Potal 2's Subplot

It turns out that Portal 2 had a rather interesting subplot.

 

In addition to the video the turrets where originally designed to protect babies from home intruders, which explains their odd vocal inflections.

Random Fact

Naming a folder "Windows 7 Tools.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" (without quotes) will create a toolkit of windows 7 utilities for fixing and diagnosing system issues. I suspect this was made to help Microsoft engineers.

I built a Portal 2 Test Chamber

I have been playing around with the Portal 2 level editor and it is very good for easy level building. The best test chambers on there at the moment seems to be by CaretCaret, but he has used Hammer (the big boys level editor) and I suspect the most popular levels will always be the ones built with Hammer, but I am still liking the in game editor. Here Is My Level, it took me a couple of hours and isn't amazing, but I think it is reasonable.

Random Fact

In New York city most of the Crosswalk buttons function as Placebo Buttons.

Queer Core

Queer Core is specifically a genre of music that is very connected to homosexuality, either by imaginary, context or subject matter. Here are a few videos I liked.

Non-Euclidean Level Design

Not the first game demo or game to show this kind of impossible level design, but a fun demo anyway.

Piracy Has Cost The US Economy $58 Billion

There are a lot of large numbers floating around when it comes to the cost of Piracy. Rob Reid in his TED talk explains where some of this money is calculated from.



Rob is a writer who is just about to publish Year Zero a novel about what happens when Aliens develop a taste for Human pop music.

Wrecking Crew Orchestra

At the turn of the 20th century there was a popular form of magic called Black Art where a magician could make objects levitate, appear and disappear with ease. This was done through use of special lighting conditions and black velvet cloth to mask the workings of the trick from the audience. A hundred years later and Orchestra a Japanese dance group, create an innovative dance of black art and electro luminescent wire.



It takes a lot now to impress me, but this certainly did.

DirectX 11's Tessellation

I was planning on writing a long post about Tessellation, but This Nvidia Article does a good job and what I really wanted to post was these videos.

This first video shows off what tessellation is.



This second video is a good practical (i.e a none gimmicky) application of tessellation.



And then the future applications for this technique, which is really interesting.

Alex Moore Visits Occupy London

Alan Moore is a writer of many fine graphic novels and this video is of him visiting Occupy London. It is an interesting video because he identifies with the protesters after having control of some of his work taken away from him by large corporations. Plus many of the protesters are wearing the mask from V for Vendetta a story about revaluation, which he wrote for.

Alan Moore visits Occupy LSX from inka stafrace on Vimeo.

SOPA

This is a really good video about SOPA, but some facts are slightly missing.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

The US would seek extradition to prosecute breakers of SOPA abroad like they do with existing copyright laws.

The US currently controls domain name registration so would use that as a weapon against governments, people or organisations that didn't comply with their domestic SOPA laws.

And SOPA contains a section whereby anyone discussing or educating people about circumventing SOPA would fall under SOPA's restrictions. In the case of the video I have posted above that would mean VIMEO could be taken down and without due process or representation.

Samsung's OLED Window

I am not saying that all windows in the future will be interactive, but I think the benefits of having clutter free screens around the home so you get the information you want, when you want it, is a very appealing idea.

At Home Genotyping

We aren't yet at the stage here everybody has their genetic code sequenced, but it looks like it will be a standard medical tool for people in the future. The main benefits being that you could findout what medical conditions you might have a genetic inclination to get or other physical or dietary traits that knowing about would help you live healthier for longer.

Costs for sequencing are rapidly diminishing and there are now a few companies that offer a similar service, but by using genotyping to rapidly (and much more cheaply) give you access to that kind of information information.

23andMe ($99 to $207)
deCODEME ($500 to $1,100)
Navigenics

It should be noted that even if you do have a genetic marker that suggests you will get heart disease. That just means that you might, there are still many other factors that lead to most conditions.

The IGF Pirate Kart Entry

In March next year the Independent Games Festival will award a few independently produced games some awards and raise the profile of those titles. A few in the past like Minecraft, Limbo and Mechinarim have had extra promotion which has helped the developers sell more units and raise their profile.

Next year has an interesting entry, the Pirate Kart. This is a single IGF entry of (at time of writing) 321 games.

A download link to the 1.4GB pack is on the Front Page if you feel like playing some very random games.

Zelda Mod For Skyrim

This is one of the better mods I have seen so far for Skyrim. It is a Legend Of Zelda, Link Character Mod.

USS Enterprise Engine Noise

I have often wondered what I would be like to be on the Enterprise and have to put up with the sound of the engines all the time. I have also wondered what it is about the engines that make that noise considering there are no moving parts on the engines and any noise from outside wouldn't carry due to the vacuum of space. There is a video on YouTube that loops the enterprise engine noise for 24 hours.



However a better and higher quality version can be herd from Linux's play app. Use the following command to generate the noise procedurally:

play -n -c1 synth whitenoise band -n 100 20 band -n 50 20 gain +25 fade h 1 864000 1

Google's Memories for the Future Project

To remember The Tsunami that hit Japan earlier in the year. Google has put together a streetview project called Memories for the Future that allows you to see the streetview data before and after the tsunami.

It is a shame the site doesn't support linking, otherwise I would have linked to a few interesting areas.

Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Master Lockpicking Guide

This is my lockpicking guide for Skyrim. You can either read the description below or watch the video I have recorded. The video is a little dry, but contains all the reliant information. I will add however that if you are in a town and you want to break into a house without being seen; you should crouch and wait for the eye in the middle of the screen to close (indicating that you are hidden) before starting you lockpicking attempt. This will ensure that your lockpicking attempt is conducted in secrecy.

In Oblivion you could lockpick by the sound of the tumblers rising, but this isn't possible in Skyrim. You need to keep looking at the tip of the pick (see screenshot).



If you are on an area of resistance the end of the pick will judder. You need to probe around the lock until you find an area of smooth motion with the pick. Once you have found it, don't rotate the lock all at once. Rotate it gradually, always looking at the end of the pick. If you find an area of resistance, release, move the pick slightly and start turning again. Apply this technique and you will be able to break even master level locks with a low level character.

Playing Skyrim As A Pacifist Character

WestSideLuigi isn't playing as a pure pacifist because a pacifist is someone opposed to violence, but he is playing Skyrim without killing humans, beasts, the undead or even ghosts, and that is interesting.

Equal Marriage Rights in Australia

GetUp! Australia is an action group committed to promoting the environment and a better future for Australians. And they have produced this very excellent video for their Gay Marriage campaign.