Electric-Escape.net - Fun and games

Stuff You Should Read

Bush Promotes Leader of Apocalyptic Cult :: Republicans Vote Against Mother's Day :: Oil Lobby Starts Propaganda Blitz Against Angry Motorists :: Nonvoting Nuns Strike Back :: Gas Station Clerk Fired After Being Robbed :: 500 Scientsts Angry At Inclusion By Global Warming Denial Group :: Hillary Clinton: the Psycho Ex-Girlfriend of the Democratic Party :: The Iraq Money Pit :: Blogger Pollster Out-Predicts Professionals :: NASA Offering $17,000 for People to Stay In Bed

Video game review: Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:29:46 -0400

Long-time readers -- and I mean really long-time readers -- of this web site might recall that I'm a fairly enthusiastic pinball affectionato. I don't get to blog about it very often, though, since real-world pinballs (and arcades, for that matter) are pretty much extinct in this day and age. And while video pinball games are a fun diversion, almost all of them suffer from shoddy physics and unrealistic "video game" elements that detract from the genuine experience.

Brawling with extra irony

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:38:10 -0500

So I lucked out tonight and got an early copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was all set to play a few rounds (after doing some mild gloating on the interwebs )...

Saving Samus Aran

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:34:22 -0500

Okay, I got Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Nintendo Wii the other day (via Amazon's $30 sale), and I have to ask -- what the frig is up with the game's save points?

Paging Buckner & Garcia

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:14:20 -0500

While driving into work this morning, I was listening to my copy of Pac-Man Fever, rockin' my inner geek with some cheesy '80s pop music.

After a while, I realize that it's been 25 years (plus a few months) since the album was first released in 1982.

And then I wondered, "Wouldn't it be cool (in an unabashed geeky way) if someone were to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pac-Man Fever with a follow-up album?"

Prediction: "Little Big Planet" will leave a big crater

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:44:23 -0500

For those of you video-gaming geeks out there, Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that their game, Little Big Planet, will come out for their PlayStation 3 this September.

At the risk of opening myself up to charges of video-game fanboyism, I will now state for the record that I predict LBP will be a disappointing dud.

This one's for you, Dave

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:10:10 -0500

As soon as I saw this, I just had to put it up, if only so my pal Dr. Dave can chime in and answer the darn thing:

Video game review: Lara Croft - Tomb Raider Anniversary (Wii)

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:33:30 -0500

For some reason, lately I've been feeling the itch to play an action-adventure game that's not appropriate for all ages. So despite the mixed reviews (and armed with a $10 off coupon ), I picked up Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Anniversary for the Nintendo Wii.

My son reviews "Super Mario Galaxy"

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:21:12 -0500

[Updated 2:21pm, 11/20/2007] As Mario's dad, it was fitting (and probably inevitable) that I got my son a copy of Nintendo's newest plumber-jumping opus, Super Mario Galaxy, for his birthday.

Here, then, is my son's review of the game, taken verbatim and without his permission (or awareness):

Ay, carumba, Activision!

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:10:00 -0500

So just in time for the holidays, Activision has a new video "game" for the Nintendo DS called Spanish for Everyone. As you may guess from the title -- and its kid-friendly sunshine-yellow cartoonish box art -- this is a child-friendly "edutainment" title, the kind bought by well-meaning cousins to foist on their relatives they don't care too much about.

Greetings to all XBox 360 owners

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:49:33 -0400

...who are now enjoying Jeff Minter's Space Giraffe:

Video game review: Mario Strikers Charged

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:53:36 -0400

Let me begin by saying that, like a stereotypical American, I've never had any interest whatsoever in soccer. The only time I ever watched a game for more than ten minutes was when my Dad took me to a game when I was four years old, and he says all I did was mooch for snacks and then insisted on leaving before the game was over (much to his dismay).

Metaphysical Mario

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:01:55 -0400

My son has a mild habit nowadays, in the evenings, of stalling his bedtime by asking me nonsense questions. Even so, I was caught unprepared when he came out last night and we had the following exchange:

So obvious, it'll never happen?

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:46:18 -0400

Like all good gaming geeks out there, I'm interested in seeing what announcements will come out of next week's E3 expo/summit/nerdgasm love-in. It's a no-brainer to expect a lot of new titles unveiled (or at least announced) for the Nintendo Wii, given how it's stomping the competition into the dirt. But while the other gaming geeks are anticipating big-budget epic titles, there's one game that I would like to see announced for the Wii. It won't appeal to the hardcore, but it'd be a perfect fit for the casual-gaming masses who are rocketing Wii sales to the heavens...

The ghost* of Jack Tramiel

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:26:20 -0400

(This one's for the video-game nerds out there. Non-nerds need not apply.)

So apparently Sony just launched the (tanking horribly) PlayStation 3 video-game system in Korea the other day.

As an old-school video-gaming geek, this photo...

Yes, Wii would like to play

Thu, 17 May 2007 17:26:33 -0400

Okay, it's not as if the world needs even more stories about non-gamers enjoying the Nintendo Wii. But my blog postings have been waning lately, and this is the only blog-worthy thing that's happened to me recently, so what the fig.