Daily Illuminator Archive for March 2008

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March 1, 2008:
The mind of the artist is an unfathomable animal, but it's not hard to see why someone would want to establish a geostationary banana over Texas. Come on, it would be a banana, after all, flying in the sky over Texas . . . read article

March 2, 2008:
I first played Car Wars in the fall of 1986. We played with the pocket box - and Truck Stop - and it was easily my favorite game for a good four or five years . . . read article

March 3, 2008:
This is the cover of GURPS Sylfiena, a new fantasy setting book. However, you won't be seeing it at your local retailer any time soon . . . unless you live in Korea. GURPS Sylfiena is an original release from Dayspring Games, the publisher of the Korean GURPS Fourth Edition . . . read article

March 4, 2008:
GM's Day" was created on EN World's forums several years ago, and since then has grown into an annual excuse for PDF publishers and retailers to run special promotions and deals. This year, e23 will be joining in the fun! . . . read article

March 5, 2008:
Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and a gaming icon for more than 30 years, died yesterday after repeated strokes and heart problems. He was 69 . . . read article

March 6, 2008:
On my short list of "movies I'm looking forward to in 2008," Iron Man can't arrive too soon. While the new trailer isn't available from the official site yet, it has been uploaded to various places around the web (including Youtube) . . . read article

March 7, 2008:
Here's your obligatory link to the dependable GURPS Steampunk. You're going to want that after touring Crabfu SteamWorks, a collection of devices that never were but really ought to be . . . read article

March 8, 2008:
First the bad and personally embarrassing news. Yesterday we looked at Munchkin Quest and decided that it wasn't really in shape to go to the printers . . . read article

March 9, 2008:
Over the past couple of days, the temperature here in Austin has dropped into the low 30s overnight. Combine that with some windy days, and scattered showers, and it's pretty chilly and damp . . . read article

March 10, 2008:
GURPS Infinite Worlds is a setting just begging for a string of releases, each detailing one of the many -- dare I say, "infinite" -- alternative timelines that Homeline has discovered. Phil Masters has taken the challenge, and stepped up to deliver the first in what we hope to be a very long series: GURPS Infinite Worlds: Britannica-6 . . . read article

March 11, 2008:
I'm on semi-vacation. Yeah, thinking about games, but still, semi-vacation . . . read article

March 12, 2008:
Mac and PC. Coke and Pepsi . . . read article

March 13, 2008:
As promised, we will release GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns as a PDF today, sometime before noon Central Time. Update: It's live, right here, right now! As of Tuesday, the digital version of Characters had sold over 130 copies, which surprises no one . . . read article

March 14, 2008:
Everybody likes getting together and playing games, and the last couple of our in-office Games Days have been great fun. So, we decided to do another . . . read article

March 15, 2008:
They call it the Implosion Group on Dan Winter's Fractal Science, but it's more like an explosion - there's stuff all over the site, literally. It looks like a digital monkey has been flinging virtual data poo at your screen . . . read article

March 16, 2008:
We've got a real-life cyberpunk scenario unfolding, one that could be right out of William Gibson. In fact, it inspired me to go reread Neuromancer . . . read article

March 17, 2008:
After two days of sales, GURPS Characters had sold 91 copies via e23. After a similar time, also through e23, GURPS Campaigns had only sold 77 . . . read article

March 18, 2008:
I got some interesting comments on the "Cyberpunk whaling scenario" Illuminator. Several readers ran their own literature surveys and shared their findings, though nobody yet has found the specific list of 43 studies that the Australians were condemning . . . read article

March 19, 2008:
The author of some of the 20th century's most influential science fiction, who popularized the idea of a "space elevator" in his novel The Fountains of Paradise and wrote a paper describing geosynchronous communications satellites almost 20 years before the first one was launched, died yesterday at the age of 90. The CNN obituary does a pretty good job of summing up his contributions . . . read article

March 20, 2008:
I do try to keep up with what's going on in the video game world, but sometimes my general lack of time leads me to ignore a Darn Fine Game for much longer than I should. Case in point is Valve's Portal . . . read article

March 21, 2008:
Years of movies and conspiracy theories have taught us the obvious, that if you want to protect your brainwaves you need a tinfoil beanie. But On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study would have us believe folks at MIT have done experiments proving this isn't the case . . . read article

March 22, 2008:
The Dungeon Fantasy series brought dungeon crawling into GURPS, and now Sean Punch offers a new option for adventurers -- the sage. Not everyone who kicks down doors and slays monsters uses a boot and sword . . . read article

March 23, 2008:
When even the regular media carries reports of large tentacled creatures found near Antarctica, what even more eldritch discoveries might have been suppressed lest they lead to worldwide panic? Not that we don't have worldwide panic already . . . read article

March 24, 2008:
Ever since we began using POD technologies for short print runs of e23 projects, we've been asked, "Can I buy this from my Friendly Local Game Store?" In July 2008, the answer will be "Yes!" GURPS Spaceships Three, two, one . . . Blast off! GURPS Spaceships is the long-awaited companion to GURPS Space, presenting rules for TL7-12 spacecraft, from tiny lifeboats to giant dreadnoughts . . . read article

March 25, 2008:
Yes, there are Munchkin games on YouTube. No, we didn't make them, but the Munchkin Card video is pretty nifty . . . read article

March 26, 2008:
Jason Geyer was part of a group pitching merchandising ideas to Pepsi, for a Star Wars Episode One promotion. Most of their ideas were rejected, but he kept some of the concept sketches, and recently shared them on his blog here . . . read article

March 27, 2008:
Apple has bundled their browser, Safari, with the latest iTunes update . . . read article

March 28, 2008:
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is up and running. It's everyone's answer to the potentially disastrous loss of food sources throughout the world (though Norway is picking up the tab) . . . read article

March 29, 2008:
I am merely pointing out that the cheeseburger in a can is one more bit of proof that the future will be so weird that considering whether a given development is "good" or "evil" will just make your brain hurt.-- Steve Jackson . . . read article

March 30, 2008:
As I reviewed the condensed version of the Report to the Stakeholders that's going into the next Where We're Going, I noticed something funny about the numbers. Specifically, "sales were up by 20%" is a silly number . . . read article

March 31, 2008:
Another conspiracy exposed! The Empire has tried to hoodwink us with its farfetched explanation of the destruction of the magnificent Death Star, but patriotic citizens will not be fooled, and have gathered indisputable proof that it was an inside job . . . read article

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