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Everyone has a game they like that you don`t really know why you play it , you just play it.  For me that game was Ms. Pac-Man.

I first started playing it at the local pizza place.  Mom used to give me a quarter to go play it because I can`t eat hot foods(not spicy hot i mean like temperature hot).  Any time I had anything above warm my mouth blisters.  So I would go to the one arcade game they had at the pizza place, and have fun.  Think I might bust out the Atari and play some now.

If you are still feeling inspired and want to pay a little homage to Ms. Pac Man may I suggest painting your nails.  Every time you catch a glimpse of your nails with Ms. Pac Man’s face you will be reminded to be strong.  If Ms. Pac Man can take on her ghosts you can too.

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Frogger

My childhood best friend had an Atari, and I was like, obsessed with it. The concept was so cool, and if it had been up to me, I would have played Atari all day long. Frogger was my favorite. I am honestly not sure why; it just was. I’m not even that good at it. But I still love it. The worst is when you’re right up to that little box thingy at the end, and you miss it by a hair and go SPLAT right there in the water. That, or when that evil snake appears out of nowhere and tries to kill you >:o

Q-bert

One of my friends growing up had a really nice computer, especially for the time. This was in 1984 – not that common to have a home computer, and this thing was a lot nicer than most at that time. OMG, remember cassette tapes for computers? Anyway, she had Q-bert on her computer, and I just thought this was the best game that ever existed. I played for hours and hours. You can imagine my excitement when I went to Gadgets, or Our Place, and they had Q-bert, because not many arcades did. Unfortunately, the arcade game was much harder for me. Here is my haiku about that:

Falling off the cubes
Embarrassment at Our Place
Epic fail for me

*Update from the future! The Manitou Springs penny arcade has a Q-bert game! My life is complete.

That Baseball Game Robb Had

My parents were very strict about video games, and we didn’t have a system. But one summer, Robb somehow finagled a baseball game out of them. It was just one game, and all I really remember about it is the dorky announcer’s voice: “SINgle.” “DOUble.” “HOME RUN!” Also, the game used to freeze and kind of go in slow, jerky-motion. But basically that game and Martika define my summer of ’89. Once the perm started growing out, of course.

Pitfall

My first cousin once removed had this game. I saw her infrequently, but I vividly remember hanging out with her one day and playing it for hours and hours. I thought it was the best thing ever. Plus, my godmother took us to White Castle that day.

Hunchback

Back in the day, Robb used to borrow his friend Joe’s Gameboy and keep it like, all summer long. And of all the games I could have played to keep up with mainstream society, I pick the one that nobody (whom I’ve talked to) has ever heard of. I don’t remember much about this game besides the pulsating black flames (I don’t think that’s what they were though). You jumped into them and they’d take you away somewhere. The weird thing about this game though is, despite not remembering many details, more than any other Gameboy game, I feel like I just played it last week.

TMNT

Yay! I loved this game, although I could only get to a certain point, then no further. Kind of like how I am with most video games. And math. Ohhhh, maybe there is a connection! Anyway, I played this a lot when I liked not one, but two boys named Mike, so I usually played as Michelangelo.

That Individual Mario Game Robb Had

I remember nothing about this game except effing Lakitu (sp?) kept messing things up and I think throwing hammers at me. Also, this was the first “real, modern” video game I played, and it kept me from sleeping. The game would just go in my head, on a loop.

Tetris

Dude. I LOVE TETRIS!!!!! It is the best game ever. Whether on Gameboy, in the arcade, on the computer, Tetris kicks ass. And I can understand it, which is always a good thing. My favorite of all Tetris incarnations was the Super Tetris. You got the cutest little bombs! And the backgrounds are really creepy.

Qix

My friend’s family had this game on their Commodore 64. All I remember is you had to make colors. Like, box off areas, and they’d turn colors. I was really good at it, and spent hours playing it, but I don’t remember the name, and it’s driven me crazy for many years. 22, to be exact.

^^^ Update from the future! That is what I wrote in 2008, minus the name and picture. But Gabe figured out what game I meant, saving the day and freeing up space in my brain! Thanks Gabe!!!

