Porque junto Mario Bros, el Tetris, Bubble Bobble y Space Invaders son los mejores videojuegos que se han creado en la Tierra.

Pac-Man, conocido por todos como el “Comecocos” es un videojuego japonés que surgió en los años 80.  La verdad es que ahora os contaría alguna cosilla sobre el videojuego, pero como mis conocimientos son limitados y no quiero quedar como una catetilla, os invito a que os leáis toda la historia, la descripción del videojuego, las distintas versiones que existen, etc. en nuestra apreciada Wikipedia.

He escogido hablar de Pac-man  porque considero que es un videojuego que crea mono, mono de verdad. Es una interfície muy simple y esquemática, dónde el objetivo es que el personajillo (una bolita amarilla con boca) se coma el mayor número de puntos posible (ya sean pequeños, grandes y premios en forma de fruta y otros objetos). Hasta ahí parece aburrido, pero es que la adrenalina que te entra cuando ves que se acerca a ti uno de los fantasmas (con un poco de inteligencia artificial) para matarte es… ¡muy bestia! Además se produce una situación de autosuperación y “pique” que te enganchan a seguir jugando.

La verdad que fue una revolución, porque con un toque de humor, se alejó de la “violencia” (por llamarlo así) de los videojuegos anteriores, como Space Invaders, dónde la regla principal era disparar hacia todo lo que pudieses. Creo que por eso pasó a ser un videojuego igual de popular para el sector masculino como para el femenino.
Otra novedad de cuando se creó este videojuego es que fue el primero en tener un “personaje” concreto y este hecho provocó que se creasen una gran cantidad de objetos con él. Y el amor por Pac-Man, veinte años más tarde sigue vigente. Si buscar un poco por Internet, puedes encontrarte con objetos inspirados por Pac-man como una granada (sí, de las que explotan), guantes para coger las bandejas del horno y no quemarte, caramelitos de todas las formas… y un sin fin de cosas más.

Lo que sorprende es que pese a existir nuevos videojuegos de realidades paralelas, muy  (pero que muy) realistas, la gente sigue jugando a videojuegos tan sencillos como el Pac-Man.

Y aquí os dejo con un spot que me parece genial. FAD, la fundación contra la drogadicción, en 1999 se anunció así.

CURIOSIDAD: El nombre Pacman viene de la palabra japonesa: paku-paku, que significa comer. Inicialmente, en Japón el videojuego se llamó Puckman, pero como en inglés sólo hay que cambiar una letra para pasar de “Puck” a “Fuck” (ya debéis saber lo que significa) tuvieron que cambiar el nombre.

Y ahora… ¡a jugar un poquito!

Why do franchisors resist franchisees meeting together?

Because they know something that franchisees fail to appreciate.

A persistent, even half-assed organized group of small fish can influence directly, immediately any sized franchisor.

This is their greatest fear.

But franchisee leaders need time and training to aquire the skills to lead. Frequently, franchisees are not really people that work well in groups or have much experience in them. This skill deficiency is used against them.

Binding these little Pac-Mans together is tough work. It’s too much to expect a franchisee who is risking his own life savings to do everything: legal, website, financial, marketing, fund raising, etc. He or she needs help: from empathetic outside experts and a group of active franchisee volunteers.

Leaders burn out in a matter of months (which makes Big Fishy tres )

Think of a politician: For every paid member of a political party, there are probably 500 volunteers doing the non-glamourous but necessary day-to-day activities. They do it because they believe in the principles of democracy.

Each franchisee should realize that they need to volunteer to do the same ($ are only the start).

Rights are not given: They’re taken by groups of little fish from the big fish.

Somethings in life gather so much of their own momentum that even if it were to try and halt its own inertia, fate would slap it across the face with a raw 40 pound tuna and send it on its way. With Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather in retirement last year, a new ‘pound for pound’ star blossomed into the peak of his career. This was none other than the Philippine sensation, Manny Paquiao: a soft-spoken, well-mannered, religious and extraordinarily gifted fighter who used to sell dougnuts in Manila for a nickel a piece. Born into an impoverished family, they were so poor at one point that Manny’s father actually cooked and ate the family dog. Now a prolific boxer, fans around the world have seen him involved in epic battles with Juan Manuel Marquez, Antonio Barrera, Eric Morales: saw him out-class De-La Hoya, destroy Hatton and pulverize Miguel Cotto most recently. But it is in this last year or so that his boxing class has truly developed under the watchful eye of his trainer and ‘Master’ Freddie Roach.

Mayweather, who could not stay retired for long, stepped out to fight Marquez.  Paquiao, having devastated Ricky Hatton was in the process of setting his sights on  Miguel Cotto in November. So it seemed that the former world pound for pound champion and the new pound for pound prodigy were on an aligned collision course. Mayweather needed to beat Marquez, and Paquiao needed to beat Cotto in order to set up what would possibly be the fight of the decade between ‘Money Mayweather’ and ‘The Pac Man.’

