tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72086394212609342632024-03-05T01:38:41.990-05:00Table Salt GamesRichard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-14754510312912134722012-01-06T16:39:00.001-05:002012-01-06T17:24:04.029-05:00Games I Played in 2011: Portal 2<br />
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What's this!? A post!? Isn't this blog dead and been dead for like 2 years? Yes, yes it was. Now I'm writing again. I don't know how often I'll be writing, hopefully often, though I don't imagine doing much on weekends as I stare a computer screen all week and try to get away from that on weekends. Either way, <a href="http://www.msleeper.com/misc/deal_with_it_sniper.gif">DEAL WITH IT</a>. I'm writing now, so read on if you like.</div>
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Since the new year just ended, I'll be doing a brief post on each of the significant games I played in 2011. This doesn't necessarily mean games that released in 2011, but just games I played through out the year. Anyway, I'm starting off with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tax4e4hBBZc">Portal 2</a>, a game that DID come out in 2011, and in my opinion, one of the best games of the year.</div>
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<a href="http://thecontrolleronline.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/portal2_featured.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://thecontrolleronline.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/portal2_featured.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Writing and
voice acting is what separates this game from the pack, more so than anything else.
I’m generally and old-school guy, who feels that text in games is superior to
voices, as text allows you to imagine the character’s voice and intonations,
and voice acting drowns out the music. However, with Portal 2, the voice acting
is what makes the game.<o:p></o:p></div>
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GLaDOS,
voiced by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_McLain">Ellen McLain</a>, was remarkable again but the two new characters,
Wheatley (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Merchant">Stephen Merchant</a>) and Cave Johnson (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Simmons">J.K. Simmons</a>, the psychologist
from Law & Order) completely stole the show. Instead of trying to explain
how hilarious their dialogue was throughout the game, I provided two videos
below that really highlight their characters:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Cave
Johnson:
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NyLUU3O4zW8" width="535"></iframe>
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Wheatley:</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iQQ53z1yCZs" width="480"></iframe>
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In case you
don’t already know, Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle game. Your gun has two
portals that you can shoot almost anywhere and you can walk through one portal
to get to the other one. This mechanic is great, and once you add in turrets
trying to kill you, gels that make you bounce or run faster, and light bridges
that can be manipulated by portals, you get a game that keeps you thinking for
hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The one
problem I had with Portal 2 though was that it was over all too quick… again.
The first Portal was more of an add-on side game to Valve’s Orange Box and it
was understandable that it was only a couple of hours long when you also had
all of Half-Life 2 on the same disc. Portal 2‘s single-player campaign takes about
8 hours long, which <i>I guess</i> is now standard for first-person games. However, my
problem was not with the length but with the lack of how much they used and
combined all of their new ideas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Each zone in
Portal 2 focuses on a particular new feature, whether it is the light bridges
or the mid-air floating conveyor belt energy thingies. Once you’re done with
that section, Portal introduces a new cool idea and almost completely abandons
the old mechanic. It was only until the final levels that I started to see a
combination of these ideas and I thought “finally, now the game is really
getting started.” And then, in a flash, you go face the final boss and that’s
it. Yes, I know there are user levels that really combine all the new ideas
well. That’s great. But those levels never have new voice acting or are any way
weaved into the story. The user levels are nice but not a good enough
substitute for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://zerot.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/d-fraps-video-portal-2-pictures-portal2-2011-04-19-21-27-28-101.jpg?w=592" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://zerot.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/d-fraps-video-portal-2-pictures-portal2-2011-04-19-21-27-28-101.jpg?w=592" width="400" /></a></div>
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Two-player
split-screen co-op though. That was sweet. I can’t imagine playing the co-op
levels again with someone else as I’ll likely recall all the old solutions but,
they were fun while it lasted. While there were some times where my partner and
I might bark orders at each other because one of us figured out the solution
while the other didn’t, every now and then
we had the eureka moment at the same time, which was a very rewarding experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All-in-all,
Portal 2 was one of the most enjoyable games I played this year. And aside from
the first Portal, there is no other experience like it on the market. Definitely
an improvement from the first game and I hope Valve continues this series with
the same great voice acting with more complexity in the level design.<o:p></o:p></div>Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-8085597271478481862009-07-30T22:22:00.002-04:002009-07-30T22:28:40.797-04:00Rebooting the series: MegamanHey TSG! While this blog seems pretty quiet, I figured I'd drop in since I finally found some free time. I plan on documenting my experiences at Blizzard (for those who don't know, I got an internship with them this summer) when I find the time. For now, I just wanted to share with you a mini-article I wrote for a challenge.<br /><br />Specifically, <a href="http://gamecareerguide.com/features/763/game_design_challenge_rebooting_.php">gamecareerguide</a> has issued a challenging question for anyone wanting to take it: How would you reboot a series of your choice? Check out the link for the details. I figured I would share my idea - let me know what you think!<br /><br />Series that needs a reboot: Megaman<br /> <br />Why? - Let's face it - the Megaman series has dilluded through the years into basic iterations on itself with little to no innovation. The series needs something new and fresh to attract more people than just die-hard Megaman fans.<br /> <br />How? - Take the basic mechanics of Megaman and apply modern game design ideas to it, with some innovations as well.<br /> <br />Proposal - The new Megaman is same as the old at face value - you still play as the Blue Bomber and he platforms through 2D levels with his Mega-Buster and gets upgrades along the way. Everything else is evolution from there:<br /> <br />-Megaman is extremely modular. In the beginning he can only move, jump and shoot. EVERYTHING else is an upgrade. His dashes, double jumps, weapons, health expansions, and so forth are all found as upgrades throughout the game. Similar to the mechanics of the Battle Network series, he collects upgrade chips to install onto his armor. Some will be story-based, some randomly dropped by enemies, some hidden away in alcoves. His armor systems have a memory limit which constrins how many upgrades he can have, though his armor will expand its memory at several points in the story. Players switch in and out abilities at specified upgrade stations.<br /> <br />-New abilities. The upgrade system allows for some cool new abilities as well. Hover boots, jetpacks, invisibility - there is tons of room for imagination here.<br /> <br />-Weapons and abilities all share a common energy supply, which replaces the concept of an energy bar per weapon. This can also be expanded, like health.<br /> <br />-Open world. Think Super Metroid. Lots of room for exploration, hiding upgrades, and having multiple paths to choose in the game. Combine with the upgrade system to have an intriguing "Maybe I can get to there with these abilities" approach that increases replay value. This allows there to be harder levels (to satisfy the Megaman hardcores) and more casual levels.<br /> <br />-Varied missions - It's not just a level with a boss in a garage at the end anymore. While some areas will have bosses, others will have objectives like searching for an object, defending a point, and running through an area fast. Not everything will be required, so again the developer can make tough challenges optional but with enticing rewards.<br /> <br />-Co-op - Why hasn't this been in a Megaman game yet? At any time outside of a mission a second player can join. His Megaman will have all maneuverability upgrades so he can keep up with the other player, but will have limited weapon selection. With a second player the game will automatically scale up enemies and bosses and unlock co-op based missions. Co-op will focus more on enemy blasting than platforming; as LittleBigPlanet has shown, extreme platforming and co-op can cause camera issues.<br /> <br />I think these changes will appeal to both new and old. Hope you like it! I encourage you to enter it as well if you have a cool idea.ultima301http://www.blogger.com/profile/12972625650598740424noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-54512521873632425442009-05-24T13:59:00.006-04:002009-05-24T15:44:54.902-04:00Top 52: Legend of Zelda (#24)Whew. School is over so now I can finally get back to writing consistently. Junior year in NYU really at up a lot of time. I'm sorry for abandoning you, my faithful readers. Anywho, I'm continuing the Top 52 segment, with a classic that released before I was even born: the original Legend of Zelda for the NES.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Legend_of_zelda_cover_%28with_cartridge%29_gold.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 361px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Legend_of_zelda_cover_%28with_cartridge%29_gold.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Title</strong>: <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda">Legend of Zelda</a><br /><strong>Console</strong>: Nintendo DS<br /><strong>Release Date</strong>: 08/22/87<br /><strong>Genre</strong>: Action-Adventure<br /><strong>My Ranking</strong>: #24<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br />I remember holding this <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/thumb/7/7f/Gold-colored-Legend-of-Zelda-cartridge.jpg/250px-Gold-colored-Legend-of-Zelda-cartridge.jpg">golden cart</a> in my hands when I was about four years old and my brother explaining to me that Zelda is the princess and that the main character's name is Link. I was then confused as to why the game was called The Legend of Zelda but I immediately didn't care once I actually started playing.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DUxnF48RKVU&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DUxnF48RKVU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The NES Zelda for the first game I played that enabled me to wonder around and choose my own destination. Being four years old at the time, I was a bit overwhelmed but, I enjoyed going to different areas and whacking monsters with a brown 8-bit object that was supposed to resemble a sword. I was also fond of <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XTLG4_Om7c">placing bombs</a> and watching walls and enemies go poof.<br /><br />I only really appreciated this game when I was older however. Hints as to where the next dungeon is were often cleverly cryptic and you would only be able to beat the game if you used all of the tools available to you. The game forced you to <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26nrBmZJ4pY">be on point with every item you got</a>, from the boomerang, to bomb, to arrows. You also needed to have a strong ability in reading maps, trying to guess where the developers would hide a key or item.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://members.home.nl/vlwebmaster/pictures/legendofzelda1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 410px; height: 308px;" src="http://members.home.nl/vlwebmaster/pictures/legendofzelda1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Zelda, in 1987, was <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.geocities.com/nabooru1990/ocarina.gif">ahead of its time</a>. Gone were the linear gameplay elements and replaced with a action-adventure, puzzle, RPG game. Even today it's hard to properly define what kind of game Zelda games are as they break the molds of traditional genre. It's also interesting to note that the Legend of Zelda was the first game game that allowed you to save your progress.<br /><br />The Legend of Zelda, unlike other installments in the series, is really damn hard. Hearts are hard to come by and if you don't know where your going in a dungeon--which is always the case--chances are <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.deathclock.com/">you are going to die</a>. Bosses were challenging not only because you had to figure out the best way to beat them but also because if they hit you, you could lose multiple hearts.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ugo.com/games/nes-moments-top-20/images/entries/thelegendofzelda.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 311px;" src="http://www.ugo.com/games/nes-moments-top-20/images/entries/thelegendofzelda.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Hundreds of games owe their success to the gameplay elements pioneered in the Legend of Zelda. Any open world environment game like Grand Theft Auto III, or the new Prince of Persia, have Zelda to thank for their gameplay style. If you haven't played this game, play in on Nintendo's VC; you won't be disappointed.<br /><br />-------------------------------------<br />My Top 52:<br />#52 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-star-fox-64-52.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Star Fox 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span>#51 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-kirbys-adventure-51.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Kirby's Adventure (NES)</span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span>#50 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-roller-coaster-tycoon-50.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)</span></a><br />#49 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-grand-theft-auto-iii-49.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)</span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span>#48 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-metroid-prime-48.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Metroid Prime (GC)</span></a><br />#47 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-halo-3-47.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Halo 3 (Xbox 360)</span></a><br />#46 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-bomberman-64-46.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bomberman 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span>#45 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-guitar-hero-ii-45.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Guitar Hero II (PS2)</span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span>#44 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-44.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Super Street Fighter II (GEN)</span></a><br />#43 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-pokemon-puzzle-league-43.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)</span> </a><br />#42 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-soul-calibur-ii-42.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Soul Calibur II (GC)</span></a><br />#41 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-gears-of-war-41.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Gears of War (Xbox 360)</span></a>*<br />#40 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-elite-beat-agents-40.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Elite Beat Agents (DS)</span></a><br />#39 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-39.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Call of Duty 4 (PS3)</span></a><br />#38 --- <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Super Metroid (SNES)</span></a></span><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span></a><br />#37 --- <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-orange-box-37.html">The Orange Box (PS3)</a>*<br />#36 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-metal-gear-solid-36.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Metal Gear Solid (PS)</span></a><br />#35 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-doom-35.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Doom (PC)</span></a><br />#34 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Super Mario Kart (SNES)</span></a><br />#33 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-mischief-makers-33.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Mischief Makers (N64)</span></a><br />#32 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-smash-bros-brawl-32.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)</span></a><br />#31 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)</span></a><br />#30 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)</span></a><br />#29 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-paper-mario-thousand-year-door.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)</span></a><br />#28 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-f-zero-28.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">F-Zero (SNES)</span></a><br />#27 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-katamari-damacy-27.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Katamari Damacy (PS2)</span></a>*<br />#26 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-mario-kart-64-26.