Mickey’s Castle of Illusion

You know the expression “off like a prom dress?” Well not only did my prom dress stay on, but I spent the entire next day alone with my date…playing Mickey’s Dream Castle. Fun game! And very metaphorical. RUN AWAY FROM THE APPLE OF TEMPTATION!

Sonic the Hedgehog (I & II)

My parents made my brother go to an all-boys Catholic high school in Queens, so as a consolation prize, they bought him a Sega. This worked out very well for me because I got to play it without going to an all-boys school. Although that would have been fun. Just like “Just the 10 of Us!” That show = always relevant. Anyway, I loved the Sonic games. I preferred one ’cause it was more straightforward, and didn’t have Tails flipping around, distracting me at every turn. And I know I am NOT the only one afraid of drowning in that water. It’s so SAD!!! With the bubbles, and stressful with the sped-up music. My parents went away with my brothers one week and I literally spent days playing Sonic (I think I skipped school) and I was too afraid to sleep because the bubbles o’ death gave me nightmares.

Mario Kart

“Here we go!” “Ahhhwowowowowowow.” Those are the sounds of Toad, but I do not know this from firsthand experience, because nobody ever lets me be Toad. It’s so SAD! Everyone tries to make me be Princess Peach, and I hate her (sorry Ben!). Still, Mario Kart is a really fun game, and good for me, ’cause you don’t need to use a lot of buttons! Plus, it’s really pretty. Frappe Snowland is so beautiful! And got me some interesting friend requests when it was my Myspace name awhile back.

Family Feud for Sega

Seriously. It’s amazing what abstinent couples will do for fun.

Super Marioland

One summer night in 1991, I spent an entire night alternating between playing Super Marioland and reading Portrait of Jenny, start to finish. This is probably my favorite Gameboy game.

Ms. Pac-Man

I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!! When I was younger, the grocery store by my house had it in the vestibule, and when I would go with my parents on seven-hour-long shopping trips, I’d watch other people play, because I never had my own quarters. I’d also pretend to play with the example game. I think I somehow memorized the game, and that is why I truly rock at Ms. Pac-Man. Well, for me, as far as these things go. One thing that bothers me though is that at a certain point, you keep repeating boards, and you just have baby after baby. Like, that’s very nice and all, but the stork thing gets old. Maybe send me and the Mister on a cruise! “Act Four: They travel!” Regardless, it is a wonderful, classic game, and superior to plain Pac-Man. Especially on Atari. What was up with that? Regular Pac-Man was this big, slow-moving pie, and the pellets were rectangles, whereas Ms. Pac-Man was all fancy and had real pellets. Weird.

©November 9, 2008

Now back to the topic at hand, books. I’m more of a bookworm than my adorkable counterpart so I didn’t expect this when he brought it up. The other day on the phone he told me that he thought it would be a good idea for us to both read a book together and have little discussions. Not only did I find this adorkable, I thought it was a great idea! The next part we needed to work out was the book we were going to read. I’m a big fan of Chuck Palahniuk and Nihilistic fiction in general. Brad said he read Survivor once and enjoyed it so we picked to read Damned the new novel by Chuck Palahniuk. I got it shortly after it came out but somehow let it fall by the wayside. Wayside of course meaning it fell behind my bed. I thought either my cat had devoured it or it disappeared via a cult of book gnomes in South Philadelphia. Long story short we started it together this week so if you’re interested on getting in on the discussion/reading the book then post in the comments! We’ve decided to parcel the book up into blocks of chapters to make it easier because knowing me I’d finish it in a couple days. This also means it’s easier for other people to join in!

Also New Years Eve was great and I slay at Ms Pac Man.

that is all.

Bearded Dragons adapt quickly to new technology…

…but African Bullfrogs try their best too!

Chimps like to rock the joystick with some old-school classics.

I’ve never seen a dog give up an opportunity to chase down a tennis ball before…

Kittens love videogames! Just be sure to get a sturdy screen protector, ok?

