Shauntu شان

Every year, I tend to write about the TV shows I watched during the previous year. With the new TV season starting some time in September with the awesome Supernatural, now seemed like the time to write about last years shows… Note that I am all about ‘serialized’ shows. A trend with serialized shows has been to have them show in sequence, with fewer breaks – much appreciated!

Like last year, I may mention some minor ‘spoilers’ and plot points and cast changes in shows.

Lost *****, Season 5: Still favorite TV show out there, and I am pretty sure it has eclipsed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for me at this point – which would make it my favorite show ever. Season 5 removed all shackles of ‘maybe there is a real-world explanation for everything’ by going deep into time travelling territory. Don’t read the rest of this paragraph if you haven’t seen it yet – seeing DHARMA in it’s hey day with Sawyer as it’s head of security, seeing Locke’s attempts to convince survivors to return to the Island end tragically, and seeing Faraday paradoxically be sent to the Island and it’s past to die by his mother (in more than one sense), where some of the highlights. The best surprise though was the touching relationship established by Sawyer and Juliet, one that ends with a bang. A thermonuclear bang. (Previous Year Rating: *****)

Supernatural *****, Season 4: My second favorite show after Lost. Supernatural has traditionally been just about the 2 brothers, with the occasional repeating character to flesh out the mythology but, seemingly due to budget reasons, has stayed away from a big cast. S4 seemed to change that though, with a myriad of repeating characters. While some characters are relatively normal -- Hunter (Bobby), Psychic (Pamela), Ghosts of past characters (Henricksen, Meg) -- what is interesting is the roles many these new repeating characters have: Prophet (Chuck), Demons (Ruby, Lilith, Azazel, Alastair), Angels (Castiel, Uriel, Anna, Zachariah). Technically, demons have been part of the show since the beginning with Azazel, the yellow-eyed demon, who was killed in the S2 finale… but his plot has continued since, shown in flashbacks and other narrative devices, while Lilith from S3 took upon the mantel of continuing his task, with Ruby (changing bodies from S3) continuing to help our heroes towards thwarting Lilith. However, the biggest shocker of S3 had been the death of Dean – and that was dealt with spectacularly: he is raised back out of hell by Angels, who turn out to have their own agenda. And it’s a pretty big agenda, that leads into S5: Once again, Supernatural threatened a plot point all season long, and then ended the finale by going through with it. This time, the heroes failed to prevent the release and revival of Lucifer… (Previous Year Rating: *****)

Dexter *****, Season 2: Watched this on Netflix Streaming, and couldn’t stop and immediately had Netflix send the S3 discs to watch those as well. Technically S2 didn’t air last year, but it’s on Showtime cable which I don’t subscribe to, so I don’t get to watch it live. S2 improved greatly over the already well done S1 (which I would give ****), with Dexter’s bodies dumping grounds being found and thus a hunt for him starting. Plus, Sergeant Doakes already is shadowing him to find out what his secret it. Dexter thinks he is getting away with some of his lies by pretending to be a recovering drug addict, until he gets into even bigger trouble due to the lady who becomes his sponsor. Everything comes together at the end really well too – with the background characters having more to do with the main plot (particularly Doakes and Lundy, who leads the manhunt), unlike S1.

Dexter *****, Season 3: After watching S2, we immediately watched S3, which wasn’t as ‘high strung pressure’ for Dexter without a manhunt after him, but instead had the interesting storyline of the Assistant DA, Miguel, finding out about Dexter being a killer, and wanting in. So Dexter makes a friend – one whose brother Dexter had killed. It’s interesting to see Miguel chip away at Dexter’s barriers until he finally starts training Miguel to be a killer. Which, of course, is a big mistake. Dexter’s home life gets more interesting as well, with Rita becoming pregnant and Dexter proposing marriage as only Dexter can.

Prison Break ****, Season 4: Prison Break once again reinvented itself for a new year, making the plot be about Michael and company working together with Agent Don Self to attempt to bring down the Company, by stealing a device that contains all the Company’s secrets. A stilted opening (where they bring back Sara, once headless in S3) hurts the show a bit, as does the quick death of Whistler, whose rescue had anchored S3’s plot. Still, stealing from the Company is all based around Whistler’s plotting, and T-Bag manages to take his place rather ingeniously, so it works out. Meanwhile, though, I found it hard to believe Whistler could actually be a good guy, which is why (spoilers) Don Self’s betrayal once Michael is successful works so very well. I did think adding Michael’s mom into the story weakened it a bit though, though she did end up making an effective and cold-hearted villain. It did seem like the writers wanted to continue the show for a 5th year, which may explain some of the stilted feeling near the end, as while the show ends it’s story well (with a bittersweet ending), there did seem to be some loose ends with characters like Gretchen. I was also saddened to see Bellick die early (at least he dies a hero). The post-show movie, Final Break, serves as an interesting coda, showing a final prison break from the characters as they rescue pregnant Sara from jail (after she is arrested for killing Michael’s mom), as well as revealing how Michael died… (Previous Year Rating: ****)

Fringe ****, Season 1: The main good new show of the year for me. Fringe starts off promisingly, with a strange mad scientist for a main character (Walter Bishop with very bad memory of the past) who works with bizarre science to help solve strange cases for FBI agent Olivia Dunham. The show soon starts seeming to be pointless, as each episode is just ‘strange science of the week’… and I started to lose interest. But then they decided to tie things together in a way that made it all rather interesting: they had already had the unusual tendency to tie most things to some research of Walter’s in the past, then they added the Observer who would be present in the background at times and has something to do with Walter’s past. Then they added the ZFT bioterrorist organization, working off of a manuscript (detailing a war with a parallel universe, written by either Walter or Bell) and using Walter’s older research to rescue a Mr. Jones, while claiming that Olivia herself is special due to some experimental drug she was treated with as a child by Walter’s partner William Bell, now the richest man in the world and head of Massive Dynamic. The season ends with Mr. Jones attempting to go to the parallel universe, but is killed; and then Olivia DOES go into the parallel universe in a meeting setup by the finally revealed William Bell – in an office in the World Trade Center. An even more interesting twist at the end, though, is that Walter is taken by the Observer to remember the past – by showing him his son Peter’s grave. Thus, insinuating, that Walter stole the parallel universe’ Peter to replace his own son in the past! (New Show)

