So while I was in Austin recently, I saw this cool place called Game Over Videogames. It’s a store that specializes in retro gaming. They are a really awesome bunch who genuinely seem to love what they are doing. Check them out here: Game Over

This is definitely a place you want to visit if you happen to cruise through Austin, TX.

So what’s going on?

Yeah, I am still alive and well. Have been working at my local EB for a few weeks. It’s a great bunch I work with, but the bummer is that it has actually made video games into *gulp* a job. Oh well, better than most things I can be doing right now, and it’s only temporary.

Aside from that, not a lot is going on, been playing Brawl of course. Picked up Professor Layton (VERY fun game actually) and I think Professor Layton should win the nice guy award. Caught up with some Link to the Past (haven’t played that in a while) and am looking forward to Insecticide and Ninja Gaiden DS. This is why I need to limit the games I buy. I rarely finish them, because I tend to get caught up playing other newer games everytime something comes out. I HAVE to finish all these games one day.

What else…oh yeah, been reading “The Ultimate History of Video Games” really great book so far, but I really have to say that “Power Up” did a little more to feed the hungry fanboy in me. After that is “Game Over”, it is said to have a really great detailed history on Nintendo. In fact, the book is sitting here at my desk as I type this up. Oh, and the Guinness Book Gamers Edition. Yeah, I read a lot.

Games you all need to check out:

Professor Layton

Insecticide

Ninja Gaiden DS

I am assuming anyone reading this has already purchased Brawl. If you haven’t go out and get it, now.

Oh, and while in Austin, I picked up King of Kong and the Super Mario Bros. movie.  YAY me.

How is it going guys? Well, lately i have been writing for 411 mania, and it has been a lot of fun. I try to keep up with the news here too, but sometimes it’s tough to try keeping up with two sites. What I end up doing is writing news there, and using this site as more of a blog for personal thoughts on the game industry and its happenings.

Updates may not happen here as often as they used to, but lately it has gotten a bit lonely here, because when we started the site was 4 people. Lately it has just been me. I don’t run the site, but I am considering asking the owner if he wants to go with some more general tech news.

This week I have already finished Ninja Gaiden DS and Insecticide. Soon I will be posting my reviews on 411. Expect me to post a link as soon as I can.

Well, I did vote on this one: Shigs!  Looks like Shigeru Miyamoto is number 9 on the user picked list of TIME’s 100 most influential people.

Well, it looks like my writing is finally paying off. I am going to E3 with 411mania. To some, this may not be a big deal, but this is a huge event.

Happy 4th!

Man, I can’t believe it, E3 is coming soon! I am looking forward to some major stuff from Ninty. Perhaps even a new project from Retro? Everyone has been talking about something for a while now. Let’s just hope it happens!

Well, it’s been a long time. I am still around, but I have been writing for a few other sites and a bunch of other random publications.

It is great to know that what I did here is paying off somewhat and I hope that things only get better from here. I come back here every once in a while to check up on things, but I think I am the only one.

’til next time.

8-Bit

Yeah, I know. I know…it’s been a while, but eh…never late than never? I have no excuses really, things came and gone. More things will come and go..

Nontheless, an article from andriasang.com has stated that Nintendo is planning on releasing their very own video service on the ever lasting almight Wii. But instead of being a typical Wii-Ware release title, it’s suppose to fall in line of the other existing Wii channels such as the Weather Channel, or the Wii Shop Channel. Supposely available free to download next spring.

The current name for the service is called “Wii no Ma“, which is a combination of “ochanoma” and “Wii, meaning “A video experience space where you can enjoy communication when gathered with your friends and family in front of your living room television.” So yes mothers of America, its another family friendly service here, nothing pornographic (sorry everyone else!). Nothing too specific has been releasing regarding the upcomming service, but expect it to offer a mix of paid and free programming.

Sounds interesting, but as long as we don’t see any “Yo Gabba Gabba!” type crap on it, I’ll be fine…but I got a strange feeling about this one..

Now, everyone once in a while you’d catch a bit of news somewhere about criminals doing the dumbest things before getting caught. Usually these are true because they are often caught on camera actually performing their acts of stupidity. Well in this case, I got a piece of news thats so seemingly ridiculous that I wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but being it so hilarious also I just had to make note of it also.

So a fella name “HUELEN10″ from the NeoGAF forum posted a story about a neighbor lady who just bought a Wii for her kids during the recent Christmas. She asked him for games she should get for the system and he recommended some retail games and the Sonic the Hedgehog Virtual Console game. Naturally she wouldn’t understand so he explained to “put in her credit card when prompted on the Shop Channel, and get the amount of points she wanted.”

And guess what she does next? Yep. Slides the credit card right into the disc slot, apparently damaging the card ( though I’m not quite sure how possible this is…nor am I going to try and find out either) and the Wii along with it. So with that not working, she apparently jams three more credit cards into the Wii wondering why she isn’t getting the “points” she needed. Now shes got three damaged credit cards and a broken Wii. Angrily, she calls up HUELEN10 and demands he pays for the repairs.

So we’ve heard reports of the Wii overheating or breaking down for various reasons, but this is definately the first time I’ve heard of any consoles breaking down due to credit card. Perhaps she’s still stuck in the late 80s when game consoles like the Sega Master System and TurboGrafx-16 had games that were stored on actual credit cards-like format (HuCard anyone?) !

The thing about this particular story is that it can be totally made up, OR it can actually have occurred because if life has taught me anything its that people can do, have done, and will continue to do the stupidest things in the world. Nonetheless, another year has gone by and my job still sucks.

Oh no, it has finally happened. The legendary NES packed in Super Mario Bros video game which once held the title as the Best Selling Game of All Time for so many years has finally been bumped off the top by none other than the game that introduced us all to the wiggle-waggle concept, turned senior citizens into gamers, hooked your girlfriend to the TV longer than you, allowed grandma to give you the ass-whopping in bowling, and changed the way we play games forever, Wii Sports.

If we all go by the ever so trustworthy VGChartz, Wii Sports has over taken Super Mario Bros by selling a grand total of 40.52 million copies, while Super Mario Bros has only sold a pathetic 40.24 million copies. Of course, the fact that both of these games came packaged in with the console (at least in the US it does) had nothing to do with it “selling” so much. In which case, one of those Pokemon games would actually be the highest selling game of all time. A fella on N4G mentioned that had Sony packaged a game with the PS2, whatever game it may be would have more than double the “sales” that were made by Wii Sports. Sucks they didn’t think of that, huh?

Oh yah, incidently the Top 10 best selling games of all time happened to be dominated by Nintendo. Guess they’re doing something right?

1. Wii Sports, Wii - 40.52
2. Super Mario Bros, NES - 40.24
3. Pokemon Red / Green / Blue, GameBoy - 31.38
4. Tetris, GameBoy - 30.26
5. Duck Hunt, NES - 28.31
6. Pokemon Gold / Silver, GameBoy - 23.11
7. Nintendogs, DS - 21.37
8. Super Mario World, SNES - 20.61
9. Wii Play, Wii - 19.68
10. Super Mario Land, GameBoy - 18.14