Dire Critic

(No, I did not take this photo.)

The less said about work tonight the better. On the plus side, my copy of Halo and Philosophy is expected to arrive by Thursday!

Tonight’s roundup includes a healthy selection of Gamasutra punditry, a neat audience study on kids and violent media (the result is not what you expect), sad Kojima being sad, and… well I hate to spoil it for you but ponycorns. They’re like ponies and unicorns merged into one being!

Videogames

We start off tonight with some Gamasutra opinion pieces and member blogs. First off is Pete Garcin who posits story games have a lot to learn from sports games. Then, from the member blogs, we have Guy Hasson’s entry on the “closed doors” of worldbuilding, James Sadler’s defense of local multiplayer, and Marc Bell’s gander at death rooms and monster closets.

Kojima-san… :c

Kotaku’s got a new piece all about Ken Levine.

This has been making the rounds of game blogs today but it bears repeating. Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure!

Animation/Film/Television

A new study suggests that kids don’t actually like violence in their media.

And yes– I thought Brian Ashcraft was full of bashcraft as usual with this one, but take a look at the finer details of what he purports to be shots from the Ace Attorney movie set.

SCIENCE!

Via Boing Boing, how cultural differences affect your sleeping patterns.

And from Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait, check out these supernovae that are going off “like firecrackers”. Also on the spaaaace side, why is the black hole at the center of our galaxy spinning faster and faster?

Curios

Jezebel’s Niina Pollari has an interesting take on how Facebook reinforces pre-medieval, communal courtship ritual.