Jason Rowe is one of the many gamers featured in Alter Egos: Avatars and Their Creators. From the commentary in this slide show we learn that Jason was born with muscular dystrophy that only left him control of a single thumb. Still he is able to play video games like any other child his age. His image and story interests me the most. How can he possibly be able to distill all the complex movements required for computer gaming into a few simple wiggles of a finger?

The answer came in another article found on Gizmodo that introduces us to Mike Philips. Like Jason, Mike can only move his thumb, but that has not stopped him from enjoying video games just as anyone else. In the short clip called “One Thumb to Rule Them All” Mike demonstrates his special computer set up. With it he can play World of Warcraft, instant message his friends and even write a novel while rocking out on iTunes.

At the very least, his computer input system is a very impressive piece of technology. I think the accomplishments he is making with the system are much more impressive.

When I first heard about the book Alter Egos: Avatars and their Creators I was entertaining the idea of picking it up. After watching this narrated slide show, I am more than convinced. I did not realize how varied the content would be: from your standard Otaku selling goods online, to a “professional trainer” that levels up other people’s avatars for a price. Also, if the same back story and context from the commentary is included with the photos in the book it should prove to be a very entertaining look into gaming culture.

I was going to put up a picture of some of my old City of Heroes/City of Villains characters, but I can’t seem to find any. Dangit, and was I as very proud of The Red Spectre’s costumes.

Link via Kotaku

Ahem (clears throat)

Snakes on a plane

Fin.

Link via Bong Boing

Looks like Uwe Boll is having some casting problems for his next video game adaption movie “Far Cry“. Why else would he have attempted to auction off a part in the film on eBay? Unfortunately the auction ended without any bidders so Mr. Boll may have to do something crazy like, oh I don’t know, offer to pay people to work for him instead of the other way around.

Link via Kotaku

Believe it or not there are lyrics to this song.

ooohuuu yehaaa … sea.. sou.. jhonn macarron.. yeah macarron nooon
Chacarron, Chacaron, Chacarron, Chacarron, ualuealuealeuale ualuelaelaellalea, alsualsualualauusualulus, alsualsualualauusualulus

Chacarron, Chacarron, aliluliron, Chacarron, Chacarron, aliluliron Chacarron, n’, aliluliron, Chacarron, Chacarron, aliluliron

So awesome.

Thuyen Nguyen produced this clip as “a love letter to video games”.

I completely agree.

In retaliation to increasing bombardments by Wii Controllers, expensive LCD and Plasma TVs have been forced to erect impenetrable panels of self-replicating clear polymers to defend themselves!

The militant wing of the Nintendo Fan Club has made no comment but are reported to be working on a new titanium composed nanobot assisted Wii Controller attachment to counter these defensive measures.

Or a company has produced a clear plastic cover for your high end flat screen televisions called The Safety Shield. I like my version better.

Via Ubergizmo

The timing of the music is just too convenient to be a coincidence. I still love the concept!

Link via Say No To Crack

L pointed me to this awesome new Threadless shirt

Definitely on my list of shirts I’d be willing to order off that site. As a side note I love how the Wikipeda entry for Twist Endings has a “Spoiler Warning” inserted near the top of the article. Like there was any doubt.

Here is a series of videos entitled “Bruce Lee Concept Lesson (Jeet Kune Do)“. Five parts are available on YouTube, but it looks like they only contain the Lessons taught by Dan Inosanto.

In the first part Dan introduces the process of Jeet Kune Do and some Knife to Open Hand techniques that are rooted in Filipino Martial Arts. The second and third and fourth clips outlines more Open Hand techniques and how they relate to Weapon Techniques. The fifth video tries to bring it all together, showing how in Jeet Kune Do encourages you to use and adapt your fighting style depending on the situation.

I’ve included the first video here with the rest of the videos after the jump. The one thing that stood out in all the videos is how fast his hands are. It is inspiring to anyone trying to build up speed in their strikes.

Part 1 - Isa

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…