Queen of Geek

[REVIEW] Netflix (PS3)

2012-02-05T21:00:00.001Z

I might be a little late to the party on this one, seeing as how Netflix has been out for a couple of weeks now, but you'll just have to excuse me, I've been glued to the TV for pretty much 90% of that time. At first, as usual, I was pretty skeptical about Netflix, afterall, LoveFilm has been around for a bit longer, giving us movies on demand to our consoles for under a fiver a month. LoveFilm is also run by Amazon, who I firmly believe are the new Tesco, so I was a little baffled as to why Netflix would even bother coming to the UK. However, we decided to give it a try, as Netflix has various TV series available to stream as well as movies, something that as far as I'm aware, LoveFilm doesn't offer yet.

Now fortunately for me, I live down the road from the telephone exchange, and most of the time experience superb connection speeds. Despite this, I was still convinced that the streams from Netflix would be glitchy, blocky and maybe even (horror of horrors!) standard def. All my fears were dispelled when I actually gave it a go, and we sat down to watch a series of random films on a whim, including Starship Troopers, Spaceballs, Dazed and Confused, Robocop and High Fidelity, none of which we realised we wanted to watch until we saw them pop up in the (incredibly easy to navigate) menus.

Where Netflix really comes into its own however is with the aforementioned TV series that are available. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed South Park, and no longer do we have to stand up to put the next DVD of the Arrested Development boxset in, we can simply do it by remote. Thank god. Netflix even gives recommendations based on the things you've watched recently, so you don't even have to think for yourself anymore! Hallelujah! Looks like we'll be happily forking out the subscription for this, even if all else fails, I can always watch more Jersey Shore!

Basically, I LOVE living in the future. Yay for Netflix! 5/5

[PREVIEW] PS Vita

2012-01-30T21:43:00.002Z

I found myself in the rather fortunate position the other day of having a PS Vita in my house. Alright, fair enough, it wasn't mine, but I got to have a good go on it from the comfort of my sofa while my other half downloaded all the updates and demo software for it on our PS3, ready to take back to the shop.

Having been a lifelong Nintendo fan, I have to admit that the handheld Playstation offerings have never really floated my particular boat, however I won't deny the fact that the Vita is an incredibly good looking machine. Despite a HUGE screen, the Vita is relatively lightweight for its size, probably due to the lack of a disc drive. A quick fiddle with the sticks and D-pad confirms that the controls are going to be top quality - one thing that concerns me however is how well the prominent sticks would stand up to living in my handbag. The original PSPs were prone to losing their shoddy little sticks, these ones seem to be firmly attached, but for how long?

At this point, I decided no preview would be complete without actually turning the machine on, no matter how shiny the exterior. (For those who need to know, it is VERY shiny. Prone to fingerprinting though, but hours of entertainment for those who enjoy polishing their gadgets.) The Husband went through the set-up process rather than myself, but he reported it to be relatively easy, although anyone who owns a PS3 will be familiar with the usual PSN updates before you get to do anything new.

The HD graphics are incredibly crisp and pretty. I played Everybody's Golf (Everybody IS golf? Everybody HAS golf? I dunno.) and the new Wipeout, which ran incredibly smoothly, but was let down by some insanely long loading times. I suppose I'm used to the superfast loading times of the Nintendo handhelds. The PS button returns you to the main menu whilst pausing the game, allowing access to all the settings and various bits and bobs, which looks impressive considering how much it seemed to be labouring over loading levels in Wipeout. The whole package seems relatively user-friendly, with easy access to the PS3 through the Content Manager on the Vita.

All in all, the PS Vita seems like it's going to be a popular machine. However, at £230 for the basic Wifi version and £280 for the 3G version, it's a rather expensive toy, and I won't be buying one for myself. However, if I were to receive one as a gift, I'd be sure to say thank you!

[REVIEW] Super Pokemon Rumble (3DS)

2012-01-15T13:42:00.002Z

For years, I've always been incredibly wary of Pokemon spin-off games. It seemed that for a while, they were scraping the barrel with titles such as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (of which there were five, I think) and the irritating manic-circle-drawing-fest that was Pokemon Ranger, which actually managed to snare thirty quid of my hard-earned cash as it is the only way to get the legendary Pokemon Manaphy. And I shelled out for the sequel, too. I played those games through to the end with a frozen grimace on my face, desperate for my prize at the end of it all.

So how did I end up with Super Pokemon Rumble? Normally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, unless there was a rare Pokemon associated with it, or some other massive benefit to myself. I played it briefly at GAMEFest where it raised a reaction of "meh", although I was horrifically hungover, so pretty much everything got that reaction bar the girls giving out free Mountain Dew. No, I popped into my (former) shop for a quick chat with the lads, and noticed that it'd been slashed in price from £34.99 to just £19.99, only a week or two after its release. For some reason, something just snapped, and I thought "What the hell."

To say that I was pleasantly surprised is a small understatement. I was, in all honesty, expecting to ten day exchange this game, but it's simple appeal has me hooked. There's some vague story that runs through it, but I shan't bore you with that. The idea goes something like this. It's sort of implied that you're some kid who collects wind-up pokemon toys - but you only ever seem to walk around as whichever toy is chosen to be first in your party. You proceed in a fairly linear fashion through levels where different types of wind-up Pokemon toys will come and attack you. You must hammer the A button until they are all dead. Sometimes you will be rewarded with a new wind up toy of the breed that you just demolished, sometimes not. The random nature of which toys can be collected means that levels get replayed, so you can collect 'em all.

But wait! Are you meant to catch them all? There doesn't seem to be any pokedex available in-game, apart from in the village. There's the Toy Shop, where it's implied that you can swap your Pokemon toys via Streetpass, although you don't seem to be able to choose anything, people just come and throw money at you. In the village there is also the release point, for when you have too many... But I've got HUNDREDS of the buggers, and I don't seem to be short of pocket space. And then, suddenly, I had my epiphany.

I had been reading FAR too much into the meaning of this game. The reason it seemed so simple on the outside was because frankly, it's simple on the inside as well. This is a good old fashioned frenzied button-bashing game, and it keeps it simple with a maximum of two buttons that can be assigned to your toy. The idea is to cause as much destruction as possible, then at the end of each little level you are rewarded with some wholly unexpected drum and bass. Oh yeah, probably forgot to mention the thrash metal introduction too. If you purchase this game, do yourself a favour and have your first game with the volume turned right up - the music is excellent!

So all in all, a rather pleasing little gem. It's completely mindless, and there's much of it I don't understand, but it's GREAT to just pick up and play in short bursts, lunch breaks, for example. Fortunately, I think my new colleagues already think I'm a bit nuts, so the sight of me giggling into my DS doesn't seem to faze them! :)

A joyfully violent romp, but they're only wind-up toys, so it's fine! 4/5

[REVIEW] Kindle Keyboard (Wifi version)

2012-01-02T14:28:00.001Z

For a while, I was one of those people who didn't see the point in the Kindle. Such an expensive toy when books were so cheap, and how could it possibly replace the feel, smell, and overall experience of a paper book? Afterall, the main reason I don't do all my reading on my laptop is because my eyes get horribly tired peering at the screen for more than half an hour or so. Even writing this is making my corneas itch after a long day at work staring at my computer screen all day, so why would I want to inflict more technological woe upon myself? In all honesty, because one of my uni friends had one, and I was jealous.. All her textbooks have been imported to her Kindle, and she loves the thing, so on the Christmas list it went, and lo and behold, Santa (aka The Husband) bought me one!

