#and youre like dang.... that is something i can not entirely comprehend and its awesome

[sodistinctlyhuman]

also love the way that the AI in this series very clearly operate on different levels than the humans. every time we get two of them in a room together, so to speak, there's this immense sense of being dwarfed intellectually and. well i don't know if culturally is the way to put it but sort of? they have such an oblique way of interacting at times and it scratches this particular itch in my brain when it comes to Excellent Artificial Intelligence Writing. i Know i couldn't follow FUTURE'S games and i Know i'd feel pretty small being talked at by OCEAN and i double know that SPEAKER feels like a liaison and by far the most comforting presence and it's it's by function and design...

and just the sense of scale presented in solely audio form no less!!!!!! showstopping

[bookcrook]

Absolutely Smitten

Dang. I really suck at keeping my word, don’t I? Whelp, for those who care, it’s here now! This is the first of I don’t know how many parts of “Six Foot Seven”, a new series/book thing I’ve been working on lately, requested by @i-cant-reach-im-too-short! The entirety of the series will be based on her real-life love story, as well as a playlist she gave me. First song was Absolutely Smitten by Dodie Clark. Hope you all enjoy! :)

“Teddy, come eat!” I call out from the kitchen, rattling his food around the large metal bowl. I wait a few minutes before yelling out his name again. “Teddy! Teddy Bear! C’mon! I have to leave soon and you need to eat.” Still no response.

And so begins my daily game of “Find the Giant Dog Hiding in my Tiny Apartment and Hope He Didn’t Run Off and Start the Zombie Apocalypse Without Me”. Such a great way to start my day…

I search behind couches and loveseats, inside closets and my bathroom only to find absolutely nothing. “Where, oh where has my Teddy gone, oh where, oh where could he be,” I sing softly under my breath, “In the closet he’s not, with me he’s… Also not, oh where, oh where could he be.” I continue with my non-rhyming song, raising my volume a little as I get closer and closer to my bedroom, the only other place he could be hiding. 

When I finally reach the doorway, I hear a playful bark come out from beneath my bed. I lower myself down to my knees, pull up the flashlight on my phone, and put my right cheek against the carpet. And, sure enough, I’m staring into the eyes of my slightly-obnoxious-but-still-very-lovable German Shepard. Who also just so happens to be stuck underneath the bed I just got. 

How he got there is beyond me and getting him out is going to be a serious victory on my end. As in, the kind of victory that deserves a pint and a half of double chocolate chip ice cream and a box of Cheez-Its after work. I try coaxing him out, seeing if he can squeeze himself just enough to remove himself from the tight spot. I bribe him with treats and squeaky toys, but he doesn’t move a muscle. So, I move on to what I knew was, ultimately, inevitable and would no doubt break all of my limbs off of my body.

Have you ever seen a 5’2 Asian girl trying to lift up a Queen size metal bed frame (with the mattress on top of it because she had just woken up half an hour ago and was still extremely tired, so she wasn’t smart enough to take it off) at least a foot off the ground completely and utterly by herself? I haven’t, but God damn it must be hilarious to look at. Actually doing it, though? Terrible. Absolutely horrid. The worst thing I’ve ever done in my 22 years of living. I mean, seriously. What is this thing made out of? Steel with a brick-filled mattress? Ridiculousness, I tell you!

Twenty minutes later, Teddy is roaming free around our brand new home while I’m lying on my bedroom floor exhausted and trying to find a will to live, which immediately comes with an alarm going off on my phone. Who would’ve thought I’d be so ecstatic to leave the comfort of my apartment for an entire day of work behind a desk only running on four hours of sleep. I force myself up and attempt to wipe as much dog hair off of my once clean clothes, abandoning hope soon after---there’s just no escaping it.

Collecting my things, I make my way toward the door, glancing quickly at the clock on my stove. Right on time, I think to myself. Waiting for the elevator was maddening. Come on... 

I mash the button impatiently, muttering curse words under my breath in frustration. I do the same when the doors finally slide open, revealing a small family of three with a tiny puppy on a leash. The slow background music only fueled my anxiety. 

Before the doors are even wide enough to accommodate an entire person, I slip through the tiny gap and race outside. I flatten my hair and my eyes immediately dart to the left, finding exactly what---or, more specifically, who---I was looking for walking toward me.

