MoMA’s ‘Talk to Me’ is a look at how people interact and communicate with objects. It reminds me of something a little like MoMA’s curators putting together an ITP show.

I am particularly excited about this because I’m sort of in the show. I didn’t fully know it at the time I signed up, I got to play a role in one of area/code’s games at the exhibit: Helix. Loose attempt at explaining all this: area/code used SNP data and traits from my DNA (via 23andme) to create a card game that I could play against another person. Each person’s deck of cards fits some profile of their DNA. Each card has sides with one of four colors and the player’s job is to create a chain (strand) with the cards. The person to collect the most cards (ie, the most strands) at the end of the game wins the game.

Be sure to catch the project there – Talk to Me.

I don’t play nearly enough GTA4 as I probably should. Most of my friends have already finished it. I guess I’m just no good at this gaming thing. It’s mainly because I haven’t factored in much “gaming” time into my daily schedule. And it’s not because the game is super-challenging. In fact, the game holds your hand for most scenarios and makes sure you can finish it in a “movie”-style sequence.

The GPS-enabled map in GTA is one of the game’s most useful features. It automatically tracks your car’s current location in the game. Not only does it layout the entire grid of the city and highlight certain key places but, much like in a real car, it also allows you to set “way marks”. This allows you to indicate your destination to the positioning system. So once this way mark is set, all that’s left to do is to follow the green line to your desired location. This got me thinking: Given the size of the game, would the average person even be able to finish it without such a feature? I can think of many drives in-game when I’ve hardly looked away from the map. This is especially true of situations where I’ve been constrained for time and had to finish a certain task quickly.

It reminded me of a recent driving experience in real life. I went to visit my friend Rob in San Francisco and got to take his Prius for a spin. It was my first experience driving in a car with GPS. And I believe we spent more time looking at the GPS map than we did at the real San Francisco.

Next time, I’m going to turn off the GPS.

Holly-wooood! I’ve been itching to tell everyone for the past year and in the last couple of weeks some close friends got to know the secret: my voice “talents” appear in Grand Theft Auto IV. I am a Liberty City “local”. Last summer, I was lucky enough to get a Rockstar recording invite from my friend Caroline. I went into a studio and shouted out about ten or twelve different phrases. I can’t remember the exact words, but it’s typical GTA talk: “Hey man, watch where you’re going!”, “Don’t make me…” My character is a 20-something writer who lives on the Upper West Side. Look for me in the game and come say “hi” – GTA-style.

My name appears in the booklet – yes, I know – along with hundreds of other names. But I’m telling you: this is how all the “greats” got their start.

I’m excited that New York City is the inspiration for Liberty City – it makes me love NYC even more. I just picked up the game and can’t wait to discover landmarks like “The Screamer” (“The Cyclone” in real-life). Of course, I can’t wait to find myself.

I interviewed my buddy Jesse Boyes about mobile game design and development. He’s the creator of a very addicting mobile game called Mitosis. It’s slowly starting to get distribution and is now available through T-Mobile. It’s especially great when you play it on something like the Blackberry Pearl – the trackball is a perfect controller. You can also play it online using an emulator – in case your handset can’t play Java games or if you’d rather try it on your computer first.