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Macworld 2010: Adam Savage re-enacts the EFF's history
We visited a lot of parties last night (and the TUAW bloggers are nursing hangovers because of it), but the best was undoubtedly the Electronics Frontier Foundation's 20th anniversary bash at the DNA Lounge. It wasn't strictly Mac-related, but Mythbuster Adam Savage was in the house, and he led a hilarious re-enactment of some of the major moments in the EFF's history, assisted by various objects and people "found around the club". Of course, since there were quite a few luminaries in the house (including the founders of the EFF, the crew from Steve Jackson Games, and other tech who's whos), the re-enactment actually ended up being re-enacted by most of the actual participants. We captured video of the event, and it's both informational and hilarious -- you can catch it in two segments after the break below. Stay tuned for more from Macworld 2010 all this week -- the floor opens today, and we'll have live streaming video right here on the site, as well as hands-on, interviews, and news from the show in San Francisco all week long. For the iPhone-friendly YouTube video, click here.
One Shots: Should I stay or should I go?
A while back we asked for any glitches our readers were seeing in their favorite games. Of course, we also love it when we get screenshots with fantastic and funny notes like the one that came with today's glitchy Warhammer Online screenshot sent in to us by Maldronnar. He writes in: You said you wanted some shots of glitches, so here's one of my favorites from WAR. Around the High Pass/Talabecland area there are several caves that never seem to look right on my end. A glitch that still exists even after the 1.2 update is what I like to call "Magical Purple Caves". I've heard that if you wait around long enough inside of them, you'll spawn an instance with Barney the dinosaur as a boss, and that he has some really good mythic drops. Here's my Warrior Priest, Maldronnar, contemplating whether or not he should go in after the children's icon, or continue on to that keep defense. For all that they are kind of strange, glitches can be kind of fun to look at - if nothing more, it makes you stop and wonder what the heck caused it! If you've run across any weird glitches in your travels - in Warhammer Online or elsewhere - grab a quick screenshot and send those in to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Be sure to add your name and the game it comes from so we can pontificate on what went wonky.%Gallery-9798%
Students snatched up to develop Portal
There's an interesting rags to finely rendered riches story to be found in an interview conducted with Valve's newest employees -- the DigiPen students responsible for Narbacular Drop, a crazy foray into transitive gameplay that now serves as the inspiration for Valve's mindbending Portal. Kim Swift, one of the developers on the project, notes how rapidly their run-in with Gabe Newell changed their careers and their lives:"Gabe watched our demo and basically hired us on the spot. It was kind of shocking. We stood around in the parking lot afterwards gibbering to ourselves for about 20 minutes."The rest of the interview clarifies some issues regarding the Half-Life 2: Episode Two companion, ruling out multiplayer (for now) and firmly labeling the game as a level-based adventure of puzzles and experiments gone awry. Swift was slightly lethargic in sharing information with regards to where exactly Portal fits into the Half-Life universe, though we'd bet a headcrab or two that the protagonist will be a Black Mesa alumni. Perhaps Adrian Shepherd has become an unwitting test subject for the Aperture Science Laboratories? That suggestion isn't too outlandish, at least not to the same degree as this response from Swift when she seemingly misunderstands a question about EA potentially purchasing Valve:"As far as I know, Valve has no plans of purchasing EA."Win-win scenario in an alternate universe: Valve-EA releases a Half-Life game on time, every year.Previously: Half-Life 2 confirmed for Xbox 360, PS3 First trailer of Valve's Portal released Team Fortress 2 is so 'incredibles'
Nintendo gifts birthday boy Bush with DS Lite, Brain Age
Just like you're not supposed to tug on Superman's cape, it's probably not the best idea to send the most powerful man in the world a gag gift on his birthday, so we've got to give props to our good friends at Nintendo for risking an ugly international incident to break President Bush off with a DS Lite in honor of his sixtieth -- and bundling in a copy of Brain Age to presumably help ward off his impending dementia. According to our sources inside the White House, after muttering under his breath about how "this doesn't work like my iPod," Mr. Bush decided to move onto more important matters like national security and regift the console to his Scottish Terrier Barney -- who was able to have a game of Nintendogs up and running within minutes. [Via Joystiq]