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Mario Kart 64 (N64)</span></a><br />#25 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-tetris-ds-25.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Tetris DS (DS)</span></a>*<br />#24 --- <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-52-legend-of-zelda-24.html">Legend of Zelda (NES)</a><br /><br />*- Denotes highest ranked game for that consoleRichard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-33739238133605532372009-02-15T03:59:00.002-05:002009-02-15T04:36:13.800-05:00The St. Dead Space Massacre<div>I hate Valentine’s Day. I mean I <a href="http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=valentine1">really hate it</a>. I’ve only had one good one in my entire life. The rest have been mainly depressing and unpleasant as I get to look on as the happy couples around me get all love-y and there’s not a damned thing on TV that doesn’t involve love in some way. So I decided to vent all of that pent up anger and hostility. I’ve also meant to write a review of <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3163490">Dead Space</a> but up until now I couldn’t really express how it made me feel. You've been warned.<br /></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSyfuflvKgo">Dead Space sucks</a>. It’s a pathetic rip off of other horror games and not a very good one at that. Everything they did in Dead Space has been done before and has been done better by the games that did it. They took everything of value from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_shock_2">System Shock 2</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_evil_4">Resident Evil 4</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_3">Doom 3</a>, and then ditched any attempt at real creativity. They stole the setting straight out of Doom 3. The only difference was that Dead Space at least got the damned flashlight thing right. The combat’s straight out of Resident Evil 4 but not as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b8G8delDlk">smooth</a> or user friendly, and you actually have less inventory space. Finally, the attempt at horror is a sad imitation of the work of art that System Shock 2 was. It’s like comparing H.P. Lovecraft to Dean Koontz. And frankly, the story and suspense is terribly predictable.<br /></div><br /><div>The suspense is completely ruined by badly timed music and poor game design. In a lot of suspenseful games, the designers will use the music as a way to build up tension and to scare the player. The music might rise suddenly as you open a door to reveal only emptiness beyond it, further building the suspense. In Dead Space the music track misses these subtle tricks completely. It sounds like they stripped the soundtrack from another game and didn’t change it up. The music doesn’t really feel attached to the events in the game unless you count cut scenes. You might find yourself wandering down a well lit hall when the music suddenly bursts forth in an aggressive series of notes. However nothing else in the game builds to this and nothing jumps out so all it really does is numb you to any successful use the music might be put to.<br /></div><br /><div>Similarly, the level design is piss poor. To move about the ship, the mutant zombies you’re fighting use the…wait for it…<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AirVentEscape">air vents</a>. This would make some sense except there are 2 types of air vents. Vents with their covers intact, and vents with broken covers. The monsters will <a href="http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02132009.shtml">burst forth from the covered vents </a><strong>EVERY GOD DAMNED TIME</strong>, and never emerge from the empty vents. You can enter a room and instantly predict where every monster is about to emerge from and be 100% correct. Now the monsters you fight in Dead Space are zombies, but their weird parasite infested space zombies so head shots don’t work, so you have to cut off their limbs. Luckily the ship’s just packed to the brim with odd laser cutting guns that don’t seem to have any real use outside of dismembering space zombies. Now this might make you think that aiming these cutting lasers is really important as you have to slice off every one of the zombies’ limbs to take them down. Well if so then you have far too much faith in these developers. No, you can pretty much just point the guns at the monsters and fire until they fall to the ground. Aiming does damn near nothing. Another big aspect of the game is that the corpses of the crew laying about the ship might rise from the dead at any moment, and damn is this ship covered in corpses. However this too is thrown together with idiotic abandon. Normal corpses look like…well, corpses really, and the zombies look like multi-legged insect people zombies. Well say you walk down a hall and see two normal corpses. Well, to be careful you cut off their limbs and move on. If you come back later you will actually see a new corpse lying between the 2 old ones, but the fact that it’s a zombie isn’t even hidden as there are long scythe legs sticking up in the air. So the surprise is ruined and you can blow them away from a distance every time. In fact, as you play this game (assuming you ignore my advice and waste you money) if at any point you think “you know, I bet a monster would pop out here”, then guess what, a god damned monster’s about to pop out of there. </div><div><br /></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 500px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 281px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/2590396959_da1aec1974.jpg?v=0" border="0" /><br /><div>Even the god damned plot is ripped off of System Shock 2. There’re some parasites found on an alien planet and there’s an attempt by a group on the ship to take them back to Earth to infect it. Same damned plot, right down to the “<a href="http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Entertainment/Images/m-night-shyamalan.jpg">twist</a>” at the end. The only difference is that Shodan did it with more style. And if you are unlucky enough to have given the damned <a href="http://news.bigdownload.com/photos/the-college-try-failed-pc-ports-of-console-games/1075012/">PC port </a>a chance, then I pity your sad ass. Think back to the ungodly heinous PC ports of console games from the late 90s. Well this one is worse. The <a href="http://whatifgaming.com/dead-space-pc-version-perplexed-with-control-problems-and-issues-not-fluid-enough">controls are crap </a>and there’s no way for you to fix them. On the PC the HUD is torture and the graphics are crap. I have a PC that can run Left4Dead at very high quality graphics with no lagging, same for Bioshock and Fallout 3. I loaded up a borrowed copy of Dead Space for the PC and the graphics were crap. The anti-aliasing was broken, the bloom was hyperactive, and the motion blur was just off. And I’m not the only person to experience these problems. However, EA’s response to these problems was pretty much “Fuck You, you should have bought the console version.” Well, <a href="http://www.aeropause.com/2008/10/dead-space-meet-scarface-control-schemes/">not literally</a>, but clean it up PR-wise and that was their message.<br /></div><br /><div>So here’s my recommendation. Don’t buy this game. Don’t even rent it unless you can get your hands on a copy cheap. Hell, if you somehow know any of the people involved in its design, walk up to them and crack em upside the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc9zF8G2Pvc">head with a bat</a>. A good solid bat, none of this aluminum crap*. Instead go <a href="http://www.amazon.com/System-Shock-2-Pc/dp/B00004XRBM">play System Shock 2</a>. It’s a PC game, but it’s old and will run on practically any system that’s around these days. It’ll scare the shit out of you (Bioshock is the “pg-13” game by the same developers, while SS2 was as “R”) and you will be better for it. Then again Halo’s somehow become one of the “greatest games of all time” and if that <a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/f/haloradar-37-reasons-to-hate-halo-3/a-2008032812119199083">trend in gamer taste </a>continues you can all expect to see me one of these days, perched up in a clock tower with a high-powered hunting rifle and a CD player running<a href="http://nippop.com/"> J-Pop in a continuous loop</a>. You’ve been warned.<br /><br /></div><br /><div>*<span style="font-size:85%;">Please don’t actually commit assault based off of what I’ve said. Because if you do, then my ass’ll get sued or thrown in jail for suggesting it, and then I’ll have to come for you. And I’ll be piiiiiiiiiiised like you wouldn’t believe</span>. </div>TheNightgaunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998287447337599496noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-59075710891507436142009-02-13T18:07:00.008-05:002009-02-13T20:33:53.631-05:00Flashy Friday: Squares 2In <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/search/label/Flashy%20Friday"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Flashy Friday segments</span></a>, normally I just give the picture of the featured game, a brief description and then a link to go play it. This time Flashy Friday is a bit longer since I have a particularly cool story about this one.<br />--------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 162px;" src="http://www.vagenisonline.com/flash/thumbs/squares.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br />I remember playing Squares 2 a couple of years ago after stumbling upon it at <a href="http://www.ebaumsworld.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">ebaumsworld</span></a> (remember that crazy site?). It was a simple flash game really. You control a black square via the mouse and your job is to collect other black squares and avoid red ones. The squares shoot from all sides of the screen so the game gets pretty intense with all the squares zipping back and forth. In addition, as you pick up black squares you get bigger in size, making it easier to pick up black squares and making yourself a pretty big target for red ones. There are also power-ups and power-downs you can collect, ranging from brief invincibility, to making your square even more gigantic.<br /><br />Squares 2 wasn't easy by any means though. You need to have really quick reaction time in order to keep raising your score. On top of all this, Squares 2 has a <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1ETfJ_HSM">pretty sick beat</a> going on in the background that fits perfectly with all of the moving squares. The music is incredibly addictive and the coolest effect is when you get the slow motion power-up, causing the music to fade so only the percussion is audible, and then have the music come back in full when the slow motion wears off. Needless to say, I liked this game, and I know a lot of other gamers who have.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPsHWzEANn-5ZycHDch1lg3UOjbpiH7kzwewHDD9jZ8LZlFj5wBvGuIh0ncKK6cCFPnoyL07yK7pyF30RXP6WURNmlIPFx5zczwFwxwK2Q-_lvs73ltNqLCEH65gR6X3uFhH6rKPfZd8/s1600-h/n66600941354_243.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 77px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPsHWzEANn-5ZycHDch1lg3UOjbpiH7kzwewHDD9jZ8LZlFj5wBvGuIh0ncKK6cCFPnoyL07yK7pyF30RXP6WURNmlIPFx5zczwFwxwK2Q-_lvs73ltNqLCEH65gR6X3uFhH6rKPfZd8/s200/n66600941354_243.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302458630472357202" border="0" /></a><br />Fast forward to two days ago. I'm sitting at a table at one of PLAY's weekly game night meetings. This tall dude with a fro is sitting next to me with an <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_IYe5JTZ4">Yngwie Malmsteen</a> shirt on and I'm listening to <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0KNR7texT8">Steve Vai</a> on my headphones. He hears the music, asks me who it is, and we begin exchanging progressive metal artists that we both enjoy. (We both agreed that Yngwie is overrated).<br /><br />We eventually ended up talking about out majors/concentration, and I tell him I'm in video game production. After hearing this, he tells me that he just started selling this flash game for iPhone, a flash game he made a long time ago. He needed some help marketing it, and I told him to get on various forums, get in touch with a couple of contacts I have, post the game on <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.newgrounds.com/">newgrounds</a>, <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.addictinggames.com/index.html">addictinggames</a>, and <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.kongregate.com/">kongregate</a>, etc. All the meanwhile I realize we haven't even properly introduced ourselves or that I haven't even seen the game yet.<br /><br />He tells me his name is Gavin Shapiro, and as I typed his name into facebook, my long-term memory twitched. Where the hell have I seen this name before? I think nothing of it and I ask him what the name of his game was. He says "you've probably never heard of it, but it called Squares 2."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pauillac.inria.fr/%7Eharley/pics/square.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 330px; height: 330px;" src="http://pauillac.inria.fr/%7Eharley/pics/square.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I had this moment of sudden realization, kinda <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJnmfe6XRXw">like the moment Edward Norton had in Fight Club when he finds out who Tyler Durden REALLY is</a>. I had what some people would call a moment of clarity.<br /><br />So I had a little geek out moment when I found out this guy made this game. I ended up telling this information to everyone in games club, and I'm pretty sure I made Gavin a little embarrassed. Little did he know that he was a mini-celebrity since a lot of people have played his flash game and really enjoyed it. So this blog entry is part normal flashy friday and a bit of a shout-out to Gavin.<br /><br /><a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/squares2">Click here to play Squares 2 right now</a>.<br /><br />And if you happen to have an <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.eyewyre.com/">iPhone, look for Squares 2 in the app store</a>. The game is only $0.99 and you'll be able to compare your scores on a global leaderboard. Not only will you enjoy the game, but the money will go to Gavin for developing this awesome flash game.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-1024146698793672712009-01-24T16:24:00.000-05:002009-01-24T16:25:55.385-05:00Presidential Flash Games<div>If you check out the <a href="http://www.willandbeyond.com/tags/politics.php">politics tag</a> on Will and Beyond, you'll see that I have Obama fever. How can I work that into a post here on Table Salt Games? How about some Obama flash games. <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/kongregation-of-flashy-statistics.html">Kongregate</a> links are given whenever possible. Be forewarned that none of these are as good as you'd find on <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/search/label/Flashy%20Friday">Flashy Friday</a>.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">The Good:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SXuGhiCRn1I/AAAAAAAAAN8/Q6wuwFtFEsU/s1600-h/obama-campaign.PNG"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SXuGhiCRn1I/AAAAAAAAAN8/Q6wuwFtFEsU/s400/obama-campaign.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294973697534304082" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/thup/campaign-game">Campaign: General Election</a>: Fun strategy game where you have to win over all of the regions of the US using your candidate and staff. Staffmembers include the Spinmeister, Fundraiser, and the Operative. Slinging mud and launching negative campaign ads are two examples of fun attacks you have.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">The Mediocre</span>:</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SXuGiN1Bn0I/AAAAAAAAAOE/RzMnlgenq9Q/s1600-h/obama-superobamaworld.PNG"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SXuGiN1Bn0I/AAAAAAAAAOE/RzMnlgenq9Q/s400/obama-superobamaworld.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294973709289889602" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 297px; " /></a></div><div><a href="http://www.fupa.com/play/Other-free-games/polimon.html">Polimon</a>: Politics + Pokemon = Polimon. Walk around the country activating states while you run into random battles with evangelists, political conservatives, etc.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://superobamaworld.com/">Super Obama World</a>: A Super Mario World knockoff. Instead of mushrooms making you grow big, slices of pie (huh?) make you wear sunglasses. Don't collect coins, but rather American flags. Levels such as "The Real America" and "I Can See Russia from my House!". Unfortunately, I got to the end of one of the levels, and nothing happened...</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.fupa.com/play/Sports-free-games/race-for-the-white-house.html">Race for the White House</a>: Very easy. At some point in the beginning I ran past McCain and never saw him again. Collect money, avoid campaign road blocks, and don't kill birds unless you want to lose the green vote.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">The Bad</span>:</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SXuGiOi0tdI/AAAAAAAAAOM/s5sRnJO-oV4/s400/obama-hilaryvsobama.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294973709481981394" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 302px; " /></div><div><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/kewlbox/hillary-vs-obama">Hilary vs. Obama</a>: Do like clicking a lot? As long as you don't expect anything other than clicking, this could be the game for you!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/Sixpack_Games/obama-vs-joe-the-plumber">Obama vs. Joe the Plumber</a>: Punch with M, block with B. Yeah, that's it. <a href="http://www.willandbeyond.com/news/2008-10-15-joe-the-plumber-some-thoughts-on-the-debate.php">As tired as I was</a> of hearing about Joe the Plumber, this still isn't very satisfying.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/GameIndustry/american-chess-2008">American Chess 2008</a>: Are all of these games just bad attempts at fighting games, 'Obama vs. [insert opponent's name here]'?