“Cheri…! How do you spell ‘Sierra?’” a question I would often shout to my step-mother from an adjacent room. Their PC housed a game called Quest for Glory. Somewhere between my limited knowledge of MS-DOS and the English language, I would ask and re-ask this question, eventually running the prompt C:\sierra\glory.exe. To add to the naivety, I didn’t learn how to intiate mouse control until my dad’s friend (and King’s Quest junkie) relayed the message to me. For years, I had been playing a point-and-click without, well, a mouse to point and click.

Nonetheless, today is different; though, not entirely far off. I’ve completed the first chapter of the King’s Quest reboot on PS4 without a mouse. And boy, did it feel great.

At heart, I’m a Quest for Glory kid. In any case, my memory serves King’s Quest far from simplistic and innocent, but dashed with bits of humor and challenge. That said, the personally and puzzles in the reboot feel more realized and extemely fitting.

Princess Bride notes ring hard and true, from a grandfather’s storytelling to a cast including Wallace Shawn (and Christopher Lloyd, not to be left without mention!), but it’s all a lovely addition and somewhat apt recalling of the memories of playing the (or those in spirit to the) original game. The humor and trials dance between easy no-brainer to truly challenging exercises of “wit.” And while most of the game’s writing and development is close to that of a better than average Disney film with clever storytelling devices strewn about, there is one surprising and appreciated moment that brings some weighty emotion; its effect ringing subtly through the remainder of the chapter.

The first of five chapters, A Knight to Remember, resolves with satisfaction. The art direction is gorgeous, animations fluid, and the writing is sure to land a few square chuckles with all age groups. The game comes off as a Disney movie that you play. Not to mention it took much longer than I had expected to complete. While I’m one for concise games these days, it felt appropriate that King’s Quest had more to ofter than anticipated. This coming after viewing a score of 6.5 from one of my favorite game reviewers.

King’s Quest is a worthy play and I am eagerly looking forward to the next chapter.

I remember Disneyland’s 50th like it was yesterday. 50 Mickey’s hidden throughout the park. Golden Ears that sold out within hours of park opening. But most of all, I remember the firework show, “Remember…“. It took guests through memorable moments of each of the park’s past and present rides. Moments that many of these guests had experienced firsthand, likely that same day. And to make “remembrance” of those firsthand accounts all the more immersive and visceral, fireworks and lasers enveloped the audience standing in and around Main Street’s Central Plaza. It was awesome, breathtaking, and surprising. It was the part of the celebration that will stick with me forever.

The 60th’s Paint the Night parade followed by the Disneyland Forever firework show will not. The parade, a bombastic cacophony, flirts with the idea that it is the next evolution of the original Main Street Electrical Parade, utilizing over 1.5 million LED lights. Unfortunately, whimsy and character are stripped from the show in the name of gigantic displays, unnecessary rear projected faces (made famous by Midway Mania’s Mr. Potatohead), and a thudding and messy electronic/dub-step Owl City score. The only favorable takeaway I had was the brilliance of Mack’s (Cars) 3D LED ball trailer.

In the vein of l Remember…, Disneyland Forever kicks off before the inception of Disneyland, in the orange grove before it, and mashes a seemingly unrelated Walt quote followed by seemingly unrelated Disney films from Mary Poppins to Winnie the Pooh to Jungle Book to Lion King to Frozen into a mish-mosh arch of past to current Disney hits. The show attempts to stretch the Main Street immersion created for Remember… by projecting an ever-shifting array of backdrops on all of Main Street’s buildings. It’s is a nice gesture to the folks standing in the trench, but it ends up becoming an unfulfilling distraction from the fireworks and story as it’s truly difficult to make out the projections against the building details themselves. And then there was something about the fireworks being a goodnight kiss. No cohesion.

Not to sound like an old stickler, but back-in-my-day imagination was key. The closest equivalent I can pin this spectacle to is the Star Wars prequels and their over reliance on CG. Now it seems Disney has injected the over stimulation today’s kids have with smartphones in strollers in Disneyland right into the park entertainment itself. It’s a noisy, chaotic, and confused affair that leaves nothing left to the imagination but the wonder of how many plush toys from aging Disney franchises they can sell before the night’s end. All I wanted to do after Remember… was ride every ride again by night’s end.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Q: Bill Gates said recently that he thinks Nintendo will be more of a niche player in the future, with Sony and Microsoft battling for the number one spot. What do you think of that characterization?

Iwata: Talking about the definition of the niche, or niche market, I really have the completely opposite opinion. The people the other companies are targeting are very limited to those who are high-tech oriented, and core game players. They cannot expand beyond that population. We are trying to capture the widest possible audience all around the world. (He cited the example of Nintendogs, a new virtual pet game for the Nintendo DS handheld machine that has taken off in Japan.) In other words, we are trying to capture the people who are even beyond the gaming population. So for that kind of company, we don’t think the term “niche” is appropriate.

RIP Satoru Iwata.

Hours ago, Nintendo released the 1989 Japanese title Mother to the Wii U Virtual Console as Earthbound: Beginnings, localized in English for the first time ever. Until now, the only exposure to the Mother series English audiences have had was 1995’s North American release of the critically acclaimed Mother 2, released as Earthbound.

The Virtual Console was the biggest selling point for the Wii for me, and it continues to be for the Wii U. My latest Wii U purchases include Super Metroid, Donkey Kong 64, and Paper Mario. The release of Earthbound: Beginnings is certainly interesting and a direct message to the hardcore/loyalist/older audience.

Paired with Super Smash Bros. and accidental Amiibo announcements, as well as the reboot of the Nintendo World Championship, Nintendo seems to be drawing a lot of eyes as E3 nears.

[EDIT: After browsing the Nintendo eShop, it appears Wii games are not considered Virtual Console titles. I’ve removed Metroid Prime Trilogy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 from my list of recent Virtual Console purchases. That doesn’t change the fact that my most recent purchases have been legacy titles. Thanks to @AlexandreSitbon for encouraging my research.]

On June 9th, 2015, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller, a man who has spent half of his life at Apple Inc., joined Daring Fireball’s John Gruber on stage for a live episode of The Talk Show.

Here’s a bit from Marco Arment:

This meant a lot for both John and podcasting. Apple sent an executive to be interviewed on a podcast, and one of the highlights of John Gruber’s career as a writer didn’t involve writing at all.

To quote Marco further, “I’d listen to their podcast.” It will be remembered.