The Failing of PSN, XBL, and Wii Online

The year is 1990. My parents and I were living in the small rural mountain town of Coarsegold, CA. Its a friday night, and i was partaking in a rare treat. It had been a long week, and we had decided that it was a pizza night. It wasn't just any pizza night, though. While we usually had it delivered from one of the few local places in the area, tonight, we were taking the fight to the Pizza Parlor. The drive is short, but the anticipation makes it feel 10 times longer. Not anticipation for the pizza or the breadsticks or even the chance that i might run into a friend there.

This pizza parlor had arcade machines. Not just any arcade machines, they had Street Fighter 2.

The car had barely stopped before my seat belt was off, sprinting at full speed into this poor old building. The ambiance was incredible. Now you usually don't hear terms like “ambiance” thrown around to describe Pizza Parlors, but if you grew up in my generation, you can relate. The Smell of greasy frisbees made from pure cholesterol, the salad bar that kept everything at just a few degrees below room temperature, and the tables that were sticky from years of grease and soda spills.

It was heaven.

My parents had begun to order but i didn't care. My attention was focused in on the measly “arcade”. Like any sneaky mischievous 8 year old, i started to slink away, hopefully unnoticed by the benefactors of my habit. i get 3 steps away and i hear my name called. “ANDREW, Get BACK here. You can play games when you're done eating” My heart sinks. I know i’m going to love the pizza and the soda, but that's not why we're here. I was here to play.

Sure i had a Nintendo like any other kid of my generation, I even had a decent collection of games, but It was a poor substitute for this. I could play single player games until my eyes bled, but multiplayer was not the greatest on NES. The arcade had this cornered. packs of sweaty teenagers gathered around a nondescript wooden box just waiting for their chance to play; for their time to shine.

The pizza had arrived, i had scarfed it at warp speed and sat there with a longing look in my eyes. My mom looks at me, sighs and grabs her purse. Holy shit this is it! Her hand reaches in and pulls out her wallet. one by one she begins handing me quarters. I don't even see them as currency anymore, these are chances. Chances to play, Chances to Win, chances to impress. I say thanks, and begin my trek over to the machine.

It's a fairly busy friday night and one of the few pizza places in town. There are 6 or 7 kids (most of them older than me) all standing around this Street Fighter Cabinet. I look up and see the screen. Ryu is Pummeling Blanka. But that's not what i’m looking for. The object of my attention is right below them, on the bottom of the monitor. There lies the quarters. a row of quarters marking the play order of the gladiators in this arena. I sneak over to one side and place mine into the group. Now we wait.

The next few matches are exciting, with most people playing wither Ryu or Ken (pretty much the same as the tournament scene today). These kids are good. Really good. A perfect here, a hadouken or shoryuken there. I’m in way over my head. I don't care, i came to play, winning is a bonus. Finally my turn is up, i walk up to the machine, the glares of the gods on me, and assume my position. I reach up and grab my quarter. My hands are shaking. I’m sweating bullets. I slide the small metal coin into the slot and hear that beautiful sound.

Now, the real fun begins.

VVVVVV and Pushmo 3DS eShop Game Giveaway (Updated)

The Winners have been selected. Keep your eye out for Episode 68 of the podcast to find out if you've won!

You're in luck internet. We've got our hands on some Nintendo eShop game download codes! We're going to give away one copy of VVVVVV and a copy of Pushmo on the upcoming 68th episode of the Who Burned My Toast Podcast. So listen up and we'll tell you how to get entered into the drawing for your chance to win one of these fine pieces of entertainment.

Actually it's quite easy. Just follow these 3 easy steps.

1. All you need to do is log in and post us a question in the comments section below, send us an email at whoburnedmytoast@gmail.com, or post on our facebook page for the Who Burned My Toast crew to answer on the podcast. Want to know more about these games? Just ask us. Literally any question related to gaming is fair and we'll give you the goods. Heck, we'll answer any question you got. Want to know if the Moon landings we're real or faked? We'll answer it! Go crazy and have fun.

2. Get your question in to us by April 15th 12:00 P.M. PST. You only get one entry for a question. Multiple questions won't get your name entered more than once!

3. Listen to episode 68 of the podcast. We'll randomly select the winners from the list of names received and announce the winners on the podcast. So keep your fingers crossed and don't forget to check back soon. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast by clicking the iTunes icon at the above right.

Thanks and good luck!