-Zenek

Kidult-ish

I worked in a mall during high school and I used to play Ms. Pac-Man every day during my break—by the end of my senior year I was setting the record semi-regularly every time they reset their machine. On one particular father-son trip to the mall my dad invited me into the arcade to offer me my regular butt whooping in a head-to-head game of Ms. Pac-man—because despite playing the game multiple times a week I had never been a match for the old school joystick mayhem he unleashed. But on this seemingly normal and uneventful day for the rest of humanity I finally topped dad’s tally in a head-to-head match. Although it wasn’t clear to me at the time, that was one of the defining events that shaped my concept of self and the way I would begin to view the world.

I realize that it sounds completely absurd to say that’s one of the events that began to alter the way I perceived myself and the world, but it was the first time my father proved to not be invincible in my eyes. He’d always been able to fix anything, answer anything, do anything; he supported me, disciplined me or forgave me and he was almost always right in his selection—and what’s more amazing is that when he wasn’t right, he would admit it. To finally beat him at the game he grew up playing—and that I grew up losing to him on—was like the ancient Greeks shoving a lightning bolt up Zeus’ butt. I felt both superhuman for having accomplished it and terrified once I realized what that meant: my father couldn’t protect me forever.

Then there’s the second bitter reality Namco is responsible for introducing me to: that not everyone plays by the same set of rules in the world. I was pumping quarters into machines and slamming them onto screens to call next before continuing was an option on old Namco games, so I feel a sense of pride in knowing that I set high scores without having to use multiple starts—which consequently always feels like cheating to me now. I still let the continue clock run-out on Ms. Pac-Man or Galaga before restarting when I play them—which makes it difficult to catch-up to scores that were set by some schlemiel that pumped US $5.00 into a machine then runs up the scores on us arcade purists. There’s a metaphor for how my approach to life differs from others in that anecdote—but if I need to explain it any further than that you likely won’t understand (or agree) with what I’m talking about anyway.

Actual Screen Shot

I’m curious to see how often they’ll reset their machines’ scores, although, admittedly, I’m more curious to see if my newly minted idealism (thanks again Star Trek!) will help to repurpose the Namco Realizations of my youth into something less daunting and more inspiring–something that, like the Sun-Ray Cinema (albeit metaphorically), will bring new energy where before there was only uncomfortable seats and bad carpet.

-Björg

(Column I wrote for the oldgamereviewer.com)

Santa Claus was extremely generous in 1987 when he left the Atari 2600 and my first video game, Jr. Pac-Man under my tree. While my friends were accustomed to playing with Junior’s parents, I enjoyed the prospect of riding around a maze in a tricycle. What I want to know though is how come we can’t get any love for the little guy?

Yes, I know Midway created this game without the expressed written consent of the fine folks at Namco. That would bother me a little too. But this is the retro age! Everything that was old is new again. Oh, and people LOVE PAC-MAN. This would be the perfect time  for the little guy to dust off his pin wheel hat and yell “ Allow me to re-introduce myself.” Now, some of you might not have ever heard of Jr. Pac-Man. It’s OK. Billy Andrews didn’t know either when I ran over to his house on Christmas morning and showed him the box.

This installment of the Pac-Man saga contains four skill levels and seven large mazes. How large do you say? So large that the entire maze scrolls as you move around. This means the little guy has twice as much ground to cover while looking out for ghosts he can’t always see because they can hide off-screen. There are six power pellets instead of four, but there are zero tunnels that wrap around from one side of the screen to the other.

Ghosts are harder to avoid and the moving fruit is replaced with fun items such as tricycles, balloons, kites, a glass of root beer, a kitty cat and a train. These items make the dots increase in size upon contact, causing junior to move slower as he eats them and they also eliminate the power pellets upon contact too. The main story line in the game is the blooming romance between Jr. Pac-Man and Yum-Yum, a ghost who is the daughter of Blinky.

That’s it. I figured it out. The industry wants you to believe Jr. Pac-Man was put on shelf because its creation never received prior approval. This was a conspiracy perpetrated by Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and the Ghosts. Senior and his paranormal rivals are just not fans of interracial dating. Ms Thang on the other hand, simply didn’t want her son to take the spotlight away from her. His awesome hat and kick ass ride would easily out do her pink Prada heels and hair bow on the cute scale. So they 86ed him over a bridge just like the Cobblepot’s did to their son, Oswald.

