‘Dr. Mario Virus’ custom dunny trio
You know, if I read the Roto Forums every day like I claim I do, I would’ve known about and lusted for these Reactor-88 custom dunnies way back in March errr, three weeks ago. Like, at least.
Archive for April, 2009
LTTP: Simon the Sorcerer 5?! And 4?! And 3???
WHO KNEW? Well, the fourth and fifth games, especially, although I’ve never played the third (Simon the Sorcerer 3-D) either. But I didn’t know this! Did you know this? I am in shock. Certainly, except for all the DS mysteries and fan remakes, I have avoided most newfangled adventure games, which are cheaply made, goofy, badly translated, and inexplicably huge in Germany.
Sorry, I am barely making sense. But, but, Simon the Sorcerer, you guys.
And Simon the Sorcerer II.
And the fifth one.
I’m trying to decide whether to attempt the demo, which is, of course, in German.
Vintage arcade celebrates midcentury marvels
Beacon, New York’s Retro Arcade Museum opened its doors late last month. There, and for just $10 an hour, visitors can play curator Fred Bobrow’s collection of vintage pinball and arcade cabinets from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
I suspect the handheld collection isn’t playable—as it’s behind glass—but, uh, it never hurts to ask? 
JITFTP*: Dead Space action figure up for pre-order
Isaac Clarke—that glowing gladiator and steampunk savior, that deep-space castle crasher—is coming to store shelves this summer.
The truth is, I still prefer the custom Dead Space action figure (it glows!), but this is pretty great. Yours for US$30.
*Just in time for the party!
No wires! Supersonic: the Joystick
Definitely better than that Skip Rogers ad from before!
Weekend Lunch Break: South Korea and technology addiction
Ahhh, lunch hour—my favorite time of day to watch a half-hour documentary program. Close your IRC client, flip on Caffeine, put a silicone dustcover over your MacBook’s keyboard, embiggen the video into fullscreen, and sit back and relax. (Edit: Sorry, Firefox and AdBlock users; I don’t know how to help!)
This video, “The Most Wired Place on Earth,” is just the first in a series of six web videos, all culled from PBS/Frontline’s South Korea: Stories from the Most Wired Place on Earth. And though it’s really an introduction to the subsequent videos, it focuses on gaming and Internet addiction (notably, South Korea’s government is the first ever to intervene and treat its citizens’ electronic addictions). But the documentary focuses on gaming addiction in an interesting, careful, thoughtful, and competent way—I’m looking at you, Iowa State.
Daily Linksplosion: Thursday, April 23, 2009
- 61FPS – One Girl’s Ancient Struggle Against Bad GamesNadia Oxford cuts right to the core of my 12-year old self: "I’ll let you in on a little secret. Girls have always liked games. What’s different is that developers, game publications and marketing divisions are making an effort to let us know what’s going on in the industry. Young females are being encouraged to try a little bit of everything and settle down into something they love, whether it’s ponies or blowing someone’s brains onto the ceiling. I’m glad, because I remember how awkward it was to be a girl gamer during those crucial years when I cared about what other people thought of me."
- UNIQLO: UT×Japan GameChris Person has been going to a NYC Uniqlo every week to scout the store for these game-themed shirts. I really like the Arkanoid shirt (the Puyo Pop shirt is only OK).
Retronauts: oh, god, here we go again
After some ado, E. Jeremy Parish has returned with the 68th episode (what? How did that even happen?) of Retronauts, the podcast that revitalized 1UP.com’s retro games brand way back in 2006.
This time, Parish experiments with a new ‘sections-based’ format, with Ray Barnholt stopping by in the first half hour to talk about the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo Game Boy. Kurtis Seid guests for twenty minutes to discuss 1996’s Vandal Hearts and its anticipated XBLA sequel. Another twenty-minute segment is dedicated to Kohler and Final Fantasy remakes. And then, in the last hour (?!), an underedited Kohler and J. Frank sift through Jeremy’s mailbag, during what is essentially my hard-won Retronauts and Gaming for Money farewell (direct link).
Cute.
Like a ghost who hasn’t yet gone into the light, I can finally vanish into grad school in peace. edit: To the music of Metroid II, my favorite.
