Review: Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
For me Daft Punk is and will forever be a part of our gaming lexicon. Whether it’s their electronic sound that affords them such a relation by proxy or simply a sharing of a universal demographic, the two are inseparable. So I felt it only natural to review this album. That and my love of their music over the years doesn’t hurt either.
Da Funk
When I first heard to the lead single “Get Lucky” from Daft Punk’s upcoming “Random Access Memories”, I was left slack jawed from the hand of funk which had slapped me upside the head. The intro bass groove backed by a solid drum rhythm leading to the chunky melodic guitar licks of Nile Rogers flowing seamlessly into the bright and poppy vocals of Pharrell, it was spot on. And just when your ears itched to hear the soulful robotic harmonies of the duo, they come in with impeccable timing. Pitch perfect collaboration
A few weeks back, Brandon, Shawn and I found ourselves sitting in my basement listening to the track extolling its’ glory. In that moment sitting there slowly bobbing our heads to the beat in coincidental unison. It felt like a song from an alternate 1970; Inherently familiar yet uniquely vibrant. It was like I had heard it before but not phrased this exact way.
Like the rest of my grooving compadres, I was excited and anxious as the release date approached. With the magical day finally here, only one question remains: does RAM work or does it fail? Well yes and no.
Need a Life Size Geth Pulse Rifle Replica?
For those of you die hard Mass Effect fans with a money burning a hole in your pocket just itching to fly away, you’re in luck. For a donation of $200, the fine folks at Bioware will provide you with a life size replica of the Geth Pulse Rifle from the Mass Effect series.
Well we should say that $200 is only the deposit to get your name on the reserve list. The actual purchase price is a bit more. Alright a lot more.
Harvard Student Recreates Power Glove For Final Project
Every year Harvard students show off their tinkering talents in the annual Design & Project Fair at the school of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
There’s remote-control power outlet hacked to connect into a home’s wireless network, a mathematical system for crowdsourcing stock picks, an automatic fish feeder, a one-wheeled self-balancing electric vehicle, you get the picture. But student Tommy Chen had quite a different idea.
Explore The Galaxy Mass Effect Style In 100,000 Stars
Was I the only person who read every codex entry about every planet in Mass Effect 2 and 3? Jumping from system to system, planet to planet, reading every little bit of information about each planet was surprisingly addictive. This is coming from a guy who is usually not the meta type. But there I was, spending hours upon hours exploring every nook and cranny digging for those gems o’ information to fill my codex. Those little twinges of glee which pulsed through my brain when I discovered some random fact that related to a character in my party.
Now what if you took that concept, but instead of exploring the non-existent universe of Mass Effect, you could explore our own galaxy? The site 100,000 Stars scratches that same exploring itch with the added twist of, dare I say it, educating myself!?
The Calamus: The Ultimate Tabletop RPG Companion App
I really miss playing tabletop RPGs. Getting together every week with friends while banding together against a common foe was always a good time. But as I got older, game nights became more difficult to attend. That and over the weeks and months, keeping track of stats, maps, and characters turned into a confusing mess. Wait I thought I had a dexterity of +10. Or was that a +10 to vitality? No I had 5 hits points last game, not 8! This led to frustration, which in turn got in the way of the fun. When the game night was going well, it was a blast. It was all the other junk and micromanagement which seemed to put a damper on the party.
If only we had some way to track all of this information on a portable device. Some magical tablet which would store the data for later use or allow us to play remotely. Such a thing could only be conjured by the most powerful sorcery!… Well not sorcery exactly. It’s a smart phone app for iOS, Android and desktop called ‘The Calamus’.
Galaxian 3: The Resurrection of an Arcade Legend
Anyone who’s moved an arcade machine knows it’s quite an undertaking. Driving to the location, loading it up, moving it back, and unloading it into your house can take the better part of a day. Well take that and multiply it by 2,190 and you’d have the approximate time one collector and a group of stalwart friends have put into dissembling, moving, and reassembling one of the biggest arcade games of all time: Galaxian 3.
Six years ago, an arcade enthusiast by the name of Bruno had the hair brained idea to do just that. For those not familiar with the story, you can catch up on the story here. Though a machine of this size wouldn’t exactly fit in the typical family basement. No something this momentousness would need it’s own structure. A building dubbed the “Nuno Lair V3″ was constructed to house this great gaming giant. After five years in storage, the machine has been awoken from its slumber to finally be made whole once more.
Battlefield 3: For the Lulz of It
Battlefield 3 is one of those games I’ve learned to play differently from other first person shooters. Differently because I’ve found The game is most enjoyable when played with a lack of seriousness and a hearty sense of humor (both toward your enemies and yourself).
YouTube user Barbaric Mustard is one of those fellas who gets it. Whether he’s jumping out of a plane above an AC-130 and gingerly destroying it with his repair tool, or finding simple joy in careening his helicopter into a tank, you can tell by his belly laughter he’s having a grand time. Even when he himself is on the receiving end of the fragging, he takes it in stride. No getting all serious or angry. Just having fun with friends.
And that is why I found this clip to be especially enjoyable and think you will as well.
