What’s your favorite 15 seconds of Star Wars Episode IV? If you don’t have an answer right away, no problem — someone has been painstakingly uploading the entire 1977 classic to Instagram Video as hundreds of tiny snippets. Better still, Gizmodo points out that the person behind the madness is doing it all in reverse chronological order, so that when it’s finished you’ll be able to watch the whole thing from top to bottom. That’s what you call consideration.

Few films have been as exhaustively dissected as Star Wars, but watching it as a series of clips lets you focus on the hundreds of shots and interactions between the actors that you might otherwise gloss over — if you have the patience to keep clicking through it all. And you can tell it's a labor of love for the uploader, who is purposefully framing each individual shot to fit within Instagram's square format. Check it out now at the source link below, unless you had other plans for the day.

Plagiarized versions of indie developer Rocky Hong's arcade puzzle game, Magnetized, have been identified and removed from Google Play and Xbox Live Indie Games, the developer announced via his blog.

Hong released a true copy of the free-to-play game on Kongregate. Attention was drawn to the clones after IndieGames.com posted a story about the XBLIG version of Magnetized, then believed to be a legitimate copy created by Connect Media UG. Hong replied in turn that the game was in fact an illegal version, and unlike his copy, came at a $1 price.

Appearing on IndieGames.com's original article, a commenter claiming to be part of Connect wrote that they attempted to contact the developer about the port. After apparently receiving no response, the commenter wrote that they "thought [Hong] did not care about Magnetized anymore" and pursued development. The commenter offered the developer profits from the game, though Hong has since declined via his blog.

Despite the illegal copies being taken down, Hong wrote, the problem is far from being solved. The developer noted that similar situations happen to developers everywhere and that it's not just a personal case. Hong added that he hopes everyone will pay more attention to copyrights in the future to help create a better, safer environment for creators.

"And no matter what it is, music, videos, images, sounds, games ... etc," Hong wrote, "every creation is invaluable, whoever created them deserves the rights and [has] the same duty to fight for their rights.

"I believe that a creator can hardly create a masterpiece in a dangerous creative environment. I also believe that if creators stop [trying] to innovate just because they are afraid of plagiarization, then this world would be extremely horrible."

To understand a sport, study its players. To understand a community, talk to the people who cherish it.

My best friend, David, has always been an avid baseball fan. Though he never played above the high school level, David was a talented young pitcher and continued to follow the sport long after his fastball had slowed to a more leisurely pace. A few years ago, while we sat at a Yankees game, it struck me that I would never understand baseball as well as my friend. I understand how the game works but I don't have an appreciation for its nuances or the stories that come with each player. In every matchup, David can see history being made; I just see another game.

Then again, I don't love baseball. I love Street Fighter. More to the point, I love the fighting game community.

To understand a community, talk to the people who cherish it

This past weekend thousands of players gathered in Las Vegas for Evolution 2013 (also known as Evo), the largest fighting game tournament in the world. Evo is part competitive event and part family reunion. Friends who never see each other the rest of the year meet at the tournament, right beside veterans of the 20-plus-year-old scene, trading stories from the games' long history. It's also a place where fans can still find small tournaments for decades-old fighting games and maybe get a chance to meet and test their mettle against the heroes of their sport.

If you don't follow the fighting game community (also known as the FGC) it can be hard to understand some of the amazing moments from this past weekend. For instance, the outpouring of support to the beleaguered Smash Bros. community, who almost weren't allowed to play their game only to pull in over 120,000 viewers on their livestream, or when Infiltration, an incredibly dominant Street Fighter 4 player, eliminated his best friend and training partner, Laugh, from the tournament and denied him a Top Eight medal.

It's difficult to care about a game you don't play and, though no group is above critique, it's even harder to understand a community in which you play no part. As someone who stands at the outskirts of the FGC I try to be aware of the errors my perspective might produce, but there are a few things I've observed that might be worthwhile for people trying to understand these games and the people who love them.

It's hard to understand a community in which you play no part

First, much of eSports is now run by companies like Major League Gaming (MLG) and Valve, but the FGC isn't as monolithic. In fact, it's a federation of communities and events more than anything else. Capcom and other fighting game makers certainly play important roles, but there is no centralized authority. Many in the community can tell you of the long years before Street Fighter 4, when the only thing that kept the scene going was the hard work of dedicated players and organizers. This experience seems to have taught them not to rely too heavily on the capricious largesse of multinational corporations.

Second, the FGC is exceptionally international and diverse. I can tell you from experience that the tournaments have a wider variety of racial, ethnic and class backgrounds than any other gaming event I've ever attended. Over 80 nations were represented at Evo this year, and quite a few of them have no significant presence in any other pro-level video game competition. This diversity is to be admired and emulated, and undermines casual generalizations.

Third, the FGC is not a subculture of the eSports scene. Fairly or not, players in the FGC tend to see those in eSports as more concerned with developing businesses and careers than ensuring the integrity, authenticity and independence of small communities and players. For more on this check out Michael McWhertor's excellent piece on how the organizers of Evo are approaching the growth of the event. There will always be a lot of overlap in players and convergence of interests in these two scenes, but their differences should be respected, especially by those who participate in neither.

The FGC is not a subculture of the eSports scene

It's because of this international popularity, diversity, and history, that some in the fighting game community take umbrage at being lumped in with other communities, having its bush league players being used as examples of the scene, or having it suggested that they should take notes from a sport with a racially problematic past that started as a mostly regional concern.

Finally, I'd like to comment on the FGC's problem with misogyny, harassment, and gender equity, which is widespread and I believe damaging to the scene. Though this generalization may seem harsh, Patrick Miller, former editor of Game Developer Magazine, has pointed out the problem is part of every gaming community. Misogyny is not a problem just for the FGC, but is a structural and global problem. That said, members of the FGC should address the issue more often, just as the rest of us should be more sensitive to the particular histories and character of the community when shaping our critiques.

For what it's worth, I take as a reason for optimism the central ethos of the FGC, which is respect for all communities and individuals that play and love fighting games. It's this principle that made the mecca of the NYC fighting game scene, Chinatown Fair, welcoming to the LGBT community before it closed, and why many players become fast friends even when they barely speak the same language. It's also the reason that people like Jennifer Vargas, who organizes a women's fighting game meetup in New York City, are just as much a part of the community as top players like Xian and ChrisG.

The central ethos of the FGC: respect for all communities and individuals that play and love fighting games

After the Yankee game I showed David some matches from Street Fighter and StarCraft. Specifically, the famous fight between Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara from Evo 2004, and a series between StarCraft players MMA and DRG from the Blizzard Cup in 2011. While he could definitely understand the quirks and character of each game, it was clear that these games would never spark the same interest in him as the great American pastime. What was also clear, though, was that he appreciated my enthusiasm and understood its source.

There are serious problems to solve, and hurdles to overcome, but we're extraordinarily lucky to be living in a time when these wholly new, digital sports are growing and finding an audience. A life with the love of a sport is, the vast majority of the time, a richer and more uplifting life than one without. To the extent that people in the fighting game community, like those at MLG, Valve, Nintendo and others, are bringing that experience to new players and audiences, they deserve our praise and admiration.

Charles Pratt is a game designer and Assistant Professor at the NYU Game Center, where he teaches game design, theory and history. He is also a pretty garbage Ken player. He would like to thank Toni Pizza, Adi Robertson, Mark Robson, Li Xu and Dylan McKenzie for their help with this piece.

By Craig Pearson on July 17th, 2013 at 6:00 pm.

The new Cradle trailer has provoked some interesting responses in the RPS forbidden chatroom of mystery. John imagines it’s what the Source Engine should look like by now, whereas I think it looks like a long lost game from the Stalker developers. This is on top of it previously putting me in mind of a happy Amnesia. I guess that’s what happens when you make an adventure puzzle game set in a yurt on a futuristic Mongolian mountain. People scrabble around, looking for something familiar. The truth is that Cradle’s its own thing, with a robot wearing a Groucho Marx mask, and this line of dialogue: “You have a flower vase instead of legs”. More in the trailer below.

The IGF build I played had lots of drawer opening and crashed every five minutes, but it did look as pretty and detailed as this video. I seem to remember having to make a drink, so while the goal is to put together the robot you see at the opening of the trailer (please don’t be a sexbot), there’s also the sort of relaxing tent based activity you’d expect to find on top of a Mongolian mountain.

That gnarled, abandoned theme park is place of blocks and puzzles, but even then it retains a fanciful, even pretty, aesthetic. The collective at Flying Cafe for Semianimals has remarkable design skills.

No release plans, but it has been Greenlit.

Chewbeads are the perfect accessory for moms with teething babies!

