Gotta Love Glitches. Episode 1.

Hey guys, it's Yeah568 here. I know I have been here for a while, but us bloggers have to go to something that starts with S-C-H and ends with O-O-L. So yeah, on with the post!

I just started a (hopefully) weekly post on random bugs/glitches that I happen to see on my old computer. Tip: If you want to see glitches, ditch that uber fast gaming computer, and go back to an Intel Celeron with 512 MB of RAM. It's easier that way.

So, today's glitch is in the one OS that I personally hate the most, Windows!


(Like my uber awesome desktop? Yeah. And no, I do not actually use pirate to pirate things off the internet. Just to get Ubuntu and that offline Wikipedia thing. Just sayin'.)

As you can all probably see, the pop-up balloon used by Windows to tell you "Updates are available, download them already!!!!! I'll keep nagging you If you don't." is in the totally wrong place. And that black box thing in the lower-right hand corner, that's Launchy. It's actually quite useful (in my opinion).

That wraps up this week's post on Gotta Love Glitches. Till next week, I'll see you later.

~Yeah568

Did anyone actually read all that? If you did, then you should know by now that Macs are superior. Let the flame wars begin.

Nation States

Hello! This is R2D2 with your latest post.

Today I am going to tell you about a Massively Multiplayer (free) Online Game known as Nation States/Nation States 2.

In both Nation States 1 and 2, the objective is to simply create and manage your own nation. While this seems boring on the surface, it can get pretty nice and interesting. I encourage you all to take a look.

Nation States 1 link: http://www.nationstates.net/

Nation States 2 link: http://nationstates2.com/

In both games, you start by taking a political survey. Your nation will be formed based on what you answer in the survey. Then, every day, you will be given issues to address. You can choose how to deal with the issue, or, just dismiss the issue if non of the arguments apply to you. Based on how you answer to these issues, your Nation will grow and develope. While they are both fun, Nation States 2 offers more in terms of trade, economy, military and player/player relations, as in Nation States 2 you can form alliances, and blockade or trade with other players. Soon they even claim to add warfare to the game. Anyway, that wraps up this post telling you the gist of Nation States and Nation States 2. I will be sure to write a review once I have gotten into it more.

~R2d2

*In Nation States 2 I am in world 88, and my Nation is called Roosterton, if anyone wants to play alongside me.*

New Head tracking Wii based technology

Hello! It's R2d2!

Today I would like to tell you about a cool, new 3-d Wii based technology, that uses the Wii remote's infared cameras, and the sensor bar's infared lights, to create a 3-d effect if the sensor bar is mounted on your head. The sensor bar will give the location of your head to the computer, when the Wii remote sees the infared light from the sensor bar. Here is a video that is likely to better explain it:



See it on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

Thanks to jcl5m for uploading the video. His Youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/jcl5m

So, is that not cool enough?

Create some games already, Nintendo!

Video game addiction rant

Okay, first, sorry for not posting for a while. Nothing worthy of note to talk about, but I think I've come up with something for this post.

Video game addiction. First of all, when someone says video game addiction, people think of ordinary computer nerds playing for at most 3 hours a day. Then, when they say that someone had a heartattack playing World Of Warcraft, the listener paints these ordinary computer nerds as people becoming messed up and getting heartattacks because those "Darn electro widgets" are "Bad for their health.

Okay: There is a difference between what I call "Addicted Gamers" and "Casual Gamers."

Casual Gamers (Like myself and some of the other bloggers(*ahem* Me! I've invaded the post! ~Yeah568)) DO NOT get heartattacks from playing video games.Casual gamers are the NORMAL computer nerds who play usually for 3 hours a day at most. (With some exceptions, like when Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out :))

Addicted gamers are, in my opinion, complete freaks who play for A LOT more than 3 hours a day. Here's one good example: an undisclosed South Korean gamer died of a heart failure after playing Starcraft for 50 hours straight. FIFTY HOURS. And in a book I read, the author was blaming the video game. RIGHT. And absolutely no blame goes to his parents, or other factors, right? WRONG! How bad does a parent have to be, to not teach his/her child that it is NOT a good idea to do a single activity for 50 hours straight. That's basic stuff, and if you parents of that gamer, or any other parents whose kids have died from playing too long, are reading, then I say shame on you. And you can't say that any other activity would have been okay, because any other activity ISN'T. JOGGING for 50 hours will likely leave you as a dead man also. I know that when this gamer was a child, there were no addictive games, so the parents couldn't have specifically taught him about not playing for 50 hours straight, but, come on - If he plays for 50 hours straight, then the parents obviously didn't do something right, because, if it was the video games' fault, then everyone who was born before games were around, and are gamers now, would also be playing for 50 hours straight.

So now you know the difference between addicted gamers and casual gamers. And if any parents are reading this, and your kid has been playing something for 10 hours each day, please pull it together, and tell them to take a BREAK.

Final Fantasy 4 DS - Review

Yay! It's finally ready after a long, long, delay.

Now that I'm ready, I can finally decide exactly how good the Final Fantasy 4 DS remake is.

