Geek Gamer's Blog

Geeky Crafts and Crafty Geeks

2011-11-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'm always on the lookout for hobbies that express my love of videogames and things geeky in general. So, when I came across the hobby of making bead sprites I just had to make a few. The way it works is that you place little round beads on a pegboard in the pattern you want to make. Then you iron them with some wax paper, and the beads fuse. A great website to learn about these creations and look at galleries of what others have made is PixelGasm. I can be found on PixelGasm here.

Here are some of my favorite creations:

If you'd like to get into this fun hobby, check out PixelGasm. They've got some really good tutorials as well as some advice about where to get your Perler bead supplies.

Cluster is Getting Super

2011-08-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Just a note to let you know I've begun work on a sequel to my favorite Fast Eddie's Software game, Cluster. Super Cluster will include many more gameplay components: vehicles that pull crates rather than push them, three different colors of crates to cluster together, limited fuel in the vehicles, multiple vehicles per level, and more.

These changes should create entirely new puzzle dynamics. With these new possibilities, I plan on creating lots of new levels with tons of puzzling content. With all of this content planned, and only myself working on it, finishing Super Cluster will take some time, but I do hope to have it ready this year.

The Weirdest of All

2011-06-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

The upcoming release of "Alpocalypse", Weird Al Yankovic's newest album has me thinking about the king of musical parody. And that got me thinking about what Weird Al songs are my favorites:

15 I Lost On Jeopardy - Weird Al Yankovic in 3D - 1984 - Parody of "Jeopardy" by the Greg Kinn Band - Who hasn't watched Jeopardy and wondered how these people could possibly know this stuff. Complete with a voice over from Don Pardo, this song tells us how a normal person would fare on the game show.

14 Eat It - Weird Al Yankovic in 3D - 1984 - Parody of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson - Weird Al is at his best when he is parodying superstars. So it was only natural that he take on the king of pop. The video for this song is especially good, with some hilariously geeky dance moves from Al.

13 Perform This Way - Alpocalypse - 2011 - Parody of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga - In the 80's Al found hugely popular stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna to parody. Now he's found a new, popular, hugely strange artist to poke fun at. Don't be surprised if you hear more Lady Gaga songs done up Weird Al style.

12 Fat - Even Worse - 1988 - Parody of "Bad" by Michael Jackson - The question is, are you fat, or what? This is another great video. This song is also great to hear and see live. When Al dons his fat suit, he proves he's one far mamma jamma.

11 It's All About the Pentiums - Running With Scissors - 1999 - Parody of "It's All About the Benjamins" by Puff Daddy - It was inevitable that the tech references in this song would show their age (does anyone still use a single core pentium?), but that doesn't make this song any less funny. With this song Al first showed us his computer geek side.

10 Canadian Idiot - Straight Outta Lynwood - 2006 - Parody of "American Idiot" by Green Day - With this song Al pokes fun at a whole country. It's got some great one-liners ("They thing their accent is so cute; can't understand a thing their talkin' aboot").

9 Whatever You Like - Internet Leaks - 2008 - Parody of "Whatever You Like" by T.I. - This song is timely and funny. It's all about how a cheapskate is going to please his lady. I just love the line, "My wallet's fat. It's full of ones. It's all about the Washingtons."

8 Close But No Cigar - Straight Outta Lynwood - 2006 - Original - This song is completely over the top. It's all about women who are absolutely perfect except for one insignificant detail, but for Al, that's close, but no cigar.

7 Smells Like Nirvana - Off the Deep End - 1992 - Parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana - Many say this is the song that revitalized Al's career. It is definitely one of his best. He pokes fun at Nirvana's incomprehensible singing style.

6 Grapefruit Diet - Running With Scissors - 1999 - Parody of "Zoot Suit Riot" by the Cherry Poppin Daddies - Part of the reason for this song's place on this list is my love of new wave big band. But even so, the lyrics in this one stand on their own ("Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Can't have another eclair; Grapefruit Diet (Diet!) I gotta decrease my derriere")

5 Ode to a Superhero - Poodle Hat - 2003 - Parody of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel - This song describes the events of the first spiderman movie. When Al can parody a song like "Piano Man" and recap the movie that popularized superhero films all in one go, it proves his genius.

4 Wanna B Ur Lovr - Poodle Hat - 2003 - Original - This original Weird Al tune is all about smooth talking come ons, Weird Al style. Check out this live version: here

3 Living With a Hernia - Polka Party! - 1986 - Parody of "Living In America" by James Brown - The great thing about this song is how Al delivers it in James Brown's style. Every yelp, ow, and oooh makes us believe that James Brown must have been suffering from a hernia while performing.

2 Amish Paradise - Bad Hair Day - 1996 - Parody of "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio - Who but Al would think of the Amish when hearing Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise".

1 White and Nerdy - Straight Outta Lynwood - 2006 - Parody of "Ridin Dirty" by Chamillionaire - This song proves that Al is "Geek Numero Uno". The whole song reads like a test of one's geek score. And the video simply makes it the perfect geek anthem.

Gaming All Nice and Casual Like

2011-03-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

Gaming has gone casual in a big way. With games on our phones, our ipods, ipads, netbooks, and notebooks, videogames aren’t just for geeks anymore. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that game companies are realizing that one way to cash in is to cater to the non-traditional gamer. If companies can develop a game that appeals to not just the gaming public, but the public in general, well the market becomes huge.

I still prefer to game on a monitor or TV rather than a mobile screen, but there are times when I do want the immediate, bite size entertainment of a casual game. But what makes a videogame ‘casual’ anyway? My definition of a casual game is one that can be learned in less than 10 minutes, one that can easily be played in sessions of 30 minutes or less, and if the game has a story mode, it can be finished in less than 12 hours.

So, what are my favorite casual games? I’m glad you asked.

5. World of Goo

This casual puzzler has tons of style. Imagine Lemmings, but instead of cuddly little mindless creatures for you to save, you’ve got sticky little mindless balls of goo to rescue. You direct your balls of goo to attach to eachother creating latticework structures in order to reach the exit for each level. It’s a classic case of a simple concept used to perfection to create some very entertaining puzzles.

4. Angry Birds

What can I say about this highly addictive game that has become a cultural phenomenon? This game started out on the iphone and quickly became the number one game in the itunes store. Since then it has spread to just about every platform you can think of. The PC version has even been nominated for Game of the Year by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Here’s an interesting article about why. Angry Birds is really a simple game. At its core it is your basic artillery game (see my blog about this genre), but the execution is flawless. The brilliantly designed levels make this game more addictive than crack. Not to mention the game music that you won’t be able to get out of your head. If you have fallen to this viral devil, you’ll enjoy this skit.

3. Tower Defense

Now we come to the game that proves that with enough talent a lone developer can make a living writing games. Living the dream of every hobby game writer, Paul Preece wrote Desktop Tower Defense on his own as an online browser based flash game. According to Paul, the game is netting him around $100,000 a year, mostly through ad revenue from the game page.

The reason Tower Defense is so succesful is the gameplay. It’s a simple game of trying to prevent ‘creeps’ from crossing the screen by placing various towers in their way that kill the creeps in interesting ways. This simplicity is really the game’s strength. The more strategically towers are chosen and placed, the longer you will be able to hold out against the enemy. But towers cost money, so management of your assets is key.

2, Diner Dash

Diner Dash is the Seinfeld of videogames. It's the videogame about nothing. The whole game is about performing a handful of functions as efficiently as possible. Yet this brilliant game has created a genre of its own: the time management game. Diner Dash is all about helping the main character, Flo, run a growing restaurant business. You direct Flo to seat customers, take orders, serve the food, get paid, and clean up, all the while entertaining the customers and making sure that they are taken care of before they get mad a leave. It's a simple concept, but it makes for a very entertaining game that is that elusive mix of action and strategy that can build a software company.

1. Plants vs Zombies

Finally, my favorite casual game. Plants vs Zombies simply exudes innovation. I bought the game on sale on steam for $5. Best $5 I've ever spent on a game. The concept is simple, plant various plants in the back yard (and on the roof in later levels) in order to prevent zombies from crossing the screen and getting into your house. The strategy comes in with the variety of plants and of zombies. Some plants work better against some zombies. And then there is the economic aspect of the game. You use 'sunshine' to purchase your plants. So you must strategize in order to not run out. In some ways Plants vs Zombies is a tower defense game flipped sideways, but there are strategic differences that make it a great game in its own right.

The great thing about Plants vs Zombies is the variety. In the game of the year edition there are several modes of play. In addition to the story mode there are variations where you can take on challenges, play more puzzle oriented versions of the game, and even take on the role of the zombies instead of the plants.

So, when you want a quick gaming fix, remember, casual gaming is where it's at.

Best PC Games of 2010

2010-12-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

As 2010 comes to an end, I am reminded that the PC is still simply the best game platform. Sure, PC's are lacking a couple of key advantages, most notably standard hardware and motion control, but PC's just cannot be beat when it comes to the variety and depth of the games available. In a year that saw the introduction of the Playstation Move and the Microsoft Kinect, PC's still reign when it comes to variety. PC's are more accessable to independent game developers, and there are so many more PC's in people's homes than any other platform (excepting possibly mobile phones, but they don't really count -- yet).

So, with all of this innovation, variety, and sheer artistry, what are some of my favorite games released in 2010?

