Mashing buttons since 1984
Check it out: WiiBot: How to build a sword-wielding, tennis-playing, WiiMote-controlled, friendly robot
My inner-geek jumped for joy as I read this. A couple engineers used a Wii-mote to control a robotic arm to swing a tennis racket and a sword. Very cool. Complete with a video.
(via MAKE: Blog)
I just finished playing the Crackdown Demo, and it is a blast! Crackdown is a cross between Mercenaries and Grand Theft Auto, except that instead of being, you know, human you’re some kind of a bionic cop. You can do things like leap 20 feet in the air, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, a-la The Matrix. You also have superhuman strength, lifting and throwing cars and dumpsters hundreds of feet. You’ve also got a mean roundhouse kick. We’re talking Chuck Norris-level roundhouses. I roundhoused some random car so hard I knocked the guy in the passenger seat clear out of the car, all the way across the street. It was funny as it sounds. I spent most of my time roundhousing everyone and everything in sight.
Visually, I’m in love with how Crackdown looks. It has a cel-shaded, comic book look and feel. Very pleasing, visually. I wasn’t a huge fan of the controls, but I am a huge fan of how big and wide open the game looks to be. I didn’t even complete any of the missions in the demo. I spent the whole time driving around the city, running over bad guys (and civilians), jumping from building to building and roundhousing cars. I was warned on more than one occasion that I was crossing the line of harming too many civilians. I felt like a robot renegade cop. It was quite hilarious.
Crackdown definitley will be going on my short list of games to get next.
We’re currently experiencing some issues here while I try to upgrade to WordPress 2.1. I did something that has broken something, somewhere. I’ve made a bunch of changes to things all at once, which was probably a huge mistake, but I’ll be messing with the site for a bit. It will probably look screwy for a bit, but please bear with us.
Update: Yup, I broke something. I was reactivating my plugins after a successful upgrade to 2.1, then something got borked when I tried to activate, then deactivate the Widgets plug-in. The fit hit the shan and somehow everything got hosed. I rolledback to 2.0.3 and restored my backup (always back up, kids!) but I’m still seeing things I don’t like. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to fix my screw ups. Again, your patience is appreciated!
I’m going back under the hood. Wish me luck.
Update 2: Well, it looks like I’ve managed to at least get almost everything back to normal. The only problem I’m having is that my static pages, like the Carnival HQ page, was not restored from my backup. Not sure if that’s normal or not, but the data for each individual page is still in the database, it’s just sitting there, not populating the pages on the site. It’s not a show-stopper, as I can just copy and paste them into new pages, but it’s still a hassle. I spent a bunch of time writing a whole new “About Me” page right before the update and now it’s gone. Gone, I tell ya! Nevertheless, it’s late, so I’m going to restore the pages and my sidebar modules real fast and then head to bed.
Update 3: Okay, I think I’ve got everything fixed and back to normal. What a pain! Anyway, I actually had some real site updates before I decided to upgrade to WP 2.1, so let me tell you about those.
First off, I joined the site “MyBlogLog” which is hard to explain exactly what it is, but I liked the little sidebar thingy that will show when other members of MyBlogLog visit my site. It also provides some rudimentary site statistics, but nothing fancy. Anyway, if you’re a MyBlogLog member, you already know all this. If you’re not a member, but you have a blog or are just intersted in checking it out, here’s the “community page” for buttonmashing.com. Feel free to join.
I also, finally, updated my “About” page to actually have some content in there. I figured that after two-and-a-half years of running the site I probably should have a real About page. So there it is. Check it out!
I mentioned earlier about a guy using the Wii as a way to lose weight, and there have since been articles popping up everywhere with success stories about people gaming their way to better health. I think we’ll see an increase in attention to this aspect of the Wii for a while, people will work on Wii Workouts (someone already has WiiWorkout.net, which redirects to the blog of the Wii weight-loss guy mentioned in the Reuters article) and then the media will move on to something else.
I figure it will be a fad that will shortly fade away. In the meantime, it will be fun to watch what people will do with the new technology.
So I’m faced with a TV viewing dilemma: Today is the season premier of Heroes, the surprise hit show for NBC. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Heroes and have looked forward to the new season. Barring a few “huh?” moments (Hiro fighting a T-Rex? Huh?), Heroes is very enjoyable. The problem? It’s scheduled to go right up against 24. I have a long standing relationship with 24, something I don’t want to end yet. Despite my initial reservations for this season, 24 and I have a history together that cannot be ignored. So now I have to decide if I stick with the old stand-by or jump ship and shack up with the new flavor of the month. What should I do? Please note that “TiVo one and watch the other” is not the answer I’m looking for, for two reasons. One, I don’t have a DVR and refuse to record one of these shows on the VCR. It’s HD or nothing, baby! Two, I’m actually trying to cut down on TV viewing, so I’m thinning my watching schedule. Lost is already very close to being cut in favor of playing basketball Wednesday evenings. I just don’t know what to cut between 24 and Heroes. Decisions, decisions.
