We’ve got thunderstorms moving through, so for the third or fourth day in a row, Xena’s in the house with the kitties and I. And this led to an historic occasion…
Olivia’s been reluctant to accept Xena at first…
But after several straight days of Xena being inside with her, the dog finally merits a big “kitty rub”!
…meaning she’s finally been accepted.
Now that’s what I call one big happy family. 😀… Read more
Not much to report today, but I’m so enthused about the ideas in one of my recent posts on the Videopac.org forums that I thought I’d just reprint ’em here:
This squared so well with something that I’ve been thinking for a couple of years now that I thought it bears repeating:
Gert-Jan wrote:
Why not design a new combined Videopac/Odyssey2 style from scratch??
You all put a lot of work in all those releases. I think you deserve your own design, instead of imitating PHILIPS/Magnavox/Parker, who lacked the commitment to publish these games.
I really do like the designs for MI/PT and PPP I’ve seen here. On the other hand, it feels a little like rewriting history to me.
By all means, let’s rewrite history. Complete sea changes in video game packaging aren’t a total unknown – look at Atari’s switch from its colorful 70s style to the silver-with-red-band style of the 80s. I think there’s ample evidence that Philips was already slowly dismantling the very, very 70s style of packaging and marketing material established by Magnavox. New catalogs were showing an Odyssey2 logo in a Serpentine Bold style font, not the “zooming” version used since 1978. And even some of the Odyssey3 prototypes seemed to have a badge that confirmed a move into a more modern style. Chances are, had the O3 taken off, the old O2 style of packaging would’ve been out the door. It just wasn’t in keeping with the times.
So let’s play with some ideas of what would’ve been, maybe even with an eye toward implementing them for future releases? I understand the call for a traditional approach on repro releases of unreleased 80s games, but look at the problems we already run into – should it be Odyssey2 style or Philips Videopac style? Well…what if those were one and the same?
(Click on “Mission Impossible” thumbnails for really, really big versions; the “Martian Threat” thumbnail is another example I threw together as an afterthought.)
The concept: a double-fronted box. Flip it over, and you see the other cover. Those who want an O2 box to display would have what they want, and the same for the Philips Videopac crowd. (I could even see eliminating the “2” from “Odyssey” – I don’t think there’s any realistic expectation of a new Magnavox Odyssey homebrew that these could be confused with, and that would also make Brazilian Odyssey collectors happy, since to them, the Odyssey2 is the Odyssey.)
Now, here’s an even more radical concept: have the boxes printed up in a stock size that’s just big enough to hold the cartridge and a one-sheet mini-manual, folded into quarters or sixths. We’re talking slightly bigger than a pack of playing cards. This way, you have a box that meets the minimum needs of protecting and displaying your cart, but the homebrew makers aren’t going broke trying to approximate the fancy-folded O2 cardboard containers, or trying to come up with empty Videopac plastic cases.
This would probably also help move more cartridges at gaming expos and the like.
Rationales on where everything is:
“Lost Treasures Series”: The original O2 line had the Challenger Series and Voice Series, and the Philips Videopac had Plus series games. This corner graphic could be anything – “New Classics” (homebrews), “Applications Series” (believe it or not, such a thing is about to come out!), “Lost Treasures” (unreleased protos), etc.
“Originally released by…”: For “Lost Treasures,” identifies and gives credit to the original producer of the game; for homebrews, would say something like “Designed and programmed by…” and the programmer’s name. Credit where it’s due.
“Also compatible with…”: This could also be, for something like Interpol, “May not be compatible with Odyssey2 game system” or what have you. Or, for Philips Videopac+ games, “Compatible with Odyssey3 Prototype Consoles” or somesuch. Imagine having something like KTAA being the first-ever boxed O3 game!
Anyway, that was the post I made at Videopac.org. For those not in the know, explanations aplenty follow. … Read more
May 20th-May 27th, 2006. Such a brief life to have filled with pain and confusion. I just hope that the family in general, and myself in particular, also filled it with love. Godspeed, little fella. We miss you already.… Read more
I hate this. I hate writing this so much.
With Boss running a fever of 103 (very bad news for a little guy), it seems likely that he isn’t going to make it. Reluctantly, we gave Boss up to our vet, who could give him 24-hour care in an effort to save him. The part that sucks is…if Boss makes it through the night, he’s theirs to keep. Now, let me be up front here – I’d rather have him alive, healthy, and living somewhere else with someone else than lose him. After all, that’s the whole point of this horse-breeding business that my wife and her family engage in. It may seem like a massive game of Pokemon with equine genetics, trying to see what combination of bloodlines produces an Arabian horse that conforms to a set of ideals set by humans (and yes, there is indeed a whole can of worms there, possibly a six-pack of such cans, which I just don’t feel like digging into now)…but the end result is, hopefully, a hearty and attractive enough combination of said bloodlines, embodied in a beautiful filly or colt, that someone else will want to buy for a lot of money so they can cross this new specimen with one of their own. The idea was to raise Boss and sell him sooner or later. … Read more
In our last installment, I mentioned that the decision had finally been made to get Hannah away from Boss before she did him grievous bodily harm. We’ve done that, but we may have done it too late. Boss is now on the horse equivalent of baby formula, and a fresh batch has to be mixed up and brought to him every 3 hours. Guess who gets to do that?
