Today we have a guest post from Repentant Soul, dredging up his own 8 Bit Memories.

Pishaw, you want 8-bit memories, let’s dig into the time capsule and see what we can really dredge up. I suddenly have a mental image of Wayne and Garth and their “deedlie-deedlie-deedlie” motions. Back when the time was young, and dinosaurs ruled the earth, oh wait, not quite that far back. But let’s return to near the end of 1977, when the Atari VCS (Video Game Console) was released in October, but was subsequently named the Atari 2600 for sounding more space-age. This console was ‘the beast’ of the time. It revolutionized the industry with the advent of the cartridge and brought to life (in horrendous graphics by today’s standards) such amazing titles as, Pong, Combat, and Air-Sea Battle.

Now, I know what you’re saying, “Dude, that thing is lame.” And yes, I would tend to agree with you, however, remember, we’re taking end of the 70s here. When computers still occupied an entire room and required the cooling of a 767 turbine engine. This was the beginning of the ‘modern’ age of gaming consoles. Renovations and upgrades were made on the console, and games became more and more advanced with titles like Alien, Pac-Man, Warlords (Allowing multi-player), Space Invaders, Amidar, Airlock, and many others.

Then along came Activision, the first third party game developer for the Atari and brought titles such as Pitfall, Frogger, Robot Tank, Barnstorming, and the ever popular, Freeway. Oh c’mon, how many of you actually stood the chicken in the middle of the road and laughed as it was splattered. Egads, such a gruesome bunch, y’all should be ashamed!

But I digress, you want a waste of time, this was the way to do it. I remember using the joystick controllers for HOURS on end. Enough to rub blisters on my thumb and make my mother scream as the chores and homework were neglected over and over again.

Originally boasting a price of $199, which gave you everything you needed, console, two joystick controllers, a set of paddle controllers, and Combat (subsequently replaced by Pac-Man, and blamed for the crash of the video game arcade monopoly), now can only be found at flea markets, garage sales, and ebay. However, on the positive, it’ll only cost you about $11 bucks or so for game system and games from people who just want this thing out of their home.

So, load up the kids in the way back machine, and transport yourself into game console history. The Atari 2600 will let you relive your childhood, in its entire 8-bit splendor!

Raise your hand if you owned an original, boxy, Nintendo Entertainment System.

Keep your hand raised if your system came with a Duck Hunt cartridge that didn’t have Super Mario Brothers on it.

And if you not only know who R.O.B. is, but he came with your original set purchase?

Can’t speak for the rest of you but my hand is getting numb. Honestly I get a kick out of the number of people who are learning who and what R.O.B. is from the newer games and never had the privilege of playing his games with him. Unfortunately he wasn’t utilized as well as he could have been, but I loved Gyromite and Stack Up as a kid.

I was seven when the Nintendo hit the market. I didn’t do much with it other than shoot ducks, and try and blow up that damned laughing dog. As I grew older I started to play with R.O.B. and found enjoyment in those games as well. But for me, gathering around the Nintendo was a family thing. I remember hours and hours lost as my mom, dad and I would take turns playing Rygar just so we could beat it. Yes, this was before the time of saving on the cartridge, like could later be done with Final Fantasy and Zelda. Rygar didn’t even have passwords.

But how many of you had the joy of playing the original Metroid? You know - the one that didn’t include the first person point of view of blowing up things. Do you remember Pit from Kid Icarus as anything other than a player character from the newest Smash Brothers game? These password games were wonderful, because you could save it and quit when you needed to, but heaven forbid if you miswrote a character. There was nothing I hated more as a kid than seeing the words “Password Incorrect” flash on the screen when I was working my way through Kid Icarus.

All is not lost, especially for those who have acquired a Wii, but for us poorer church mice there are options. You can relive your 8-bit life through sites like VNES and Nintendo 8 or utilize the new FireNES widget in FireFox. True, there’s nothing like holding a rectangular controller in your hands and pounding in the Konami Code when playing Contra, but it’s a close second.

Speaking of the Konami Code, you can use it on Google Reader. Just make sure that you enter it when you’re on the Reader’s homepage. You’ll be hijacked by a little ninja who makes all your feeds look like they have 30 entries.

As modern and wonderful as the gaming systems and computers are today, some days I would trade it all to go back to my 8-bit days and the memories therein.

You all know I’m a geek, particularly when it comes to older video games.  I don’t have the new fangled Wii (much as I’d like one) and have never touched one of Microsoft’s consoles.  That, I think, is why I enjoyed this little quiz that Wil Wheaton offered up on Twitter yesterday.

Running through the quiz I was quite tickled to discover I had scored a perfect 10.  I would have wagered dollars to donuts I had missed at least three of the tunes.  Give it a shot, see how you do, and post your scores amid the comments to see how you compare with other readers.

Happy gaming.

So, I was sitting around at work and a buddy of mine, Chance, drops me a line about owls. Now, you may not know this, but owls CAN NOT be fooled. Oh no. They are utterly foolproof. At least, so says that Weebl dude.
You’re probably already quite familiar with the creations of this individual, and would not normally bring this stuff up, but Chance pointed something out to me:

“ I swear, this man is dangerous. I can’t begin to imagine what he could do if he decided to use his powers for evil. . . . He makes things that stick to brains like cat hair on my black work pants. :O”
(That’s what Chance said)

Naturally, I felt compelled to bring you warning. I would be failing in my duties as Public Service Announcer Dragon if I let these insidious tunes and animations slip under my radar. The specific items about which Chance warned me are those concerning owls and pork.

