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I've got some bad news. When I called the guy who was going to help me do some shelving today, and told him to come hungry cause we were going to make him a steak dinner, he said some roofing material that he had been waiting on for 3 weeks finally came in today. That meant he had to pull some overtime at work and couldnt make it to my place today. We reshceduled for Sunday afternoon, so now I've got my fingers crossed.
Its like Christmas has been postponed 
Trying to add games from my basic games list to this RF Generation is irritating to say the least. I've got a list of thirty-something games so far I have to go and find the information for and submit them. However on the flip side, I do love the fact that I'm actually contributing to something I love.
While I write this, D&DO Unlimited is downloading. I tried the game a while back and in groups, it is rather fun. It seems more involving than WoW, less "DPS" and more focusing on skills and abilities that the group possesses. Being a rogue, for example, means you can pick locks and find/disable traps, which is useful especially when a trap can take out the whole group. The rogue can do damage, but in combat they are best found either skulking around trying to pick off targets that are distracted, or at the back with a repeater crossbow. Complete difference to WoW, where the rogues are more scary than any of the other classes put together.
ok this is my second review bit this time its a Wii game specifically a Wiiware Game called Contra Rebirth. I will rate gameplay, sound, story, controls, difficulty, and replay value THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SOME SMALL SPOILERS ABOUT UNLOCKABLES! So anyway on with the review!
Story 6.0/10
This description of the story comes from gamefaqs.com.
Chief Salamander and his Neo-Salamander Force travel back to 1973 A.D. to invade Earth. They land in Central America and take control of the Shizuoka ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula. There, the aliens plan the destruction of all the "Contra" on Earth. The Galactic President calls on Lance Bean, a member of the elite "Contra" warriors, to save the day, but his sudden disappearance jeopardizes the safety of the planet. Now, Bill Rizer and samurai Genbei Yagyu are the last hope for Earth. They must pick up their weapons and defeat the evil Neo-Salamander Army before all is lost. Experience the fast-paced, action-packed, side-scrolling adventure that pioneered the run-and-gun genre.
Overall the Story like any other contra game so nothing really to new to it
Controls 9.0/10
Controls are pretty much like any other contra game. You can shoot jump and switch between weapons, but more on that later/
Sound/Music 7.0/10
The sounds of the game are a cross between Contra 4 for DS and the original arcade version. Music is pretty well done nothing too special though.
Graphics 8.0/10
Graphics are very similar to Contra 4 so nothing special here either
Gameplay/Difficulty 8/10
Ok game is similar to the SNES Contra III: Alien Wars, by that I mean you can have two weapons at once. Oh and I recommend playing with a Classic Controller or Gamecube Controller because if you don't you will have to set the button to switch between weapons, but still I find it easier with the Classic and Gamecube Controllers. Weapons is where this game falters a bit because there are only 4 weapons Normal Gun (Machine Gun), Spread Gun, Laser, and Homing Missile. This game is also 2 players. Difficulty is pretty much like any other Contra but you get unlimited continues so it's pretty easy, but it can be frustrating. There are 5 levels. Also in the options you can change lives, (max is seven lives) screen layout , and others.
Replay value 7.5/10
Replay value is pretty good considering there is 4 unlockable things. They are:
Nightmare Difficulty - Beat Hard Difficulty
BR-W9 - Beat Easy Difficulty
Plissken - Beat Normal Difficulty
Nightmare difficulty is what makes it interesting because every time you kill an enemy a fire ball and blue orb come out and try to kill you so it makes a a little more replayable .
Overall 8.0/10
If you are a Contra fan and have 10 bucks or 1.000 Wi Points buy it You'll enjoy I think its worth it.
I'm writing this on the 10th March 2009 and when it appears on the 1st September 2009, it will commemorate my 1 year anniversary of collecting games for the Sega Mega CD. The games on this Top 5 list will be games that for their price and rarity, I may never get these games at all.
Continue reading The five games I may never get
After several weeks of mediocre finds, I finally have some really good stuff to report on. I didn't get a lot of sales, two all weekend to be exact, but one was great and the other was absolutely amazing. I even managed to find one of my personal "Holy Grails" although, I have to admit, I kind of had forgotten I really even wanted one since I've been looking so long for it and haven't seen it at a good price in the years I've been collecting.
Continue reading Treasure Hunt Chronicles '09 - #21
The plans for the Saturday shevling consultation fell through, but luckily he was free Sunday afternoon. He Came over and I showed him the room and told him what I had in mind. He said it was all quite doable.
