Bill Loguidice's Blog, page 65
April 25, 2018
Name your own price for The Humble Book Bundle: Classic Sci Fi & Fantasy & Audiobooks!
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-05-09 11:00:00 PDT.
Lend us your ears. We’ve teamed up with Brick Tower Press and Full Cast Audio for a bundle of books both readable and listenable! You’ll meet authors like Isaac Asimov, Bruce Coville, Jo Nesbø, Tamora Pierce, and more. With titles like My Teacher is an Alien and Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder, how can you go wrong?
Pay what you want. All together, these ebooks and audiobooks would cost over $318. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Read them anywhere. The ebooks are available in PDF, ePUB, and MOBI formats, meaning you can read them anywhere at any time. The audiobooks come in MP3 format. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publishers, Jane Goodall Institute and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America The Givers Fund via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Book Bundle: Classic Sci Fi & Fantasy & Audiobooks
The post appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
Is the 3D Printing Revolution Already Over?
The typical idyllic 3D printing promotional image from AIO Robotics. The thing is, these machines really are incredible creative and functional tools in the right hands. I’m a fan and participant in this (slow) revolution.
I think the big problem with 3D printing – and in-home manufacturing in general, which includes CNC, laser cutting, etc. – is that we’re still at the early days of the technology on a personal level, and, no matter how user-friendly some of this stuff is made – and there have been some great strides in that area – it’s still well beyond what the average person can handle in terms of maintenance and troubleshooting. Once that problem is licked, making these no more troublesome than your average inkjet or laser printer, I do think there will be a real place for this kind of technology in the typical home. As it is, much like personal computers of the late 1970s to mid 1980s, it’s best left for now to enthusiasts who can and want to take the time to learn all the various ins and outs.
The post Is the 3D Printing Revolution Already Over? appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 24, 2018
Pay what you want for The Humble Capcom X SEGA PlayStation Bundle! (Sonic, Mega Man, Dead Rising, Alien, etc.)
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-05-08 11:00:00 PDT.
Plenty of games down at the ‘Station. Capcom and SEGA are back with a sweet bundle of PS3, PS4, and PlayStation Vita games! Get titles like Mega Man Legacy Collection, Alien: Isolation, and Dead Rising 2 HD. Plus, your purchase can support three charities: Save the Children US, the American Red Cross, and the Rett Syndrome Research Trust.
Pay what you want. Normally, the total cost for these games is as much as $239. Here at Humble Bundle, though, you choose the price!
Redeem on PlayStation. These games are available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, or PlayStation Vita. Please check out the full system requirements here prior to purchasing.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the developers, Save the Children US, the American Red Cross, and the Rett Syndrome Research Trust via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like the bundle or like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Capcom X SEGA PlayStation Bundle
The post Pay what you want for The Humble Capcom X SEGA PlayStation Bundle! (Sonic, Mega Man, Dead Rising, Alien, etc.) appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 23, 2018
Name your price for the Humble Book Bundle: Learn to Play Music by Wiley!
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-05-07 11:00:00 PDT.
He’s a music man. Or he will be, once he picks up this bundle! Wiley is back at Humble with a collection of books to jumpstart your musical journey. Pick up Pro Tools All-in-One For Dummies, Logic Pro X For Dummies, Ukulele Exercises, Music Theory for Dummies, and more. Plus, your purchase will support Musicians on Call!
Pay what you want. All together, these ebooks would cost over $515. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Read them anywhere. These books are available in PDF and ePUB formats, meaning you can read them anywhere at any time. Pro Tools All-in-One For Dummies, Guitar Exercises for Dummies, Ukulele Exercises, and Teach Yourself VISUALLY Guitar are also available in PRC format. Teach Yourself VISUALLY Piano is available in PDF only. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publisher and Musicians on Call via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Book Bundle: Learn to Play Music by Wiley
The post appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
RPG Maker, Code of Princess, and more in the Degica Sale! (Steam; up to 80% off)
The Degica Sale just launched in the Humble Store on Monday, April 23 at 10 a.m. Pacific time! The sale will be live through Monday, April 30 at 10 a.m.Pacific time.
The post RPG Maker, Code of Princess, and more in the Degica Sale! (Steam; up to 80% off) appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 19, 2018
FREE copies of Satellite Reign for Steam for 48 hours!
We’re giving away FREE copies of Satellite Reign for 48 hours in the Humble Store! This promotion is available from Thursday, April 19 at 10 a.m. Pacific time to Saturday, April 21 at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
The post FREE copies of Satellite Reign for Steam for 48 hours! appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 18, 2018
Name your price for The Humble Book Bundle: Plan Your Vacation by Lonely Planet
Here’s the link. Offer expires 2018-05-02 11:00:00 PDT.
This bundle is all over the map. Get out your globe (everyone has a globe, right?). It’s time to plan your next vacation! Lonely Planet’s here to help with Best Ever Travel Tips, The Solo Travel Handbook, The Best Things in Life are Free, and more. Can’t get away? Vacation from home with Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography, Amazing Architecture, or Lonely Planet’s Global Coffee Tour.
Pay what you want. All together, these ebooks would cost over $392. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.
