The Gadgets Page

Over the years, the most tantalizing games of the Nineties were hardly able to be called games. My favorite, was The Dark Eye. It was a strange, retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories that let you see them from the point of view of the victim and the “disturbed.”

The most disturbing was the story of Berenice. I had never read the story, so the ending of this portrayal on the game is particularly vivid in my memory. Wandering around the library, trapped and the eery voice repeating, “teeth,” over and over again is how I will always remember that story.

Here is a walkthrough of that storyline:

Watching this brought back all the creepy fascination I had with this game. That random wandering in the library, not knowing what to do, and those unintelligible voices just gave me a shiver of fear. All the portraits changed to smiling teeth and flashing teeth on the screen are just the finishing touches on a brilliant work.

KotakuNYC has an interesting tribute to the game here:

After watching these clips, I realize why The Dark Eye hasn’t been ported over to iOS like Myst and The 7th Guest. It was less a game and more an interactive movie… with puppets… and Edgar Allan Poe… and William S. Burroughs. It was just too strange to be rescued from the sterile death of non-compatibility. It remains only in clips and bits on YouTube and suffers a dismemberment not unlike the very characters it portrayed.

For more clips:

• The Dark Eye – Menu Theme
• The Dark Eye Part 1- Introduction
• The Dark Eye – The Cask of Amontillado (Montresor)
• The Dark Eye – The Cask of Amontillado (Fortunado 1/2)
• The Dark Eye – The Cask of Amontillado (Fortunado 2/2)
• The Dark Eye Part 3- Storyline
• The Dark Eye – Berenice (Egaeus)
• Let’s Play The Dark Eye [07] – Berenice: Her perspective. 1/2
• Let’s Play The Dark Eye [08] – Berenice: Her perspective. 2/2
• The Dark Eye – The Masque of the Red Death (Part 1)
• The Dark Eye – The Masque of the Red Death (Part 2)
• The Dark Eye – The Tell Tale Heart (Old Man)
• The Dark Eye Part 8-The Young Man pt.1
• The Dark Eye Part 8-The Young Man pt.2
• The Dark Eye Part 11-The Fall of Henry
• The Dark Eye – Annabel Lee
• The Dark Eye – Ending

Why am I so excited about this?!

I don’t actually like to play Angry Birds. Physics games can be fun, but I just never got into it. But marrying that game with space AND the Mars Curiosity Rover makes me all excited inside!

Fall is coming SOON!

Via:

• NASA – Epic Struggle Between Birds And Pigs Goes On With A Martian Twist
• Angry Birds Space Updated With Curiosity Mars Rover Content – Mac Rumors

The main reason I bought a Nintendo 3DS handheld console was because of all the new games coming out that wouldn’t have been able to play on my DS Lite, and I am really glad I did. I waited to buy one because I didn’t really think that 3D brought much to the table in terms of new games, but I have been really impressed with it.

With some games I have played the 3D inhibits some parts of the gameplay. In Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time at some points you must turn the 3DS to see something in the environment. If you have the 3D on and don’t move your head perfectly with the DS it is very hard to see. Even though you can see the 3D without 3D glasses, there is one problem with it. It only works from right in front of you and about 14 inches from your eyes, so it’s hard to show others what you’re doing. That isn’t a major problem, because you can turn off the 3D at any time. In some other games you occasionally forget the 3D is there at all, but in some things the 3D is used perfectly.

The built-in software shows the best use of the 3D I have seen so far. AR (augmented reality) games lets you fight dragons on your counter, using a card to tell how large to make the objects. The card is also used as a frame of reference so you can walk around the card and the environment moves with it. Archery, fishing, and AR shot are the three types of games on it, and each one is fun and different.

The 3DS has 2 cameras to let you take 3D photos. This is really cool because you can edit them and mess with the 3D in them. This lets you make some really trippy pictures.

The 3D, though sometimes not used to its full potential, is really cool and adds to gameplay. It already comes with enough stuff on it to entertain me for a few days, and if you’re in the market for a new console the 3DS might be for you.

Felcia Day and Jason Charles Miller created a music video called Gamer Girl, Country Boy. I thought it was adorable and immediately gave it a thumbs up and thought that I should write about it here.

