Patrick Gage Kelley

Someone over at Nintendo Wii-land decided that it would be a good idea to have each console have a sixteen digit unique ID. So my Wii can meet your Wii and they can become lovely little friends and play all their games together. Oh wait. No, such a system is sadly not to be. Each game also has its own twelve digit code which must be input to play that game with your friend. And not only that but it seems most (all?) games require it to be done by both parties, so I need your code and you need mine, a one-directional code entry does not seem to prompt any sort of confirmation ability.

Getting past all of the inanity of the system however (when a perfectly good console ID exists), it seems it will be a necessity to share each individual game code with everyone and the best way to do that is to copy Patrick Wagstrom’s method of posting all his Wii codes on a page dedicated to … all his Wii codes. Thus, in my copy a great idea way, I have created my own list of Wii codes for those of you with Wii’s to friend me up.

Do you know how long it takes to cut all these out? (Actually not that long, and it was pretty fun.) More about it soon. Happy Thanksgiving.

I started playing EVE online again. Sure this is mostly because I am bored of World of Warcraft, and also because they just released a Mac client, and also because Kevin started and I was able to convince Elliot to play, and because it is in space and because it is really pretty (honestly none of these shots do it justice, I will put up better ones someday).

Though really this is not the best time for me to be playing video games, as I already feel like I have zero time. The good thing is, much of EVE is waiting around and being patient. While this at times can be frustrating ( actually it isn’t at all for me, but I could see how some people expect games to entertain them ) it allows me to get lots of other things done while I am playing EVE. Progress is always, no matter what I am doing.

Another reason that EVE requires lots of waiting is because of they have made their universe really big. And to make things even more realistic they have made travel actually take quite a bit of time (even though you get to travel faster than light, it still takes a while). I personally really appreciate that they did this, travel in WoW is frequently instantaneous or very very quick, with EVE I can leave my computer for an hour and return still not having arrived at my destination (especially if the client has crashed, which currently is frequent, though this may just be because both my computers seem to get bored of maintaining power for more than about three hours). Geography, distance, scale. These things are all coming up because they have been stuck in my head for the better part of a month.

Until then, you can stare at what I am staring at.

Layer Tennis

Mentioned, done. But no 4srsly people. Have you checked out Layer Tennis? If you have been around any Friday afternoon this fall then it is likely I have messaged you about it across the internet. Layer Tennis, which historically has its roots in Photoshop Tennis, which I will always attribute to Shaun Inman, regardless of whether or not it started before him, works with people simply uploading photoshop files and then someone else building off them and reopening, and so on.

However with the newest Coudal Partners implementation of Layer Tennis the game has become a bit more competitive, more of a spectator’s sport, and much faster paced. There are ten volleys between two generally well-established designers who have fifteen minutes per round to return a competitive blast to their opponent.

At the end of the match (they start at 3 PM eastern each Friday, and end at 6 ish) there is some pretty informal discussion and then a winner is declared. Marian Bantjes who I absolutely love! won! which makes me very happy. Their match was particularly interesting, because they played it in Illustrator (which I feel was a huge assist to her and made it even more of a struggle for Armin).

Also to keep people occupied during the down time, there is a guest announcer who provides wonderful insights into the process (which I expect, and am told, is just as much work as creating something beautiful every fifteen minutes in visuals), as well as some contests and forums for remixing the elements as well as discussing the match as it progresses.

So next weeks should be good, I am routing for Scott Hansen who designs some really awesome posters, don’t forget!

Recently our group has been in the news for a game we have developed called Anti-Phishing Phil. The game is designed to teach people (of all ages despite the cartoony fish) about what phishing is and how they can protect themselves.

I did not help with the creation of the game in any way, except for providing the graphics for Phil and his friends (and enemies – shown above).

Google is listing a bunch of news articles right now that deal with Anti-Phishing Phil, and also a high school technology teacher has required his students play the game and created this homework assignment. I can also say that lots of people are playing the game and we are now thinking about where to go next with this. If you have any ideas, feedback, etc. leave them or e-mail me.

Now, go play the game!

The first in this three? part series explains why I don’t post over the summer.

First. Video Games. Specifically, EVE-Online. This space based massively multiplayer online game was started by a few of my friends two weeks ago – and we are on a two week trial, to see if we like it. And it is pretty good, though it has some flaws like everything. I believe we will continue to play for a while, but then these things are hard to predict.

The game is really nice to look at, space in this world is a vast and colorful place. Downsides – pirates. The kind that blow you up. They are jerks. But, it happens. And then you fly your pod back to a space station and your insurance kicks in and you are set.

The good thing about this game is that it is very low intensity if you want it to be. All I need to do on days I don’t want to play, is set a long skill to level (you need to be present to start a new skill – no queueing) and then go off and play in the park. But this is reason number one for a lack of posting – and a lack of book reading (and writing).

Have a good time with this Reporter Choose Your Own Adventure Activity.

Find not what he forgot to say,
but what he purposefully did not say.

And now a puzzle.

In the picture above let us assume there are two people (the shapes), one is a male, one is a female. (Call them circle head and triangle head.)

Which is which?

We took a trip around the block, speaking of slain animals and why we were different from the rest of the crowd. We pointed out our ability to venture on our own. We cited all the proper examples and we double checked our sources. But it was all an illusion.

There is nothing more here than a stranger promenade. A stranger promenading across the marble tile. A different way to take a path, the road less travelled, the fork you didn’t take. It is all one myth. There is nothing stranger about the footsteps you chose than those you did not. It is simply a fate occured.

And we know fate is determined by mirrors on walls (knowing that someone else is the prettiest of all). What we do not know is who is on the other side of the mirror. We do not know which side is the right side. We do not know if we should care. We simply know we should keep walking.

That is not a photograph. Nor did I take it. I did modify it. Paper Mario 2 has consumed a lot of my time lately, making me feel particularly un-productive. Sad.

However, people keep reading, so I ought keep writing (I figure?).

The most interesting search of last week was japanese dreamless word And in my new game of “Meaning from Actual Random Searches” or MARS, I am implementing the first phase.

MARS I : The Japanese Dreamless Word.

While there is no site on the internet that produce any result for ‘japanese dreamless word’ (except of course mine now, ha!) there are things we could be looking for with this search.

I assume we are looking for a word, that means dreamless in Japanese. Or possibly (more far-fetched) a word that is impossible to dream in Japanese. After a few quick minutes of searching the interweb, I have found no word in Japanese that means dreamless. Maybe someone can fill me in on a good word that I have missed.

I will also so that while Tentaizu is a great Japanese word. It does not mean dreamless. It means something much closer to “atlas of the stars” or “a starmap”. I suppose since many words have double-meanings it could also mean “dreamless” or “dreamless word” and would be willing to propose that as a solution if no other word is found.

Now search, in your waking hours and your dreams for such an impossible word.

no too much, make it end