Redefining Wine Geek

When I was a kid, there were two things I liked to do more than anything else: read, and play video games. I was pretty broke as a kid, so I got my fix at the local arcade with the few quarters I had left from my paper route after buying a bag of Jelly Bellies. That is, until a generous family friend got me an Apple IIe computer and I could then spend my weekends blissfully trying to avoid being eaten by a Grue.

Flash forward twenty years and I'm far too busy blogging and running a company to play video games. Even when I wasn't quite so busy, I never managed to succumb to the PS3 - XBOX - Wii universe that some of my friends regularly frequent these days.

But that may all have to change now that there is a wine drinking game for the Nintendo DS. Of course, it's in Japanese; is only available in Japan; and is really for wine beginners. But no matter. The convergence of wine and video games may be too much for my weak will to resist.

Once a geek, always a geek. Though hopefully with slightly better taste these days.

Read the full story.

Thanks to Arthur for the tip.

Posted by: Alder on September 19, 2007 9:07 PM: Filed under: Ramblings and Rants; Like this post? Share it! Digg it! - Add to del.icio.us - Add to Stumbleupon - Add to Reddit

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Comments (7)

Arthur wrote:

09.19.07 at 10:41 PM

Dude!

You had an Apple IIe?! Lucky!...

I had a Commodore 64 Dust Collector...

andrea gori wrote:

09.20.07 at 3:55 AM

I am a geek absolutely! and I have a nintendo DS and a Xbox 360,
I am very interested in this wine game! I will sure manage to sell copies to my customers. Do you have other info about it?

andrea gori wrote:

09.20.07 at 3:55 AM

found!
http://www.physorg.com/news109433523.html

Anonymous wrote:

09.20.07 at 11:02 AM

Ironically, though Japan is more knowledgeable about wine than ever, it's practically impossible in Tokyo to find a restaurant with a decent wine list that doesn't absolutely gouge you. It's not unusual to see Ravenswood Vintner's Blend wines for US $40 or more. If you want something -- anything -- that's above entry level, expect to shell out more than $90, and for that you might get a French wine that's $20 in stores here. On my visit there last month I went out with a Japanese wine writer I know, so I wasn't your average tourist blundering about. Yet after paying about five times retail for Cava at a tapas bar, we wound up at an establishment that sells the one bargain-priced spirit in Japan: shochu.

Alder wrote:

09.20.07 at 11:20 AM

Dear Anonymous,

I hear you. My experience when I was living in Tokyo (2001-2002) was exactly the same. The problem seemed especially bad in the restaurants. Wine stores were a lttle better, but they had elevated prices as well. I think I regularly paid 1600 yen / $13 US for Rabbit Ridge Zinfandel which would sell for about $8 in the US.

I was able to find some smaller French producers at the 1000 yen level that were pretty good, however.

I do remember paying sometihng like $90 US for a nice australian Cab that I knew was about a $25 wine.

Chris Heuer wrote:

09.20.07 at 10:22 PM

I only got to touch the IIe when I went over for classes at community college when I was 13 - then my High School got Atari 400's - they were fairly basic but I so loved the brand - oddly enough I only played Zork on the trs-80's...

If you do end up with the Nintendo DS - you'll probably love the Brain Game too. But they really are attention stealers - I try to limit my PS2 usage to winters in Tahoe as much as possible and refused to get the PSP or DS because there is too much other stuff to do right now... but the new games are so amazing, its tough to do.

Tom Thornton wrote:

09.24.07 at 7:33 AM

Now, if only they'll add mini-games like "What mailing lists are you on?" and "That Napa Cab costs what?" plus vintner games like "Avoid A Labor Strike During Harvest" & they'll be in business.