The Tao of Gaming

Just a note to indicate that I finally got past Suffragette City (Hard) on Rock Band. Needless to say, the next 10 songs were all beaten on the first try. Enter Sandman and that Smashing Pumpkins song are the new stumbling blocks.

Boom Blox? Never heard of it. Enjoy the 4th.

Kung Fu Panda -- Pretty good if you can stand the 'Jack Black fanboy' schtick.

Wall*E -- An OK Pixar movie, which makes it better than most, but I we're not sold on getting the DVD.

And, if you want a full paragraph or so.

KFP -- No pop culture filler (yea!), some really good actual (non-CGI) animation ala Samurai Jack, decent action sequences (given that it's CGI). Jack Black. You should know whether you like that last part or not. Several good jokes.

Wall*E -- Not nearly as much of a kid flick as I expected. My son (5 years old) was begging to leave with 30 minutes to go. I think it probably could have been trimmed a bit, although I enjoyed the length it didn't feel as tight. I suspect my daughter enjoyed it, but she wasn't raving. Action sequences weren't as strong as the Incredibles, but how could they be? (Ditto Character Development/Ratatouille or Monsters, Inc or Nemo) On the other hand, I'm comparing it to the other movies by the greatest animation studio of my lifetime .... and the short was pretty good, too.

BTW, you Koldfoot should do a passenger poll for every movie.

I almost turned Cloverfield off several times, but persevered. Not bad, not great. I spent part of the movie trying to remember where I'd seen the Bad Robot logo before. (Guess who gave up on Lost in season 1).

If anyone says that schools are desperate for science & math teachers, well.... Here's a hint, desperate people don't make someone pony up $5,000 for the privilege of taking a pay cut. Desperate people, I don't know, offer more money.

I finally watched Sarah Connor Chronicles (last week or two). A nice series, considering that absolutely nothing resolves. So, which was better, 9 hours of terminator or this one comic? Tough call.

I haven't given up hope for the Orioles, although if they just stay at .500 that will be the first time in a decade. Here's hoping. I'm not watching basketball. I'll leave that to others.

Still haven't started watching BSG season 4. (OK, saw the 1st ep). No spoilers in comments, please.

The Carebears would totally smash the smurfs in a fight. But could the Carebears make Batman happy? Tough call. I say yes, assuming they had a chance encounter (and he wasn't stalking them for some reason ... then they're toast).

My daughter has informed me that Pokemon are real, under the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. The kid who manages to get into that world will probably be the best trainer of all history, using their encyclopedic knowledge gleaned from CCGs and TV in this world (instead of having to traipse around the world to gain knowledge there).

I heard multiple Kabuki Actors this weekend (in multiple locations) make the exact same exasperated comment -- "It's a metal detector." (Said after a person went through, got beeped, and then made a show of pointing to their multiple necklaces/bracelets/etc). I almost had sympathy for them, too.

Is there a single word for Kabuki actor? (Probably). Kabukist? Kabukijin?

A mere two weeks after getting to Kaiju on Hard, I have now beaten my first song on that level. I rock and/or roll. Now come the harder songs in the set. (Granted, I'm only playing every 2nd or 3rd day, but sheesh).

The SABGers spent today playing Rock Band. I sat in on a song or two. As for our cri de coeur ("Board games are social") ... put a stake into it. Videogames have been social for at least a decade, but I now realize just how far they've come.

Me? I was playing Race. But having the game on in the background was nice. And I shall speak no evil of any game that uses Bowie (Suffragete City) and BOC (Don't Fear the Reaper). Downloading additional songs (from XBox Live) makes this a killer app, in my books.

Although it could use more cowbell. J said the next version should add Dance Dance Revolution mats for go-go dancing (groupies).

I have beaten Guitar Hero III on medium.

That is all.

So we got a Wii.

The most interesting aspect, from my perspective, was the Avatar design. You can basically build a caricature of yourself (or someone else) controlling height, weight, facial features, hair style (and color), etc. They call it the Mii, and I instantly thought of Meeple, which we all know is short for "My people." Ironically, computers allow this personalization to the n-th degree. When avatars and aesthetic are the best points of your console, that's a good warning your game system sucks.

So I'm disappointed with the Wii, but that may just be the basic games are not interesting. The 15 or so games (on two DVDs) have a few vaguely interesting ones ... but either you have almost no control, or way too much (in that the controller over-reads every twitch as an action).

Anyway, I suppose the real test will be the first 'real' game I get. I strolled through a store or two, and didn't see much of interest (given my recent baseball fling, "The Bigs" or some other baseball game is probably the most interesting). Does anyone have a suggestion?

