Bill Loguidice's Blog, page 134
September 24, 2013
Preparing for a Next Generation Workflow: Pre-ordering Microsoft's Surface Pro 2
Surface Pro 2As an unapologetic technophile, I naturally crave the latest and greatest technology. However, somewhat stifling those cravings are the reality of the high costs of new technology, available space, and the needs of my present workflow. In other words, even though I spend a disproportionate amount of my money on technology, my purchases must still be carefully considered for a variety of reasons.
While I have a demanding day job as a Technical Writer, I'm also a professional author and journalist, which requires a certain amount of portability if I don't wish to be chained to a desk for 12 - 16 hours a day. This portability is particularly important to me as I always try to make a point of balancing my working life with my personal (especially family) life.
September 22, 2013
The upcoming book, Vintage Game Consoles, is now available for pre-order!
Vintage Game ConsolesI'm thrilled to officially announce that another one of my new books, Vintage Game Consoles: An Inside Look at Apple, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, and the Greatest Gaming Platforms of All Time, written with Matt Barton, is now available for pre-order from booksellers everywhere, including Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and of course, the publisher's (Taylor & Francis/Focal Press) Website. As always, my personal favorite place is Amazon, where you can buy it at a nice discount from the full retail price, plus, if the price drops upon the book's publication sometime in February/March 2014, you get it for the lower price. Of course, you don't get charged until it actually ships.
What Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time, did before it for software, Vintage Game Consoles, does it now for hardware platforms, covering 20 of the greatest game playing computers, consoles, and handhelds of all-time. This full color paperback and ebook is packed to the gills with well over 400 pages of content and 400 images. Nathan Strum's amazing cover art, inspired by legendary magazine, Electronic Games (the first I ever bought myself as a child and incredibly influential to my future path in life), rounds out the package.
Also in early 2014, be sure to look out for My Xbox One, written with Christina Loguidice (the follow-up to My Xbox: Xbox 360, Kinect, and Xbox LIVE), and of course, published this holiday season, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer, written with Boisy Pitre.
September 19, 2013
The upcoming book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer, is now available for pre-order!
CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog ComputerI'm happy to officially announce that my next book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer, written with Boisy Pitre, is now available for pre-order from booksellers everywhere, including Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and of course, the publisher's (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press) Website. My personal favorite place is Amazon, where you can buy it at a nice discount from the full retail price, plus, if the price drops upon the book's publication sometime in November, you get it for the lower price. Of course, you don't get charged until it actually ships.
What's nice about the book (available in both paperback and ebook versions) is that this is the first time the story of Tandy's Color Computer - affectionately dubbed "CoCo" - will be told in this manner. The first version of the computer debuted on July 31, 1980, and it and its successors were staples in Radio Shack stores into the 1990s. While never the most popular computer series, the ubiquity of Radio Shack's stores, catalogs, and overall advertising meant that it was impossible to ignore, even if systems like the Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM PC garnered all the headlines. Thanks to extensive interviews with most of the principles involved in the computer's creation, community, and support, you'll have a definitive first-hand account of how the computer series came to be, from an extensive pre-history right through to what's going on today, where a small, but enthusiastic cadre of fans still enjoy working with the systems. In short, you get to learn about the "soul" of this underdog computer series, including all the business decisions that went into its creation, all the personalities both directly and indirectly involved in its support, and some of the herculean efforts needed to keep the platform alive.
Finally, for those not interested in pre-ordering, I'll be sure to post again once the book is actually ready to ship. As always, I greatly appreciate the support.
September 16, 2013
Armchair Arcade Marks its 10th Anniversary!
It is with great honor and humble appreciation that I write this blog post officially acknowledging Armchair Arcade's 10th anniversary. That's right, Armchair Arcade was founded way back in September 2003, an eon in Internet time. Little did we know when we founded it back then that we'd still be going strong 10 years later, and looking forward to another great decade ahead. Since Armchair Arcade's founding, our team members have created well over a dozen major books, a documentary film, and countless thousands of feature articles, blog posts, forum posts, editorials, games, podcasts, and videos. Of course, team members and friends have come and gone in those 10 years, and we've even had a few births along the way, but the more things have changed, the nicer it's been that Armchair Arcade itself has stayed right where you'd expect to find it.
While Armchair Arcade's original Website lasted for a few years and is still accessible, this present 2.0 version of the site, dubbed "Neo," has lasted us for most of our existence. Of course, we always look to do better, so just like there was a transition to our 2.0 site, we are now looking forward to transitioning to a new 3.0 version of the site. While the 2.0 and 1.0 sites will remain active (but soon dormant) for the foreseeable future, the new 3.0 site will allow us to bring you more new content than ever thanks to its less demanding back-end maintenance requirements. The new platform will also be extremely adaptable, just as much at home on your smartphone or connected console as it will be on your computer's Web browser. We think you'll love the upgrade.
