Time Twister consists of two LEGO Mindstorms bricks communicating via Bluetooth. The master brick keeps track of the time and handles the minute digits. The slave brick handles the hour digits and the second indicator.
Each digit is made up of five layers with black and white tiles layed out in different patterns. Each layer can rotate 360 degrees before it hooks to the next layer. By twisting the top layer back and forth in a specific pattern, you can arrange the layers so that the desired digit is displayed.
Minecraft isn’t just a game, it’s a work of art — and that’s official.
That’s the verdict of judges at the UK’s GameCity event, which aims to celebrate video games in a cultural context. Though the festival, organized by Nottingham Trent University, has been running for five years, this is the first time it has held an awards ceremony.
The prize was not simply for the “best game” chosen by gaming industry experts as with most such ceremonies. Instead a secret expert panel chose a shortlist, and then a jury of non-gamers of a variety of cultural backgrounds were asked to decide which was the most “interesting, exciting and excellent.”
The panel included politician Tom Watson (who was something of a ringer, being a keen gamer when he’s not interrogating Rupert Murdoch), musicians Dave Rowntree and You Me at Six, actress Frances Barber, financial journalist James Crabtree, and comedian and author Charlie Higson.
The short list was:
Kinect-based rhythm and music “experience” Child of Eden;
Announcing the winner, judges panel chair Jude Kelly said “Minecraft is the ultimate zeitgeist game that appeals on so many levels. The creative possibilities of this ever-expanding game are limited only by ones imagination.”
Ironically Minecraft won despite not having officially been released yet. Four million downloads in, it’s still technically in beta edition, with a formal release scheduled for next month.
Minecraft is somewhere between a true sandbox “open” game and a more traditional competitive game. The free edition simply allows players to build their own worlds using blocks of different materials. The paid version introduces a survival mode, where players must evade attacks from mobs during nighttime, while building resources are limited and players can only access a certain number of tools at any one time.
The Good, The Bad & The Undead promises to be a big and epic spaghetti western (with a zombie twist), but before becoming “big and epic,” its producers, Nick and Gary, two Filmmakers from the UK, needs some funding to start working on the project. After seeing the trailer above, if you think that you’d like to see this western come to fruition, you can donate any amount you like on the indiegogo page dedicated to the movie.
Only just released online, this video was a gift to Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner for their work on the series before it was handed off two years ago. According to John Barrowman’s twitter, it probably wasn’t supposed to be released at all – but there are a lot of really happy Doctor Who fans now, having had the chance to witness this awesomeness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaMRyn47Xg
And there’s also this video set to The Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” featuring the Doctor Who cast and crew, made at the end of the Tenth Doctor’s run.
Okay, I know this is a tech and science kind of site. But here’s the thing: I’m a giver. And I have been fighting the urge since Friday to share this with you. Because, I mean, it kind of explains itself. 101 Halloween Corgis…just listen to how that sounds. It’s like music. Everybody have a Happy Halloween tomorrow. I hope this makes you as happy as it made me.
