The Adventures Of Flackboy When the Internet becomes a sickness...

A few months back, there was a brief Facebook meme in which people posted a song a day for 30 days conforming to a variety of criteria which would illuminate aspects of their soul you’d never have expected.  Well, I collected and pondered, but the idea of parceling these out over 30 days stuns me into insensibility.  So here’s a bunch of music you can find on YouTube which makes me happy / sad / smiley / morose / professional / cynical and otherwise…

day 01 - your favourite song - Unfinished Sympathy (Massive Attack) Bliss.

day 02 - your least favourite song - When I need you (Leo Sayer) Damn Leo Sayer and everything he’s ever done. DAMN HIM TO HELL

day 03 - a song that makes you happy - King Of Carrot Flowers (Neutral Milk Hotel) PROPER lyrics.

day 04 - a song that makes you sad - Live With Me (Massive Attack) Watch the video. Believe.

day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone - Millenium (Robbie Williams) Jake. Age 8.

day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere - Cups (Underworld, Frankfurt airport) There was an incident. I got lost in Italy.

day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event - Dust It (Regular Fries, TITP) Best band never to make it. I am an expert and hipster, so I know.

day 08 - a song that you know all the words to - Grendel (Marillion) Fuck you.

day 09 - a song that you can dance to - Flagpole Sitta (Harvey Danger) One day I will work with a company willing to steamroller this lipdub.

day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep - Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain (Sparklehorse) I am the tiny orbiting satellite.

day 11 - a song from your favorite band - Paradise Circus (Massive Attack) Great track. Suitably epic video. Hope. Sweet Hope.

day 12 - a song from a band you hate - Wind of Change (Scorpions) Hot pish. From a sick horse.

day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure - That’s Me Trying (William Shatner, Ben Folds, Aimee Mann) This is superb. Disagree. I dare you.

day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love - You Can Make Me Whole Again (Sick Anchors) Jeremy Hardy Sings Atomic Kitten (R4 joke)

day 15 - a song that describes you - The Reputation Of Ross Francis (My Latest Novel) This was written about me. The band just don’t know yet.

day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate - Operation Mindcrime (Queensryche) / Radio KAOS (Roger Waters) Let me be clear. I PRETENDED these were good. They suck. A lot. I hate them both. If you disagree, you are wrong. And evil.

day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio - Home (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros) Spot the 6Music listener.

day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio - Anemone (BJM) I defy you not to fall in love with this. Shoegaze Uber Alles.

day 19 - a song from your favorite album - Delilah (Dresden Dolls) It’s gorgeous.

day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry - Sorry You’re Not A Winner (Enter Shikari) I am down with the ‘youth’. Bill Hicks would approve.

day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy - Ca Plane Pour Moi (Sonic Youth) Break stuff. And shows the ‘sports punk’ pish for the pish it assuredly is.

day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad - Pink Bullets (The Shins) Perfect.

day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding - Mars Sparkles Down (The Wedding Present) Perfect first dance. Make it happen. WITH Mr Gedge, thank you.

day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral - Unfinished Sympathy (Massive Attack) Please

day 25 - a song that makes you laugh - (The Descendents) Pump UP the melonfarming volume

day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument - Bedspring Kiss (Jellyfish) I can play the BLOCKS

day 27 - a song that you wish you could play - Diablo Rojo (Rodrigo y Gabriela) If I could play this, I would rule the world. Whether you knew it or not.

day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty - Sometime I still feel the bruise (Trembling blue stars) First serious girlfriend thing.

day 29 - a song from your childhood - Tiger Feet (Mud) Yes, I am THAT old.

day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year - Pale As The Rain (Salt Peter) Canongate, Salena Goden, Nick Cave, 7 Giraffes, EIFF, Bunny Munro, Belinda

The scope years…

1952 - OXO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkiwn7u8i8s

1958 - Tennis For Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2E9iSQfGdg

The mainframe years

1962 - Space War

http://spacewar.oversigma.com/

1969 - Space Travel

(Contributed significantly to the development of Unix O/S)

(First UNIX application)

The arcade years

1971 - Galaxy Game

(First coin op)

One unit, installed in Stanford University

1971 - Computer Space

(Nolan Buchnell.  Too hard!)

1972 - Pong

(First widespread coin op)

“Avoid missing ball for high score”

1978 - SPACE INVADERS

(Led to country-wide shortage of 100 yen coins)

100,000 machines in Japan alone

Generated $500,000,000 by 2007

MAME - Space Invaders/Space Invaders M

1980 - PAC-MAN

Most popular arcade game ever?

