The Pig^TM sends a link to this delightful piece by Bryan Curtis.

Click and enjoy.

If you have 10 minutes to kill, check out this stop-motion short, Android 207.

Part Prince of Persion, part Steamboat Willie, it’s a real testament minimalist story-telling. And a real glimpse at the promise of digital video and internet distribution.

For those of you who’ve been bothered by my near-obsession with the run-up to the launch of the next-generation videogame consoles, the reason I’ve paid so much attention to the industry is because (1) It’s typically covered poorly by most mainstream press outlets, who don’t understand the business; (2) The PS3 is going to be seen in retrospect as an enormous story, since it is going to hobble the entire Sony corporation; (3) The industry itself is fascinating on its own terms. (Actually, I think that’s true of most industries: The closer you look at automakers or airlines or coffee products, the more interesting they are.)

You’re now starting to see the effects of the launch. Yesterday Sony fired the head of its PlayStation unit. Barely two weeks after the launch of the PS3. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of this move: Remember, just a few years ago PlayStation was accounting for more than half of Sony’s profits.

How big a deal is this for Sony? This morning we have an industry press piece suggesting that Sony might be forced out of the hardware business altogether. It sounds like an outlandish charge, but maybe not–Sony actually responded by put out a statement saying that they’re still committed to making a PS4. That they even have to give that reassurance is a sign of how dire the situation is for them.

And on the other side of the coin is this New Yorker item about the Nintendo Wii, which notes how smart the company’s business model is:

Sony and Microsoft are desperate to be the biggest players in a market that, in their vision, will encompass not just video games but “interactive entertainment” generally. That’s why the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 are all-in-one machines, which allow users not just to play video games but also to do things like watch high-definition DVDs and stream digital music. Sony and Microsoft’s quest to “control the living room” has locked them in a classic arms race; they have invested billions of dollars in an attempt to surpass each other technologically, building ever-bigger, ever-better, and ever-more-expensive machines.

Nintendo has dropped out of this race. The Wii has few bells and whistles and much less processing power than its “competitors,” and it features less impressive graphics. It’s really well suited for just one thing: playing games. But this turns out to be an asset. The Wii’s simplicity means that Nintendo can make money selling consoles, while Sony is reportedly losing more than two hundred and forty dollars on each PlayStation 3 it sells—even though they are selling for almost six hundred dollars. Similarly, because Nintendo is not trying to rule the entire industry, it’s been able to focus on its core competence, which is making entertaining, innovative games.

Expect to see more stories like this one in the coming weeks–and keep an eye on Sony. It’s a giant corporation in an enormous heap of trouble.

Consider this yet another public service announcement: If you are a Galley Slave reader within the National Capital Area, the above advertisement is for you. That’s right, the one, the only, Rob Van Winkle will be performing at McFadden’s bar tonight. Which sort of reminds me of that great parody in The Onion about Corey Hart.

(Those who do attend tonight’s performance may be in for a real treat. One friend confessed to me her most embarrassing concert experience was at a Vanilla Ice show in the early ’90s. The artist not only danced but humped the stage, and when he stood upright, well, he was really upright.)

KSK asks if getting girls into football is a good thing:

Perhaps that last example isn’t the best representative of today’s female fan. The new NFL woman knows her shit, and — as the argument goes — isn’t it better that potential objects of sexual desire can share in the raw, base enjoyment of the NFL?

To which I say: not particularly. It’s already hard enough finding a woman who’s hot and smart but still shallow enough to make fun of ugly people with me; I don’t need the extra degrees of difficulty that come with screening out Steelers and Rams and Cowboys fans. Could you love a woman who cheered for T.O.? Only on the outside, friends. Only on the outside.

Of course, he’s never met Jenny. So you have to cut him some slack.

The new Smokin’ Aces trailer is up. I’m a little confused. The Dreadnoks are there, but I don’t see Zartan anywhere.

AICN has a fabulously funny review:

This time around Jesus is being pursued by the ancient world version of a Bond villain, simply named Herod, who, knowing of Jesus’s amazingly bad assed ability to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’ (I mean, really, he’s like Roman era John McClane) that he’s gonna try to kill him before he’s even born. So he sends out an army of Roman soldiers to try and find the unwed mother pregnant with the savior of humanity.

I know, I know, I know. I know what you’re thinking. I liked this story a lot better when it was called The Terminator. I guess someone at New Line thought that it would be better with Roman soldiers instead of killer robots. Which is exactly why James Cameron is a genius. Everything is better with killer robots. . . .

[H]aving seen a film [The Passion] in its original historical language, watching another from the same time period performed in English seems to remove all authenticity. Remember how in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor all the ewoks suddenly spoke English rather than their original dialect of Yub Nubs? Remember how wrong and disconcerting that was? It’s kinda like that. It just doesn’t feel right.

This video takes a series of video game genres and traces them from their origins to the latest incarnations. Totally great.

And boy, do I miss “Jordan vs. Bird.” Best sports game of all time? Maybe.