One big happy family!
A little experiment with the Postal Service
At work the other day, Jenn was trying to tell me that you could mail a letter without putting the city or state on there, just the zip code. I wasn’t so sure. I remember a couple times my grandma would mail me cards when I was young to just my name with the city and state. No zip code. And it got there! Of course Ingalls is quite a small little berg.
So we devised two experiments.
1) We addressed a letter normally, but instead of putting the City and State on there, we just put the zip code on. She threw a stamp on it and we threw it in the mail in a public drop box. We’ll see if it ever arrives.
2) This experiment I found a bit more intriguing. Say you want to mail a letter, but you don’t have a stamp. Well, what if you put the person you want to send TO in the RETURN address location.? Without a stamp, would the letter not be returned to the supposed sender? Which in this case is actually the intended destination?
So we just swapped the return address, and the to addresses, and dumped it into a public mailbox with no stamp. We’ll see if that goes anywhere as well.
I’m pretty sure there is some kind of law against this, so I wouldn’t try it on a regular basis. But I’m curious to see if the letters end up where we want them to. Updates to follow!
A look back: Mario Kart 64
It should be no suprise to anyone that I’ve looked forward to the writing of this re-review more than just about any other. So many memories, so much time invested. Just looking at the box art gives me chills. (Man, I’m a geek!) I was a bit worried about if it would ever get written, because before I write these, I try to go back and play the game as if I’d just peeled the shrink wrap from the box for the first time all over again. I wasn’t quite able to do that to the fullest extent with this game however, because that would require deleting all the times I recorded in times trials. And I wasn’t about to do that! I for a long time said that if my house were burning down, my Mario Kart 64 cart would be one of the few things I would run in to save. I’ve invested that much in this game. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the original start screen from before you beat the Star Cup.
Mario Kart 64 was a siginificant game for me in many respects. It was the first game I bought the day it was released. I bought it solely on the recommendation of my friend Paul who said that it was going to be an outstanding game. I had played the Super Nintendo version before it, and had fun, but had it not been for Paul who really stoked the fire of enthusiasm, it may have been quite some time before I picked the game up, if ever.
It was also the first game I bought completely with my own money. Up until now, all the games had been gifts given to me. This time I went and picked the game out in the store, paid cold hard cash for it. And carried it out. I remember it being a good feeling, that I really earned it, and perhaps that helped me enjoy the game that much more.
Getting the game home is another quite vivid memory. I was proud. I waited patiently for the day the game would come out, and it was finally mine! I picked at the seams of the plastic wrap around the box and tore it away. Then pried open one end of the box, careful not to crease the cardboard too bad, but anxious enough not to be too timid. Our still new TV was situated on the west wall of our living room in Ingalls, and the piano was on the north wall. After I got the game out I propped the box up next to the TV as if to display my prize, popped the game in and watched the Nintendo logo spin and the sound zip from the left to right for the first time. It was just a short time that I had to enjoy the game though, because for some reason we all had to leave to go somewhere. I don’t remember where, but I remember not being able to wait until I got back home so I could play it again. This is perhaps my first moment, as a video game junkie.
This actually reminds me of something. Our first 27″ TV WAS NOT a Magnavox… The actual TV we opened on Christmas day 1996 was returned, because it wasn’t a stereo TV like dad or mom thought it was. That TV was taken back and exchanged (plus a few dollars I’d imagine) for the true stereo Magnavox that I remember so well, and that Mom still uses to this day I believe. Wow, what else is still stuffed up in that brain of mine?
I digress…
I don’t recall if it was immediate, but sometime shortly after I started playing the game something about it resonated with me. The way the karts handled, and nailing powerboosts over and over in a single corner, it all was almost second nature to me. And right about the time I started getting into Time Trials I also started to get into a magazine called Tips & Tricks. It was my introduction to video game journalisim, and for a while had my hopes of being an editor of a gaming magazine. Each month after Mario Kart came out, they’d publish the best time they’d seen for for the Mario Raceway track. Folks would take pictures of their TV screens and mail them into their reader mail bag. I remember seeing a time of 1’24″XX and thinking “I can beat that.” And before the next issue came out…I did. Then seeing a better time of 1’23″XX and thinking, “Man, I dunno if I can beat that.” But eventually I did, and was so excited I went out and bought one of those disposable cameras, got the film developed and sent in the photo. Unfortunately it never did get published. Oh what I wouldn’t have given for digital cameras and e-mail back then! My current record for that track with no shortcuts is 1’21″63. Over 2 seconds faster than the time I thought I could never beat!