STORY:

The story is quite nice and original. You are the dark knight of the nation of Baron, named Cecil. You have carried out various missions for the king of Baron, when Cecil starts to get an impression that the king is somewhat evil, after he is ordered to take a sacred crystal from another nation, called Mysidia. You, as Cecil, then set out to redeem yourself from your past sins, and find out about the evil that is influencing the king. Excellent story, no complaints here.

STORY: 10/10 (Extremely epic)

GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay is pretty much like any other Final Fantasy game, or, for that matter, any other RPG. Turn based battles (Though with something of a real-time element), instanced battles in wild and monster filled areas (Meaning that monsters will jump out and attack you in the wild, like Pokemon), and everything else that makes a good RPG. The controls are really simple. Sometimes I feel that they overdid it with the amount of instanced battles, and sometimes the bosses take many, many attempts to defeat, due to the difficulty of the game.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10 (Quite epic)

MUSIC:

Really, this is the best music I've ever heard from a Nintendo DS.

MUSIC: 10/10 (Epic)

GRAPHICS:

When I watched the opening video, I was thinking "GRAPHICS: 100/10", but the actual in game graphics aren't as good as that. They are still epically good as long as you don't expect them to be anything like the opening sequence.

GRAPHICS: 9.5/10 (Really epic)

OVERALL:

The first thing I thought after completing this game was "THIS IS TEH MOST EPIC THING EVA!!!!"...

It is.

OVERALL: 9.75/10 (Very, very epic)

Ace Attorney: Apollo justice review

Hello!

This is a review on the 2008 Nintendo DS game made by Capcom.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Okay, this was another reason why it was taking so long to do the final fantasy 4 review. Now that I have beaten this game, I shall go back to full speed on Final Fantasy 4.*

STORY:

The story is REALLY interesting, weird, plot-twist-ish, and COMPLICATED!!! Not to mention original and really good. Phoenix Wright's had to turn in his badge, so you are playing as Apollo Justice, a newly hired defense attorney. There are four different cases to play through, and, will all tie together in the end. Although the story is worthy of a 10/10, I felt the game was too short, so the story loses marks.

STORY: 9/10

GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay is unique, I can't say how it compares to other games in the series since this is my first Ace Attorney game. For me it was good,though very text-based.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

MUSIC:

The music is very good, though sometimes the background music can get irritating.

MUSIC: 8/10

GRAPHICS:

The text-font is good, if that's what you mean by graphics, since that's really the only graphics that matter. Okay, seriously, the actual graphics aren't bad.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

OVERALL:

Overall, the game is really good. Maybe the reason I felt it was too short was because I played it so much.

OVERALL: 8.5/10

:) ~ R2D2

Wii Play Co-review

Hello! This is Yeah568 and R2D2 presenting you this site's very first Co-review, which is our review of one of the first Wii games around, Wii Play!

R2D2's thoughts on Gameplay:

The Gameplay is simple, but fun-ish. The Wii Remote controls most things. There are nine (I think) games to play, ranging from "The Shooting range" to "Laser Hockey". Although the concept of it seems nice, these games can get boring somewhat quickly. The only one I truly and wholly like is "Tanks", which is the only one that I feel like I can play over and over again in one sitting.

R2D2's Gameplay score: 6/10

Yeah568's thoughts on Gameplay:

Nine mini-games, all pretty fun for the first month, then it gets boring. Honestly, there are only three that I kind of like. Shooting Range (Duck Hunt, anyone?), Charge! and Tanks. It's very easy to just pick up and play. It actually feels like doing the activity.

Yeah568's Gameplay score: 7/10

R2D2's thoughts on Graphics:

The graphics are similar in many ways to those of Wii Sports, colourful, simple, and un-detailed.

Okay, nothing special.

R2D2's Graphics Score: 6.5/10

Yeah568's thoughts on Graphics:

Decent, same as the other Wii series games. Next!

Yeah568's Graphics score: 7/10

R2D2's thoughts on Music:

The music is very plain and not really standing-out. I can't give it TOO bad of a score, since it isn't particularly bad.

R2D2's Music score: 6.5/10

Yeah568's thoughts on Music:

Decent music, kinda has that basic MIDI effect. It's in the background though, so you can't really hear it.

Yeah568's Music score: 7.5/10

R2D2's Overall score: 6.5/10 - Nothing special here.

Yeah568's Overall score: 7/10 - Decent

OVERALL SCORE: 6.75/10 - Passable

w00t!

Jack Thompson, AKA the video game hating lawyer, has been disbarred! In other words, he has been "fired" from being a lawyer and can no longer appear in court.

~BWP

Guitar Hero Aerosmith review

Hello! This is R2D2 with a Guitar Hero Aerosmith review! How will it compare to the normal Guitar Hero 3? Good or bad? Find out here!

STORY:

N/A

GAMEPLAY:

Okay, first of all, the main Gameplay rules are more or less the same as the normal GH3. 5 colours, 4 difficulty levels, star power, etc. However there are some differences, most of them negative. First of all, you can easily get 100% on most EXPERT songs if you tried. Yeah, it's a BIT too easy. Secondly, although not as much on expert as on medium or easy, some of the note annotations are noticeably off. The song would sound like one thing, but the notes would either come at you at the wrong time, or what you are playing just wouldn't resemble what you are hearing.

