On late Saturday night, I heard the terrible news that a good friend and fellow Spartan who went by the name of ECM passed away. Many of you conversed with him here on the site, where he had been commenting just a few days ago.
He had an incredible knack for understanding politics and culture, being the sharpest person I’ve ever met in that regard. Many of you know that from your conversations with him here and elsewhere; he also was never afraid to stand up for what he believed in and he always had strong reasoning to back up his arguments.
Where ECM really left his mark was on gaming and game culture although he did not like to brag about it. As another friend stated about him: ” …[his] hatred of self aggrandizement, combined paradoxically with tremendous drive and restless ambition, was a hallmark of his character.”
His real name was Eric Mylonas, becoming known on the gaming scene as a writer and editor for Diehard Gamefan Magazine (often known just as Gamefan). He eventually became the Editorial Director for the publication, backing-up his craft with a deep understanding of what made games fun and being able to articulate those points.
He used to write a blog and make a webcomic called Waxing Erratic and eventually moved into creating popular game-related T-shirts on Teepublic.
He also wrote a number of game strategy guides for Prima that you can find on Amazon if you don’t have one already.
Here is an editorial he wrote in the Nov. 2000 Gamefan that was an excellent example of his wit and writing ability. There’s a PDF archive of his writing in Gamefan compiled by one of his long time friends here. (NOTE: Link updated to a much more friendly PDF viewer format than the 7GB file)
While I never had met him in person, we frequently chatted online in both text and voice after I met him through his comments on my arcade blog back in 2008.
For the past several years, we’ve participated in a weekly game night where we would play an online multiplayer title. His gaming ability was a thing of talent, he being able to carry everyone through the toughest spots. But it wasn’t just that - he was just a good friend to hang out and have fun with.
For those that knew him on a personal level, this news has been particularly difficult to deal with - it still feels unbelievable. He was a good man and a truly loyal friend whose wit & humor was combined with a kind heart - someone I considered to be a close friend.
I frequently sought his advice on projects I was working on as I knew that I would get honest and insightful feedback. I offer the deepest condolences to his surviving family, his girlfriend, his many friends and his fans. Rest in peace and may God rest his soul…Until we meet again. You will be missed.
Gaming Headlines
CES 2018: Retro-bit Unveils New Sega Genesis, Saturn & Dreamcast Accessories
CES 2018: Tactical Haptics Unveils Transformable VR Controller
Coming To Bars & Arcades This Year: Tipsy Raccoon
Player Unknown Battlegrounds Players Take To Steam Pages To Demand Devs Region Lock China - Due to various problems that Chinese players are causing in the game
Snake Pass Getting More Content This Year
Sony Plans On Increasing Number Of Game Releases For PSVR By 80% Despite Tepid Sales
The Super Mario Odyssey Soundtrack On CD For Sale
If You Are Looking Forward To That Upcoming Fist Of The North Star Game, Here’s Your Video
SRK Forums Plan On Migrating From Forum To Discord
Pac-Man Goes Into Augmented Reality With Pac In Town
‘Lost’ Footage Of Phear (Atari Jaguar) Posted To Youtube - This is how Tetrisphere on the N64 got started but it was a bit different on the Jag.
An “Insult Simulator” Is Launching On The Switch This Week
Muh Diversity Focused IGDA Developers Survey Is Out - “The number of respondents who felt that diversity in the workplace was very or somewhat important was at its highest in the history of the DSS”. I guess they’ll need to have a few more spectacular flops before they figure out what gamers want.
GAMING
Nintendo’s Direct Mini - On Thursday, Nintendo provided fans with their first Direct of 2018, calling it a mini-direct since it is less than 15 minutes in length (typically they are about 45). That was all the time they needed to pack a nice punch however as Dark Souls Remastered (which is also coming to Ps4 & XB1), Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition, The World Ends With You Final Remix, Kirby Star Allies, Mario Tennis Aces, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA, SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy(SJW heads exploded with this one, which will be uncensored in the West), Fe, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and more for the Nintendo Switch. And yes, it is starting to look like Nintendo will be bringing everything released to the WiiU to Switch. Might as well.
Nintendo Direct Mini 1.11.2018
Nintendo Direct mini featuring the latest Nintendo Switch games. Stay tuned for some exciting surprises and updates! Got a favorite from the Nintendo Direct mini? Well, click to it!
Sega’s House Of The Dead Is Back - Sega pulled off a nice little surprise this morning with the announcement of a location test for House Of The Dead Scarlet Dawn. This new entry in the series will be exclusive to arcades (at least for now) and promises to deliver a far more fearsome experience than previous installments of the game. In good part, that is achieved through the use of the enclosed cabinet along with special effects like seat force feedback and air blasters. This will likely start showing up in American arcades by the end of the year. Read more about it at Arcade Heroes.
House Of The Dead Scarlet Dawn by Sega Announced!
