Peace Out, Voyager 1 (Above)

Last week Voyager 1 entered a previously unknown part of the heliopause. It’s essentially the last barrier before the probe becomes the first man-made object to go interstellar. (more details on the Discovery News blog)

The Voyager 1 Golden Record is something I could’ve done a whole video about on its own. A committee headed by Our Lord and Master, Carl Sagan, chose the contents carefully. It contains both 116 pictures, natural sounds like the ocean, thunder, and animals (including whale songs, just to show aliens we have the craziest stuff here), music, and people saying hello in 55 languages.

Printed on the record are the instructions on how to play it, a pulsar map, and the hydrogen atom (just to show aliens we get things, man).

Here’s an image:

I mention in the video that Stephen Hawking wasn’t into the record. He was worried that any advanced alien race that found the record might use it to find us and destroy us, and that any primitive species that found it might be negatively effected by it.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which was released in 1979, used those concerns to create the film’s “villain:” V’Ger, an advanced AI made from the fictional Voyager 6 probe.

Steal Super Powers From Birds

You can read more about magnetoception here.

The haptic compass belt we show in the video was created by Eric Gradman. He has more details on his site. He’s since condensed the belt down into an anklet he calls the North Paw. Here’s a video of him discussing it. I like the idea of an anklet much more than a belt- it’s much less intrusive/noticeable.

The best article I’ve read about the magnet implant was written by Dann Berg in Gizmodo. You can check it out here. Basically: It doesn’t seem to mess with his computer, he has to be careful when handling magnets because they can flip the magnet in his finger (which is not harmful, just uncomfortable), and he can pick up paperclips with it. He also can’t get an MRI without it ripping the magnet right out of his finger.

I think I’d do it if I could find a place to have it done. I’m on the fence. I mean, it can always just come out if I didn’t like it, right?

Beer: Healthier Than Running

This was my favorite of last week. I’ve been loving the commenter reaction on YouTube- people are either totally in on the joke or they’re incredibly mad at me for misrepresenting things- even though I give a pretty clear ‘wink’ at the end. One of the most interesting things about developing a new show is watching the audience reaction to changes in tone and tailoring accordingly.

You can read more about the study by Sapporo here.

Here’s the story about why marathon running is bad for you. And a couple more I found about the dangers of jogging.

And a couple stories about the health benefits of beer here and here.

Let me know what you think about the first week of DNews and what you’d like to see in future videos. Also be sure to subscribe by clicking here.

SGC2C was was the blueprint for everything that became popular on Cartoon Network for the next decade. Surreal humor, limited animation, liberal use of archival footage. Looking back on it it’s easy to see its brilliance, but at the time I used to watch late at night going “How are they getting away with this? Who is this for? How do they get to keep making this week after week?” There wasn’t tons of high speed Internet pouring out of the walls at that point. Watching something like this and Mystery Science Theater 3000 felt like being part of some weird, small, secret club. It seemed unbelievable that more than a few other people would find it funny.

Also, you guys, I totally ripped off the idea for the New Challenger set from SGC2C. It feels good to get that out in the open.

Instagram- and all social networks- show you a limited view of what’s happening on them by design. You follow your friends, you follow some suggested users, and what you get is a very streamlined experience. People who match your lifestyle, your aesthetic sensibilities, your interests. The services feel small and personal.

On a certain level that’s great, but you can forget just how vast a social network is. It can begin to feel like everyone on the network has the same opinion, the same style. You forget that you made all the choices about what you’re seeing. You’re showing yourself your own narrow view of the world.

That’s why I love This Is Now. It’s a realtime stream of every single photo being taken from any of 12 different cities around the world. It reminds you just how bafflingly large Instagram is.

Instead of that tiny, homogenous feed you’ve created for yourself, all of a sudden you’re seeing everything happening in a city. People you’d never think to look for leading lifestyles you never knew about, going to places you’d never hear of. There are tons of little unexpected things that show you the real character of a place every second- not just the pleasant, picturesque, perfectly filtered ones you’d be naturally drawn to.

I really love keeping it open in a window and just watching life in a city pass me by. It’s awesome.

(Now how about adding San Francisco, guys?)

This is Now

After watching this, some people asked what I meant about all the elements “looking like they’re from different games.” One thing that’s always irked me a bit about the New Super Mario Bros. series is the art direction. Something’s always seemed… unfocused. Old and new enemies don’t seem to follow the same design rules. Characters looks very three dimensional, but environments and backgrounds have a very flat look. Certain effects look a little too realistic to work with the rest of the world. It’s not bad design, it’s not bad art- it’s just missing that 10% that unifies things and takes them from “good” to “great.”

