theSpeakEasy.com

Ninja’s Have Invaded my Gmail

Augiewan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:35:09 +0000

So last week I was reading some e-mails and noticed a message in my Gmail interface about new themes they have to offer. I glanced through the list and immediately locked in on the one containing the word “ninja”! Yeah I’m a sucker for ninjas…

But anyway, I’ve really been enjoying the theme and haven’t even looked though the others. Here are the images used in the main page header and footer…

And here are some various images I’ve noticed so far in the footer when reading an e-mail. They keep rotating every day or so, so I’m assuming there will be more as time goes on…

Also here are couple other miscellaneous images used in the interface…

You just have to love this theme, I mean how could you not?

Topps Destroys WizKids, Pulls Plug on Life Support.

Augiewan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:55:25 +0000

Another chapter in the never-ending storyline of Corporate Idiocy has come to a close. Topps has closed WizKids and discontinued the product lines that originally made the company a success. You can read the official announcement here…

In 2003 Topps, the company long entrenched as a leader in the sports paraphernalia world, made a perfectly natural move. It acquired WizKids, a relatively small company that specialized in gaming. Yes the Jock specialists bought out the Geek specialists. Brilliant.

How could this not work? Topps wanted to bring the sports genre in to gaming, or was it bring a gaming element to the sports merchandising world? Either way, it was not a bad idea in and of itself, but the notion that gobbling up a new company that was making a splash in the gaming industry would be the best route to that goal was at best short-sighted.

I had my doubts about the move from the moment I had heard of it, but my fears were confirmed when the first sports-related game was announced from WizKids. Major League Baseball. I won’t get in to the details of how bad the game actually ended up being. I bought a case of them to give it a whirl with my son. It was simply horrible.

My point though is that I just knew that this was going to happen. I thought long and hard about what type of game could be created using the licenses that Topps held and the gaming architecture know-how at WizKids. From a game perspective the choice was obvious. American Football was the answer. From the mechanics of the game as well as the individual positions, to the ability to use a grid-style map, it just made sense. I actually started getting excited about what they could create! But I knew in my heart of hearts that Topps would insist on Baseball. It’s their bread and butter. No one at Topps would be able to see pass that. Baseball was the choice.

Ultimately, they forced their vision on the folks at WizKids and it didn’t work. Topps should have hired some established game developers internally to explore what could be done with the licenses it held. They could have built something from within using people who were focused on and obsessed with the sport games that were being developed, and by doing so would have likely made a better game.

In the mean-time, WizKids seemed to just die a slow death. I had stopped playing their games a while back as they struggled to find their next big hit after HeroClix faded from its prior glory. I’m saddened to see the company go. Hopefully as the article I linked to above eluded to, they will find a company to sell the game rights to so that they can live on.

Threadless Does it Again with “Do-Re-Mi-Quack!”

Augiewan — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:06:08 +0000

“Do-Re-Mi-Quack!” (designed by Jon Barthell) is by far my favorite shirt design to be released by Theadless in a while! Not to say they’ve not been great recently, I just really like this one. I’ll definitely be stopping by to grab this one when I’m in town for the “Taste of Chicago”…

Check to see if they have it in your size, or check out the whole selection…

U.B.Funkeys Image Gallery Added

Augiewan — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:33:09 +0000

We just added a gallery of U.B.Funkeys from Radica/Mattel. You can also see some custom Funkeys here in Augiewan’s Customs Gallery.

If you are a fan of the U.B.Funkeys figures and/or game, you can find a whole section devoted to Funkeys here. You’ll find a Funkeys discussion forum as well…

Newest shirts realeased by Threadless

Augiewan — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:58:45 +0000

The latest round of artistic shirt designs have been released by Threadless. Ilove so many of their designs, I never know what to buy. Hopefully I’ll make it to their Chicago store this year when I visit.

This image is of my favorite design from this week’s new selection, called “Smile… My Shadow” by Lim Heng Swee. You can check out all the newest designs here. Great shirt designs and great prices! Check them out…

Will Apple Finally Prevail In the Office?

Augiewan — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:08:55 +0000

Will Apple do it? Will the iPod and iPhone accomplish what years of making superior (albeit freaky expensive) home computers couldn’t? Will the Apple finally be accepted in the corporate America on a large scale?

Well, in my opinion, yes and no. I still hold to the fact that there are enterprise level things that the Macs just don’t do. Developers will not use Macs. But for desktop use in the office? Why not! Bottom line is that they’re cool and more and more employees want them. And to Microsoft’s chagrin, they can do most everything the average business user expects from a PC and a bit more…

But don’t take my word for it, check out this article over at BusinessWeek. The next few years should prove to be very interesting with the continued growth of Mac popularity and the continued stumblings of Microsoft. Interesting indeed…

Monster Theather Figures from dKiller Panda Toys

Augiewan — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:19:33 +0000

The image gallery is now up for the Monster Theater series 1 figures I got a few weeks back, which are now proudly displayed in my office at work. This is a great little series of deformed “old-school” monsters that I fell in love with when I first saw them. They are made by dKiller Panda Toys and distributed by Dark Horse. I found a review and an interview on ToysREvil’s blog from about a year ago talking about the future releases. The illustrations look great, but I’m curious if they’re actually going to happen considering the amount of time that has gone by with no additional series being released. I hope they do, at least for the Faery Tales series that would include figures from Wonderland and Oz!

Click here for the gallery…

Free Comic Book Day 2008 @ BuyMeToys.com

Augiewan — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:35:54 +0000

Today was the 2008 Free Comic Book Day, and I spent it with my kids at BuyMeToys.com as I have every year (but the one I missed) since 2004 when it all began. This is a really fun day for the kids and my oldest daughter’s best friend has now joined us for the past two years.

I’ve heard of other comic shops having really limited selections and only giving one or two copies away to each person, but BMT has consistently had a huge selection of FCBD comics and they give out five issues to each visitor. It’s definitely worth the trip if you live anywhere even close to Mishawaka, IN.

I personally picked up Arcana Presents (Arcana sampler), Gekiga! (Drawn Quarterly sampler), Cartoona Palooza (Ape Entertainment sampler), Free Scott Pilgrim (Oni Press FCBD comic from 2006) and The Preposterous Voyages of IronHide Tom (2006 FCBD comic from AdHouse Books)…

I haven’t read them yet except for the IronHide Tom book which my daughter picked up at a previous FCBD and I loved. I had to have my own copy when I saw they still had one.

So here you are, the couple pictures I snapped while we were there…

[Show as slideshow]

Mozzarella and the Moofia Minions are in the House

Augiewan — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:44:48 +0000

My Moofia figures showed up earlier this week and I just got them shot and added to the Moofia image gallery. Take a look around and enjoy…

I’m definitely liking these and look forward to Bulleto and the three new minions!

Here We Go Again - Nintendo Recalls Pins for Lead Content

Augiewan — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:13:54 +0000

Nintendo announced that it is recalling 71,000 character pins that were sold between 2004 and 2007 at it’s Nintendo stores and select electronics stores across the US. The lapel pins vary in size, ranging from 1 to 2 inches in height and feature the following characters: Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mario, Mario Kart, Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Starfox, Waluigi and Wario were sold individually. Mario, Princess Peach and Samus were also sold in a set together.

Oh, oh, and wait for it… They were manufactured in China. Wow! What a surprise!

See the story here at Playthings.com…