</div><div><br /></div></div><div><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/Daily_Free_Games/barack-obama-race-for-the-white-house">Barack Obama Race for the White House</a>: Not a fighting game, but still. Looking for a bad Puzzle Bobble knockoff? Here you go.</div><div><br /></div><div>And on a completely unrelated note, <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/Quarob/dice-mogul">here</a>'s a inexplicably fun Monopoly knock-off.</div><div><br /></div><div>Godspeed.</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com82tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-75660132037756768622009-01-16T23:51:00.004-05:002009-01-17T00:04:50.856-05:00Flashy Friday: 99 BricksThis game came out a while ago on Kongregate but since I've been talking about Tetris recently, I figured I should put this game up as the Flashy Friday game as it's an interesting variant on Tetris.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAvMm8d1vzK4vlMR2QH9tv2tBPiqHVTcZqALxVG3BHk_b7LVPjuWv2rLW5YnsbYr2Rapitqcqy94VCLmyXVJkzFNEi4Rh4LKmYCs9Zhau-5FjC7OCVYxN6mWbYidhj8U15QfBp073qfME/s1600-h/99+bricks.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292122219121387154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 170px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAvMm8d1vzK4vlMR2QH9tv2tBPiqHVTcZqALxVG3BHk_b7LVPjuWv2rLW5YnsbYr2Rapitqcqy94VCLmyXVJkzFNEi4Rh4LKmYCs9Zhau-5FjC7OCVYxN6mWbYidhj8U15QfBp073qfME/s200/99+bricks.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Instead of focusing on making lines, 99 bricks is focused on making towers. The bricks you have are identical to tetraminoes but, gravity will affect the pieces. So as you build your tower you'll begin to realize that it is swaying, and suddenly leaving a thin column on the right of left sides for a line piece isn't a good strategy.<br /><br />This game is very addictive and the challenges on Kongregate are just mean. Building a tower with a height of 600 is crazy hard as is, and using all 99 bricks in one tower is also insane. It's not impossible though; my friend Angela did manage to achieve both of those goals. And she STILL holds it over my head as one of her gaming achievements over me. <br /><br />*sigh*<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/WeirdBeardGames/99-bricks?room_id=24100"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Click here to play 99 bricks right now</span></a>.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-5704133104445747452009-01-13T10:51:00.003-05:002009-01-13T11:32:09.557-05:00Amazing Tetris VideosMost of the easter eggs I put in my posts are in my <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/search/label/Top%2052"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Top 52 segment</span></a>. I didn't put any in the <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-tetris-ds-25.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Tetris DS (#25) post</span></a> because there are just too many great Tetris videos out there. So instead I'm just going to compile them here for you all to enjoy.<br /><br />Note: If know of any other awesome Tetris videos, please tell me and I'll update this post with the video.<br /><br />The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/G0LtUX_6IXY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/G0LtUX_6IXY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Human Tetris (2:05 is hilarious)<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ll2kajMH2u0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ll2kajMH2u0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Stupid Tetris<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P9lSR41cKsg&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P9lSR41cKsg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Mega64: Tetris<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u0R9QtAEiQ4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u0R9QtAEiQ4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Tetris Ninjas<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sZrs8ZCO8xM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sZrs8ZCO8xM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Tetris: The Movie<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VE_1KlWFJyA&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VE_1KlWFJyA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Little Big Planet Tetris Completed Version<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FmqnZ-4tOzI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FmqnZ-4tOzI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Tetris Japanese Player (my favorite, if you get bored watch from 4:00 on: your mind will get blown)<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bZeIOM50gT0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bZeIOM50gT0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Tetris is awesome.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-78969664565899457252009-01-13T08:41:00.005-05:002009-01-13T10:49:02.103-05:00Top 52: Tetris DS (#25)I love <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Tetris</span>. I knew <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tetris</span> had to be on my list and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">DS</span> version is the best one out yet. In fact, Tetris DS is the highest rated DS game on my Top 52. Read on to find out why.<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Tetris_DS.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 220px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 202px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Tetris_DS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Title</strong>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_DS"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">DS</span></span></a><br /><strong>Console</strong>: Nintendo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">DS</span><br /><strong>Release Date</strong>: 03/20/06<br /><strong>Genre</strong>: Puzzle<br /><strong>My Ranking</strong>: #25<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Tetris</span> is more than a game. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Tetris</span> has become so popular that it has become a cultural phenomenon. <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/09/10/uk.plane.mobile/"><span style="color:#ff0000;">One man has been jailed for not turning off his game of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Tetris</span></span></a> on a flight in England. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7813637.stm"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Tetris</span> has been studied for it's effects on the brain</span></a>. Some people even have suffered from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Tetris</span> effect</span></a>, where they either see delusions of blocks falling in their eyes, of look at everyday objects and cannot help but picturing how they form together to make lines.<br /><br />I've never had delusions of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Tetris</span> blocks, but I still organize items into lines in my mind, mostly because of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">DS</span>. I've played <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Tetris</span> for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">NES</span> and of course for the Game Boy, but I believe that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">DS</span> is the best iteration of the series.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AOaaBE3cwlk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AOaaBE3cwlk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The first thing you'll notice in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">DS</span> is that there are classic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">NES</span> characters running around on the top screen. When you complete lines, Mario will advance in Super Mario Bros., or maybe you'll see Link stabbing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Octoroks</span>, or possibly even the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_Fight"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Balloon Fight guys</span></a> flying around hitting balloons. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">NES</span> animations are a nice touch to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Tetris</span> game, as both <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Tetris</span> and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">NES</span> characters are nostalgic.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">DS</span> had everything that I think <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Tetris</span> should have. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">DS</span> has the hold feature, where you can store on piece on the side and swap it out for another. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">DS</span> also has the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris#Easy_spin_dispute"><span style="color:#ff0000;">"easy spin" feature</span></a>, where the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Tetrominoes</span> don't automatically stick to the pieces upon touching them, allowing you to spin pieces to place them properly. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">DS</span> also has six playing modes, most of which are good, and the game also has online play.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DlIuWqIb59U&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DlIuWqIb59U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">DS</span> has the marathon mode where you can just play forever, and I've maxed out the lines completed counter at 999 multiple times. Within marathon mode though, they also have versus CPU and the CPU character on the highest level is pretty hard so that stays enjoyable. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apYWT_azQ30"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Seriously, if you make one mistake against a level 5 CPU, you lose</span></a>. I like that. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Tetris</span> should appeal to the insane.<br /><br /><a href="http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles/a/6/3/7/2/4/a_med_2.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">DS</span> also had mission mode</span></a>, where you have to complete different tasks in an allotted time. Tasks include easy tasks like "clear four lines at once" or ones that require a bit preparation like "clear 2 lines with [insert <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">tetromino</span> here]." All of this action happens with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">NES</span> Link in the background and the timer is ten heart containers slowly draining if you don't complete the task.<br /><br />One other mode I'll highlight is one that Lima really enjoyed. This mode was called Touch and required you to use the stylus. To start, tons of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">tetrominoes</span> would be placed randomly together, forming a large tower. At the top of the tower would be a bunch of caged <a href="http://www.gearfuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/balloon-tank.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">balloons</span></a>. The goal is to use the stylus to turn the blocks, form lines that would disappear and then have the balloons reach the floor. I don't know why Lima enjoyed this mode so much, but at least it was creative, I think.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.videogamecritic.net/images/ds/tetris_ds.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 272px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 408px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.videogamecritic.net/images/ds/tetris_ds.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/wi-fi/images/wi-fi01/wi-fi01_070918b-l.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">For all of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Nintendo's</span> problems with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Wi</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">Fi</span></span></a>, their online play for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">DS</span> was awesome. I still find games very quickly and all of the games are really intense. When you complete a line, you send grey blocks to your opponent from the bottom up. However, the blocks you send are lined up perfectly, so if it's open, you'll give your opponent a free <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Tetris</span> that he'll send back to you, and then you'll send back it back to him, and so forth. It's addictive and you need to be stupid fast.<br /><br />I still play <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">DS</span> and I still play it online. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I still put this game on and watch lines (and my problems) disappear. I've always been a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Tetris</span> lover, and there's no question that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">DS</span> is the best I've seen in classic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Tetris</span> iterations. Multiple modes, quirky but fitting <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">NES</span> graphics, and reliable and competitive online play. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">DS</span> is one <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">DS</span> game I'll be playing for years to come.<br />-------------------------------------<br />My Top 52:<br />#52 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-star-fox-64-52.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Star Fox 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#51 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-kirbys-adventure-51.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Kirby's Adventure (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">NES</span>)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#50 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-roller-coaster-tycoon-50.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)</span></a><br />#49 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-grand-theft-auto-iii-49.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#48 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-metroid-prime-48.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_61">Metroid</span> Prime (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_62">GC</span>)</span></a><br />#47 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-halo-3-47.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Halo 3 (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_63">Xbox</span> 360)</span></a><br />#46 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-bomberman-64-46.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_64">Bomberman</span> 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#45 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-guitar-hero-ii-45.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Guitar Hero II (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#44 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-44.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Street Fighter II (GEN)</span></a><br />#43 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-pokemon-puzzle-league-43.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)</span> </a><br />#42 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-soul-calibur-ii-42.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Soul <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_65">Calibur</span> II (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_66">GC</span>)</span></a><br />#41 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-gears-of-war-41.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Gears of War (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_67">Xbox</span> 360)</span></a>*<br />#40 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-elite-beat-agents-40.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Elite Beat Agents (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_68">DS</span>)</span></a><br />#39 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-39.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Call of Duty 4 (PS3)</span></a><br />#38 --- <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_69">Metroid</span> (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_70">SNES</span>)</span></a></span><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span></a><br />#37 --- <a style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-orange-box-37.html">The Orange Box (PS3)</a>*<br />#36 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-metal-gear-solid-36.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Metal Gear Solid (PS)</span></a><br />#35 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-doom-35.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Doom (PC)</span></a><br />#34 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario Kart (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_71">SNES</span>)</span></a><br />#33 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-mischief-makers-33.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mischief Makers (N64)</span></a><br />#32 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-smash-bros-brawl-32.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Smash Bros. Brawl (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_72">Wii</span>)</span></a><br />#31 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_73">RPG</span>: Legend of the Seven Stars (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_74">SNES</span>)</span></a><br />#30 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_75">DS</span>)</span></a><br />#29 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-paper-mario-thousand-year-door.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_76">GC</span>)</span></a><br />#28 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-f-zero-28.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">F-Zero (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_77">SNES</span>)</span></a><br />#27 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-katamari-damacy-27.