Many years ago, before AirDrop and Bluetooth, before widespread Wi-Fi and even remotely fast home internet access, there was the Game Boy Link Cable. It was how you got all three starters on your copy of Pokémon Red, and it was, at least in my mind, the only way to bring any sort of peer-to-peer connectivity to Nintendo’s handheld. I remember dutifully trading pokémon with friends after school, ensuring we could fill one another’s Pokédex entries before trading back our precious virtual creatures using Nintendo’s cable accessory, a device Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri credits as inspiration for virtual worlds that insect-like creatures could crawl between, like tunnels. But the link cable was just the beginning of the Game Boy’s wild, bizarre experimentation with the future. In the late ‘90s, Japanese game company Hudson Soft eventually came up with a more radical idea to bring wireless connectivity to the handheld. It would use … [Read more...] about One of the Game Boy’s weirdest games was a Pokémon clone with built-in infrared
Weirdest game ever
One of the Game Boy’s weirdest games was a Pokémon clone with infrared trading
Many years ago, before AirDrop and Bluetooth, before widespread Wi-Fi and even remotely fast home internet access, there was the Game Boy Link Cable. It was how you got all three starters on your copy of Pokémon Red, and it was, at least in my mind, the only way to bring any sort of peer-to-peer connectivity to Nintendo’s handheld. I remember dutifully trading pokémon with friends after school, ensuring we could fill one another’s Pokédex entries before trading back our precious virtual creatures using Nintendo’s cable accessory, a device Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri credits as inspiration for virtual worlds that insect-like creatures could crawl between, like tunnels. But the link cable was just the beginning of the Game Boy’s wild, bizarre experimentation with the future. In the late ‘90s, Japanese game company Hudson Soft eventually came up with a more radical idea to bring wireless connectivity to the handheld. It would use … [Read more...] about One of the Game Boy’s weirdest games was a Pokémon clone with infrared trading
The best Xbox 360 games backward compatible on Xbox One
The Xbox One doesn’t have the exclusive game selection of the PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch, but Microsoft’s console is the only one of the three to offer backward compatibility with your older library of games. A huge number of Xbox 360 games can be played on Xbox One simply by putting in the disc and waiting for the file to download, and the supported game list includes some of the biggest titles on the console. We’ve compiled our favorite backward compatible Xbox One games, paying special attention to games that haven’t gotten remastered versions on the newer system. Action-adventure ‘Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’ The Assassin’s Creed game had a long history on the Xbox 360, with the original game up through Assassin’s Creed Rogue releasing on the system, but it was Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood that stands out as the game that defined the generation. Building on the improved structure and combat of Assassin’s Creed … [Read more...] about The best Xbox 360 games backward compatible on Xbox One
Penn Jillette’s magical advice for keeping healthy at CES: Just give up
I loved watching Penn and Teller when I was young. Inexplicably, I threw up as a kid during one of their shows, and then I remember meeting them in the lobby and how they made me love magic. I still practice tricks and think about how magic bends reality.Penn Jillette also lost over a hundred pounds in 2016 after suffering from high blood pressure, and has kept the weight off. That's a trick I find hard to pull off, even though I have high blood pressure and need to lose weight and use connected scales and plenty of fitness bands.His advice to me on how to stay healthy at a show like CES surprised me: "If you are staying in Las Vegas and you don't live here and you're staying in a hotel, give up. That's my advice, give up. There's no way to stay fit, or healthy or anything: everyone, go have fries or pie! That's your only choice: give up, and decide to start again when you get back."So, that's not necessarily what everyone thinks is the case at CES: in fact, of course you can be … [Read more...] about Penn Jillette’s magical advice for keeping healthy at CES: Just give up
Ancient bird fossils have ‘the weirdest feathers I have ever seen’
By John PickerellDec. 14, 2018 , 8:00 AM One hundred million years ago, the sky was filled with birds unlike those seen today, many with long, streamerlike tail feathers. Now, paleontologists have found examples of these paired feathers preserved in exquisite detail in 31 pieces of Cretaceous amber from Myanmar. The rare 3D preservation reveals the feathers’ structure is completely different from that of modern feathers—and hints that they may have been defensive decoys to foil predators. Such tail streamers—in some cases longer than the bodies—have been observed in early bird fossils from China for several decades, in particular, the 125-million-year-old Confuciusornis sanctus. They may also be present in some feathered dinosaurs. Scientists have long thought the feathers were ornamental, similar to the tail feathers in some modern hummingbirds and birds of paradise—and that they may have been unique to either males or females, as only a subset of … [Read more...] about Ancient bird fossils have ‘the weirdest feathers I have ever seen’