DOS games

http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/

232 games.

Most of them are probably not worth playing.

Hellboy

The movie just does not live up to its potential, but the villain Rasputin is well done.

Greater Tuna

http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/34240759.html

We attended the Milwaukee Rep's production of "Greater Tuna" at the Stackner Cabaret today.

Gerard Neugent and Lee Ernst were outstanding.

Offbeat, but very humorous.

And the Sprecher Black Bavarian on tap was excellent.

Free Mac software

Top 50 free Mac OS X apps selected by PCMech (link here)

McNabb

Pulled at halftime after a second straight dreadful performance, a perfectly healthy Donovan McNabb was asked the last time he left a game under similar circumstances.

"Never," he replied, shaking his head. "Never."

- AP/Miami Herald (link here)

Rush was right.

We hate Minnesota

"Minnesota is my most despised team," sophomore offensive tackle Gabe Carimi said. "If I want to win against anyone, it is them."

Why no love for Tim Brewster's Gophers, who are set to visit Camp Randall Stadium Saturday 3-3 in the league and 7-3 overall despite a two-game losing streak?

"It's Minnesota," Carimi said. "I've always hated Minnesota because I live in Wisconsin."

- jsonline (link here)

Excellent.

NFL salaries

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2008-11-05-salaries_N.htm#table

The Oakland Raiders have the highest payroll in the NFL.

This is a team built in the image of Al Davis.

Overpaid and underachieving.

Crichton

The family of Michael Crichton, the million-selling author of such historic and prehistoric science fantasies as "Jurassic Park," "Timeline" and "The Andromeda Strain," says the author has died in Los Angeles.

- AP/NY Times (link here)

One of my favorite authors.

He will be missed.

Redskins are losers

The Steelers sent the Redskins into their bye week with a lot to consider after taking control at the end of the first half and dominating after halftime in a 23-6 victory at FedEx Field. Washington failed to deliver the high-caliber performance it envisioned in front of 90,512 fans, many of whom wore Steelers jerseys and waved black-and-gold towels throughout the game.

- Washington Post (link here)

The Redskins got embarrassed, and now I am 3 games behind in the loss column in my bet with Mark.

Michigan Wolverines football

For the first time since legendary former U of M alum Gerald Ford was in office, the Michigan Wolverines will finish this season without playing in a bowl game. The Rich Rodriguez era has started off wonderfully, for fans of teams like West Virginia, Michigan State and Ohio State. But for the Wolverines, they lost the longest active bowl streak in major college football.

- www.faniq.com (link here)

This is why they fired Lloyd Carr?

Patriots 41, Broncos 7

Sammy Morris ran for 138 yards and one touchdown before departing the game -- and leaving New England with little left in the backfield -- and Matt Cassel tossed three touchdown passes, as the Patriots pummeled Denver, 41-7, at Gillette Stadium.

- The Sports Network/Miami Herald (link here)

I had Denver in this game, which illustrates why I do not bet money on sports.

Red Sox rally

Trailing by seven runs with seven outs left in their season, the Red Sox pulled off the biggest postseason rally since 1929. Boston staved off elimination in the AL championship series with an 8-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night when J.D. Drew singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth.

- AP/ajc (link here)

I watched it all the way to the end. It was one of the most interesting baseball games I ever saw.

Online Conversion Utility

http://www.lewe.com/measure/

Recommended by PC Mech.

Triple Espresso

Last night we saw the comedy Triple Espresso at Vogel Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts (link here).

We had seen it before but it was worth seeing again.

Talented cast, very humorous.

It included audience participation and I was selected to be the camp counselor (all I had to do was stand up and wave).

Warhammer Online

That is a high bar, and very few games meet it. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning does. I spent more than 70 hours with the game recently, and it is clear that Warhammer is the best new massively multiplayer game since World of Warcraft, which was released in 2004.

- NY Times (link here)

Massively

http://www.massively.com/

Daily news about MMOs.

Isn't It Romantic

Yesterday we attended the Milwaukee Rep's production of Isn't It Romantic at the Stackner Cabaret.

Four talented performers (bass, piano, drums, voice) featuring the music of Kern, Rodgers, Hart, Gershwin, and Gershwin.