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_78">Katamari</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_79">Damacy</span> (PS2)</span></a>*<br />#26 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-mario-kart-64-26.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mario Kart 64 (N64)</span></a><br />#25 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-tetris-ds-25.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_80">Tetris</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_81">DS</span> (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_82">DS</span>)</span></a>*<br /><br />*- Denotes highest ranked game for that consoleRichard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-5728912387236708342009-01-12T19:47:00.001-05:002009-01-12T19:49:47.883-05:00Scrabulous, is that you?<div style="text-align: left;">Know that feeling of running into an old friend on the street, and having him call out your name You see the face, but you don't recognize it immediately. Then it hits you, friend! But wait, some things have changed. As you see one thing different him, you start to notice others...<br /></div><br />This fits well with my relationship with Scrabulous. You may remember that <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/rip-scrabulous.html">my first post</a> here was mourning the loss of my good friend. I moved on, made other friends, and now I find that Scrabulous has risen from the dead. <a href="http://alexanderchee.net/2007/11/12/the-deathless-robot-hookers-of-myspace/">Zombie Scrabulous</a>? Enough with these ridiculous analogies, on to some content.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://mathieson.typepad.com/genwow/2008/09/scrabulous-live.html">Apparently</a>, about 3 months ago, Lexulous.com was born, and used the old Scrabulous data. It was until 2009 when it was reborn on Facebook, and we got a message from Rajat and Jayant that they had returned. I was amazed; all of my old games were still saved, and active.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SWvi1tm_P4I/AAAAAAAAAN0/79IIJkEz3kk/s1600-h/lexulous-message.PNG"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SWvi1tm_P4I/AAAAAAAAAN0/79IIJkEz3kk/s400/lexulous-message.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290571599680847746" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 250px; " /></a></div><div>I made my first move, and was filled with joy. A few plays later, I noticed something strange. The Z is worth 12 points??? As any serious Scrabble player can tell you, the Z is only worth 10 points. Maybe this was just in the new game I started. No, they went back and updated all of the tiles on the old games too. Did they update the scores? Maybe, but there's no way to really tell. Here's a list of the updated tiles, with their Scrabble values in parentheses:<sup>1</sup></div><div><br /></div><div>B:4 (3)</div><div>C:4 (3)</div><div>F:5 (4)</div><div>H:5 (4)</div><div>K:6 (5)</div><div>M:4 (3)</div><div>P:4 (3)</div><div>Q: 12 (10)</div><div>T: 2 (1)</div><div>V: 5 (4)</div><div>W: 5 (4)</div><div>Y: 5 (4)</div><div>Z: 12 (10)</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SWviKWYLXUI/AAAAAAAAANk/Olw0eR2w4SA/s1600-h/lexulous.PNG"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SWviKWYLXUI/AAAAAAAAANk/Olw0eR2w4SA/s400/lexulous.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290570854710336834" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px; " /></a></span></span></div>Sure, there's a different name<sup>2</sup>, and a slightly different scoring system, but will I still play the game? Of course. I can't turn my back on a game I love, even if it's a slightly deformed version of it.<div><br /></div><div>Has anyone else noticed any other changes? Also, challenge me to a game.<br /><div><br /></div><div>[1]: This is going off memory, so something might be wrong. But don't tell me if it is, I don't want to feel ashamed.</div><div>[2]: Today we debated whether or not it's a good name. I think it's fine (derived from lexicon, but still keeping the some resemblance to Scrabulous), but other people thought it sounded like ass (their words, not mine). Your thoughts?</div><div><br /></div><div>Godspeed.</div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-6574904711004577472009-01-11T09:12:00.004-05:002009-01-11T09:47:51.957-05:00Cairo's Game ValleyAs most of my readers know, I've been in Cairo for 2 weeks. I leave for New York tomorrow, so writing on this blog will be a bit less sporatic soon.<br /><br />Egypt isn't really a video gaming place but, my roommate did show me a video game store in Cairo called <a href="http://www.gamevalley.net/gamevalley.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Game Valley</span></a>. Click on their games tab and you'll notice that they don't show their Wii games, which they had in their store when I visited. Part of the reason why they probably don't show them is because their merchandise is clearly pirated.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0014/0970/brand.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0014/0970/brand.gif" border="0" /></a><br />First off, all of the Wii games were 80 L.E., which in American money, would work out to be about $14.50. You could argue that since the cost of living is less in Cairo, games would cost less. However, if the extremely low price wasn't a giveaway, then one of their "Wii" games is clearly pirated. They were selling a single Wii disc that had the "Wii" games of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Fox_Adventures"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Star Fox Adventures</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_&_Evil_(video_game)"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Beyond Good and Evil</span></a>, and the<a href="http://cube.ign.com/objects/608/608263.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;"> Zelda promotional disc</span></a> that had four Zelda games on it. I say these were Wii games because they had the Wii logo plastered on them for the box art. However, anyone who plays games knows that these games came out for the Gamecube, NOT the Wii.<br /><br />Regardless, if the Wii was region-free, I was going to buy a whole bunch of games and sell them back in the States and make a pretty penny. However, all of these games were the PAL versions, so they wouldn't work on a United States Wii system unforunately.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.eglug.org/files/image_store/games-1122_640x480.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 415px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 278px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.eglug.org/files/image_store/games-1122_640x480.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Oddly enough, this store also had no Xbox360 games whatsoever. They had a crapton of PS2 games and Game Boy Advance games, but the Xbox360 was nowhere to be seen. They also had PS3 games but they were selling them at 675 L.E. a pop, which works out to be about $120 per game. Who could afford games at that insane price? And why was is so inflated compared to the Wii? I know Blu-ray is a more expensive disc but an over $80 difference? Makes no sense to me.<br /><br />I can't wait to get back to the States though. The new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia_(2008_video_game)"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Prince of Persia</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_2"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Resistance 2</span></a> are calling me. That, and I miss my family and my girlfriend. They are kinda important too.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-33800672805626525752009-01-11T03:39:00.004-05:002009-01-11T05:00:11.378-05:00Top 52: Mario Kart 64 (#26)Having 4-players at once is pretty standard now but, the N64 was the first popular console to have four controller slots. Part of the reason why <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Kart_64"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mario Kart 64</span></a> was so successful was because it was the first really awesome game to be played with more than two people, and therefore really good to play at parties.<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Mario_Kart_64box.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 171px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Mario_Kart_64box.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Title</strong>: Mario Kart 64<br /><strong>Console</strong>: Nintendo 64<br /><strong>Release Date</strong>: 02/10/97<br /><strong>Genre</strong>: Racing<br /><strong>My Ranking</strong>: #26<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br />Following up on their success from <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario Kart</span></a> for the SNES, Nintendo brought the Mario Kart series to 3D on the Nintendo 64. Sporting sixteen strange courses, a litany of items, and 4-player support, Mario Kart 64 become the ultimate muliplayer fantasy racing game. Why are Mario characters racing in Go-Karts through Bowser's castle and Moo Moo farm? No one knows really, but what I do know is that this game is insanely fun to play, even now.<br /><br />Everyone knows how Mario Kart works. You do laps on a track and you can pick up items and shoot them at people. However, what makes Mario Kart 64 so great is that the game feels balanced. The person in last place gets better items than the person in first and therefore has an easier chance to catch-up. Sure, this may cause a <a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/16/article-0-0248BDC800000578-264_468x703.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">rubber-band</span></a> effect from time to time (meaning the person in last quickly bounces to first, and so on) but, in my experience with the game, the better driver/player wins the majority of the time.<br /><br /><a href="http://iep.ath.cx/articoli/idsa_and_emulators_mario_kart64_big.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 393px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 282px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://iep.ath.cx/articoli/idsa_and_emulators_mario_kart64_big.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Since Mario Kart 64 is balanced, the game works excellently for hardcore players like myself. It's a ton of fun to race against someone who is really good, while each of you are cutting corners and constantly getting boosts from power slides. However, even for non-hardcore players, Mario Kart 64 is an amazing game.<br /><br />Since newer players tend to fall to the back of the pack, they get all of the cool items, like stars, golden mushrooms and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MD2n5qrcg4"><span style="color:#ff0000;">blue shells</span></a>. Since these items help propel them to the front without intense skill, newer players don't feel left out of the experience. It's especially rewarding to new players when they pick up a blue shell, use it, and hit the first-place player. The hardcore player who was in first will say something like "Oh @#$%," or something to that effect, and the new player will laugh and feel pride at effecting the outcome.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pqFO_oxUp9M&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pqFO_oxUp9M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Somehow then, Mario Kart 64 is a game for hardcore gamers and casual gamers. It even works for non-gamers as well since they understand the basic premise: get to the finish line. And since the game is so colorful and there is tons of action happening with items, everyone will even enjoy the game on a purely visual level.<br /><br />The game does have some faults though. The special shortcuts on Koopa Troopa Beach, Wario Stadium, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHR1cXOWdoQ"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Rainbow Road</span></a> cut so much of the track that if you do make them and someone else doesn't for a lap, there is no chance at the other player recovering. The track design wasn't as top notch as it could have been. Also, one glaring problem is that versus mode doesn't have music for the tracks, which makes the game feel a bit empty at times.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wmbYdM3oSYo&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wmbYdM3oSYo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Still, Mario Kart 64 is the best racing game to play with a lot of people. The game moves relatively fast and you'll have a lot of people talking/swearing during gameplay. Course for course, <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-f-zero-28.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">F-Zero</span></a> has better design (and better music) but Mario Kart 64 will give you one of the best multiplayer experiences in video gaming.<br />-------------------------------------<br />My Top 52:<br />#52 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-star-fox-64-52.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Star Fox 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#51 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-kirbys-adventure-51.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Kirby's Adventure (NES)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#50 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-roller-coaster-tycoon-50.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)</span></a><br />#49 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-grand-theft-auto-iii-49.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#48 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-metroid-prime-48.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Metroid Prime (GC)</span></a><br />#47 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-halo-3-47.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Halo 3 (Xbox 360)</span></a><br />#46 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-bomberman-64-46.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Bomberman 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#45 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-guitar-hero-ii-45.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Guitar Hero II (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#44 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-44.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Street Fighter II (GEN)</span></a><br />#43 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-pokemon-puzzle-league-43.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)</span> </a><br />#42 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-soul-calibur-ii-42.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Soul Calibur II (GC)</span></a><br />#41 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-gears-of-war-41.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Gears of War (Xbox 360)</span></a>*<br />#40 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-elite-beat-agents-40.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Elite Beat Agents (DS)</span></a><br />#39 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-39.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Call of Duty 4 (PS3)</span></a><br />#38 --- <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Metroid (SNES)</span></a></span><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span></a><br />#37 --- <a style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-orange-box-37.html">The Orange Box (PS3)</a>*<br />#36 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-metal-gear-solid-36.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Metal Gear Solid (PS)</span></a><br />#35 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-doom-35.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Doom (PC)</span></a><br />#34 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario Kart (SNES)</span></a><br />#33 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-mischief-makers-33.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mischief Makers (N64)</span></a><br />#32 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-smash-bros-brawl-32.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)</span></a><br />#31 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)</span></a><br />#30 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)</span></a><br />#29 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-paper-mario-thousand-year-door.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)</span></a><br />#28 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-f-zero-28.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">F-Zero (SNES)</span></a><br />#27 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-katamari-damacy-27.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Katamari Damacy (PS2)</span></a>*<br />#26 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-mario-kart-64-26.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mario Kart 64 (N64)</span></a><br /><br />*- Denotes highest ranked game for that consoleRichard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-75663941384845084472009-01-11T03:01:00.003-05:002009-01-11T03:20:26.342-05:00Flashy Friday: Interactive BuddyDid you ever get the urge to punch/explode/set fire to somebody? If so, Interactive Buddy is for you. Interactive buddy is not really a game; it's more of an interactive program.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.addictinggames10.com/games/1486/interactivebuddy.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 408px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.addictinggames10.com/games/1486/interactivebuddy.gif" border="0" /></a><br />Your "buddy" is the round grey dude shown above. By clicking different abilities from the menu, you are able to click anywhere on the screen and use that ability. For example, to start off, I would suggest clicking on grenades from the item menu and spray those across the screen. Your buddy will be confused for a moment and then BOOM; he's bounced around the screen in a fiery blaze. It's cute, really.<br /><br />The more damage you do to your buddy, the more money you get to buy more things to hurt him with. To get money quickly, use grenades first and then buy missiles for $100. Use the missiles and money will rack up very quickly. From there, enjoy buying new skins for your buddy, more modes and of course, more weapons.