Back in the 80’s we would run Mandelbrot programs on our Atari 800 computers to render math-created nature…fractals, which were intricate and organic. The more you zoomed in, the more detail revealed itself. Prepare to be awed by their 21st century 3D versions. I’ve seen computer graphics improve and impress over the years, but these just blew me away.
The Unravelling of the Real 3D Mandelbulb

If you are all fired up after watching Star Trek on DVD or Blu-ray then play a game of Star Rangers on your iPhone and you’ll feel like Kirk zapping the bad guys. Just like your favorite starship, you have shields, warp drive, photon torpedoes, a galactic map and long range sensors all at your fingertips. Defend your bases scattered throughout the galaxy in real time as the hostile Lanz-trinzini attempt to surround and destroy them. (And you too if you get caught between them!) Get into a bind and you too can punch the warp drive to get out of danger faster than you got into it, just like a real starship captain. So what are you waiting for? Warp on over to iTunes and…yep…beam your copy down today! For more information vist the ANALOGretro website.

Today is the official release day on home video for Star Trek (2009) in the US. While choosing Trek for my favorite film of the year was easy, more difficult is picking which Blu-ray set to get.

Best Buy, and a couple others, are offereing the Blu set with four Starfleet insignias. Read the rest of this entry »

Halloween has come and gone but there is always next year. Here are some gaming characters that are just amazing. Starting out with Mr. Bubbles from my favorite game of 2008, BioShock. The Big Daddy diving suit is impressive with it’s attention to detail and realism. Just undertaking a project this steep earns Harrison Krix a few million points for his 7-week project. Sure beats the Ben Cooper get-up’s I wore as a kid.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of Master Chief wanabe’s walking around but the “Master Chief Wearable Suit” by Chris Bryan is the real deal.

This Samus Aren (from Metroid) is sweet…

Not sure who Ivy Valentine is, from Soul Caliber 2? In case you need more images click here.

For more on some these and others amazing pieces of work, check out The 20 Most Badass Video Game Cosplay Costumes Ever.

Our “top secret” project for the past 9 months is now up on iTunes and it’s Star Rangers for the iPod touch and iPhone. This is the first of many planned apps and it’s a killer! Visit ANALOGretro.com/StarRangers

Maybe the best thing about a really great game is that you can revisit them years later and remember why you enjoyed it so much. Nearly any game will lose something over the years as advances in graphics and processing power move up, but the game play still remains. A landmark title has so much going for it that some details can be overlooked, as the other aspects are so strong. A couple of standouts for me were Nectaris and Majesty. Nectaris was a turn-based strategy game, originally developed by Hudsonsoft in Japan, that centered-around futuristic weapons on the surface of the Moon for a battle of dominance. What made the game special were the game balancing, decent AI, A+ music score, and cool weapons. It was released later as NeoNectaris in Japan-only, but this time the battle took place on Mars and added even better weapons including powerful Bio-Tech machines. That game soundtrack still remains one of my favorites ever. Other versions of Nectaris were released for the PC, Playstation, original Gameboy, and a spin-off called Earthlight for the Nintendo SNES. A cell phone version was even developed and sold. In the US Nectaris was known as Military Madness on the TurboGrafx-16 console – same great game but the name change never quite did it for me. The original Military Madness resurfaced a couple years ago on the Wii as a WiiWare Turbografx-16 re-release. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to dump your iPod for a “slick” new Zune HD? You might want to check out Five Myths of the Zune HD. All of that cutting edge tech packed into the new Zune might just have a bit too much of an edge. Yea, the link takes you to an Apple-oriented site, but do you really think a website run by Microsoft fanboys is going to give any (real) negative commentary to the first Zune to get any potential respect? Either way, it’s an interesting read. I welcome the new Zune and some of its features – it might bring some competition for Apple, which will benefit consumers on the iPod front.

Of course the Zune isn’t going to get much love from Mac users in the short term, as it’s not compatible, though workaround’s are already cropping up. And app-wise the Zune has a long, long way to go to catch up with the App Store, though some of the announced games and Xbox 360 connectability sound exciting.

Check out the Zune HD 32 Tech Specs here.

When I scrapped my 15-year old website to start a blog, I knew it would require considerably more diligence and time keeping it filled with news and opinions. Unfortunately between spring and summer activities (coaching baseball, coaching softball, Boy Scouts, vacations and yard work) I just had too much going on and this blog was the first thing to go. And when the nice weather finally hit in New England (July) my free time wasn’t all that free. And then there is “the project”. It’s kind of crummy when you can’t say much about your work until it’s released, going many months without posting anything about it. Thankfully the time is just about here and I can blog about “the project” toward the end of Sept., which will be a lot of fun.

The March 23rd episode of Chuck has a Predator Drone firing a missile at the “Buy More” at Doheny & Wilshire in Beverly Hills, which is pretty much the address I worked at for 3 years. That location is actually office buildings and street level shops along Wilshire with residences behind lining Doheny. Freaky. (Chuck mentioned that address but the Nerd Herd typed in 10100 Wilshire.)

There’s plenty to watch on TV these days, certainly in the two categories I lean towards which is entertainment-drama and sci-fi. I hate reality shows, the talent shows and other nonsense the masses seem to be addicted to. Video games does take a big dent out of my time from watching television, as does the internet and DVDs/Blu-ray. It’s probably the same for many of you following in my hi-tech footpaths.
Read the rest of this entry »