Bill Loguidice's Blog, page 132
January 16, 2014
Back in stock at Amazon - CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer!
Great news! After an unfortunate supply issue, our latest book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer, is now back in stock on Amazon.com. We've already received 15 out of 15 five star reviews on Amazon, and look forward to the upcoming media reviews on various podcasts, magazines, and Websites (we're also scheduled for a few interviews). Of course, the book is also available everywhere else books are sold, including Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, and Amazon Germany. The color eBook version (Kindle) should be out soon as well. I'll of course post again once that hits and some of the media reviews come out.
There's other big news related to this and other projects, so be sure to check back on Armchair Arcade soon for all the details. Thanks for the support.
January 14, 2014
This infographic is courtesy of musicmagpie.co.uk:January 1, 2014
Retrogaming Times Monthly, Issue 166, January 2014, reviews our book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer
Retrogaming Times Monthly (RTM), Issue 166, January 2014, has a review of our new book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer. This is the last issue of RTM under its present editors, so be sure to check out the rest of the content in this historic issue. Thanks also to Brian Blake for writing such a nice review.
Armchair Arcade Joins the Upcoming Retro Gaming Magazine - Purchasing Options Now Available!
Retro Gaming MagazineI'm pleased to announced that Armchair Arcade is officially aligned with the upcoming Retro Gaming Magazine (RGM). Not only will RGM's staff be bringing you great editorial content each month, but so will the Armchair Arcade team--all in the style you've come to expect from us since our founding in 2003. On a personal note, a magazine is something those of us at Armchair Arcade had always wanted to pursue, but for various reasons, including industry volatility, it never quite got off the ground through traditional means. Of course, as many of you may remember, Armchair Arcade itself originally started as an online magazine, which ran for seven issues before we became a general purpose site, with on-demand articles, features, news items, blog posts, forums, videos, etc. That also allowed us time to better focus on other projects, including our popular books and even a documentary film, which should finally see release in 2014. In any case, this is an exciting new chapter in Armchair Arcade's continued evolution and we plan to fully support the RGM team in making the magazine - which is available in print and PDF versions - a success. Click here to see the worldwide purchasing options. You can check out RGM's official Facebook page, here, as well as Armchair Arcade's page, here.
December 31, 2013
The Retro League Episode 214 discusses the new book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer
Another excellent podcast, The Retro League, has picked up on our new book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer. In Episode 214, starting a little after two minutes and 50 seconds into the podcast (YouTube video stream of their podcast embedded below; though that's the raw, unedited version), the book is discussed, with a positive recommendation. This precedes several other reviews on various other podcasts, Websites, and magazines that will be forthcoming, as well as (to date) seven five star reviews on Amazon!
If you'd like to read more about the book, you can visit the Amazon link or go to the publisher's (CRC Press, part of Taylor & Francis Group) Website.
Here's the raw video version of the podcast episode:
December 24, 2013
Retro Computing Roundtable (RCR) Episode 64 mentions CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer!
Episode 64 of the Retro Computing Roundtable (RCR) mentions my new book, written with Boisy Pitre, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer, at approximately the 32 minute mark. Unfortunately, despite my efforts to reach out to them for reviews copies of both that book and the upcoming Vintage Game Consoles: An Inside Look at Apple, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, and the Greatest Gaming Platforms of All Time, Earl Evans, Paul Hagstrom, and Carrington Vanston were apparently previously unaware of the book's existence. It seems Earl was first made aware of our CoCo book after his appearance on Randall Kindig's excellent Floppy Days Podcast, where both Boisy and I will be interviewed soon (Randall should receive his review copies soon). Whatever the circumstances, the mention on RCR is greatly appreciated and some of the reminiscing that follows just happens to be covered/clarified in the CoCo book, so I hope they enjoy it. By the way, like the Floppy Days Podcast, RCR has always been in my podcast listening rotation!
