Robot55.com

Once upon a time, way way before Rockstar ever came you with the GTA series, there was a much younger video games industry. One that got a lot less attention and a lot less interference from pressure groups and lobbyists… These were times where gamers (and indeed game developers) were left alone to pursue their imagination uninhibited (well, mostly). Today I was reminded of this after discussing the upcoming artsy game Flower on Facebook with some friends, and 1 of them stated (as a positive remark) that we probably won’t see many games like it unless strong psychoactive drugs were suddenly to become legal.

This got me thinking, taking myself back down memory lane to the days of C64, Apple][, and Atari800XL. The truth is the majority of games evolved pretty much like today (mostly mainstream themes, and every hit game get sequels and imitators, the usual), but the sidelines, the margins, the "indy" scene if u will, produced many interesting games, and several of them, it might interest you to know, were based on pretty dark themes, including Hard Psychoactive Drugs, Sex, Murder, Evil and Adolph Hitler.)

I am not sure which was the 1st 'dark themed' game to appear, but I have tired to come up with a chronological grocery list. I'm sure it's full of holes, and I'd be happy for any reminders you might throw my way...

1985 brought us two such games that I can remember: Frankie Goes To Hollywood was the 1st one I remember having a dark side. It felt forbidden to play it, but so much fun all the while. And the second one was a text adventure game called Lucifer's Realm. I was really a young boy when I played them, so perhpas they would not seem as dark now. FGTH was all about doing drugs, sex and rock'n'roll in pursuit of faith and perfection (for real!). There was no real 'dark' atmosphere to the gameplay itself, but i guess that as a kid, the candid reproach to sex and drugs (syringe induced drugs!) and balancing them with love and religion as the 4 keys of perfection was dark and shocking! It was a real eye opener in every sense of the word.

Box cover for Frankie Goes to Hollywood	Lucifer's Realm

Lucifer's Realm (we just called it Lucifer) was dark to begin with. Basically its a text adventure (with some still images, no animation) where u die n judged to an afterlife in hell. Surviving there is just a small part of the challenge. It turns out the baddest most evil soul in hell (you guessed it: it's Adolph Hitler) is concocting a plot to overthrow the prince of darkness himself (yep, they did it waaaay before Southpark with Satan & Sadaam), and he in return, offers a trip back to heaven as a prize for anyone who can foil Hitler's plan. It was hilarious and outrageous and dark and so much fun! As a young Jewish kid, the fact that it had a scary portrait of Hitler against a Swasstika right on the box drew me to it immediately. And the idea I played someone who was condemned to hell had a strange appeal of curiosity to it. The game didn't aspire me to become evil, but it certainly sparked in me a new way of looking and thinking about evil. Trying to understand what we call dark and evil, instead of just keeping it a tabooed, demonized, forbidden section of life - suddenly made more sense to me. For surely the more one understands evil, one is better equipped with the evil around him/her and more importantly, the evil inside him/her. Realizing that 'bad' is part of everything seems to me like an important part of growing up and computer games like this made me realize it.

Hmm... It seems I have a hole in my mind as I can't recall any Dark themed game since then until the mid 90s, almost 10 years later. There were horror and scary games, like the original Alone in the Dark, Phantasmagoria and the wonderful Veil of darkness, but no game that actually let you experience a dark mature theme. You were always put in shoes of goody two shoes. At least that's what I recall, I'd b happy to be corrected on that.

In 1995, Harlan Ellison and friends released an amazingly dark adventure (we're beyond the days of text and still images only - in 1995 we already had SCUMM). I remember the official distributor in Israel (it was Bug Multisystem back then) refused to import this title, as one of the splitted storylines you play (you play splitted story lines of several characters) revolves around a retired Nazzi (again - but hey, what can be darker than that, the spanish inquisition?) doctor who is forced to relieve the horrors of the war (at much larger impacts) by an evil Artificial Intelligence who makes for the game's wonderful Villain.