So if everything goes well next Wednesday we will be purchasing materials and starting to peice things together. We are going to line the entire back wall of the closet with adjustable shelving so that I can change the heights as my collection grows. There will be a solid, unadjustable board running along the top and bottom to give it a proper shelving look, but everything in the middle will be adjustable.
One of my concerns was the water shut off being along that wall, but he was come up with a suitable solution for that problem. We are going to build a box around it to keep it looking tidy and clean, but leave a small door with access to the shut off valve. This will take up some of the shevling space, but it only means I'll have to place large items in that particular area rather than rows of games.
Since we got done drawing and pricing everything out a little earlier than planned we had some time left over to play Contra, Sky Shark and Battletoads. A good afternoon!!
I'll try to draw up a rough outline of what I've got planned in Paint over the next few days just to give you an idea of what we will be doing next week.
Sidearms (TG16)
One look at this game nowadays and you would swear it came out around 1993/94ish. Its really hard to believe such a great looking, sounding and playing game came out pre 90s.
[img width=340 height=337]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/z2-2.jpg[/img]
Gameplay:
Sidearms plays similar to the earlier game Section-Z, where you not only shoot forwards but backwards as well. This isnt however a huge focus of the game and it is rarely used. Just kind of adds a little extra flavor.
One of the biggest assets Sidearms has to offer is the many different weapons at your disposal. There are 5 different weapon types that can be collected and upgraded. These range from quicker shots to giant lasers to spread shots. Nothing new, but to find them all in the same game is great. Now the best part is that once you collect said weapon you can swap between any of them at any time by pausing the game and choosing which one suits your situation. If youre the kind of guy that likes to kill bosses as quick as possible the turbo shots or giant laser would suit you best, however if you prefer to play it slow and safe you can keep your distance with the 3-way spread or shotgun which eliminates enemy fire.
Another nice touch is that when your ship is destroyed you dont start out with nothing. You only lose the weapon you were using when your ship was destroyed. You can keep all 4 other weapons if you have them and start blasting away right off the bat.
The last upgrade, Alpha Upgrade, is found secretly in each level. It is uncovered simply by shooting an area or specific enemy. They are quite easy to find on most levels as long as you shoot anything and everything. The Alpha Upgrade causes another piece of ship to attach to you and lets you shoot a spread that covers the entire screen, front and back, in addition to your already equipped weapon. Also when you get hit you simply lose the Alpha upgrade and not a life. It is extremely handy in later levels when enemies are coming from all directions more often.
Graphics:
This game looks great not only for a game from 1989, but for a SNES/Genesis game. Very vibrant enemies stand out well on the dark mechanical backdrops. This contrast helps a lot in most shooters so that stray shots and enemies dont blend in with the background and cause unnecessary deaths.
Not once did I experience any slowdown even during the later more frantic levels. It always ran smooth.
Sound:
Sidearms boasts some really great and catchy tunes. If youre a fan of the music in other games like Mega Man, UN Squadron or Gyruss you'll love the music in Sidearms as much as I did. I must have played the first level 20 times in a two day period when attempting to beat this game and not once did the music feel repetitive or annoying.
Sound effects were your standard shmup guns and explosions. Not bad, but didnt stand out from anything else.
Replay Value:
If youre a high score junkie you'll have a bit of a reason to keep playing. There isnt a whole lot of room for massive scores, but it is quite a challenge to destroy everything near the end which could greatly boost your score.
If youre not a highscore junkie the only replay this game may get are quick plays once in a while for fun. There is no extra unlockables or better endings. It is however a great game to pick up and kill 20 minutes with.
[img width=314 height=221]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/z1-2.jpg[/img]
My only real complaint with this game is that they simply have 3 boss types in the game. 2 of them get recycled throughout the game repeatedly, but the last boss is a new one not yet encountered. Because you fight the same bosses over and over again even the later versions get very easy because they are only slight variation of what you have already beaten and mastered.
If youre a fan of horizontal scrolling shooters and missed out on Sidearms do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It is really a solid game with only one real flaw.
Final Score
8/10
Finally got an email back from my shelving guy. It reads like so:
"Hey. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Congrats on the newhouse. I would love to hang out. Build some shelves and shoot stuff.The next couple weeks are a little busy but I can stop by on Saturdayfor a bit and we can come up with a plan for the shelves and set up atime to hang and build them. It will be fun. Let me know if thisSaturday work. And what time."
So i'll know more on Saturday after we discuss things a bit. Just a bit of positive news I thought I'd share with you guys.
