Well, now that I'm off of school for the summer, I should be updating more. Even so, the projects I'm working on aren't showing a lot of progress, so there's not much to report on that front. And since I don't want to write one of "those blogs" that just regurgitates the latest from Engadget/Ars/Slashdot, posts just aren't going to be coming as regularly as I want them to.
I will, however, talk a bit right now about what I'm working on. Currently, I've got three projects in the works, all of which I hope to release before starting my new job in late July. First on the agenda is a redesign of Khakionion.com, my long-outdated website. I'll be getting rid of all that nasty table-based layout and creating a nice, clean, sensible website that will make getting my productions much easier.
Next is MTPCopy, an Automator action that will make copying music files to your non-iPod device in OS X a snap. I'm not one for those jukebox-style solutions like XNJB. I hope my approach will be much simpler.
Last, I'm hoping to allocate my Panda3D experience towards a 2D platformer, which I'm working on with my quite-talented sister, who's responsible for the art and character design.
That's what's up, hopefully you'll be seeing some fresh productivity out of me soon!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
HTTP Codes for More Efficient Whining
Someone on Facebook posted an article by The Beijinger about a rock festival being cancelled by the Chinese government. I was entertained when I got a unique 403 by following the Facebook link:
Yeah, something tells me they didn't work very hard on the supposing part. It also shows up when following it from my site.
Seems like quite the over-emotional IT staff. Anyway, like the plea for attention said, publishing your referers enables link spam. So...don't. or use rel="nofollow" on your referral links. But don't abuse the 403 error codes to complain about how you had to disable spam.
We have identified that you have been refered here by a known or supposed spammer.
Yeah, something tells me they didn't work very hard on the supposing part. It also shows up when following it from my site.
If you are actually doing referer spam, please note that this website/b2evolution no longer records and publishes referers. Not even legitimate ones! While we understand it was fun for you guys while it lasted, please understand our servers cannot take the load of all this cumulated spam any longer... Thank you.
Seems like quite the over-emotional IT staff. Anyway, like the plea for attention said, publishing your referers enables link spam. So...don't. or use rel="nofollow" on your referral links. But don't abuse the 403 error codes to complain about how you had to disable spam.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Google/Address Book Syncing--Just iPhone Advertisement
So, over at the Google Mac blog, they've announced the ability to sync Google contacts. With what? Well with Address Book, of course. Yes, Address Book, that system-wide service/application with iCal, Safari and Mail.app integration. It's an important piece of software to many Mac users, so you can see why it'd be useful to sync with your Google contacts.
Oh, did I mention it only works if you have an iPhone?
See that bottom checkbox? "Synchronize with Google?" The feature works like a charm, or so I'm told. I wouldn't know, because that simple little checkbox (which surely doesn't require any sort of iPhone software to work properly) just flat out does not appear unless that Mac has been synced in the past with an iPhone.
Quoth the Google Mac blog entry: "We hope this helps you keep a little more of your information organized and easy to find, at any place and time you need it." Sorry, guys, you fail it.
Update: Looks like you need an iPod of some sort, not just an iPod. See this Lifehacker post for details and info on how to get around this mind-numbingly stupid restriction.
Oh, did I mention it only works if you have an iPhone?
See that bottom checkbox? "Synchronize with Google?" The feature works like a charm, or so I'm told. I wouldn't know, because that simple little checkbox (which surely doesn't require any sort of iPhone software to work properly) just flat out does not appear unless that Mac has been synced in the past with an iPhone.
Quoth the Google Mac blog entry: "We hope this helps you keep a little more of your information organized and easy to find, at any place and time you need it." Sorry, guys, you fail it.
Update: Looks like you need an iPod of some sort, not just an iPod. See this Lifehacker post for details and info on how to get around this mind-numbingly stupid restriction.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Nihongo Benkyou: Kanji Invaders
Over the past few weeks I've been throwing together some JavaScript to make myself a Japanese language study-game. If you've ever played Letter Invaders-type games, you'll catch onto this one pretty fast.
It's (unimaginatively) called Kanji Invaders, and is a JavaScript application which runs on IE 6.0+, Firefox and Safari. The objective is to type the readings for randomly-selected falling Japanese words before they reach the bottom of the screen. If you can't read Kanji, all words convert themselves to Hiragana as they fall. When you successfully type a word, the definition is given down at the bottom. You can even specify which particular words you want to see; for now, the only types I have are JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) classifications.
