Wow! I’ve heard a bit about how good this game is for some time but man, am I blown away. This has got to be one of the most involving and exciting games I have played in a long time. Orginally released on the Super Nintendo, Chrono Trigger is an epic quest across time that has fantastic role playing elements combined with a terrific storyline. I cannot believe how awesome this game is.

Your main character starts off the morning with plans to visit the centennial festival. There you play some games and complete some mini-quests which actually alter the storyline a bit later on down the line depending on the choices you make. You meet up with you friend, a female mechanic who has created a teleporter. You are the first brave sole to take a try. Success compells another female companion who you hook up with to jump on in there but she gets kicked out of time and you have to go rescue her. Your quest continues through about 5 different eras in history each with links to one another. How this all ties together is just utterly fascinating. The character development is top notch.

There are so many twists and turns in this games and events that happen which just floor me. I don’t want to give any of the surprises away so I will say little more. Suffice to add that when it feels like the game might be reaching a climax you learn that you still have a long way to go.

The combat system is really cool. From the start you have the choice to use traditional turn based combat or ongoing combat. The latter has you making choices and attacking while the enemy is doing the same with no pause and no break, so you have to be on your toes. I suspect it was unique for its time and I have not played many other games that utilize this type of system. It’s almost Balder’s Gate in some ways, but you cannot pause the flow.

This game is an absolute must have for the DS. You can pick it up just about anywhere that sells older or used games. I recommend trying to find it new, but don’t pay more than $20. I saw it at Kmart for $19.99 unopened.

You can also find the rom on line for the snes emulator, but come on, you know you want to get it legitimately.

You hear so much about Zelda and Final Fantasy, it’s a shame a game like this never received the mainstream recongnition it deserved. Chrono Trigger is truly a treasure.

There is a sequel, Chrono Cross, for the Playstation.

Sunday after meeting we decided to do some Christmas shopping as the kids were not with us. We stopped by Wally World to see what we could check off the lists.

While there the wife took interest in the Wii Fit Plus. Now aparently she had wanted one for some time, unbeknownst to me. I, on the other hand had no interest in a Wii Fit. But as her birthday is the 21st and seeing an opportunity to not have to make multiple trips, I said hey, if that is what you want well then let’s get it. So we did. That along with a flat screen tv (we entered the 21st century) and a cheap dvd player. We had to buy a new one because we lost the remote and being a cheap player it was almost as expensive as buying a universal remote.

Now the wife and kids took to the Wii fit right off the bat. I on the other hand showed some vague interest but had server issues to deal with. When I finally got to try it out it changed my opinion and I was hooked. It’s a blast and very challenging!

To start you have to do a body test and it caclulates your bmi and gives you a Wii Fit age. I screwed up on mine the first time and ended up with a Wii fit age of 56. I was also fat as hell. This bummed me out a bit so the wife evenutally convinced me to do it again. Now my Wii fit age is 33, 4 years younger, but I am still a lard butt. Well, gotta get on the running more, hit the Wii fit on a regular basis and eat reasonably.

Popcap makes some very interesting and very entertaining games. Right now I am playing Plants vs Zombies and it is a blast. Getting it to work under Linux was not a chore, but I had to use wine. Popcap only makes their games for Windows and OS X right now but I hope someday they see the light and put out native Linux versions. For now, it’s wine to the rescue.

If you are interested in a Popcap game check around on the web to see if it will work under wine. Or, you can go the next step and download the demo. Most Popcap games should have a demo. Fire that up under wine and take it for a spin. That is what I did for Plants vs Zombies.

Regardless of which route you start out on I do suggest you look around for others who have tried it under Linux and see their results and work around in case you run into some problems. For instance, the first time I tried PvZ I had that full screen mode does not work well. My experience proved this out when I tested it under Intrepid. Now I am running it under Karmic and it seems fine at full screen, but I do like windowed mode a bit better.

Now if you elect to purchase the game you might run into some difficulty. Popcap uses an online registration in the game that allows you to enter you purchase id to register. This registration did not work for me so I had to go with the manual registration. You take that order id and plug it into a form on their website. The second hurdle is that this form requires active x components, so you need IE. That was easy to get around using the IEs4Linux project. A quick download and about 2 minutes later I was registering online and getting the unlock code.

It’s that easy!

Yeah, it’s a proprietary app, that it is and there is no native Linux version yet, but one day I hope that will change. Enjoy!

Well it was not really a bar, but it was a local pizza shot. Imagine my surprise when the my daughter plugged in the Megatouch machine and it booted a Linux kernel. You can find these machines in most bars in the US. I know a lot of them used to run DOS, but it’s great to see them using a far superior OS. My hats off to the company! So next time you are out having a good time throw a few quarters in a Megatouch to support Linux!

I wonder if those games are available for purchase anywhere. I doubt they are under a FOSS license. But it would be cool if they were.

Man, this is an addicting game! Check it out over at http://www.eternal-lands.com. You can listen to my review and tips on the latest LaGER – episode 020. It’s such a blast to play!

