OCTOBER:
Does not play well with memes.

*chortle*

(Reply) (Thread)

Like in this Ozy and Millie guest strip?

(Reply) (Thread)

This is f'ing A. Of all the blog conversations in the world discussing Human Pacman, I bet mine is the only one read by someone switched-on and knowledgeable enough to relate this strip to it.

You rock very hard. Thanks a googol.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Having been playing Pacman and its myriad derivatives since the age of 4 I love the idea of actually getting to be Pacman! Or would I have to be the less-well-known Ms Pacman? Either way, the idea of charging around with VR headsets on looking for power pills and trying not to get eaten by ghosts sounds Better Than Drugs.

And I can make the waka-waka-waka noise, and the "mwap-mwap-mwap-mwap-MWOH" noise that you get when you die, although as you can see I really can't do that one justice in writing...

(Reply) (Thread)

I have to admit to being rather cheered that virtual reality seems eventually to have found its niche - at long last! - in terms of mixed reality, even if it's not commercial yet. TV may have had some part in public familiarity with / acceptance of the concept in this country - see above-left and Sub Zero.

LiveJournal onomatopoeises the video game hits, part 324:

Deed-e-lee Deed-e-lee, Deed-e-lee Deed-e-lee, Deed-e-lee Deed-e-lee, Diddly-diddly-diddly-bom.

I want a ringtone of that. Even though I don't have a phobile.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Actually I have to say that 2-2 doesn't sound like a conspiracy to me. Chess is a naturally drawish game, the only thing which surprises me at that level is how any game ever gets won.

(Reply) (Thread)

Well, I'm happy to go along with that as far as it goes. However, let's look at the string of the last, now, 8 results of 2700+-rated-chess-player-versus-computer matches: draw, draw, draw, draw, draw, draw, draw and, er, draw. Bit of copying-and-pasting going on there, then.

Jeff (Chessmetrics) Sonas has been doing a really good series of predictive articles on ChessBase, only very slightly too late to be of interest, but as much to my taste as his articles almost always are. I'm linking to part five there only because it has links going back to the first four, but the part with the details showing just how drawish these matches have been is Part I. Nice to see the stats from before '99, though, where the humans kept beating the computer... with one big exception. :-)

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Woo - thanks for the links. Just spent rather longer than I should have reading all about the Chessmetrics system. Fascinating stuff !

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

How about *love americans, squicked by bush*?

(Reply) (Thread)

Like it, like it, particularly like the shape of it (my suggestion seems rather... top-heavy!) - wouldn't really want to have to explain it to people who didn't get it, though.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Haha, now am thinking of a set of fandom signs:
Bush is a t00b, and not in a good way!
War makes me wibble!
Meep and meeble! Bush's judgment is feeble!

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

WAR MAKES ME WIBBLE</td>

That wins. Where was this idea when I was just about to go on the big anti-war demo in FebruMarch?

There's an icon in that, at the very least... :-)

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Not sure whether either are quite you, but

I <3 Massachusetts

or

Marry Me, George!

would have a certain subtle charm given the right bearer.

(Reply) (Thread)

MARRY ME, GEORGE!</td>

That is even winnerer, particularly as I'm slightly more offended by his position on this issue than I am about his position on war (see thoughts at the time, to be fair).

However, I have a nagging suspicion that it requires a degree of knowledge, savvy and subtlety to fully appreciate which you have, which I have, which everyone on the liberal wing of fandom has, but which the SWP demonstrators who I would be lining up alongside may not have. Whoop! Whoop! Prejudiced stereotype alert!

Possible solution: many signs?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Blimey, there's a blast from the past: in this case, the first week of November 1982, immediately after the game had premiered on SATURDAY SUPUERSTORE. The rules are so simple, a child of nine could understand them. That's probably a good thing, considering our age at the time...

Pacman stands on the baseline of a netball court superimposed onto a basketball court, between two and four ghosts stand in the centre circle.
Pacman must traverse the lines of both netball and basketball courts, while flapping his arms about.
Ghosts must walk and may not stop or reverse, Pacman may run, stop, or reverse.
On reaching a corner of the netball court for the first time, Pacman must go "wa-wa-wa-wa-wa" for two breaths.
Any ghosts Pacman touches during this time must return to the centre circle.
Any ghost that touches Pacman at any other time has claimed a life, and the game resets with the ghost and Pacman swapping roles.
The game is won by ... er ... we never quite figured that out.

The lack of an obvious winner, problems remembering who had gone where, the close proximity of the netball and basketball sidelines, and some wet weather meant the game didn't last beyond that week.

(Reply) (Thread)

I recall clearly that the Big Breakfast, during the 18 months or so for which it was good (not the very start - roughly the time at which it was changing games every month or so and coming up with some reasonably innovative stuff - the likes of More Tea, Vicar? and proto-Bong Game Stop The Mop) invited people to write in with suggestions for games to play, and I recall they had "Pac-Bum" as a pilot with approximately similar themes and with about equal success. So exactly one playing, then.

Games don't need winners as such, so long as the activity along the way is sufficiently entertaining. I like the theory behind this - the netball/basketball court stipulation is a pretty good way of producing a reasonably playable maze - but it clearly hasn't been thought through very well.

Terry Wogan and Gaby Roslin sounds like a pretty powerful morning chat show combination, doesn't it?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

the netball/basketball court stipulation is a pretty good way of producing a reasonably playable maze

The double court was marked on the school playground, and we made the best use of what was available.

it clearly hasn't been thought through very well.

We were eight and nine at the time. What do you expect, fully functioning game code?!?!?!?

I'll stop being Glenda Slagg now.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Conveying that message by paint on derrier cheeks shown to a passing motorcade. ;-)

(Reply) (Thread)

Genuine Live Action Super Bomberman by this time next year, I'm convinced of it.

To be aired in May 2004 by FOX, just in time for the sweeps periods.

(Reply) (Thread)

More likely to be Live Action Super Chamberman in FOX's case, I suspect. We can but hope... not.

Unusually, I don't mean that in the Wayne and Garth sense - I really do mean "hope not", rather than "not hope". Mmm, retro!

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)