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11:46 pm.
I've charged my Vita for the third and final time today, though I should mention that I rarely drain my Vita battery to (what appears to be) 40%. Nonetheless, this represents about five and a half hours of gaming, and to this forty-one year-old full-time IT scrub/husband/father, that is rather significant, especially since this is only on one day. Not only is this the most I've played a game in a year, but years, perhaps even decades. So won't you join me, my friends, as we delve head-first at full tilt into Dragon Quest Builders for the Vita. But first we need to let my Vita charge up a bit more.
Continue reading Dragon Quest Builders
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The last three years of the twentieth century was kind of a whirlwind time for me. I had met (and proposed) to the woman I would marry; I went through a total of three jobs, only staying at the last one, and then only because of the weekly pay and benefits (factory rats, can I get a witness?); and finally, I went through a mad transition from Nintendo fanboy to (officially) unaffiliated, but mainly playing games on the Sony PlayStation. But let's just hone in on the beginning of 1999, just for this article, and enjoy a little Pure Nostalgia.
Pure Nostalgia isn't about spoilers per se, but there are more than likely light spoilers within. Please be advised and read responsibly
Continue reading Pure Nostalgia - Silent Hill
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Lunar: The Silver Star was a landmark title when it was released back in the early 90's, not just in the combat system and story, but also in the presentation due to the format, that being CD-ROM. And according to history, it was, but I never played that version extensively. Instead, my nostalgia lies within the remake, Lunar: The Silver Star Story (specifically the version translated and published by Working Designs for the Sony PlayStation. This year I picked it up (for the third and final time) with a motive to finally complete it, and I did. It was an amazing experience, and one I would like to share with you all.
** There are most certainly spoilers for Lunar:SSSC within this article. They are very light, and really nothing more than you will find in the "Making of" disc included with the game, but still here nonetheless. **
Continue reading Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
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*Geoffrey from Gina Martin on Twitter*
Ah, the Budget Wall. There were bad games, good games (theoretically), and a lot of important lessons for a child to learn. But when I mentioned and briefly described this place to my thirteen year-old and he gave me kind of a blank look, I realized that this might need something more than a brief description, especially since this may perhaps be a more regional or even temporal phenomenon than I originally thought. So, here is an explanation of the Budget Wall, as well as some of the history that I have had during its time in my life.
Continue reading The Budget Wall - Explanation, Nostalgia, and Ending
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One of these things is not like the other...
Once upon a time, the most desired trait of any home console gamer was to play arcade ports. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly in place, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Another episode of But I Like Those Ports! follows, and another three games are presented for your reading pleasure. In a way, these were the most ambiguous of the small list I drew up of possible games, but it was still hard. Out of the games left, I might have one more episode left, but who knows. Perhaps I should start branching out a bit into other territories.
Continue reading But I Like Those Ports! Part Trois
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Wow, it has been a long time since I've done one of these things, but as my wife's time in graduate school comes to an end combined with my two children being on summer vacation, I find myself in possession of that elusive thing called free time, even with taking on more duties at work. But man alive, it feels good. All I need to do is figure what to do with it.
Continue reading The Observatory 4: PVMs and Media Commitments
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Once upon a time, I was walking through an OfficeMax to get printer paper or some such, when I spotted the PC games cart. Do you remember those? This was sometime in 2004, so pretty much every store imaginable had some sort of budget or reduced price PC cart, and given the breadth and width of PC gaming at that point in time, the contents of the PC games cart were always a surprise, and this time was no different. From the middle I pulled out an orange "small box" PC game with the title, Konami Collector's Series - Castlevania & Contra (KCS-C&C) printed all over. Per usual, I had no idea what I was holding in my hands, though I was pretty sure it was a collection of pre-1990 PC ports of some of the most beloved classic console games, and that had me very excited.
I imagine you can see where this is going. Wait, wait, don't look it up yet; you will spoil the fun and possibly deprive yourself a good chuckle at my expense. The rest of you - well, you know what's coming.
Continue reading Konami Collector's Series - Castlevania and Contra
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During the last episode, I once again suffered a humiliating defeat at the endcap of my enemy, the Budget Game Wall. You know that thing, right? No? Well, this endcap (who is a complete jerk, mind you) used to sit on the end of the video game isle at my local toy store, displaying the unloved and unlovable from the NES, both old and new, at an attractive $20 price point. But I wasn’t there on that fated day for game shopping, no. My task was much simpler: get a functioning NES controller, one I ideally wouldn't have to share with my siblings. And since I still had another six months (at least) before my SNES came out of layaway, I needed something help me play Final Fantasy and the string of rentals and loans that would follow. But I had no idea how much a controller would cost, having misplaced my most current Toys 'R Us circular, so I brought all $40 of my lawn-mowing money. My mom gave me a knowing look at this act, but said nothing to stop my action. It was fine, though: This was a utility trip, not an excuse to look at games, okay mom?. There was no reason I was going to need all that cash, right?
