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zwolanerd

“I guess I just like liking things”

November 7, 2012 Q*bArt

We here at Zwolanerd love us some Q*bert.  You can have your Pac-Men and your Space Invaders, but our list starts at Q. So, to celebrate, here are three pieces of Q*bert art.

Three because cubed. Or “Q*b-ed.”  There you go.

Our first one is from Rich Barrett. For a while he was doing an illustrated “geek alphabet,” and this was his entry for the letter Q.  It’s not currently on his site, but maybe it will come back?

Q is for Q*bert

 

Next is from Gameroom Junkies.  The print is fun, but so is the reference to Q*bert being “the people’s champion.”

Almost thoughtful, this Q*bert

 

Not all art is print art, and I happen to think this is just about neat enough to make me want to learn to crochet. User JenGoPop posted this one in the forums at Craftster.org.

This thing is almost too awesome

November 6, 2012 Fictional Presidents

In honor of Election Day here in the States, I thought I’d list my favorite fictional Presidents, in no particular order.

  1. President Ronnie, from Bad Dudes.  Are you a bad enough dude to watch this video?
  2. Nixon, from Futurama. He’s only sort-of fictional. Also, he’s the President of Earth, not just the US. Still counts!
  3. Zaphod Beeblebrox, from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He was President of the Galaxy, and a hoopy frood besides.
  4. James Marshall, from Air Force One. You know him better as “President Harrison Ford.”
  5. Tom Beck, from Deep Impact. He’s Morgan Freeman, that’s why.
  6. The Red Skull, from Old Man Logan. This one makes the list simply because it’s so messed up.
  7. President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, from Idiocracy. He makes the list based on his name alone.
  8. President John Henry Eden, from Fallout 3. (SPOILER ALERT) He’s on the list because he’s an AI.
  9. Abraham Lincoln, from the Star Trek episode “The Savage Curtain.” He’s on this list of fictional Presidents because I don’t think the real Abe Lincoln was made out of living rock.  I could be wrong.
  10. President Thomas J. Whitmore, from Independence Day. You know you want to hear his speech.

I know it’s a bummer you can’t vote for any of these fellows today, but you should probably go vote anyway (if you’re a citizen of the US).

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November 5, 2012 The Simpsons: Tapped Out

For the longest time I never understood how anybody wanted to play Farmville.  It made no sense to me – clicking on things, waiting, clicking on more things, begging friends to click on some of your things… this was surely the height of Sisyphean tedium!

But now I understand completely, and all it took was someone wrapping The Simpsons around it.  I still don’t care two licks about growing virtual crops (well, except for the ones on Cletus’ Farm), but I do care about earning enough donuts to build the Secret Volcano Lair and leveling up enough so I can build Moe’s Tavern.

My version of Springfield (Click to embiggen)

I can set up Springfield however I want and watch the characters set about the tasks I’ve given them.  The voice actors are all here and there are new cutscenes to be seen, so I”ll keep leveling and earning money until I can’t anymore, most likely.

Each task earns money and XP.  XP levels you up and the cash lets you buy new buildings and scenery. Each task takes a certain amount of time, so you have to decide if the reward is worth the wait.

In the interests of figuring out the best use of my in-game time, I had an accountant friend whip up a spreadsheet for me to see what tasks had the best return.  The results surprised me a little. Here is a sample, using Krusty the Clown:

Click for full chart

I am used to games where the longer a task takes, the greater the reward. In this game, though, it’s the opposite. The more often you’re willing to load up the game and put the characters to work, the greater your reward. Once the initial surprise wore off, it made sense: the gamemakers want you to play more.  More specifically, the gamemakers want you to play more so that you’ll want things to finish faster so you can get the new stuff, and since you can use donuts to speed tasks and building along, hey, maybe you’d want to spend actual money on buying virtual donuts to do just that?

Site: The Simpsons: Tapped Out

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November 2, 2012 My Pedigree: Gaming

If I’m going to write about things I want you to read about, it might be good for you to know where I’m coming from.  So from the gaming front, here’s a list of gaming consoles I’ve owned over the years, in the order I got them:

