Nintendo Mushroom Sours

Filed under: Potant Potables — Will @ 10:00 am June 30, 2010

Continuing our culinary video game journey, this week I’m going to try an apparent staple of Mario’s diet: Nintendo Mushroom Sours.

They look innocent enough, right? Expressionless eyes staring straight… into your soul! Begging you to rip their caps off and chew on the sweet treats that lie within.

So I did.

Appearance:

The candies look about like you’d expect. Like miniature mushrooms in vaguely the same shape as the containers, but with a little less fidelity. Kind of like when your favorite person is translated into action figure form.

Smell:

I took a whiff of each container and was greeted with… not much, actually. I cheated and took a look at the flavors that were allegedly in these things: the red ones are supposed to be cherry and the green ones apple. But what they really smell like is what you remember apple or cherry-flavored candy would smell like. Muted. Distant. Understated.

Taste & Texture:

With no other option left open to me, I decided to dive in. First was the green one. It tasted faintly like apple-flavored candy, a.k.a. green-flavored. Not too bad, but not too good either, and, in fact, I had to eat two at a time to get enough flavor for my tongue to realize that I wasn’t just eating chips of chalk. Red was pretty much the same story: chalky, bland, and nearly flavorless. To be honest, they seem like they’re little more than just mushroom-shaped Pez.

They’re not bad, but they’re not really great, either. Really, the draw here is that they’re shaped like Mario-universe, and they’re kind of neat to display on your desk or tchotchke shelf or what have you. But that’s about it.

Something Old, Something New

Filed under: PSN Update — CJ @ 4:27 pm June 29, 2010

The Playstation Network finally posted a demo for the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, titled “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal“. I didn’t play the Monkey Island games in the early 90′s when they were released for PC as another addition to your point and click adventure catalog. Seeing as how a 3D remake like this relies heavily on nostalgia (not unlike the Sam & Max series), I wasn’t overly excited to fire this one up. In fact, I didn’t play it at all. I sat in the living room playing another game while my wife played through this week’s demo. Her summary: “I would like it more if the guy didn’t talk so much.”  Though I was playing a different game at the time, I have to agree. The banter in Monkey Island wasn’t nearly as clever or entertaining when compared to Sam & Max, but I suppose it might be slightly more appropriate for a younger crowd as there isn’t as much “bodily humor” in Monkey Island – at least in the demo. “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal” is a pretty straight-forward puzzle/adventure game, where your goal is to find the stuff to put in the thing that will lower the bridge to let you get from point A to point B. If you want to try the PC demo, there is a link on the game’s homepage.

The more important part of this update is the mention of a great iPhone/iPad app called Tiki Towers. You have to build bridges, archways, ladders, and other types of scaffolding in order to get five monkeys from the beginning of the stage to the end, while gathering all of the available bananas. I didn’t do well in high school Physics, nor do I have any sort of background in construction and I think this combination is what made Tiki Towers so much fun. Instead of an actual problem solving game that would test my building know-how, I approach the game with a childish ignorance that results in a lot of trial and error and yelling at pixelated monkeys who tear up my bridges. You see, they’re monkeys. More than that, they’re video game monkeys. These little apes don’t just walk across bridges, they swing, jump, hoot, and holler their way across whatever it is you’ve built, destroying it unless it is structurally sound (see above comment about high school Physics). It’s original price was eight bucks, then it spent a week on the “Free List”, and now will only set you back a dollar. Simply put, this is the best bridge building game with monkeys in it that I’ve ever played.

Nothin but class

Filed under: Web Games — Cameron @ 10:48 pm June 28, 2010

Well due to some storm complications from last night the post i had prepared will have to wait until later.  So in the mean time to keep you occupied i give you Fart Fart.  In Fart Fart your goal is to pass gas while other cars pass so the guy standing next to you doesn’t notice.  The space bar releases the mighty wind and the left arrow key lets you squeak out a silent but not so deadly release.  If the multi color bar (shown below) gets all of the way full you fart uncontrollably and the guy hears it if no car is going by.  This is one of the few games that I have played that I can see a direct life application, this is important stuff people.

fart fart

Play Fart Fart here

And since we’re already on the subject… Its my honor to also present you Puzzle Farter.  In Puzzle Farter you play as a little clown…or at least i think he’s a clown maybe he’s just a grumpy midget.  Speaking of taking a grumpy, this little fella has some major dietary problems.  The objective is to use your rocket farts to propel you through the puzzles and to the exit door.  Now I’m not really sure what’s behind all the doors, but I’d like to think there is eventually a bathroom for the little guy.

 puzzle farter

I must admit that the juvenile in me thought the sound effects in this game were about the funniest thing I have ever heard, the game is worth playing just to hear them.  I hope you enjoy your evening of flatulence, I’m off to dinner.