10 - The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom - This quirky little game is what I would call an action puzzler. You'll need to be nimble and clever in order to solve the puzzles. The game has a vintage feel (it's in black and white for starters, and there are poetic interludes between levels that play like a silent movie).

You play the infamous P. B. Winterbottom, who must steal all the pies he sees. Each level is filled with pies for Winterbottom to steal. Your key power is that you can create a limited number of clones of yourself. You record yourself doing something in order to create these clones, and they will happily perform those movements over and over. Pies that your clones collect instantly go to you. The clone mechanic makes for some very interesting puzzles, and timing is usually key. This means that it's not just figuring out how to solve each level, you also have to time your actions right (thus the action part of action puzzler).

9 - Galcon Fusion - This game is one of those with a simple concept that quickly becomes surprisingly deep. You are in control of a space fleet in a galaxy filled with randomly sized and spaced planets. Your goal is simple, take over the galaxy. As you start each contest, each player has one homeworld. The rest of the planets start out as neutral worlds. Each planet has two numbers associated with it, the first represents how many troops currently occupy it, and the second represents the size of the planet, which affects how many troops it can produce.

During the game, you send ships from your planets to others. As your ships reach enemy or neutral planets, they reduce the number of troops there. Once you reduce the indigent population to zero, your troops take over and the planet turns to your color. Then it will begin to produce new troops for you based on its size.

Galcon Fusion includes several game types that vary the basic rules. It also includes both single and multi-player. The single player gets real tough real quick. The multi-player is an absolute blast. The simple rules of this game lead to a very deep strategy game.

8 - Worms Reloaded - Worms is a classic game that was originally released on the for the Commodore Amiga back in 1995. There have been several games in the series on just about every major gaming platform since then. However, worms on the PC has been a long time between installments. The last 2D based worms game was 'Worms World Party' in 2001. There have been several console versions since then, but not until this year with Worms Reloaded have we had a new worms game on the PC.

Worms Reloaded stays true to the original with extremely fun gameplay. The concept is simple. There are two teams of worm warriors that begin scattered on the battlefield. Each player takes one minute long turns where they can move and potentially attack with one of their army of worms in sequence. The attacks are reminicent of artillery games, with you lobbing, shooting, or dropping various weapons on the enemy.

And that's what makes any worms game great, the weapons. Worms Reloaded definitely doesn't dissappoint. All the classic weapons from past worms games are here, plus a bunch more. You'll be lobbing Holy Hand Grenades, steering Super Sheep, dropping Concrete Donkey's, and much more on the fearless worm warriors. It's total worm mayhem. And there are new game types as well, including a mode called Body Count, where you fight against wave after endless wave of enemy worms in order to see how long you can last.

7 - R.U.S.E. - RUSE is a realtime strategy game with a difference. The focus here is not simply on gathering resources and building the largest army quicker than your opponents. The key to winning at RUSE is strategy. Use the wrong units against the enemy and you'll be cut to shreds. Performing attacks is pretty much automatic, so you can concentrate on organizing your units effeciently against the enemy.

The game is set during World War II. The single player campaign gives you a series of focused missions that play like a boardgame. It's like playing chess with an army.

6 - Mass Effect 2 - Normally first person shooters are not my favorite type of game. Mass Effect 2 has a difference. This game uses cut scenes and character conversations to tell a story. Sure, the action and shooting is still there, but you'll also be reminded of 'choose your own adventure' stories by the conversations you'll have with NPC's. Based on your responses during the conversation, you'll open up different conversational paths and even different outcomes of the story elements. All the while enjoying great graphics and lots of shooting action.

5 - Puzzle Quest 2 - Puzzle Quest was an innovative combination of gem matching puzzle game and character leveling, quest completing RPG. When Puzzle Quest 2 came out I thought it might just be more of the same. However, there are key improvements that make this a complete game on its own. Puzzle Quest 2 has a higher concentration on spell casting, and also introduces weapons that you can use if you match enough 'action' gems. All this makes for a game that will have you unable to stop playing.

4 - Greed Corp - This is a strategy board game reminiscent of Risk. You get resource points for land that you occupy on the battlefield, but you get many more points by playing harvesters on your land. However, these harvesters slowly use up the land until it simply falls into oblivion. This means you need to balance between harvesting and occupying land in order to win. Also, a strategic move is to place a harvester next to enemy territory and watch it eat away at their land until it falls away (often with the enemies still on it). This all makes for a very strategic, fun game.

3 - Blood Bowl Legendary Edition - Blood Bowl is a great concept. Originally this was a board game played with miniatures. It was only later adapted to a PC game with great success. The concept is two teams of Warhammer characters playing a turn based game of football. The outcomes of most actions are determined by virtual dice rolls. You can manage your team through an entire campaign, a playoffs series, or a single game. As the coach, you determine the actions of all the players on your team. Each player has attributes that affect how far they can move, how well they block, how agile they are, etc.

The great part about blood bowl are the players, and the legendary edition introduces 11 new playable races in addition to the original 9. You can play with teams of Orcs, Goblins, Undead, Dwarves, Vampires, three different types of Elves, and of course Humans. Each race has different attributes and types of players, and thus different strategies. For example, Wood Elves are the best passers in the league, and Goblins tend to kill the other players rather than bother to advance the ball against them. All this combines to make a fun and funny strategy game.

2 - Civilization V - What can I say about Civ V? If you play PC games at all, you know the Civilization series from Sid Meier. Your goal in these games is nothing less than guiding your civilization from ancient times to the year 2050. Along the way you'll establish settlements and grow them into cities, you'll research technological advancements, you'll build a military, and you'll basically try to civilize your people. For most people, myself included, games in the civ series (Civ 2 in particular) are in serious contention for being the best PC game of all time.

So, what does this latest installment in the francise have to offer? Well, Civ V is more accessible, with all kinds of improvements to the player interface, and a bit of trimming down of some of the game concepts. This makes for a much more playable game for even newbies to the series. But there is still enough meat left for experienced Civ players to enjoy. Add in the fact that Civ V is nothing short of beautiful, and you've got a great game.

1 - Starcraft II - Finally, for my favorite game of 2010. Fans of Starcraft had a very long wait for this game, which was easily the most anticipated PC game of the year. The original Starcraft came out in 1998, and Blizzard has been promising the sequel for years. In true Blizzard tradition, they release only a handful of games, but every one is a bestseller. There is a reason for this. Their games offer great quality and innovation. They basically created the genre of real time strategy game with the original Warcraft, and perfected it with Starcraft.

So, was Starcraft II worth the wait? Well, I don't know about that, but it is one great game. The balance between the playable races and their various units is superb. The single player campaign is a great way to familiarize yourself with all the units and the strategy for each, but that's just the beginning. This game will have you coming back to play challenge maps, and take on a world of opponents via multiplayer. Starcraft II is simply the pinnacle of the RTS genre.

Only time will tell whether 2011 has such a great lineup of PC games, but I think that with releases like we've had in 2010, nobody can say that the PC is a dead platform. So, try some of these and enjoy.

-Ed Williams

Meander - A New Pathfinding Strategy Videogame

2010-12-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

I've finished the software version of Meander. Meander is a board game that is all about perception and strategy. I published a non-software version of the game in a post below. The object of the game is to find the match up like symbols on the game board, with points for the length of the path between them. So, your task is to find the pair with the longest, most meandering path between them. But, that is your opponent's task too, so make sure you don't clear a high scoring path for them in your haste to score yourself. Check out Meander and the other games on www.fasteddiessoftware.com. Enjoy.

12/03/10 - Edgar Williams

More Movies to Get Your Geek On

2010-10-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Last time I wrote about the eseential geek movies, those films that define what it is to be a geek. Whittling down the list to ten entries was no easy task. Here are some, in no particular order, that almost made the cut:

PI

This one is for the math geek. This movie is about a genius mathematician obsessed with finding patterns in numerical systems. He builds a computer that he names Euclid and tries to find patterns within the stock market. Soon he is being pursued by agents of a wall street firm who believe he has found the secret to predicting stock prices and a group of Hasidic Jews who believe he has found a number that is actually the true name of God.

Spaceballs

With lines like "Prepare for light speed..... No no no, light speed is too slow.... Light speed too slow? Yes, we're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed", and "I see your Schwartz is as big as mine, but let's see how you handle it", this Mel Brooks Sci Fi parody is a geek classic. There's even a cameo from John Hurt with an alien ripping its way out of his stomach and Hurt saying "Oh no, not again".

Blade Runner

Science fiction movies based on Philip K. Dick stores and novels really deserve their own blog entry. This is the best of the bunch. It features Harrison Ford as a bounty hunter hired to find renegade android "replicants" who are for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from humans. Like all good Philip K. Dick stories, this one uses science and technology to ask deep questions. The big questions this time around: what does it mean to be human? and (shades of Turing), if a computer can't be distinguished from a human, then is it human?

Cube

I love movies like this. 'Cube' is about a gigantic cube consisting of rooms with various deathtraps. Seven strangers wake up in various rooms in the cube and team up to try to escape. Before the 'Saw' movies, were movies like this.

Army of Darkness

"This... is my boomstick" I can't talk about geek movies without mentioning Bruce Campbell, and this is one of the most fun of his films. Bruce plays a man who is transported from modern times to the medieval age, and he must battle an army of the dead in order to find his way home.

