Mac people usually expect two things when it comes to software: the it just works factor and beautiful interfaces. One genre of software that has never gotten much Mac love is video game emulators. Often, they have ancient UIs and are buggy as hell. Well, after years of work, OpenEmu 1.0 is finally available for download, and it’s great.

Much like the XBMC media center software I’m obsessed with, OpenEmu automatically scans your system for games and downloads the box art and information, and presents it all in an easy-to-use and gorgeous interface. There are a ton of options for controllers, and I’m hoping to get a Wii U Pro controller sometime soon to use. I’ve had an old 24″ iMac sitting in my desk for about a year not getting used, and I think I’m going to turn it into a dedicated emulation machine now.

I briefly got into the world of retro game collecting over the summer, but my shelves are too packed as it is, and the cost of old games and systems just seems silly when you can play ROMs instead. I think I realized that my favorite thing about buying old games was the packaging anyway. I’m perfectly fine emulating games, and I’m glad to have a good way to do it on my Macs now.

PS – Sorry for being MIA over Christmas. The combination of getting super busy with work and my grandpa dying kind of made me forget about the site for a while. I hope you all had a great holiday and I’m looking forward to the new year!

The Top Hat Sasquatch team reads a lot of blog posts every day, and some slip through the crack or just don’t warrant their own post. That’s where Missing Links comes in. Every few days we collect the best links we’ve come across and pass them on to you.

LEGO CUUSOO News: Great Scott! There ARE Minifigs With The Delorean! | From Bricks To Bothans
So I guess this is happening? It's funny that the LEGO community is complaining about the design of the LEGO DELOREAN THAT IS ACTUALLY COMING OUT.

Revisiting the “Mrs. Doubtfire” Cartoon Directed by Chuck Jones | Cartoon Brew
This is cool. I've always loved this animation from Mrs. Doubtfire and somehow I never knew it was by Chuck Jones.

Sorry Consoles, Apple’s Controller Support Spells Trouble For You
I've been waiting patiently for Apple to enable apps and controllers on the Apple TV and completely disrupt the game industry (again), and I think it's going to happen really soon.

Retro Thing: Superman’s Black-And-White Flights On The Silver Screen
I just finished a book about the history of Superman and this post was perfect timing. It’s funny what a problem taking off and landing was for old-school TV and Film techniques.

I love gifting apps to friends and family. Give someone an iTunes gift card and they could blow it on Neil Diamond albums or TV episodes, but gift them an app and chances are they’ll at least give it a try. It helps that they’re super cheap and have enormous value (Angry Birds updates, anyone?), so think of them as digital stocking stuffers. I’m addicted to quite a few iPhone apps at the moment, so here are some of my recommendations that would make great gifts for other iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch owners.

Angry Birds Seasons

Angry Birds is the biggest iPhone addiction of me and a whole lot of other people, and for good reason. The gameplay is easy to pick up on, but the endless levels can be very tough and take you quite a few tries to master. Angry Birds is the original classic, but Angry Birds Seasons might make a little more sense to gift. It’s like an advent calendar, and each day until Christmas a new level unlocks. Both are 99¢.

The Incident

My second favorite iPhone game (at the moment) is The Incident by Neven Morgan and Matt Comi, an 8-bit styled game where you try to dodge an endless array of falling objects. You control the main character by tilting your iPhone, and the combination of the gameplay, graphics, and music makes it one of my top picks. It’s $1.99.

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I don’t know how much it comes through here on Saturday Morning Central, but I’m a huge Apple fan. Since way before it was even announced, I’ve been looking forward to getting an Apple iPad, and since it’s release is just days away, a lot of videos are starting to come in from app developers. I’m pretty sure that apps will make this more popular than the iPhone, but only time will tell.

In addition to the fact that Apple’s official iPad case looks like a Trapper Keeper sprayed black (please Mead, make some TK iPad cases!), there are a few retro apps on the horizon that warrant me posting this here. Enjoy!

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