Battlestar Gallactica ***, Season 4.5: The second have of Battlestar’s 4th season, delayed to the next year by Sci-fi for ‘scheduling’ reasons, continues where the show left off – with finding Earth, destroying in a nuclear holocaust. Spoilers: Only, it turns out, all of Earth’s (now dead) occupants were like the human models of Cylons. Not only that, it turns out that the ‘Final Five’ are originally from Earth; and the 5th one turns out to be Tigh’s now dead wife, Ellen. Only, she regenerated and has been a prisoner of Cavil, leader of the still bad Cylons. Anyways, the show shows people losing hope, with Dualla killing herself and Gaeta, working with Zarek, organizing a mutiny that goes horribly wrong – both are executed. Which I will admit, confused me: fact is, Zarek was a pretty good character all this time, and the way he was replaced by Roslin as President after they left New Caprica in S3 always bugged me. That Roslin’s cancer and depression after finding Earth led to her being a useless leader for almost all of 4.5 made Zarek’s mutiny even more justified – however, his purging the council of civilians just didn’t make sense. Meanwhile, Tigh’s affair with Six eventually is ended on a sad note (as Six’s baby dies), and Tyrol’s kid is retconned to not being his kid. Also, Three elects to stay behind alone on nuked Earth and is thus off the show. Eventually though the show decides to move forward, with Boomer turning even more traitorous by stealing Hera for Cavil, who wants Ellen to teach them regeneration again; big battles end the show in spectacular fashion (with Boomer finally killed after saving Hero back), but it is all rather ruined by Baltar and his visions of Six finally being explained by way of God’s doings… turns out, the visions and dreams seen by all characters are from God, to help them break the ‘cycle of destruction’ (though the Opera house stuff ended up being rather nonsense). And they get guided to a new planet to live on, long in the past, on OUR Earth (that they name Earth in honor of their Earth!)… guided by the returned from death Kara (using musical notes played by Hera), who then disappears because her return too was an act of God. Man, reading all this makes me wonder how I still am giving the show ***! Basically, a rather well done show with a kicker of a ‘Deus Ex Machina’ happy ending and a lot of depression leading up to it. Also, for no reason, they end with making Baltar’s lawyer President. Poor Zarek.

Dollhouse ***, Season 1: The pilot was boring, and I missed a few episodes in the beginning, but the 2nd half of the show got more interesting. It’s basically about a company that runs the Dollhouse, where people whose minds have been wiped (dolls) are reprogrammed with personalities and memories as needed by clients, whether to act as the clients dates and lovers or to use as assassins or spies. The main character is one of these dolls: Echo, which makes the show hard to follow as the main character has no personality of her own, the missions she goes on are moral quandaries, and the people who control her are technically the bad guys, pretty much. It built into an interesting finale though, with an escaped ‘glitched’ doll, Alpha, who has many programmed personalities all co-existing at once and is a psycho, returning to cause havoc and steal Echo to make her like him.

Legend of the Seeker **, Season 1: A syndicated show, which itself is a rarity nowadays, produced the the same person who made Hercules and Xena back in the day… this sword and sorcery fantasy show is based on a book series known as ‘The Sword of Truth’. Pretty cliched in some ways, they do create their own mythology in other ways: particularly with the Confessors, who have the power to turn people into permanent slaves with a touch. The heroine Kahlan is a confessor, which means a lot of times they have confessed enemies who now fight alongside them until they die. The hero Richard matures from a ‘kid’ pretty quickly, but is stuck not being able to pursue his love for Kahlan, as that could cause him to become a slave. Zedd is the old man, mentor, and wizard of the group. The main enemy in S1 was Darken Rahl, evil ruler of the land who ends up surprisingly getting killed in the finale – that Richard’s role as the titular Seeker was specifically to defeat Rahl makes me wonder what they will do for S2. Another aspect of the show that makes it unique are the Mord’Sith, an elite group of female warriors sworn to protect Darken Rahl, who can repel all magic by turning it into pain for the caster, and specialize in torturing people; their weapon, which hurts by touch, continuously hurts themselves as well.

Heroes **, Season 3: Heroes divides the year into 2 Volumes: Villains, and Fugitives. Villains has Sylar kill the company’s head Bob, but is caught by Bob’s daughter Elle. Only, Angela Petrelli, who inherits control of the Company, fires Elle and turns Sylar into an agent, making him think he is her son. Meanwhile, Nathan survives getting shot in S2 finale and starts S3 recovering (like he did S2 after nearly blowing up in Peter’s nuke in the sky in the S1 finale), only to be manipulated by visions of Linderman, placed by Parkman’s dad, who is working for Nathan’s thought-dead father Arthur – who is in a coma in his own secret company – which aims to create super soldiers with powers! Anyways, Arthur ends up recovering, taking everyone’s powers, turning Sylar to his side… but is eventually killed by Sylar (who learns that the Petrelli’s lied about being his parents) after the Haitian is brought in range to disable his powers. Oh, and then Sylar destroys Angela’s company for good measure. In Fugitives, Nathan decides that people with powers are too dangerous, and starts a task force to capture everyone, led by Danko. Only, Danko goes nuts, exposes Nathan’s power, and starts working with Sylar (who after finding his real father dying of cancer, decides he wants to be President). In the end, Nathan and company try to stop Sylar, and are successful – though Nathan himself is killed by Sylar. However, in the weirdest idea ever, Angela and Noah have Parkman mind-wipe Sylar to make him believe he is Nathan, shapeshifted as Nathan and with his memories, so that Nathan can convince the President to call off the hunt. Basically, Heroes is a pretty stupid show at this point, but it is still entertaining to watch and at times fun to make fun of. (Previous Year’s Rating: **)

24 **, Season 7: 24 returns after more than a year’s absence, first with a TV movie (showing Jack hiding out in Africa, before finally turning himself in to save an orphanage), then with a season where the plot’s first half is all about the fictional African country’s dictator launching attacks in the US to prevent an invasion by the US of his own country. Oddly, the dictator himself shows up to lead a suicidal assault on the White House. The show then continues with a standard ‘US Defense Contracting’ company being behind the Africans, before following with a Conspiracy that was behind the defense company! Jack once again has a terrible day, but is reunited with the once-killed Tony, who is now working for the bad guys, but also preventing major attacks. Until in the end when to expose the Conspiracy, he is willing to carry out deadly attacks… all in the name of revenge, as he blames the Conspiracy’s leaders for Michelle’s death back in Season 4 or 5… The show ends with a dying Jack entering a coma, but not before asking forgiveness from an Imam. I think that scene probably pissed off some viewers. (Previous Year Rating: *)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles **, Season 2: While the first year had been slow at times, this shows 2nd year ended up really slowing down the pacing of the show, while they introduced new characters to build the show around. The introduction of Riley (a girlfriend for John, with a secret), Jesse (a girlfriend of Derek from the future, with a secret), and Catherine Weaver (a shapeshifting Terminator controlling a company who hires FBI ex-agent Ellison) comes with a price: while telling stories about them, the main characters stories stall. In particular, spoilers, Riley being from the future, used by Jesse to try to prevent John and Cameron from getting too close, just wasn’t that interesting. I was also disappointed by the lack of Dean’s character; first his wife is killed, then when he finally returns at the end of the show, he is killed too. In fact, the show wasn’t shy in killing off characters: Riley, Jesse, Dean… all in the span of a few episodes. Followed by Derek getting killed by a random Terminator with no heroics. My favorite episode though was mid-way, where they finally gun down the Cromartie Terminator. That actually is when the show seemed to then slow down as Cromartie’s body is used by Catherine to create John Henry. The show is cancelled, which is a bit sad, as the story they were telling was pretty interesting, and seemed to show that Catherine was in fact working towards creating a counterpoint to Skynet, which controls the Terminators in the future… and the show ends with John time travelling to the future, following Catherine and John Henry. Oh well.