Marquez was made to look average. Average he was not, but that is how Mayweather made him look. One felt so sorry for Marquez and sympathised with his frustration at Floyd’s elusiveness and ability to hit him at will. He was virtually made to miss over and over again, and was punished for every single mistake. Take nothing away from Marquez, and give every praise to Mayweather, who was in scintillating form and dominated him the way Paquiao never could. One could argue that Floyd’s performance that night completely out-shone Manny’s. But let us remind ourselves of how Manny destroyed Hatton inside of two rounds, Mayweather only managing it by the tenth. However, Floyd’s first knock-down of the Hatton fight was arguably one of the greatest left hooks ever witnessed. On the back foot, in the corner of the ring, while side stepping! I do digress.

What Mayweather did to Marquez,  Paquiao answered with his performance over Cotto. Inch by inch, closing off the ring, picking him apart and darting in and out with waspish tactics. By the eighth or ninth round, it was evident that Cotto had nothing left in the tank. He was running on his pride as a fighter, the only thing keeping him on his feet. The referee should have stopped the punishment earlier, as Cotto’s face was beginning to resemble a bruised watermelon with Paquiao’s relentless marauding taking its toll. And so the inevitable result bubbled to the surface. Mayweather defeated Marquez in dominant fashion, and so too did Paquiao. The two ‘acclaimed’ best pound for pound fighters in the world are indeed the best ‘pound for pound.’ At this moment in time, no-one else even comes close.

So now we are closer than ever to a real possibility of a clash between the cream of the crop. But there is only one space on the throne for these two kings of the division. Mayweather or Paquiao? Class, skill, speed and strength versus class, skill, speed and strength. Skill wise and physical conditioning-wise, they are nigh inseparable. However, I believe the advantage does lie with Mayweather. His defensive skills are superior, he’s bigger, has more reach, has a more well-rounded boxing style and is unbeaten. It would be a crying shame for both of them to come this far, and miss out on a momentous duel. I am not a superstitious man, but somewhere right now, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Paquiao have just been slapped by a 40 pound tuna.

So I arrived home from work today and checked my post, and sure enough sitting there, in my mailbox, was the latest issue of Game Informer – the 200th issue no less.  In honour of their 200th issue, the team over at Game Informer decided to publish their list of the top 200 games of all time, so I thought I’d share some of the results with you.

Don’t panic, I’m not going to list all 200 with their reasoning, you’ll need to buy the magazine if you want that, but I thought I’d pull out a couple of highlights…

So, let’s begin at the beginning…  The top game of all time, the ultimate in gaming, the best there ever was?  Read on to find out…

Taking the top spot and pushing out all the rest was, from 1987, arguably unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda.

I realise there may be many cries of “Oh but we’ve come so far since then!  What about X, Y or Z?!” but they make some pretty good points in their justification.  As they stated, the Legend of Zelda is responsible for the creation of many lifelong gamers, not to mention future game developers.  This blast from the past may seem primitive in its style now, but it provided the starting point for many future developments, and for the 80’s it was pretty impressive! Shigeru Miyamoto can rest easy knowing that he did indeed create a level of greatness in the gaming industry that others could at that time barely aspire to, and that many have since credited this game as their inspiration.

So what else made it?  In their top 5 are others such as Super Mario Bros (#2), Tetris (#3), GTA III (#4), and Half Life 2(#5) – all very well known and pretty well respected games – it’s almost enough for me to have another bash at Half Life 2, which if I’m honest, never really grabbed me.  “But,” I hear you wail, “where is Mass Effect?!?!”  I know, I know, that was my response too!  So I scoured the lists, I turned page after page until I found it, and they do indeed bill it as “one of the greatest interactive tales we’ve ever experienced” but sadly, and clearly in an horrendous misprint, it only comes in at number 58!!  Despite my now clear disagreement with their positions, I read on anyway to see what else they had come up with…

Perhaps somewhat oddly, given their reasoning for Zelda winning overall, Ms Pac-Man made it into the top 10, whereas Pac-Man itself was held back at a mere 52nd place.  The various Final Fantasies pretty much all made it in, with FFIII the best of the bunch apparently at #8.  The various Mario games all seemed to rank pretty high, with good ol’ Sonic not getting a look in til #34.  Otherwise there are very few surprises, though one or two did make me raise an eyebrow…

Perhaps the biggest shocker personally (other than ME’s clearly incorrect placement) was Batman: Arkham Asylum.  Yes, I know it’s Batman, and yes, I realise to those who are not very discerning that automatically makes it super cool, and yes, the graphics were fantastic, but dear lord the gameplay is shocking.  One button takes out 5 enemies, and to me, that’s just not what this sort of game should be about, so seeing it at #104, above the much loved (by some) Borderlands for instance was a bit of a surprise.  Modern Warfare 2, for all the hype, only made it in at #181, and Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! was in the top 20!?!

