| Phil Harrison Answers Your Questions
Right around this time last month, we asked for your questions to pass on to President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison. With the launch of the PlayStation 3 console in Europe, Mr. Harrison has had kind of a full month. He still found us the time to answer your questions, and today we have them to read. Below are his very thorough responses to the questions you posed, ranging in subject from the European delay to the public perception of SCEA. Make sure to give them a look, and many thanks again to Mr. Harrison for his time. .
Technology: Batter Up: New Games Hit Market
The arrival of this year's baseball season has the online game industry buzzing about baseball titles, with most of the talk focusing on new releases or new updates. Neowiz Corp last month launched an open-beta version of its first 3D baseball title called "Slugger." "Real sports have been converted to online, PC or video console titles. Soccer and basketball are frequently adopted online, such as EA's FIFA, Konami's Winning Eleven and JC Entertainment's Freestyle, but that has not really been the case in baseball. So we have high expectations for 'Slugger,'" an official at Neowiz said. Another game, "Magumagu," developed by Anipark Inc and published by CJ Internet, has recently been updated. CJ Internet offered free cyber game coupons to Jamsil Baseball Stadium-goers on April 7 and 14.
Milton Hershey’s Utopian Amusement Park Turns 100
For many decades, wooden crossbeams and undulating tracks rose above the tree-lined streets of Hershey, Pennsylvania, like an epic statue of some serpentine hero. To the people in the tidy homes below, the Ferris wheel spokes and wafting carousel music were a part of everyday life. But like the smokestacks of the nearby chocolate factory, Hershey's amusement park, born 100 years ago today, was the embodiment of an ideal—that one's personal wealth is best spent helping those around one—and was also a monument to the man who built it, Milton S. Hershey. Although log flumes and kiddie rides might seem no more than simple fun now, when Hershey Park first opened, on April 24, 1907—with little more than a bandstand and a pavilion interrupting its shady groves—amusement parks were, like model towns, a tantalizing glimpse at a hopeful future, in which technology and human ingenuity promised to erase civilization's ills.
Bettelheim and the Importance of Play
In his landmark work "The Importance of Play" Bruno Bettelheim lays out a penetrating study that attempts to describe the psychological importance that play has upon the development of the mind of young children. Bettelheim proceeds from the perspective of classic Freudian psychology with the suggestion that play is a method by which children are able to foster mature development by addressing issues of past psychological problems. Even the most seemingly mindless of playful activities therefore works as a royal road into their minds in which they can confront unconscious fears through their consciousness, not unlike an adult may do through role-playing in a psychologist's office. According to Bettelheim, then, play is very much an intellectual activity. It is through playacting and imagination and role-playing that children can develop cognitive functions that may very well be applied specifically in adult versions of the very games they play.
Community Events Calendar
Time for Change Foundation, 2130 N. Arrowhead Ave., San Bernardino, has openings for new committee members. The foundation's mission is to help needy women who are trying to change their lives for the better. The group's services include transitional housing, food, clothing, counseling and other support for women and children. More information: (909) 886-2994. Central City Lutheran Mission, 1354 N. G St., San Bernardino, runs a daily homework-help center from 3 to 6 p.m. in English and Spanish for children ages 5-12. The mission's after-school program also provides daily activities for teens, with rap and poetry writing/performance Tuesdays and hip-hop theater and "buck" dancing Wednesdays through Fridays. Operation Phoenix Foundation, a nonprofit organization aimed at fighting crime in San Bernardino, was launched by city officials to sustain prevention and intervention programs long after government support is discontinued.
Hold On, Adobe - There's a New Sheriff in Town
Adobe Flash has enjoyed a place in the spotlight for awhile now, and Microsoft hopes to shake that up. Yesterday at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters conference they unleashed Microsoft Silverlight, a new plug-in that promises to deliver "the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web." And with Brightcove Inc., Major League Baseball and Netflix already in their corner, we say game on. Having withstood two years in development mode, Silverlight promises fast installation, media-enabled tools and solutions, and scalability. It's also ready for the unpredictable Web terrain that so often throws off other apps, boasting almost hiccup-free compatibility with Macs and PCs as well as with a variety of browsers.
Pirates of the Burning Sea (PC)
Pirates of the Burning Sea is the other underdog MMO to come out of this year's GDC, alongside Gods & Heroes. It's one of a handful of MMOs that isn't going with a fantasy setting; instead, you're a pirate or privateer searching for treasure amongst the islands of a pseudo-realistic Caribbean Sea. The underdog factor comes from the competition. Burning Sea is a self-published game by a relatively unknown developer, Flying Labs, which dropped Delta Green to focus on this. Due to their setting, though, they're going head-to-head with Disney and Buena Vista's Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Aside from their piratical backdrops, though, the two games couldn't be aimed at more different demographics. Burning Sea has a much more adult sensibility and style, along with a lot more attention to detail and a player-run game economy; it's what happens when a bunch of serious MMO players sit down and decide to make their own sort of game.
Coroner's Inquest report
Although it appears that Louis Farrell lacked any motive to harm himself, the only conclusion that I can draw from the physical and forensic evidence is that Lou took his own life. Therefore, I have ruled the death of Louis Farrell a suicide. Recommendation of criminal charges: .
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