#Don't call me Cliffy B

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: Long Live Eggbug

So last night I played Atari 50th anniversary collection, checked socials later to find.... cohost will shut down by the end of the year... aww..

So Atari is a company thats been around for a long while in the gaming industry, all the way back in the 70's with pong and asteroids, leading to the atari 2600 or vcs as it was called and finally leading to thier last console, the atari jaguar which flopped hard. It was a console that was advertised as a true 64 bit console even though it was really just 2 custom 32 bit processors, making it difficult to make games that run well, in the same decade that has the playstation and the nintendo 64. Yeah, "do the math".

Never really got to experience much of Atari when they were a contender in the scene, heck I wasn't even a year old when the Jaguar was launched so it wasn't really a part of gaming that I had a hands on experience with but I have heard of them. In my general interest in all things gaming in my youth, Atari was brought up sometimes in some gaming mags and online media, AVGN is probably for many people how they heard about Atari as he covered some games on the 2600, even did an episode on the failed 5200 and the Jaguar consoles.

So Digital Eclipse (not to be confused with digital extremes, the warframe folks) has done a 50th anniversary collection that has various games from atari's history, including some unreleased games. Naturally since these games can be easily emulated, a collection of old games wouldnt mean much but theres more to this than just that. You also get a bunch supplemental material such as artwork, behind the scenes documents and videos of interviews with several employees and key figures in atari's history, talking about various things. Cliffy B is there too for some reason.

For me its damn fascinating to follow along a timeline of events, looking at various media and playing some games, getting a feel on Atari's journey over the years. You do learn a few things about the company and how it ran at the time and uhhh.. it certanly looks a bit familiar. Developers having to work overtime, upper management ignoring concerns from thier employees, games being marketed beyond what could actually be delivered leading to consumer backlash, employees losing their jobs in mass. Yeah those problems are still around nowadays huh. 50 years later and nobody has really learnt anything, still making the same mistakes that one time led to the most infamous market crashes in history. Funny thing tho, while the games market did indeed crash in 83, leading to several businesses going bankrupt, for the average 2600 player it was just an odd time in which new 2600 games werent made. Because the 2600 had such a massive install base, eventually new 2600 games got made again, even during the time when the Sega Master System and the Nintendo Entertainment System were leading the console scene. To quote one Garry Kitchen "No one told consumers that there had been a crash. No one went to their house and said "You don't like video games anymore"".

Digital Eclipse also did some other games in the documentary style, the art of karateka and llamasoft. I wouldn't mind checking those out as I feel a documentary that covers a particular subject sounds fascinating to put the lenses of an interactive game, though I suppose it does veer a bit close to "edutainment" territory.

So now with that done, lets move onto the.... news. Cohost is announced to be closing down at the end of year with it converting to a read only format in October. I genuinly enjoyed my time on cohost even if it was short. From looking for alternatives to Tumblr, I stumbled onto it and found a chill sort of site that I felt comfortable browsing, chatting with peeps and sharing posts. It was a site that had an independent vibe that was unique and humble compared to some of its contemporaries. Tumblr weared the mask of being queer friendly despite nuking the odd trans blog every now and then, twitter is a cesspit run by that nepobaby bastard, discord seems to have issues with power tripping mods and creeps. A lot of social media seems to either be.full of techbro crypto ai weirdos or algorithmic data-harvesting software or both! But cohost had the vision of a place that didnt had user-unfriendly practices, instead of just making a site that demands engagement from the user for the sake of profit, the team made the site comfortable to browse and post on, letting people build up communities to hang out and chill in. Sadly that ambition wasnt sustainable due to the issues with both work and finance and in the end, it'll all be shut down.

I'll still be posting Midnight Gaming on Cohost until October as well as on tumblr until I find another site to host this series. Maybe I'll try that dreamwidth place I heard about, maybe i'll actually make a neocities site. We'll see what the future holds.

Until then, Rest in Piece Cohost. Hug your local eggbug today.... oh yeah james earl jones passed away too... awful lot of death lately, an old friend on my fathers side recently lost thier wife too. September what the hell you doing?

Hey whatever happened to those prizes that were won during the Swordquest contest?

Thats all for today, see you tomorrow. Feel free to leave any game suggestions or feedbacks. Anons are currently on.

