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Didja miss me?

I hope you enjoyed our little Wordle interlude. I thought about extending it another week, but I was afraid it might be getting stale.

Yes. This is what I did in my time off: Half Life Alyx. It was the third major Half Life title and the first VR title for Valve.

It was spectacular.

I’m playing it through a second time beginning today, listening to the developer commentary. They spent two years play-testing the opening scene, which is walking from a balcony though an apartment. Nothing happens. But they knew it would be many people’s first experience of VR, so some would spend a lot of time picking stuff up and playing with it (yes I did).

And still they had to convey lots right away about the atmosphere, the city, the backstory, the mission, the scale of the world. Among other things, it was supposed to make me understand when the game takes place (between Half Life 1 and 2). I didn’t pick up on it until the commentary. A hard thing to do, teach things to a weasel.

They made some fantastic choices. Like, to reload your pistol, you have to thumb a button to eject the empty magazine, reach behind your head to grab a full one, jam it in the magazine well and rack the slide. While running away from headcrab zombies. At the beginning of the game, play-testers panic and fumble and die so much they wanted to simplify it, but people loved it. It you feel like you’re doing a real thing. And you get better.

It’s a shame there aren’t more fabulously wealthy AAA game companies that can afford to spend two years on a few minutes of exposition.

p.s. The weather in the real world was lovely. I sat in the sun a lot.

May 9, 2022 — 7:03 pm
Comments: 3

Today’s word is a random word

And I don’t know what it is!

May 6, 2022 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 13

Awww…

May 5, 2022 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 8

Little stiff this morning

May 4, 2022 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 10

What up, _____?

It’s not so much that the copy and paste of your scores doesn’t work, it’s that my blog won’t let you post pictures in a comment thread. I’ve tried to find a way around that (I’d love you people to post pictures in my comments), but no luck so far.

May 3, 2022 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 12

Hey, I know!

I thought for sure by now someone would have come up with an easy WordPress plugin to make Wordles. Yes, they do…erm, but “wordle” is what some people call those word cloud things. That wasted a lot of googling.

Finally, I rummaged up a link to a standalone “make your own Wordle” page and then had to learn how to embed a live web page within my post. I HAD TO LEARN SOMETHING, PEOPLE! It was awful.

I think this will work. Let me know if it doesn’t. Sorry it temporarily ruins my monochrome blog, but weasels can’t be choosers.

Oh! All credit to the site that created the page I’m embedding: strivemath.com. Seems to be a cool math visualization site for kids.

Ready? GO!

May 2, 2022 — 7:43 pm
Comments: 23

If I wanted to get some exercise I wouldn’t be playing vidya games

Oh my giddy aunt! It’s the next great innovation in computing technology.

In case you can’t tell what’s going on here, you can strap your phone to your ankle and walk in your VR games. So in case you don’t look quite stupid enough inexplicably waggling your head back and forth and waving your arms about, you can now do it while you march in place like a first grader doing the Horsey Dance. Score!

The program is called Natural Locomotion and it’s a tenner on Steam. Those who gave it a thumbs up said it made the motion sickness cease and open world games like Skyrim became super immersive, but you owe it to yourself to hit the link for the video of what it’s like to watch someone use it.

This has to be the biggest disconnect between what-it-feels-like-to-experience-a-thing and what-it-feels-like-to-observe-a-thing-being-experienced since public sex.

I’ll have to download the demo and give it a try. Natural Locomotion, not the other thing.

April 5, 2022 — 6:19 pm
Comments: 17

Handsy

The Oculus headset has cameras all around the edges. This means, for example, you can “pass through” a ghostly image of the room you’re in by double-tapping the side of the headset (that’s right, Uncle B – I can *see* you make fun of me).

It can also do pretty good hand tracking. Usually, you control the beast with those Jetson’s-looking controller doohickies, but you can also set them down and use your hands.

Hand Physics Lab is a game built around hand tracking. It’s freaky. The tracking is imperfect enough to make it a challenge (man, I was throwing them apples all over the place instead of placing them in the bowl). But it’s a lot of fun.

I am assured I look amazingly stupid wiggling my fingers in the air. I mean, nobody looks good wearing a VR rig, but this is exceptionally ridiculous.

Ironically, because of the cameras, you can’t play Oculus in the dark. I’m’a wait for daylight to get better tracking.

Covid? Pff! I feel like I have a moderate headcold. I think I’ll take tomorrow off, though, and then see about Friday. No sense spreading my germs around.

March 23, 2022 — 8:33 pm
Comments: 14

Now in the Steam Store!

ABOUT THIS GAME
The heroine is a girl who likes sports. However, what is troubling is that after exercise, the stockings on her feet will be wet by sweat, giving out a unique smell.

· There are some exercise machines in her room and the player needs to control her movement.
· After sports, stockings on girls’ feet will become smelly.
· Players can make stockings with different smells by combining different sports, shoes and stockings.
· Smelly stockings can be reclaimed for money.
· Smelly feet can be washed in the bathtub after exercise.
· Fatigue can be recovered through massage props.

REVIEWS
Recommended.
POSTED: 1 MARCH

As you know, this kind of game is rare on steam. It still suits some people’s interests, doesn’t it? (just like me )XP
I hope it can do better and better.

Not recommended.
POSTED: 13 MARCH

?mAKE game more girls need more girls sweat odor sport girls athletices in this game NOW! game not enough girls stink

Recommended.
(Original in Chinese)
POSTED: 2 MARCH

I’m an idiot After playing for 22 minutes, the main way to play is to buy new socks, then do sports to make socks and sell them online. If you want to play, remember to buy socks before exercising, otherwise your exercise will be in vain (being able to change clothes does not mean that you already have that type of socks, be sure to see clearly) There are two status bars. If the cleanliness is low, you can go to the bathroom to wash. If your physical strength is low, you can go to bed for massage (really massage, don’t have any unrealistic desires) This can only change socks and take off the sports suit, and it can’t even make me a dress-up game


Only £3.99 on Steam.

We live in an age of miracles and wonders.

March 14, 2022 — 6:27 pm
Comments: 11

An update on my toy

I was struggling to play a sword-and-sorcery game with my new VR rig and couldn’t understand why everything was way high over my head out of reach. Then it dawned on me the damn thing wanted me to stand up, like I was a real person in a real environment. I stood up and…hoo, boy! Now I get why this thing makes people motion sick!

I’ll adjust. Eventually. Though I have a feeling I will always prefer apps I can use sitting down. I’m not a gamer so I can *stand up* and *get some exercise*.

There’s a cool freebie called Ecosphere that features high resolution real footage from Kenya, Borneo and Raja Ampat. I’ve always loved drone footage, but even more when it feels like I’m the drone. Also, you get up close and personal with elephants and orangutans and giant rays. Pretty convincingly realistic.

Of course, it’s sponsored by the WWF, so you get the obligatory lecture to go with, but that’s been a feature of nature films for decades. I’m immune.

Surely, somebody has made one where you just hang out under water and stare at fish for an hour. I’d so play that. I did it for real in Florida once when I were a lass – floated around on the surface for eight hours staring at fish. Worse case of sunstroke ever.

Easily my favorite so far is TRIPP – the deliberately hippie-dippy trippy meditation app. When you inhale, you see your breath swoosh in like sparkly white fairy dust; when you exhale, it flies away like shiny red sparks. A man with a California accent slowly reads a life-affirming script. It’s seriously corny and I love it.

Just the app for the moment, as we wait to see if that senile old coot in the White House gets us into a nuclear shooting war. Good weekend, everyone!

March 4, 2022 — 8:17 pm
Comments: 5