I can't believe this is now available, and I am without a system to play it. Yes, I could buy a new system, and this is the killer app (no pun intended) to drive new console sales. It was what I was waiting for.

But right now, I have a self-imposed boycott on excessive spending, and unless someone pays me real soon to write about video games, I can't justify the expenditure, when debt reduction is my current goal.

I feel the need to post, because GTA has been the source the majority of traffic to my blog. And most of those posts were written back when San Andreas was released, and they still bring in the most traffic here. The game has pull.

But right now, economics is getting the best of me.

I said right now...for now.

There is a PS3 beckoning me. I hear it. I feel it. It comes to me in dreams. It haunts me. It taunts me. I sense a disturbance in The Force each time a "10" is given in a review somewhere.

Like any addict, I can find a way to justify the purchase, but for now my line is drawn in the sand. I'm not exactly sure how that line in the sand thing works, whether it's me who crosses it, or if I wait for something to cross it, or if it has something to do with the tides, but right now it means I'm not buying Grand Theft Auto IV in the immediate future.

I am a freaking masochist. Reading Kotaku's not helping.

I just posted over at Armchair Arcade. I'll probably post the same article here as well, but it fits nicely with their classic gaming and homebrew content. But since I've not been posting anywhere of late, with a writer's block beginning to border on legendary, there needs to be some reference to it here at TBIMB, actually, tbimb.

Yes, Donkey Kong II. Someone actually took the old code and made new levels with it. What's next? Maybe they'll add a few mor ghosts to Pac-Man. Stinky, Kinky, Dinky, and I don't know, how 'bout Buscemi? That's a good name for a ghost. And if Tarantino ever turns Pac-Man into a movie, who else but Steve Buscemi would play Pinky.

I can see it now:

"Why am I Pinky?"

"Because you're pink, alright?"

Enough of that, go over to Armchair Arcade for the full story minus any Reservoir Dogs references.

The LEGO Indiana Jones trailer is up on the LucasArts website. And yes, Tt Games is attached to the project. My six year old loves Star Wars via the LEGO Star Wars video game. And we recently contemplated watching Raiders of the Lost Ark with him, since he's also a fan of the Legends of the hidden Temple. (Yes, it's in syndication, if that's what you call Nick Gas. Wait a minute. It's still Nickelodeon, so I guess it's not syndication, it's just reruns.)

We visited the LucasArts site to checkout the Force Unleashed trailer, and listed under games was LEGO Indy. My son's reaction said everything:

"Dad he's got the same pants as Han Solo."

I smiled. I'm not sure it's true, but Should I be surprised that LEGO Indy bears some resemblance to LEGO Han Solo. (Actually they both have the gun holster on the same leg of their pants.)

"Son, you know the same actor that played Han Solo also played Indiana Jones."

He didn't have to tell me he wanted to get this when it came out. They had me at "South America, 1936." And when I heard all three movies were included in the game. So I've got until 2008 to scrape a few pennies together.

I do. Really, I do. Dig Dug also has a kill screen.

See previous post for all about that. Or actually just a little about that. Then you have to click the link. I am conveniently not placing these links in this post, as I 'd like you to scroll down a bit instead. I dig my scroll wheel, too. Don't you?

My real reason for this post was to link to the Dig Dug inspired artwork featured in the thumbnail by Luke Chueh. And if you pronounce his last name in the one variation that's going through my head he's got as many Star Wars references as my second son has in his name. (Not intentional. But my friends have pointed them out to me. And my older son finds it quite cool. And cool has not been replaced by jealous, so that's good.)

And I might as well post a link to more Luke Chueh. Apparently he paints stuff that isn't Dig Dug related as well. And this post ends now, because I was about to put in such a God-awful that I can't even repeat to myself in my head. But involved "balance", and I will describe it no further and leave things cryptic, so the question mark dangles above your head as you scratch it.

Your head, not the question mark. Let the question mark scratch itself, you never asked the damn thing to float there above your head.

I am inexplicably fascinated by my discovery of the kill screen. And, no I didn't reach the 256th level of Pac-Man.

Note to someone: Make a t-shirt with the Pac-Man kill screen covering every square inch and you will have a buyer.

If I buy two can you reduce the shipping charges? Sweet.

Katamari reference on LOL Bots with Transformers as the medium.

It's the third one. Like you didn't know that. Has anyone rolled up a Goatse? I didn't think so.

BONUS LINK ! (Why have I been doing this? It's like you actually pay for this stuff or something.)
Official Katamari website. Because the site is just too darn cute, and too darn fun.