His reasoning behind going for the slightly larger keyboard version, rather than the cheaper Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display version was that it would be easier for me to make notes on and navigate, and so far, I think he made the right choice. The keyboard makes it very easy to search within the text - perfect for academic pursuits, although perhaps a tad unnecessary for the casual reader. And how easy is it to be a casual reader! You can choose to have the Kindle flipped whichever way you choose, portrait or landscape (great for awkward PDFs!) and page scrolling is controlled ever so casually by a pair of buttons on the edge of the Kindle. Did I mention there are two sets of these buttons, so you can operate it with either hand? Seriously. Dead easy.

Now onto my most pressing concern - eye strain. I haven't fully researched the e-ink technology behind the Kindle screens but let me tell you, they are strange things to behold. Completely non-backlit, they maintain an incredible level of contrast even in sunlight, the screens are non-reflective and are no harder to deal with than an ACTUAL BOOK. The Kindle is also considerably lighter than it looks, and compared to some of my textbooks, a doddle to carry around. In fact, I can carry around the entirety of the last four year's textbooks now without batting an eyelid, which I've found invaluable for studying on the fly. (In fact, for studying at all given my current hectic schedule!) Again, from a purely aesthetic point of view, I love the cover I've bought it - it matches my Filofax Metropol Personal Organiser perfectly - yes, I know I am a purebred nerd. In fact, apart from a few little things that irk me, such as the shop being a little difficult to navigate (some may say this is a blessing in disguise) the only real downside to the kindle is that unlike a real book, if you're silly enough to try and balance one on your face while you doze on the beach on holiday, you may find yourself with a rather expensive paperweight when it slides off and hits the floor!

4 out of 5 stars for this gadget, looking forward to learning to utilise it properly!

[PERSONAL] The end of one year and the start of a new!

2011-12-31T14:25:00.002Z

So, it's been a busy couple of months at Geek Towers, with very little time available to me for gaming, studying, let alone writing about it! The main factor in this has been my leaving the gaming industry for a full time job, my first in over five years! As sad as I was to leave, the security and prospects offered by my new job were certainly not to be sniffed at, and from the point of view of this blog will allow me to purchase all kinds of new toys and games to play with, not least my new best friend, my Kindle!

Also for Christmas the Husband and I received a stack of new games to play including Skyrim (obviously), Pokemon Rumble Blast, Zelda Skyward Sword and Rayman Origins. One of my new years resolutions is to sleep less and play more - I also am pledging to write more about all kinds of different things, so keep your eyes peeled!

Here's to 2012! Happy New Year everyone! :)

[REVIEW] Harvest Moon - Grand Bazaar (DS)

2011-10-08T17:12:00.000+01:00

Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar was a game I didn't originally intend to buy straight away. I've been a fan of the farm-em-up series for a while, but was intending to hold off for the 3DS version, when it eventually surfaces. After the traditional summer dead period for game releases, I was infuriated to find out that my beloved Tropico 4 had been put back a few weeks, so I scanned the new release sheets for something else to do, and Harvest Moon caught my eye. Well, I shan't recount the full story but that was put back too, and I was left wringing my hands in fury for a FULL MONTH, but now finally I have a new game to play! (Still waiting for Tropico 4, despite the PC version being out already. *sigh*)

This particular title in the Harvest Moon franchise sees you as a new farmer in the backwater Zephyr Town, a small town in a rural area that used to be a thriving commercial hub, but in recent years has seen a decline in trade in the area. One can only assume that recent council cuts and extortionate parking fees are choking the town and leaving it dying on it's ass. As the new kid in town, it's down to you to grow some excellent produce and reinject some life into the weekly market. As with any Harvest Moon game, the first thing to do at 6am on your first day is grab some tools from the Mayor, have a quick chat with the chap (yeah yeah, sales targets, growth, etc) and then quickly dash around the village looking for anything that's not nailed down that can be sold to the local seed merchant in exchange for a pocket full of turnip seeds.

And turnips is all you're likely to see for the first season! Like the rest of the games in the Harvest Moon series, this one is a slow builder, and relies on you getting your foundations right before it lets you go wild with too many different types of produce. In fact, if you tried to grow everything at once, and care for too many animals, you'd rapidly find yourself with not enough hours in the day and a woefully empty stamina bar.

The Bazaar adds an interesting angle to the formula, as you can fetch a much higher price for your produce there than selling them to the seed man in the village. This then leads to the need for carefully controlling your budgets, as the main bulk of your income will be coming in once a week rather than every day. Many items can only be bought at the market - such as livestock! No longer can chickens be incubated from eggs, which is a bit of a pain, but I must admit to being concerned about the inbred nature of my flock in previous games. At least this way, the gene pool might possibly be a bit deeper!

So far, I'm enjoying Harvest Moon an awful lot. It's familiar, yet challenging, with enough new ideas to keep the franchise fresh but still giving the tried and tested HM experience.

All in all, a rather happy, fed, groomed and watered 4/5

[EVENT] GAMEfest

2011-09-19T17:04:00.000+01:00

Finally, after six or seven long, dull weeks of summer, another blog post! My urge to write has been dampened not only by my beloved Tropico 4 being put back to September 30 but also a metric shitload of university work to be completed before any gaming could occur. (For those wondering, I'm with the Open University, we don't get holidays!) Other little diversions such as the release of the ten NES games promised to the Ambassador Scheme participants proved to be fairly short lived, as I received a harsh reminder that games used to be MUCH harder, Back In The Day.(TM)

So around rolled GAMEfest, a three day event at the NEC in Birmingham showcasing the best that this Christmas would have to offer, and promising a first play of such favourites (can you hear me rolling my eyes? That's unintentional, I apologise) as Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and Gears of War 3. Considering that its UK release was approximately 72 hours away, a staggering amount of people queued to get a first glimpse of Gears of War 3 (to which I say, should have gone to Gadget Show!) and to the right is a quick snapshot I took of the Battlefield 3 queue, which I could almost not believe, despite it being there in front of my face.

So, not wanting to spend my afternoon queueing to get my ass kicked by some spotty teen at CoD, we went for a wander and started playing the first of many 3DS games we would try that day: Mario and Sonic at the London Olympics. Now I must admit to having a bit of a soft spot for the Mario and Sonic Olympics franchise - from the time I first played the Wii version and hurt myself breaking the world rowing record to the time I borrowed the Winter Olympics game on the DS and spent a very silly week playing the adventure mode, I've considered this game a harmless and enjoyable bundle of fun. Technically, I hate minigame collections, but these seem to have more of a purpose behind them and hold my attention by always promising that I might just do a little better than last time if I try again.