Merlin *, Season 1: While in Karachi, I watched the BBC show, Merlin. It’s quite different than normal Arthurian tales, as Merlin is a young man just learning his skills, working as a servant to rude and narcissistic Prince Arthur, who is also a young man. Guinevere is also a servant. The biggest reason this show doesn’t work though, is that the King, Uther Pendragon, is a major and stupid jerk who has banned all magic, never uses any logic, and frequently has his citizens killed for minor to no offenses – like Guinevere’s father. Only, the main characters continue to serve him and save him, and his ward, Morgana’s attempts to kill him for his actions are portrayed as the real evil acts.

After more than a year of selling poorly compared to it’s competition – mainly due to 360’s price cuts last year and Wii’s ongoing momentum – Sony has finally managed to make the PS3 the best selling home console for the month. September 09 was an interesting month, in fact, as not only did the PS3 see a price drop (technically initiated in August), but also a release of a hardware revision known as PS3 Slim, which is smaller, cooler, uses less power, and all around great value for the cost of $299.

MS also came back with their own version of a price drop, by eliminating their Pro model and dropping their Elite model (with a PS3 Slim matching hard drive size of 120 GB) to $299 – and then offering a $50 rebate for the 2nd half of September. Their hdd-less Arcade mode stayed at $199. Nintendo, who went almost 3 years without any price drops for the Wii, finally caved at the end of September as well, lowering the Wii to $199 for the last 4 reporting days of the NPD results shown below, for September 09:

PlayStation 2 146.0K
PlayStation 3 491.8K
PSP 190.4K
Xbox 360 352.6K
Wii 462.8K
Nintendo DS 524.2K

HALO 3:ODST 360 MICROSOFT (CORP) Sep-09 1.52M 1
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Jul-09 442.9K 2
MADDEN NFL 10 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 289.6K 3
MARIO & LUIGI:BOWSER’S INSIDE STORY NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Sep-09 258.1K 4
THE BEATLES:ROCK BAND* 360 MTV GAMES/ELECTRONIC ARTS Sep-09 254.0K 5
MADDEN NFL 10 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 246.5K 6
MARVEL:ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 2 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) Sep-09 236.0K 7
BATMAN:ARKHAM ASYLUM* PS3 SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP) Aug-09 212.5K 8
GUITAR HERO 5* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) Sep-09 210.8K 9
THE BEATLES:ROCK BAND* WII MTV GAMES/ELECTRONIC ARTS Sep-09 208.6K 10

* means all versions, including limited editions and different bundle sets are grouped together.

Interestingly, Wii’s price drop for the last 4 days was enough to give it a boost to close the gap with the PS3, but not overcome it. I think I can predict Wii will be a monster in October though with the price drop being in effect for the whole month. Software wise Wii wasn’t the monster it has usually been the last few months – 360 was, especially with the new Halo game selling through the roof. That 360’s hardware sales are lagging so far behind Wii and PS3 shows that their multiple SKUs dancing around instead of properly dropping in price is confusing potential buyers. It is also good to see PS3’s Batman still selling so well – it’s a great game! Also interesting to see is the well promoted Beatles game beat Guitar Hero 5 in sales. I wonder if this will be a long term thing. I am also surprised to see 360’s music games selling better than the Wii’s, though that one I feel confident in predicting will turn around as the months go on. And of course, the DS outsells everything else.

October is also going to be an interesting month: Wii’s price drop’s full effect, the introduction of the PSP Go (technically it’s first couple of days were included in September, which doesn’t show much results here though), MS’s holiday bundling of a couple of games with the 360, and the release of Uncharted 2 – PS3’s killer title.

Another minor distinction was achieved, btw: Year to Date, 360 has a fair lead over the PS3, that may be hard to overcome; however, what has been overcome is the Year to Date lead that the Wii had on the 360+PS3 combined.

The best game I played in August would be Little King’s Story on the Wii. It got great reviews everywhere, but didn’t sell much; brand new IP, with little known (but hopefully successful) publisher XSeed, and developed by also little known Cing. A pity, seeing how good the game turned out. From the updated Nintendo Channel, I can see I have already put in 50 hours in this game, and it is also my 4th most played Wii game todate – beating Wii Sports, and behind only Fire Emblem, Smash Bros, and Zelda Twilight Princess.

It’s basically an action/adventure game. The gameplay is basically like Pikmin or Overlord – you have a group of followers with you at all times, and you have them charge enemies to defeat them (oddly, no pointer controls; in fact, the game does nothing Wii specific). There is some strategy involved, as you have multiple types of followers: Grunts and Soldiers who attack directly and can cling on enemies, Hunters who use arrows from a distance, and others who simply attack directly. These others are normally not the best to send into combat, but are really there for special purposes (and thus, I end up usually only having 1 of each): Farmers dig, Miners break rocks (and decimate rock enemies), Lumberjacks get rid of trees, kids can climb trees, etc. Cooks are useless – except they can decimate chicken enemies.

So mostly, the strategy against enemies is to send all my soldiers at them with Hunters attacking from a distance. Hunters carry a limited amount of arrows, so I do try to use them more against enemies that are dangerous up close or out of reach (on cliffs or flying). Farmers dig up springs, which I can use to heal up or put off fires that my followers may have been set on by fire breathing dragons, for e.g…

Other than the exploration and combat, the game has a unique storyline (you are a little kid who inadvertently became King and are building your empire while uniting the world by defeating other Kings), with your villagers being under your control. You gain new areas by defeating bosses in those areas, build houses and other structures that give you access to more Jobs for your otherwise carefree villagers (so, the farmhouse gave me access to change villagers to Farmers), and get visits by merchants selling me upgraded armor/weapons. I can also pass laws and ordinances that end up increasing the HP of all my villagers. All this costs Bol, which I get by the treasures I bring back from my exploration and combat. There are other things happening as well – an Astronomer who wants me to find parts needed to build a flying ship so he can investigate the cause of earthquakes, Father Kampbell from the Church of Soup trying to convince me of God’s existence, etc…

Anyways, so yesterday I got back to continuing the game after a few weeks break. At this point, I had defeated 5 of the world’s Kings in my quest for World Domination. I thus have 5 wives, each of whom has given me a different long-term quest (things like cataloguing all enemies, which happens automatically when I encounter a new enemy). I have the capacity to have 30 followers now, mostly Hardened Soldiers and Hunters, but also with one each of Farmer, Miner, Giga-Carpenter (can build bridges), Merchant (detects treasure), Kid, Eggan (a legal alien from the alien kingdom who can destroy eggs), Broadcaster (another immigrant from the TV Kingdom), and Gourmet Cook… While playing, I encountered a ghostly Steel Knight in my town, who joined up as well – basically a tougher fighter than my already Hardened Soldiers. I had invested earlier in creating a Magical Land, and my Anything Minister Liam trained me on how to use Wizards, but I don’t have any Wizards in my town… Magical Land’s buildings seem to be more of a playland for people who like to pretend to be Wizards than anything else.

I took care of some of my Citizen’s quests, which are requests to take out specific monsters, then headed towards unexplored territory. I encountered a large cage with a skeletal dragon trapped in it. The creature could breathe fire and ice, and managed to defeat me my first try. My second visit I had my soldiers break open the door and entered the cage for the ultimate cage match! The Skeletal Dragon was soon defeated, but then rose up again. I had to kill it 3 times for it to stay dead.