To play, simply type the romaji for each falling word! I initially chose this method because I had problems with Firefox recognizing Japanese input methods. Since then, though, I've come to the realization that most keyboards (even in Japan) are being used Romaji style, so I've stuck with it. By supporting romaji exclusively, Kanji Invaders works on virtually all Japanese and English computers.
Current feature ideas: An online scoreboard. Better intensity rise/fall. Automagically-downloadable version without an advert (though it's already pretty easy to download). More graphical special effects. Music/SFX.
Currently known issues: sometimes typing a word that has appeared twice will cause both instances to go away. I've fixed it and will upload a new version soon.
Since Kanji Invaders' Japanese input processing is home-brewed, let me know if a particular romaji-ism that you use doesn't work on Kanji Invaders. Other bug reports/feature ideas are very welcome. The code is free for you to take and do what you like with, but I'd appreciate attribution if you simply make a Kanji Invaders fork. I'm regularly improving this app, and will keep the latest version available at http://kanji.khakionion.com for your perusal.
Have fun studying, and ganbatte!
It's (unimaginatively) called Kanji Invaders, and is a JavaScript application which runs on IE 6.0+, Firefox and Safari. The objective is to type the readings for randomly-selected falling Japanese words before they reach the bottom of the screen. If you can't read Kanji, all words convert themselves to Hiragana as they fall. When you successfully type a word, the definition is given down at the bottom. You can even specify which particular words you want to see; for now, the only types I have are JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) classifications.
To play, simply type the romaji for each falling word! I initially chose this method because I had problems with Firefox recognizing Japanese input methods. Since then, though, I've come to the realization that most keyboards (even in Japan) are being used Romaji style, so I've stuck with it. By supporting romaji exclusively, Kanji Invaders works on virtually all Japanese and English computers.
Current feature ideas: An online scoreboard. Better intensity rise/fall. Automagically-downloadable version without an advert (though it's already pretty easy to download). More graphical special effects. Music/SFX.
Currently known issues: sometimes typing a word that has appeared twice will cause both instances to go away. I've fixed it and will upload a new version soon.
Since Kanji Invaders' Japanese input processing is home-brewed, let me know if a particular romaji-ism that you use doesn't work on Kanji Invaders. Other bug reports/feature ideas are very welcome. The code is free for you to take and do what you like with, but I'd appreciate attribution if you simply make a Kanji Invaders fork. I'm regularly improving this app, and will keep the latest version available at http://kanji.khakionion.com for your perusal.
Have fun studying, and ganbatte!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Command-Line Panda3D
Here's a neat tip worth pointing out: because Panda3D works in Python, and Python has a relatively robust command-line mode, you have a powerful realtime debugging tool in the form of command-line Panda. It's not really hard, you just may not realize it's possible. Open up a Python prompt, then run these lines:
from pandac.PandaModules import *
from direct.showbase.DirectObject import DirectObject
import direct.directbase.DirectStart
That should be enough to get a window up and running. As you test more and more things out, remember you'll probably have to call the run() function every now and then to get tasks to run, do some extended interaction or that sort of thing. While Panda3D is actually "running," you won't have the command-line available.
When you want to pause the system and do more debugging, simply raise a KeyboardInterrupt exception, and Panda3D will freeze and return control to the command-line. You may want to write a module that does all of this for you, like, say:
from pandac.PandaModules import *
from direct.showbase.DirectObject import DirectObject
import direct.directbase.DirectStart
class debugObj(DirectObject):
def __init__(self):
self.accept("space",self.interruptPanda) #any unused event, really
def interruptPanda(self):
raise KeyboardInterrupt()
Woohoo, now you can load modules and run Panda3D stuff to your heart's content, with the ability to freeze execution and evaluate variables at any moment.
from pandac.PandaModules import *
from direct.showbase.DirectObject import DirectObject
import direct.directbase.DirectStart
That should be enough to get a window up and running. As you test more and more things out, remember you'll probably have to call the run() function every now and then to get tasks to run, do some extended interaction or that sort of thing. While Panda3D is actually "running," you won't have the command-line available.
