I started writing a piece about the building of my arcade cabinet, but I think it’s important that I go back a bit. I just need to fill in the parts that let a reader understand why anyone would embark on such an endeavor in the first place. In 1998 I discovered MAME.

I started writing a description of the work I was doing to finish off my arcade cabinet. I was only going write about the joystick and button wiring, but as I was doing that I started to get deeper into the entire construction process. This time, I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures of the current state of things, and next time I’ll have a full rundown of what I built and why.

This project is underway. Expect future updates. That is all.

My son pronounced aluminum ‘aluminium’. Youtube has become an entertainment medium unto itself in this house. It would likely become the go to viewing option if some people here had their way. Of course it might anyway. Between youtube, netflix and the rest, I feel like scheduled television is fighting a losing battle. We haven’t cut the cord just yet, but I feel like it’s inevitable.

Best Games - Beyond Castle Wolfenstein Everyone played that 3D shooter. You probably had a shareware disc or a disc with a handwritten label that said Wolf 3D. The one where you ran, gun outstretched, through squared off tunnels shooting nazis all the way. Wolfenstein 3D was great wasn’t it. Beyond Castle Wolfenstein isn’t that game.

I’ve had linux installed on at least one pc in the house for the last ten or so years. It will usually be some old, or underpowered machine that I can prod back to life. Sometimes I’ll have a dual boot setup going, or just run a linux vmware image. It comes in handy, like when I had a hard drive failing and wasn’t able to read it from windows. Typically I’ll install it, poke around for a bit, and then leave it for a fe months. Mostly, I boot up a linux to update it, and then shut it back down.

Well it was that time of year again. This past weekend I participated in the Global Game Jam. The basic premise of a game jam is that you gather a room full of folks who have an interest in making games, give them a topic for inspiration, and set them loose for a couple days. The participants run the gamut from professionals, to amateurs, to enthusiasts with no previous experience. At the end of the weekend every single participant will have created something that didn’t previously exist and they will have learned something they didn’t previously know. A game jam is the kind of creative refuelling that can propel a person, or a whole team, for a good long time.

I got the old board game Dungeon! for my boys for Christmas. Well not the old one. The new reprint version with the very impressive dragon on the top. I remembered it being a fun game, but that may be a false memory. I was fairly young, since the game came out the year I was born. Now that I really think about it I most likely saw some older kids playing it once. Maybe.

I’m usually a woman. Let me come around and take another pass at that. I usually play a female. Maybe not usually. More like often. That is to say, in games where you can choose either a male or female character, I often pick female.

Best Games - Robotron 2084 Robotron starts at 780kmp/h and then presses down on the accelerator. Some games give people seizures. Robotron gives you epilepsy first and then gives you seizures. If you already had epilepsy, boom, now you have double epilepsy. Robotron destroys the tendons in your left wrist and then offers you a second joystick for your right. Berserk has 7 robots on the screen. Robotron has 47000, and they ride jet skis. Geometry Wars has lots of graphical style. Robotron uses a colour pallette only fully visible to birds. PAC-MAN has a glitchy kill screen. The kill screen in Robotron is a prison shank swiping at you from the coin return. Dark Souls is hard. Robotron is calculus written in diamonds. The Last of Us has a dark, heartbreaking story. Robotron makes you the protector of the last human family, then forces you watch as it kills them in 7 seconds. Robotron kills you 3 seconds after that. Also, it took your money. The audio for Robotron was recorded with a 2 string bass, played by a nail gun.

Our kids will have childhood memories of their own. Memories that they will think are super awesome. We will scoff at them as somehow not as great or authentic as our memories. We will be wrong of course, just like our parents were wrong, and just like they will be wrong when they think the same of their kids.

In a flurry of de-clutering, I went and boxed up a metric ton of magazines, some as much as 20 years old. This collection is composed of a solid PCGamer core with layers of Next generation, Play, and Game Developer forming the outer strata. Orbiting that are large flat rings of Computer Graphics World, Digital Video, and Computer Gaming World. Several smaller satellites contain issues of British game magazines and PC hardware magazines.

I’ve had cause, recently to do some video editing. Even though any editing ability I may have built up through the years has atrophied to a crippling degree, I’m still enjoying it. You can click here to see what I’ve been editing, or you can read on to find out the what, why, and how of the project.

Best Games - Wing Commander Don’t bother going back. You can’t. Time has eroded this game. Wing Commander a cultural relic that pushed technology, and craftsmanship forward. It plowed, and then paved new roads for future creators. This game created new verbs.

I rode my bike this morning, yellow trailer rattling along behind me. The boys were stuffed snuggly within its canvas walls. The clear vinyl window fogged up from their breath only feet from the driveway. They may not be able to see very well, but they are warm and safe back there.