e382 – Know it when I see it | Games At Work dot Biz

Flying Toaster created with #Craiyon 4 Sept 2022

In this week’s @GamesAtWork_biz episode, Andy and Michael bring you a 100% spoiler free roundup of this week’s top stories in technology, metaverse, gamification and a whole lot more.

First up, Andy shares the news about his recent guest spot on Coffee and Open Source. Then the pair turn to an interesting article about Fortnite as the metaverse. They also talk about what it was before the battle royale experience, and the fact that that there are other experiences in this virtual world beyond that.

Staying on games, Michael and Andy consider a review of Pentiment, which has some intriguing user experience features, and a design that is simultaneously reminiscent of Monty Python sketches and animated renaissance paintings. Then, without causing any spoilers at all about the Rings of Power, the co-hosts remark how an English professor writes a virtual excuse note for anyone who has not yet read any other Tolkien material (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc).

Next up is a story that has been making the rounds of the AI x art world – where the first place winner of the Colorado State Fair in the Digital Arts/Digitally Manipulated Photography category is an AI-generated artwork piece. Of course, this then launches a discussion between Andy and Michael on the fun and games of Midjourney, Dall·E 2 and craiyon. The short clip from John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight is a funny look at this trend.

Staying on the art theme, Michael plucks a piece from the Erza Klein podcast dealing with Rotten Tomatoes, and the concept that art is not easily reduced to a social score. The podcast uses the Rotten Tomatoes score as an example of this, and that 50 people who love a movie and 50 people who pan it averages out to an average score – not that much help, when you think about how significant art moves people’s emotions.

Wrapping things up this week with the announcements from Lenovo at the IFA Berlin trade show – the new Glasses T1 wearable display and the ThinkPad X1 Fold, Andy and Michael briefly touch on 3D television and the ThinkPad 701 butterfly keyboard.

What do you think makes great art? What are your thoughts on the Rings of Power premier? Drop us a line at @gamesatwork_biz and let us know!