Cynically, Island Saver is an advert for NatWest Bank, superficially dressed up as a save-the-planet first person eco shooter. You clear up and recycle rubbish, you clean the plants and animals, and you endure banking related puns as you go. Shoehorned in is a primer on what a bank is, and you’re taught about interest, currency exchange, loans and tax collecting. And of course because this is an advert, the game is free. So why did I enjoy playing it …
Until the release of the technically fantastic, utterly huge, and gloriously lovely to look at Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64, I was a big fan of Rare’s stuff. Or at least, I thought I was. I mean, I did really, really, enjoy Banjo Kazooie. So much so that I almost completed it many times (the end boss proving too much), and even got the XBLA remake – finally 100%ing it. But looking back at their other titles, I’m not …
There are few people on the internet I’d consider a friend. You know, like a “proper” friend, like you’d have offline. One was Owen Allaway, also known variously as username takeup would allow, as The Rev and That Rev Chap. He’d been a part of pretty much every online community I frequent for more than 10 years, and I’d played happy fun blue sky games like Animal Crossing and Viva Pinata online with him and his wife more times than …
Viva Pinata (360 12/01/2007) New Rally-X (360 14/01/2007) Super Castlevania IV (Wii 25/01/2007) Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA 30/01/2007) Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA 04/02/2007) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA 10/02/2007) Super Mario World (Wii 11/02/2007) Kirby’s Adventure (Wii 17/02/2007) The Castlevania Adventure (GB 18/02/2007) Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (GB 19/02/2007) Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS 25/02/2007) Gunpey (DS 01/03/2007) Kororinpa (Wii 03/03/2007) Kirby Squeak Squad (DS 08/03/2007) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (360 14/03/2007) Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS …
For four years now, I’ve kept a diary detailing the games I play. Part of the reason was to see how many games I buy (and to reduce this number), and how many I complete (and to increase this number). 2008 saw a drop in completed games – 33 compared to 61 in 2007. I don’t think this is bad, when you look at the games I’ve been completing. In 2007, there were quite a few shorter games, including 5 …
The clock ticked past 60 hours play this evening. Very few games ever get to this point. GTA IV did. Oblivion did. Both Viva Pinatas did. But most games are over and done with before they even get to 25 hours. 60+ is for something special. And Fallout 3 is special. It’s everything I hoped for, and more. It’s Oblivion, without being Oblivion. And I’m still nowhere near done. Today I found Oasis. Not the band, but a… place. A …
I got another reply today. Hello Andy, Thank you for writing Xbox Customer Support! I understand that your “Viva Pinata” and “Eternal Sonata” game discs got scratched even if your Xbox 360 console was not moved in any way, and now your disc won‚Äö?Ñ?¥t play properly. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience that this might have caused you. Andy, we are very sorry to hear about what happened. Movement of the console or strong vibration while the console is reading …
Like 16% of other Xbox 360 owners, I too now have a dead console. Unusually, mine doesn’t suffer from the “red ring of death”, but instead seems to dislike playing games. You might recall the problems I was having a couple of months ago with Eternal Sonata, crashing and freezing. Well, a couple of nights ago, Viva Pinata Party Animals started doing the same thing. Last night, it froze completely, and will no longer play at all. Here’s what I …
So, the end of the year is nigh, and I thought I’d round up this year’s games. That is, the games I’ve played this year, rather than just those that have come out this year, although in most cases it’s the same thing. January The year started as 2006 ended – with Castlevania. Specifically, Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA, supplemented by Super Castlevania IV for the Wii’s Virtual Console. There was also a lot …
It’s that time of year again. Well, actually, it’s not, which is the problem. Traditionally, there’s slim pickings for new games around this time of year. The busiest times for releasing new titles (especially big titles) is normally around Christmas and often over Easter too, but the July-October period is like release death in the UK. Except this year. As well having Bioshock released this week already, there’s fahsands more out between now and the end of November. Before the …
If you know me, or if you read this blog, or monitor my Usenet and forum posts, then you’ll know I buy a lot of games. Like, loads. I play a lot too: most days I put in an hour or so, longer at the weekend. This may appear to be a very long time to non-gamers, but you have to consider how much time I don’t spend watching TV, which is far more passive and couch potatoey. One look …
Really getting somewhat bored of this now, especially in the wake of Viva Pinata. It’s not that VP is better, it’s just newer and stuff. Probably. So I visited K.K. Slider as usual for a Saturday night, and he played me Aloha K.K., which was actually pretty crap. It was also the flea market today, so I bought some stuff from my anteater since he had some stuff I hadn’t seen before. Mallary is trying to move out too, but …
Doomed. I’m doomed. Completely. If having Viva Pinata wasn’t addiction enough, having not one but two new Tony Hawk games (and a third is out on the Wii in less than three weeks) is just going to cause me to apply for treatment in a clinic somewhere. So I put this on. Two hours later, I was still completely ignoring most of the goals and missions, and was instead just messing around, and doing that Tony Hawk favourite: “Take Your …
