Monday Blues? Let Indiegala Give You Too Much To Do Today!

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

Hmmmm… SIX games for a buck forty nine for a mere twelve hours means “GO!” today, if you want some unusual games to make your manic Monday go down easier. I gay get this just for the insanity that is Into the Dark: Ultimate Trash Edition, a game so full of strangeness that even the bugs and glitches are fun to experience. It’s not for the kiddies at all, but hey, Mondays are generally adults only in one’s head when you find yourself cursing at the coffeemaker out loud or your boss inside your head at some point. As the old jingle goes, “You deserve a break today, so get up and get awayyyy…”. Um, of course, as these are digital games, you’re not getting up to go anywhere but to the bathroom or kitchen at some point to take a break. Anyway, make yourself happy and make Indiegala happier with that purchase why don’t you?

Review: End of Serenity

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

Platform: Sony PSP/Vita

Developer: World Wide Software/Kemco

Publisher: Natsume

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 & Up)

Official Site

Score: B (80%)

Are you jonesing for some old school JRPG bliss but find yourself pressed for time? Are you one of those folks new to JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) and want to dive in headfirst without much fuss and bother, just a fun and simple adventure to last you maybe a few days if you play on and off to and from work`? Well, Natsume has a little something for you in End of Serenity, a slightly enhanced “port” of an iOS/Android/mobile game from 2013 called End of Aspiration. No, I don’t know why the title was changed other than to guess that since “Aspiration” (which in the case of the game means “a hope or ambition of achieving something”) can also mean “the action or process of drawing breath”, some sarcastic smarty pants out there might think the title could also be read as “End of Breathing”, which isn’t a good name for a game.

Anyway, what’s here is a quite easy to get into game that can be played three ways. You can blow through the game in under nine hours total (a single sitting for those used to blocking out longer stretches of time for more epic length games), missing out on some bonus areas, items and skills. You can easily more than double that time by “farming” up fish to earn ESP (End of Serenity Points) that unlock those extra areas and goodies, or you can simply pay a few dollars more than what you just spent on PSN to buy as many ESP as you need, allowing you to access everything right from the beginning. No, this isn’t a “pay to win” game at all, as even if you’re lazy (crazy? not frugal?) enough to buy up enough ESP to bring the cost of the game up to what a JRPG would cost circa 1990 or so, you still have to play the game to see what you paid for. For my review, I decided to tackle two of the three methods at the same time, but I’ll explain that a bit more below the jump… Continue reading →

Back on Track (Sort of)…

Status

Okay, I’m back from my self-imposed exile. Actually, I was working on a second and third Sunday post, but I got caught up in the gap between slow home internet and discovering something unusual in a game I was playing that I had to see through to the end to make sure it was a legitimate thing and not some oddball glitch that went nowhere. Anyway, off to catch up to my brain, which is already somewhere in Thursday plotting and planning away.

(thanks, Tolis1989!)

I hate it when it does that, as that means it’s going to get me trouble before I know it. But I think I can keep up with it this time if I toss a few distractions its way (some bad movies usually do the trick)…

File This Faux Foodie Kickstarter Under “Now I’ve Seen Everything…”

Posted on July 7, 2014 by geelw

Hey, I just LOVE a great potato salad, folks, but this made me laugh a lot and cringe a little. Yes, you can actually throw some money at this Kickstarter if you like, but I’d be curious as to why you did and not send it to me instead because I don’t tell people I’m making potato salad when I do make it and I don’t ask for any cash to make it. Of course, I could just be annoyed that I didn’t think of this first AND because i haven’t made potato salad for a while. Hmmm… well, I do make a decent mushroom noodle soup with baby bok choy and other fun stuff in it. So maybe I’ll steal this idea at some point and see what happens. I need some creative ways to make money legally anyway, as times are bumpy around these parts. Still, I did make some money from a few freelance gigs, so I can get back to the process of getting a bunch of paperwork processed and some somewhat important stuff I need to take care of taken care of.

Hmmm… now I want some potato salad. But I’ll save that for after I get this other stuff taken care of…

A Day Off, A Day Late…

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Okay, I hadn’t taken a day off in AGES, but Saturday I decided to do just that after making a few mistakes that meant I just NEEDED to get out of the home office. I did finally wrap up End of Serenity earlier in the day (actually VERY early Saturday morning) and started my review, but I was feeling a bit burned out from playing until Z o’clock, there was also a small freelance gig I needed to wrap up and I also had to rewrite a product review I’d started a while back that I accidentally deleted and turned into another post thanks to copying and pasting a document into the wrong Edit Post tab not realizing I’d overwritten the wrong post until I closed all the tabs and remembered that I was working on three things at the same time, not two as usual. Bleh.

So, I decided to tackle the easiest thing (the proofreading gig) and close up shop for the day. I ended up going to see X-Men: Days of Future Past at an overpriced theater in NYC close to a spot where I used to live and afterward, poked around some shops and into the old neighborhood to see what’s changed since I left so many years ago. Quite a lot, it turns out… but there were also some things that stayed pretty much the same. One constant: a LOT of tipsy people roam the streets on a Saturday night. I wasn’t one of them, however. Anyway, I’m back and will have a few posts up later today. Off to sleep for me now. I needed that little break!

The Doctor Is Almost IN (And It Looks As If He Needs A Doctor!)