I’ve always said the best games are the ones that piss you off the most. I can remember getting so mad at this game. Running lap after lap and screwing up at the exact same spot, knowing exactly what I was doing wrong just for some reason I couldn’t make it do what I wanted it to do. Or doing it great 2 laps, but rendereing a perfect run useless on the final lap. Talk about frustrating! I didn’t often throw controllers, especially the N64 controllers as they were somewhat expensive. But I’d by lying if I said I didn’t throw a controller one or two times while playing this game.
Speaking of controllers, I effectively wore out 4 controllers with this game. The constant left-right, left-right motion wore these puppies out pretty fast. I ended up replacing two of them later in college, but have since thrown the others away, except for one that became a trophy (more on that in a later episode) and one that was a rear view mirror ornament in my car for sometime. I now only have two left and am reluctant to get hardcore into Mario Kart again for fear of not being able to replace the ones I have now. There’s supposedly replacement joysticks available, but I’ve been unable to read reviews on their quality. I hope someday to have 4 quality N64 controllers again for some great multiplayer action, old school style.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpHiTKApQmU]
I hate to admit it, but my Mario Kart skills have since deteriorated. I’m still able to hold my own in the 150cc Gran Prix mode, but it’s a little sloppy, and Time Trials? Well forget about it. I can’t come close to any of my old times on any track. I’d like to think with a little practice it would all come rushing back, but honestly, until I get some new controllers, I’d rather not destroy the last two good ones I have! All I really have left is those crazy fast times left on the records on my cart. I don’t know if I’d run into a burning building to save it anymore, but I’d sure think about it!
blue ice
here are some pretty awesome pics … many of you might have seen them however they are being circulated as a tidal wave breaking the ice ….this is not true it just blue ice just wanted to share them you can find a few more pics in my picasa album.
A look back: Cruis’n USA
Cruis’n USA was the third Nintendo 64 game I got and the first game purchased for us after that Christmas if I remember. It starts to get a little sketchy as to the exact order after this.
For as long as I can remember I’ve always been a fan of racing games of almost any form. Cruis’n USA might have been the ONLY racing game available which made the choice easy. It was always pretty hit or miss back then because this was before our internet days. Back then you either rented a game, played it at a friends house to see if you like it, or buy it because the box is cool. Perhaps a good thing though, because even though this game got TERRIBLE reviews I played the heck out of this game.
Dad always enjoyed playing racing games or sports games to a certian extent, and I remember this as one of the games that we’d sit down and play together from time to time. He wasn’t the cleanest racer! Though it was always satisfying when one of his careless attempts to block my pass resulted in him running head on into a school bus full of kids! Some evenings we’d sit and just play the Cruis’n mode and race from San Francisco to Washington DC and see who won.
I really played quite a bit of this game. You got newer faster cars for beating the game at a higher difficulty setting. Had it not been for that a lot of the replay value would have been lost. I remember getting all three versions of each of the four cars plus the three hidden ones: Jeep, Police car the only outward difference was the color, but the new ones were slightly faster. The police car and the bus were always great fun because you could tap “brake, brake, gas” and it would turn the flashing lights on. Ahh, it was the simple things! Ha ha.
I picked it up the other day and maybe I’ve been tainted by reading all the bad reviews, but the game sure doesn’t seem to have aged well. Maybe it’s because back in the day, I had all the courses memorized and the painfully short draw distance wasn’t an issue, because I knew what corners were coming up before the magically popped up on the screen! Courses like Chicago were still as tough as I remember though, weaving through the pillars in the tunnels and under the L-train. Thank goodness after a few races the old “pity factor”, as Mom always put it, kicks in. And for some reason the old photographic memory kicked in when I got to the records screen, and put my initals in as BOG. Why? I don’t know for sure, but that always the initials I used. This was before my KartMaster days, you know!
Indeed the game brought back some nostalgic memories, but unfortunately they were marred by blurry textures on the already blurry N64 and blocky car models, even by 1996 standards. After a few races the flaws begin to fade away though, and you can enjoy the game for what it always was, simple silly fun.
I guess I don’t have enough compassion.
What’s up with everybody going nuts around the Olympic Torch? So far London had 25 folks arrested, and in Paris they actually had to put out the torch because people are going nuts about the Olympics being in China this year.
From the little (very little) I’ve read about this it has something to do with monks, yaks, Tibet, and China being a-holes. But I’ll be honest, when it boils down to it. I really don’t care. I don’t care enough to read up on the situation, and I certianly don’t care enough to show up at the nearest torch relay and get belligerent. I just find it odd with all the injustice in the world, this sets people off.
First of all, what is this about? Is it about the Olympics? Or is it about Tibet? I’m inclined to think it’s about Tibet, and the torch run thing is just a convenient photo op. I mean, who really cares about the Olympics anyway? It’s just one of those things that gets plastered all over the news and TV so you feel like you have to be interested.
But then again, who really cares about Tibet? Who sits around and says, “That torch is coming through here headed for China, I’m going to stop it! That’ll sure help out those Tibetans!”