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/shockvalue_/interactive-buddy"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Click here to play Interactive Buddy right now</span></a>.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-91742649512216736722009-01-06T09:18:00.007-05:002009-01-06T10:41:26.059-05:00Top 52: Katamari Damacy (#27)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamari_Damacy"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Katamari Damacy</span></a> is by far the best game on the Playstation 2. If you have this system, you absolutely MUST own this game. Read on to find out why.<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/KatamariDamacybox.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 263px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 382px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/KatamariDamacybox.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Title</strong>: Katamari Damacy<br /><strong>Console</strong>: Playstation 2<br /><strong>Release Date</strong>: 09/22/04<br /><strong>Genre</strong>: Puzzle Action?<br /><strong>My Ranking</strong>: #27<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br />With so many games that have come and gone it is rare to find a game that is as unique as Katamari Damacy. In Katamari Damacy, you control a <a href="http://adifferentvista.googlepages.com/theyseemerollin.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">little green prince who pushes a ball called a katamari.</span></a> This ball is able to pick up anything that is smaller than itself and upon picking that object up it gets progressively bigger in size. Basically, you playing a a game that revovles around the snowball effect.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9GlPQy5wsBM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9GlPQy5wsBM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Why are you rolling up objects on planet Earth? Well, the American version of Katamari omits this knowledge but the Japanese version gives an awesome backstory. The <a href="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/KiryuXKefka/ukdtuk.bmp"><span style="color:#ff0000;">King of all Cosmos</span></a> apprently got REALLY drunk one night and destroyed all of the stars in the universe. In order to cover up his mistake, he sent his son, the Prince of all Cosmos, to Earth to roll up objects with his katamari. Upon recieveing those objects, the King of all Cosmos shoots the ball into space and turns it into a star. Yes, our stars are made of thumbtacks, cats, legos, and volcanos.<br /><br />Aside from the water, EVERYTHING in Katamari Damacy can be picked up with your ball. A dog early on may be able to push you around but once you gain enough objects you'll be able to pick up him. A level may start out inside of a house but, if you are fast enough and pick up enough stuff, you'll be able to then roll up the entire house. The camera slowly pans out further and further as you pick up more objects and before you know it, you're picking up entire islands, clouds, and even <a href="http://www.jacksofscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/in-rainbow.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">rainbows</span></a>.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cwhFH75OCDs&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cwhFH75OCDs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />As if the premise wasn't good enough, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel-shaded_animation"><span style="color:#ff0000;">cel-shaded graphics</span></a> add even more to the gameplay. Katamari Damacy looks and feels like Japanese mangas on crack. The world is vibrant with bright colors and the sheer cuteness of the people as they wiggle when you pick them up in your ball will make you smile. I don't understand why people are necessary in a katamari to make a star, but the King of all Cosmos never seems to mind.<br /><br />The music and sounds are also top notch. Sure, some of it is whacky J-Pop, but the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w3uBKWiKr0&feature=related"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Japanese jazz pieces</span></a> will absolutely blow your mind. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmInyB-7FhA"><span style="color:#ff0000;">All of the songs fit perfectly with the cutesy birght environment</span></a> and they are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGyfoNkm9d8"><span style="color:#ff0000;">all insanely catchy</span></a>. Upon hearing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voPx8x0-blQ"><span style="color:#ff0000;">the main theme, there is no doubt that it will stick in your head for days</span></a>. Also, nothing beats rolling over a cow and here it go moo. That's just awesome.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews/ps2/katamari-damacy/katamari-damacy-e.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 355px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 218px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews/ps2/katamari-damacy/katamari-damacy-e.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Katamari Damacy does have <a href="http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/24/5/39/s24539_ps2_8.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">competitive multiplayer</span></a>, but I never really enjoyed it. I wished they would have had some sort of cooperative mode where you each get a ball to control, but the game can be enjoyed with multiple people in single player mode. Your friends will scream out where they think you<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2wTq1yeww8">'</a>re supposed to go and there is so much stuff happening on the screen at once that you'll even enjoy sitting back and watching the madness ensue.<br /><br />By no means is Katamari Damacy easy either. There is a timer for each level and if you do not get your ball big enough in the alloted time, the King will be very angry with you. You'll fail some levels if you haven't played it before, but by the end of the game you should be good enough to complete the final stage where you roll up just about <a href="http://www.katamarionthe.net/fans/comics/xkcd1.jpg"><span style="color:#ff0000;">everything in the world</span></a>. In addition, in order to unlock all of the comets, you'll need to get your ball big enough in an even shorter time, and some of the comet times will keep you playing for hours.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/79w8yQTH5b0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/79w8yQTH5b0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Katamari was really a complete and unique game. Whenever we bring this to PLAY events, people always want to play it or watch someone else run through the levels. So if you are a PS2 owner, do yourself a favor and pick this game up as <a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/accident.png"><span style="color:#ff0000;">anyone can enjoy this game</span></a>. It made be one of the best game purchases you have ever made.<br />-------------------------------------<br />My Top 52:<br />#52 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-star-fox-64-52.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Star Fox 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#51 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-kirbys-adventure-51.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Kirby's Adventure (NES)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#50 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-roller-coaster-tycoon-50.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)</span></a><br />#49 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-grand-theft-auto-iii-49.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#48 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-metroid-prime-48.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Metroid Prime (GC)</span></a><br />#47 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-halo-3-47.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Halo 3 (Xbox 360)</span></a><br />#46 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-bomberman-64-46.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Bomberman 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#45 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-guitar-hero-ii-45.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Guitar Hero II (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#44 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-44.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Street Fighter II (GEN)</span></a><br />#43 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-pokemon-puzzle-league-43.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)</span> </a><br />#42 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-soul-calibur-ii-42.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Soul Calibur II (GC)</span></a><br />#41 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-gears-of-war-41.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Gears of War (Xbox 360)</span></a>*<br />#40 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-elite-beat-agents-40.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Elite Beat Agents (DS)</span></a><br />#39 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-39.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Call of Duty 4 (PS3)</span></a><br />#38 --- <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Metroid (SNES)</span></a></span><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span></a><br />#37 --- <a style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-orange-box-37.html">The Orange Box (PS3)</a>*<br />#36 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-metal-gear-solid-36.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Metal Gear Solid (PS)</span></a><br />#35 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-doom-35.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Doom (PC)</span></a><br />#34 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario Kart (SNES)</span></a><br />#33 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-mischief-makers-33.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mischief Makers (N64)</span></a><br />#32 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-smash-bros-brawl-32.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)</span></a><br />#31 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)</span></a><br />#30 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)</span></a><br />#29 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-paper-mario-thousand-year-door.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)</span></a><br />#28 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-f-zero-28.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">F-Zero (SNES)</span></a><br />#27 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-52-katamari-damacy-27.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Katamari Damacy (PS2)</span></a>*<br /><br />*- Denotes highest ranked game for that consoleRichard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-38415423842116103952009-01-06T04:02:00.004-05:002009-01-06T04:44:27.230-05:00A Football E-mail ConversationThe only unfortunate thing about being in Cairo is that I am missing a good chunk of the NFL playoffs. My roommate's family is awesome enough to have <a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Radio"><span style="color:#ff0000;">AFN, the military network</span></a>, so if I wanted to, I could watch all of the games. However, Cairo is seven hours ahead of New York, so those 8 E.T. games start at 3AM here. Ouch.<br /><br />For those people who have been watching the playoffs though, you must be sratching your heads at the improbable outcomes. Eagles beat the Vikings at Minnesota; the Cardinals pulled out a victory over the Falcons, and the Chargers (the supposed BEST team in the AFC according to ESPN even when <a href="http://www.nfl.com/teams/sandiegochargers/schedule?team=SD"><span style="color:#ff0000;">they started out 3-5</span></a>) beat Peyton Manning and the Colts. Seriously, this season makes no sense.<br /><br /><a href="http://students.ithaca.edu/~avoss1/project3/nfl.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 208px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 254px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://students.ithaca.edu/~avoss1/project3/nfl.gif" border="0" /></a><br />However, despite not being able to watch the games, my brother has been giving me e-mail updates... well more like rants. He also missed the Chargers game, since he had to go to a wedding. Here's how the conversation went down. My brother is hilarious when it comes to football.<br />---------------<br /><br /><strong>My Brother: Monday night</strong>:<br /><br />"So, it turns out that all of our first round playoff picks were wrong, with the exception of the Ravens game! Eagles beat Vikings; Ravens beat Dolphins; Cardinals beat Falcons; and Chargers beat Colts.<br /><br />So, next weekend, Giants play Eagles (ouch . . .); Panthers play Cardinals; Titans play Ravens; and Steelers play Chargers. Our conference & super bowl picks mostly remain (absent the Colts), but our wacky worst case scenario picks are all fucked. We could conceivably have an Eagles-Chargers super bowl for crying out loud."<br /><br /><strong>My Response: Monday Morning</strong>:<br /><br />"I've been keeping track of the scores here in Cairo. I think <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEKLa373SIw"><span style="color:#ff0000;">my brain exploded </span></a>when I woke up to find out that the Cardinals and Chargers both won in the same day. I expected ONE upset though, not three with the Eagles also beating the Vikings.<br /><br />I was really happy when the Cardinals beat the Falcons though. That win meant the Giants were guaranteed to play either the Cards or the Eagles, both of which will be an easy game. Now if the Cards somehow beat the Panthers, the NFC championship game will be LOL for the Giants.<br /><br />The NFL playoffs is confusing. Single elimination blows."<br /><br /><strong>My Brother's Response: Tuesday Morning</strong>:<br /><br />"Yeah seriously on the brain explosion. I feel like this will be the weekend that the world rights itself again though. I think the Eagles game will be tougher than we think though, as the two teams know each other well. That said, an underreported aspect of the Eagles game was that Westbrook only had about 35 yards on the ground; his total yardage was overflated due to the ridiculous 72 yards he gained on a screen pass . . . A FUCKING SCREEN PASS. I mean look, if the Vikes aren't going to bother to contain a basic screen pass, the game's just not fair.<br /><br />For the Ravens, I hope you got a chance to see some of the highlights. One in particular was a <a href="http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/8446"><span style="color:#ff0000;">VICIOUS Bart Scott hit on Pennington a split-second after he released the ball in fear--Pennington was positively propelled backwards, as if he had been hit by a giant flat wall over his entire body rather than being tackled by another person</span></a>. Reminded me of sci-fi movies where a guy gets hit by a concussion blast and his whole body flies straight backwards. Pennington crumpled to the floor like a broken man. And throws that led to those record 4 interceptions were epic. They were definitely the "bombs" we imagined, only they were bombed vertically instead of horizontally, and into double coverage at that.<br /><br />Missed the Cards and Chargers' games for the most part. Ryan fell apart for the Falcons, and the Cards--for the first time all season--both ran the ball and stopped the run. The Chargers game was apparently the greatest game of the entire weekend, and I was at the fucking wedding for all of it. I got back to the hotel room in time to see Rivers being interviewed, and to hear the announcers do a recap--insane lead changes, great back and forth, and overtime--an overtime where the Colts defense just imploded in a way I haven't seen in a long time. Just retarded penalties (a crippling face mask, a holding call, a pass interference call, etc.) that let the Chargers march up the field.<br /><br />And I'm not even talking about Darren Sproles. If you could have told me that the Colts would contain LDT (fuckin' nickname), knock him out of the game, and still lose, I would have laughed at you. And if you would have told me that Darren My-Name-Makes-Me-Sound-A-Little-Bit-Like-I-Should-Have-Been-A-Character-On-<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhF4gu87rn0"><span style="color:#ff0000;">The-Jetsons</span></a> Sproles would have 328 combined yards and would be the difference-maker, I would have left the room and sought help for you.<br /><br />This last bit worries me. Could mean that the mighty Kurt Warner could have a 450-yard passing game this weekend. Could mean that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-aKfTK2LiM"><span style="color:#ff0000;">David Tyree makes a catch with his jockstrap this time</span></a>. Could mean that Vince Young makes a miraculous return in Tennessee as a middle linebacker, and has 7 sacks. In the immortal words of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSmD5oAhTmo"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kevin Garnett after the Celtics won the NBA championship last year, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO</span></a>"."<br />-----------------<br /><br />Yeah, we're like this all time. Especially when it somes to sports.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-16824165377114631642009-01-04T02:03:00.007-05:002009-01-06T04:42:55.424-05:00I actually review a type of damn dice.For starters, yes, I am actually reviewing a type of die. Be in awe of my mighty geekitude! Though in light of <a href="http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4205385">certain discoveries</a>, I feel no shame. I do wonder what the hell they were playing though.<br /><br />Now there are times when my will is strong and I can be a very frugal and responsible man. However there are also times when I crumple like a pair of Kleenex underoos because of something shiny. This is one of those times.