<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Elliott C. Back &#187; Games</title>
	<atom:link href="http://elliottback.com/wp/category/games/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://elliottback.com/wp</link>
	<description>Internet &#38; Technology</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:16:27 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2</generator>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
			<item>
		<title>Angry Birds in Real Life / Nature</title>
		<link>http://elliottback.com/wp/angry-birds-in-real-life-nature/</link>
		<comments>http://elliottback.com/wp/angry-birds-in-real-life-nature/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Apr 2011 04:28:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Elliott Back</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cute]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=3510</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Are there real-life versions of the Angry Birds?  What inspired Rovio to make their angry birds the way they are?  Did they model the birds after nature in either look or function?  These are questions worth answering; if you&#8217;ve played the game, you might wonder where all the angry birds came from. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Are there real-life versions of the Angry Birds?  What inspired Rovio to make their angry birds the way they are?  Did they model the birds after nature in either look or function?  These are questions worth answering; if you&#8217;ve played the game, you might wonder where all the angry birds came from.  The real angry birds!</p>
<h3>Red Angry Bird</h3>
<p>Our first contestant, the bird you get first in Angry Birds, is Mr. Red.  We speculate that he might actually be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbird">Blue-throated Brown Sunbird</a>, or perhaps Gould&#8217;s Sunbird.  From the round, rotund shape of his body, we definitely know it&#8217;s from Aethopyga:</p>
<p><img src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/angry-bird-red.png.jpg" alt="" title="angry bird - red.png" width="400" height="300" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3514" /><br />
<small>Is the red angry bird actually a sunbird?</small></p>
<h3>The Angry Blue Splitters</h3>
<p>The blue flycatcher known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbeous_Water-redstart">Plumbeous Water-redstart</a>, or red-tailed robin, is a kind of water bird which loves to feed on insects.  They are territorial and have a red tail, a flash of contrasting colours:</p>
<p><img src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/angry-bird-blue.png.jpg" alt="" title="angry bird - blue.png" width="400" height="300" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3512" /><br />
<small>What a beautiful bluebird!</small></p>
<h3>The Yellow Bird</h3>
<p>I think this is most like a baby <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow">Martin Branch Swallow</a>, with its yellow coloration, angry face, and wide beak.  In fact, the swallows and the triangle of the &#8220;little yellow bird&#8221; have something in common, a certain &#8220;hard acceleration&#8221; property. Swallows have one of the best flying air technique of all the birds, by far the fastest.</p>
<p><img src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/angry-bird-yellow.png.jpg" alt="" title="angry bird - yellow.png" width="400" height="300" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3516" /><br />
<small>Fly fast, yellow Swallows!</small></p>
<h3>Fat Black Bird</h3>
<p>Perfectly coal black, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Blackbird">Common Blackbird</a> is definitely the model for Angry Birds.  The real life bird is notable for mimicry of other sounds, and is a sly trixster. </p>
<p><img src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/angry-bird-black.png.jpg" alt="" title="angry bird - black.png" width="400" height="300" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3511" /><br />
<small>Serious business, the Blackbird</small></p>
<h3>White Egg-Bomber</h3>
<p>The white angry bird which drops explosive eggs is probably a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Bunting">Snow Bunting</a>, a sort of mottled white and brown bird which lives in naturally cold climes.  Sometimes they&#8217;re called &#8220;snowflake.&#8221;</p>
<p><img src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/angry-bird-white.png.jpg" alt="" title="angry bird - white.png" width="400" height="300" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3515" /><br />
<small>Or maybe it&#8217;s a Chicken, IDK</small></p>
<p>Pictures and the idea from <a href="http://songshuhui.net/archives/51487">如果愤怒的小鸟要拍电影</a>; we thought it worth bringing some of the concept to English too.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://elliottback.com/wp/angry-birds-in-real-life-nature/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>World of Warcraft Phishing Spam Email</title>
		<link>http://elliottback.com/wp/world-of-warcraft-phishing-spam-email/</link>
		<comments>http://elliottback.com/wp/world-of-warcraft-phishing-spam-email/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:57:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Elliott Back</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Warcraft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=2889</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just got this lovely email, pretending to be from Blizzard:
Subject: Warning : World of Warcraft Account Notice
From: donotreply@blizzard.com
To: arfenhousetoo@gmail.com
An investigation of your World of Warcraft account has found strong evidence that the account in question is being sold or traded.  As you may not be aware of, this conflicts with Blizzard&#8217;s EULA under section [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just got this lovely email, pretending to be from Blizzard:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Subject:</strong> Warning : World of Warcraft Account Notice<br />
<strong>From:</strong> <a href="mailto:donotreply@blizzard.com" title="mailto:donotreply@blizzard.com">donotreply@blizzard.com</a><br />
<strong>To:</strong> <a href="mailto:arfenhousetoo@gmail.com" title="mailto:arfenhousetoo@gmail.com">arfenhousetoo@gmail.com</a></p>
<p>An investigation of your World of Warcraft account has found strong evidence that the account in question is being sold or traded.  As you may not be aware of, this conflicts with Blizzard&#8217;s EULA under section 4 Paragraph B which can be found here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/eula.html">WoW -&gt; Legal -&gt; End User License Agreement</a></p>
<p>and Section 8 of the Terms of Use found here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html">WoW -&gt; Legal -&gt; Terms of Use</a></p>
<p>The investigation will be continued by Blizzard administration to determine the action to be taken against your account.  If your account is found violating the EULA and Terms of Use, your account can, and will be suspended/closed/or terminated.</p>
<p>In order to keep this from occurring, you should immediately verify that you are the original owner of the account.</p>
<p>To verify your identity please visit the following webpage:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.blizzard.com.login.xml.mcnewvision.com/Refferhttps3A2F2Fwww.worldofwarcraft.com2Faccount2F&#038;loginType=wow&#038;rhtml=y&#038;rhtml=true0check/" rel="external nofollow">http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account</a></p>
<p>Only Account Administration will be able to assist with account retrieval issues.</p>
<p>Thank you for your time and attention to this matter, and your continued interest in World of Warcraft.</p>
<p>Sincerely,<br />
Account Administration<br />
Blizzard Entertainment</p></blockquote>
<p>See, the thing is that the first two links go to real Blizzard pages, but the last one secretly goes <a href="http://towww.blizzard.com.login.xml.mcnewvision.com" title="http://towww.blizzard.com.login.xml.mcnewvision.com" target="_blank">towww.blizzard.com.login.xml.mcnewvision.com</a>, which is clearly a moronic phishing attempt.  This leaves me with two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>Did they target me as a Wow user specifically by harvesting my WoW-associated email address somehow?  A Blizzard partial hack?</li>
<li>What would they do with my account if they got it?  Sell my lousy lvl 45 char on ebay?  LOL&#8230;.</li>
</ol>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://elliottback.com/wp/world-of-warcraft-phishing-spam-email/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>55</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Inauspicious Poker Hand (666)</title>
		<link>http://elliottback.com/wp/inauspicious-poker-hand-666/</link>
		<comments>http://elliottback.com/wp/inauspicious-poker-hand-666/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:39:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Elliott Back</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2008/09/25/inauspicious-poker-hand-666/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I came across this playing the Facebook Poker game today, the chances are pretty low:

