If you’ve been following our Twitter updates, you’ve seen our recent coverage of E3 news and observations, but no real updates on the site. Unfortunately, since MDIAG! is currently self-funded (and a little understaffed), we’re stuck in 60-hour work weeks at our paying jobs just to justify our existence during this economic downturn. Any remaining free time we have is spent parenting, eating and sleeping, most likely in that order of priority.
BUT…please be patient. We are not even close to abandoning the dream that is MDIAG! and can foresee a near-future where the content will flow like the Vitamin D Omega-3-fortified Whole Milk we go through by the caseload. And if you understood that sentence, you will like what MDIAG! has planned. In the meantime, please follow our Twitter updates to stay informed on our update status.
Everyone:
The concept of MDIAG! has been in my head for over a year now. I found myself entertaining my children through ways only a geek, such as myself, could appreciate. In my household, my two year-old daughter has learned to love The Ramones through Rock Band. The Nintendo DS has served successfully as a development tool for her. And now I’m proud to see my one-year old son stomping around the house wearing an old-school Marvel Superheroes shirt holding a Darth Maul Mighty Mugg.
It’s been slow going since then, but with a staff of one I’ve decided to plunge headfirst into turning that concept into reality. The fruits of that effort can be found over the past week, which will also give you a good indication of the type of content you’ll find on MDIAG! I’ll continue to comb through the websites we love as geeks and pull out the posts and stories I’d want to share with my children in some way. I hope you feel the same about what you’re seeing here.
Right now the site is rolling along, but with only one person involved it’s a little difficult to get things moving full steam ahead at a consistent clip. So I’m looking for help on both technical and editorial fronts. If you are interested in helping with news posts and original content; or if you are a Wordpress guru, have the technical skills, and would like to contribute, please let me know via the contact page. I’d very much welcome the help!
And as I said above, I am currently a staff of one, so if updates are slow at times, please understand it is because I have two jobs – one that pays the bills, the other (parenting) that racks them up. So in the meantime please keep reading, feel free to leave comments, and enjoy the site!
Jeremy Rutz
Owner/Editor-In-Chief, My Dad Is A Geek!
by Jeremy on February 23, 2009
Quick – charge up the DS, grab the kiddies, and run down to your local Toys R Us to grab an exclusive download of a rare Pokemon. This time it’s the Shaymin, “the legendary Grass-type pocket-sized monster”.
Shaymin comes in two distinct (yet equally delicious) flavors — “land form”, which is how he’ll appear once you’ve plucked him out of the Wi-Fi ethers, and “sky form”, which he’ll change into should you trade him to Pokémon Platinum.
The Shaymin is available from now until Saturday. Oh, and you know you’re supposed to tell the store clerk it’s for your kids, not for you, right?
Source: Boost your Dex with the Toys R Us Shaymin download event
by Jeremy on February 10, 2009
MTV Multiplayer, in an interview with the developers of the Cartoon Network MMO FusionFall, got some juicy news regarding the flexibility of the tech behind the game.
“We’re not announcing anything but Unity [the game's client technology] is supported on the iPhone and the Wii. Actually, our tech director had a mock-up of our little avatars running around on an iPhone, so it’s certainly possible, but there’s a lot of backend we need to explore. They’re extensions that are within the realm of possibility, but there’s nothing planned — we’re exploring.”
We don’t know what to feel about an iPhone version, but porting it to the Wii would certainly cause an epic struggle over the family television.
Source: ‘FusionFall’ Developers Say Wii, iPhone Are Possibilities
by Jeremy on February 10, 2009
If you were one of the few who played Rare’s latest installment of the Viva Pinata series, good for you. Rare thinks so too, and is rewarding you with some exclusive scan cards for the Valentine’s Day “holiday”.
Being the season of love, one of our countless admirers, developer Rare, sent over a set of scan-friendly Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise Valentine’s cards, including three new Killer Instinct characters for your collection.
MDIAG! Pro Tip: Check the endcaps in your local Target’s electronic section, as both Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise and the superior Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise are red-tagged for under $20.
Source: Rare expresses its Valentine’s love with new TIP cards
by Jeremy on February 10, 2009
So color us impressed by Amazon’s Kindle 2
, officially announced today after weeks of speculation and flat-out, cat-out-of-the-bag spoilers. The first design was great in concept but not too easy on the eyes. Kudos to Amazon to making its second-generation something that would make even Apple jealous. Here are the highlights:
- Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
- Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
- Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
- Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
- Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
- Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
- More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
- Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
- Read-to-Me: With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you
- Large Selection: Over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
- Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise
What MDIAG! loves most about it is its durability, most likely due to its light, slim profile, as demonstrated in this video. A drop of 30 inches would survive being pulled off of the table by my toddler, but we’d like to see if it can resist the slobbering bite of a teething infant. Somehow, we doubt it, but that’s what we get for leaving a $350 gadget in the line of fire.
