Hello, everyone! If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’ll know I haven’t posted for a few weeks! I apologize profusely, but I know just what to do to make it up to you. How about some of the best PC download sales I’ve ever seen!? Don’t believe me? Prepare to be amazed.
Both Steam and GOG are taking out all the stops to bring you some of the best games ever!
Most of them will even run on older machines, which is wonderful for poor scare-junkies like me.
Plants vs Zombies: GOTY Edition for $5!
Resident Evil 5 for $10!
Freaking Borderlands for $5!
Amnesia: the Dark Descent, all 3 Gabrield Knight games, and Devil May Cry 4 each for $10!
Dear reader, if you’re a huge horror fan like I am, then you’ll realize this is a blood-and-gore gold mine. As for myself, I bought Vampire: the Masquerade: Redemption and Bloodlines, PVZ GOTY, and Amnesia just today and can’t wait to jump into all the spooky goodness.
I can only imagine that Steam will continue to put up more games for great deals until November 1st, so keep your mouse fixed on the Steam store. Until then, get in the holiday spirit, and go play some creepy games!
Today is a very special day. On this day, twenty years ago, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System hit U.S. store shelves. And the rest is history. No doubt, most of you have fond memories of the system and its amazing library of games. If you didn’t experience the SNES back in the day, you are to be pitied. Grab a friend with the console, find one yourself, or download an emulator. As a gamer, you haven’t lived until you’ve played SNES games, some of the best games of all time.
But you’ll hear all about how great the SNES is this week on countless sites and podcasts. So, instead of wasting your time, I just want to share a little story with you all. It’s the story of how I got my SNES.
Disclaimer: my story is not this epic...it does not have opera
First of all, before the console got into my house, I didn’t want the thing. By the time I was interested in getting something to replace our old NES, around ’96 or ’97, the Super Nintendo had had its day in the sun. Or so I thought. The N64 had just come out and it was all I could think about. Who wanted to play 16-bit, 2D games anymore? I wanted the hot, new thing. I wanted the beauty of the N64′s polygons (which, ironically, are not so beautiful today).
My brother, Sean, though, didn’t. He wanted the good, old SNES. So, when Christmas rolled around, it was a tossup. We had no idea if we’d be getting a new console at all, let alone the one of our choice. But when we woke up Christmas morning there was a large, wrapped box sitting under our tree, in just about the right shape. I can’t remember which one of us tore the paper off first, but I do remember Sean bursting into tears. Can you guess why? I’ll give you a minute…
DISTRACTION!
Sean was upset because he thought we’d gotten something we didn’t. The revealed object was a Super Nintendo, but it was in a misleading box. The second-biggest hit on the platform, Donkey Kong Country, had been bundled with the system, and, when we saw the box, Donkey and Diddy Kong were staring back at us, in full 3D glory. It must have been easy for a six-year-old to make the mistake, but Sean was under the impression that we had gotten an N64. I quickly explained to him that the reality was otherwise, that he had gotten what he wanted, but I’ll always retain that moment in my mind, when Nintendo’s sly marketing scheme almost ruined Christmas.
The object of my obsession
Having just averted disaster, we proceeded to play the SNES nonstop. In all honesty, I was bummed the N64 hadn’t arrived, but, hey, a new system is a new system. And I became enamored with Donkey Kong Country. For the next few months, it was my first priority. We got new games and played the heck out of them too, but DK Country would always be a thorn in the back of my mind. I was never able to conquer it until much later, just this year, in fact. And, to be frank, I cheated. But it was worth it to see the credits roll by, at long last. DK Country will always be one of my favorite games, and I’ve spent a ton of quality time with it.
*the first part of my Let’s Play of Donkey Kong Country, fully annotated for your viewing pleasure*
Over several years, we amassed a humble amount of games for the system and eventually sold everything off in order to upgrade. After all, the SNES is extremely easy to emulate and ROMs are just as easy to find. So why keep the system? Well, in retrospect, I wish we had kept everything. Money comes and goes, but great memories are forged in singular moments. And it’s nice to have the objects to go with the memories.
But I’m not too choked up about it. I still go back and play SNES games often, and there are many I have yet to experience. I suspect the same is true of you. So, this week, I challenge you to play ONE Super Nintendo game you’ve never played before, as well as go back to your favorite Super Nintendo game for a little while. I know you won’t regret it.
