Be careful what you wish for (part II)

So my new camera arives and wouldn't you know it, we get a snow day as well. Everything is white and the snow shows no sign of letting up. Check it out.

Be careful what you wish for

Seems some folks around here are wishing for a snow day. Of course, when it snows, I'm the one who has to clear it away. We got 10 inches on Thursday and another 3-4 inches last night. Right now, it's raining. I wouldn't be surprised to see amphibians falling from the sky tomorrow.

I wanted to show you pictures of it taken with my new digital camera, but (unlike the snow) it hasn't shown up yet. And so it goes.

The UPS Man is Coming to Town

This week's cartoon was based on a suggestion from my son. Aren't kids great?

We got a lot of snow over the weekend. At one point the snow plows couldn't keep up. There was about 5 inches of snow to add to the base from the previous week. And I hear we got it easy.

You know, this weather would be great if we didn't have to get out in it.

More later.

Winter games

GC has found a new way to play in the snow.

It is with great sadness that I announce the end of an era. Decipher has announced that with the release of the latest expansion, they are discontinuing their Star Trek Collectable Card game. No longer can I sneak Cardassian infiltrators into Garak's Tailor shop. No longer may I capture Wesley Crusher and ask him "How many lights do you see?" After 13 years, it's over and done with.

Okay, so maybe I'll still be able to coerce my kids to playing a game. And Mike Lynch, if he's ever in the area. You know, this means that everyone who plays will be stuck with the cards they have. No more surprises. Hmmmm.

Hey gang, battlecruisers are poised to strike. Let's play a game for old time's sake!

We come from the land of ice and snow...

This week's cartoon probably goes best with musical accompaniment. As the subject line suggests, I reccomend Led Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song." Though I am sure you folks can come up with better ideas.

Last Saturday started out with snow, followed by sleet, then freezing rain. By the time it was done, everything was a solid, frozen mass. I'm still working on getting the driveway cleared.

More later.

Baby, it's cold outside

Hey there, it's November in Chicago, the snow has been falling (got about an inch last Thursday) and it's cold outside!

Is there anybody out there (besides me) who remembers Impossible Mission on the Commodore 64? Here was a platform game that was hard to put down and even spawned a sequel. Oddly enough, in this age of copycat games, it's odd that no one has tried to do a game like Impossible Mission. Which is just as well, since Codemasters has dusted off the original and put it on the Nintendo DS.



The game plays almost exactly like the original - you're a secret agent and you've got to stop Professor Elvin Atombender (a mad scientist) from destroying the world. All you have to do is search his secret underground lair for the codes that will get you into his launch bunker. As luck would have it, those codes have been broken into 36 pieces and hidden in objects all around the lair. All you have to do is search the objects, collect the codes, and avoid being disintigrated by his killer robots in the process. Hey, what mad scientist's secret underground lair is complete without killer robots. Unfortunately, you have no weapons to fight the robots with - you have to observe their patrol patterns and use your nimble feet to leap over them at the right moment. If you fail, you'll die and (what's worse) 10 minutes is subtracted from the doomsday clock in the corner that indicates when the evil genius is about to launch his missile (hey, it takes time to get your clone out of mothballs).


Once you've found the code fragments, you have to put them back together again. The codes are put together like jigsaw puzzle pieces and you have to flip them and change their colors so they'll match. Get the codes put together and run into the scientist's bunker just in the nick of time to stop the launch!

If you remember the original Impossible Mission by Epyx, you'll love being able to play this classic again. Otherwise, if you like a clever platformer with puzzle elements and a race for time, you should give Impossible Mission a try!

SNOW!

When I heard that they were forecasting snow for today, I thought there might be some flurries or maybe some rain and snow mix. Imagine my surprise to wake up to a real, blanket of white inch of snow in the yard. To make matters worse, several traffic lights were out to make my commute worse. Looks like mowing the lawn may have to wait for a day or two.

Getting back on topic, I'd love to someday make a game that really takes into account the nature of snow - more than just make everything white, but the real, malleable nature of the stuff. Imagine finding a snow bank and melting it to find what's underneath. If you'll pardon the pun, I think that would be cool.

Unpredictable

One minute it's snowing, then it's raining, then it's snowing again. Fortunately, the dog takes it all in stride.

One advantage to walking the dog these days is that I get to bring my new MP3 player with me. I stuffed 360 songs on it (and an old episode of Mystery Science Theatre - it plays videos, too) and I really don't know how I got along without it up til now. I even rigged my car stereo so I can run it through my car speakers while I drive. I've heard folks complain about the FM transmitters that send the MP3 player's signals to the car radio, how the signal sometimes gets static, etc. Fortunately, my stereo (Pioneer) has an auxillary input in the back. With the right cable I was able to plug the player directly into the sound system. No lost signals!

Also no game report this week. Hey, I've been busy!

Baby it's cold outside

I have to admit, there's a bit of me in both characters in this week's cartoon. While I hate having to shovel the snow and drive through it, I still get excited with each new snowfall. Must be because I grew up in Texas where heavy snowfalls are unheard of and they certainly don't stick around for weeks afterwards. The dog likes it too, but she's built for it, with two coats of fur.

Not much game talk this week. I'm trying to finish up my Christmas shopping and nothing screams "fun" at me these days. It would be easier if I had a larger budget or the best items weren't so expensive. That's life, isn't it?

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I'm experimenting with adding a forum to this website. So I'm doing a "soft opening" of it this week. Go check it out. Now I know most successful forums have something to offer to keep people coming back for more and I want you folks to let me know what it will take to keep you coming back to the Gamecreature forum. Don't be shy. I'm counting on you to help make this a success.