GAMEPLAY: 6/10

GRAPHICS:

The graphics are more or less exactly the same as the normal GH3 graphics. They DO have nice animations for the Aerosmith members, though.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

MUSIC:

The game offers a nice selection of songs to play, though not as many as the original GH3. However is this selection good or bad? Meh, kind of in the middle. They have some pretty crappy songs, like "Love in an Elevatior",(Though somehow considered a hit) and "Uncle Salty". They DO have some really nice Aerosmith songs, like "Dream On", and "Kings and Queens". I'd say the Music is around average.

MUSIC: 6/10

OVERALL:

An O.K. game, not bad. But to genuinely and holly love it, you've got to like every single Aerosmith song ever made, and ignore the minor gameplay issues. But for most people? Good if you don't have much else to do, I guess.

OVERALL: 7/10

Command & Destroy (DS) review

Hello! Today I will be reviewing the Nintendo DS game called "Command and destroy", made by Cypron studios. It is a top-down real time war game. This game is probably un-heard of by you... But is it good or bad?

*Note: I only played through the first level of this game. I then got extremely frustrated, and thought that for my own health I should stop.*

STORY:

Me thinks they were not feeling like coming up with anything intelligent. The story is effectively this: Aliens attack humans. Wow, impressive story line... NOT! You can side with either the aliens or the humans, not that it makes much difference.

STORY: 2/10

GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay? Ehhhhh.... Well, first things first. They managed to somehow make it impossible to scroll the map, which should be the simplest thing in the world. What little in game instructions they have barely tell you anything. controls are sometimes unresponsive, and you'll probably spend more time trying to get one of your soldiers to move than actually solving the mission. Also, they didn't make a decent save system like most games have, but instead, they have a "Password" system, where you are given the code to the next level after you beat a level. I mean that's what the first metroid game EVER used. THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY!!! Yeah, that sums that up.

GAMEPLAY: 1/10

GRAPHICS:

The graphics, to be honest, could have been MUCH better. The soldiers are VERY tiny on screen, leaving you squinting to see your own troops, and the graphics look almost pixelated. I know this is a Nintendo DS, not a PS3, but still...

GRAPHICS: 2/10

MUSIC:

Music? Weird, bland, annoying. Do I have to say anymore? At least you can hardly notice it.

MUSIC: 1.5/10

OVERALL:

Probably the worst game I've ever played. This shall be the first game on this site's upcoming "Condemned" list, which is a list of games you SHOULDN'T buy. The only reason I bought this game was because, I was looking for "Fire Emblem, The Sacred Stones", couldn't find it, and bought this game instead.

OVERALL: 1.5/10 - DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. PERIOD.

*Other note: About the Final Fantasy 4 DS review, I know I said I "WILL have it done soon" around a month ago. No, I have not ditched that project, it's just that the final area is taking much longer than I expected. It shouldn't be long now, though.*

Guitar Hero 3 review (Wii Version)

Guitar Hero 3 is a Guitar-playing Game (GPG) (I made that up) for the Wii, Xbox 360,
PS3, and PS2. This review is for the Wii version, not that it makes much difference.

STORY:

N/A

GAMEPLAY:

The Gameplay is nice and smooth, the objective being to "Play" the coloured notes as they pass by, with your plastic wireless guitar, by strumming and pushing the correct combination of colours. The game has four different difficulty settings, all of which I will explain:

EASY- The easiest difficulty setting, with only three colours to play, and with each song having VERY simple to play notes.

MEDIUM- Slightly harder than medium, with more complex note combinations and the addition of a blue note, forcing you to make use of your pinky as well.

HARD-Starting to get quite difficult, featuring faster tunes and the addition of an orange note, and, since your thumb isn't playing, will force you to slide your hand over to play the orange notes.

EXPERT-The hardest difficulty setting, and, although it doesn't add another note, it does just "Turn it up a notch" and make everything harder.

The game also has a multiplier which goes up with your streak, increasing the amount of points you get for each note. There is also a star power feature, which, once you have hit enough "SP Phrases", can be used to double the multiplier. The note annotations are also pretty good, unlike Guitar Hero AEROSIMTH...

GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10

GRAPHICS:

The graphics are impressive and flashy, even though they don't really matter in this type of game. The PS3 version of the game supposedly has better graphics than the Wii, though.

GRAPHICS 9/10

MUSIC:
The game features songs like "Slow Ride" (By Foghat) All the way to "Raining blood"
(By Slayer). Although there are some bad songs, there aren't too many of them.

MUSIC: 8.5/10

OVERALL: 9/10

Overall, Guitar Hero 3 is a pretty darn good game, if you have quick fingers, and like musical games and GPG's. Discuss your Guitar Hero 3 opinion in the comments.

Legend of Zelda: The Phantom hourglass review

It's the long awaited (And long delayed) Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (DS) review! By R2D2:

STORY:

The story begins with you, link, a member of a pirate group led by Tetra (revealed as Princess Zelda in the previous game) Getting attacked by a massive "Ghost ship" that kidnaps Tetra, Link finds himself washed up on the shore of Mercay island, where he meets a fairy called Ciela. Link tells Ciela about Tetra, and they embark on a quest to find the Ghost Ship and rescue Tetra.

STORY: 8/10

GRAPHICS:

The graphics will strike you as quite bad at first, but you will get used to them and will soon be admiring the simple art of each of the characters in the game.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

MUSIC:

Nice music, I never really got bored of it.

