8Bit Contributor Brandon Robbins

8bitlibrary.com is now located at 8bitlibrary.com

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3 months ago
by JP in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HEY 8BITLIBRARIANS,

So, you are reading this on the OLD 8bitlibrary.com. 8bitlibrary.com no longer redirects here (to blog.8bitlibrary.com). Here’s JP’s “farewell” post to the blog…but first, some nostalgia…

In 2009, JP Porcaro and Justin Hoenke met for drinks and found out they were both ALA Emerging Leaders for the upcoming year. Our bromance continued with daily IM chats until Justin one day said:

Let’s start a librarygarden of gaming.

So, we did. We really started taking off and getting hits when Justin made a joke on twitter:

Let’s all get library tattoos.

And I was like, YEA LET’S DO IT. And that’s how this whole thing happened…Justin & I would brainstorm crazy ideas, and if they were just crazy enough to work, i’d #makeithappen. So we started Project Brand Yourself a Librarian, librarians shared it like crazy, and a bunch of librarians got tattoos.

So from the very start, within weeks, we strayed from the original “library garden of gaming” idea.

We came up with other crazy ideas and made them happen:

We also had lots of fabulous contributors, almost all the top names in the field of “gaming in libraries” either wrote for us or were considered part of the team.

And then we shifted from crazy ideas to more traditional ones:

In our heyday, we were getting about 4000 clicks a day (which is BIG for library blogs), and alexa.com had us listed as one of the highest trafficked library blogs. The only blogs that were getting higher traffic at the time were the ‘official’ ones; the LJ, SLJ and some of ALA ones…

Lots of success here in a short period of time, maybe moreso than any other library blog. So why did we let blog.8bitlibrary.com “die”?

  • All of our contributors are doing other things.

We all got busy. 8bitlibrary lead us to publication deals, speaking gigs, new jobs, and new leadership opportunities. Now that GameRT exists, we have a more formal place to do our gaming-in-libraries work.

  • Blogging is boring.

We should have figured out from day 1 that blogging was not what we were about. We were a successful BRAND, but never a good BLOG. All of the successes I listed had more to do with 8bitlibrary as a brand, and less to do with blog.8bitlibrary.com.

  • WordPress sucks.

The blog was constantly marred by slow load times, login problems for contributors, and errors on the user and contributor end. Anyone who was a frequent contributor knows what I mean when i say “500 Internal Server Error”

  • We have better places to “publish”

Blogging is NOT publishing. We’ll get some game reviews actually published via GameRT hopefully soon!

SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE 8BITLIBRARY?!

When Justin posted this on the new 8bitlibrary.com, people FREAKED out (they though we were killing everything, the facebook page, the twitter, the tumblr (which is now the main site) and the blog) and I had to write this.

Where we’re left without the blog is where we always belonged: as the party people of librarianship. So we’re still gonna do all the stuff we used to do, like ALA DANCE PARTY, Project Brand Yourself a Librarian, and all the Think Tanks and subsequent parties…but we won’t have to worry about keeping up this illusion that we’re a “professional” library blog.

We’re still here.

#partyhard and #makeithappen,

JP

 

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8bitlibrary+Unshelved+IMchat=#MIH

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11 months ago
by detailmatters in , , ,

Can you really hold an interview on IM chat…with four people?

Perhaps, we here at 8bitlibrary (Andrea & JP) gave it a whirl with library comic legends, Bill Barnes & Gene Ambaum from UNSHELVED, which coincidently (nah, not coincidently at all, we’ve been planning this post since ALA MidWinter) is celebrating its 9th anniversary/birthday…TODAY: February 16th.