A whole new area of the game opened up – quite a bit tougher than before too. My carpenters built a bridge to ‘New Island’, but then decided to head back as I can tell that is the 7th Kingdom. My carpenter’s built a Cow Cannon (a way to warp around basically) in a mountain region that I believe is the 6th Kingdom. Exploring around, I saw a lot of TV’s, and figured out that my immigrant Broadcaster can destroy TVs. Exploring also had me find a graveyard, and my Miners could destroy them, though sometimes zombies would emerge. Once I destroyed all the graves and got all the treasure, though, the game gave me a reason to panic – a swarm of zombies rose out of the ground all around me, and a gate closed off the exit. I fought them off for a while, losing a few men to the poison the zombies leave behind when killed, before realizing they will just keep rising and breaking the gate open to make my escape. I also ran into a few crashed UFO’s along the way, and free’d them, causing them to let go of the animals they had kidnapped. It’s a quest by my strange wife Shizoku, who seems to have a connection with the UFO’s. Maybe I should have left Shizoku in the Eggan Civilization Ruins with her father, King of the Eggans, who is still sitting on his toilet in the middle of the ruins.

Back home, I made a few donations to the Royal School, until I got a visit by the dude running the school that a 300 IQ student has emerged as a Brainy Doctor, and created a Hospital. I haven’t checked that out yet though. My Anything Minister Liam, who has been getting increasingly rude about me being King, extorted more Bols as salary, and so did my always critical Records Minister, Verde. Verde’s salary tends to be really low though, and she seems jealous of the 5 wives. However, she then had the nerve to claim that the earthquakes destroyed all her belongings, and asked for a huge amount of Bols. Eh, I have the money, and besides, Verde is how I save the game. My loyal Howser though, has never asked for a salary, and is also the one most gung-ho about World Domination plans. He is also the one who declared me King in the first place…

Of my 5 wives, meanwhile, one’s long-term quest looks like it is not going to be automatically filled in through normal play – she wants me to fill in tunes sung by villagers to help her remember a tune. Blonds. I actually noticed a villager humming along, and talked with him, and filled in my first tune… of 30! Walking about, I soon noticed another villager humming. I get the feeling that while the requests for filling in books with all enemies, all food treasures, etc, will just happen automatically while playing, this tunes quest is likely to remain unfulfilled ;).

Anyways, Little King’s Story is definitely one of the best games on the Wii, and highly recommended.

Welcome to my last entry in this experiment of mine. While I found it interesting to notice patterns in my own playing habits, I doubt anybody else did! Plus, the end results tend to be too long to be interesting for anyone to read anyway. So, instead, I will just post occasionally now about specific games. Since I am nuts about statistics, I will continue my own private logging though, so who knows, maybe in a year I will do a summary ;).

(1st Timer) Dawn of Discovery (Wii): Ok, this is my hands down ‘Game of the Month’ for July. It is basically a city building simulation game, set in the 12th or so century, with the catch that you are actually creating your cities on islands. Which have limited space and also different fertility levels for different stuff – so you need to find and settle new islands to provide the resources needed by your population to grow and thrive. At the same time, you face pirates while treasure hunting, face off against invasions, and take troops in battleships to invade enemy islands. Very charming game, very well implemented, and lots of fun.

Big Bang Mini (DS): Reached the 4th world – Luxor, which has a neat way to create a shield to block and even reflect enemy attacks. Overall though the game gets repetitive within each world too quickly.

Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSiWare): Completed more R&D stages, unlocking more Factory levels. Basically, the R&D stages train you on new ways to fold boxes while giving you timed puzzles; the Factory levels are freeform but still with a time limit where you play for high score. The score is accumulated to unlock material goods (better house, pets, vehicle, and garden) for your factory worker as a bizzare reward for working on building boxes. The game got a lot more fun and enjoyable with time, for some reason.

Swords & Soldiers (WiiWare): Finished the Aztec campaign – these guys fight dirty. Poison spells and darts, a giant rolling boulder to kill everyone in it’s path with, and Shaman who can raise the dead corpses that litter the field after heavy battles (or giant rolling boulders!). Plus, to get mana in a hurry to cast spells, you can always sacrifice your own troops – though you may want to start with your freebie undead skeletons. With enough mana, Aztecs can even mindcontrol enemy troops!

Animal Crossing: City Life (Wii): Missed the fireworks on the 4th of July, as were out watching real ones in the real version of Gilbert (yup, my town is called Gilbert in the game too). Caught a lot of beetles though that night. And a couple of eels. Got my house upgraded after paying the mortgage and Nook’s store also upgraded. Got bit by a spider at night, came to back at my housesteps.

Personal Trainer: Walking (DS): Continued using to track our walking…

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS): Prepared for the final battle with purchasing weapons online.

Punch-Out!! (Wii): Played the first couple of fighters while showing a friend how to play.

Bonsai Barber (WiiWare): Played a bit.

(1st Timer) Art Style: BASE 10 (DSiWare): Another unique puzzle game, in this one you can flip numbers around – the catch is the numbers actually flip, so 2’s turn into 5’s, etc. It’s tough though, as for e.g., 4’s turn into meaningless symbols. Other than flipping them around (exchanging positions), you remove them from play by matching rows or columns that add up to 10.

(1st Timer) Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (DSiWare): This turns out to be one of the most complete DSiWare packages yet – with 100 stages, plus a Construction Editor with which you can create your own stages and upload them to a central server – from where you can also download more stages that others have created. Just as fun as the previous games in this series, and excellent value.

(1st Timer) Ghostbusters (Wii): A relatively typical movie license type game, only it’s really more of a sequel to the original Ghostbusters, continuing and building from it’s mythology. The graphics, a cartoony look reminiscent of the cartoon series, look pretty good, and the controls, which depend on IR pointing for aiming and shooting the Proton Packs, are fun. The level designs however are nothing too special, and capturing ghosts does require matching directional shakes which isn’t particularly challenging.

(1st Timer) Art Style: Cubello (WiiWare): A light gun based color matching puzzle game in 3D? Why not! Quite an original experience, shooting a spinning structure, matching color blocks to eliminate them, which also replenishes ammo in the cartridge. The catch is the new ammo you get come in random colors, and until a color is fully eliminated, you will continue getting ammo in that color – but if you still have a color in your cartridge when you eliminate a color, you will end up having to reintroduce it to the stage! So you have to plan the final removals of colors from a stage to correspond with the last shot of that color in your cartridge. That can get tough.

(1st Timer) Art Style: ROTOHEX (WiiWare): Due to my positive experiences with the Art Style series matched up with the free Wii Points from the Pepsi Rockband promotion, I ended up getting all the Art Style games. Rotohex is a variation on games like Hexed, where you rotate blocks in such ways to form hex blocks of the same color (which causes them to be cleared from the stage). The big difference, is that the difference colored block pieces are of the falling variety, rather than Hexed where the full stage is pre-packed. So instead of a timer, you are trying to keep the stage clear – if the stage fills up, then it is game over. It’s interesting but not too special.

