What's On My Desk- Super High Score Edition

Sweaty palms, chocolate milk, lazy Saturdays, offers by mail and a Polaroid camera. Today's What's on My Desk again takes a fast train to geektown and presents some badges of honor so rare that most people are unaware of their existence- Activision Atari 2600 high score patches.



Gamers have always tried to achieve the near impossible. The high score on the Frogger arcade game at the pizza shop, beating Super Mario Brothers straight through without warping, or unlocking the full 1000 gamerpoints for Halo 3 on the Xbox have led to countless sleepless nights, numerous skipped classes, and a pile of undone homework that would reach sky high. There was nothing better as a kid than being able to boast of indeed beating Contra, and doing it without the infamous cheat code that all of your loser friends had to use to make it through. Your usual reward for the monumental, the herculean, the sheer impossible of gaming milestones? Usually just bragging rights. However, back in the day so to speak, Activision rewarded Atari players for their achievements with something much more tangible.



In a move which doubtlessly inspired Microsoft's current digital Xbox achievements, Activision offered a mail order reward program for its most hardcore, high scoring players. Each game had an established high score or objective and players meeting the qualifications could take a photo of their TV showing the score, mail it to Activision and receive a truly spectacular corresponding patch for the game (list of games and corresponding hi scores for patches here). Additionally, as below Starmaster patch illustrates, some games had multiple tiers of achievements, each being rewarded suitably.



As you can probably surmise these patches are rare. Most Gamers were unaware of the program and those in the know not only had to actually earn the patch (which for some games was incredibly difficult), but also go through the hassle of photographing and mailing a photo in the days before digital photography. Couple that with the fact that some of the games were fairly obscure even by 1980s standards (You may have heard of Pitfall and River Raiders but how about Dolphin or Plaque Attack?) and it becomes near impossible, and pricey to assemble a complete set.



I can't think of a more suitable or charming reward for a million points in Laser Blast or twenty thousand points in Pitfall. Each patch is a mini artwork standing in testament to a hard fought digital victory that will last through the ages. Or at least until the patch fades.



So with sore thumbs, red eyes, and a heavy dose of nostalgia I sign off from today's What's on My Desk. With a quick salute to Activision and all those high scorers of gaming's golden age I wish our readers as many track records, win streaks, 1ups, and flawless performances as they can muster.

U,U,D,D,L,R,L,R,B,A,START

What's On My Desk: May the nerd be with you.

What's On My Desk today takes a turn into the wild, the wooly, the nerdy.

While recently going through some old boxes at my parent's house I made a startling and welcome discovery, the likes of which I would place on par to finding Jimmy Hoffa's body in the pantry next to the Oreos. In an innocent, and on first inspection quite mundane, cardboard tube I found the gathered paper ephemera which comprised my ....wait for it.....STAR WARS FANCLUB membership!



That's correct. Let me say it again: Star Wars Fanclub. The most holy brand of nerdom which states "I am not just a Star Wars fan. I feel so strongly about the trilogy that I must, dare I say need, to mail away a self addressed stamped envelope to profess my love."



So what benefits dare you ask does membership entail? An awesome ID card, exclusive offers to fanclub goddies like jackets, tees, etc, and most importantly the bimonthly "Bantha Tracks" newsletter. Additionally it would appear upon initial sign up you recieve a sweeet Empire Strikes Back pencil (which I still have somewhere), an amazing art decoish ESB Darth Vader decal, and a spectacular selection of posters and glossy mini posters.





The mini posters included the usual oft seen variety of "Millenium Falcon fleeing Star Destroyer" and "Yoda staring pensively into the sunset" ilk but additionally had some different, almost thrown together varieties seemingly culled from stills and unused promo shots which were, inevitably, my favorites.





This only scratches the surface of the find. There were numerous other pamphlets, mini posters, and forms all of which I will hopefully photograph and share with our loyal fans post haste. In the meantime enjoy the pics, use the force, and DON'T try to pass my membership ID number off as your own.