Beyond the upcoming 3.0 "reboot," we're also presently in discussions for some interesting new developments and partnerships directly involving the Armchair Arcade team. I can't go into specifics yet, but one such project has us going back in a way to Armchair Arcade's roots. And speaking of roots, our present tagline, seen under our current logo, Videogames and Computers, will be changed to Videogames - Computers - Technology to better reflect both the diversity of our interests and experience, and also the changing landscape. In turn, Chronicling the Complete History of Videogames and Computers, will be changed to Chronicling the Complete History of Videogames, Computers, and Technology. Both of those changes will better align Armchair Arcade's mission with the industry's future, whatever that may bring. Certainly the past decade has seen a ton of mostly unexpected changes and there's no reason to think this will stop.
So, in closing, to all of our friends, past and present, thank you for making the past 10 years great. On behalf of myself and the rest of the team who will be making the transition to the 3.0 site within the next few months, we welcome everyone to join us for what we expect to be another fantastic decade. We wouldn't be doing it without you!
August 30, 2013
Check out the cover art for our upcoming book, Vintage Game Consoles: An Inside Look at Apple, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo...
It looks like the publisher posted an image of the cover - featuring original Nathan Strum art - for our upcoming book, Vintage Game Consoles: An Inside Look at Apple, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, and the Greatest Gaming Platforms of All Time. The book, which covers 20 of the greatest gaming platforms of all time and is the next in the Vintage Games book series, won't be out until early next year, but hopefully that awesome looking cover art gets you excited for what's coming soon!
June 11, 2013
Thoughts on the future of Xbox One, PS4, Wii U after E3
Sony PS4Before the year is out, we'll have the choice of the latest console systems from the three big manufacturers, with three very different value propositions. I'll briefly break each of the three down, one-by-one, then I'd like to continue the discussion in the comments.
First up, there's the Wii U, relying mostly on the same type of technology found in the current generation's Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles, with its primary hook being its tablet controller that allows for touchscreen interactions and off-TV play, priced between $300 - $350. There's a good chance, despite Nintendo's insistence that they won't or can't, that this will drop in price just before the launch of Microsoft's and Sony's new consoles. I base this on the jockeying Nintendo already seems to be doing, for instance with eliminating the $300 BASIC version of their system in favor of the DELUXE (and no doubt different future bundles). The negatives for the Wii U are that, for various reasons, third party support has already dried up, and there's no evidence that their tablet controller hook has resonated (or will) with the public. There's always a chance for things to change, but right now, I don't see how Nintendo recovers a dominant console position, particularly since there's really nothing that reeks of "next gen" in their forthcoming software line-up. Certainly with their first party software they'll continue to appeal to the Nintendo faithful, and that should be enough to help the platform stick it out for the next few years. Beyond that, it's impossible to speculate, particularly since we don't know how Microsoft and Sony will ultimately fare (it could just be the new norm, in light of smartphone, tablet, and PC competition to have a tough time with traditional consoles and gaming handhelds).
June 10, 2013
Second clue leading into the upcoming book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer
In anticipation of our upcoming book for CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer, my co-author, Boisy Pitre, has started a new series of blog posts that will (very slowly) lift the veil on some interesting stuff that we discovered during the course of our research. He's doing it in the form of series of puzzles. You can read the second posting, or clue, here. Enjoy!
In other news, in terms of important milestones for the book, we turned in everything to the publisher last night. That means once it goes through the editorial process - which could take several months - the book will be on its way to release. We appreciate everyone's support through this process and hope you're anticipating publication of this book as much as we are.
May 21, 2013
Microsoft unveils the next Xbox: Xbox One - What they said and what it means!
While we had a previous poll and some thoughts and speculation on the next Xbox here at Armchair Arcade (among many other thoughts from staff and other commenters), it's now time to discuss the reality from today's #XboxReveal, with Microsoft the last of the three to play its next generation hand. As you no doubt already know, Nintendo's Wii U is struggling mightily, while Sony's PS4 has a lot of positive buzz so far and will be released around the same time as the new Xbox (Xbox One). With all that said, let's take a look at what was just unveiled.
May 10, 2013
Amiga Forever 2013 and C64 Forever 2013 Just Released!
Amiga Forever DesktopHot on the heels of Amiga Forever Essentials for Android, Cloanto has just released the latest "2013" versions of their popular and easy-to-use Amiga Forever and C64 Forever emulators. This is great news for old and new fans of the greatest Commodore platforms, including all versions of the Amiga series (inclusive of the CDTV and CD32), and most of the 8-bit line, including PET, VIC 20, C-64/128, and C-16/Plus4. Around here, it's among our absolute favorite emulation packages and used as pack-ins with various devices, including the MCC, so you know it has to be great.
The full press release details are below, along with all the links to the various packages available:
First clue leading into the upcoming book, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer
In anticipation of our upcoming book for CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer, my co-author, Boisy Pitre, has started a new series of blog posts that will (very slowly) lift the veil on some interesting stuff that we discovered during the course of our research. He's doing it in the form of series of puzzles. You can read the first posting, or clue, to the first mystery, here. Enjoy!
