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Monday Madness?

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It’s Monday and it’s time to get mad. Well, not really. It’s great to be hydrated and back in the land of the living. wash your hands and don’t eat poop.

First, the University of Michigan has created the COM-BAT. What is it? It’s a six inch robotic spy plane shapes like a, well, you know, a bat. Pics and coolness.

I like LEGOs. I like Assassin’s Creed. Chocolate and peanut butter. Take a leap of faith.

Please try the demo to Trials 2. I bet you’ll buy the game. If anything, watch the video. It’s…neat. Physics.

Spirit, the Mars Rover left to die before it’s time? I don’t think many will disagree that these rovers were probably some of the greatest engineering ever done by and for NASA. Godspeed, Spirit.

Finally, a car maker does something cool for the gamer crowd. The Pontiac G8 meets Spy Hunter. I love the Peter Gunn theme.

Space Invaders Extreme

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The first videogame I ever played was Space Invaders. It was simplistic and challenging. Well, now it looks like Space Invaders has met Lumines and you can color me intrigued. It’s out now in Japan an will be available stateside in June for $20 for the PSP and DS.

Giant Bomb mentioned it first. Head on over there for more info and a more detailed write up.

Monday Madness? Not Today

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I spent most of the day yesterday in a hospital hooked up to an IV and getting pain medication. Needless to say, today is a day of rest. I shouldn’t even be online now. Back in a few.

GRID

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There is no way this is actual gameplay footage. A new game just popped up on my radar.

Monday, er, Tuesday Madness?

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Now, that my self-imposed internet ban is over I figured I should post this week’s Monday Madness…on Tuesday. Oh, in case you’re wondering how I have links that I’ve supposed to have found over the week, well, I have my ways.

Baseball. I love it. The season’s just starting. Want to know the differences between pitches? I found this by Lokesh Dhakar (of Lightbox fame) via here and then monkeyPi. It’s a bunch of illustrated baseball pitches.

Let’s continue our party with Helen Keller. I’m a sucker for inspiring stories. It appears that someone has found a rare image of Helen and her tutor Anne Sullivan that reflects their relationship (via CNN). A picture is worth a 1,000 words.

I think my two boys alone have added at least 1,000 views to this great video of my three favorite muppets singing Danny Boy. It’s bookmarked on the Wii.

There’s a new way (to me) of running an aquarium called aquascaping. I have a 20 gallon in my office now. However, I want to do this or this. Just amazing. An ecosystem of it’s own. [More images].

Lastly, while in my self-imposed internet ban, I had to do something. I bought a new car. Come on, spring!

Monday Madness?

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As I get ready to start my self-imposed internet ban for the week, I figured I’d link up this week’s madness. I’ve got a gamer responsibility post coming later this week (it’s pre-dated) so I should still be around virtually.

I’m amazed at what lengths the idiots in the media will go to for a story. Engadget reports a guy who decides to demo the Air Force’s pain gun. Does the gun work? Do you think he gets paid enough? Wonderful video. Engage!

Bill Harris at Dubious Quality does this great, in depth comparison of game scores to their publishers. A couple of publishers score high with each game released. One is Blizzard. The others are surprising.

Engadget also shows us an Etch A Sketch clock video.

Lastly, our most loyal reader Brock sent me a link to a great image a week or two ago. Think 300 meets Patapon. Pata pata pata pon.

Time to Purge (“The List”)

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In light of all I’ve gone through and with giving up (actually, changing perspective) on “The List,” it’s now time for me to get rid of all the games I no longer want or need. What does that mean for you, oh, inquisitive reader? Simply put, you get first dibs.

Here’s how it works. I’m going to list all the game I want to get rid of. (All of them come in their cases). I could just take them in to Gamestop, but they are idiots (There’s a guy in our local store that deserves a plethora of posts. I feel sorry for uninformed customers.) and they would give me a pittance for the trade-in anyway. I will sell the game to you at half the price Gamestop sells it used (look it up on their site and email me the link). That way, you get a game cheaper than used list and I make more off it. Make sense? Let’s eliminate the used store middleman and save on their fees.

Just email me (agentgray at gmail) what you want and we can work all the other stuff. I’ll probably use Paypal and ship the mail via USPS (US or Canada) Here’s the games (with commentary):

Gamecube:

  • Metroid Prime – It’s a little past it’s namesake, but an excellent game. Good for a single play through.
  • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes – echoing what’s above
  • SSX Tricky – I loved this game. One of the few I did everything with. Now? Meh.
  • Pikmin – If you like telling flowers what to do, then this is for you.
  • Mario Golf Toadstool Tour – I consider it to be the best sports game for the ‘cube.
  • Super Monkey Ball – A party game before they were popular. You unlock the party game part.
  • Prince of Persia The Sands of Time – I had a blast with this, the grandfather to Assassin’s Creed.

Xbox

  • Lego Star Wars – I have the new version. No need here.
  • Panzer Dragoon Orta – I guess this game may be rare? Good for a single play through.
  • Psychonauts – Just a smidgen overrated, I think, but very funny. Might be a little rare in Xbox form.
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – A classic. Might be the best Star Wars story since Episode V.

