Froosh. Stuff.

I’ve developed a new addiction, or perhaps merely a new obsession: Pokemon.  Specifically, Pokemon Pearl on Nintendo DS.  This is probably not news to the geeks out there, but it’s good!

Mrs Froosh and the Kiddo have been playing the Diamond and Pearl versions for some time, but Mrs Froosh recently abandoned her Pearl copy and released it to me (yes, I’m the last in the family pecking order ).

And I’m in deep now.

I’ve always avoided the Pokemon games on the presumption that they are too childish.  While that may be true for some of the older versions (Can’t know, never played them), and the marketing is heavily geared towards the pre-teens, the Diamond/Pearl versions are incredibly complex with many engaging mini-games.  I’m a big fan of the FInal Fantasy games series, but I think I have a new favourite game…  Pokemon is likely to keep me going for hundreds and hundreds of hours.

One of the features I’m looking forward to using more effectively and widely are the ‘collaborative play’ experiences.  At present, 8 y.o. Kiddo is the only challenger I have, and he’s mopping the floor with me.  His Pokemon are bigger, faster, stronger, and vastly more experienced than mine, and yet we can still have an exciting and engaging play experience.  The mini-games offer local wireless interaction options at every turn and I’d love to see how well it works in a much larger group.  Internet-based ‘Wi-Fi Connect’ options are a much more limited offering: only trades, voice-chat, or battles with integrated voice-chat.  The latter works surprisingly well, far exceeding my expectations.  I’m really looking forward to finding more Pokemon geeks to interact with this way!

With that in mind, I offer up my Pokemon Pearl Friend Code.  Add me to your Pal Pad and e-mail me your Friend Code and we’ll see what comes of it.  I’d love to see how I fare against new opponents - the gloating my my son is getting a bit much!

Pokemon Pearl Friend Code: “Froosh” 0559-8316-8401

Update [18-08-2008]: I bought a new DS Lite, and so my friend code has changed. It is now: 0817-5963-3131

My 33rd birthday is soon (well, 17 days) and family are starting to ask what I want as a gift. Last year I had suggested the unrealisticly priced Death Star.

This year, I’m really liking the new LEGO Mindstorms NXT - you should watch the (slightly) hidden “Easter Egg” on the Mindstorms site (hint: Steven from BimP shows the way).

However. I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. The LEGO Shop at Home for US lists the NXT Kit for US$249.99. Google tells me USD$249.99 in AUD$ is AU$327.68. The LS@H for Australia lists it for $429.99. Yes. Thats right. AU$102.31 more than the equivalent US price. And if I want to do them a favour and pre-order it, I can pay either $45 or $100 extra for delivery.

Nope. Can’t do it. Sorry LEGO, you had me then you lost me. There is no way I’ll pay $150-$200 more than US Retail.

Now I just need to find something I want that I can justify.

Whew - it’s been ages.

This is just a quickie to turn off the piratey theme and post a link to my X-Box Live Gamertag. Feel free to add me to your friends list - preferably with an audio note mentioning who you are and how you know me.

I’m really only playing Halo 2 and Doom 3 at the moment, but I’m willing to entertain other games - once I buy them…

[via Jake]

Co-incidentally, my birthday is on the 18th and you can pre-order it starting on the 18th. It’s fate. So, who wants to buy me a shiny noo birthday present? At nearly AU$570, there is no way I can even pretend to justify the purchase.

Maybe in another lifetime.

How to make a desktop trebuchet from popsicle sticks

Gotta MAKE me one of these!

I’ve been re-discovering the joys and delights of Lego for a while now, thanks (mostly) to my son and his natural inclination towards creative and imaginitive play.

I don’t think people really give Lego enough credit for stimulating and encouraging children. Sure, everyone recognises the link with engineering but often don’t consider the versatility and potential of the humble brick.

Solo play includes the obvious tower/bridge/fortress options to build the tallest/longest/stongest construction and learning the associated science and engineering concepts, but why stop there? I think Lego could be used in just about any area of childhood (and adult) development.