I used that title so this posting would get listed first in the phone book. Just thought I'd mention a post I did over at Armchair Arcade, usually I post at both blogs at the same time, but not always. So if you want to read about my first impression on Atari Anthology for the PS2 then that's where you go. If you could care less, don't go. It's that simple.

But I'll provide the bonus content here, just like how if you buy some CDs at Best Buy they give you a link for a double secret download that people who buy the CD at Target or Circuit City or Jack's Music won't get.

Remember my post referencing Katamari t-shirts? Well the folks at Panic also have t-shirts featuring the dragon (specifically, Grundle, the green dragon) from Atari Adventure from the Atari 2600. That's the bonus. And you didn't even have to drive to your nearest strip mall to get it. Links are still free. Sometimes.

SPOILER ALERT ! Here's a clip of someone beating Level 1.

BONUS LINKS !
Yorgle Cosplay.
That's a Dragon, Not a Chicken.
Strongbad video for "Everybody to the Limit" - dragon cameo.

Yours too, I'm sure. Here's the link. It may take awhile, and I should probably waterproof the place first, but of course it would be worth it. This certainly would entertain the spiders. Hopefully even keep them occupied, so they no longer visit us on the first floor.

As I write this I realize I am posting this 4th generation. But I'm guessing there's plenty of people who still haven't seen it. And I'm pretty sure my three friends who actually read my blog haven't seen it. It's all about knowing your audience, right? That's why my Chuck D reference was lifted out of a health blog posting recently. (But you gotta keep trying to slide things in there, you never know when it'll work.)

Here's the due diligence. I found this at Bring Me Up, while studying their layout and format for major multiple blog categories within the site. I've had ideas for the same thing, since I have a few varied interests and may want to create separate blogs for each. BMU referenced a post at The Last Boss (soon to be revamped). Who in turn, found the post on youNEWB.

Mural by Arno Coenen of Rock and Royal.

Originally posted at Armchair Arcade.

There's too much going on in my head right now. And none of it can describe how irritated I am by my own stupidity, because for the umpteenth time, I did not open a separate browser window and consequently lost my entire post. And, here I sit with less of an urge to try to recapture the rare magic that comes along when a post flows beautifully from my fingertips to its pixelcoated fruition.

I sit here with more of an urge to throw things, a complete counterproductive measure that will not prove anything, except that it will fortify my claim of stupidity since it's highly likely that such throwing would wake up my not quite two year old in the adjoining room. There's a reason time's are listed on blog posts, so shift your irises and peek somewhere nearby and things will make sense.

Alright. Spit out the rest. Post what you were gonna post, and get out.

I found a video clip that reminded me of how dominant Bo Jackson was in the original Tecmo Bowl game for the NES. Actually Game | Life found it, or GorillaMask.

Well, I wouldn't have found it if I wasn't searching for an online version of an article on Lord British that just appeared in Wired. (Didn't find it, by the way.)

But Game | Life featured the unstoppable, uncontainable, un-hip-injured 8-bit Bo Jackson footage in a post about the next Tecmo Bowl. It's safe to say I won't be pre-ordering that one. I'm not sure the current generation of systems could reproduce the fun quotient of the first two Tecmo Bowl releases. The beauty of Tecmo Bowl was in its simplicity.

And I still think the picture on the box looks like Robin Williams from that football movie he did with Kurt Russell. Was it called The Best of Times? [Blogger jumps to new window to fact-check,then returns to finish post.] Yes, it was.

Lest I forget what generated the most traffic to this blog, I link to the Rockstar Games trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. Perhaps calling it a teaser site would be proper. But proper and GTA kind of make for strange bedfellows. It looks like a return to Liberty City. Maybe they'll take a cue from San Andreas and expand the territory and have some road trips through the Northeast, or at the very least down the Jersey Shore.

I'm ending the drought. I wasted enough of my time on this, considering I don't have a square to spare. I pass it on to you to eat away your precious minutes. Maybe I can find a few of mine lying around in the aftermath.

5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself)

found at Kotaku

It really does. And provides a wonderful excuse for a lame pun. And a wonderful excuse to post something here. Sometimes I start writing and it surprises me that sometimes others are willing to pay for something that comes out of these fingers. (The thoughts don't stay in my mind too long. If I don't type, I may not think. Yet somehow I write in a conversational tone. Strange. especially since I don't know sign language.) (Another reason is my occasionally stream-of-consciousness posting, that I refuse to edit when it appears, somehow I figure there's that 1/1000th of a percent of my miniscule audience that actually follows/gets it/chooses to decipher or ignores it and reads anyway. Here's to you, Mr. Stream-of-Consciousness decipherer reading guy who gets it or doesn't and reads anyway.)

Ok...there was a reason I began this besides jumpstarting the grey matter, I think.