Find out more about this product at: https://primetimeamusements.com/product/house-of-the-dead-scarlet-dawn/ You can also place your pre-order now! We take a look at the upcoming return to the House of the Dead franchise, House Of The Dead Scarlet Dawn! This is just what we know about it so far from the fine article written on http://arcadeheroes.com We will have more info on it soon!
NVIDIA At CES 2018 - It wasn’t just about the games for nVidia as they were more than happy to show of their latest autonomous car tech. They get into their latest gaming tech in the last part of the video, where they also showed off a big format 4K gaming TV:
NVIDIA at CES 2018
NVIDIA lights up CES 2018 with automotive and gaming news and a booth and gaming suite featuring amazing demos. View all our announcements on our newsroom at https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news?q=ces.
Homebrew Of The Week: Silver Valley (Sega Master System) - If you still have a Sega Master System lying around and want some sidescrolling hack-n-slash action for it, then check out this new title that has been released for free. I’m not aware of anyone making a cartridge of it though so an emulator will have to suffice:
SILVER VALLEY Sega Master System by Mike Ruiz (first contact)
New homebrew game for Sega Master System by Mike Ruiz. Action-rpg. Check it! Espectacular nuevo juego homebrew para Sega Master System. Gráficos impresioantes y una jugabilidad increible. Pruébalo!! More information: http://www.smspower.org/forums/16808-UpcomingGameSilverValley
Technology Headlines
Yet Another Security Flaw Discovered In Intel Processors
In Case You Missed Project Veritas’ Exposé On Twitter And Their Hatred Of Conservatives
Microsoft’s Intel Patch Screwed Up AMD Systems, MS Blames AMD
Shopping For a Cryptocurrency? You’ve Got Over 1400 To Choose From
HTC Announces Vive Pro & Wireless Vive
Typewriters Making A Comeback?
Insufferable Prick Logan Paul Reaps What He Sows - Of course, YouTube only took action after a mountain of outrage came along from Japanese users
Well This Is a Heck Of A Way To Instill Confidence Into Warning Systems
Why Anyone Thinks That Biometric Data Will Always Be Safe & Private Is Beyond Me
CES 2018: More Spinning Holograms - I saw some of these at IAAPA 2017
CES 2018: Let’s Pour Water Mist On The Razer Blade 4K Laptop For Some Reason
TECHNOLOGY
This past week saw the arrival of CES 2018 and with that it means there is a lot of tech news to digest. From what I am seeing, VR is not the Big Hype this time but self-driving/autonomous vehicles are.
Robots & Cars - Kelly Blue Book takes a look at several companies and their robotic/future tech. I’ll start with some of Honda’s robotic vehicle creations that were on display at the show but if you want to see everything KBB looked at, go to their Youtube channel:
Honda Robots - CES 2018
Kelley Blue Book’s coverage of Honda’s 3E-D18, 3E-C18, and 3E-A18 robots at CES 2018. At CES 2018 Honda flexed its ability to create useful yet adorable robots. From the friendly-faced 3E-A18 to a modular, autonomous ATV dubbed the 3E-D18 Honda’s robots put a warm face on our robotic future.
Yamaha Motobot - CES 2018
Kelley Blue Book’s coverage of the Yamaha Motobot at CES 2018. Vehicle autonomy is a hot subject each year at CES. This year we saw autonomy invade the world of motorcycles at Yamaha’s 2018 CES stand.
Best TVs of CES - As always, there are many new TVs to gawk at during CES, here’s a video that takes a look at what they consider to be the best:
Best TVs of CES 2018
As always, there was an insane amount of TVs at CES 2018 that blew as away from Sony, Samsung, LG, TCL, and more. From rollable OLEDs, to modular 146″ MicroLED TVs, and of course, budget-friendly TVs; here are the best TVs of CES 2018.
“Weirdest Tech” At CES - Weird might be subjective here - I think what would be easier to define is useful vs. useless 😛 This guy takes a look at some of the things he found to be weird:
The Weirdest Tech of CES 2018
CES is a wonderful place full of weird, weird tech gadgets. Trying the World’s Thinnest Laptop at CES 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMATo2qiscY Subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/austinevans Instagram: http://instagram.com/austinnotduncan Twitter: http://twitter.com/austinnotduncan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austinnotduncan
He wasn’t alone though in finding oddities:
THE STRANGEST BOOTH AT CES 2018!!!!
Day 2 of CES 2018 we explored some smaller booths and found some one of the craziest booths in this hall!
Ossia Shows Off AA-Sized “Forever Batteries” - Ossia is a company that has been working on wireless power and they were at CES to demonstrate their Cota wireless power transmission tech. While they have different components to receive the power, the piece that received the most attention were the AA battery sized “Forever Batteries”. You can see them in this older demo video:
Ossia- COTA Demo
Uploaded by Ossia Inc on 2017-04-13.
Space Pr0n Of The Week: More Than Meets The Eye With Andromeda - What I love about astronomy is seeing the creations of God in their cosmic majesty but also in finding things that the naked eye can’t see. Such is the case with this picture of the Andromeda Galaxy, enhanced to show clouds of ionized hydrogen in red.
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