Amie Stuart ~ On the Back Porch

I’m blogging at SFC today on how NOT to write a book. I’ll admit some of the stuff I listed were pet peeves but….feel free to weigh in and stuff. More later. I’ve got TONS to do today. Including, writing

* Oooooooooo ever wondered what my favorite words was? Then stop by the CP Blog and find out (and if you don’t know….tsk tsk)

* Ooooooooo are you bidding? It’s Brenda Novak auction time! Not only are the NAS girls doing it, everyone’s DOING IT! *ggg* I’ve donated a critique, a T-shirt and autographed copy of Nailed and some MORE stuff with our RWA chapter which looks to be a one day auction.

* Page proofs are done, faxed, and going in the mail (and groceries must be bought and errands run). We’re totally having frozen pizza for dinner!

TUESDAY:

* I’m blogging today at NAS about Ropers Rule and writing shorts.

* And Denise is blogging about Fear over at SFC

* Groceries were bought, children were fed LOL Ohhhhhh and now I get to fix my smilies!

Ohhhhhhh LOOKIE! Cobblestone Press is doing a contest for the launch of WICKED (which if you haven’t noticed is only days away!)

Also fellow Wicked author, P Andrews is holding a poetry contest–don’t laugh. Go check it out!

ROPERS RULE goes on sale in like FIVE days! I have to say I’m really excited and plan on writing two more Wickeds as soon as I finish this book. It’s really renewed my excitement for writing erotic shorts. Also for anyone else interesting in doing erotic shorts, Black Lace is going back to doing their anthologies. Check out ERWA if you’re interested.

Also Pocket editor Abby Zidle has an interesting question up at Hey There’s a Dead Guy in the Living Room. You really need to read. I’m definitely fermenting a blog post on this one.

And for Mel…on the Wii Balance Board.

Now, for the second part of this series, I would like to interview the two men behind the development of the Wii Balance Board, the world’s first game accessory capable of measuring your weight and body balance. It’s interesting to note here that the two are from completely different divisions: one is from the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division, which develops software, and the other is from the Integrated Research & Development Division, which develops hardware.

Color me weird but I found this really fascinating!

Iwata: Of course, for Donkey Konga2. That, I would imagine, was easy to visualise as a new type of game controller. This time, though, you were asked to make an accessory that could perform like bathroom scales. (laughs) When you were asked to develop this, what was your first reaction?

Nagareda: To be honest, my first reaction was, “Why on earth would you want to develop that?” (laughs)

Sawano: I was leading the development of a software title called Ningen Copy Manebito4 for the GameCube. As part of the project I worked with Yamazaki-san, who is visiting China today, on creating a camera attachment for the software. The software would have allowed users to import their portraits and create their own original characters. Unfortunately this product never saw the light of day, but what we started there did eventually come to life in the form of Miis.

We were developing a piece of hardware that was to be bundled with a piece of software, so if we couldn’t keep costs down, we wouldn’t be able to sell it. Because of this, the first thing we did was challenge ourselves to push the cost down as much as possible. In the discussions with our development partners, it became clear that using the parts present in typical bathroom scales alone would have made the product much too expensive. We were, essentially, trying to do something that had never been done before. Eventually, we hit upon the idea of using the Nintendo 64 Controller. An optical rotary encoder had been built into the 3D stick8 of the Nintendo 64 Controller, and we decided we could use this encoder in our hardware as well. This was something we’d never attempted before, so it looked like it would be a lot of fun to work on, and we eventually discovered that the encoder could measure weight to a precision of 100g.
Iwata: By the way, this might be a bit technical, but a rotary encoder is a device that measures the number of rotations made by an object. If a depression were to cause a series of cogs to rotate, you would be able to measure weight pretty accurately using a rotary encoder.

Sawano: Exactly. I thought that was a pretty good idea, so we first created a prototype. But then we hit upon another problem. Most homes already have bathroom scales, don’t they?

Iwata: Most homes do have scales, and I can’t imagine people putting them in front of their TVs.

