Sorry about my lack of posts recently, I've been trying to work around with getting some other people to write somewhat regularly to make up for my lack of work. Anyways, I'll give you what is essentially two posts to hopefully make up for this.
The first is a link to what is the highlight of my week. The guest post I wrote for Exfanding Your Horizons, the blog that inspired me to actually try to get my crazy ramblings on the internet, is finally up! It's probably some of the best stuff I've ever written, so it should hold you over until I get my act together and stop posting every 3 or 4 days instead of every other day like I should.
Here's the link to the post
Another is a progress report on my Let's Plays and a bit of foreshadowing on their futures, as if I could foreshadow something else.
It seems that Mega Man 6 probably will last into late February early March. Mega Man 5 (my favorite Mega Man game), should follow directly after. This Mega Man Project of mine will probably be over in a year or so, but it's going to be fun while doing it.
Pokemon Blue is going to take a loooooooooooong time to finish, Pokemon Let's Plays can go upwards of 50 parts. Perhaps during the summer I'll post more the one a week, but things are about to get a little busy here, so I'd have to get a bit more of an idea of my time situation before commiting to 3+ videos a week. This project will probably be sad to leave, but I sure will feel like I accomplished something.
So that's what's what for now. I'll keep you posted.
Ha. Posted. Blog Pun.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Not Giving Up, Just Resting
Ack, out of the loop again with my posts. Lemme think something up.
Ahh, yes. Time away from a game.
It's a simple principal. When playing a game though the first time, one often comes up against obstacle that will puzzle the gamer on how to complete. The solution I often find useful is that if such a situation happens, to leave the game alone for a while, usually at least overnight, before returning to it.
Now at first this seems silly. Wouldn't removing yourself from the game cause you to lose the skill and precision that you had been developing over the course of this challenge? Well, if you remove yourself from it for a very long time, like I did with Ratchet and Clank recently, then yes, it can. However, removing yourself from it a day, or even a week, probably won't really cause you to lose the general feel of the game.
This strategy works best on games that heavily use puzzle elements, as it's main result is a fresh take on a situation. One of the problems you may be facing is a poor strategy, one that maybe works in theory or maybe even in game-play, but is to slow or ineffective to solve the problem before, well, it solves you. By taking a fresh look, you may be able to notice a pattern that you hadn't before, a much easier one or faster one. This worked wonders on a Metroid:Fusion boss battle recently, and hopefully it helps with this next one...
Another thing to augment this is you may actually lose a tad bit of skill during your 24 hour prohibition of your challenge, which seems like a bad thing. But it can make you feel more like you're encountering the challenge for the first time, and allow you to see things that you didn't focus on the first time. In Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, I would often focus on recently acquired items to try and solve puzzles, but the game does a great job of incorporating all of the acquired items into its puzzles. A break or two later, I discovered my issue and proceeded to have a blast finishing the game.
So, if a game is frustrating you to no end, take a break. Play something else. Come back to it later. You may find it was for the best.
Ahh, yes. Time away from a game.
It's a simple principal. When playing a game though the first time, one often comes up against obstacle that will puzzle the gamer on how to complete. The solution I often find useful is that if such a situation happens, to leave the game alone for a while, usually at least overnight, before returning to it.
Now at first this seems silly. Wouldn't removing yourself from the game cause you to lose the skill and precision that you had been developing over the course of this challenge? Well, if you remove yourself from it for a very long time, like I did with Ratchet and Clank recently, then yes, it can. However, removing yourself from it a day, or even a week, probably won't really cause you to lose the general feel of the game.
This strategy works best on games that heavily use puzzle elements, as it's main result is a fresh take on a situation. One of the problems you may be facing is a poor strategy, one that maybe works in theory or maybe even in game-play, but is to slow or ineffective to solve the problem before, well, it solves you. By taking a fresh look, you may be able to notice a pattern that you hadn't before, a much easier one or faster one. This worked wonders on a Metroid:Fusion boss battle recently, and hopefully it helps with this next one...
