I'd love a nice watch that I could browse classic Slashdot on. Fuck Beta.

I never noticed Defender in the arcade as a kid. However, with the new emulator machines at bars, I've played it a lot in my adult life. It's really a great game, and masterfully done. A lot of people these days look at old games as nostalgia, but if you think that, then the Beatles and Beethoven are nostalgia too. I used to go to a bar, and compete against other patrons at playing Defender. It's super simple, but really hard to master. There is something about having a high-score table to get your name in that is a motivator. One guy told me about playing Missile Command in the 80s and how after you scored 800,000 or so points, you could basically play forever. Anyway, he kicked Defender's ass. He only managed 78,000 points or so, but that's a drunk dude at a bar. It was inspiring to watch. I've spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos of Defender gurus, but even with seeing their strategies, it's still impossible for me. Defender has a lot of buttons, and looks really simple, so it turns a lot of people off. It has really cool stuff though, like particle effects when your ship blows up, and it awards strategic gameplay, even though it isn't much to look at. It's a nemesis to me, and although I hate it in a lot of ways, I have much respect for it.