I guess another option is to watch Heroes on another channel. Doesn’t the Sci-Fi channel usually rebroadcast Heroes episodes a week or two later? That would mean no HD heroes, which really isn’t acceptable.
Regardless of what happens, I’m pumped about Prison Break starting up again tonight. No schedule conflicts there!
I’m pretty sure the audiences of 24 and Heroes are pretty similar, and I know a bunch of you guys watch both. What are you’re plans for this scheduling conundrum?
If you’re not watching “The Show” with Ze Frank, well, you should be. You’re missing out.
Yesterday’s show was Ze talking about playing with his new Wii. Sure, he makes all the obvious “Wii” jokes, but he also brings some funny stuff, too. Heck, he even found some new games you should check out. “Don’t Wake the Bees” sounds like a great game.
I’ve finally uploaded pictures of the unboxing of my new 50″ Samsung DLP HDTV. (For those interested, here’s a link to my TV on Samsung’s website) In all honesty, my pictures don’t really do justice to this TV. It is, quite simply, a beautiful thing that can not be captured by a camera and distilled into bits and bytes. It needs to be experienced. But since I can’t have you all over, pictures will have to do.
Hit the jump for the rest of the pictures:
[Read more…] about The unboxing of the Samsung
Okay, fellow 24 junkies, I’ve had a chance to digest the four-hour season premier of 24. (If you were wondering, yes, 24 kicks some serious butt in HD). So far, I have mixed feelings about the way this season has started. There are some things I like and some things I have a problem with. I do, however, have a few questions (– SPOILER ALERT –):
How did Wayne Palmer become President that fast? I thought he had no interest in serving in office? Maybe I missed something.
And what about his sister? Years have elapsed in the “24 Universe,” yet there was never a mention (that I can remember) of a sister. Sounds Star Wars-esque.
Where are Aaron Pierce and Mike Novick? We all know that Jack and Aaron are the only ones that will survive the apocalypse. Curtis is obvious proof of that. Jack and Aaron are like cockroaches. They can survive fricken nuclear winter. So where is Agent Pierce?
Speaking of Curtis, Holy Crap on Stilts! Who saw that coming?! I thought Curtis was, like, a Jack Junior or something. Mrs. buttonMasher was very disappointed to see Curtis buy the farm so early.
I’m not as steeped in 24 Lore as some of you may be, so if you can enlighten me, I’d appreciate it.
I was surfing the blogosphere, wishing I had a Wii and seeing how much fun other people were having with theirs. I came across this guy, who is using the Wii as a fitness tool. I’m sure he’s not the first person to use the Wii in such a way (there’s the whole fitness mini game as part of Wii sports, right?), but if it works, good for him. He’s using wrist weights, which should help with the actual exercising aspect of his plan.
But what really caught my eye was a link he has on his latest update, a link to a studio by the Mayo Clinic (a rather reputable source) that basically says that video games (of the physically interactive persuasion, like DDR and Eye-Toy games) can be beneficial. The study was of a small group of children, but showed postive results. What surprised me the most was this:
Screen time (both TV and video games) now averages eight hours a day among children.
That sure seems like a lot of time in front of the TV. I’d say the first step in getting kids to exercise is to get them away from the television. Nevertheless, this is good news, that people are recognizing that video games can be a healthy part of a kid’s life. Let’s hope the trend continues.
This has also prompted me to keep an eye out for more positive stories like this. I’ve often commented on stories that show that video games aren’t harmful, but now I’m more interested in stories that show video games are helpful. I hope there will be more to come.
Now that both of the little mashers know how to open the DS Lite and use the touch screen, you might not want to leave games like Animal Crossing: Wild World cartridge in the slot, especially if the saved game represents a lot of time spent on the game. It’s bad enough that they open and close the case with recklesss abandon (yes, you’ve been cursed with the hinge crack), but now they’ve gone and erased your Animal Crossing town. The sleepy village of Pamplona is no more, having been banished to the Luminiferous ether.
So it looks like your days of playing Animal Crossing: Wild World are over. It’s doubtful you’ll be going back any time soon, now that you’ve got a pinata garden to tend to. The animals in the Wild World will miss you, for sure, but someday you’ll make it back to see them.
Meddling little kids!