And then there's the other Bomb

[mrs bomb]

So I guess I should make one of these intro's myself, rather than simply chiming in on my hubby's post.

I am an old lady that very much enjoys gaming.
My history of lost hours to game titles includes:
Star Craft
Quake 1 and 2
Doom 1
Diablo 1 and 2
Heroes of Might and Magic 2, 3 (4 sucked) - looking forward to 5
on the xbox:
Sudeki, Psychonauts, Kotor 1 & 2, Top Spin, Halo, halo2, Armed and Dangerous, Stubbs the Zombie, Jade Empire....
on the 360:
Kameo, Amped3, Zuma (currently #6 on Gauntlet Leaderboard), Full Auto...

I changed my gamertag from Princess Slayya to Mrs. Bomb about 2 weeks ago. But here is my photo when I was number 2:
http://www.launchpadgamecenter.com/images/mindy_zuma_01.jpg

I tend to stick with a game until I am sick of it, or develop some kind of gamer thumb injury... I played that damn ZUMA for 6 weeks straight trying to get all the achievements. I finally gave up and started playing Amped3 which was a great deal of fun. I got my lesser snow-bunny goddess but don't wish to go insane working on supreme god. There are too many games in the pipeline!

My gamer score isn't the highest, and I don't play to rack up points, but I love that all those points are earned by me. It's my little badge that says I got game.

I was told at a young tender age that "Games are for BOYS!" by my mom who thought it unlady-like for me to continue down my tomboy path to ruin. So from about 13 to about 24, I didn't touch the things.

Finally in my last year of college, I was forced to submit my work on a common computer program. So it was 1990 before I finally found I had an interest in digital things. I graduated in 1991 with a BS in Biology and quickly found there weren't many jobs for enviro-bent females in Boulder, Colorado.
I found myself working as an "operator" at a teleconferencing company. I eventually was making more than I could earn at entry level jobs in my biology background, so I went with the flow.
I hooked up with some early wire-heads, started building my own PeeCee, learning all about tcp/ip stacks, and volunteering for geek intensive projects at the phone company.
They must have seen potential, and moved me into Network Support and sent me off to school for a Masters in Computer Science.

By the time I left the company, I had certifications for Sun Solaris SysAdmin, and Informix Database Admin.

But the big city just doesn't work for me. I longed for a simpler life - even if it meant my salary was going from the upper 60's to the mid 8's. I desired - literally - to be the biggest geek in a small town. That small town turned out to be Moab, Utah, where I met my husband and best friend in 1998. Our twisted ideals, similar goals and compatible lifestyles couldn't have been more closely matched. I've often thought we are a male and female version of the same person.

We have no children, and the thought of some alien life form taking over my innards is spooky. We have plenty of kids we borrow for a couple of hours here and there at the game center, and who knows, I am a sucker for stray cats, and may end up fostering someday.

So we settled in SE Utah, tried our luck in a couple of business ventures and are now seeing the tender sprouts of success in two of our attempts.

1 - we own and operate a network game center, focused on xbox and now x360

2a - we work with local travel bureaus to produce travel literature. Mr Bomb does all the writing and photographing; I do all the digital layout, prepress and graphic artwork for the projects.

2b - I also manage several websites for local travel portals, tourism related businesses, and other locals that are seeking a hands on, friendly web admin. I am proficient in Miva Merchant, can slap flash animations together, prefer Unix command lines to GUI's, and can manipulate code written by others to my will. I just don't spend enough time programming to be any good at writing my own. Though, I have no doubt that I can if needed. I just don't see much use in re-inventing the wheel, when some young whippersnapper has already done it for me.

I am not a beauty queen, never have been. Here is a photo from my misspent youth:

http://www.wayoutideas.com/mindy-skinny.jpg


Now, I'm just a fat eccentric lady with a purple dyed flippy hairdo and adores leopard print:

http://www.launchpadgamecenter.com/images/mindy_bike-82905.jpg
Though I have lost about 40 pounds since this photo was taken. We ride our cruisers every chance we get. Moab is a total health nut bike friendly town, and to not get healthy in this environment would truly be a missed opportunity.

Well, I should close, as Mr. Bomb is blathering something about bean dip....

[Morgon]

In the Zuma picture, is that you standing in the corner, punished for playing so much Zuma? (Or maybe punished for not making #1?)

[KOBALT]

hi there

[mrs bomb]

In the Zuma picture, is that you standing in the corner, punished for playing so much Zuma? (Or maybe punished for not making #1?)

definately paying penance for so much Zuma. evil little game. I really should give Wik another looksee. That or Outpost Koloki. However, with Oblivion looming on the near horizon, I think I should be good for gaming soon.

I rather like Marble Blast, but I should really just stop being such a ball busting maniac for a while.

[Morgon]

I want to like MBU, but they made the physics wayyyy too loose. There are some collision detection issues, as well (especially with those awful pinball bumpers)

Likewise, not being able to R-Blast others very far, but getting catapulted off the map when someone does it to me, makes for a very frustrated Morgon.

[Moab Bomb]

Welcome, Mrs. Bomb. Your presence here is acceptable.

[snopro4ever]

Welcome, Mrs. Bomb. Your presence here is acceptable.

lol
omg

[Tiffany]

I am not a beauty queen, never have been. Here is a photo from my misspent youth:
Not a beauty queen? PSH! I think you're gorgeous!