[lol-jackles]

One thing perplexes me: why is Cliff always with Jared? I mean, on SPN Cliff worked for the CW as a "handler" (I really don't know what to call him). I guess he kept the same job at Walker. We know that Clif is also friends with the Padaleckis (he occasionally posts pictures of him at their house, in their free time, with the kids and all). But then Jared takes him to Italy to JIB, now in Poland for the USO tour... But why?

Because CW or CBS doesn't want Jared to drive himself home during a 12 hour work day. I was shocked to read that WB didn't automatically provide drivers for their lead actors that resulted in a few car accidents. One of Ruby Rose's many safety complaints on the set of Batgirl was WB not providing a driver for her.

Handlers are people wranglers, they get the clients from point A to point B. If the handlers are ambitious or smart enough, they become advisors or unofficial managers.  Think of the baggage handlers at the airport, they make sure they get your baggage on and off the plane, but if they see something iffy with your baggage they report to the airport, not you the owner of the iffy baggage. 

The Padaleckis give Cliffy extra gigs as their glorified baggage handler. Besides, you know that quote -  better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.  Meaning it’s better to deal with a someone you already know than with a new person that could be worse.

[realitybitesyouknowit]

Pros and cons of Ao3 and Fanfiction

I regularly wonder if i've read a fic or not after opening the link to whatever someone else was looking for in ao3. There's no good way to know unless you A) remember. B) wait a little bit and hope the number of times a link been clicked in history gives it away which not accurate cause I've had tabs open for months and not actually read them. Or C) Have the patience of a saint to scroll through the kudos to see if your tag is there cause I tend to kudos thinks 've finished or started and bookmarked. I wish your kudos stayed at the top of the list so you'd just know. Lord please don't ask me why I don't make collections cause I darn well haven't figured it out. Ergo why I share thinks on here with a million tags in hopes of finding things again if need be. My favorite thing about ao3 is the bookmark and save for later feature that fanfiction lacks. Alternatively I adore the fact fanfiction lets you fave stories and authors and then you can look through your faves to see what you have and haven't read base on authors I.E. for me I'm working my way through Beepkeeper atm didn't realize I hadn't binged them all yet. Not a fan of the follow story feature so much as yes it tells you there's an update in email but you have to remember where you left off yourself.

I also get sucked into the trap of rereading things rather than finishing the other 100 tabs already up because hey I loved that story. Vaguely remember bits and pieces but the ending is doggy so lets recap anyways. I bookmarked that story years ago and forgot about it waiting for updates but now it's finally finished and I need to know it from front to back. Last but not least that story has been bookmarked for ages and remains unfinished must to your dismay but you want to remember what everyone's talking about anyways. I'm about to go cry in a corner because I thought the The much better, Dursley's can fuck off, Slytherins are people too AU series was complete only to realize part 5 hasn't been updated since 2018.

They used the the thing!!!! Like there's a whole prompt about Charlie calling the dragons his kids wearing onsies on this site floating around somewhere and they used it!!!!!I just gaaaah nevermind Harry is just this precious bean that attracts all manner of dangerous and mystical creatures to him. Minnie is a bamf mama cat. Pansy and Hermione are the most terrifying duo in the world plotting world domination with their gf Millie along for the ride. Like This series is gold and its not finished and the cliffies gonna kill me.

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

Le Geek C'est Chic

We are constantly getting asked for fashion advice here at TGAM. To save us from constantly handing out geek fashion tips on a person by person basis like a budget Gok Wan we've decided to give you a run down of the hottest threads right here on the blog. Generous to a fault. Of course, aside from those whacky cosplayers, your standard geekware is T-shirt and jeans. Badges (that's pins to our Yankee cousins) are sometimes acceptable too. Here's our 2014 collection for your eyes only. 

Fossil Warhol. A montage of the original 9 evolved fossil Pokemon. The eagle eyed amongst you will spot that these are the shiny forms. Of course Nintendo have now made this print vintage by adding two new fossil Pokemon in X and Y so expect the price of these to sky rocket. This one's a Richie original design. You can buy it on REDBUBBLE right here. 

Understated, simple, toxic. Get it here. 

Another Richie original. Of course, if your handle isn't Cunzy1 1 and you aren't obsessed with Omastar then it may not be the right look for you. Check with your personal stylist before buying.