[Warning — Some of these are technically opinions].

Watched VH1's Top 20 Videos of the 80s and said "They'll make Thriller #1 and Sledgehammer #2, although I'd personally flip it." But I racked my brains and couldn't figure out what a good #3 video was. Or the rest of the Top 20, which was just a crapshoot (that I'd say they got half right).

I would never have watched that without my DVR. It probably took 25 minutes (and they actually played all the videos, with the curious exception of A-ha! I presume they don't have the rights).

I finally got a good fortune cookie recently. It said "Ignore Previous Fortune." I haven't been that happy with them since one said "You will travel to Egypt." [Fortune cookies should predict things.]

The Chinese Buffet I go to may lose me, because they've changed their music. They used to play the Grease Soundtrack, or Abba, on repeat. Just one disc. (I think they switched it every day, or between lunch and dinner). I think they worked under the theory that nobody could listen to it twice. True enough. But they put a Christmas CD on random recently, and I spent 30 minutes in there listening to Jingle Bells (3 different versions) and Feliz Navidad. Not one other track. Do other restaurants violate Geneva conventions just to hurry you along?

Spike Lee is actually a decent writer/actor/director, but he damn sure needs an editor. He's not nearly as bad as George Lucas, but who is?

I thought I was the only person who had ever bought an Icehouse CD (the group, not the game), but I was out yesterday with my son and heard a song of theirs I'd never heard before ... in a bowling alley. It caused me to throw at least three gutter balls. I am not making this up. Seriously, I don't know anybody else who owns them (although I can think of two people who probably do, since they own everything).

My brother and I bowled when we were kids. I narrowly avoided losing to my four year old son yesterday (courtesy of Icehouse). My brother went bowling (first time in a decade) last month and started with a 210. You see why I stick to boardgames.

I finally broke 1000 games played on BGG. Of course, I've been tracking games for longer.

Diamonds are Forever is certainly the campiest Bond movie. Probably even compared to those that were trying to be funny.

If Aaron Sorkin made a game it would be long, preachy, full of chrome, light on mechanics. Despite that, I'd probably play it. (I make up better SNL sketches than his show does).

My son got a Spiderman graphic novel from the library, but Mom won't let him read it because it contains sex. He has the seductive skills of a spider, too?

I did have Tamales for Christmas, as is traditional. Here, anyway.

Finally, am I a bad person for expecting that James Brown will jump out of his Coffin for an encore?

I don't normally blog about politics, but I got worked up. Full text below the fold ...

I saw this yesterday. I'm not that much into puzzles, but this is amazing:

The names of 100 prisoners are placed in 100 wooden boxes, one name to a box, and the boxes are lined up on a table in a room. One by one, the prisoners are led into the room. They may look into up to 50 of the boxes to try to find their own name, but must leave the room exactly as it was.

The prisoners are permitted no further communication after leaving the room. They do have a chance to plot a strategy in advance. Good thing. Unless they all find their own names, they will all be executed.

If each prisoner examines 50 boxes at random, the probability of the group's survival is a miniscule (1/2)^100, or about 0.00000000000000000000000000000008. Even worse, if they all happen to look into the same 50 boxes, their chances drop to zero.

The 'winning strategy' improves the odds to almost 1/3, which is about 30 orders of magnitude better. And its stunningly obvious ... in retrospect. [Actually, I had to mull over the answer for quite a while to figure out why it worked, so I guess that's not true.] More puzzles (and solutions) here.

Hat Tip to Geekpress.

(Via a "Netflix" type option at the local store) is that you can try obscure titles.

Even nicer: you can turn them off after 20 minutes without guilt, and send them crying back to obscurity.

As I was driving home, the news was discussing an immigration speech the President gave. Given recent discussions about the utility of game theory, I was reminded about some thoughts I had on this a while back. Warning — very little to do with games. Feel free to skip.

The problem with the current situation is that the incentives all align to do nothing. The employer doesn't want to rat out the workers — he wants cheap labor. The workers don't want to get deported. Fortunately, game theory has a solution — turn this into a prisoner's dilemma. But how?

Say that the current fine is $10,000 per illegal employee. (I don't know what it is, but it's a nice round number). The solution is to give half that amount to the person who fingers the employer, including the illegal employee. Suddenly the two sides aren't so cozy. Remember, that unlike many of the cases in nature, etc, this is a single shot game. If the employee defects (calls the Feds), then the employer can't retaliate. Also, as the number of employees grows, each has to be concerned that another employee is willing to sell them all out for a large payday. (Sure, you may not rat yourself out for $5k, but would you rat yourself out for $50k? That's a large chunk of change to have in Latin/South America ... more than you'll earn in several years).