I really need to get back to studying python though. But Eternal Lands….

After almost a year hiatus, LaGER is back, big time! Yes, two episodes this week and the whole family got involved. You can find the LaGER website over at www.thelinuxlink.net/lager to pull down the ogg or mp3 files or subscribe to the feed. We have a lot of plans for LaGER this year and this time we won’t drop the ball. It may not be weekly, but you will get at least one or two a month. If they keep putting out games on Linux, we’ll keep playing and reviewing them! Hot diggity! Show Time!

About three weeks ago I won an ebay bid on the Dungeon Board Game. Man I was psyched! I played the crap out of this game with my friends back in the day. It must have been 20 years at least since I last played the game. It’s very difficult to find and even more difficult to win on ebay. Alas, it arrived on a Friday and that night the kids and I played a few games. We’ve been playing off and on now and tonight was the first night Erin was able to play. Man, it’s good stuff. The kids picked the rules up no problem and have been taking turns winning.

Seeing how they have taken to Dungeon excites me because this year I got the family the Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition game. Now the wife insists that it’s more a present for me (I’ve acquired the Starter Set, Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and a few Tile Sets already) but I steadfastly hold, it’s gonna be a family game.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons right before I entered Middle School (6th grade). I received the Basic Edition for my birthday and I remember the day I opened that box set up and pulled out the dragon dice and B2 – The Keep on the Borderlands. I spent hours reading the rules and that modules and then even more mapping out my own dungeons on graph paper.

I must say while I find playing Druids and Rangers fun, I think I much prefer to DM (Dungeon Master). That’s just me I guess. D&D not only piqued my interest in fantasy but it paved the way for other role playing games like Marvel Superheroes, Call of Cthulhu, and Star Frontiers. In fact, I could say that D&D was directly related to getting me into my comic book addiction.

Back when I started playing D&D the game was receiving some negative press by various groups declaring it was Satanic and that kids were killing themselves acting out the game. Sounds like the complaints against video games today, huh? Anyway, more so than being a game D&D was also an incredible tool for me in ways very un-satanic. You see, I was never the best at English and writing and infact I recall being in a remedial English class in 5th grade. I did not know it was remedial at the time, but looking back, yeah it was. But getting in to D&D helped increase my writing and communication skills to a point that, not realizing at the time, pulled me out of the remedial classes and into a life long love of literature and writing. I went from the lowest reading groups to the higer ones. I went from C’s and D’s to all A’s. I moved on to college working towards a minor in English (why I did not major in that I don’t know). I graduated and continue to enjoy reading and writing mostly poems and short stories. I had some work published, which was a thrill, and continue to rely on these skills as an asset.

Yeah, D&D really helped me out in ways unexpected at the time. I look forward to playing with the kids and further expanding their imaginations. A bit of time with the family away from the television lost in a fantasy world where we communicate in different ways, problem solve and hone both sides of our brains. Good stuff.

Wow, my kids are really trying to keep Nintendo in business. Avery’s latest DS, her second (she had her first one stolen at the South Mall when we were up North last Summer) had the trackpad go on the fritz. It was still a usable ds if you wanted to play GBA games. Unfortunately as we got this one from a co-worker of Erin’s who bought it over a year ago and never played it it was out of warranty. The replacement is $85.

When Paige got her first DS it was broken a few months later when Avery sat on it while they were visiting in South Carolina for the month of August. It was a fully functional DS but the case was cracked. Good thing I kept it. We figured what have we got to lose? Let’s see about swapping the trackpad out of Paige’s first DS and put it in Avery’s second.

We had to order a size 000 tri blade screwdriver which was $10, shipping included. It arrived today and I set about taking care of business with some web diagrams. I must be getting old, because some of the electronics were very hard to see. I mean, a ribbon cable 2mm wide. Getting down to the trackpad was pretty easy, having come from a history of disassembling all sorts of laptops. But getting the trackpad off was hair raising and meticulous. It was held on by 2 ribbon cables, one about an inch wide and the other aforementioned about 2 mm wide. You had to be very careful with the latches on these because on false move and it’s game over. The 1 inch wide ribbon cable I had to slide 000 size flat blade jewelers screwdriver under the black lip of the latch and carefully pry it up. The 2mm required the same screwdriver but I had to slip it in behind to the back of the latch which was partially under some component that was raised off the board. I had to do this for both DS’s.

When I put the old trackpad in the new DS the reverse was just as hair raising. Getting both ribbon cables back in the slot was difficult, especially the 2mm one. But I persevered. The last bit of difficult was putting the R and L bumper buttons back in the top of the case. They were spring loaded. But once back in, I slapped the screws where they belonged (I made good use of my case for holding and keeping separate the parts) and fired it up.

The trackpad worked just fine, although it was a strobey and there was some (for lack of better word) fog at the bottom; but it was usable. So I am out $10 but at least Avery is back in business.