In particular I think Lego is invaluable in learning co-operative play (collaboration to us big kids). Certainly collaboration can be learned with other toys or even without any props (story telling springs to mind) - Lego just makes such a potent combination, enabling multiple learning streams at once. Construction, sharing of parts, consistency of design, inter-operability of created objects, relevance to themes or story-lines, and timeliness of completion are all necessary skills in a successful co-operative play session. And don’t limit your thinking here to purely mechanical aspects (does my person fit the scale of the cash register my neighbour built?), but asthetics as well (do our colour schemes work together? am I using too many soft shapes vs. my neighbour’s angular objects?).

Problem solving skills and lateral thinking are big by-products of extended Lego play - you never have exactly the right bricks you need to create a non-catalogue object. I often wish some of my work associates had spent more time learning the habits of lateral thinking and problem solving as a child, because they appear to be incapable of learning them as an adult.

Lego can also save you money! Why bother buying all the latest “fad” toys when all you need is some Lego and a creative mind to have any toy you want (erm, or your children want - I guess :wink:). And your grown children can make a living from their Lego habit. It can even help us average joes too: interviewing methods incorporating Lego and all the collaborative features I’ve just mentioned are catching on, so your Lego skills may be the deciding point in your favour for your next job.

So, what prompted this explosion of Lego favour? As a sometime follower of the LEGOFan site, in excited by their new BrickJournal. The first issue is fabulous … and frustrating - I don’t want to wait for the next issue! I want it now, now, now, NOW!

(BrickJournal link via BoingBoing)

Now play it on-line on an adaptive neural net! [20q.net]

It’s not perfect (I made it to 25 questions first time), but it did get there. Particularly enjoyable were the other ‘knowledge’ items it was generating:

bq. Uncommon Knowledge about a corkscrew
Does it fly? I say Probably.
Does it come from space? I say Probably.
Does it live in cities? I say Probably.
Is it carbon-based? I say Probably.
Is it usually sliced or carved? I say Yes.
Does it have a memory? I say Probably.
Is it a specific type? I say Yes.
Can it have hands? I say Yes.
Is it smooth? I say No.
Does it taste good with butter? I say Probably.
Does it have scales? I say Yes.
Is it a member of the cat family? I say Yes.
Does it belong to a family? I say Probably.
Can you blow it up? I say Probably.
Does it cry? I say Yes.
Is it very large? I say Probably.

In a fit of impulsiveness, I purchased the PS2 Network kit a week ago. I really wanted to get an X-Box, but the store was out and I wanted to splurge NOW rather than drive to another store…

One line impression: Good, Bad, Fair, Excellent, Excellent!

Good: Easy to install, no tools required, my 4 year old son could do it (If I wasn’t so grabby, “No, its mine!”)

Bad: The dodgy software included to configure the card. It didn’t actually crash, but it made it very hard in some places to verify that all settings were correct and working.

Fair: The web-ish Playstation Central ‘application’. Very slow (Not sure if it was a slow server or just dodgy software rending slowly), and many rendering errors that made it impossible to read or select some menus. A refresh of the page sorted it out most times. It took over 30 mins to register on the site though. :plain:

Excellent: The free game Hardware: Online Arena. It’s free. To my untrained, inexperienced online gaming sensibilites it is pure magic. I’m not very good at it, but I enjoy it very much.

Excellent: I also purchased the latest in the Time Crisis series - Crisis Zone. No, it’s not a network game. I have always enjoyed the Time Crisis series in the arcades and always wanted it at home. Now I do. And I love it. Guns in reality = bad stuff. Guns in PS2 game = good destruction fun. Particularly theraputic are the areas where you get to blast many computers and equipment into small crunchy parts.

Coming Soon: More network games for me, a headset, and a wireless USB keyboard.

I want one!

What would I do with it? Who really cares… :D