When you want to pause the system and do more debugging, simply raise a KeyboardInterrupt exception, and Panda3D will freeze and return control to the command-line. You may want to write a module that does all of this for you, like, say:
from pandac.PandaModules import *
from direct.showbase.DirectObject import DirectObject
import direct.directbase.DirectStart
class debugObj(DirectObject):
def __init__(self):
self.accept("space",self.interruptPanda) #any unused event, really
def interruptPanda(self):
raise KeyboardInterrupt()
Woohoo, now you can load modules and run Panda3D stuff to your heart's content, with the ability to freeze execution and evaluate variables at any moment.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Nihongo Benkyou: The Nintendo DS
Being a more-than-full-time student here in Japan, it's hard to find regular, dedicated time for studying Japanese. Nonetheless, it's a very important part of my time here, so any tools that make the process easier are quite welcome.
Enter the Genius Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten, a Nintendo-developed electronic dictionary for the Nintendo DS. Since it takes advantage of the DS stylus for written kanji recognition, the student of Japanese can look up words whose readings they don't yet know.
This has been my primary method of deciphering Japanese text "in the field" while living in Osaka. There are some drawbacks, but if you already own a DS the roughly 4000 yen price tag makes it an obvious choice. I've linked to The Japan Times' review, but if you want to buy it, here's a direct link to Play Asia's product page.
Enter the Genius Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten, a Nintendo-developed electronic dictionary for the Nintendo DS. Since it takes advantage of the DS stylus for written kanji recognition, the student of Japanese can look up words whose readings they don't yet know.
This has been my primary method of deciphering Japanese text "in the field" while living in Osaka. There are some drawbacks, but if you already own a DS the roughly 4000 yen price tag makes it an obvious choice. I've linked to The Japan Times' review, but if you want to buy it, here's a direct link to Play Asia's product page.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
AppleScripts to Toggle the Microphone
I'm nice and busy here in Osaka, but not too busy to see this infuriating "answer" on Yahoo, about how to mute a MacBook microphone:
Don't like the way the AppleScript works? Just open it in Script Editor.
Stupid Yahoo Answers. I should be studying Kanji. :)
Unfortunately that's quite impossible to do on a Mac. I've tried looking for a solution, but there was never an answer. I got tired of my Mac, and bought a Sony Vaio instead. They actually work, and are actually quality computers.What the hell is wrong with people? And it was an accepted answer? Well, for some reason I can't post a new answer, so let me just say; a simple AppleScript (which I've written, and have available right here) can toggle the MacBook's onboard microphone. If you need it bound to a key, free programs like GlobalHotkey have you covered.
Don't like the way the AppleScript works? Just open it in Script Editor.
Stupid Yahoo Answers. I should be studying Kanji. :)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Travelogue: The Move To Osaka
Weird, many people think I'm already in Japan. Anyway, It's T-Minus 7 hours before my first plane takes off, so here's a liveblog of my departure from Adelaide, Australia to Osaka, Japan. Check back often, I'll keep updating.
Friday, 28.12.2007
23:16 - I'm alone at the ETC, so iTunes is cranked up. I'm ripping Clone High for Rob, and trying to fit all my crap into my two large suitcases and two carry-on bags. I have about 50kg of stuff. This will not end well.
Saturday, 29.12.2007
4:21 - Well, it didn't end too poorly. My luggage is quite heavy, but acceptable. I'm all packed up, ready to call a cab and leave the ETC. Man, I really hope I don't lock myself out this time.
6:35 - Sitting in the Adelaide airport, waiting to board the plane. Beautiful sunrise as I sit here. Also, holy crap that was an expensive charge for overweight baggage: over A$300! Oh well, it had to be done, and wasn't much more expensive than the Australia Post would have been. Here's hoping the wine makes it through the trip!
22:27 - Well, that was a boring travelogue; no Internet access anywhere. *sigh* I'm in Japan now! Woo!
Friday, 28.12.2007
23:16 - I'm alone at the ETC, so iTunes is cranked up. I'm ripping Clone High for Rob, and trying to fit all my crap into my two large suitcases and two carry-on bags. I have about 50kg of stuff. This will not end well.
Saturday, 29.12.2007
4:21 - Well, it didn't end too poorly. My luggage is quite heavy, but acceptable. I'm all packed up, ready to call a cab and leave the ETC. Man, I really hope I don't lock myself out this time.
