In Memoriam: Hiroshi Yamauchi 1927 – 2013

I am very saddened to hear of Hiroshi Yamauchi’s passing today.   From what I have read he passed due to complications with pneumonia in Kyoto, Japan.  He was 85 years old.

Hiroshi Yamauchi changed not only the course of his great-grandfather’s company, but he helped to shape many of my generations childhood by the games and platforms that were produced by Nintendo during his 53 years as President of the company.  His legacy lives on in the fond memories of the times we all spent with the characters he helped bring to our homes.

My thoughts and condolences go out to his family.

One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor

Yes, I know I referenced Mordor in the post title – but Come On! Who doesn’t love Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea?!?!

Without a map!  Amirite?!?

Okay, fine – there’s big black gates, Orc’s and evil there that does not sleep blocking the entrance to Mordor for any young adventurer who dares to seek it out.  But a map sure does come in handy to get you to the right place.

As an avid gamer, maps are one of my most favorite items that I have to have.  They not only point you in the direction you need to go, but they help to build the world you are exploring and having adventures in.  As gamer’s we all remember playing the Zork Anthology and grabbing our graph paper composition books and mapping out the world that was being shown to us through nothing more than text on a screen.  It’s ingrained in our genetics and is part of our innate character to “map out” where we have been.  Hell, you even get achievements for it in World of WarCraft!

For gamer’s, maps aren’t just functional items that take up inventory in our backpacks.  They are pieces of art.  We spend hours going over them for their intricately drawn cities mapping out where the nearest armory is or the sweeping landscape sprawling out before us full of adventure!  We appreciate their beauty and the time the cartographer took in creating it and treat them with respect.  Yes, I am that passionate about the maps I use/own – and you should be too!

And maps are everywhere!  You can get great maps for D&D at the Wizards of the Coast archive for  “Map-a-Week“.  You can go to independent sites like FantasticMaps.com and see some gorgeous work there and pick up tips on how to do it yourself to boot.  And some companies like Paizo are getting smart and including not only adventure quests you can take your Pathfinder Character on at the end of each of their comic books (being published by Dynamite  . . . and I do highly recommend getting them – the story and artwork is AMAZEBALLZ!) but they are also including the map for each adventure with every comic as well.  Not to mention you can pick up some great free maps on Paizo’s site as well.  You can even make absolutely beautiful coasters for your humble abode with maps!  Just check out Dodger’s DIY below from Swords & Stitches where she does exactly that with Jessie Cox.

Today was just one of those days that while surfing my Google+ feed that maps seemed to be the main theme, so I decided to share.

Playstation 4: Announced But Is A No-Show

Picture from Sony Entertainment PlayStation 4 website. 2013

It’s kind of comical that the tag line for the new PlayStation 4 that Sony Entertainment announced yesterday is “See The Future” considering they didn’t bother to bring the actual console to the much anticipated event!  I wasn’t the only one who noticed that little gem, I’m sure.  Anyone who knows me knows I’m a PC Gamer first and an XBOX guy who dabbles in Wii. (but only for the bowling . . . I swear!)  When I heard rumblings of a PS4 coming out this year I made sure to read up on the announcement to see if anything ground-breaking was coming in the gaming community as a good little gamer does.  Unfortunately my assumptions are proving to be correct which is a disappointment – but it got worse.

Not only does there appear to not be much in the way of new tech or ground-breaking  gaming play/aspects, but Sony appears to have abandoned the “backwards compatible” concept that made the PS2 so popular in the first place.  So not only do you NOT get anything new and shiny to brag about but if you choose to buy the PS4 – you’re gonna lose your game library as well.   That doesn’t make me want to go drop what I’m sure will be at least $400 on a new system and then start a whole new game library from scratch hoping they bring my favorite titles along for the ride.  Sure, they hinted at the possibility of bringing legacy games to the new console via online streaming . . . . possibly.