The Essential Geek: Movies

2010-10-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but I'm back now and plan on going strong once more. So, what's new? Well the recent release of 'The Social Network' got me thinking about geek movies. You know, those quintessential movies that define what it is to be a geek. So, let's see if you agree with my list of the top ten essential geek movies:

10. Office Space

Hey Peter, what's happening? Yeah... I'm gonna go ahead and have you aaaah... watch this essential geek movie.

9. Wargames

What says geek movie more than a computer gone haywire? Of course. A computer gone haywire hooked up to nuclear missiles!

8. The Matrix

The world is nothing but a computer simulation built by the machines, who live off of humanity like cattle. The blue pill or the red pill. Your choice. To me, the action sequences of the Matrix movies are only seconday (very cool, but still secondary). The real mark of the Matrix is the concept of what we believe to be reality only being a computer generated dream.

7. Tron

A man is transported inside of a videogame in a movie created during the golden age of videogames. Can't get geekier than that.

6. Airplane

Surely we can't leave this movie off the list. Of course not, and don't call me Shirley.

5. The Princess Bride

To not consider this an essential geek movie would be "Inconceivable"!

4. 2001 A Space Odyssey

Another movie featuring a haywire computer. This time based on a short story from the legnedary scifi writer Arthur C. Clarke.

3. Pirates of Silicon Valley

This dramatization of the early days of personal computing and the beginnings of Microsoft and Apple is a really great movie. If you haven't seen it, go rent it immediately.

2. Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan

No list of essential geek movies would be complete without a Star Trek film, and this is the best of the lot.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

This movie is the holy grail of geek movies. This is also one of the most quotable movies of all time. If you don't agree I fart in your general direction. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

It was tough narrowing down this list to ten entries. Coming soon, the honorable mentions.

Meander - A New Roaming Card/Board Game From Fast Eddie

2009-12-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

Hello all. I've come up with a new game. This is a strategy game for two players played with a regular deck of playing cards. The game is called Meander. It's all about finding the longest, most meandering path between two cards of the same suit. I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm currently working on a software version. Here are the rules:

Object of the game: To score more points than your opponent by removing pairs of cards with a longer path between them than your opponent does.

Scoring: You score one point for each blank space in the shortest path between the two cards you remove.

Setup: Remove the ace hearts, the ace of clubs, and the ace of diamonds from the deck. These cards will not be needed. Shuffle the remaining cards. Deal out the cards face up one at a time into a 7 by 7 grid. Whenever you turn up an ace or a king or a queen, place those cards face down in the grid. You should be left with a random grid containing 10 cards of each suit and 9 face down cards.

Gameplay: Each player is allowed to remove two cards and score points for the distance between them, as
follows.

- The pair of cards removed must be of the same suit

- The cards removed must either be directly adjacent to each other (diagonal does not count), or must have a 'clear path' between them.

- A clear path is a path that can be moved through horizontally or vertically (again, no diagonals) by going through empty spaces only. Face down cards are 'walls', and other face up cards must be navigated around. Looking at the illustration, here are some moves and their corresponding score:

2C, 4C = 12

4D, 6D = 4

3S, 9S = 0 (note, this is a legal move, but scores zero points as the cards are adjacent)

8S, 10S = 3

4C, 5C = illegal move (remember, diagonals do not count)

In order to score a move, determine the shortest path between the two cards about to be removed. The player scores one point for each blank space in that path. Finally, after removing a legal pair and scoring the result, discard the cards removed. Play then moves to the other player. A player may also pass at any time. They forfeit scoring any points on that move and play moves to the other player. The game ends when no face up cards are left or after three 'passes' in a row.

Strategy: Obviously, the more observant player will do better. But there is strategy involved as well. Simply removing the pair with the longest path at the time is not necessarily always the best move, as it may open up the board for an even longer move for your opponent. So, some defensive play is also necessary. Also, remember that you can pass your turn. Sometimes a pass is the most strategic move, as it may force your opponent to move (or end the game) and open up the board for you.

So, enjoy, and have fun looking for the road less traveled.

(Meander is Copyright 2009 by Edgar Williams)

- Ed Williams

Max Damage

2009-12-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I've been looking into Flash recently as I'd like to write some internet based games. During my browsing I found an interesting puzzle/action game here. Titled 'Max Damage', this game is all about causing the most damage possible. Your character is a boy with a cannon with various types of cannonballs that you must fire in order to cause damage to various objects. You control the force and angle of each shot.

The puzzle aspect of the game is that different objects are worth different amounts of money. So it pays (literally) to damage the most costly objects. Of course, these are usually the toughest to get at. Also, the game has realistic physics, so with a precise shot you can often cascade one object into another.

Each level of Max Damage has a goal dollar amount of damage. In order to progress you must achieve that goal using the limited number of cannonballs provided. Luckily the game is not timed, because some of the levels require a good dose of strategy in order to pass. Trial and error is a huge factor in this game. So this is not a good game for the impatient.

Another aspect of the strategy is that there are different types of cannonballs provided for each level. There are the standard garden variety cannonballs, but you will also be firing basketballs, flaming cannonballs, exploding cannonballs, and even shotgun shell like cannonballs that scatter into three shots at once.

All this makes for quite an interesting, fun game. Max Damage was designed and written by Gordon Simpson and the artwork was done by Aaron Perez. Max Damage uses the open source Box2D physics engine for its realistic physics. Max Damage reminds me of the Nintendo DS game 'Gravity' (which I haven't tried, but have read about) and also a little of the classic 'Incredible Machine' PC games. It is well worth checking out. Some of the levels are very difficult, but persistence pays off. So, have fun blasting your way through this excellent puzzle/action game.

- Ed Williams

My Favorite Nintendo DS Puzzle Games

2009-11-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

When you look at the history of videogames you quickly realize that one company sticks out as having led the industry through innovation. Nintendo resqued the home gaming console industry with the NES. Then they basically formed the portable gaming industry with the Gameboy. Now, they continue to innovate with the Nintendo DS and the WII.

The Nintendo DS has done a lot to save 2D gaming from obsolescence (which would truly be a shame). The DS has also brought gaming to a larger audience, introducing people who fall outside the typical demographic to the art form.

Another thing the Nintendo DS has done is revived puzzle games. When you think about it, it is really the perfect platform for puzzle games. The DS is well suited to grab and go games that you can play in quick burst or marathon sessions alike. With its dual screens and touch screen it is very well adapted to games where a joystick alone would be awkward.

So, what are some of my favorite DS puzzle games? I'm glad you asked:

5. The Humans

I picked this title up fairly recently. This is a very fun co-operative platform puzzler. You control a group of primitive humans, trying to perform various quests in order to get through each of 80 levels. In order to complete the quests, you need to make various characters perform various tasks. For example, to climb up to high ledges you will need to 'stack' your humans by having them stand on eachothers shoulders, until finally one can climb up to the ledge. You will also find tools from primitive times to aid you in your quest, like the wheel, the spear, and fire. I just love games of this type. I wrote a blog entry about co-op puzzle games a few entries back. It's a great concept that makes for a very fun game.

4. Big Brain Academy

Big Brain Academy would of course be classified as a 'brain' game (it's in the title after all). In my opinion it's the most fun of the bunch, with a lot better gameplay than brain age or brain age 2. In Big Brain Academy you take various tests in order to measure the size of your brain. You are tested in five categories: compute, identify, think, memorize, and analyze. There is a good variety to the tests. This is what I would call an action puzzler, as all of the tests are timed, so quick thinking is a must. Action puzzlers are not my favorite kind of puzzle games, but this one makes for a fun burst of gaming.

3. Exit

Exit is another platform puzzle game, with some co-op action as well. I first played Exit on the PSP and had an absolute blast. So, when a DS version came out with different levels, it was a must-buy. In Exit your character must rescue people from each level, leading them to the exit. In order to get there you will first need to make contact with the people you are sent to rescue, and then sometimes you must send them on errands. For example, you might need to send a small child through a small gap (through which only they can fit) in order to push a button to turn on the sprinklers and put out a fire. The elements of this platform puzzler make it a great game, where analysis is the key. The Nintendo DS version isn't quite as fun as on the PSP, but it is definitely worth a try.

2. Crosswords DS, New York Times Crosswords, USA Today Crosswords

For the number two entry on the list I've included the three DS crossword puzzle games I own. The DS is absolutely perfect for crossword puzzles. With the touchscreen for answer entry and the dual screens for showing the clues and puzzle at the same time, it just works out perfectly. I have found that the NYT Crosswords are quite difficult (just like in the paper itself) and I pretty much always need some hints to solve them. Crosswords DS, on the other hand, is a bit on the easy side. I haven't done many of the USA today crosswords, but I think it is somewhere in the middle ground.

1. Professor Layton 1, 2

The Professor Layton series of games (Professor Layton and the Curious Villiage, and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box) is the perfect use of the DS. These games are a group of puzzles connected by an adventure game type story. You meet various characters on your travels and they give you puzzles to solve. There is a great variety to the puzzles. All the classics are here: sliding block puzzles, tangrams, currency puzzles, mazes, logic puzzles of all kinds, and riddles. If you can think of a type of brain-teaser, it's probably here. I've played the first game of the series all the way through (solving 120 puzzles) and played all the bonus downloadable puzzles (I think there were 20 of those). The only downfall of these games is the lack of replayability, which is why I'm taking professor layton 2 a bit slower, savoring each puzzle.

So, if you are a puzzle freak like me, the Nintendo DS is a good thing. Happy puzzling.