STILL being played - Google logo 2010 (lost $120,000,000 worldwide)

(Pac-Man Galaxian Hardware Set 1)

1942

Gorf

Galaxian

Defender

Donkey Kong

THEN… WE SPLIT

The console years (US)

1977 - Atari VCS

128 bytes of RAM

1k for each joystick/paddle

104 colours (PAL)

8 colours (SECAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Mvwh_Jjhc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koWxUd30hDo

Magnavox

Intellivision

Colecovision

The home computer years (UK)

1981 - Sinclair ZX81

1,500,000 sold

1k RAM (expandable to 16K)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx81

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqpnq3X08HY

1982 - ZX Spectrum

5,000,000 sold worldwide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYryKa3CQTE

20,000 games titles released 

1981 - BBC Micro

1980 - Vic 20

1982 - C64

1982 - Dragon 32

1983 - Oric 1

1984 - Amstrad CPC 464

1987 - Amiga (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaRkacQ-YMg)

1985 - Atari ST

1989 - Sam Coupe

http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocomjava.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27DhO73FKY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-9my0tsutw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXzyB0nMCQ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuY8hEw5724

The console years - Worldwide

1984 - Nintendo Entertainment System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpk5U70MQBg

1987 - Sega Master System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4UXvIZdBo

1995 - Sega Saturn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WGkJ0qqlRA

1998 - Sega Dreamcast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHBsA-PZXiA

1991 - Super Nintendo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVi8AiwKn3k

1995 - Sony PlayStation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQRVktGxMAs&feature=related

1996 - Nintendo N64

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgn4J9pm5eE

2000 - Sony PlayStation 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MJwA7HC2Tk&feature=related

2002 - Microsoft Xbox

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuUHJVuwqkQ

2002 - Nintendo Gamecube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Y5rjv4cvw&feature=related

Meanwhile! Back on the PC…

Mouse AND keyboard meant more complex games…

Doom - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggMsQc9ld9g

(Shareware distribution, new graphics cards, no mouse - YET)

Quake - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRMn1tj5-Nc

(Multiplayer, levels given away free)

Command & Conquer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uq92eCdNQM

(Real time strategy + multiplayer)

Descent - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1eZBCmr_JY

(Full 3D movement, complex controls, OEM deal with graphics card)

But what about the handhelds?

Gameboy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdFBaNzI55g

(First handheld - B&W - Introduced more ‘casual’ games)

Sega Game Gear - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8iNPRBeF9s

(More bloody Sonic)

Evolution - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS_5rU7uU0o&feature=related

(approx 100,000,000 Gameboys or so…)

Sony Steps In - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwZZCGAUab8

(Shiny.  Very shiny…)

But isolated from the rest of the market… 

Current Generation

Xbox 360

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIopXUPVGFE

PlayStation 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=791fKHqeRUA

Wii

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqaPFAZS1K8

See also…

Nintendogs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE6CKEsWQuI

Guitar Hero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=runtc3Da0CE

Wii Fit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2XYRd28TOM

Brain Training

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPyLyb3mUf4

But…!

iPhone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNNzRyd1xz0

Social Gaming (Facebook)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odBDAcOEKuI

Massively Multiplayer Online Games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYK_Gqyf48Y

Augmented Reality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGu0N3eL2D0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKw_Mp5YkaE

ARGs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpVpBcixek4

Sandbox games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-8v4uK7FhE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSgUGZRAYek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjHmtcnQAAs

Machinima

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz2_NkyTv8E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts&feature=BF&list=SL&index=1

Location-based gaming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Manhattan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Roy_All_Around_You

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r28m6206v1151674/

Games For Change

http://www.gamesforchange.org/

Serious Gaming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZuvim526E&feature=fvsr (Privates)

http://www.seriousgames.org/

http://www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game

REAL LIFE GAMING

http://www.rexbox.co.uk/epicwin/

Architecture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrzY8mBeXg4

Cultural Crossover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3D0JvYJkGc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovvk7T8QUIU

…and

PORTAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TluRVBhmf8w

For a complete overview…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games

Here’s something a bit… odd. Found courtesy of the Mysterious Universe podcast, the Codex Seraphinus is a ‘lost’ or at least rare, out of print book. http://www.archive.org/details/Codex-Seraphinianus A real copy costs approx $8000, but a PDF of the whole thing can be found using the link above. I love me the Internets.