Wish.list: Gifts for a nerd

Boy or girl, one hundred percent of nerds love: old school video games; Star Wars; Harrison Ford; webcomics; card games; Hayao Miyazaki; and crafty things. Buy your special nerd a gift from this list, and you are sure to put a smile on their face!


[one] gamespite journal 10 . blurb, but read more about it here
[2] no one wants to play sega with harrison ford print . brandon bird
[3] kodama figure . cuteart on etsy
[four] penny arcade: the game . penny arcade
[5] tauntaun sleeping bag . think geek

This post brought to you by our resident geek (Daniel).

Photojourna.list: Straw, twine, balloon and tape

Last Friday I was asked to round up

•  a drinking straw 
• twine 
• balloon 
• tape  

A rocket launch was in order.

Sunday Night Football

What am I doing? It is officially Monday morning - though barely - and I am scouring the web for a stupid trick play I remember the St. Louis Rams pulled off years ago. Something about (Kurt) Warner walking toward the sideline acting like something was wrong with his helmet all the while another player snaps the ball and the play moves forward...

The whole point was because I was going to have a short list of trick football plays because Daniel showed me this video tonight:



Oh well, guess this post will just have to be a one trick pony.

Top 5 Reasons You Need a Playstation 3

Today marks a new chapter in lickity list entries. Daniel has signed on as a contributor and will no longer be marked as a guest blogger. Hopefully he is prolific in his entries.

It's hard to sell your significant other on the idea of a $400 video game console. I'm here to help.





5. Surfing the Web
It’s an easy way to enjoy videos of people doing stupid stuff when you have company over. Some sites (including youtube) are starting to offer a TV version to make it easier to navigate from your couch.


4. Presenting Slideshows
Hook a digital camera up to one of the PS3’s USB ports and bore your guests with pictures of your cat doing stupid cat stuff. Or, if you’re really cool (ed. note: nerdy), stream pictures directly from your flickr account.


3. Playing Games
Duh! You can’t go wrong with Rock Band, SingStar or Buzz! at any social gathering. Fallout 3 and LittleBigPlanet are must-haves for solo play. You can even download full games through the PlayStation Store. Early model PS3’s could play PS2 games, but Sony scrapped that feature to cut manufacturing costs (I guess?).


2. Watching Movies
The PS3 is a very capable Blu-Ray and DVD player. It even upscales DVD’s to near-HD resolution. You can also purchase or rent movie downloads from the PlayStation Store, although I find the current selection and prices underwhelming. I am envious of the Xbox360’s ability to stream Netflix movies. If Sony can get their act together and make this happen, it would truly make the PS3 the end-all-be-all home entertainment device.


1. Listening to Music
Your entire music collection at your fingertips! Here’s what you do: Rip all of your CD’s to your computer. If you’ve already gone digital with your collection, good for you – the road ahead has gone from “easy” to “really easy.” Install TVersity (it’s free) on said computer. As long as the PS3 and the computer are on the same home network, the PS3 will magically “see” your computer, and you can now play any song stored on the computer through the PS3. I cannot understate how much I enjoy this.

Short list: Rockband Requests

Rockband is my new favorite party game. Whether it happens casually or people come expressly for rockin'out, it seems that everyone warms up to Rockband - and the drinks don't hurt, either. My only suggestion (besides adding an accordian controller) is for them to add some of the following artists (and suggested selections) to the line-up:

• Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites the Dust
• Rod Stewart - Young Turks
• Prince
• Stevie Wonder - Part Time Lover, Living for the City
• Beatles
• Fleetwood Mac - Gold Dust Woman, The Player
• Neko Case

Advergames to the workday rescue

Before we begin: No, I have not been hiding under a rock, hunkered-down in a tree house or off writing some weird manifesto (although my inability to post an entry for the last month or two would suggest otherwise) - I know that Advergames are nothing new. For the most part, although I knew they existed I never delved into the weird little world of advergames or any online games, really*.

*with the exception of Fowl Words or Bejeweled - those games are great. Okay and the occasional crossword puzzle...and maybe some other games.

Or maybe I have been hiding under a rock. Either way, this all started this morning when I saw an ad at the top of my Gmail for a mind reader game. I would have not clicked on it, except for the fact that it was going to a Honda website and the connection between these two was intriguing. One lunchtime later and here we are.

