Nerdly Sunday Afternoon
Discoveries from a morning's browsing: A tour of Origins Game Fair 2010 in five parts. First part below, other parts here: 2, 3, 4, 5.
I used to wonder what this and Gen Con would be like to visit when I'd see photos in Dragon magazine as a kid. Much as you'd expect, there are some impressive displays mixed in with a bunch of tat. Still seems like it brings in a fair few exhibitors these days, but it's looking a bit light on attendees.
Related to that was this "one cool thing I saw at Origins" video, with multiple people mentioning Legerdemain. Which is a Java-based, rogue-like game, only lighter on the randomness and heavier on the story. Still has permanent death, ascii art and all that stuff you might expect, although I understand a graphical tile-set is in the works.
Incidentally, the principal developer Nathan Jerpe also wrote this piece on the limitations of the room as a metaphor in interactive fiction, which I found kind of interesting a while back.