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Back, “in the day“, and by in the day, I mean like 1994-95, I used to have and play an Atari Jaguar.

I remember the first time I played one, too.  I was having one of my usual, incredible, super-cool-people only parties (ie: me and my friends playing video games and probably have liquor.) and I rented a Jaguar and some games from the local video game store up the street.

It turns out we spent much of the time playing just one game on it:  Tempest 2000.  A ‘remix’ of the classic arcade game, it had very strange visuals mixed with a pretty cool soundtrack.  Oh, and a sexy-chick voice that said “Super Zapper Recharge!” between each level.

What more could you ask for?

Later, a friend got me a used Jaguar and Tempest 2000, and all was well in the world.

Until, unfortunately, a few years later, my Jaguar was ruined in a water-heater failure in our apartment.  That ended my Jaguar.

Until the other day.

When I realized that the newest game on Xbox Live for my 360 was called “Space Giraffe“, made by a man named Jeff Minter.

Jeff Minter, in case you didn’t know, made Tempest 2000.  Oh, and he has a thing for animals and especially  llama’s.  Hey, whatever.

So, basically, Space Giraffe is an even weirder version of Tempest 2000.  No, it’s a little different than Tempest, but the game play is definitely there.

If you have an XBox 360, and are into funky, weird, and downright strange gameplay, then you have to buy Space Giraffe.  You owe it to yourself.

It’s cheaper than buying a llama.

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The soothing taste…

Of a delicious iced latte.

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Our friends new pool..

Like Disneyland.

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Scary anamatronic cat..

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It’s been busy.

Super-busy.

As you can see from my pictures lately,  I was in beautiful Las Vegas at the Riviera Hotel.

First off, I think Vegas is really beautiful only at night.  And only if you squint.

Then add the Riviera Hotel on top of that, and, well, it wasn’t the greatest.

But then again, I was there for DEFCON.  DEFCON 15 to be specific.   The last DEFCON I was at was DEFCON 5, so it’s been awhile.

It was definitely much larger than it was back then.  I guess they had over 6000 people, including one hidden NBC reporter.

I learned quite a bit, and picked up some cool stuff.  One of my happiest purchases was something that I’ve wanted since I was in college.

The Apple Newton MessagePad 120

This was one of the first PDA’s out on the market, back in the mid 1990’s.  I heard about them while I was working at the college I attended, and thought that since I was making ‘the big bucks’, I’d head on down to Compusa and pick one up.

That’s when I found out that they ran over $500; a little too much for a college student/employee.

It would be a few more years before I picked up a Palm Personal, one of the cheaptest/greatest PDA’s ever released. I think I paid $200 for it, then, years later, still a lot, but it was a splurge.

Okay, back to the Newton.

What made the Newton so cool was the fact that it actually read your handwriting.   Not well, sometimes, but yeah, it did.

I picked it up for only $15.  Quite a difference than the $500 it originally ran for.

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At the Diamondbacks game…

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The Riviera pool…

…needs some water. (this is the ‘old’ pool.)

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Vegas is always…

Prettier at night, I think.

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and it’s pretty interesting.

One of the most interesting speakers I’ve heard so far is Bruce Schneier, one of ‘the good guys’ that is definitely fighting for our privacy rights in this increasingly hostile world.  (Another good one is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF.  I was glad they had a booth here at DEFCON as was able to throw a little money their way.)

As with all conferences, a few of the speakers were not the greatest. (I’m looking straight at you, “Hacking EVDO”..)

It will be good to be back in Phoenix tomorrow, though.  Vegas is a cool town, but it grows weary for me fast.

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A coworker…

Looking smart, or something.

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