If you’ve not yet seen any of these foul animations, then you should probably familiarize yourself with the Cat Face series, and Badgers (Oh, and don’t forget to lock that rock you’re living under. We wouldn’t want anyone stealing your stuff.. Sheesh!)

So check out this evil Weebl’s Stuff site. Explore the games and animations, and look at all the ways this monster tries to cash in on visitors with merchandise and stuff. Also maybe pop on by Chance’s Blog. He’s got some pretty neat stuff goin’ on there. He’s a thinkering kinda’ guy so if you like all that thinking stuff, you might dig some of the essays on his blog.

It is with sadness in my heart that I continue to spread word that Gary Gygax has passed away.

I do not have the words to express my sorrow in this, and can only share with you the best piece I’ve seen so far regarding this passing.

And it is with thanks to Tee Morris for passing on word to his twitter crew that we lost this very imaginative and creative life.

The world will be sadder now that he is gone.

Rich Burlew has done a very fitting tribute this evening.

And we’re back. Hopefully I can keep this running this time, though I know there will be a span toward the end of the month where there’s no posts as I will be in Atlanta enjoying Dragon*Con. If I’m lucky I’ll have some kick ass pictures from the trip.

Kicking off with video games again as I’ve been keeping tabs on Game Trailers site for their video game retrospectives. Currently it’s fascination of all games Final Fantasy, which of course got my immediate attention.

There are four pieces right now and they appear to be coming out weekly. I won’t embed these even though I could, as you’d probably get a better run by catching a link and hitting the site yourself.

And at last we have the answer to the eternal question of “How can it be a final fantasy when they keep making them?”

Final Fantasy I
Final Fantasy II and III
Final Fantasy IV and V
Final Fantasy VI

I’ll keep you updated as the series continues.

I’m cheating today. I have cookies and potato salad to make for a party tomorrow.

Considering I co-author Your Cre8tivity and decided to start posting recipes there on Fridays I thought I would link back to the first one of the series and will continue to link to the recipes I post. After all, what is cooking but time very well wasted?

Today I started with Peanut Butter Fudge Refrigerator Cookies which I swiped from my dad and added notes for diabetics. I made these with Splenda recently and they turned out very good, at least Sloane and I thought so.

I may, eventually, post a variation of enchiladas that runs in the family. The absolute original I’m forsworn not to share.

If cooking isn’t your thing then I have another distraction for you.

As good as the graphics on today’s games are I still find myself longing for the good ol days when I was in the single digits of age and the Nintendo came out. The fact that Pong turned 40 this month made that need for nostalgia all the more powerful and I’ve been spending time more and more on vNES.

vNES offers over 500 hundred titles for your pleasure and memory of the 8 bit Nintendo games and I’ve been drowning myself in Solomon’s Key lately. Hellfire I still remember sitting for hours on end with my mom playing that game.

Go cook or go play but above everything else, enjoy what you do.

This is also known as Final Fantasy II on the Super Nintendo, part of Final Fantasy Chronicles on the Sony Playstation, and Final Fantasy IV Advanced on the Game Boy Advanced. It was my gateway drug into role playing games. True, Final Fantasy was released on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, but I was a bit too young to appreciate it then.

This one I have owned on all three of the aforementioned platforms. While Square has since perfected graphics and music as the Final Fantasy series advances, this is still the one I return to when I need a good RPG fix. The storyline was well put together; the action liner without being completely driven and for the time of its release was one of the more stellar role-playing games released for a console system.

In this incarnation of Final Fantasy you play the primary character of Cecil is the Dark Knight Captain of Baron’s Red Wings. As you journey though life with Cecil you meet his best friend Kain, love interest Rosa and a multitude of other highly likeable characters. Cecil’s main duty is to capture the Light Crystals for Baron and when he questions it he finds himself given one last mission. Sickened with the action he performs Cecil finds himself seeking redemption for his crimes against the world, his friends and himself.

Despite being graphically weaker than today’s games, the game play and story hold up nicely in comparison. It’s a game I highly recommend if you have any of the platforms that can play it (Game Boy Advanced or Nintendo DS, any of the Sony Playstations).

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Considering some of these are published off-line I guess it counts as a book, but, I don’t see anything preventing me from tapping into the world of the webcomic.

Commonly known as OOTS to my friends and I, the Order of the Stick is a web comic based on a fantasy role-playing game. You’ll know which one, if you play them, when you read the first comic, I’m not risking getting sued in this sue happy world we live in.

Rich Burlew, creator of the Order publishes his comic three days a week and has over 400 comics in the storyline. Few of the comics pass day to day without a snort, chuckle or rather loud laugh among the readers, as is evidenced in the Forum area.

The Order consists of Roy, V, Durkon, Elan, Belkar, and Haley who joined together to defeat the evil lich Xykon and his assistant Redcloak. They encounter freakish paladins, whacked out demons and the inevitable evil twin as they work to stave of the lich’s heinous plot.

Enough praising the comic god that Burlew is, you’ll have to read it for yourself to really enjoy it. But, don’t let the comic alone take up to the Giant in the Playground site, as Burlew, fans of the comic and others also discuss RPGs and post short stories. It’s all in good fun and definately worth a day of exploration.

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