Another thing to augment this is you may actually lose a tad bit of skill during your 24 hour prohibition of your challenge, which seems like a bad thing. But it can make you feel more like you're encountering the challenge for the first time, and allow you to see things that you didn't focus on the first time. In Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, I would often focus on recently acquired items to try and solve puzzles, but the game does a great job of incorporating all of the acquired items into its puzzles. A break or two later, I discovered my issue and proceeded to have a blast finishing the game.
So, if a game is frustrating you to no end, take a break. Play something else. Come back to it later. You may find it was for the best.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Weddin' Knees
Question of the Day: Why do people get down on one knee to propose?
Answer: Cause if they got down of both knees it'd be even easier to push them over.
Answer: Cause if they got down of both knees it'd be even easier to push them over.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
SUPER AWESOME SHAMELESS PLUG FILLER POST GO!
The first two episodes of my new Let's Plays. There'll probably be a post about the making/my experience with these series, but for now they are for your entertainment.
Mega Man 6
Pokemon Blue
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Lemurs, Hedghogs, Barrel Rolls, and Insurance Salesmen
In reference to the Sonic/Progressive, some might worry that video game companies are selling out. But I don't necessarily see it that way. I wouldn't think it would take this long for companies to try this approach, and I am in fact more happy due to the realization that companies are allowing these kinds of advertising. It shows that large corporations, even insurance ones, value the cultural impact video games. It makes me cofindient in the emergence of games as less of a negatively viewed phenomenon in today's culture.
Phenomenon doot-doo-do-do-do
Phenmomenon doot-do-do-doo
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Fortune Cookie #2: Ice Climbers (3DS Virtual Console)
Ah, this should be quick. A nice and simple Fortune Cookie, I like it.
I guess I should start by saying that before I played this game, the only real background on the Ice Climbers I had for a long time was that they were in the later two Super Smash Bros. Series. I later saw a small blip here and there of the actual game, but I finally got to try it out when it was released for free by way of the 3DS Ambassador Program.
Ice Climbers is a game where you attempt to climb to the top of maybe infinite stages by way of icy platforms in a straight-fowardly vertical platforming. You have to break the ice blocks above you in order to reach the next floor of the stage while having to deal with enimies that will fill in your holes as well as send you tumbling to the bottom if the get the chance to give you a good shove. Armed with your hammer, smashing ice and polar bears is your only way to proceed.
Sounds pretty good right? And it would be except for one thing.
The controls. They are pretty bad.
You see, you make these really awkward jumps and which send you forward next to nothing. Now the platforming is vertical, so that shouldn't be a problem, right? Well the problem is that you do have to move sideways once you get up there, and it's much harder to do that without a running start. Another problem is the moving clouds, which you can't jump through, that go pretty fast and are necessary for your progression.
Another problem is the bounding boxes vs. the sprites. Either the Ice Climber or the platform's sprites do not accurately portray where you can actually land. You will find yourself endlessly going through platforms that look as if half of your body is on top of. This is especially tricky on small platforms and small moving clouds.
Even with those major faults, that doesn't keep this game for being an adequate time waster. I'm not sure of its current price point, but if it's around 1 or 2 dollars, it'd probably be worth that.
I guess I should start by saying that before I played this game, the only real background on the Ice Climbers I had for a long time was that they were in the later two Super Smash Bros. Series. I later saw a small blip here and there of the actual game, but I finally got to try it out when it was released for free by way of the 3DS Ambassador Program.
Ice Climbers is a game where you attempt to climb to the top of maybe infinite stages by way of icy platforms in a straight-fowardly vertical platforming. You have to break the ice blocks above you in order to reach the next floor of the stage while having to deal with enimies that will fill in your holes as well as send you tumbling to the bottom if the get the chance to give you a good shove. Armed with your hammer, smashing ice and polar bears is your only way to proceed.
Sounds pretty good right? And it would be except for one thing.
The controls. They are pretty bad.