<br /><br /><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 287px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 281px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.mataka.org/images/reviews_images/D-Total(1).jpg" border="0" /><br />I present*, <a href="http://www.gamescience.com/newproducts">the D-Total</a>. Yep, a 24 sided die that does the job of at least 17 normal dice. Probably more if you play Hackmaster, one of the few games that actually calls for a <a href="http://www.g2ch.com/opaque-multicolor-place-value-dice-tens-p-404.html">D10,000,000</a>. Now why did I <a href="http://www.gamestation.net/Amazing-DTotal-Dice/M/B001LGDEQ4.htm">buy this</a>? Because it was cool and it was there.<br /><br />This little baby was brought out at the 2008 <a href="http://www.gencon.com/">GenCon</a> by its developers, Lou Zocchi and Dr. A. F. Simkin. Zocchi is the same gentleman who brought us the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zocchihedron">100 sided die, or Zocchihedron</a>. Makes me pissed I missed the con last year and as a result I’m making arrangements to go to this year’s convention. So I’ve been hounding the <a href="http://www.gamestation.net/Amazing-DTotal-Dice/M/B001LGDEQ4.htm">Gamestation site </a>since September waiting for this to go on sell. The moment it did I grabbed one and last time I checked there are only 3 left. So on with the review.<br /><br />The die is <span style="font-size:180%;">big</span>. <a href="http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd321/WotC_Solice/GenCon%202008/th_GenCon031.jpg">Really big</a>. Bigger than a ping pong ball. And it’s made of a lightweight but strong, bright white plastic. The lettering is a sharp black and is easily readable, and it appears to be etched into the plastic which means it probably won’t smudge anytime soon. The die has a total of 24 sides and it’s easy to read your results. Now the info on each side appears a bit complex at first, but after finding <a href="http://www.dicecollector.com/D24_ALEXANDER_SIMKIN_GAMESCIENCE_D_TOTAL_01.jpg">an explanation online </a>it all made sense. Each side contains 4 shapes and a bunch of numbers. Each shape represents a common type of die and the shape corresponds to the shapes on that type of die.<br /><br />For instance, when you look at a classic 6 sided die, it looks like a square. So on the D-Total, the square shape indicates the result for a <a href="http://www.greathallgames.com/aacc/adice/d5mmMulti.jpg">d6</a>. The same goes for a <a href="http://www.legendgames.co.uk/acatalog/gem_d4_mixed.jpg">D4</a>, <a href="http://www.legendgames.co.uk/acatalog/gem_d8_mixed.jpg">D8</a>, and <a href="http://www.synthtopia.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/d12-dungeons-and-dragons-die.jpg">D12</a>. The other numbers/pips/roman numerals on the die represent other types of dices and from all of that you can come up with other die types. Want a D20? Just roll the die and if the result is a 21 to 24, reroll, for a D10, half that result, and so on. This sounds complex and it can be, but if you’ve gamed for any length of time you’ve figured out all sorts of short cuts like these that allow you to use one type of die for some other that you happen to be missing at the moment.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Cons:</span><br /></strong>This isn’t a solid die. The sucker’s <em>hollow</em> and it rolls a bit light as a result. It bounces too much and the roll has a hollow sound to it on a hard table, on paper, not really noticeable. Now I’ve rolled those giant 2 inch, solid dice before and I’ll admit they are too heavy and they make a hell of a lot of noise as they hit the table, but still a bit more weight on the D-Total would have been nice. Also the way they manufactured this die leaves a noticeable seam on it. This sucker was formed in 2 parts and then sealed with some sort of sonic device. On mine the seal is nice and strong, but there is a noticeable crack open where the seam meets on one side. It probably wont be a problem in the long run and this the first run of these they’ve made so there are bound to be a few bugs, but it does kinda hurt it aesthetically. I’m also afraid to try to fix it, because I might screw up the balance or break it in the process. It's also <a href="http://most-expensive.net/dice-2">a bit pricy</a>. At $26.99 it does cost more than a full set of normal dice. However that's still cheaper than a <a href="http://www.gamescience.com/12piecedicesets">set of Zocchi dice</a>, which are worth it as far as quality stands. But nothing says durable <a href="http://www.crystalcaste.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CC&Category_Code=DM">like metal</a>.<br /></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Pros:</span></strong><br />Its 17 bloody dice in 1. As a GM or gamer on the go it’s nice to only need one die and with this one you’ll be ready for any game you might happen across. And if you add it to your normal roster of dice, you’ll never be sort a die. Missing a D8 and don’t want to slow things down by digging around for one? Just grab the thing and roll. Also, because of its lightweight nature, it’s great for throwing. As a GM, sometimes you just want to pop a player upside the head with a die. But most of the time you risk injury as they are too small and will hurt too much, or they’re too heavy and you risk manslaughter. There is always <a href="https://www.myriadgames.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=11125">the foam option</a>, but then those suckers are a bit big and ungainly and you risk them seeing it coming.<br /><br />Overall, I like it, and I'd recommend it. I can see myself using it a lot in my games and it’ll make my life as a GM a bit easier. Plus it looks cool and is bound to impress. I don’t like how it feels or sounds when it rolls and the seam along the edge is a bit of a turnoff. But on the other hand this is the first run of these dice they’ve done so far and I’m willing to bet that next time they will do better. Plus Zocchi is known for making some pretty fine quality dice and I’d own more if they weren’t so damned expensive. I’m still debating buying a copy of the <a href="http://www.gamescience.com/9011-9003.jpg/9011-9003-full;init:.jpg">glow-in-the-dark </a>ones he sells.<br /><br />Now let me leave you with a little bit of Zocchi at work. Enjoy ^_^<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bR2fxoNHIuU&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bR2fxoNHIuU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PxmkWrDbn34&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PxmkWrDbn34&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*That pic of the D-Total was borrowed from </span><a href="http://www.mataka.org/reviews_preview.php?at=18"><span style="font-size:78%;">another review </span></a><span style="font-size:78%;">at Mataka.org. I wrote this at work and I forgot to bring the bloody thing with me. :p </span></p>TheNightgaunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998287447337599496noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-75682408724764973122009-01-02T11:59:00.001-05:002009-01-04T04:09:51.553-05:00Flashy Friday: Vector RunnerI was surprised at myself for not showing this game earlier since I absolutely love this flash game. Vector runner is a racing game that uses vector graphics, which gives the game a unique feel. Be warned, this game is addictive.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sme.sk/cdata/3637164/vector_runner_b.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 304px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 234px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sme.sk/cdata/3637164/vector_runner_b.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The impossible achievement on Kongregate for this game is insane. You need to get 30,000 points without taking a single hit. Good luck trying to get that one. It took me hours of staring at the computer screen to get that badge.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/DigYourOwnGrave/vector-runner">Click here to play Vector Runner right now</a>.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-80429610286490900372009-01-01T22:25:00.003-05:002009-01-13T11:45:24.417-05:00RPGs in 2008It has not been the best of years for table-top gaming. 2008 saw the death of D&D creator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax">Gary Gygax</a>. It also saw the release of the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome">4th edition </a>of that same game, as well as a rather pitiful scattering of decent releases. It’s a bit difficult to really analyze how the year’s been for most of the gaming community because you tend to focus more on those systems you play. As a result I don’t really know how RIFTs did this year, release-wise. However I did keep an eye on some of the big ones.<br /><br />As I mentioned, this year saw the death of gaming great Gary Gygax. Now if you’ve ever played any sort of RPG, on the table or on your Nintendo/Playstation/Etc, then you’ve been influenced by this man’s work. He and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson">Dave Arneson </a>co-created Dungeons and Dragons from what was basically a modified version of H.G. Well’s “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wars">Little Wars</a>”, a war game played in a sandbox or on a table using toy soldiers. The two then began to sue each other over royalties and other issues and eventually they went their separate ways, leaving the company after it fell into the hands of Lorraine Williams’ family, thanks to the trouble with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Blume">Blume</a>, and from there into the clutches of Hasbro. Gary continued to be involved in gaming and wrote many more books on the topic after he left TSR. With his death this last year, it was announced that the new 4th edition of D&D would be dedicated to him. A lame gesture as Gary was not happy with the direction they took the 3rd edition in and would have been pissed regarding what they did in 4th. There are a lot of bad <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2008/20080304.jpg">jokes out </a>there about <a href="http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/images/gygax_memoriam2.jpg">his death</a>, mostly pun quality D&D references, but then as a group, it’s not uncommon for gamers to <a href="http://www.kenzerco.com/index.php?cPath=22_23">dick around</a>, waste time, and tell god awful jokes while at the table. So it’s probably ok.<br /><br />Speaking of 4th edition D&D. It sucked. Good? Good, now as for other things going on…<br />...Oh fine, I’ll explain.<br /><br />1st edition D&D can be said to be a bit harsh and limiting. Your character choices are based heavily on the stats you roll and the adventures were quite unforgiving. 2nd edition D&D was more structured and more varied. It was still harsh at times though. It was also a bit broken as it was put out under William’s reign over the company so there was more emphasis on putting out material than on keeping it consistent. 3rd edition had a similar problem as Hasbro had them pumping out book after book after book. 3rd ed. was a much more varied and wonder filled system. It was a lot more simplistic and the aim was to make it easier to learn. The downside to this was that they released books about everything imaginable, making the system a rules lawyer’s dream. And you again had the consistency problem considering how much material they were pumping out. Now D&D aside, the d20 system they used was great and before their buyout by Hasbro less than a year after they bought D&D from TSR, Wizards of the Coast set it up so the d20 system would be open source. Meaning if you want to use their rule system to produce a competing game, then go right ahead. Hasbro was not happy about that one, but it means that tons of small gaming companies could pop up and the system’s not half bad.<br /><br />But then 4th edition was finally released this year and it looks nothing like its predecessors. The initial reactions from most of the game reviewers made me suspect that Hasbro was sending out <a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35776">hookers with </a>the reviewer copies of the game. They hype was huge and 4th edition could do no wrong. It was the perfect, ultimate, super new version of D&D and if it didn’t add 3 inches onto your cock then you were a sad little troll. Needles to say, a month or two after its release many reviewers <a href="http://www.kenzerco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39113&highlight=review">changed </a>their tone.<br /><br />4th edition is a board game that uses Hasbro brand miniatures and does its very best to imitate <a href="https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com/trial/index.html;jsessionid=978897D7D812772ABE91177DE0235E4B.app10_07">World of Warcraft</a>. Everyone has magic spells now, and every character can heal himself magically a couple of times a day. It’s all about the combat, and nonweapon skills are pointless. The designers pretty much said that if you’re using a skill like Woodworking or Navigation in the game, then you’re playing it wrong. Thieves are a joke, and wizards were just ruined. Hasbro decided to throw away their core players in favor of getting some new ones. However they forgot that table-top gaming isn’t a money making industry. It’s a hobby, supported and carried by those that love it. Game designers struggle to get stuff published while working second jobs. Monopoly doesn’t even come fucking close. They are also setting up an online GM helper service on their website. The way they’re explaining it, in order to run a truly excellent game, both the GM and the players need to join this service and pay the monthly fee. Just like WoW really. Here’s hoping it fails miserably.<br /><br />Similarly, one of the great up and coming game developers has fallen. Eden studios, publisher of the zombie survival RPG “<a href="http://www.allflesh.com/flesh.html">All Flesh Must Be Eaten</a>” has failed to do a damned thing all year. With AFMBE and the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” RPG they made some big waves in the community a few years back. But last year they lost the license for Buffy and that only left them with some great games to lean on. So they stopped publishing books. 2007 was a sad year for releases and 2008 didn’t see a damned thing come out. The company isn’t at risk of going out of business as far as we know, however they appear to be having a lot of trouble starting up again. It’s a shame as the company’s a great one, and their games are usually pretty clever.<br /><br />This year also saw the end of both <a href="http://paizo.com/dragon">D&D magazines</a>, Dungeon and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(magazine)">Dragon</a>. While this wasn’t a great loss as following the sell of TSR, both magazines had become little more than ad space for whatever Hasbro was pushing, it’s still a bit sad. We also saw layoffs over at Hasbro this year and there are rumors of another round of layoffs over at Wizards of the Coast.<br /><br />Oh, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizkids">Wizkids,</a> producer of those little <a href="http://www.pojo.com/heroclix/scenarios/2005/images_2/-hobgobblin.jpg">HeroClix </a>games, was shut down by their parent company Topps. So their gone now. However there’s currently legal action towards the company or Topps pending as they owned the IP for the <a href="http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/fantasy/wallpapers/battletech-brutal-punch.jpg">Battletech</a> series. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech">Battletech </a>is a <a href="http://www.dropshipcommand.com/images/GenCon2006/GenCon2006_128.jpg">miniature game</a>, video game, RPG and book series about a future where armies fight using giant robots. It’s a classic series and a decent setting. Well they stole and screwed over one of their writers and are now liable for a couple of hundred thousand dollars in fines. The author has made it public that he’s intending to sue for ownership of the IP if possible. Here’s wishing him luck.<br /><br />While alot more went on this year, these are some of the events that stood out. Many companies stayed afloat and one or two vanished, and not a whole lot went on that impressed me. D&D’s big release made the mightiest splash in the wake of Gygax’s death. But then they failed to deliver.<br /><br />Here’s hoping 2009’s better.TheNightgaunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998287447337599496noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-16805283908331563902009-01-01T04:56:00.004-05:002009-01-01T05:19:45.793-05:00Board Gaems Make U SmrtFirst off, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays and all that jazz. I hope everyone is having an awesome break from school and yadda yadda. I'm in Cairo right now so my posting will be lesser for a little while. Hopefully the other writers here will keep you entertained in my absence.<br />-----<br /><br /><a href="http://www.azstarnet.com/kphotos/24-Board-Games-g1thumb.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 151px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.azstarnet.com/kphotos/24-Board-Games-g1thumb.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Will sent me this link recently that talks about the positive effects of board games. Aside from learning negotiating tactics, board games bring families together and teach kids valuable social skills. The article is pretty short, so give it a look see.<br /><br />Hm, I think I'll send this link out in a PLAY newsletter when we promote our weekly board game night events.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7798226.stm">Click here to view the story</a>.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-62646659616100685652008-12-31T19:17:00.006-05:002008-12-31T21:49:45.663-05:002008: The Year of the LetdownTonight is a good night to celebrate. Ending 2008, what I would call one of the most disappointing years in gaming that I can remember.