MUSIC: 8.5/10

GAMEPLAY:

95% Of the game's controls are with the Stylus, giving you a more unique control system than other games, doing things like slashing and moving with the stylus. However, because of this, it can sometimes be frustrating getting the game to do what you want with the stylus, for example, it can be hard sometimes to get Link to roll, for the touch screen might mistake your stylus actions for a sword slash instead. Good gameplay everywhere else, though.

Gameplay: 7.5/10

Overall: 8/10 - Great game!

Discuss your opinion with others in the comments.


-R2D2

RPG maker VX review

Hello! This is R2D2!

Like I said about 23 days ago, I had gotten the RPG making software known as RPG maker VX for the PC. I will now write my review about it. Note that this may be an unusual review, for there isn't a story to review, and how good it is may depend on how well I have used it.

GRAPHICS SELECTION:

The game allows you four pages (Each with about 40-50 tiles) to make your own cool-looking landscapes. I have hardly ever felt that there is no tile just perfect for what I need. Also, the game comes with a wide variety of character and enemy graphics. You can also upload your own character or enemy graphics.

GRAPPHICS SELECTION: 9/10

MUSIC SELECTION:

The game comes with about 25 different looping BGM's, around 10 ME's, hundreds of SE's, and about 10 Background looping sound effects, giving you quite a selecion of music and sound effects. You can also upload your own BGM's, ME's, SE's And Background Sounds. That being said, some of the BGM's sound almost exactly like each other.

MUSIC SELECTION: 7.5/10

DATABASE CREATION:

RPG Maker VX also has a "database", where you can manage the stats of your characters, create enemies, create weapons and classes, and...
You get the idea...
It is very simple to use, with, as I said, lots of graphics (Like a green-haired man character graphic, for example) to be used with allies, enemies, or miscellaneous events. This may seem complicated to first-time users, but will be easy once you get the hang of it.

DATABASE CREATION: 9/10

USER FRIENDLINESS:

RPG maker VX is quite complicated to first time users, and it may take a while to get to know the full extent of it's abilities. There is a help function, but, I personally don't find it too useful. However, there is a quick event creation button that will let you create treasure chests, doors, or transfer points. Creating other events, however, may be overwhelming and hard at first. Once you get used to it, though, you can be creating many tricky events with relative ease.

USER FRIENDLINESS:8/10

OVERALL SCORE: 8.5/10 - Great game!

Discuss your opinion with others in the comments!

Final Fantasy 4 DS Pre-Review

Hello! This is R2D2!

I have recently gotten the DS remake of Final Fantasy 4, (So I can now REALLY call myself an RPG junkie, for getting my first Final Fantasy game) and it is so far REALLY GOOD. I haven't completed it yet, but I will be sure to write a review about it in the near future. I will right now tell you in general what are my thoughts of the game:

Story: Good, pretty original
Graphics: Excellent, given that it's on a Nintendo DS.
Gameplay: Good, Easy controls, may be a bit complicated to play for Final Fantasy
n00bs. (Like myself)
Music: Good music, one of the only games that my brother barely ever complains about the music in.

Full review coming soon!

-R2D2

DS vs. PSP

Sure, it's been done a million and one times, but you can never pit the two handheld gaming systems against each other enough. Here's my point of view on the two. Please keep in mind this review is opinion, and you have the right to disagree with it.
___________________________________________________________
Screen

DS: The Nintendo DS sports two screens, a touch screen and normal screen. The touch screen opens up huge possibilites for game makers, allowing them to make more original games. The touch screen also adds to the fun. On the original DS "Brick", the brightness isn't too bright, but it gets the job done. The DS Lite's screen, however, is very bright and even gives you different settings to either maximize battery life or view the screen better.

PSP: The Sony PSP has a beautiful widescreen screen that puts all other handheld screens to shame. The screen is perfect for no matter what you're viewing, whether it be games, pictures, or movies. The major downfall of the PSP's screen is battery life. The PSP gives you three settings for brightness. I usually keep my PSP on the lowest setting for maximum battery life, but even then, my battery only lasts 6-8 hours. I'd hate to see how short the battery lasts on the middle or brightest setting.

Winner: Tie. The PSP's screen is wonderful, but I can never utilize it to the fullest with it's battery eating brightness. The DS's two screens are also far more useful. Because of this, it's a tie.

Battery Life

DS: The DS's battery life lasts a very long time, usually more than 12 hours, even up to 18! Really, that's all I need to say.

PSP: Ugh. 4-8 hours is not good enough Sony. I may not play a game for more than two hours usually, but I don't want to have to recharge my PSP after two or three uses.

Winner: DS. Clearly the Nintendo DS wins this round. Even with the impressive specs of the PSP, I'm sure it wouldn't have been that hard for Sony to improve battery life.

Controls

DS: The DS's control scheme is simple, yet effective. You have a D-Pad for movement, A/B/X/Y buttons, L and R triggers, and Start/Select. Most games also utililize the touch screen for various uses. The buttons are all crisp and responsive. The DS may lack an analog stick, but the d-pad actually works fine for most games.