You see, you make these really awkward jumps and which send you forward next to nothing. Now the platforming is vertical, so that shouldn't be a problem, right? Well the problem is that you do have to move sideways once you get up there, and it's much harder to do that without a running start. Another problem is the moving clouds, which you can't jump through, that go pretty fast and are necessary for your progression.
Another problem is the bounding boxes vs. the sprites. Either the Ice Climber or the platform's sprites do not accurately portray where you can actually land. You will find yourself endlessly going through platforms that look as if half of your body is on top of. This is especially tricky on small platforms and small moving clouds.
Even with those major faults, that doesn't keep this game for being an adequate time waster. I'm not sure of its current price point, but if it's around 1 or 2 dollars, it'd probably be worth that.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Resolution to a Problem
Okay, so yeah I've been gone for a while. Turns out that school started again. And yes that is an incredibly generic excuse and I should be thoroughly punished as a result.
Mainly cause there's a lot of other reasons too.
You see, my New Year's Resolution, aside from the standard "Be a Nice Person," was to do my hobby more than learn about it. What I mean is, for a while all I did was learn about video games and their culture, history, tid bits, and all that. But I was forgetting a key point. Playing games.
If you look at my track record, you'll see some very startling things. I feel like the equivalent of the guy who's never seen a Star Wars or a Star Trek move (for the record I have). Some of the major titles missing from my list seem to be Super Metriod, Chrono Trigger, either of the Super Mario Bros. 2's, Star Fox 64, the first half of Kirby's library, the list goes on.
Yet how do I go on and on about things like this? I've played 4 Zelda games and have beaten one (Hint: not the ones that are impressive to beat), yet I can go on and on about Zelda lore, themes, heck, I can even simply explain the basic design of a Zelda dungeon and how it's evolved.
In fact, I own next to none of the orginal copies of my favorite games. Not piracy or anything, but ports. Mario 3 on Game-Boy Advance SP (Oh yeah, I was hip at 7) was the first game I ever owned, aside from Tetris and Chess on a regular Game-Boy. Next game? Yoshi's Island on the Game-Boy, which is my all time favorite game ever.
And that's basically how it works for me. I get tons of classic games, but they're all ports, be it strict console ports, compilations, Virtual Console downloads, or even an app, those classic games aren't what they were, and sometimes it feels like I'm missing something.
The oldest system I ever played... heck the oldest system I've ever seen in person is a Nintendo 64.
But that's not a problem that will be fixed unless I find hundreds of dollars and get a good look around ebay. I do, however, plan to do more with my hobby. I'm going out, buying games, beating games. I've started really trying to play games to completion. I'm trying not to spoil story based games so I don't skip out on them. (Which basically seems to solely keep me from watching hundreds of Paper Mario Let's Plays). Needless to say, it'll be an adventure. Perhaps as grand as Pikachu's.
Oh yeah... working copy of Red/Blue. Gotta write that on the list.
Mainly cause there's a lot of other reasons too.
You see, my New Year's Resolution, aside from the standard "Be a Nice Person," was to do my hobby more than learn about it. What I mean is, for a while all I did was learn about video games and their culture, history, tid bits, and all that. But I was forgetting a key point. Playing games.
If you look at my track record, you'll see some very startling things. I feel like the equivalent of the guy who's never seen a Star Wars or a Star Trek move (for the record I have). Some of the major titles missing from my list seem to be Super Metriod, Chrono Trigger, either of the Super Mario Bros. 2's, Star Fox 64, the first half of Kirby's library, the list goes on.
Yet how do I go on and on about things like this? I've played 4 Zelda games and have beaten one (Hint: not the ones that are impressive to beat), yet I can go on and on about Zelda lore, themes, heck, I can even simply explain the basic design of a Zelda dungeon and how it's evolved.
In fact, I own next to none of the orginal copies of my favorite games. Not piracy or anything, but ports. Mario 3 on Game-Boy Advance SP (Oh yeah, I was hip at 7) was the first game I ever owned, aside from Tetris and Chess on a regular Game-Boy. Next game? Yoshi's Island on the Game-Boy, which is my all time favorite game ever.
