Joke pics about patterns in new game releases bringing up fond childhood memories...

I saw this on Facebook a few moments ago. This photo does bring an interesting question to mind: Why do game companies deliberately NOT release a whole lot of quality titles during the summer? They can't all be waiting for the holiday rush around Christmas time!

Not every kid likes to go outside and play every day during summer vacation. I was living proof of that fact. More often than not, I just went to a friend's house to play games or they came over to mine. A lot of good (and some bad) NES, Super NES, SEGA Genesis and Atari 2600/7800 games were first discovered and played this way. When one of us acquired a new game (or even just rented one from some video rental store), we all descended on that kid's house and played the game all weekend.

Hell, my house was a particularly popular destination for the neighborhood's young gamers because the TV in the living room was 25" and had stereo sound. That was impressive back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I still remember the sense of awe and wonder I had playing new (to me) NES games on that TV. It seemed so huge and epic to me at the time...

Even after my younger brothers and I got our own cheap 19" TV sets for our rooms (which eliminated any conflict between 'children wanting to play Nintendo' and Dad getting to watch Football), our house was still the destination for the neighborhood kids. I suspect this had something to do with the Iced Tea that was always in the fridge and my mother making waffles or pancakes for breakfast on weekends. :P

Anyway, the NES ended up in my room and became mine by default. My brothers had lost interest in it since one of them acquired a SEGA Genesis for his 8th birthday in late 1993. We never did get a Super NES, no matter how much I *begged* for one every Christmas for at least 4 years in a row. (I did get one secondhand years later in 2003.)

Anyway, the more social gaming experience would go on in my younger brother's room with the Genesis and I had the NES all to myself. That changed when I happened to buy a new game from Wal-Mart one day in 1995 for only 10 bucks. At that time, the NES was being discontinued (much to my eternal sadness) and everyone was clearing out their old stock. The game I picked up was one I had heard of for years and that often left me feeling intimidated. It had a well-earned reputation for awesomeness.

The cartridge I bought was a re-issue of a title originally released in 1987 but, that didn't matter. It was a game that became an obsession for all of us. It was several months before I could get my brothers to abandon all hope of playing it again and have it to myself. It was very much like that creepy little guy from The Lord of the Rings trying to get his 'precious'...

What game was it, you ask?

What old re-issued NES title from 1987 was still so engrossing in 1995 with 3D graphics becoming commonplace?

What game is it that is still so engrossing now in 2013 and that I still have complete in its original box with all the instructions and maps?

What game was so awesome that I happily acquired the re-releases that Nintendo put out on the GBA and GameCube years later?

What else?

It took many months to finally defeat Ganon and rescue the Princess but, I felt like a true champion/video game hero when I did. I've acquired many (but not all) of the Zelda games since then. I have never had quite the same feeling of epic adventure with any other game, including the many sequels and prequels to this one. Of course, I haven't played all the Zelda games that I have in my collection yet for many reasons. Work, world travel and having most of the collection in storage back home in New Orleans being chief among them.

Anyway, those days spent playing those old games, regardless of what platform it was on, are some of my happiest childhood memories. I'm happy that I've been able to acquire most of these titles, add them to my ever-growing collection and relive the memories whenever I wish... unless that game/system is in storage back home in New Orleans. I can't wait to go back home.

- Lord Publius

I have been feeling a bit lonely as of late...

The world has been getting a LOT more lonely as of late. There are multiple reasons why...

1.) Dating around here in Maryland has been a joke.

I tried that OKCupid site (which is supposed to be the 'Google of online dating') and found it to be rather lacking in suitable individuals. Other dating sites were even worse. I removed my profile from that site about a month ago, at least. No reason to be leaving that vaguely personal info laying around on the web unsupervised.

2.) Meeting people in the real world has also been speculative at best.

Even when I do encounter someone interesting, something always ruins whatever plans I might make: Already dating someone, not in a good place right now, et al. Feel free to pick an excuse. I've heard them all.

Sometimes however, I just change my mind after learning more about them. Being pretty on the outside does not necessarily equate to being pretty on the inside.

3.) Both of my neighbors have suddenly moved away.

One transferred to a new unit at Fort Bragg and the other has left the Army. I had no idea they were about to leave until about 24-72 hours before they left. That's pretty cold. I talked to them a LOT more than most other people in these barracks. WTF?

4.) I can count the number of lower-enlisted people on this base (and in my unit) that I could call a 'friend' on one hand.