As Darth Vader once said: “Impressive”. On our wishlist – we want to be able to view content in color (hello Marvel Digital Comics!) and have the ability to use the 3G network to add RSS feeds from any blog, not just the ones Amazon partners with. Still, we’d love to have one of these.
Source: Kindle 2: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)
by Jeremy on February 10, 2009
If you’re anything like us, you’re eagerly awaiting the release of the MMO set in the Knights of the Republic universe. It’s got BioWare, which made the first two games in the series. It’s got Darth Revan, who is the best Star Wars villain aside from Darth Maul (Editor’s note: If you haven’t yet seen it, the recently dugg “Know your lore: Revan” article is facinatingly comprehensive). And now it has it’s own web comic, from Dark Horse.
Dark Horse has joined forces with LucasArts and BioWare™ to create a new comic series, published entirely online, to introduce both the gaming and comics worlds to the upcoming massively multiplayer online game Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Debuting this month, Star Wars: The Old Republic – Threat of Peace will feature action-packed, character-driven episodes written by BioWare’s Rob Chestney and published by Dark Horse. The stories will span the three decades from the pivotal signing of the Treaty of Coruscant to critical events at the beginning of the game.
Dark Horse currently publishes comics on the Star Wars extended and alternate universe, so we have confidence in this side project. And did we mention Darth Revan?
Source: Threat of Peace Webcomic
by Jeremy on February 10, 2009
Forgot about Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa on DVD and Blu-ray? Probably because it was released on a Friday, and its unconventional release date left it off of Sunday ads from last week. But have no fear, because HD movie site High-Def Digest came through with a review of the Blu-ray release.
You’ve already seen the movie, what about the extras?
DreamWorks has put together a very family-friendly batch of extras for ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.’ The standard DVD had two full discs of extras, which all make their way to this Blu-ray. There may not be all that much for us adults, but the target audience should be well served. (Most of the video is in full 1080 HD, too, with the same subtitle options as the main feature.)
Truthfully, this BD better serves the home theater buff rather than the family, with the interactive game “Test Flight of Air Penguin” being the only family fun among plenty of bonus content. It would have been nice to have the featurette The Penguins of Madagascar included, but like Kung-Fu Panda, Paramount continues its trend of putting exclusive content on DVD while it’s Blu-ray consumers who are being charged a premium.
Source: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
by Jeremy on February 10, 2009
TheForce.Net reports Cartoon Network will retain Star Wars: The Clone Wars for a second season.
After debuting to record numbers and claiming the #1 series across the entire basic cable landscape in 2008 and through January 2009 with boys 6-11, Cartoon Network announced today that it has picked-up a second season of the hit CG-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas and Lucasfilm Animation. Slated to premiere in the fall of 2009, the second season will continue to take audiences on new and exciting adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with innovative animation. The season one finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars airs on Cartoon Network Friday, March 20 at 9 pm ET/PT.
Source: Cartoon Network Retains The Clone Wars!
One of MDIAG!’s Things To Do at New York Comic Con, Star Wars/Lucas fansite The Force.Net has details on Saturday’s Star Wars panel at NYCC. For those of us who aren’t particularly fond of the prequels, it sounds as if we need to be there to enjoy it, as there weren’t any big announcements or reveals. The only thing noteworthy was news of the Clone Wars series:
Steve gave an overview of the movie and the series, and announced that the final episode in Season 1 will be aired on March 20th. What he said next made the audience snap to attention in their seats. He began talking about the upcoming Season 1 DVD boxed set, and how the set has yet to be completed. He then showed the fans two bonus content video clips that Lucasfilm was considering including in the DVD boxed set. Fans were asked to vote on which clip would be included as bonus material by the level of their applause after each video clip.
Dave [Filoni] ended his video clip by showing fans a never-before-seen compilation of scenes from the final 3-part series that will end Season 1 of The Clone Wars entitled The Ryloth Trilogy. I’m not going to detail what was shown in the segment for the sake of spoilers (those who know me know how I feel about spoilers), but I will say this about what was shown: fans are in for one HELL of a season finale. The action is ramped up to all-new levels, and the animated premiere of certain characters is mind-blowing.
Source: New York Comic Con 2009
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