Sleepy Gamer

The 8-bit video game era of the late 80’s and early 90’s was an important period in gaming.  Where intuitive game design and refined controls were still at very early stages of development.  It was a time of cheat codes, Game Genie, and Nintendo game tip hotlines.  Most of all, it was a time of rose tinted nostalgia.  And although it’s easy to see all the inherent flaws of those games now, it’s hard to forget all the moments of joy they brought.

Retro Game Challenge (or GameCenter CX: Arino’s Challenge, as it’s known in Japan) tries to recapture that magical feeling again by simulating the 1980’s through a series of fictional NES-era (Famicon) games.  By some odd twist of fate, you are sent back in time to 1984 to complete a series of game challenges by a Japanese game show host named Arino.  The time warp changes your character to a younger version of you and Young Arino is also there to offer guidance as your fellow couch buddy.  Each fictional game offers a linear set of 4 distinct challenges ranging from the very easy (beat level 5) to more moderate challenges (score 250,000 points using the same continue).  Arino also periodically buys monthly game magazines, complete with helpful tips and tricks, sneak peaks at upcoming games and release dates, and even phony EGM-style game editors like Dan Sock (Dan Shoe) and Johnny England (John Davidson).

Read more »

You may have heard that the federal deadline for the digital television transition has been postponed until June 2009.  However, a lot of the local channels are still beginning their digital only transmissions in just a little less than a week from now.  So what does this mean to you?  Starting Feb. 17th, you may start seeing static on your favorite television channels if you don’t have the right equipment.  If you’re a bit worried about the digital conversion read on to see what you can do to save yourself from the the white fuzz.

Digital to Analog Converter Box

If you are currently watching your beloved shows through an old tube TV hooked up to antennae, you’ll definitely need to look into purchasing a digital converter box.  These boxes essentially take the incoming digital signals and converts it to an analog output so that your old TV can view it.  This is by far the most cost effective choice since these boxes are quite affordable and typically rang from $30-$60.  On top of that, the federal government is offering two $40 rebates towards the purchase of a digital converter box.  You have until March 31^st to apply for these rebates, so do it soon.   If the struggling economy isn’t treating you very well, this is the way to go.

Cable/Satellite TV

Believe it or not, cable TV subscribers will be affected by this transition as well.  If you have a standard cable subscription without a digital cable box, you’ll need to pony up the extra cash and upgrade to the digital service.  Fear not though since this digital upgrade can enhance your TV watching pleasures if you tack on features like DVR and movies on demand.  The digital service is typically $10-$15 more than your standard cable service depending on your provider.  Satellite subscribers shouldn’t need to worry about upgrading anything since most, if not all satellite receivers accept digital signals anyway.

Read more »

Let’s face it, every game has it’s fair share of painful load screens.  Maybe they come up early, as you boot the game up, perhaps they are sprinkled at the ends of levels, but they’re inevitable.  Technology has certainly improved, but so too have the resources required to run most games, which means don’t expect a load screen-free utopia with fairy tale wishes and rainbow dreams any time soon.  Thankfully, there are a number of strategies developers can employ to keep load screens to a minimum, or at the very least hide them in creative ways.

The Cinematic or Cutscene. Story devices such as pre-rendered or in-game cutscenes are just about as old as gaming itself.  They control the pacing of a game and can portray important story elements in ways the game may not be fully able to, such as complicated action sequences or emotional set pieces.  They also tend to restrict player involvement, which can be useful when large portions of data are needed to play the next area of the game.  Mission briefings in military FPS or RTS games like Gears of War use these breaks to feed you with objectives and background intel, while enormous amounts of texture data are piped in behind the scenes, keeping the actual downtime to a minimum.

Ridiculously Long Elevator Ride. Although similar in nature to the previously mentioned lengthy hallway, this techique differs slightly in that these more blatant transitions do not usually require any player action whist in the load screen. Portal had many such elevator rides, with one after every puzzle. Some games choose to use this time to also convey some story elements, such as was the case in the Metroid Prime series. Likewise, Mass Effect was famous for it’s incredibly long elevator rides, but also supplemented the trip with relevant radio broadcasts pertaining to some of the player’s more recent endeavors. Another similar technique is the laughably long, door-opening animation, found in early Resident Evil games and many other 3D action titles. The animation for opening a desk drawer or treasure chest could even give the game a split second to process whatever random loot you happen to find in that hidden stash.

Read more »