A Snot-Nosed Pig Makes Me Happy

Click this adorable picture for a mucus-filled game trailer.

While I didn't receive copies of Kirby Mass Attack or the Uncharted Dual Pack for my birthday this past weekend, I did receive something that came as a complete surprise: an iPad!  Sure, I downloaded some apps where I convinced myself that they would be useful, such as the painting app "Inspire Pro."  But of course, therein lies a weakness for my wallet: 99 cent games.

The person who gifted me the iPad gave me a set of instructions of what I must download, one of which was the under-a-buck gem Gesundheit! The game has a quirky charm and features a little green pig with chronic allergies as its hero.  He must use his snotty nose to lure monsters into traps (as they like to eat snot, apparently) while avoiding getting himself eaten.  While the touch screen controls can get a little bit finicky when you're near the edge of the screen, this logic/stealth game is entirely enjoyable and packs a lot of game into a very small admission price.   

Gesundheit! serves as a perfect example of why Nintendo should be worried regarding their digital downloads.  While Nintendo finds it perfectly fine to charge at least $3 for 20 year-old, black and white Game Boy games, outside of the Marios and Zeldas, the price isn't worth it when you can find newly developed games for iOS and Android devices for cheaper.  With its touch-based controls and 40 levels, Gesundheit! could have very easily been a release for the Nintendo DS systems as either a downloadable title or even a retail release.  However, with the decision to release it as a 99 cent game for iOS devices, Konami seemingly expanded the audience for the game.  It could have been an ignored Nintendo eShop release or destined for the clearance bin.  But the person who recommended the game to me was not a gamer, but an average person who was looking for a diversion and gave a game with a quirky title and concept a chance solely because of its cheap price point. This game definitely benefited from the "Hey, it's only 99 cents, so why not?" mentality, while it would not have been able to on a Nintendo system.

So what's your opinion on all of these 99 cent iOS/Android games?  Have any recommendations?  How about Nintendo's pricing structure on its downloads?

3DS Ambassador Review: Phase 1

So now that us loyal, trustworthy, early 3DS adopters had over half a month to download and play the first 10 games of the Ambassador program, how about a review of Nintendo's choices?  Were they enough to keep us happy until the first AAA, non-remake, original 3DS game gets released?  Would I have purchased the games from the eShop if I didn't get them through this program?  Why am I asking more questions instead of answering them?  Breakdown after the jump!

Now Playing

"Archimedes! No! It's filthy in there!"

Here's a quick update to what games I'm currently playing, in a little bit more detail than my not-always-accurate Now Playing page:

I'm playing Team Fortress 2 a lot more as of late, after taking a month or so break.  I figured I should break out of the training mode and actually begin to earn some of the 379 achievements.  So far I earned 24, or a measly 6%.  There's plenty of classes that I need more practice with, such as learning to not die within 10 seconds of spawning as the Scout.  Oh well, I'm still having fun with the game, and that's all that counts.

I haven't touched Final Fantasy V Advance much since I wrote the post on my recall of Final Fantasy plot lines, and that was four weeks ago!  (And that's also a reminder to write part two of that post.)  I'm still waiting on the upcoming patch for VVVVVV before adding more to my Metroid homage custom level, so that got tossed to the back-burner as well.  I just purchased Darksiders as a daily deal on Steam, so at some point in the future that will get played, just not now.

I finally played (and finished) Portal over the span of less than a day, though there are still the challenges to do.  I was surprised at the short length of the game, even if it was originally packed in the Orange Box compilation.  Well, I now have Portal 2 to look forward to, though I'll wait on Black Friday sales for that.

Oh yeah, I'm still going through Assassin's Creed II at a snail's pace, so I seriously need to step it up a notch if I want to finish both that and Brotherhood before Revelations is released.  I think I'm near the end, though I suppose I could finish the game faster by not wandering around and looking for feathers and glyphs like I've been doing.

And my birthday's coming up soon, so if someone wants to get me the Uncharted Dual Pack or Kirby Mass Attack (complete with the American Kirby is Hardcore angry eyebrows on the box art).  More for the backlog!

Mega Samus

I have no idea what possessed me to do this, though I guess the logical progression of Mega Man to Arm Cannon to Samus made sense to me.  Perhaps I'll make sprites/headshots of Metroid bosses as if they were transplanted into the Mega Man universe as Robot Masters.

Or I'll just wait for someone else to do it, if it hasn't been done already.

An actual blog post should be coming tomorrow as long as I don't get distracted by something entirely random, which is what happened above.

The Reboot Pandemic

It seems no form of entertainment is resistant to the spreading infection of reboot syndrome.  While more prevalent in the film industry, an increasing number of video games have seen reboots in recent years, and it is not limited to games originally released in the 2D era.  While a reboot can be just what a franchise needs to reinvigorate interest (and sales), some reboots can completely backfire and alienate the game's original audience.