Anyways, 1997 brought the 1st GTA obviously, and the rest, as they say, is history. Except that GTA went for a specific criminal element concept (which later grew and grew), but the very same year gave birth to a game that was delaying for a while now. It was the original Fallout game. And talk about dark. Not just by concept, atmosphere & narrative, but also for the first bold attempt to make an open ended RPG that is still narrative-based. I won't go thru the whole game-philosophy mumbo jumboes (read The Escapist for that, they're the best), but lets just say that all RPGs before that that tried to be open-ended (as opposed to linear RPGs like Final Fantasy and Kigdom Hearts], would usually mean series of random events and encounters, which doesn’t leave the player with a sense of plot or story). I have tons to say about the original fallout and every following chapter, but again, this requires a post of its own or even a series of posts. I will say this to those of you who loved FO3 and are now a bit curious about Fallout’s origin and history. Try some power searches on the phrase “GURPS Fallout” and start digging. You will get a whiff of what us dorky gamers have been discussing passionately at random encounters wth one another in geeky computer stores back then.

I will wrap it up with the millenium – year 2000 is when American McGee released his own interpretation of the famous Lewis Carol novel. This was not just “a” dark game. It was a dark game on acid. The level design in this game was amazing. Everything had that “distorted acid” look to it. And Alice, little suicidal Alice who lives in an orphanage after being a survivor of a fire that killed her whole family. I still fantasize about buying one of those promotional larger than life Cheshire Cat they had back then. I bet u can find one on ebay…

Anywhoo, that’s enough darkness for one session, no? If you remeber other Dark themed games that I forgot to mention (remember, not looking for horror themed games but rather games that are dark in their nature, games that forces dark thoughts and feelings on the player, in order to interact with him)

Looking foreward to your comments on this,

Robot55

I’m probably not the first one to claim this, but alternate covers seems to be the best way to discover new music and artists. Simply google / youtube / deezer any song u like, and check out the results for artists other than the original group or singer.

It might b someone u never heard of – but they like the same song (and artist) u like, so u are off to a good start

The subtle art of making a good (or even great) cover, is amazingly intricate, IMHO, and deserve a post in its own right (but im too lazy, let some music blogger do that, in fact they probably have already…).

Now all that was said above, could also be claimed true regarding remixes (as 1 could claim they are a form of ‘cover’).

With that in mind, check out this Like a Rolling Stone remix by Articolo 31, simply called Come Una Pietra Scalciata

Not exactly the old Dylan grooves, right?

OR: My little contribution to the Obama frenzy

I guess there’s no need to tell anyone that the Obama Frenzy (Obamania?) has got everyone in an uproar…

Qoutes, songs and music video are stacking in the web, some of less quality than others…

Well, contadictory to some latest accusations I’ve been getting from friends, claiming I’m too outside society and always have to differ myself from it, I actually want in on all the Obama festivities.

I can be an optimistic citizen of the world just like u and everyone else, right?

Digging around, I’ve found this 1978 gem by the kinks (which I always liked as a child, but my respect and adoration for them just keeps growing) – and unlike Lola or Sunny Afternoon, the chance you are familiar with that one unless you are an avid Kinks fan are quite slim.

The song’s appropriately named Black Messiah, even though it was written back in 1978, and for my money, the timing for this song to flourish has never been better than now.

I also added the lyrics below, for your convenience. Enjoy

Black MEssiah / The Kinks (1978)
Everybody got the right to speak their mind
So dont shoot me for saying mine
Everybody talking about racial equality
cos everybodys equal in the good lords eyes
But if I told you that God was black
What would you think of that
I bet you wouldnt believe it

Theres a self made prophet living right next to me
He said the black messiahs gonna come and set the whole world free
He looked at me with his evil eye and prophesied
And he really believed it

He said a black messiah is gonna set the world on fire
And hes no liar, cos he has truly heard the word
Everybody talking about racial equality
But Im the only honky living on an all black street
They knock me down cos they brown and I white

Everybody got the right to speak their mind
So dont shoot me for saying mine
Everyobody talking about racial equality
You hear everybody talking about equal rights
But whites white, blacks black and thats that
And thats the way you should leave it

Dont want no black messiah to come and set the world on fire
A black messiah is gonna come and rule the world
Everybody got to show a little give and take
Everybody got to live with a little less hate
Everybody gotta work it out, we gotta sort it out
Everbody got the right to speak their mind
So dont shoot me for saying mine

More KINKS here

Robot55

Ever since that Minority Report scene hit us, it seems the tech world is bent on making it a UI reality.

It won’t be the first time science chases fiction, and as far as hardware goes, the Wii, SIXAXIS, Surface, PS3 Eye and of course, the iPhone are all steps (or leaps?) in the right direction.

They certainly feel more intuitive than those gloves & helmet VR combos they tried to push consumers with back in the early-mid 90s.