The next game we looked at was Sonic Generations. The 3DS and the 360 versions looked quite different, at least from the demo versions we looked at, and the word on the grapevine is that the 3DS version is going to contain different levels from the big console versions. One thing that they will have in common however is that they will contain a mix of classic levels from throughout Sonic's history, and the feeling of absolute speed is back, and stronger than ever. I wasn't feeling 100% when I played it, and felt my eyes weren't quite refreshing fast enough, but The Husband was absolutely stoked to be playing a new Sonic game, and was only dissapointed when the screen he was playing on decided to overheat and turn itself off... true story!

After swinging by the Metal Gear Solid stand to check out the port of Peace Walker, we went for a bit of a wander around the rest of QUEUEfest, and decided that an awful lot of things weren't worth standing around for, a good look over someone's shoulder was enough to remind ourselves that certain titles were coming. After a narrow escape by the Dance Central 2 stand, we wrung our hands in despair at all the new dance titles, (ABBA: You Can Dance anyone? The Black Eyed Peas game? Obviously they will make millions, but not in our house, thankyou.) stopped for a quick squizz on Soul Calibur V (looks very shiny indeed) and Pacman Championship on 3DS (shiny in a rather different way) and then headed to the Nintendo stand.

I've not really got a whole bunch to say about Mario Kart 7. I played a couple of levels lifted from the latest Wii incarnation, and yes, it plays like a dream, yes, there's customisable karts now, yes, there's all your favourite characters and yes, it's a good deal of fun. But there's nothing new to report. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, afterall, if they changed it too much, it just wouldn't be Mariokart, and then I'd be slating it for that. I'll definitely buy Mario Kart 7, but somewhere in my mind I'll be conscious of the fact that I've already been there, done that, and literally got the t-shirt. Super Mario 3D Land looked a bit more interesting, even if I was having major brain fail at that point and couldn't do it. The 3D adds some tricky puzzles in, like platforms not appearing where you think they should until you rotate the scene. Not one to play with a hangover!

And finally, to the overall wonderful surprise of the day. I was tired, had a headache you could split rocks on and ready to go home, when The Husband spotted the WWE '12 stand. I've never played a wrestling game, and had no intentions of after seeing the floaty mess that was Allstars. After a short queue (part of which was spent sitting on chairs, thank god!) his Miz thoroughly kicked the arse of my Zack Ryder (WWWYKI) and I laughed hysterically. Out of everything I played that day, who'd have thought I'd now be looking forward to this the most?

So that's all over for another year now. What are you most looking forward to for Christmas?

[OPINION] The Summer Lull

2011-08-06T11:22:00.000+01:00

Traditionally, the summer is a bit of a limp dick for new releases, as games companies decide to give up on releasing stuff for a bit, and start to concentrate on the run-up to Christmas. Yep, that's right - people complain about it getting earlier and earlier each year, but in the exciting world of video games retailing, it's on your mind from about the middle of July.

I suppose in theory, it's a great time for getting outside and indulging in such outdoor pursuits as sports, barbeques and afternoon beer gardens - unfortunately, I tend to burn easily, and I have a list of projects as long as my arm to be getting on with. However, let's not allow that to put us off looking forward to the next couple of dates for your diary! First on the agenda is August 26th, or Argue Over The Telly Day as it shall most likely be known. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is released on the same day as Tropico 4, and while I intend to play Deus Ex at some point, I simply cannot resist my dictatorial urges, and will most likely insist on husband waiting till I go to bed before he gets his go on the 360, after all, it's INCREDIBLY hard work being El Presidente!

Three weeks later, starting on September 16th is GAMEFest. Tickets are available for all GAME reward card holders at a price of just £10, pretty good for a day out at the NEC - just bring your own sandwiches or be prepared to pay through the nose at Subway! GAMEFest promises to provide a preview of all the games coming out in the oh-so-important quarter four - that is, the run up to Christmas! It also gives you all a vital first look at all the games that I shall NOT be reviewing here such as Gears of War 3, FIFA 12, Battlefield 3 and Bloody Modern Fucking Warfare Bollocks 3. Ahem.

September 20th is new Gears day! Enjoy, kids, I'm off to France for the week!

I suppose this summer lull isn't so bad, after all, the last three months of the year are traditionally the busiest of the year, and as a whole, the industry becomes cranky and frazzled. Maybe I ought to embrace this opportunity to enjoy sitting on my backside for a short while. I might even head out to my local beer garden...

[REVIEW] Honest Hearts (Fallout New Vegas DLC, Xbox 360)

2011-07-21T13:04:00.000+01:00

Wow, doesn't time fly when you're up to your eyes in other stuff... Before I whizz off to York for a week-long intensive uni project, I thought I'd spend a few minutes telling you all about Honest Hearts, the second downloadable content pack for Fallout New Vegas. After getting woefully and embarrassingly stuck somewhere in the Sierra Madre in Dead Money, I was a little apprehensive about going back to a previous save and starting this one, in case FNV had suddenly got really hard in the few months I hadn't played it.

My fears were put to rest just a few minutes in. Although the baddies in this particular area (above the top edge of the map, it is mentioned that you are headed towards Utah.) are armed to the teeth with submachine guns, they wear little to no armour as they are based on a kind of alternate reality wasteland tribal group. Which makes the removal of their heads from a distance all the easier. I found the story to be quite engaging - without trying to give too much away, this is the story of Joshua Graham, also known as The Burned Man, who is mentioned during the main quest plotlines as an associate of Caesar who turned against him. This is his story, and what he's been up to all this time in exile in the Zion National Park.

Now onto the good stuff - the new perks, items, and so on. The level cap has been raised by 5 again, so I can try and get myself closer to wiping out those Deathclaws at Quarry Junction (anyone got any tips? Seriously, I'm desperate here.) New perks have been added, such as the delightful Eye For An Eye (10% extra damage for each crippled limb you have) and Fight The Power! which gives bonuses against any authoritative figures in uniform such as NCR, Legion and Brotherhood of Steel. There are also new items and recipes, mostly based around the datura plant, known for it's use as a poison, a hallucinogenic and a general nasty piece of work.

All in all, I enjoyed this DLC very much. The scenery was beautiful, and there was even rain, for the first time! (Can't vouch for it's acidity, though.) The plot was good, and kept me entertained for a good 4-6 hours which in my opinion is SUPERB value for money, especially considering some games *cough*Bulletstorm*cough* are rumoured to last only 8-10 hours. Next on the agenda, Old World Blues!

For keeping me entertained and helping me procrastinate over my uni work, a solid 4/5!

[REVIEW] Alice: Madness Returns (Xbox 360)

2011-07-06T17:03:00.000+01:00

Admittedly I have never played American McGee's Alice, the predecessor to this game, although I read Through The Looking Glass when I was a kid, and am vaguely aware that it's really a woeful tale of mental illness. Within the first minute or so of the gameplay, Alice comes across a small boy who has had his pants stolen by another boy in the institution. She tells him, "Wear bloomers" and my hopes are raised for some very dark humour indeed. The game starts with Alice having to pop to the chemist to pick up her prescription, and we see that the streets of London are paved with half-starved hookers and smelly street urchins, and an odd cat that wants to be chased.

