8/29/05

The new message board is ready!  Dive right in... the water's fine!

8/27/05

I have a note for the members of the message board who don't come to spam or troll it.  Yeah, I'm talking to both of you.  I hope you guys weren't too attached, because the forum is set to be phased out in favor of something better.

I've been thinking about doing this for a while... the forum I used for the past four years was pretty low-tech, with a barebones layout and limited customization options.  However, the catalyst for my decision was that the bans I've set with Boards2Go just aren't doing their jobs. They're so easily circumvented that they may as well not exist.

I'll be shopping for a new freeware forum over the next week. Until I find one that meets with my satisfaction, all activity on the current message board will be frozen. When the new forum is ready to launch, all readers of this site will be informed of the change, and the old message board will be permanently retired.

Only registered users will be able to post in the new forum. I originally wanted my message board to be open to everyone, but recent events have demonstrated that this just isn't practical.  I apologize in advance for the inconvenience.  If it's any consolation, I'll work to make the new forum worth the hassle.

I'd like to thank the loyal friends of The Gameroom Blitz, who have supported both the site and its message board for the past four years.  Know that this loyalty is appreciated, and will not go unrewarded.

8/23/05

Good news for all you fans of emulation on the PSP... there's a new chapter of Complete Convergence that takes you through the steps to play both Turbografx-16 and TurboDuo games on your potent portable.

And now, an open letter to Free Radical Design, the creators of TimeSplitters 2:

I have a question for you.  What do you have against game saves?  Were you bullied by a game save in high school?  Did a game save run over your cat when you were a child?   TimeSplitters 2 makes it clear that you're holding some kind of grudge. 

TimeSplitters 2 forces the player to complete missions from start to finish, without the chance to take a break or save their hard-earned progress.  As a result, they're forced to repeat these missions over, and over, and over again, until they complete them perfectly.  This is what we gamers call NOT FUN.  We also call it "aggravating", "repetitive", and "asinine".

Look, I know you've been traumatized by game saves in the past.  I'm deeply sorry about the pain they've caused you.  However, for the sake of your products, perhaps it's time to reconcile your differences with game saves and come to some sort of understanding.  You eventually worked through your phobia of unlimited continues  back when you were designing NES games for Rare, so I know you can get through this.  Fans of TimeSplitters (assuming they haven't all died from high blood pressure and aneurysms) will thank you for it.

8/20/05

Nintendogs is set to be released in the United States in just two days.  While I'm certain Nintendo's virtual pet simulation will be almost as successful here as it was in Japan, I can't help but think that its focus is too narrow.   All three versions of the game feature purebred dogs, which are quite nice if you can actually afford them.  However, it's safe to assume that most Americans own pets with a more, er, diverse heritage.

If Nintendo REALLY wanted to move copies of their latest game in the States, they'd release a special edition of Nintendogs for those of us who first met our canine companions at an animal shelter, rather than a puppy mill.  I imagine it'd look a little something like this...

8/16/05

The weather has cooled down to a reasonable temperature, I found an XBox for just twenty five dollars, and there's a new review on the site.  Oh yeah, life is good.

8/10/05

My (mercifully) brief time at the job from hell ™  has scared me straight... straight back to college, that is.  If I can finish my education and get a bachelor's degree, I should never have to settle for being stuck in a dank cellar with a loud-mouthed moron again.

Well, enough of that.  I don't know how frequently this site will be updated when I start taking classes, but I wouldn't count on it being often.  There is some good news, however.  I'm working on an article for the 1UP web site, and I just discovered that On-File is still floating around on the Internet.  Right now, it's stuck at Geocities, but I'll move it to my Charter web server space when I get the chance.

8/3/05

I've been shirking my web site updating responsibilities for the past two weeks, and for that, I apologize.  Let me offer these tasty bits of gaming news as atonement for my extended absence...

First, there's a Commodore 64 game currently in development that takes the system to the next level.  The slick side-scrolling shooter Metal Dust looks as though it would be more at home on the mighty Amiga computer, but there's a price to be paid for those sprite-saturated screens.  You'll need to pull a 32X and buy an upgrade cartridge in order to play Metal Dust, but judging from this preview movie alone, it may just be worth the purchase.

Next, there's Meteos.  I found this wacky, wild puzzle game at GameStop for the tempting price of $19.99.  "Tempting" quickly became "irresistable" when I realized I still had ten bucks in store credit and a GameStop rebate card.  I went home eight dollars poorer and one DS game richer, but after playing Meteos for a few hours, I can safely say that I got the better end of that deal. 

Is it as good as Lumines?  No, not really.  Rubbing the screen with your stylus like a crazed instant lottery addict with his last spare nickel isn't as effective as the game's detractors would have you believe, but it does become a crutch in desperate situations. 

This makes Meteos a less solid game, but it's also a lot more innovative than Lumines, which would have been a paint-by-numbers puzzler if not for the tension-raising timeline.  Much of Meteos' appeal comes from its inspired and completely unexpected gameplay, which encourages you to push blocks off the top of the screen.  Launching a mountain of colorful shapes into the sky with repeated matches offers a sense of satisfaction that's hard to find in your typical puzzle game.

Finally, there's the demo of Burnout Revenge, which I had the chance to play briefly at GameStop.  It's a great game (would you expect anything less from the Burnout series?), but from what I've seen so far, I'm not convinced that it will be on par with the incredible Burnout 3.  The endless assault of drab browns and greys in the stage I tried is an unwelcome departure from the colorful scenery in previous Burnout releases.  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come, but if it is, someone needs to tell EA that the grunge look died with Kurt Cobain and that it's certainly not welcome in yet another video game.  C'mon, game designers... today's consoles can display millions of colors.  Why settle for just two?