PSP: The PSP also has a D-Pad, but most games use the analog stick (or pad thingy, whatever you want to call it) for control. I suppose the analog stick is better than nothing, but it is slippery and difficult to use. The PSP also sports four buttons with shapes, cross, circle, triangle, and square. Near the bottom, there is a huge cluster of buttons, which I find to be rather annoying. It just seems like Sony thought "Oh, we need someway to configure these options... why don't we just throw all the buttons near the bottom?". It looks messy and just thrown together at the last second.

Winner: DS. The PSP's buttons are sometimes unresponsive and difficult to push. Unlike the DS, the buttons feel squishy instead of crisp. The whole control scheme feels sloppy and thrown together quickly.

Load Times

I don't even need to do a comparison for this. DS is fast, PSP is slow. On some PSP games you spend more time waiting than playing.

Winner: DS, duh.

Portability

DS: The DS "Brick" isn't the smallest thing out there, but it will fit into most pockets. The DS Lite, however, is quite a bit smaller and really improves on the original design. The DS Brick is very durable, I should know, I've dropped mine quite a few times. The DS Lite is also durable, albeit not as much as the Brick.

PSP: The PSP is friggin' huge. When compared to other handhelds, it's like hauling around a desktop computer instead of a laptop. Sure, they made it a bit smaller when they released the PSP Slim, but 15% smaller or whatever doesn't make me wanna spend another 200 and something dollars to buy it. Also, drop your PSP from more than a couple feet up and you can kiss goodbye to it.

Winner: DS, yet again. The DS isn't exactly the definition of portable, but it sure kicks the PSP's butt in this round.

Graphics

DS: The DS's 68-bit graphics are a large improvement over the 32-bit GBA graphics. It's pretty easy to see that the graphics are better than the Nintendo 64's graphics (4 bits better to be exact), which is impressive for a handheld.

PSP: The PSP's graphics are very similar to the PS2. I don't really need to say much more than the graphics are the most impressive graphics on a handheld to date.

Winner: PSP. The DS's decent graphics are outshined by the PSP's console worthy graphics. The PSP finally wins a round!

Game Choice

DS: The DS has almost any kind of game you can imagine, from platformer to RPG to puzzle. Although it has such a large collection, it doesn't really specialize in any kind of game, so if you only like one type of game, you may only be able to find a few games of that type.

PSP: The PSP's variety is seriously lacking in choice, but what it does have, it has a lot of! If you like racing, shooting, and sports, you're in luck, the PSP is for you.

Winner: DS. It all really comes done to choice, and it turns out the DS has more games that I like than the PSP, and therefore is the winner.

Media

DS: The DS does games, that's it. Media can be expanded by third party add-ons, but nothing much actually comes with the DS in terms of media.

PSP: The PSP does so much more than games. Music, Videos, Pictures, Internet, and Games. PSPs are almost like mini-laptops, storing and viewing practically anything you want. Sure, you have to buy a decent memory card to store anything large, but it's worth it to be able to take movies and other media with you on the go. The PSP is also getting more media features with firmware updates coming out all the time.

Winner: PSP. The PSP has a huge amount of media options and beats out the DS by a long shot this round.

Conclusion

Tie: 1
DS: 5
PSP: 2

The DS wins by a long shot! The PSP isn't bad, and does what it does really well (media and graphics), but the DS does well in so many other areas. Some people may rate the PSP higher than the DS solely for the graphics and media, but I believe that you need more than just that for a good handheld. I find myself playing my DS far my often than my PSP.

~Burnt Waffle

Whaddya think? Good, bad? Discuss in the comments, if you wish.

Super Mario Kart-Retro Game Review

Hi there, I'm Burnt Waffle Productions. Yeah568 introduced me in the last article. As he said I'm a neighbour and friend of his, so anyways, on with my first article!
________________________________________________
No, not Mario Kart Wii, or DS, or Double Dash. Think back further, all the way back to Super Mario Kart, the game that started one of the most popular gaming series of all time.

Story:

Well, simply put, there is no story. Mario and his friends (and enemies) decide they want to beat each other in racing. I could be mean and give Mario Kart a low rating for having no story, but I suppose I can't criticize the story if the game doesn't have one.

N/A

Gameplay:

The gameplay is simple, yet addictive. The premise of the game is to race against other Mario characters and complete five laps around the track before anyone else does. To prevent other racers from placing ahead of you, you need to run over item panels and throw the items you recieve at enemies. Each track has a theme, msot of them based on levels from Super Mario World. I kind of wish they had included tracks based on worlds from Super Mario Bros. 3. It can get kind of boring playing tracks based on Donut Plains or Bowser's Castle four times. In one player mode, you can choose either Time Trials or Grand Prix. Time Trials give you a chance to get the best time on tracks. Grand Prix allows you to play through four cups, each with five tracks. The controls are simple, but effective. D-Pad moves, B excelerates, A throws items, and R drifts.

8.5/10

Graphics:

The graphics in Super Mario Kart use a feature of the Super Nintendo called Mode 7. Mode 7 scales other objects away from you to give the appearance of 3-d (although it's not actually 3-d). Pretty much anything that's not right in front of you is pixelated. I feel that while Nintendo could not have done much to make the Mode 7 graphics better, they could have improved the sprite (image) of your player. Looking at a game like Super Mario All Stars and then looking at the back sprites of your players, Super Mario All Stars looks highly superior. I'm not going to be stupid and rate the graphics of this game by today's standards, because that would be unfair. I'll finish off with this: The graphics were decent for the time, but not great.

