Classic Video Games ; Monday ; Period 1

[1stinkinpercent.livejournal.com]

"So, we're heading into the final weeks of class," Riley started once the class had arrived. "Not too many video games left to play and get credit for it, huh? Today, we're gonna get one last video game in before final exam week. And that game is E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Now, there is some interesting lore surrounding this game. This game was released to capitalize on the huge popularity of the movie of the same name and it flopped. Big time."

Poor, poor Atari.

"It's a single player game where you wander around collecting the three pieces of an interplanetary telephone—picking up Reese's Pieces along the way for energy—so that E.T. can “phone home” and return to his home planet. E.T. became one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history, and Atari was left with millions of unsold game cartridges. Their solution? Allegedly, to dump 3.5 million E.T. cartridges into a New Mexico landfill in the small town of Alamogordo. And right now, they're actually filming a documentary where they've got crews clearing out the landfill to see if the allegations are true. No word yet because it could take months. But, stay tuned! And get ready to play a truly awful game today."

Fun & Games, Monday, Period 2

[psychoticbiotic.livejournal.com]

The Danger shop had been programmed to look like a gentle landscape of rolling hills today, and several horses were penned in an enclosure near the area where the class gathered. As for the teacher, she was holding the reins of a black mare and lookign as though she wasn't sure what it was doing there.

"Hey," she said. "So today we're riding horses. I hear it's good for you."

She gave the horse a pat on the nose. "I'm not so sure it's good for the horse, which is why we're doing it in the Shop. Now, to ride a horse, first you have to get onto it. You take the reins in one hand like this" -- and here she talked through the steps of getting onto a horse's back, ending up only slightly wobbily atop her own horse. "And then you tug on the reins and dig your heels in the tiniest bit, and off the horse goes."

Her horse seemed to have been waiting for that instruction; it took off faster than Jack had anticipated, and she had to yank on the reins to get it to stop.

"Your assignment for today is to try to keep up with me," she said, climbing down off the horse. "But first, we all need to pick out horses and climb up on them. I'm here to help if you can't do it by yourself."