Episode 334 — Robux – NoBux

Challenges with in-game currency exchange, ROMs, creating real-life webshooters, and HBD number 100 to Gene Roddenberry!

Michael and Michael start off this week’s episode with some happy birthday wishes for Gene Roddenberry and a story about how NASA is transmitting his voice into space. 

Next up, an article about RomUniverse and a court decision requiring the site to shut down because of mass copyright infringement.  

Then, a story about how video games are used for health benefits, which is right in the wheelhouse of this podcast.  This reminded the cohosts about the virtual snow world (called SnowWorld) that helps burn victims cope with their pain using the game, instead of drugs.  The BrainQ story is also reminiscent of the Emotiv headset, which both Michaels have used.  

The cohosts then turn to a story from SixColors about the People Make Games video about Roblox.  This video spells out in detail how digital content creators in the Roblox world have the opportunity to create in-world experiences that other Roblox players may participate in, and pay for using in-world Roblox currency.  The trick is getting the in-world currency out of the virtual world and available outside of the virtual world.  Michael R compares and contrasts with other virtual world currency (Linden dollars, etc) in his summary of the video and highly recommends the Games At Work audience watches the video.

Stories about real-life Spider-Man webshooters innovations, robbers using an Apple Watch to track their mark, an autonomous sub by Bedrock, Tesla’s AI day, and the team winds up with the recent update to Skyrim.

Speaking of Bedrock, several of the Hanna-Barbera characters surfaced in this week’s episode!

What’s your favorited Hanna-Barbera character?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!

Selected Links

Slashfilm article: ‘Star Trek’ Creator Gene Roddenberry Would’ve Turned 100 Today, and NASA is Transmitting His Voice Into Space — https://www.slashfilm.com/star-trek-creator-gene-roddenberry-wouldve-turned-100-today-and-nasa-is-transmitting-his-voice-into-space/ 

Techdirt article: Court Orders Injunction Against RomUniverse To Permanently Shut Down, Destroy Nintendo ROMs — https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210817/11120647378/court-urders-injunction-against-romuniverse-to-permanently-shut-down-destroy-nintendo-roms.shtml 

Techdirt article: Video Games, Once Demonized, More Regularly Utilized For Positive Health Benefits — https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210818/10062947382/video-games-once-demonized-more-regularly-utilized-positive-health-benefits.shtml 

TechCrunch article: BrainQ raises $40m to transform stroke patient rehabilitation with its home therapy device — https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/16/brainq-raises-40m-to-transform-stroke-patient-rehabilitation-with-its-home-therapy-device/ 

Games at Work Episode 213 — Solar Heartbeat — https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/10/01/episode-213-solar-heartbeat/ 

R&D Mag article: Virtual “SnowWorld” Help Burn Victims Cope with Extreme Pain — https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/08/virtual-snowworld-helps-burn-victims-cope-extreme-pain 

SixColors article: How Roblox Exploits Young Developers — https://sixcolors.com/link/2021/08/how-roblox-exploits-young-developers/ 

Second Life Community: Buying and selling Linden dollars — https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/buying-and-selling-linden-dollars-r46/

iMore article: Robbers use Apple Watch to tail their victim before taking $500,000 in cash — https://www.imore.com/robbers-use-apple-watch-tail-their-victim-taking-500000-cash 

TechCrunch article: Bedrock modernizes seafloor mapping with autonomous sub and cloud-based data — https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/19/bedrock-modernizes-seafloor-mapping-with-autonomous-sub-and-cloud-based-data/ 

iRobot Scooba — https://store.irobot.com/default/scooba-floor-scrubbing/irobot-scooba-450/S450020.html

TechCrunch article: Top four highlights of Elon Musk’s Tesla AI Day — https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/19/top-five-highlights-of-elon-musks-tesla-ai-day/ 

The Verge article: Skyrim is getting a next-gen upgrade exactly 10 years after its original release — https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/19/22633130/skyrim-next-gen-upgrade-update-anniversary-special-edition-bethesda 

Hanna-Barbera — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna-Barbera 

Scooby-Doo — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo 

Yogi Bear — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Bear 

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