(1st Timer) Art Style: ZENGAGE (DSiWare): Of all the Art Style games, probably my least liked one is Zengage – which is basically ‘sliding picture’ puzzles, where you slide around blocks in the foreground to match the background. The twist is instead of a blank spot to use to slide around blocks, you actually loop the blocks around left-right and top-bottom. I was able to do 3-4 of the puzzles, but even that with difficulty.

(1st Timer) PixelJunk Eden (PSN): Got this intriguing game in a deal, it’s kind of like the Art Style games; unique and rather bizarre, yet strangely compelling to play.

(1st Timer) Left 4 Dead (360): Since the demo, I have wanted to play this with Farah, and when we finally did it was awesome. We played 1.5 hours after midnight, getting to the nail-biting end where the black dude who did the most fighting as we made our way across the ‘Blood Harvest’ got killed for good. That left me, Farah, and the girl – while we were still fighting off hordes of zombies while awaiting rescue. Rescue arrived, and Farah’s old man and the girl left the house, but I (who had the most health at this point) got caught by one of the zombies with a tongue and with no one to help free me, I just slowly got constricted to death while Farah and the girl tried to make it to the escape vehicle… I could do nothing but watch as Farah was soon swamped by a Hunter, and so the online stranger who played the girl was the only one to make it to the escape vehicle. We say her hesitate on the ramp, shooting zombies as well as towards Farah’s character who still had a Hunter on it, before deciding to leave without us. Thus, the Blood Harvest campaign came to an end, with one survivor. Really fun.

(1st Timer) Wii Sports Resort (Wii): Nintendo’s entry for Wii Motion Plus really shows off what is possible, with 12 sports and many game modes. Farah and I played about half of the modes, and really enjoyed them. Our favorites so far are Basketball, Canoeing, Wave boarding, Frisbee Dog, and Swordfighting. Bowling and Table Tennis are really well done too.

(1st Timer) Tales of Monkey Island Episode 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (WiiWare): This WiiWare release of one of my most anticipated games initially disappointed me with frame rate issues and stutters while moving about the game. However, the look, puzzles, characters, and dialogue brought me around to enjoying it even with the technological drawbacks.

(1st Timer) Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii): For my birthday, Farah got me this, complete with the Guitar, Drum Kit, and Mic. I immediately tried out all 3 – the Guitar is just as fun as in III, the drums are even more fun. The mic mode is basically karaoke with pitch matching, so nothing special. But the rest of the game is awesome.

(1st Timer) StarTropics (WII VC NES): Started it.

DEMOES:

Your Healthy Cooking Coach (DS): Basically Ubisoft’s version of Personal Trainer: Cooking, this demo had a recipe for Oil & Vinegar Salmon. The interface is pretty serviceable, though come of the bells and whistles of Nintendo’s game are missing.

Guitar Hero II (360): At a store, this old Guitar Hero happened to be. Basically, the Guitar Hero formula hasn’t changed much in all this time…

Dawn of Discovery (PC): The demo was actually very different from the Wii version. The graphics are much more realistic (though my PC’s graphic card, being 5 years old, doesn’t allow the game to shine). The plot is completely different, and there seems to be more complexity in everything. There are also more missions to work on at a time, and in the demo at least I felt like I could basically ignore my settlement. I actually prefer the Wii version! Though I will say, this is a case where someone who likes this type of game would probably be happy getting both, as they are both unique experiences…

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (360): A linear shooter with frequent hallucinations intended to keep the atmosphere creepy. I just wondered why I was fighting armored enemies with machine guns, as well as why other soldiers were occasionally getting wiped out by Alma the ghost when I wasn’t. Then I stepped into a Mech and starting shooting at other slow moving Mechs in FPS mode. A bizzare mashup of genres and very slow moving, very slow crosshairs too.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (XBLA): I was actually pretty excited when I first read of the remake. But when I played the Trial, it seemed like some of the fun was zapped out of the game! The obvious culprit is that in the original, with the mouse and the verbs all being present to use at all times, it was pretty fast and convenient to try many verbs with each object that one could, but with analog sticks being used to move the cursor (and having to remember which direction is which verb to change which action happens) makes it inconvenient at best to experiment. But the bigger thing is that it seems like a lot of the dialogue is really intended for quick reading with puns pointed out with capitalization and intended mis-spellings… and with voice dialogue all of that is lost.

Crash Commando (PSN): Highly rated and looked fun. But when I played the demo, against some AI bots set on Easy, and lost heavily – I blamed the controls. The arcing aiming with an analog stick on a 2D game with tiny characters meant I spent most of my bullets missing the opponents, who tended to be very accurate.

E3 Month! And yeah, I am publishing this late…

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS): So, playing on without regards to losses, having lost the main heroine Caeda, a lot of other characters, not gained one of the 2 items needed to defeat Gharnef’s invincibility (an enemy thief making away with it), and not having talked with Godoh who would have actually joined those 2 items to form the weapon I needed in the first place due to a thief burning his village down before I got to it, I finally got to face up against Gharnef again. I had wondered how the game would let me go on – and turns out by capturing the throne and avoiding Gharnef, I can still win the stage, and Gharnef would run away as the item giving him power would be lost to him (though he would still be invincible, so I still don’t get the Falchion sword away from him that was supposedly needed to face the Shadow Dragon!). Of course, to make avoiding Gharnef interesting, the mission had 3 of him – two of whom were fake clones that actually could be defeated, only to give fake Falchions after being defeated. I also used the online store to get some good weapons for my surviving characters. After a few months of playing, the game finally registers as my ‘Game-of-the-Month’.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS): I continued with the missions, dallying about at times with drug trafficking.

Art Style: PiCTOBiTS (DSiWare): I completed the Normal stages, which got pretty tough towards the end. I also played the Dark stages up till the 10th one, at which point the game has gotten very very difficult. And yet, still lots of fun to try.

Boom Blox Bash Party (Wii): Played a smattering of co-op and solo play. I am at 14% complete, last I checked.

Wii Fit (Wii): Using it mainly to track out BMI/Weight while we use EA Sports Active. Also created Alisha a profile, who loved getting measured and also tried out some balancing. Alisha was 30 lbs.

EA Sports Active (Wii): Farah and I continued using it, though we both had a week break in between that made it impossible to actually complete the 30 Day Challenge we had started. I tend to sweat a lot while using it.

Rhythm Heaven (DS): Played some more stages, and got a Perfect in one.

Plants vs. Zombies (PC): I completed the Adventure Mode, with the roof battles being particularly challenging at times, but never frustrating. That opened up the Survival mode as well as unlocked more of the Puzzle and Challenge modes, which I started playing. It was interesting to encounter Bejeweled, PvZ style. The Portal styled stage was also rather interesting. I also loved the Credits song – it’s rare when a game features an actual song in the game in a way that is so memorable – Portal in fact is the other main example that comes to mind! A Zen Garden has also opened up, which seems to be mainly a way to kill time, and the Adventure Mode has a 2nd run through now available where 3 of the plants get chosen for you (but all types that you unlocked earlier are available from the start).

Final Fight (Arcade): I tried this in a cabinet at Costco Home, but somehow the game started in 2 player mode. So after taking out enemies, I had to move the 2nd player forward too. I made it through the first stage and boss with the 2nd player still not dead, which gives an idea of how easy the game starts out.

