Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Cosmic Rebirth

Apparently Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane is bringing back Carl Sagan's show Cosmos. I know that sounds like a setup for a Family Guy gag, but it's set to be hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, certified badass, so count me in.


It's set to air on Fox, which means it will reach a large audience, but which also means it will have a glorious first season and then get cancelled.

I look forward to that glorious season.

Take it, autotuned Carl Sagan!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Poe in a Bag

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered,- here I opened wide the door;
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, peering,
Looking for my wayward guest, when something gleaming caught my view;
On the porch my eyes were showing that a paper bag was glowing,
Glowing with a dancing fire that with every moment grew.
Donning loafers without prompting, I intently took to stomping,
Stomping on that paper bag, for careless fires I eschew.
Threat extinguished, yet there lingered something sticky on my shoe.
Here I muttered, "Doggy poo."

Friday, May 4, 2012

Kickstopper

It's becoming clear that websites like Kickstarter and Rockethub are going to have a large impact on the way we think about paying for games, as both developers and consumers. Crowdfunding gives developers the freedom to go after a much narrower demographic, and you don't have to prove that people will buy what you're selling once they already have.

A couple months back, Tim Schafer asked for $400,000 to make an adventure game, a genre long considered dead by mainstream publishers. In the end, he did not raise his goal amount. Instead he raised $3,336,371! If this doesn't prove that there's still a market for adventure games, it at least proves that there's a market for Tim Schafer games.

With all the great possibilities of crowdfunding, I'm sad to announce the first Kickstarter scam: a game titled Mythic: The Story Of Gods And Men. People started to get suspicious when they noticed that the concept art and CG animation (and office shots) had been stolen from other websites. Also the fact that they were promising to make a game with graphics "up there with Skyrim" with $80,000 in donations, in a year, might have been a clue.

The creator has since pulled the plug, but you can still watch the trailer and laugh at its ineptitude without feeling bad. Also I'm not sure it was wise for the "creator" to show his face in the video, maybe he's unfamiliar with how the internet works.