Play Puzzle Farter here

Gogurt, pudding, and how much I miss an old friend.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tyler @ 6:58 pm June 25, 2010

So this morning I got my wisdom teeth ripped out. It was actually more like a nap. I woke up with bloody gauze in my mouth and the only thing I thought of it was “Cool. What a great excuse to take a vacation into my DS and play some Pokemon SoulSilver.” But alas, I started to think while stomping through the old gym leaders of Kanto. What if Kirby got his wisdom teeth pulled?

Think about it. Kirby’s power is eating other creatures and gaining their powers. If he ever got his wisdom teeth removed, he’d only be able to eat creatures with the consistency of yogurt, cottage cheese, or mashed potatoes.

But wait, maybe that’s why he’s switched to a yarn whip. Yes, apparently the next Kirby game he’s going Indiana Jones style and whipping butt instead of sucking it…(whoops, bad choice of words there, Tyler).

My first thought was, “Hey, they’re making some changes to the game mechanics there. Will it still be fun?” But then I thought, “Has a Kirby game ever not been fun?” I am very excited about this game along with all the other Nintendo first party games that were announced at E3 and the new NBA Jam game by EA looks promising! Yeah yeah, Wii doesn’t have as many great 3r party games as the other two systems. But let’s face it, those two systems don’t have as many great first party games as the Wii.

Thanks for reading ago cyberpatrons! Leave me some comments every once in awhile and let me know what you think or at least let me know that you are reading them =]!

giant quarters

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 7:59 am June 24, 2010

Occasionally I like to imagine video game scenarios on paper.

I made this drawing many years ago for a friend’s band flyer.


It features a Sea Farer video game machine. I like to vaguely design video games for fun…

Bonus sketch:


You know how it is when you’re out collecting coins and this happens…

Disney’s A Christmas Carol

Filed under: cheapo games — Will @ 10:00 am June 23, 2010

Game: Disney’s A Christmas Carol
Purchased from: Target
Price paid: $4.98
Platform: DS

Why am I talking about a Christmas game in June? It’s been oppressively hot in this area for the past several days, so I figured I’d try and have cooling thoughts by playing a game based around Christmas.

I might have been the only person on the planet that didn’t rush out to see Disney’s latest version of A Christmas Carol when it hit theaters last fall. Yeah, it’s got Jim Carrey playing a ridiculous number of parts, but other than that, it’s the same old story we’ve all heard before. I mean, imdb lists about 40 versions of the thing.

But we’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about a game based on a movie which was based on a book. Being that far removed from the source material kind of concerned me a little bit. It turns out that I needn’t have worried, the game has precious little movie content, and other than the picture on the front of the box, I wouldn’t have even known that this was based on any kind of movie.

The game follows, more or less, the events of the story, so I’m not going to go into them here. But you’re presented with a scene from the story as a point ‘n’ click puzzle. Like most point ‘n’ clickers, your job is to click and rub on things in the correct order, through trial and error, mostly, to make things happen. Unlike most point ‘n’ click games, you can blow into the microphone on your DS to make everything onscreen that you can interact with light up, making things pretty easy.

Clear a scene and you’re treated to a short animated cutscene to further the story, and then another set of puzzles to solve. It’s all thrown together surprisingly well, and the difficulty is just high enough that you won’t breeze through them, and low enough that you won’t get frustrated and quit. It’s all pretty standard stuff, and it’s even halfway decent. But there’s not much of it. I was able to blow through the game in just over two hours, or about the amount of time that would have taken me to watch the movie, so that’s a wash.

The game also has a couple of cute extras. It has the full-text of the original Christmas Carol story, presented in giganto-print format that fits about ten words on the screen at a time, which is pretty decent. And there’s also an Advent Calendar where you play a ‘spot the differences’ game where you’re presented with two pictures and have to find the differences between them. The calendar is supposed to reveal one additional puzzle per day in the month of December through Christmas Eve. Except the year must have been hard-coded into the game because the first time I turned it on they all unlocked immediately.

