Pelikki Game Report: May 2013

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Random Pondering! What Happened To Super Mario Bros.?

Today I'm going to talk about one of the saddest things I've seen in gaming, and it all has to do with everyone's favourite plumber, Mario. To start off, let me give you some of my background with the ol' guy. My first real video games were Ikari Warriors, Duck Hunt, and Super Mario Bros. You can guess which one got played the most. Duck Hunt, probably. But Super Mario Bros. was right there with it, since it was all on the same cartridge (yeah, bundle packs that far back!). I played it more than any other game at the time, and had a number of older relatives that pointed out a myriad of secrets. Today, I like to think there's almost no secrets I don't know about in the original SMB. I'm just gonna skip over SMB2, I didn't really play it, it's likely most people didn't, it wasn't really SMB anyway. SMB3 however I played a fair bit when I had the chance, although didn't own it until a handful of years ago - actually found an original NES cartridge, but also had it for the GBA. It was a worthy and quite impressive successor to the original game, and one I also still like to play to this day. Super Mario World was one I played, but never really got into. If I'd ever gotten it on GBA like I had SMB3, I probably would have played it to completion as well. I know a couple of times I got pretty far, and finished once because a friend of mine took us through the Star Worlds or whatever they're called. Also a wonderful game, just not one I've played as much. I'm also not going to really mention Super Mario World 2, because that was a lot different (more comparable to the Yoshi series of games, for obvious reasons) and I didn't play it like, at all. But basically, you could pick any of the 2D Marios from the NES/SNES eras and have a good time (although the All-Stars version of SMB1 I really didn't like, I might bring that up more later).

New Video! Let's Play Dark Forces Episode III (Part 1)

http://youtu.be/3msiuPD9Be0

Dark Forces continues with some dirty, stinky, and completely disgusting sewers. Ugh. (Embedding still not working...)

Thursday, 16 May 2013

New Video! Bioshock Episode 8, Tomb Raider Part 6, Sister Plays Mega Man X!

Got me a new set of videos out too, if you haven't already seen them! First up, I continue to release Bioshock with Episode 8!

(Embedding is seemingly broken, so links it is!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUrsdFYIg9k

Secondly, I finally continue Tomb Raider with Part 6!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nayG0OUGP1A

And to mix things up some, I had my sister (well, one of them) play Mega Man X, with zero instruction from myself. See the results!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLzOQLtx6bQ

That's all I've got for today (and possibly this week, although I'll try to upload another Dark Forces video on Friday/Saturday). Next week may be sketchy on video uploads, but then I'll have a weekend that I can actually do stuff on, so I can hopefully build up some kind of buffer so if I have a busy weekend I can keep uploading.

Personal Log, Earthdate 15-05-2013

Hello blog followers! I apologize for the lack of posts, especially after throwing two out there so fast. Speaking of those, I'd like to thank ArenaNet for retweeting my blog post about Guild Wars 2's Living Story updates. I've got just under 1000 views for that post, which is mind blowing for me. For anyone who decided to stick around, special thanks to you! Now, what's up with my silence?

Well, the biggest one is I'm working now. Started the job on Monday, although I had expected to just be doing paperwork and then go home... so that was a bit of a shock. I'm only just recovering from sudden-job shock, and should be getting back into things soon. I'd be pumping out content this weekend, except my friend's having a birthday campout thing, so I'm gone all weekend. I might have some time to work out some posts offline so I can upload them when I get home.

As for what posts I've been thinking about, I've got a post about the current state of Super Mario games and what I think of them as well as a very excitable post (which I want to put some real effort into) about Ace Attorney 5, having just recently been confirmed for a North American release with it's English trailer and release window of Fall 2013. You can't even believe how excited I am for that, I just... ugh, I HAVE to write that post. Stupid work taking up all my time. Anyway, keep an eye out for those, and hey, for anyone who's reading this, feel free to suggest topics in the comments below. I'll think about 'em and see if I can come up with something post-worthy.

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

I'm So Excited! Guild Wars 2's Living Story Progression

Guys, I'm super excited, and I gotta share. I finally got around to finishing Guild Wars 2's Frost and Flame Living Story updates (the latest of which was Retribution, the final update for the series). It's not crazy heavy on story, but I realized I really enjoyed what they were doing as I finished Rox's story mission from The Razing.

Before I go any further, here's the links to the update pages for these...

F&F The Razing: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/march-2013/

F&F Retribution: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/april-30-2013/

Secret of Southsun: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/may-14-2013/

Random Pondering! The "Worst" Parts of Mass Effect Were The Best Parts

Today's Random Pondering takes a look at a common and often discussed topic of a nearly classic video game: Mass Effect and it's "worst" parts.

Everyone knows that the Mako couldn't control for crap and seemed to have it's own gravity field that just gave no craps about whatever was around it. It'd bounce from canyon to atmosphere if it felt like it. But was it really worth removing? And those elevator rides! Those long, drawn out, elevator rides! But were they really that bad? In my opinion - and I stress OPINION - no, they really weren't. And I think Mass Effect 2 and 3 could've been better if they'd stayed in.