Guides

First Steps: Guild Wars 2

The idea with this questing system is to keep things fresh and new. The events will change from time to time and what you and other players do will have a real effect on the game. In the main story mode you are mostly in instanced areas, but the random quests still apply there as well. As for dungeons, you first encounter a dungeon in story mode meaning there will be less monsters and difficulty as it is for only you. However, once you finish a dungeon you unlock the “explorer” mode where there are much more monsters, loot and even path choices to make giving the dungeon replayability.

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Blog

Joust turns 30

The two-player feature helped Joust make an impact in the coin box at arcades across the country. While the ability for numerous players to play together has been a common feature in arcades for some time, in 1982 it was quite the novelty for two players to be able to play at the same time. Adding to the feature were offers of bonus points on certain levels, some of which encouraged teamwork and others that encouraged direct competition.

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TurboGrafx-16

TaleSpin

Released by Radiance Software in 1991, TaleSpin follows the adventures of Captain Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker from the Disney animated series. In the game, you are after the lost treasure of Ionia, but an evil Witch Doctor called Watusi stands in your way.

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Editorials

Star Control: The Ships

The first Star Control title really is a game of two-halves. The ‘Main’ game is seen as the strategy side of the game with its turn-based, territorial expansion-based shenanigans, while the ‘Melee’ mode is seen as the action, shoot ’em up side, but it is a lot more strategic than people realise itself. Each of the fourteen starships in the game has many variables, as can be seen in some of the screenshots below and, while it’s possible for any one ship to defeat any one other, there are certain ships that are better or worse against certain others, and many crafty tactics can be employed to exploit their weaknesses.

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Game Reviews

Michelle Jenneke: Sexy Dancer

With the Olympics upon us we will have plenty of chances to see sexy athletes doing what they do in their sport. This time around we get an early treat as Austrian runner, Michelle Henneke is caught on video warming up with a sexy little jumping/dancing act. Of course, soon after it hit the internet it went viral complete with music. Enjoy.

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Blog

Epic Scents: The scent of Mega Man

These scents are meant to be displayed and will come infused in small cut-outs of the characters. These cut-outs can be hung in cars or your mother’s basement or wherever you wish to extinguish the smell of the modern gamer. You will see these air fresheners hit the stories within a few weeks and they will cost around 3 bucks each. Word is if everything goes well they may expand to colognes and perfumes. Can you just imagine buying your girlfriend, “Essence of Metroid”, you might actually pause the game when she comes in the room.

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Blog

Classic download of the Week: Kid Icarus – Of Myths and Monsters

Pit will encounter old friends and new enemies – from helpful Centurions to the dreaded Eggplant Wizard – as he journeys from the depths of the underworld to the towers of the sky palace. Find hammers to shatter special walls and reveal helpful items. Collect hearts by fighting off Pit’s foes. Train hard and battle harder. Pit’s challenges make the labors of Hercules look like a walk in the park.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YepzdVuRoNw

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NES

Adventure Island

The power-ups are interesting, and provide the key motivator. Taking the form of eggs, when they are bumped into, they reveal themselves. The most common is the axe, always gathered first to provide a means of attack. But if Harry runs into other eggs once he has the throwing axes, he can gather further power-ups at the same time, such as riding a skateboard that not only moves forward quicker but also means he can now take an additional hit without dying; or the fairy mentioned before, which provides added protection and a temporary period of differing music. The idea is to make players want to see how many power-ups they can continue getting in a row, until they build into this unstoppable SuperHarry and crash through to the end of the level.

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Arcade Games

Dangun Feveron

So you have pretty much a typical shooter. One of the major differences to note is the soundtrack of the game which features various disco music. I assume this is to further confuse you as you fight against a horde of enemies ships with no real chance to avoid the incoming hail of gunfire. There are some added features to the game that helps it stand out a little including being able to select how fast you want the ship to move. Therefore those who are really twitchy can select the highest setting while others can select a slower one. Like most other shooters you can select the type of ship you want and its special weapon.

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NES

Kid Icarus

With the release of Kid Icarus it was only fair to pick the classic counterpart as the pick for this week. The game itself is not for beginners or crybabies. It’s one of the toughest NES games around and does rivals the difficulty of Ghost n Ghouls for the same console. The game does require lots of patience but does get a lot more bearable later on especially when you get the better weapons and level up. Yes, you do get more health bars and believe me, you’ll need them. So why not step back into the past and take a look at Kid Icarus for the NES.

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Indie Games

Spelunky

Spelunky is also an incredible challenge, yet somehow contains enough balance to remain charming. Personally, I am reminded of the very balance that hooked me on games like Lode Runner in the 1980s and the original Prince of Persia in the 1990s. Spelunky joins those titles on a short list of platformer games that have driven me just insane enough to demand that I have to try again, knowing that I’ll do better on my next go-around, only to dodge my previous mistake in favor of making a new one. Passing a level is extremely satisfying, even if you didn’t get any further than you have before by doing so.

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Arcade Games

Weird Games: Boong Ga Boong Ga

The game was created by Taff System a South Korean based company and the game states that playing it will make the gamer laugh and relieve the stress of everyday life. Now in the game you do not actually spank anything, at least not in the traditional way you might think. Instead, you preform Kancho, which is a child’s prank where you poke a distracted person in the butt while they are distracted, although in American I think that’s called 5 to 10 years in prison.

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TurboGrafx-16

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams

This week’s video review features the 1993 scrolling-shooter, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. Developed by Success the gameplay consisted of guiding a long female witch on her broomstick while she avoided enemies and gathered power-ups to take down bosses. The game was similar to other shooters like R-type with a mix of Parodius thrown in. This video review features the TurboGrafx-CD version.

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Hardware

The Razer Anansi MMO Keyboard Review

Razer’s configuration software allows for a ton of configuration options. You can literally change every key function on the board so in essence you can make any key a hot or macro key. You can also configure the backlighting, which shines though each key and if you wish, set the backlighting to randomly change color (16 million of them) which is pretty awesome when playing in a dark area. The keyboard itself has a good length and low profile, which works well for small and large hands alike. Al l the basic functions keys are there including the numeric keys and while not mechanical, pressing the keys feels comfortable and gives a good feedback response be it in games or typing. The keyboard sits stable when using the legs or lying flat and is sturdy so you heavy key pressers will not have to worry about damaging your keyboard.

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