And while we’re on the subject of games – I haven’t seen or read anything that puts the PS4 in the lead when it comes to new games or future gaming concepts that may arise.  It pretty much looks like they are banking on the gaming world to pretty much stay status quo for the next several years.  Hey Sony, ever heard of social gaming?  It’s pretty big right now and might be why the console gaming market is taking a slight hit in recent months.  With games out there like Ingress from Google where not only is it a game played on your mobile phone but out in the real world that makes you feel like a friggin’ special ops covert spy,  I struggle to see what the hype is over the PS4 console that will be tethered to my flat screen TV.  Maybe the VP’s at Sony should take a gander at what the folks at OUYA are doing.  Here’s an exciting piece of tech, very reasonably priced, open source on Android which is the leading OS for smartphones and you can customize/hack it right out of the box.

The PlayStation 4 isn’t due out until late this year – November’ish time frame if memory serves. (but don’t quote me on that . . . it’s been a long day!)  Maybe in the months ahead they will hear the conversations around their release yesterday, take note and bring something a little more substantial to the table.  If not, I don’t see the PS4 making very many headlines in the future – at least not positive ones.

On a somewhat related note – here’s a video for your eyeballs that I’ve been wanting to post but didn’t have a story to tie it all together until now!!!  So at least the PS4 brought me that.  Leave it to Dodger to get the Nicki Minaj “I-I-I-I-I-I-I” part.  At least when Dodger does it I don’t want to throw my iPad across the room.

Minecraft: Assassin’s Creed III Skin

Ask anyone in my home and they will tell you just how obsessed with Assassin’s Creed III I am.  The sad part is, I don’t even own a copy of it yet.  That aside, I wanted to blend the worlds of Minecraft and AC3 by trying my hand at making my first ever Minecraft skin of Connor from the game.  The screen capture above is not only my current wallpaper – but the inspiration for the skin.

I made the skin using the SkinStudio tool in the Minecraft Explorer Pro HD app on my iPad.  I was amazed at how intuitive the tool was and that I was able to make the first iteration of the skin within 30 minutes while watching television.  The tweaks I made to the second version took about half that to do – but mostly because I was toying with colors and design elements and how to bring more depth to the skin.  The skin in the picture to the right (and that was used as the “Featured image for this post) is the 2nd Edition skin – which has the quiver on Connor’s back.

I made two versions of the skin and have them below for you to download / use / share – free of charge.  I know there are a few other skins available for AC3 but for my first try I am very pleased with how they turned out.  If you have any positive / negative comments – please feel free to post them in the comments section below!

Assassin’s Creed III Skin:  

Assassin’s Creed III Skin – 2nd Edition:  

Download Instructions:  Right-click the image you wish to download and select “Save Image As…” and save to your computer.

NerdTrivia.Net: Think You Know Nerd Culture? Prove It!

That’s right, the Infinity Gauntlet has been thrown!

If you don’t already know, a new season at NerdTrivia.net started today.  Just follow @NerdTrivia in your Twitter feed and at the top of the hour a new question will be asked to test your Nerd cred!  Questions keep coming from 8am – 6pmPT and you simply Direct Message (DM) your answer back.  If you do it quick enough – you’ll get extra points for the time bonus.  

You can keep track of how well you do by going to NerdTrivia.net and logging in with your Twitter account.  Once there you can see the big Leader Board, your friends from Twitter and where they rank in scoring compared to you – and this year, you can even answer the questions online too!  And Achievements!!!  Don’t forget to work towards getting the achievements for your favorite trivia questions. (**cough**, **cough**, FIREFLY, **cough**)  

Go sign up, follow me, I’ll follow you and we’ll see how we do.  A jolly good time will be had by all, I’m sure.

Jill Pantozzi (@TheNerdyBird) got me started playing last year (unbeknownst to her, I’m sure . . . ) and it warms my heart that, for today at least, I’m beating her!  Don’t worry – it’s only day one and I’m SURE she will destroy me again this year.