Things gamers would never have believed 20 years ago

In 1989, a gamer was able to summarise the complete feature set of his chosen console pretty much like so:

Today, a gamer was able to summarise the complete feature set of his chosen console pretty much like so:


While browsing through digg.com, I found another article that discusses some of the elements in the gaming world that seemed implausible 20 years ago.
According to the article, there are 9 main key points:
1)The sheer amount of stuff consoles can do
2)The Boss would be releasing new music through videogames
3)That games got so full of blood
4)A Nintendo console would be used for playing Sega and NEC games
5)How many buttons controllers have in the 21st Century
6)That boring load times are still blighting us
7)That handheld gaming would get so futuristic
8)How the products of gaming are sold to the masses
9)So much of the 80s would make it to the 00s

Reading this article, not only was I entertained, but I was also blown away by how true this article is. Although I was born in the late 80s, I was a gamer all my life and have seen the gaming world evolve, the graphics become ever more clear and real [true to life], the way gaming has stepped outside the box and is multi-purpose used, the way gaming is universal and sold/marketed to kids now-a-days, and how the future of gaming is still open-ended. Maybe 20 years from now, someone will write an article talking about gamers in the 2000s comparing them to gamers in 2020s. It made me reflect on my childhood and how the video game consoles I've previously owned are now collecting dust in my garage [Nintendo, Sega, Nintendo 64, Playstation, Gameboy, etc]. It also made me see how much I've changed as a gamer, from being a console player to a pc-gamer. I find it interesting they didn't touch base on pc-gaming [MMORPG's, Strategy, Action, MMO's, etc]. Anyways, what do you guys think?

Adding Bosses on Facebook???

So i ran into this extremely short article about friending your boss on facebook. I know we've talked about various things about the friending your parents, those people that you kinda sorta know but never really spoke to them, and even friending random people in your networks...but is there a some boundary about friending your boss on facebook? Since facebook is a social networking site, it doesn't necessarily mean we can't friend our bosses at work but then again, I'm sure everyone has in the back of their minds, drawn that line between professional and personal life and want to keep both separate. Anyways, it was just something interesting to thing about. Seeing how in real life, most people would keep their job and their personal life separate, but in this day and age with this virtual reality at hand, there might be some blurring out that line....some.

Helping Hand

Hey everyone, my group was wondering if anyone would be willing to participate in our new survey on MMO's and their reasons behind the creation and use of Alternative Characters (Alts). If you have a few minutes it would be greatly appreciated if anyone and everyone who's currently playing an MMO would participate. Thanks for your time and we hope to hear from you soon!
The survey is at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FDxzbuh4a_2b5Jj634snT2jg_3d_3d

C.H.A.T.
Caralyle

INternets replacement?

Researchers throughout the world are collaborating on creating a new type of internet that is lightning fast and apparently can transfer huge files in seconds, download movies in seconds as well..

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3689881.ece

"The grid" is supposed to replace the internet this autumn according to the article, but that was last autumn for us, and so I think it should be happening soon or maybe it already it has. But I think internet that fast open to the general public might get a little out of hand.. but who knows.

Indy Mogul

One of the greatest things about the internet has been that it brings together people of common interest. Indy Mogul is a website for "the Youtube generation," the generation of home-video indie filmmakers. While the website is mainly used to host original films by the Indy Mogul crew, much of the site content is user driven.
The site contains many tutorials that are requests from users. These tutorials generally teach novice movie makers how they can make easy, low-budget visual effects. Examples of these are how to make realistic severed hands or bricks to throw at people.
They invite members to voice their opinion on contents of the site, and also to submit their own works. There's a forum for trading ideas and just to share each other's latest indie-film findings.
Youtube's immense popularity has inspired a new generation of filmakers, and Indy Mogul is the place to start. Most people on the site are friendly, eager to share their knowledge and creations. So check it out!
-Gloria Law

fatfoogoo

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - fatfoogoo, the leading provider of in-game commerce ecosystems, today announced it will power the economic platform for Rebel Monkey's premier virtual world, CampFu. CampFu is a browser-based Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) community focused on real-time cooperative gameplay for casual gamers. In the free-to-play environment, players may purchase virtual items such as avatar clothing or in-game boosters through the white-labeled fatfoogoo game commerce system to enhance their overall online experience.

fatfoogoo is claiming its stake in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry with leading game commerce software that handles microtransactions, subscriptions, virtual currencies, e-wallets, goods trading and more. In turn, it offers software publishers and developers an easy way to tap into unchartered revenue streams and focus on core game development and distribution. In addition to partnering with companies like Rebel Monkey, fatfoogoo is the only monetization software provider integrated with Project Darkstar, an open source development environment created by Sun Microsystems Laboratories, which caters to the online games, virtual worlds and social networking industries. THE END


I thought that this was very interesting. I ran across it while surfing the internet and thought about how these online worlds are going to change and increase the ways in which capitalism and money making spread across the virtual world. From my understanding of this article fatfoogoo is sort of like a paypal for virtual worlds. It protects the money from the buyers and helps the sellers reach their customer effectively. It brings me to my next question, what are they going to do with online avatar identity theft of real world money?hmmm

-claire hayati

Finding Love on Flickr

Through my research for my project, dealing with online art communities, I have discovered many amazing artists and photographers. 

One pair in particular is especially intriguing- a couple who lives oceans apart and met on flickr. 

I'd been following their photostreams for a while, and each is an amazing artist in their own right.

Recently they've been featured in an article in MSNBC detailing how they met, and how they first photoshopped themselves together before they were ever together in the physical world.

Their individual photostreams can be found here and here.

Check them out! Their digital art and photographs are pretty cool, and their story- while sappy, is pretty incredible.