  1. A Pong knock-off.  I don’t even remember what it was called.  My parents got it for my brother and I at a garage sale.
  2. Commodore 64. This wasn’t technically a gaming console, but it might as well have been. The only other thing I used it for was typing in BASIC programs from that backs of computer magazines. Favorite games: The Last Ninja, Karateka
  3. Sega Genesis. Most people I knew had a Nintendo system when they were kids, but one friend of mine had a Sega Master System, and I liked it so much more than the NES.  When the time came for me to get my first ever actual console, I went with the Sega Genesis.  Also, I was 22 years old when I got it. Favorite games: Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog
  4. Sega CD. Gotta have the add-on! Favorite game: Eternal Champions, Sonic CD
  5. Sega 32X. Yes, I am one of the 6 people that bought this. Favorite games: Blackthorne, Virtua Fighter
  6. Sega Saturn. I was fully on the Sega train, committed to whatever they were going to do.  I still own my original Saturn, and I have two other ones besides. The “batwing” controller is still one of my favorite controllers of all time.  Favorite games: Tomb Raider, Virtua Cop, Saturn Bomberman, Virtua Fighter 2
  7.  Intellivision. I had played this as a kid at my pastor’s house. I ran into him years later after he had moved and he still had it, and he gave it to me. Favorite games: Donkey Kong, Kool-Aid Man
  8. Colecovision. I don’t even remember where I got this, but I only have one game for it: Donkey Kong
  9. Sega Nomad. I had all those Genesis games laying around, so having a portable system to play them on seemed a logical choice.  It was kind of awesome and kind of not at the same time.  Favorite Game: Street Fighter 2
  10. Playstation. So began my journey of not playing favorites in the console wars any more.  Just buy them all!  I got a Playstation mostly because Tomb Raider 2 wasn’t available on the Saturn. Favorite games: Tomb Raider 2, Hot Shots Golf
  11. NES. Finally picked one up. The power cord has disappeared, though, so I can’t play it.  Favorite games: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (though I don’t know why – I sucked at this game), Q*bert
  12. SuperNES. I only ever had one game for this system: Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
  13. Sega Dreamcast. One of my favorite systems ever.  I still own two of these, a regular one and a blue one. Some day I’ll get a black one to complete the set.  This is still the only system I’ve ever pre-ordered. Favorite games: NFL2K (blew me away so much I still don’t enjoy playing Madden), Rippin’ Riders
  14. Nintendo 64. Even though it’ll cost me some street cred, I’ll go ahead and admit I’ve never really enjoyed the Mario games. Still, I got to play Mario 64 in a game store a couple of weeks before it was officially released in the States, and it was pretty neat.  Favorite games: Goldeneye 007, 1080° Snowboarding, Wave Race 64
  15.  Xbox. Thing was a beast!  It was the first console I started seriously playing online games on. Favorite game: Links
  16. PlayStation 2. I bought this thing strictly for Guitar Hero. I saw a guy playing “More Than a Feeling” in the store and knew I had to have it. Favorite game: Guitar Hero
  17. Atari 2600. I finally got one. And then another one. And then a third. I don’t even remember where they all came from.  Favorite games: Space Invaders, Pac-Man (even though it was terrible)
  18. Xbox 360. Man, do I love this thing.  My current Gamerscore is 64550.  Favorite games: the Rock Band series, the Mass Effect series, the LEGO series… and many, many  more.
  19. Sega Master System. All these years later, I finally got one of the systems that made me a Sega fanboy for so many years. Favorite game: Ghostbusters
  20. Wii. I got this thing for the Wii Bowling, just like everyone else. That ended up being just about the only thing I ever liked on it.
  21. PlayStation Portable. Got it mostly to review PSP games. Favorite games: Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, Lumines II
  22. PlayStation 3. Honestly, I got this because I wanted a Blu-Ray player and I had enough store credit built up that it brought the price down to about equal with regular Blu-Ray players, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have the gaming functionality, too. Favorite games: God of War III, I guess. I’ve only played 4 games on the thing.

And, of course, various PCs and cell phones over the years.  I hope I’m not leaving anything out…

I present this list so you can see where I’m coming from.  I love gaming and I think my history shows it!

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November 1, 2012 Make It Happen, Disney

Dearth Nadir!

The big news this week is that Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion and that there will be a new Episode in 2015.  Nobody thought George Lucas would ever step away from the helm, and everybody’s pretty fired up at the possibility of the franchise having some good life left in it.  There’s a lot of speculation about who will direct and where the story lines will go from here.

All of this speculation, though, ignores the biggest question: Will we finally see The Muppet Show Season 4 released on DVD?

See, back in 2004, Disney bought The Muppets.  Some of us Muppet fans were worried about it, but it has so far been okay.  (I’d go so far as to say that last year’s Muppet movie was fantastic, even.) In August 2005, the first season of The Muppet Show was released on DVD. Season two  was released the following August, and season three in May of 2008. Four point five years later and we still don’t have seasons four or five!

Episode 17 of season four starred one Mark Hamill, as both Luke Skywalker and Luke Skywalker’s cousin “Mark Hamill.”  C3-P0, R2-D2, and Chewbacca also showed up, and a good time was had by all (except for would-be guest star Angus McGonagle, who gargled Gershwin).

Speculation has it that season four has been held up because George Lucas is notoriously prickly about licensing Star Wars (though it would be hard to tell that based on some evidence). Or maybe GL was worried someone would recognize Yoda and Fozzie sounded an awful lot alike.

Since Disney now owns both Star Wars and The Muppets, perhaps we will finally see season four on DVD instead of fuzzy YouTube bootlegs or old VHS tapes people sell at garage sales.

As Fozzie would say, I can bearly wait to find out.

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