🦖 Dino Horrors, Amazon Anywhere, and a Delightful Interview

The dinos are scary

Hey friends! Welcome to this week’s edition of The Land of Random.

How was your week? I was struck with either A). a cold or B). absolutely wretched allergies. To tell you the truth - I’m not sure which I had.

What I can tell you is that I’m feeling better.

AND - I did not get sick from the delicious Little Caesar’s pretzel crust pizza that I ate.

You see - i have a crippling addiction to pretzels. I love them.

Did you see all of Google I/O’s announcements? Pretty interesting stuff. They’re going “all in” on AI. The Maps + AR integration is cool if it actually starts getting used.

People have described Bard (Google’s chatGPT cometitor) as chatGPT 3.5 but with internet access.

In any event, I’m curious to see what comes next in the “AI arms race.”

I don’t think this meme will come true but . . . ya never know.

I had a WONDERFUL interview with Kevin Lynch - creative director for Oatly. I’ll be posting it below for your enjoyment.

Even better - I have a SECOND interview lined up for next week. I won’t spoil the guest for y’all . . . but expect discussions of pizza.

and remember - if you’d like to be a special guest - feel free to respond to the newsletter with your pitch. :)

Let’s dive in, shall we?

🦖 Dino Horrors

A friend of mine posed a difficult question to me the other month.

Why isn’t there a Jurassic Park horror game?

It’s a good question. One that I’ve wondered about off and on - it’s such a good idea.

Grasping your Benelli Shotgun tightly, you watch the rustling in the grass - how many raptors are there?

The only real Jurassic Park “horror” contender may have been this canceled Jurassic Park Survival game back in 2001.

To add intrigue - I stumbled across this game recently.

It’s called “The Lost Wild” and focuses on surviving on a mysterious dinosaur-infested island.

It’s more survival-focused than an action shooter - more hiding, less shooting.

However - according to their FAQ

Can I shoot or kill dinosaurs?

For the most part, no. Items in The Lost Wild mostly consist of makeshift contraptions and non-lethal weaponry which create short-term distractions and temporarily intimidate and scare off predators. Our aim is to promote a sense of vulnerability and resourcefulness, but expect a few exceptions to this rule along the way. (source)

An interesting way to phrase this . . . .

I went on the hunt to see what other sort of dinosaur horror games I could find - and there’s actually a decent amount of them.

There’s Oakwood from back in 2018 - which has serious Slenderman vibes.

Dino Crisis was a dinosaur survival game back in 1999 - with several sequels.

The original trailer - old school as it may be - betrays a definite emphasis on horror and. Our Unreal engine 5 desensitized brains (for me personally - anything older than Bioshock or KOTOR 1 is difficult to play) might smirk at this old school game - but the vibes are creepy.

Check out this Unreal Engine 5 demo - fighting Raptors in the woods at night would be terrifying.

Hopefully there will be a remake at some point!

There are a few other dinosaur horror games coming out soon though - so there will be decent variety to choose from.

• Instinction looks like it has some definite potential.

• Paelophage might be interesting

• Deathground will be a squad based game

Have you ever played a dinosaur horror game like Dino Crisis? Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know!

🛒 Amazon Anywhere

Have you ever bought something after seeing an ad in a game or on a website?

It probably took you a few clicks - first to exit the website, then to click on the product, then to checkout . . .

Each one of those clicks led countless others like you to return back to their website or game. I don’t feel like buying this right now - I’m sure I’ll remember it later . . .

Well, Amazon is hoping to reduce all the complexity - and get you to buy in one click.

You don’t have to leave your game or app to purchase physical products—simply enjoy your experience of engaging with the fun things you’ll find. Once you’re ready to buy, you can expect the same great selection, low prices, easy checkout, fast delivery, and best-in-class customer support as you would from shopping in Amazon stores. (source)

They’re currently testing out the tech in the Niantic AR game Peridot.

Here’s the how to video.

It’s an interesting integration - I imagine that if it goes well, Amazon will roll it out to more apps and games.

I hope this is one of those things that doesn’t end with Peridot - but continues to get integrated into more games and apps.

Read more about it at the link!

📻 Interview with Kevin Lynch

A delightful interview with Kevin Lynch, Creative Director at Oatly. We dive into his exciting Airbnb stays (including one dope mansion), thoughts around the current social media landscape, the joys of creative marketing, and more!

The Land of Random

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The Town Crier

Hear ye! Hear ye! Have I got a delightful newsletter for you today. If ye like Satire, sarcasm, and biting wit - this newsletter will keep you smirking and smiling, with perchance even a guffaw. Subscribe at the link!

North Korean Karaoke

Unlocking North Korean Karaoke on a karaoke machine. An interesting article - and there’s a link to all the songs on the Internet Archive too.

Aaaaaaaahhhhh

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Youtube Drinking Game

Why was this invented? I don’t know. As long as it’s not Saas announcement videos talking about AI - it might not be too bad.

The Password is Dying

Google has begun rolling out Passkeys! You can read about them at this link - and even start setting yours up if you want.

iiiiiiiiiiiiii

A Song about i

Infosec Company Rekt

Hackers are still hacking and 4channing.

Auncient Funky Beats

The views may be small, but the beats slap

🤖 AI AHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yes - Something went horribly wrong with this AI generated cat food ad

Google is slowly releasing access to some really cool projects - including an AI music tool and a AI notebook. The AI music tool is really cool - I’ve been messing with it a bit.

A github for using GPT on your own documents - with no threat of data leakage.

Drag and drop your own images into this AI tool to create new scenes. Really interesting!

🎵 TikToks You Can’t Miss

The only Star Wars crossover movie I want

How to scare everyone during the Zoom meeting

Excellent McDonalds horror vibes

How to get the kids to build you furniture

Brilliant!!!!!

That’s all for this week! See you next time. :)