- Ed Williams

The King of Horror

2009-10-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

This time of year my thoughts often turn to all things macbre. Add to that the impending release of 'Under the Dome', and it's time for a blog entry about the king of horror himself, Stephen King.

King is one of my favorite authors. In fact, until relatively recently he was my absolute favorite (now I would have to say the number one spot is occupied by Agatha Christie).

Next to curling up with a good, thick King book, or even better a short story collection, watching King's movies scratches that horror itch. So, since we just had a post about Scifi movie quotes, how about my favorite quotes from Stephen King horror movies (notice the word 'horror', which explains the absence of gems like 'you gotta get busy livin or get busy dyin' from the list):

Our first quote was spoken by the king himself in the early short story anthology movie, 'Creepshow'

10. I'm a goner already, Daddy. Ain't I? I've got that stuff from the meteor on me... and I'm gone. Ain't I? - Jordy Verrill - Creepshow

And next, this dorky utterance again from King himself in 'Maximum Overdrive'. MO is all about machines shucking their chains of bondage and taking over. This quote says it all...

9. This machine just called me an asshole! - Man at ATM - Maximum Overdrive

Next up is a quote from that movie about vengeance and justice, 'Thinner'

8. Henry Halliwell: This diet you're on, what is it? I've tried all the others, I might as well try this one.
Billy Halleck: I don't think you'd like it Henry. In fact I don't think you'd like it at all. - Thinner

Next is a quote from 'The Dead Zone' that is the response to the question of whether Dr. Weizak would kill Adolf Hitler before he came to power if Weizak was given the chance and knew the evil to come:

7. All right. All right. I'll give you an answer. I'm a man of medicine. I'm expected to save lives and ease suffering. I love people. Therefore, I would have no choice but to kill the son of a bitch. - Dr. Sam Weizak - The Dead Zone

And for Samuel L. Jackson's contribution to the Stephen King lexicon, we have our next quote.

6. Look, I'm not telling you not to stay in that room for your own good or for the profit of the hotel. Frankly, selfishly, I just don't want to clean up the mess.

The next two quotes are all about foreshadowing. King is the master of foreshadowing.

5. Whoa, whoa. You better watch what you say about my car. She's real sensitive. - Arnie Cunningham - Christine

4. That dog? You couldn't sic that dog on me if I was comin' at you with a straight razor in each hand. - Gary Pervier - Cujo

The next quote is just plain fun.

3. Buster: I just killed my wife. Is that bad?
Leland: Hey, these things happen. - Needful Things

In second place is a quote that I just love. It sums up the whole movie in one sentence. Imagine this now in a New England accent:

2. Sometimes, dead is betta - Jud Crandall - Pet Sematary

And in first place, can there be any doubt. This quote was actually an ad-lib by Jack Nicholson.

1. Darling, light of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash your brains in. - Jack Torrance - The Shining

- Edgar Williams.

Quotable Quotes - Scifi Movie Style

2009-10-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

First off, let me apologize for the fact that it's been a little over a month since my last blog entry. The fact is, it's much tougher to set aside some 'geek time' in the summer/early fall. Add to that the fact that I got my motorcycle license about 6 weeks ago and have been enjoying pretty much every sunny day on the bike and you end up with no new blog entries. Anyways, I'll see what I can do to improve the output.

I went to see 'Surrogates' last week. The large number of Scifi movies this season (Gamer, District 9, and Surrogates to name a few) got me thinking about classic Scifi flicks, and that got me thinking about those Scifi movie quotes that have become a sound bite for the entire movie.
Here are my top 10 favorite Scifi movie quotes. The only rules for this list are that the quote must come from a Scifi movie and only one quote in the top ten per movie (that last one made it a bit tougher to compose the list).

10. We're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. (Rockhound - Armageddon)

9. Scotty, I need warp speed in three minutes or we're all dead. (Kirk - Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan)

8. I'll be back (Schwarzenegger, The Running Man, Terminator)

7. Gort! Klaatu barada nikto! (Helen Benson - The Day The Earth Stood Still)

Ahhh, Yoda, backwards talk does he...

6. Try not,do or do not...there is no try (Yoda, Star Wars)

My favorite thought provoking quote, reffering to a robot manufactured with an 'expiration date'....

5. It's too bad that she won't live. But then again who does? (Gaff, Blade Runner)

My favorite "I'm a computer and you're only a puny human" quote...

4. It can only be attributable to human error. (Hal, 2001: A Space Odyssey)

This is my favorite Scifi/horror 'Oh no, now we're screwed' quote...

3. That's it man, game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do? (Hudson - Aliens)

Who can forget this line from the movie of the same name from the Harry Harrison novel 'Make Room! Make Room!'?

2. Soylent Green is people! (Detective Thorn - Soylent Green)

And finally, another Charlton Heston quote, in the famous scene at the end of 'Planet of the Apes', upon seeing the statue of liberty buried up to her neck on a beach....

1. Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell! (George Taylor, Planet of the Apes)

.... and a few honorable mentions (I told you it was tough to limit myself to one quote per film)...

I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. (Ripley - Aliens)

Get away from her, you bitch! ( Ripley - Aliens)

Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape! (George Taylor - Planet of the Apes)

May the force be with you. (Han Solo - Star Wars)

Hasta la vista, baby. (Terminator 2)

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long...and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy." (Tyrell, "BladeRunner")

"Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realise how precious it is. How dear to us." (Dr Miles Bennell, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956))

I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and I'm all out of bubblegum (Roddy Piper's character, They Live)

Do you know of the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? (Khan - Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan)

- Ed Williams

Intellivision: Intelligent Television - Part 2

2009-09-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are my top three Intellivision games:

3. Beauty and the Beast

In this original Intellivision game from Imagic, you must climb a building in order to rescue a girl from a suspiciously ape-ish looking 'bully'. This game is obviously a take-off on Donkey Kong. However, instead of being just a knock-off clone, it has important gameplay differences that make it unique and original.

As you climb each level of the building, the ledges that you run and jump along get narrower and narrower, until you finally reach the top of the building. But, watch out at the edges, because if you fall off the ledge you will not only lose a life, you will plummet to the bottom of the building and be forced to start scaling it from the bottom again.

Also, you don't climb up ladders as in Donkey Kong. In Beauty and the Beast you climb up windows. But, be careful because you can only climb up windows that are open. Watch out, if you are scaling a window as it shuts, you will lose a life.

This game is super-fast. Windows open and close, the bully tosses boulders in your direction, the damsel in distress occasionally tosses a heart your way (which will make you temporarily immune to rocks and other critters). If you guage things right, you can zip up three or four ledges with one well timed movement on your controller. Or, just as quickly you can lose three or four lives in a row to closing windows, birds, mice, and rocks.

Beauty and the Beast is also irreverant fun. When you complete each level a plane flys across the screen trailing various signs like 'Lucky' or 'Good Job'. Then, when you reach the top of the building and reach the bully, you promptly kick him right over the edge and you and your girl are picked up by said plane and flown away, only to begin the next building and do things all over again.

2. Lock N' Chase

Lock N' Chase is another game with classic roots. At first glance, it would seem to be a Pac-Man clone, but Lock N' Chase has key differences. In this game, you are a bank robber racing around a bank, eluding the ghosts... err, cops, snatching gold bars. Only there are no power pellets in this game. Instead, the player's edge is that you can lock doors behind you. By pressing the side button on the controller you lock the last door that you've gone through (this is an important point by the way). You can lock two doors at a time. So, you lock doors in order to prevent the cops from catching you. You can also really delay the cops (and get a nice score bonus) by locking them in between two doors (that's where it's important that you can lock doors you've just passed through).

The other big component of Lock N' Chase is the 'vault' in the center of the maze. At four points within each maze, a dollar sign will begin flashing in the vault. Grab this for increasing numbers of points, al-la gobbling consecutive ghosts in Pac-Man. Also, grabbing the dollar sign in the middle temporarily freezes all the cops, allowing you a bit of time to escape some sticky situations.

This game is fast (really really fast in the higher levels), and a lot of fun. If you can work out good 'patterns', you can rack up points. Just don't let the greed factor of the dollar sign in the middle lead you into the arms of the cops.
And, my absolute favorite....

1. Night Stalker

This is an original classic that I've never seen equalled. The gameplay is deceptively simple, yet full of strategy and 'edge of your seat' action. In this game you are trapped in a maze full of deadly robots. Your only weapons are your wits and a six-shot pistol. After six shots you must reload by grabbing a pistol which appears in one of five spots in the maze. Some of these reload points are easier than others, which makes for a moment of suspense when you run out of ammo. Will the next pistol appear nearby, or will it be way on the other size of the maze where robots are already milling around?

At the beginning of the game there is only one enemy robot, along with two bats and a spider. After 5000 points, when you kill a bat it is replaced by a robot, so you end up with three robots coming after you (the spider is never replaced by anything else, and is usually just a minor annoyance). The main robot gets progressively tougher as the game goes on. After the first model, there is one that is more intelligent. This is eventually replaced by a robot that you have to shoot three times to destroy. Then there is a robot whose bullets absorb yours (forcing you to shoot and then move before the robot shoots back at you). Then there is a robot whose bullets destroy your 'bunker' in the middle of the screen (which is where you appear after losing a life). Finally, at 80,000 points, the invisible robot appears. This enemy can only be seen when he shoots at you or when he passes by another enemy.