With the current generation of consoles, Microsoft and Sony have both touted their machines as being the center of your entertainment center. Microsoft banked on their userbase using Windows Media Player to share their media over your home network. Sony went more open with their platform by allowing any DLNA or UPNP device to share to it. Neither supports every format yet, but with the right software, you can rip and share your media to whatever device you may have at home. Since I first purchased my Xbox 360, I was trying to utilize the media capabilities. It wasn't easy, but it worked. When my wife and I purchased our first home, I wanted to continue to share media, but it obviously wasn't first on the list. Soon after, we purchased a PS3, and quickly it became our media playback device of choice. DVD upscaling over HDMI (I have an HDMI-less 360) as well as Blu-Ray playback, and we were set!
Continue reading Extending Your Media
I got my GCSE Results today, and everyone is proud of me 
Got As in Science, mainly Bs in English, English Lit, Maths, History and Tech, Cs in French (and I'm not doing that again w00t!) and Geography!
So does anyone have any friends, relatives or yourself got exam results today or in the past weeks?
Went to Gamestation in town, looked round store, looked at cabinet next to counter, and what did I find?
I found the bottom of the cabinet filled with Neo-Geo Pocket games, N64 games, Dreamcast games, a Sega Saturn copy of Guardian Heroes, Sonic 3 and two copies of Sonic CD and Batman Returns for the Mega CD EACH! Apparently the store's basement had a huge stock of retro titles that needed to be gone, so part of them were on display. I got Batman Returns CIB (if I wasn't paying attention I would've gotten one without a manual) for 6.99 and Sonic 3 with Box (no manual) for 9.99.
Continue reading...
Continue reading Sudden update
Deleted Post
This was a very slow week for me. I started working out at the county fair on Wednesday to get our building ready for the fair on September 2nd, so I didn't get to a chance to go to the flea market on Thursday or to go garage saling on Friday. Saturday was a slow day as well, but also rather strange as everything I bought was new, but nothing very recent. Sunday's flea market was bad, very little other than the regular vendors, but I did manage to pick up a couple games there.
Sadly, school started today for me, so my treasure hunting will be limited almost entirely to weekends for the rest of the season.
Continue reading Treasure Hunt Chronicles '09 - #20
Hey everyone, I've won two new games and I just got my ticket today to go to the Reading Music Festival! Not only that but I've got some other news but you have to read on to find out what that is!
Continue reading New Games and News
Hollywood Video. When one hears those two words they tend to think second place. Why? Because factually, they are second place next to Blockbuster Video here in the states. And usually located next to a Hollywood video (more than not, that is) is a store called GameCrazy, another second place runner up, this time to GameStop. Now, the reasons why Hollywood Video is behind Blockbuster are clear: Blockbuster is just better, plain and simple. Now, for GameCrazy however, something doesn't add up.
To me, GameCrazy seems like the superior store, for more than just one reason. If you haven't read my GameStop review blog post, do so now, so that you can see just how much better GameCrazy, at least to me, is.
And now... The Review:
- Selection: Good, the majority of the time. It's a pity, that like GameStop, GameCrazy has phased out the majority of its older stock. This makes us as collectors unhappy, but doesn't necessarily have to do with selection. In terms of new games and being in stock, they usually are in stock all the time. A solid 4.5/5 in this section.
- Organization/Product Quality: Well, unlike GameStop with their silly 'opened but new games' craziness, the new games are actually new. Organization can be a bit of a problem for the used selection, but the new stuff is usually very tidy. Their used product quality is very good, I have never had a problem with a used game, and they always let me check it before I buy it. If they think that it looks bad, they buff it for me for free, then will test it to make me satisfied. Product Quality and Organization is great, earning 4.5/5.
- Prices: Used prices tend to be very low, and new prices are new prices. Nothing more to say than good prices, and they do have buy 1 get 1 free every so often, and other promotions in that type of vein. I'd say they are pretty darned close to perfect, so a 5/5.
- Customer Service: As I said in Product Quality, they tend to be very good on the whole Customer Service thing. One thing that does annoy me is that they sometimes ask me about their disk protection service ($2.50 or so), and I say no, yet they still charge me for it. Even other times, they won't ask and still charge me for it. That is NOT cool. 3.5/5, due to the issues with charging me for services I specifically do not want.
GameCrazy earns a solid 17.5/20, or 87.5%. GameCrazy is, so far, my favorite chain around where I live. However, Play-n-Trade has recently moved into the area, presenting more competition. I will have to patronize them some to see how well they play into the mix.
Have any of you guys (or gals) ever had a success story with them? Possibly a horrendous one?? Leave a comment, post a blog, or PM me! And keep it on channel 3!!!!
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