Now, hardware being one part of the futuristic user interface, GUI, the visualization of display interaction makes for the other part. And ‘3D’ seems to be centric in the issue of display, no one seems to be sure exactly how.

You can google for numerous posts and articles on the topic of 3D environments and 2.5D / 3D user interfaces and while you’re at it, you can find even more posts and articles explaining why these do not seem to work as virtual work environments (despite that cool VR scene from Disclosure) or as a generic community environments.

And not from lack of trying. Each Hitech bubble came with its own slew of 3D environments based startups, and none have managed to maintain outside the realm of gaming (and this is the reaosn, IMHO,  why SecondLife, which seperates itself from the classical definition of ‘game’ is struggling for survival (despite the strong echo-chamber factor).

I think that the answer to ‘why 3D evironments don’t work as execution/productive environments’ is rooted in our neglect of the fact that any 3D environment out there is still a 3D emulation inside a 2D rectangle (our standard screen display).

Think about that for a second. What gamers & 3D designers take for granted out of habit, is that navigating and moving in a 2D defined 3D environment requires considerable effort and learning curve. 3D software beginners often tend to ‘lose’ their objects in the 3D space just from poorly being able to manipulate the viewing interface. Likewise, 3D shooter noobs are known to wander into walls, directing their POV to the floor/ceiling when it is supposed to be straight ahead, and so on. They know they need to run for cover and shoot the bad guys, they are just not skilled enough to perform it.

One must think that new-breed users (anyone younger than 25, basically), having these gaming/editing skills engraved in them since early age would not see that as a problem. While this might be true to some extent, even pro-gamers and veteran 3D artists acknowledge how much effort (our own personal brain multitasking) is being taken for the navigational/viewing interface maintenance. When applied to work/productivity scenarios that are not 3D by nature – it always translates as encumbering or time-wasting.

Hardcores would claim this is the inevitable results, as noting beats speed & effiecency then well memorized shortcut keys and indeed by speed-typing commands from a terminal CLI. Translated to normal users concept – using mouse+keyboard on Facebook would always be simpler and faster than running around WoW style between 3D room portrays of your social neworks. In that respect, it is interesting to see that Sony decided to do just that (3D WoW style, social virtual world), in attempting to win some points vs. the already successful and (i get no joy from admitting that, believe me) more highly regarded professionally MS XBOX 360 Live Arcade, which basically uses (neatly designed) 2D menus and windows.

Combating the hardcores, optimistic visionaries (and for the purpose of this post, I’l align myself with that group) would claim that it is all about functionalty. The wastful/encumbring nature of 3D social/work environments is true. But only because in does not introduce any new or improved functionalities in its ususally presented manner (3D chat rooms, WoW style virtual work places, etc.). The only potential functionalty this concept has to offer, the intuitive, more lifelike mingling amid a social crowd is negated completely by the UI. From the mechanical point of view, mingling in a 3D bar is nothing like mingling in a real live bar. The same goes for a virtual workplace.

Moreover, the way I see it, anonymity and timelessness are the 2 major advantages the online social environments has to offer versus the worldly one, and maybe tossing them back for a mockup 3d mimicry of reality is not the brightest of concepts.

In short, (though it has been quite a loooong preface) though 3D is the obvious next building block in our culture’s futuristic UI roadmap, applying it to the representation of user avatars and 3D space interaction has proven to be a dead-end, despite the seemingly-natural moves from 3D shooters and MMoGs. This concept will have its day, don’t worry. It will happen when 3D moves out from our 2D monitors and into our 3D world. Wether the first device is a transperant-OLED- embedded-eyeglasses, triple-monitor displays based on those flight-simulaters GUIs or perhaps indeed, even a 3D holographic of a more “help-me-obi-one-kenobi-u-r-my-only-hope!” nature – time will tell.

But this post is about today.

What then? if we’re not to run around virtual cyberspace while we still use standard computer displays, what form of 3D presentation can we use in order to bring tomorrow today? I was pondering that very questions thoroughly for the past few weeks, researching many directions, as I have a current business projects that includes defining and designign a ‘next-generation’ GUI for a high end “enterprise level IT Architecture software” (I’m still learning what that last sentence means myself .

I already had a hunch the direction is more likely to be 2.5D than 3D, because of all the aforementioned ‘3D inside a 2D display cage’ realizations, but it didn’t really hit me until I added CooIris to my firefox and turned it on.