There's a LOT of very untrustworthy assholes around here (including the guy I bought my used PS3 from back in June)... and many more people I just don't relate to very well.  This isn't much of a shock to me. The kind of people who join the Army are not my type of people. They can usually be quantified into one of several groups:

- Jocks that couldn't get a sports scholarship to some college or University
- Various social rejects who couldn't get employed anywhere else
- Kids looking for college money via the G.I. Bill and various Army programs
- People who genuinely do want to serve the Republic for various reasons, including Patriotism

Sadly, that last category has been the most rare in my Army experience.

5.) Regulations forbid socializing with NCO's under virtually any circumstances, so, that's out...

There are very few NCO's I want to hang out with anyway but, it would be nice to have more options. One of these NCO's has been a friend of mine since we were both in Korea and the other is one of the E-5's in my platoon. There's 1 or 2 E-6's that are also cool.

The same situation applies to Officers, except that I don't know ANY Officers that I want to socialize with outside of work-related functions.  I get the impression that they all have the attitude that anyone who isn't an Officer isn't as smart/worthy of them and thus, mere children to them. Funny, that's the way I tend to think of a great many of the Soldiers I've met over the last 4 years, regardless of rank. As much as the Army talks about their precious 'standards', Intelligence doesn't seem to be one of them. Such a shame...

6.) In fact, socializing with co-workers has almost NEVER been a very good idea with any job I've ever had except when I worked at my college as a Student Lab Assistant.

I'd rather not go into any details on why my previous jobs didn't offer good socializing opportunities. I haven't done anything that was illegal or (to my knowledge) immoral. However, I don't want to look like I'm bad-mouthing former employers, either. It's not professional.

7.) I'm not entirely sure how I should go about socializing with civilians in this area, either. Not that it matters anymore...

I should be leaving here and returning home to my old stomping grounds sometime very soon. I look forward to that day. I just hope it's not sometime in the late Fall or Winter time. Here in Maryland, that means snow on the ground. I despise snow. Besides, having that stuff all over the roads can make it difficult to drive out of here (and across the country) towards home...

- Lord Publius

Khan Lives!

WARNING: This posts contains spoilers about the latest Star Trek film. If you haven't seen it (and don't want the plot spoiled) then, don't read any further.

I'm glad the writers didn't kill off Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek Into Darkness. He could be quite useful for future stories.

I'm serious.

Say, the Federation faces a genuine existential threat (Klingons & Romulans allying together in a war against the Federation, the Borg, Planet Killers run amok, et al.) and not just something in a Fleet Admiral's mind. Would it not be logical (not to mention dangerous and dramatic) to bring him and his Supermen out of cold storage to face that threat?  73 Augments with 23rd Century weapons could make for a terrifyingly efficient group of warriors.

Also, knowing Khan, he's going to want revenge on Kirk. So, we'll just be wondering throughout the movie when and how he'll go about trying to get that revenge. It could make for a great movie. It certainly did in 1982.

And no, I don't want JJ Abrams to just remake that particular film classic. I simply don't want a character with so much potential to go to waste.

With that being said...

- Lord Publius

About the VMA's last night...

I have several thoughts on this one...

1.) Am I the only one that didn't even know the VMA's were on last night?

2.) Who gives a shit if Miley Cyrus wants to make an ass of herself? We all knew that she'd end up as a trainwreck like every other Disney Princess anyway... (Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears ring any bells?)

3.) Why would MTV have a Video Music Awards when they don't actually play videos or music anymore?

4.) Of all the stupid shit I've seen online in the news about it today (including a few links at the Drudge Report), not a single Rock Star/Group was mentioned. Why not?

5.) The Music Industry has long ago lost any kind of credibility and I'll bet last night's VMA show demonstrated that beyond any doubt. I don't even have to have watched it to know. the fact that everyone is talking about the antics of a no-talent hack/former Disney Princess instead of any kind of music just screams that the business has become an Emperor with no clothes. That's the real reason why album sales have been tanking for years. It's not online piracy or iTunes. It's SHITTY PRODUCT.

- Lord Publius

Why must people underestimate Nintendo?

Sometimes, I think industry analysts are just fanboys that get paid to engage in their unique brand of mental masturbation. Many of them seem to think that the WiiU will be an also-ran like the N64 & GameCube (sadly) were. They thought the same thing with the 3DS and have since been proven wrong. As soon as Nintendo started releasing lots of software for the portable, it started outselling the home consoles.