<br /><br />It started right off in January. Two of my favorite franchises, Burnout and Devil May Cry, were getting the next-gen treatemnt with Burnout Paradise and Devil May Cry 4. They both garnered a good amount of hype and were looking to start 2008 on the right foot. Burnout Paradise turned out to be a bit too experimental (though I applaud them for trying something new) with the open world concept. Forcing you to rely on your microscopic mini-map and arrow indicators during a high-octane race was a horrible idea; the game used to just be about blazing down a linear path and trashing all that's in your way. In Paradise I was too focused on optimizing my route to the goal to think about actually enjoying the game. Add in annoyances like a lack of a "restart race" button and the lack of the much-loved Crash mode, as well as same-screen multiplayer, and the result was a package that was original and pretty, but just not that great.<br /><br />Devil May Cry 4 was also a terrible letdown. Coming off from the stellar 3rd installment that got me into the series, DMC4 had definitely had some expectations to fill. What came out was a lackluster and uninspired entry to the series. Simplified mechanics trashed the complex and customizable weapon swapping and combat style systems for a simple grabbing mechanic, where you can grapple enemies from afar and slice them up. The combos in general felt less technical and more button mashing. The simplified controles and downgraded difficulty leads to what I would call "casual-i-fying" the series. <br /><br />My hope was renewed in the prospect of the extremely hyped Smash Brothers Brawl. Daily updates on its website was a great hype device, but began to slowly make clear a sad truth - there really isn't much new in Brawl. While Melee was a milestone upgrade from 64 (crisp graphics, a ton of new mechanics and moveset expansion, trophy collecting and a roster that over doubled in size), Brawl only offered a few upgrades, none of which were that interesting. The fleshed out adventure mode turned out to be nothing more than some shallow platforming stages and decent boss fights, along with nonsensical cinematics (YOU try crafting a story with 35 characters that can't speak a word, and keeping it somewhat sensical). The only game mechanic changes (other than more subtle ones like weaker gravity) is in the form of final smashes which were only handed out through an item. Instead of creating an overdrive bar that charges when the character hits / gets hit, they leave it to the random spawns / locations of items to determine when someone can get a game-breaking attack. They can be somewhat fun in casual matches but anyone decently competitive turns them off entirely. The only real upgrade was adding in some new characters, but their appeal wore off relatively quickly, even the surprise appearances from non-Nintendo Sonic and Snake. And don't get me started on the absolutely terrible online support. <br /><br />The next victim was possibly the biggest letdown of 08 to me, which was GTA4. While it was certainly met with critical success, I just didn't see it personally. The graphics were amazing, the city felt alive, the story was well presented and the new aim / cover mechanics worked great most of the time. The problem was that none of those things are really what GTA is about. The reason I used to spend hours on end in the lands of Vice City and the other PS2 entries was the sheer amount of fun things there were to do. There were hospital and firefighting minigames with gameplay rewards if completed, properties I could buy with missions attached to them, jetpacking around, torching people with flamethrwers or beheading them with katanas, finding hidden packages that gave you awesome upgrades with every 10 collected, just to name a few. You can do <span style="font-style:italic;">none</span> of that in GTA4. While they do still have vigilante missions and hidden packages (well, pigeons this time) they have no tangible reward other than some achievement points. The exciting minigames of GTA4 include activities like watching fake television, browsing their fake internet, and playing virtual pool or darts with one of your virtual friends. Sure, taking them out enough give you some perks, but the entire affair felt tedious and repetitive. The weapon selection was as bare bones as possible with nothing interesting or fun to use. The cars have a realistic feel to them which makes extreme maneuvering a much more difficult affair (and less fun) affair. Money was entirely useless past the first 5th of the game since you never lose your weapons (unless you're bad enough to actually get arrested), so there's no real risk in stocking up on expensive weapons anymore, as well as no property to buy. Pestering the cops isn't even that fun anymore; in past games you could play cat and mouse with them for a while before they really took you seriously, but in 4 by the time you're starting to really have fun you'll hit 6 stars and get trampled by army men soon after (don't expect tanks though, since they removed those too). It just felt like GTA plus realism, minus the soul of the franchise. It felt empty, cold, and uninteresting outside of the main plot.<br /><br />The next big release was Rock Band 2 in the fall. Now here's a hard thing to screw up; the game got rave reviews last year and pretty much perfected plastic band gameplay already. Instead of keeping to that and upgrading some aspects, they managed to change nearly nothing and actually <span style="font-style:italic;">remove</span> some aspects of the original. Namely I speak of the game keeping track of your star ratings in individual songs; the fact that it no longer does was a glaring and absurd oversight in my eyes. As I just said nothing was really added to the game (other than songs, obviously). The world tour mode was the same as last year's mode, with a few gimmicks like managers you can hire and some more clothes for your virtual rock star. The solo tours were completely removed. There's <span style="font-style:italic;">still</span> no way to do band vs band online play, just 1 vs 1. The battle of the bands mode past the first couple of weeks is just a glorified ad to buy more songs so you can play their setlist challenges that you upload to leaderboards that are forgotten about a week later. Promised modes like jukebox mode and a special mode for a person playing vocals and an instrument simultanously never made the cut. Songs with no vocals can't be played unless you exit the game, take out the vocals player, and go back in the game, just to play that song. The instruments were upgraded but most people didn't need more plastic guitars or drums in the first place. A lot of this is nitpicking but I expect a sequel to have <span style="font-style:italic;">something</span> new or interesting. The only saving grace is being able to transfer 55 of the original game's songs into this one. But overall, collosal letdown on the whole.<br /><br />Guitar Hero: World Tour had a chance to innovate on Rock Band's formula but fell flat on its head. Their take on the RB interface was a jumbled mess and key components like saving other players and unison bonuses were completely absent. Vocals were horribly done with a painfully strict pitch window and nonsensical combo system. The shared star power system is horribly done and leads to people hogging SP and making SP activations only last for a few seconds at a time. The solo / band tour modes are extremely drab and linear "play pre-done setlists to advance" experiences that were not compelling at all. Their biggest chance to step-up from Rock Band, the music creator, was a flop as well. It gives you no creative expression in making the actual chart (notes are pre-deterined based on the sounds used, and SP placement is 100% random), vocals arn't allowed at all, and the guitar / bass / drums are just terrible sounding midi samples. The only songs worth looking into are random mario / zelda / final fantasy songs redone and insane random solos designed for those crazy people that can 5 star Dragonforce songs. No matter what the song, the result was always a bit jarring for the ears.<br /><br />A few other letdowns rounded out the year. Fable II, like its predecessor, was supremely overhyped by Peter Molyneux and underwhelmed, with game-breaking glitches to top off the mediocre experience. GTA 4's downloadable expansion got delayed until '09. The blockbuster hits for the Wii this holiday season composed of Animal Crossing, which may as well be a port of the DS version with some new furniture and a couple of gimmicks, Mario Kart Wii, which turned out to be nothing new other than the trick system, gimmicky controls and a gimped battle mode, and Wii Fit, which I just have no words for. Nintendo still doesn't care about finding any solution to its storage problem on the Wii. Playstation 3's Home was a floundering mess and, while still in beta, is already widely considered a failure. And Xbox 360's are still Red Ringing (though less so these days). <br /><br />I mean, 2008 wasn't a complete failure. Brawl and Rock Band 2, while not really innovating much, remained fun as hell to play. The 360 got an interface overhaul that sent it from having the weakest OS this generation, to the best one. Games like LittleBigPlanet and indie gem Braid gave me faith that original titles can still fare well in the giant pool of sequels that we see these days. Perhaps I'm jaded because all the titles that really did well this year were in the genre I despise most - 1st / 3rd person shooters. Resistence 2, Gears 2, Fallout 3 (please don't try to tell me that this game is an RPG, if anything it's a shooter with some light RPG aspects and an overhyped targeting system), Left 4 Dead, and MGS4 just off the top of my head. I really get worried that in a few years I'll be able to just use the [shooter series' name] [number] format for every popular game released. <br /><br />Here's hoping that 2009 will have a few less shooters, a few more risks, and some truly worthy AAA titles. To all those that read (and write for) TSG, Happy New Years!ultima301http://www.blogger.com/profile/12972625650598740424noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-91022777294601305052008-12-26T16:41:00.007-05:002008-12-27T03:37:30.775-05:004k and Games and PassageThe <a href="http://www.java4k.com/">Java 4k competition</a> is where people submit game entries that take up 4kb of space or less. You can read more about it on the site's <a href="http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=view&page=about">about</a> page, or the <a href="http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=view&page=rulesjudg">rules</a>, but there's not much more to it.<br /><br />It's pretty amazing what people can do, using such little space. Oftentimes, a full-sized game is emulated, and shrunk down to 4kb. An example of this is <a href="http://www.mojang.com/notch/j4k/l4kd/">Left 4k Dead</a>. It's pretty fun, but really hard. I can't speak for how true it is to Left 4 Dead, since I haven't yet had the pleasure of playing it.<br /><br /><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVWl3ea5GI/AAAAAAAAANE/BsC0W2Md-F8/s400/left4kdead.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 398px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284224946335835234" /><div><br /></div>The winner from 2008 is a game called <a href="http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=games&method=view&gid=185">Spiderball4k</a>, and your goal is to get the ball into the circle. You control your 'arms' which you shoot out like Spiderman shoots out his webs. If you touch any walls or objects you die. Difficult, but fun.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVWmcCOUVI/AAAAAAAAANM/FSKrTD9tj-4/s1600-h/spiderball.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 287px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVWmcCOUVI/AAAAAAAAANM/FSKrTD9tj-4/s400/spiderball.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284224956149682514" /></a>Fkconflict is a fun version of Risk. Instead of choosing which countries to attack and move from, they are randomly selected. During a round, a random country is selected, and you can choose to attack from that country, move from that country or pass. Another random country is selected, and this continues until all countries have been selected. A pretty fun take on the game.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVYeaFjqAI/AAAAAAAAANU/LV6u_a44vZY/s1600-h/fkconflict.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVYeaFjqAI/AAAAAAAAANU/LV6u_a44vZY/s400/fkconflict.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284227017211095042" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 199px; " /></a><br />Another one that's not really worth a screen is <a href="http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=games&method=view&gid=205">Scr4mble</a>. It's fun, mostly cause I love word games. It's a great example of how 4k or 4 is often cleverly inserted into the title. Left 4k Dead is one of the best in that regard.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/">Passage</a> isn't a 4k game, but it's graphics/simplicity remind me of it. It is an artsy game which lasts 5 minutes. Before you read any further, I suggest you go play it, since it's impossible to discuss without spoilers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last warning before I start talking about it... I didn't get at first, which is to be expected, since it's on the weird/artsy side, but I liked it by the end of it. Given that the end is only 5 minutes away, it doesn't take long to warm up to. Your first choice, marriage or not? You get more points by being married, but that damned woman holds you back.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVb2RcRQhI/AAAAAAAAANc/MHN2ORSPQhI/s1600-h/passage.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 68px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RA3-yxQh_ek/SVVb2RcRQhI/AAAAAAAAANc/MHN2ORSPQhI/s400/passage.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284230725742182930" /></a><br />If you avoid marriage, and live the single life, you get less points, but you have more manuevarbility. You can go around hunting treasure in a maze, and don't have to worry about finding openings that you can both fit in. (Not meant to sound dirty...)<br /><br />It got pretty big coverage, here's <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120034796455789469.html">a</a> <a href="http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/commentary/games/2008/04/gamesfrontiers_421">few</a> <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/-i-passage-i-the-greatest-five-minute-long-game-ever-made-58961.phtml">articles</a> on it. I played through it twice, and don't feel like I've learned anything, (since I already knew to avoid women) but I feel a tear in my eye... (But not really, I'm too manly for that.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Godspeed.</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-46848710593651474432008-12-23T22:12:00.009-05:002008-12-23T23:55:49.997-05:00Top 52: F-Zero (#28)Racing games aren't my thing. This game is. Read on to find out why.<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/F-Zero.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/F-Zero.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Title</strong>: F-Zero<br /><strong>Console</strong>: Super Nintendo<br /><strong>Release Date</strong>: 08/13/91<br /><strong>Genre</strong>: Racing<br /><strong>My Ranking</strong>: #28<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Zero">F-Zero</a> is a hyper-intense futuristic racing game. You control one of four really fast hover cars and you race on tracks with crazy turns, jumps and in some cases, lava. I love the story wikipedia gives for F-Zero, as if a racing game actually needs a story:<br /><br />"F-Zero is set in the year 2560, when humanity's multiple encounters with alien life forms had resulted in the expansion of Earth's social framework. This led to commercial, technological and cultural interchanges between planets. The multi-billionaires who earned their wealth through intergalactic trade were mainly satisfied with their lifestyles, although most coveted more entertainment in their lives. This resulted in a new entertainment based on the Formula-1 races to be founded with vehicles that could hover one foot above the track. These Grand Prix races were soon named "F-Zero" after a rise in popularity of the races."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0DgYcy5vg">LOL</a>.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2T5u9nD_I0I&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2T5u9nD_I0I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The reason F-Zero is on my list is because of the awesome track design. F-Zero moves fast, <a href="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/DES/D737~Speed-Racer-Go-Speed-Posters.jpg">REALLY fast</a>. Yet, despite the speed, almost all of the stages feature 90 degree to 180 degree turns and in order to cut corners well, you need to have a solid feel for the controls. The best example of this is probably on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkLwj_IiE4I">White Land</a> maps which have 180 degree turns with ice to screw up your traction.<br /><br />Not only do you need to be perfect in order just to make the turns, but the opposing cars on master difficulty will always be right behind you, making the game only barely beatable on the hardest difficulty. It took me weeks of grinding to be able to stand a chance on King league on master, and even now I can't get first place on all five stages in that league.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yBYe168cSkI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yBYe168cSkI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I can't talk about F-Zero without talking about the music. Every song in F-Zero is amazing, and all of them NEED to be replayed with live guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. I think my favorite song is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydoPXdDHH-Q">the ending song</a>, when you see your place and time for each stage. Then again, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9ckCghK0-Q&feature=related">Silence has awesome music too</a>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UquQJD_NTmg&feature=related">They're</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMZ2HL5ZYZk&feature=related">all</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNeYHreYyhU&feature=related">good</a>. Except for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SveyrUGRk6c&feature=related">Death Wind</a>. Screw Death Wind.