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...And Little E Makes 3 Gaming

After-action report: visit to Game Point in Conway, AR

The boy and I happened to have time to kill in Conway this afternoon (while mom was at a work-related function – things being what they are right now, she’s about the only one with work-related functions to attend), and not far from our hotel was a massive store with all sorts of video game logos in the windows: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii… whoa, wait, a vintage Atari logo? Since Little E is already my video gaming buddy (it just so happens that most of the games reviewed in Phosphor Dot Fossils these days are picked by him almost at random, which explains why recent reviews there have been such an eclectic mix) and an avowed Mario fan, we made it a point to visit this place called Game Point.

Game Point
Sadly, this photo was taken as we were back at the car, so it doesn’t show the giant Atari logoRead more

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Funny Stuff

Little E vs. the classics

Goin' on like Donkey KongA bizarre conversation tonight when I got home…

Little E: I’m Super Mario!
Me: You are?
Little E: Obi is Luigi! Mom is the princess! Maria is Bowser*!
Mom: Who is dad?
Little E:
Mom: Dad is Donkey Kong!
Little E: Donkey Kong? Who is Donkey Kong?
Me: Hey, that makes you Donkey Kong Junior!
Little E: DONKEY KONG JUNIOR???!?

(* Little E has a long and distinguished history with Bowser. P.S. The tiniest kitten in the house is the big boss? Buddy, we gotta talk…)Read more

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Gadgetology Gaming

These aren’t the droid games you’re looking for

It’s been a stormy weekend here, so it’s a good thing the tablet‘s been charged up, just in case the lights go out and we get bored. (We’ve got four nervous cats and two nervous dogs in the house – what are the odds of boredom there?) I tried out a couple of Anrdoid emulators on my tablet, and here’s what I found out. … Read more

Categories
Funny Stuff Serious Stuff

Podcast of Extraordinary Magnitude: Oh Poopy

Here is the newsThe true (but necessarily vague) tale of the time I had to sue someone for stealing from theLogBook.com. 😯 Also included: more weird radio stories, waterproof droids and… a cat on crack.

Listen here:
[audio:https://www.thelogbook.com/earl/podcast/10292010-ohpoopy.mp3]

Right-click here and “save as” to save to your hard drive or MP3 player; leave feedback with this post or in the forums.… Read more

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Gaming Television & Movies

Who are Wii [or, Be still my heart(s)]

The announcement has hit the UK tabloids: supposedly Nintendo has signed on the dotted line with the BBC’s merchandising wing to make Doctor Who video games for the Wii and DS. I’ll blither on endlessly about why this has been a long time coming – and why it’s always been bad news before now – after the jump. … Read more

Categories
Gadgetology Gaming

MAME a la MobilePro

Earl vs. MobilePro MAMEMost anyone who’s seen me in person in the past seven or eight years knows that I carry around with me, nearly everywhere, a slightly dated handheld PC that weighs in somewhere between the size of a modern netbook and what they used to call a “palmtop.” The NEC MobilePro, long out of production, was way, way the hell ahead of its time: it was a netbook, 5+ years before the concept of the netbook caught on with, if not the general public, then the general geek populace. It can get on the web via wi-fi with few problems. It has Word, Excel and Powerpoint on it, so I can write articles for my site while I’m away from my desktop, I can keep my inventory spreadsheets of my game collection on it, and so on. It reads PDFs, so I recently made it a bit of a personal crusade to figure out how to get it to play nice with my home LAN so it could access the huge number of ebooks I have on my home server. The MobilePros, at least the later ones, are touchscreen devices. You can use a stylus (provided with the unit), but you can also tap it with your fingers. I usually use my fingers, because how cool is that? To complete my journey to the dork side, I had a custom “DON’T PANIC” sticker made up for the “cover” (i.e. the reverse side of the flatscreen); admit it, if you had a portable device with a tiny screen that you could look stuff up on, you would do this too and you know it. The little machine has become something of a trademark of mine. … Read more

Categories
Gaming

Not always a boom tomorrow

Dune 2000So I had a little bit of frustration worked up tonight and decided that I’d take care of it the only way that seemed reasonable: it was time to blow shit up, and it was time to blow shit up Dune 2000 style. Even though it’s about ten years old (roughly the same age as its Westwood stable mate, Command & Conquer: Red Alert), no matter how much shiny new stuff I have gaming-wise, Dune 2000 is always the game of choice for me to take out major frustration on. I picked out some appropriate music (time to crank the Alias soundtracks), put on my headphones, and declared war. … Read more

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Gaming

Invade the Arcade!

On Wednesday, some of my friends and I swooped down on the 1984 Arcade in downtown Springfield, Missouri – a good 3 hour tour (a 3 hour tour) one way from my house – to check it out. To be honest, it was better than I imagined.

It’s a fairly unassuming location across from the YMCA. Springfield’s downtown area was much more active than I thought it would be, and at several points during the afternoon and evening the arcade had quite a crowd (and quite a young crowd at that).
1984 Arcade in Springfield, Missouri

Now you’re talkin’.
1984 Arcade in Springfield, MissouriRead more

Categories
Gaming

OVGE 2006 photos

Show’s over, and I’m back home winding down. Quite a fun shindig this year – I was awake for the whole thing, probably moreso than I’ve ever been for one of these. (Not that the show isn’t interesting, but I usually never have anything like enough sleep.
Here’s some pictures and descriptions for your amusement and/or edification. … Read more