7/10

Sound:

Most of the music is fairly catchy and suits each level well. None of the music really stands out as being fantastic, but the Koopa Beach theme is one of my favourites. Some of the other music is good too, like Bowser Castle and the Battle Music. While there aren't many sound effects, the ones that they have aren't bad. Super Mario Kart has a solid music line-up, but nothing amazing.

8/10

Conclusion:

Super Mario Kart was a fantastic game for it's time, and is still fun today. But if you're looking for a serious racing game, this game is not for you, nor is any other game in the series. Also, if you've played some of the newer Mario Kart games and then go back and play the original, you may find it dissapointing. Despite this, Super Mario Kart is still a solid game that's lots of fun and chocked full of retro charm.

Overall: 8/10 (not an average)

What do you think? Good? Bad? Discuss it in the comments.

~Burnt Waffle Productions

Our Newest Member...... Burnt Waffle Productions!!

Mario Blog is pleased to announce that we have a new blogger on our team, Burnt Waffle Productions! BWP is the creator of the Bob the Blob series, and neighbor of mine. So, lets all give him a warm hand!!

Blob 3 Review

Hey guys!

Sorry about the recent period of inactivity, but I've been busy with uther things (*cough*Algebra 1*cough*). Anyways, this is a review on a game no, not by Nintendo, but by Burnt Waffle Productions, a local game devoloper, creator of the Bob the Blob series. I have a review on his latest game, Blob 3.

Story: Bob was out exploring one day, and got dragged into a cave by two giant Ovils. Bob's mother got worried, formed a search party, and basically goes the 4 worlds/30 levels and tries to find Bob. Nice storyline, pretty original.

STORY: 9/10

Gameplay: Simple gameplay. Arrow keys. That's about it. There's also space for invincibility for Blobetta, but that's only her. There's a nice replay value, because there's three charecters, each with their own abilities. Flame is super fast, Blobetta can turn invisible and invincible, and Blobia can take two hits.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

Graphics: The graphics were apparently made in Paint.NET and Game Maker's painting utility. Looks good for something that came from that. Of course, nothing earth shattering, but good for his third game.

GRAPHICS: 7.5/10

Music: All original music, made in Anvil Studio. Catchy, nothing groundbreaking.

MUSIC: 9/10

OVERALL RATING: 8.265/10 - Impressive

What do you think? Good? Bad? Discuss it in the comments.

P.S. Burnt Waffle Productions site is burntwaffle.net
P.S.S. Burnt Waffle Productions recycles! He told me to say that!

My Weekly Video Game controversy rant: Jack Thompson

As I said a week ago, I would do this weeks rant about a man who's battle cry is

OBJECTION!

When it comes to annoyinng, he's more annoying than Mr. Game & Watch in SSBB.

When it comes to evil, he's Ganondorf.

His name is Jack Thompson.

*Ahem*

Sorry about that. I really had to get that out. Now to the serious part of the post.
Jack Thompson, as everyone who reads my blog should know by now, is an attorney who is constantly pestering and attempting to sue the video game industry. The following is a list of games which he has forged a personal vendetta against:

*Please wait while I get the long list*

Okay. Here goes:

Bully (Rockstar Games)
Grand Theft Auto series (Rockstar Games)
Killer 7 (Capcom)
The Sims 2 (EA) *Lol*
25 to life (Avalanche software (Stil in development))
Manhunt (Rockstar Games)
The Warriors *Movie Based* (Rockstar Games)

My take on Bully:

Bully is a game where you take on the role of a troublesome schoolboy and stand up to bullies and mean teachers, and play various pranks. Jack Thompson... OBJECTS!!

He says that it will be used by school children to rehearse varying degrees of violence. Oh, yeah, he also sent something of a threat to Bill Gates regarding it,
saying that Bill had 54 days to stop the release of Bully, and also told himself to "Govern himself accordingly"

Anyway, how is Bully going to be used to rehearse varying degrees of violence?
From what I've read, it isn't violent. In fact, if we are going to extremes, then I could say that it teaches kids to stand up to bullies. Of course, the kids ARE going to be violent if they have BAD PARENTING!!!

My Take on the GTA series:

(See my "Video Game Violence" rant)

My take on Killer 7:

In Killer 7, the player takes on the role of an assassin who is required to eliminate some warlord who has unleashed evil zombies upon the world.

The Game is rated M.

Jack Thompson... OBJECTS

Jack Thompson says that he has "evidence" that the game should be rated AO (Adult-only) He blamed the ESRB for conspiring with the video game companies in an agenda to distribute sexual content to minors through video gaming.

I am NOT kidding!

Also, the evidence that the game should be rated AO is a review of the game saying that it had sexual themes and violence. The reviewer also said that "this time, the M rating means something".

IF THE M RATING MEANS SOMETHING, THEN WHY SHOULD IT BE RATED AO???????????

Jeez, how stupid are these people?

