Roger Ebert -- Critics Are Critics

So, Roger Ebert recently outlined why he feels video games are not art, and why they never will be. Check it out here.

I appreciate what he is trying to say. I can even overlook his need to compare video games to baseball and Mah Jong. The problem is that he wrestles so hard with the idea of defining what art truly is (despite claiming to not really care about a solid definition) that he doesn't seem to realize that art has a lot more to do with human expression and the need to communicate something in a way that is largely impossible through any other means. I'm not going to argue here that games are art, but I can say I hope Mr. Ebert just leaves the subject of video games alone in the future. It's pretty clear he has no interest in truly sampling the medium to actually give his opinion some sort of first hand validity.

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iControlPad vs Apple -- FIGHT!

So, Kotaku reported on Apple finally admitting that the iPhone's lack of physical buttons kinda makes it suck for gaming about four days ago. They also outlined Apple's plans to address the situation, which was great and everything, until I realized... There are already a few people who have started trying to address this situation...

Namely the iControlPad.

I first wrote about the iControlPad back in August of 2008, and have eagerly been awaiting its production ever since. It turns out the the iControlPads have indeed entered production, and now Apple says they are going to make their own version of the device.

I know there are other groups that have been working on devices that add buttons to the iPhone, like that bone one, but the iControlPad seems the most qualified to me. As the iControlPad is being developed by the same people who made the OpenPandora gaming device, I really think they have a lot to offer in the way of making good handheld solutions to the iPhone's lack of buttons problem.

Of course, the iControlPad guys aren't going to take this sitting down. According to a snippet on Slashdot, Craigix of the OpenPandora project is already looking into the issue and what can be done about it.

Unfortunately, it seems as though Apple will, once again, do what they do best. Ignore the little guys while pushing their products to the ignorant masses, despite not having a truly original idea.

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Save MechWarrior!

So, it turns out that Microsoft is yet again managing to screw over the Machwarrior franchise. I still remember a while back when it was announced that Mechwarrior 4 was going to be released for free to help promote the series in time for a franchise reboot. Well, this would have already happened by now, had Microsoft not jumped in with a division of its lawyer army and kept the deal from actually going down. The company behind porting the game to a free version, MekTek, is asking for help.

All the details are at BigDownload, but to sum it up, MekTek has a mech expansion pack that they offer for free for Mechwarrior 4, and they are asking for donations in exchange for download. Of course, nobody is forced to donate anything, but in this case I think I may just donate a few bucks their way just to help make sure the group gets the support is deserves.

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