ORIGINALLY AIRED: 1/27/2005
Tara Reid, Best Indie Games, Slamdance
Episode #5015
| Big Books Brother is Watching: Amazon launches its own Yellow Pages, equipped with photos of the actual stores and the streets they’re on.
But That Was the Best Part: LucasFilm releases the Star Wars Episode III crawl. Is SpongeBob Responsible? A character on The Simpsons will be revealed to be gay this season. Will calls for a Congressional investigation into the life or death issue of homosexual cartoon characters be far off? |
| Kevin R. was one of the first people to get his hands on the new Mac mini when it was released last weekend. And he’s most certainly the very first person to convert it into a PC. He was able to wedge a pre-release 4.7" x 4.7" Via Nano-ITX motherboard into the mini’s miniature case. The Nano-ITX features a 1ghz processor, SATA, ethernet, and s-video. It also gets really hot in the Mac mini case. But when the Nano-ITX is released by the third quarter of this year, we’ll no doubt see many micro cases built specifically for it, said Kevin R.
Head on over to Viatech.com for more info. |
| Russell Carroll, editor in chief of www.GameTunnel.com, covers the world of garage game developers. Underfunded and understaffed, indie game designers often resort to innovation instead of flashy 3D graphics to win over players. Russell sifts through the game submissions he receives at GameTunnel.com, and writes about the ones he likes. What makes for a great indie game?
“For me, it needs to be something different,” said Russell. “I want to play a game unlike all the other ones. It also has to be one I can just pick up and play.” GameTunnel.com recently announced its 2004 Game of the Year Awards. Here are the Top Five Overall Best Indie Games: 5. Breakquest: “The level design is unlike anything else out there.” 4. Outpost Kaloki: “The reason why this is good is because it has a lot of humor in it.” 3. Hamsterball: “This is actually the game I’ve played most on my desktop this year.” 2. Wik and the Fable of Souls: “What make this game great is the connection you can make with the character.” 1. Gish: “Gish is on the of single best experiences you can have in a video game, period.” Get the complete list of winners here. Also, Russell provides us with a list of indie gaming links here. |
| In tech topics… Can You Infect a Car with a Virus? Oh yeah! Some Lexus car computers have been infected via Bluetooth. Evil Empire Downsizes: After reporting higher earnings, Electronic Arts proceeds to lay off employees. Scaaaaary Wabbit: Chinese scientists combined human genes with rabbit eggs, but destroyed them for their stem cells. P2P to the Rescue: The civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize can’t be aired or put on DVD because its licenses to certain material have lapsed. But a group called Downhill Battle is distributing it freely via BitTorrent. |
| Brendan visited Park City, Utah to soak up the madness of the Sundance Film Festival. Did you know that celebrities get free stuff for being famous? Then he went over to the alternative Slamdance Film Festival to see some movies.
A couple of his favorites were Mall Cop and Zombie Honeymoon. Tomorrow, Brendan will report on Slamdance's independent game competition. |
| Cheyenne from Mt. Enterprise, Texas asked Russell for what indie games to look out for in 2005.
Russell said that he’s looking forward to Heavy Weapon and Trash by Inhuman Games. |
| Where do we find our best bookmarks? Why, over at del.icio.us! Also, be sure to read Scott Moschella’s article explaining how to use del.icio.us. |
| Actors Shannon Malone and Ron Lester were guests at our LAN Party, playing Unreal Tournament 2004. You can compare and contrast their websites: www.RonLester.com and www.ShannonMalone.com. |
FEATURES
|
|
Indie Gaming Links
GameTunnel.com's editor provides a quick list of indie game developers. |
|
A User's Guide to del.icio.us
Learn more about the bookmarking site del.icio.us! |
RELATED LINKS
> Slamdance Film Festival
> Alone in the Dark, the movie
> GameTunnel.com's 2004 Game of the Year Awards
> Viatech, maker of the Nano-ITX motherboard