Continue reading Budget Wall Chronicles - Double Play
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Star Wars in our modern age if such a strange thing. It's hard to believe that once upon a time, most of the Star Wars games we had to play were either ports of existing arcade games or rehashes of the movies into action and platforming games. At least on consoles, which is all I had access to during those days. But over in PC Land the good times were a little different. But over in PC Land, something else was brewing, something that combined a newly recognized genre popularized by DOOM, with our beloved Star Wars universe. And it had a new story featuring new characters. Of course, I am talking about Star Wars: Dark Forces for MS-DOS.
Continue reading Star Wars: Dark Forces for PC
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When the first real information hit, everyone thought the Big N had lost their marbles. The 2DS, which was for all intents and purposes the whipping boy of the internet, was far from a success, and when the novelty of having a handheld game system shaped like a door wedge wore off it was almost never mentioned, save for Youtube personalities living with a two or three video a week release schedule, and during sales updates with an ever decreasing MSRP.
So, what happened when Nintendo announced they would release an "XL" version of the 2DS? Disbelief for one, at least from this writer, but soon replaced by curiosity. Could Nintendo actually take something that is almost universally regarded as a kid's toy and a bit of a failure and make it respectable?
Continue reading A Personal Look at the New 2DS XL
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2017 has been gone for nearly a month now. Any decorations that were put out are (hopefully) gone and hidden away, messes are (mostly) cleaned up, and any weight gained is (not likely) history thanks to that new diet plan. Probably don't want to get into those resolutions, though…
Despite all this, I've had a good amount of time to play with my Christmas gifts, two of which prompted me to swap my planned January article for this one. And after all, 2017 was a good year for me, not just for the games, but for the controllers that were used to play them with. So, please join me as I whittle away the time gushing about my favorite controllers of 2017.
Continue reading Top Controllers of 2017
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Driv3r appeared on the game market at a bad time. The game industry was already swimming in the wake created by GTA3, its sequel, GTA Vice City, and the hype generated by the next entry in the series due out but he end of 2004, GTA: San Andreas., Honestly, you couldn't open a magazine without seeing coverage from one or two "sandbox" games. But Driv3r did have one thing going for it, that being lineage. While many of the GTA copycats out there had nothing more to go on than genre similarity, Driv3r already had street cred, with two games out that were pretty popular during their respective times. Despite this, it turned into a failure, and after a few ports (PC, GBA, and mobile), it disappeared forever. But, could Driv3r be all that bad?
Continue reading Is Driv3r Really All That Bad?
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Once upon a time, the strongest desire of most gamers was to duplicate what they played in the arcade on a home console. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly debated, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Today I submit three more titles for your enjoyment; two I truly love more than the arcade originals, and one that I would rather suffer (another) head injury than play on a home console.
Continue reading But I Like Those Ports: The Sequel!
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I realized a while ago I need to do something about my backlog. While I could just sell it, many of my games are digital, so the next best thing (after unplugging and living off the grid) is to just play them. But given that my time is a bit limited (husband, father, mortgage, laundry, zombies, etc.), just finishing the game isn't my ultimate goal. I need an easy way to check these games off and move on when I am done with them, and thus, The List was born.
**DISCLAIMER** - PICTURES AND VIDEOS BEYOND THIS BREAK CONTAIN VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE, AND ADULT LANGUAGE THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Continue reading The List 1 - Dead Space
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Now that I'm forty, and being that it is the dog days of summer, it's about time I managed to accomplish something. I'm sure I did something this year, but my summer list seems a little heavy. Hmm. Still haven't fixed the fence. And all those branches in my backyard... are still attached to that bush for some reason. Well, I've managed to grow up some, I guess. Maybe. Gosh, this is really depressing.
Well, I did manage to do something this year; a certain thing that has dogged my steps for half my life now; a game I had a beef with from way back in 1997. But I was ready and attacked it full force, summons and limit breaks a blazin', and after quite a few gaming sessions I finally finished Final Fantasy VII.
Happy Birthday to me.
Continue reading Final Fantasy VII, Consider This Thy Fork!
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