“Holy shit,” I murmur softly. How is it possible for one person to look so amazing just walking down the street? I soon realize I’m staring like a literal stalker, so before I’m caught, I turn and start walking swiftly in the same direction he’s going.

“Megan!” I hear a familiar, deep voice call from behind me, “Wait up!”

“Not a chance! I’d say you’ve got long enough legs to catch up to me,” I respond, an air of fake confidence in my voice. I slow down only slightly, despite my original statement, and, sure enough, Owen manages to reach me in a few long strides. 

“You’re difficult, you know that?” he laughs softly. I pray that no one saw my insides turn into literal jelly. What am I even supposed to do? My legs keep moving, but my mind is such a jumbled mush that it can’t comprehend anything around me. Which shouldn’t be happening. I’m a strong, independent woman---I don’t need him telling me if I’m pretty or not. I don’t.

So, as we walk, I begin concentrating on not concentrating on him. I quickly find that doing so is no use to me and caused me to not hear a single word Owen just spoke.

“You still there, shorty?” he teases, poking the top of my head.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah! Sorry. Just a little out of it, I guess.” Which was true, to be fair---I just decided it would be better to give him only half of the truth, for my heart’s sake. “What’d you say?”

Owen’s shoulder bumps into mine slightly, “I asked if you were eating in the office today. Thought I’d join you, but it looks as though you’re empty-handed.”

I stop in my tracks as he finishes speaking. “Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot,” I whisper to myself, hoping he doesn’t hear me. Because my luck is shit today, he does, and he seems to believe I was talking to him. 

“Excuse me?” Owen laughs nervously, surprised by my comment.

“No!” I exclaim a little too loudly, “Not you! I was talking to myself. Didn’t realize it until you mentioned it, but I forgot my food at home; it’s been a crazy morning, so I didn’t really think about grabbing to before I left.”

“What happened?”

“Oh, nothing important, really. Just stuff with my dog…” I wanted to add ‘and you’, but it seems a bit… Forward. Creepy. Stalker-ish. Take your pick. “Made some grilled chicken, noodles, and asparagus last night, too. Looks like it’s the vending machine for me today! Yay.”

“I mean, you don’t have to…” Owen looks away slightly as his sentence trails off.

I let out a bitter laugh. “Unless you’re suggesting that I turn back and risk being late just for a bag of mediocre food, I’m afraid I do.”

“Fair point, but no. ‘Tis not what I mean by that, miss,” he taunts, putting on one of the worst fake British accents I’ve ever heard. It’s something he does often. Why? No clue---not even an inkling of an idea, but it makes my heart melt every time.

“Then what do you have in mind?”

“We could always go out to lunch. There’s this cafe-diner-thing a block or two down from the office that serve the best grilled cheese known to man. If you haven’t tried don’t think I won’t drag you there myself,” Owen laughs. I can feel my eyes light up at the prospect of that. “It can be a group thing or something.”

My shoulders deflate just a tiny bit. I knew it wasn’t going to be a date---I’m not that stupid, but I hoped it could at least be just the two of us. It’s okay, I think to myself, taking in a deep breath, It doesn’t matter. We’re just friends. I force a smile before agreeing. “Oh, yeah. Totally! Sounds great. I can see if Laura and Chelsea want to come.”

We’d finally reached our destination when the conversation began and are now parting ways as it ends. “Awesome! See you then?”

“Definitely,” I say softly. Despite my disappointment, I’m able to produce a small---but very genuine---smile.

I’m practically floating as I make my way to my tiny desk and collapse onto my rolling chair. Slumped completely down (in a way that is terrible for my back), I let out a startled screech as a voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, scares me senseless.

“You’re late,” Chelsea teases in a sing-song tone from above me.

“...No I’m not.” I point at the large clock across the room.

“How…” she stumbles over words, “How do you know I didn’t come in early and change the time on all of the clocks because... Pranks?”

“Chels, you’re still wearing your coat.”

“It’s cold.”

“How about the fact that, one, your coffee is still steaming and you refuse to drink the tar that they have here. Two, you don’t wake up any earlier than you absolutely have to because you’re the definition of a night owl. Or, and I’d say this is my most convincing argument, three, you just don’t care enough to do that.” I sit up as I rest my case and begin pulling out my things for the day.

“You’re no fun,” Chelsea pouts, lowering herself behind the cork board wall that separates us.

