I’ll be back again soon.
Exxcellent!
This morning we visited a most unusual place indeed…
It’s called Exxopolis and is an inflatable art exhibit set up for three weeks right next to the Opera House. Here’s what it looks like outside:
It’s made from transparent plastic which lets the sun through, creating the colours seen when you are inside:
We were both incredibly impressed with the design, engineering and architecture of the piece. If you ever get the chance, don’t hesitate to visit one!
Since we were there anyway, we had to indulge in some tourist snaps:
The rest of our last full day in Sydney was spent eating…
Shopping…
And packing, before – far too late at night – we completed the game tournament begun yesterday.
I’m far too tired to give the results the sort of analysis they deserve, so this must wait for a future post.
In fact I’m just exhausted after 3 weeks with very little rest. My batteries are drained and I’m soon going to need a relaxing vacation. Anyone know of a good way to re-energize me?
Masters Of The Game
Yesterday Bernard and I went to the Powerhouse museum to see this:
Overall I thought it was a good, but not great exhibit. It focuses on individuals (rather than genres or eras) and showcases many playable games from creators like Ed Logg, Hideo Kojima, Yuji Naka or Chris Metzen.
We were most interested in the retro room:
There were about 20 games on free play, including classics (Pac Man, Asteroids) and obscure examples (Reactor, Ripoff, Bee Gee). Ultimately we settled comfortably in front of Defender and Robotron, playing each for about an hour.
After twenty+ games, I was happy dominating the high score chart (#4 overall!) on Robotron even though the firing joystick was a bit wonky. Bernard wrestled with Defender (the hardest game of all time after Defender 2) and ended up with a top score over 8,000.
That’s me having a gander at Ultima Underworld, a real blast from my past!
After the game exhibit, we headed to the ABC building for the Doctor Who mini-exhibit:
We posed with out favourites:
The game mania continued later that night, with the start of our ‘Dreamgear’ (a $5 plug-and-play TV game) tournament:
We played half the games on the unit, and will finish tonight. Stay tuned!