Bottom line, if the Hatfields and McCoys can reconcile their differences, Namco and Midway can certainly come to some sort of agreement where the little guy can join of the 21st century of video games and take his rightful place in the illustrious Pac-Man franchise.

The arcade games were in a separate room by the entrance and a smattering of people also entered after Breaking Dawn was over. I took a quick look around and from right to left I noticed Ferrari F355 Challenge, Ms. Pac-Man, Sunset Riders, The Fast and the Furious: Super Bikes, DDRMAX 2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix, Silent Scope, Terminator Salvation, Time Crisis II, Virtua Cop 3, The Fast and the Furious, as well as a few pinball tables, UFO machines, and of course, a change machine. The room was packed; Cinemark had a bunch of options.

I initially gravitated towards the Ferrari 355 Challenge machine because it had a cockpit and three TV screens providing a cool first-person view from the cockpit, but it was occupied. Second in line was Sunset Riders.

The three monitor cockpit version of Ferrari F355 Challenge. Image taken by Flickr user gggames.se.

I’ve heard positive things about Sunset Riders but have never played it. It’s a side-scrolling shoot ’em up set in the old west and as bounty hunters my girlfriend and I walked to the right and destroyed anyone who came between us and the wanted person at the end of the stage. The characters were really big and they were responsive, but jumping up to a higher level (balcony of a building) was hard to pull off. A few stampedes happened and we had to run on top of cattle to survive. The first one caught us off guard, but these were fun to survive. We could pick our character and depending on who we picked we used either a revolver or a shotgun; I preferred the shotgun because of the bullet spread.

Facing off against the first boss of Sunset Riders solo.

Next up was DDRMAX 2 Dance Dance Revolution 7th Mix. We played three songs on easy and had a blast, although we both agreed that next time we play DDR, we’ll play on a tougher difficulty. The songs were crazy, like a group of Japanese girls picked European dance songs and sped them up, I liked it. I found myself not only hitting the pads when I was required to but dancing along to the beat to keep up with the song. We tried to play Virtua Cop 3 next but it didn’t work. Unfortunately I found this out after I inserted money.

I liked the selection of games Cinemark Tulsa and IMAX had. There was a good selection of games to play (light gun games, racing games, DDR) and a few alternatives like the pinball machines. I’d like to return with a friend and play through Sunset Riders to say I’ve played through an arcade game, but that probably won’t happen for a while.

My dissertation, will be an Artificially Intelligent (AI) Agent for the Ms. Pac-Man game. The current world high score is 921,360, yet the highest score by an AI is only 36,280. That was in a competition as part of the annual IEEE CIG conference. I’d like to hope that I can enter the competition, if my project works well enough. I just started, so I am still in the process of going through papers written by the participants of past competitions.

Sure, there are a couple dozen beers on draft, “It’s all microbrew, American craft brew.  Everything’s fresh; it’s a different menu all the time.”

But manager Pete Langway says there’s plenty more to do with your hands.

“Arcade games from the golden era of video games, early 80′s mostly.”

Thirty-five of them: Ms. Pac-Man, Frogger, Double Dragon, “Hence the name Barcade.”

It’s now open at 1114 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown.

“We built beer drink shelves next to each game, and I guess those will be food shelves as well.”

Randy traveled from Warminster to grab an early high score.

Story continues below…

A chalkboard at Barcade lists the names of the high-scorers. (Credit: Ian Bush)

Bush: “Am I going to mess you up? What are you playing here?”

Randy: “Donkey Kong.”

He says he was tough to beat back in the day, but still deftly maneuvers Mario to rescue Princess Pauline. “I thought my skills, being like 45, would be diminished. But, hey, I can still do it — good win for the old guys.”

Langway says, if you remember playing these games when you were younger, it might make you feel a little old.

“To be 21, that means you were born in 1990. All these games are from the 80′s, but a lot of people are familiar with them from emulations on computers. And everybody knows Pac-Man, Tetris, Frogger.”

Bush: “Do they get harder after you’ve had a few?”

Langway: “I think it’s kind of like bowling: after a couple, you get better, but after about four or five you get really bad.”

Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio 1060

[listicle id=55129 align=left show_title=true]

When Gerald Sorino went to work this past Thursday, he wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary. What started out as just another day of mindless repetition later turned into the best fucking day ever for the 30-year-old data entry operator.

Sorino has been working for First Tier Sourcing, a business process outsourcing company, for the last five months. On Thursday, he started his shift at 2:27 PM and took his regularly scheduled 15 minute break at 4:15 PM. After sighing heavily and staring blankly at the walls of his cubicle, he finally got out of his chair around 4:17 PM and arrived at the company break room about two minutes later.

Sorino, who said he usually doesn’t even have the energy to move around, has been frequenting the break room because of the recently installed coffee vending machine. “So there I was, feeling like shit and wanting to die, but I thought I’d have a coffee, you know. I put in my change and pressed 1-A7 for my usual large coffee with lightener and sugar,” said Sorino.

“But then all of a sudden,” he continued, “the goddamned machine starts beeping at me. I look up, and flashing on the screen is the word ‘winner.’ Then it gave me my change back. I was shocked.”

Sorino, who admitted he had been considering jumping off a bridge over the last five months, had a change of heart after winning the free coffee. “Yeah, I was planning on ending my life after my shift, but then I thought, nah, fuck it—that machine called me a winner.”

Sorino ended his day by digging out his old cassette copy of Ice Cube’s 1992 album, The Predator. He then proceeded to play the rapper’s hit song, “It was a Good Day,” late into the night.

Added Sorino, “To be honest with you, I don’t even like that coffee. But that’s not the point. Point is, I haven’t had a day like that since the summer of 1989, when I won a cherry ring pop for getting a really high score in Ms. Pac-Man.”

On Friday, the Grave Reporter contacted Mark Casey, president of Grandview Vending Company, who said he was unaware that the machine gave out free coffees. “I have no clue, maybe it gives out a free coffee every 30 people or so,” said Casey.

Sorino celebrated his win this weekend by buying a bottle of whiskey and drinking himself into oblivion. “After paying my rent and bills for the month, I’m usually left with, like, 20 or 25 dollars—just enough for some decent liquor.”

Sorino said he has no immediate plans to kill himself, but hasn’t entirely ruled it out as a possibility. When asked about Sorino’s suicidal ideation, First Tier Sourcing spokesman Richard Terson said, “First Tier cares deeply about all our employees. That said, should Mr. Sorino decide to terminate his life, we ask only that he hands in his employee badge before doing so.”

In case you can’t quite make it out, the freakishly anthropomorphic hot dog is offering a flower to the similarly grotesque female bun. (We know she’s gynecomorphous due to the employment of a convention tried and true since the time of Ms. Pac-Man: she’s wearing a bow.) And this ladylike imminent flower recipient bread product is meanwhile thinking: “Hope he brought condiments, too.” Beneath all of which is written, “You’ll Want to Do It Again & Again.”

Jack, Mike, you’re killing me. Deciphering the safely-assumed sexual content of your ads is fun only so long as said sexual content is buried—buried exquisitely deeply. (I’ll trust that you know what I mean.)

GOOD:

(See my original post on this subject for a close reading of this advertisement.)

ALSO GOOD:

(Again, see that original post for why.)

BAD:

I just hate when there’s nothing left for me to do!

Meanwhile, in other GrubHub-related news, I finally tracked down a copy of of the “something spicy” ad that I mentioned in that first post:

This one isn’t the worst, although it’s much too overt for my tastes. As I pointed out before:

The cute touch in this one is that she’s blocking her chest with a laptop, which has a pear in lieu of an apple. Which is a bit of a loss, in terms of straight sexual symbolism, even though it does raise the question of what pears represent, and what they cost you.

I suppose it’s also worth observing that they’re (presumably) both naked. Which is plausible; some couples get into bed naked and then do some work when they know they’re later going to, ahem, order takeout. But I prefer the reading that this is a pre-Fall scenario: our Adam and Eve are not disrobed, but have yet to robe in the first place, since they persist in an Edenic Bliss and know not yet of their nakedness. (However, how she can use a laptop without conscious worldly knowledge remains a difficult point. Perhaps we’re glimpsing them perched right upon the precipice of sin? Which would have dire implications for GrubHub’s patrons. Unless they’re into sin. And who isn’t these days?)