Oh yeah, Boggle. Never played it as a kid. My wife introduced me to it during our dating days. It was fun, yes. But it never seemed to particularly grab me.

Yet today I find this game highly addicting. Yeah, I freakin' love it. On the way to the bus stop. While waiting for pizza. In traffic jams. While blogging. (Sorry.) I've read numerous articles on the topic of casual gaming, and its current growth and popularity. (Yet I haven't linked to one.) So I should not be totally surprised by this new found joy. But it also reminds me about what made so many classic arcade games so great. Simplicity of gameplay.

I love my PS2 and all the highly narrative action-adventure titles with storytelling beyond much of what Hollywood may offer, and all the intricate tasks these games ask me to complete. I've button mashed my way through some early Tony Hawk games and Tekken titles. (Wait a minute...I knew exactly what I was doing. I just could not articulate to you the button combo, it was just something my fingers did.)

But after all that, sometimes it's quite cathartic to boil it all down to something simple and pure. Remove some buttons from my controller. Give me a simple goal to concentrate on, and a score (even if it's just my own) to best. Pac-Man had one joystick. That's all. One or two player buttons don't count. Eat dots. Eat more dots. Eat. That's all.

The purpose of Boggle. Make words. Lots of 'em. Clever words. Stupid words. Even plural words. Just make words. (Maybe that's why I like blogging so much.)

3 minutes. High score of 56. I can hit 60. I know it.

I'm glad to see the resurgence of classic gaming, whether it be through Xbox Live, Free games online, wireless phone gaming, classic compendiums for the console and PC market, the spirit of the homebrew and emulation community.

It's very possible that superbly designed "simple" game will be played more than the best action-adventure or RPG title. No matter how lush the scenery, or how fluid the animation. Despite truly cinematic cut scenes with the cleverest of dialog. It doesn't matter. Classic games have that "quick fix" quality, with none of the exhaustiveness of more complex games. You don't turn these games on and know that you'll need to devote at least an hour to accomplish anything. And no matter how beautiful some of today's games are, there;s always the possibility you'll finish them and never look back. Mission's been accomplished. Move forward.

The classic game can be quite like crack then, can't it? Quick game. Damn, I can do better. Ugh. One more game.

And so on.

Sure you may play just as long. But you never intended to.

And I never intended to ramble this long. But it's too late. Read or don't read. That's what's nice about the Internet.

I meant to post about this previously, but there's a lot of things I meant to post about previously, and unlike those I remembered this one. Sort of.

What I meant to post was how if you played The Simpsons Road Rage on Christmas Day, you would be able top play as Christmas Apu. So, just in time for New Year's, I'll remind you that you can play as New Years Krusty (scroll down to "Seasonal Characters") on guess when, yep, January 1st. I believe there are cheat codes to play as these characters, and there's always the option of adjusting the clock on your PS2, but it's always more fun to discover this for the first time, on the associated holiday.

Happy New Year. (No exclamation point since I kind of just said it. In my head, there was no exclaiming, so no need for the vertical punctuation that we all love and probably tend to overuse.)

On that note, I believe !!! has a new album out.

A recent post (Mission in Snowdriftland) and the ensuing dialogue at Armchair Arcade reminded me of this Christmas oriented platform game. If the presents are already wrapped, and it's time to kick back with an egg nog or some hot cocoa, then visit the Playdo Christmas page and try Save the Santa.

It took awhile to find. Many Google searches proved fruitless. It wasn't until I found Save the Sheriff that I found my way to Playdo and the Save the Santa.

I hope you enjoy it. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I said that now in case there's not another post. I'm actually surprised there's even this one.

I'm not even sure if I should link to such a thing, ok I'm kindof (seriously, kindof should be one word, without the space, think kinda, then do the proper pronunciation, sometimes that's fun) sure I should since it is relevant (to what I'm not sure, social mores in post-milennial America perhaps.) Scantily clad women have long been a successful marketing ploy for beer, bikinis, beer, men's magazines, beer, women's magazines, lingerie, beer, calendars, and beer. Did I mention beer?

No longer are pixelated maidens alone on their glossy packaging in encouraging video game sales. Now we have real live amateurs baring much to peddle PS3s on eBay. (NSFW - Not Safe for Work, for you home gamers, because of ads for other adult sites). Oh, and one professional. (SFW, but a link could probably make it Not So Safe for Work (NSSFW) very quickly.

Here's a link with less pics, but more safe. (LSBMFFW - Less Pics, but More Safe for Work)

The Nintendo Wii needs no such marketing to sell. It's inherently sexy.

To quote Devil Ducky: I like go-karts... VROOM VROOM.