What’s coming…

Ah, it’s been a while since I posted a Sitegeist.  Heck, it’s been a while since I posted at all, so let’s kill two birds with one stone here.  Things are getting under control at work and I just wrapped up grad school exams, so maybe I’ll have more time to play games and post here?  Here’s what’s in the pipeline:

• Part 2 of my Metal Gear impressions and review.  My NES was out of commission for a while, but with a repaired 72-pin adapter, it’s good to go again.  So, it’s time to finish this game!
• Rocket Knight Adventures review.  It’s actually been a few months since I finished this game and a review has been sitting in the queue, ready to post as soon as I get some screenshots.  It’s probably time for that.
• Top Gear 2 review.  This is the one I tackled after RKA, so it needs a review, too.
• Castelian impressions.  I’m going to play through Castelian while I work on Metal Gear, so those are coming, too.  (In fact, I think I’ll post the first part now…)

So yeah, stay tuned!

(P.S.: I’m glad to see Nintendo finally caught up with Sega in the poll… Go Nintendo!)

It lives!

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, my trusty laptop that I do all my work from died.  Well, I’m happy to say that it’s back in service!  After a failed Craigslist deal and one bad replacement motherboard from eBay, I finally got a working part today.  Now it’s good as new!

Funny thing is that I got so fed up with dealing with it that I went out and bought a new laptop over the weekend.  But I hate it, so I think I’m going to return it.  I can’t stand Windows Vista.  Perhaps it’s fitting that I like my old laptop more than my new one.  After all, I do enjoy old video games more than new ones…

(P.S.: More frequent posting resumes immediately.)

Sitegeist (7/23/07)

Well, I’m back from my camping trip/mini-vacation, so that means I’m behind on my gameplaying.  I also came home to discover that my laptop is dead.  Hooray!  So, that means I’m stuck on my old Pentium III desktop, circa June 2000.  What’s all this mean for you guys?  It means you get a half-assed update tonight!  Hooray!  I’ve had a Sitegeist post queued up for a while now, so here it is…

First of all, I want to point out that 3DOkid has been kind enough to reciprocate my link to him, so if you haven’t already, check out his blog for the most 3DO fanboy goodness you can find on the web.

Next, you might also notice the new Recent Comments section in the right sidebar.  You can keep track of any new comments as they show up there.  Thanks to those of you that have been commenting so far — I enjoy hearing from you!  Everyone else, I’m severely disappointed in you for not participating… ;)

I also got FreeDO working on my computer, (The one that’s now broken… Oh, irony!) so that means I got some good screenshots for the Total Eclipse review.  Unfortunately, I lost the first set of really good screenshots that I took to a Photoshop crash, (I guess that’s what happens when you open like 40 new images at once.  Oops.) but the second batch was good enough, as well.

And one other really small update: I tagged Streets of Rage as a Wii Virtual Console game since I noticed it’s available there.

So, those are the updates.  I’ve also been working on getting polls up and running, but I need to rewrite the CSS to get them to look right, and I haven’t felt like doing that!  Also, if you’re the one that submitted a Time Capsule: The NES Network link to reddit.com, thanks!  That resulted in a nice traffic spike for my humble abode.  It’s making me think about adding digg links or something to the site… Anyway, that’s another possible change.  Stay tuned!

• Currently Playing: Virtua Cop (Sega Saturn), Killing Time (3DO)

Sitegeist (7/5/07)

Let’s see, what have I changed since the last Sitegeist post… I’ve added a new link to my Recommended Links: RVGFANATIC.  The owner, Steve, provides a unique look at a lot of SNES games — especially obscure Super Famicom games.  If you want to explore the world of unusual Japanese SNES games, this is the place to go.

I’ve recalculated my “reviews completed” ratio off to the right.  The number is now based on the number of reviews I plan to write rather than the number of physical games I own (I decided to review some collection carts as separate games).  122?  Man, I have a long way to go… And I know for sure that list is going to get longer!

I decided to tag on a “Currently Playing” field to Sitegeist posts.  Just for fun, really!

I’m still tweaking the structure of this site to work just the way I want.  In the past, I coded all my sites by hand, so they always did exactly what I wanted at pretty much every moment.  Now that I’m using a full content management system, (WordPress) I’m finding that I have to wrangle things a bit to get them working just right.  Deployment of the site sure was fast, though!

Now the technicalities: I discovered that you can link thumbnail images to a “friendly” HTML page instead of just directly to the file.  Since this is what I always wanted in the first place, I’ve gone back and edited all my image links to do so.  So now, when you click screenshots or other images, you’ll get a nicer looking page with titles and commentary to go along with the images.  From there, you can click the image to view them full size.

I’ve also made some behind-the-scenes changes to how YouTube links get embedded.  You shouldn’t see any major difference, except that IE6 now scrolls much more smoothly, and I’m also less likely to break a video by editing the page.

• Currently Playing: Streets of Rage (Sega Genesis), Virtua Cop (Sega Saturn)

Sitegeist (6/23/07)

Well, it’s been a week since I bought a domain for this site and officially launched it. Traffic has been slow, but that will come in time. (If anyone wants to exchange links, leave a comment and let me know.) More importantly, I feel like the pieces are falling into place, and that I’m building the foundation for a nice site that I’ll enjoy working on for a long time to come. I’ve managed to post a couple reviews and kicked off a few recurring features I had in mind, but I have lots more ideas, so rest assured there’s even more to come!

Beyond the regular posts you see, I tend to do a lot of smaller updates that you might not notice. On occasion, I plan to make a sort of “meta-post” to talk about the site itself, where I’ll bring attention to small details I’ve changed or just talk about general ideas and trends. The name, “sitegeist,” is a play on the German word “zeitgeist,” which literally translates to “time spirit,” or “spirit of the times.” “Sitegeist,” then, is “spirit of the site.”

So let’s get down to business… Firstly, I’ve decided to award outstanding games with a “Retro Star Award” when I review them. Since I don’t give numeric grades to the games I review, this is a quick way to pick out my favorites if you don’t have time to read everything. You’ll see a small star icon next to titles on the Reviews page, and the larger icon next to the “Final Thoughts” section of a review.

And secondly, I’ve updated both the Bonk’s Adventure and Marble Madness reviews. When I post an article, it’s not necessarily complete. I may tweak it for several days (or weeks) before I feel it’s just what I want. So, you’ll find some edits on both. Additionally, I’m still working out the template I’ll use for each review. The big change is that I’ve added a YouTube video to the very end. I plan on personally picking a YouTube clip of each game I review and embedding it. I’m still debating this feature, though. Does it make the page look too busy?

Anyway, that’s all for now. Look out for my next review later this weekend!