My take on The Sims 2:

(See my Sims 2 rant)

My take on 25 to life:

25 to life is a gang violence game where you can play as an evil gang leader or the cops trying to arrest him. Jack Thompson says that it can be used as a cop killing simulator. As I have said before 100% of shooting games are no way realistic enough to be used as simulators, and how will it corrupt people if you can play as gangs OR cops?

My take on Manhunt:

Similar to what I said for 25 to life. This game was blamed for the murder of some real life policemen.

My take on The Warriors:

Jack Thompson says that the level of violence could be.... Offensive to some people?

HOW WILL VIOLENCE ALONE BE OFFENSIVE?

Oh yeah, did I mention that my 13 - year old brother (According to JT, too young to be playing these games) bought this game, and from what both of us saw, nothing was excessively violent or offensive.

Conclusion:

VIDEO GAMES: INNOCENT
JACK THOMPSON: WHAT THE HELL??

RPG maker VX

Hello!

Today I am going to talk to you about an awesome PC game which I have recently downloaded the free trial of.

ARR-PEE-GEE-MAKER - VEE EX!!!!
*RPG maker VX*

RPG Maker VX is a PC program made by Enterbrain that, well, allows you to create your very own RPGs!!

(Yes, I am an RPG junkie)

So far the game is awesome, and I will likely buy the full version of it. I'll also be sure to write a review about it.

This... Eccentric Youtube PR video is how I discovered the game



I know... He's... Loud, isn't he?

The Sims 2 video game "controversy"

Hello! Due to my 1 week vacation (and other stuff) I have not lived up to the promise of weekly video game "controversy" rants, so I will do one now.

As we probably all know, the Sims and the Sims 2 are games released by EA games, and we can probably all agree that they are the most innocent games of all time.

Jack thompson, "Ace" Attorney.... OBJECTS!!!!!

*OBJECTION*

Jack Thompson states that the Sims 2 brings joy to pedafiles around the world and exposes young teens to nudity.

*END OF OBJECTION*

Yeah, I was thinking "WTF??" when I first read that on his excrutiatingly painful to read website.

He claims that it fulfills the above "OBJECTION" because, if you hack the game, you can remove the pixels around their private parts.

If you hack.

IF you hack the game.

WOW! What a concept! If you hack the game, you'll be able to do something that you normally wouldn't be able to do!

Well then, how does the game expose young teens to nudity if they don't hack the game?

And, if people actually wanted to see naked people in their video games, EA would have put it into the game. But people don't want to, so EA didn't put it into the game. That's why it's a HACK.

Verdict on the Sims 2 case:

Hackers: GUILTY

Sims 2: INNOCENT

Next time I'll be doing a rant about Jack Thompson himself, the villian of video gaming.

My "Video Game Controversy" rant.

Hello!

Since it's been a slow past few days in the world of video games, I have decided to go on another one of my legendary video game rants.

Today, I will rant about "Violent Video games".

Video games like "Doom" and "The Warriors" have been accused of containing disturbing and violent and disturbing content.

2 words:

ESRB ratings.

Basically, look at the funny letter in the corner of the packaging before you buy Grand Theft Auto 2 as a Christmas present for your five year old child.

Although I think the ESRB ratings are waaay too high and are a complete joke, (Seriously, who would rate Super Smash Bros. Brawl "T" for teen) they are a good first step for the average technology illiterate "Soccer - mom".

Also, incidents like Columbine have been blamed, by many hippie/helicopter parents, on video games.

What the hell??

Yes, they're blaming Columbine on video games.

May I ask, how does a violent video game like GTA influence kids to do school massacres? Sure, there are (OMG) guns, but a game where your main character can be shot about 20 times and still be alive is no way realistic enough to influence kids to do something like columbine.

The video games are not the cause: the parenting is. The parents don't want to admit that it was their own parenting that wrongly influenced the kids, so they rummage around in their kids' bedrooms, find the first video game with a gun on the cover, and blame it on that.

VERDICT - REAL LIFE VIOLENCE:

Video games: INNOCENT

Bad Parentinng: GUILTY.

Taiko no Tatsujin DS Touch de Dokodon Review

Hey guys!

It's Yeah568 here again and I'm here with a review for the Nintendo DS game Taiko no Tatsujin DS Touch de Dokodon (Literally meaning Taiko Drum Master DS Touch and Play!. It was developed by Namco and published by Nintendo.

Story: Well...... Not much of a story here. Much like a puzzle game, where you complete songs and unlock other songs.

STORY: N/A

Gameplay: Nice gameplay, a lot like the arcade version. There's a Taiko drum, and there is an inside part and an outside. Tap them on them according to the directions on the top screen, and score points. Pretty fun! Enough to keep my 22 year old sister entertained for hours on end. But she likes music-rhythm games in general....

GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10

Graphics: Cartoony looks. Nothing special here.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Music: Depends on what song you are playing. Nice long list of songs available.

MUSIC: 9.5/10

OVERALL RATING: 9/10 - Outstanding

What do you think? Good? Bad? Discuss it in the comments.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones review.

The Following is a review for the 2005 Game-boy Advance game called Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Story: The story is completely unrelated to any of the other Fire Emblem games. The Story goes like this: The continent of Magvel, ruled by the nations of Renais, Grado, Rausten, Jehanna, Frelia, and Carcino, has lived in peace for 800 years. However, in a sudden and unexpected attack, Grado invades Renais for reasons that I will not give away in order to not spoil the plot twist.You must lead Eirika, princess of Renais, to defeat Grado. Of course, at the end you'll have to slay a demon, but that's not until the final boss.

