Wonderland

Miniature Japanese playsets

Want! Fantastically detailed, tiny weeny replica Japanese pharmacy items. In a YAR!

Get yours at J-List.

Lifesize X-Wing

.. on eBay:

At $85K reserve, I can afford the ladder there.

(via Engadget)

Guild Wars again

Guild Wars has no subscription fee. It's a full MMOG, but you just pay the price of the boxed game: so presumably, all the teenagers will rush over to GW, and it probably won't attract a broader audience (it has 'wars' in the title). So, if it's fantastic, World of Warcraft and co will suffer a notch.

Personally, I'm wondering how to fit it into my life, again. Persistent games are really curious - unlike ordinary games, they need to be scheduled against one another, and as there's a bonus of sorts for getting into the game early, when they come along like London buses (three at once), it can be flap-inducing. So spoilt for choice!

Also I'm wondering how NCSoft will pay for Guild Wars maintenance. Roll-over from their other MMOGs? It's a brave move, and I am intrigued as to the long term sustainability of it, because it looks like a classic 'oh that can't be done' .. and they went and did it.

I like that.

Free wifi for the PSP?

John Smedley, capo of SOE, wants it..

Smedley also said that SOE is negotiating with wireless providers to let PSP owners make use of the internet Hot Spots you find in airports, posh cafés and the like. What's more, you'll be able to log on for free, and without having to bother with a username or password.

The catch is that the wireless provider gets advertising space in return - possibly on a loading screen, or perhaps within the game itself. The deal is still being knocked into shape but Smedley says it's "about 70 per cent of the way there."

Yes please. Article here.

YES PLEASE

Want.

The game looks cute too.

(Via geek on stun)

TV is good for you

Jane's summed up a long article on the reg-walled NYTimes, by Steven Johnson, on how "TV is good for you".  Good for you now, that is, because it's drawing on gamelike qualities, cognitive challenges that make you think. Sharp summary by Jane, excellent article by Steven, all round spectacularly good show. Very pleased.

...talking of which,

Via lovely Kotaku, Play France has posted pics of Sims 2 on PSP. Talk about good looking. If the movie recording tools work on the PSP, boring tube journeys are a thing of the past.

Sims Machinima Contest

Electronic Arts and the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television have announced the Sims 2 Student Life Movie Contest. The competition offers prizes for the best movie made with the simulation game's built-in video creation tools. The grand prize winner will receive either $5,000 or a four-week internship with Maxis Studios at EA's headquarters in Redwood City, Calif.

"Sims 2" enthusiasts hoping to grab the grand prize are encouraged to submit their homegrown films at the official "Sims 2" Web site.

How about that! Internship at Maxis? Superb. Encouraging creative use like this - just fantastic.
Full article here.

SpyToy

Hmm. This is a tricky one. So Sony are releasing a new title called SpyToy - less of a game, more of a Thing That Does Lots Of Stuff. Useful as burglar-monitoring..  but also essentially secret surveillance, so all sorts of possible privacy issues.

Still, I can also see this being fun for people wanting to video themselves, say for something like Video Nation, without needing lots of expensive kit. Great for videochat (won't work on phones, will work on the telly, won't it? Weird that).

Videoblogging - will Sony begin to offer that for young 'uns?

Interesting.

Massively Multiplayer Pirates

Brilliant! High seas teeming with pirates? What else could it be? Good choice, Disney.

Disney Online, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Internet Group, has revealed that it is currently working on a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

The game, which is being designed by Disney's VR Studio, will allow gamers to create their own pirate character and team up with others to form a crew, battling both other players and the evil undead pirates roaming the high seas.

Evil undead pirates! Hurrarr! What fun. Right up Anno's street.

(Thanks SharD)