And that's basically how it works for me. I get tons of classic games, but they're all ports, be it strict console ports, compilations, Virtual Console downloads, or even an app, those classic games aren't what they were, and sometimes it feels like I'm missing something.
The oldest system I ever played... heck the oldest system I've ever seen in person is a Nintendo 64.
But that's not a problem that will be fixed unless I find hundreds of dollars and get a good look around ebay. I do, however, plan to do more with my hobby. I'm going out, buying games, beating games. I've started really trying to play games to completion. I'm trying not to spoil story based games so I don't skip out on them. (Which basically seems to solely keep me from watching hundreds of Paper Mario Let's Plays). Needless to say, it'll be an adventure. Perhaps as grand as Pikachu's.
Oh yeah... working copy of Red/Blue. Gotta write that on the list.
Friday, January 6, 2012
An Important Question
Okay, so a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, we know that.
But if you kill two birds with one stone and catch them in your hand, are they worth a bushel's amount of Peter Piper's pecks of pickled peppers?
Things to think about, as this week draws to a close.
But if you kill two birds with one stone and catch them in your hand, are they worth a bushel's amount of Peter Piper's pecks of pickled peppers?
Things to think about, as this week draws to a close.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Graphs= Time x Space - Good Reason
Graphs are the most inefficient means of displaying one's mathematical knowledge.
By this I do not mean that graphs are an inefficient way of conveying information, but the work that it takes to create a graph far exceeds the knowledge one needs to make it. Let me give an example.
Two plus two requires little effort to solve. Heck, you just did it in your head right now. But when you started out learning math you probably had to think about it for a second or two or at least had to see it. Now that your older you can do it easily and quickly, as you should.
If you look at a slightly more difficult problem, say 3x+1=4x, then things can get more tricky. However, any of you who passed algebra could simply subtract 3x from both sides, and some may even be able to do it without writing this equation first. Some may notice right of the bat that x hast o be one because the addition to 4x is x, which is given as one. So the better you are at math, or more experienced rather, the easier and quicker you can do math. Well, most math.
You see, graphs take a lot of time, regardless of how simple the problem is. Even one of the easiest graphs, y=x, takes quite a bit of time for something you can envision almost as fast as 2+2 if exposed to it regularly. You have to draw the x and y axises, then draw the line throught the origin, and put the little arrows on each side. That may not seem like much, but add in slightly more complicated problems and increase the number and you've got a lot of time, as well as space, taken up by something that isn't really difficult enough to warrant said time.
Perhaps I'm just a whiner, but hey, if these are the worst of my problems I'm doing pretty good here, ain't I?
By this I do not mean that graphs are an inefficient way of conveying information, but the work that it takes to create a graph far exceeds the knowledge one needs to make it. Let me give an example.
Two plus two requires little effort to solve. Heck, you just did it in your head right now. But when you started out learning math you probably had to think about it for a second or two or at least had to see it. Now that your older you can do it easily and quickly, as you should.
If you look at a slightly more difficult problem, say 3x+1=4x, then things can get more tricky. However, any of you who passed algebra could simply subtract 3x from both sides, and some may even be able to do it without writing this equation first. Some may notice right of the bat that x hast o be one because the addition to 4x is x, which is given as one. So the better you are at math, or more experienced rather, the easier and quicker you can do math. Well, most math.
You see, graphs take a lot of time, regardless of how simple the problem is. Even one of the easiest graphs, y=x, takes quite a bit of time for something you can envision almost as fast as 2+2 if exposed to it regularly. You have to draw the x and y axises, then draw the line throught the origin, and put the little arrows on each side. That may not seem like much, but add in slightly more complicated problems and increase the number and you've got a lot of time, as well as space, taken up by something that isn't really difficult enough to warrant said time.
Perhaps I'm just a whiner, but hey, if these are the worst of my problems I'm doing pretty good here, ain't I?
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