<br /><br />F-Zero did have some glaring flaws that prevented it from being the best racing game ever. For one, there's only 15 stages in the entire game, and while the difficulty and high-speed excitement keeps you coming back, the game feels <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21356248374">a little too short</a>. Just one more league would have solve this problem, I think. The other extreme flaw is that there is NO MULTIPLAYER. Seriously, who makes a racing game without multiplayer?<br /><br />Yet, even with these problems, F-Zero is still fun to play, even today. I think that since you can enjoy this game without a multitude of tracks or cars and with no multiplayer shows how strong quality the tracks in this game are. F-Zero would be higher on my list with these minor additions, but even so, it's still one of the enjoyable racing games I've ever played.<br /><br />-------------------------------------<br />My Top 52:<br />#52 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-star-fox-64-52.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Star Fox 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#51 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-kirbys-adventure-51.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Kirby's Adventure (NES)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#50 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-roller-coaster-tycoon-50.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)</span></a><br />#49 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-grand-theft-auto-iii-49.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#48 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-metroid-prime-48.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Metroid Prime (GC)</span></a><br />#47 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-halo-3-47.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Halo 3 (Xbox 360)</span></a><br />#46 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-bomberman-64-46.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Bomberman 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#45 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-guitar-hero-ii-45.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Guitar Hero II (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#44 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-44.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Street Fighter II (GEN)</span></a><br />#43 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-pokemon-puzzle-league-43.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)</span> </a><br />#42 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-soul-calibur-ii-42.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Soul Calibur II (GC)</span></a><br />#41 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-gears-of-war-41.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Gears of War (Xbox 360)</span></a>*<br />#40 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-elite-beat-agents-40.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Elite Beat Agents (DS)</span></a><br />#39 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-39.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Call of Duty 4 (PS3)</span></a><br />#38 --- <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Metroid (SNES)</span></a></span><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span></a><br />#37 --- <a style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-orange-box-37.html">The Orange Box (PS3)</a>*<br />#36 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-metal-gear-solid-36.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Metal Gear Solid (PS)</span></a><br />#35 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-doom-35.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Doom (PC)</span></a><br />#34 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario Kart (SNES)</span></a><br />#33 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-mischief-makers-33.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mischief Makers (N64)</span></a><br />#32 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-smash-bros-brawl-32.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)</span></a><br />#31 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)</span></a><br />#30 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)</span></a><br />#29 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-paper-mario-thousand-year-door.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)</span></a><br />#28 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-f-zero-28.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">F-Zero (SNES)</span></a>Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-20964919841817701742008-12-22T18:19:00.005-05:002008-12-23T16:52:09.069-05:00Top 52: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#29)<a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html">I've already talked about the awesomeness that happens when Mario meets the role-playing genre</a>. Super Mario RPG was so enjoyable to play that it seemed almost impossible for another Mario RPG to top it. Paper Mario for the N64 was good, but not as good as Super Mario RPG. Then came <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario_TTYD">Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door</a>, which still remains as one of my favorite RPGs ever. Read on to find out why.<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Ttydbox.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 309px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 448px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Ttydbox.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Title</strong>: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door<br /><strong>Console</strong>: Nintendo Gamecube<br /><strong>Release Date</strong>: 10/11/04<br /><strong>Genre</strong>: Role-Playing Game<br /><strong>My Ranking</strong>: #29<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br />It's rare that a single-player video game makes me laugh out loud. Paper Mario 2 is now always the game I think of when thinking of a legitimately funny game. There is an absurd amount of text in this game, even for an RPG but, you can see why there is. The dialogue is fantastically cute with Mario only making facial and body reactions to what characters say to him. I especially loved the bomb-omb town where the bomb-ombs have a pseudo-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourettes">Tourette's syndrome</a>, and randomly say BOOM when they speak. See the video below for an example.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TeSslCVT8yc&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TeSslCVT8yc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The humor isn't the only aspect that makes this game great. The battle system was astounding and a huge improvement over the simplistic Super Mario RPG timed hit system. In addition to having to time your attacks correctly as the hit animation ensues, you also have to press A at certain times to gain stylish points. The more stylish moves you do, the faster your star gauge fills up, and your star powers are extremely powerful.<br /><br />Even action you take in battle requires the player to do some correct input in order to get a good attack-including the star powers. For example, one star-ability called <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2278/2285204729_8d27d645f9.jpg?v=0">Sweet Treat</a> puts you in a minigame where hearts, flowers and poison mushrooms fall from the sky. You have to aim and shoot properly to pick up health and flower bonus while avoiding the poison mushrooms that stun you. Instead of most traditional RPGs, Paper Mario 2 keeps you busy even during the attack animation.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.freewebs.com/luigiroks/PM2WallMarioMain1024X768.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 388px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 276px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.freewebs.com/luigiroks/PM2WallMarioMain1024X768.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The battle system doesn't stop being creative there either. With every battle you go into, you have an audience watching you. By doing the stylish moves I mentioned before you can impress your audience and they give you star power. They may also even throw items to help you out or throw blocks to try and hurt you. If you catch a bad guy trying to throw a rock at you, you can jump into the audience and <a href="http://www.masstee.com/printed/original/images/ibutk.jpg">beat him up</a>, if you so wish.<br /><br />On top of all this you have a badge system, which is just a glorified ability system. By collecting different badges and spending badge points to equip them you can have abilities that make you have a electrified shield around you, a multi-jump attack, a health point increase, etc. Depending on the boss fight or dungeon you are in, these badges can make or break the battle for you and require some strategic thinking to use them effectively.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j-nMxaUTjGY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j-nMxaUTjGY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I remember running through this game pretty quickly, but I don't remember it being incredibly easy or insanely difficult. The Pit of 100 trials was a bit crazy, as you had to go through endless amounts of battles getting no break to go an inn or save point, only to face a really hard boss after travelling 100 floors to get there. Albeit this was optional, but to have the opportunity to partake in this hardcore challenge was appreciated.<br /><br />Lastly, what I really enjoyed about Paper Mario was that they made good use of the "paper" concept. Mario and all the characters are 2D living in a 3D world. And since Mario looks like he's made out of paper, he gets to use paper like abilities when not in battle. Mario can turn into a paper airplane to fly over large gaps or turn into a paper tube to fit into tiny tunnels. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario">first Paper Mario</a> didn't make any use of the paper concept, but this one did.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_V4jpGITDgk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_V4jpGITDgk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an all-around solid RPG. If you like humorous storylines, engaging turn-based battle systems and creative abilities, you're guaranteed to enjoy this game. There's a lot of text and the story is very similar to Super Mario RPG, but trust me, you won't care about these minor flaws.<br />-------------------------------------<br />My Top 52:<br />#52 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-star-fox-64-52.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Star Fox 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#51 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-kirbys-adventure-51.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Kirby's Adventure (NES)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#50 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-roller-coaster-tycoon-50.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)</span></a><br />#49 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-52-grand-theft-auto-iii-49.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#48 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-metroid-prime-48.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Metroid Prime (GC)</span></a><br />#47 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-halo-3-47.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Halo 3 (Xbox 360)</span></a><br />#46 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-bomberman-64-46.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Bomberman 64 (N64)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#45 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-52-guitar-hero-ii-45.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Guitar Hero II (PS2)</span></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br /></span>#44 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-44.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Street Fighter II (GEN)</span></a><br />#43 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-pokemon-puzzle-league-43.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)</span> </a><br />#42 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-soul-calibur-ii-42.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Soul Calibur II (GC)</span></a><br />#41 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-gears-of-war-41.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Gears of War (Xbox 360)</span></a>*<br />#40 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-52-elite-beat-agents-40.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Elite Beat Agents (DS)</span></a><br />#39 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-39.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Call of Duty 4 (PS3)</span></a><br />#38 --- <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Super Metroid (SNES)</span></a></span><a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-super-metroid-38.html"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span></a><br />#37 --- <a style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-orange-box-37.html">The Orange Box (PS3)</a>*<br />#36 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-52-metal-gear-solid-36.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Metal Gear Solid (PS)</span></a><br />#35 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-doom-35.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Doom (PC)</span></a><br />#34 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-mario-kart-34.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario Kart (SNES)</span></a><br />#33 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-mischief-makers-33.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Mischief Makers (N64)</span></a><br />#32 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-52-super-smash-bros-brawl-32.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)</span></a><br />#31 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-super-mario-rpg-legend-of-seven.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)</span></a><br />#30 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)</span></a><br />#29 --- <a href="http://tablesaltgames.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-52-paper-mario-thousand-year-door.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)</span></a>Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-63862695000370462632008-12-20T20:35:00.004-05:002008-12-20T20:44:21.964-05:00Flashy Friday: Gamma Bros.Alright, so Flash Friday has turned into more like "Flashy Sometime Near Friday" or "Flashy When Rich Decides To Write It." Whatever though, I'm still sharing with you some awesome awesome games.<br /><br /><a href="http://jampy.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/screen1.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 409px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 246px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://jampy.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/screen1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This week's game is Gamma Bros, an old-school space-themed shoot-em-up game. Gamma Bros has been around for a long time (since 2006) but I was only introduced to it this semester.<br /><br />You control a spaceship that can move up, down, left and right. However, instead of only being able to shoot upwards (or sideways) like most shoot-em-ups, you can shoot in all four directions in this game. The choice of shooting four directions but only one at a time makes Gamma Bros really dynamic and fun to play.<br /><br />Good luck trying to stop playing this game once you've started. It's addictive.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/pixeljamgames/gamma-bros">Click here to play Gamma Bros right now</a>.Richard R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424123954808374161noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7208639421260934263.post-49093580851010598402008-12-14T23:58:00.003-05:002008-12-15T00:11:37.114-05:00Fallout updateThis is just a followup to my review of Fallout 3 a few weeks ago.<br />Around the end of November, Bethesda announced the upcoming <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">DLC</span> for their game Fallout 3. Among other things this included the release of a construction <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">toolset</span> for the game. Well last week they released the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">toolset</span> and the trickle of mods for the game has turned into a torrent of user created material.<br /><br />The construction set is available for download at the <a href="http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/downloads/geck.html">Fallout 3 website </a>as well as on <a href="http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=759">Fallout3Nexus</a>. They've even put up a <a href="http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page">wiki</a> to explain how it works along with a tutorial to get you started.<br />So far the best site for mods seems to be <a href="http://www.fallout3nexus.com/index.php">Fallout3Nexus.</a><br /><br />While the mods out so far vary from <a href="http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=872">nude mods </a>to <a href="http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=836">new weapons </a>to <a href="http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1475">replacement companions </a>for your character, it's only a matter of time until we start seeing some pretty amazing work.<br /><br />For now though I'm comfortable in saying that Fallout 3 is now a game worth buying. That is, as long as you're buying the PC version. While <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">there will</span> be <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">DLC</span> for the X-Box 360, the mods are only on the PC version and there are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">alot</span> of bugs in the game <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">that will</span> only be fixed by the fans.<br /><br />PC wins again console junkies. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Bwahahahahahahahaha</span>!!! ^^TheNightgaunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998287447337599496noreply@blogger.com4