Back to the Meat Cube

Jason Pargin wrote a great article from E3 this year, in which he laments that the gaming industry has traded real innovation for a flood of gimmicks and sequels.  This year, for example, sees the introduction of Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move, both of which are being launched with a lot of knockoff Wii-shovelware titles.

Wii Sports, meet Kinect Sports.  Wii Fit, meet Your Shape.  Etcetera, etc.

From my point of view, the biggest woe is that every time a new gaming “advance” is introduced, storytelling tends to take a back seat.  The move to HD and “next gen” gaming made graphics the most important part of the game.  As Mr. Pargin pointed out, gamers posted more than 2,000 complaints on Remedy’s forum about Alan Wake not running in full 720p.

Chock Full of Bacony Goodness

So the pharmaceutical industry saw a growth in profits during the worst year of the recession (fingers crossed).  The AP reported that the top selling drugs are anti-psychotics, followed by, “Drugs to treat heart burn and high cholesterol.”

Really, America?  You’re shelling out billions for meds because you can’t be bothered not to eat shit?  And you’re so addicted to said feces that KFC (née Kentucky Fried Chicken) just unleashed a sandwich with fried meat for bread upon the world?

I totally understand why so many people need anti-psychotics.

My Body, My Choice!

So I know this is old news, but bear with me.  I have to catch up to myself on this blog, and I think this is worth a visit to 2006.

In 2006, you see, this article came out in Wired magazine talking about the practice of implanting a small magnet in a human fingertip.  The result of the implant isn’t just that a person can pick up small metal objects, the subject can actually feel magnetic fields in their environment.  The gain a new sense, one that seems both useful and beautiful in the electronic age.  Quinn describes it thus, “In time, bits of my laptop became familiar as tingles and buzzes. Every so often I would pass near something and get an unexpected vibration. Live phone pairs on the sides of houses sometimes startled me.”

Unfortunately, Quinn’s body rejected the magnet.