6:35 - Sitting in the Adelaide airport, waiting to board the plane. Beautiful sunrise as I sit here. Also, holy crap that was an expensive charge for overweight baggage: over A$300! Oh well, it had to be done, and wasn't much more expensive than the Australia Post would have been. Here's hoping the wine makes it through the trip!
22:27 - Well, that was a boring travelogue; no Internet access anywhere. *sigh* I'm in Japan now! Woo!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Fixing Leopard's .dylib Problem With Universal MacPorts
Apparently, Mac OS X Leopard has drastically altered the way its linker works. The Ruby community is running into problems installing gems, but this change extends beyond interpreted language modules, and some people are getting really irate. I ran into this stuff head-first today while trying to make a program building off of XNJB.
I'm building an Automator action deriving from XNJB, but for the life of me I couldn't finish compiling; the linker insisted that libiconv was not defining the proper symbols. Despite libiconv being in both the OS X 10.4u and 10.5 SDKs, as well as MacPorts, the program just would not link.
If you tell Xcode to only compile for your architecture, things work out alright. But what if you want to distribute your app? Isn't that what Universal Binaries are all about? Well, apparently, the real problem with Leopard is some complicated gcc/linker mojo (something about the way Leopard resolves .dylib locations), but it's easy enough to workaround if you link to MacPorts versions of your libraries; just recompile your ports as Universal Binaries. For me, I had to recompile several:
sudo port deactivate libiconv zlib libxml2 libxslt jpeg tiff libpng
sudo install libiconv zlib libxml2 libxslt jpeg tiff libpng +universal
Ugh, MacPorts needs some common nomenclature. (Yes, I know most of that isn't their fault.) Once those were installed, and Xcode was instructed to look in /opt/local/lib for libraries, everything compiled (to a UB!) just fine. If you've got this problem, hopefully this helps!
Maybe I can use this to finish that OS X build of Panda3D.....
I'm building an Automator action deriving from XNJB, but for the life of me I couldn't finish compiling; the linker insisted that libiconv was not defining the proper symbols. Despite libiconv being in both the OS X 10.4u and 10.5 SDKs, as well as MacPorts, the program just would not link.
If you tell Xcode to only compile for your architecture, things work out alright. But what if you want to distribute your app? Isn't that what Universal Binaries are all about? Well, apparently, the real problem with Leopard is some complicated gcc/linker mojo (something about the way Leopard resolves .dylib locations), but it's easy enough to workaround if you link to MacPorts versions of your libraries; just recompile your ports as Universal Binaries. For me, I had to recompile several:
sudo port deactivate libiconv zlib libxml2 libxslt jpeg tiff libpng
sudo install libiconv zlib libxml2 libxslt jpeg tiff libpng +universal
Ugh, MacPorts needs some common nomenclature. (Yes, I know most of that isn't their fault.) Once those were installed, and Xcode was instructed to look in /opt/local/lib for libraries, everything compiled (to a UB!) just fine. If you've got this problem, hopefully this helps!
Maybe I can use this to finish that OS X build of Panda3D.....
Sunday, December 16, 2007
StreetSmarts Public Release
A really long time ago I planned on open-sourcing some of my stuff. "Some of my stuff" ended up being "none of my stuff," because I was just too damned lazy to clean it up.
No longer! I found out the code to StreetSmarts, my file renamer, is pretty cross-platform if one is inclined to use Mono on MacOS or Linux. So, I finished cleaning up the code, figured out what command lines would compile StreetSmarts in Linux and OS X, and VIOLA, now I've got a project up on Google Code.
You can give it a whirl, if you've got files that need renaming. Just head to http://streetsmarts.googlecode.com, download the version that's appropriate for your system (or checkout/compile from source), and have at you!
Are there simpler ways to do mass file renaming? Hell yes. Still, I'm happy to have produced something relatively interesting and open-sourced it.
No longer! I found out the code to StreetSmarts, my file renamer, is pretty cross-platform if one is inclined to use Mono on MacOS or Linux. So, I finished cleaning up the code, figured out what command lines would compile StreetSmarts in Linux and OS X, and VIOLA, now I've got a project up on Google Code.