So there you have it, a very brief summary of a very lengthy article.  I have no doubt that others will have their opinions on where things should or should not have been included, and which games should have been higher than others, so buy the magazine, read the full article and feel free to let me know what congratulations or exclamations I’ve overlooked, but don’t think you’ll change my mind on poor old Shepard…

Pac Man - who knew?

Uh oh – quick hide the Grand Theft Auto.

The first computer experience that I ever had was games based. I was just behind the generation that brought home these new fangled computer games; in my case my older brother who had the parentals buy him a commodore or something. I remember it ran on tapes; you had to put the tape in and let it program the computer and then you could play. Want to change games, put in another tape, wait, let it load and away you go. The computer itself just consisted of a brown and orange keyboard with a tape deck in the corner; it just plugged into the tv. We had a Pac-Man rip off called Pâk-Man or something (he was shaped like a square) and a flight simulator game and a downhill skiing game that I really loved. When you crashed and died it played a funeral march.

Of course, we also had those Nintendo game and watch devices. They were small screens that could be set as clocks and used as alarms, but I never met anyone who ever did, and no one in our family ever did. We had Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jnr, and other nameless ones such as this underwater treasure hunting game where you as the diver had to avoid the arms of the octopus to get to the treasure chest. They were great on long car trips on our summer holidays.

When we finally got a computer at home I had a Discworld game that consisted of illogical puzzles you had to solve and a Jedi Knight game that I don’t think I ever got around to finishing. It’s not that I didn’t like games, I guess I just preferred my music and my comics.

So it was that I didn’t hang around the school computer lab and play Doom for hours as did many of my buddies back then.

Of course I did play the odd arcade game, but mostly I remember watching my brother play them; I embarrassed him I think by jumping around in excitement. I tried to master one arcade game at my local deli. I tried this just so that I could one day say just that; that I used to go hang out at my ‘local soda stand and play the computer games’ (probably should say pinnie/pinball to complete the picture but there weren’t many of them around). The game was Captain America and the Avengers, just the thing to appeal to the comic fan in me. I would get some change from my purchase of Masters Spearmint Milk and play a few games. I would have my change at the ready. I remember I once tried keeping the change lined up against the screen only to have it start to fall down through the crack into the game console. I had to stop play and quickly save my money before it slipped completely out of view; I lost a life because of that. Good thing then that I now had the change in my hand to continue play.       

There was one holiday period I remember my brother went and hired a Nintendo from the Video Shop, which now offered games for hire. We got out the arcade games Double Dragon, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jnr. My brother has no doubt long since forgotten all of this but I beat him resoundingly at Donkey Kong Jnr. From the little kid jumping up and down at his brother’s side at the little arcade game set up at the Bunbury Caravan park (I’m pretty certain I would have been in pyjamas whilst at his side on this occasion, as it was the evening) on Summer holiday while he played Donkey Kong, there I was beating him at Donkey Kong Jnr. Obviously he beat me at the other two.

When I finally got online at home sometime in the 1990’s, a good buddy (now on facebook) got me into Its Your Turn.com (wonder if that is still going) where you could play chess and battle ship via email. You had a turn and then the next person would receive an email advising them it was their go. The novelty lasted longer than you might think and we actually played a few games this way.

So, being the nostalgist that I am, I really got excited when I got the chance to buy these cute little arcade style consoles that plug into your tv and allow you to play Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxia (another one I remember from looking round my brother’s shoulder) and some others. They are great but I don’t get to play them as much as I would like. Also, I can’t find the book. Somewhere back at the parentals’ place is this book I bought at a booksale years back about how to play Pac-Man that went thru every level and how to do it. I remember the advice that Pac-Man can travel faster thru the tunnels than the ghosts so I use that to my advantage. There is also supposed to be some little corner where the ghosts don’t ever go so you can hide there and rest your wrist; I need the book to find it. I could Google for it, but where is the fun in that? There was another Pac-Man book that I never had but saw once about the Pac-Man mania of the 80’s. Another one of those I wish I had bought them buys. Of course the biggest Pac-Man wish I have is the board game. Years later when I got into my board games collecting phase (I will post more board game reviews; just gotta unpack them and pick up some from the parentals’ place) I came across a Pac-Man board game. You had this big yellow Pac-Man piece that went around picking up white marbles. I wish I had been able to buy it. Every time I see it on Ebay I get turned off by the additional postage cost.  I do have the educational Pac-Man card game, that teaches you about mathematics. I suppose this is the time to admit that I actually never got to play Pac-Man back in the day, but I did watch the cartoon. I also watched the Donkey Kong cartoon.

Whoops, strayed a bit off topic there. Back to computer games I think.

