video games

The Lesson I Learned From The Ninja Turtles

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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, unlike most intellectual properties that are licensed for games, have had a few bright spots in their video game history. The original Ninja Turtles arcade game as well as Turtles in Time are considered high-points for the franchise, and in my personal opinion, Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighter was alright, too. Those three games were great experiences for me in the late 80s and early 90s.

What I remember most fondly about Ninja Turtles games isn’t what was great about them. Oh no. In fact, the memories I hold near and dear to my heart stem from the original NES Ninja Turtles game.

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Up, Up, Down, Down…

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Nothing says “nostalgia” to me quite like Contra on the NES. As far as video games that got me into the medium, Contra is right up there with Super Mario in terms of influence. As an impressionable youngster with an itch for action, big guns and explosions, Contra was right up my alley. The scenario of two guys with big guns saving the world from an alien apocalypse was so appealing to me at the time, especially when I was watching Saturday morning cartoons pre-Ninja Turtles, which were relatively G-rated. Contra at the time seemed edgy and beyond my age. I loved it for that.

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So Many Games, So Little Time

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Along with a bunch of holiday cheer, Santa blessed me with a number of video games to play. As a video game enthusiast, I can’t complain about my loved ones giving me more games to play. I don’t think that part of my gaming habits will ever change.

Unfortunately, other parts of my life have changed dramatically since the days of Super Nintendo games under the Christmas tree. I finished school. I started working. I’m blessed to have a great girlfriend. More and more of my time is going into other aspects of life, which eats away at my video game playing time. Thus is the act of growing up, I guess.

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Super Street Fighter IV and Online Play

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For the longest time, I used to wonder why pro Street Fighter IV players would bash online play so much. It seemed like every single one of them would complain about how the game doesn’t play the same online as it does locally. As an amateur player who had spent the majority of Street Fighter IV time online, I thought it worked fine. Sure, there were instances where the game would clearly slow to a crawl, but I thought that I could play this game online the same way I would locally.

However, I’ve gotten a lot better in the last few months, and I’m really starting to see what many of the pro players were complaining about. As I’m learning new techniques, combos and tactics, I’m finding more and more that they don’t consistently work online, even with a great connection.
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I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

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As I write this, I’m trying to shake the glaze off of my eyes. In the last two days, I’ve put in a good 15 hours into Borderlands. I played for about 7 hours today; only stopping because my brother and I felt physically sick from the non-stop Borderlands marathon.

This game has been a huge surprise to me. Nothing about the game’s pre-launch hype grabbed me at all. I didn’t care that there were 17 million guns in it. I didn’t care that it was sort of a mix of Fallout 3 and Diablo. I didn’t care much for the cell-shaded art style either. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t make my jaw drop or anything like that.

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I Scene It Like A Zenith

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I still vividly remember the moment I learned that Scene It was coming to the Xbox 360. I was watching the E3 live stream when it was revealed and I burst out laughing when I saw the ridiculous big button controller being pitched as a revolutionary step towards gaming for the masses. In my head I thought two things:

My “Game of the Year 2009”

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With the year winding down, many gamers have been discussing the best games of 2009, mostly to debate which game should be honoured “Game of the Year”. I think it’s impossible for any media outlet or any individual person to make a list that will make everyone happy. However, what I can do better than anyone else is speak for myself. With that said, my choice for “Game of the Year” is not the be-all-end-all opinion you have to believe in. Feel free to give me your picks for “Game of the Year” and “Game of the Year” nominees.

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When Video Games Break: Borderlands

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Before I vent my frustrations towards Borderlands, let me say that overall, I’m pretty impressed with the game. It’s a style of game that I’m really unfamiliar with, yet it has grabbed me enough to want to keep leveling up my guy and find the next awesome gun.

Modern Warfare 2 Review: All is Fair in Love and (Modern) War(fare)

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During the early days of the World War II shooter (early 2000s), controlling a character from first person and shooting dudes was not really something I wanted to do. After games like Perfect Dark and Goldeneye sucked away hundreds of hours of my life, there wasn’t really anything out there like it that I wanted to play. None of the FPS games of that generation appealed to me and I couldn’t get a handle on playing these styles of games using dual analog sticks. Yes, that means I even missed Halo 1 and 2 in their prime. In the case of Call of Duty, I couldn’t handle a dual stick FPS and I didn’t want anything to do with WWII. Both of those elements combined for a series I had 0 interest in ever playing.

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To PS3 or Not to PS3

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In many parts of the world (my own included), Boxing Day is on now. Normally, I don’t flinch at the opportunity to tear up the mall or other retail outlets, but for the past few days I’ve been wrestling the thought of purchasing a Playstation 3. For many years, I wouldn’t have entertained the thought of owning a Playstation product even if you put a gun to my head due to my once-rock-solid loyalty to Nintendo. However, thing’s change, people change and platforms mature from their $599 giant enemy crab roots. There are a number of places here that have PS3 bundles that come with three good games for free, which has made the possibility much more tempting.