STORY: 8.5/10

Gameplay: The gameplay is the same old, typical Fire Emblem style TWBRPG, similar to Radiant Dawn. However, the game's difficulty, even on Easy mode, makes the game... Different.

GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

Graphics: The graphics... Well, let's just say that they're good enough for a 2005 Gameboy Advance game.

GRAPHICS: 7.5/10

Music: Their is a large variety of music, but most of it is quite repetitive.

MUSIC:7.5/10

OVERALL RATING: 8/10

Mario Party DS Review

Hey guys!

It's Yeah568 here and it's been a LONG time since I made a post (sorry!). Anyways, here's my review of the Nintendo DS game Mario Party DS, developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo.

Story: Pretty simple story. Mario finds a crystal, Bowser wants it, Bowser invites Mario and Friends to his castle for a feast as an apology, and then shrinks them all and takes the crystal. Mario goes on his trek to get back to normal size, and defeat Bowser (again).

STORY:8/10

Gameplay: Same old, same old. Roll dice. Move squares. Mini-game. Repeat. There is a new Puzzle Mode, with classic puzzle games from previous games. The mini-games are hard, but not so hard that you start pulling everybody's hair out from frustration.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

Graphics: What did you expect from a Mario Party game on the DS? Usual 3D - ish graphics, nothing special. This game doesn't depend on graphics that much. so that's good for boosting that score.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Music: The music sticks with the Mario Party music theme. Kind of repetitive, not really. I liked the music part of the game, as there are many different soundtracks, and they are pretty catchy.

MUSIC: 9/10

OVERALL RATING: 8.25/10 - Great

What do you think? Good? Bad? Discuss it in the comments.

EA games - New ``Brilliant`` idea

It`s recently been announced by EA games that they have a new ``Brilliant`` business plan - selling games for free.

Let me explain

Their plan is to sell their games for free - while bombarding you with a string of in-game advertising.

Also, they`re going to charge you for every upgrade you get in-game.

Put it this way - how would you feel if there was a war game, and on the soldier uniforms there were Febreeze advertisements?

Or, How about every time I needed to give my character a +5 attack upgrade, instead of earning it in-game, you had to buy it?

In my opinion this plan SUCKS.

fortunately, it hasn't gotten anywhere yet, and hopefully it never, EVER will.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Review

Hello Again!!

The Following is a review for Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Story: It would take up more than half of the review if I were to explain the whole story, so I'll just explain how it starts in part 1.
3 years have passed since the nation of Crimea PWNED the nation of Daein in a bloody, midevial war. Since Crimea didn't have the resources to own another country, they turned the nation over to their ally, the mighty Begnion empire, who marched right in, commited war crimes, and took over.
Now, a group of rebellious teenagers (With weapons) are attempting to free their country.
STORY:7.5/10

GAMEPLAY: The games genre is a TWBRPG (Tactical Warfare based Role Playing Game) with simple and easy to learn controls. However, although learning the game is easy, playing it is not. It is pretty hard even on normal difficulty, especially for n00bs to the series like myself. You'll need to be coming up with brilliant and bizarre strategies, making use of close range and long range attacks.
GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

GRAPHICS: The graphics are nothing special, but for a game where graphics don't matter, the graphics are pretty impressive.
GRAPHICS 7.5/10

MUSIC: The music is pretty good, nothing too repetetive. That's all I have to say about the music.
MUSIC: 8/10

OVERALL RATING: 7.75

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Review

Hello!!!!

Sorry for the posting inactivity period, but I've finally found something to write about! Yay!

The following is the review for Nintendo & Hal Laboratory's new and supposedly legendary release! But has it lived up to expectations?

Story: Well, if you can call it a story.
This "Story mode" is what people call "The Subspace Emissary." 1 or 2 players can join in this adventure - style sidescrolling mode. What is the story? Well, to sum it up, all you need to know is that evil purple people from subspace have come to take over the world of Brawl. now it's up to your ragtag bunch of fighters to stop them! However, this story mode is'nt without it's flaws: first of all, the story is somewhat uncreative. Secondly, the story mode is somewhat easy and quick to beat
Story: 6.5/10

Gameplay:
for those of you n00bs (No offense) that don't know what smash is, let me explain.
It's a fighting game where the objective is to knock your opponents of the stage. To do that, you need to raise their damage meter by attacking. The higher damage they have, the farther they fly when attacked, making it easier to knock them off. the controls are relatively easy to learn, even for the n00bs to the series. you can play with either the wii-mote turned sideways, the wii-mote connected to the nunchuck, (numchuck, nunchuk, whatever) the Wii Classic controller, or the Nintendo Gamecube controller, letting you use whatever style suits you best.
Gameplay: 10/10.

Graphics: The graphics were overall pretty good, a bit better than Super Smash Bros. Melee's graphics. Nothing "Breathtaking" though.
Graphics:7.75/10

MUSIC: The Music is made up of a variety of songs from different games that NEVER get boring.
MUSIC: 9.5/10


OVERALL RATING: 8.25/10 - Satisfactorily meeting expectations