Games At Work dot Biz

Episode 274 — Beautiful Virtual World

By Michael Martine | May 25, 2020 - 06:08 |May 24, 2020 Podcast

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photo by Michael Martine, Columbia SC 2017

It’s a beautiful world we live in, and the virtual aspects make it even more so. A happy 40th anniversary celebration to Namco’s Pac-Man and 30th for Microsoft Solitaire. Amazing to think about how games such as these have been around now for so long, and are part of the fabric so many people’s computer experiences. Infocom’s text based adventures pop up in the discussion, and Michael M finds the scratch-n-sniff page from Phobos in his collection – see show notes for a picture!)

Microsoft’s GW-BASIC has now been open sourced, which prompts the expected memory lane conversation between Michael, Michael and Andy, and even lands on an audio description of the “snow” code in BASIC, faithfully reproduced for the listeners here:

10 print “* * * * * * * * * * * *”
20 print “ * * * * * * * * * * * *”
30 goto 10

With many people knowing of Michael R’s Devo fandom, the surfacing of the power dome face shield on Club Devo had many reaching out to him. There is indeed something for everybody in the Devo store!

The story about Eschaton as a virtual maze of twisty passages and rooms, all unalike spurs a discussion on Secret Cinema, and the breaching of the 4th wall where the viewer becomes the viewed, and possibly a participant in the event.

The reality of AR glasses represented by North Focals, and the rumors of what Apple is working on continues to inspire “spec”ulation on what the breakthrough app will be for AR. Apple’s rumored Gobi puts an emphasis on business, and the idea of using AR for Apple’s Find My app for directing the user to find the lost device feels like a great way to bring AR to life for people who are unaccustomed to the technology.

Bird Chargers & Lime Juicers resurface as a remote job possibility, where riders can hail a GoX scooter that will be remotely driven to their desired position by a teleoperator driver. This, coupled with the high demand for package and food delivery may be the interim step for autonomous vehicles, collecting detailed route data that can be fed into the AI corpus needed for fully autonomous vehicles.

We continue to hope that everyone is safe, healthy and well. The team is looking forward to reassembling again for another episode next week! Drop us a line with what you expect to be the next ways people will get together, whether for business or fun.

Selected Links

The Library Blog: The Origins of Bank Holidays — http://libraryblog.lbrut.org.uk/wordpress/2016/12/origins-bank-holidays/

The Verge article: Microsoft Solitaire turns 30 years old today and still has 35 million monthly players — https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/22/21266718/microsoft-solitaire-30-years-old-history-birthday-record-attempt

The Guardian article: The game that ate the world: 40 facts on Pac-Man’s 40th birthday — https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/may/22/pac-man-video-game-40-years-old

The Verge article: Pac-Man will be playable on Twitch starting this June — https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/22/21266881/pac-man-live-studio-playable-on-twitch-june

Wikipedia article: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim_vs._the_World

Wikipedia article: Pixels — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixels_(2015_film)

Just one of the subjects discussed in this week’s episode 274 — to be published on Monday! #infocom #scratchnsniff pic.twitter.com/efPkD2Ic7x
— GamesAtWork_Biz (@GamesAtWork_Biz) May 23, 2020

ZDNet article: Microsoft takes you back to 1983: It’s just open-sourced its GW-BASIC interpreter — https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-takes-you-back-to-1983-its-just-open-sourced-its-gw-basic-interpreter/

New Wave gods DEVO are selling face shields based on their trademark “energy dome” hats. https://t.co/DOOj9pXaXy
— Geek & Sundry (@GeekandSundry) May 18, 2020

Club Devo: http://www.clubdevo.com

Wikipedia article: Devo album “Something for Everybody” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_for_Everybody_(Devo_album)

The Verge article: Eschaton is a surreal Zoom nightclub — and a theater for the age of social distancing — https://www.theverge.com/21266127/eschaton-chorus-productions-immersive-theater-zoom-nightclub-experiment

Wikipedia article: Devo album “Something for Everybody” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_for_Everybody_(Devo_album)

Secret Cinema — https://www.secretcinema.org

Cult of Mac article: Take a peek at Gobi, the shopping-oriented AR app coming in iOS 14 — https://www.cultofmac.com/711135/augmented-reality-viewer-app-ios-14-gobi/