So, I loved the session we had. Got to revisit 1942  and 1943 a fair bit and little bit of Spy Hunter.  Weird though playing these games without a joystick, but great that I can so easily play them online. No need for 20c pieces anymore. Also, I looked but I just could not find this one game I remember that was sort of like Lunar Mission, where you had this armoured moon buggy that jumped holes and blasted baddies in front and above. Wish I could remember the name of that one so I could find it and play it.

The other game I investigated is the Impossible Quiz. Got some of the people I follow in Twitter involved and we got a fair way thru. I’m definitely past 50; big shout out to Morgandorffer and UU for all their help and persistence with that one.

Games are good, and I love playing them, I just don’t know how to incorporate them into education here at the library. I guess I’ll keep playing them until I do.

To end, since Retro Lib Lad took the obvious choice let me leave you with this little ditty from Moby Grape: “I’m playing my game, and I’m guessing you’re playing it too…”

Installation: Strukt Design Studio
Music: Pnau “Baby” (Breakbot Remix)

Download the track [Mediafire]
Buy Breakbot’s music [iTunes]

We all loved playing Age of Empires when we were young (many of us probably still love playing it), so just putting it out there, it was the best game ever!

Celebrate this assertion via music, some nostalgic, some not.

Pac Man (Olive$ Remix)

Organ Donors – Super Mario Bros

Electrixx - Tetris (Original Mix) **Highly Recommended

Le Le - Breakfast (Laidback Luke Edit)

Duck Sauce – Grand Steppin’

Grafton Primary – I Can Cook (Hey Now Remix)

“A fool and his money are soon parted.”

We have all no doubt heard the above expression, and most, if not all can be a witness in our own way of its truth. Recently, I saw a video clip of Lil Wayne in which he held up $100,000 (cash), which he stated he was just carrying around, as if it was OK. 

The news reports that Antoine Walker, the 33-year-old professional basketball player, who after nearly 14 years in the NBA, and earnings topping the $100 million mark, is said to now be broke and in debt.  We recall the case of Adam “Pac Man” Jones, who supposedly threw $80,000 at strippers, while “making it rain.” Former NBA player Latrell Sprewell’s financial troubles also have been well documented.

One NBA player reportedly owned 20 Bentleys. While this is not intended to call anyone of these young men fools, some of our behavior as it relates to money is  absolutely foolish, and the problem appears to be having too much too soon.

One of the definitions of the word fool is “to trick or deceive.”  Sadly it seems that too many of the young athletes and entertainers are tricked into believing they can simply live for today, for themselves and their entourage, followers, groupies etc. They are deceived by the seasonal adulation, physical gifts, and well paid handlers who only say what they believe will keep them in the good graces of their benefactors, all the while acknowledging, however quietly, the understanding that this will soon end. Many of the handlers, use the opportunity to create their own realities, pledging not to make the same mistakes.  While some just enjoy the short ride up and the longer ride down.

A fool is also considered “one who is deficient in judgment, sense or understanding.”  The ability to make good judgments is tied to one’s age, background and family structure.  How much do these young men and women really know at 18 or 19 years old, when they are handed million dollar contracts? How much wisdom is present around them?  And sadly, when those who would guide them aright (i.e. Minister Farrakhan) are present many handlers and managers encourage them away from such guidance.

What about their sense of self and community? Some arrive with an understanding that they are a part of a community, and while they should never be expected to solve all the problems, quite a few do their best. Others appear to have no sense of the problems that surround them, and are more interested in strip clubs than strip malls and more self-absorbed than self-aware. Whenever a part of the culture allows young men to believe that they can in fact make it rain, when that function is reserved for the creator, these self-deluded young men are soon to be brought back down to earth, as the rain itself.

There is a biblical instruction that says, “With all thy getting, get understanding.” There is an obvious lack of understanding on the part of those talented few, who have not yet developed the ability to discern, who, what, when, where and most importantly why.  The who is “the who is this person” and what do they really want, unfortunately many have been taken advantage of, and caused others to look with suspicion on those who mean well.  The when is the understanding of the season of your life; enjoy some of the good things in life, have your version of fun, but prepare for the winter of your life.  The where is to consider the decision one is about to make, where will this take me. Such was the case of Steve McNair, the former NFL quarterback, who was shot to death by his girlfriend. The why is that which will keep us working to purify our motives.

Finally, an acknowledgment that these are oftimes young men who come from poor families, and neighborhoods, who in getting a taste of the good life are determined to enjoy it to the fullest, as Kanye West said on the song the good life “this [is] the life that everybody ask for.”  My encouragement to these and the ones to come, is simply this study those who went before you and prepare for those to come.

Your Brother, Richard

Esse post foi um oferecimento da Toyota.

Roombas hacked to play Pac-Man. Oh, geeks, ILU.