It looks like History is about to repeat itself in that regard, if the software line-up in this video is any indication. Go ahead, watch it... This blog will still be here when you get done.

Done watching the video? Okay, now we can continue...

So, this is what the fanboys seem to think about the current state of the industry...

And this is what's going to happen when Nintendo starts getting lots of quality software to the WiiU over the remaining months of 2013 and all of 2014...

I've been a gamer for a LONG time now. It started when I was a 2 year-old sitting in front of the TV playing with my mother's old Pong clone, the Magnavox Odyssey 3000. I was in awe. It continued over the next few years with seemingly magical trips to Showbiz Pizza (now known as Chuck E. Cheese) where I got to play Arcade games I still love to this day like Pole Position, SEGA Turbo and Atari's Star Wars game. Then, shit got real when I got the NES for Christmas in 1988...

I was less than 2 weeks away from my 7th birthday at that time. I'm 31 now. I have since amassed a collection of 6 computers (all capable of running at least Windows XP and/or Linux), 48 consoles & portables (including my extra copies of certain systems) and 509 titles spread across these platforms. Since many of those game titles are greatest hits collections, the actual number of games (including all the many duplicates) would be a staggering 1,750.

Of all that, at least half of the titles and systems are from Nintendo. (Another quarter of the collection is easily from Atari.)

I do have a lot of stuff from Nintendo's competitors past and present, and a number of computer games. (Some are even compatible with MacOS & Linux!) I've also gotten rid of a LOT of stuff over the years too.

Some I don't miss... (PS1, Genesis 32X)

Some I can't believe I sold... (Atari 7800, Atari Jaguar)

And some that seemed worthless back then, only to be something I need again now... (The SEGA Game Gear that was originally my younger brother's game machine...)

Various titles aside, I have NEVER sold any of my Nintendo consoles. Except for those 3 original Game Boys that my parents got for me and my 2 younger brothers, I've never sold any of the portables, either. (The 3 different GBA portables I have now will play all of the few remaining Game Boy games I still have.)

So, what's the lesson to be learned here? The cream always rises to the top.

Call them kiddie, the 'Mario Factory' or the 'Walt Disney of game companies' all you want. They are still here when sooooo many of their competitors have either...

1.) Quit making consoles to become 3rd party developers (Atari, SEGA, NEC, Mattel, Bandai)

2.) Been purchased by or merged with other toy/electronic/entertainment companies (Bandai, Atari, Tiger Electronics) or...

3.) Have just disappeared altogether. (Coleco, Epyx, Midway)

Even if they aren't always #1, they are always a strong competitor with 1st party franchises that keep people coming back for more.

That's how they constantly keep coming back like the killer in a series of slasher flicks. That's how they became the 800lb. Gorilla in my game collection. And that is how they will be around for the foreseeable future. No one else has been able to develop as many hit franchises and use them to their advantage.

Don't believe me? Well, then let's look at their major past and present competitors...

SEGA

SEGA had one great 1st party franchise with Sonic the Hedgehog and tried to form others with the Virtua series titles. Too bad that wasn't enough for them since the Nintendo/SEGA rivalry was AWESOME. That's why I dearly miss this company.

It's also too bad that for many years Sonic had some really poorly received titles in his franchise. SEGA's mascot deserved better.I'm also increasingly glad that the games he's getting now are actually worthy of the character.

Who knows? If they had not wasted money on pointless Genesis add-ons, they might have formed more hit franchises and could possibly still be a console maker today. They had a few promising prospects with the Virtua series and a fighting game called Eternal Champions but, they just didn't exploit the opportunities presented.

Atari

Atari relied on ports of their arcade titles (and a few notable 3rd party titles like Space Invaders) for the 'killer apps' on their consoles and computers. (Yes, they made computers for many years as well, including the world's first palm top, the Atari Portfolio. You may have seen it in the movie T2: Judgment Day.)

That approach to software made sense when the industry was started, largely by them. Video Games were seen as the next iteration in arcade amusements, largely supplanting redemption games (Skeeball, Claw games, anything else that might give you tickets) and Pinball. By the time Nintendo came around with the NES and Mario in 1985, that changed forever. Atari didn't change with the times and consequently became less and less relevant.

Like SEGA, I dearly miss them too... :(

Nintendo's current rivals, Sony and Microsoft, have few (if any) 1st party franchises at all.