Actually, I’m not complaining. I’ve taken off work through the middle of next week just to do this, because someone needs to. I’ve also gotten used to hanging out with the herd in the dead of night – there’s something relaxing about it. Tonight’s been just eerie, because there are some serious thunderstorms to the north – we’re talking way up in southwest Missouri – so we have a clear, starry sky…with tons of lightning. Kinda strange. For most of the foals, this is their first experience with lightning, so it’s a blessing in that they get to see it without hailstones beaning them 10 minutes later. … Read more
Boss has been separated from his mom and put on the equine equivalent of baby formula after we found that he had a broken rib. Unfortunately, he’s also now experiencing diarrhea, so he’s far from out of the woods, especially since he’s already underweight. I’m taking off the next several days from work so I can feed him and keep an eye on him. I’ll probably be staying with him in his pen in the overnight hours. God only knows when I’m going to sleep over the next week.
Olivia provided me with some entertainment today; I started to draw a bath and closed the bathroom door, precisely because she’s already mastered the art of the flying leap into the empty bathtub. I realized I had forgotten something in the bedroom, and when I opened the door, a little furry grey streak shot past my legs, over the rim of the tub, and…splash! The water was barely even an inch deep, so she just got her tail and legs wet, and shot right back out of the tub again. Poor kid! Chloe once did something similar, except in a full tub, and then she promptly scampered out of the water and went to hide in her litterbox…which was full of clumping litter which would almost instantly harden around anything wet. For obvious reasons, Olivia didn’t get to go to the other bathroom where her litterbox is for a little while…
I’m hoping that we’ve taken the first step in saving Boss. Heck, maybe I can even get some sleep at some point in the next six days.… Read more
Seems like just this past Sunday morning, I said:
That she still hasn’t willingly let him nurse yet is a big problem; it could mean we get to go out there and bottle-feed him every couple of hours. And yet, she doesn’t completely hate the little guy – she’s very protective of him, and very solicitous of his welfare. We’re hearing that it may take a day or three for things to normalize – assuming they do.
Things have not, in fact, normalized. Having spent two nights going out to the barn and holding Hannah still on a halter and lead rope so Boss can chow down, I think it’s clear to see that her disposition toward the little guy has not improved. If anything, it’s gotten worse, and as you might imagine, her feelings on the two-legged creatures who keep coming into her stall every two hours to make her do this aren’t getting any more charitable either. Particularly at 3 in the morning. This is the part where it’s actually become a dangerous exercise – I’ve sustained a couple of bites from Hannah (one for each of the past two nights), something we’ve never had to deal with before from her. She has also gotten less shy about nipping at the colt (even if he’s just walking beside her) and has charged him a couple of times. My gut feelings are that we need to get him out of there and get the milk substitute started. Granted, it’s still a trip out to the barn every two hours. But it’s a trip that wouldn’t entail standing in an enclosed space with something that might randomly decide to do you some serious harm. Naturally, I seem to be alone in this assessment, but given the deterioration of Hannah’s mood over the past 36 or so hours, I think Boss is potentially in danger and I don’t think 2 or 3 more days with mom is going to change that. His ears may stand level with my shoulders when they’re perked up, but he’s still a delicate little guy right now.… Read more
A little documentation I’m writing for a procedure at work:
… Read moreBut what if there isn’t a new image?: When you’re putting together a Video segment in Phaedra, newly uploaded images should automagically appear in the “Associate Image / Select An Image†drop-down window. But what happens when you’re uploading a story that just doesn’t lend itself to one strong still image? Well, mayhem ensues, anarchy and chaos are loosed upon the land, and civilization as we know it plunges into a new dark age. Or, alternately, you can search for an old image. Here’s how to do that.
An update on Hannah’s colt: thankfully, he’s getting to nurse and get some more mother’s milk, but she’s still attempting to reject him. The good news is, it now takes only one person to hold Hannah on a halter and lead rope to get the little fart fed. (Not quite 24 hours ago, it was taking 3-4 people to keep Hannah from biting her kid while he was getting his milk, and Hannah had to be twitched as well as haltered.) She’ll still attempt to nip at him if you give her too much room to maneuver. I’ve had the “overnight shift” of going to the farm every two hours to try to buy Boss half an hour of feeding time. … Read more