Sawano: That’s why I was worried that just making bathroom scales wouldn’t make a marketable product. Of course, that’s what I was doing because Miyamoto-san told us to do so! (laughs)

Iwata: That’s right, the only instructions he’d given you were to make an accessory similar to bathroom scales! (laughs)

Sawano: I knew that we needed to do something about this problem. Then suddenly, one day while I was at home, this image of sumo wrestlers passed through my head.
Sumo wrestlers are so heavy that when they weigh themselves, they need to step onto two scales laid side by side. I started thinking about this, and thought that it could be really interesting. So I told Yamazaki-san to bring me two scales that can transfer data to a computer, and we immediately started working on a prototype.

Yes I’m writing

Exercise…and skiing!

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES BRINGS THE SLOPES HOME WITH WE SKI™

Edge through the Alpine with Your Friends as Four Player Skiing Comes to Wii

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (March 3, 2008) - Step onto your Wii Balance Board™ or grab your Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ and hit the fresh powder as NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced We Ski™, an exciting skiing game for Wii™. Now up to four skiers can experience the sweetest mountain runs in the comfort of their homes as We Ski’s highly responsive and intuitive controls take them down the slopes like never before. We Ski will slalom into stores in Spring 2008.

“We are thrilled to be the first publisher to offer a realistic and enjoyable skiing experience that can also support the new Wii Balance Board,” said Todd Thorson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “NAMCO BANDAI is working to entertain both casual gamers and hardcore enthusiasts with a recreation of a beloved sport and pastime.”

In We Ski, up to four skiers can test their skills on more than a dozen runs from the bunny slopes to the most challenging Black Diamonds. Not only can players carve through the trails using the motion-based controls but they can also mix in the Wii Balance Board for a whole new level of realism. Players can ski using their own Mii™ or create a new character with a host of customizable options including changeable face and body types. Boosting the customization feature, additional skis, poles, goggles, and costumes can be unlocked.

We Ski features an entire mountain to explore, complete with a ski school, freestyle skiing, moguls and slaloms, photography, and a variety of other events. Players can even try their hand at night skiing while enjoying the spectrum of fireworks that color the sky. With We Ski no more long drives to the snow will be necessary to enjoy a day of shredding the mountains.

For more information on We Ski, please visit: http://www.namcobandaigames.com/

Lucinda Betts is on a roll over at NAS…we’re talking the worst book covers…or are they?

From Rob Brezsny:

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

There’s oil on Saturn’s moon Titan! NASA reports that its spacecraft Cassini found vast lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. There’s enough, from what I can tell, to supply 40 generations of humans with enough fuel to go joyriding in five-mile-a-gallon SUVs for a thousand years. In response to the revelation, militant patriots are already calling for the U.S. to invade and occupy Titan. In related news, I predict that a novel energy source will soon become available for your personal use, Leo. Luckily, it won’t be nearly as hard to tap into as Titan’s riches will be for the oil companies. It’ll also be much better for the environment.

Let’s hope that novel energy source has to do with Saturn turning direct.

From Astrology.com:

Saturn, the slow moving planet of karma and taskmaster of the zodiac, goes direct on May 2, 2008 at 8:07pm, PDT, ushering in an incredible period of possibilities and gifts.

Saturn commands us to get to work, and to work hard. Discipline and responsibility are important to this planet. So if you have been honest, responsible and hard working, gifts and rewards are coming your way! It could be a lucky break, a well-deserved raise at work or dreams you had given up, suddenly handed to you. However, if we have been shirking our responsibility or have been deceitful, then we will be found out and dealt with accordingly.

Saturn reinforces responsibility, carrying your share of the load and being held accountable for what you say or do — or say you are going to do. Saturn rules wisdom, however, it is wisdom gained from hard work and experience — earned one hard step at a time. During a direct period, Saturn inspires confidence. As its role as a teacher, during a direct transit, Saturn also bestows inner strength — a strength of spirit, a deepening sense of compassion and understanding of self, others or a particular situation.