In a nutshell, CoolIris is a 3D browser plugin for searching video and images in popular sites like youtube, google, hulu, flickr, etc. It also offers a non search-based exploration mode called ‘Discover’, showing you predefined results based on popular content categories (news, entertainment, tech, music videos, etc.) If you want the full Low-Down, you should try it or check the CoolIris website (but really, you should try it .

For starters, it’s stunning. Regardless of your personal design style preference, you’ll agree the standard search result pags of google/flickr/youtube couldn’t hold a candle to the sleek CoolIris presentation. However, as I pointed out earlier, eye-candy itself couldn’t justify a 3D UI in a 2D display. The speed & efficiency of CoolIris were the 2nd good sign. While many 3D plugins and extension usually come with slugginesh and resource hogging, thus ruining the user experience with slow reaction & interaction hiccups. Not so with CoolIris. In an instant the fullscreen display appears, and the search results thumbnails rapidly follow. Unlike standard search results UI, there are no result pages – flying left & right with the mouse simply scrolls all results from beginning to end. I didn’t look under the hood, but I bet it uses some smart fetching methods, as under broadband DSL, the loading of more thumbnail results was as seamless as one could get with sata stored on public remote servers.

Now there are a lot more features and tweaks that can be implemented into CoolIris to make its functionality even greater, but right off the bat they got a lot of stuff right:

I already mentioned how fast it loads. In fact it feels too light-weight to be true. I am running it on my 2.16Ghz white MacBook, which is WEAKER than the lowest end white macbook currently being phased out at the apple stores. It doesn’t flinch when launching CoolIris, not even with several other Firefox tabs open and a couple of Adobe CS4 apps open in the backgound.

In addition, the fact that you can download it, install it and run it on any browser in mere minutes, is a very good 3D GUI sell-point. Many 3D applications comes attached with prerequisites from here till kingdom come (frameworks, engines, runtime environments and whatnot) and while one might dismiss this for the obvious ‘you only install once’ reason, one really shouldn’t, as in reality many times one have to install several times (crashes and upgrades often see to that) and also, in reality, one might want to use his GUI of choice from an “accidental” computer, such as a friend’s computer or an Internet cafe workstation. With CoolIris, even if your accidental computer does not come installed with it, performing the installation is so quick and pain-free, I can’t see it discouraging users.

Also worth mentioning is the browser interoperability. Switching between the CoolIris gorgeous full screen display and the standard search results page or to the target result page is just one floating-icon click away. Bookmarking thumbnail in your own 3D wall is a new too cool for school way of bookmarking videos & images – without downloading the actual file to your computer or having to contend with the tedious maintenance of clutterd browser bookmarks or site specific playlists/bookmarks. You simply click the floating star icon (much like starring a Gmail message) and all that is saved on your HD is a small thumbnail and a URL. Let the cloud keep everything else.

Not that I don’t have an improvement wishlist already for CoolIris (Remote Control interface for Apple Safari would be nice, refining search option, multiple personal walls, smart walls (like iTunes smart playlists – predefined user searches that updates each time u view them, to name a few) – But at its current state, CoolIris is still impressive as hell and really brings tomorrow today.

As I have to end this post at some point, I just wanna say that the topic of 2.5D and Z-axis hirearchies is something that interests me a lot and deserves (at least) a post within itself. Any comments and illuminations in that regard would be most welcome.

Looking foreword to your comments on this,

Robot55

One of the last free Internet radio services available for us, non-US web users.

Ever since they banned us form US based internet radio, it seemed that our only hope is the last.fm web radio.

Last.fm is all good and well, but if you want to seek albums & tracks and hear them right-away, Deezer.com is your place!

Although mac browsing support is kind of limited (the deezer site seems to love IE most of all), Firefox will run it etiquettely.

They also provide a flash based exportable player that u can code-paste in any social net or blog. Example here:

…the best Mac Bittorrent client  - period.

Transmission is a robust yet lightweight client that is 100% free.

Transmission has a crisp, light, clear design

It supports all the needed features u might need, like DHT support, encrypted torrenting, prioritized download, Schedulers, updatable blacklist, watch-folders. auto-download, remote web access and so much more…!

Even if you are a real noob, you can’t go wrong with Transmission. It’s very easy to use and doesn’t takes but a small part of your cpu & ram resources when it’s on.

Setup is smooth and easy and shouldn’t be a problem.

However, if you still have some questions, u are welcome to leave your comments and questions.

You can get transmission here.

Enjoy