i2 arts & entertainment February 15, 2011 - Over the Edge POST NORTH GROWS IN POPULARITY Annual Poetry Event on 4th Year DARCIE SMITH ARTS EDITOR riday, February 10th, 2012 saw another successful evening of Northern poets at Post North 4: FE For Love. Readers and listeners gathered at the Twisted Cork to watch a lineup of fourteen local (and beyond) poets share their writing and celebrate the art of the written word. The readers for the evening included: Graham Pearce, Mateusz Partyka, Darcie Smith, Melodie St. Jean, Dave Oglivie, Andrew Kenway, Azedeh Gagnon, Jana Tausendfrende, Jim Brinkman, Alex Buck, Kael Walske, Arianwen Goronwy-Roberts, Shane Darroch, and GP Lainsbury. Barry McKinnon was scheduled to attend and read, however, he was unable to make it to the evening. Graham Pearce not only hosted and emceed the event, but he also started the evening off by read- ing some of his own work. The readers were a diverse representation of writers, and the listening audience mirrored this diversity. Post North began at CNC and has now grown to a number large enough to fill the banquet room at the Twisted Cork for a second year. Post North began as a tribute to poet Mateusz Partyka and has continued to fall each year around his birthday. It has become Prince George’s largest annual poetry reading event. Each year has seen a considerable growth in attendance and popularity. There were many new poets reading this year, as well as a few familiar returning readers. Some of the poets were able to exchange and trade their chapbooks amongst other readers and supportive members of the audience. Th. Sa Graham Pearce, Kael Walske, Alex Buck, and Arianwen Goronwy-Roberts reading at Post North, For Love. Reasons | Will Buy Playstation Vita On Sale February 22, 2012 CLIFFORD T. HOFFERD CONTRIBUTOR hen I was around 10 years old I wrote a letter to Sony Computer Entertain- ment America with the intent of sug- gesting a portable Playstation similar to the Gameboy from Nintendo. I had stretched the limits of my imagina- tion in coming up with this idea, as well as a potential concept design for the system (said concept amounted to little more than a Playstation control- ler with a small LCD screen attached to it). Months later I got a reply say- ing that they were working on such a thing and that it may or may not show up in the distant future. That distant future turned out to be 8 years later and that device turned out to be the PSP or Playstation Portable. When I first acquired the PSP in November 2005 I was ecstatic to finally have the machine that I had dreamed about all those years ago. However, the advent of modern gaming technology as well as a few design flaws made it readily apparent that the PSP had problems. Not to worry, as Sony looks to cor- rect said problems and improve upon them with the upcoming release of the PSVITA come February 22nd. Below is a list of personal reasons why I will purchase (and why you as well) this system. 1. The Vita corrects some of the de- sign flaws that existed in the original PSP The Vita contains two analogue sticks instead of one, which will allow de- velopers more freedom with the type of games that they develop. Don’t get me wrong, many developers like Ready at Dawn and Sony Bend stu- dios managed to make exceptional games using the limited control inter- face, but these were only exceptions in an increasingly dwindling number of new releases being put out by game developers. 2. The Vita improves upon the basic design of the original PSP The Vita is taking advantage of newer gaming technology by incorporating new features that I would never even dream of. For starters the main 5-inch OLED screen is touch sensitive like the first models of the Nintendo DS. However the genius designers have also decided to incorporate a sensi- tive touch pad on the back of the sys- tem leading to interesting game play mechanics from developers. One such example of this occurs in the game Uncharted: Golden Abyss where you can stroke your index fingers on the back of the system one at a time to imitate climbing a vine. The Vita also contains a built in Gyroscope, which causes the Nathan Drake character to swing back and forth on said vine while the player is physically moving the system. 3. The advent of new gaming technol- ogy has allowed for new features to be put in. In the heydays of the Gameboy the thought of being able to play each other wirelessly would be unthinkable as the only way people could play each other was through a link cable. With newer technology we can not only play each other wirelessly we can also take pictures using the two built in cameras, use the wireless fea- tures to communicate with each other, and enable 3G connectivity. We don't know who the wireless providers of the Vita are in Canada but in the U.S. AT&T has agreed to become the wire- less provider for the system. 4. The games look awesome. I realize that looks aren’t everything and that the games in question should be judged on how they play by I just can’t help myself. These games look amazing and it’s no stretch to say that the hardware behind them is incred- ible to boot. Well, those are the reasons I will buy the PS VITA. I hope that maybe this article has convinced you to do the same.