No, really, World of Goo is pretty cool

I don't normally do "follow-up" commentary on games I've already blogged about... but I'll make an exception this time. On the down side, the end of the second chapter is, well, bizarre, and not necessarily in a good way... but the last two chapters (and, to a lesser extent, the epilogue) make up for it. That's especially true for you Gen-X types and younger boomers when you hit the "Information Superhighway" chapter, which comes complete with "green screen" technology and 8-bit sound in places. Oh, and those "artillery" games I reminisced about last time? You get to play a version of that with the gooballs on that last chapter, too.

Beyond that, well, let this be your guide to how hooked I am on that game... I took the day off yesterday, it being Veteran's Day and all, and figured I'd get some Fallout 3 time in (another worthy game, but a topic for another day)... but first, a little World of Goo. Eight hours or so later, I had finished the storyline, gone back through some of the earlier puzzles to gather more gooballs for my tower, and made more than one attempt to build a stable structure as high as I could. For all that the main game is "done", this is one game that I'm not done with yet... I'm obsessed by the fact that I'm still 2 balls shy of the maximum in tower mode, and haven't built a reliably stable tower to my satisfaction yet (I saw some Canadian got up to 29m high, and I'm sure I can do better than that). I'll be back, again and again... just not on a day that I need to get up and do anything the next day, I'm thinking.

Oh, side note? 8 hours clutching a Wii Remote in an underhanded death grip is a sure way for your body to tell you later that this is something you Should Not Do... but at least it doesn't seem to affect your ability to type or mouse about the next day, like, say, doing the same in most MMORPGs or FPSs would.

MetaPlace Beta

Well, MetaPlace has been in beta for a bit now... and now, I'm part of it. It's got a NDA, so I can't say too much about it so far... but if you're already in, and you know me, you can find me there. If you're not already in, well, there's a lovely link off to the right to apply for beta... supposing building your own games/worlds appeals to you, of course... :)

New president inbound, America shows their class

Public radio's on in the background, and John McCain just conceded. Maybe it's just been too long since I've heard a concession speech on the national level, but I honestly don't remember the winners being booed and jeered while the loser is delivering the speech... *sigh*.

Stay classy, America.

Never underestimate the power of "Free"

It was an interesting day in the Spokane Valley today... a local electronics seller teamed up with Waste Management and... Sony, I think? At any rate, the deal was supposed to be for people to drop off unwanted electronics at their warehouse for recycling at no charge, and also get a coupon worth money off on new gear, or some such. This event was heavily advertised, including a full-page newspaper ad and a "team-up" with a local morning news program.

Now, for those of you not from this area, you should know that "cheap" is a favorite word for most Spokanites, eclipsed only by "free"... normally, this is best demonstrated by the prevalence of buffet dining in the region, and the healthy attendance of store closing sales by the scavengers among us, myself included. It's also a region that, by and large, isn't particularly "well off"... people hold onto things like old computers and TVs on the basis that they might need them as a fallback, should something happen to their current equipment... especially since they don't know how to "safely" dispose of their computers, and trips to the waste transfer station cost money.

Oh, one more note... the group holding this recycling drive didn't establish much in the way of limits on what you could bring in, beyond "no appliances". Care to guess how things evolved from that point?

I was watching the news this morning on the affiliated station... the event was supposed to run from something like 7am to 4pm, it was 9am, and traffic was backed up several blocks to the nearest freeway offramps. The police had been called in for traffic/crowd control, and were pleading for anybody else coming down to use alternate routes. Word from the newsies was that they were looking at needing to bring in more containers for all the junk that people were bringing in, the ones on-site showcasing some of the "vintage" technology that had been brought in (think old record players and wood-cabinet TV sets), the ones further away looking more and more frazzled as the insanity continued.

Of course, I'm not immune to the lure of getting rid of old tech for free... I figured (especially since I had some laundry needing doing) that I'd wait for the afternoon, when things died down a bit, and dredge out my basement's collection of old tech goodies. I made it to the hornet's nest about 2pm, and traffic was still, to put it mildly, nuts... you had to make it all the way in to the center of the madness before anybody told you that they had closed the collection station early, because they didn't have anyplace to put any more junk from people's basements. Of course, there was still signage up directing people to come to the center, nary a "closed early due to popular demand" sign or any such to be seen... just some obviously ragged-out police doing their best to keep the swarm somewhat orderly.

Me, I shrugged, drove off to the transfer station and paid my $7 to unload my bounty (I sure wasn't going to stuff it back in my basement!). I'm thinking this might turn into a PR nightmare for the local companies involved, though... it'll be interesting to see what tomorrow's news has to say about the whole mess.

Halloween lives on

Boy, I was thinking I was going to have to write a "Halloween is dead" post tonight, but I finally got a few trick-or-treaters. Mind you, twenty after eight is pretty late for the first wave, even in my low-traffic neighborhood... but the tradition hasn't quite died in my neighborhood yet.

One down, hundreds to go

So, Alaska senator Ted Stevens was convicted of falsifying documents today (not corruption, because that's harder to prove, I gather). Nicely done, prosecution, I hope the conviction survives the appeals process... but that's not what has me writing, directly at least.

The Washington Post has some initial reactions from various parties at or near the whole mess here, and it's about what you would expect... Stevens proclaiming his innocense, Democrats, watchdogs, allied groups, and the odd Republican condemning him, many more Republicans supporting or neutral... but special attention should be paid to the bit at the bottom of the first page, the reaction of Alaska representative Don Young. In particular, this bit:

"I don't think he had a jury of his peers."

Well now, last I heard, we're a democratic republic, with no person "above" any other... I know I, for one, would just love to hear who Mr. Young thinks is, or is not, a peer to this senator.

Cartoons and politics

OK, first, for those of you not in the know... the final volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection is out now. If you're looking for some old wartime toons, or the phrase "this time, we didn't forget the gravy" has any meaning for you, go forth and consume!

On the other hand, if you're looking for something more contemporary, I just ran across a neat little flash cartoon called "Cup o' Democracy", presented by Captain Capitalism, that's both well done and relevant to this election cycle... click on this link, then on the "watch this movie" link on the resulting page.