Too Much Awesome

Everyone and their cousin Fred have weighed in on L.A. Noire, and I thought it best to give a more in-depth look at the game now that the smoke has cleared. You have probably heard the basic premise of Rockstar’s latest interactive movie-game: As L.A.P.D. detective Cole Phelps, you sleuth and gumshoe your way around [...]

Halloween is important to kids because it encourages a special form of play: role-playing. On October 31, everyone can be anybody they want. An added bonus, however, is the idea of keeping that costume or prop to play with. I had a great alien costume when I was 10. Big rubber mask, cult-like emerald robes, [...]

Too many toys and gadgets and gizmos are shifting away from physical buttons and using virtual ones on the screen. Touch screens are mainstream now, thanks in part to certain cell phones and the Nintendo DS. But for some reason, lots of people out in the world haven’t grasped how to properly use them. The [...]

Since writing an overview of poker for the uninitiated, I have noticed how commonplace it is to find someone who has not played the traditional board games that populated my youth. But I think everyone is familiar with Yahtzee. Origins and Comparisons The official game began as an activity aboard a Canadian couple’s yacht in [...]

Sure, video games and various electronic diversions are available now. Who would want to find a pack of playing cards and start up a poker game when you can flip out your cell phone and play video space poker? I suppose I would. Poker is a lost skill. People my age spent twenty years learning [...]

Computers were nothing more than an advanced video game system when I was a young boy. My brother had his sports games (“NBA Jam” mostly) and I had “Star Wars: Tie Fighter.” Released in 1994, “Tie Fighter” was the sequel to “Star Wars: X-Wing” and was the first Star Wars game that put you in [...]

Game nerds my age all remember the game “GoldenEye 007” with fond memories. For me personally, “GoldenEye” was the reason I bought a Nintendo 64, and that was how I became a gamer at all (my early days of button-mashing on the NES don’t really count). Now, with the popularity of remaking TV shows as [...]

Funny how toys come about, isn’t it? As we all learned last week, Mr. Potato Head started as cereal prizes attached to real vegetables. A similar history surrounds the foam-based line of projectile (toy) weapons and soft sports balls: Nerf. In 1969, an inventor by the name of Reyn Guyer approached Parker Brothers with an [...]

He’s a staple of many childhoods. He’s a supporting character in a successful blockbuster series. He’s a family man. And he’s a snappy dresser, too. Mr. Potato Head has had a long history, and is one of the most famous and instantly recognizable toys in the world. How did this mustachioed vegetable rise to super [...]

Many Star Wars fans like me are very excited for The Old Republic, a Star Wars MMORPG developed by Bioware. There’s a slight problem for me, however: my PC probably won’t be able to handle it. So, what’s a Jedi wannabe supposed to do? Well, there’s always the trusty console. Back in 2008, Lucasarts released [...]