As you might expect, this is where Alice's problems begin. Her first hallucinatory experience (or "cut-scene", as I shall call them) ran quite jerkily, although that doesn't seem to be the general rule which I'm glad about, because visually this game is very pretty. Unfortunately it does seem to suffer from the same problem as a lot of third person perspective games - a bit of a wanky camera. I find that I tend to get disorientated if the camera doesn't automatically centre itself when the character is running forwards, hence in Madness Returns I find myself running into the camera perspective quite a lot.

Another thing I find particularly frustrating is the combat system. Again, the camera causes most of the hindrance, although I think a lot of my problems are due to being relatively inexperienced in the hack 'n' slash genre - perfectly timed dodges are NOT my forte. A lot of the platforms have that "sudden death" feel to them, possibly because I keep falling off a lot - however, I work on a "third time lucky" basis, that is, if I don't do it the third time, I'll give up and play Fallout instead. One particular puzzle involving leaping onto moving invisible platforms (!) particularly got on my nerves!

Now onto the good bits. This game is exceptionally creepy for a BBFC 15 rated game in my opinion, even if The Husband does say I have the courage of a wussy child (I got freaked out by Unstoppable, which is a 12, embarrassingly enough.) The NPC's have an aura of griminess befitting of the era, and the whole story makes me feel uneasy. But that's what it's supposed to do, so I can't fault it there! The soundtrack is very atmospheric and certainly adds to the sense of wonder/terror.

Overall, I have to give Alice: Madness Returns 3 out of 5, due to wanting to launch the controller at the telly. If you are a more patient soul than me, consider it a 4 out of 5, but don't say I didn't warn you! :)

[REVIEW] Legend of Zelda extravaganza!

2011-06-25T17:31:00.000+01:00

While we sit and patiently twiddle our thumbs waiting for the next installment in the Legend of Zelda saga, Nintendo decided that it would be a superb idea to re-release the old N64 classic, Ocarina of Time, for the 3DS. Originally released at the arse end of 1998, it's been tarted up and given the 3D treatment, but at the same time feels fresh and exciting. Graphically, the game seems superior to the original, in fact, I'm fairly sure that if you go and plug your N64 into your 42 inch high definition telly and expect things to go back to the way they were when you were a teen, then you're very much kidding yourself. (Seriously, I tried it with my SNES, and it's not as pretty as it used to be. Knew I should have kept my old portable TV!)

The controls are nice and responsive, but you can see the metaphorical scars behind the ears where this old dear has had her facelift - the player has bugger all control over the camera, except to be able to centre it behind Link's head while in targeting mode. In these luxurious days of two analog sticks on PS3 and 360, and a kind of second analog in the form of the Wii remote, it's very easy to forget that THAT'S HOW IT USED TO BE DONE. Since the 3DS only has one analog stick, the revolutionary Z-targeting (as it was then) system translates perfectly.

All in all, as a slice of nostalgia, Ocarina of Time is perfect. The spectacles are perfectly rose-tinted, and the game seems to have been polished in all the right places. However, if we were to view this as a new game, (and I'm happy to, as I never finished the original!) I would be quite convinced that this is a good test of the 3DS's capabilities. The game looks beautiful, and is fairly easy to get sucked into. A fairly obvious 5/5 from me!

The other Zelda game I have had a brief look at this week is Link's Awakening, released on the eShop for the 3DS. First released in 1993, this was probably the second Nintendo game I ever played. (The first being Tetris - I was a late starter, I didn't even get my SNES until about '97!) I was a member of a small nerdy clique at school, (I was the fat ginger one) and we used to enjoy playing on our GameBoys at lunchtime, partially to avoid eye contact with the bullies. My GameBoy was also a handy form of mental self-defence on the bus home as well. Kids can be so cruel.

Anyway, enough of my personal demons, onto the review! Link's Awakening is a little diversion from the usual Hyrulian power struggle between Ganon and the forces of good. Link is washed ashore on Koholint Island, and is told that he cannot leave until he wakes the Wind Fish with a song. To play this song, he needs to retrieve eight instruments, which give rise to eight dungeons in the traditional Zelda manner. The 3DS Virtual Console version is vividly coloured, which took me by surprise, and seems to be every bit as engrossing as I remember it, except without having to pick chewing gum out of my pigtails when I get home this time around. Another 5/5, if only for the memories!

The apparent success of these two games makes me wonder, what else could work on the 3DS? Will we see other titles in the Legend of Zelda series become available? I'd certainly love to see A Link To The Past, as well as some of the other titles in the series that I haven't had a chance to play. While we're at it, what else would you like to see, either on the 3DS Virtual Console or reimagined and re-released on a cartridge? (Donkey Kong Country series plz!) Let me know in the comments!

[EVENT] E3, or not, as was the case.

2011-06-18T13:30:00.000+01:00

An awful lot of press coverage has been given to E3 already, and I was desperate to give you my take on things, but a week has passed and a lot has happened to dampen my enthusiasm. For me, E3 couldn't have come at a worse time, in the week where I was seemingly working all the overtime in the world, and had a uni assignment due in at the end of it. The only announcements I got to see live were the EA ones which I saw whilst half asleep with a headache, and to write a story based on those would make for angry reading! Nonetheless, here are the main points I have derived from the conference, mostly from gossiping around the water cooler.

Need For Speed: Run With Us - Or whatever it's called. I shan't lie. I'm not a massive fan of the N4S series, but boy, do I sell a lot of them at my day job. The premise is simple. Drive around, often avoiding the cops, sometimes being the cops, sometimes just racing for the hell of it. The point is, this is a purebred driving game, which is why I recoiled in ABSOLUTE HORROR when it was revealed that in the new game, at certain points your character (your what now? There's never been an actual character before, surely!) gets OUT of the car and RUNS OFF! You must then perform a series of quicktime events to ensure that your character does the right jumps and rolls to be able to get to another car, which in the demo they showed happened to be a POLICE CAR. Well done that chap. Cue facepalm, and much shouting at the TV.

The Wii U - Just as when the MotionPlus was released and everyone started bashing Nintendo for not having the technology to put it in the Wii Remote in the first place, I have a similar feeling in the pit of my stomach about the Wii U. It looks near identical, but with rounded corners, uses the same controllers but is in full HD. Obviously, this is just my first impression, and a lot more lies beneath the surface. It's just what they actually DO with it that I'm dreading. The original Wii cornered the casual market so effectively that hardcore gamers were left feeling that their Wii had become a bit of a novelty, the slighly retarded, standard definition cousin that everyone said they were fond of but no-one invited to parties in case it got drunk and ran around with no pants on. Hopefully this time around Nintendo can get a few more developers on board if they don't have to release watered down versions of 360 and PS3 titles anymore.

And that's without mentioning the gimmick controller once!

