lukeshep.com

http://www.reference.com/

Reference.com supplies its users with a free dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia. This great tool is a must for anyone’s toolbar. I constantly use it to find a better use of a word or even the history of an item.

Reference.com is produced by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC, a leading provider of language reference products and services on the Internet. It features reference material from Crystal Reference, The Columbia Encyclopedia, and Wikipedia plus Lexico’s On This Day.

This game blew my mind. Void Star Creations, founded in 2006 by Drew Card and Ryan Ellis who worked on Oddworld, is the brains behind Poker Smash. The gameplay adds the concepts from Tetris and Poker; both of which I love to play. You move tiles to make combinations. Each tile is a poker card. The colors are based on the card like the aces are white, kings are blue, and queens are pink. While the four suites of cards are also there to make your hopes of getting that royal flush still just a delusion.

Void Star Creations
Poker Smash
Poker Smash FAQ

Right now I am happily enjoying, besides video games, my new form of tv. How can you evolve the already perfected tv? You do it by adding in a YouTube feature (video on demand).

[blockquote]The service is a joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp. Providence Equity Partners has also made a USD$100 million equity investment and holds a 10% stake in the company.

The service is expected to offer full-length episodes of NBC and FOX television programs, selected movies while also accepting user-submitted videos in direct competition with YouTube.[/blockquote]

It is in beta testing and the only way in is through invitation from the site or by user. I would highly suggest signing up. Hulu has loads of quality shows and movies. The quality is great in its normal formatting. When put in full screen the quality all depends on the show. I watched Ghost Hunters in full screen and it was all pixelated. I watched Life in full screen and it is crisp. Those two shows… you got to see one episode and then you’ll be hooked!

During your video there are advertisements that can range from a few seconds to 30 seconds. I would say that this is way better than tv or even tivo/dvr.

You definitely need to try this out!
Hulu website

Blog Banter is a group of bloggers passionate about video games. We enjoy getting together once a month to write about the same subject. You will be amazed at the different viewpoints so many people can have on the same exact topic. If you are interested in participating, contact bs angel for more information. Enjoy our stories!

I could start off by talking about how I found my love of cooking by playing Burgertime on the Atari 2600, my astonishment when the princess wasn’t in level 7-4 in Super Mario Bros, or my reckless driving days in Super Mario Kart. No, that would be too ordinary for myself and well… average just doesn’t coincide with me.

My first memory starts off on the early morning of December 25, 1994. I stayed up making sure that Santa brought what I really wanted. Long story short there is no Santa, it was just my mom! After finding out this terrible news I fell back to sleep. When I awoke I found the prized Donkey Kong Country in my stocking. Ripping that box to shreds and tossing Mario Paint to the side I played till my little heart couldn’t take it.

The real memory is after beating it a thousand times I could pick specific songs from my mom’s cd collection (60’s through early 90’s) and play a song that would go along perfect with each level. If I did everything right I could beat the level just when the song ended. My favorite was the final boss battle (King K. Rool). I played a Bryan Adams song for the first part. The song ended around the time when the credits were done playing which brought out the second time you had to fight him. The next song on the cd was low and mysterious just like the astonishment when finding out you had to beat him again. This is where my appreciation for the music scores began. When timing the music just right you just get that warm fuzzy feeling inside (cheesy!).

I am going to change things up and stop around 1998. A couple blocks from my house at the time was a bowling alley. At said bowling alley was an arcade. Said arcade had a machine. Said machine was the addicting arcade version of Gauntlet Legends. I swear to this day that I will have the arcade cabinet version in my house someday.

After playing it for awhile the first time I got a few friends together to try it out. They each loved it just as much as I did. I played as the wizard while the others fought between the warrior, valkyrie, and archer. We all met up on Tuesdays to play till no one had quarters. The bond we created together was amazing. We pooled together all the money we could come across during the week so that we could all play together. Plus each other had a set realm to read up on during the week. That way one of us knew where the rune stones were, how to beat the boss, and all the other extras found throughout the level. The teamwork we possessed was just incredible. It taught me a lot about working with others to get the job done.

Now we come to the end with my newest memory. In Halo 3 the creators, Bungie, decided to add a little bit more replay value. They added a meta-game that would calculate your kill and give you points upon difficulty and skill. Static and I were helping our friend Saint run through the first mission to get the 15,000 point achievement for it. It was probably one or two in the morning when the insane antics happened.

We let Saint run ahead while we helped out when needed. To pass the time I had ran upstairs to reheat some breakfast sausage. When I came back Static was just standing there. He was surfing the internet. This was just not okay with me. What did I do? I killed him. Then again, again, again, and again. You get the point. After awhile he started to retaliate back. This is where the fun started. When killing the other we would scream at the other like, “Oh yeah! I bet you loved the feel of that plasma!!” It went back and forth for awhile.

In the end I had looked away to eat one of the sausages which caused me to get assassinated from behind. He comically stated, “You’re a big man now huh!! Huh!!! Yeah, come get some big man!” I was laughing so hard that I started to almost choke on the food. Not being able to clearly tell them what was going on on my side, all they heard was, “… choking… sausage…” Yes, it was late and we had perverted minds. When I was able to calm down Saint chimed in with a, “What are you guys doing back there!!?!?”

Thanks to the co-op feature I wouldn’t have had such great relationships with these two guys. We hang out in RL when we can but it is usually at night on Xbox Live when we truly have fun.

Video games have made an impact throughout my life. Whether it is taking notice of the small things, learning the importance of teamwork, or just building a better friendship. I love video games and I hope to be a part of them for the coming generations.

Other Blog Banter Articles :
Boffman22’s Memorable Gaming Moments (Boom Stick Brigade)
I love you Intellivision! (Boom Stick Brigade)
Just how much fun LAN can be! (Cat’s Blog)
Memoirs of a Young Gamer (Gaming with Baby)
Memorable Gaming Moments (Hawty McBloggy)
To Memory Lane and Back (Play Your Station)
Hit the Reset Button (Thoughts and Rants)
Memorable Gaming Moments (Zath Games Tech)
Becoming an Ace and Dealing With Minsc (Delayed Responsibility)