Hmmm… Well it’s not much of a plural because, for the most part I am playing Etrian Odyssey. Man is that an addicting game. It’s a dungeon crawler where you roll up a party of 5 adventurers and set out. (Picture to the left is a “cave” my daughter made under the tree in my parent’s front yard. I had to take a picture because it looks exactly like a stairway leading down in the game.) What makes this unique is that you have to map your progress. The top screen is where all the action takes place but the bottom screen is a grid where you draw in the map, place doors, traps and such. It’s really fun, especially if you are an old D&D player like me. I have a Dark Hunter (has cool attacks using a whip), A landscheckt (or something which uses axes and swords – like a barbarian), a knight (I may be off on this name, but basically she protects), a alchemist (the wizard) and a medic (always needed). I just picked up the ability to roll up a Ronin a few levels back and soon will get a hexer. I suspect eventually I will have to create another party to play these characters. Who knows. It’s a blast.

Etrian Odyssey was only sold through online outlets, which was a bit of a shame because it is one of the best games I have ever played. You can only pick it up used these days and most likely on ebay for a bit more than it originally sold for (unless you are lucky enough to bid solo on it).

The second game I just started playing is Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Wow, what a game. We have the game cube version and it is a blast with multi-player, that is where it shined. Having the ability to take on some of Nintendos most famous franchise characters and battle it out is awesome. Brawl takes it one step further with more characters, online play and an awesome single player mode. I’ve been playing the latter. The story is really cool; REALLY COOL.

You start in an arena where Zelda and Peach are overseeing Mario in a bout against Kriby. Next thing you know a space ship breaks through the clouds and drops a ton of enemies. You battle it out when an alien zaps Peach and Zelda turning them into trophies and carrying them off. Kirby and Mario team up and set to the chase.

Meanwhile, Pit is watching from the skies and is given permission to assist. He makes his way to stop the aliens. As this is going on Lucas and his buddy are making there way through their area when they are assaulted. Lucas’s buddy get caught by wario.

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong face off against (I think King DeDe where Donkey Kong get’s captured). Right before Diddy get’s swiped Fox McCloud to the rescue. They fight Dieoga I think.

Well, you the picture. It’s really cool. Link is walking through the forest and passes yoshi sleeping on a stump when they are both attacked. Samus is fighting her way through a metroid like area shen she comes upon Pikachu caught in a trap. This is such a cool game. I wish they made more like it.

I look forward to getting better at battle and playing the family and online.

Sorry for the delay on this and the delay on LaGER 017, the episode that correspond with this posting. To wrap the gPC review I wanted to set it back as much as possible to the default settings. That meant removing the Nvidia video card and returning it from 1GB to 512MB RAM. Removing the card was no problem but I did not have a 512MB RAM chip to put in so I had to leave it at the 1GB. As you can see by the first image to the right the gPC has a lot of room inside.

The first thing I noticed when removing the video card was that there was no AGP slot; this was a PCI video card – a standard PCI (see picture to the left.. You still get PCI video cards, they are pretty cheap. But do not expect to get the latest and greatest to fit that slot. Newegg has about 52 different models in stock starting at $29.99 a piece. Now I reported last time that Zareason was selling the “enhanced gPC” for $349.00. The item is no longer on their website. Given the additional $150 for the upgrade you could probably get components yourself for significantly less money. Although, if this system is going to an average user I doubt he or she would be able to configure the system for the new video card after installing the hardware.

I had to configure X to for the on board graphics card (Unichrome Pro LAN) as it would not start gdm and kicked me to a console prompt. This was not hard using dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg; but I think a bit beyond the average consumer. Once done, gdm started without a problem and I was back to the standard gOS desktop.

The system was as responsive as before which is to be expected as I did not remove the additional RAM. On the other hand, there was no 3D acceleration; thus forget about 3D games and WoW. I had initial hopes when I first started WoW as it ran and required an update which worked flawlessly but when I tried to start after the update it kept crashing with errors. I thought it might have been due to the update but when I tested after putting the Nvidia card back in, WoW ran without a problem.

Given that, I expected NeverPutt, NeverBall, Penumbra Overature and other 3D based games to fail but I did not expect FashionCents. FashionCents did not seem to me to require 3D acceleration, but for some reason it would not run. Which was odd.

I had Paige use the system for a week and she had no problems with the web and playing the games she likes. She also claimed to be able to have no problem running Billard-GL. I wish I had tested this myself before I put the system back together but I will have to take her word on this.

In the final analysis both Paige and myself enjoyed our time with the Everex gPC. The price point, features and overall performance make it a great choice for general computer users and young children. I would even go so far as to say a casual gamer would get a lot out of this system for the price. While it may not attract the typical WoW player, I would say it does a darn good job playing the game.

My hat is off to Everex for being the first to market with a low-end, very cheap Linux based computer aimed at the general consumer. The amount of software available for Linux pushes this system over the top in both price and freedom making it a great starter computer for those just starting their journey on the web; or as a great, very versatile second computer.