Luigi's Mansion 2 - Nintendo did redeem themselves by announcing this title for 3DS, amongst a few others. I heard the news about this one from my overly excited husband who came rushing in to tell me all about it as I was getting myself settled in bed. My admission that I've never actually played the first one was responded to with a ten minute rundown of the entire game from start to finish. Other old favourites are in the works such as Mario Kart, a new Super Mario (but this time, not called New Super Mario. A bit confusing, I agree.) One thing I REALLY wish I'd seen was Tetris. There are some details on the Nintendo website, and to quote one of my other half's favourite sayings, it looks "wacky as fuck". Just when I thought that every possible game mode had been covered, the new version claims over 20. Just how many ways there are to fit tetraminos together simply boggles the mind!

Right, that's enough ~~blagging~~ blogging for now, I'm off to play some actual games!

On "Holiday"

2011-06-09T12:02:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, just a quick apology for my lack of post this week, am currently at E3* taking in the sights and sounds! Will be sure to post a massive update when I get back :)

*This is a massive lie. I have a big uni assignment due in, sorry!

[SNIPPETS] My poor neglected 3DS, and other stories.

2011-06-01T17:03:00.001+01:00

This week, I got my first proper serious 3DS headache. I'd had my eye on Puzzle Bobble Universe since it'd come out, but I'd decided that £30 was far too much to pay for a game which has bascially been around since the dawn of time. As soon as the price dropped to 12.99 I grabbed my chance and purchased it, skipping off merrily into the distance. No need for a review here. It's Puzzle Bobble. I've played it before, you've played it before, even your Dad's played it before. Never in 3D though, so as with all 3DS games I try, I flicked the 3D slider up to give it a ten minute blast to see how the gimmick fared with this one.

The thing about Puzzle Bobble is that it's a fair bit addictive, and it was only when I felt a vein throbbing somewhere behind my eye did I realise that I'd not got around to turning the 3D off, yet it took a full two minutes for me to take my fingers off the buttons they were glued to, to be able to move the slider back down. All in all, Puzzle Bobble is highly recommended, but then again, so are two paracetamol and a tall glass of water.

In other, slightly more positive news, the 3DS eShop should be landing very soon (according to rumours, slap bang in the middle of Sony's presentation at E3 on the 6th of June. Nice one Nintendo.) and according to Nintendo World Report, one of the first apps (are we calling them "apps"?) to be made available is Pokedex 3D, although this looks to be more of a collecting game using QR codes and Streetpass than a handy reference tool.

Also on my agenda of things to look out for about the eShop - how well will the new prepaid cards work, and will they be available from the Nintendo Stars catalog? This is (sadly enough) a serious concern of mine. For years Nintendo have had little scratchcards inside their games which can be redeemed on the website for Star Points, which can be used to buy useless tat such as bags, statues, frisbees and paper fans, and DSi users can use them to buy Nintendo points, which in turn can be used to buy DSiWare. Fingers crossed a similar system will be implemented for the 3DS, if only for the fact that I'm a stingy bitch.

Other things I have been doing this month:

Getting around to watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2, 3 and 4 in preparation for hammering LEGO: Pirates of the Caribbean as soon as I get a bit of free time. (Free time? Yeah right!)
Watching the Husband playing LA Noire and deciding that yes, it IS technically excellent, but I just don't fancy it myself.
Having SERIOUS tech envy at aforementioned husband's new phone, the Samsung Galaxy S2. Only two months till my contract renews, and I can give an Android phone a go!
Getting excited for E3 - especially when one of my colleagues mentioned yesterday how it was about four months away - my response? "No, it's next month. Hang on, that's next week! Squeee!"

So that's about it for now. See you next week!

[REVIEW] A quick look back at Borderlands

2011-05-25T08:10:00.000+01:00

With the arrival of several high-profile releases such as LA Noire and Brink (at least, you'd think Brink were high profile given the amount of advertising being pumped into it at the last minute, competition from the former much?) you'd think I'd have had my hands full reviewing these to be able to get my opinion out to you all asap. But no! I've been revisiting old games that have lain by the wayside for a while, the first and foremost of these being Borderlands.

Alright, so this was probably triggered by my last post, thinking about dear old Claptrap made me hungry for a bit of a senseless post-apocalyptic Mad Max-inspired shootfest. Yet for a game which (quite shamelessly) picks and chooses its influences and waves them in your face, Borderlands stands alone very well. For the uninitiated, it's a first person shooter with RPG elements - shooting stuff gets you experience, and as you gain experience you level up your personal skills and also your skills with each weapon, leading to bonuses to fire rate and accuracy, and also copious amounts of swearing when you're in the middle of a massive firefight with no SMG ammo and a level 1 shotgun.

My shoddy techniques aside, this is a beautifully action-packed game that is an absolute pleasure to go back to after a year or more of it sitting in its box. The graphical style is reminiscent of cel shading and gives the game a fairly unique cartoony look that caused some criticism amongst the Call of Duty crowd, and the story revolves around four mercenaries trying to gain access to the mysterious Vault which initially caused me to think it might be trying to rip off some elements from Fallout, but that could not be further from the truth. So since it's so cheap in the shops now, why not treat yourself! I'll see you in the arena!

[THINGS I LOVE] Top Five: Video Game Robots

2011-05-18T16:19:00.000+01:00

Throughout the world of video games we often encounter our good old friend, the robot. Whether they are the protagonist, the enemy, or the hired help, the little blighters pop up everywhere, so in tribute to our metallic pals, here is a run down of my top five favourite robots.

5. Big Daddy (Bioshock): These docile behemoths aren't technically robots, but the genetically spliced cyborg chaps inside the huge diving suits are pretty cool. Mild mannered and gentle, they go about their business of protecting the Little Sisters while they go about their messy business of havesting the valuable goop known as ADAM from corpses. Nice. And your job? To either kill or set free the Little Sisters? Be prepared for some angry Big Daddies!

4. The Sackbots (Little Big Planet 2): If Big Daddies are the epitome of quietly lurking doom, then the Sackbots from LBP2 are their polar opposite. Cute, quirky and under Sackboy's vague command, they can be herded around like sheep or attracted with a lady known as Luscious Lucy. (Googling this turns up a selection of, ahem, businesswomen in the centre of London. Add additional search terms!) These robots are a LOT more friendly, but to be honest? A bit useless!

3. Wadsworth (Fallout 3): I often think to myself, how cool would it be to have a robot butler of my very own? That's just what Wadsworth is, a water-dispensing, wisecracking mobile hairdressing unit, and anyone who knows me well knows that I could really do with one. The Mr Handy units, however, were not well renowned for their precision with that circular saw blade, so I'll keep cutting my fringe myself, thank you!

2. Atlas and P-Body (Portal 2): These two robots are a perfect metaphor for my relationship with my darling other half. The one of us is tall and athletic, the other shorter, rounder and blue. My personal insecurities aside, Atlas and P-body's purpose in life is to live together, work together and test together for the rest of their lives. The harmony of their existance is further bolstered by the fact that they don't eat (no arguing about who's cooking tea), they don't sleep (no arguing about who's hogging the quilt) and Atlas has no bum to speak of, therefore by definition it cannot "look big in this". Perfect.

