The Ready Player One Replay is an exploration of the games that inspired the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Source Gunfire wasn’t uncommon in the stacks, but it still shook me up. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, so I decided to kill the remaining hours until dawn by … Read more
Galaga is a 1981 game programmed by Tetsu Ogawa and released by Namco. It features a single starship fending off endless waves of insectoid starships. In Ready Player One, it appears twice: first as one of the games that Wade Watt plays in his home in the Stacks; the second as part of a virtual playthrough of … Read more
Adventure, written by Warren Robinett and released by Atari in 1980, is a fantasy adventure game for the Atari 2600. Using basic graphics, the game allows a player to navigate a series of castles and mazes to recover keys, collect treasures, and slay dragons. The game plays a pivotal role in Ready Player One, not so much because … Read more
The ‘Caspian Sea Monster’ rises from the grave – I’ve posted about the 380-ton “Lun-class Ekranoplan before. It’s a massive ground-effect vehicle, which means it’s basically a huge, low-flying aircraft/ship that’s designed to evade radar by skimming across the surface of the ocean. This one’s being towed to a new home, where it will become … Read more
Infinity Storm, my Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition campaign, ran from mid-2007 through early 2008. Featuring eight issues (aka episodes), it’s notable for being the first superheroes game I ever ran and featuring the first in-character blog I ever wrote. A dozen years later, the campaign still stays with me, despite its relatively short run. Two things stand out: … Read more
The Labyrinth – New Narrative Art Book by Simon Stålenhag – The creator of Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood is back on Kickstarter with a new art/fiction book. The Mysterious Bronze Objects That Have Baffled Archaeologists for Centuries – Stashing this away for use in my Weird Pulp campaign. ‘Superhabitable’ planets could be better for life than Earth – … Read more
Everyone keeps things. Some people keep a lot of things … and, as we learned from Fight Club, the stuff we own ends up owning us. While I’m far from a minimalist, I do think it’s possible to keep too much stuff, and it’s good to be mindful about what you keep, and what you throw … Read more
Tor: A Games’ Short Star Wars: Squadrons Film Hunted is Everything I Want in an X-Wing Series – Damn you, EA … you’re making me want to love this game. On Venus, mysterious traces of gas tease the possibility of extraterrestrial life – As Dr. Ian Malcolm says, life finds a way. Blade Runner: San … Read more
Weird, dimming star Betelgeuse may have a dusty explanation – Ah, remember those bygone days when our biggest worry was a red giant star going supernova? Foo Fighters ‘Times Like These’ Quarantine Mix Is Unreal – I’m not crying. You’re crying. Danger Zone – X-Wing Tribute – Ok, that was a bit intense. Time for some good ol’80s era … Read more
Bullet journals are analog alternatives to printed day planners, “to-do” apps, and note-taking tools. Created by Ryder Carroll, bullet journals are a purposefully archaic approach to capturing life’s esoteric bits, from a list of today’s meetings to a quick note about that weird dream you had last night. Though typically used to organize your real-life, … Read more