Alphadia Genesis Mini-Update: Seven More Screens To Tickle Your JRPG Fancy…

Posted on August 28, 2014 by geelw

I’m quite sure someone at Natsume just LOVES teasing gamers half to death and is probably chuckling merrily about it somewhere safe with a nice fat cream puff and a cup of good Genmaicha. Dropping a mere seven more screenshots from its upcoming Wii U download-only JRPG Alphadia Genesis into my inbox and stealthily escaping into the night air, a hint of sugar in the breeze as the ninja swoops up onto a rooftop and then dives down into the dogwood trees below. Good thing they planted those trees about a year or two back and removed the chain link fence, as that’s seven stories to the ground otherwise.

Anyway, here you go – the game is coming to the eShop for the Wii U later this year. back with more when that sneaky ninja makes a comeback…

Review: Shadowgate

Posted on August 28, 2014 by geelw

Platform: PC (via Steam)
Developer: Zojoi Studios
Publisher: Reverb Triple XP
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: N/A
Official Site
Score: A- 90%

A few years back, I was at a media event talking to a PR person who told me that some sites let her know that they didn’t like covering adventure games and that too me aback because that attitude is pure biased lunacy. The adventure genre didn’t necessarily “die” a while back, folks – it was just neglected and left by the side of the road by jaded critics who didn’t bother giving too many great games the time of day. Anyway, those days of dreary dread have turned around in recent years and thankfully, one of the more influential and important games of the late 80’s is back and better than ever. Zojoi Studios’ brilliantly re-imagined Shadowgate takes the old story out for a stroll in a new coat of absolutely lovely visuals, a superb new soundtrack and even options to change that and a few other things (save the visuals) back to the classic NES game many of us oldsters spent too much time trying to beat and eventually beating but good a few times.

What this reboot doesn’t do is simply template that original game into a more casual form or make it an action-heavy experience that would cater to the more caffeinated modern gamer. From the interface to the brain-bending puzzles, everything you loved about the old game is back and in full force. Granted, some of these things WILL lead to frustration for some gamers used to hand-holding or self-solving puzzles in their entertainment experiences. That said, exercising the mind with a good and highly challenging game such as this one will be the best thing some of you can do for so little money… Continue reading →

The Great Backlog Dupe Giveaway 3: You Built This City!

Posted on August 28, 2014 by geelw

That music video above is one for what some call the “worst song ever written” and while I don’t quite agree with that statement, it’s what some folks also feel about the city and/or military simulation genre. Poor jaded or inexperienced gamers, those folks are, I say. Anyway, if you happen to LOVE simulation games, city building, diplomacy and in cases of war scenarios, sharpening horse’s hooves every six turns, well, today’s giveaway is right up your alley: Two codes, Two winners this time:

The Tropico Trilogy (Tropico, Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, Tropico 3 PLUS the Absolute Power expansion) is giveaway number one. That’s THREE games where you get to take your banana republic and turn it into a tourist paradise (or tourist trap, your choice!). Bug me for a Steam code or I feed this toy boat I have to the sharks!

The second game is a lot more serious and historical: Imperium Romanum: Gold Edition, where you can get your inner Caesar on for a few weeks or longer in this massive simulation game. Same rules as before reply and get a code. Two codes, two different winners (and yeah, two different e-mail addresses).

The Toys of Summer: Tamagotchi Friends: Bandai Brings The Digital Pet Back Into The Social Age

Posted on August 28, 2014 by geelw

Okay, yesterday some of you found out Hello Kitty is actually a five-year old English girl and today, I;m telling you you know she’d probably be wanting one of Bandai’s Tamagotchi Friends as a gift from either her non-cat parents or other non-animal acquaintances.

Bandai has brought back the portable digital pet experience as a relatively inexpensive and much more connected collectible than the previous version from the late 90’s that sold who knows how many millions of units and inspired far too many clones to count. I won’t reveal exactly how many of those original Tamagotchi I actually owned, but all I’ll say is I got my first two from a friend whose wife was obsessed with them and he finally convinced here that twenty was a good number to stop at… Continue reading →

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Belated Update: Some Evil, Some Good and How It’s All Done…

Posted on August 27, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, yeah, I’ve been behind a bit on this upcoming game from WBIE and developer Monolith Productions, but that’s because I’m confident it’s going to be a worthy Middle-earth experience no matter what it’s played on. I think I’ve said that already but it bears repeating. Respecting a developer and enjoying whatever they’re working on goes a longer way than nit-picking that work apart for not being 100% accurate to the original works. Particularly if that game does something out of the ordinary yet seems familiar at the end of the day. Pity the last-gen versions aren’t getting all the AI bells and whistles as the current (or next, if you’ve yet to update) gen new systems, but that’s the way the ball bounces. You get more power to use and you use it wisely. Hmmm… isn’t that one of the lessons Tolkien was trying to get across in his books? Well, well, well… I’m already up to speed, then.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is out September 30, 2014 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Yeah, pre-order madness exists in the form of different “exclusive” DLC from different retailers (boo), so do what you need to do if you want that extra perk. or maybe just buy the game outright when it’s in a store and hope WBIE decides to release ALL those bonuses once a few weeks or so have passed. Or they’re available as in-game unlocks once you’ve played long enough…

Jupiter Ascending: WB & The Wachowskis Gamble On The Proper Audiences Rising To The Occasion…

Posted on August 27, 2014 by geelw

Ah, I see the internet is speaking up again with disapproval about another big budget film project by the Wachowskis, this time, it’s Jupiter Ascending, the siblings’ high-concept but somewhat familiar sci-fi action/adventure set for a February 2015 release. Granted, I’ve been on the “what the hell is THIS?” tip on a few of their post-Matrix projects, but repeated viewings have made me appreciate Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas more than I did when I first saw them.