High schoolers fight gender rigidity in dress codes. On the other hand, if this article is to be believed, drag is the new black. We can only hope.

Other Things Schools Are Banning Now: the word “meep”. Apparently because it annoys the principal. No, seriously.

Time does a fascinating report on…Mafia Wars. Yes, the Facebook game. (Yes, I am slightly addicted…)

Finally, a new twist to the adorable OS-tan phenomenon, in which operating systems get personalized as cute anime girls: Microsoft has not only caught on to the meme, it’s created an official Windows 7-tan. (Scroll down for images of OS-tans past.)

“And now you find yourself in ‘82…The disco hot spots hold no charm for you” – Asia

Ah, the big moments of the 1980s: the Challenger explosion (which was my generation’s “where were you…” moment prior to 9/11); the stock market crash; The TWA hijacking; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the shootings of John Lennon, Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Anwar Sadat; the Union Carbide explosion in India; Presidential Elections / Olympics (in the 1980s, they might as well have been the same event); Grenada (WTF!?); and the advancement of AIDS. Every year has a signature political event, save one: 1982. In the United States, we witnessed the beginning and end of a relatively-minor recession, and looked to the bourgeoning cable television format for pop-culture escapism. Not that those of us ensconced in the cushion of middle-class disengagement had anything to escape, outside of Lebanon, Iran-Iraq, and the whole England-Falklands morass. “What middle-east crisis?”, we said, as we wheezed along to Jane Fonda’s 20-Minute Workout (hey – those Marlboros won’t smoke themselves).[i]

MTV started its explosion, as millions of Gen-Xers became acquainted with the underrated pastime of calling one’s friends to comment on the videos. Complaining about how often Martha Quinn played Devo became a popular gripe, at least in Barstow, CA. For children sequestered in the school cafeteria, outside of the obvious concerns of second-graders (“What’s with those pesky Brits and their bizarre fascination with a few islands in the southwest Atlantic?”), our biggest areas of discussion centered around the two most awesome things ever: video games and pop music. These worlds would collide in 1982, with the release of “Pac Man Fever” (you can listen here)[ii].

Back in the mid-1970s, when a young Gilda Radner taught us how to laugh, the popularity of stand-up console video games inspired a race between two companies to create a home system that offered more than merely Pong. With a cash infusion from Warner Communications, the Atari Video Game System hit the shelves in late 1977. While the Atari VCS began to meet sales expectations by Christmas of 1979, the company was waiting for a new phenomenon to capture the public’s attention. Enter Pac-Man.

The Failure

By late 1980, the yellow chomper became a massive phenomenon, leading hordes of people from all walks of life to flood traditional arcades, gas stations, pizza parlors, coke dealers, hell, anyplace with a Pac-Man machine. Atari smelled blood: as ColecoVision and Intellivision offered higher-quality ports (the industry term for “home versions”) of other popular arcade games, Atari was willing to pay for exclusive distribution rights. Unfortunately for Atari, their willingness to spend money did not apply to their employees, as several of their top programmers absconded to create Activision. Todd Frye, one of the top holdovers, was pressured to finish the port in time for 1981 holiday shopping, and quickly began a 4 kilobyte demonstration. After threatening to join the rest of the cool kids in the land of Pitfall!, Freeway and Kaboom!, Atari agreed to his 10-cents-per-unit-manufactured demand. While Frye was developing the game, the technology for 8-kilobyte ports became accessible, and he asked the Atari brass for more time to craft a more realistic version. The company execs would have none of that logical nonsense. Americans were so excited about having Pac-Man in their house, thought Atari, it did not matter if the port was a pathetic shell of the real thing. So Frye resigned himself to the release of his “demo” version, attempting to replicate the arcade model as best as 4 kilobytes could (which is quite amazing in its own right, since this paragraph runs over 4K). Missing their December 1981 goal, Pac-Man for Atari was available for sale March of 1982. Predicting that every one of the 10 million VCS owners (and speculating an additional 2 million more purchasers) would purchase the game, Atari manufactured a whopping 12 million cartridges. Oops.