Ignoring her very hurtful words, I continue the conversation as though nothing happened, “Has Laura come in yet?”

She scoots her chair over to your side as she answers, “I don’t think so. Or if she has I haven’t seen her. Why?”

I let out a groan and drop my head onto my desk, smashing the keys on my laptop. “Great. I needed her to help me make some copies because I have to meet with some clients later today and I have no clue how to work that… Thing.”

Chelsea opens her mouth, prepared to offer help, but I cut her off before she can, “Don’t. I love you, but she’s the only one who can tame the beast. I swear that if anyone looked at it the wrong way it would set the entire building on fire. Especially if it were either of us.”

“That’s fair,” she relinquishes. Suddenly, a tornado in human form tears through the office dropping a pile of things on Laura’s desk and races into a conference room, all in a matter of .04357 milliseconds.

“She’s here,” I chuckle slightly.

Twenty minutes later, Laura races back into the room and all but sprints to her desk. Thinking she might actually be done in there, I try to ask for her help. And, before I’m ever able to finish saying her name, she explains, “Can’t talk right now. Still doing the presentation; just forget some papers.”

Not long after that, Laura is finally free and snatches my papers from my desk, taking them to that dreaded machine and returning with 15 more than I need.

“Sorry about the extras,” she sighs as she drops them in my lap, “There was an error with the copier, but at least you have those if you need them.”

“Thank you!” I exclaim in a hushed voice, “You are a life saver, I swear!”

“Are you just now figuring that out?” Laura laughs.

I stick my tongue out at her before continuing my work.

I later feel a light tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I find Owen standing there, a large stack of papers in his hand. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I was just on my way to steal Anthony’s copier, but I thought I’d let you know that James, Benny, and the others can’t make it to lunch. Any luck with you?”

Before I can even consider speaking, Laura immediately turned the focus of the conversation to Anthony. “Wait. Wait just a second. Anthony’s been hiding a perfectly working copier from us?!”

“Guess so.” Owen gives a small shrug.

“What the hell!” she exclaims angrily.

To avoid the situation from escalating, I direct us back to our original topic. “I completely forgot to ask about lunch. Umm… Chels, Laura, either of you doing anything for lunch? I forgot my food this morning, so we thought it’d be a fun idea to get a little group together to go out.” My friends share a conspiratorial look when I’m finished. 

Chelsea’s the first to respond. “I really wish I could, but,” she pauses, “I have to run home and feed Pepper. Planned on just stopping by McDonald’s or something on my way back.”

“Neither can I,” Laura sighs with an ingenuine sadness in her voice, “Thomas wanted to take me out at that new sushi place across town. Sorry. Hope you guys have fun.”

A smile twitching on his lips, Owen turns back to me. “Just the two of us, then.”

“Yep,” I mumble quietly, my face growing warmer by the second.

“See you in a bit?” 

“Yep,” I repeat myself. His smile was now a grin as he left. Once he’s gone, I snap my eyes back to the two girls, glaring.

“What the fuck was that about?! First of all, you,” I point at Chelsea’s floating head, “Don’t a cat. Or a dog. Or any kind of pet! As for you, Laura. Don’t think I don’t know that Thomas won’t be home for another week. That’s all you’ve been talking about since he left!”

“It’s a week and three days,” she corrects me.

“Exactly my point!”

“Sorry, but we had to!” Chelsea cuts in, “You’ve had one of Cupid’s little arrows stuck in your ass since you started working here two years ago!”

“Not to mention the fact that this is probably the happiest we’ve seen you since your sister made you move out all because what’s-his-name told her to,” Laura adds.

I sigh, sinking into my chair for the second time today. “I know you guys are just trying to be nice. And, you’re right; I have been. He just makes me feel all kinds of weird inside. It’s like I can’t control anything when I’m around him, but that doesn’t mean I need your help with him.”

Laura scoffs and Chelsea rolls her eyes at my obvious lie. “Okay. Fine, I do. But don’t do it so obviously next time!”

My personal matchmakers lower themselves back down and I spin back to my computer. Just another hour to go…

                                                   🔹🔹🔹🔹

Lunch seemed to fly by quickly. As we waited on our food, conversations were had about simple, silly things like our favorite color, or how we drink our coffee. Others were about how work had been going and what movies we’d watched recently.