1. Claptrap (Borderlands): While Atlas and P-body both have the option to dance as part of the gestures menu, this fella likes to get down and funky entirely of his own accord. Generally in need of a bit of love and attention when you come across them, once they're up and repaired they'll strut their funky stuff for you quite happily! Go on, check him out in this video! Okay so maybe he's not the most USEFUL robot, maybe he doesn't have the best skills, besides giving you a few extra backpack slots but check out that rhythm! That personality! What a star!

So, who's your favourite robot and why?

[OPINION] The ongoing PSN saga

2011-05-11T17:08:00.000+01:00

No doubt by now you've heard all about the Playstation Network, and how it was attacked by hackers almost a month ago. Xbox users have been gloating, PS3 users have been distraught, scare stories have been circulated in the news about how people's credit cards have been compromised. Who would do such a thing, one wonders? Unfortunately, the days of hackers hackin' for shits and giggles seem to be over, and it seems increasingly likely that criminal gangs, after your vital information to sell on to scammers, may be to blame.

It is a terrible shame that something so dramatic might happen to such a large and high profile organisation as Sony, but we have to look at the facts. This kind of thing is happening all the time to all kinds of different companies. At the start of the year, Lush Cosmetics found their database to be compromised [source] and was forced to suspend all online sales while the security was ramped up. Having bought products from them, I did the only sensible thing, and kept an eye on my bank account for any irregularities. Luckily, there were none. The moral of the story is "be vigilant", I suppose.

PSN is not the only games network to suffer from the fraudsters, however. I have heard a few vague stories about Xbox Live accounts being hacked, and cards being cloned. Whilst all this evidence is purely anecdotal, it raises the same points. Keep an eye on your finances and be smart with your passwords. One poor lady recently told me a story about how unexplained charges had been made to her credit card. After consulting her son, who "knew nothing about it" and Microsoft, who were dismissive and unhelpful, she got in touch with her bank, who in the end looked into the matter and refunded all the charges made by the fraudster. This lady was lucky, but from this I can only make one cynical assumption. Kids lie.

Have you been affected by credit card fraud? Has your Live account been hacked? Are you just miffed about PSN? I'd love to hear from you!

[REVIEW] Portal 2 (Valve, 360)

2011-05-04T12:56:00.000+01:00

Just a brief chat about Portal 2 today, I'm supposed to be revising for one of my exams at the moment so this is all procrastination, but I may as well take a few moments to write a few words about the game which is keeping my head out of my books this week.

Portal is one of those genre-busting games that defy definition. The main focus is on it's puzzles, (somewhat fiendishly difficult at times) crossed with some kind of first person shooter. Originally bundled in with the Orange Box compilation with Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, Portal tells a story of science, testing and madness at the hands of a sadistic AI known as GLaDOS. To cut a long story short, there are buttons that need to be pressed, high ledges that need to be accessed and turrets that need to be removed, all using a device known as the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which can fire two linked (you've guessed it) portals which allow the player to pass through and instantly arrive at where the exit portal was fired. Phew, that was harder to explain in laymans terms than expected.

Portal 2 expands on the foundations laid down by the first game by having you attempt to escape from the testing facility after being in suspended animation for some unspecified time. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as that, and before long, you find yourself back in the old testing chambers, having to solve puzzle after puzzle before you can continue. The puzzles are challenging, but not impossible - fifteen minutes of sheer frustration is often followed by a 30 second solution and shouting "oh I see!" at the TV once the necessary bit of flat space for your portal has been found. New aspects such as the bouncy Repulsion Gel add new interest to the game, which I am about half way through. My partner, who annoyingly seems to have a natural aptitude for testing has completed the single player campaign, and assures me that the ending is nothing short of spectacular.

Speaking of my other half, where this game really shines is in the co-operative mode. There are not many games out there which allow for split-screen two player, and even fewer that are actually any good. (If you have any recommendations, please give me a shout!) Two player Portal 2 is a great experience, not only is there the satisfaction of working together on the puzzle, the fact that there are two players, (represented by the absolute cutest robots I've seen since the Claptraps) means that there are now four portals at your disposal for even more variation in the puzzles. For those playing online there is also a signalling and gesture system, so you can tell your partner where to put his portals without having to physically shout and point.

In summary, I cannot recommend this game highly enough, and that's before I've mentioned such other treats as the vocal talents of Stephen Merchant and the dark, dark humour that is ingrained in every test chamber. Now, I've got an exam to cram for, so seriously, go buy this game now! 5/5

[REVIEW] Orbitsound T3 Portable Speaker

2011-04-27T17:23:00.000+01:00

At Gadget Show Live, I was lucky enough to be given one of Orbitsound's T3 personal speakers to test. (Picture pinched from orbitsound.com, hope they don't mind!) The speaker is fairly small at 6cm by 11cm and is powered by an internal battery which can be charged via USB. My previous experience of portable speakers has been somewhat patchy at best, most of the ones I have used (mostly as a kid, to be fair) have been fairly large, clunky battery munching monstrosities, so the light and delicate T3 appealed to me, but I was still fairly skeptical about the sound quality (in particular the bass) that would be produced.

The Orbitsound crew recommended I should test the T3 with a variety of machines:

Laptop: My laptop is my baby. It's fast, reliable and me and the husband find ourselves using it to watch various TV on demand services, movies, YouTube videos etc, especially when the poor overworked tower PC connected to the big screen telly has crapped out again. It's speakers are fairly poor, however, and if we happen to be laughing or discussing what's happening on screen, the audio gets lost. On plugging in the T3, I instantly noticed an increase in the volume and a richer tone in the voice of the scary lady announcing that we're all done for. (Need to load up on stimpaks and rad-away, pronto.) A win for the T3!

iPhone/iPod: Generally when I'm listening to music, it's coming from my iPhone. Time to test out one the T3's major boast, the claim that it can produce stereo sound from just one speaker, using it's "halo" effect. To test this, I chose Zebrahead - Playmate of the Year for it's alternate "Woo!"/"Yeah!" which if you're listening through headphones, you'll notice happens in one ear then the other. To create the effect, the T3 is worn on a lanyard around the neck, and the little side speakers create the stereo effect. Unexpectedly, this works really well, and I was very impressed!

Another great test using the iPhone really explored the power that this little speaker has. The acoustics in my bathroom aren't great, and I love having music while I shower, but the tinny little iPhone speaker tends to get lost amongst the sound of the water. Using the T3 a much louder, better quality sound can be achieved, probably much to the distress of our neighbours who have to deal with my, um, diverse music tastes. The T3's first downfall became obvious here though, as my phone struggled for signal and the speaker burst out into the loudest EM interference noise I'd ever heard in my life. Moving the speaker and the phone further away from each other seemed to help until I received a text message, when it did it again. What I really don't understand is why that never happens in my iPhone headphones! Obviously, all this can be avoided by using an iPod instead, but it's a bit of a pain, considering most of the stuff I want to listen to is on the phone!

Portable Gaming System (3DS): To me, this looks to be one of the most promising categories, provided that Nintendo do actually keep their vague promises to bring lots of 3D video content to the handheld. Yet again the sound is louder and less tinny. My personal preference is to play my games with the sound off, but for cut scenes or movies it is ideal. It seems like it would also be a perfect partner for a PSP as well, particularly for watching UMDs.

