From the people who brought us “Canabalt“, there’s now Gravity Hook HD. It’s only available online at the moment, but it’s coming soon for the iPhone. I’m already kinda into it. It’s not Canabalt, but it’s still pretty fun. Like Doodle Jump with different mechanics.
Category Archives: Amusements
Quick Pinball Fix
I took Anne’s advice (after much hand-wringing trying to get Virtual Pinmame working), and purchased Williams Pinball Hall of Fame (for the XBox 360). Mostly, I got this one (as opposed to the Gottlieb version) because it has two of my all time favorite pinball machine in it: Funhouse and Medieval Madness.
I have to say it’s a pretty good representation of playing on the full machines — although I often want better camera angles to choose from. My mad skillz at Funhouse seem to have translated over, and my high score on the actual machine seems pretty close to my current high score in the video game. I’m not sure, but playing the video game might constitute a decent form of practice for real pinball.
Diversions: Canabalt
For those of you who follow my Twitter feed, you may have noticed several posts that led you to believe I’d taken up running as a pass time. In reality I’ve been spending my time a playing Canabalt. Written in just five days, sporting glorious 8-bit black-and-white graphics, and thoroughly addictive–Canabalt is possibly the best one-button game you’ll play anywhere. The secret of the game success is a combination of a sense of speed and pure gameplay.
The idea behind the game is simple; you control a small humanoid who is running for his life. Your surrogate must leap from rooftop to rooftop in a (never ending?) attempt to escape the inevitable destruction of his world. The player is given just one control the ability to make your character leap a variety of heights, depending on how long you hold the button/tap the screen. As you go various obstacles get in your way: crates, cranes, bombs, and windows challenge your jumping abilities. As your character runs his speed increases making for a thrilling adrenaline rush–unless a judicious collision with a crate/cardboard box is employed.
Canabalt is available as an iPhone app or playable from various flash-based webpages. Possibly the best part of Canabalt — aside from the addictive gameplay — is that most games last anywhere from a few seconds to, at most, a couple minutes. Give it a try you won’t be disappointed.
PS: my best score so far is 7186 m. In the comments how you’re doing.
PPS: thanks (I think) to BKirz for turning me on to the game via his Twitter feed.
Bengies drive-in
I’m considering heading up to Baltimore to visit Bengies Drive-In this weekend. Here’s the expected lineup:
 Fri and Sat: 7:15pm Sun: 6:45pm |
 Fri and Sat: 8:45pm Sun: 8:15pm |
 Fri and Sat: 10:30pm only |
R/C Plane: Supercub
I’ve been enchanted by flying animals and aircraft my entire life. I’ve always wanted to get into radio control aircraft, but the time, complexity, and cost of radio control aircraft kept me away. These days modern high-density lithium-poltmer (lipo) batteries and foam aircraft have addressed the issues that kept me out of the hobby.
For my last birthday, Kim gave me a Hobbyzone SuperCub. A really great beginner platform for learning to fly radio control airplanes. Not only is it easy to fly, but it’s cheap to repair. I’ve managed to crash mine a couple of times now, breaking a fuselage and wing; $35 later I was back in the air. I now have a couple of safe landings behind me, and I’m looking forward to the next calm day for another flight.
R/C Cars: Stampede & RC10B4
With the Blade MCX buzzing around the house Kim mentioned that she had felt deprived one christmas long ago. It seems that her brothers got radio control trucks and she didn’t. I tried to make it up to her by giving her a r/c car for Christmas. Based on lots of information on the Internet, I chose a Traxxas Stampede for her. The Stampede came ready to run (just add batteries and charger), and has a reputation as a rugged and fun backyard basher. The monster truck format has the advantage of running well on the sometimes unkempt lawn in the backyard or local schoolyard; as well as being somewhat more rugged.
Since I didn’t want her to have no one to race, I picked up a Team Associated RC10B4 buggy for myself. As a kid I had wanted a cool, radio control, off-road buggy, but never got around to spending paper route money to actually buy one. At the time the Team Associated RC10 was the winningest rig around. Since Kim’s gift was fulfilling a childhood regret, I chose to fulfill my own and picked up the modern day iteration of the RC10. The buggy format runs faster than a monster truck all other things being equal, especially running on the street in front of the house or a dirt track.
The first time we used our cars, Kim ran over my buggy (and flipped it) — twice. Twice! She enjoyed that a little too much. We’ve had a few chances to run the cars since then, and have had loads of fun. I’ve replaced the right side control arm and shock cap after clipping a curb going almost 20mph. Lately I’ve started improving my car’s setup — Kim has got to catch me to flip me!
R/C Heli: Blade MCX
While stuck in Kim’s basement immediately following my first surgery, I was looking for something to keep me entertained (besides CNN and the election). After some Internet research I settled on an E-Flite Blade MCX radio control helicopter. I’ll go over the in’s and out’s of this little heli and provide a small review in a moment, but first a little background.
I’ve always been interested in things that fly (birds, kites, planes, etc.), and in fact I initially declared an aerospace engineering major in college. Over the last couple of years small, cheap r/c helicopters have become available in discount stores and malls worldwide. I’ve owned several of these: Havoc Helis, Mosquitos, and others. While these toys have been amusing, but they’ve always disappointed by being difficult and terribly imprecise to control. Enter the Blade MCX.
The helicopter is pretty small; just 8 inches long and weighing in at just about 1 ounce. The small size and lightweight makes the MCX perfect for flying around the basement. I’ve had a good time landing on just about any surface that’s large enough to get the landing skids on (about 4″x4″). The heli is super stable, and hovers well; control is precise and intuitive. Because of the heli’s small size (and small, lightweight LiPo battery) flight times are limited to 8-10 minutes. While that sounds like a short amount of time charging only takes about 15 minutes, and I purchased a total of 3 batteries which seems to be the right number for my attention span.
The experience of flying the MCX had led to a “false” sense of confidence. Several crashes have resulted from attempts to fly under our folding tables and up and down the staircases. After dozens and dozens of crashes the MCX was still in excellent shape — even after being in the hands of 4 different novice pilots. But I did eventually break the helicopter inner shaft. Which is a good segue to talk about the difference between the MCX and the other toys I’ve had. The Blade MCX differs from the earlier toy helicopters I tried in that it’s a hobby-grade radio control device. E-Flite has been making radio control aircraft for several years, and they support their products with a complete line of replacement parts and an network of hobby shops that carry their products. The availability of (inexpensive) replacement parts and repair advice elevates the Blade MCX over cheaper toy helicopters. The total repair costs for my MCX was just $6 — it’s now good as new. With only minor maintenance I can keep the Blade MCX in the air for years to come.
After 4 months of zipping around the room with the MCX, I’m still infatuated with flying it around the house. Unfortunately, the MCX is also the perfect radio control gateway drug. Now that I’m off the couch, the house has since accumulated several more radio control vehicles all because of this great little aircraft. Next time, radio control cars become part of the family.