Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Super Nintendo. (Its US release, anyway.) Holy Christ, do I feel old.

As with its contemporaries, the NEC TurboGrafx-16 and the Sega Genesis, the SNES was yet another system I did not own myself during its heyday. That didn’t stop me from playing the hell out of it over friends’ houses, of course. I was a huge NES fan growing up, and seeing my favorite series (like Mega Man, Mario, Castlevania, and Metroid) all making the jump into glorious 16-bit was a dream come true. (And let’s not forget Mode 7…)

Some of the greatest games of all time made their debut on the SNES. Super Metroid. Final Fantasy VI (released here as III). The start of the Mega Man X series. Chrono Trigger. I could go on and on. All of these titles still hold their own today, and that’s a rare feat, indeed; there’s PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games that don’t hold up well even a few years after their release!

Another big deal was stereo sound. The TG16 and Genesis still had mono sound output, but the SNES made use of the dual sound channels as best it could. The sounds some games coaxed out of that system put many of today’s titles to shame! I maintain that the SNES had the best sound chip ever designed for a video game system: the S-SMP. (I also maintain that the chip is the finest piece of hardware ever made by Sony, even above the Walkman.)

Last but not least…the SNES controller set the standard for years to come. Four face buttons and shoulder triggers was a huge deal back then, but the arrangement was so perfect that even modern consoles still use the same setup with only slight variations. I also appreciated the controller’s wider design and curved edges; I’ve got large hands, so it made things much more comfortable during long play sessions. (Especially during the fighting game era; we all blistered our thumbs when Street Fighter II hit the SNES.)

Like a fine wine, the SNES has only improved with age. If you’re one of those young whippersnappers who only knows Call of Duty or Rock Band, get your ass to the pawn shop and try some Super Metroid. Then you’ll learn just how great games can be.

(On a related note, there’s so much shit celebrating twentieth, twenty-fifth, and thirtieth anniversaries in the next year that I just can’t keep up. So I think I’m going to pass on writing about most of them, and just select a few really important ones.)

Some of you folks may recall that I have a fondness for World War II history, and I enjoy mixing it with my love of gaming by playing wargames. For the uninitiated, these are strategy board games that often feature specific battles, campaigns, or theaters.

Unfortunately, they’re often really fucking expensive.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like you’re forced to pay $50+ for a shitty product. Games like Memoir ’44 are very high quality, and worth every penny. Still, the upfront costs can be quite a barrier to entry, even with games that use cardboard tokens instead of more durable plastic units (I vastly prefer the latter). Larger games like Tide of Iron run close to $100! And when it comes to expansions, those often cost just as much — if not more — than the core game itself!

This becomes even more of an issue when others are not interested in playing the games; then, you’ve wasted a good chunk of change on a box that’ll gather dust on your shelf.

Case and point: one of my favorite wargames is Axis & Allies Miniatures, especially the War at Sea naval version, which I played often at my local hobby shop for about a year or two after the game’s release. I bitched about the pricing structure of the game a few years ago, and it’s only gotten worse. Both the land-based game and War at Sea booster packs retail at $14.99 each now. You’re only getting five miniatures per box (which works out to a ridiculous $3 a pop), only one of which is a rare unit. I imagine the upcoming Air Force game will be even worse, though I’ll end up buying some anyway since I’m a sucker for WWII aircraft. Even though you can easily get the boosters for $9-10 each from online retailers, their worth is still questionable, especially since collectible games require a significant up-front and continuing investment.

Not only is it a big investment for myself, but also for anyone else who’d want to play, and the number of my friends who are into collectible games is a big fat zero. At the end of the day, the high price and lack of others’ interest killed Axis & Allies Miniatures for me. I don’t hold others’ apathy against them, of course. If I could find some good single-player scenarios, I’d be happy, but my efforts have thus far proven fruitless.

I should also point out that I’m three expansion sets behind on War at Sea, and five expansions behind on the land version of Axis & Allies Miniatures. That’s nearly two hundred units I’m missing from the specific forces I was building — over seventy of which are from War at Sea alone — so there’s no financially feasable way I could catch up. I may just pick up some of the little ships for collection purposes rather than gaming.

Moving on to other wargames, we’ve got the same problems. 99.9% of them are designed for two or more players, for obvious reasons. Aside from finding people who are actually interested in the subject matter, I do understand that time is also a consideration, as many wargames take hours to play a single game. I’ve run a few games of the original Axis & Allies, and that can take over an hour just to set up!

