Day 342: Shooting The Light Fantastic

originally published December 7, 2012 When the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1985, it was more than just a way to play video games in one’s home. There were accessories, dammit – the truly lucky kids got the optional robot (which, it turns out, sucked) and the light gun. The light gun. Formally known […]

Day 339: Queuing With My Cue

originally published December 4, 2012 While I wish I held a secret life as a street-savvy pool shark, the honest truth is that I haven’t felt that sweet thud of cushiony cue-tip against a gleaming, polished white cue ball in about four years. I used to love pool, and played it almost every day when […]

Day 313: The Robots Take Chess… Then The World!

originally published November 8, 2012 I have stated in the past that I am not tremendously knowledgeable about chess. I am, however, always on the lookout for evidence of the inevitable robot (or possibly super-monkey) uprising that will unseat humanity at the top of our planet’s hierarchy. Perhaps the most publicized such evidence just happens […]

Day 302: The Pixelated Madness Of Advergaming, Part 2

originally published October 28, 2012 Last weekend I re-discovered some of the more blatant attempts to sell product through pandering and often sub-par video games. It almost seems as though these corporations thought so little of their target demographic that they believed we’d play anything with colorful graphics and pretty bleeps, then turn around and […]

Day 295: The Pixelated Madness Of Advergaming, Part 1

originally published October 21, 2012 Most of us spend our time tolerating commercials and advertisements, or avoiding them if possible. We scan through commercials on our PVRs, our thumb twitching over the button in hopes of hitting it just in time for the end of the break and feeling like a television-Jedi. We ignore flashy […]

Day 288: My Childhood School Of Witchcraft And Pinball Wizardry

originally published October 14, 2012 I don’t get a lot of complaints about my subject matter. Sure, sometimes I’ll prattle on a little about a particular brand of beer, or that palpable connection between the ethereal concept of heaven and the visceral world when one’s teeth crunch into that first stick of bacon on a […]

Day 275: Skimming The Crud – Worst Video Games Part 1

originally published October 1, 2012 In our continuing effort to enlighten the masses (or what minimal masses may read this site) of the worst of the world, today marks our fourth entry in what has become our only regular feature. We have looked at some of the worst movies, worst television, and worst movies again. […]

Day 271: Virtual Boy – A Virtual Disaster

originally published September 27, 2012 Well this was supposed to change the world. Growing up, I’d always considered Nintendo to be the everything of video games. They invented the console that defined a generation, or at least the kids within that generation who didn’t leave the house very often. The Super Nintendo’s release coincided roughly […]

Day 257: My 8-Bit Youth – Video Games Of 1985

originally published September 13, 2012 A number of tremendously important, historically significant events took place in 1985: the Night Stalker killer was apprehended in LA, the wreck of the Titanic was discovered, and Dian Fossey was found murdered in Rwanda. I didn’t care about any of that. I was nine, turning ten, and I cared […]

Day 246: Isn’t It About Time You Flonked Your Dwile?

originally published September 2, 2012 The big grey sun of a new school year’s worth of stress is looming beyond the horizon. Many of us enrolled in post-secondary studies have but one final guilt-free night in which we can drink until we’re half-blind. Well, until next weekend, anyway. If sitting around and swilling pint after […]