Writer. Editor. Speaker. Imaginaut.
Not too long ago, a Twitter survey shot through every Nazi’s favorite social network that asked a character-defining question: name the topics you can speak about for 30 minutes with zero prep time. One of my picks was video games. And I spoke about it for 35 minutes on the People Playing Games podcast. That extra …
Continue reading “Listen to me babble on the People Playing Games podcast!”
Every summer, as warm weather settles over New York City, newscasters report that violence and crime escalate as the mercury rises. One doctor is likely to state that the high heat indexes are the direct cause of the unruliness; another equally qualified physician is likely to contradict that statement by explaining that people are simply outdoors …
Continue reading “Reflecting on Street Fighter II and arcade ass-kickings”
Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection is the singer’s first greatest hits compilation. Released in November 1990, the album culled The Material Girl’s most-popular tracks from 1983-1990. Capcom’s Street Fighter II is the game that put one-on-one versus fighting on the map and staved the arcade’s inevitable death by nearly a decade. Released months after The Immaculate …
Continue reading “How Madonna improved my Street Fighter II skills”
Parents’ basements were made for safekeeping childhood memories. I recently rediscovered a stack of Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges locked inside a storage bin in my folks’ home. The titles were part of an obviously curated collection that boasted some of my all-time NES games, including Contra, Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, and …
BitBox NES game cases are super sexy. No, really, they are. I’ve discovered—after returning to the wild and surprisingly expensive world of NES collecting—that bare bones cartridges aren’t the most-exciting items to display on a shelf. The carts are a dull gray color, and the decades-old sticker-art that fronts them no longer pops with vibrant colors. …
Continue reading “Stone Age Gamer’s BitBox NES Cases spruce up your retro collection”
Wu-Tang Clan dropped the seminal Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers in 1993, fusing the New York City-style underground sound with intelligent lyrics, street knowledge, Five Percent Nation teachings, and philosophies ripped straight from old school Asian martial arts flicks. Shortly after the classic album transformed the hip hop landscape, the crew—nearly a dozen deep—announced that …
Continue reading “The night Wu-Tang Clan and Castlevania conquered New York City”
There are few video games that I’ll defend until breathless, and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a game originally released on November 12, 2001, is at the top of the list. Series creator Hideo Kojima proved himself a genius/world-class troll when he delivered an exquisite piece of postmodern storytelling that simultaneously pissed off …
Continue reading “How Metal Gear Solid 2 helped me cope with 9-11”