“Okay...” he pondered as he took a sip of his sweet tea, “What’s your favorite scary movie?” Shocked by the question, I couldn’t come up with an answer, so I gave him the most definite one that I could. Kind of. 

“Probably anything but the Chuckie movies,” I laughed.

The moment that sentence left my mouth, he immediately corrected me. “It’s Child’s Play, you know?”

“What?”

“The movies.”

“Whatever it’s called, it scarred me for life, and I want absolutely nothing to do with it.” I crossed my arms and shuddered at the thought of even possibly watching it again. I knew it was a terrible movie, but that didn’t change anything.

The stroll back was uneventful, but peaceful. And, now, as we wait out the last couple minutes before we had to return to our respective desks, Owen and I have found ourselves walking slowly back to mine, trying to make our time together stretch as long as possible. 

Suddenly, Owen grabs my arm gently, pulling me to a stop just a few feet short of my destination, and leans in. My breaths shorten and my body goes frigid as he does so.

His lips brush against my ear as he says softly, “Please don’t think I’m weird for doing this, but Laura and Chelsea have been eavesdropping since we were within listening distance. Anyway, I was wondering if you’d maybe like to go out to dinner tonight? Or this weekend? Or just, at any point in time that would conveniently work for you?”

I let out a chuckle---no, a giggle---at his awkwardness, but then I’m immediately hit by butterflies flooding my stomach as I take in his words. Once I finally come to my senses, my head is frantically bobbing up in down in complete and utter agreement. 

After we shared out little… Moment, I make my way to my desk. At this point, I’m not even trying to hide the giant grin on my face. Or my blushing cheeks. Or the fact that my heart is thudding in my chest with pure excitement and joy.

Chelsea and Laura don’t bother pretending that they didn’t see what just happened, and they were sure to let me know about that. 

“Did you see the way he was looking at you?” Laura gushes, “And that smile?! What’d he say?”

“What are you even talking about? It was nothing,” I roll my eyes at the rambunctious, gossip-hungry pair, but tell them anyway. “He just asked if I wanted to go out for dinner sometime.”

“Nothing?” Chelsea practically yells, “Are you kidding? There’s no way he doesn’t like you!”

I roll my eyes yet again, knowing not to get my hopes up, but I can’t help but wonder. I’d like to believe I’m not completely clueless; it’s obvious he just asked me on a date, but will it actually go anywhere? 

The days that followed were spent trying to coordinate Owen and I’s schedules on the way to work, and deciding where we could go. We also found ourselves around each other outside of work more than usual as we waited for the day to come.

One more week… That’s all I’ve gotta do; make it one more week and I’ll know for sure if this will work out.

[toehider]

I've been in the most awful throes of despair before, and presumably like a lot of people have had the idea of throwing in the towel in varying levels of intensity enter my thoughts over the years. Now, the only drug I've ever taken is alcohol, but I can TOTALLY see how using mind altering substances could distort and imbalance things even further. I've definitely experienced this with booze. Taking something that alters your mind even more than the naturally occuring chemicals is short term awesome, long term terrifying. But who among us has the strength and wisdom to learn that easily? Unfortunately, making the decision to end your life isn't something you can regret and feel stupid for the next day. It's mainly family that will keep ya going. The problem is, when you get it in your head that your spouse, kids etc would be genuinely better off without you, there's not much to move forward with. People say that talking about it is important, but I'm not entirely sold on that either. Because having a conversation about a fleeting feeling can concrete that feeling, and make it real, rather than just letting it pass for the bullshit thought it really is. And that's lethal, at least in my own experience. To use a really lame ass analogy, its like a fire that can either keep you warm, or can burn the whole dang farm down. Using the thing that's destroying you is a hard thing to comprehend, let alone balance.

[vrheadsets]

VR Vs. Videogames Nintendo Should Adapt To Virtual Reality – Part 2

Hello everyone and welcome to what is a most unusual week here on VRFocus. How so? Well in some sense I’m your only representative actually here for most of the content. Rebecca is off on holiday somewhere sunny, and Peter’s off enjoying himself as well. Kevin J and Nina are about but have things to do, and at one stage they were absent themselves for a couple of days. Leading this opening paragraph at one point to be summarised as “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!” Still, for the most part it just leaves me. I am as excited about this prospect as you probably think I am.