As an added incentive, give the illegal employee a guest worker permit (in addition to the money) and employers would have to be fools to hire illegals (that weren't relatives or some such).

[I'd personally combine this with immigration reform, but that's not a game-theoretic issue].

Update: The rest of the money can go into the general gov't coffers (or wherever it goes now), but allocating some as a pool for hiring new enforcers or paying bonuses would give the responsible agency (DHS now, I guess) some incentive, too.

Like Iain, I never really got El Caballero. I played it a few times and then sold it. Too bad, if I had held onto it for a few years, it would have really appreciated in value when I sold it. So I'm told.

Unlike many other gamebloggers, I don't abandon you to go to Essen. My posting hiatus isn't something to inspire jealousy! {We aim to please at the Tao). They'll probably have something interesting to say on Monday, though.

Alfred posts about college football and notes:

I adopted the quasi-religious fervor of UT football rootership (which is different from Texas A&M football rootership, which drops the "quasi-")

Grandfather went to A&M. Several of his kids went to UT. You have no idea. I remain a neutral faction, having gone to a college without a (respectable) football team.

Remember all of our talks about how expectations set the experiences? Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a perfectly fine movie, but there was absolutely no way it could meet expectations. It's also spoofing horror movies this time (as you may have guessed) which can make it a touch intense for the birthday-boy three year old. But it was worth it to hear him complain (loudly) during the previews ("Another one! Where's Wallace?") I should have put down a tip jar for the other movie goers. I could have turned a tidy profit.

Ah, who am I kidding, I'm just surfing the web for Essen news right now, like the rest of you. I have none. See you later.

But Hubble has spotted the Eye of Sauron.

Via technorati I found another Battlestations report.

I am now an ubergeek. No surprise there.

I saw Peter giving an interview at the Gathering, and the Geekspeak is online. He's just like Howard Stern, except his groupies can quote Sartre! [I've actually never listened to a geek speak. For a while that was bandwidth related ...]

I have put up the pictures in my house. I guess I'm moved in. The housing gremlins are stealing my stuff. First I lose a game, and while looking for it I pick up and set down Sir Belvedere, the bonus figure from Shadows over Camelot. My game arrives, but Belvedere is gone. My plexiglass poster frame (used for wargames) just disappeared ... and it's twelve square feet. [Jacqui remembers unpacking it.]

Have a nice holiday weekend ...

Well, not my enemy, exactly. And not remaindered, actually. But, I did find a copy of John Scalzi's Old Man's War in the used book store. I've scanned his blog for a several years and read the story back when it was online. Anyway, it's good enough that I was willing to buy it. (I wasn't going to buy it new; hardbacks ain't cheap).

To recap:
The Book of my Enemy a web geek Has Been Remaindered Found in a Used Book Store
And I am glad.

I'm going on a business trip for the next few day (hence, book buying). So you'll have time to read his website.

And a merry Reinforcin' o the Stereotypes! Anyway, a wee bit of poetry for the day.

Into the Twilight by Yeats

OUT-WORN heart, in a time out-worn,	 
Come clear of the nets of wrong and right;	 
Laugh heart again in the gray twilight,	 
Sigh, heart, again in the dew of the morn.	 
  
Your mother Eire is always young,	         
Dew ever shining and twilight gray;	 
Though hope fall from you and love decay,	 
Burning in fires of a slanderous tongue.	 
  
Come, heart, where hill is heaped upon hill:	 
For there the mystical brotherhood	  
Of sun and moon and hollow and wood	 
And river and stream work out their will;	 
  
And God stands winding His lonely horn,	 
And time and the world are ever in flight;	 
And love is less kind than the gray twilight,	  
And hope is less dear than the dew of the morn.	

Marginal Revolution finds a novel proposal for deciding who starts at overtime — a 'split the pie' auction!

At the start of sudden-death overtime, the teams engage in a silent auction to decide possession. Each team writes down the yard line at which it would be willing to start its offense. The numbers are given to the referee in sealed envelopes; the team that picks the lower yard line gets the ball first.

Sports rarely change, and that's radical. I like the idea to just give the home team first possession (Visitors kick). Despite the fact that home teams have a statistical advantage, it would be nice to give them something tangible. Since the overtime rules are is known in advance, a visiting team threatening to tie (by say, kicking the Point After) may take a risk to win (or lose) outright, and it makes home field for the playoffs more important. As for the Superbowl, they should play an entire half until a team wins.