Forbes article: What North’s Focals AR Glasses Taught Me About Augmented Reality — https://www.forbes.com/sites/moorinsights/2019/12/12/what-norths-focals-ar-glasses-taught-me-about-augmented-reality/#320da5373fe5

North — https://www.bynorth.com

Josh Constine’s Moving Product blog: Leaked pics from Apple’s AR app Gobi — https://constine.substack.com/p/leaked-pics-from-apples-ar-app-gobi

MacRumors article: Jon Prosser Claims Apple is Working on ‘Steve Jobs Heritage Edition’ AR Glasses, Gurman Calls Rumor ‘Complete Fiction’ — https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/21/steve-jobs-heritage-edition-ar-glasses/

TechCrunch article: Remote operators in Mexico are driving scooters to riders in this Atlanta suburb — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/20/remote-operators-in-mexico-are-driving-scooters-to-riders-in-this-atlanta-suburb/

Go X Self-Driving Electric Scooter Sharing — https://goxapollo.com/index.html

Games At Work Episode 236 — A Magic Leap for Botkind (including Lime Squeezers & Byrd Catchers) — https://gamesatwork.biz/2019/06/17/episode-236-a-magic-leap-for-botkind/

Snapdrop — https://snapdrop.net/#about

TechCrunch article: Help Wanted: Autonomous robot guide — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/17/help-wanted-autonomous-robot-guide/

objc blog post: SwiftUI: Running a Mac App Without an Xcode Project — https://www.objc.io/blog/2020/05/19/swiftui-without-an-xcodeproj/

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Episode 273 — Virtually There

By Michael Martine | May 18, 2020 - 06:25 |May 17, 2020 Podcast

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Image created by Catherine Cordasco. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives

When you can’t be there physically, it’s nice to know that you can be virtually there. This week’s episode is all about shrinking the social distance to be something safe, manageable and more humanistic by (surprise, surprise) taking advantage of augmented reality and virtual reality.

Want to take a picture of an object and import into your presentation? Don’t worry. AR Copy Paste has got you covered.

Want to get an appropriately social distant seat at a sporting event or concert? Head on over to Fortnite or reflect on Apple’s acquisition of NextVR.

Have that need to sing out? There are many avenues for that — Andy brings up the example of the City Academy Singers rendition of Björk’s song Jóga and Michael M’s son has created several YouTube videos, the latest of which is Georgia On My Mind.

Can’t travel to a favorite destination while in lockdown? Airbnb, Disney and others have ideas for you.

We had so many things to talk about this week, but don’t worry! All the links are in the show notes below.

Selected Links

Fast Company article: This magical interface will let you copy and paste the real world into your computer — https://www.fastcompany.com/90502461/this-magical-interface-will-let-you-copy-and-paste-the-real-world-into-your-computer

AR Copy Paste — https://arcopypaste.app

Bloomberg article: Apple Acquires Startup NextVR that Broadcasts VR Content — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-14/apple-acquires-startup-nextvr-to-gain-virtual-reality-content

NextVR — https://nextvr.com

Forbes article: ‘Fortnite’ Party Royale Will Become ‘Second Life’ On Its Way To Being The Metaverse — https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2020/05/09/fortnite-party-royale-will-become-second-life-on-its-way-to-being-the-metaverse/#4874158a20c1

Inverse article: Lockdown Singing: The Science of Why Music Helps Us Connect In Isolation — https://www.inverse.com/science/lockdown-singing

Eamonn O’Dwyer Facebook post: City Academy Singers Virtual Choir signing Jóga by Björk — https://www.facebook.com/eamonn.odwyer.96/posts/10163642408165360

Adweek article: Airbnb and Bumble Are Giving Quarantined Daters Free Virtual Experiences — https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/airbnb-bumble-quarantined-daters-virtual-experiences/

Slash Film article: Disney’s ‘Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance’ Video Lets You Experience the Theme Park Ride Virtually — https://www.slashfilm.com/disney-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-video/

Cnet article: Zoom, but in VR: Why Spatial’s free meeting app feels like a leap forward — https://www.cnet.com/news/zoom-but-in-vr-why-spatials-free-meeting-app-feels-like-a-leap-forward/

