22 thoughts on “November 11, 2016: 5”

  1. This weekend the Swedish ArkivDigital is having free access. Does not require a credit card, only a registration.

    I used this as a paid site once for a couple weeks, and have taken advantage of the free access weekends 2-3 times during the years since. If you have Swedish ancestors and have an idea what city/area they were from, here's your chance. I'd be happy to provide any assistance.

    I have many generations of records gleaned from Sweden (church household examinations-- essentially a census every 5-10 years, migration records, baptism/confirmation records, vaccination records, birth/marriage/death records) and that part of my family tree is pretty robust now. I'm looking forward to seeing if they have stored and indexed any of the "newer" records (early 1900s) that wasn't available yet the last time I looked.

  3. Looks like the new NES Classic system is going to be hard to find for a while, everywhere around me sold out of it immediately. Hopefully there are frequent restocks between now and Christmas.

    There are a couple cool books about classic games released over the last month. The "Playing with Power" book released to accompany the NES Classic and "The Art of Atari" by Tim Lapetino. I've skimmed through some of the Atari book and like what I've seen/read, looking forward to reading more of it soon.

    1. I'm waiting to see if - as often with Nintendo - this is one of the "most bought but least played" systems. I have a feeling the novelty of this system will wear off rather quickly for most.

      Meanwhile, I would probably play the hell out of it, but don't feel like I'm in any rush to get it.

      1. The Classic is unique in that it has no separate games that are developed or anything like that and no way for it to be updated online so they can just ride the surge of nostalgia and discard it quickly when it's done. I did read that they are going to stop developing stuff for the Wii U and just focus on the Switch, which seems like has happened very quickly, which I guess shows how well the Wii U is doing.

        1. That's why in going to try to wait on this thing in the hope that it sells well enough to convince them to develop updated software that will allow for more games to come to it.

        2. Yeah. The Wii U is more powerful, better-looking and has about the same amount of third-party support, but isn't selling at all. Gamers got wise to the smoke and mirrors, I guess. If Nintendo didn't have Mario, Pokemon and Zelda they'd already be dead.

          1. More powerful than the NES Classic? They're really close. The SoC in the Classic has a few advantages but I think the Wii U would still best it in most cases.

          2. The Wii wasn't really a gamer platform, it was more a family platform that adults could play with kids and was just more of a novelty. They tried to go after gamers with the Wii U and it was not nearly good as the PlayStation or Xbox consoles and the people that originally got the Wii didn't see enough reason to upgrade to the Wii U. I would definitely consider the Switch. We have both a Wii and a PS3. I definitely want to get a NES Classic and would consider the Switch, but I'm sure I'll upgrade to the PS4 before too long. My boys also have Nintendo DSs, but I don't remember the last time they got games for DS or the Wii.

            1. I'm sure the "family platform" makes Nintendo feel so much better about their terrible software sales in the Wii generation.

              It really was trouble for them that they sold so many systems and so few games. I don't know why they don't have the third party backing of the others. I assume it has something to do with them usually being a generation behind in terms of their technology.

                1. The PS4 and XB1 have identical hardware. The software parts are very different however and that tends to be the most important consideration. XB1 has a small advantage because it's just Windows in a console (again). The Wii U is an improved Wii which is an improved GameCube. The Switch is a big switch in hardware but now it's going to be very similar to phones. I can't comment on the software side yet.

    3. I'm interested in checking it out, but probably won't get one. I still have a lot of classic games on my virtual console. Now, if they come out with an SNES version with games like Super Metroid, Zelda: Link to the Past, Secret of Mana, Super Mario Kart, Final Fantasy II and III, Super Mario World, SMW2, etc, I will be all over that in a heartbeat.

  4. going to see David Sedaris tonight in the neighboring Liberal Elite bastion. I'm not sure what to expect of him or of the crowd in the wake of certain events this week. But I'm hopeful.

Comments are closed.