Here’s a snippet from the chat:

Andrea: sooooooo – unshelved….
happy early birthday!!!
Bill: Thank you.
Gene: Thanks!
Bill: Next year is our 10th. I think we’ll have to do something awesome.
Andrea how does a 9 year old comic strip behave?
Gene: I’m thinking cake
Andrea (you’re doing something awesome now)
10:37 AM Gene: Lots of random crying and temper tantrums. We’re hoping Unshelved will hit puberty soon.
JP: Why “un”shelved. Why not “de”shelved?
like that whole defriending/unfriending scandle
Bill: Unshelved predates defriending.
It also predates Facebook, Twitter, and the iPhone.
10:38 AM Unshelved is your grumpy uncle who doesn’t understand technology.
JP: Do you guys work in a library now?
Bill: I never worked in a library. And I never will.
Gene: Occasionally. But very occasionally. I left my full-tiMe job in library land in October 2009.
10:39 AM Andrea So Unshelved has become a fulltime gig?
Gene: It has!
Bill: It’s a little more than fulltime.
Andrea How does that feel?
Gene: fulltime+
Andrea Where do you get your “material” now?
Bill: I love answering to no one other than my wives.
10:40 AM Andrea plural?
JP: Poligamy!
Yes!
Now we’re getting somewhere
Gene: It feels strange whenever I have a moment to think about it. It’s usually when someone asks Me what I do for a living. “I write a comic.” “You draw a comic?” “No. Let me explain.”
Bill: I have my actual wife and two collaborators who I very much feel married to.
10:41 AM Andrea makes sense, interesting phrasing
JP: Ok, so you left your job(s) for Unshelved. Is this a “forever” thing for you guys?
Gene: I get my material mostly when I’m in line at Target, trying to return something, or just watching people lose it with their kids. Probably my favorite place to people watch these days because the red shirts make it so easy to figure out who’s the employee behaving badly and who’s the customer.
I’m like two questions back…
JP: Sorry lol

Bill & Gene of Unshelved

For the complete (hilarious) transcript, read on…


ngd play with

Play Along

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1 year ago
by Brandon in , , ,

I was inspired to write this article after a discussion in the LibGaming Google group, of which I’m part.  It was a lively discussion about what librarians should know about gaming, and there were lots of participants.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it, for what was said in that discussion certainly informed this article greatly.

If you’re a librarian, you do readers’ advisory.  It may be a small part of your job, if you do cataloging or ordering or hold an administrative position.  In fact, you may never do it while on work time, but if you work in a library, people (especially friends and family) are going to ask you if there are any good books out there.  Conducting readers’ advisory at the family dinner table is no different than conducting readers’ advisory at the reference desk, and is part of the overall public service you perform as an information and media professional.  Given this, you have to read.  You have to sample from all genres and formats.  You may not finish every book you start, but you need real experience with as much literature as you can get your hands on.  Read-alikes, reviews, and guided tools found online can only go so far; effective readers’ advisory begins with reading.

Following this line of logic, effective gaming programs and advocacy begins with game play.  If you’re planning on integrating games into your library’s offerings, you need to be at least an entry-level gamer.

You don’t have to be an expert on tactics and techniques for first-person shooters.  You don’t have to have an encyclopediac knowledge of the classics and up-to-the minute know-how on new games.  It’s not about being the best.  It’s not about having a backlist of D&D characters at varying levels for use with multiple editions of the game.  It’s about having an appreciation for the medium as an art form and a way to connect with others–and there’s no better way to do that than to actually experience the medium itself.   Also, be an active gamer will give you more credibility when you advocate for gaming at your library; you’ll be able to bring your own experiences to the table along with the excellent research and professional writing done supporting games and gaming.  What’s more, if you’re familiar with games and gaming, you’ll be able to actually play with your patrons during your game programs, just like I do.

Even if you don’t get into the action yourself, it doesn’t hurt having some know-how on basic mechanics shared by many of the most popular games, so that you can better assist your patrons on getting started with their game play.