What's On My Desk: Halo 3

Being a man I have been societally conditioned to have an aversion to certain things: romantic comedies, form fitting male underwear, Rosie O'Donnell and most of all couple's date night. Oh yes, couple's date night. The phrase that strikes terror into the hearts of men followed by sweating, a burst of cold adrenaline and a fabrication of the most outlandish of excuses. Yes, I was this man but my friends- no more.

Our double dates have been revolutionized by the white monolith of internet fueled fury, oh thee of the all seeing glowing green eye which peers into the deepest corners of a man's soul and speaks softly and suggestively "I can give you what you want". I speak of course, of the siren song of the Xbox 360. No more couples walks on the beach or trips to the shopping mall for us. We have traded flowers for a crushing blow from the gravity hammer, Lionel Richie for the staccato pops of small arms fire, and dressing up for a dressing down of those unlucky enough to oppose us all delivered via Xbox live. We have walked the plains of post apocalypse DC, stormed the beaches of Normandy together and tasted the saccharine sweet victories as well as the most heart rending of defeats. Most recently we have tested our mettle against a never ending horde of prepubescent warriors in the most vaunted of online arenas- Halo 3.



For those not familiar with the game one of the coolest features is the ability to take in game screenshots of your exploits and then upload them to your computer. The resultant images are both haunting and beautiful with jarring colors and the occasional capture of a sweeping panorama.



So reload and aim high while their shields are down, I present to you What's On My Desk:Halo 3 Screenshots featuring the exploits of us here at Product Superior in conjunction with our good friends Moo and Matt.

What's On My Desk: Great Oudoors

Summertime is here and for most folks that means mosquitos, aloe vera, and sand stuck in unmentionable places. For us it means loading up the truck and fleeing civilization for some solitude in the great outdoors in the form of biking, camping, and hiking. As a salute to the dog days What's On My Desk! will be throwing some mud, spraying some deet, and hoping for the best with some outdoor related features.

Now I like trail mix, fear of bear attacks, and filthy clothes as much as the next dude, but what really sets off camping for me are the gadgets. Size matters and in camping you want small. Waaay small. You also want to eat. Combining the two is today's piece de la resistance- the MSR Pocket Rocket camp stove.



Weighing in at 7 oz (including fuel cell!), and priced less than $40, it will boil a liter of water in about three minutes and has a wind clip to prevent blow outs. All that is great but the real reason I love this stove is the fact that it handily folds up ala the Transformers to be stored in it's own tiny, form fitting red carton.







Oddly enough it is packaged with nine, yes nine, individual instruction booklets for every conceivable language. Informative- yes, over the top- maybe.





So get out there and get cooking! Oh, and are you going to finish eating that freeze dried icecream?

What's On My Desk - Tea cards

Two words. The British. They may seem stuffy with tea time, the assorted royalty, and their proclivity to spell tire t-y-r-e but don't let that fool you. Beneath their 18th century Wainscoted veneer they know how to get down like no one else. I cite before you as examples the ear piercing whine of a four cylinder turbocharged Lotus Esprit, the throaty roar of an RAF Spitfire hurtling through the clouds, or the face numbing sweat-streaked howling badassedness of these Brooke Bond Tea cards.














So here's the skinny: Brooke Bond & Company was engaged in the practice of selling tea. In the 1950s and 60s they offered various series of small, illustrated collector's cards as a promotion to appeal to the children of their customers . Each set of cards ran about fifty in number all conforming to a specific theme such as "Famous Britons" or "Butterflies Of The World" and could be placed in their own miniature album which contained additional illustrations and further details about the subject of the series. Needless to say all are amazingly illustrated and not all that easy to get a hold of. This is especially true if you're looking for a complete set, the collector's album and you want them in decent shape. I've been fortunate enough to obtain three such sets-
The Race Into Space: Man's first 50 Steps Into The Universe, The Saga Of Ships, and The Sea- Our Other World (my personal favorite!).

So sit down, get comfy, and enjoy a couple of photos. Brooke Bond Tea Cards- on my desk!