My favorite game from 1987 is fun again thanks to updated FS-UAE!

Ports of Call - Main Screen

This classic from my childhood has for some reason, never worked in emulation.  Until now!  i am finally able to play this game again after decades.  it’s more challenging than i remember.

Ports of Call - pirates

I even managed to complete a challenge that i could NEVER beat back in the day. Continue reading “My favorite game from 1987 is fun again thanks to updated FS-UAE!”

TBT: Fondly remembering my days slaying dragons. . .

WOW: Onyxia Slain with Stats

Throwback Thursday:  I found some old screenshots from 2006.  I remember how proud i was to be #2 DPS in this fight.  (at the time, warlocks were not a particularly high DPS class)  Sometimes i do miss playing World of Warcraft, but i don’t regret quitting.  I know the game has changed a lot since I played regularly.  I hear you can fly in Azeroth now. . .

World of Warcraft - Gnome Sunset

Monitoring power usage is sometimes my only insight.

I have been working on a number of Raspberry Pi projects in various stages of working. To distract from more difficult projects (not to mention nostalgia and fun) I have been building  an Adafruit PiGrrl portable classic game emulator.  At several points with this project or other without a lot of feedback from the device I’m working with, I’ve relied on milliamp readings from the Mico USB Cable/Voltage Display.  This tiny bit of information is incredibly helpful in determining what my Pi is up too. Idle? Booting? Overwhelmed?  In the land of the blind the one eye’d man is king.  At the very least it reduced the total time waisted waiting on crashed or other broken attempts.

Micro USB amp meter

Does anyone remember how to destroy the Dark Portal?

I was replaying the classic Blizzard game Warcraft II and I couldn’t remember how to win.  It wasn’t this difficult to win the Orc campaign. Great game, I miss the 12+ hour games we’d play on our localtalk network.  It’s just not the same playing the computer.  #lanparty

Warcraft II - Dark Portal

Making myself useful in the ER

Forest needed a trip to the emergency room. While waiting, I noticed a video game system in a children’s area. It’s screen frozen on an error message while a tiny table full of kids try to share a single smart phone. I was able to bring it back to life with only a little tinkering.  Now the kids have a Wii U to fight over!

Apple announces small changes that signify an exciting direction!

Apple Announcement 2015Apple’s big announcement today turned out to be more small enhancements that add up to exciting developments.  First off the rundown, iPhone 6s/6s Plus hits stores the 25th.  Faster, better camera, haptic feedback, force touch, and rose gold.  New iPad Pro with 2732?by?2048 12.9″ screen, a keyboard case, and a stylus!  Hits stores November. (also a new iPad Mini)  The Apple TV, got a complete rebuild with amazing looking features, but no delivery date.  Also some new Watch styles and bands or whatever.

Continue reading “Apple announces small changes that signify an exciting direction!”

Diablo III a lesson in system requirements. . .

Diablo III logo
When I preordered Diablo III, I knew it required an internet connection.  I figured this was for additional online content, updates, etc.  What i was not prepared for was the harsh reality that if battle.net is down, i cannot play.  This is not a MMORPG, this is a single player game and the entire game is stored on my laptop.  Years ago, i remember playing Diablo II on my laptop at school, airport terminals, and even in airplanes.  (these were the days before in flight wifi)  It is unfortunate that Blizzard’s fear of piracy has lead them down a path of poor user experience for their paying customers (in this case prepaying).  Better still is the fact that it is very doubtful that this will even stop piracy of the game.  Already users of bootlegged versions of this game are able to play without purchase, authorization, or even network connectivity.

The truth is that today is launch day, and there are undoubtably piles of problems to be resolved with the game.  Hordes of users log on to play, the servers can get overwhelmed.  I just feel that users should be able to enjoy most of the game without connecting to battle.net.  Game makers need to understand that sometimes people want to play offline. My favorite example, what can you play when the internet is down?  The list is getting shorter every year.  Wake up Blizzard.  If you cannot provide an excellent user experience with copy protections, you may want to rethink your priorities.  Is it more important to continually infuriate customers or temporarily frustrate pirates?

2011 is the year for ps3 homebrew!

Nothing more for sony to do but cry.  After team fail0verflow’s diligent efforts and geohot’s typical rush to publish something he’d probably been sitting on for months.  27c3 brought news of sony’s epic fail and people almost forgot what geohot had done months earlier.  This will be an exciting year.  i wonder what sony’s next move will be?  i’ll keep you updated.