Archive | July, 2009

Gridshock (the Fast-Paced Puzzle Game)

It isn’t often that flash games get my attention, however this one is really addictive and fun to play.  Gridshock is the name, and the idea here is easy, match three or more lights, in any direction, and don’t let the grid fill up. 

Gridshock - fun flash puzzle game

Well, I say easy but, once the blocks start to stack up – you get that Tetris like panic attack.  To ease your pain, you can match up the colored blocks horizontally, vertically or as “L” shaped combinations. 

If your looking for a new favorite fast flash puzzle game, Gridshock is well worth bookmarking, so you can play anytime.  

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The Super Mario Icons

This is an icon set I have been wanting to create for a while.  Both Mario and Luigi are icons in the bigger sense of the word.  They are an important and enduring symbol for Nintendo, so why not add them to my desktop icon collection?

Add Mario to your Desktop!  Add Luigi to Your Desktop

Download the Super Mario Bros Icons (.zip)

These icons are compatible with the following sizes: 256 x 256, 128 x 128, 64 x 64, 48 x 48, 32 x 32, 24 x 24, 16 x 16. It is also in both .ico and .png formats.  For more video game based desktop icon decoration, be sure to check out the rest of my free desktop icons.

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3 Web Apps I Can’t Do Without

Mitch's Favorite Applications

As somebody who constantly tries new things, earning a spot in my day to day application use is a special thing.  It used to be honored by parades of midgets gleefully dancing down the street, however since the lawsuit I had to resort to praising them in a blog post instead.

I would give my left leg before I’d stop using Ping.fm.

This web site is my social buddy.  It helps me pimp promote my posts and thoughts across many a social network, in one simple, yet easy to manage location.  From Ping.fm you can instantly update your delicious favorites, facebook, myspace and dozens of other social sites.

Between Google Analytics, and my hair – I’d pick Google Analytics.

I love check out web site statistics, so that is why I have Google Analytics plugged into nearly every web site I manage or post at.  I have even picked using Google Analytics over most stats programs that come with your everyday hosting package.  It is that good.  The exact number might not always be correct, however I have found that it does give you a good general idea of where your web site popularity goes up and down.

Instapaper would be the pick if somebody made me choose between it and my toes.

I do not always have the time to read every article or post I run across, and due to that lack of time, I need a way to save things for later.  Instapaper is my quick and easy, “eh… I’ll look at that again later” bookmarker.  Once you sign up and start using it, you can consider it your temporary bookmarks list.

Is there any web site out there that you can not live without?  Let me know what sites you are dependant on, and if nothing else, we can start an addiction group based around the ones with have in common. 

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Happy 4th of July! (from me and Hulk Hogan)

I just wanted to take a minute to wish you all a happy and safe 4th of July.  I know Independence Day (the holiday, not the movie) is not till tomorrow – but how can you not start the celebration today with a little Hulk Hogan, apple pie, and “Real American” music?

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Another Domain Information Tool

Get more info on any domain name out there.

Looking for a way to get an entire social web site profile of your domain name via one simple online tool?  Buildstats is another domain information tool that does just that.  All you do is insert your domain name, and then you will be taken to a page with tons of information about that previously entered domain name. 

Some of the details you get per domain include:

  • Number of pages indexed via the various search engines
  • Page information
  • Your rank via Pagerank, Technorati, QuantCast and more
  • Social popularity and graphs

Here is the example search I came up with for mitchelaneous.com:

It is a simple web site, that does it’s job well.  Check out Buildstats.com to lookup information on your own domain name of choice.

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3 Easy Ways to Make Your Own Game

Actually inspired by one of my nephews, who really wants to learn how to make his own video games, I started searching the Web to see if I could find some easy to use web sites that would allow anybody to create their own game.  I found more than a few, however these are the three best ones thus far.

PlayCrafter

This web site is pretty complicated when it comes to the number of things going on, on the screen – however it does have a lot of tools to use to create your own games (or play the games others have created).  You can either start from scratch or go with one of the templates they provide, such as action game, golf game, ninja game, jumping game and more.

Make Your Own Flash Game in Playcrafter

Sploder

With Sploder, you are given the option of creating either a platformer game or a shooter game.  Also giving you the options of sharing your creation, I liked Sploder because it was a little more on the simple side.  So, if you want to show this off to a kid – it might be a lot easier for them to wrap their minds around. 

Make Your Own Flash Game in Sploder

Mockingbird

Mockingbird is the last pick on my list.  They too give you a lot to work with, but instead of simply building one kind of game – they offer several kits (or the ability to build your own kit) with programmable sounds, actions and more.  If you wanted to get somebody into the mindset of programming a game – this would be the one I would have them play with.  Why?  Well, with having to set, for example, a bomb to be able to jump and assign the farting noise when he does so – gives a much better cause and effect result I think anybody from any age group could understand.

Make Your Own Flash Game using Mockingbird

Although none of these games will have you programming your own games, each site delivers a unique way of getting a younger child, nephew, or sibling interested in the idea of game development.

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