Care Package From San Diego.

On Saturday after getting back from the harrowing experiences of the day I found a package waiting for me at the door. I hastily opened the package to find the contents pictured above. A Tron coin purse and seven Flynn's arcade tokens. Click on the picture to make Embiggen.

As you dear readers already know, I'm a huge Tron fan, unashamedly, and the matter is the only time in my life as of yet that I engaged in an honor duel in the streets of Madrid. Obviously I won.

These coins are going in a frame along with those Encom postcards from a few weeks back. So a big thanks to those crazy kids who are in charge of the viral marketing for Tron: Legacy because they are doing a fantastic job.

March On - Devo

It Must Be Thursday...Encom Edition!

With just two mintues to go on the countdown I received these wonderful gifts from Encom through the mail, a set of all 7 Encom postcards advertising their wonderful games. These are going on one of the walls of the Victory Pellet Vault, just need to find a way to frame them or something.

The countdown by the way just completed a few minutes ago...Twitter advises to "Keep your fingers on the digital pulse - stay connected to this data stream throughout the day. Instructions to come."

So...it looks like I'll be glued to this chair for the day! Click on the pics above of course so that you can actually read what it says about the games.

Exciting weekend for Encom.

The gaming world has been abuzz since Encom announced two weeks ago that Alan Bradley himself would deliver some exciting news about a new product in the pipeline. Last Friday evening, Mr. Bradley who was joined by his wife Lora, announced the soon to be online version of the classic Kevin Flynn programmed Space Paranoids game. He even went so far as to describe the amount of effort he had to work at to keep Space Paranoids from being an updated remake, that is correct, we will get to play the original like we remembered it. Although Bradley mentioned he made sure the programmers added 15 additional levels that came from Kevin Flynn's own workstation.

Of course the big moment came when the press conference was interrupted by the public group known as Flynn Lives, this was made easier as an Encom helicopter soared overhead and a parachutist swooped down over the crowd, landing and jumping into a waiting vehicle nearby. Most of the attendees, both Encom employees and Flynn Lives members think that it was Sam Flynn himself who parachuted down.

Moments later a spokeswoman for Encom apologized for the interruption and shut down the conference since things had gone so far out of control.

I for one wish I could have been in the audience myself but while the Radium Chimp training went well we had a massive cooling leak from one of the main reactors. Luckily everything is fixed and I am able to report that only three henchmen lost their lives controlling the leak. So a pretty exciting weekend all around.

A big thanks to the Blue Parrot for the photos above!

Listening:
Angela - Bob James

Friday Flyers...Interrupted for Flynn Lives!

Today is the day. At the Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco the Flynn Lives group is going to gatecrash the Encom press conference. I only wish I wasn't scheduled to train my latest batch of Radium Chimps this weekend....otherwise I would hop on my hover craft and head down there to attend myself.

Make sure to hop on over to www.Flynnlives.com for more details.

Last Night-The Traveling Wilburys

Still Saturday Supercade!

"Uh oh. A Recognizer!"

If you take a moment to go and visit 80's Tees, www.80stees.com, you will find they have a pretty nice selection of Tron shirts that you can order and wear proudly around your domicile or workplace.

I particularly enjoy the Recognizer shirt and the Encom Software Development shirt.

Friday Flyers break for Alan Bradley.

Alan Bradley at IGN.com

Wow! Thanks to IGN for taking the time to interview one of the greatest men in the history of Encom. I know you probably aren't reading this blog, Mr. Bradley, but if you happen to stumble upon it through a link or some such...just know that there are many, many of us that are supporters of your and Kevin Flynn's dream.

Box Art Wednesday Break...Going Down The Rabbit Hole Edition.

Greetings, Programs!

Well the countdown on the binary clock for the Flynn Lives site ended this morning and as I greeted the day it offered a gigantic gift for mine eyes.

It seems that in the cities that were located on the countdown, all across the world at various arcades, there are people standing outside them wearing Flynn Lives t-shirts. If one were to approach these people and give them the password for that city they would receive a package with additional information that would lead them to another location where a hidden package awaits. What is in the package? Check out the second and third photos above.

I would stand up to Sark a hundred times over to receive a Tron wallet not to mention an Encom receipt and those two glorious arcade tokens.

I've been monitoring the site all day to see what will transpire once these codes like the one pictured on the Tron trading card above are entered in. So far all the cards that have had their codes entered are on the site, trading card art from the original movie and when one clicks on them they flip over to reveal a piece of a bigger picture...at the moment it looks like Flynn's son in his video game warrior costume approaching an open and white light filled room.

What happens when they are all claimed? Who knows, dear readers, but I'm sure it'll be glorious.

Update #1: 18 cards left to be filled in on the picture, though Madrid was a bust. It does indeed look like Flynn's son. At least to me.

Update #2: 13 cards to go.

Update #3: 4 cards to go. I forgot to mention there is a Bit at the bottom of the picture in his 'No' state. I'm betting that when we fill in those last cards it will switch to a 'yes'.

Box art Wednesday interrupted.

Sorry to break with my usual box art uploading for this Wednesday's blog but I have received information that more than makes up for it. It would seem that a few online journalists that have a hand in gaming have been sent packages. The packages are labeled as being from an organization calling itself, Flynn Lives.

Of course they are referring to that almost mythical man, Kevin Flynn, who in the 1980's almost single handily revolutionized the gaming world. I remember reading about that fabled arcade of his, Flynn's, where all of Encom's greatest hits were sucking down the quarters. Vice Squad, Matrix Blaster, Light Cycles, and of course the classic Space Paranoids. These legendary games were given places of high honor at Flynn's.

Then of course Kevin Flynn was let go in 1981 by the CEO of Encom, Ed Dillinger, some claiming that it was a dispute over being given credit for the games he was creating for the company. Though he was rehired in 1983 and became Vice president of Creative Development. With his release of the arcade game, Tron, he lead Encom to becoming the most successful video game company in the world.

Then in 1985 at the top of his game he retired from Encom to create "a digital frontier that will reshape the human condition." Nothing was heard from him until 1989 when it was reported that the genius had just...disappeared. Of course Encom has continued to grow in profit and size but without Kevin Flynn...it is just a souless corporation.

However, this post is about that package that was received. Two tokens from Flynn's arcade were within it and well as a note with two web addresses scribbled upon them:

http://homeoftron.com/

http://www.flynnlives.com/

By clicking on the bouncing grid bug, you get a timer and some cryptic instructions on where to meet...since the San Diego Comic-Con is just now starting I will assume it is directions to a location there...could they be opening a new Flynn's there?! Perhaps like a modern day Willy Wonka, Kevin Flynn will finally reveal himself...I just hope he hasn't become all Howard Hughes with long fingernails and collecting his own urine.