And Then Skyrim Ruined Everything

I used to write posts on a regular schedule for my gaming blog, then I took an arrow to the knee... OK, yes, that was terrible for me to use an over-used meme.  I apologize.  My absence here for the past two months was not planned, but rather that my time on the weekends regularly spent writing a blog post was taken up by other obligations.  That is, if you can count logging over 70 hours of playtime into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as an obligation (among other things!).  Both Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone and soon we have a new year to look forward to.  For me this means one thing: hurry up and finish blog posts that have a lonely part one, including my adventures at this year's New York Comic Con as I want to wrap that before we're no longer in the same calendar year.  Time for some blog clean-up before ringing in the new year!

Happy Halloweekend!

Instead of blogging, I've been partaking in the Team Fortress 2 "Scream Fortress" activities in celebration of Halloween.  I just have one thing to say: human players are very annoying.  It may only be one person, but when everyone else is shooting at the boss and That_One_Guy decides he's going to kill everyone on your team, he instantly becomes everyone's target once the boss goes away unharmed.

Dance Intermission

This is what I get for only going to New York Comic Con on Saturday.  On Sunday two groups of Assassins took to the dance floor across the aisle from the Assassin's Creed booth for both Just Dance 3 and The Black Eyed Peas Experience.  Here's some YouTube footage, and some mad props to the Revelations Ezio in the second video.

New York Comic Con Wrap-Up Part One

Peach and Bowser invite you in to the NYCC Wrap-Up Post!

After all of my anticipation, my single-day excursion to New York Comic Con has sadly come to a close.  It was a lot of time, preparation, and money, but in all it was an enjoyable experience.  I'm going to split my wrap-up into several posts, and place emphasis on my personal experience rather than the entirety of what occurred at the show (since other news outlets already have all that covered).

Pros and Cons

Yes, I have a reason for my utter lack of updates: I had to prep for my single day excursion to New York Comic Con! And by preparations, I mean create a costume, of course. I never made a schedule of panels or booths I plan to go to, so I'm just going to wing it. Look for posts here on my experience and updates to my Twitter. So if an Assassin stabs you in the heart today, it could have very well been me.

Tweet20 - September 2011

#19 - One of the weirder moments of "Brawl in the Family" when Waluigi takes over the strip.

The scheduled last day of September post of news that didn't fit is a day two days late. Darn you internet service provider for deciding not to work during the brief amount of time I want to do something productive online! Enough ranting, on to the tweet-sized briefs:

1. How the Mighty Have Fallen - I don't know what happened to Silicon Knights, but the very negative reaction to X-Men Destiny may do the once-acclaimed company in.
2. Because, Honestly - Bad licensed games are inexcusable when games like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City exist.
3. Humble Indie Bundle - I'm a sucker for these ever since I bought a new laptop, though my backlog keeps growing.
4. World of Goo - I already own it for PC and Wii, but I couldn't resist buying it on sale for 99 cents for iOS.
5. Black Friday - Already making my list of game deals I want to look for with all of the major releases this year and around the holiday season
6. Assassin's Creed Revelations - Delayed on PC until December, so I can either see if there's a PS3 Black Friday deal or actually give myself time to finish Brotherhood.
7. Well, What About Assassin's Creed II? - I seriously have no idea why it's taking me so longer to finish - no, yes I do. My mouse moves to TF2, and a quick round turns into hours.
8. New York Comic Con - It's just two weeks away, so I have little time to decide on what panels I want to go to - so many options!
9. Playstation Vita Battery Life -3-5 hours for games with bluetooth off, headphones instead of speakers, default brightness, and 3G or WiFi off. So how long otherwise?
10. Dust off that 3DS - Zelda: Four Swords is a free download for DSi/3DS systems, though WiFi multiplayer is sorely absent.
11. Almost Played Pokemon White Again - But I got distracted by all of the other games that I never started or even installed. My Pokemon probably won't recognize me anymore.
12. Gesundheit! - I mentioned it earlier, but this iOS- exclusive game is a real gem that is both disgusting and cute. Buy it! It's cheap!
13. Cosplay - So this weekend I'm attempting to make a video game related costume as Halloween is fast approaching. Can you guess what it is?
14. You Can't Handle the Truth - As his CoD skills were deficient, a 46-year-old tracks down his 13-year-old nemesis and attacks him. If you can't take him out one way...
15. Old Games - It's time to make a hard decision on what games from the last four generations I'll definitely never play again and downsize.
16. Final Fantasy II- I questioned why I never finished the game when I was so close to the end, then I remembered how much I hated the leveling system.
17. Final Fantasy IV DS - I finally started this remake, though it's weird hearing voices from these old characters. The pace seems slower too, but I'll give it time.
18. A Lot of Kirby - After no entirely new games for a few years, three new Kirby games are released in a one-year window. Hooray for the little pink puffball!
19. Brawl in the Family - My current favorite gaming web comic, even when it's just cute instead of funny.  Nintendo and Kirby haters need not apply.
20. Not My Prince - Recently saw the Prince of Persia movie and I still think Jake Gyllenhaal was horribly miscast. Would I feel that if I didn't love the game?

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?