I’ve recently discovered that solitaire wargames actually do exist. They’re designed that way from the ground up rather than being poorly “hacked” versions of existing multiplayer games. As such, they’re really beginning to appeal to me. The Field Commander series in particular seems to be right up my alley, with games focusing on the exploits of such legendary military leaders such as Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Erwin Rommel. I ordered a copy of that last game, and I’m looking forward to giving it a whirl. (And no, I’m not a Nazi apologist.) If I dig it, ordering the other games in the series sounds like a no-brainer if I can find ‘em for a good price. And if I can find a solitaire naval wargame, I’d be happy as a pig in shit.

Getting my wargame fix without breaking the bank is a difficult challenge, but I’ve found one possible outlet: there’s an online version of Memoir ’44 now. I’m not big on online gaming, especially the pay-for-play type, but this seems like a pretty good deal. Since you can play for free for a few hours before deciding if you want to lay down cash, I guess I really can’t complain too much; it’s worth trying out, at least, and it would certainly solve the problem of finding other wargame players. I just prefer tactile pieces to a glowing screen, ya know?

I’m sure you’ve all heard the term “cloud computing” by now. It’s a fancy way of saying that books, music, videos, and other media will all be stored on a third party server, while your computer or other device accesses them from any location. This naturally makes things incredibly convenient for the end user. Forget your iPod? No worries, just stream your music instead to your phone instead.

Make no mistake; this is the way media is moving forward, and we are powerless to stop it. Unfortunately, it also really sucks. You know me; I’m a fervent proponent of physical ownership over intangible licensing. But the cloud model actually takes things an ominous step further.

With most digital distribution models, you pay to download the content, which may or may not have usage restrictions via DRM. If whoever you purchased it from decides not to offer that content anymore, or worse, closes up shop, you at least have your downloaded copy to enjoy.

Not so with the cloud model. Now, you’re not even paying for the content itself; you’re just paying for access to that content. Which means that whoever’s hosting your library can remove content at their whim. And if they go out of business? Your media is now gone, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

A split between the two models would be best; Amazon’s recently-launched Cloud Player works this way. You can stream stuff all day and night, but it lets you upload your own files and download files purchased through Amazon. Now you can have backups of all of your stuff, and still enjoy it on the go from any Internet-enabled device. (Apple will be launching something similar as part of iTunes.) That kind of setup I don’t have a problem with, and I can only hope it becomes the standard. The only downside is that you have to pay a lot more if you’ve got a large media library, and many of us do.

I know physical media’s on its way out in favor of content providers having much greater control and telling you exactly what you can do with your media, but damn it, I’m going to hold out as long as I can. Hey, if vinyl LPs are still around, I think my CD collection will be safe for quite sometime.

For further reading on this topic, especially as it relates to music, check out the following two pieces by Vince Neilstein over at MetalSucks:

• Amazon Beats Apple and Google to the Cloud, Launches “Cloud Player” Music Streaming Service

• Amazon Cloud Player to Record Labels: “Fuck Off!”

I’d also suggest that you read the comments on those pieces. Aside from the usual Internet flamebait and trolling, there some interesting discussion happening there.

Way back in my elementary and junior high school days, I played Dungeons and Dragons on a fairly regular basis. Aside from my beloved science fiction, I was already reading a ton of fantasy novels (especially the Dragonlance series), so “bringing them to life” was the next natural step. I was partial to thieves, simply because parties of adventurers always had the usual fighters, magic-users, and clerics, but rarely had someone who could pick a fucking lock or steal shit. (“That dragon looks pissed. You deal with it. I’ll be back here, rifling through his treasure vault.”)

Few of my friends were into D&D, but you didn’t need a large group to play. Many of my games were just me and one other person…aside from the Dungeon Master (DM), of course. My last big experience with D&D was a group of us playing in seventh or eighth grade; we had a party of five or six, I think. (I’m trying to remember this shit as best I can.) The game went well for many months, but then things went off the rails, at least in my case. In yet another stunning example of my “friends” being two-faced, I had to attend a family gathering one weekend and miss a play session. So, the rest of my group informed me when I got back that they had killed my character, looted his corpse, and that I would not be welcome to join them again. Dicks. That was really the final straw, and as I moved on to high school and college, I had other things to occupy my time. For my RPG fix, I stuck with video games like the Eye of the Beholder and Dragon Quest series.

So where am I going with all of this? The fact remains that I have not sat down and played D&D proper since the early 1990s, much as I would have liked to. However, I recently came across a new product that D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast has released. The official title is the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game Starter Set, but I immediately recognized it as a new version of the classic red box.

The return of the king.

See, the red box is how the basic D&D set was packaged back in the 1980s. The iconic logotype and Larry Elmore cover art is permanently carved into many a fan’s mind; I remember the ads for the set appearing on the back of comic books. Adventure modules and other products were also packaged in similar red boxes along with other colors, so again, this design is a big part of D&D history.