You don’t even have to spend money on games to get into the hobby.  Kotaku recently did a run down of the best free PC games.  Maybe you can give some of these games a spin.  If you have a friend that owns a gaming console, chances are they’ll have you over for a game night, or even let you borrow their equipment.  Check around your community for gaming groups that get together for Dungeons and Dragons or other tabletop games.  Gamers of any type are, for the most part, an enthusiastic lot who love to share their passion and welcome new members to fold.  If you do end up having to take a financial plunge, don’t be afraid of buying used equipment and games from GameStop, eBay, or Amazon.

What games should you play?  Well, as many of them as you can!  Just like every book has its reader and every reader their book, there’s a game out there for everyone.  If you’re a really competitive person, you may like Call of Duty: Black Ops or Halo: Reach for their online multiplayer modes.  If big guns and tactical positioning isn’t your thing, and you prefer something a bit more fast-paced, then Super Street Fighter IV might be a good choice.  Not up for that level of competition?  Team Fortress 2 is one my favorites, because it’s just plain fun, even when you’re losing.  Super Smash Bros. Brawl is already a popular game among your teens, most likely; why not give it a try yourself?

Like racing and fast cars?  There’s lots of great racing games out there, both realistic (Need for Speed: Shift, Gran Turismo 5) and not (Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Blur, and Split/Second).  Mario Kart is always a fun, cartoony racing game that makes a great centerpiece for a party.  Maybe you love puzzles.  There is no shortage of puzzle games out there, but if I might suggest the excellent Portal, or the rather addictive game Plants vs. Zombies, which while not strictly a puzzle game certainly fires the same neurons as a puzzle game would.

If you love fantasy and science-fiction and always wanted to live those types of stories, try these role-playing/adventure games: Dragon Age: Origins, the Mass Effect series, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, or any game with Final Fantasy or Zelda in the title.

Maybe you’ve played video games in the past and drifted away from the hobby.  Well, I’ve excellent news for you.  The Nintendo Wii has a feature called Virtual Console, which lets you purchase and play the old school classics for the consoles from the ’80s and ’90s.  Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, and many others are right out your fingertips.  Perhaps reconnecting with an old favorite is the best way to start your new gaming journey.

And to think, I just touched on video games!  Board games  are infinitely more varied.  If you want something quick and easy, yet addictive and engaging, try Pictureka or In a Pickle.  Chess, checkers, Connect Four, and Clue are old favorites that never fall out of popularity.  I love Stratego because it’s highly tactical in its game play, much like the video games I enjoy.  There’s also many, many card games out there, traditional and new.  Collectible card games such as Magic: the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh are great.  Go to your local Target or Wal-Mart and look at the board games; you’ll find lots to explore.  Also, hit up FunAgain Games to see some excellent, less mainstream games.  And by the way, Monopoly is so yesterday: Settlers of Cataan is where it’s at now.

Regardless of how you get into games or what games you get into, you may find this to be a hobby you enjoy and want to keep at.  Even if you don’t become a gamer, you need to learn to play if you want to bring gaming into your library.  You need to connect with the material, experience first-hand its value for education (both direct and indirect), understand why people love games, and be able to speak the gamer’s language (not the one used by hardcore competitors, necessarily: they make sailors and tattoo artists blush).  You need an appreciation for the demographic you are serving and you need to be able to help users engage with games on their level.

So go ahead.  Get gaming!

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Review: Killing Floor

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1 year ago
by Brandon in , ,

WHAT: Combining elements from Counter-Strike, the Horde mode from Gears of War 2, and the kind of visceral shooting action from the Call of Duty games, Killing Floor is a game that is light on story but heavy on scares, firepower, and teamwork.  While it won’t dethrone the King of the Co-Op Zombie Killing Hill, the Left 4 Dead series, Killing Floor is great for short sessions of pure action game play.  You and up to five other players take on the role of special military and police forces as you work to clear various areas in post-apocalyptic London of bizarre and grotesque specimens that are the result of (what else) science gone terribly, horribly wrong.  You’ll fight against hulking creatures that have chainsaws welded onto their arms, quick and fast specimens that can turn invisible, creatures  that resemble overgrown rats with spikes sticking out of their backs, and numerous other vile things, all against the back drop of abandoned farms, office buildings, raves, and even an insane asylum.  The specimens come in waves, and the players have an opportunity to visit a trader and upgrade their equipment between waves.  Last until the final wave, and you take on the Patriarch, a specimen that wields a chain gun and a rocket launcher and can turn invisible.  You can weld doors shut to help slow down specimens, but they’ll eventually get through your barricade.  You can use a med-kit to heal, but it takes time for the med-kit to recharge, so you can’t use it constantly.  In short: you’re probably not getting out of here alive.