SONY

Sony has the Ratchet & Clank series, which is an enjoyable bunch of platformers. The PlayStation consoles were also the exclusive home of many popular 3rd party franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto for many years. However, if the 3rd party companies decide to abandon Sony, they are in serious trouble. I have mixed feelings on that since they have been a good foil for Nintendo over the years. They did great in sales with the PS1 & PS2. They stumlbed with the PS3 because of bad marketing and ridiculously high prices. We'll see how it goes with the PS4. I will give it a chance, even if that doesn't necessarily lead to a purchase.

I will say this much for Sony: They were certainly much stronger competitors than Atari and SEGA ever were. Atari was easily brushed aside by the Big N and SEGA could only compete with them in the 16-Bit era with the Genesis. (And that was due mostly to Sonic, sports games that no one remembers and a version of Mortal Kombat that actually had blood.)

MICROSOFT XBOX DIVISION

The only exclusive franchise this company has is HALO. Virtually ANY other game that has ever appeared on an XBOX machine can also be found on a PC (including HALO), PS2, PS3, GameCube, Wii or WiiU. It's also going to be virtually identical to ports on the other platforms too. There's virtually nothing besides HALO to distinguish XBOX on the software front. That is really sad to me. There is a lot more potential here since Microsoft has more money than just about any corporation on Earth.

I played the first two HALO titles on the original XBOX. I have not played the other sequels since that time. Microsoft has been known to have a LOT of hardware problems with their 360 console and that turned me off. I'm not interested in the new XBOX ONE console, either. There are earlier entries over the last few months in this blog that explain why.

Without HALO, they would not have any real exclusives that could keep them profitable. That ain't good. In fact, the first console would not have existed if it hadn't been for Microsoft having billions of Dollars to throw at the product. If not for their money, I'd say Microsoft's position in gaming was the most tenuous of the current marketplace competitors. Thanks to that HUGE pocketbook though, 3rd party companies are still willing to take a chance. If all else fails, XBOX can always run home to Daddy for more cash. Draw what conclusions you will about that...

In conclusion, it's not necessarily impossible to have a successful (and even legendary) game console/portable without a good collection of 1st party franchises. Atari did that with the 2600 and (so far) no one else has pulled it off since. After all, did you see a lot of sequels to the home versions of their arcade hits? The only one I know of is Millipede, which was the sequel of Centipede. Not many people bought Millipede on the 2600, either. By the time that game made it to home consoles, the NES was available and the NES version sold better. I had it once.

However, having a strong 1st party line-up certainly does help. Thanks to Mario, Zelda, Metroid, F-Zero, the Wii series games, et al., I know what I'm getting when I buy Nintendo. I'm not always sure with everyone else. That ain't right. Why spend hundreds of Dollars on a Halo machine or the 'repository of 3rd party ventures' that is the PlayStation brand nowadays? That may very well be why the PS Vita has been a flop and why the PS3 has struggled its whole life. Oh well... Sucks to be them, I guess...

- Lord Publius

P.S. While this could very well be (mis)interpreted as me being a Nintendo fanboy in a lot of ways (which is quite true), I prefer  to think of it as taking the most objective look at the market that I possibly could. Either way, Nintendo gets 1st preference in the current console/portable market. PS4 & XBOX ONE also cost too damned much, anyway...

Fire Steve Ballmer and sell off the XBOX division?

I came across a short and sweet business article on a video game discussion board talking about a group of Microsoft investors (who own 1% of Microsoft stock) wanting Steve Ballmer fired and the XBOX Division sold off.

Seeing stories like this make me laugh. Even if it makes no money, the XBOX brand does attract a lot of favorable press/consumer attention to M$ most of the time so, it ain't going away. In fact, has M$ ever left a business once they muscled their way into that market? Their cell phone software was CRAP for many years but, now, it does increasingly better business for them. I still don't trust Windows Phone enough to even give it a chance, though.

In fact, I don't even own a smart phone.

I don't want one, either.

Yes, I am old-fashioned in that area.

No, I don't care about keeping up with the Jones's...

All that being said, I have no interest in the next XBOX console or even the current 360. Knowing M$, they will find a way to make this thing an unreliable pile of junk. It's amazing, really... The first XBOX was something they considered a failure in many ways yet, that's the one that I have in my collection and actually like... How did that happen? Better yet, I have NEVER had any trouble with that machine and have never heard of anyone else having trouble with it, either. Weird...

