Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 shipped today. It's interesting to observe this passage from my review of the original game:

The inbuilt capacity for expansion discs could repair this installment's notable omission of Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Buffett, Elvis Presley and the Beatles, Kenny Rogers and Garth Brooks, and Gloria Gaynor and the Village People.

With the sequel's inclusion of I've Got You Under My Skin, Heartbreak Hotel, Friends in Low Places, and I Will Survive, each of the four pairs of singers I listed has now been covered.

Retro gaming, while nothing new, is certainly in vogue these days. I recently (and finally) got my hands on the Zelda Collector's Edition for GameCube. It was amazing how much of the original Zelda I remembered - and amazing how much I'd forgotten. Even something as simple as the location of Level Three - in the first quest, mind you - temporarily evaded me. I doubt I'd fare well in the second quest. A post on Orkut pointed out that John Ricciardi, former CompuServe sysop, discovered last year that the Triforce actually predates video games by almost a millennium.

Then there's the Mega Man Anniversary, where again, memory plays a role. Few things are more exciting than making it to a boss room, only to discover what you thought was his weakness, is not!

Retro goes for computers, too, as Gamebits will be attending a number of computer shows this month. This week we'll be at MacWorld, and then we'll be manning a vendor booth at the Vintage Computer Festival East. On Sunday, we'll probably swing by the MIT Swapfest before flying west to the annual KansasFest.

The editor of Juiced.GS, the last remaining Apple II print publication, needles me with the observation: "N-Gage is an anagram for your last name, Ken." Sigh. That's something I really needed to know.

Five years ago today, Billy Mitchell achieved a perfect score in Pac-Man. He accomplished this nearly-impossible task at my old stomping grounds of Funspot in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire.

As if the Fourth of July alone wasn't enough to celebrate!