Mini Ninjas - a rookie mistake

Now I'm not a big time game critique like that zero punctuation dude and I certainly do not have a cool hat, but I'm a gamer and I've spent (wasted) a lot of time playing. One thing that I realized -- through many many years of game playing -- what does not work is ... long f...king training time. Sounds obvious right? Why do you spend hours in tutorial or training stuff before you actually get into the game? Well, I think there are good answers in the pedagogy of smaller kids.

One example is Little Ninjas. I had to spend (waste) 15 minutes before I could jump into the actual story. The real question is: WTF? Do smaller kids (yeah I'm a big kid) need this kinds of a cushioning or pampering?

PS: Engineering and Art departments: kudos, awesome job.

London Tips

We're back from London after a long flight. Here're some tips from one foreigner to another:
- Drink Unnis & Gunn. This is a Scottish brew which seems to be available only in UK and east coast. It's a great sipping beer with caramel and oak nuances.
- Don't use Dot2Dot. This is the London equivalent of an airport shuttle. Unfortunately they seem to be reliably unreliable picking people up to the airport. Heathrow express to Paddington and tube or cab seems to be the best bet.
- Get an Oyster card. Everything in London is expensive, including the public transportation. Oyster card provides some discounts and pays for itself in three trips.
- Use the tube. Taxis are really expensive (but very comfortable).
- Fish & Chips come in really big portions (generally speaking), so you can definitely share with your friend.

Turkey trip

Hey all,

Leslie and I just did a 7 day excursion in Turkey. Our itinerary:

- 3 nights in Kusadasi, at hotel Fantasia. The hotel is nice but it is all inclusive, which means you eat a lot and you do not leave the hotel very much. We tried to walk around to digest some of the delicious food we had, but the area around the hotel did not have a lot to see. We got to see the ancient ruins at Efes which was great.

- 3 nights in Bitez, at Okaliptus. The hotel was ok and Bitez is very nice. I would suggest anyone in the area to stay here rather than Bodrum or Gombet. You must also see Gumusluk, the best snorkeling spot.

- 1 night at Pamukkale, at Lycus River Hotel. Great spa, they have many pools as well as a natural thermal pool with mineral water that makes your skin soft. We also saw the Hydropolis and travertines.

Overall tips: After September 20, most hotels clear up so you can get really good deals. Make sure you negotiate. Do not stay at an all-inclusive.

Here's an excellent compilation of visual effects in the last 100 years:



The rate of innovation especially in 80s and 90s is incredible. Good CG used to be the hallmark of a good movie because it was so expensive. Now even straight to DVD productions have pretty descent CG. Is this the end of innovation?

GDC 2009 rundown

AI Game Dev blog has a good rundown of GDC 2009 at http://aigamedev.com/open/coverage/gdce09-impressions/. Thanks Alex.

Sea Ranch

Hi all, just got back from a 2 days of vacation from Sea Ranch. It's a community of beach houses for rent/sale along the pacific coast. Location is about 3 hours north west of San Fransisco on Hwy 1.

It is very quiet and clean. Perfect for hiking. Although don't let the name deceive you, there are not too many beaches.

The closest town, Gualala is 3 miles north. It is the perfect place to just kick back, enjoy the hot tub, swim and play tennis in the nature.

On the way back, we also visited the Annapolis winery. 7 miles inland from Hwy 1. It is definitely worth the drive. Speaking of wine, you can go to Sea Ranch using Hwy 116 which will take you through the Rusian River wineries.

Make sure you pack Dramamine, the drive on Hwy 1 is very windy.

Back to work on Animeeple.