Ignoring Todd Frye’s words was a mistake, as the public’s response was a collective “ugggh!” Even after heavy promotion and deep discounts, Atari was still left with five million cartridges in their warehouse. The disappointment was “like an old man trying to return soup at a deli”, as our favorite Architect/Marine Biologist would say. The wild contrast from the excited sugar-high of running into the house, opening the package and flipping on the console TV set, compared with the just-need-one-more-hit angst when first seeing the actual game was off the charts. “What’s the deal with the dumb blue background and piss-yellow walls?” And this was only the beginning. The music, of course, could not fit on the 4K port, so all we hear is a four-note approximation of the formerly adrenaline-raising theme tune. The “wocka wocka” sound of Pac Man’s dot consumption was replaced with a super-annoying “bomp bomp” that could be heard across time zones. Most of the other sounds we loved, like the sirens, were gone. As for game play, the dots were replaced with dashes, or “wafers”, and saw their point value slashed from ten to one. (For a hilariously-earnest demonstration and review, check this out, and while you’re at it, here’s the original TV commercial.) Maze variations stopped at two, and the actual Pac-Man, like some twisted precursor to Beavis, only faced right or left, even when moved upwards or downwards along a column (Ultimate betrayal – the patterns for clearing the boards, which were printed on the sleeve of “Pac-Man Fever”, were ineffective in the Atari version) . If your eyes were still functioning after the clashing color scheme, there were those damn flickering ghosts, which I hold personally responsible for the year’s decrease in standardized test scores and increase in auto accidents. If you were lucky enough to avoid a seizure, the migraine headaches were enough to push you into narcotic painkiller addiction (how else do we explain Air Supply’s four Top 10 hits? “I’m all out of ‘Percs’, I’m so lost without you…”) The failure of Atari’s Pac-Man, coupled with similar overproduced crap like their E.T. port, resulted in the great video game Crash of 1983. Lesson learned – never, ever, ever release a demo as the final product. Or do you?

The Promise

As anxious American youth pined for Pac-Man in their living rooms, Bruce Springsteen was sitting at his home, offering dark tales of forgotten Americana to his 4-track recorder. Song titles such as “Highway Patrolman”, “State Trooper”, and “Open All Night” tell much of the story. Armed with nothing more than a six-string, a harmonica and that voice, Springsteen placed these ten grand narratives to tape (Sean Penn based The Indian Runner on “Highway Patrolman”, leading Springsteen to add the lyrics “Aloha, Mr. Hand!” to live performances). The E-Street Band, alerted to the new material, added their signature swagger and embellishment. Two years after reaching #1 with The River, Springsteen was ready to release Nebraska. Or so he thought.

(To listen to the entire album on Lala, click here.)

After discussions with engineers and producers, the idea of leaving Nebraska as the spare demos was tossed about. A few listens to “Atlantic City” and “Johnny 99″ sealed the deal. The low levels on the 4-track recordings required some post-production, yet in comparison to the typical 1982 release, a copy of the finished album sounds damn close to Springsteen’s original master tape. You can still hear the pop of the “p” sound that concludes the line “In a part of town where when you hit a red light you don’t stop” from “Johnny 99″. While Springsteen was considered one of the industry’s giants, the idea of De-Streeted album with no obvious singles was not initially embraced by Columbia Records. Rumor has it that Bruuuuce sent the finished master to the label, which resulted in such happy talk (let me paraphrase) as “We heard the demos from your new record, and, yeah, great – so when will you finish recording the band, and be ready to release the album?” At the risk of sounding like I’m describing “Chuck Norris The Internet Meme” (rather than the real, increasingly-crazy Chuck), one of the benefits of being Bruce Springsteen is that record labels don’t tell The Boss what gets released, The Boss tells the label. So, enter that foreboding wintry photo from the passenger side.

To give you an idea what was de rigeur in Fall of ‘82, we were within a schizophrenic era where the Top 10 was the domain of synthed-out pap like “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” (Chicago); quasi-soul like “Let Me Tickle Your Fancy” (Jermaine Jackson); overproduced mellow country-rock like “Jack & Diane” (John not-quite-Mellencamp Cougar)/ “Somebody’s Baby” (Jackson Browne); and Yacht Rock like “I Keep Forgettin’” (The MAN, also known as Michael McDonald, who definitely was the Andre Dawson of the genre). It took Springsteen-sized balls to release an understated, mostly-acoustic record during a time when stripped-down folk-rock was deader than disco – luckily, Bruce had ‘em. And America put aside their Melissa Manchester and Foreigner long enough for Nebraska to reach #3 on the Billboard chart. I remember the Barstow Mall’s “Directory” kiosk – which, let’s face the facts, wasn’t really needed within a 23-store facility – featuring an advertisement for the record on one of its three sides. If Columbia was throwing around ad dollars in small towns located hours away from the LA or Las Vegas media markets, they must have believed in him, too.

To recap, the developer of Atari’s Pac-Man created the equivalent of a 4-track recording, insisted on improving the product, and was rebuffed by his boss. As for The Boss, he created the music equivalent of a 4KB port, was asked to upgrade the product, yet chose to release the original. For Todd Frye, his “demo” was a creative disaster, resulting in critical scorn and consumer frustration. Atari, once king of the hill, now sat on a mountain of inventory that could not be given away (not to mention their ill-advised foray into “adult” games for the 2600 – what!?!?!?). For Bruce Springsteen, his demo eventually served as the subject of a tribute album and live project, and can claim to be one of the select club of 5-star reviews from Rolling Stone. Atari eventually saw the error of their ways, albeit far too late, producing the 8KB port of Ms. Pac-Man which was well-received critically. Springsteen followed Nebraska with Born in the U.S.A., a multi-platinum behemoth that permanently inscribed The Boss into American musical landscape.

