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No Man’s Sky and Apple Silicon · I updated to a 14"/32G/M2-Pro MacBook Pro a few weeks ago but (unusually) haven’t written about it here. Recently, No Man’s Sky for Mac was announced. Since I played that regularly but casually for a couple of years starting in 2016 on PS4, I thought I’d give it a try, and now I’ve put in a few hours. Here’s a weird counterintuitive idea: Maybe games are what the MacBook Pro is built for? ...
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Photos of the Sky · I mean No Man’s Sky the game, which I’ve been playing again lately. It’s been accused of being mostly a platform for generating cheesy sci-fi book covers, but that’s not true, and also I love cheesy sci-fi book covers, so this is mostly to show you some. With a few words on the game ...
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Games with Girls · Weirdly enough, for the first time in my life I’ve been spending videogame time with members of the opposite gender; specifically, my wife and daughter. Which is an excuse for reflections on (and groovy pictures from) No Man’s Sky ...
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トリコ and Me · I’ve been sending fewer words out onto the Net so far this year, and one of the reasons was The Last Guardian, which I finished last night. Now I’m missing it and maybe writing about it will help ...
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Still Playing “No Man’s Sky” · Usually before I go to bed, for an hour or so. Idly poking around planets, finding stuff to beef up my weapon or suit or ship, chatting with aliens. Except for I’ve decided to head for the center of the galaxy, so maybe I’ll be “done” soon, whatever that means. This is mostly to pass along tips and share pix ...
[3 comments]  
Things About “No Man’s Sky” · Of course I had to pre-order this one after reading World Without End in The New Yorker. I’ve only played a few evenings, haven’t done anything ambitious, but I’ve learned that when you’re learning something is a good time to write about it ...
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Ingress in 2015 · Yes, we’re coming up for the third anniversary of Ingress, the game; I’m one of the few from the first late-2012 wave who are still on-board ...
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Ingress Tips for iOS-folk · Well, it looks like the client has dropped. Welcome iDevicers to our private party! OK, not so private, there are a million or so of us around the planet. I’m a regular-but-not-obsessive player, and have been since 2012; if you’re playing in the Vancouver area, I’ll probably meet you in-game, which quite likely means F2F. The first time this happens I want a demo of the app ...
[6 comments]  
Ingress in 2014 · It was stormy at dusk last Sunday; Shoekey and I hunched shoulder-to-shoulder in a waterfront park, 90 km/h of swirling wind driving a mix of fresh rain and salt spray at us from every direction, zip-loc-bagged Androids in hand. Because in a big Ingress op, you gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah, I’m playing again ...
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Why Flappy Bird is Brilliant · I heard the buzz and snagged it and played for the best part of an hour on a cross-Canada flight, never managed to get past level 10. The fact that the game is so addictive despite being so pathetically lame is trying to teach everyone a great big honking lesson ...
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Myst is 20 · Not obvious even looking back, and one of my influences. Check out the excellent Lost to the Ages write-up on Grantland. With thanks, a rock&roll metaphor, and a terribly sad story ...
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Ingress Ebb and Flow · The last Ingress fragment here was back in May, reflective of the fact that I, like many who leveled all the way up, lost interest and drifted away. But I’ve been out a bit in the last couple of weeks; in particular spending quality time in graveyards. the game remains an interesting and under-reported story ...
[3 comments]  
Ingress Chase Scene · I hadn’t been out to play in a long time, but I heard of a cross-faction event at IO, and I’d never done one of those. It got way out into crazy-space; Even non-players might enjoy the story ...
[1 comment]  
Advanced Ingress · Wherever you go these days there are Level-8 players, and even the occasional L8 portal. It’s a different game at that level. What may be my last piece on the subject; with a side-trip into BioShock Infinite ...
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Ingress Tourism · The game still feels like a big story to me, and still under-reported; so herewith Ingress coverage, featuring tourism, community cancer, client controversy, and tactical tips. With pictures of places Ingress players see ...
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Ingress Weekly · I still think Ingress is the most interesting New Internet Thing on the current radar. What else is there to get excited about, Vine? Gimme a break. Also I can’t write about work until the release pipeline unjams a bit. So herewith more news from the front ...
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Ingress, Month 3 · Ingress is into its third month and if any other relatively-mainstream bloggers are covering the story I haven’t seen it, so this for the record if nothing else. There are strains showing; but interesting developments also. To start with: as of today, Jan. 29, every Zipcar and Jamba Juice location is an Ingress portal, it seems; which feels to me like a news story ...
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Things About Ingress · I’m not even a serious player, I go out for a couple hours two or three times a week. But there are lots of stories to tell and lessons to learn; here are some of mine. [Warning: This post will be more or less completely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t played quite a bit.] ...
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Ingress · It’s a new thing on the Internet, a planetary-scale augmented-reality game being played on a real planet: ours. It’s fun to play, particularly if you have kids. And interesting, I think, for anyone who cares about issues of Life Online, even non-gamers ...
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Skyrim · I bought it for the houseguests over Christmas, got mildly hooked, took a character to level 17, but that’s it, I’m bored ...
[6 comments]  
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