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Mobile Me

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I used to hate mobile gaming with a passion. Before I go into my little rant, let me say that when I mean mobile, I don’t mean dedicated portable gaming systems like the DS or PSP. I mean mobile like cell phone games. I looked down upon that entire segment of gaming. I hated the lack of graphical horsepower. I hated how weird it was to get games on your phone. I hated the poor quality games. I hated the controls. I don’t think any game controls well on a number pad. There was a point in the early-to-mid 2000s when analysts were predicting the cell phone market would expand tremendously, and I scoffed at that notion for all of the problems I mentioned above. Up until the release of the iPhone, I was absolutely right.

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A Dragon You May Not Want to Enter

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During the apex of my fascination with ninjas as a child, my dad went out of the way to sit me down to watch Enter the Dragon. My dad hyped up Bruce Lee to me as the best karate guy ever. Yes, even better than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now that’s serious.

Years later, I still idolize the only person to ever beat Chuck Norris. Seeing his name on this game for iPhone and iPad did pique my interest, but Bruce Lee games historically suck. Really bad. Even at $5, I was reluctant to give it a go. However, it went on sale last week on the iPad for $0.99, which is low enough for me to try almost anything.

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There’s A Zombie On Your Lawn

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I have been dancing around Plants vs. Zombies for the longest time. In spite of the overwhelming positive response for the game, a love for PopCap Games after Peggle ate me alive and a personal endorsement from my girlfriend, I historically haven’t enjoyed the tower defense genre. I don’t like planning for 10 minutes and then spending the next 10 watching my defenses crumble to crap without the ability to fix anything until I fail and try again.

With Plants vs. Zombies, PopCap Games managed to create a tower defense game that not only addresses the things I don’t like about the genre, but create a wildly fun game that may be universally appealing to just about anyone. I still consider myself a tower defense hater, but I love this game.

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War of Eustrath: If You Like Fire Emblem, Try This

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643x0wSince the launch of the iTunes App Store, I’ve been longing for a Fire Emblem style turn-based strategy RPG to hit the iPhone. There have been no shortage of strategy games on the platform, but up until I found War of Eusthrath HD for iPad (which hit the App Store on June 11th), I hadn’t found one that was right up my alley. Having poured in close to 16 hours into the game in the past week, this game has sent me to strategy RPG heaven.
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Is NBA Live on the iPhone a Slam Dunk?

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After my overall positive experience with FIFA World Cup 2010, I decided to give my favourite sport a shot. NBA Live for the iPhone and iPod Touch was also on sale for $0.99 when I picked it up. As someone who has generally nit-picked at games based on my favourite sport to the point that I quit playing them years ago, I thought that having a mobile version could be interesting. While I’ve had some fun with it, I’m not sure the game has enough to overcome it’s deficiencies.
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FIFA World Cup on iPhone is More Fun Than a Vuvuzela

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Historically, I’m not a fan of sports games. This is weird, because I actually love sports. It’s just one of those things I would generally prefer to do in real life than in a video game. With that said, hockey and soccer are two of my favourite video game sports, which is also weird, because I don’t like those sports in real life.

I guess before I make this any more confusing, I picked up FIFA World Cup 2010 for the iPod Touch when it was on sale for $0.99 (85% off!). While I can recognize the game’s faults, it’s really fun to play and was a steal at $0.99.

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Thoughts on the iPad (and now iPhone) Geometry Wars

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Back when Geometry Wars: Touch launched in April, it was $10 and iPad only. Now in June, it’s half the price and now works for both iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch. I really like the series, but was reluctant to give it a go until this recent update and price drop. Now that I’ve spent some time with it on both platforms, I’ll give you the scoop on what makes each version different and which is better to play.

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Go Ninja, Go

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Ninjatown: Trees of Doom is a game based off of a line of plush dolls created by Shawn Smith. For those of you that read EGM in the mid to late 90’s, you may remember that Shawn Smith was a part of the EGM crew for a while. Because of his connections, he was frequently mentioned in video game podcasts such as EGM Live and Player One where he would talk about the old days of the magazine and promote his Ninjatown work.

I’ve wanted to support his cause for a while now. However, I didn’t really have room in my life for plush dolls and the first Ninjatown game was a tower defense game; a genre I’m not that into. When Trees of Doom was released on the iPhone and iPod Touch at the bargain basement price of $0.99, I was quick to pick it up. While I have to hand it to Shawn for creating mega-cute characters, is the game any fun?
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Summertime Bits and Bites

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Summer is about as close to an off-season for video games for me as it gets. Sure, I’ve dabbled a bit in a bunch of different games on different platforms over the past few weeks, but I’ve been very much caught up in the spoils of the season, such as good weather, outdoor parties and street basketball.

Gaming and writing about gaming have taken a serious nose-dive on my list of things-to-do of late. For the few people who follow my blog regularly, I apologize. I’m hoping I can write more in detail about what’s happened and what’s to come, but for now, I will give you some snippets of things that I’ve been up to gaming-wise and my thoughts on current gaming events.
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Drop It Like It’s Hot

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I can’t go anywhere without my iPod Touch. As my all-in-one mini computer, I use it for everything from media consumption, note-taking and games. While I was swept up in Peggle fever a few months back, one game has remained a staple in my iPod Touch game library. That game is Drop 7. It’s by no measure a new game. I bought the game months before I started this blog, and even then it wasn’t new. However, I have consistently gone back to this game and play it almost daily. It’s a great and simple game that is perfect to play on the go.

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