In conclusion, in the immortal words of Little Murders‘s Lt. Practice: “Come on! Will you shape up?“

I recently made this new scarflace, which reminds me of Nintendo world, but is actually made from vintage curtain fabric from the 70’s which I accented with gold, brass, and red chains. The opposing side is in green, which gives a Rasta-feel against the gold and red.

Other Nintendo-esque accessories out there for your polished “Geek Chic” look:

On a side note:

Thankfully the Williamsburg bar, Barcade,  caters to our never-ending game fixes, where you can enjoy the likes of Frogger, Tetris, Contra, Paper Boy, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey-Kong and Rampage all while sipping on the best collection of beers:)

-Cynthia

Earlier this week, a co-worker brought me this.

On a break at work, we had gotten on the topic of video games.  Long story short, I was given what you see above.  It’s an Atari 2600, 2 joysticks(I know they’re not the original ones), and 11 games.  The games are, Grand Prix, Centipede, Q-Bert, Donkey Kong Jr., Ms. Pac-Man, Missile Command, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Battlezone, Mouse Trap and Defender.  90% of the games are classics!  We’ve been doing some cleaning out and rearranging stuff at my place, so I haven’t been able to play any of them yet.  I’m looking forward to playing the god-awful Pac-Man port for this system.  The Atari 2600 was the first home console I had ever played.  It’s reign came to an end when the NES came into my life somewhere around 1985-86.

Yesterday we decided to hit the road and look for garage sales.  There were a few quick showers in the early afternoon, and that may have been why we didn’t see many sales.  At the sales we were able to find, the wares were plentiful, but of no interest to me.  The upside was, I didn’t spend much.

Everything pictured came to a grand total of $2.25.  I bought Sorry! for a few reasons.  I don’t know how old the one I had growing up was, but this one (1972) looks just like it.  And secondly because it’s a fun game to play.  The Snoopy book was 50 cents, but it’s classic Snoopy.  I found the awesome little Batman at a church sale for 25 cents!  The colors look great, the sculpt is fun, and best of all, he has a cloth cape!  The Santa Clause is a Hallmark Holiday Magic ornament that plugs into a light strand an lights up.  It looks pretty neat, and if it works, the 50 cents I paid was a hell of a deal!  There’s one other thing I want to mention about Sorry!, and that is that this particular ones game tokens look like they’ve barely been used.

What really sealed the deal of this being an awesome week, is what we’ll be looking at next.

It’s been said that good things come to those who wait.  I’ve been really patient.  And that patience finally paid off!

Our plan for yesterday was to look for garage sales in areas that are a little further from where we live.  Going outside of our local area adds a newness to the hunt.  Different people with different stuff.  While the area was new to us for yard sales, we were familiar with the area.  I found Wheeljack in this area’s Wal-Mart.  I wish my local Wal-Mart had the toy selection I saw yesterday.  I will be making subsequent trips to this store.

There was an incredible selection of Transformers, and there were 2 of these left.  I have been looking for this figure for months!  I checked many stores with no luck.  On Amazon and Ebay, this guy is selling for over $25.00!  That’s ridiculous for a new toy, and I refuse to pay an inflated price for an imaginary premium.

The head sculpt looks better than the G1 Wheeljack, and the body of the alt-mode had to be modified for legal reasons.  Still, it looks great, and is my favorite in the Generations line thus far.  The funny thing is that the instructions were actually helpful with the transformation(this is a first).  Wheeljack looks great in either mode.  His car design is sporty and sleek.

It looks just as nice as the original.  In robot mode, the head sculpt looks exactly like he did in the G1 cartoon.  His G1 counterpart is a great toy, but the head just isn’t right.  This one improves on the original, without taking away anything.

Even though I got him after almost everyone else did, I’m still happy to own this.  This gets a 10 out of 10 in my book.  Congrats to Hasbro, for getting this one right!

I have some great stuff in the pipeline, and if I can learn how update a little less erratically, we’ll see see it in the coming days.  Wish me luck!