Sprecher Black Bavarian on tap.

Female gamers

Women and girls make up 40 percent of the gamer population, according to the Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry's trade group. And with game software sales at $9.5 billion last year, companies are paying closer attention to the titles women seek out.

- Washington Post (link here)

Spore

It's an ambitious adventure filled with humor and eye candy, but at the end of its first week of release, Spore has already been the subject of much grumbling among game fans.

A bite-sized version of Spore released for the iPhone for $9.99 was the No. 1 selling application at iTunes last week.

- Washington Post (link here)

Another mixed review.

I beat World of Warcraft

Closing in on its fourth birthday, World of Warcraft remains the leviathan of the massively multiplayer realm, with more than 10 million subscribers. Almost all of them will buy the new expansion, no matter when it arrives. The big question is whether Wrath can attract a cadre of new fans and seduce the few ex-players who have conquered their Warcraft addictions (for now).

- NY Times (link here)

I quit, but like all ex-addicts (regardless of their addiction) I think about it every day.

Freeciv

Freeciv is a Free and Open Source empire-building strategy game inspired by the history of human civilization. The game commences in prehistory and your mission is to lead your tribe from the stone age to the space age...

- http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Spore

The real frustration with Spore is that the team behind it was capable of such high achievement in the areas it focused on, while other parts languished.

- Seth Schiesel, NY Times (link here)

A much more mixed review than some previous reviews.

Spore

Spore, produced by Electronic Arts, promises much more than the day-to-day adventures of simulated people. It starts with single-cell microbes and follows them through their evolution into intelligent multicellular creatures that can build civilizations, colonize the galaxy and populate new planets.

- NY Times (link here)

Very gushy review.

Pandora

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/

Very pessimistic forecast for Pandora, my favorite internet radio venue.

A11 Offense

http://a11offense.com/

Innovative, but unsportsmanlike?

What is wrong with this picture?

3-hour Civ

For Civ fans, the ones who stay up all night playing the game, the latest hot topic hasn't been the prospect of EA owning their favorite studio, however. The question has been whether Firaxis has had to dumb down its game to appeal to a more mainstream audience that doesn't have a long attention span. Previous versions of Civ could take more than a dozen hours to play. The Xbox and PlayStation versions will take only about three hours to complete.

- Washington Post (link here)

I will have to try it.

Conan

With its essentially amoral tenor, one can almost think of Age of Conan as akin to Grand Theft Auto, with swords instead of machine guns.

- NY Times (link here)

Interesting review.

If I had a high-end PC and 80 extra hours per week, I would play it.

Solve Puzzles for Science

http://fold.it/portal/index.php?q=adobe_main/

Advance the cause of science by playing games that involve folding proteins.

Cool concept.

Dwarven Forge

http://www.dwarvenforge.com/store/home.php

Awesome terrain for miniatures.

Buy American

(Thanks to Elizabeth for calling my attention to this one.)

http://www.wowgold-usa.com/index.html#

If I were still playing World of Warcraft, I would only buy American-farmed gold, no Asian-farmed gold for me.

Microsoft storytelling

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

Features a very grandiose and preachy intro video.

Backscatter spam

Because backscatter comes from legitimate mail servers, it can cause special problems. In fact, some security researchers believe that the spammers have been intentionally sending messages that will be bounced back as a way to sneak around spam filters. That's because some mail servers bounce back the original message as part of their notice.

- Computerworld (link here)

Fiendishly clever.

Steampunk

Devotees of the culture read Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, as well as more recent speculative fiction by William Gibson, James P. Blaylock and Paul Di Filippo, the author of “The Steampunk Trilogy,” the historical science fiction novellas that lent the culture its name.

- NY Times (link here)

Mac clone customer

Mac clone maker Psystar has a customer, and it's not shy about letting folks know about him.

- Forbes (link here)

It is going to be interesting to see Apple's response.

Grand Theft Auto IV

The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV video game, an action-packed shoot-'em-up thriller, hit store shelves this morning, prompting a storm of blog chatter and a lots of finger-pointing from critics who call the game violent and crass.

"It's just a crude, crass, disgusting, violent game," said Melissa Henson.

- Star Tribune (link here)

Yet another reason to buy a PS3.

