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GTA 5 on top again in UK (again)
Inside, you see a very tall man in a bow tie and tuxedo, sitting behind a desk. "Good morning," opens the very tall man, who you now realize is the spitting image of a young John Cleese. "It's my duty to inform you, brave adventurer, that Grand Theft Auto 5 took the UK No. 1 this week. It's the third time it's re-taken the British top spot, but that's neither here or there, really. Sales of this week's top three were half of last week's. So, right now, topping the UK charts is a bit like winning a beauty pageant held in Mordor. Never mind, eh?" You smile and nod, looking for the exit. "Anyway," he says sternly... is he John Cleese? "You have a choice ahead of you, adventurer." The very tall man points to a small arcade cabinet on your left. The screen, which appears to be made of paper and held up by someone inside the cabinet, simply says "Push a button." To press the button with a picture of a tree on it, turn to page 17 To press the button with the Joystiq logo on it, turn to page 63 To press the button with a picture of a pig on it, turn to page 245605B
Choose Your Own Adventure available for iPhone as U-Ventures
If you, like me, were a big scifi/fantasy reader at a young age, you probably remember the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series. It was a series of books in which, every chapter or so, you could make a choice that affected the story, and you were then prompted to turn to a certain page to continue the story after that choice. Edward Packard was the original author of that series, and he's now teamed up with an iPhone app company to create U-Ventures, a throwback iPhone application that works as an interactive, e-book style Choose You Own Adventure. The first book is called "Return to the Cave of Time" (after the first book in the original series), and just like the old series, it offers up a set of second-person branching paths. Unfortunately, at US$3.99, the app is pretty expensive. Reviews say that there are only about 15 minutes of content to go through here, and while the old books were short, there are a lot of other interactive storytelling options on the App Store in the form of games and other e-books. But as a retro return to the old form, it's a nice taste of what's possible. I'm hoping that Packard will update the idea a little bit and make it a little more iPhone-friendly next time. Or, ... you could just roll your own. Our own Victor Agreda wrote about iPod-friendly CYOA books a long time ago. Download some of those onto your iPod, and you could be right back in those old pre-video game days of interactive storytelling. [via Slashdot]
Star Wars: The Old Republic Fan Friday introduces MS Paint and CYOA
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Fan Friday is back with another week's worth of fan-tastic goodness. Given the enduring legacy of the Star Wars franchise (and we're not just talking films and games here), it's no surprise that Lucas' creation is still one of the pinnacles of sci fi.But back to The Old Republic. As part of the latest Fan Friday segment on the official site, this week's showcase of what the community has been up to is actually quite revealing. There's a Choose Your Own Adventure and a really interesting tutorial showing how to create your own artwork using (of all things) MS Paint that really shows what this much derided freebie program is capable of. Finally there's a new official poll and a peek at some Trooper avatars.