An absolutely critical part of the gameplay of Night Stalker is the fact that the enemy robots (and the player for that matter) can only have one bullet 'in flight' at a time. You can really use this fact to your advantage. One strategy is to entice a robot clear on the other side of the maze to shoot at you. Then you know you have a second or two where the robots right next to you won't be able to shoot. Be careful though, since this works both ways. If you shoot across the screen, you'll be powerless to attack until that bullet completes its journey.

Night Stalker is filled with action, with bullets flying left and right. But it also has strategy, especially when the invisible robot appears. There are certain spots in the maze that are relatively safe because the robots will fire at you before they get close enough to kill you. So, you can use these spots to make sure that you know where the invisible robot is, and can shoot him before he shoots you.

I've played a LOT of Night Stalker. It just doesn't get old. I guess that's why I have the world record score. This game is definitely worth your time.

So, definitely try these classic games out. Blue Sky Rangers has various products for you to play them on your PC. They are tons of fun, and a slice of gaming history.

- Ed Williams

Intellivision: Intelligent Television - Part 1

2009-08-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'm a gamer and I grew up in the '80s, so it goes without saying that I experienced the boom and bust of console gaming in the early '80s firsthand. The big three consoles at the time were the Atari, Coleco, and Intellivision systems. I had friends with Atari 2600's and Colecovision consoles, but my system was the Intellivision. I spent a lot of time playing Intellivision games, and still play them from time to time. (in fact, I've recently made my world record score on Intellivision's Night Stalker official)

If Nintendo's revitalization of the console market after the videogame crash of 1983 sparked the golden age of console games, then the time before the crash must be considered the platinum age. Games from that time emphasized gameplay over graphics. They had to. There are only so many sprites you can store with 8 bits. The innovation of game developers on these systems was really incredible. When literally every byte counts, every aspect of the game must add to gameplay.

Don't get me wrong. There were also some real duds on the early 80s consoles (which were a large part of the reason for the crash in 83). But some of the best videogames ever also came out on these systems. So, here are my favorite intellivision games:

6. The Dreadnaught Factor

Think of this one as one x-wing taking on a star destroyer. In this game you pilot a spaceship flying from the left of the screen to the right. As you travel, you make several 'passes' over increasingly difficult 'dreadnaughts'. These monster spaceships are packed with guns, lasers, and missiles. You are armed with a laser and bombs. In order to destroy each dreadnaught you must bomb the ship's energy vents. When you bomb the last one, the dreadnaught blows up and you are taken to the next tougher behemoth. If you are defeated, or if you make too many passes over the dreadnaught without blowing it up.... well, there goes the planet. This one has a good fear/surprise factor, especially when you make your first pass against a new dreadnaught. You need quick reflexes when as soon as you see the ship bristling with weapons you've got several shots coming right at you.

5. Locomotion

In this action/puzzle combo you are a train conductor. Your train travels on tracks layed out like a sliding number puzzle. At the edged of the 'puzzle board' are train stations. Your goal is to travel through all of the stations. The catch is that you need to slide the puzzle pieces around so that your train keeps going without crashing and makes it through the stations. But, just to make it more interesting, if you travel too long in a closed loop the 'crazy train' will come after you. And if you don't pick them up at the stations fast enough, the travelers blow up the station (talk about a customer protest!).

4. Pitfall

This is the game that put Activision on the map. The game first came out on the Atari 2600. In this game you are an adventurer rushing through the jungle in search of treasure. You must run, jump, and swing, avoiding hazards like snakes, scorpions, alligators, quicksand, and tar pits. A key aspect of this game is that it is timed. You only have 20 minutes of play time available, in addition to only a limited amount of 'pitfall harry's'. So, not only must you be agile enough the survive, but you must also get through the hazards quickly in order to collect all the treasures.

So, what are the top three? Cliffhanger time. Find out in part 2, coming soon....

- Ed Williams

Well Told Tales: Review

2009-07-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

There are a few short story podcasts floating about the podosphere: Escape Pod, Psueodopod, The Drabblecast, Well Told Tales, and a handful of others. The podcast medium is really ideal for this type of content. Typically, these podcasts release a new episode weekly containing at least one short story.

The Well Told Tales Podcast (at welltoldtales.com) releases a new short story on a weekly/bi-weekly basis. The stories here range between the horror, scifi, and crime genres. The podcast has been going since March of 2007 and, as of this writing, has 55 episodes available. The stories are normally between 15 and 60 minutes in length.

As with any short story podcast, magazine, or anthology, there are some real duds, but the Well Told Tales podcast is mostly populated with dark, dusky gems. There are hardboiled detective stories a la Raymond Chandler, scifi stories with thought provoking, imaginative twists, reminiscient of The Twilight Zone, and horror tales with shades of Stephen King.

The Well Told Tales website recently went through an overhaul, and now also boasts text stories, a blog, and a forum area in addition to the podcast. The text stories don't go through the same rigorous filtering as the stories that are turned into audio versions on the podcast, and it shows, but there are still a few good ones. The site is a lot of fun to explore. Also, the stories on the site (both audio and text) are very well categorized with keywords, so you can easily find your favorite genres and subjects.

Really, the only downfall of the Well Told Tales podcast is the frequency. Typically the episodes come out every two weeks, and at 15 to 60 minutes a piece, that's a long time to wait for the next fix.

If you like short stories, head on over to welltoldtales.com. You won't be sorry you did. Here are some of my favorites from the podcast:

- Episode 35 - Crush - 24:48 minutes (17.04 MB)

Written by Derek Rutherford, read by Eve Berkson.
In the future, love hurts … but an amorous young couple will take enormous risks to become intimate.

- Episode 5 - Death and Taxes - 22:07 minutes (15.19 MB)

Written by Finn Colgan, read by Andy Hoff.
When the taxman comes calling on an shabby nursing home, someone will wind up paying the ultimate price.

- Episode 27 - Piercing the Dead - 16:48 minutes (11.55 MB)

Written by Kevin Anderson, read by Brandon Carpenter.
The proprietor of the Ink Spot tattoo and piercing parlor of Austin, Texas recalls his most terrifying customer. Eyebrow rings have never been so spooky.

- Episode 45 - A Parliament of Me - 19:36 minutes (22.44 MB)

Written by Patrick Hurley, read by Andy Catt.
A man faces an existential crisis which takes the form of a personal parliamentary election.

- Episode 30 - Depopulator - 25:29 minutes (17.51 MB)

Written by Lavie Tidhar, read by Christina Colligan.
A shadowy band of criminals implement their own brand of population control.

- Episode 6 - Battle of the Carson Hotel - 42:07 minutes (28.93 MB)

Written by Heath Lowrance, read by Andy Hoff.
While World War II rages overseas, the house dick at the Carson Hotel fights his own battle against a gang of pasty-faced gunmen, a mysterious woman and the brilliant Dr. Vox.

- Episode 12 - The Hard Way - 40:38 minutes (27.91 MB)

Written by Tom Barlow, read by Frederic Heringes.
A gambler heads to Vegas to win enough money to pay off his mob debts — only to find himself in the middle of a dirty bomb attack, riding the wrong kind of “hot” streak.

- Ed Williams

Artillery Games, or How to Blow Up Your Friends and Influence People

2009-07-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, my first computer was an Apple IIe. One of the first games I enjoyed on it was a game written in Applesoft BASIC as an example game program. It was simply called Artillery. I still have a printout of the source somewhere. The concept was simple. It was a two player game. Each player has a bunker that sits one one side of a hill, opposite the other player. On their turn, each player enters the angle at which to fire a projectile and the bags of powder to use for the shot. The first to drop a shell onto the other is the victor. The game also had some variables. The bunkers would start out a random distance from eachother. The height of the hill was also variable. Finally, the wind speed and direction was random (and the wind was sometimes a huge factor as it would actually blow the shells backwards at times -- completely unrealistic, but a fun game element nevertheless). Artillery on the Apple made a big impression on me back then. And there still isn't much more fun than dropping an artillery shell right on your opponent's head.

It is interesting that early game programmers came up with the artillery concept. Some of the very first computers were built to calculate shell trajectories in real life. So computers went from calculating the trajectory for life and death applilcations to plotting out the results of a human generated trajectory for entertainment purposes.

Computer artillery games have evolved since the early days, while still keeping the original concept of the turn based game with the player choosing the angle and power of each shot. Some notable versions that have come out over the years are Tank Wars, Scorched Earth, the Worms series of games, and Pocket Tanks. Some of the additions have been additional types of weapons, and being able to move your tank (or worm in the case of the Worm games), and multiple enemies rather than just one.

Recently, I've published my own entry in this storied genre of games. One of the first games I wrote a few years back was a variation on the artillery theme called Cave Dudes. Recently, I've revisited Cave Dudes, polished it up a bit, and published it as freeware. Cave Dudes uses the basic artillery concept, but also has a couple of twists. You are a caveman chucking rocks over a hill at your opponent. The rocks are scattered on the ground. So in this game you must collect ammunition before you can throw it at your opponent. You are allotted seven 'moves' per turn. A move could be throwing a rock, picking up a rock, or moving left or right. Also, when you throw a rock you can either choose the angle and power, or just repeat what you used for the last throw. So, if you've targeted in on your opponent, you can repeat the same throw in order to nail them again.

Cave Dudes also includes something I haven't seen in any previous artillery games. I've included an arcade mode (both for one player or two players). In the arcade mode, the angle and power of your throws is constant, and play is no longer turn based, so it is a matter of dodging the rocks coming at you, while picking up and throwing rocks as fast as you can. It can be a real blast, especially with two players.

