Forwards from Phil: Mar. 17, 2008
March 17th, 2008 by Phil
- The Day After Tomorrow? Not quite - these pictures are actually from a ship graveyard near Kamchatka, in Russia. Behold, rusting monoliths sinking in ice. It’s kind of nifty, really.
- How to improve your memory using the ‘Memory Palace’ technique. The reader’s digest version: you find a place that you can picture very clearly in your mind, your ‘palace,’ and associate things you need to remember with items or locations in your ‘palace.’
- I know some people who could use this: how to disable relationship status notifications on Facebook, so you can silently break up and get back together as much as you want. Or at least one of you can. It’ll still show up on the other person’s all-seeing eye of Big Brother news feed.
- Walmart sells a woman a Black & Decker food processor with bonus religious materials. Now I know more or less exactly how American Idol is or is not like religion. Thanks, Black & Decker (and Walmart)!
- The Redd Cross of Slovenia sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
- Snaking-be-gone: Mario Kart Wii will not require you to waggle the control stick to get a speed boost, but merely based on how long you can hold the slide. Sure to be a divisive move, mostly between the “people who can do snaking” versus “people who suck at snaking” camps.
- Fun if you’re into game design: Jason Rohrer’s ‘Game Design Sketchbook’ series on The Escapist, which is just starting but promises to be at least slightly interesting. Also, playable prototypes! Always a plus.
- Dr. Wily’s plans for world domination in simple flowchart form. There’s also 19 more insane supervillain schemes in flowchart form, courtesy of Cracked.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
It took me a while to recall what snaking actually entailed. I assumed it was something vile and evil until I did the research. If I’m not mistaken, this is simply the process you use to get the speed boosts when going around corners. Bluesparkin’ is what we called it. If I’m not mistaken, this is a technique they teach you in the f’ing game. So, I’m not sure why so many people think of it as cheating.
Alas, I guess you’re right, Phil. It’s the “cans” vs the “can’ts” on this one.
I keep seeing posts from people who claim they hate it because it gave experts who could do it too much of an advantahe. Um… isn’t that the point of being an expert? I also heard that it would place more focus on driving skills and less on wiggling a controller. Um… I’m not sure how that even applies. It takes MORE skill to get those boosts while driving. Plus, if you make mistake while doing it… you could easily end up screwing yourself over. I’ve seen it happen.
Assuming I’m ont the right track and this actually IS what people call snaking… I’m going to miss it. I posted some unbelievable records in time trials by mastering that technique. If it’s something different, however, I have no opinion
March 17th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Snaking-be-gone:, I didn’t know of this because I only played super mario kart.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:49 am
You never even played Mario Kart 64? Really? That surprises me. It’s probably still my favorite of the Kart series.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Hey, I never played Super Mario Kart 64. Mostly because I took a very firm stance against the N64 (except for Goldeneye of of course) and thus jumped over that series altogether. I got my kart on when it was on SNES and didn’t pick it up again until Double Dash. I’m actually very partial to the DD version. But, that’s probably because pretty much mastered the damn thing. Still, I thought it was a pretty sweet game with just enough newness to not seem like too lame of a sequel. Plus, I thought the controls were absolutelt wonderful and extremely intuitive. I always felt like I was in complete control of my vehicle and able to make the moves needed to win at any point in the races.
This is my biggest fear with the Wii version. Bad control would ruin the game. And if Mario Kart Grand Prix in the arcades any indication… it’s not looking good. That game controls like a half-eaten enchilada. Loose controls are fine for a game like Excite Truck where you and should spend most of your time in the air doing tricks and are able to simply point yourself in the right direction while mashing on turbo. Mario Kart actually requires some actual driving skill at points.
Hopefully, they don’t lost sight of that.