Month: February 2017

Oldies but Goodies -Bart vs the Space Mutants

Genre:  Platformer
Platform:  NES

The Simpsons have been around for a long, long time.  Along their long history have come some pretty good video games.  One that I played as a kid was Bart vs. the Space Mutants on the NES.  This was actually the first licensed Simpsons video game.

In this game, you are playing as Bart and you’re wandering around Springfield.  You’re just trying to go about your daily business of vandalizing the city when you notice that something is off – aliens have invaded the city!  You are armed with your spray can and x-ray glasses.  Using these, you can identify and deal with those pesky aliens.

Many of the show’s gags make this game, such as Bart’s catch phrases (“eat my shorts!”) and his phone gags to Moe:

bart-1

I don’t remember much else about the game, but I think it was fairly difficult as I never finished it.  I do own this one and will likely pop it in my NES some time.

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hr-machine

Genre:  Puzzle, Educational
Platform:  PC

Have you ever wanted to learn how to program computers?  Human Resource Machine (available on Steam) will teach you in a fun and simple way!  You will be having so much fun, however, that you might not realize you’re learning!

In this game, you start as a fresh employee of a large corporation.  You start out where everyone seems to start in fake companies, in the mail room.  You start with a very basic set of tasks – move items from one conveyor belt to another.  You do so by issuing your character a set of commands.  The levels grow increasingly complicated and it can get hard to keep your commands and jumps straight.

This game really does a good job of teaching those without any programming skills, and even those with a low-level of knowledge, the logical thinking which is necessary in programming.  I have a mid-level of programming knowledge and I was just itching for some of the tools that I’m more familiar with (if…then statements, please!), but it is still a really fun game.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn programming but found it too daunting, try this game first.

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Where is the NES Mini?

nes-mini

The NES Mini hit retail stores in the US in November.  It retails for $60, but I have yet to see one at that price.  I have yet to see one, period.  There are some on Ebay and Amazon, but I’m not paying $150-$300 for one.

So it seems that if you want to land your hands on one, you’ve got some options (none of which I have the energy for):

  • Make friends with the local stock folks in the big-name stores such as Gamestop, Target or Walmart.
  • Use a web site like http://www.stockinformer.com/checker-nintendo-classic-edition-nes to track stock in local stores.  Get on the phone as soon as you see one in stock and see if they will hold it for you.
  • Pay way too much for one.

I don’t really understand Nintendo’s strategy on this product.  You can get most of these games through Virtual Console.  The demand is obviously really high for them and you’d think a larger-scale release would do quite well.  I often have a hard time understanding what Nintendo is doing, however.

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I Know It’s Been a While…

sorry

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  I am alive and well and have been keeping quite busy.  I’ve essentially got two jobs now, and I can be pretty worn out by the end of the day.  I took a bit of a break from gaming, but I seem to be back in the swing of it now.  I have many exciting things to share with you folks, and can’t wait.  I’ve got my top 25 list to finish, a new animated series/video game, some other game updates, board games, updates to my collection and many, many more things to discuss.  Hold tight, because we start again tomorrow!

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