Dystopia! Allison’s Tues. Top Seven

Ask anyone I know, and they will tell you I am obsessed with post-apocalyptic worlds and dystopias. I blame it on fascination of the abomination (Conrad, Heart of Darkness, best concept ever). Personally, I think this kind of environment is where human nature really shines.. you see the best and the worst of people come out.

Note: Not all of these are films, and not all of them futures.. just dystopias. I blame Rufus for telling me I could do whatever.
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This is why I love Nintendo (and dislike Sony/Microsoft)

The big news in the gaming world this week: Nintendo announced it has plans to release the Nintendo 3DS, a 3D version of their very popular (I don’t have numbers, but I’m fairly certain it’s the most popular handheld) Nintendo DS. Supposedly, you won’t need glasses, either.

Awesome.

Nintendo, to me, has always appealed to a much wider audience than XBox 360 and PlayStation (which in my eyes makes them a more intelligent company).. neither Microsoft or Sony has really gotten a handle on the non-teenage/young adult-male gaming demographic, but Nintendo has. Yeah, Microsoft and Sony do that demographic VERY well, but what about the rest of us?

Just to illustrate how out of touch Sony is, I give you this quote: “Having been in the portable space for quite awhile, I think it’s an interesting move but one I’d like to see where they go from a demographic standpoint. Eight- and nine-year-olds playing 3D is a little bit of a stretch given where some of our research is right now.” (John Koller, SCEA director of hardware and marketing)

lolwut? Wow. He’s going to be regretting those words for a long time to come.

P.S. Look at how beautiful that logo is.

I want to go to there

I’m one of those people that’s still waiting for their letter, anxiously. I’ve been a Harry Potter fan for about half my life (I read the first book when I was in sixth grade, a few months after it was published), which makes me feel old. But it’s given me quite a bit of time to cultivate a healthy obsession with all things Harry Potter.

So, it’s no wonder that I almost hyperventilated when I found this video–albeit just glimpses of the park–on Scholastic, Inc.’s blog earlier this week from a piece USA Today did.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Also, if you’d like to check out the really unique rides and other attractions that’ll be in the park, head on over to the official website here.

I’ve already started saving for my trip.

Battlestar MMO?

According to this post on VentureBeat, the relatively unknown-in-America German online gaming company Bigpoint has begun work on a Battlestar Galatica MMO free-to-play browser game.

I’ll be interested to see how this plays out. Judging from the company’s success, this could do very well, but I’m not sure this is the best property to create a MMO from. I’ve told a couple of die hard fans I know about this, and they seem skeptical at best.

(In case you’re wondering, no, I do not watch the show.. but I’ve been told multiple times it would change my life. It’s on my list of things to do when I’m not pinching pennies).

Heavy Rain, Please Revolutionize Gaming, kthxbai

So, every Monday I go over to a friend’s apartment to play video games. A couple of weeks ago, he showed us the PlayStation3 Heavy Rain demo, and since then we’ve been anxious to see the finished product (and I mean really, really anxious).

Well, this past Monday, I was able to view it in all it’s glory. I wasn’t playing, our friend was, but I got enough sense of the game that I can say.. I want this game to revolutionize the way designers and consumers think about video games.

Is that a lofty statement? Maybe. But I think it’s well within Heavy Rain’s capacity to do so.

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Mockingjay is Coming

February 11th was a happy day for me. Very, very happy. Why? Because Scholastic announced the release date (here’s where I died as reader) and cover (and here’s where I died as a designer) for the upcoming third (and final) installment of the Hunger Games, Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins.

If you’ve never read the Hunger Games and Catching Fire (and I hope you have, because we can’t be friends if you haven’t) it’s an incredible young adult trilogy set in a dystopian futuristic world, Panem. Twelve outlying districts are ruled by the Capital. Sometime in the past, the districts (there were thirteen at the time) revolted against the Capital and lost. Because of this, the Capital asserts its dominance over the districts by holding the Hunger Games every year as a constant punishment and reminder of their place. Every year, each district must hold a lottery to pick one female and one male from ages 12 – 18 to participate in the games. All of the tributes are taken to the capital, put through training, given a story and a distinct look, and then dumped in a fabricated arena to fight against the other tributes to their death. The last one standing wins the Capital’s favor in yearly rations to their district. … Continue Reading