 |
|
 |
 |
Today is a good day to be a nerd. While over at SlashDot I noticed an article about how clubbers in Barcelona are getting implanted with an identification chip known as the VeriChip. This tiny device, about as long as a dime and maybe one eight the width, is implanted under the skin and contains an identification number that can be accessed using a special reader. Now I know that this idea terrifies a lot of people, but to me it's just plain cool.
The uses for something like this are incredible. For a lot of years I worked as a security guard, and we all carried passes that we had to scan to access certain doors. But with a system like this they could make being chipped a requirement of the job and then just add your VeriChip ID to the list of valid access codes. There's very little risk of you misplacing your access card as most people tend to remember if they have left behind a body part. And when you are no longer allowed access they just ban you from the list. Hell, they could even make it so that people who didn't want to be chipped could just be given a portable version, I suppose, but then if a card when missing, at least those of use with a chip could just hold up our arms and say, "Wasn't me!".
The other cool technology that was featured in that article is a device called the BrainGate from Cyberkinetics Inc. This device has just been approved for FDA testing, and it allows you to plug a cable into your head and control your cursor with your mind. Talk about having gaming potential! Imagine, you are playing the latest Resident Evil game and when something scares you, your character jumps! And when someone in Doom, Half Life, or Unreal Tournament launches a rocket at your sorry ass and yells, "Think fast!", they frikken mean it. Even role playing games would be made easier, you want to get your sword out? Think it. Want to fade into the shadows? Think it. Want to spend some time outside in the sunshine? Tough, it's the future, the ozone layer is gone and gangs are running rampant in the streets, best to stay in your bunker hooked up to the machine...
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Okay, in fact I am pining for the west coast, but I couldn't escape a good Monty Python reference. Today kicks off E3 in Los Angeles. In actuality the show itself doesn't start until tomorrow, but today is when they get going on the seminars. I have been to E3 twice under different guises. Once with a company called Eleven Engineering, and once on my own dime as EgoAnt Productions. There is something completely primal about the event that can't be conveyed through mere streaming video. It is like wading through money hip deep while watching the Teletubbies. It's bright and colorful and hectic and loud and..... Pant... Pant... Okay, take a deep breath. Whew.
There are two times of the year when my mind races with gaming ideas, and this is one of them. The other is when the deadline for entries for the IGF approaches. Of course the truth about great games is that it is 10% inspiration and 90% implementation. In the time it takes you to read this sentence over five thousand great game ideas will be born. Sadly, the infant game mortality rate is over 99.7%, it's amazing the species survives.
While I do not get to attend the nerd event of the year, I have been getting out more lately with my fiancee, Care, and that makes me very happy. Last week we worked a casino night for charity. I haven't been to a casino since I went to Vegas three or four years ago and it was a fun night, even though we weren't allowed to gamble.
I did see something of interest to gamers, however. I didn't know SEGA built gambling machines! There it was, Sega Ascot Racing, a giant betting machine for 8 or so players with video screens attached to a miniature plastic horse race. All of the fun of the track with none of the horse droppings. It looked like a lot of fun, not to mention the fact that the rate at which you lose money would be considerably slower than most of the other gambling devices, as you have to actually wait for a race to finish before your money is consumed.
Tonight we are actually going to an art show. The artist is a local artist who has a bit of a weight problem, but apparently she almost has it under control. She's lost about 2000 pounds on her new diet and I really wonder if this new self image is going to be reflected in her artwork. Of course maybe Lucy doesn't really have that much depth to her artwork, seeing as she is an elephant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