WHY: Killing Floor is a cooperative game; players work together to achieve a common goal–namely, killing zombie-like creatures.  It promotes and encourages good communication skills, communal strategy development, and watching your friends’ back.  Like most multiplayer FPS games of late, Killing Floor uses a class system.  Before each game, players pick one of several perks, which gives boons to weapons and abilities and discounts to items at the trader.  For example, the Commando perk grants the player additional damage with assault rifle weapons, faster reloading, and a discount on assault rifles at the trader.  Sharpshooters get damage bonuses on headshots.  Support Specialists can weld doors faster.  If your skill with the keyboard-and-mouse doesn’t allow you to be a pinpoint sniper, maybe you want to be a Field Medic, whose primary responsibility is to heal your teammates.  Like things that go ‘splodey?  Then you’re fit for Demolitions, who specialize in grenade launchers and other explosive weaponry.  With the players relying on each other so heavily, everybody has a place in this game.

WHO: With this being a cooperative games as opposed to a competitive one, gamers who want to work as a team in an intense game play environment but don’t want the difficult experience that competitive play can be will find much to love here. However, between the constant threat of danger, impending sense of doom, often panicked pace, and buckets and buckets of gore, this is NOT a game for children or the faint of heart.  If the films 28 Days Later or its sequel 28 Weeks Later is too much for you, this game is probably too much as well.  Also, most libraries focus on games as a service for kids and teens, but there are lots of adults that game as well–this would be an ideal game for an adults-only gaming night, what with the blood and violence and disturbing imagery.

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Review: Zombie Dice

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1 year ago
by Brandon in ,

All we wanna do is…oh, you know the song.  And if you don’t, here ya go.

WHAT:

There’s no lack of great zombie-themed video games out there, but if you’re trying to expand your tabletop offerings at your library, one game you’ll want to invest in is the excellent Zombie Dice from Steve Jackson Games.  It’s unique in that usually zombie games have you in the role of a human trying to survive and take out as many zombies as possible; in Zombie Dice, players take on the role of zombies trying to consume as many delicious brains as possible.

Quick to play and easy to explain, Zombie Dice is a game of chance with a heavy gambling element.  After gathering your players and designating a scorekeeper, you determine who goes first by seeing who can moan “braaains” with the most feeling (aside: this is the greatest way to determine first turn EVER).  That player then takes the dice cup, with all 13 dice in it, and shakes it up.  They draw three dice (representing three victims) from the cup at random and roll those dice.  You have three possibilities for each dice:

–Brain: You scarf that victim’s brain!  Set that dice aside.

–Footprint: That victim made tracks.  That dice stays on the table.

–Blast: Somebody was carrying a shotgun, and decided to fight back.  Set that dice aside as well.

As a kicker, there are three different colored dice (green, yellow, and red).  Green dice are easy victims, yellow are tough victims, and red dice are…well, they’re in the zombie-killing business, and business is good.  The tougher the dice/victim, the more likely you are to roll a blast.

After the initial roll, the player can choose to keep going or stop.  If they keep going, they re-roll any footprints AND draw new dice to replace any brains or blasts (you’ll always roll three dice).  They’ll keep setting dice aside as necessary until they decide to stop OR they get three blasts.  If the player decides to stop and they have less than three blasts, they score one point for each brain they have.  If they get three or more blasts before they decide to stop, their turn is over and they score nothing.

