http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php A current listing of cheap video games, video game sales and video game deals: CAG en Sat, 18 May 2013 13:41:43 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=15821 Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:50:55 GMT The clink and clatter of deadly machinery echoed around the solitary knight as he paused to rest.... The clink and clatter of deadly machinery echoed around the solitary knight as he paused to rest. His entanglement with the prehistoric sea-dwelling creature had taken much longer than expected. He shook out as much water from his armor as he could before continuing down the stone corridor.

The sound of his footfalls and the light metallic whispers of his chain mail could not cover the sounds of grinding stone and crackling flames. He knew not how long he had journeyed through the castle. More dangers lay ahead, but he dared not glance back for fear of the nameless, voiceless creature that slowly advanced; the route he traveled to come here was no longer safe.

He suddenly stopped, realizing that he had come upon a dead end. Gingerly he felt along the cracks in the ancient stone walls, hoping to find an escape. These walls, however, yielded no secret passages. He turned to face the way he had entered the corridor, but a faint bluish glow had appeared at the far end that added a sense of urgency to his predicament. Was it him, or did this are feel suddenly colder? A few seconds of confusion led to an important discovery: a fresh breath of wind was spiraling downward, as the ceiling of this area was no longer in sight!

Our hero jumped desperately for an outcropping of stone, laboriously struggling against the weight of his own armor. With great effort, he heaved himself over the ledge, sliding over the damp and moldy stone. However as he tried to stand and gain his footing, the slick surface betrayed him and he plummeted back to the floor of the corridor.

This time he knew his time at run out. A glowing, almost shapeless form was gliding eerily forward, hollow eyes seeking but not seeing. He tried in futile desperation to climb back up the ledge, but now his armor was covered in the same sludge that foiled his first attempt. As the shape grew brighter his surroundings grew more dim, and he could see nothing else but the dead soul approaching. His vision dimmed but his heart remained strong; he knew that this would not be the end. For if he died here, the princess would be forever trapped, and even beyond death he knew it was his destiny to save her.

Summary: You will die a lot. The game is designed to kill you, over and over again. It will probably take you a few tries before completing the level, let alone getting an award. To prevent you from spending too much time in one place, an instant death ghost will follow your trail at varying speeds (depending on the difficulty). The game offers a good variation of obstacles, but the physics of jumping can feel a little slippery.

Conclusion: It's only 80 MS points and it offers some nostalgic 8-bit graphics and music that hearken back to the SNES era. For the amount of game you get, the price is good. ]]> nintendoll http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=15821 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=14308 Wed, 05 May 2010 05:33:50 GMT So, I wrote an intro blog a little while back and one of the comments requested that I talk a... So, I wrote an intro blog a little while back and one of the comments requested that I talk a little bit about how I got into game journalism. So here it is: my inappropriately long journey to where I am today.

It started when I was but a wee lass, the daughter of a journalism major and a systems administrator. My parents were divorced when I was young (but are still on very good terms) and when I spent weekends at my dad's, he like to share his interests with us: mainly, PC gaming.

The first game I can ever remember playing as a kid was Castle of the Winds, an old Roguelike with MS Paint-style graphics (if you haven't played it you should, it's available for free online). I can't even remember how old I was, but I knew I was hooked. It was delicious, pixel-shaped crack for my child-sized brain.

From there, it moved to consoles when my Dad got my sister and I a Super Nintendo for Christmas. Mom wouldn't allow videogames in the house (since they distracted from homework or something) so on the weekends we'd cram in as much Mariokart and Aladdin as we could. Although being the little sister was always frustrating, since my older sister always would win. My Dad also used to play games like Mariokart when we weren't around, filling in the top time leaderboards so my sister and I would have to work all weekend to get our times back up.

But games didn't really turn from hobby to passion until I bought my first videogame without the advice of my dad or sister: Harvest Moon 64. I know it sounds silly, but it was the first game I chose to buy that didn't have Mario on the cover. I'm not even really sure why I chose it, but it had a huge impact on my view of gaming. This game was the cause of my first all-night gaming session. It changed my view of gaming as a fun thing to do in my spare time to a central part of my life (if you're interested in reading a ridiculously long piece on that, you can go here).