Spatial — https://spatial.io

Upload VR article: Oculus Quest Now Works On Rift & SteamVR With The Cable In The Box — https://uploadvr.com/oculus-link-usb-2-update/

Epic Online Services — https://dev.epicgames.com/en-US/services

Extended remix links for this week

Vice article: This Computer Chip Has Only One Purpose: Running ‘Doom’ — https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qj4485/this-computer-chip-has-only-one-purpose-running-doom

The Register article: Source code for seminal adventure game Zork circa-1977 exhumed from MIT tapes, plonked on GitHub — https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/08/zork_source_code_released/

TechCrunch article: This material can heal itself when cut — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/14/this-material-can-heal-itself-when-cut/

Apple newsroom: Apple unveils biggest update to Logic since the launch of Logic Pro X — https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/05/apple-unveils-biggest-update-to-logic-since-the-launch-of-logic-pro-x/

Mashable article: All 201 episodes of ‘The Office’ will be recreated on Slack — https://mashable.com/article/the-office-slack-mschf/

Safe Spacer — https://www.safespacer.net

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Episode 272 — Serenity Meow

By Michael Martine | May 11, 2020 - 06:26 |May 11, 2020 Podcast

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cat playing — Photo by Dimitri Houtteman on Unsplash

Our feline friends feature prominently in this episode, with stories of game design and games inspired by and for cats. Check out the show, and the links below for the cute cats, and an AR cat hide and seek game for those that are staying at home.

The team talks through several stories about virtual worlds and games as social platforms, bringing people together, and continuing on the themes expressed in last week’s episode. There is a funny exchange on fast fashion being a driver for digital goods, and augmented reality is held up as a social distancing solution for retail to help people envision products in their own environment.

Going back to the future, Andy shares a 2007 blog post on “ambient intimacy” reacting to Michael M’s comments on loose-tight relationships — an intriguing read, and a link to Leisa Reichelt’s post is included in the show notes below.

For those that want to envision the future today, Jane McGonigal gave a presentation on how to do this by playing her game of writing 100 facts about a topic. Then, you rewrite these facts as the opposite and looking for signals of change that would indicate these opposite facts could be true in the future. Given that only a few months ago, most everyone would agree that an opposite fact of “all schools are closed and students learn via distance education only” would have seemed to be an implausible reality, yet here we are.

Some intriguing ideas out of Silicon Valley are discussed, such as how Zoom is using AI to identify and stop griefing and a Figma representation called “Stay At Home Valley” is a crowdsourced virtual view of the participants favorite establishments in the Valley.

We continue to hope that everyone is staying safe, healthy and well. The team is looking forward to reassembling again for another episode next week!

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: We need more video games that are social platforms first, games second — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/02/virtual-worlds-video-games-coronavirus-social-networks-fortnite-animal-crossing/

Leisa Reichelt’s blog post on Ambient Intimacy — http://www.disambiguity.com/ambient-intimacy/

Youth Online — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10180827-youth-online

Convergence Culture — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38860.Convergence_Culture

Wired article: Zoom Not Cutting It for You? Try Exploring a Virtual World — https://www.wired.com/story/zoom-not-cutting-it-virtual-world-online-town/

Stay At Home Valley on Figma — https://www.figma.com/file/VIyGjdIshMAtIKYdUM214Z/Stay-At-Home-Valley?node-id=34%3A70

Silicon Valley TV show — https://www.hbo.com/silicon-valley/

Blue Bottle Coffee — https://bluebottlecoffee.com/

Los Angeles Times article: Your cat — yes, your cat! — can teach you about game design — https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-05-08/what-your-cat-can-teach-you-about-game-design

GDC Vault session: What Cats Can Teach You About Empathic Game Design — https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025752/What-Cats-Can-Teach-You

TechCrunch article: “Here Kitty!” is an adorable way to pass the time while staying at home — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/04/here-kitty-is-an-adorable-way-to-pass-the-time-while-staying-at-home/

TechCrunch article: AR is the answer to plummeting retail sales during lockdown — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/06/ar-is-the-answer-to-plummeting-retail-sales-during-lockdown/

