I’m sure most everyone has already seen (and played) the new Pacman game that adorns the Google home page. This game is their first interactive doodle, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of Pacman. As usual, it’s a tightly coded, perfect little gem of an implementation. I can’t imagine the amount of testing and code review that went into this in order to get it to pass muster.
The game itself is coded in good old-fashioned Javascript and HTML4, also known as DHTML. The Javascript runs the game loop, and takes keyboard input to control the game. It moves GIF images around a playfield which is a simple HTML DIV containing the background playfield image and a bunch of GIFs for the ghosts and pellets.
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Businessweek has a story demonstrating how lego bricks are made. Amazing. Lord, if I die and come back as granulated acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, can I be LEGOs?
One of my coworkers brought their Wii in to work, and we played it at lunchtime. What a workout! The thing I love about the Wii is the combination of the physical interaction and the focus on gameplay. Since the Wii has such a unique controller, the games need to focus more on interaction and the quality of gameplay than on pretty effects. I personally like the fact that the games (that I played at least) aren’t gory or overly violent. Read more...
I just discovered The Lego Store at a nearby mall. I rarely visit malls (I’m actually a mall-phobic) so I had no idea such a thing existed. Walking into the store I felt a rush. It’s simply amazing. I’ve not been a fan of the sets they’ve been coming up with recently. I’ve always felt the pieces were too large and too specialized. Read more...
Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan, is on his way out. Despite the many protests by China and Korea, he decided to pay one last visit to a shrine. This time, he and the King of America visited the shrine of the King of Rock and Roll (no, not Steven Seagal). I knew it! Our joint missile defense system does involve gyrating hips.
