The epilogue begins! Since past epilogues have been known to get a little weird, I thought it only proper that I continue that tradition with the next few strips. Though brief, these final episodes of the current storyline will set in motion several events that will have big consequences for our gang later on.

Antagonizing teenagers or gloating in their faces is usually a bad idea. jefbot would be wise to remember this.

The DK Battle tally as it stands so far is:
Pinky & Bro: 129,500
Wil Wheaton & jefbot: 125,400

Wil and bot may be a bit behind at the moment but each player in the game has another life left, so don’t count anybody out just yet. And since there’s been some questions about how the game is set up, here’s a brief explanation:

In Donkey Kong you get three lives at the start of the game and one extra life when the score reaches 7,000 (or 10,000 depending on the machine) so, in this case, each team gets four lives for a total of two “Jumpmen” each. Now that every player has played once, they each get one more shot to add to their team’s score. In essence, the pressure is now on. (Yes, like Donkey Kong.)

It’s amazing how videogames these days can cost tens of millions of dollars, require large teams of artists and programmers and take years to develop, yet a game like Atari’s Combat, with its simple gameplay and graphics, can be just as fun and competitive when played with a friend, even after all these years.

And just like my alter-ego mentioned in the previous strip, I’m more of an Intellivision guy myself, as that’s the console my parents bought me when I was a kid. But my next door neighbor had an Atari 2600, and I cannot tell you how many hours she and I spent playing Combat, Night Driver, Pitfall!, Superman, River Raid, and yes, even the infamous E.T., among others. I still have all those sounds catalogued in my head, and either hearing those bleeps and bloops or seeing those visuals takes me back to that time instantaneously.

And thus, “The Beach” storyline (aka Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind) ends! Well, almost – I have a strange little epilogue for you all next week. Also, the questions that arose in this arc – How did cel know Musashi? What does she know about the aliens? Why did she leave? Will she and jefbot ever go steady and does she really like Zac Efron? – haven’t been forgotten and will be answered in future strips. Hope you all stick around as the story unfolds and thanks for all the feedback you guys have given me with your comments and emails. Keep ‘em comin’!

On a few occasions  when I was a lot younger,  I tried giving gifts I really wanted to family members in the hopes that they wouldn’t like them and give them back to me or that I could pilfer without much notice. The problem is, that almost never works. Fortunately, last week I got my mom a couple of videogames for her birthday that I thought she’d like, and she didn’t make me return them so apparently I’ve grown up a little.

Seriously folks, as many of you know, if you have a parent or other family member that’s having a hard time learning the basics of using a computer like dragging-and-dropping, double clicking, opening applications, etc., get a game in front of them, preferably of the Solitaire, Mine Sweeper, Peggle or Bejeweled variety. They’ll be clicking away in no time, guaranteed!