Street Fighter II (Arcade): I tried this in a cabinet at Costco Home, and was quickly bored of the really slow gameplay. I think the later versions of II sped the game up.

Bonsai Barber (WiiWare): After a break, I got reminders in the Wii Board from characters in the game, wondering where I went. So I went back in and gave some more haircuts, and have been encountering new challenges other than just weird haircut styles. For example, the haircut I gave to a character who was upside down (and now I can make gravity upside down for any haircut I choose). Then there was the time the light started flickering; the next day, there was no light, and my pointer worked as a flashlight as well – until I gave a haircut in the shape of a light bulb, which fixed the lighting! Then there was the fete, but my haircuts that day failed to win it for my customers.

Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii): I turned this on to swap friend codes with a co-worker, and got sucked back in by a game of Hide & Seek, followed by catching a bunch of butterflies and trying to find Sydney’s key in the river. I also took my first trip to the City, which is actually pretty interesting, learning my first emote (anger) and picking up my Shauntu Mii design as a makeover for how my character looks. I also like the ability to send messages to friends system boards directly through Animal Crossing, complete with whatever fancy stationary I find in the game. The game is basically, very charming. Alisha also loves watching it, identifying the Sea Lion who brought me DLC from Nintendo, as well as a Duck who nicknamed me Big Bro and a Penguin who just moved into the village. I met KK Slider on a Saturday evening, getting my first song from him (KK Reggae), and another weekend participated in a Bug-Off, winning the tournament by turning in an Emperor Butterfly I had caught.

Mario Kart Wii (Wii): After skipping the tournaments the last few months, June’s 2nd tournament pulled me in due to it being a boss fight against those spiky tops, with a new stage, where the stage gradually falls apart.

Astro Boy (GBA): Alisha was playing around with a GBA that had this game still in it, and I ended up dabbling with it for a stage while Alisha watched.

(1st Timer) Tomb Raider Underworld (Wii): I had borrowed this from a friend, and while the game’s controls are better than the previous Wii version (specifically, the camera isn’t strangely controlled anymore), I gave up in the room with the giant squid after I kept falling into the water and dying, rather early in the game.

(1st Timer) Company of Heroes (PC): A friend encouraged me to try the game out while at his place, and a few hours later I completed the 2nd stage, which had been an extremely long and multi-pronged stage. Rather interesting for a RTS game, though seemingly having an infinite supply of infantry did make the initial two stages impossible to actually lose.

(1st Timer) High Velocity Bowling (PSN): A freebie from a code sent by my brother, this is an ambitious bowling title with a strange control method – basically, it relies totally on Motion Control using the PS3’s Sixaxis abilities. The problem is, holding the controller while also having to hit buttons and triggers, is very uncomfortable, though I did manage to defeat some random stranger online with a score of 150. I couldn’t defeat the consistent AI though.

(1st Timer) Personal Trainer: Walking (DS): With recommendations from my brother, picked this up – it’s not a game, but a Walking tracker that works in conjunction with Activity Meters (advanced pedometers, basically) to track your day’s walking patterns, with you being able to see not only how many steps, but when. I set my target at 2000 steps, and reached that easily my first day! I soon upped it to 3000 and then 4000 steps – my highest so far has been more than 8000 steps, but my average tends to be in the mid 5000 range.

(1st Timer) Big Bang Mini (DS): I got this in a sweet deal with Personal Trainer: Walking, but found the first few stages disappointing compared to the demo that I had loved earlier; basically, the demo showcased a few different styles of play, but in the real game you have to go through a bunch of stages in one style before moving to the next style – I’d prefer some variety in the progression. It’s basically a shooter where you direct fire using stylus flicks, while also moving a ship to avoid enemy fire – the catch being that shots of yours that miss explode in fireworks, adding to the fire that you have to avoid.

(1st Timer) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 (Wii): My first impression is that the game takes too long to get going. It starts with a lengthy tutorial, then to start My Career you have to create a character, then just before starting the PGA Tour it asks a question about rounds that I don’t understand, while warning that I cannot change that setting without restarting my profile. That said, the actual gameplay seems solid and does seem to show off MotionPlus.

(1st Timer) Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSiWare): A strange game where you build boxes in timed challenges.

(1st Timer) Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3): Finally picked up and played this very well done game, that plays in the vein of Tomb Raider but with controls that are so much superior. In particular, I love the character’s movement and platforming and puzzle solving, though the combat is actually pretty well done too. I reached Chapter 5.

(1st Timer) The Conduit (Wii): This FPS represents in many ways the promise of the Wii’s control possibilities with FPS games, and that aspect of the game turns out really well. The actual single player campaign is nothing too special, though it does look good technically (artistically Metroid Prime still has it beat). The online multiplayer however is what would make or break the game – as with these controls, if really well done would make this game a long term keeper. It almost succeeds too, except for a glitch when starting games where you may randomly be spawned in nothingness, having to wait the current match completing. When it works, it is awesome, but I got stuck in nothingness twice, and that sucked.

(1st Timer) Swords & Soldiers (WiiWare): Learned of a neat way to get freebie Wii Points through a Pepsi/Yahoo/Rockband promotion, and bought this in celebration. The starting Viking campaign is pretty straightforward, you basically build Viking fighters and try to overpower enemies with numbers, strength, and spells like Thunder and Snowstorm.

DEMOES:

1 vs 100 (360 Primetime – Beta): This was cool for a while – basically a TV Game Show, only played on the 360 with tens of thousands of others. It’s basically a Trivia game that multiple people in a room can play together, and mostly you will be in the crowd, earning points with each question. Randomly though, you can be selected to be in the Mob of 100, where you are directly competing against the randomly chosen 1, and can earn MS Points for buying Arcade Games with (once the beta is over). There is also a live host in Live Play mode, whereas the Extended Play mode people just all compete for score.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Multiplayer Beta (PS3): I rather enjoyed the online beta, though it was basically Gears of War with a more agile character. I wasn’t very good compared to the other players though.

Puzzle Kingdom (PC): I loved Puzzle Quest, but didn’t think the developers did too much different in this sequel, where you have troops with health who you use to attack the enemies troops by first charging them up by collecting the proper color ‘gems’. There are also spells and a full RPG component to your Hero’s, who bring unique benefits to battle.

Miami Law (DS): I criticized the earlier demo last month, and they released a Vol. 2 demo, with 2 minigames; in one you identify a molecule by rotating it, and in the other you have a shootout with duck and cover mechanics. The shootout was a bit more interesting, but otherwise still nothing special.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (DS): Even Alisha didn’t take to it, and she loves the movies – basically a 2.5D platformer with nothing special at all.

Ant Nation (DS): Very slow paced game, which could have been interesting otherwise; basically you manage an Ant Colony, building new underground rooms for worker and soldier ants and sending them off to collect food or fight other insects (called aliens for some reason).

MySims Racing (DS): Pretty simple Mario Kart clone.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 (PS3): Considering the Wii version due to the Motion+ bundle, I decided to try the PS3 demo. Graphically, I can tell the Wii version will be behind, but the controls are weird with a regular controller – I appreciate moving away from the old button presses with a timed meter, but the use of the analog stick to try to simulate a swing doesn’t really work too well, I thought.

A rarity on my blog, something from work.

