Monday

Interesting Links:

• Facebook, Blogs, and Illustrated Primers; Atypical Electronic Tools for GMs
  
  I’ve sometimes had a challenging experience getting players to “buy in” to a setting or campaign as deeply as I’d like them to. No amount of handouts, props, lighting, or otherwise could get them out of the gaming room and into the experience. Then I realized I could use their foul addictions against them.
  
  
• This was from Soren Johnson's blog site.
  
  
  
• Five things that Dungeons & Dragons begat
  
  One of the creators of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax, has died. While the game's heyday has passed, its cultural influence bestrides gaming and how the media views young people.
  
  
• Stepping into a world of hurt
  
  Anyone who has played role-playing games with pen, paper and dice over the last 25 years will be very familiar with the name Warhammer.
  
  
• How to put the 'e' in D&D
  
  But this year Wizards of the Coast, D&D's current owner, is adding electronic elements to the game to prepare it for an age in which most fantasy gamers play via computer if they play at all.
  
  
• Life as it could be - Virtual Creatures
  
  
  
  This video is the result of a work to the class of Evolutionary Computation in University of Coimbra.
  
  
• Evolving Virtual Creatures: The Definitive Guide
  
  
  
  AI research ties into games and simulations in many ways, but one of the most fascinating is the evolution of artificial life. Here’s a compilation of the best videos and white papers about applying genetic algorithms to generating the morphology and behavior of virtual embodied creatures in 3D worlds.
  
  
• Evolving Efficient Locomotive Strategies in Embodied Agents
  
  The mamillian brain consists of a complex network of cortical microcircuits that allow us to learn from and interact with our environment. Due to its plasticity and learning capacity, it is often an alluring target to model in the development of robotic control systems.
  
  
• Euphoria from Natural Motion:
  
  
  
• Braid's Blow: 'How To Make Games That Touch People'
  
  Blow argued that, in fact, the interactivity of gameplay -- and its requirements of "fun" and "challenge" among others -- is in fact directly contradictory to such a goal.
  
  
• Moving to the Second Classroom
  
  Teaching in virtual environments can be very productive, says Bill Thompson.
  
  
• Karen's Alarm Clock
  
  A free and open source alarm clock.
  
  
• The Last Remnant Preview and Review by IGN:
  
  
  
  
  


• "Still Alive" - The Theme Song from Mirror's Edge
  
  
  
  Check out the music video for Mirror's Edge! The song, "Still Alive" is sung by Swedish pop star Lisa Miskovsky, who is a major gaming aficionado herself.
  


• Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive (Mirrors Edge OST)
  
  
  
  The offical soundtrack of Mirrors Edge maintheme. Done by sweedish singer Lisa Miskovsky. Game developed by EA DICE.
  


• Mirrors Edge - Leap of Faith TV ad