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!”

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!

TableTop Day 2014 at Emerald Knights!

Talisman Victory at Tabletop 2014 at Emerald KnightsThe final conclusion of  an awesome game of Talisman with all my add ons including the newly acquired Dungeons expansion.  Introduced the game to a few new players. A fair amount of death and destruction.  Lots of veterans died as well.  It’s ok, you just grab a new character and start again.  We even had a few new players join in the last hour of the game.

I won, but just barely. It was really down to the wire. We played with alternate endings and I drew Judgement Day. Exciting end to an amazing game. After my cleric died in the city jail, I took up the Minstrel.  These delightful character gave me the luck i needed to take it all the way to the crown of command. Talisman Board Tabletop Day 2014

My cleric couldn’t hack it in the dungeon, but my Minstrel made it through twice!  I ended up getting dealt an infinite turn combo. I didn’t use it of course, but i love figuring this stuff out.

 

 

 

Talisman Board 2 Tabletop Day 2014

Talisman Combo Tabletop Day 2014

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?