I think the chances are about .2%, if I&#8217;m calculating correctly, to get a 666 anywhere in your hand.  SCARY!

And here&#8217;s a flush on the flop&#8230; weird!!!
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I came across this playing the Facebook Poker game today, the chances are pretty low:</p>
<p><img id="image2756" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bad-poker-hand.jpg" alt="bad-poker-hand.jpg" /></p>
<p>I think the chances are about .2%, if I&#8217;m calculating correctly, to get a 666 anywhere in your hand.  SCARY!</p>
<p><img src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/flush.jpg" alt="" title="flush" width="450" height="255" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2815" /></p>
<p>And here&#8217;s a flush on the flop&#8230; weird!!!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://elliottback.com/wp/inauspicious-poker-hand-666/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Counterstrike Game Today</title>
		<link>http://elliottback.com/wp/counterstrike-game-today/</link>
		<comments>http://elliottback.com/wp/counterstrike-game-today/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Elliott Back</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2008/06/08/counterstrike-game-today/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I did decently on a counterstrike game today; won the match with 41:6, kdr of 6.83!

]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I did decently on a counterstrike game today; won the match with 41:6, kdr of 6.83!</p>
<p><img id="image2638" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/gg_aim_shotty0004.jpg" alt="gg_aim_shotty0004.jpg" /></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://elliottback.com/wp/counterstrike-game-today/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BIOShock PC: Initial Impressions</title>
		<link>http://elliottback.com/wp/bioshock-pc-initial-impressions/</link>
		<comments>http://elliottback.com/wp/bioshock-pc-initial-impressions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Aug 2007 02:26:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Elliott Back</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2007/08/21/bioshock-pc-initial-impressions/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I plunked down the $49 to buy BioShock on Steam, and except for some transient errors and logging in and out to refresh the state of my purchase, everything went as expected.  If you&#8217;re thinking of buying this game, check out the requirements first:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor; System RAM: 2GB; Video Card: [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I plunked down the $49 to buy <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&#038;AppId=7670&#038;cc=US">BioShock on Steam</a>, and except for some transient errors and logging in and out to refresh the state of my purchase, everything went as expected.  If you&#8217;re thinking of buying this game, check out the requirements first:</p>
<blockquote><p>CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor; System RAM: 2GB; Video Card: DX 9 &#8211; Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better), DX 10 &#8211; NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better</p></blockquote>
<p>My E6600 dual core with an ATI 1900 XT is barely good enough for decent frame rates at moderate quality settings, but it&#8217;s good enough to play with:</p>
<p><img id="image2387" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bioshock-00.jpg" alt="bioshock-00.jpg" /></p>
<p>The plot is the best since Halo&#8211;you&#8217;re in the 1940s and have fallen into the ocean near a remote island.  Surviving the crash, you make your way to the island and descend into Rapture, a society hidden beneath the earth.  In Rapture, the inhabitants decided to experiment with DNA modification, giving them the power of gods.  Unfortunately, it also twisted them into a hateful, violent society now decaying.  The art deco is quite amazing:</p>
<p><img id="image2388" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bioshock-01.jpg" alt="bioshock-01.jpg" /></p>
<p>As you go through the game, you try to acquire different plasmids to modify your DNA and gain new powers:</p>
<p><img id="image2390" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bioshock-03.jpg" alt="bioshock-03.jpg" /></p>
<p>Another thing I like is the items in the game glow, so you know what to pick up and do.  It&#8217;s very user friendly <img src='http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><img id="image2389" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bioshock-02.jpg" alt="bioshock-02.jpg" /></p>
<p>And here is the first look at one of the &#8220;Big Daddies&#8221;:</p>
<p><img id="image2391" src="http://elliottback.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bioshock-04.jpg" alt="bioshock-04.jpg" /></p>
<p>The release and <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/bioshock">97% aggregate review</a> shot the stock up about 10% today.  Go Take2!  Post your reactions to BioShock here, guys.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://elliottback.com/wp/bioshock-pc-initial-impressions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

<!-- Dynamic page generated in 0.375 seconds. -->
<!-- Cached page generated by WP-Super-Cache on 2012-02-09 12:37:19 -->