Before, I could, however, poor Felcia suffered a massive attack of trolls. She talked about it on her blog: Felicia Day » Blog Archive » Gamer Girl/Country Boy/Flame Fest

SOOO I guess some unnamed internet sites got wind and thought it would be cool to troll and basically flood the video with the nastiest comments ever. After a day of really hurt feelings (I have never had something THIS bad, so I’ve been lucky on the internet for YEARS!), I backed up and tried to figure out WHY it sparked so much hatred? I mean, sure, it’s low-fi, yes my eyeshadow is TERRIBLE (bad choice yeah), BUT I finally figured it out, I THINK. In all my years of championing gaming, I have ALWAYS avoided the title “Gamer Girl”. I always just said I’m a gamer, and left the gender unsaid. I don’t mean to disparage anyone who uses that title, to me, you change minds by being who you are, representing, and not pointing out you’re different from anyone else. That was just always my unconscious choice, to avoid that. But for THIS video in particular, I decided to portray a few stereotypical characters, I PLAYED a “Gamer Girl” and Jason Charles Miller PLAYED a “Country Boy”. WE WERE PLAYING CHARACTERS. But that didn’t really come across to some people, and I guess that gave them an IN to attack me, or attack the IDEA of “Gamer Girl” in that video. And the attack…thousands of Ouch.

It’s very strange, because two years ago, no one from that unnamed site attacked the G33K and G4M3R Girls Anthem Featuring Seth Green video, even though it was OBVIOUS that those girls weren’t gamers and were just hired to play the part.

Geek and Gamer Girls Song

That video went by without a Flame Fest, so why the sudden animosity? Why has the concept of the Gamer Girl turned from a cool thing to a hated stereotype that gamers want to frag instead of f**k?

I blame it all on COMPANIES like Frag Dolls. (Continue Reading…)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you give EA games a button to press to make more money, they will keep pressing that button until they piss off their customers so much that they will stop playing the game. That is what has happened with Bejeweled Blitz [iTunes link].

I loved playing Bejeweled Blitz. I had one minute to match as many jewels as I could and I got REALLY good at it. I even wrote an entry telling people how to do as well as I did.

• The Gadgets Page: How To Get A High Score on Bejeweled Blitz

When EA Games bought Pop Cap, I didn’t think it would be a problem, but I was sorely mistaken. Here are the many ways that EA Games keeps pushing the “Make Money” button over and over.

• They added Coins, which could be earned when I play the game.
• They allowed you to buy coins with real money.
• They added boost where you can buy extra time or other advantages with the coins.
• They added special gems that players can buy with coins at random times.
• They added the Special Gem blowouts where EVERY game you play, you’re offered a Special Gem.
• They added discount days on coins, so you can buy them for less money.
• They notify me when they are having Special Gem Blowouts of Coin Discounts using the push feature on my phone.

When they first started offering coins for sale, I vowed to NEVER pay to buy them. I would only earn coins by playing the game. Dan, however, eagerly welcomed the change and uses boosts and special gems on every game, gladly paying the extra money in an attempt to beat Nicole and me.

The day they started offering the coins for sale was the day that Bejeweled Blitz stopped being a game of skill. Now, whoever is willing to pay the most money will end up on the top of the list every week.

This has made me a tad bitter…

I know this, because this is the Facebook Post I made when I was temporarily at the top of the list with my high score.

It reads:

I just scored 356,600 and earned a 350K Star Medal in Bejeweled Blitz. No boosts or Special Gems. Suck that, EA GAMES!

I was playing in the middle of a Special Gems Blowout Thursday morning and didn’t buy any of the gems offered to me. Now, 350K isn’t that high of a score (Nicole and Emily regularly get 700K), but I did it without any of the artificial boosts and Special Gems that had been added. I got the high score (albeit temporarily) without paying a penny to EA GAMES.

How did I go from “Thank You, Pop Cap Games!!” to “Suck that, EA GAMES!” in a little over two years? I was so grateful and happy for my $5 game and now I HATE them and have decided not to play. All because someone gave EA games a button called “Make More Money.”

How To Make Money From Me Without Pissing Me OFF!

There are lots of ways that they could have made more money from me without ruining my beloved games. Here are a few:

• Offer a notification feature for a monthly fee. Each time one of my friends gets higher than me on the Facebook high scores, they push me a notification.
• Offer an All-Time High Score List for an extra fee. If you pay for this feature, you get a list of all your friends’ ultimate high scores and see how you rank against them.
• Offer better score tracking. Right now, you can see how you rank against each friend over the last five weeks. Why can’t I see that data from two years ago when I got that 500K score (without the help of boosts or Special Gems, BTW)? I’d pay an extra fee for that.

Instead of offering features like that for me, they have literally ruined the game for me. While some people may see the addition of paying for extra boosts and Special Gems as a way of leveling the playing field, winning games isn’t about leveling the playing field. Just think how that rule change would RUIN basketball. If the Utah Jazz could have just PAID an extra fee to get three more players on the court, Larry H. Miller would have done that in a second. We might have been able to beat Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls back in 1998. That’s not how basketball works. And it CERTAINLY shouldn’t be how Bejeweled Blitz works.

