CD
Review
By OEVINIQUE MURRAY
Staff Reporter
DVMII2@PSU.EDU
Long lives the king, Clifford
Harris (better know as T. 1.), topping
the charts with more than a half a
million sold.
T.l.’s first album only sold enough
for commercial success, while the
second album, Trap Muzik, sold
more than 500,000 copies in 2003
and featured the single Rubber Band
Man. In late 2004, T.I. dropped his
third album, Urban Legend, which
produced the hot single Bring ‘Em
Out. It debuted in the Top 10
and sealed T.l.’s status as a hip
hop heavyweight.
However his latest effort King is
topping the charts, leaving even
country mega star Tim McGraw far
behind. His album has sold 522,000
in the first week of sales, and is also
the best selling album release since
Maty J Blige’s The Breakthrough,
which was released in late December
of last year.
Although the down south rapper’s
career is headed in a new direction,
the rapper still remains in the south.
The Atlanta native was once just a
kid who turned to drug dealing as a
way to make easy cash. He went to
jail for his misdeeds, then managed
to turn his life around by rhyming
about his hustling days instead of
reliving them.
Not only did T.I. manage to turn his
life around and become a big rapper,
he has also landed himself on the big
screen. It’s been a big week, for the
rapper. With the number three movie
title, ATL, being released this past
week, and the number one album on
the U.S pop charts, he’s had the best
sales week of the year.
On T.l.’s new album, he raps about
the tales of the street, with a southern
swag. King features the current
smash single, What You Know, which
has leaped to the number one spot on
urban radio. The song tells you not
to judge someone unless you have
been through what they have, which
I think could be a good lesson for
us all. On the last track, titled Good
Life, T.I raps about the changes he
has made in his life. He end the song
by saying, look where I was, but now
I on top of the world.
The CD features guest spots by
Hip Hop’s finest including Jamie
Foxx, Young Jeezy, Mannie fresh,
Pharrell, Common, and Young Buck!
Don’t miss T.I. on tour, visit www.
kingofthesouth.com.
Billboard.com’s
New CD Releases
April 11,2006
.. ■
K V
&
Toby Keith
White Trash With Money
It is good, it’s very good. And when
it’s not so good, it’s still OK. The
exquisitely produced “It’s a Little Too
Late” is among the best-sounding
tracks Keith has ever laid down.
l 111 .m
Daniel Powter
Daniel Powter
Newcomer Daniel Powter
dominated international charts in
2005 with this debut album, “Bad
Day.” These days, he is well on his
way to repeating the process.
ENTERTAINMENT
South Street takes over Mars
By MICHAEL ALBRIGHT
Staff Reporter
MBAI33OPSU.EDU
So, what do you do when you
already own approximately ten
bars, give or take? You open
one more, of course.
For those who are not familiar
with the name Ron Kamionka
of Kamionka Entertainment
yet are avid second street
goers, allow me to introduce
the name.
Ron Kamionka is the
person responsible for places
such as The Hardware Bar,
Eclipse Nightclub, Bourbon
Street Tavern, and the Noma
Remixed venues. Kamionka
Entertainment has recently
introduced The South Street
Tavern to Second Street in
Harrisburg, bringing the total
number of bars on Second
Street t 0... a lot.
The South Street Tavern was
opened on Friday, Feb. 10 of this
year to a lack luster reception,
as the new tavern was not as
heavily advertised or marketed
as other new bars.
The South Street Tavern is
located in the building that
was formerly home to Mars,
at 400 North Second Street in 0n the comer of 2nd Street and South Street sits the South Street Tavern, occupying the building that formerly held
downtown Harrisburg. Mars. The new bar loses the swank appearance of its cousins, proudly showcasing itself as a bar to simply chill out in,
The South Street tavern is
located smack on the comer of
South and Second Streets, making it
extremely noticeable to blurry eyes.