This Tee we got from Camden Market. According to the stall owners they're all original designs. We're not too sure about that but one thing we will say is that this T-shirt will definitely get you some knowing nods, some winks and maybe more...

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet now two sets of interests, overlapped will ever be niche enough again. This one's an essential for the Jurassic Park/Pokemon fan. Sadly out of print now. There's a bunch of alt JP/Pokemon designs out there but this one's our favourite. 

Another Camden 'Town original'. For that retro look because it doesn't have a Wii-U or a 3DS on it see?

So we think you've got enough ammunition to give your wardrobe that well needed refresh. Remember darlings your body is art. No need to thank us for the loving you'll get just make sure you whisper "That guy's a maniac" into the ear of your loved one at the critical moment. That's all we want. That's all we've ever wanted. 

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

The Trashmaster

Good machinima is very thin on the ground so it's with great joy that we direct you to go and watch a feature length filum called The Trashmaster, filmed inside GTAIV. Watch it here. The plot is as schloky as a Gears cutscene but the machinimatography is second to none. There's no hyperbole here but there are so many amazing shots crammed into 88 minutes you can't help but wonder at the eye for detail shown here. I've lived in that city but the filmakers have noticed details that makes me want to visit Liberty City again. Some of the shots in this film are ridiculous and we're willing to overlook sub-par narrative to congratulate the makers on a really really stunning piece of machinima. God knows how many hours were spent trying to set up the perfect shot and hopefully a bloopers reel will pop up sometime soon. Not only is it beautifully shot but this film is really a testimony to the highly detailed city that Rockstar built. Tiny little details that when highlighted by this film really take your breath away, more so if you know just how difficult acquring some of this footage is. Some of the details I'm sure don't exist in the game so I'm off to check now. Kudos once again to Mathieu Weschler and co. and let's hope this film kicks off a revolution in excellent feature length machinima.

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

Pokemon Black and White

How many news posts can be squeezed from four new pokemon and three new screenshots? Too many? Don't get us wrong, we're a little bit excited but not that excited. Still, we're the fool for expecting anything approaching measured responses on the internet. Especially not in the slums of the gamosphere.

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

Le Geek C'est Chic

We are constantly getting asked for fashion advice here at TGAM. To save us from constantly handing out geek fashion tips on a person by person basis like a budget Gok Wan we've decided to give you a run down of the hottest threads right here on the blog. Generous to a fault. Of course, aside from those whacky cosplayers, your standard geekware is T-shirt and jeans. Badges (that's pins to our Yankee cousins) are sometimes acceptable too. Here's our 2014 collection for your eyes only. 

Fossil Warhol. A montage of the original 9 evolved fossil Pokemon. The eagle eyed amongst you will spot that these are the shiny forms. Of course Nintendo have now made this print vintage by adding two new fossil Pokemon in X and Y so expect the price of these to sky rocket. This one's a Richie original design. You can buy it on REDBUBBLE right here. 

Understated, simple, toxic. Get it here. 

Another Richie original. Of course, if your handle isn't Cunzy1 1 and you aren't obsessed with Omastar then it may not be the right look for you. Check with your personal stylist before buying.

This Tee we got from Camden Market. According to the stall owners they're all original designs. We're not too sure about that but one thing we will say is that this T-shirt will definitely get you some knowing nods, some winks and maybe more...

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet now two sets of interests, overlapped will ever be niche enough again. This one's an essential for the Jurassic Park/Pokemon fan. Sadly out of print now. There's a bunch of alt JP/Pokemon designs out there but this one's our favourite. 

Another Camden 'Town original'. For that retro look because it doesn't have a Wii-U or a 3DS on it see?

So we think you've got enough ammunition to give your wardrobe that well needed refresh. Remember darlings your body is art. No need to thank us for the loving you'll get just make sure you whisper "That guy's a maniac" into the ear of your loved one at the critical moment. That's all we want. That's all we've ever wanted. 

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

Pokemon Black and White

How many news posts can be squeezed from four new pokemon and three new screenshots? Too many? Don't get us wrong, we're a little bit excited but not that excited. Still, we're the fool for expecting anything approaching measured responses on the internet. Especially not in the slums of the gamosphere.