You can give it a whirl, if you've got files that need renaming. Just head to http://streetsmarts.googlecode.com, download the version that's appropriate for your system (or checkout/compile from source), and have at you!
Are there simpler ways to do mass file renaming? Hell yes. Still, I'm happy to have produced something relatively interesting and open-sourced it.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Quick Path Access in OS X
Here's a neat trick I just found out about, that I'm sure has been present forever. When you're using Safari, Finder, and presumably any other application with "paths," context-clicking the title bar will provide a breakdown of your current browsing context.
Sweet.
In Safari:
In Finder:
Sweet.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Amazon MP3 Store: Digital Music Done Right
I just spent 30 minutes tooling around in Amazon's MP3 Store. After reading the reviews and whatnot, I was pleasantly surprised with exactly the experience that was promised--tons of music, all of which is priced relatively cheaply, with a light-weight cross-platform downloading program (whose usage, best of all, is OPTIONAL).
It's spooky how well this store is put together. The (unfortunately Flash-based) preview applet is non-intrusive, opens no new windows, and works nicely. I've been wanting Kanye West's Stronger, so I got it. Easy-peasy. I also bought Year Zero and Human After All for about $8 each. No DRM, high-quality. The coolest thing? I had free access to those albums anyway, but in lower quality rips from friends.
Do you hear me, you media conglomerate bastards? (Of course you don't, but I'll talk anyway.) You will sell more music if you sell it without being a bunch of money-grubbing fiends. Customers will stop stealing music if you actually treat them like valuable customers.
It's spooky how well this store is put together. The (unfortunately Flash-based) preview applet is non-intrusive, opens no new windows, and works nicely. I've been wanting Kanye West's Stronger, so I got it. Easy-peasy. I also bought Year Zero and Human After All for about $8 each. No DRM, high-quality. The coolest thing? I had free access to those albums anyway, but in lower quality rips from friends.
Do you hear me, you media conglomerate bastards? (Of course you don't, but I'll talk anyway.) You will sell more music if you sell it without being a bunch of money-grubbing fiends. Customers will stop stealing music if you actually treat them like valuable customers.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Portal Giveth, and Portal Taketh Away (Outlook Sounds)
If any of you haven't yet played the amazing, wonderful game called Portal, you owe it to yourself to start up or install Steam and get cracking. It's incredible.
I'm listening to the soundtrack, and it appears that there was some sort of recording error in the song "Party Escort." Turn up the volume and go to 2:25. You'll hear it, plain as day: the Microsoft Outlook new mail notification sound? WTF?
Also, I found a pretty trivial bug in MacOS, maybe it will be fixed in Leopard? Damn, guess I'll have to get a copy of it to find out! :)
I'm listening to the soundtrack, and it appears that there was some sort of recording error in the song "Party Escort." Turn up the volume and go to 2:25. You'll hear it, plain as day: the Microsoft Outlook new mail notification sound? WTF?
Also, I found a pretty trivial bug in MacOS, maybe it will be fixed in Leopard? Damn, guess I'll have to get a copy of it to find out! :)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Regurgitated Press Releases
1UP is a fickle beast. Sometimes, they've got some very good articles. (Their "Northern Lights" series on Q? Entertainment was fantastic.) And when they write "news" based on rampant speculation, a problem the tech industry can't seem to get over, they've got the balls to fess up and apologize for it.
But this nonsense has got to stop. This article is basically a two-paragraph press release, and not a very good one at that. It is an advertisement dressed up like an article (surrounded by ads) trying to sell me 1) Haze, and 2) Korn. It ends with a link to their preview of Haze, so that you can see more ads all around the actual article.
Slow news month? Naah, I just haven't had the time to write much. I'll have Leopard impressions up, I guess.
But this nonsense has got to stop. This article is basically a two-paragraph press release, and not a very good one at that. It is an advertisement dressed up like an article (surrounded by ads) trying to sell me 1) Haze, and 2) Korn. It ends with a link to their preview of Haze, so that you can see more ads all around the actual article.
Slow news month? Naah, I just haven't had the time to write much. I'll have Leopard impressions up, I guess.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
DiGRA 2007: Tuesday Game Design
DiGRA 2007 is off to a great start right now, with paper and poster presentations, as well as symposia and panels. I've been attending the game design track for the most part, and it's fun to hear all the different theories. There are some good, relevant topics that my old Core III students would really enjoy, like generally defining the avatar, or the Magic Circle.