From then on, gaming was always a part of my life. When I hit high school my Mom become more lenient with the videogames policy, and I got a PS2, the system that got me hooked into the wide world of RPGs. All of my friends in high school played video games; in fact, once every 2-3 months we would have big gaming parties called hootenannies where we would hook up 3 TVs and various systems and just game all night. At least until 2 am, when we made our obligatory Shoprite run for more food and occasionally laser tag.

College hit and was a strange time for me for a while. I was in an honors dorm full of uptight honors girls who just did not understand why I cried at the end of Final Fantasy X. I was invited to play Halo once with the guys a few floors down; never again after I beat them all (this is not me bragging, I suck at Halo. They were all just worse). I was uncomfortable because the only people who shared my passion for videogames were people that were a little too odd for me; some guys down the hall that were continuously trying to convince me to go LARPing with them.

I felt pretty awkward until around my sophomore year, my good friend from high school happened to be assistant manager at a Gamestop (EB Games at the time) and asked me if I was interested in helping for the holidays. I was always in the store anyway, often sitting behind the counter playing my DS and answering customer questions.

My job at Gamestop, contrary to many other peoples' experiences, was a great one. Everyone I worked with was really awesome and actually knew stuff about videogames. We hung out together and got drunk and played Jet Grind Radio together. I was seeing a pattern of how much my life got better when I was involved with videogames, and I'd always loved writing so I decided I wanted to write about videogames. I started blogs on 1Up.com and Destructoid.com in the hopes my writing would be seen as a writer. Sure enough, I got tons of good feedback and even a frontpage promotion of my C-blogs.

That year was my second PAX, where I met all of the people from Destructoid that I had been hanging out with online (IRC, Stickam, forums, etc). It was kind of amazing. Besides the one or two creepy guys, everyone was really awesome: I was partying with 50 awesome friends I had never met! It was totally surreal. And what was even crazier was that I met my current boyfriend there: Wardrox, co-host of the Podcastle. We spent a lot of time together, a lot of it talking about starting up a new type of news site that didn't just post press releases, boobs, and cakes. This was the birth of NegativeGamer.com (which has since been renamed Nukezilla).

So my motivation for getting into game journalism was for two reasons: one, because gamers are the only people I ever feel comfortable around, and two, because most gaming "journalism" nowadays is a joke (see http://gamejournos.tumblr.com). I don't think I'll ever actually be able to live off of this job (I worked for Japanator.com in Destructoid's network and for a site that gets THAT much traffic....let's just say the money doesn't go to their writers) but I'm glad I get to do something I love, and that my writing reaches people. It's worth the "u shud kill urself" troll comments I occasionally get when I criticize someone's favorite game. ]]> nintendoll http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=14308 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=14263 Mon, 03 May 2010 01:08:58 GMT Heyo! I'm Nintendoll and I thought since I just recently moved up from "lurker" status, I would start with an intro blog. That's how they do it back over at my normal community, Dtoid.

So, about me. I'm a pretty big nerd. I've been writing for Nukezilla (previously known as NegativeGamer) for about 3 years. I'm a PAX Veteran (3 PAX Prime and PAX East) so if you saw a girl cosplaying as Parappa the Rapper a few years ago...that was me :)



Gaming-wise, I own a ton of retro consoles from working at Digital Press Videogames: Atari 2600, Genesis, Super Nintendo, N64, PSX, PS2, plus a 360 (I had a Wii, but I traded it in to buy DJ Hero). Handhelds include Gameboy (gray block), Gameboy Color, Gameboy Micro, DS Lite, and PSP.

Besides gaming, I knit, rock climb, draw, and occaisionally get drunk and sing "I Will Survive" at karaoke bars. I also am known to transform into a giant robot with laser eyes, so don't piss me off (pew pew!).

Hmm, so that's pretty much it. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask...unless it has to do with sexual favors, those type of questions are not allowed. ]]> nintendoll http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=14263