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Happy Holidays, party people! I hope everyone is having a good time. As for me, I’m behind schedule on everything, as I attempt to do everything! So, just my usual holiday season. I’ve got plans for a new Christmas animation, but I haven’t been able to do much with it for two years now! Been too busy finalizing Cindy Li. The second comic will be released any day now. As well as a new Gold Star.

As the New Year rolls in, I am starting production on my next project- since, as I’ve said, Cindy Li is all in the can. Too early to really talk about, but my one hope is it doesn’t take me as long to complete as Cindy Li did- life throws too many curve balls, ya know.

Now I thought I’d bore you with one of the gifts I got this season- An Atari FlashBack- the new one with original ‘shaped’ joysticks (a bit smaller than the original joysticks). Yes, as a child one of my greatest Christmas gifts was an Atari 2600- Actually it was a Sear Tele-Game, same dif. Many, many hours of my youth were spent playing that. I even enjoyed the Pac-Man for it (even though it looked like hell). I actually still have the machine in a box somewhere. But hooking it up to modern TV’s is a trick- and it’s not in the best condition. So my wife got me this baby- though she can’t understand how I can still scream as the dragons from Adventure are chasing me. Only problem with it, as any old schooler like me might know, is some of the best games weren’t owned by Atari- talking Pitfall, Demon Attack, Cosmic Ark, River Raid, and I loved Tron’s Deadly Disc, Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back, Krull and MegaForce. If only companies would just let those go for cheap (serious is there much money to get out of them!?) Or if the manufacturer allowed upgrades to it. Pay to download games and install them on the FlashBack. Life would be grand! Still, many cool games on this, and I love the ‘original’ joysticks. Playing on a computer keyboard just can’t cut it for these games- and the original FlashBack joysticks were pretty bad!

Now I suppose it’s just my age, but watching the video game evolution happen while being a kid was pretty damn magical. Enjoying Space Invades, getting Pac-Man fever (sorry), and then seeing Donkey Kong- it’s no wonder that even though the fade passed, those games have more appeal today than say the hula-hoop. I still miss those old arcades- for a few dollars you could play Joust, Mappy, Omega Race, The Red Baron, Defenders, Wizard of Wor- even ‘newer’ games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Double Dragon, Bad Dudes, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat. What a way to spend an afternoon or an evening. Arcades today, for me anyway, are just kinda sad. A dance game, a shoot ‘em up, an expensive riding one, then just the same old games that have been around since 1930! No magic, no fun. So that’s why I feel games of those days still have merit. Sure you can’t walk around a virtual world, living out a movie plot- which don’t get me wrong is frick’n awesome. But the skill games of light, and high scores are great as well- and an iPad can’t compete with a dark lit room of neon and video, drinking soda with your friends as you are ‘are your own’ with a pocket full of quarters. So long live the Atari- or Sear Tele-Game, you blew our minds and you’re still fun. Even if some of the fun is now laughing at how silly it all looks