Journal
February 14, 2006 | Links
An extra for my ‘handy links’ section.
Yahoo! have released a bunch of developer related tools for adding interactivity to your site. I think it all looks quite interesting and, as someone who doesn’t like coding javascript, it looks very easy to use.
The Design Patterns appear to be a set of layout guidelines for developers at Yahoo!, but a lot of the rules they mention are worth following so I’ll recommend them anyway.
The User Interface Library is a set of handy functions and commands for adding dynamism to your site. I will be looking through the code there to see if there is anything I can use for future projects as a lot of the demos look nice.
In my last post I mentioned me having my own opinions on the whole “video games are murder simulators” debate. Well I thought I’d run through them briefly - and also point you to a new video game made specifically for this issue.
My Thoughts
In my mind it’s simple. Violent people will seek out violent media. If video games weren’t around then movies and books, which have both suffered in a similar way, would be getting the same attention.
That’s not to say that video games don’t influence people at all though. I’m not standing up for games or saying that they are perfect and everybody should be able to play anything. The question we should be asking is how minors get the games in the first place.
This has been said on many blogs the world over, but parents are generally ignorant about the content within games. I have worked in …
A new study of 100 university undergraduates in Toronto has found that video gamers consistently outperform their non-playing peers in a series of tricky mental tests. If they also happened to be bilingual, they were unbeatable.
Barely a day goes by when video games, generally Grand Theft Auto, are blamed for something evil. But that doesn’t mean they are bad. I have my own views on the whole “video games are murder simulators” debate, and maybe I’ll write them up one day. For now though - I’ll focus on the positive.
Researchers in Toronto have found that people who played video games are able to concentrate better, and excel at multi tasking.
Prof. Bialystok suspects video gamers, like bilinguals, have a practised ability to block out information that is irrelevant to the task at hand.
You can read more in the article on the Globe and Mail website.
I found out today the the Hoff is doing some promo work for Pepsi Australia.
You can see what he’s up to on the Hoff micro site
Oh - and just as a little extra. Apparently David is planning to bring back baywatch. Should be interesting.
Final Fantasy Advent Children now has a UK release date. Hoorah
Final Fantasy : Spirits Within looked stunning, but it suffered from the uncanny valley effect, and a rather convoluted confusing story. The new film has used a more cartoony/ manga style sidestepping the whole realism aspect, and giving the possibility of more exagerrated action.
I’m looking forward to it.
February 6, 2006 | Links
Some people have far to much time on their hands, but in this case I’ll let them off.
Brokeback to the Future, i’ll never think of Doc Brown the same way again.
[via]
Binary Moon
Rocket Boards
Bubble Bomb
Free Games 4 Bloggers
Bubble Blitz