It will be interesting what the artillery genre has in store for us next. Until then, enjoy these entertaining titles, and remember, pull the pin, throw the grenade, and then count to three.

- Edgar Williams

Thinking about solitaire

2009-07-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've said it before. I have a problem with the standard version of solitaire we've all seen (known as patience). It's just too brainless. Yes, there are times when I'm burnt out and don't really want to think, but there are tons of other things I can do then besides solitaire. When I play a game of solitaire I want at least a minimum of brain activity to challenge me. I've reviewed a couple of more puzzling variations of solitaire in a previous post. Now I've got one of my own design (with a pool theme -- with a nickname like Fast Eddie you know I like pool). Try this solitaire for a change of pace:

Nineball Solitaire (copyright 2009 - Edgar Williams)

Object of the game: to eliminate all the cards in the ‘rack’

Scoring: one point for each card eliminated in the rack plus a ten point bonus for each complete rack eliminated, plus a one point bonus for each unused card remaining in the ‘kitchen’ area

Setup: Remove the 1-9 of hearts and 1-9 of diamonds from a standard deck of playing cards. These will be the only cards needed. Shuffle these cards and deal out nine cards face up in a diamond pattern, starting at the top and overlapping the cards in each row on top of the last row as shown below. This is the ‘rack’. Then deal out the remaining nine cards face down into three piles of three cards each. This is the ‘kitchen’. Finally, turn over the top card in each of the three piles in the kitchen.

Gameplay: Remove cards in groups of 1 to 7 cards, using the following rules. You may remove any face up cards that have no cards on top of them (you may only remove a card with a card (or cards) on top as long as you are removing the card(s) on top as well). The cards you remove must add up to either 9 or 19. If you use any of the cards in the kitchen, turn over the next card in the pile and you can use it for further play.

Example Game: Say the cards are dealt out as shown below. First, remove the 7 and 2 in the rack as they add up to 9, and removing the 2 means that you may remove the 7 underneath it. Now, remove the 3, 1, and 5 in the rack as they add up to 9. Now you can remove the 8, 4, and 3 in the rack and the 4 in the kitchen area as they add up to 19. All you have left to remove is the 8 remaining in the rack. You have a 2, 9, and 9 to work with in the kitchen area. Get rid of the first 9 in order to see the card beneath. The 6 exposed is no help. Get rid of the other 9. The 6 exposed there is no help either. You are stuck at this point and must end the game. You receive 8 points for the cards you removed from the rack and no bonus as you did not clear the rack. If, instead of the 6 being underneath the first 9, the ace had been there, you would have been able to remove the 8 from the rack plus the ace and cleared the rack.

- Edgar Williams

Review and History of 'Thrust Extreme'

2009-06-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

"Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects." - Dave Barry

Gravity is also a key component in a category of classic arcade games I like to call 'Gravity vs Inertia vs Thrust'. In these games you are in control of a spaceship that is acted upon by these three basic physical forces. I've been playing a lot of one of these games, Thrust Extreme, lately. Thrust Extreme has a long and storied history containing some of the classic arcade games of all time. The grandpappy of all these gravity vs intertia vs thrust games is of course Lunar Lander.

Lunar Lander type games started as early as 1971. Basically, you must control a spaceship and successfully land on a landing pad on the moon. You must use the one component you can control (thrust) to overcome the other two components (gravity and intertia) in order to be successful.
The arcade version of Lunar Lander came out in 1979 from Atari. In this version of the game, you have two controls which can rotate your lander clockwise or counterclockwise, and a throttle to adjust your thrust. The arcade version of Lunar Lander is devilishly difficult. Touch any part of the landscape other than the landing pad with your spaceship and you lose. Land on the landing pad too fast and you lose. Land on the landing pad without your ship being level horizontally and you lose. Run out of fuel and, you guessed it, you lose. That being said, Lunar Lander is still a great game. It has an attraction (no gravity pun intended) that is hard to explain. Maybe it's the thought of being in control of a multi-million dollar lander. Or maybe it's the 'greed factor'. There isn't just one landing pad you see. There are several pads scattered around the landscape, worth a differing amount of points for a successful touchdown. So you must choose whether to take the easier, safer site for less points, or that site in a canyon on the side of a mountain for a bigger score.

The next game contributing to the evolution of Thrust Extreme is the arcade game Gravitar, which came out in 1982, also by Atari. Gravitar owes its existence to both Lunar Lander and Asteroids. In Gravitar you control a ship, but instead of landing on the moon, your goal is to destroy gun turrets located on planets. So Gravitar introduces a gun on your ship. You are still affected by gravity, thrust, and inertia. Also, Gravitar introduces the concept of a tractor beam on your ship which you can use to pick up fuel tanks to replenish your fuel.

Gravitar inspired the computer game, Thrust. Thrust has you being shot at by gun turrets as well. The big additions here are orbs which you must collect using your tractor beam and rescue from each planet. Also, the terrain in thrust is 'deeper'. In most levels you must descend into a cave in order to retrieve the orb. And the caves get increasingly tighter as well. This makes for a very challenging game. But you soon get used to the handling of your ship and work out how short surgical pulses of your thrusters will get you through. I won't go through them all here, but suffice it to say that Thrust came out for a wide number of early PC's.

A great windows PC version of Thrust is Thrust Deluxe, by Wiebo De Witt. This game is an absolute blast to play. The vector graphics are fun, the gameplay and handling of the ship is great. I only have two small complaints. One, the handling of choosing a starting level for your game is done through the use of passwords. This concept works, but a retro game doesn't need to use this retro method. The other problem I have is that there are times when you will lose a ship in a particular spot, and when your next ship (aka your next life) appears, it will immediately hit a wall and be destroyed as well, continuining in this cycle until you are out of ships and game over. This glitch can cost you a game even after doing really well up to the critical point.

Finally, we come to Thrust Extreme. This windows PC game was also written by Wiebo De Witt. This game is incredibly addicting. The gameplay is nearly identical to Thrust Deluxe, but the new age graphics are just amazing, and the 'death spiral' glitch in Thrust Deluxe appears to be fixed (at least it hasn't happened to me yet). One small addition that I just love is the action of the orb once you've attached it to your ship via tractor beam. In Thrust Deluxe, this attachment is via a straight rod-like connection that ends up swinging back and forth below your ship as you navigate. In Thrust Extreme this connection looks and behaves like a rope, making it even more difficult to control (remember, if any part of your ship, or the orb touch any part of the landscape, your ship is destroyed).

Thrust Extreme also comes with a 'world editor'. I haven't actually used this yet, but it looks interesting, even though the game already has more levels than I will probably be able to conquer. In Thrust Extreme you can hit F1 to advance tothe next level, so the passwords are unnecessary (and absent) here.

Thrust Deluxe and Thrust Extreme are both freeware, so there is absolutely no reason for not checking these games out other than the time you will lose to them. I would rate Thrust Extreme as four out of five stars. If it had difficulty settings and a way of saving your game I would give it five out of five.

I only remember bits and pieces of the physics classes I've taken, but I do know one important equation:

Gravity + Inertia + Thrust = Fun

- Ed Williams

Help, I'm Addicted to Boardgamegeek!

2009-06-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

OK, if you are a board gamer, you probably already know about the boardgamegeek website, but what you may not know is how incredibly functional this site actually is. Excuse me while I gush like a fanboy, but this site has absolutely everything when it comes to board gaming information and the board game community. If you enjoy board games (or card games - really any kind of non-video games), and you haven't checked out the geek, you really need to head on over and see what you are missing.

Here are just a few of the features of BGG:

- Game summaries
- Pictures of game components and games in progress
- Game forums
- Game rules
- Rule variants
- Reviews
- Session reports
- Geeklists (lists of all kinds - people's favorite games, favorite games for a certain number of players, games by a particular designer, the list of lists goes on and on)
- Top games based on ratings from the BGG users

and here are some of the features you can use when you register (which is free)

- Create a profile including interests, hobbies, etc.
- Add games you own and/or have played
- Rate games
- Create your own 'Top 10' and 'Hot 10'
- Post to the forums
- Create your own geeklists
- Even create your own blog on BGG

BGG has been a really useful site for me. I'm not made of money, and I'm a real game fanatic, so I need to be choosy. I like to research a game before I purchase. Boardgamegeek is a great tool for that. It led me to some of the games I enjoy the most, like Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride. Boardgames are so much more than the staples that everyone knows (Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble, Chess, Checkers, Backgammon). The geek can help you navigate the stormy waters of the games available and lead you to some real gems.

So here are my current top 10 games (this is an ever changing list of course):

- The Settlers of Catan (A true classic 'Eurogame' -- currently number 39 on BGG)
- Ticket to Ride (A real cutthroat gateway game -- currently #50)
- Lost Cities (#118 on BGG)
- Sheepshead (I live in Wisconsin -- need I say more?)
- Five Crowns (which I was introduced to as 'Pay Me')
- Carcassonne (#57 on the geek)
- San Juan (#63)
- Oh Hell! (I was introduced to this one as 'Scratch')
- Rummikub (Picked it up at a garage sale -- really enjoyed playing it)
- Flinch (a Parker Brothers classic)

Here's a link to me on BGG. Enjoy this great board gamer 'killer site'.

