Wreck it for the Old School Ralph

I’m sure you’ve already seen the trailer for Wreck It Ralph (and if not watch it now).  But as I’m seeing Zangief and Bowser sitting AA style with other classic video games characters, I couldn’t help bubble inside with nostalgia.  I could go on for days with all of the “classic” cartoons from my youth; i.e. Thundercats, Voltron, Silverhawks, Bravestarr, and so on and so for.  But have you tired watching any of these shows recently?  Let me save you some time, they’re terrible and in most cases they’ll ruin your admiration for the show.  This, however, is not the case with video games.  You can go play Super Mario Bros. 3 right now and still enjoy the hell out of the game.  Now I’m no scientist, but you can test this theory with what I call the “Kid Test.”  It’s a really simple test; simply sit a kid down, between the ages of 3 to 9, and see if they can handle six minutes without asking to leave, making fun of everything and everyone, or launching themselves out the window.  Luckily for us gamers, many of our classics stand the test of time and are still enjoyable experiences.  Even though Mario, Sonic, Bill "Mad Dog" Rizer and Lance "Scorpion" Bean (Contra's original heroes) have been recreated and updated throughout the years; their original titles are still benchmarks for today's game community.

NCAA Coach Profile: Week 3

In our final entry of our coach profile we take a look at the youngest Love brother, Adrian Love.

Adrian obviously grew up surrounded by talented football players, but surprisingly he was not as invested as his brothers before him.  Adrian was always a talent on the field; able to play multiple positions, even at a young age.  Adrian’s biggest problem was he didn’t like to practice.  His teammates liked to call him Cold Case because he was no where to be found during practice, but during the game he was a cold blooded killer.  Fortunately for Adrian, his brothers were able to get him focused on all aspects of the game and he flourished because it.  Unfortunately for him, Arlington High School was no longer the football factory it once was, so local recognition was all he achieved.  After dominating on both sides of the ball on an inferior team (playing DE and TE), Adrian decided to join Bill Lynch’s Indiana Hoosiers.  Lynch said that Adrian was one of the most cerebral players he had ever coached.  During his senior year, Adrian just missed out on winning the John Mackey award due to tearing his ACL.  Unfortunately with his injury coming so late in the season, Adrian dropped completely off of everyone’s draft board.  Fortunately, the Niners took a flier on him (at the behest of former Niner scout Antwan Love) in the 6^th round.  Unfortunately, Adrian tried to come back from injury too soon and was unable to stay healthy enough to stay on the field.  During rehab, he started to coach his nephew’s Pop Warner team and realized that coaching was also a passion.  Although playing time was limited during his NFL career, Adrian stayed focus in film sessions and drained his coaches of every drip of knowledge he could mine.  With the success of his older brothers, Adrian was able to parlay his skills and join Antwan and his battering Blazers in 2010 as receivers coach.

“I’ve consistently shown that I can step out from the shadow of my brothers and shine and this will be the year I prove that. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to prove I deserve to be here.”

The Art of Gaming

Have you ever noticed how in movies, TV, and commercials that whenever a character is playing a game they look like they’re having a conniption?

This has never been acceptable, but in the 80’s/90’s it made sense because the gaming industry was still in its infancy. But moving into the new millennia there still was no real desire to change this image.

There has been an influx of media finally portraying “the art of gaming” properly, but yet and still the gamer is usually a slacker living at home with their parents.  But that's an issue for another time.

Back in the day when...

I was watching my son play The Amazing Spider-Man last night and I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with his skills or lack thereof.  It wasn’t until today that it donned on me that growing up a gamer is a hell of a lot harder today than it was with Nintendo and nem.  For some, you’re thinking “no shit, Sherlock!” but as my wife would attest, I’m much slower than most!

Just think about the games you played as a kid and the systems you were playing on…for me it was Nintendo, SNES, and Sega Genesis.  My 1^st controller had 2 buttons!  That seems absurd in today’s gaming world.  Not saying that games are easier/harder, but I am saying that the game mechanics were easier to master. 

Take a look at my generation’s 1st controllers and you can see that simplicity made for a much easier time.

Two buttons. TWO-AH!

We're getting closer...6

Uh-oh, here we go with 3





  

Nintendo started it off for me with a "D-pad, Select, Start, B, and A!"  That’s it! I didn’t have to worry about triggers or analog sticks or which of the 8 buttons was the jump button. 

I hate to drone on like an old man about the good ole days but seriously, it’s no joke trying to learn the art of gaming today.

So the next time you get frustrated because your child is stuck and they can’t quite figure out that the right analog stick is for the camera…don’t fret, just remember that back in the day our biggest worry was putting in the Konami code before playing Contra.  And yes I will take my own advice (or at least try)