Critics, especially those who can do math, think Herman Cain’s “9-9-9″ tax plan is just a catchy slogan. Jon Huntsman thinks it’s the price of pizza. Nonsense. The 9-9-9 plan is just a game. A computer game. Sim City 4, to be precise.
As reporter Amanda Terkel first realized, when players participating in the city simulation begin planning taxes for their mock municipality, the game setup starts commercial, industrial, and residential taxes at 9% rates, remarkably similar to Mr. Cain’s. Gamers use the 9% defaults to figure out rates that will actually work because, even in cyberspace, “9-9-9″ doesn’t cut it.
“The United States government offers tax incentives to companies pursuing medical breakthroughs, urban redevelopment and alternatives to fossil fuels.
It also provides tax breaks for a company whose hit video game this year was the gory Dead Space 2, which challenges players to advance through an apocalyptic battlefield by killing space zombies.”
– “Rich Tax Breaks Bolster Makers of Video Games,” David Kocieniewski, New York Times
The National Pinball Museum is closing. The NPM is located in Washington’s Georgetown Park mall, and the new landlord has hit the flipper, bouncing the museum out. The institution had only been open for five months.
Is nothing sacred? The Pinball Museum is more than a repository of amusement industry technology. It is a tribute to billions of wasted hours of 20th century American youth.
Guitar Hero, the music-themed video game with the plastic guitar-shaped controller first introduced in 2005, was recently discontinued. Sales had been in the billions but fell to under $300 million last year. Now the Activision corporation says there might be a reprise:
“‘Guitar Hero’ Not Dead, Says Game Maker Activision,” Scott Steinberg, Rolling Stone
Image (“Portrait with Video Game, after Paul Bril”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Australian teen Feliks Zemdegs just solved the Rubik’s Cube puzzle in 6.77 seconds, a new world’s record. The fleet-fingered 15 year old bested the old record, a pokey 7.08 seconds.
