Drinks all around!

I just got back from the Apple Store, and although the Genius Bar employee who met with me didn't know what was wrong with my MacBook (he said it looked pristine inside even though I dumped a glass of water on it a few days ago) he said Apple would take care of it--without charging me a dime.

It's possible the hard drive will have to be replaced (which would mean I would lose some data) but the Apple guy said that was unlikely. Oh, and after the laptop is fixed it'll be shipped directly to our home--early next week. Is that awesome news or what?

(By the way, the Snow White-branded MacBook in the photo above isn't mine--although I do think it's kind of sweet.)

See also: 'Computer says no'

Have a Merry Mario Christmas!

Well, it's almost that time--and what better way to celebrate the "big day" than with this Santa-fied Mario (and a Rudolph-ized Yoshi) created by beyx/demiurgic?



(Via rampagedreality.com by way of gonintendo.com)

Miyamoto's cave story

If you've been a gamer, especially a Nintendo gamer, for any length of time, you've likely heard what some like to call Shigeru Miyamoto's "cave story"--the one in which the legendary designer details how he, as a youngster, spent time scouring a small cave near his childhood home in Sonobe, Japan.

You've also likely played the Nintendo-published video games that resulted from Miyamoto's summertime spelunking--namely Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

Miyamoto's cave story--along with the above-mentioned games--serves as the heart and soul of Nick Paumgarten's recent profile (in The New Yorker) of Nintendo's "playful public face."

If you have any interest in the man--or, honestly, in the history of video games in general--I highly recommend reading it (here) when you have a few minutes to spare.

Also, check out this short follow-up piece, in which Paumgarten searches for the caves that inspired the man who has become, in my mind, the world's greatest game designer.

'Collage of found game imagery'

The words above are used by artist Ashley Anderson to describe his latest creation (below), which appears to be a concert poster of some sort.

Although I generally consider myself to be an über retro-gaming geek, I feel more like a retro-gaming noob when I look at Anderson's poster. I mean, I know the images of Scrooge McDuck near the center of the poster were pulled from Capcom's Duck Tales title for the NES, but that's about the only one I can ID.

Do any of you know the origins of the rest of the poster's images?

(Via flickr.com)

'The Hyrule Fantasy'

The Legend of Zelda is one of my all-time favorite games. That's true for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most telling is that, even 23 years after it was first released, it never fails to pull me into its world of Keese and Octorocs and Stalfos.

Would that still be the case if the North American version of the game had been named Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda, as it was when it hit the streets in Japan? I should think so, especially since I've always had a soft spot for the "Hyrule Fantasy" part of the Japanese title.

If any of you consider yourselves to be in the same boat, head on over to videogamesarerad.com and download the full-sized version of the promo poster above. (While you're at it, grab the Metroid one, too--assuming you're a fan of Yoshio Sakamoto's classic.)