Today officially begins all Commenter Of the Week (to be abbreviated "COW" for ease of use) considerations, so I thought I would kick things off with a clusterfuck of current-ish events from IGN's front page that caught my eye. First up:
___________________________________________________
Japanese Soft Drink Company to Put First Advertisement on the Moon
Otsuka, a Japanese soda manufacturer, is going to launch a can of Pocari Sweat soda into space in 2015 as marketing ploy. But not to leave anything out of this PR fanfare, Otsuka is also going to include several metal discs with the dreams of children engraved on them. The company claims that their hope is to inspire today's youth so that they will one day aspire to become an astronaut and fly to the moon so they can guzzle that addictive soda for themselves before it expires in 2045.
Less weird is that the company they are partnering with to actually get to the moon and make it all happen is trying to send a vehicle that can travel 500 meters on the moon's surface and send back HD photographs. So you can see all those astronauts fighting over their chemical addiction to Pocari Sweat in lunar gravity in crisp, clear picture. Doing so will nab that company $20 million from Google. Not too shabby.
Oh Japan. If you weren't making Lady Gaga look like Lady Jane Grey, the universe would implode on itself.
___________________________________________________
Rare Evaluating What to do Next Following Kinect Changes
Everyone by now knows that Micro has gone Soft on their stance with Kinect. Xbox Ones will now have a SKU that doesn't include the camera, and it appears that the company is finally come to terms with the fact that it wasn't doing much for actual gaming. A casualty of Kinect from the very beginning, Rare has been committed in recent years to working on games for the camera, and now it facing layoffs as it has to assess what their next project will entail.
I think most gamers have a profound respect for Rare due to their history with Nintendo. But Rare hasn't made as big of a splash since it hooked up with Microsoft, and many fans have been hoping that Rare would be let off their Kinect leash (should such a thing metaphorically exist) and really get back to making the kinds of games that Rare has always excelled at making. Given that Microsoft is not throwing in the white flag with Kinect altogether, Rare might stick with Kinect based games. So the question rises: would you rather Rare's next project be made for the Kinect, or would you rather see Rare abandon the Kinect?
On a personal note, I really don't care because I don't have an Xbox One. So either way I won't be able to play it. But making it as relevant as I can for myself, Rare would have a better chance making want to buy an Xbox One with a decent Kinect-less game than a stellar Kinect game, but then again I hate motion controls. What about you?
___________________________________________________
Man Wants Oculus Rift for Chickens
This is a fun story. An assistant professor at Iowa State University is hoping to create a social experiment where he will equip chickens with VR headsets to see if it improves their quality of life. The idea is basically to let them think they are roaming a free range when in fact they are as captive as captive can be. Or to put it another way...
The experiment is apparently just to test the effect of the technology versus traditional chicken raising methods. I assume the basis for whether a positive or negative outcome will be measured by any improvement or detriment to the taste or quality of the meat, but in this psychotically depression-fearing world of ours I wouldn't be surprised if the results of the experiment made mention of how the VR simulations affected the chickens' self-esteem.
And you thought the weirdest story of the post was going to be the one from Japan? Ha!
___________________________________________________
The Pentagon Has a Battle Plan for the Zombie Apocalypse
I can't say I'm surprised that an actual government is planning for the worst science fiction catastrophes to become a nightmarish reality, especially since the UN officially has someone designated as an ambassador to alien peoples should any happen upon Earth and make contact with us. But I do love their justification of it. It's not that their using these as training exercises because they believe it will happen, but rather because this way none of the people looking in on these trainings will get confused and think we were targeting some specific, real enemy. So instead of using real nationalities or political affiliations, lets use zombies so the entire training's relevance seems implausible at best.
Really I'm left pondering one simple question: Why didn't they use Nazis? You know, that way they could account for at least some intelligence and use of weapons on the part of their opponent. And honestly, even though there is a modern Nazi party, who gives a shit if a bunch of Nazi's get offended?
_______________________________________________________________
“I would have accepted Big Bird from sesame street because he doesn't a neeed a person to operate him...”
_______________________________________________________________
Today In Music (May 19th)
Honky Châteu by Elton John released on May 19th, 1972. Also released on this day:
- Demons And Wizards by Uriah Heep (1972)
- Animal Boy by The Ramones (1986)
- "Saturday Night Special" single by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1975)
_______________________________________________________________
Commenter Of The Week Rules & Standings
(Updated Sporadically)