Players take turns and continue keeping score until one player has a score of at least 13.  At that point, everybody else takes one more turn and the player with highest score wins!

WHO:

Everybody loves zombies.  If you don’t believe me, Google search “zombies” and let me know when you get to the end of the over 23 million results.  Hang out at your local comic shop and see how many times zombie apocalypse survival plans are discussed.  Ask a teenage boy what “Rule #2″ is and he’ll likely respond “double tap.”

See what I mean?  People love zombies; gamers especially.

What’s more, this game is so easy to grasp and quick to play that there’s not too many people who won’t enjoy.  It’s fun to play in small or large groups, it can be approached as a deep exercise in strategy or a quick hit against the odds, and it allows for a great opportunity to use your imagination.  No matter what kind of gamer you are, you’ll enjoy it.

WHY:

Zombie Dice is relatively inexpensive ($13.99 MSRP, $10.73 on Amazon.com), offers up lots of personality and game play excitement, is easy to learn, and is never the same game twice.  It accommodates a broad range of demographics and gamer skill levels.  It’s the perfect game for libraries!

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Review: Limbo

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1 year ago
by Brandon in , ,

WHAT? If you want a game that is fun, relaxing, or fills you with joy, stop reading this review right now: you will not like Limbo.  However, if you enjoy games that present you with thought-provoking narratives and puzzles that are frustrating in their difficulty but ultimately rewarding–if you enjoyed Braid, Portal, Half-Life 2, Bioshock, or Batman: Arkham Asylum–then Limbo, available exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade, is the game for you.  Presented with film-grain black-and-white graphics that possess a classical depth and richness and telling the simplest of stories (“Unsure of his sister’s fate, a boy wakes to find himself in limbo.”), this game is a platform puzzler that refuses to give anything to the gamer, requiring precision timing and careful observation of one’s environment, Limbo is a deep-thinking game that begs to be digested in whole, even if in small dosages.  It falters a bit near the end, relying more on luck as the gamer nears the final puzzles, but it’s hard to believe that even that element wasn’t part of Playdead Studios’ plan all along.

WHY?Aside from tense game play and a so-simple-its-complicated plot, Limbo challenges gamers on another level as well.  The main character is a boy–that’s made very clear–and he dies many gruesome deaths (it’s part of the game play actually: sometimes, the only way to figure out a puzzle is to die so that you may start over again).  These deaths are always shown in silhouette, so it’s not as graphic as it could be, but some of the imagery is unsettling, especially when cast against the frightening environments (chiefly a forest and a factory).  It’s the kind of game that makes you ask question of yourself and challenges you to confront realities you’d rather not–it’s a video game that is unquestionably art.  And what better institution to take a stake in this game-that-is-art than a library?

WHO? Limbo is not a game for the younger set; I’ll even break proper librarian protocol by skipping over the “it’s up to each parent to determine what is appropriate for their child” disclaimer, as I don’t see how any parent could let their child play this unless they were quite, quite mature.  Despite it’s brutal difficulty and open-ended, philosophical narrative, the disturbing imagery was almost too much for me; I can only imagine how terrible it would be for a child.  There is an option to turn off the gore in the game, so it’s possible to experience the game without the death scenes, but I’m not so sure it would be as memorable an experience were the game play the only thing the gamer experienced; without the philosophical pondering, the game might seem a bit too difficult and therefore a bit too not-worth-it.  Gamers with a good deal of patience, an open mind, and a willingness to be challenged on an emotional level will find lots to love here.