The Verdict: Retailing at £50, it's not cheap, however having had my fair share of crappy portable speakers in the past I'd be inclined to say that you get what you pay for. The T3 is lightweight, compact and packs a massive punch for what it is. Battery-wise, I've had the unit for two weeks and I've not yet charged it up again. Orbitsound say it lasts ten hours on a full charge, so more than enough life for a day out picnicing in the park or partying on public transport. The only downsides appear to be the susceptibility to interference and the fact that I felt a bit of a goof wearing it around my neck - but then again, if it's kickin' out some awesome tunes, who cares?

Overall, 4/5. Recommended! :)

[EVENT] Gadget Show Live, 12th April 2011 - The Game Zone (part 2!)

2011-04-20T17:16:00.000+01:00

The Game Zone (sponsored by, you've guessed it, GAME) at Gadget Show Live was an entire hall dedicated to showing off the latest and most exciting upcoming games, hardware and accessories. A quick wander round revealed demo machines showing off titles like Shift 2, Dirt 3, Gran Turismo 5 and a whole bunch of other franchises. There was one franchise, however, for which we made an immediate beeline.

And here it is! A first exclusive look at Duke Nukem Forever! Alright, maybe it's not THAT exclusive. The game (or demo, at least) begins with the urgent need for Duke to have a wee, which when you consider that this game has been twelve or thirteen years in the making, is entirely reasonable! Those familiar with the Duke Nukem series will be familiar with the story, aliens have landed and are stealing all the women, which has thoroughly annoyed our chauvinistic Duke - they're HIS women, dammit! (Or something like that.) The game looks pretty slick, and has taken notice of other leaders in the FPS genre, with cheeky nods to other titles such as Half Life in the dialogue. In the time Duke's been away, he's been honing his skills and trying his hand at some new things (as illustrated here in my gallery of photos from the Duke Nukem stand!) but the tried and tested formula remains the same. Chew bubblegum. Kick ass.

A few other highlights from the 18+ section included the Gears of War 3 demo, guaranteed to delight fans of the series. Admittedly, Gears isn't really my kind of game but the visuals are slick and the gameplay seems to handle well. Codes for the beta are now available from Gamestation in the UK when you pre-order the game, so now there's no excuse for not having a go yourself. Also played in this section was Mortal Kombat, on PS3s that were set up arcade style with proper old school sticks and buttons. I am terrible at fighting games, but my other half showed me how it was done, and later on the demo at home proved that he still knows all the fatalities. Gory, gruesome and grim! (But highly recommended, obviously!)

After leaving the 18+ area, we took in the rest of the Game Zone, which included a rather neat retro area, where we had a quick game of MarioKart 64, some fake Pac Man machines, complete with a Pac Man with ARMS, a few Kinects, (where I got stage fright and couldn't quite bring myself to play Dance Central!) some chaps playing Portal 2 who looked like they'd been there for HOURS and finally, the 3DS section. With the 3DS having been out for three weeks by this point, I'd managed to get my hopes up that we would be able to see some of the games scheduled for later on in the year, such as Zelda, Steel Diver and the Resident Evil games. Unfortunately it was not to be, as the only games displayed were the launch games. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and we picked up a ton of StreetPass hits from the area, and on this week's Gadget Show, we caught a split-second glimpse of my other half inside the 3DS area! (Which can be seen here! Literally the first second of the footage.) Trust me to be standing behind the camera!

Oh well, maybe next time! :)

[EVENT] Gadget Show Live, 12th April 2011 (Part 1)

2011-04-14T16:11:00.000+01:00

A while ago, my partner and I were lucky enough to be invited to Gadget Show Live Professional, a sneak preview of GSL for trade buyers and people in the industry. Obviously, we jumped at the chance to be able to visit this event and hot-footed it down to the Birmingham NEC to see what it was all about.

On entering the first hall, one of the first things to greet me was this super-cute robot from the Future Technology area. Using Microsoft's Kinect, he can sense depth much better than a robot using a regular camera. More on this in a future post!

Walking around the first hall, where most of the home-oriented gadgets and technology were situated, there seemed to be a massive focus on 3D home entertainment, with most of the major television manufacturers represented. All dependant on 3D glasses, the quality ranged from excellent (The Batman demo at the Acer stand was a favourite) to "Oooh no." (A direct quote from myself.) If I had money to burn, I'd certainly invest in a top of the range set, however at the moment 3DTV for me is marked under the heading "Purely Aspirational", at least until the costs come down... or the glasses come off! Speaking of aspirational, one company were exhibiting their top of the range hot tubs, complete with champagne glass holders. As the husband quite rightly pointed out, it's not merely the extortionate cost of such a luxury that prevents us from owning one, it's the fact that we simply don't have room in our house!

Next stop was the Gadget Hall of Fame in association with the Centre for Computing History. A little confusing at first, as we stepped straight into the 1980's exhibit only to be met with a genuine Sinclair C5 and the red JVC camcorder made famous in Back To The Future! Closer inspection of a BBC Micro computer revealed that it contained the text based game Hampstead, and confirmed that twenty years later, I am still no good at text based games. Around the corner was the 1970's exhibit, faithfully decked out in obnoxious wallpaper, with working Pong machine and an actual Betamax recorder! I had to capture the moment as I doubt I shall ever see one again! The 1990's exhibit was filled with a few more familiar toys such as a Mega Drive, the first iMac and a selection of early mobile phones, but the computers of the 1960's were almost unreal! I found it fascinating, but almost impossible to comprehend how those boxes of circuits relate to the technology of today. Guess I've got a lot of history to catch up on!

After blagging a glass of wine from the lovely people at Orbitsound (Who also gave me one of their T3 personal speakers to test - review to come!) we headed down to the test track, where all kinds of bikes, radio controlled vehicles, scooters and such were being tested out. On the way we met none other than the man himself, Jason Bradbury! He was running around like a bit of a madman trying to get things organised for the live show, undoubtably we caught him at probably one of the busiest times of his life, yet he still gave two minutes of his time to say hello and pose for a picture with us. What a pro! Then onwards to the track, where my other half got to try his hand at riding a Segway!

All in all, an absolutely superb day out, and that's even before I've told you about the Game Zone! But more on that later in the week...