Daily Linksplosion: Wednesday, April 22, 2009
- Copperpott’s Cabinet of Curiosities. – Indie Games Are Go!Johnny Copperpott’s list of 11 indie games, specifically intended for folks who do not play indie games (yet)
- lastyearsmodel.org – Get Great Gadgets. And Keep Them.Happy Earth Day! Last Year’s Model is a website/movement, authored by Anil Dash and others, that opposes the fast-growing problem of electronic pollution by promoting, you know, not buying a new DSi or cell phone or whatever. In these dark days, it’s become much easier to differentiate between luxuries and half-luxuries. With a little know-how, elbow grease, and making-do, you can most certainly sustain yourself with Last Year’s Model. (also via .tiff)
- GamePolitics – Grand Theft Childhood Author Challenges NIMF Game Addiction DataThe results of a recent study suggest that 8.5% of child gamers exhibit symptoms of ‘pathological’ addiction to video games (other news outlets have taken the liberty of embiggening the reported numbers up to "1 in 10 gamers!" as being addicted). More fearmongering meant to win research grants and page views? ‘Fraid so. Dr. Cheryl Olson, Harvard: "The concern here is labeling normal childhood behaviors as ‘pathological’ and ‘addicted.’ The author [Iowa State University’s Prof. Douglas Gentile] is repurposing questions used to assess problem gambling in adults; however, lying to your spouse about blowing the rent money on gambling is a very different matter from fibbing to your mom about whether you played video games instead of starting your homework."
- Sarien.net – Instant adventure gamingOK, this is great. Conci and I were playing Space Quest 2 on Sunday morning, and I was totally tickled by how smart the game really seemed—that is, at anticipating what you’d try to do, what you’d try to type in. Now Space Quest 2 is free in your browser. Anyway, I’m off to try out Black Cauldron; I bought the game on 5.25 floppy in, like, 1994, but I’ve never actually played it. P.S. The multiplayer functionality is really freaky. (via .tiff)
- NintendoLife: WiiWare – WiiWare Games Now Available On AmazonGuess what! You can totally buy a digital download code for 2D Boy’s World of Goo on amazon.com. Frankly, I think this is fantastic: who else is sick of entering her credit card number one painful digit at a time using the Wii remote? Hopefully coming soon: being able to buy download codes directly from the developers. (via tweetmeme)
- NYTimes.com – More Wii Warriors Are Playing Hurt"In the moments after I felt the pop in my left shoulder, the sensation I felt was not pain. It was panic. How exactly does a 40-year-old man explain to his wife that he might have torn his rotator cuff during a midnight game of Wii tennis? ¶ "Dr. Charles Young made me feel better without even examining me. ¶ "Late last year, Dr. Young, an orthopedic surgeon, spent about an hour experimenting with the balance games and strength-training exercises on his new Wii Fit. Running on a virtual trail. Slalom skiing. Walking on a tightrope. ‘They have this hula-hoop one where you’re supposed to spin yourself in a circle and try to get a high score,’ said Dr. Young, who is completing a sports medicine fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. ‘I was really hurting.’" (via current.com)
- EDGE Online – The Friday Game: ScarygirlMeant to mention this great Edge piece, erm, last Friday. Basically ‘Nathan Jurevicius for Beginners,’ it’s the first in a new column all about the little-known histories behind brand new games. This week: vinyl toys. Love it!
- AMC – Blogs – SciFi Scanner – In Defense of Super Mario Bros.: Faithful ‘Til the Bitter EndHaving raced through Nathan Rabin’s sublime "My Year of Flops" last week (http://www.avclub.com/features/my-year-of-flops/), I felt pretty enthusiastic about Anthony Burch’s assessment of Super Mario Bros—the movie with Dennis Hopper, I mean.
Brutally boring non-news: Earth Day edition
Every holiday, Google.com trades its otherwise unchanging logo for a more seasonal piece of art. For instance, today’s holiday—which is, ahem, Earth Day—calls for a painting of the Google letters half-submerged in a lake or ocean.
But what’s this? There, in that reef! Could it be? Is it really a… Triforce?
Is there a Triforce hidden in today’s Google logo? You be the judge!
Daily Linksplosion: Friday, April 17, 2009
- Tweetmeme Recent Items – GamingTwitter, according to ZDNet’s Andrew Mager, is "faster, more viral than Digg." Why? Mager points out the submissions to Twitter are much more meaningful. Mager writes, "Clicking a Digg button is a no-lose situation. You aren’t going to lose friends if you Digg 100 things one day. But Twittering something has more of a risk. If you tweet too much, or post a stupid link, you might lose some followers." Anyway, Tweetmeme somehow (?) tabulates the most popular, recently-tweeted headlines and arranges them in a digglike way.
- Ripten – Exclusive Pixeljam Interview: Porn, Fetuses, and Rich’s Super Developer Origin StoryLike the title says. Emily and Jon catch up with the lads of Pixeljam in what has to be the weirdest, funniest interview you’ll read this month. More games interviews should read like A.V. Club material.
- Scarygirl at scarygirl.comAnother highly-anticipated-by-me game launch announcement! This letter is a little shorter, though. From my inbox: "The Scarygirl game is officially online and free to play! Visit http://www.scarygirl.com/ ¶ "Please spread the word and enjoy"
- Legends of ZorkIt’s finally here! From my inbox: "Okay, deep breath. It looks like our little casual adventure game is ready. That would be Legends of Zork, for those dozing at the back. ¶ "Now, we know that some of you are expecting one thing, and others are expecting another. Our aims are modest: we’re simply hoping to distract you for a few minutes each day. So we hope that you’ll like it but remember that we have constant development going on behind the scenes, so you’ll see more and more features added over time. (Looks at journalists on newsletter list) Please don’t hit us!"
- Best Week Ever – THINGS THAT EXIST: Nitrous Oxide Dispensing Game BoyPediSedate combines high technology with a Game Boy Pocket.
Half-Life 2 LEGO zombie
So in the Half-Life universe, a “Poison Zombie” is what happens when a “Poison Headcrab” clambers aboard someone’s face and torso. For instance.
I’m not totally sure why Victor’s version of a Poison Zombie—rendered in LEGO pieces—is so unsettling to me, but it is.
- Flickr – Poison Zombie via The Daily What, sort of
Tee-heeing uncomfortably at the Dork Yearbook
A friend left a link to Dork Yearbook on my Facebook. “You know about this?” she wrote on my Wall.
The week-old (!) Dork Yearbook tumblog is already chock-full of uncomfortably resonant photographs of children, their nerdiness frozen in time. I genuinely like seeing old photos of children playing on vintage computers—while pictures of my own girlhood, in the meantime, make me want to bury my face in a pillow and cry and apologize for being weird, awkward, smart, and hateful.
I’ve said too much! Here, then, are some of the Dork Yearbook entries that combine awkwardness with retro videogames. Can you spot noted tech blogger John Biggs? (Hint: It doesn’t have anything to do with computing or videogaming. Other hint: I renamed the photo ‘johnbiggs.jpg.’)
edit: Oh. BoingBoing Gizmodo’s Joel Johnson has something to do with this project, which explains the “derp” in the header. Everything makes sense again.
A few more, after the cut.
Read the rest of this entry »Daily Linksplosion: Saturday, April 11, 2009
- Kotaku – EA Ships Illegal Weapons To Press, Wants Them BackIn my Del-links, I alluded to the "Brass Knuckles Debacle," which is absolutely fantastic. I actually smiled all day long because I kept thinking about it. Anyway: to promote the Godfather II game, EA shipped brass knuckles all over the USA. Whoops! They’re illegal! You know, I was once thrown out of a concert for wearing finger armor. But the lady was right! I could have really hurt somebody! I was 19.
- Infinite Lives – Fact: PR frequently mails weapons to games journalistsI promise to not make a habit of linking to myself, but on the heels of the Brass Knuckles Debacle, it’s timely and relevant again! Last July, Scott Sharkey catalogued the promo weaponry at his office desk: among them, a bat, a horsewhip, a different kind of bat, a lead pipe, and of course, "mighty shitloads of swords from every continent and period in human history."
- The Escapist – GDC 2009: Excitebots: Trick Racing Hands-OnMy friend Emily has the most harrowing GDC anecdote, which she somehow managed to cram into just a few brief, hilarious sentences. Here they are. "’Hey little man—this station’s open!’ I am still just loving the Nintendo booth attendants, and really, I mean that—they were great. So enthusiastic! ¶ "See, it doesn’t really matter whether I am female or not when I check out videogame demos. It just matters that I pay attention and try not to crash my transforming ladybug robot car into a tree."
- Retronauts – Game Center CX Does Virtual Console1UP’s resident CXpert Ray Barnholt found this Retro Game Master mini-special floating around in his Japanese Wii. A must-watch for fans!
- Kotaku – Grudge Director Working on GameTakashi Shimizu—he of Ju-on: the Curse, Ju-on: the Curse 2, Ju-on: the Grudge, Ju-on: the Grudge 2, The Grudge, and The Grudge 2—is creating a survival horror game called "Feel." And it’s… based on The Grudge. Which is well and good, but I’d kind of like to see him make ‘Marebito’ instead, so I can battle mole people.
D20 necklace
I realize it must seem as though I sent Infinite Lives to the cornfields during GDC, but in reality, I have been planning my BIG MOVE to Chicago! Ahhhh: It seems like only yesterday I was complaining about Chicago, and then moving out of it. (Well, and also, planning a bridal shower, doing some web-work, doing gory makeup for a film shoot, and having the flu—there’s no telling when Infinite Lives will normalize again, frankly.)
I haven’t entirely abandoned the site, of course! In fact, in the interest of supporting it, I have been toying with a banner ad slash affiliate program called Project Wonderful. And while Project Wonderful doesn’t generate enough revenue for me to wholeheartedly recommend it, I do think it’s cool that I (yes! Me!) am able to basically pick and choose whose ads cycle through the little square on the right.
And I can’t wait to run this one ad for D20 necklaces.
Apparently, she has twenty-sided dice available in most every color of the rainbow, to be strung onto silver-plated ball chains, satin cords, or keyrings. And don’t get me started on the 42 earrings.