Cheap Mac clones

A Florida-based firm advertising cheap, Mac-compatible systems running on standardized hardware has created a swirl of controversy this week--and drawn an angry response from one of the principal hackers involved in developing the software involved.

- zdnet (link here)

Why buy an expensive Mac when you can get a cheap clone instead?

It reminds me of the good old days when you could buy a cheap Russian-made Apple IIe clone. The keyboard lacked an "escape" key.

Mighty Trees

http://www.mightytrees.com/

Educational card game that looks interesting.

Juno

A pro-life film that is written and directed with consummate professionalism: Juno is a winner.

- Spencer Warren, American Conservative Union Foundation (link here)

Maybe I should see it again.

My first impressions were much less positive, but the soundtrack was outstanding.

VirtualBox

innotek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

- http://www.virtualbox.org/

GameStop

Grapevine-based GameStop Corp. seems to have found the economic equivalent of the cheat code.

The world's largest stand-alone game retailer is roaring into 2008 after a record 2007, seemingly oblivious to the economic slowdown that has shackled many other retailers.

"I would never take the position that as a company we're totally recession-proof," said chairman and chief executive Richard Fontaine.

"But I would certainly bet on the video game business."

- Dallas Morning News (link here)

Firefly MMO game

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/1874

Editorial on the maybe upcoming Firefly MMO game.

HandBrake

http://handbrake.fr/

Open source, multi-platform DVD to MPEG converter.

Richard Widmark

He [Richard Widmark] played a rabid racist in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "No Way Out" (1950), an obsessed prosecutor in Stanley Kramer's "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), an authoritarian Cold War Navy destroyer captain in James B. Harris' "The Bedford Incident" (1965) and a tough New York City police detective in Don Siegel's "Madigan" (1968).

- LA Times / Denver Post (link here)

Of the few Richard Widmark films that I have seen, The Bedford Incident is my favorite.

I have watched it several times, and never get tired of it.

Rock Band / Guitar Hero III guitar

http://www.engadget.com

PS3 guitar that works with both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III.

BattleLore

http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=54

Thanks to Andrew for calling my attention to this one.

Very interesting board game with an emphasis on melee.

Inkscape

http://www.inkscape.org/index.php?lang=en

Open source scalable vector graphics editor.

Play Windows games on Linux

If you are an avid gamer, you probably dual-boot your favorite Linux distribution with Windows, because that's where you find most new cutting-edge games. But what if you could run your Windows games on Linux? PlayOnLinux is an open source Python-scripted front end that helps you install and play tons of Windows-only games -- and then some!

- linux.com (link here)

Math puzzle

A mathematical puzzle that baffled the top minds in the field of symbolic dynamics for nearly four decades has been cracked -- by a 63-year-old immigrant who once had to work as a security guard.

Avraham Trahtman solved the elusive "Road Coloring Problem" posed in 1970. The conjecture assumed that it's possible to create a "universal map" that can direct people to arrive at a destination, at the same time, regardless of starting point.

- Star Tribune (link here)

Rock Band gets patched

Harmonix feels you, and are dropping a patch for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game that will make some tweaks that the fans have requested, as well as introduce one major new feature -- the in-game Music Store, which you can read about elsewhere on Game|Life today.

- Wired (link here)

A great game gets even better.

A Sky Full of Ships

A simple (but not too simple) set of starship combat rules, which allow huge fleets to engage each other in epic battle (and finish in a reasonable amount of time). [Link here]

Can You Run It?

Can your computer run that game?

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Gygax, RIP

Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

- AP/Google (link here)

PSP

Once upon a time, tech pundits predicted Sony's PlayStation Portable would be an "iPod killer" because of all its flashy features. But the PSP has suffered from a slightly unfortunate image among gamers and gadget lovers: It's the device that can do pretty much anything, from surfing the Web to playing games, but that actually seems to spend most of its time gathering dust.

As the PSP hits the third anniversary of its U.S. launch this month, Sony is cranking up the fight again. Updates to the operating software have introduced Internet radio stations, for example, and Sony recently made voice-over-Internet service Skype available on the device, meaning that users can make cheap or even free phone calls to anywhere in the world.