After a couple of weeks of reacting to events going on in the technology world at large, first F8 making virtual reality (VR) feel important and the Google I/O managing to do the reverse, I am aware that I need to get back to the business at hand regarding my choices for Nintendo videogames that would make excellent VR experiences. So that’s what we’re going to be doing today. Last time out I looked at two titles, Mario Kart and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. Not exactly videogames with much in common, really. Unless you count getting blue shelled 10 meters from the line an interesting variation on Eternal Darkness‘ ‘sanity effect’.

Today’s twosome do have some common ground however; although ironically ‘ground’ doesn’t enter into it that much, especially with one of them.

3 – Star Fox

At the time of writing, several weeks prior to the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known to you and I as E3, there’s a lot of talk about the Star Fox series getting a racing game. Considering how well Star Fox Zero did I’m not quite sure such a radical departure would particularly help matters. It’d be the equivalent of giving Star Fox its own Sonic Riders  – and this is all coming from someone who honest to goodness really likes Star Fox Adventures. (Except for the ‘Test of Fear’ in it. That can get lost.)

One of the best utilisations of VR, at least within a gaming sense, has been with videogames set in space. Once upon a time on this column I explained how I had my first ‘wow moment’ in VR with EVE: Valkyrie. While the traditional viewpoint of the series has been third-person I can see the visual and play style transferring well into a first-person viewpoint. It’s not like it hasn’t always had that view after all. You could still have traditional gameplay in an on-rails linear style, for sure. But since when hasn’t Nintendo not fiddled about with the gameplay mechanics of Star Fox? Often putting in additions that haven’t been that popular.

VR would be a natural evolution of Star Fox Zero’s cameras and motion controls, accommodate levels that played on the mechanics established in prior titles with the Landmaster tank and the Blue-Marine submarine. Though what I would find intriguing with the implementation of VR would be how it would affect play during its big arena boss battle stages – when Fox McCloud gives the order for all the Arwing pilots to go into All-Range Mode.   It could provide some truly intense innovations to battle and the immersion help with getting over the scale of just how big some of the creations of Andross – or whosoever is causing General Pepper and company problems this week.

Also, another thing to consider: All the members of Team Star Fox already have a head-mounted display of sorts. It’s entirely possible something could be done narratively that utilised that.

We could, indeed, let you do that, Star Fox.

4 – Metroid Prime

It’s almost difficult to comprehend that there was a time before Metroid Prime. A time when the battling of parasitic jellyfish-esque aliens was restricted purely to a side scrolling experience that at some points felt like it had no end.

When thinking about titles to include in this list I wanted some form of first person shooter to include in this, which many of you would probably think should then be GoldenEye 007. The first problem there is I honestly don’t think that the experience GoldenEye 007 gave to so many would be evolved or bettered if it went VR. And heaven knows we’ve had enough titles trading off the ‘GoldenEye’ name and reputation already down the years.

The second issue is somewhat more pertinent, namely that the videogames that make up the Metroid Prime trilogy aren’t considered first person shooters but rather ‘first person adventures’. Actually, that’s not even close to a barrier for choosing the Metroid Prime series. In fact, it’s even more of an exciting prospect when you think about it in those terms.

For those not familiar with Metroid Prime, it is, as I say, a first-person action-adventure developed by Retro Studios. Ironically the same studio rumoured to be developing the aforementioned Star Fox driving title. The first title came out in 2002, yes it’s another GameCube title. (The GameCube was pretty dang awesome if you didn’t notice.) The series takes place between the original two Metroid titles and takes you to the viewpoint of protagonist Samus Aran. The Metroid Prime series is fast paced, a treat on the eyes and despite the changes in gameplay is strong in the DNA of those titles that came before it.

Since you spend most of it in the first-person viewpoint it’d be a great evolution to take Metroid Prime into VR, combined with richness of the environment actually being immersed in that would be pretty amazing if combined with some proper locomotion and decent tracking. The developers could really go to town on the puzzle element too, considering Nintendo’s unparalleled ability to think outside the box they could no doubt think up some pretty sweet mechanics. Even the third person sections in ball form would be quite something.

Think of it this way, there’s playing as Samus and there’s being Samus. And being Samus sounds pretty badass to me.

Below is the trailer for the Metroid Prime Trilogy collection. It’s not hard to imagine this as a VR experience to really get the blood pumping.

from VRFocus https://ift.tt/2s6bXcz