Interview with Rick Levine

I recently did an exclusive interview for my new Numb Thumb Club web site with former Imagic game designer and programmer Rick Levine. Rick designed Microsurgeon and Truckin' for the Mattel Intellivision console back in 1983 and even ported Imagic's Wing War game over to the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A home computer, although it was never actually released due to Imagic going under in the video game market crash of 1984. Click on Rick's photo above to check out the interview on Numb Thumb Club. I also have an interview with Imagic's Pat Ransil, who designed the Mattel Intellivision version of Atlantis that I'll be putting up later on. Enjoy.

Banjo Threeie Update!

Okay, there's been quite a bit of new information surface over the past few months regarding the next installment of the Banjo Kazooie series. I don't have to tell fans of the series that the wait has been a long and excruciating one, but it's now looking very likely that we're going to get our hands on Banjo Threeie this coming holiday season. In an interview with MTV's Multiplayer blog Microsoft Game Studio Shane Kim stated that "I’m super-excited about what they’re doing with ‘Banjo’. I think ‘Banjo’ is going to be a big hit for us this holiday". Recently it was divulged that the Mad Monster Mansion level would make a return as would Clanker and the snowman from Freezeezy Peak. There's also word that the gameplay in this third game will have a very different feel to it, although the game will still play like a traditional platformer. Gruntilda, Mumbo Jumbo, Jolly Roger, the Jinjos, and various other classic characters have also been confirmed to be present in the new game. I'll have more info on Banjo Threeie as it leaks out. I know it's been a long wait, but it shouldn't be too much longer now. You can also click on the logo above to visit the official Banjo-Kazooie web site. Right now it's only a rotating Jiggy with the words "Coming Soon" on it, but Rare has promised more information on this site in the very near future so keep checking it.

Sony PSP - Patapon

For those of you out there who haven't yet tried out Patapon, do yourself a favor and head over to the PSP demo section on the official Playstation web site and download the demo. As unique and creative as LocoRoco was, Patapon takes it all a step further. The premise of the game revolves around a little tribal people called Patapons. They were once a powerful tribe commanded by the tribal drum beats of the Great Patapon. But the Great Patapon disappeared one day and now it's up to you to take his place. You'll have to use the buttons on the PSP to make the different drum sounds. There are several different drumbeat patterns, each with its own unique command for the Patapons. You have to make the Patapons march along and then take part in combat when necessary. It's the careful use of these drumbeats that make the game so challenging and fun to play. It's difficult to convey the game play, so it's best if you download the demo and see what the fuss is all about. This is yet another unique PSP title that the PSP needs more of.

Also for you PSP fans out there, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core will be released early this week. This game has been a long time coming. I'll be picking the game up and I'll have full impressions later in the week. Should be outstanding given the sheer amount of development time that went into it.

Numb Thumb Club

Well I hadn't planned on listing the new web site until I got more work done on it, but someone already found it and linked to it so I might as well list it on here. I actually began putting this site together last summer, but I wanted to get the Colecovision site off the ground first. I purchased the domain name and put up a placeholder, but someone found it and no sooner did I upload a few pages that it was getting quite a few hits. The page is still very early in development, but I already have every game's box art and two screenshots completed and I'll be adding the write up for one game every day until it's completed. I'm working on the Atari 2600 games at the moment. As usual, any suggestions are welcome. You can click on the logo above to visit the site.

Old School Gaming Rig

I've gotten an unusual amount of requests for pictures of my pre-1984 game system setup. I honestly didn't think there would be many people that wanted to see it, as it's not much to look at, so I never really took any pictures of it. Well I got my digital camera out and snapped some pics today. I'll have a larger collection once I've had time to go through the pics and crop them all, but for now here's one pic to tide you over. As I said, it's not much to look at. If you're wondering why the pic is taken from a slight overhead perspective, it's because this setup is in my game room closet and there's not a lot of room to take pictures inside of it. I couldn't squeeze the Vectrex into the picture, so it will make it into a future post.

For those who'll inevitably email to ask me what systems are there, I'll save you the trouble. : ) On top is the Colecovision system. On the shelf below it, you'll see the steering wheel module and some of my game carts. The back wall of this closet has two more shelves just like this one that have the rest of my games and boxes on it. Next row down is my little TV and the Odyssey 2 system. It's probably my least favorite of all these systems, but I keep it around because I love KC's Crazy Chase and Pick Axe Pete. Next row down is my Intellivision system, one of my all-time favorites. Moving downward you'll see the Colecovision Roller Controller that I use as a makeshift controller extension since the Colecovision is so high up above. The bottom row is where my Atari 2600 VCS system is and off to the right on the small side shelf is my Atari XE Game System. This is basically my Atari 5200 replacement since I got tired of replacing and fixing the piece of crap Atari 5200 controllers. Plus I really like the pastel-colored buttons on the XEGS.

Well there you have it. There's more to it, but I'll save the more in-depth look at this setup for when I get all of the pictures finished. I promise it won't be too much longer. I've been sick and I'm working like crazy to catch up on all of my work, so the blog entries should return to normal within the next few days. I've also got another little project I'm beginning work on that I might give a sneek peek of tomorrow if I can get the other marker pages uploaded.