Library Voice

IGN reviews 2006 for the PS2

Welcome to IGN’s 2006 Year in Review for the PlayStation 2. Over the next seven pages we’re going to cover the highest highs and lowest lows, the biggest news and highest reviews of 2006. We’re going to look back at the year’s events, like E3, GDC and TGS, and see how well (or how little) Sony pushed the system. You’ll find a list of the year’s highest rated titles, as determined by both the IGN editors and our readers. We’ll break down the biggest news of the year and provide a few tips and tricks on the hottest games. And finally, we’ll take a look at 2007 and see what’s in store for Sony’s best-selling console.

The article includes future expectations of the console, as well as the highest-rated and best-selling games of 2006.

Some Educause articles of interest:

• Ensuring the Net Generation Is Net Savvy
• Getting Past Google: Perspectives on Information Literacy from the Millennial Mind
• How Choice, Co-Creation, and Culture Are Changing What It Means to Be Net Savvy

I’ve yet to read these but they look very interesting, particularly for a librarian who is striving to understand patrons needs and provide the most relevant instruction and services. 

Cerulean Studios is developing Trillian 4.0, which they are calling Astra.  It looks like they are trying to incorporate everything except the kitchen sink in the new project, but the project tour and the Sneak Preview look very interesting. I’ve used Trillian for quite some time, and am still a big fan of the product.  I imagine that services like meebo are beginning to lure some folks away from Trillian and other multi-protocol clients like Gaim, but I find that while meebo is quite cool, it is not as robust as I need for an everyday IM client.  Meebo only allows for text conversations, and I do have the occasional need to send files and use the audio chat feature.  As an example, I once helped a student edit his web page by sending the text file back and forth with file transfer.  Where meebo wins is that it allows me to access my buddy list and use IM from anywhere.  So I can log on at Mom’s house over the holiday break and IM my co-workers if needed, all without needing to download a client.  Also, I am very fond of the meebome widget which allows users without IM accounts to contact me.  I log into meebo every morning just to enable the widget, and I’ve actually had quite a few people contact me via the widget.  I use Trillian for my other IM accounts as it remains my IM app of choice in the office and at home, and I will be very interested to see how Astra develops. 

Second Life: Hype vs. Anti-Hype vs.  Anti-Anti-Hype

A fairly decent article that disses discusses the shortcomings of Second Life.  One quote that I thought was interesting, particularly as we investigate using SL for library services:

Can they really build a fully streamed world comprised of tens of thousands of servers? That’s way above my paygrade, but I’ll guess that challenge fits under the rubric of Fricking Hard. Can they fix a profoundly unfriendly user interface and thoroughly disorienting first hour user experience, which are aggressively, almost intentionally unwelcoming to the vast majority of interested users? Both shortcomings are at the heart of Second Life’s poor rentention rates, but neither have significantly changed in the three years since its commercial release. You have to wonder, whatever their stated intentions, if Linden’s tech-centric corporate culture simply puts their improvement at a low priority. (I have a dream, and in that dream, Linden Lab developers are locked inside 1100 Sansome with their own mothers, and not let out until they’ve improved the interface sufficiently enough so that their dear moms can easily use it.)

1UP.com has a story about how grown-up gamers are balancing work, life, children, and video games:

Gamers that stared down the challenges of reaching “just one more level” or beating an old high score are now facing a more significant challenge: blending marriages, mortgages, and parenting together with their gamer lifestyle. How are some members of the “videogame generation” coping? What do the children of gamer parents think? And where do sociologists see the “videogame generation” taking family relationships and gaming itself in the future?

One of the contributors states that he tends to not play games that don’t allow saving at any time or any place.  I too, have found that games that have predetermined save points can be a challenge to play when time is limited.  It’s really tough to put that controller down when you’re almost to a save point and the baby wakes up.  Hands down, the Playstation loses that battle every time. 

This morning a colleague asked about embedding a meebo me widget into her wiki.  The problem is that a default installation of MediaWiki does not allow embedding of Flash.  After some searching around the web, I found this extension at Glenn’s Junk Chest.  I installed the extension on her wiki (not yet public), and on the Biz Wiki as well.  Thus far it seems to work fine, and it was very easy to set up.  If you’re interested, here is how I did it:

1. Copy this code into a text file and name it gflash.php.
2. Put gflash.php into your MediaWiki extensions directory.
3. Enable the setting in your LocalSettings.php file by adding the following:  include('extensions/gflash.php');
4. Add your meebo me widget with the structure as follows: 
   480 340 http://www.somewhere.com/someflash.swf 
   In the example, the numbers determine the display size of the widget or flash file.
5. Have fun with your widget. 

Update:  Thanks to Paul’s question in the comments, I tested embedding a Captivate tutorial in the Biz Wiki.  You can see the results here.  I think it looks kind of nice and keeps the user in the wiki.  (However, this screencast was originally programmed to go to our library home page on conclusion, so users eventually leave the wiki.  This might be something to change in future versions.  )

Each year, the Electronic Software Association publishes a report detailing the “Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry.  The 2006 report is available here (pdf), and other facts are available on the website.  Older reports are a little harder to find, as they are not linked from the ESA website.  However, after a little advanced Googling, I was able to pull up the reports for the previous three years.  Here they are:

• 2005 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry (pdf)
• 2004 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry (pdf)
• 2003 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry (pdf)

The reports contain sales, demographic data, and usage data for the industry. The demographic data is very interesting, and the twenty top-selling games lists are very useful as well. 

Nate Garrelts has a new book out called Meaning And Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays .  I have not read the book, but I will admit that it looks intriguing.  I’ve looked into ordering it for our library, and it’s on my Amazon Wish List as well.  However, I do question how much you can read into a video game.  TechDigest has doubts as well.  One example is quoted in Top 10 things you never knew about Grand Theft Auto (because you’re not brainy enough):

“Edges are employed to define geographical, social, and aesthetic boundaries, and within the overall ludic framework of the game’s magic circle, the city’s aesthetic and psychological edges also come to signify various ways of understanding play spaces in relation to the city. The idea of space as ludic depends in this sense both on the spatial properties outlined by game play as well as the created sense of enclosures…”
- from ‘Cruising in San Andreas: Ludic Space and Urban Aesthetics in Grand Theft Auto’ essay by Zach Whalen.

Does this make you want to play the game? I wonder how much fun the authors had while playing the games, or if they had any fun at all.

A couple of colleagues are using meebo as method to “Talk to your librarians.”  They’re using the meebo widget which is displayed prominently on the Communications Blog and on both of their contact pages (here and here).  I’ve had the meebo widget on my Business Blog for a couple of months now, and I’ve actually had a few people contact me that way.  I’m hoping that my colleagues’ widgets really take off, and I am very much encouraged by their pioneering effort in offering this new service. I’ll try to post more on this later as the service grows. 

GamesIndustry.biz says that it is a possibility that Apple could move into the video game console business.  According to the article:

Apple’s move into the console hardware market is ‘a distinct possibility’ according to Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora.

The research company believes that Apple could combine technology from some of its leading products to create a home console, supported by the continued evolution of its market-leading

“We think the videogame market represents a distinct possibility for Apple, especially considering that it recently announced the availability of videogames for its iPod through its iTunes store,” Tortora said in a note to clients.

While this does sound very intriguing, I wonder if the industry could support a fourth console?