Nintendo DS

  • Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime – a fun diversion that’s easy to play.
  • Brain Age – my age dropped the more I tried to complete “The List”
  • Contact – what a quirky game. Almost like a new Startropics.
  • Hotel Dusk Room 215 – one of the best uses of the DS ever, an interactive book.
  • Metroid Prime Hunters – cramp inducing? At least for this lefty.
  • Meteos – From what I understand it may be rare now. A fun puzzle game.
  • Electroplankton – I love this quirky off the cuff stuff. NOt really a game, but interesting. Rare.

Xbox 360

  • PocketBike Racer – I will give this away. The King creeps me out.
  • Lost Planet – the constant falling down lost me on this.
  • Dead Rising – A frustrated love? The timer, the inmates (that keep coming back), the bad survivor AI, and weird save system. I need to move on.

Nintendo Wii

  • Zack & Wiki – I had fun with this quirky adventure game. Hilarious unintended Wiimote motions too.
  • MLB Power Pros – I wish I had the time. I really do, but this is the most interesting, time consuming baseball game on any console. Stat tracking is amazing.

There you go. There are some more titles I may add to this, but I am very close to completing them. Plus, I have some PC titles, but I need to make sure license keys and stuff are OK.

Monday Madness?

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I have this horrible online habit of bookmarking everything I come across and throwing it in a folder called “toread.” The idea behind it is that on Friday afternoon as a reward for a good week’s work I’ll take the last hour and follow up on them. They’re usually gaming related, but some craziness creeps in there every now and then. I figured I’d (Ed. – Tony, feel free to add to it) try something new here and share with you on Mondays the links that I’ve found to be interesting, my goal being to distract you from your job.

First I’d like to share with you a little bio I found about John Freeman, Gordan Freeman’s brother, called Half life: Full Life Consequences. It’s insane enough that it’s warranted a sequel. It’s a quick and dirty use of Garry’s Mod with quirky writing to go along with it.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun gave us a first look at Battlefield: Heroes a while back. I was not sold on it at all because it’s a complete knock off of Team Fortress 2. However, this writeup convinced me to give it a try. After all, it is FREE (from EA? yes!) and has a great sense of humor. It’s also has one of the best commercials/trailers I’ve ever seen for a video game.

I am a sucker for shooters. I find them to be nerve racking and relaxing. Indie Games has a list of what they consider to be the best FREEware shooters of 2007. I’ve not checked them all out yet, but I’m hoping there’s a gem or two in there.

My favorite toy is LEGO. Naturally, I want to see what people can do with it. This guy has made micro Star Wars scenes and put them under glass domes, and this guy does some great mini-mecha stuff. The little yellow utility mech is great.Lastly, just one more LEGO tidbit.

It looks like LEGO is dropping their train line. According to Brothers Brick, they’ve started discounting sets. You can get the Hobby Train set at half price ($50). It’s probably the best LEGO sales deal I’ve ever seen from (what I consider to be) a heavily overpriced toy. I bought one at Christmas and just bought another. Oh, the Imperial Star Destroyer is disappearing too.

All Good Things…Must Come to An End

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It’s over.

After almost five months, I just cannot do it. I’m not going to be able to complete “The List.” It’s just gotten to be too painful.

A couple of days ago, Jason from Unfethered Blather (Not reading it? You should be.) left a comment here that summed up perfectly one of the feelings I have evolved towards in completing my games.

I am trying to either finish all of my games or at least play enough of every game that I can honestly feel like I’ve gotten something out of it.

I went back to my chart and calculated based upon reviews and FAQs how much time out would take me to complete “The List.” It came to roughly two and one half months—straight through. I then figured for the insane normalcy that is my life and it came to almost a year and a month just to finish them. Uh, I think it just became a job. What Jason said should probably be true. In the back of my mind all this time I had been doing a quick assessment of what games I had gotten enough playtime and enjoyment out of. That led to two things:

  1. I had a lot of games I that I had gotten enough enjoyment from playing. They had to go.
  2. I am not a responsible gamer. Some games I paid a premium for and not played a whole lot.

The second item is something that I want to focus on over the next couple of weeks. Being a person with a limited budget, how can I be a more responsible gamer. What are some guidelines I can follow so I don’t just blow good, hard-earned money on crap? There’s just too much to choose from in the digital entertainment industry, and it’s probably high time I start being “adult” about it. I’m actually thinking of starting a series called, appropriately enough, “Being A Responsible Gamer.” I’ve certainly thought about it enough over the last five months.

All too often, I think gamers in general, are the worst fad followers in the world. We move from game to game and release to release. Of course, it’s no help that the developers and retail industry make it possible to purchase games before they are released. No, don’t get it on release day. Get the satisfaction that you get it ASAP. Very rarely, if ever, have you known a game not to be available. Most are very easy to find. (Yes, there are some exceptions. I recently tried to find Puzzle Quest for the DS as a birthday gift.)

I would like to address issues of money, time, quantity, morality (yes, there is such a thing), kids, and even quality in the upcoming weeks. Now, it’s just time for a gaming clearance at our household. “The List” will still be around, it’ll just be much smaller.