[CyZ]

Welcome to the forums I think I want to call you mom because I'm in the process of getting your hubby to adopt me so keep your fingers crossed

[Parasitic]

"But here is my photo when I was number 2: "

Two? TWO!? You disgust me. :P

[mrs bomb]

"But here is my photo when I was number 2: "

Two? TWO!? You disgust me. :P

Understandably disgusting. Being second is just the same as being the first loser! :twisted:

Honestly though, I am really not very competitive. However, when we ran our Halo tournaments last summer, First place cleaned house with a big cash prize, a t-shirt "Master Chief is my Biatch" and a case of 24 bottles of icy cold blue Bawls; second place getting a lump of coal and a t-shirt that said "I HATE THIS MAP!"; third getting a small cash prize.

I am hoping they eventually release the updates for COD2 so we can have some team tournaments. Or it maybe Ghost Recon that is king this summer. Regardless, there will be competitions again soon! I'm just glad to see our customers playing something other than Halo2 all the dern time.

[mrs bomb]

I am not a beauty queen, never have been. Here is a photo from my misspent youth:
Not a beauty queen? PSH! I think you're gorgeous!

:D

[mrs bomb]

Welcome to the forums I think I want to call you mom because I'm in the process of getting your hubby to adopt me so keep your fingers crossed

Well, just to let you know. Mr Bomb is a wee bit insane, and usually I am the one guilty of taking in strays from various species - cat, dog, hobos, juvenile delinquents...

You realize he is probably just looking for a slave for the game center. Since business has been picking up mightily over the past 6 weeks, we almost never have time to play games any more! boo hoo!

We typically have 5-10 local kids all nagging us to give them "jobs" at the game center - even voluteering to work gratis. We've discussed and decided that they would be just too susceptible to peer pressure, and also, picking one would **** off the rest - and there goes our base customers. We hadn't thought about importing the youth labor. That just might have some merit.

We keep looking for someone that is over 20, knows games, will work for low wages and free gaming, has no chance at a relationship with the opposite sex - or their partner is also a gamer. But they can't play on our time. It's too easy to go all mush brain and not even realize there is a customer needing assistance...I've seen it happen and I am guilty myself. I truly hope to find this person by May, as we go from our current 80 hour week to 10am to 2am (or later) daily, plus 24 hours on Saturday for the weekly LAN Party.

[snopro4ever]

that sounds liek fun, but if i were to run one of these, my dad has talked about it, i would definately mod chip all the boxes so i can run backups so i can buy 1 disc, and everytime one gets messed up, just burn a new one.

[mrs bomb]

that sounds liek fun, but if i were to run one of these, my dad has talked about it, i would definately mod chip all the boxes so i can run backups so i can buy 1 disc, and everytime one gets messed up, just burn a new one.

Ah, but you see, our center is fully licensed to offer games in a commercial setting. The software police really do go scouting for such things and are all too happy to serve up a juicy lawsuit when they find anyone out of compliance. Then you owe all the back licensing fees, all the fines and if you are lucky, you may have 2 nickels left toward the next months rent. However, the gaming industry does often send out 5-10 copies of a new game title for little or no cost, just if I push the game at the center.

Also, running your center in such a manner will raise the hackles of the other area centers that do play and pay by the rules. If the software police don't find you, then you may be flagged by your competitor. Think about it. Why let you get away with an economic advantage that could be some several thousands of dollars annually? There are many cut throats out there.

Licensing fees vary per title. We don't offer the Blizzard games, as they require $3000 per title per year, for up to 5 seats. Valve is $150 per month per seat and is also not offered - other than original xbox counterstrike, which microsoft sent out as a promotion. The PC game centers are at the top of the list for software licensing troubles and high cost. We chose the xbox platform for simplicity, low cost overall, and Microsoft is totally behind using them commercially for a very small fee.

There are dozens of game centers that open every week - few last more than a couple of months. This includes big well funded ventures and cobbled together game dens. Our monthly expenses have outstripped sales income for 24 of the last 28 months. (We ran a test center in a smaller town to research what a game center should look like from Aug 03 to Jan 05). Do all the research, pay all the fees, study the market, and prepare to have no personal life if you want to be successful.

And with that, I do truly wish you success.

[Morgon]

....and prepare to have no personal life if you want to be successful.

And with that, I do truly wish you success.

Whoah, you're wishing no personal life on this guy? That's harsh.

[CyZ]

Heck, it's not just game centers, restaurants too. RIAA or MPAA (I forget which is which) just served some small local mom 'n pops sportsbar a C&D for playing "unlicensed" music.. They didn't pay some nominal licensing fee to BMG for britney spears or whoever so they got served, no pun intended..

[mrs bomb]

Heck, it's not just game centers, restaurants too. RIAA or MPAA (I forget which is which) just served some small local mom 'n pops sportsbar a C&D for playing "unlicensed" music.. They didn't pay some nominal licensing fee to BMG for britney spears or whoever so they got served, no pun intended..

:shock: Yeah, the licensing nazi's are just nuts! I do recommend looking into XM-commercial. It's $30/month and all that streams across their satellite network provides coverage on the licensing front. I'm sure others have similar offerings, just familiar with XM. Heck, all it takes is one mucky-muck to become aware of your business, and their lawyers are off and running!

[mrs bomb]

....and prepare to have no personal life if you want to be successful.

And with that, I do truly wish you success.

Whoah, you're wishing no personal life on this guy? That's harsh.

Well, if he wants to be a successful entrepreneur, he will have no life. That is why it is so important to find something you absolutely LOVE doing and find a way to make money doing it. It takes alot longer before giving up in disgust...