You may think that the “big event” this weekend is happening down in Austin, Texas. However, the hippest of the hip know that the REAL place to be is scenic Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Photograph between circa 1903 and circa 1913, Public Domain
This evening I was graciously invited by a friend to attend the 3rd Montreal Girl Geek Dinner. Boy geeks such as myself were welcome as the guest of a girl geek. The goal of the event is described as follows:
Montreal Girl Geek Dinners are an offshoot of the London Girl Geek Dinners, started by Sarah Blow. The goal of these get-togethers is to make technology accessible and interesting to all age groups and all people, particularly women.
These monthly events are aimed at providing a welcoming atmosphere and a platform for learning in an informal environment. They are always held in pubs, bars or restos and there is usually a speaker (or several) who talk for a short while on a chosen subject for the evening.
The event lasted 3-4 hours, a large part of which was spent eating and networking. I had a chance to speak with the organizer Tanya McGinnity as well as Peter Yang, a designer at Ubisoft Montreal. The attendees came from many different backgrounds; some were programmers and web designers, others were just self-described geeks. In the spirit of making these events accessible, the speakers avoid getting too technical.
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Canada · Feminism
Title: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure
Platform: Wii
Played for: ~2.5 hours, 4-5 stages cleared
Would play again?: Yes
Zack and Wiki is considered to be one of the Wii’s hidden gems, tremendously innovative but outsold 3:1 by the uninspired Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Perhaps comparing a new IP with a hit series isn’t fair; Z&W certainly did well enough to likely warrant a sequel. That being said, it’s a shame that more people aren’t playing this brilliant puzzle game, which features very creative Wiimote implementation.
The A button alone is used to move around and examine objects. However, to interact with these objects, players must imitate the movement they wish to perform. From turning a crank to chopping down a tree, if you want to do it in game you have to mimic it in real life. These actions aren’t treated like mini-games either, there’s no on-screen pop up telling you what to do. It’s up to you to figure out which motion is appropriate for the situation. It’s a simple formula that’s surprisingly deep.
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Title: Devil May Cry
Platform: Playstation 2
Played for: ~2 hours, up to the first boss
Would play again?: No
As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up a cheap copy of Devil May Cry mainly because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. There’s been a lot of hype around the release of the latest installment, Devil May Cry 4, and the previous ones have generally been received very well.
Unfortunately, the game is nearly seven years old and it shows. Action games have evolved significantly since then, with titles such as God of War** and Heavenly Sword showing that you can have corridor fighting and linear levels with the illusion of openness and freedom***. This is not the case in Devil May Cry, and I quickly became weary of the repetitive castle corridors, endless minions and straightforward puzzles. I couldn’t find anything remarkable about the touted “stylish combo” system either, though a trip to GameFAQs told me I could perform a slightly different combo by mashing the circle button a little more slowly.
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As part of my ongoing exploration of graphic novels, I just finished reading “Batman: The Long Halloween”. I can’t say it was the type of book that I had initially pictured myself reading. Traditional superheroes were, in my mind, characters that fans loved too much to let go of but had long lost their innovation. How many times could you watch Superman defeat Lex Luthor before you moved on to other things?
Despite my preconceptions, I was confronted with Batman graphic novels at every turn in my search for reading material. Books such as “The Dark Knight Returns” and “The Killing Joke” kept popping up in lists of highly recommended titles. A little casual research told me that Frank Miller, who later penned 300 and Sin City, revitalized the campy character in the 80’s with a darker, more gothic interpretation. This spark set off a firestorm of creativity, leading to some of the best graphic novels of the era. I instantly felt a mild discomfort in my paradigms, perhaps due to the shifting.