I thought a little investigative research was in order to see what other odd little advergames could be turned up - so here is the edited collection.

The Honda CR-V automobile and a mind reader game
http://automobiles.honda.com/cr-v/crave
Basically because the CR-V and the word crave have 3 letters in common, they have an online game that guesses what you are craving through the Honda website. It is one of those 20 question games and at the end it gives its best parsed out response. It correctly guessed my craving for beets (a new food I just discovered I liked after 20-some years of hating.) The advertising scheme must work on at least a handful of idiots since I actually clicked on the link from Gmail and I now know there is an automobile called the CR-V, whereas 5 minutes ago I didn't. How clever.

M&Ms - 50 Dark Movies
http://www.mms.com/us/dark/dark_game.jsp
Speaking of clever little promos...this takes the cake as the best game I found: 50 Dark Movies. One click and it loads an illustrated montage of 50 Dark movies. You click on a section and type in the hidden movie title until you get all 50. The link to M&Ms? It is 'sponsored' by the dark chocolate line of M&Ms.

The Dyson Ball game
http://www.dyson.com/about/games/
James Dyson is clearly a man of action - anyone who actually does something about vacuums that lose suction to the tune of starting a new company is a person of action in my book. Apparently Mr. Dyson was also sick of not having fun games to play online - so they added some games to the Dyson website including a quirky little telescope game and a ball game. Again, a man of action - even if the games are a little goofy.

The ORBITZ game site...and a dozen others like it
http://www.orbitzgames.com/index.aspx
What amounts to little more than a collection of very simple eye-hand coordination games is available online through ORBITZ, the online travel search tool. I guess I can see how promoting good eye-hand coordination can help them train legions of people so they can quickly and accurately click their way through the ORBITZ website next time they want to book a getaway. My *favorite* aspect of this is that each game has a background (beach, mountains, etc.) and the edges of the 'gameboard' encourage you to book now for ski trips or beach getaways. You may ask yourself why, but perhaps after 4 hours of mindless clicking to stack colored balls and you feel that little getaway is just what you deserve for that personal high score...

Best Video Games for the Non-Gamer

Samba de Amigo . Dreamcast
All I have to say about this is that maracas are the game controllers. Thats right, maracas.

Donkey Konga . Gamecube

Take out the maracas and add bongos. Where else can you play bongos to B-52's Rock Lobster and be scored?

Guitar Hero III . Wii

I really didn't think I would like this game - I had seen people playing it in the stores and it looked hard and like it required way more coordination than I would be able to muster. Flash forward to the beginning of this year and we got Guitar Hero III for Wii. Not only is it surprisingly easy to pick up, but the songs are really fun to rock out to.

SingStar . PS2
This karaoke game is absolutely perfect for parties - just make sure the libations are flowing and all of a sudden everyone will be ready to rock the mic. The original videos combined with an excellent selection of songs really makes this game great.

-And yes, I know what you are thinking: Based on what I've mentioned I should probably invest in Rock Band.

Nintendo Power Pad . NES

Can you have a list of games for the non-gamer and exclude the Nintendo Power Pad? I checked and you can't. I personally liked the Track and Field game, as well as the Short Order game - and remember when you figured out you could punch the pad with your hands when you got tired of running?

Wii Sports . Wii

I don't know if it is because I think I can really bowl now or if I am just blown away by Nintendo's innovation - but the Wii (and specifically Wii Sports) is amazing.

Pikmin . GameCube

Pretend you are a spaceman that crashes on a mysterious planet and you soon discover you can plant flowers that act as your little minions once you pull them up - sound crazy? No, its just another concept brought to you by the Japanese! Add to that natural predators (but nothing gory), and a set amount of time to get your spacecraft parts found and assembled, and you have Pikmin.

BrainAge . DS2

Seemingly simple games to exercise your mind definitely have you second guessing just how smart (or stupid) you are. In one exercise you click on the color that is written on the screen, for example red, yellow or blue.In another game you perform simple addition - but I warn you: prepare to be stunned at how hard simple addition is.

Animal Crossing . GameCube

In this game your character lives in a town and you perform tasks to make money and acquire things - as well as maintain the town and make friends. It is like playing town when you were 5, but it is a video game and it is fun. Something about getting things done and feeling accomplished is so much easier when you are a little raccoon running around.

Tetris

I don't think I need any explanation here.