Basically, I run the SMS server in Engineering. One of the things I did to streamline installing applications from SMS for our End Users a few years ago was add a shortcut to ‘Add New Programs’ from the network to everybody’s Start Menu. Since in XP, the Start Menu shows up under ‘All Programs’, and there is a section on the front menu (known as the Pinned Area), I also wanted to make sure the shortcut (simply called ETS Software Distribution) is present there as well. Thus, whether the user is using the Classic Menu (or using Windows 2000 in the old days) or not, my instructions for installing something (i.e., Click Start-ETS Software Distribution, then choose software) would stay consistent.

The trick here was that adding the shortcut file (which simply opens up the appropriate control panel item with parameters to reach the Add New Programs section) to the User’s Start Menu was simple, but adding it to the Pinned Area was more tricky; I had to figure out code with which to, basically, pretend to use Keyboard Shortcuts, as the items in the Pinned Area are not stored individually anywhere, and I still wanted our users to be able to customize their Pinned Areas themselves.

So the code, simply, was this:

' Pin the New Application to the Start Button
Set objShell2 = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objFolder = objShell2.Namespace(strDest)
set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName(strFile)
objFolderItem.InvokeVerb("P&in to Start Menu")

strFile is simply the .lnk shortcut file. This code (included in the same script that also copied the .lnk file into the user’s %UserProfile%\Start Menu\) then ran on all computers in the domain through SMS, once per user per computer, silently and hidden from the user. Elegant. Awesome.

Until Vista came along and screwed up the Keyboard Shortcut!

It had been a few months now that I had noticed that in the Vista Start Menu, the Pinned Area was not getting my shortcut. My instructions on how to install software available on the network was not longer accurate (unless the user went into Programs or typed in ETS Software Distribution). Well, this week I finally decided to take a look into what is different. So I right click a shortcut on my Vista box, type i to run ‘Pin to Start Menu’… and it jumps to ‘Open File Location’ and doesn’t even execute it!

No wonder my script no longer works. Not only is the shortcut going to another menu item, it isn’t even executing it. So while trying to figure out the new keystroke, I try a couple random ones and when they match up with right click items, they actually execute the command immediately. Why the difference?

So, I truly use the keyboard to reach the shortcut and press the ‘right click menu’ key on the keyboard. You know, the one between Alt and Ctrl on the right side of everybody’s keyboards. So that it would actually underline the keystroke needed to jump to it. And lo… it is still ‘P&in to Start Menu’. But, i is also the keystroke for ‘Open file locat&ion’. What the crap!!!!

So, what you are supposed to do, is press i twice to alternate between them! Then press Enter to execute, as now with 2 possible options, it can’t auto-execute like every single other keystroke shortcut.

Did Microsoft run out of letters in the alphabet?

Anyways, now that I knew what was the problem, I was able to figure out (ahem, find) a solution:

Set objShell2 = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objFolder = objShell2.Namespace(strDest)
set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName(strFile)
For each verb in objFolderItem.Verbs()
    if verb.Name = "P&in to Start Menu" then verb.DoIt()
Next

Basically, it’s like pressing Down Arrow through the right click menu until the right command is found, then pressing Enter. Works for Vista! Yay. Now I send this silently through the domain, and my instructions for how users install software will be consistently accurate again.

(1st Timer) Art Style: PiCTOBiTS (DSiWare): I have played quite a few different ‘action puzzle’ games (Tetris style and beyond) as well as a lot of ‘Match 3+’ style puzzle games (my favorite being the RPG hybrid, Puzzle Quest). The Art Style series of WiiWare/DSiWare games seems to have a fair number of original experiments with the Match 3+ style of action puzzle games, which is a genre normally well suited to the casual gamer. Not PiCTOBiTS, however – this one is through and through a hardcore game. The base gameplay is the most unique in this genre yet – you use your stylus to pick up different color bits and place them in the path of falling blocks in order to form vertical or horizontal or rectangular sets of the same color, which thus clears them from the stage; any falling blocks that get obstructed otherwise or reach the bottom however turn into extra bits for you to use as ‘ammo’. You have a ‘Last In First Out’ queue as well, where bits you pick up are stored ready for you to place them, and a POW block, which you can hit to clear out a large amount of leftover bits (as well as flatten the remaining floating in the way back to the ground), however doing so decreases the size of your queue – you can always spend coins earned within the stage to regain the queue spot, or use the POW repeatedly until you only have a queue size of 1. Unlike most games in this genre, each stage has a completion point, once enough bits have been cleared of each color (forming animated 8-bit sprites from the NES era of games as the reward for the hardcore gamers!). The stages color themes, backgrounds, and even music relate back to those NES games as well. Overall, one of the hardest Match 3+ game I have yet played that is still simple to actually play and also fun and intense when playing. After debating between this and Plants vs Zombies, I chose PiCTOBiTS as my Game of the Month.

Valkyria Chronicles (PS3): Some fantasy aspects are entering the story now, with an enemy character, invincible, went against us and made for a difficult stage. The cutscenes, mostly talking heads, are interesting when they stick to the plot – but there is too much time spent with the main character talking about nature still.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS): After losing my Dragon in Ch 18, in Ch 19 I appear to have failed to recruit another Dragon! I didn’t get any more thieves, so have been getting by using keys and Marth’s Fire Emblem, which can open chests. I also took the suggestion from the developers to soldier on regardless of how many people you lose by continuing to play after failing the objective of a mission – to retrieve an object needed to defeat some baddie in the future (an enemy thief stole it and ran off, if you can believe it). I also lost 5 characters in Ch 20, including the heroine Caeda, and still played on!

ExciteBots: Trick Racing (Wii): I got through the initial cups, and purchased the Mantis, which is a cool if heavy and big bot. I also played some of the mini-games, getting S in the Red Bar and Rail Song ones.

Rhythm Heaven (DS): I got further through the game, and encountered my favorite minigame yet – where you play these drums in the same style as at the Asian Festival last month. I did pretty good at that.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS): I played more, concentrating on the missions, and started seeing the point in the seemingly juvenile dialog in the beginning – it’s intended as ironic humor to see all the gang bosses with low IQs. The game did become more enjoyable, and I have to admit that somehow, the drug dealing aspect of the game makes it better than it otherwise would be.

Maboshi’s Arcade (WiiWare): Farah and I played this together, each on our separate sections of the screen. While the game is enjoyable, the multiplayer doesn’t really have much affect on each other’s games though.

Super Punch-Out!! (Wii VC – SNES): Aran Ryan may be difficult, as I can’t figure out a weakness for him, but I can still beat him. The crazy Japanese after him with the long hair with the mirage dance, though, seems impossible.

Personal Trainer: Cooking (DS): Farah and I used it to make Lasagna together, including making Bolognese sauce and Béchamel sauce. It was a lot of fun to make it together, and the end result was very good as well, best lasagna we have had. Off course, Farah had something to do with it, as she changed the recipe from the instructions, adding some green chile and crushed peppers to the Bolognese sauce! Meanwhile, after making the Bolognese sauce, an old Game & Watch game, Chef, got unlocked for spending time with while using the timer and waiting for stuff to cook. I tried it out, and it was really really basic – move your guy between 3 spots to flip food back in the air. Not really much of a time waster.

