Now That's Love.

Gaming Goes Big (And What I Intend To Do About It)

Just when you thought there wasn't a reason to buy yet another Nintendo DS, the game manufacturer has announced that it will produce it's fouth generation model of the popular dual screen device, this time in a large-screen format.

Upon hearing this announcement I immediately thought that Nintendo may have targeted a neglected niche - children whose parents may purchase a DS instead of a full console. It seemed that the expanded gaming experience with a larger screen would be appealing if I were a "tween" desiring to enjoy some more robust gaming. It appears though that Nintendo is targeting an adult demographic here with earth tones and a large stylus (not to mention a pre-loaded dictionary.) While I'm not aware of any data to base this assumption on, I would imagine that adults in the U.S. would dismiss this larger device given: a) Their access to full - television projected - consoles and PC's and b) the market's propencity to move to smaller multi function devices.

Perhaps there's a demand in the geriatric demographic that I'm missing. Or perphas I'm not being honest with myself. In the back of my mind, I would indeed love to play "The Phantom Hourglass" on a screen bigger than a credit card, and I can see "Master Sudoku" being easier on the eyes in a screen that appears to be rougly 30% larger than those on my DSi.

However, if I really wanted to do some large screen portable gaming, I'd probably go for something more like this:

Yes, it's a Nintendo 64 console with batteries and a small LCD screen wrapped up with a controller into one neat package. If I'm gonna take something big that plays this caliber of game, I think I'd rather take along the analog joystick and play some old favorites like "The Ocarnia of Time," "Goldeneye," and the greatest "Mario Kart" ever made. Someone better tell the folks over at Nintendo US to step in and mod that DSi LL!

Nintendo Announces Large-screen Nintendo DSi LL | Game Guru

Cosmic Destiny

I had the most remarkable experience tonight. It's kinda hard to follow but I guarantee you'll be dazzled in the end if you stick with me for a minute.

An old friend approached me while I was at my daughters elementary school for an art contest open house. Scott Kjar is one of the finest individuals I have ever known and part of the reason I have known him is his daughter, Amanda, whom I worked with and became friends with in High School.

Scott inquired after my family and myself and upon learning I managed the local Domino's Pizza he immediately connected that the owner of my store was the same man he had just been working with. Scott has been successful in the world of real estate and as I learned from our conversation, owns a new property that he just leased to the owner of our franchise for another restaurant location.

I started connecting the dots and realized that a unique intersection of relationships had converged in this elementary school library: Scott was attending the open house with his daughter Amanda, who's oldest child had also entered the art contest. Amanda's second child is in the same class as my daughter. [Now this is where it all starts to come together.] These girls - My daughter, and Scott's Granddaughter - are taught by the spouse of a man who used to work for my Boss (the same guy who just leased property from my daughter's classmate's grandfather.)

Bizzare coincidence, simple hapenstance or the mere manifestation of the shrinking world in which we live? I'm going with cosmic destiny on this one.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A Reflection On Emma

Emma took 2nd place for her age group in the photography category at the school's Reflections contest for her piece "Lilly."

Emma decided Beauty is... Her cat Lily and set out to take a great picture of the kitten. She got dad to show her all the buttons in the camera and settled on a sepia effect. She zoomed in all the way "to make Lilly bigger" she said and spent half an afternoon taking pictures of the cat.

Eventually she settled on a selection, filled out the form in her own hand and sent the photo off with great anticipation.

At first we thought Emma would need to be content with her participation certificate when we spied ribbons on other entries. Soon a red ribbon was withdrawn from an envelope and placed on Emma picture. Mom, Dad,
Grandma and Grandpa each watched as Emma found her friends and introduced them to her photograph.

Now we wait for her photo to be judged at the district competition. We'll keep you posted.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry