Nothing beats the Winter doldrums like appearing on sunny Miami radio!On Thursday, March 15th 2007, GamerDad appeared on Dave LaMont’s newsradio show on 610AM in Miami. It was a smooth conversation, and I’ll add the archived audio if it becomes Internet available.
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One of the great ideals underpinning American Idol is the thought that you can witness a scene like out of a 1940’s movie where a girl working in a restaurant does something nice and the right guy in the right place says “baby, I’m gonna make you a star” – then he does. Or like other movies of the era where an A&R guy is looking for a new talent and someone drags him to a butcher shop promising “you just HAVE to hear this voice”, which ends up landing a likeable working class guy with a huge record contract. In other words, aside from watching people make fools of themselves intentionally in the tryouts, the allure of American Idol is that someone who has had to forego their dreams of being a singer can emerge as a polished talent and see their dreams fulfilled.
For some, its enough to play a game and enjoy it; others have an urge to dig a little deeper. Settlers of Catan is heralded as a great game. Today, I ask the question: WHY is it such good game? – Lets take a quick look at six specific features that make it one of the great games of all time.
It’s the special Grand Theft Auto IV column! I’ve been getting GTA mail for about 4 weeks now and WhatTheyPlay’s John Davison suggested I save them and answer the best of them at once. They even made a nifty graphic for it. (Note: I’m playing GTA IV now – expect my thoughts before the week is out! It literally begins with a fat guy in boxers being whipped by a dominatrix, that’s your first image. A conversation about “tits” is the first thing you hear. And people really do ask me if this game is for kids or not. Wheee!)
Taking a drive home from New York to Massachusetts for the last pre-move trip I was listening to my 4GB iPod Nano using the ‘shuffle songs’ feature and something occurred to me: I have a lot of really cool video game music mixed in with all of my other stuff. Combining that with the latest of Cary’s Top 5 lists got me thinking: what are my favorite original game soundtracks? Not ones full of licensed songs or music from movies, but original works written solely for the game I am playing.
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WIOD Miami 610, a FOX Radio affiliate, contacted me this morning about Grand Theft Auto IV. I emphasized that the game is for adults, and that while kids won’t be harmed by it, the game is too satirical and mature in content for kids to really appreciate. The interview aired at 10am Central Time this morning and was edited down to two topics: “How offensive if the game?” and “The High Def makes it worse.” Hey, they didn’t misquote me at least – and the information is useful and accurate – if not completely fair and balanced. Regardless, thanks WIOD for the opportunity to help your listeners!
Let’s get right down to business here. In honor of Mario Kart Wii being released this week, here’s a blog dedicated to all things Mario Kart. We’ll start with a brief rundown of all the other Mario Kart titles and my personal experiences with them, look at my favorite of the Mario Kart wannabes, and end with my first impressions of the new Wii game. Start your engines, and let’s go!
It started the German invasion, it spawned five expansions and countless follow up sequels. Is it last summer’s movie blockbuster? No, it’s a great little board game called Settlers of Catan.
The Parent’s Television Council has decided that they need to get on their soapbox and has issued an alert about the upcoming game Grand Theft Auto IV. After reading it I decided to do as they asked at the end, and share this with every concerned parent I know.
This probably isn’t going to be quite what they had in mind, though.
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We meant to do this for 5 years but WhatTheyPlay not only beat us to it – they did a better job than I have time to attempt right now. So, if you want a comprehensive glossary about video games – click here!
