turn out the light, and what are you left with?

I realize it's been some time since my last post to the blog. It's not looking sure that Disney's going to even bid on the City of Heroes software and code, and with them out of the picture, who's left? Of course, in a depressing bit of improper timing, the Titan Network's ongoing debates on Plan Z--the player-funded 'after project' of City of Heroes--have already hit a major snag, as one of their committee members went off and set up her own game site with no one from Titan the wiser. "Hurt feelings" over this duplicitous move is putting it mildly.

And NCSoft's already killed another game--and another game studio.

It seems to be what they do.

In the meantime, there's apparently been a rash of very coordinated thieves--or at least one coordinated thief with a lot of alts. My bet's on more than one, though, because of how frequently it seems to be happening. Flatterbots, panhandling bots, beggar-bots, call them what you will, but what they add up to is even more cynicism and lack of trust on the grid.

Moving to games, Quantic Dreams have put out a new "prototype" video called Kara, that they say isn't tied to any particular game at present. But, considering that Quantic's a game studio, and they have developed games in the past...actually, you know, I don't so much care if it's a game or a movie. I'll take either. It's that beautiful. (Note of warning: some [mild] robotic nudity, and some [again mild] adult concepts, but no bad language, no blood, no spinning weapons.)

Also, Ragnarok Online 2 may be getting a USA server soon. Beyond that, I don't know much, but it would be fun.

Meanwhile, Think Geek has invented...a...thing. It's tentacular, it moves, but it's not a memory stick, so...I'm afraid my mind is contemplating more adult uses for the...err...do they really call it the "Squirming Tentacle"? Really?

Cesar Kuriyama will be putting out his "One Second Everyday" app; it's been fully funded and has eighteen days to go. The "Dancing in Jaffa" documentary, about Pierre Dulane's journey to bring Jewish and Palestinian children together on a neutral dancefloor, will also be fully funded--three days ago, it was at $18,000 of its goal, but it's now well over the asking fund of $35,000. And the "Amazing Capes" Kickstarter is ridiculously well-funded, and will go into production within a couple weeks! Yay for innovation!

And the desire to be superheroes, apparently.

Maskull Lassere is a woodcarver, a sculptor, and a painter, but he's recently come to my attention on Tumblr of all places for the carved bone intersection work. You'll see what I mean when you look at that particular archive, but feel free to look at the rest of his work. If you like those in-between places between the inanimate and the organic, and ponder the potential inner structures of objects, you'll like Lassere's work.

Tardar Sauce, the internet phenomenon named "GrumpyCat" by the masses, has been given the Storyboard treatment. What's that, you ask? Storyboard is this odd, quirky video project where everyday objects--including pets--are overvoiced by small children. It's perplexing, occasionally baffling, and usually very fun.

Two French designers have decided to immortalize their love for retro geekery in the form of a table. A table designed to look like a floppy disc. It's definitely innovative, and witty design, and features a hide-the-whatever pocket in form of a shutter that actually slides, revealing a small space just large enough for most remotes. Perfect.

This may well be the most impressive Minecraft shot--using the default game textures, that is--that I've ever seen. Phenomenal...though I don't think there's enough torches...

And, um...apparently the Daleks are invading. And I do not understand Imgur. That is all.