[ii] According to “Fever” artists Buckner & Garcia, the record companies were suffering, as kids eschewed $8.98 LPs for a few quarters worth of chances at Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. CBS saw Buckner & Garcia as a means to recapture this audience, and asked them to write songs for several other games. “Froggy’s Lament” and “Goin’ Berzerk” are both great, although I would have loved to hear a song about Zaxxon.

A very professional Podcast about games, by ex-1-up  Robert Ashley, in the same vein as This American Life. It covers gaming-related topics with some level of seriousness.

Also, as you can see, the episode artwork is phenomenal. It’s created by Olly Moss. I really want the posters for Episodes 1 and 3 to be available to buy as posters…

Mr. Do, you've done it again!

What’s not to love about Mr. Do!?

• It’s a handful of my favourite arcade games thrown into a blender – Dig Dug, Pac-Man and Burger Time, to my mind – and the result is pure game.

He may not look like much, but he's got it where it counts.

• The Can-Can blares triumphantly as Mr. Do cheekily evades his pursuers, digging cherries from the earth and dropping apples on those unfortunate enough to straggle behind.
• Mr. Do can be successfully controlled with one hand, leaving the other hand free for sipping gingerbread lattes, as I have done for this review.
• There’s so much to do in each bite-sized level!  And while I don’t pretend to understand much of what is going on here, it’s all so goddamn glorious.

Doitdoitdoitdoitdoit.

Do it.

Wapakman!

That’s right, everyone! Manny Pacquiao has a movie… and what role does he have? DUH! As a superhero named Wapackman of course! He boxes his way through villians and monsters! Sorry, Americans. This is actually a Filipino film so I don’t know how you’re going to catch it here in the States. Directed by Topel Lee, the film is full of goofy and comic moments… maybe even epic. I’ve only seen two of the short trailers and I do admit, it does seem goofy! Could be the Filipino version of Kung Fu Hustle? Either way, Pacman Pacquiao is definitely a hero in the Philippines!

Here’s the two trailers I found:

Expanding on what Alyssa has written about plotlines and The Sopranos, in Everything Bad Is Good For You, Johnson first argues for the existence of what he calls “the Sleeper Curve.” The Sleeper Curve maps average changes across the pop culture landscape, it explains how media exists and is becoming more intelligent and complex than it has been before, and that this is good for us. We can see the existence of the Sleeper curve through video games. Johnson takes the reader through how even this ‘bad’ is ‘good’ for human kind. “The clearest measure of the cognitive challenges posed by modern games is the sheer size of the cottage industry devoted to publishing game guides, sometimes called walk-throughs, that give you detailed, step-by-step explanations of how to get through the game that is currently torturing you” (28). Johnson gives numerous examples of these game guides, from early mock-ups of what Pac-Man guides would look like (simple and directional) to present day novels of objective maps that bring the gamer through extensive series’ of tasks in order to complete a larger goal.

The Sleeper Curve is also shown in television, despite popular beliefs that television is, like video games, dumbing us down. “If we’re going to start tracking swear words and wardrobe malfunctions, we ought to at least include another line in the graph: one that charts the cognitive demands that televised narratives place on their viewers” (63). Johnson applies the Sleeper curve to television programming; he tracks the viewer through charts of the linear narrative paths and plots of Dragnet, Starsky and Hutch, Hill Street Blues, and The Sopranos in attempt to show the complexity of plot ‘threads’. “Put these four charts together and you have a portrait of the Sleeper Curve rising over the past thirty years of popular television” (70). The need for more complex threading and social networking in television programming is proving that this medium is enhancing cognitive development and therefore influencing the Sleeper Curve.

Johnson also applies this theory to the internet and films. “It’s one thing to adapt to your lifestyle to include time for sitting around watching a moving image on a screen; it’s quite another to learn a whole new language of communication and a small army of software tools along with it” (117). Because the internet is providing new extremes of communication (social networking, video chatting, blogging), it is forcing humans to jump in and understand. Google has become the new encyclopedia—we consult the internet first. And modern films, like television, have proved that the Sleeper Curve is affecting our ability to comprehend complex threading of plot lines. “By each crucial measure of complexity—how many narrative threads you’re forced to follow, how much background information you need to interpret on the fly—Lord of the Rings is several times more challenging than Star Wars. What Johnson is inferring is that sometime between the release dates of these films (Star Wars: A New Hope 1977, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001), human cognition for extensive complexity has increased. Like the tracing of television plots from Dragnet to The Sopranos, film plots have become more intense and intricate, even in children’s movies. Johnson’s argument for the existence of the Sleeper Curve is proven correct in relation to video games, television, the internet, and films. Technology over the last half-century has revolutionized human daily activities, from how we read the news to what television shows we enjoy on Sunday nights.