- Mike Musgrove, Washington Post (link here)

Make3D

http://make3d.stanford.edu/

Converts 2D pictures into 3D models.

Brain Driven Controller

Tech firm Emotiv developed the advanced mind-controlled gaming device. The device, titled "The Epoc," will retail for $299 and provide advanced control by reading electrical signals generated among the brain. Among its key features is its ability to detect over 30 facial expressions, emotions and actions based on these signals.

- Daily Tech (link here)

10 worst games of all time

PC World lists the worst ten games ever (link here).

The only one I played was Pac Man.

GoldWave

GoldWave is a top rated, professional digital audio editor. It contains so many great features, you will be amazed by all the things it can do.

- http://www.goldwave.com/

Python, Lua, and Ruby

Game Programming with Python, Lua, and Ruby (2003)
by Tom Gutschmidt

This book is available as an electronic resource through the MCFLS.

Not quite the same as curling up with a hard copy in a comfy chair, but you cannot beat the price (free).

Description and reviews at http://safari.oreilly.com/1592000770

Wedisk flash drive

www.engadget.com

Developing Games with Python

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2001/10/04/pythonnews.html

An interesting snapshot taken in 2001.

See also Python Gaming with pygame (link here)

Head First Programming

Want to write computer programs, but don't have much experience? This Head First book introduces you to the core concepts of software programming in a way that will sink in. With our unique and highly effective visual format, you'll learn the basic tools for writing software using Python, a highly readable programming language that's ideal for beginners.

- O'Reilly (link here)

This book is on my "want" list.

Miniatures

http://www.miniaturewargaming.com/

Tons of information on wargaming with miniatures.

Risk

http://www.linux.com/feature/122070

Free Linux Risk variants.

Arkham Investigations

http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/arkham_investigations/

Fan site for the Arkham Horror board game.

Pennant Race

Pennant Race is a baseball game that concentrates not on individual games and the pitcher/batter confrontation but on roster management and trading over an entire season. Real-life players are rated according to their batting average, power, speed and defense over the previous season and those ratings are used to simulate the outcome of a game on a single dice roll. Over the course of the season, the standings of each club in the league is tracked to see who wins the championship. Provisions are included in the game for injuries and star performances to occur, and mechanics are included for rookie players to be created. The game is designed for solitaire play as well as multiple players, and can be used to simulate the background games of a league in tandem with whatever detailed baseball simulation the user prefers.

- Board Game Geek (link here)

I found my copy. It is the red box with the 1982 rosters, just like the picture shown.

The Black Library

http://www.blacklibrary.com/default.asp

Publishers of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k fiction.

Baseball board games

http://tabletopbaseball.org/index.html

I will have to look through my collection.

I once owned some of these vintage games, and I might still have them.

Pirates of the Burning Sea

Previews from mmorpg.com

Conan

A massive fantasy world based on over 75 years of books, movies, art, and music, developed in close collaboration with Conan Inc. to ensure the most realistic Conan experience ever seen.

- ageofconan.com

Endless Ocean (Wii)

Based on what we played, Endless Ocean is a unique, deliberate experience that may initially come across as being too mellow for its own good. However, if you clock some time into it, we reckon that the game's subtle charms will hook you in an Animal Crossing sort of way. There's a lot to see in the game's virtual ocean, and there's something to be said for the simple allure of exploring and collecting items.

- Gamespot (link here)

Arika has created a very good, albeit different title that centers on the process of exploring the ocean and both seeing and cataloging its inhabitants. There is almost no way to lose (and the aquatic life is all safe, sharks included), but you will have fun all the same simply discovering new things, whether that encapsulates a humpback whale or a long-lost underwater civilization. You will also marvel at the serene locales and beautiful music the game employs.

- IGN (link here)

Civilization (Wii)

"Conceptual work has started on the Wii and we are working on a whole new interface for that version of the game. Nothing silly, like you have to wave the remote above your head to lasso your workers, but making it more appropriate to the pointer style," says Lewis. "Currently it feels more like the Mii manipulation screen, where you pick up and move folks around. The style and feel might change, but we're not going to tack on any silly minigames to make it more 'Wii-friendly.'"

- 1up.com (link here)

Spore (Wii)

Will Wright reveals that EA's epic-scale life-simulator headed to Nintendo's console, says it's the "only next-gen system."

