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Snow Falling on Video Games

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Snow Crash  by  Neal Stephenson  would have worked a whole lot better as a video game. There are countless fight sequences, chase scenes, and detailed descriptions of weapons and gear. Some of levels - ahem, settings I mean - are remarkably imaginative and would be very fun to play around in. Though many gamers don't go in for this kind of thing as much as I once did, the interactions between Hiro and the Librarian as well as some of the more colorful side characters would have entertained and inspired me quite a lot in the manner of backstory/literary/historical content heavy games such as Deus Ex and Alpha Centauri that I loved as an adolescent. Unfortunately, Neal Stephenson made Snow Crash a novel, not a video game, although apparently his original goal was to publish it as a 'computer-generated graphic novel.' That sounds like it would have been a much more fascinating project. It also would have obviated the need for Stephenson to type up so many badly written ...

More Wikipedia Pages I've Created

A few years ago I shared a list of Wikipedia pages I've created. Well, I've written a bunch more since then and so I thought I'd do a bit of an update. And I may ask myself, Robbie, what are you doing with your life? I'm just having fun with it. Here they are: The Faraway Nearby - A book by one of my favorite authors Rebecca Solnit. In this one she combines memoir, literary criticism, travelogue in another dazzling hybrid. White Girls - Hilton Als' very peculiar collection of essays about notable white girls, including Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor and of course Michael Jackson. The Funkees  - The Funkees were an afro-rock/funk group that came out of Nigeria in the 70s, contemporaneous with Fela Kuti but with tighter songwriting. Day Wave - Day Wave is an indie rock band. Shhh don't tell Wikipedia's schoolmarmish editors but the members of the band are close friends of mine from school days. Gabriel Joaquim dos Santos - This dude is a supe...