Hi BB Gamers,

Here is the updated of new games with OTA link & PC download link.

We would suggest you to join the facebook blackberry community for free thus you could see the update of freeappsblackberry.wordpress.com from your facebook account.

Join Facebook group for Free Apps, Games Blackberry by click at blackberry community.

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Eliminator Elite

Your code name is the ELIMINATOR. As The Eliminator you have to free a building from terrorist. You don’t have any choice except to eliminate them all. You just have one enter point. The lift Be careful They have dangerous guns. Do not waste your bullets and shoot the civilian. You will be eliminated if you’re gun down or shoot the civilians three times. And you will be terminated too, if you have no bullets left.Features: Cool graphics, smooth animations, and cool sounds, Load and save game levels, Many different enemies, High score list. Controls: 2=Up, 8=Down, 4=Left, 6=Right, 5=Select/Fire, *=Menu, #=Pause.

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD
OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser

Free apps games Blackberry :  OTA

Pac-Man

Pac-Man clone for the BlackBerry. What else can I really say…

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD

Min Requirements: OS less than 4.0

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD
OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA

Min Requirements: OS 4.0

Puppy Adventure

Puppy Adventure is a very addictive classic adventure game. The objective of the game is you play as a Puppy to explore a maze area to get food (bones, meats) as many as you can, and to get a key for entering a house and moving to the next level. Be careful! There are enemies and barriers that will try to kill you though. Controls: Make sure you hit alt and shift to use number mode – 6=Right, 4=Left, 2-Up, 8=Down. Note: Make sure to allow all permissions for this program, else it might not work.

Evil House

Help Miranda to destroy all the devils and to exit from the haunted house alive by exploring an eerie village, mysterious old uninhabited house, fatal underground rooms in the midnight and kill many dangerous creatures over there. Features: Lots of levels, challenges, and surprises, Visual effect, animated characters and environtments, Varied and huge world to explore, Intuitive controls accessible to anyone, High scores, Cool game musics. Controls: Make sure you hit alt and shift to use number mode – 6=Right, 4=Left, 2-Jump, 5=Fire. Note: Make sure to allow all permissions for this program, else it might not work.

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD
OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: 7100 and Newer

Fear of the Dark

A princess has been arrested by an army of dangerous, dark creatures. She needs your help. You, as a prince, have to rescue her by exploring all the huge worlds. Avoiding the fatal traps at all costs. Kill the dangerous dark creatures i.e zombies, werewolfs, death, phalanx, and other dangerous monsters. Features: Cool graphics, smooth animations, and cool sounds, Many big maps to explore, Load and save game levels, Many different enemies, High score list. Controls: Make sure you hit alt and shift to use number mode – 6=Right, 4=Left, 2-Jump, 5=Fire. Note: Make sure to allow all permissions for this program, else it might not work.

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD
OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: 7100 and Newer
Wordsearch 2.0

Find the words in the mixed up letters. A new puzzle with new words every time you play.Controls: Make sure you push alt and shift in order to be in number mode. Use 2=Up, 8=Down, 6=Right, 4=Left or use TrackBall to move cursor – and use 5 to select the letters.

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD

OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: 7100 and Newer

Intergalactic KungFu 1.1

A pack of slimy green aliens arrives to earth in cheesy 50’s style flying saucers, determined to take over and pollute the planet. You are a kung-fu master elk that sets out to stop them, but these aliens won’t give up without a fight! Now, can you fight back the alien invasion with your bare fists, foots and knees? Can you break the alien war-machinery and kick them back to outer space? Can you get into this platform action adventure and come out on top? There’s only one way to find out. Features: Realistic Kung Fu moves and a lot of animation, A large variety of challenging enemies, including several bosses, More than six large, scrolling levels of game play, Simple and intuitive controls and a Nice soundtrack. Controls: R=Up, D=Left, G=Right, C=Down Space=Attack.

Desktop Download – Install from your Computer
Free apps games Blackberry : DOWNLOAD
OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: 7100 and Newer

Nu får ni verkligen skärpa er Aftonbladet! Årets största boxningsmatch har nyligen ägt rum och vad skriver Aftonbladet om, jo nyheten är att Pacman laddade upp med Sportbladet inför fighten. Ja det finns tydligen någon bild där Manny Pacquiao läser sportbladet. Tycker Aftonbladet händelsevis att detta är av större nyhetsvärde än matchen i sig.

Som vanligt har de även faktafel i artiklar som rör boxning. Jag skulle uppskatta att Aftonbladet har faktafel och felstavningar i över 90 procent av alla boxningsrelaterade artiklar. De skriver att domaren bröt matchen i 3:e ronden, rätt ska vara 12:e ronden. Får man inte lära sig källkritik på journalisthögskolan!