I have always loved Scribblenauts since it came out on the Nintendo DS. A game where you can create any object and see it interact with the environment you create? Fun! I loved being able to make things like an atlatl (primitive spear-throwing weapon that allows you to throw a spear farther) or a lion fish. Then in Super Scribblenauts you could add adjectives like angry, fire-breathing, and giant, such as this angry, giant, fire-breathing baby.

Scribblenauts Remix [iTunes Link] is an iPod version of Super Scribblenauts, and as soon as I heard about it I really wanted it.

It accepts all the phobias I know of including Brontophobia (Fear of thunder, not dinosaurs) as you see in this picture.

Creatures and people react exactly how you expect them to. For example vampires are scared of, and will flee from, garlic and “Garlicky” items, and people will flee from vampires.

The levels in it are mostly levels from Super Scribblenauts, but they are still very fun to play again because the number of possible solutions. In this one it seems slightly less picky about your solutions and makes it more enjoyable.

The one problem I’ve found is that when you start the game it is very difficult to move your character around, but this is easy to fix. First go into the “Start” menu. Then tap the joystick on the bottom right side. This will give you two joysticks on the screen to move. One for your character, and the other for the camera. This user interface is easier to use than using the touch screen.

If you find there aren’t enough levels there is some downloadable content you can get.

I suggest that you purchase this app for $1.00, because I really enjoy this game and I think you would too.

I have found that many free game apps have very little content, and if they have multiple games they tend to all be boring. I noticed AddictingGames by Nickelodeon in the app store for free, and having been to their website I thought I would try the app. Upon trying it, I was surprised at how many games were on it and began to try each one.

There are 33 games currently and more seem to be coming on a regular basis. As I began to write this review one new game was added, and it seems that one is added every week. My favorite games are Feed the Panda and World Wars.

In Feed the Panda your goal is to, well, feed the panda by cutting various ropes holding cookies.

In World Wars your goal is to take over the map. The game simulates dice rolling for your number of soldiers, and the computer opponent’s soldiers, and the winner either takes or defends their area depending who got the highest roll.

There are also games like solitaire and even a game to help you memorize the states and their location.

I really like this app and didn’t even mention many of the games. The games range from card games to “Zombie Burger.” Most of the games could be their own apps and still be fun, but there are a few that aren’t as fun and seem pointless like Potty Copter.

In Potty Copter you fly foreword and try not to crash. Thats about it…

This app is safe to put on your child’s iPod because, as far as I can tell, there are no In-App Purchases. There are a few games in this app that I haven’t tried yet. But from most of the games I have played they are fun and creative. I really enjoy the AddictingGames app and you should try it.

I had heard of Shadow of the Colossus and decided to get it about two or three years ago. Once I started playing, it became one of my favorite games for the PlayStation 2 for many reasons.

In Shadow of the Colossus there is very little speaking because the plot is very simple, but the game is complicated in its own way. The nameless main character wants to bring a girl back to life, but to do this he must venture into forbidden land and slay all sixteen colossi. He must slay them with his ancient sword, bow, and horse. His sword is magical and can find the colossi, their weak points, and kill them.

This video is showing actual gameplay rather than just an animation like in some trailers.

The graphics are beautiful in Shadow of the Colossus. I found myself being really excited to see the next colossus. With each colossus you’ll find yourself looking for how to beat it by trying new things until you find what works. For example, when fighting the first colossus you must stab his ankle to get him to fall over so you can get to his head. With each colossus it gets more and more complicated to kill them. It is like an exciting puzzle figuring out what the next step is.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of the best games on the PlayStation 2, because of the graphics, the gameplay, and the creativity of the game. It is like nothing I have seen before. This game is one of the best.

I am so excited about this Lego game. It looks like a lot of fun.

You have to buy the Life of George pack at a store (Lego had a link to their store, but it didn’t work and it’s not listed on Amazon yet) and download the free game. When you run the game, it gives you little challenges to create with Legos. You create the challenge, and take a picture of it with your iPhone. Your creation is judged and you are given a score.

It looks like a lot of fun and I can’t wait until it exists!

Via: iPhone ‘Life of George’ Combines Real Lego With Virtual Lego | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

I noticed that the 3DS cartridges are the same size and the normal DS cartridges and would fit just fine if it weren’t for the plastic nubbin on the side.

What would happen if I shaved off that nubbin? Would it work in my DS?

Many thanks to Joystiq for answering this question for me. Sadly, the answer is no.

When you shave off the nubbin and put it in the DSi, you get this result.

It says, “There is nothing inserted into the Game Card slot.”

They go on to say that shaving off the nubbin doesn’t make the game unplayable in the 3DS, so fortunately they didn’t lose a game researching that for us.

Considering all the extra programming required to create a 3D game, I’m not surprised that the 3DS games don’t work in the old machines, but I AM disappointed that we’ll have to buy an entire new DS machine in order to play the new MarioKart game.