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Crying

Well, my 4-day weekend has come and gone.  I didn’t attempt the Rock Band 3 achievement as I had wanted.  I just didn’t have that much time to devote to it at one time.  Perhaps on my next long weekend, which may not be until after Labor Day.

I did, however, play some necro on Diablo 3.  The class itself is really fun, but the server issues kept me from playing as long as I wanted.  I was too often disconnected in the worst spots, which means it took me far longer than it should have to get halfway through the first act.  I did reach level 23, but I could have gone a lot farther if not for those disconnections.  I suppose it’s to be expected on the first (long) weekend after release, but it’s still disappointing.

I did pick up a few cheap games during the Steam summer sale, and I spent a bit of time bouncing from game to game there.  Notables are Oafmatch, Zuma’s Revenge and T-Kara Puzzles.  Expect reviews for those in the future.

Tomorrow it’s back to the grind, but only for three days!  Then it’s the weekend again!

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It’s that time of year!  Twice a year, Steam has ridiculous sales on most of the games, some up to 90% off!  This is when I load up on games that I had placed on my wish list.  There are a lot of games that you can get for under $5 and it’s worth it.  This ends July 5, so check it out!

Shut-up-and-take-my-money

 

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Genre:  Puzzle
Platform:  DS and 3DS

I can’t believe I’ve never written about Professor Layton before now.  This is a puzzle series exclusively on the Nintendo DS and 3DS.  There are currently the following games in the series:

  • Curious Village
  • Diabolical Box
  • Unwound Future
  • Last Sceptre
  • Miracle Mask
  • Azran Legacy

There is also a Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright game for the 3DS, but I have not played it yet.  I am going to lump all of these games in one post because they are all very similar.  The stories change and you get new puzzles in each game.  It doesn’t matter, though, as this is a fantastic series and should be played by every puzzle lover.  Some of the puzzles are down-right hard and I had to grab a pencil and paper on more than one occasion.  They really test different parts of your brain – you’ll get a math question and the next a word puzzle.  Fortunately, they allow you hints for coins that you find while working on the regular story.  If not for this, I wouldn’t have been able to continue in some spots.

In addition to the puzzles, the stories are compelling and you’ll enjoy following Professor Layton and his various companions throughout the series.  You don’t need to play them in order, either.  If you are a puzzle lover, (like me!)  you need to pick up one of these games!  Good luck stopping at just one.

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pikmin-3ds

As I haven’t owned a Nintendo console since the SNES, I’ve missed out on the Pikmin series.  Pikmin has always looked fun to me, so I was really pleased to hear that it’s coming to the 3DS next year.  Since I have no frame of reference, I can’t tell you if it’s going to be good or not compared to previous games, but I can say that I do plan on picking this up so I can finally experience the fun that is Pikmin.

You can see one of the reveal videos below:

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nintendo-switch

It’s finally been announced!  I am very intrigued by what I saw in Nintendo’s announcement about its upcoming product, the Nintendo Switch.  I actually like the name.  It’s so much better than Wii and Wii U.  I do like the detachable controllers from the sides, but they will require batteries (which I assume will be rechargeable with the tablet?).  They also look a bit small on their own, but it would make multiplayer on the go a lot more fun.

I like the tablet itself, although they didn’t show any touch-screen controls in the video, so I’m doubting whether it has it or not.  This is a big departure from what made their current handheld (DS and 3DS) so great.  The touch screen allowed developers to be very creative.  I’m concerned about the fate of the 3DS.  I hope that it will continue to be a handheld in its own right.

Similar to the DS, the Switch appears to use cartridges, of which I’m a fan.  Cartridges last a lot longer than CDs/DVDs.  I also feel that they are a lot more fun to collect.  I’m glad that Nintendo is finally going to have the power (Nvidia Tegra GPU) to look good on a large HDTV.  I still don’t think that it’s designed to quite compete with XBone and PS4, but I will certainly be picking one up in March.

You can find the announcement video here:  http://www.nintendo.com/switch.

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Many years ago, I had been into buying lots of SNES games and then turning them around and selling the individual games for a slight profit.  It wasn’t nearly enough to live by, but it was a fun hobby nonetheless.  That sure was the time to collect SNES, which I eventually sold.  I only have a few left now.

As mentioned in a previous post, this seems like a good time to collect PSP games.  I’ve bought a few larger lots and I’ve just started listing the individual games for a profit.  If I buy a lot and get the games for $2.50 each, then sell them each for $5-$7, that’s a decent little profit.  Of course, I keep the better games in my collection.  But all duplicates get sold.  I’ve looked into lots of Nintendo DS games as well, but the prices on those games are ridiculous right now.

It’s a lot of fun!  It’s not for everyone and you definitely need good organizational skills, but if you can hack it, it’s rewarding.

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I was just watching the Patriots/Cardinals game and this commercial came on.  Hooray for video games continue to be shown in mass media!  This one was pretty funny and is referencing the NES game, Tecmo Bowl.  Bo Jackson was a very popular player back then, until he injured his hip, which took him out of football and baseball.

 

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Genre:  Puzzle
Platform:  Mobile

I don’t play very many games on my mobile phone.  I have a Samsung Galaxy S5, but it is a work phone and therefor don’t like to spend much time with it.  We have a hate/hate relationship.  I think the Galaxy S5 is a solid phone, though.  I just don’t like the 24-hour availability that comes with it.

However, I do play Triple Town from time to time.  This is a cute little puzzler.  You start with a fairly blank plot of land.  You may have a couple of trees, bushes or a house or two.  Your goal is to upgrade items on the screen and fill it with as many highly upgraded items as you can.  You upgrade items by matching three of the same.  Three grasses make a bush, three bushes make a tree, three trees make a house, threes houses make a bigger house, etc etc.

The challenge is in the bears that you will also need to place from time to time.  They will get in the way of the items that you want to place and move from spot to spot every turn.  You can trap three bears in one spot and create a church.  Three churches make a cathedral and so on.

Each game only lasts 5-10 minutes, so it’s fun on the go.  It’s a fun game and I would recommend that you try it at least once.  I guess it’s also available on Steam, so I’m looking into that soon.  I hope they give you larger areas to play with than you get with the mobile version.

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