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Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

3
1 year ago
by Brandon in , ,

WHAT? A side-scrolling beat-em-up with RPG elements, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is based on the hit graphic novel series that as also spawned a critically-praised movie.  Players take on the role of Scott Pilgrim, or one of his three friends, as he embarks on a quest to defeat the seven evil exes of Ramona Flowers, a woman who has stolen his heart and captured his imagination.  It’s a quirky story made up of hipster culture, video game tropes and imagery, comic-book styling, and lots of punching people in the face.  Up to four players can crash on the couch (no online play, which I find refreshingly old-school) for multiplayer action, and the game has cheat codes (yes, old-fashioned CHEAT CODES) that unlock a Survival Horror mode (players fight off endless hordes of zombies) or a Boss Rush mode (fight the game’s bosses in rapid succession).  It’s available as a downloadable title for the Playstation Network or Xbox Live Arcade.

WHY? With both a six-volume graphic novel series and a film serving as source material, this is one of those games that make so much sense for a library there’s no need to overwork the justification.  Use the game to get kids/teens into the books, use the books to get them into other books (such as other off-beat indie comics), show the kids who get wrapped up in the surprisingly complex game play classic beat-em-up titles such as Final Fight, Double Dragon, and Streets of Rage and maybe throw in a few classic action-RPGs such as Champions of Norrath, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, or Neverwinter Nights, which of course lead right back around to books on the martial arts, popular fantasy fiction works, and any related film.  .  Did I mention that the soundtrack is done by the excellent band Anamanaguchi, who compose in the chiptune genre?  There’s a chance to introduce somebody to some new music! Conduct your media advisory right and you could have a good number of teens being life-long library users, just from having played this one game.   Plus, it’s simple fun that gets all the better when you have someone to share it with, and what’s better than that?

WHO? Teens will find this game attractive because of its tie-in to the graphic novel series and film (which, sadly, bombed at the box office, but I’m sure you have some fans in your community).  Gamers who cut their teeth on the NES and Super NES will delight at the references made to old-school video games and the great soundtrack.  It’s not a terribly easy game, especially with less than three of four players working together, and the combat is deceptively complex and requires precise timing and resource management; this will satisfy hardcore gamers.  It’s a game with much to offer everybody, even long after you shut down your console.

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Review: Halo 3

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1 year ago
by Brandon in , ,

[JP's note: Let's welcome 8bitlibrary.com's newest contributor, Brandon, who's reviewing one of the best games of the modern gaming era.]

WHAT? Arguably the flagship game of the Xbox 360, Halo 3 is the conclusion of the much-loved Halo trilogy that began on the original Xbox and is one of the most-played online multiplayer games in existence.  In the single-player campaign, gamers take on the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a Spartan super soldier born and bred to combat the theocratic Covenant, an army of alien races who believe they are on a holy mission to eliminate humanity.  The real draw for this series, however, is the highly-competitive, fast-paced multiplayer, which pits players against each other in armed combat on some of the most well-designed maps ever seen in a video game.  Gamers who aren’t very competitive need not worry about being left out; up to four players can work together to finish the game’s campaign mode.

WHY? The Halo universe is one of the richest, most engaging fictional universes out there, rivaling that of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.   Even gamers who aren’t fans know the story of Master Chief and his unending fight against the Covenant.  The multiplayer mode sees over a million unique players a day.  Unless your library has a definitive hard-line policy against M-rated games, not having Halo 3 on the shelf is akin to not having the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series, or anything by Stephen King in your fiction collection.  As for programming possibilities, you could spend an entire gaming festival around Halo 3; there are so many game modes for both “lone wolf” and team play, you’ll never run out of ideas.

WHO? The elephant in the room is the M rating; the ESRB has determined that this game is inappropriate for anyone under the age of 17.  You’ll want to keep that in mind as you circulate this game and plan programs around it.  Also, this is definitely a hardcore gamer’s game: you’ll probably not want to set this up beside Wii Sports and Guitar Hero, games which are more relaxed and tend to draw new gamers in, not scare them away.  Halo 3 gamers are competitive and dedicated, so be prepared to possibly entertain a bit less of a laid-back social crowd than you are accustomed to.  It’s not all about the pwnage with Halo 3, however.  The rich fiction in the game has spawned numerous books, comics, and even an anthology of short animated films; it’s an exercise in multimedia advisory all by itself.

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