And if you think the SNES is completely dead, then have I got news for you. Hyperkin, the makers of many retro devices, are putting out a new handheld SNES, christened the SupaBoy, later this year for a price of just $80. As well as being able to play all SNES games, the handheld will have two SNES controller ports and you’ll be able to play it on your television.
The SupaBoy is supa fly!
Even with the unusually incredible lineup of modern games coming down the pike this year, I’m more excited about the SupaBoy than anything else. I can’t imagine anything better than being able to play the original version of Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger on the go. There’s just something about the thought of playing on the bus with a huge cartridge sticking half-way out of an enormous handheld retro game system that makes me grin. I’m interested to see if Super Game Boy will be supported; I wouldn’t mind an excuse to go back and play Pokemon Blue in full color.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for today, folks. I hope you learned and laughed a little. Please rate and comment to your heart’s desire. I may be publishing some more SNES related content this week, we’ll see. Until next time, may you know the joy of walking a familiar neighborhood.
HUZZAH!!! Today, I’d like to celebrate the 2000th view of Grue Ate My Homework! Thank you all, readers, I couldn’t have done it without you! I am humbled at the very thought of anyone bothering to read my blog, let alone this momentous achievement. Let’s get this party started the right away and talk about how this all happened.
Wizardry 8
My Wizardry 8 review, which you can read here, is far and away my most popular post on this blog, even beating out all three of my MTG Commander deck articles. This tells me a few things. First, there’s a larger active fan-base for Wizardry 8 than I realized. Second, the article was good. Third, I should create more content covering Wizardry 8. I can’t deny the popularity the post has garnered, and I can’t deny the game’s dedicated fans. To be honest, I’m a little more interested in other games at the moment, but Wizardry 8 is still one of my favorite games so it won’t be hard for me to deliver on that front. I’ve always wanted to do a Let’s Play of the game and this might be just the right time to do so. You can see a good example of just that at FrostytheDragon’s YouTube channel. Speaking of videos…
LIVESTREAMS
This is the future, ladies and gentlemen. One of my favorite ways to interact with and experience video games and the video game community is through videos. I love commentating on Let’s Plays and I think that’s where this blog is headed. I’ll let you know when the first livestream will be going up, but for now I’m still having connection issues at home. I’d rather not post shoddy work, so I’ll wait for the issue to be resolved. Until then, I’ll be posting recordings on my YouTube channel and on this blog of various gameplays. Right now, I’m working on Donkey Kong Country, and I would have the videos up by now but my upload speed is abysmally slow. You’ll be the first to know when a video goes up. You can view a whole host of videos right now if you just check out my channel here. You’ll find some Black Ops clips and six videos from an unfinished Let’s Play of Final Fantasy 6 up at the moment.
A Surprise…
I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a colleague of mine and point you to his achievements. Brian Albert, a friend and former schoolmate of mine, has recently begun paid freelance work for The Escapist, one of the most popular video game news sites on the web and home of the famous Yahtzee and his Zero Punctuation reviews. You can view all of Brian’s posts here. I highly suggest you do, as his articles are articulate and succinct examples of fine journalism. He’s done a ton of work to get where he is now and should serve as an example to all aspiring journalists that getting into the industry is indeed possible.
Soliciting Favors
I’ve given you guys a lot of content so far, and I have one teensy-weensy, little favor to ask all of you. If you read an article of mine and have an opinion about it, please, please, please, please, PLEASE, rate it and comment on it. It helps me out immensely and tells me you care to keep the blog up and running. And, heck, if you REALLY like it, telling a friend or five couldn’t hurt either
A Look at the Crystal Ball
There’s no telling what will happen to the blog from here, but I hope it will continue to gain a little ground. I greatly enjoy posting here, even more than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Whatever the outcome, you can be sure that, as long as this blog exists, you’ll never find yourself without a lamp in the maw of a hungry Grue…
Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of the Sunday Reflection, where I sit back and get real casual and down-to-earth with you all.
my house on my single player Minecraft game
First of all I wanted to point out something obvious; I haven’t posted for about a week. I’m going to blame a lot of the reason why on Minecraft, Call of Duty, and my extremely fickle WiFi connection at my parent’s house. I’ve been forced to not only play Minecraft single player (gasp), but also do things that are not related to the internet or gaming in any way, shape, or form, which is a big change. Hopefully, I’ll get the kinks in the connection figured out soon and be posting content more often this coming week.
Let’s talk a little bit about Call of Duty: Black Ops right now. It’s the first online shooter I’ve ever had so much access to, and, maybe not so surprisingly, I’ve put almost 300 hours into it since it came out in November. I don’t know what it is about the game, but I keep coming back for more. The truth is, it’s not a particularly great game, but it does possess the potential for great moments. As an okay-to-good player of the game, whenever I get a huge killstreak or pull off a particularly nice shot I always feel amazing. On the other hand, when I lose at Call of Duty, I almost always feel it’s not entirely my fault. A lot of this is my ego, but much of the cause lies in the game.
The hit detection in the game is noticeably worse than MW2′s. Bullets seem to have a mind of their own at times, either taking too long or not long enough to reach their targets. And some times, the game simply will not let you hit anything, particularly when wielding a sniper rifle. Who knows, maybe if I had an ultra-fast fiber optic connection these problems would be resolved, but I don’t and so they’re not. I’m currently 12th prestige, which probably isn’t high for how much time I’ve spent, but I’ve almost always played with a random group of people, which usually puts you at a disadvantage. I don’t have a lot of skill at getting the high killstreaks, and I tend to go into most situations with guns blazing. This style of play gets me killed a lot, but it’s fun and rewarding when it works. Over the last eight months I’ve experimented a lot with loadouts and determined my favorite gun in the game is the WA2000 sniper rifle. It doesn’t see much play online and is not one of the most powerful guns in the game. It is a great weapon for clearing out groups of enemies at mid-to-long range, however, and it’s goofiness is right up my alley.
Let’s move on.
Another issue I want to address is my access to the internet when I move to Iowa City. I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford it right away so I may be doing a lot of my online work at public hotspots for a little while. This, of course, may be detrimental to my online PS3 gaming, but that will probably be the only area to suffer significantly.
Speaking of the PS3, I started playing some more MvC3 yesterday, and I’ve actually begun to make some progress. I’ve been playing on a game pad, which probably is hindering me more than helping, but I’m making do with what I can. Fight sticks are still outrageously expensive, and I don’t play fighting games enough to warrant a purchase right now. My favorite character is Zero, and I’m still trying to decide on which other two characters compliment him the best. I’m excited for Ultimate MvC3, mostly because of the addition of spectator mode for online matches. I don’t know why Capcom didn’t include it in the original release of the game, but we all know MvC3 was extremely barebones when it released. Maybe they just wanted to get the core game out as soon as possible.
For the best Marvel vs. Capcom action and other fighting games, check out the finals of Evo 2011 here. It always amazes me to watch the pros duke it out with hundreds of their peers cheering them on (or booing them).
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week, expect to see some surprises in the coming days, peace!
Helllllooooo, nerds, geeks, Vulcans, dorks, noobs, koopas, ladies, and Bulgarians! Ladies, my phone number is available upon request. Everyone else, stick around; we’ve got important things to discuss.
As you probably know by now, the 3DS is getting a HUGE price cut WAY early in its lifespan. On August 12th, Nintendo is slashing the cost of their latest handheld from a questionable $250 to an unbelievable $170. The system hasn’t even been out for six months! But I think we all knew Nintendo was going to have to do something to ramp up their sales. I mean, Sony sold twice as many PSPs as Nintendo sold 3DS’s last quarter. Twice as many! Who the heck is buying a PSP?! It just goes to show that consumers aren’t idiots (though they are fickle).
But all is not lost for Nintendo fanatics! Those of us that were silly enough to purchase a 3DS already (in my case, on launch day) will be rewarded for our lemming-like zealotry. As long as you go into the online store with your 3DS before August 12th, you’ll be given ten free NES games and ten free GBA games on Virtual Console by the end of the year. That’s twenty free games! The full list has not been revealed yet, but, of those that have been revealed, the most exciting for me is Yoshi’s Island for the GBA. The question is, do twenty free games make up for the feelings of betrayal or anger some early adopters might be feeling? If you have a lot of disposable income, you probably don’t care. Some people that have to scrimp and save for months, however, might be a little ticked off.
Nintendo will be taking a loss on every sale of the 3DS as soon as the price drop hits, which is a big deal for them, as they’re the only major console publisher that usually doesn’t expect to lose money on systems. They’ll be relying solely on pushing games out the door to make a profit, and this strategy may not be very reliable in the current market situation. The 3DS’s lineup isn’t terrible anymore, but it’s not good yet either. When people can just go buy a DS Lite or PSP for much less and get access to a humongous library of awesome games with it, it’s hard not to wonder just what is Nintendo thinking.
All that aside, I predict Nintendo will pull out of this slump and probably be top dog again as soon as they do. The 3DS still has a lot of potential, and I plan on keeping mine until the next model arrives (which, at this rate, may be a lot sooner than we think). The eShop has a ton of great old Game Boy games and Netflix is a huge plus. I still like Street Pass and I’ve recently been enjoying the 3D Pokedex. Now if they could just publish a 3D game I will play for more than a week. Here’s hoping Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked will be as good as its name is long.
Hey, everyone, just wanted to remind you that my latest article for the Commanders Gathering went up this week. In it, I talk all about how to get the new Magic player into Commander using the WotC decks and the M12 core set. Enjoy it here.
Welcome back, regular viewers (both of you)! I promised you yesterday that I’d be bringing you some old-school Zelda goodness, so that’s what I’m doing. I cracked and bought the 3DS remake last week and have been avidly playing through it. I thought this would be a good time to look back on the original game and see if it’s still up to snuff. Believe it or not, Ocarina of Time is old! Like, super old! Like, 1998! Man, does that make me feel old. Time to take a trip down memory lane…
Ocarina of Time was one of the first games that I actually sat down and seriously played all the way through. It’s definitely the first 3D game I can remember finishing, and it took me totally by surprise back when I was about ten years old. First of all, I had no idea what to do when I started the game. Moving around in 3D was cool and the game was pretty by 1998 standards, but I had a big problem with the game. What the heck are you supposed to do?! The game starts without giving you a shield or a sword! To a ten-year-old, this was extremely frustrating. I had never experienced a game that required me to explore to progress before. I shamefully admit that, after the first time I rented the game, my brother and I returned it to our local video game rental store without even figuring out where the sword was. I was aware of how good the game supposedly was, though, in a ten-year-old kinda way, and I rented it again not long after. That time, my brother and I stuck with it, though we did have to use a guide to get through most of the game.
So, I learned how to Z-target...WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW???
That’s probably my biggest regret with Ocarina of Time and other games I played in my youth. I remember looking up strategy guides and cheats A LOT as a child, and I think that might have ruined the exploration part of games for me. Having everything laid out in front of me meant there was no challenge in the game’s puzzles (though I still got stuck in the Water Temple and restarted the game because of that). But that’s a discussion for another article. What I really want to examine is: is Ocarina of Time still a viable game today? Would people still be excited to play it if it didn’t carry the awesome marketing force of the Zelda franchise and if it didn’t incur that deep feeling of nostalgia? Perhaps the best way to determine this is to compare it to other Zelda titles and similar action/adventure games.
The Missing Link
Well, the first Zelda was more innovative than Ocarina of Time, in that it was one of the first console games with a map, a save feature, a campaign that couldn’t be completed in one sitting, etc. The second game…had leveling and a cool dungeon music theme? Ya, not a whole lot of competition, although the concept of towns offering places of respite would stick with the franchise for the rest of its life, as would the magic meter. Let’s skip ahead a bit. A Link to the Past has arguably held up better in the graphics department than Ocarina, but besides that there’s not a whole lot of difference in the two games other than the obvious change from 2D to 3D. Majora’s Mask is said to be more adult and darker. It’s also a lot harder and probably turned off a lot of Zelda fans. Windwaker is much prettier and the world is a lot bigger, although you’ll spend most of your time in the game sailing. I haven’t played much of Twilight Princess, but from what I’ve heard it’s pretty much Ocarina of Time with the ability to transform into a wolf. Honestly, I’m surprised at the amount of backlash that game has garnered.
Other games have taken the Zelda formula and had some success, but none of them really compete with the originals. So, does Ocarina of Time deserve more attention than any other console Zelda game? Honestly I’m pretty conflicted about that. On one hand, I’ve had some of the best gaming moments of my life living in OoT’s rendition of Hyrule. On the other hand, the game hasn’t aged all that well. No matter how much I squint and screw up my face, the game just looks simple by today’s standards. The world consists of not much more than some dungeons, some towns, a castle, a lake, some hidden areas, and a whole, whole lot of flat open space. Beyond that, the quests are rudimentary and there aren’t a ton of side quests. The collectibles are fun to find but ultimately don’t help out that much. For example, once you’ve found twenty Gold Skulltulas you might as well stop killing them.
Sorry, man, but I've got better things to do at the end of the game then wander aimlessly for hours just to get 500 rupees...like save the world
It’s getting late so I have to wrap this up, but the bottom line is that Ocarina of Time is, in reality, an odd, easy little game. There is a lot of charm left to be had, though, from the puzzles and the story. Maybe I’m just becoming disenchanted with the Zelda franchise, but I find that I’m wanting more and more challenge from games now. Back when I was ten, Ocarina was perfect for me, but now that I’m older I’m drawn to more skill-intensive games like Demon’s Souls and Call of Duty. Don’t get me wrong, Ocarina will always have a place in my heart and I’ll always go back to it when I need it.
Especially when Ganon rears his ugly head…excuse me, people, duty calls.
Welcome to another issue of the Sunday Reflection, where I get nice and casual with y’all. Just imagine me sitting in an easy chair next to a fireplace telling you stories of ages long gone and treasures beyond your wildest imaginations.
First of all, I want to remind you all to check out my articles at The Commanders Gathering, the fourth of which will be debuting this week. It’s a great resource for Magic: the Gathering, especially if you’re interested in the Commander format.
Next, I want to share with you one of the best YouTube channels I’ve found in my surf-searching.
XboxAhoy/AhoyXbox: One of the most professional YouTube channels I’ve had the pleasure to find. Run by just one man, it features Black Ops Weapons Guides done at a very high level. In each video, your host will provide you with a history, stats, tips, tricks, and loadouts for each weapon. In his “secret account”, AhoyXbox, he explains how he creates his videos, what’s going on with the channel, and what his future plans are. Most exciting is the fact that Activision recently hired him to create similar videos for Call of Duty Elite. Whether or not you’ll have to pay to see them is still unknown, but I’m looking forward to them either way.
Now I’d like to inform you of a change I’m making in the approach of the blog. Until now, I’ve been writing articles and publishing them in the same day. That’s worked all right so far; I’ve gotten a decent amount of hits and it’s kept me to a schedule. Unfortunately, my life has a tendency to interfere with this schedule and doesn’t always allow me to post as frequently as I’d like. So I’m going to try a different strategy. Starting today, I’ll be writing articles and publishing them several days or as much as a week later. This will allow me to take advantage of days in which I have lots of free time and not feel guilty about days that I won’t. Ultimately, it means you’ll be getting more, higher quality content and I’ll be getting a little more popularity, so it works out best for everyone. Expect to have daily articles similar to the ones in the past and some new surprises too.
Well, that’s all for today; join me tomorrow when I travel seven years into the future and discover the world has gone to hell in a hand basket.
Wazzup, fellow Lamp-carriers! First off, let me apologize for the lack of content over the past few days. I’m sure all of you were busy with your own three-day-weekend plans, though, so I hope you didn’t miss me too much
Now, on to the good stuff. My second article for The Commanders Gathering is up! You can find it here! In it I detail a rather stressful and humorous tale of a Magic game with one very stressing person.
Next, I’m going to get an early start on Spendsday Wednesdays, because you really shouldn’t be unaware of the deal I’m going to inform you of for one more second. Steam’s Summer Camp Sale is currently going on, and it’s fantastic, especially if you have a great PC. As I’m still running off my three year old laptop, I can’t play a lot of the games available, but even I couldn’t resist Serious Sam: Gold Edition at 80% off.
Well, that’s it for today; I know it’s short but I promise I’ll make it up to you.
If you haven’t heard, Team Fortress 2 recently became absolutely free on Steam. TF2 is one of the most popular PC games of all time. Period. I’ve never played it because I’ve never had a computer that could run it smoothly. But free is the perfect price! This announcement is just another example of a company contributing to the quickly-growing free-to-play trend that’s been all the rage for the last couple years. With such a huge figure as Valve making these changes, you can bet we are going to see many, many more examples of free-to-play games relatively soon. Some people may be turned off by the micro-transactions that must exist in these games; personally, I still don’t like the idea of buying purely digital content. Nevertheless, I think it’s the right direction to go. Soon enough, we’ll all get over our old biases and wonder how we ever lived any other way (i.e. without the ability to buy funny digital hats for our online avatars).
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and play one of the best games available today. For free. Lamp out.
