The Joys of Arcade Racers

    Greetings to the interwebs its the One-Eyed Nerd here again, and spring is now upon us. Time to get outside, hangout with friends, the family, hit a few thrift stores that hopeful are not overpricing their stuff, and hit an arcade and sit down for a friendly competition at the classics. It is funny to look back on growing up in the 2000s as I got to experience things that I don't think will ever happen again. Set before the second mainstream internet blowup (The Smartphone) and the early rise of the high definition TV, there still was a use for analog and that included hangout spots even at that time included the decaying arcade scene.

     Now during this time, I cut my teeth on machines that now looking back on were some of the top of line during that time. My earliest memory that I can think of with playing an arcade machine is NASCAR Arcade, that was developed by Sega in the 2000s when EA owned the NASCAR license. Now granted I don't remember if it was good or not and I have never seen one in person ever since. Some more I remember was mobile ports back in the 2010s like Namco making Ridge Racer for the phones and Sega porting a faithful port of Crazy Taxi to the small screen.

    Now yes we are talking about mobile games here that were free with ads and DLC to make their money back, but at it’s core they are great games. Go and look at the 100 best selling arcade racing games and you will see the same developers behind them, teams made up of some of the greatest coders, musicians, and artists that made theses teams and to top it off, most of the ideas was them getting creative and not rehashing what has already been done. From Hydro Thunder with boats with rocket engines on the back of them and waterways that make no sense, Project Gotham Racing with real city's that were scanned in real life and an in game radio stations that felt real as you raced around and its gameplay loop that prioritizes driving with style and leading then just having the best race line. Burnout incorporating reckless driving and being a total lunatic on the road to gain boost and take out your opponents was revolutionary, not even mention Road Rage was well a game mode. Daytona USA was the SEGA of Japan’s take on a redneck classic.

    The rabbit hole just keeps on giving and there are years and years of games as well as ones that are still being made to this day. Now there is no way to say everything I want to in one post, it will take going to have each game having their own post. So I will end it here then, as my final word is that the level of creativity and skill to have to make a game that has to be easy for people to play and hard but rewarding to master is impressive, and on top of that creating long lasting legacy’s that are still around. Here to the classics and the newcomers, this is the One-Eyed Nerd saying good night and signing off.

The Mainstream Trap And Standing Against the Grain: A Introspective

    Greeting's again to the Interweb, It's The One Eyed Nerd here with another, well let me rephrase that, more like the first real post not unless you count the greeting as one. Now this thought has been with me for a while and if you read the title of this post then you might have a good idea about what this is going to be about, and today’s topic is more to get my thoughts out on the younger generation and to myself. Before I start no this is not....

 

    This is more of an introspective on myself more then a, “Here is the key to this generation’s way of well doing anything”. To begin in earnest, the way I was raised plays a role in this and for my parents not getting me onto social media (Thank the Lord for that) oh and those PSA about internet safety they played in schools that scared the students, well me shitless. I swear some of them were more like horror films than PSAs. I got to find the one they played and share it here it is something. So back to the topic on point, growing up in the early 2000s was something, now sure I heard and remembered some of the shit that happened but It didn't feel like it was everywhere back then, now yes I was still a child but the later part of my generation knows about everything nowadays and not in the good way.

    Now comes the 2010s well 2015 and later. During this time two things happened, one was my interest into modding and retro gaming and number two, good ole number two. Politics, social media, later on high school and the thing that shall not be named, now lets start with politics. One thing I still kick myself about these years later was I should of never gotten into it at that time in life. I was not mentally prepared for it, Hell it was my early teen years in middle school for crying our loud. Look when you are a teenager, you are dumb, that's the truth, you are stupid, young, immature, and a know it all (ok I still am to this day but that's another subject for another time) and here I am worrying myself to death about who to vote for, what is going to happen in the future, and I couldn't even drive. In yes middle school, let me repeat that in middle school, all this started in middle school, no not high school but in middle school. So at this time I was a junkie in politics, always reading and listening and I had no idea what the real world was like, only what the talking heads said and from the family (no this is not a jab at them).

    So high school rolls around and it is the same old story, teenage angst, a lot of embarrassment of trying to fit in, you name it, and add on top of it, the insanity of politics. Now around this time most of my generation is on social media well actuary this happen back in middle school, but let’s say I took the old way around, I'm talking about theses...

  

    Yes that is an old school forum and yes I am a sucker for old technology. Around this time I looked for what I liked with music, TV shows, video games, animation, and car culture (oh the joys of being a nerd). During this time most of what I came to enjoy ended up being old stuff and this...

    Then 2020 hit and man this was not what I expected, not at all. Before we hit this uhh interesting time, lets take two years off for a second. Remembered how I mention I wish I would of never gotten into politics? Well this powder keg aka me at this time and a teacher, butt heads hard, extremely hard. Two years of the same shit at the same time about you guessed it, and I got the best analogy for it, as it was like that prank where light a bag of crap on fire and leave it at someone’s doorstep, but replace it with politics and falling for it every single time for two years. Now you got the idea, so fast forward to 2020. Lock downs and online education and not being able to see the people you went to school with and that bag of crap now is taken up to 11. During this time I mostly hanged around with the great folks on a forum and trenched on, watching so much of The Simpsons and I mean way too much of The Simpsons. The next year passes on and I encounter an old friend called darkness and I mean it in the literal sense and Ironically on Halloween of all times. Weeks pass and it all works out but coming out of that unscathed taught me something. Life is way to short to waste on bullshit like keeping up with what is hip at the present time.

    

    Here is to what life brings in all of its uncertainty's, and to my fellow peers in this generation and to the next, take some time to find yourself and not just what the mainstream thinks you need to be. No I'm not saying be a hipster and look down on people who like to chase the next golden egg, but to not let the masses rule your judgment and be a wise consumer. Because hey you only live once, why waste it on misery and people’s opinions. This is the One Eyed Nerd saying good night and signing off.