I have been spotting new moms wearing these cute colorful beads everywhere I go and had to give them a try. Chewbeads are a line of non-toxic chewable jewelry with chic mamas in mind. The soft beads are made of FDA approved silicon and free of BPA, PVC, phthalates, cadmimium and lead. The jewlery can be easily cleaned with soap and water or can be thrown into the dishwasher.

I gave the necklaces a test run with my daughter Frances, 8 months. Verdict? She loves chewing on them and now she spends less time pulling my hair (thank you!). They have helped her to stay focused when I breastfeed in public—she usually ducks her head out from my scarf every few seconds trying to see what is going on around her. At night, when we’re calming down she will cuddle with me and inspect every individual bead. 

I like the necklaces because they are seriously cute and chic! When my daughter was born I put all my jewelry away thinking it would be years before I could wear anything again. I have felt safe letting her chew on the Chewbeads necklaces and they have no detachable parts so I don’t worry about her accidentally swallowing a bead. The line of bracelets are great for sleep deprived moms to remind them which side they last nursed.

The necklaces and bracelets are available in a range of colors and styles. I have the Bleeker necklace ($35) on in punchy pink which pairs well with all my summer tunics. The Greenwich necklace ($37) is super cute with varied bead sizes and a great gift to give new mom friends! Find out more and where to shop at chewbeads.com.

A new Pew Research survey of thousands of American teachers finds that using digital tools to teach writing in schools is pretty good for collaboration and sharing, but it isn't necessarily making students better writers.

The study, published on Tuesday, was conducted online and gathered responses from 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers across the United States. The results show nearly all teachers agree that digital technologies “allow students to share their work with a wider and more varied audience.”

However, a common concern remains: students have trouble adjusting to more formal writing. After all, they’re growing up on BRB, L8R, SMH, LOL, WTF, etc. (Meanwhile, a 2009 Canadian study described the switch to Internet-speak as a "brain workout" for kids.)

Gallery: Oknytt

By Craig Pearson on July 17th, 2013 at 7:00 pm.

Living in Skyrim must be like having Charlie Kaufman as your god. You’d be pottering along, chopping wood, checking the sky for falling dragon poop, just doing your best as a person living in interesting times. You’re not noticing the changes that are happening right under your nose: the flowers look prettier, you can’t speak when you want to, and before you know what’s going on there’s an airship overhead. The hands of mod, reshaping your reality. I expect most of the inhabitants have just woken up to the new neighbouring landmass of Falskaar. The mod adds a remarkable amount of new stuff to base Skyrim, clicking in a new continent of content for you to play. Everyone seems to be talking about it, and with good reason.

Take a bow, Alexander J. Velicky. You certainly corralled a lot of stuff into Bethesda’s wander ‘em up. Expect to sink over 20 hours in if you want to see it all. 9 new story-quests and 17 new side-quests across a world that’s roughly a third of the size of Skyrim. But it’s the incidental touches that most impress: all of the dialogue has been recorded, with over 30 people adding to the accent of the world. From what I’ve heard, they’re at least on par with the main game’s vocals. 40 new minutes of music have been specially recorded just for the mod as well.

This doesn’t have any effect on the rest of Skyrim, so you don’t need to worry about the main game being taken over and filled with new spells or NPCs. Just treat it like DLC and leave it installed, to be visited when you feel like a nice new view.

Thomas Schultz

By now, most gamers are familiar with the general arc of American arcade games. They were a huge deal in the '70s and '80s, then they slowly faded into obscurity as home consoles got cheaper and more powerful (and as America continued to suburbanize). While nostalgia is fueling an arcade mini-resurgence these days, most people agree that the arcade business has been all-but-dead for about two decades.

That storyline is a bit incomplete, though. Until five or six years ago, route operators (the people who own and maintain machines at various locations along a defined "route") were still bringing in profits from cabinets set up in restaurants, movie theaters, laundromats, bars, and other businesses that weren't strictly devoted to gaming.

"Our estimates say that about six years ago, there was $4 billion a year dropped into the North American game route," Seth Peterson, co-founder and CEO of All You Can Arcade, told Ars recently. That was down from about $8 billion in 2004, but it's still enough to sustain a healthy business. "Even though you didn't see the classic, traditional American arcade, there were a lot of people who were earning money from putting these games into laundries, into liquor stores, into bars. And you would earn, and that's how our industry operated."