The biggest addition the Wii U hardware brings- aside from HD visuals- is the use of the GamePad in multiplayer. The assist mode is a neat idea, but just like everything else in the franchise’s multiplayer modes, it’s a bit uneven. The idea of helpful platforms being placed when needed it great, but in actual execution it’s a bit frustrating. Timing and placement are a little too hard for the sort of player who’s going to be attracted filling that position.

The Challenge Modes are an interesting addition we didn’t touch on in the video review. Different challenges teach you to speed run, use your jumping skills, and generally just hone your abilities. I dug it, but the one mode I’ve wanted from NSMB from the start still isn’t there: the knockout battle mode of Super Mario Bros 3. Anyone who played Florian Hufsky’s brilliant homebrew classic Super Mario War will understand how much fun a single-screen, 4-player all out battle in a Mario game can be. Here’s a video for the uninitiated:

Come on. Look at that. That’s a lot of fun. I know you can be combative in the co-op mode of NSMB, but I actually dislike that. I feel like it undermines the expectation of a co-op mode entirely and it just feels weird. Give me an actual sandbox for that kind of play.

In terms of the co-op itself, I would love to see an option to turn off collision between players and the freezing that happens when anyone gets hurt or picks up a power up. It’s not a useful indicator of anything for other players and can actually throw off their rhythm quite a bit, meaning one death often causes a chain reaction.

I wanted to make sure we had that note at the end about this not being a review of the Wii U itself or what type of Mario title we expected for a launch. I just wanted to take the game on its own. But a lot of people have commented and asked about those thing, so here you are: no, I don’t really see this as a system seller. If you know you’re getting a Wii U, this is a great game to have. If you were on the fence about the Wii U, this isn’t the game that’s going to get you into the launch lines tonight to buy one. I really wish we had something that’s a continuation of 64/Sunshine/Galaxy… or even an HD version of this year’s Mario 3D Land.

I don’t see it as a great way to show off the GamePad or the hardware of the Wii U. In his first draft of the review Miguel called it a “system justifier,” which I think is more accurate. Once I was sat down in front of it, I had fun. Of course I did, it’s a Mario game. But you had to put it front of me. I didn’t go running after it. I don’t think that’s a problem for Nintendo based on those launch lines and backorder queues, but there are those of us out there that are still scratching our heads over the Wii U- and New Super Mario Bros. U won’t help that.

In addition to commenting below, you can ask me anything you like on Twitter or Vyou.

It nailed everything I want in this sort of game extremely well, which is more than a little surprising for a student project. The feeling of speed is perfect. The environments had just the right amount of TRON/Rez going on to light my fire. The stunts and changes of gravity made me a happy camper.

But it was still a student project: a single-player only driving game, with only leaderboards to encourage community. The controls were a little sloppy. The levels hinted at a vast world, but most possible side routes were just death falls. The obstacles needed a little more variation.

But it was in there: the seed of the next thing that could make me as happy as WipEout.

Some of the team behind Nitronic Rush saw it, too. So after graduation, they decided to get together and create a better version with local/LAN/Online multiplayer, track editing tools, a dynamic soundtrack, and updated visuals. The game’s called Distance and is in its final hours over at Kickstarter. You can see from the video above the amount of detail and tweaking they’ve done to everything in the game. The feeling of speed’s been enhanced. The environments seem more fully realized visually and in terms of adding alternate routes and hidden paths. It also looks like improvements have been made to physics and handling- though that could just be the fact that they’ve added 360 controller support.

My favorite games in the racing genre have always been the ones that lean more towards the fantastic- WipEout, F-Zero, etc. Nitronic Rush scratched that itch really well and I can only imagine Distance is going to do it on a whole other level.

Take some time today to download Nitronic Rush and get a feel for it. Then, once you inevitably fall in love with it, kickstart Distance before the cut-off tonight. They’ve already reached their goal, but with a small, first-time developer, every extra dollar is a little extra breathing room to worry about making a game and not paying the rent.

This was a creepy nightmare. No lie. I was spooked the entire time- you can very clearly see it on my face. Those are actual lightbulbs and we’re actually eating pieces of them. I felt like I had tiny cuts in my throat for the next two days.

I start actually eating the glass at the 10:20 mark, after the instruction portion.

Renga
http://bit.ly/PJKCpI

Super Bread Box
http://bit.ly/PJKDtR

Hungarian Connor
http://on.fb.me/YsF6rC

PUMPKTRIS
http://bit.ly/StrkEm

Escape Zelda Fan Film
http://bit.ly/YsFgze