Things I Love... About the 3DS

2011-03-30T17:43:00.000+01:00

In the time-honoured tradition of Gala Darling's Things I Love Thursday, here is a selection of things about the 3DS that make me smile:

Having my own puppy. Sure, Nintendogs has been around for years, so there's nothing really new in this incarnation apart from the cats, who don't seem to do much. But there's something very satisfying about looking after this little fella, who I have named Pablo. This game appeals to both my cutesy girly side and my hardcore gamer side, as after all, it's all about providing the best love, care and attention to allow you to unlock new dogs, right? Besides, it's fun to dress him in an Elvis wig and make him do tricks. You can't do that with a real dog. (Or at least, it's a moral grey area.)
The reintroduction of hand-held gaming into my life. Some time ago, my DS used to go with me everywhere. Any bit of down time would be filled with gaming. Then slowly, I began to leave it at home more and more, and began to buy newspapers, and when I got my iPhone, spend more and more time on Twitter and Facebook. I don't know about you, but have YOU read a newspaper recently? DEPRESSING! Why not spend that time in a more fun and positive way thrashing some high score on Super Monkey Ball, raising some Pokemon or tending my pup? (Disclaimer: I still read the news, just not as much. That shit's important, yo.)
Better connections to my friends. The full internet capacity of the 3DS is not yet up and running, but already I can see when my friends are online and what games they're playing. The main reason for this is that there is just one friend code per machine now, rather than one for each seperate game. (Original DS games still use the old system, as far as I can work out!) Streetpass, the feature that allows for interactions between two 3DS machines that are in sleep mode (in pockets, handbags etc) also looks like an exciting new feature, although I've only used it in the built in Mii games so far - I've not passed anyone else playing Nintendogs! (*sob!*)

Other features and things that I enjoy include:

♥ Being able to turn the 3D OFF. ♥

♥ Not having to demonstrate the machine using only Face Raiders anymore ♥

♥ Having an activity log, to indulge my geeky statistics-loving side. ♥

♥ Looking forward to the games that DIDN'T make it out in time for launch. ♥

♥ My friend Mike's goofy-looking Mii. ♥

♥ The fact that my hair matched my machine (for a few days at least!) ♥

♥ Taking it back to the old school with Super Monkey Ball - PROPER screaming fits at my machine as I fall repeatedly off the edges.♥

Have you bought a 3DS? What's your favourite thing about it? Tell me in the comments!

[3DS] Frustration is...

2011-03-23T14:42:00.000Z

My 3DS is sat at work with my copy of Nintendogs (French Bulldog) all ready to be taken home and loved to bits, but I'm not allowed to take it home till Friday! The settings are all customised, my Mii is set up and it's all ready to go.

Two days left...

REVIEW: Pokemon Black (DS) - Part One

2011-03-09T17:00:00.000Z

Oshawott. My starter Pokemon. Cute!

Firstly, a disclaimer. I am only seven hours into Pokemon Black. For some games, this might provide a full spectrum of everything the game has to offer (Bulletstorm being one of the most recent offenders, so I've heard) but just to put things into perspective, my Pokemon Pearl cartridge has clocked up around 350 hours, my Platinum about 100, my Diamond never really got past 20, but I did play it through twice to harvest the Legendaries and my SoulSilver clocked up around 40 hours but in my defence, I had started my chemistry degree by this point and that 40 hours might possibly have been better spent reading the last book in my second year course, Mechanism and Synthesis. Vital stuff. Still on my to-do list. One of my dear friends managed to put over a THOUSAND hours into one cart, with a few other Poke-freaks not far behind. (You know who you are!)

However, it's not all academic doom and gloom. Anyone who claims that Pokemon is a kids game is a) sorely mistaken, b) unable to grasp the complex statistics that underlie the gameplay, c) a chav, or d) all of the above. Yes, kids, Pokemon is at heart a MATHS game. Even at the most basic level of understanding, more powerful pokemon (with the bigger numbers) have a tendancy to be stronger than weaker pokemon (with the smaller numbers) before factoring in the multipliers for effectiveness. If I were so inclined to have children, I would INSIST that they play Pokemon. Me and Dad would be the harshest gym leaders they'd ever encountered. And by god they'd LEARN.

All of this makes me sound a little psychotic, so let's get to the nitty gritty. 150ish new pokemon, and this time, none of the old ones seem to be available in the first half of the game! This is a good thing, as everything is NEW and EXCITING. The starter Pokemon consist of a fire pig, a water otter and some kind of grass snake, who looks sort of like a smug weasel at the same time. So far, all my friends seem to have chosen Tepig, the fire pig. I'm not sure what this says about my friends, or the fact that I chose Oshawott, the water otter. Gameplay seems fairly quick to get into, the story is laid out quickly and easily, and it's then up to you to get into that long grass and seeking out Pokemon. After the first gym, multiplayer is opened up, although I haven't experiemented much with that yet.

So far, a worthy sequel. This review is entitled Part One for a reason - I'll get back to you in a hundred hours or so!

Scoring: 5/5 - Not even Fallout is this addictive. I may actually require medication at some point. If you're talking to me, and I've got my face buried in my DS, please don't think I'm being rude. I need help. Please help me.

[SNIPPETS] A round-up of February's activity.

2011-02-24T17:02:00.000Z

Seems like real life's been keeping me busy for the past couple of weeks, not giving me an awful lot of time to get stuck into as many games as I'd like. In spite of that, here are a few snippets that kept me amused throughout the month:

Would you let this tit anywhere near your car? I mean, seriously, look at him. Tim Westwood is, at 53 years of age, old enough to be my father. Whilst my own father (and many of your fathers, I suspect) is prone to bouts of daft behaviour, none have lasted as long as Westwood's delusion that he is some kind of "gangsta". I will not dispute the fact that the man has an unmatchable love for hiphop and rap music, nor the good work that he has done in bringing this to the people of the UK (for 25 years, no less!) but if he came anywhere near my car I'd go spare. Just as well then, that he doesn't feature whatsoever in Pimp My Ride DS, a game which was bought for me as a joke present by my lovely husband.

It is widely known in gaming circles that the Pimp My Ride game on the 360 is a massive pile of gash, and I expected no less from the DS version. Amusingly enough, however, I've found it strangely addictive, and keep popping it into my DS every now and again for a quick race. The massive downside to this game - can't be played for more than 20 minutes at a time, as it makes my eyeballs feel like they're about to bleed from the badly animated backgrounds. But hey ho! Not bad for £1.39!

Oh dear, speaking of let-down games, I picked up a copy of Venetica on the 360 having read some crap reviews of how the graphics are appalling, but the game oddly charming. (For those wondering, yes, I AM some kind of masochist.) The story is cute, "orphan" girl's village is attacked by supernatural fellas, foster family reveals girl is Death's daughter, Death is in trouble, daughter must come to Daddy's aid. There were two major factors in me not giving this game a fair chance. The first was the fact that I had a migraine coming on, the second (which exacerbated the first point somewhat) is that this game is CLUNKY. The graphics, the controls, the menu system, all of it. At this point, I made a sad noise, gave up and went to bed. :(

Other things that have kept me occupied this month:

Little Big Planet 2 multiplayer - Finally rediscovered the joy of 4-player 1-screen gaming. Even though I was the Sack Thing that died/got stuck/got left behind the most I found it exciting and not too frustrating. Not that I'd deliberately suicide myself at the difficult bits and wait to respawn at the next point when my chums had got there or anything...

Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - After adding 8 levels to my character and summoning up the balls to finally go for it, I descended on the Sierra Madre. Yep, I'm still finding it pretty terrifying, but a new challenge as resources are limited for the first time in the game. Finding myself relying on my Unarmed skill, which I've never really used before.

Looking forward to the new Pokemon - By this time next week, it'll be in my sweaty little hands. Who will I choose as my starter pokemon? How will it compare with the other games? And how the hell will I get 300+ pokemon off my other carts onto this one? The fun and games, they begin again. *sigh*