Geeky Twists on Classic Games

Yoda - master of the Force and Butter FliesWhile standing around and waiting at the happiest place on earth with really long lines, our group eventually got tired of playing  “what’s that smell”, had already decided which 3  books we’d take to a desert island, (Starship Troopers, Lamb: the gospel according to Biff Christ’s childhood best friend, and The Hobbit) , and had too many ties in Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, so we started to toy with the classic game of 20 questions.

How do you improve on the classic 20 questions? Why make it Star Wars themed of course! While we were at times limited by the discovery that one amongst our group was not very Star Wars literate, we still had a great time in obscure references to secondary characters like Jek Tono Porkins, and the B-wing fighter.

How about you? Have you come up with a geekier version of a classic game?

[Picture Source: Sandaworld]

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AWESOME: Star Wars on a Subway Car

Apparently it’s a Star Wars kind of day! This video is the latest from Improv Everywhere, the New York-based performance art group whose motto is “we cause scenes” and who you might remember from such awesomeness as freezing in Grand Central Station and riding the subway with no pants.

Here we see the group acting out the opening scene from Star Wars: A New Hope on a subway car, much to the amusement of the clueless passengers.

Wednesday Geeky Pics: Imperial Stormtroopers in Spain

These photographs were taken by [GAS] reader Eva at an event in Santiago de Compostela, Spain in May, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. Imperial Stormtroopers took over the city, marching through the streets and ending victoriously with a carbonite-encased Han Solo and a speech from Darth Vader. And of course there were some Jedis along the way as well, and maybe even an ewok or two. Check it out!

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Walmart bundle confirms $60 tag for Kinect games

Microsoft’s motion control system Kinect won’t be released until early November, but Walmart has become the first store to take pre-orders on bundles with games. The deal reveals that the games won’t be cheap.

While several retailers, including Microsoft, are taking pre-orders on the device itself at around the $150 mark, Walmart is offering the Kinect, a choice of one game, and a $30 store card for $199. It’s also offering the option of adding one additional game for $59.96, which will certainly invite comparisons between the “casual” games on offer and similarly-priced high-profile releases of more sophisticated games.

The five games on offer are:

  • Kinect Dance Central
  • Kinect Joy Ride
  • Kinectimals
  • Kinect Sports
  • Kinect Adventures

The pricing means that whether the deal is good value depends on how likely you would have gone to spend $30 at Walmart anyway. If you’re not going to make use of the store card, the bundle only really saves $10, and the chances are you’ll be able to get that much off a game relatively soon after the Kinect launches.

Surprisingly no retailers have yet confirmed a bundle which includes the Xbox 360 console itself. Then again, giving the timing, such offers are probably being held back for Black Friday and the rest of the holiday shopping season.

Intentional or not, there’s some symbolism in Walmart being the first retailer to sell Kinect bundles. Despite the high pricing, Microsoft will likely be hoping it can appeal to a mass market, casual gaming audience as well as the hardcore gamer, replicating the success of the Wii motion control with people who wouldn’t otherwise have played or bought games. And Walmart is about as mass market, casual audience as it gets.

French Fries Decision Tree [Chart]

Well folks, it looks like yesterday was National French Fries Day. How could we miss such a thing? So to celebrate the event, even if we’re a bit late, here’s a french fries decision tree. Now the next time you feel the urge to eat fries, get the chart out, and it’ll help you pick the kind of fries you want.

[Via Frites and Fries]

19 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Star Wars

Since being released in 1977, Star Wars has remained one of the most influential sci-fi films of all time. It has spawned three prequels, two sequels, TV and Internet-based fan films, books, and countless toys. Despite the vast amount of information available online about the famous franchise, there still might be some things about Star Wars that would surprise you. Here are 19 things you might not know…

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Typewriters Are Still Awesome and Musical

While some have suggested that the typewriter should be extinct, these antique pieces of technology still have amazing potential. Take for example this 2008 performance of Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter,” an orchestral piece that centers around the key clacking and bell ringing sounds of antiquity. Of course, when this was written originally in 1950, it was far more cutting edge, like a girl band iPhone jam session, isn’t the march of technology fascinating?

[Via Presurfer]

Apple and AT&T sued by 20 million plaintiffs

It doesn’t seem likely Apple will be selling unlocked iPhones any time soon. But in theory at least, a court ruling has brought that a step closer.

A federal court has granted class action status to a case against both Apple and AT&T. Class action means that anyone in a designated category (in this case, buyers of an iPhone with a two-year AT&T deal since 2007, an estimated 20 million people) can be covered by a single case. In many cases, everyone in the category is automatically considered a co-claimant unless they specifically opt out.

As a result of the ruling, the class action status will cover two claims that the companies breached competition laws:

  • that Apple unlawfully prevents iPhone users from installing their own applications; and
  • that Apple made a secret five-year exclusivity deal with AT&T, thus meaning customers on a two-year service agreement were effectively locked-in to AT&T as a provider for those five years if they wanted to continue using the phone.

The court rejected other claims such that Apple broke the law when iPhone operating system updates wiped out some apps or cause phones to freeze up.

Court rulings are, of course, always difficult to predict. Still, I’d be very surprised to see this one lead to anything. Whether or not you like Apple’s restrictive policies, they are hardly a secret, and even though people might not approve of the way the iPhone works, nobody is forced to buy one.

While it’s certainly possible some buyers didn’t understand that the phone was locked to AT&T or that apps were under Apple control, it seems unlikely that those bringing the case will be able to prove this was such a widespread situation as to justify a ruling against the companies in a class action situation.