- Gamespot (link here)

Eat Electric Death!

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/digital_eel/eed/1.htm

Not yet released.

Looks interesting.

Board game of tactical spaceship combat.

Fire Emblem:Radiant Dawn (Wii)

Ultimately, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a huge disappointment. It seems that nothing was learned from the making of Path of Radiance, and as a direct follow-up, Radiant Dawn can't even live up to its predecessor's epic story. The walls of text and unforgiving difficulty level will do nothing but alienate and discourage newcomers and even some veterans, which makes it a game purely for the hardcore crew who are dedicated to the series or the genre--anyone else need not apply.

- Lark Anderson, Gamespot (link here)

I was considering buying this game until I read this review.

Addendum: On the other hand, Nintendo Power magazine gave it a 9.5/10 which is a very high grade, one of the highest that they have given to any recent game.

Northern Crusade

While the crusades in the Middle East are well known, many forget
that during the period military campaigns in the name of the Church
targeted a number of different regions and enemies. One such
crusade, the Northern Crusade, was conducted against the Eastern
Orthodox Christian Church. This crusade culminated in the Battle
of Lake Peipus (also known as the Battle of the Ice) on April 5th,
1242.

In 1208 German Catholic knights began the process of conquering
Estonian territory, and in 1227 the last defending fort fell, located on
the island of Muhu. These knights, part of the Livonian Order, then
began to look further east, to the Novgorod Republic which was
controlled by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In 1240 Novgorod was invaded by Swedish forces led by Jarl
Birger, landing near the river Neva. The defending Rus forces were
led by Alexander Jaroslavich, and wasting no time, went on the
offensive. The Swedes were routed, and the Rus commander
earned the name Alexander Nevski ("of Neva") for his actions.
The invasion of Russian lands was not over though.

Seven hundred and one years before German panzers
crossed into Mother Russia, the Germans launched an assault
against Novgorod using that era's heavy metal: Teutonic Livonian
knights. Attacking also in 1240, the Germans initially
made a fair amount of progress by capturing Koporye, Izborsk,
and Pskov by the end of the year.

In 1241 the hero against the Swedes, Alexander Nevski, turned
his attention to the German invaders, recapturing Pskov and
Koporye. The following year the Livonians, along with a
contingent of allied Danish troops and locally raised Estonian
infantry, pushed east towards Novgorod proper to bring an end to
the campaign. There, Alexander Nevski and his forces awaited
their arrival.

On April 5th, 1242, the Germans were approaching the frozen
Lake Peipus when Alexander sent a small scout force out to locate
the Germans. His scouts successfully found the invading forces, but
were eliminated in the process. The Germans pressed onward
across the lake to meet Alexander's forces.

The Germans moved in a wedge formation, led by heavy
cavalry units, while the defending Novgorodians formed a line
of three battalions, with archers all up and down the line.

The Livonian Knights charged the center, easily crushing
Alexander's forces, but by driving deep into the line they allowed
themselves to become surrounded. Alexander's left and right
battalions engulfed the knights, while cavalry that had been
held back moved to attack from the rear.

The Germans and their allies were quickly overwhelmed and
thrown in a panic. A retreat began, but rather than an organized
fighting withdrawal the retreat was done in piecemeal fashion,
causing a great many more casualties. It was during the retreat
that the Livonians came to the realization that heavily armored
knights on horseback on a frozen lake had probably not been the
best tactical move, as many knights fell through the ice and drowned.

After the battle the German crusaders never sought to take on
the Novgorodians, instead making peace with the region. Having
proved himself against both a Swedish invasion and German
invasion, Alexander Nevski was made a saint by the Orthodox
Church.

Hundreds of years later the Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein
immortalized the battle in his 1938 film about Alexander Nevski.

- Frag! Newsletter from Shrapnel Games, January 2008 (no link provided)

This would make an interesting game.

Flight Simulator in Google Earth 4.2

http://lifehacker.com/software/games/flight-simulator-in-google-earth-42-295797.php

I have not tried it but it sounds interesting.

NASA MMO game

"Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity, making it easier to grasp complex concepts and transfer this understanding quickly to practical problems."

http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo/