The Sunday Reflection: 8/28/11

Rising Action

Hey, everybody. It’s been an awesome couple weeks for games. First Gamescom and then PAX. It’s too much to take in at one time. Not to mention the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year: Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Adam Jensen sits down to play Deus Ex for the first time. “Man, if only I were this cool in real life.”

Augment Your Life with Deus Ex

I picked up the Augmented Edition of the game, because I love soundtracks. I wasn’t sure at first, but I think, in the end, it will be worth the money. I’m not going to spoil anything, but the game starts off a little slow, as games are want to do these days. It seems like almost every modern game I sit down to play needs to hold my hand for an hour. I’d like to ask the developers a question, though. Just who are these tutorials supposed to be catering to? Casual gamers are not going to pick up a game like Deus Ex and play it on the hardest difficulty, so why not cut out the crap in the beginning and just include a digital manual inside the game? That would free up a lot of design space and make for a better game overall. Hard-core gamers DO NOT NEED tutorials to figure things out. Within a few minutes of experimenting with the game, they will intuitively discover how to move and what each tab in the menu is for. Anyway, this discussion is really for another article.

DX:HR's take-downs are some of the most satisfying moments in gaming ever.

What really matters is that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a damn great game. If you have access to a console or suped-up PC, go buy it now. The best version is obviously the PC version, but not just for looks. One of the most annoying parts of the game on the PS3 is that you cannot change the control scheme, and the built-in control scheme is stupid. Why can’t people understand that the FPS layout HAS BEEN DEFINED? It’s set in stone. We’ve already discovered the perfect layout. L is for aiming, R is for shooting. There is no excuse for going against the norm and NOT including alternates. End of rant.

The Rest of the Deluge

I’m swamped by games right now. Every time an enticing sale comes up on GoG or Steam I just have to have it. I even paid six bucks for the Humble Indie Bundle 2 (if you didn’t, you missed out). So, if I can’t finish any games right now, I might as well tell you which ones have my attention at the moment.

Deus Ex is my first priority.

Minecraft is getting updated soon, so I expect I’ll be spending a lot more time on it in the coming month. You can find some new information from PAX about the update here.

The Triforce

I just bought Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor: Overclocked for the 3DS and the game is surprisingly fun. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to utilize the 3D very often, but that’s not such a big deal.

One of the most exciting games on GoG just came out, and that is the legendary Dungeon Keeper 2. It is absolutely a must-play and I was thrilled to buy it for a measly six dollars, DRM-free. Going back to it is like putting on a well-worn, comfortable pair of sneakers.

I also rebought Demon’s Souls, because I just couldn’t live without it anymore. After I finished the game the first time, I didn’t want to play it anymore because I’d seen everything the game had had to offer. Maybe I’m just getting caught up in the excitement of Dark Souls, but I think I want to platinum Demon’s Souls first. I don’t know if I will, but I do know that I’ll greatly enjoy going back to it. It’s definitely my favorite game of this generation and possibly the best action-RPG.

One word. Floss.

In addition, I’m still working my way through Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, which is still charming. I’ve meant to play more Black Ops, but my PS3 is having trouble with the update and I don’t care to spend time messing with it right now.

Finally, I’m still working on Let’s Plays and getting those onto YouTube. I have half of my Donkey Kong Country Let’s Play up already and the first part of my Mega Man X Let’s Play is as well.

Whew. That’s a LOT of games! And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

A Day in the Life

A few readers may know already, but I figured I should tell the rest of you. This week, I’m moving into my first apartment ever in Iowa City. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long, drawn-out ordeal, so I may not be posting much this week. But after this week I will have a LOT more time on my hands to do what I want. A little of that time should boil down to more blog posts.

I should also inform you that I recently acquired a Tumblr account. I like it so far, I just haven’t put too much work into it. Still, if you’re interested, you can find me at Nick Tumbles.

That’s a Wrap

Pretty exciting week, eh? Stay tuned.

Later.

What the SNES Means to Me

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.

2000 Views!

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…

Until next time.

The Sunday Reflection

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!

Retro Mondays #4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

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.

The Sunday Reflection

Hello, hello, hello, and HELLO!

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.

Newsday Tuesdays

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.

Keep those lamps a-burnin’.

The Sunday Reflection

Well, so far I haven’t been able to keep up anything on Friday and Saturday, mostly because it’s those two days on which my social life usually occurs. Also, my original plan for Fridays, modern video game reviews, doesn’t seem to interest me that much right now, because, besides Call of Duty, I’m mostly playing a lot of older games at the moment. And you can get reviews for new games practically anywhere. I suggest IGN, GamesRadar, and PC Gamer to get you started. All of this is just to say that I probably will post some modern reviews eventually, but don’t expect them very frequently unless developers start sending me review copies. And they likely won’t be long ordeals either. The Wizardry 8 review took a relatively long amount of time that I can’t see happening often. Expect something more like Yahzee’s Zero Punctuation reviews rather than GameSpot’s. Not many modern games interest me, and paying 60 bucks at  the launch of a new game is impossible for my current budget. Not to mention, the time it takes to complete a new game is anywhere from 10 to 100+ hours, and I am only one very poor man.

What I can tell you is that the surprise I hinted at a week ago is still on the way, and I will let you know as soon as it is official. I’m expecting news about it tomorrow or the next day.

What I’d like to use Sundays for is a more casual reflection on what I’m playing, what I’m currently into, what’s going on in my life, and whatever else comes into my mind. I naturally tend to write in this free-association style, and it’s both informative (for you) and therapeutic (for me). So let’s dive right in, shall we?

The past week I’ve been playing a lot of games from GoG.com. Most notable are The Last Express, The Longest Journey, Duke Nukem 3D, Baldur’s Gate, and Fallout. I hope to have a review of The Last Express up soon. I’m very excited about the game and it’s relatively short, a fact I always admire in a correctly priced game. I’m also still playing Pokemon White to an extent, but I’m getting burnt out on Victory Road, which I imagine is a pretty common occurrence. CODBLOPS is still fun for me when I’m not getting completely destroyed by people with better connections. I was finally able to download the latest update for the game after hooking my father’s network cable up to my PS3. For some reason the updates were just not happening with the WiFi, and I’ve heard similar stories from other people online. If only Sony could just make their system work all the time, then I wouldn’t even bother considering to buy a 360, no matter how much I yearn to play the upcoming Halo remake and Halo 4.

I’m still working on my Zedruu commander deck as well, and I think it is shaping up nicely. There are a lot of cards I don’t own that would make the deck considerably better, but that’s the fun of casual formats. Not everyone has to have every top-tier card. I’ve got my Sensei’s Divining Top and my Zedruu and my Sol Ring, and that’s all that matters. Killing someone with my Bronze Bombshell or Transcendence for the first time is still going to be fantastic fun.

I’ve been reading Matt Barton’s book, Dungeons and Desktops, for about a week now, and I find that it is a mostly adequate and accurate history of CRPGs. I started to get bored about half way through, I admit, and skimmed over the rest. To my surprise and shock, there is almost no mention of Wizardry 8. The only reference to the game is half a sentence at the end of the section covering Wizardry 7. It wouldn’t be such a problem for me if he hadn’t paid so much attention to worse, more obscure titles than Wizardry 8. It just wasn’t given its due in my mind. I was disappointed after discovering this fact and probably will return the book to my library unfinished. It is still a wonderfully informative book, though, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in role-playing games should look it up. Matt Barton has definitely done his homework in almost every regard.

As for movies, I haven’t been able to see a new one in quite some time. Despite the negative reviews, I still would like to see Green Lantern, but I won’t be shelling out nine dollars any time soon. X-Men looks good, but what I’m really excited for is Super 8. Harry Potter, of course, is a must-see, and I should have my ticket soon. If you don’t plan on going to the midnight release in your area yet, I highly, highly, HIGHLY encourage you to do so. The last movie marks the end of an era (almost as long as the time it took Duke Nukem Forever to come out) and you won’t get another chance at something like this for a long, long time.

(this trailer gives me chills every time I watch it)

And that’s pretty much all I’ve been up to for now. I have an interview with a store I’m very interested in tomorrow and I’m looking more closely at apartments. One in particular in downtown Iowa City looks like a good idea but nothing is official yet, and nothing will be until I have a job to take over from my work/study gig.

Lamp out.

Magic Review: WotC Commander Decks Part 3

At last! The final commander deck of the five. If you’ve missed the other four, check out the other two commander articles I’ve posted. Have you done that? All right then let’s move on.

Get ready for a giant Jell-O mold with a T-Rex head for an arm, say hello to THE MIMEOPLASM, leader of the Green/Blue/Black Devour for Power deck.

It’s a legendary ooze. Can you say “awesome”? I love strange creature types. Who cares about human clerics and fungi when your team can be led by a giant slime monster? I’ll be honest and say this deck is tied with Political Puppets in my mind. I naturally gravitate to these colors whenever I build a deck, and the legendary options in this deck are absolutely stellar. The Mimeoplasm is graveyard hate and a beater, and you’ll have multiple ways to get him back if you decide to put him into the graveyard when he dies. Because this guy will die; he’s liable to be number one on your opponents’ most wanted list the moment he hits the table. Something to note about old Mimeo is that you don’t have to declare what creatures you’re exiling until he resolves, which means your opponents will have to decide if they want to counter it before they get that critical information. Just don’t betray your intentions too early! But the ooze isn’t all you’ll be getting. I’m equally excited about the other new commander options as well: Damia, Sage of Stone; and Skullbriar. First of all, Damia is a freaking gorgon wizard, which is just plain delicious on its own. But she’s also a 4/4 Deathtouching beater AND one of the best pieces of card advantage in the format. Skullbriar is great in the early, middle, and late game since his counters remain on him no matter where he goes, and you could easily stick him in the Counterpunch deck will little work. Vorosh the Hunter, while not as exciting, can still get huge and get the job done in a pinch. The rest of the deck is all about getting stuff in and out of the graveyard and taking full advantage of it just like this deck should be. Another killer creature I have to mention is Sewer Nemesis, who really will give one of your playmates nightmares. There’s so much you can do to modify this deck but I’ll leave that to you. Overall I think this is a great deck that you can’t go wrong with.

My rating (compared to the other four decks):

Fun Factor: 4/5
Value of Cards: 4/5
Competitiveness: 4/5
Overall: 5/5

As you can see if you’ve read all three articles, all of these decks are good if not great, and I would recommend any of them (maybe with the exception of Mirror Mastery) to any playgroup. New groups especially, though, will get the most out of these, I feel. The decks are more or less balanced with each other, and pitting all five against each other in a huge war would be a fantastic experience. Wizards of the Coast really hit the mark with this product and I’m proud of them for embracing a format developed mainly outside of their offices.

If I were going to buy all five but I didn’t have the cash to get all of them at once, I’d likely buy them in this order:

Devour for Power
Political Puppets
Counterpunch
Heavenly Inferno
Mirror Mastery

My overall rating of the entire commander deck product:

Fun Factor: 5/5
Value of Cards: 5/5
Competitiveness (in commander): 3/5 (Each deck is likely going to take an additional investment before they can compete with some of the best decks in the format, but competition isn’t really the point of commander anyway. At least, not for me.)
Overall: 5/5

Well that’s it, we’re done! Keep in mind that I still haven’t gotten a chance to actually play with these decks at the time of this writing, but I’ve had a great time speculating. I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride as well!

But wait, there’s more? Well, I’d like to take this opportunity to inform you, constant reader, of some more of my plans for the blog if you don’t mind. First of all, I want to apologize for not doing a full review of a video game this week. I had hoped to review a video game every Friday, but I simply didn’t have enough time this week with all the commander shenanigans going on. I promise to try a bit harder this coming week, but who knows what will happen. I recently bought Dungeon Keeper, Duke Nukem 3D, and Baldur’s Gate 1 off of GoG.com, and I’d like to review one of those in the future. I don’t think I’ll be buying or renting the new Duke Nukem any time soon despite what I said in a previous article; the reviews have all been terrible and I just know it’s not worth my time. I’m going to continue with the daily columns because I think they’re a good way to force me to write every day and I really enjoy them.

Now, I have something to ask of you. I know I don’t have a lot of readers right now but I think I have enough to ask for a little feedback. So leave me a comment and tell me a few things if you wish. Did you like the content posted in the last ten days? Do you want to see more of something or less of something else? Would you like the Magic content to be relegated to a separate blog? Is the information presented here entertaining and helpful to you? What are you most interested in reading about? Whatever you want to say is fine, you have my regards no matter what.

Finally, I have a small announcement to make. I don’t want to spoil the surprise right now but I recently have been given an opportunity to contribute a little something more to the community. If it succeeds you’ll hear about it in the next week or so. And that’s all I’m going to say for now. Have fun speculating.

Until next time, thanks for reading, and lamp out.

Future Thursdays #1: Ocarina of Time Makes the Temporal Leap to 3D

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the game to many people. Whether it’s just nostalgia or the game actually is a masterpiece is up for debate, but regardless you’ll undoubtedly hear most people mention it when they talk about their favorite games of all time. However, in the thirteen years since its release its age is beginning to show.

While it certainly looks and plays better than countless other N64 and PS1 games, there’s no denying that blurry textures and blocky polygons aren’t the prettiest facets of video game history. Still, OoT remains the standard to which all other Zelda games and  most RPG/adventure games are compared to this day. Majora’s Mask was strange and unique, but it wasn’t OoT. Windwaker was controversial from the start and has aged much better, but it wasn’t OoT. Many say Twilight Princess is just a redone version of OoT. And it’s probably safe to say that Skyward Sword and the Wii U Zelda title will draw on OoT for most of their inspiration. Nintendo has even gone as far as to re-release OoT in several bundle packages and on Virtual Console.

But all that is moot, because in a few short days Zelda fans will finally get what they’ve been screaming for for the past thirteen years. A DAMN REMAKE OF OCARINA OF TIME!

On a handheld? Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers. Don’t get me wrong, I drool at the ability to take one of my most beloved childhood games with me anywhere I go like a stuffed teddy bear. And I’m sure that’s what Nintendo is banking on for their sales. There’s no doubt the game will do well, but will it be worth the $40 at launch? Not for everybody, but for most people that haven’t completely forsaken Nintendo yet that question has been answered in the affirmative since the game was announced.

I admit I got goosebumps just watching the most recent trailer for the game. I’ve played OoT so many times it always feels like going home seeing Link, Zelda, Ganon, the Great Deku Tree, the dungeons, the overworld, Epona, etc. For your money, you will be most likely getting a great experience for your 3DS (and there are so few of those right now) in OoT. If one quest isn’t good enough for you, try the Master Quest version with differently built dungeons; it’s bundled right in. Also included is a kind of arcade feature that lets you fight through every boss in the game in quick succession, something I’m sure die-hard fans won’t get tired of.

At the end of the day, what really matters is that people are still excited about OoT. It’s a classic for a reason and Nintendo was smart to deliver this package during Zelda’s 25th anniversary year. If you’ve never played OoT before…well, first of all you’re probably a very sad individual. But I guarantee that the remake will brighten your life (and I haven’t even played the game yet).

We’ll all see what the critics say next week. Until then, instead of a lamp, why not carry around a fairy in a bottle for a while (in the form of OoT 3D)?