PixlBit

The site was down when I tried to post last Thursday, so here it is now. 

It was 1980s Week 3. I had everything broken down by console. 

Handheld

Alleyway: I've gotten to the third bonus round in this 1989 Breakout clone on my GBA SP. I really enjoy it. I played it on the Switch in handheld mode as well, and it's bigger and is easier on the eyes, but there's something about the small GBA SP I'm using that makes it feel right. It's a simple, casual pocket-sized game to play at odd moments of the day. 

Pinball

Zaccaria Pinball: I played the story and campaign modes which throw random tables and objectives at you. These are tables made by an Italian company. There are 1970s solid state tables and more modern ones up into the 2000s. Their designs are a touch simpler, with smaller tables than the U.S. companies like Williams, Gottlieb, Stern and Bally but just as enjoyable. I actually appreciate less features because a lot of pinball tables are just too jammed making it difficult to comprehend the objectives. 

Pinball FX3: I played as many Williams tables as I had (I have two of the six collections). All the ones I played were from the 90s though. I'll eventually get all the table packs and get a few 80s tables. 

80s Arcade/Console On Xbox Series S

SNK 40th Anniversary Collection: Alpha Mission (shmup), Prehistoric Isle (cute 'em up).
Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection: Typhoon (shump), Nemesis (Gradius), Vulcan Venture (Gradius 2), Life Force, Thunder Cross (shmup), TwinBee. 
Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1: Dragon Sprit (shmup), Sky Kid, Xevious; Vol. 2: Gaplus (Galaxian 3), Super Xevious
Capcom Arcade Stadium 1: 1942, 1943, Legendary Wings, Section Z, Vulgus; Stadium 2: 1943: Kai, Hyper Dyne Side Arms. 

Brick Breakers

Capcom Arcade Stadium Vol 2: Block Block. 
Arkanoid Eternal Battle - I played the arcade original in this collection. 
Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 2: Breakout, Super Breakout (AVCS & arcade), Off the Wall; Vol. 3: Super Breakout (5200 version). 

Miscellaneous

Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1: Black Widow; Vol. 3: Yar's Return, Sky Diver (arcade version).
Sega Genesis Classics - Gain Ground
Arcade Game Series: Galaga
Midway Arcade Origins - Robotron 2084, Satan's Hollow.
Time Pilot
Gyruss. 

On PS3

Namco Museum Vol. 4: Ordyne (cute 'em up). 

Current games on Xbox Series S

Puzzle Quest Immortal Edition - I reguallary get frustrated playing against the computer which very clearly cheats to simulate intelligence. It seems the operative skill to learn in our current world, but which I recoil from in disguest. In any case, this is Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords from 2007 remastered that I"ve played many times on many systems over the years. 

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition - In light of the fact that I don't want to shell out $70 for Borderlands 4 this week, I decided to revisit the first game. I leveled Mordecai to 32. He's a sniper character, but I ended up switching to gunslinger skills gecause of the weapons I happened to pickup. The game often steers you in unforeseen directions based on the random drops. I got really frustrated with the game several times trying to analyze which was the better weapon and failing. I finally just went with what was worth more in resale value, and that seeemed to do the trick. I never got in a situaltion where I was underpowered after that. 

Reading

Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer in paperback. I think I might finish it before the month is out [I did]. I'm really enjoying it but careful to observe the treatment of women in it. A redditer suggested misoglyny, but I' not sure yet. So far my opinion is no. It's a pseudo medieval world with a main character grown up in a kind of all-male monestary. In that environment women tend to be marginallized, but there are plenty of women characters in the book who play important roles. I think it's an interesting topic to explore in Wolfe's work though. The answer is complex, just like his novels. 

Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time in audio format, which I listen to at night from my phone via the Libby ap. It's supposed to be for the layman but I still struggle to understand it. 

Carl Sagan's Cosmos in ebook formate, also from Libby on my phone. I read some from time to time instead of social media scrolling, from which I'm taking a break. I've read it several times before and grew up on the tv show. It's an important book for me.

Diane Wynne Jones' Howl's Moveing Castle on audio book. I listen in my car when I'm not distracted by Music League playlists or the What Went Wrong podcast. I'm over half way done but it's slowed down because I'm not enjoying the reader, who is technically excellent, but whose tone is too pash for me (to use a British term). 

And that's all I wrote on wordpress in lew of Pixlbit when it was down. I had fun retyping it from my phone. I could have just copy and pasted it, but I like to type, and this was a good oportunity. I'm thrilled I found so few errors after touch typing it all.