The most interesting topic so far was the "Playing Music" paper, which was a survey of the many music-centric games in our industry. He makes a distinction between games that quantize player action (like Rez) and games that make the player perform in rhythm (like Amplitude). What's most interesting about that is how my current project at ETC straddles that distinction quite easily.
Pictures of Japan forthcoming...
The most interesting topic so far was the "Playing Music" paper, which was a survey of the many music-centric games in our industry. He makes a distinction between games that quantize player action (like Rez) and games that make the player perform in rhythm (like Amplitude). What's most interesting about that is how my current project at ETC straddles that distinction quite easily.
Pictures of Japan forthcoming...
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Off to Japan
Alright, I'm off to Japan!
I'll be blogging about noteworthy talks and exhibits at Tokyo Game Show and DiGRA 2007. Weird stuff I see in Japan will most certainly merit blogging, too.
Stay tuned, this will be a busy week at Knee of the Curve!
I'll be blogging about noteworthy talks and exhibits at Tokyo Game Show and DiGRA 2007. Weird stuff I see in Japan will most certainly merit blogging, too.
Stay tuned, this will be a busy week at Knee of the Curve!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
The New Vienna
There's a new version of Vienna, the open source RSS reader for Mac OS X. While I haven't been keeping tabs on the progress of previous updates, this new one rolls out a brand-new interface that rocks severe.
If you're using Vienna, you owe it to yourself to upgrade.
If you don't use Vienna....you owe it to yourself to upgrade.
If you're using Vienna, you owe it to yourself to upgrade.
If you don't use Vienna....you owe it to yourself to upgrade.
Humor in HCI
I think it's hilariously appropriate for the iPhone Dev Team's anySIM to operate via Apple's "slide to unlock" mechanic.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Rez HD is Coming
Oh, now isn't this just super-exciting. Microsoft just announced that Q? is porting Rez to the Xbox Live Arcade, in high-def and with 5.1-channel sound.
What? Oh, sure, I could say more, but what could make you more excited than Rez HD? That's right, nothing.
What? Oh, sure, I could say more, but what could make you more excited than Rez HD? That's right, nothing.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Bioshock's Great. Not THAT Great.
The past few weeks, for many gamers, have been devoted to playing Bioshock, a graphically beautiful first-person shooter with some truly exciting gameplay. The game also came with a lot of hype surrounding its take on morality and Objectivism, Ayn Rand's philosophy which is outlined in her literary works. Specifically, 2K Games billed Bioshock as a treatment of Atlas Shrugged, a look into the effects on society, should an entire class of productive workers abstain from contributing.
Sadly, the game didn't live up to these lofty expectations (and the inherent hype of it being the spiritual successor to System Shock 2). Throughout this game, moral choices seem to be in abundance, but the game's design consistently fails to enable the player to make important gameplay decisions, or removes the pros and cons of the few that the player actually can affect.
If you don't mind spoilers, this is a nice, to-the-point critique of Bioshock's defusal of any morality in the "Little Sisters" mechanic. While the Little Sisters serve as the most fundamental aspect to Bioshock's morality, just look at Ars Technica's breakdown. It's virtually a zero-sum game.
It's a shame that such a fun, beautiful game tripped and fell on what should have been another bullet-point, but the hype machine seems to have taken hold. If you're looking for moral choices in games, I propose you look no further than Deus Ex. You can get it for pretty cheap on Steam now.
Sadly, the game didn't live up to these lofty expectations (and the inherent hype of it being the spiritual successor to System Shock 2). Throughout this game, moral choices seem to be in abundance, but the game's design consistently fails to enable the player to make important gameplay decisions, or removes the pros and cons of the few that the player actually can affect.
If you don't mind spoilers, this is a nice, to-the-point critique of Bioshock's defusal of any morality in the "Little Sisters" mechanic. While the Little Sisters serve as the most fundamental aspect to Bioshock's morality, just look at Ars Technica's breakdown. It's virtually a zero-sum game.
It's a shame that such a fun, beautiful game tripped and fell on what should have been another bullet-point, but the hype machine seems to have taken hold. If you're looking for moral choices in games, I propose you look no further than Deus Ex. You can get it for pretty cheap on Steam now.
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