Excerpt from “Console Wars” by Blake J. Harris:

Uemura’s Super Famicom dazzled on numerous fronts. The new console could generate 32,768 unique colors (the Genesis had 512) and eight channels of audio (the Genesis had six), and it could retail for 25,000 yen (about $250). Yet despite his best efforts, Uemura was unable to incorporate backward compatibility without greatly increasing the price (by about $75). Yamauchi discussed this issue with his son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa, who harbored plans to soon release a U.S. version of the system. Arakawa pointed out that compact discs had recently begun to replace cassette tapes and vinyl records without causing much of a stir. Perhaps modern consumers were becoming savvy enough to realize that new technology tended to make previous iterations obsolete. They concluded that Nintendo was strong enough to deal with the possible backlash and couldn’t afford to hold off on a 16-bit system any longer.

I’m having too much fun with this book. An entertaining David and Goliath story for the modern era, chock-full of video game nostalgia and fantastic trivia that went right over the heads of my generation. Not to mention plenty of “history repeats itself” moments.

Fast Company:

A platform that changes the input to a simulation or video game based on the user’s physiological state.

Alan Pope, NASA Scientist, as quoted by Fast Company:

In terms of applications, we’re looking for places where this can be deployed as a form of entertainment and also training. There are a number of situations where someone could be trained using a video game-like task. It could be sharpshooters in the military, surgeons who would need to control their attention and anxiety—any kind of task that puts pressure on someone while they’re performing the task with their hands or manually.

While I struggle with my internal “simulation” v. “video game” terminology debate, I thought I’d share this neat interactive mechanic.

Polygon:

Summer Games Done Quick, the mid-year fund raiser of Speed Demos Archive, nearly tripled the amount it raised in 2013, hauling in $713,000 over a week long stretch, the proceeds of which go to Doctors Without Borders.

Lucy Boyes on her Boyes Club blog:

The second example of hacking – the magical shortcut approach – is a whole different problem. It’s fine for inanimate objects and codebases, assuming the “magic” does actually work, but in the context of human beings it’s an appalling way to operate. The idea that you can “hack” human things – people, culture, communications, you name it – is at least somewhat predicated on the puzzle box mentality. The linked example describes a particular way of perceiving women which can lead men (assuming this is a cis, hetero scenario) to believe that there’s a magic combination of words, actions and/or behaviours which will convince a woman to give up the “prize” of sex to men who figure out the puzzle. It’s a mentality which keeps pickup artist in lucrative business selling books and lecture dates. And this leads to all kinds of not-okay behaviours, like persistent stalking, harassment, creeping, etc., because the dude’s entire framework of belief tells him that if he just keeps trying hard enough he will eventually unlock the magic sex box.

Awesome, and it gets better…

This pertains to hacking culture thusly: the myth of the incredible founder, while it exists, legitimises doing fucking stupid shit to your people in the name of culture. The guy in charge thinks he’s in charge because he’s The Best. He succeeded by being The Best. And the most obvious way to make the company more successful as a whole is for everyone to be More Like Him. Which is why so many startups have crippling long-hours cultures (and lionise said crippling cultures even as everyone is balls-deep in the business of burning out), and why the culture and how the company relates to people is allowed to be run according to the whimsy of someone who hasn’t spent long enough thinking about how the world works to realise the unlikelihood, the tenuousness, of their own success. They drink their own Kool-Aid, and then they make everyone else drink it too.

Terrific read. Worth every word. Follow up with Klei.

http://youtu.be/XjJQBjWYDTs