Everything was very good - R30 Issue #16

Someone asked for recommendations regarding evening-long video game documentaries, and people were happy to oblige: EVE Online (6 hours), Alan Wake 2 (5.5 hours), Pokemon Brilliant Diamond (11 hours), Fallout (9.25 hours), and Robin Hood: Conquest of the Longbow (2 hours).

If that’s too long, despair not: Noclip has started a four-part series on the creation of Dwarf Fortress, and each episode seems to be about 20-30 minutes long. Much more manageable.

Meanwhile, I did some actual gaming last weekend while listening to episodes of the Motley Fool Money podcast. I honestly can’t tell you anything about what the hosts were talking about, because I was too busy trying to figure out the patterns in Hexcells Infinite and Baba is You. Especially Baba is You had me staring at the same puzzle for 4 hours straight, and I still didn’t solve it. The nerve! Seriously.

BTW, that’s what I’ve always liked about chess puzzles: If you struggle with the challenges at a higher level, losing repeatedly just dumps you back into the lower bracket. Where you can solve new puzzles at a familiar level of difficulty, in the hopes of gaining the confidence and skill for harder stuff. I wish the level design in video games were similar to this. Instead it’s “Oh well you’ve mastered level 4, time to ramp it up. Too bad if that means it’s no longer fun and relaxing.” But I realize game designers don’t have the resources to create multitudes of levels that will likely never be seen by the majority of players. This is possible with chess puzzles, since every puzzle is just a snapshot from one of the multitudes of online chess games. Possibly chosen by an algorithm? I’ll have to look into it.

If you’re not into puzzles, but psychedelic ego-shooter adventures, check out Psycho Patrol R. It just released into Early Access, and is by the same people who brought us Cruelty Squad. Apparently Psycho Patrol R lets you control a giant robot as part of the European Police Force. Aha. I actually bought Cruelty Squad during the last sale, but still haven’t looked at it. But it takes place in a “sewage infused garbage world”, according to the store page.

If you’re not into games, but expensive cars, there’s the Top Gear look at the Rolls Royce Spectre Black Badge. Enjoy a classy boat-like ride, on the race track. If you’re poor and angry at the wealth inequality, let it be known that Lamborghini had its best financial year in the company’s history. Molto bene! Double-digit revenue increase, oh my. What’s that about the rich getting richer? But wait! No need to be sad. There’s a new racing simulator in town, and it only costs about £58,750 plus tax. See? That’s much cheaper than a Lambo or a Rolls.

Speaking of luxury items, Bulgari released a new watch, err, horological machine, in the shape of an egyptian scarab. Or snake. To me it looks like a scarab from The Mummy film franchise, but they’ve decided to call it Bulgari x MB&F Serpenti. Pair it with the 60th-anniversary edition of the Casio calculator, only available in Japan, for now.

What about history and politics? I’ve started watching a documentary on the Thirty Years War. Seems good, although I have to rewind occasionally because it’s very info-dense. I’ve also dipped my toes into Schopenhauer, because why not. Not much to say about the eternal pessimist, except I found this quote quite charming:

“But such a God Jehovah, who, for his own amusement and out of sheer gaiety of heart, brings forth this world of distress and misery, and then even goes so far as to applaud himself with ‘Everything was very good’ (Moses, 1.31): That is unbearable.”

From Arthur Schopenhauer, “Parerga und Paralipomena II,” Chapter 12, §156.

Leftovers: Interview with Steyr AUG Developer Dr. Ingo Wieser, Prisons are using Virtual Reality on people in solitary confinement, Dieter Rams Less and More Interview

Soldiers plundering a farm by Sebastian Vrancx, ca. 1620

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