I remember the first video game I ever saw. It looked fairly innocent, sitting in the lobby of a hotel; nothing could be farther from the truth. In essence, what I saw there that day was a herald of a future far weirder than I believe anyone could imagine outside the realms of science fiction. I didn’t realize exactly what I was seeing that day; that was I saw would change the world in ways I couldn’t imagine. Soon after, we began to see other games begin to pop up. Space Invaders was the next one I personally remember seeing. This was much better than a simple ball bouncing back and forth on a screen. What an improvement! Of course, it didn’t stop there. Then came Asteroids. This one was addictive as you can get. I spent hours and far too much of my money on Asteroids. I never could get the knack of that game as I saw a few people do. Some kids I knew could play that game for hours on one quarter. For those of mortals, these video game gods were to worshipped and admired. They were in a class of their own that we supplicants to knowledge wished to be ourselves some day. It was a privilege to stand and watch these gods at their play, casually swatting away their enemies, the flying rocks of Asteroids in this case, with careless abandon.
I wished to learn the secrets of these immortal bards, these sinless creatures whose main pitfall was to usually run out of time. It always engendered a chorus of groans from those watching when we would hear the dreaded words, “I’ve gotta get home. My mom is gonna kill me.” The god would then step aside and a favored acolyte would take over the helm of the ship, only to be slaughtered in slightly more time than one such as myself would be. The waiting audience would slowly melt away as the extra ships the god had built up slowly dwindled during the inept play of his lesser.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Video Game Revolution and the Golden Age of Arcade Video Games
The Video Game Revolution and the Golden Age of Arcade Video Games
Years before there were video games the closest thing to that you could play were pinball machines. They were pretty much relegated to bars and bowling alleys, though you could occasionally find them in a café or other locale. The first video game in wide release was a table top version of Pong, from Atari. I personally remember seeing my first video game, and it was Pong, sitting in the lobby of a Quality Inn hotel, with a comfortable chair on either side of it. It was so simplistic, yet to me it was the future. I was fascinated by it and amazed. I had seen nothing like it before. You could spend hours just watching the electronic ball bouncing back and forth between the virtual paddles. Bleep, bloop, bleep, bloop…thinking back on it now it seems a little ludicrous but at the time it was the state of the art. With this simple game, Atari had eclipsed the entire pinball industry and consigned it to eventual doom. Pinball games still exist to this day but are by and large extinct. They are just not diverse enough to keep people’s attention in a day and age where video games have become more real looking than anyone ever imagined they possibly could.
Shortly after this a number of games came out on the market. Space Invaders, then Asteroids, Galaxian, Bandito, Balloon Bomber, Space Wars, Lunar Lander and more. Then an explosion of games came; Battlezone, Tempest, Star Castle, Pac Man, Bezerk, Centipde, Defender and more. The Golden Age of Arcade Video Games had officially arrived..
Years before there were video games the closest thing to that you could play were pinball machines. They were pretty much relegated to bars and bowling alleys, though you could occasionally find them in a café or other locale. The first video game in wide release was a table top version of Pong, from Atari. I personally remember seeing my first video game, and it was Pong, sitting in the lobby of a Quality Inn hotel, with a comfortable chair on either side of it. It was so simplistic, yet to me it was the future. I was fascinated by it and amazed. I had seen nothing like it before. You could spend hours just watching the electronic ball bouncing back and forth between the virtual paddles. Bleep, bloop, bleep, bloop…thinking back on it now it seems a little ludicrous but at the time it was the state of the art. With this simple game, Atari had eclipsed the entire pinball industry and consigned it to eventual doom. Pinball games still exist to this day but are by and large extinct. They are just not diverse enough to keep people’s attention in a day and age where video games have become more real looking than anyone ever imagined they possibly could.
Shortly after this a number of games came out on the market. Space Invaders, then Asteroids, Galaxian, Bandito, Balloon Bomber, Space Wars, Lunar Lander and more. Then an explosion of games came; Battlezone, Tempest, Star Castle, Pac Man, Bezerk, Centipde, Defender and more. The Golden Age of Arcade Video Games had officially arrived..
Friday, May 15, 2009
Car Camping vs. Backpacking
I have a lot of friends who enjoy backpacking. I have a load of respect for them, I really do. When I was younger I enjoyed strapping the pack on and heading out into the depths of the wilderness myself. I really enjoyed it. However, now that I have a family, it just isn’t that easy to strap the old pack on and lead a four year old out into the wilderness. Not to mention even smaller children including a baby. Just not happening. But car camping has its merits as well.