- Ed Williams

75 Cubic Inches of Gaming Goodness

2009-06-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

I just bought the cheapest PC I've ever gotten. For less than 200 bones I picked up a refurbished Acer Aspire One netbook. This little machine is very cool. It's 9.8" x 6.7" x 1.14" with an 8.9" screen. It doesn't have an optical drive, and its maximum screen resolution is 1024 x 600, but other than that it will do anything a full sized laptop will. For the type of computing I usually do (writing and playing 2d games, internet use, email, watching videos, reading ebooks, and reading comics), it works beautifully.

I've never used any other netbooks before, so I can't really make any comparisons, but here are some of the pros and cons I've found so far:

Pros:

Low cost

Small size (obviously) for great portability

Nice bright, backlit screen

Big 140gb hard drive

Windows XP (no vista worries here)

Comes with recovery software to restore it to factory settings for disaster recovery

Cons:

Despite having vents all over the place, it does get hot

It does take a little bit to get used to the smaller keyboard

The touchpad is quite small (luckily, you can turn it off -- I use a USB trackball with it)

So, what do I use this little bugger for? Well that's just it. Every day the internet adds more applications. They are usually quite easy to use and usually free. The sites I use are only the tip of the iceberg, but I like to use:

Google reader - to keep up on blogs

Itunes - to download podcasts

Facebook - for networking with friends

Yahoo - for email, TV and movie listings, yellow pages, and news

Blogger - for this blog

Officelive - for my website

Several online games sites (yahoo, brettspielwelt, and pogo to name a few)

Board Game Geek - to keep up on all manner of board games and card games

And that's just online. Offline I've got things like the following loaded on this baby:

Mame - THE app for emulating arcade machines for retro gaming

Visual Pinball

Intellivision Lives

Several freeware puzzle games and boardgames

Microsoft Works

Videora Ipod Converter and PSP Video

Blitz Basic - the language I write my own games in

CDisplay - for reading comics

Adobe - for ebooks

I've only had this machine for two days now. I'm sure I'll keep finding more and more uses for it. Experts have said it, and I believe it. The future of computing is in thinner client machines cconnecting up to the internet and running more and more robust applications there. After all, just maybe this here internet thing is going to stick around.

- Edgar Williams

Solitaire For the Puzzle Freak

2009-05-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

I like the version of solitaire made famous by its inclusion in Windows. It's great for a quick, light, time-waster. But a person can play it with virtually no thought at all. Here are two versions of solitaire that actually engage a few brain cells, and really entertain in the process, especially if you're a puzzle freak like me. Both of these were created by legendary games designer Sid Sackson.

Bowling Solitaire is a solitaire card game simulation of the real sport. You deal out ten 'pins' and then use three piles of the remaining cards to try to eliminate all of them. It is quite difficult though. There are times when I can't even score as high as in actual bowling (and I'm a horrible bowler). You really need to think every move through, since the cards that are remaining are what you need to knock down the remaining pins.

Here is the boardgamegeek Bowling Solitaire page
Here is a link to the rules
Here is a great online java version of the game
Here is a PC version (this also includes the Sid Sackson dice game 'Choice' -- good stuff)

Mini Golf is another solitaire simulation of a real sport. For this game, you deal out the cards in a 7 x 7 grid, which becomes the golf course. Then you must move from card to card according to certain rules in order to complete each hole. This is a real puzzler and a very fun game. I'm beginning work on a PC version.

Here is a link to the boardgamegeek Mini Golf page
Here is a link to the rules

Check out http://www.fasteddiessoftware.com/ - I hope to have a PC version of Mini Golf out there real soon.

- Edgar Williams

Let's Work Together... Three Examples of Retro Puzzle Goodness.

2009-05-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

I love old videogames, especially puzzle games. One particularly fun mechanic is having several player characters which must work together in order to solve the goal of the puzzle. Here are three great old games that use this mechanic to a T.

The first game I want tell tell you about is 'The Lost Vikings', published by Blizzard in 1992. In this game the player controls three vikings (one at a time): Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout. Each of these plucky characters have unique abilities which must be used in conjunction at just the right times in order to rescue our lost warriors from several fiendish puzzles. I was first introduced to this classic puzzler by the gameboy advance version. Here is the wikipedia entry, and here is 'The Lost Vikings' on the Home of the Underdogs abandonware site.

Next up is 'The Humans', published by GameTek in 1993. I first found out about this game from reading about the upcoming Nintendo DS version. Then, about a week ago I was shocked to see the original PC version at a thrift store. Needless to say, I quickly parted with $1.99 to pick it up. In this game, you help a band of hapless cavemen to escape from various puzzling areas. Like the vikings, the humans will need to work together if they are to escape. However, in this game it is the objects that the humans pick up, and their initial placement, which make them each key to a particular part of each puzzle. I'm definitely looking forward to playing this on the DS. Here is the wikipedia entry for this gem, and here it is on Home of the Underdogs.

The last of our trio of player character co-op puzzle games is 'Quadrax'. This game was published by JRC Interactive in 1996. Here is a good site on its history (incidentally, the author of this website has written a series of sequels to the game which are definitely worth checking out -- the screenshot is from 'Quadrax V'). This game works like its predecessors. The initial placement of the player characters determines the role they play in solving each puzzle.

You may have noticed I didn't include 'Lemmings' in this entry. Don't get me wrong, Lemmings is a great puzzle game (great series of games actually). It is slightly different than these other three though. In Lemmings, all of the player characters (the lemmings) start out in the same place, and all of the lemmings have the same abilities (which you assign to them in order to solve the puzzle). So, while Lemmings is a game of working together, it doesn't matter which lemmings do what. For this reason, I would put Lemmings into its own category.

So, if you like the idea of figuring out how to use a team of characters together in order to accomplish one puzzling goal, check these out. Enjoy. I sure have.

- Ed Williams

The Web's Best Free Puzzle Games

2009-05-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've played a lot of puzzle games. A lot. Here are some of the best of the freeware puzzle games I've found (not including my own [which you can find at www.fasteddiessoftware.com] -- it wouldn't be kosher to rate my own games).

#5. Tile World

Tile world is a freeware clone of the game "Chips Challenge", which was includedin the windows entertainment pack. It uses the Chips Challenge engine, but is made upof levels created by fans of the game (there is an editor available to create your ownlevels). In this puzzler you collect a certain number of computer chips in order to pass through a door to the next level. There are many items to help and hinder you inyour quest. There are locked doors, colored keys, water, flippers, fire, fireproofboots, and much more. There are also creatures with different behaviors waiting to stop you. The game can be repetitive at times (if you "die" you are brought back to the beginning of the level), but the challenges are fun and rewarding. This game isdefinitely worth a try. Resources for Tile World and Chips Challenge are below.

tile world - http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/software/tworld/
chips challenge/tile world faq - http://chips.kaseorg.com/faq/cache/18.html
chips challenge editor - http://www.stage62.com/chipedit/chipedit.htm

#4. Deadly Rooms of Death

The rules of this game are simple. You guide a character with a sword through rooms swarming with various creatures trying to kill you. All you have to protect youfrom these monsters who would like to see what your insides look like are your feet tocarry you in any of four directions and a sword that you can swing in two directions.The trick is that the monsters only move after you move, and you have all the time youneed to plan each move in order to survive. The game below is the "architects edition"which includes an editor to create your own "Deadly Rooms of Death".

drod site - http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewsitepage.php?id=90294

#3. Bricks

Bricks is, in the words of the author, Andreas Rottler, "based on the Polish game ofSenski....". This classic puzzle game sports "sliding block" puzzles ranging from relatively easy to close to impossible. The concept is simple, move the "bricks"by sliding them into an empty space in order to get the goal brick to the target location. If you are ready for a fun brain workout, check out this game at

bricks download site - http://www.bricks-game.de/html/winbricks.html

#2. Sokoban

Sokoban is one the most copied puzzle games I have seen, and with goodreason. The rules are simple, but the results can provide hours of enjoyment. Sokoban was written in 1980 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi. In Japanese, the word Sokoban means "warehouse keeper". And that is the easiest way to describe the player's role in the game. The game consists of rooms with a number of crates that the player must move to goal squares somewhere in the room. The only rules are that crates can only be pushed, never pulled, and that only one crate can be pushed at a time. These two rules combined with the absolutely fiendish layout of the rooms can make for puzzles that at first glance seem impossible. Only with the correct sequence of moves can the rooms be solved. Some Sokoban links are below. There are many versions of the program, some with editors for users to create their own levels. Have fun exploring the puzzling worldof possibilities that Hiroyuki Imabayashi has created.

official site (Japanese) - http://www.sokoban.jp/
sokoban++ - http://www.joriswit.nl/sokoban/

And, saving the best for last.......

#1. Laser Tank

Laser Tank contains some elements of Sokoban, but it is definitely not just a clone. The main element that makes Laser Tank stand apart from Sokoban is the laser. InSokoban, the player must push crates around the room. In Laser Tank, the player has a laser equipped tank which pushes crates by shooting at them. This allows the player to push crates from a distance. The object of the game is also different. The player mustmaneuver their tank from the starting position to a goal flag somewhere on the level. This sounds quite simple, but there are many obstacles that must be overcome. There can be crates as in Sokoban, but there can also be items such as mirrors to reflect the tank's laser, cannons that will mercilessly shoot you, water, conveyor belts, and more.