At this stage of the game, I say let them have at it, as their films wrap up more creativity and visual punch than some that swipe from their earlier work. Granted, The Matrix trilogy was clearly inspired by lots of anime and manga plus a few Hong Kong action flicks and other things. But for American and other audiences that never encountered these influences, it was a breath of fresh air (for the most part). I’d gather both the Wachowskis as well as Warner Bros. have predicted this new normal of over-criticism based on trailers and clips (which is nothing new at all except the speed of people tearing things apart has grown exponentially faster thanks to social media), but these days it’s like EVERY movie is seen as Heaven’s Gate was initially, and everyone with access to a computer of some sort and an internet connection thinks they’re a great film critic or historian in training.

Well, I suppose ignoring the usual suspects is the best revenge, as you can only fight with so many fools before you grow tired of what you do and head for the nearest bar. Or nearest window in some extreme cases. Noli nothi permittere te terere. is all I have to say (and I hope to hell I got that right)…

Huh? Who Said Hello Kitty Was A Cat, Anyway?

Posted on August 27, 2014 by geelw

No, it’s not MINE – Image swiped from kittyhell.com

Ermagawwwwwd! Yeesh, it MUST be a slow news day, as the internet has come up with some more fake outrage over a nonsense subject no one needs to read about*. So, it turns out that people are just figuring out Hello Kitty is (*gasp*) NOT A CAT. Yaaaaaaaah. *Yawn*. Nope, she never was and never will be, if you’ve ever been to the official Sanrio site and read her bio. I did this years ago and satisfied my curiosity about that, but it seems the latest generation of know-lessings and some people who should know better are giving this much ink for no other reason than there must be no celebrity news they can scrape over jagged rocks before they gnaw on the bones left over from that process.

yeah, so she’s a little English girl, height five apples, weight three apples and yeah, it looks like she’s giving you the finger in that image on the site. Probably because she’s TIRED OF PEOPLE CALLING HER A DAMN CAT ALL THE TIME. Hell, she HAS a pet cat (see below on that bio page) AND a hamster who’s a friend of that cat, for crying out loud. You should be more concerned about why she doesn’t have a mouth, I’d say. But even then, Sanrio has a mighty good excuse for that at the bottom of that bio page. So there. Now go find something else to get upset about. I’m sure you can look out a window and see plenty of things to make you flip your wig.

*(He said, ironically giving this story some MORE traction. Well, shoot me later for being a hypocrite, but it made me laugh when I saw this…)

Interstellar 60-Second Trailer: Hold Onto Your Seats (Again) For A Minute…

Posted on August 27, 2014 by geelw

As noted previously, Interstellar promises to be another “deep thought” film experience from Christopher Nolan, so I’m looking forward to those conversations with people who didn’t “get” something in the film or were hoping for a typical Hollywood ending and didn’t get that and think they wasted whatever it cost to buy a ticket. *Sigh*, yeah… opinions and the internet can be a pain in the rear end sometimes. Anyway, I’m predicting big things for this one even if it’s not a box-office buster like less cerebral movies turn out to be. It’ll certainly be something to keep in mind as a future home video purchase as I think it’ll be a film worth watching a few times…

As usual, we shall see…

Keys To Victory: Come With Me If You Want To Win…

Posted on August 26, 2014 by geelw

Hey! Don’t Be A:

Common Sense Rule #1: HAVE A VALID E-MAIL ADDRESS! I contact code and other contest winners via the info WordPress gives me (as in your email address and other IP contact info), so if I send you a reply and get back a response like THIS:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

(insert invalid email here!)

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain (insert ISP here!).com by (insert more IP info here!).

The error that the other server returned was:
554 delivery error: dd This user doesn’t have a (insert .com account here!) (insert non-account email here!) [0] – (insert more IP info.com here!)

Um… I can’t do anything but pass your code onto someone else. Now, tonight’s giveaway ran FINE, except I posted the wrong response to the wrong person who was the third response to the post. Oops. Anyway, I sent out an email offering up another game of three from the long list of codes I have, but you see what I got in return. Hey, kids – If you want a prize, I need to know where it goes and NO ONE else needs to know your email address. Get it? Got it? GOOD. Now, go fix that stuff and I’ll see you folks tomorrow for another giveaway. I still have no clue, but I think it’ll be a simulation game of some sort (city or military), as I have a bunch of those codes here and haven’t had time to get back into the genre at all…

This has been a public service announcement. “And now you know… and knowing is half the battle!”

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham: TT Games’ Next One Will Be Out Of This World…

Posted on August 26, 2014 by geelw

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is coming to PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4/PS Vita, Xbox One/Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and PC on November 11, 2014. That’s pretty much all you need to know as TT Games and WBIE have absolutely MASTERED the art of whipping out a LEGO game to mostly rave notices and delivering the goods with a family-friendly set of titles that have infinite replay value and make for instant “BUY ME!” purchases whether as gifts for oneself or a bunch of lucky kids.

Seriously, all you need are a couple of controllers and anyone can have a total blast. for the longest time, the LEGO series has been a “pick up and play” festival and with each installment, TT Games has been adding neat stuff like fully voiced characters, bigger maps to explore and loads of additional costumes, characters and plenty of hidden secrets for those willing to play until they fine everything. Oh, and here’s a word from Braniac and a few pals in case you’re showing any form of disinterest in this one:

Yeah, soooo… don’t let the Joker put the earth in his pants (ewww!)… BUY THIS GAME when it comes out and knock some sense into that ever-grinning nut-job, I say!