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Dhalsim's look especially cool. Check it out thanks to Famitsu.

I once spent twelve hours with my NES, my trusty NES Max controller and my copy of Bionic Commando; from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM... of the next day... and I had to be at school at 7:30... I think I would have missed school had I not killed Hitler ded by the time the sun crept through the window...

True story: Years ago my wife returned some vids I had rented on Video Avenue. But carelessly gave them my copy of SF 25 Anniversary Collection, the PS2 version, instead of a game I had rented. Since I played SF3 nearly every day I promptly found out about the mishap. I went back to Video Ave. explained the situation; I even returned the game I still had from them. But all the copies of the game were out. I kept going back but their system showed no additional copies of the game,none that didn't have their seal, and none that weren't horrendously scratched (mine was pristine). They refused to refund anything since they said there was no evidence they ever received my game. I told them "You just lost a client that spends almost $100.00 a month.", which was true, and never again to this day I have set foot in a Video Ave. I think the employee that received my game quickly pocketed it seeing as it was in perfect condition and with no Video Ave. seal...

That's not the end... I could not find a copy of the game in any of the near, and far, videogame stores. And for some reason, living in Puerto Rico (a territory of the US) had made it illegal for any store to sell me another copy of the game (of course I had previously bought PS2 and PC games and software). Only recently was I able to get a copy via some Amazon partner. It is sitting even now in my PS2 ready to fight at any given moment...

Two interesting things resulted from this... I became a bittorrent user (remember no more spending at Video Ave.) and me and my wife had the only serious fight during our marriage, ever.

Yes, I know. That last post was completely wierd. It was good for me though. Reading it back to myself I saw some flaws in my writing. You could say I gained some insight. What an elusive and completely satisfiying thing, insight.

And now for something comepletely different.

For no reason at all I remembered the first video games I played. The first arcade video game I played was either, Pac-Man or Popeye. However, the first arcade video game that truly immersed me in its experience was Karate Champ.

I remember there was this room, right next to the barrio's supermarket. There must have been only a dozen or so arcade machines side by side; and just enough walking space to get to them. It was dark, smelly; colors emitted from the machines danced physically in the cigarette smoke emitted by the teens. It was a holy union, the teenagers wanted escape, the videogames provided it, and the smoke closed the deal. It was wonderful.

One night, I sat next to some young man as he played Karate Champ. I watched motionless, awe-struck at the digital fighter's agility. Somebody came over and had a verbal exchange with the young. He tells me, suddenly, "Take over!"; and almost runs ot of the place. I stand in front of the machine; the controls were arcane. It had two joysticks and no buttons. What kind of video game machine had two joysticks?! I had never seen that before. The machine yanks my attention back to the screen by making the digital referee yell "Fight!" My red-garbed computer opponent starts advancing while menancingly shooting a fist then a jump kick. Meanwhile, I desperately wiggle the joysticks to try to defend myself, I know not how. The red fighter lands near me. I think I push the joysticks down and my fighter ducks, just in time to evade the red fighter's punch. "Oh my!, he's gonna kill me, he's too close!", I think. I frantically push the joysticks in disparate directions. My fighter stands, and lets out a kick... It connects! I get a full point.

The computer trashed me afterwards... but I feel exhilarated. No wonder street fighter is my favorite video game.

The first console game I played was Pac-Man, on an Atari 2600. I got my first, own TV set just for my Atari console. The Atari was not impressive nor inmmersive however, except for River Raid. I played that for hours. All was quickly forgotten, when I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. The Commodore came with lots of 5 and 1/4 inch floppies, and in one of those was the most immersive game I had played to date. Zork.

It isn't so much a game, it is more like a dynamic book. Text adventures they were called. I played that for months, hooked by the writing and the puzzles. The description of places, people, treasures and events were superb. It made me want to read everything.

I wonder if I should replay Zork again, to see if I can learn something from that writing style and improve my flawed writing. Hah! I wonder someone has made Zork run on a PSP.

The information soldier is also a scholar...