Looking out over Second Street with
its large red, white and blue sign
and inviting, relaxed atmosphere,
the tavern is beginning to attract
more and more clients as word of
mouth spreads.
Walking inside the new tavern, those
who are not strangers to Second
Street will notice the similarities to
Noma Remixed only blocks away
on the same street.
I literally had to double check that I
had not wandered into what was the
Noma, but redesigned. Immediately
By LISA STONE
Staff Reporter
LCSTONE@GMAIL.COM
You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Welcome to the wide, wonderful
world of text-based games. Lurking
on the fringe of the video game
world, these pieces of game goodness
are enjoyed by a minority of gamers
whose speed-reading and typing
skills are what we in the geek world
refer to as ‘leet’. These are the old
fashioned games that shun the eye
candy that has taken over the market
of today.
Text-based games rely solely on
text descriptions on the screen and
user input via a limited number
of keyboard commands. The type
and variety of commands depends
entirely on the game being played
and the situation.
Some of these games were
designed to be played on the old
mainframe computers. For those
of you not familiar with the term,
they were the computers used
back when you either hadn’t been
bom, or were into Rainbow Bright
or Transformers.
Others were designed when the era
of the personal computer had just
begun. Of course, this isn’t entirely
surprising. Many were created
when there was no such thing as a
Graphical User Interface.
The only way to make a game was
text. But even today some hardy
souls still create text games for us
to enjoy.
Modem computers have no real
problem running either the old games
or the more recently created ones due
to the fact that today’s PCs include
inside the doors, customers are
greeted with a long narrow room.
To the left are seven tables with
four chairs each, and a long, narrow,
fifteen-person bar on the right.
Three flat screen TVs are situated
directly above the bar showing
various sports channels.
With extremely dim hanging
lights above the bar and all tables,
the Tavern makes no secret of its
intentions to be a chill place.
The tavern displays the typical bar
environment with numerous beer
brand signs; screen printed over
mirrored glass adorning every wall,
convincing you to try at least one of
(a e e k
the necessary programs to run the old
mainframe and DOS games or those
that have been adapted to be playable
on PCs
Another unique facet of text-based
games is their design. Because
everything is done with basic coding
techniques, text-based games can
be changed, updated, or revamped
fairly easily.
Bugs, typos, and new
features are often fixed/
added to a text game long
after its initial release.
Basically, this means that
patches for this type of
game do not require months
of development and hours
of downloading and patch
time to implement.
One aspect text-based
games and graphical games
have in common are the
different genres of games.
Puzzle, action, arcade,
adventure; all of these are
different types of games
that both the text and
graphical games have.
The spirit of the genres is
present in both, it is simply
the display and game play
that are different
One genre of this type of
computer game is the old
text puzzle games, such as
the Zork series.
This type of game takes the
reader through an adventure in which
they must solve a series of puzzles
of varying difficulty, many of which
depend on the reader to actually read
the rooms description, remember
what has happened before, and pay
attention to fine detail in a very
different way than the GUI puzzle
the popular names.
However, with a very minimal four
beers on tap, if ones favorite brew is
not available, it is more tempting to
try something new.
Perhaps the greatest feature of
the tavern is the abnormal fact that
the tavern prides itself on offering
“$2.00 drafts all day, every day.”
That’s right, any of the four beers
on tap, in a standard pint glass, will
always cost you a mere $2.00, a
nice relief compared to the normal
$2.75-$3.25 pricing elsewhere.
In case the low, low draft prices are
not enough to convince customers
to have a sit down, the tavern offers
games on the market do.
Think of these games as a text-based
Myst or the old Dr. Brain games. The
hair-pulling-bleeding-eyes factor of
the Zork and Myst game series’ is
about the same for many of us.
Another popular type of text-based
games are the text-based role playing
games such as Dungeon, DnD,
and Avatar.
Text-based games come in all shapes and sizes,
including puzzle, action, arcade, and adventure.
