Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

XBox 360 Live Arcade and Gametap
December 15, 2005

I had a conversation with my brother over Xbox Live a week or so ago. He was playing Hexic HD from the XBox Live Arcade while we chatted.

One of the neat things about the XBox 360, and the XBox for that matter, is that you can download games from their online service to play on your console. These games don’t require a disc, and you can activate them from a button in the Live interface.

He was remarking how he really wished that Live had a vertical-scrolling space shooter. One of our favorite games of this genre is Xenon2 by the Bitmap Brothers. That was among my favorite Amiga games.

I was thinking about this idea when I saw a commercial for Gametap.

Expensive Closed Circuit Surveilance
December 14, 2005

Out after lunch today I found myself shopping at Acme for shampoo and sticky-backed hooks. One thing I noticed when walking through their front doors was that they have changed their security camera displays. It got me thinking about camera security in stores.

It seems the premise is that theives don’t read the “Closed Circuit Cameras In-Use” warning signs as they are entereing the premesis, and that a better method of prevention is to show them the feed from the camera. I wonder if this really pays out.