Nov 17 2006

New DS Lite cover

dastels @ 5:40 pm

Here’s version 2 of my DS Lite cover insert:

new cover.jpg


Nov 14 2006

Gaming Upgrade

dastels @ 3:05 am
About a year and a half ago, more or less, we outfitted everyone with Gameboy Advance SP systems and Thomas scored a Nintendo DS for Christmas. All these systems got heavily used and over time we amassed a far collection of games.

Fast forward. After some hard times, things have improved… we were in need of a treat. What better than to upgrade our gaming platforms. So Nancy suggested that we gather up our SPs, along with most of the games we had collected and trade them in at EB Games. And so we did. Throw in a bit of cash on top and we walked out with a DS Lite each.

Mine is “Onyx”. See the pic to the right.

Black DS Lite.jpg
The DS Lite is a totally sweet piece of hardware. The unit is nice & tight, with a pleasant heft to it, but not so much as to be tiring to hold. The screens are brilliant, far brighter than the original DS screens. Sound is fabulous, with or without headphones. After the GBA SP, I’m very impressed. MarioCart DS is great fun, especially multi-player using the wireless connectivity.

On the more practical side, the chat application is nicely done, supporting freehand drawing as well as typed text (Japanese as well as English.. cool).

Nintendo truly rules the gaming world. Ya.. I’m a fanboy.. so what.

Hmm… I wonder what it would take to run Ruby on these things… I’ve already installed the C++ toolchain for it on my Mac… Maybe we should try our hands at game development.

DS Cover.jpg Something else we bought were clear protective cases.. much like our Agent 18 iPod cases. They’re made by Mad Catz and are quite nice. One touted feature is the ability to put a piece of paper (ideally a photo or some other image) inside the case, and so personalize the look of your DS Lite. The case comes with several alternatives, as well as a template for cutting your own inserts. They even have a free application (alas Windows) to generate custom inserts.

I’m a fan of things Celtic and Norse, especially art, and I enjoy putting pen to paper in attempts of creating something of interest. So it was natural that I make my own insert. The result can be seen to the left.

I’m happy with it as a version 1.0. Once I get darker, glossier paper and a finer tipped ink pen I’ll try it again.


Aug 04 2006

Carassonne

dastels @ 10:39 pm
SmallBlueMeeple.png We’re in full blown Euro-Gaming mode now. My friend, Jason, visited last weekend and brought a copy of Carcassonne. We were hooked after a single game. After I got home from Philly, we picked up a copy.

Jun 05 2006

Settler’s becoming a routine

dastels @ 4:44 am

As you know if you’ve been following my blog, we’ve recently started playing Settlers of Catan. The other day Nancy picked up the expansion so we can play up to 6 players now.

Since picking up the 2 player rules, Nancy & I have made it a nightly routine to play a couple games. Here’s our gaming “corner” in the office:

100_1704.jpg


May 30 2006

We’re hooked on ‘Settlers’

dastels @ 5:16 pm

In followup to my earlier post, I have to report that Settlers of Catan is a smash hit at our house.

We’ve had standard 3 & 4 player games, and Nancy found rules for a 2 player variation which plays as well as the multiplayer version.

We’re looking forward to playing ‘Settlers’ a great deal over the summer.


May 24 2006

Let the Games Begin

dastels @ 1:14 am

After reading James Robertson’s blog about these new-fangled board games, and most recently Martin Fowler, I decided to have a go. After talking to Martin about it, I picked up a copy of Settlers of Catan today (interestingly the manufacturer of the English version, Mayfair Games, is a short drive from my hotel in Skokie IL). I expect/hope to play a few games over the weekend.

So far I’m impressed. The materials and construction look great… wooden pieces (including dice) and nice heavy board tiles.


Apr 20 2005

Warhammer

dastels @ 2:28 am

I’ve been dabbling with the Lord Of The Rings “strategy battle game” (i.e. toy solders) product from Games Workshop for a couple years and have significant forces built up. My son has been playing their Warhammer product line for longer than that. Now the whole family has jumped in with both feet into the Warhammer world. All of us (Nancy, her son (Thomas), my son (Jason), and myself) have taken up Warhammer. Over the last week or so we went out and bought small armies for everyone:

  • Dark Elves for Nancy
  • Ogres for Jason
  • Dwarfs for Thomas
  • Bretonnians for me

Mar 17 2005

Mac Games

dastels @ 1:03 am

The iBook is turning out to be a nice gaming system.. I’ve begun playing WarCraft III on it this week. Very nice. Now if more game companies would put their games on Mac! Like Dawn of War or Battle for Middle Earth!!!

Sure.. I know the arguments about market share & all. Hopefully the MacMini will boost Apple’s marketshare to the point where it becomes a significant player in the gaming market.

On a related note.. DOOM 3 for Mac will be available in stores shortly.. but with massive hardware requirements.


« Previous Page


Steve Jobs Memorial

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!
Steve Jobs

In memory of Steve Jobs