December 5, 2013
Tosh.0 features the TI-99/4a and Alpiner
For those who missed it, the latest Tosh.0 (Tuesday, December, 3, 2013) on Comedy Central featured a photo of him at the end as a kid playing the Texas Instruments TI-99/4a with what looks like Alpiner (I'm assuming because of all the white). I took a quick photo of the TV screen for those interested.
December 3, 2013
Revealed: The computer, videogame, and handheld platforms covered in the upcoming Vintage Game Consoles book!
Vintage Game ConsolesAlthough we're still a few months away - February or March 2014 - from the worldwide release of Vintage Game Consoles in full color paperback and ebook formats (Amazon pre-order), our publisher's Website, Focal Press, has posted the Table of Contents. This is a big milestone because it officially publicly reveals the 20 computer, videogame, and handheld platforms we identified as most significant. As with the previous book in the series, Vintage Games, which primarily covered 35 of the most influential games (and those they influenced) of all time, from our industry's beginnings right up to the book's publication, Vintage Game Consoles does the same for the platforms they're actually played on. The only constraints we placed on our choices were that the platforms had to no longer be sold commercially (eliminating all systems released from the start of the Nintendo DS and Xbox 360 eras and beyond) so the complete story could be told (with the obvious exception being PC Windows Computers) and that we kept the focus on primarily North America (our particular expertise, though obviously we discuss all regions throughout the course of the book). This still led to some tough decisions (like not covering platforms that featured similar games to another slightly more popular platform already in the book), but I think you'll find the list fair. If not, let us know, though of course I'd love you to reserve final judgment until you actually have the book in your hands.
Here's the Table of Contents (note, there is also an extensive Forward and Preface, and each Generation sets the scene for that particular section of the book--oh, and there are 400 images as well!):
December 2, 2013
Discounts on Homebrew Videogames at Good Deal Games
Our friends over at November 25, 2013
First Impressions of Microsoft's Xbox One
My Xbox One (2014)With the Xbox One's release this past Friday, November 22, we have the final piece to the next gen console puzzle. Whether you consider the Wii U next gen or not, or that neither the PS4 or Xbox One can truly be considered next gen in the face of a good PC, the fact remains that the Xbox One represented the last major new system we were waiting on for the forseeable future. Certainly the Steam Box will get some buzz once that's released, but price and compatibilty may represent hurdles to the type of adoption both the Xbox One and PS4 have thus far received. Plus, there's the argument - which I tend to agree with - that you don't necessarily gain any benefit investing in a Steam Box over a good PC. Final judgment will be reserved though once Valve's Steam Box initiative gets fully underway.
Naturally, both the PS4 and Xbox One launches can be considered a success, with each selling over 1 million units in the first 24 hours. The Xbox One needed 10 or 11 more countries with which to reach that number, but it was also priced $100 more, and faced similar supply constraints (meaning its arguable both could have sold more if stock was there). Like the PS4 and Wii U before it, a small percentage of Xbox One launch consoles were affected by technical issues, but, luckily, overall, all three seem to be solid hardware out of the gate. That does nothing to soothe those who actually have a unit with issues, but it seems that, based on percentages, all three major new consoles had reasonably smooth launches. To wrap up the sales commentary, if sales don't pick up for the Wii U this holiday and beyond, it's certainly reasonable to think that both PS4 and Xbox One will surpass total Wii U sales by or before June 2014 (as some analysts have suggested), which would also put to rest the idea that the industry's new norm is greatly reduced sales, i.e., the Wii U's sales issues are its own. No matter what, console gaming is still small change compared to smartphones and tablets, but we at least have the potential of still being a very vocal percentage of the technology ecosystem if sales for both the PS4 and Xbox One maintain positive momentum into 2014.
Now, with all that out of the way, I'll provide my impressions of the Xbox One. Since my wife and I are writing a book on the Xbox One, My Xbox One, follow-up to My Xbox, which covered the 360, we needed our usual two consoles: one to play with, and one to keep pristine so we could methodically document the goings on. For now, I just opened up the one to play with.