Tumult blog: Reviving a 16-year old Mac App — https://blog.tumult.com/2020/05/04/reviving-a-16-year-old-mac-app/

Institute for the Future — After the Pandemic: Writing the Stories of the Future — http://www.iftf.org/our-work/health-self/afterthepandemic/writing-the-stories-of-the-future/

Apartment Therapy: You Can Now Play Classic Arcade Games for Free Right In Your Browser — https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/free-online-arcade-games-36750295

The Bold Italic article: The Weirdest S*** to Come Out of Silicon Valley in April — https://thebolditalic.com/the-weirdest-shit-to-come-out-of-silicon-valley-in-april-2020-22924462d1f0

Thilo Schön Lego Design — http://www.thilo-schoen.de/lego.html

Moderation Town YouTube channel — https://www.youtube.com/user/moderationtown?app=desktop

ModerationTown IMDb — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1832710/

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Episode 271 — Conference Royale

By Michael Martine | May 4, 2020 - 06:06 |May 3, 2020 Podcast

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coffee and conference name tag — Photo by Allie on Unsplash

Happy MayTheFourth everybody!

It’s conference season, and in the news this week are several articles about virtual worlds, MMORPGs and games becoming an accessible way to connect with others. After a quick discussion on the games to be played this weekend, Michael, Michael and Andy talk about how there would be often be a meta conversation happening during a conference, for example, with a specific twitter hashtag that people would use to exchange ideas, frequently shown on a video monitor on stage. It is easy to see how games, MMORPGs and virtual worlds can help augment the virtual conference experience with people bumping into one another because of the place where they’re interacting. Fortnite continues having concerts, recently with Travis Scott drawing over 12M concurrent viewers, and also establishing a Party Royale mode where the objective is not to have a battle, but rather a place to be cooperative vs combative. Once again, very reminiscent of the Second Life experience. Ian Hughes’ avatar in SL gets an upgrade, and Animal Crossing is used as a conference venue for Deserted Island DevOps.

In the world of robotics, MIT uses gesture controls to guide and fly a drone through hoops, which also then reminds Andy of the Myo armband and the Nintendo Power Glove. iRobot reportedly will not launch their lawn mowing robot in 2020.

Contact lenses are back in the news, with new smart wearables designed to monitor diabetes and deliver medicine to the wearer. How do they get the micro doses of medicine into the contact lens? Scrolling down in the same article, Mojo Vision (not Mojo Nixon) calls their version of AR “Invisible Computing” because it overlays what you see with relevant information, without needing to wear something over your eyes to block out real reality.

In the time warp games section, a 1994 baseball fighting game reminds Michael M of Arch Rivals, a basketball fighting game from 1989, where players are encouraged to punch their opponent to steal the ball, and score.

We continue to hope that everyone is staying safe, healthy and well. The team is looking forward to reassembling again for another episode next week!

Selected Links

Board Game Geek: Civitas Nihilium — https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/273825/civitas-nihilium

Board Game Geek: Andy Piper Board Game Collection — https://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/andypiper

Fortnite continues to push away from BR/gun-based play as it pursues more social/hangout-based virtual world experiences

Launching a new island focused on races, building, fishing, dancing, skill competitions – no guns allowed, no deaths https://t.co/7wua9XmesV
— Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) April 29, 2020

PCGames N article: Fortnite Party Royale is live – a social hub to relax while you queue — https://www.pcgamesn.com/fortnite/party-royale-release-date-map

I had to look this up to discover what the constant was when @pcalc updated today. Nice job, James! Avogadro, step aside – I may have a new favorite number. cc: @GamesAtWork_Biz
— Michael Martine (@carolinabigblue) April 25, 2020

PC Mag article: New Use for Animal Crossing: Virtual Tech Conference Venue — https://www.pcmag.com/news/new-use-for-animal-crossing-virtual-tech-conference-venue

TechCrunch article: MIT muscle-control system for drones lets a pilot use gestures for accurate and specific navigation — https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/27/mit-muscle-control-system-for-drones-lets-a-pilot-use-gestures-for-accurate-and-specific-navigation/

Robotshop Myo Gesture Control Armband – Black — https://www.robotshop.com/uk/myo-gesture-control-armband-black.html