So China’s gonna go, “OH HEY, see all those violent people being violent in peaceful events? They’re right, we’re totally handling this the wrong way. GG Tibet.” When’s the last time China gave two —-s about what anybody else thought?
There’s a fine line, I think, between compassion and contempt. Maybe I really don’t care about the plight of the Tibetan people. Or maybe I think me going out and being a d-bag isn’t going to do any good.
Photoshop fun
A look back: Pilotwings 64
Does it just take two to make a series? If so, this is the second in a series of rambling about some old Nintendo 64 games. I’ve decided to go through in the order I originally got them (to the best of my memory).
Pilotwings was the other game we got Christmas day when we got our Nintendo 64 and one of the few games that were even available at the time. If I recall there were 10 or fewer games to choose from when the N64 was launched back in 1996. While the game wasn’t at all what I expected it to be, it turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time.
I never had a Super Nintendo, and therefore wasn’t familiar with the SNES version of Pilotwings. As I unwrapped the package and saw the blue skyies and sweet helicopter I assumed it would be a sort of aerial fighting game. But like they say, don’t judge a game by its box art. I was actually pretty disappointed in the game at first, hoping for fast paced missile locking action, I instead got hang gliders and rocket packs. The disappointment was short lived though once I found out how terribly fun the game was!
The game ends up being a test of your flying skill, and adapting to the different physics of each vehicle. Each one takes a different kind of finesse, whether it’s hitting the updrafts in the hang glider, or conserving fuel and battling crosswinds in the jet pack. Some of the challenges were simple and straightforward, like flying through a course of rings, but others were a little more zany. Some of the missions had you smacking a giant bouncing ball into a goal, or shooting your pilot out of a cannon to targets unseen.
The characters were all cookey. Even though the character your choose doesn’t make much difference other than slight handling characteristics and colors, they all have distinct upbeat personalties just from their hollers and screams. Depending on who you selected when choosing your pilot, they’d greet you with a comical expression from Goose’s “Yeeeeehaaaaw!” to big breasted Robin’s sultry “Oooh yeaah.” What’s the rating on this game again?
I suppose one of the main reasons I enjoyed the game so thoroughly is because of its mixture of insane challenge and relaxing gameplay options. Getting gold on all the missions is quite a task. And I still to this day don’t have a perfect score for many of them. But at the same time you could unlock the Birdman mode, which was basically a free play. No objectives, just fly around the island of your choice. This was a fantastic feature because it let you explore almost every nook and cranny. So many details hidden away it would be a shame not to take some time to take it all in. Scale models of real city skylines, whales in the ocean and the occasional sea monster, churches with church bells ringing, and of course the round of applause for flying under that low arch or bridge. Birdman was always a great way to melt some of the stress away from a long day.
The music was great, though in retrospect very elevator-esque. The graphics were pretty impressive for the time. Limited draw distance created some perspective problems at high altitudes but a majority of the time the landscapes were detailed and very much alive really pulling you into the game. While not a game that you can sit and play for hours, it was a game with all the right ingredients that was refreshing to play every time you picked it up whether you wanted to accomplish anything, or not! There wasn’t often a reason not to play Pilotwings.
Yay, Me!
This has been an extremely interesting day! About three months ago I applied for a job over at the Ford County Sheriff’s office in the records office. I went through the interview process and then never heard anything for a long time, so figured that was a bust.
Well, a few weeks ago they called me and asked if I was still interested in the job. SURE! Then began a background search. That thing was DETAILED! They had found where I’d gone to court when I was maybe 15 yrs old. (That was a long, long, long, long time ago!)
After passing this background test I had to go in (today) and take a lie detector test. This is so cool! I admit, it doesn’t take a whole lot to entertain me. It wasn’t near as detailed as it looks on all those crime/drama shows, but still it was a kick.
Starting next week I’ll have a new job. Well, I’m keeping a few days of the waitressing gig cuz it’s hard to give up cash in my pocket when I leave there at night. But the new job pays nice, has paid vacation, paid insurance, retirement… it’s like I’ve growed up and became an adult! Ok, you all know me too well. That’ll never happen. ha ha
Am I taking it too far?
I posted yesterday reminiscing about Super Mario 64 and my memories of getting the new Nintendo 64. Well we have the nice big TV in the living room. But to be honest, N64 games don’t look too great on it. Trying to play games that are mostly 320×240 on a 1080p widescreen leads to much blurriness. I found that the experience just wasn’t the same.
So with one of the two extra TVs I have lying around, I set up a little gaming station in the computer room. Now I can just plop back in my chair and fire up some old skool gaming. Now I just need to get me one of those old video chairs that sit on the ground and rock back!
We’ll see what Andrea says when she gets home. I’m sure she’ll think it’s ridiculous.