst Community grew and was a family to me.  I still keep in touch with many of my friends both from the game and our online discussions: discussions, which would go into the long hours of whatever time zone we were in.  Cyan games have a way of bringing people together.  Even while playing the solitary games such as Revelations or End of Ages, we would undoubtedly find ourselves discussing every aspect: puzzles, art design, music and characters, all unforgettable aspects of amazing games that awoke parts of our imaginations.

The relationships I forged are solid, and working with some of my closest friends on various projects only helped to create a literal world-wide network of people I can turn to.  I don’t know if that’s the kind of affect other games have; I would bet it isn’t.

And while I can’t guarantee that that will happen once more, if you know the right corners of the Internet to look in, you can see it’s starting already.  And that gives me hope.  I can’t wait to be Obducted.


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Notes:

  1. http://www.spokesmanreview.com/pf.asp?date=052201&id=s966647 


Quick update, first up, this is so awesome my face just about melted off and I want it and I’ll never ask for anything else ever again:

As many of you know, every November I write a novel as part of NaNoWriMo.  November is also Men’s Health Month, and I have a bunch of friends participating in Movember.  I applaud their efforts, not only because I can’t grow a mustache to save my life (sideburns are another story), but also because there are three freaking months of breast cancer awareness (February, May and October), so it’s nice to see that half the population gets one, little-known month.  But Tom’s made this awesome video to celebrate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TleMMZqF3cU

And lastly, happy Halloween from the fourth most haunted campus in the country:



Smaller update today, but here’s what we got, hope you enjoy.

Huge news, URU is finally being released as open source!  I don’t quite understand how it all works, but I’m very excited that the community will finally get to sink it’s teeth into Age Writing (and everything that comes with it).

I”m really afraid of public protests, but I think I could hold this sign up, it’s smart, witty and makes an good argument:

Have you been following all the trouble surrounding Spiderman: Turn off the Dark?  George Takei is going to fix it all:

This is just amazing.  I now kind of want to go bread shopping!

BuzzFeed has the link to a survey of GOP voters from Mississippi.  I don’t think I can sigh enough:

A guy, for Lent, is doing a Monk-diet: only beer and water.  Follow his adventure here.

The new “Kingdom Tower” will be one mile high, twice the height of the Burj Khalifa.  A normal elevator would take 12 minutes to reach the top from the bottom.  And it was just given the go ahead to begin construction.  Crazy!  Take a look:

That’s it for now, catch everyone later!

 



Back for more, thanks for reading!

Need a handy reference chart when discussing Sci-Fi?  Check this out.

Or maybe you’d rather take some time to get your finances in order, Lifehacker has you covered!

I posted the first one before, but here is the fully sick rapper again:

Synaesthesia is really weird, especially in how many different forms it takes, and I’m pretty sure I fit into at least one, and possibly two categories.  I don’t watch Dr. Who, so I’m not going to call myself a Time Lord, but how cool would that look on business cards!

Here’s an interesting article about the current state of the GOP.  I’m always excited when Buckley is discussed, since I actually know a little about him (and his son, one of my favorite authors).

Do you love Dr. Horrible’ Sing Along Blog?  Of course you do!  Do you miss 8-bit video games?  Of course you do?  Check it out:

Would you like to make prank calls…as Tiger Woods?  Again, of course you would!  Slate has your soundboard here.

This is making its way around the internet, guerrilla bridge building:

Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo.

 

Andrew Sullivan has been talking about a giant statue of Mary, and here’s a follow up post about the area around the statue.  The image reminds me of a combination of Er’Cana (from URU) and the beginning area of Myst V.  I know, I’m a huge nerd.  This shot also reminds me of some of the areas in “The Great and Secret Show” and “Everville.”  As much as I want to post it over here I won’t, since it only has to do with the book.

This is a cool graph, and I think shows one of the reasons I love podcasts so much, I can multitask with them.  And I listen to free ones (well, all but one).

Are you upset by the Catholic Church?  How about trying to get excommunicated?  One Seattle writer tries it, I’ll keep you posted.  The letter is gut-wrenching and heartfelt, here’s a snippet:

I demand to be excommunicated because I do not believe women are second-class citizens. I demand to be excommunicated because your missionaries are informing impoverished citizens of third-world countries that birth control is a sin when it is in fact the single most important thing they could do to gain some small amount of control over their economic situation and health. I demand to be excommunicated because your church has become a hate group as virulent as any this world has ever seen, one that is unnaturally obsessed with the sex lives of good men and women across the planet. I demand to be excommunicated because I do not condone child rape or the concealment of child rape.

And my mind has been blown in like eighteen little pieces from trying to understand this link.  I heard this elsewhere recently and I’m trying to remember where, but for the life of me I can’t.  Maybe that’s because we’re exploding backwards from a white hole!

A guy has made a computer program called Jarvis, and integrated it into his apartment, as well as his GPS phone and his friends phones.  It can tell when they are coming home and turn lights on, turn lights on and off for the dog and all kinds of other things.  Here he is showing how it helps him out in the kitchen.  Very much a bachelor, and I do think the paper towels so close to an outlet and the George Foreman grill may be a safety hazard:

Thank goodness Ginny commented on this picture, I had seen it that morning in the PG and screamed a little inside.  Sometimes I love Harrisburg:

That’s it for now, have a great one!



These girls are in sixth through eighth grade.  Good gravy they are amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmvUVPlvs3E

As a quick wrap up to the Olympics, Virginia has a great article over at That’s Church, make sure to check it out.

Looking for good, online entertainment?  Check out this year’s nominees from the Streamy’s.  I recommend The Guild (and also The Legend of Neil), but I’ll be using the nominee list to find new programs, I’ll let you know what I find that I recommend.

Did you know that the earthquake in Chili shifted the Earth and made the axis about three inches shorter?  Which in turned shortened our days by about 6.8 microseconds.  I believe it was Carbolic Smoke Ball that took that opportunity and ran with it.

Weird confession time: I love signs.  Ask anyone who has ventured out into the real world with me, if I have my camera, I inevitably made them stop so I could take a picture of a sign.  And now Slate is running a series of articles all about signs!  I haven’t had a chance to read any of it yet, but I’m super excited!  So geeky!

Take a look at this awesome chart.  DRM may be all but extinct from music, but there’s still more to worry about, namely at the moment: books.

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it and marvel:

I love zombies.  And I like Guitar Hero.  And I love Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day.  Apparently this game was made specifically for me.

See!  I told you Avatar was really Pocahontas.  Again, not that’s a bad thing, there are only so many stories that can be told.  But I will be made if Avatar wins for best editing, I thought that part of the movie was done poorly in a few spots that really stood out.

CFV 426 – Avatar/Pocahontas Mashup FINAL VERSION from Randy Szuch on Vimeo.

Good job, D.C!  Check out an awesome video over on Slog.  I think I read that they have been together for 13 years already, so good for them!

I love the idea of this chalkboard table, but the guy who came up with it came up with all kinds of uses I would have never even thought of!  Makes setting the table a breeze!  And no more placemats to wash!

I have to check with the Myst/URU folks, but there may be some weird copyright conflict going on here with the OA’s new program Mysterium Compass.  Mysterium is the annual Myst conference.  Yes I’m a nerd, no I’ve never gone, yes I always lobby for it to be held in Pittsburgh, and yes, I really want to go to one held in Spokane so I can get a tour of Cyan’s headquarters.

Foe everyone keeping track at home, Fucking retard Sarah Palin didn’t get a good response on Leno, it was added in by a sound engineerOriginal article here.   Again, I’m allowed to say that Sarah Palin is a fucking retard, it’s satire, just like Rush Limbaugh (did I even spell that correctly?) and Steven Colbert told me.

Another quick political thing, I love Rep. Grayson.  So much!  Watch him with crazy Bachmann (who looks frightened) on Larry King Live:

I can’t embed it, but go watch Jon Stewart take on Chat Roulette and the other news stations “investigating” it.



Hey all, I’ve been caught up in the Olympics, so not much posting here, but all kinds of stuff that I want to share.  So enjoy the update:

First, in regards to the snow, check out this article from The Radical Middle, and then this video:

Also, the Pittsburgh Zoo finds out that kangaroos don’t like snow.  Who would have guessed?

I love Fleury, a whole lot.  Here’s him and Sid talking about the snow (which I realize is ridiculous on at least three levels, but hey, it’s fun):

Speaking of Fleury and Sid, Olympics!  Here’s what Slate suggested you watch if you watch just one thing a day.  A really funny read (and I apologize in advance for the tardiness of all the Olympic articles, I got so caught up in the games that I didn’t write about them).  And here is their awesome Sap-O-Meter.  I’ll give you a hint, NBC is really sappy, and generally, awful at covering the Olympics.

I don’t know what’s going on in this picture, but we are seeing Bob Costas outside of his living room, so it’s got to be a plus.  Also, Colbert!  Make sure you watch this video that I’m not allowed to embed.  Stupid NBC.

Slate also takes a stab at the biathalon.  Awesome read, which just helps me galvanize my mindset that it’s a weird sport.  I have more respect for it, but it’s weird.

I’m thinking it may not be actually from Verizon, but this is an awesome blend of nostalgia and current technology:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkWKdJF7Md0

This might be one of my new favorite sites, someone watching season six of Lost, who has never seen it.  It’s worth it just for the drawings!

And the healthcare debate rages on, it’s a few days old, but still worth a watch.  Rachel Maddow is, of course, amazing:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

And Jon Stewart takes on Glenn Beck, who is railing against…public libraries?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Rage Within the Machine – Progressivism
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political Humor Vancouverage 2010

A gut wrenching blog entry over at PG+, if you’re a subscriber, check out the link.  If not, consider signing up!  And I know I’ve promised to talk about it over at Metblogs, and I still am planning on doing that, I promise!

A great follow up to the video clips I posted before about the phrase “fucking retard.”  As in, “Sarah Palin is a fucking retard.”

I’ve been really, really excited about the return of URU.  To help you get into the Myst spirit, check out this awesome online fan project  – Myst and Riven books! And in related news, over a million people are now playing D&D online, probably because it’s free (with some premium content).  Maybe we’ll see a lot of interest in URU!  We can only hope!

See, even lawyers need typography!

Wow, scam artists keep going, just under different names, preying on different people.  The Stranger starts a new campaign and the Onion, once again, hits it home:


New Law Would Ban Marriages Between People Who Don’t Love Each Other

The Onion does a great job, and maybe humor is what we need in the discussion, but marriage equality is serious.  Don’t believe me?  Try filing taxes as a same-sex couple.

What is Wes Anderson directed Spider Man?  Oh yes:

Cool ad that was apparently really effective, although the price must be really big, and installation I’m sure was a pain:

So not safe for any eyes, and just the idea of it (you’ll understand if you click through) confuses me, but this may in fact be the worst Unicorn tattoo ever.  Ever.  Also bad for your eyes: the 20 worst tramp stamps.

Gizmodo has a cool article about the hypocrisy of Apple and their app store.  A good read.

Have you been reading PittGirl’s new column at Pittsburgh Magazine.  You really should, here’s her latest.

I agree, this is the best ending to Judge Judy ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehdpEf-XCI

And finally, I always suggest watching Arrested Development, here are the eight biggest ongoing jokes through the whole series, enjoy.

Alright, I’m heading home to watch the gold medal match of Olympic hockey, so excited!



Alright, two pieces of video game news.  The first, URU is now going to be released as open source software!  This means a return to The Cavern, fan-written Ages, and who knows what else.  Hopefully the guilds can keep things moving and everyone on task, and we can see where we go.  Hopefully we get some kind of guidance from Cyan, at least about Ae’gura and the City Proper.

Second, a group from the PA Legislature concluded a study (three years I believe) and basically said that the current gaming regulatsions (ESRB) are good, and no more should be enacted.  Ok parents, take some iniative, and find out what you’re buying your kids before you shell out the money, be a parent, and we’ll all be fine.  Also, good job PA!

In a previous post, I promised to talk about some of the podcasts I’ve been listening to lately, here’s what I have feeding into my iTunes (becasue for whatever reason, Windows Media Player still doesn’t support podcasts):

Distorted View Daily
IGN’s voice chat
Jim and Randy will talk to anybody – weekly rundown of the headlines at Carbolic Smoke Ball
The Onion (audio)
The Onion (video)
Pittsburgh here and now: Tech Talk (from the Post-Gazette)
President Elect Obama’s weekly radio address
President Elect Obama’s weekly youtube address
Slate explainer
Slate political gabfest
Slate culture gabfest

And the couple ‘hit or miss’ ones, where I decide each episode to download or not:
Slate’s bookclub
Slate V
Slate daily podcast

I was out at SVC’s Christmas party last night, which was awesome.  It was in the Fred Roger’s Center, which is beautiful!  Also, I know someone who helped build it, so that made it extra awesome!

That’s about it for now, I finished my Christmas shopping and now just have a few left to wrap.  Have a great one everybody!

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