As for Steve Ballmer, I doubt he's going away, either. Bill Gates picked him to be his successor. Bill's place in Microsoft is just like Steve Jobs' place over at Apple, except without the Cult of Personality and Megalomania surrounding him. (Well, maybe a little Megalomania...) Ballmer will leave only when he's ready to leave.

If Microsoft wanted to worry about a truly bad product though, tell them to look at Windows 8. Not everyone has (or wants) a touchscreen PC yet, they made their core OS product heavily dependent on this still emerging technology. Why? Do they think they can force everyone to go out and buy a touchscreen device? If Apple couldn't make that cool for everyone with the iPod Touch and iPad, then how do they expect to succeed here? Appealing to the usual Microsoft customers at businesses may not work. Business people are not always imaginative and rarely embrace change.

Then again, I don't run a multi-trillion Dollar international technology conglomerate so, what do I know?

- Lord Publius

Also, made a few additions to my massive game collection today...

Atari 2600

Air-Sea Battle
Ice Hockey
Popeye

Atari 5200

Q*Bert
Popeye

Intellivision (INTV)

Burgertime
Stadium Mud Buggies

Colecovision (CVIS)

Decathalon

Super NES

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits

SEGA Master System

Blade Eagle 3-D
Choplifter
Shanghai

SEGA Dreamcast

Worms World Party (Factory Sealed)

Taxing churches?!

Courtesy of a friend on Facebook, I came across this short (and poorly thought out) op-ed piece from Slate about taxing churches.

The author seems to think that churches should be taxed since they often feature clergy that speak out on political/cultural issues. This argument is a logical fallacy and what it suggests will never happen.

Churches aren't taxed for good reason. No taxes = more of the money they collect going to the poor. (Well, that's the theory, anyway...)

Despite my many misgivings about organized religions, some of them do manage to do a good job caring for the poor. Even when they mess up, they still do a FAR superior job of caring for society's disadvantaged than ANY government ever will. This is why they have always had a tax-exempt status in America. It was set up that way so they could continue doing what they existed to do: helping people so that Government wouldn't have to spend the Nation's money on innumerable social welfare programs.

The Founding Fathers were pretty damned smart about these kind of things. They were also quite literate in world history. They knew what happened to nations that spent their national budgets on too many social welfare programs. It devolves into little else than appeasing the populace. I just can't understand why Democrats can't read a few history books and figure this out too. Their own mistakes with the New Deal and the Great Society should have taught them those lessons pretty well. The New Deal made the Great Depression last even longer. It took a victory in a world war to pull us out. The 'Great Society' didn't really accomplish any of its goals, either. Racism still exists and might actually be on the increase because of that Trayvon Martin bullshit. Poverty still exists too... and it always will. There will always be people who are unlucky or just bad with money. That's why charities (including most churches themselves) exist.

Again, No taxes = more of the money they collect going to the poor.

Willfully repeating Emperor Constantine's actions with these glorified 'Bread and Circuses'-type actions does not help society in any way. If it contributed to the downfall of a mighty civilization like the Roman Empire then, what do you think will happen to us? Prosperity is created by developing NEW resources, not spreading the preexisting wealth around via taxation and Socialism.

Also, why should a church be singled out for a type of 'free speech tax' when numerous non-profit groups speak out on politics and social matters all the time? That's not fair. It's a Democrat deliberately trying to target a group that he doesn't like and wants to see suffer. While I'm not a fan of most churches and organized religions, I'm not going to target them with bogus laws, either. It's unfair and does not afford them the equal protection under the law that all groups and citizens are guaranteed by our Constitution. It's nothing more than misusing the Law to carry out a social vendetta. It's also quite unnecessary.

Various personal issues with organizations disgracing the Judeo-Christian tradition aside (*cough*Roman Catholicism*cough*), you shouldn't need punitive tax laws to destroy a crooked religion. For example, this bad op-ed piece mentioned the Church of Scientology by name. Replaying ANYTHING Tom Cruise has done in public these last 10 years is probably the best anti-Scientology propaganda that money can't buy. That should be all you'd have to do to make most religions look ridiculous: Show their congregations in a religious fervor. While idiots will still flock to them for various reasons (usually a need to feel like they belong to something greater than themselves), intelligent people will rightfully get creeped out and haul ass out of there.

In short, quit trying to take money that isn't yours to take and just laugh at these ass-clowns like the rest of the world's Free-thinkers. Your life will be a lot happier if you just learn to pick and choose your battles a little better.

No taxes = more of the money that churches collect going to the poor.

- Lord Publius