Read them anywhere. These books are available in PDF, ePUB, and MOBI formats, meaning you can read them anywhere at any time. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publisher and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) via the PayPal Giving Fund. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!
The Humble Book Bundle: Plan Your Vacation by Lonely Planet
The post appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 16, 2018
Up to 80% off great Steam games in the Sci-Fi Week sale!
Sci-Fi Week just launched in the Humble Store on Monday, April 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific time! The sale will be live through Monday, April 23 at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
The post Up to 80% off great Steam games in the Sci-Fi Week sale! appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
Review: KABOOM! (2015, Ninjaforce Entertainment) – Apple IIGS
NOTE: A version of this review originally appeared in Issue 2, Volume 20 (2015), of Juiced.GS, a quarterly print magazine for Apple II users.
If you’ve been around videogames and computers long enough, hearing the name “Kaboom” associated with a game probably conjures thoughts of Activision’s classic bomb catching game, KABOOM! (1982). Instead, Ninjaforce Entertainment’s KABOOM! is based on the stylings of another explosive multiplatform ’80s title, the multiplayer classic, Bomberman, from Hudson Soft.
In contrast to Kaboom!, where you’re tasked with using one or more buckets to catch the bombs dropped by the Mad Bomber, in KABOOM!, like Bomberman, you’re one of up to four “mad” bombers trying to bomb your way through a maze of blocks in order to blow up all of the other players before getting blown up yourself.
At the beginning of each round, you and the other bomb-equipped players are placed in the corners of a maze-like battlefield that consists of two types of blocks: soft, which can be destroyed by placing bombs beside them, and solid, which are indestructible. Bombs, which have a fixed blast radius, go off shortly after being dropped, which then allows you to place another bomb.
A limited number of orange-colored power-ups can be found under soft blocks and, by walking over one, can increase the number of bombs that can be dropped at once, increase a bomb’s blast radius, increase your player’s speed, allow you to pick up active bombs, or make you briefly invincible. One power-up, the skull, can cause a variety of ill effects known as “sicknesses” in the player or other players, which include decreasing run speed, setting bombs uncontrollably, or reversing controls. Sicknesses can only be cured by picking up a new power-up. Sicknesses, like other features, including team and round options, can be set in the flexible GAME SETUP menu.
A selection of KABOOM! screens
While a multiplayer game like this screams out for the creation of a four player joystick adapter, the fact that there are no diagonals in the game makes use of the keyboard a viable option, even when playing alone. Naturally, Apple II owners are accustomed to using a keyboard for their multiplayer games, so they’re certainly as capable as any other computer owner of taking this control scheme and running with it. In fact, since the controls are expressly the four cardinal directions (plus one for dropping a bomb), it’s arguable that the keyboard is the more precise option anyway.
It’s also important to note that while other multiplatform games like CodeMaster’s ’90s classic, Micro Machines, have made use of a control scheme that allowed for up to four players to move their virtual vehicles by having more than one player use a single controller or keyboard, the Apple IIGS’s ability to link multiple ADB keyboards comes in particularly handy with this game. While there’s something to be said for the manic fun of four of your closest friends or family crowding around the same keyboard, it’s a great option to give one or more players the breathing room of their own dedicated control panel.
Ninjaforce Entertainment set a great challenge for themselves when converting such an intense multiplayer game to the IIGS. While the audio-visuals are stellar and the available options competitive with many of the dozens of Bomberman games that are available on other platforms, the game does suffer some slowdown, particularly during multiplayer rounds with computer opponents. As such, a ZipGS or TransWarp GS accelerator is recommended, if not required, as is a stereo sound card for enhanced audio. Nevertheless, despite the periods of slowdown, occasional crash, and lack of sound card on the non-accelerated ROM1 IIGS used as the test system, gameplay and audio, the latter complete with a continuous rocking soundtrack, still proved compelling.
Presently at version 1.01, KABOOM! is available for free from the Ninjaforce Website for systems running GS/OS with a minimum of 2MB of RAM, either as a single 2IMG hard drive or two disk images, the latter of which still needs to be installed on a hard disk or equivalent. The 2IMG hard drive image ran perfectly from a CFFA3000 on the 4MB test system, and was even playable through the online FTA ActiveGS Emulator found on the Website.
It says a lot about how good this game is that even if it wasn’t free and so easily accessible, it would still be worth tracking down. While a multiplayer game at its heart, the robust single player options, complete with optional campaign designer where you can share your saved creations with others, makes for a compelling experience even when there’s no one else available to play against. KABOOM! is a wonderful addition to the IIGS’s software library and hopefully inspires more developers to try and bring similarly challenging game titles to the platform.
The post Review: KABOOM! (2015, Ninjaforce Entertainment) – Apple IIGS appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
April 14, 2018
Sega to release Mega Drive Mini in Japan powered by new AtGames technology
The rumors are true! As just announced at a Japanese fan event, this year, which marks the platform’s 30th anniversary, Sega is going to release the Mega Drive Mini in Japan, powered by the latest AtGames technology. This same new and improved technology will find its way into the US and other territories later this year!
The Sega Mega Drive MIni
The post Sega to release Mega Drive Mini in Japan powered by new AtGames technology appeared first on Armchair Arcade.
