The Robot Press

Time to take a break from the news so that I can list some quotes from everyone's favorite assassin droid, HK-47. (See KOTOR for more info)

"Commentary: The meatbag speaks without clarity. Detail your involvement or the master will splatter your organs all over the floor."

"Suggestion: Shall we find something to kill to cheer ourselves up?"

"Statement: I have already learned a great deal, master, and I am anxious to learn more of lying, betrayal, and new ways to harm innocents."

"Exclamation: No! Master, no! What are you doing?"

"Conclusion: Still there was a brief moment where I felt like I almost understood why some meatbags choose peace and friendship over a high-powered blaster carbine."

"If you will excuse me, I will meditate on the face of my old master as he was being electrocuted. I find it most soothing."

"I think he is making fun of you, Master. Shall i proceed with wasting the Meatbag?"

"Deceit: Nothing to see here miss, just a regular droid. Move along, move along."

"I therefore make no claim to that designation, prospective buyer. I am a law-abiding droid. Yes, indeed, law-abiding, that's me!"

"Translation: 98% probability that members of the miniature organic's tribe are being held by Sand People, master. Doubtless he wishes assistance. 2% probability that the miniature organic is simply looking for trouble and needs to be blasted. That may be wishful thinking on my part, master."

"Osaka’s Suntory Beverages is launching the Final Fantasy XII Potion on March 7, a week before the PS2 title hits shelves and sends RPG fans into a frenzy. A 120 ml plain Jane bottle goes for 191 yen (about $1.60 US), while the Premium Set commands 600 yen ($5.75). The Premium Set is limited to 3 million boxes that include one art card and a special 100 ml bottle of Potion. So for more money, you get less to drink. Guess that’s okay for collectors, but sucks if you’re thirsty."

from Kotaku

GameSpot has the official demo for the Star Wars-themed RTS game, Empire at War available for download. You can *legally* get it at any of the following locales. Included in the demo are five tutorials and one galactic conquest map, although only a limited amount of units are available to use. (just like any other demo)

GameSpot - Worthplaying - 3D Gamers

Personally, I am intrigued and will probably end up getting a copy for myself.

Awesome

Need I say more?

"A 20-year-old California Institute of Technology student set a new world's record Saturday for solving the popular Rubik's Cube puzzle, turning the tiled brain-twister from scrambled to solved in 11.13 seconds.

Leyan Lo is part of Caltech's Rubik's Cube Club, a brainy clutch of students that hosted the competition at the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. Lo's record-setting time came early in the day, among his first five tries in the preliminary rounds.

The record-setting solve caught competitors and Lo himself by surprise."

from MSNBC

It'sa Him! It'sa Him! Looks like he's getting rid of Luigi once and for all. ;)

True, 6-sided fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror may be overdone and cliche, but 20-sided dice, that is a different story. Time to replace that ratty, dangling high school tassel with something more fitting of a geek. Think of these fuzzy icosahedrons (that's a 20-sided polyhedron for the math-impaired) as a fantasy muse, inspiring you as you drive, conjuring images of dungeon crawling, orc whacking, and critical hitting.

Get your own pair for $9.95 at Jinx

Another great game in development, or so I am guessing: Star Wars - Empire at War. It is scheduled for release on February 7.

Empire At War is the latest attempt to emulate large scale Star Wars battles. It focuses on the struggle between the empire and the rebels that begins in the time frame between episode 3 and episode 4.

It is being developed by Petroglyph, which is comprised of many former members of Westwood Studios, best known for their work on the Command and Conquer series. Empire at War uses an entirely new engine that Petroglyph developed, known only as Alamo. It uses several higher-end shader effects such as soft shadows, specular lighting, and particle effects for dust clouds and explosions.

Empire at War features beautifully rendered land and space battles set on memorial planets such as Yavin 4, Tatooine, and Dagobah, as well as never-before-seen environments taken directly from the Star Wars films and Expanded Universe novels.

Memorable Star Wars hero characters can be brought into the action to help turn the tide of the battle as players build, manage, and upgrade their space and ground-based units, vehicles, troops and base structures. All of the gameplay and action within Empire at War is persistent, meaning that strategic and tactical elements from events will have a permanent effect on the galaxy. In addition to the Single-Player campaign mode, the game includes a two-player campaign mode and online skirmish modes for up to eight players.

Official Website

"ICEHOTEL, now in its thirteenth year, is continuing its successful and celebrated career as the world's biggest hotel made entirely of ice and snow. From its modest beginnings as a single room thirteen years ago, ICEHOTEL has grown to 5,000 square metres built of 30,000 tons of snow and 4,000 tons of ice.

In the winter season 2001/ 2002, more than 14,000 guests spent the night in ICEHOTEL and 37,000 day visitors walked in through the reindeer-skin covered doors. In this 60-room wintry fairy-tale land, there is a hotel reception, hall of pillars, Iceart exhibition, ABSOLUT ICEBAR, Icehotel cinema, the fantastic Icechurch and of course hotel rooms. In the evening, the guests assemble in ABSOLUT ICEBAR to have a drink "in the rocks" from iceglasses sculpted from the ice of the River Torne.

A new chapter began in winter 2003 with the construction of "Ice Globe Theatre" - a replica of Shakespeare's "Globe Theatre" on the Thames in London. The project attracted large numbers of guests to the region. The building was a highly interesting challenge in its own right, and the goal was to unite that bastion of the Thespian arts, The Globe, with the beauty and magic of ICEHOTEL.

Of ICEHOTEL itself, the sculptors save just a few works of art from the preceding winter season in the Art Center, and the rest of the hotel is left to melt away. Nature's own short-term gift gives an opportunity to experiment with form, space, and technique every year; and just like snow flakes, no two ICEHOTELS are ever identical. The beauty, and the parts we are not completely happy with, run back into the River Torne and make way for next winter's version of ICEHOTEL. From this river, the ideas of the summer shall find expression in the creations of the coming winter.
From the river came the ice, and to the river it shall return; all that will remain are memories."

From http://icehotel.com/

From Tampa Bay's Ten News:

A pizza delivery man in Cincinnati has told police he was the victim of a robbery attempt yesterday -- by a pack of girls.

Police say he described his assailants as five very young girls. Investigators believe they're looking for suspects in the eleven-to-14 age group. A police captain says it's a little disturbing. The 21-year-old delivery man says the girls tried to take the pizza from him and ended up knocking him to the ground.

But he wasn't hurt, and nothing was taken. He says when he arrived at the spot where he was supposed to deliver the pie, it seemed the girls were waiting for him. Police are looking into whether they were the ones who phoned in the order.

Now the news flow can begin in earnest. It was a slow news week in any case. You didn't miss much *good* news anyway. Furthermore, vacation being over makes me sad.