These games are enjoyable,
although even I have to admit that
the modem graphical RPGs out there
provide a bit more plot. Alongside
this genre are the shooter/action
games of the text world such as
Star Trek, Net Hack, and Danger!
Adventurer At Work! As is the case
Corner
Photo courtesy of google.com
THE CAPITAL TIMES April 10, 2006
Photo by ASHLEY LOCKARD/The Capital Times
a boatload of liquors and mixers
towering against the mirrored back
wall, giving the illusion of double
the drinks available. The tavern also
offers the low price of $3.00 pitchers
of Michelob Ultra.
The tavern also offers several
options for customers to entertain
themselves.
In traditional bar style, Golden Tee
video golf sits alone against a wall
beside the bar, inviting the tipsy
masses to give it a roll.
Further blending the new tavern
in amongst its peers are the touch
screen video games placed every
few feet along the bar, giving the
with many other games, these are
sometimes cross genre.
Many of these games are open
source, meaning that a bit of digging
online can yield quite a few results
to experiment with. I will warn you
that these games can require a bit of
computer know-how to install.
They require no real system
resources, but installing and running
them can sometimes be a bit
tricky. Check out the sites you
get them from for instruction
files and walkthroughs (if you
are into cheating like that).
Next up, are the online text
games. You read that correctly.
There are online text-based
games. These are referred
to as Multi User Dungeons,
or MUDs.
The variety of MUDs out
there is rather scary, due to the
fact that anyone with some
time, writing and coding skills,
and the hardware necessary for
hosting can make a MUD.
This has led to the creation
of a wide variety of MUDs out
there, with all kinds of themes
and game-play to be explored.
If you are curious, try checking
out www.mudconnect.com
to find a MUD that might
interest you.
I will give fair warning
to you all, many of these
MUDs are privately coded,
hosted, and run. This means that
their implementers have total and
complete power over everything.
Usually these are excellent, fun
people, who simply wanted to create
a game they could enjoy with other
people. They do not want people
ruining the atmosphere of their
easily distracted a plethora
of different games to play.
Past the bar, located in the
back right of the building
is a single pay-to-play pool
table that is surely a get in
line and wait attraction.
Opposite the pool table,
is a kickback to a few old
favorite games from the 80 ’s
in a small screen that offers
a space for two players. The
three-foot high machine is
host to classic games such
as Galaga and PacMan.
The tavern also offers the
ever-growing popular trend
of hosting in-house beer
pong. However, the tavern
boasts that customers are
welcome to play at anytime;
they just need to request the
ping-pong balls from the
bartender on duty.
Also, the tavern does not
limit its customers to using
water while playing like
most popular venues. Lastly,
is the ever-modem jukebox
with a twist that is popping
up in more and more bars.
The Internet Jukebox,
which allows customers to
download and play songs
that are not available on the
machine, making millions
of songs available.
games and most will not hesitate to
ban should you deserve it.
If you are going to try an online
MUD do yourself and everyone a
favor and brush up on your netiquette
before logging on. You and everyone
you play with will be happier for it.
An interesting blend between
text-based games and the graphical
games does exist. Games such as the
early members of the Kings Quest
and Space Quest games from Sierra
incorporated text commands into
graphical game play.
In some of these games the
mouse is still used but many of the
action commands must go through
the keyboard.
Thus you require not only excellent
typing and mouse control skills,
but an extra arm or extremely good
coordination so that all may be used
at one time.
Hybrids such as this are considered
the transition games between text
and graphical by many. As such, they
could be somewhat difficult to use.
Although for many designers,
finding the correct command and
using it at the proper time were
designed to be part of the challenge.
This adds a very different kind of
challenge to these games and others
like them. Unfortunately, not many
of these games are made today.
So, while not enjoyed by the
mainstream, these games are
definitely worth putting onto your
computer. They require next to no
system resources and after you get
the hang of it are very easy and fun
to play.
After all, you never know when
your internet is going to go down or
your graphics card will be eaten by a
grue, do you?