Ah well.

The game is actually decent, and it doesn’t hurt that there is a reasonably-complete list of hints on Disney’s site to help some of the less-experienced players make it through. Add to all that the fact that the game can be completed in an afternoon, and it’s a nice diversion. Even if you’re using it to escape the crazy heat of the summer.

Voodoo Dice

Filed under: Uncategorized — CJ @ 5:57 pm June 22, 2010

Voodoo Dice apparently released on the 360 in mid-May, but PS3, Wii, PC, and iPhone owners can now participate in this original puzzler as well. In Voodoo Dice, you control a die, rolling around one of 60 different boards, each with their own puzzles to solve and pitfalls to avoid. The first few stages introduce you to some pretty simple puzzles and coach you along as you find a way to conquer them. For example, you need to get your die from the starting block to the goal, but between you and that goal are several other dice, each with a different number “face up”, as it were. In order to move past these dice, you have to maneuver your die in such a way that you match them (that is, have the same number face up), and this matching must occur while you land your die side-by-side with the one you are trying to match. Do this and the obstacle die disappears, allowing you to reach the goal. Other puzzles include rolling over buttons in a certain sequence to raise or lower gates and teleporting around the board via landing on certain squares to find the finish line.

The game’s visuals are up to par with what I’d expect from a game that portrays its hero as a six-sided die. The jungle-themed stages (because palm trees and tiki masks are to voodoo as stained glass windows and ornate, flowing robes are to Catholicism – or at least that’s what TV teaches us)  include a fitting soundtrack that didn’t become overly monotonous, but provided enough play time to get you from one stage to the next. I can’t say that I’d ever pay money to play Voodoo Dice, but this unique puzzler is worth the bandwidth to try out the demo.

Voodoo Dice – YouTube link

Frustration Monday

Filed under: Web Games — Cameron @ 5:02 pm June 21, 2010

This has been a bit of a hell week for me, so i thought I’d share my feelings with you with two of the most frustrating games i have ever played.

#1  Chase- Goose

chase

In Chase – Goose you have to hit the right and left buttons to move your guys forward and hit the correct button to jump over the gap all while running away from the upside down chin monster.  I’ll warn you this game is hard, you have to pound the right and left arrow keys fast, for a long time all while trying to find the button you need to hit to jump (which changes every jump).  As you make it farther in the game you have to hold down the shift key as well as hitting right and left and still finding the correct jump key, then it starts making you do math to find the right button, its multitasking at its worst.  Speaking of multitasking….

#2 Multitask

multitask

In Multitask you have to control four different things at one time (the picture only shows three because I failed before the fourth one popped up).  You start off with a balance board and a red ball that you control with the arrow keys left and right.  It later adds the blue rectangle that you control with the up and down arrow keys to try and avoid the incoming arrows.  If you can make it past all of that (which really isn’t too hard) you get a green square that you control with the wasd keys.  The objective of the green square is to guide it to the squares with the number in it before time runs out in the square.  It adds a fourth one, but at the time of review i did not make it that far so I’ll let that be a mystery for you.

 

I hope these games can bring a little frustration to your week, i know they did for me.

I am really excited about the new Zelda game.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tyler @ 5:35 pm June 18, 2010

I’m a sucker for cell shaded graphics. I’m sorry haha.

Alright, Zelda: Skyward Sword (kind of sounds like a sex position). All jokes aside, the game looks great! Unsurprisingly, seeing as I love all Zelda games.

(As you can see, I’m not feeling very creative today so I’m just gonna kind of ramble on about Nintendo’s upcoming gadgets and games that were announced at E3).

The 3DS looks pretty awesome too. I have my fingers crossed that it’s not terribly expensive. I saw some screens for the Kingdom Hearts game for it and it looked pretty good.

I probably need to start saving up for all this stuff and beat all the games that I’ve been wanting to beat now so that I don’t leave those behind to play all the new stuff coming out.

Sorry about the sucky post, guys.

Feel free to tell me what you think about the 3DS, Nintendo’s E3 announcements, or any of the other companies’ announcements.

See you next week guys!

Modern Video Game Color Wheel

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — stanleylieber @ 4:06 pm June 17, 2010

via swisserswatter

Older Posts »