Posted on July 4, 2014 by geelw

I’m trying to avoid these too-brief teasers for the new season of Doctor Who kicking off in just over month on August 23, but this one made me laugh for a few reasons. One of which may be that voice could mean Davros and the Daleks are coming back early in the new season. Well, that’s what I got out of this teaser. If I’m wrong, oh well… it’s why I dislike teasers! Okay, go watch some real explosions outside, folks! I’ll be back and more on point tomorrow…

It May Be A Holiday, But Funko Still Wants You To WIN Some Cool Hikari Vinyl!

Posted on July 4, 2014 by geelw

Happy Independence Day! Well, all I did today (so far) was get up at 6am to do laundry (and yes, it was packed by 7:30 or so), go home and hang a few things up I don’t normally dry, then cook myself something and get back to playing End of Serenity for the review I need to write. Thrilling, huh? Anyway, I’d almost forgotten if’s Friday and another awesome Funko Hikari Sofubi Vinyl figure giveaway to blast out your way. This time it’s more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action with two figures up for grabs: Meet Limited Edition Clear Donatello(#1 of 3000) and Limited Edition Clear Michelangelo (also #1 of 3000). One each for two lucky Funko fans!

As usual, here’s how to enter:

Just click on over to one of Funko’s social network channels:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

Enter and keep your eyes peeled for a note next Thursday if you’re a winner. Simple, no? Anyway, have a safe holiday on and off the roads and good luck! If you don’t win, BOTH figures will be available for sale THIS MONTH at a retailer near you (try your local comic shop if it happens to carry Funko figures).

CE Week: Protection Is The Name Of The Game…

Posted on July 3, 2014 by geelw

It really doesn’t matter at all how much you spend, have spent or will spend on that hot new tech gadget at all if you don’t take care of it, folks. Sure, there are those who dispose of stuff as soon as a new model ships out or if there’s even the hint of an issue with it, but I’d bet most consumers don’t have that luxury in this economy and would be more than happy to have their tech last longer and even work better in some cases. This year’s CE Week was packed with some really cool new and returning products I can highly recommend, so pull up a chair if you haven’t already and maybe take some notes or click away on the following links at your leisure…

STM Bags: I’d only heard of STM about a year or so back from a friend of mine who said they were “the best made laptop bags you’ll ever see”, which I promptly took with a grain of salt, as I’ve seen plenty of well-made carrying bags in my day. Anyway, he showed me the new laptop case his wife got for his birthday gift and I had to agree after poking through it thoroughly that there was some merit to his hyperbole.

These Australian-designed bag, cases and sleeves just look like they’re going places, even if you’re just hoofing it a handful of blocks to the nearest coffee spot to grab a cuppa and work on that great novel you think will rocket you to fame and fortune. Of course, if you walk in with your gear in an STM, people may think you’ve already made it. I guess that’s a sign of accomplishment, that looking successful stuff, as some of us have trouble finding a pair of socks that properly match (raises hand and waves it around)…

STM actually gave away that same model this year as a freebie to anyone who popped up at their booth with either the postcard they’d sent out or a mention of the email they shot around to a bunch of lucky attendees. As my own laptop is bigger than the bag handed out, I ended up getting someone who’s birthday was coming up a little replacement for his bag when it finally needs replacing and I’m betting he’s going to be surprised. My eyeball is actually set on that STM Sequel bag in the photo above, as it’s got everything I’m looking for and then some.

Continue reading →

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Clip #1: Now, THAT’S What I Call A “Lifestyle Lift!”

Posted on July 3, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, Movieclips Trailers!)

Well, you’re certainly NOT going to tell a lady she can’t cut her own hair, right? RIGHT? I thought so. Anyway, this Sin City “sequel” looks pretty cool, although as a friend noted a few weeks back when he saw the trailers: “Everyone’s looking a wee bit long in the tooth even WITH all that makeup!” Of course, I laughed along with him because we’re no spring chickens either. But hey, neither of us is up there on the big screen chewing up the scenery for a well-earned paycheck. Hmmm… maybe we should consider a career move? I think he can play Marv without all that rubber goo on his face. Me, I guess I can be anything in a script like a table, wall or tree. I think I’m a bit wooden when it comes to the acting stuff, so playing an inanimate object is probably a better start…

AMC Wants You To Stay Home Scared This Weekend (Or: Zombies Are Safer Than Fireworks)

Posted on July 2, 2014 by geelw

If, for whatever reason you still haven’t seen AMC’s The Walking Dead and are now interested in playing a bit of catch up binge-watching or you’re a fan wanting to stay in one place and practice for some “actual” zombie apocalypse by hunkering down with some rations and camping out indoors while all hell breaks loose outside, here you go. AMC will indeed be running EVERY episode of the show starting Friday at 9AM/8c. Right after the final episode of Season 4 ends on Sunday night at 9pm, there’s some NEW contest afterwards – a Talking Dead Season 5 Preview Special, hosted by Chris Hardwick with guests The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple and actress Aisha Tyler. I’ll probably catch that special just because all of the shows I normally watch are on hiatus and I’ll be bored to tears (unless I have a game or movie to occupy me of course).

I generally avoid these pre-season antics because as I’ve noted countless times, I prefer to go in cold to a new season of a favorite show, not get a head full of information swirling around for months or a year or however long it takes to complete a season of shooting. Of course,I could simply forget what I’ve seen by the time Season 5 rolls around, as there’s so many other things going on…