Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was a more recent CBR9 book exchange gift. The backlash for the book was pretty intense, but with the recent film adaptation, I was curious to read it for myself. Thus, I was glad my Mocha Girls Read book club picked it for our white male author theme. I ended up finishing it over 4th of July and surprisingly enjoyed the pop culture filled story. The story follows Wade on an epic quest to essentially save the internet from a […]
I’ve just experienced a tutorial for a game I’ll never play
If there was ever a book written by a gamer, this is it. This is an in-depth tutorial on how to be and grow a dungeon. Complete with helpful glowing orb! (“Hey, listen!) I don’t really mind it, but I can see how the style would annoy some people, either those who know nothing about gaming or who already know waaay too much about gaming. Our helpful will-o-the-wisp is our guide in how to grow a dungeon core into a bigger and badder dungeon. We […]
Arena
“Arena” is the debut novel by Holly Jennings, another subscription pick by my bookstore. “Arena” sat on my bookshelf for several months after coming home from the bookstore. The opening blurb on the inside cover reads, “EVERY WEEK, KALI LING FIGHTS TO THE DEATH ON NATIONAL TV. SHE’S DIED HUNDREDS OF TIMES. AND IT NEVER GETS EASIER…..”. After it stops shouting, you are informed how she is part of a Virtual Gaming League, competing in the premier tournament of the season. “And though their weapons and […]
Next-Gen Business
Console Wars is a riveting industry expose. Author Blake J. Harris tells the story of the late 80s/early 90s videogame renaissance, and the battle for market dominance between elder statesman Nintendo and impertinent upstart Sega. Harris hinges the narrative on Sega of America’s CEO, Tom Kalinske. Kalinkske himself is a disgraced businessman, once the driving force behind Barbie’s can-do attitude at Mattel. He is recruited to SoA by then-president of Sega Enterprises, Hayao Nakayama. The goal: revitalize Sega in the American market, and beat Nintendo […]
Ho Hum. So Much Nostalgia, So Much Meh.
Do I love The Last Starfighter? Do I need a new novel version of it? Meh. Do I love 80’s games and remember them fondly? Hell yeah, but even I got a bit tired of the references and repetitiveness in this book. This may be unrelated but these were my personal favorites: I listened to the audiobook of Armada because I so enjoyed the previous audiobook by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, also read by Wil Wheaton. This novel also threw in a lot of nostalgia for […]
I was prowling through my library, on the search for a romance novel only available in print, when I spied You’re Never Weird on the Internet (almost) (2015) by Felicia Day, sitting out on a display table. I know Felicia Day from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which I loved, but that’s about it. Curious, I cracked open the book to get a feel for it and read the first paragraph of the introduction: “I recently experienced the perfect summary of my career at a Build-A-Bear store […]