PixlBit

My favorite part of this attempt at 5 million gold in Diablo III is the fountains of gold that spill out of monsters and chests when you equip lots of gear that boost gold drops.

I got two more Miis yesterday making my week's total six so far. I'm pretty sure I got them while at my usual coffee shop haunt. This place is usually filled with people of all ages, but there are a lot of college students there as well. I've gotten all my international Miis there too for some reason. I've heard people speaking French and Itallian, and the other day, I listened in while a German was flirting with a Korean. I guess trendy coffee places draw people from all over.

Dragon Magazine #106, February 1986. In the U.S. you would have been very envious of the release of The Legend of Zelda in Japan. You might even have been so frustrated that you headed to the theater to escape into the latest action movie, The Delta Force, staring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin. I only watched the first few minutes on youtube, but this is how every action movie should begin: one big explosion and then the heroes enter. Perfect! I often consider how all these 80’s action movies informed 8-bit action video games like Contra, Ikari Warriors, and a hoard of arcade rail shooters.

Came home tonight. Pulled my 3DS out of my pocket, where it's been all day, and saw that lovely green light that says I have a Street Pass. Let's see who's there.

I'm sad. No one likes me or Nintendo. I wonder sometimes. Most of the Miis I've gotten seem to be from adults. Are kids still playing Nintendo devices or are they all growing up on phones and tablets? I can say that's mostly true of my neice and nephew. One of them has a DS, but I've hardly seen him use it. Him and his sister are almost always on an iPhone or iPad playing games. Is Nintendo doomed because kids aren't into Mario anymore?

Got the achievement for getting to level 30 on Hardcore. I stayed in the game a little longer so Mark could get the same achievement. Now there's just one left and that's getting 5 million in gold. Trick is, this is 5 million that you pick up from the world and not gold you get from selling items. I forgot to look at what I have so far but Mark has a little over 3 million, which means I'm probably at 2 million. That's a lot of moola to go find and pick up. I have a few ideas though.

Retro weekend lasted about an hour. I tried to play Metroid, and I tried to play Mega Man. I downloaded them on my Wii from Virtual Console, used my classic controler, and just couldn't handle those crazy platform jumps - drove me absolutely nuts. I didn't even got past the very first screen in Mega Man. But, you know, I'm glad I got these games and experienced them, even if it was for only one screen. I loved the presentation of both and even admired the controls, which were obviously carefully worked out. These types of games are just not cup of tea, sad to say.

I forgot to mention yesterday. I got a Spot Pass Special Mii and guess who it was. Reggie! Yes, it was Reggie Fils-Aime's Mii and he was there to plug the new 3DS. What was he playing? Majora's Mask of course. I wonder if he's actually playing it or some intern has his 3DS and plays it for him. 

Just looking at my 3DS XL notifications after coming home from work tonight. Looks like I got six all at once when I went to this Hotel. I had four from earlier in the week, so now I'm maxed out with 10. Weehoo! Time to play some Mii Plaza games. 

More riffing on Dragon Magazine #94, February, 1985.  In this month and year Frank Herbert published his last Dune novel, Chapterhouse: Dune. I read the first trilogy of Dune books but I didn’t read all of the second. I lost steam after reading Children of Dune. Chapterhouse: Dune was the sixth book. There have been a lot of games of all types based on the Dune novels. The one I’ve been looking for is Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the Genesis. It hasn’t been in any collections or been downloadable anywhere. You can only play it on the Genesis. Publisher Virgin Interactive is no more and developer Westwood Studios was bought by EA and then closed. So maybe EA has the rights to Dune: The Battle for Arrakis? Who knows.