The Secret of Spore

The reason Will Wright's little baby is becoming so popular is simple.

You remember all those Pop Cap Games and Yahoo Games that you got for free (or from some cheap DVD)?

Those games were mindless and hopelessly addictive. They are known in office jargon as "time-wasters". The wonders in mind-hanging one can work with a little knowledge of Flash or Java is the stuff of productivity decline notoriety.

Spore is five of these "time-wasters" all rolled into one package game. So, you're essentially paying $40-$60 for five $1.99 games. The only game with any real complexity is the last one, and yet thousands continue to bite the hook, playing the repetitive little bits over and over like an iPod on permanent shuffle. Its kinda like watching someone play Luxor five different ways.

Brilliant. Will Wright is a money-making genius.

Oh, and for other Spore secrets:

Console Cheats

Press Ctrl+Shift+C to open the console screen. Type code into the console, then hit enter. Press escape or the red X to close console.

Code	Effect
capturePlanetGIF	Captures a spinning GIF of the planet you are on and dumps to AnimatedAvatars directory.
setConsequenceTrait (trait)	cell carnivore, cell_herbivore, cell_omnivore, creature_aggressive, creature_social, creature_mixed, tribe_aggressive, tribe_social, tribe_mixed, civ_
stylefilter -none	change view back to normal
help (command)	Explains action and usage of a command.
styleFilter -oilPaint	Gives the game an oil painting effect
addDNA	increase how much DNA you have to spend.
moreMoney	Increases your money in Civilization or Space stages.
help	Lists all cheats and debug commands.
freedom	No complexity limit in creator
levels -unlock	On the Spore main menu, allows you to unlock every stage for new games, even if you haven't completed their prerequisite stages.
universeSimulatorPirateRaidPlunderFrequency #	Rate that pirates will steal spice from your systems
universeSimulatorPirateRaidAllyFrequency #	Rate that pirtates will raid ally your systems
universeSimulatorPirateRaidFrequency #	Rate that pirtates will raid your systems
killallhints	Removes all hints from the game.
refillMotives	Replenishes depleted health and other motives.
SetTime (h, m)	Sets time of day at the Avatar's position, and optionally a speed multiplier.
freeCam	Toggles free camera mode.
unlockSuperWeapons	Unlocks all superweapons for your Civilization type.
spaceCreate	Unlocks and recharges all creation tools in Space Mode.
styleFilter -filmNoir	View game in black & white

DM of the Rings

D&D, in all its geeky glory, is the bastard love-child of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. In fact, D&D would probably be inconceivable without it. But D&D (and AD&D) have drifted so far from the original source that they probably won't recognize each other if they'd met again in a bar.

Which is why I find this webcomic so hilarious. What happens if you try to "D&D" Lord of the Rings? Hehehe...

When the dork meets literary pavement, sparks fly. :D

Johnny Fanboy

I'm sure every one of us has had a celebrity crush from time to time. (Explains the unearned prestige these people get most days.)

In connection with the release of the first episode of the new season of House, M.D. last week, allow me to indulge in mine.

I have a huge, stupid, irrational* crush on this woman right here:

 
Olivia Wilde, she of the porcelain skin and ambiguously bisexual TV roles. Also occasionally indulges the whiny childhood fantasies of emo songwriters.


She's also quite smart. Hey, she plays a doctor on TV doesn't she?


She also likes moonlit walks. Cliche, but I'm too busy looking at her eyes...err...eye.


She works hard, but doesn't seem to look all that tired and bedraggled.

And she makes the best argument there is for gay marriage. (Or at least, the only one I'd indulge for at least two and a half minutes.)


She also likes animals. Really likes them.** Here she is with a stuffed one named Jonathan. (OK, so I made that up.)

*Sigh*

___________________________________________

*Irrational, because this woman supports PETA, campaigned for Obama while promoting her show, and is very much married (last time I checked). I don't understand myself sometimes. Shit.

** Did I mention how much she likes animals? Believes they ought to have "rights". Man...buzzkill.

A Moment of Zen #3

[h/t Engrish.com]

Because There is Only *One* Choice...

Think about this next time some pro-choice activist tells you its all about "freedom of choice".

"That is, we need the mentally retarded to teach us how to better sacrifice our lives and divest ourselves of our self-interested ways more than they need us to care for them. At Noodlefood, Diana Hsieh condemns such a stand as "the worship of retardation." Given that Palin had complete foreknowledge of her child's severe disability yet nevertheless chose to have it, it is hard not to see her choice as anything less."

Yeah, choosing life for the Down's Syndrome child is selfish "worship of retardation".

This moron even finds time to be morally outraged.

So in the anti-abortion advocate's eyes, a parent's desire to raise healthy children by squelching unhealthy fetuses while the are still in the womb is little more than a pernicious quest, but it is not considered a pernicious quest to knowingly bring severely disabled children into this world.

Isn't eugenics anything other than a "pernicious quest"? But the funny thing is, based on what he is implying here, how is "knowingly bringing severely disabled children into this world" evil? Oh, because mentally handicapped people make you go "ewwww..."

There are few more morally bankrupt moral propositions in this world than being "pro-choice". Euphemisms make murder go down easier. After all, even the Nazis had to hide their genocide behind the term "Final Solution".

You keep affirming the morality of killing the lesser, eventually, you will find yourself at the wrong end of the knife.

This is What Passes for a "Leading Moral Philosopher" in the UK

Baroness Warnock, a so-called "leading moral philosopher", has just suggested that old people suffering from dementia must do the world a favor by taking the fastest bus ride to Hades.

As proof that her species is completely immune to irony, it fails to occur to the old bird that she is, in fact, 84 years old and advocating something only the demented would advocate.

Good luck on the ice floe, Baroness. Don't let the cold bite you on the way out.

I sure hope my sisters retire here. The UK is no country for old men (and extremely young ones).

Ahoy, Me Hearties!!

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Arrrr....