Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Nintendo Reporting Record First Day Sales for 3DS - What'd you think?

Thought I would just stop in to talk about the fact that Nintendo is all over the news today claiming record first-day sales of the Nintendo 3DS but I have been out and about shopping at several stores and have seen no real interest in it.  I even was at the launch at a local electronics store and it was quiet.  People I have talked to don't seem to have any real interest either (some hardcore gamers).  Was it just my experience?  Is Nintendo pulling the wool over my eyes?   I do have to say the screen grabs that I have seen of Zelda and Icarus look pretty damn good.  I can't decide if I am ready to make a $250 plunge (especially since I am part of the 10% of the population that can't see in 3-D).

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Charlie Sheen - Winning: The Video Game


I know that I have neglected this blog a bit while I have been doing my 1001 Albums I Must Hear Before I Die (check it out here if you would like - http://geekyclowns1001albums.blogspot.com/).  I will be getting back to writing for this blog regularly again soon but to tide you over for now, I highly recommend the browser game Charlie Sheen - Winning.  Retro, arcade style graphics and sounds, and fun as hell.  The goal, in a Grand Theft Auto-esque manner, you must run down as many pedestrians (including mother's with their baby) while collecting prostitutes, drugs, etc. along the way.  Be sure to enter tiger mode right when you get it, you don't want that to go to waste.  Check it out here - http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/564450  Winning!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Play (Some) Super NES Games from Your Browser with Joystick Support

I wrote up how to play your favorite NES games using VirtualNES.com and now they have a Virtual Super NES site - http://www.virtualsupernes.com/  so I adjusted the batch file I wrote for the new page.  Enjoy!

It is actually rather simple, the first thing that you will need is JoyToKeyboard - located http://electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm

Install and configure.  You configure simply by double-clicking each of the buttons and assigning it.  Here is how I set mine up (but, depending on your controller and how you like yours set up, it may differ).  I use my PlayStation II controller with adapter, see http://www.geekyclown.com/2009/12/use-your-playstation-controller-on-your.html.



Once configured, you could actually go to the Web site and play right away but since I plan to use this more than once, I am going to write a .bat file that will call up both the browser and Joy2Key.

Open NotePad (Start > Programs > Accessories > NotePad)

You will need to know the path to Joy2Key and your browser.  I am currently working on my work laptop so this is Windows Vista (64) and Google Chrome.  You may have to adjust the paths depending on where you saved Joy2Key/what OS you are using/what browser you prefer.

In NotePad type (again for Vista (64), you will have different paths for different machines, the easiest way to find the path is to Start > Programs, find the program, right-click and choose 'Properties' then copy and paste the path),

START "Joy2Key" C:\Users\TheUser\Downloads\jtk374en\jtk374en\JoyToKey.exe
START "VirtualSuperNES" C:\Users\TheUser\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe virtualsupernes.com

Then, hit File > Save As and change the 'File type' drop-down from text to All Files.  Finally name the file whatever you would like but put a .bat extension.  Then, next time you want to play Super NES games, just double-click the bat file and it will fire both Joy2Key and Google Chrome (or whatever your browser of choice (as long as you don't tell me it is IE6)) with VirtualSuperNES.com preloaded.  Happy gaming!