When you’re car camping you’re essentially next to the road. Even if you head out into the back roads (assuming you have a four wheel drive vehicle) then you’re still only a few hours at most from medical care. That can mean a huge difference when you’ve got a medical emergency going on. Not to mention, you don’t put yourself out there physically that much. You can carry a lot more in a car than you can on your back. All the comforts of civilization at your fingertips; or at least as many you can carry in the back of your car and still get your kids in. Where I used to sleep on the ground, I now have a blow up mattress and a foldable bed frame. Where I used to cook over a tiny can of Sterno, I now have a huge Coleman stove with propane cylinders. Where I was eating bags of freeze dried roast beef in “gravy” (I don’t care how you cook it or what anyone says, freeze dried food tastes like dried horse turds at best) I now throw the steaks I carried up in my portable refrigerator.
Overall, there is nothing like the purity of heading out into the wilderness with your pack on, sleeping under the stars with practically no one else around and seeing the stars unfettered from any city lights, but the comforts of car camping have a lot to say for themselves. It’s a way to get out of the house with the kids and give them a little taste of the wilderness experience, without having to haul them into the outer limits on the backs of llama’s.
When you’re car camping you’re essentially next to the road. Even if you head out into the back roads (assuming you have a four wheel drive vehicle) then you’re still only a few hours at most from medical care. That can mean a huge difference when you’ve got a medical emergency going on. Not to mention, you don’t put yourself out there physically that much. You can carry a lot more in a car than you can on your back. All the comforts of civilization at your fingertips; or at least as many you can carry in the back of your car and still get your kids in. Where I used to sleep on the ground, I now have a blow up mattress and a foldable bed frame. Where I used to cook over a tiny can of Sterno, I now have a huge Coleman stove with propane cylinders. Where I was eating bags of freeze dried roast beef in “gravy” (I don’t care how you cook it or what anyone says, freeze dried food tastes like dried horse turds at best) I now throw the steaks I carried up in my portable refrigerator.
Overall, there is nothing like the purity of heading out into the wilderness with your pack on, sleeping under the stars with practically no one else around and seeing the stars unfettered from any city lights, but the comforts of car camping have a lot to say for themselves. It’s a way to get out of the house with the kids and give them a little taste of the wilderness experience, without having to haul them into the outer limits on the backs of llama’s.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Star Trek vs. Star Wars
Some people won’t take this seriously, but I think there is a lot of merit in comparing those two space opera’s even though they are a bit like apples and oranges. Star Trek gives an optimistic vision of humanities future; a bit Pollyanna at times, but overall optimism is considered a bit Pollyanna these days. Though with the entry onto the world stage of President Obama, optimism has once again regained its “coolness” to those at large. I think overall Star Trek gives us a good vision of what the world could become if we give it half a chance. A world of peace and prosperity, a world order more concentrating on bettering humanity and a human species who concentrates on bettering itself because it is the right thing to do.
Star Wars is a different vision of this same thing. In a way, it is a bright vision for humanity because it is a universe where humanity lives in relative peace with many different alien cultures. However, it also shows the darkness inherent in humanity, thus the triumph of the Emperor and his henchman, Darth Vader. If that doesn’t show the ultimate in human evil then I don’t know what does. In a way, the peaceful co-existence of humans with aliens is forced too. Humans don’t really have a choice. It’s either get along or war with everyone.
Overall if I had to state a preference, I’d definitely side with Star Trek. I find it personally more enjoyable because it is our universe and deals exclusively with our future. Star Wars is kind of like a fantasy story in that it spins a tale of a far away kingdom and a far off past. Not sure how much I actually like that part of it. I would have been a little happier if it was some far-flung future in our own galaxy. Would have made more sense I think.
Star Wars is a different vision of this same thing. In a way, it is a bright vision for humanity because it is a universe where humanity lives in relative peace with many different alien cultures. However, it also shows the darkness inherent in humanity, thus the triumph of the Emperor and his henchman, Darth Vader. If that doesn’t show the ultimate in human evil then I don’t know what does. In a way, the peaceful co-existence of humans with aliens is forced too. Humans don’t really have a choice. It’s either get along or war with everyone.
Overall if I had to state a preference, I’d definitely side with Star Trek. I find it personally more enjoyable because it is our universe and deals exclusively with our future. Star Wars is kind of like a fantasy story in that it spins a tale of a far away kingdom and a far off past. Not sure how much I actually like that part of it. I would have been a little happier if it was some far-flung future in our own galaxy. Would have made more sense I think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
