He Ain't Heavy, He's My Daemon

Tip o' the hat to Zen of Design for finding this cool personality quiz for THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

Special props to the quizmakers for including a nifty feature where your friends rate how good a match your daemon is, which could lead to a new animal being chosen. Pelloneus was an Osprey when I posted this...

My Novelization of Tetris is a Thrill-a-Minute

Penny Arcade takes on videogame tie-in books.

TV Day Presented by the Writers Guild Foundation

A nifty Saturday seminar is coming in May, with some kickass panelists and sessions.

BREAKING INTO THE BOX - TV DAY

Panelists (subject to availability): Peter Casey (Cheers, Frasier), Joe Cohen (CAA agent), Damon Lindelof (Crossing Jordan, Lost), Brannon Braga (Star Trek, Threshold), Jan Oxenberg (Chicago Hope, Cold Case), Jay Kogen (Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle), Chris Brancato (X-Files, Boomtown), Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life, Once and Again), Robin Schiff (Party of Five, The Bad Girl's Guide), Bill Chais (Family Law, Shark) and Alexa Junge (Friends, The West Wing, Big Love) with many more to come.

WHERE: WGAw headquarters, 7000 West Third Street (at Fairfax ) Los Angeles , 90048.

WHEN: Saturday, May 19, 2007, 8:30 AM – 8:00 PM.

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE: http://www.wgfoundation.org/
$150, general public; $125, WGA members; and $110-full-time students with I.D.

A light breakfast, snacks, box lunch and an evening wine and cheese reception are included in the registration fee.

I'll be there. Who else?

Panthers Win State!

Dear NBC,

Please renew FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.

Thank you.

(Missed an episode? Hell, the whole season? Catch them all online at NBC.com.)

Death, Where Is Thy Sting? In Vanguard, Apparently

Damion over at Zen of Design has a thoughtful post up about death penalty design in MMOs.

Having started out playing Diku- and LPMUDs and losing a painfully hard-won level with each death, I come down firmly on Damion's side of the death debate.

City of Heroes/Villains and Guild Wars handle this the best of the current crop of games, in my opinion. Death (sorry, "defeat") in CoH costs you XP in the form of debt that you have to make up before you can make further progress toward your next level.

Guild Wars is better yet, docking your stats by a percentage that you can work off. You feel this change in subsequent battles, especially if you've racked up a lot of deaths and your health bar is half what it usually is, but you haven't been materially prevented from progressing in the game or enjoying it.

The above marks me as a casual player of MMOs, I realize. I just don't have time to play more than casually these days, but you know what? Even when I was playing hardcore, corpse runs were no fun. They were the anti-fun. They provided unnecessary friction to the play experience, and challenge and friction aren't the same.

Another 1st Down?

NBC has ordered six more scripts for FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, possibly an indicator that the show will be renewed. It may be too early to trot out the cheerleaders, but score this as good news.

MEDIUM got a six-script order as well, which might point to renewal but as THR hints also could suggest pre-strike stockpiling.