Asteroids at The New York Times

No one ever accused The New York Times of being too much fun, but one of its most recent articles has something super fun embedded in it: a playable version of Asteroids. Go here to play. It's especially amusing to blast away reader comments.

The article itself is flawed. It describes Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja as the "offspring" of Tetris. Gross. Having played both Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, I can tell you that they are offspring of Tetris in the way that Oasis is offspring of The Beatles.

The author goes on to write "Angry Birds, it seems, is our Tetris: the string of digital prayer beads that our entire culture can twiddle in moments of rapture or anxiety — economic, political or existential." God help us. I don't know about you, but playing Tetris is an event; playing Angry Birds is a diversion. Yes, they can both be played on the go, can be played for moments or hours, can both trigger the serotonin in our bodies. But Tetris is a test of endurance, of willpower, of farsightedness. Angry Birds is a test of battery life.




Thanks to Aaron R. for the link.