It’s getting harder to find good help. Well-know plumber Mario has been fired by Nintendo.
” A newly-uploaded profile … of everyone’s favorite Player One describes Mario as having worked as a plumber in the distant past, suggesting he’s a plumber no longer.”
“But to remove Mario from his plumbing origins is a disservice to the fans who fell in love with Nintendo’s hero long before his days of racing, playing tennis, or flying through space. Mario is a video game hero we can all relate to—one that gets his hands dirty under the occasional sink.”
— “Mario is no longer a plumber,” Jean-Luc Bouchard, Quartz
Naturally Ms. Zimmerman asked Dr. Chu why chickens cross roads. Her reply:
“I assure you, ornithologists don’t know the answer to that question, any more than they know the answer to why humans spend hours getting chickens to cross the road on our phones.”
More:
“We asked an Ornithologist to Factcheck Angry Birds — And the Results Might Surprise You,” Jess Zimmerman, Atlas Obscura
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Image (“Field Guide to Angry Birds”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Electronic games now earn more money than recorded music or Hollywood films, about $21 Billion in 2013.
The Strong Museum collects and preserves video games and artifacts through its International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The collection includes more than 55,000 video games and artifacts, personal papers and corporate records that document the history of video games.
The Strong Museum in Rochester, home of the National Toy Hall of Fame, has announced the creation of the World Video Game Hall of Fame. “Electronic games have changed how people play, learn and connect with each other, including across boundaries of culture and geography,” said museum President G. Rollie Adams. Unsaid: Games now earn more money than recorded music or Hollywood films, about $21 Billion in 2013.
You can nominate significant arcade, console, computer, hand-held and mobile games here until March 31, 2015. An international panel will choose the annual inductees.
Top image (“Portrait of Johannes Neudörfer, His Son, and Their Rubik’s Cube, after Nicolas Neufchâtel”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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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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