I never had the red box growing up, though I always wanted it. The first complete D&D product I actually owned was The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game. Prior to receiving that boxset for Christmas one year, all I had was character sheets and dice. That’s right, I didn’t even own the Player’s Handbook. Pretty sad, huh? Hey, when you’re a kid functioning on an extremely limited allowance, those expensive sourcebooks were constantly out of reach. Fortunately, my friends and I just passed ‘em around during gaming sessions.

Even though I was originally introduced to D&D with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (as that’s what my friends had), I enjoyed the basic set’s simplified version of the rules as it enabled me to play games faster. The only time I functioned as a DM was when I created some basic adventures for my younger brother in order to teach him the game. He favored paladins, which I don’t even think were included in the basic game; I just used my knowledge of the advanced rules to shoehorn them in. At any rate, it made for some interesting battles. I wish I still had that damned boxset, but who the hell knows where the sands of time have taken it.

Sorry, I was rambling again. The point is that the new red box has rekindled my interest in D&D, and I was able to score one at nearly half off of its $19.99 MSRP. (Gotta love abusing bookstore coupons.) Aside from the 1980s nostalgia factor, it also brings back memories of the previous boxset I had due to the scaled-down rules and quests. The solo adventure in there reminded me of a the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, albeit with dice and whatnot. Weird, but that’s a smart way to set things up for new players, I suppose. I’ve been out of the game so long that I qualify as a newbie, so it’s very useful to me, regardless. I have heard that once the few adventures inside the new red box are used up, the product is practically useless. Still, it’s not a total waste if it helps get me back into the game.

I’m well aware that it’s going to be difficult and annoying to find a campaign, but I’m going to redouble my efforts this time. A few of my past concerns have been partially addressed, such as the time constraints. The D&D Encounters program may solve that problem. The setup is absolutely perfect for my needs; it’s an hour or two of gaming a week, structured around enemy encounters. That would neatly fit my schedule…if, of course, there’s any nearby retailers that participate. One of my local shops used to run Encounters, but the DM had to give it up due to his work schedule. Perhaps I could convince someone else to replace him?

I’ll also attempt to strongarm a few victims suckers friends into trying it out. Maybe some of the folks I used to play card games way back when would be interested. If that fails, I’ll bite the bullet and scour the Internet to find local players. Hopefully there won’t be too many stereotypical unwashed basement-dwellers, but I’ve found that as with many hobbies, they’re the exception rather than the rule. I’ve heard that many players run campaigns online, using Skype or similar programs to communicate in realtime. That’s certainly an option, but I’d much rather get out of the house and play face-to-face with others. Still, playing online is definitely better than not playing at all.

Aside from finding other players, I also need to make sure they’re willing to teach new players; namely, me. I’ve read up on the current rules via the red box and a borrowed Player’s Handbook, but D&D is a game where it’s much more effective to learn by doing. Patience and nerds often do not mix, but I can’t help but try. Last but not least, I’d prefer to stay within my own age group. No offense, but I’m not going to hang around a bunch of damned kids.

I know I’ll get made fun of for this. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t give a shit about the social stigma attached to D&D anymore. I’m a grown man, so others’ opinions of my leisure activities rank somewhere on page eighty-six of The Book of Important Things in Life, between “Comparing the Shape of Your Feces to Famous People” and “Measuring Blades of Grass for Fun.” Since most of my interests are ones not shared with others anyway, it’s not like this is anything new for me. There’s going to be a bumpy road ahead on my way back into this whole D&D thing, but perhaps my perseverance will pay off this time. And if it doesn’t work? No harm done. I’ll just find something else to do and move on, as always.

Anyone want to join me?

Here we are in 2011, and there’s gamers out there that are still complaining about the lack of cross-game chat on the PlayStation Network (PSN).

I don’t understand it. Most of the “complaints” come from the diehard Xbox Live crowd, as a way to denigrate the rival PSN service. (2006 called, and it wants its console wars back.) The concept is rather self-explanatory: cross-game chat lets you talk with players in one game, while you (or others) are playing another. So if you’re playing Halo 3, you could yap with a friend playing Mass Effect 2, for example.

Still, there’s a few PlayStation 3 owners who whine about cross-game chat, as well, and I just don’t get it. Why would you want to talk to someone playing a different game than you? I can certainly see the use in talking to someone in the same game, especially in first-person shooters where you’re part of a team. But different games? Shouldn’t you be focusing on the game you’re playing? If you need to talk to others, then obviously, your game isn’t holding your attention…so why are you even bothering to play it in the first place? It’s clearly not that good. Or perhaps this is yet another example of our increasingly media-saturated culture, where people simply cannot focus on one thing. Either way, it’s fucking sad.

Focus, people…focus!