Another thing that makes Laser Tank so special is the sheer number of levels. Laser Tank was written by Jim Kindley. The author has made distribution of Laser Tank free, but he asks that players create their own levels with the included editor and send them to his website. He calls this creative concept addware. The result is that the current version of Laser Tank contains over 17,000 levels! All of the levels provided havesolutions, but looking at some of them you would swear that just can't be true. That isthe true sign of a great puzzle game. So, if you have a few hours to spend on an addictive, truly wonderful puzzler, give the link below a try.

http://www.jccontrols.net/laser/

05/02/09 - Who wants popcorn?

2009-05-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

I'm getting pretty stoked about the movies coming out this month. I saw the Wolverine movie this weekend. It wasn't the best superhero movie I've ever seen (probably Dark Knight if I'd have to choose), but then again, it wasn't Catwoman. Actually, it was pretty enjoyable and didn't have any slow spots at all. And I like the fact that it was the first mainstream movie to introduce us to some of Marvel's lesser known mutants like Gambit (the Daniel
Negraneau cameo was classic here), the Blob, and Deadpool.

So it caught my eye when I saw this blog post about doing a fantasy game of picking blockbuster movies. Americans love movies almost as much as they love gambling, so it makes perfect sense. So, here's my take. Here are some of the big movies coming out this summer:

Xmen Origins - Wolverine - May 1
Star Trek - May 8
Angels and Demons - May 15
Terminator Salvation - May 21
Night at the Museum 2 - May 22
Pixar's Up - May 29
Drag Me To Hell - May 29
Land of the Lost - June 5
Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - June 12
Year One - June 19
The Proposal - June 19
Transformers 2 - June 26
My Sister's Keeper - June 26
Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs - July 1
Public Enemies - July 1
Bruno - July 10
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - July 15
G-Force - July 24
Funny People - July 31 - Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen
GI Joe - Rise of Cobra - August 7
Inglourious Basterds - August 21
Final Destination - Death Trip - August 28

So what would my picks be? Well, I've got to go with Star Trek right out of the gate for a few reasons. Geek culture is at an all time high and on the rise. We haven't had a Star Trek fix in quite a while. People are going to flock to the escapism of a new trek. And I just want to be able to root for the movie that I'm most looking forward to this summer (fortunately I won't have to wait long :-) ).

After Star Trek? Well, if I had enough cash left, I would pick up Harry Potter, since it's been long anticipated as well, originally slated to come out last year. But I probably wouldn't be that lucky, so I'll just talk about some sleeper picks. My first sleeper would be Land of the Lost. Will Ferrel is funny as hell, and from the trailer this looks like the perfect vehicle for him. Next, I'd go with Funny People. This Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen team-up looks like what we would get if Seinfeld were made a bit more serious and turned into a movie.

Lastly, I'm intrigued by Drag Me to Hell. Watching the trailer and reading the synopsis, it's basically Stephen King's "Thinner" with a slightly different curse put on the main character (but then it's not always easy to find originality in Hollywood). It was a good story when Stephen King wrote it (one of my favorites actually) and it looks like it will be a good story now. How will my picks fare? Only time, and millions of moviegoers, will tell.

- Edgar Williams (www.fasteddiessoftware.com)

04/27/09 - The gameplay's the thing.....

2009-05-06T15:15:00.001-07:00

OK, so I read several videogame development blogs today and I came across this nugget from the Game Developers Conference '09 where Heather Chaplin, a videogame journalist ranted on the state of today's videogames. Basically, her contention is that the reason that videogames focus on sex, violence, and immature male fantasies and that the videogame industry has not had groundbreaking, cultural works of art like 'Citizen Kane' or seminal artists like Bob Dylan is because videogame developers are (in her words) "..a bunch of f***cking adolecents.."
Alright, so this got my attention. It also got the attention of a lot of other bloggers. Here are some particularly notable responses:

geekstudies.org
Sexy Videogameland
game-ism.com
David Jaffe's Blog (David Jaffe is the creator of 'God of War')

So, here's my two cents. Ms. Chaplin is only partially right. She's right that there are a lot of really horrible games out there. Although I don't know any personally, I'm sure she's right that there are some really immature game developers out there too. She's even right that a lot of videogame geek culture is immature filth (it still saddens me that a concept like the G4 series "Code Monkeys" degenerated into drug, sex, and potty humor by the second episode -- I so wanted to like a show that looks like an 8-bit videogame and is about an 8-bit videogame development company, but alas).

But here is where Ms. Chaplin is wrong. It's not the game developers' fault. It's societies' fault. It is a sad fact that intellectuals are a minority in the world today. It is also a sad fact that Grand Theft Auto IV sold 3.29 million copies in the US. Ms. Chaplin's argument would be that the reason GTA IV sells so well is that videogame consumers don't have good choices. I would agree that the proportion of good games is smaller than that of the mindless tripe. But it's a reflection of our world. While I hate GTA IV and all the violence for violence sake games like it, I reconize GTA IV as a culturally significant game. After all, how can a game sell that many copies without some cultural significance?

For me, videogames lost something when they went to 3D. In the early days, the way a game stood out was in the gameplay. Now it's all about the graphics. Here's a simple, but mostly true equation:

The morning paper is to the works of Shakespeare as 2D games are to 3D games

As for videogame violence. I don't have a problem with violence, especially fantasy violence (videogames are largely escapeism after all). Heck, my favorite authors are Agatha Christie, Stephen King, and John D MacDonald (a trio that have left a trail of bodies in the wake of each and every one of their books). Violence is part of being human. However highly evolved, we are animals underneath (born in sin and all that). What I have a problem with is violence without story or gameplay. Violence for the sake of violence is demeaning to the industry.

But let's not dismiss the important, cultural, just plain fun videogames that have come along. Games like Civilization, Myst, even Tetris. There are games to scratch the strategy gamer's and/or puzzle gamer's itch out there. You just need to seek them out.

And not all new games are bad either. Nintendo has revitalized the entire videogame market with games like Brain Age (which sold 16.82 million copies -- take that GTA IV!) and the Professor Layton series. And there are cross platform games like Bejewelled and Diner Dash that emphasize gameplay (which is what videogames are all about after all). So, while the world and the society that we live in is far from perfect, it IS the society that we live in, and we must make the best of it. What does this mean for videogame developers? It means they should take Ms. Chaplin's comments for what they are worth, the dissatisfaction of one professional critic. But they should not dismiss her rant completely. Game developers take heed. Shakespeare's Hamlet said "the play's the thing". I say, "the gameplay's the thing". Videogames reflect society. So let's reflect a little more of the better parts. Waddaya say?

- Edgar Williams (www.fasteddiessoftware.com)

04/21/09 - What's on my IPOD right now...

2009-05-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

I don't really listen to music much, other than Weird Al Yankovic or modern swing bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Instead, I like to listen to audiobooks and podcast fiction (I just can't resist a good story). There are quite a few excellent podcasts for fiction lovers. These generally fall into two groups. There are some that buy and record short stories from many different authors, and there are podcasts that authors (usually unpublished authors) produce with their own work.

There are a new breed of authors that are using the internet to self publish their work via podcast. Normally they record these podcasts and publish them in episodic form, a chapter or so a week. This is a really excellent way for these authors to prove to publishers, through their podcast following, that there is an audience for their work. And many podcast authors have gone on to successfully land a publishing deal.

Podcasts can be a mixed bag. There are really high quality productions with great writing, and then there are those that can be of less than stellar quality. But all in all, there is a lot of great entertainment to be found. So, without further ado, here's what I've been listening to lately:

Podcasts (you can find all these in the itunes store or google them):

Well Told Tales - Horror, scifi, and hardboiled detective stories with excellent production quality and great writing. Agatha Presents Mysteries - A mix of audiobooks and old time radio episodes all from the grand dame of mystery.

Scott Sigler Audiobooks - Scott Sigler is something of a legend in podcast fiction. He's one of the
pioneers of this media and also one of the most successful authors to use this tool. He has several
published novels to his credit and continues to rock the web with his well researched, hard hitting, 'scientific horror'. He's the rock star of podcast fiction, and I'm definitely a Sigler junkie.

The Zombie Astronaut's Frequency of Fear - The Zombie Astronaut podcasts old time radio shows of the horror and scifi genre's. This is good old classic stuff.

Pseudopod - Weekly horror short stories from various authors. Many more good stories than bad ones.

How to Succeed in Evil - These are funny stories from Patrick McLean about an efficiency consultant for supervillians.

Escape Pod - Short science fiction stories from various authors. This is another pioneering podcast. Steve Eley created this podcast, which is nearing its 200th episode. This reliable favorite publishes a new story every week, week in and week out.

Heaven - Season 1 - This is a podcast novel from another hardworking podcaster, Mur Lafferty. Mur has more podcast content out there than you can shake a stick at. And it's all witty, well written stuff.

7th Son: Book Two - Deceit - This is a podcast novel from J.C. Hutchins. It's action packed scifi all the way.

Audiobooks by MYN - This is a podcast of the novels of Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff. This guy is one twisted dude, but he can certain spin a tale.

Audiobooks (borrowed from the local library and ripped to my IPOD):

"Death in the Clouds", by Dame Agatha Christie - I'm really getting into this story of a murder on-board an airplane that happens to have the fame Hercule Poirot as a passenger.

"Sherlock Holmes - A Baker Street Dozen", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - You just can't go wrong with a classic like this.

- Edgar Williams (www.fasteddiessoftware.com)