Wii Fit (Wii): Using Wii Fit in conjunction with EA Sports Active – for some reason, I guess EA decided they didn’t want to duplicate the weight/BMI tracking included in Wii Fit.

(1st Timer) Bonsai Barber (WiiWare): The best haircut simulation game ever. Also probably the only. Though your customers are vegetables and fruits, and the hair is foliage (which regrows if you sprinkle water in it). There is a surprising amount of fun and depth here… trimmers remove leafs only, while scissors remove branches (including leaves on the branches). The customers have all sorts of unusual haircut requests, including asking for coloring their leaves. Farah and I are both really enjoying it. Brain Age style, the game limits you to 5 customers a day, so you can’t experience everything in the game in a short time.

(1st Timer) Plants vs Zombies (PC): Having loved the demo, discussed below, I bought it off Steam to continue. One drawback is that I had to start from scratch (I suppose I could have transferred the save files…). I can certainly see now that the early stages that were more tutorial oriented are feeling slower paced and easy. But the game is still fun and the zombies are still hilarious. Did I mention the Zombie wearing Ducky Inflators to be able to float in the pool? Or the Pole Vaulting Zombie who can thus skip over one plant (thus overcoming Wall-Nuts, for e.g.) in the path?

(1st Timer) New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Wii): This Wii-make of the GC game, which originally controlled uniquely with the Bongo drum controllers, has been adapted to use the analog stick to move, A button to jump and downward swinging to punch and clap. The game has been modified from the original, however. As an example, the ‘clap’ no longer covers a full circle around Kong – but rather, provides a directional vibration controlled by the analog stick. I completed the first 3 stages (each stage actually containing 2 levels and a boss) in my first sitting and had fun.

(1st Timer) Mr. Wong’s Laundromat (PC): This simple flash based web game is part of the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown War social club experience; money and maybe extras collected in it can be synced to transfer to the DS game. Unfortunately, the actual flash game is pretty basic and not much fun – all you do is move left and right collecting cash and other stuff while avoiding clothing as they fall out of the laundry machines.

(1st Timer) Game & Watch Collection (DS): This was a freebie, chosen from a list of rewards from the Club Nintendo site. It has 3 old Game & Watch games in it – the bug spray one is too basic/boring, the oil panic one is rather difficult, but the Donkey Kong one is awesome. I am sure some nostalgia is involved here, as I used to have that exact Game & Watch game when I was young, but the controls for the (not at all like Mario) hero as he climbs up and uses a crane to cause Donkey Kong to fall have perfect response and the game is still fun after all this time.

(1st Timer) Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic (PSN): I downloaded this in a PSN promotion for free; it’s basically a fighting game where you fight more than 1 opponent at a time from a 2D perspective – kind of like Smash Bros, but without the arena fallouts gameplay. The actual controls are weird though, with both the character movement being stilted and floaty and the attacks seeming to have random range, specially picking up weapons. It was interesting to see it make use of the Sixaxis motion controls for some moves though – that’s pretty rare on the PS3!

(1stTimer) Halo Wars (360): After playing the demo, I played the full game via rental. I made it to the 8th stage, though I had to dial the difficulty down to Easy on the stage with the giant enemy stationary spider cannon, after having lost the mission 3 times – the last time with probably only a couple seconds of fire still left to defeat it. Anyways, I loved the technology in the game, the level designs and the terrain is just awesomely created in the engine. The controls are slightly better than Red Alert 3 on the consoles, but would still be much better on the PC. The story and characters is where the game loses though, as its just not at all interesting up till the 8th mission.

(1st Timer) Boom Blox Bash Party (Wii): A sequel that does almost everything the original did, and then improves upon it – almost. The mechanics are the same and new play styles have been introduced, like slingshots, virus blocks and balls, multiple shapes, Match 3 style modes with paint balls, and a truly extensive co-op mode. The level editor is now fully capable, with an online upload/download server that can stream new stages whenever you want to play something new. The only drawbacks are that the Quick Sample mode is now restricted to a random 3 stages of the same type (whereas in the first you would get 8 or so completely random stages of various game types), and there is no longer any semblance of a story for the solo stages (which had helped give some charm to the original).

(1st Timer) EA Active Sports (Wii): Farah picked this up after reading about it, and we both started using it. It’s not as much ‘fun’ as Wii Fit, with no ‘take a break’ mini-games for example, but it tracks calories and has full workout sets created, with minimal interludes between exercises. It also has a 30 Day Challenge mode to the workout, where a full month’s set of workouts gets scheduled for you, which can be a good motivator. It comes with a Resistance Band and a Leg Strap to hold the nunchuk in some exercises, and it also supports the Balance Board for some exercises.

(1st Timer) Punch Out!! (Wii): This game brings the 15 year old Punch Out!! NES title to the current, 3D generation perfectly, with perfect animation and attitude for the opponent boxers that you face. The gameplay is also completely like the original, though to mix things up you can optionally use motion controls for punching and the balance board for dodging. I got through my first few fights easily, but had my first loss from Bear Hugger, followed by Great Tiger who beat me up many times (while speaking very good Urdu). Aran Ryan meanwhile was hilarious as a crazy Irish boxer. I have gotten up to Bald Bull, and the game has become pretty tough. I also tried out the Exhibition mode, which is a cool set of extra challenges per boxer, though these can be pretty tough even for the easier boxers.

DEMOS:

Plants vs. Zombies (PC): Learning that PopCap released their latest major new game and demo, and recalling having really enjoyed Peggle, I gave the Trial a shot. A couple of hours later, the demo finally stopped me from progressing, having played 35 stages and 3 minigames. It’s a relatively simple game concept, based around the Tower Defense genre, where the enemy is various types of Zombies (including Thriller Michael Jackson dancers, among other hilarious designs) and your towers are plants and mushrooms (only usable at night). Unlike some other Tower Defense games, the enemies come in a straight path (normally 6 paths), and your plants are directly placed on those paths and are thus eaten along the way. I really enjoyed it, and then when I saw it is $10 on Steam, I bought it!

Defense Grid (PC): Another Tower Defense style PC game, though I found this one rather generic – tiny futuristic enemies come along a path to steal something from the center of your map, then try to leave with it, and you place various types of gun towers along the way to kill them.

Up (DS): Some game based on an upcoming Disney Pixar movie; the demo was pretty crappy, showing us control 2 characters with poor control trying to defeat an alligator with poor hit detection.

Knights in the Nightmare (DS): I was saddened to see that all the demo included was a portion of the game’s tutorial. It really seemed like the tutorial was only scratching the surface of this completely new idea of a game. Apparently, you control a wisp – a spirit guide to the hero’s. As the hero’s fight in the top screen, you move your wisp around using the touch screen to guide them into where to attack and optionally with what skill, grabbing gems that fall out of defeated enemies to recharge the skill meter, changing the mode of the game between Law and Chaos to keep the gems coming in high numbers, and avoiding spirit world bullets that the enemies emanate. I would have liked to try out the gameplay more, but I have no idea from the demo if the actual game is going to be actually good or not.

Puffins: Island Adventure (DS): This feels like an attempt by someone to try to do a mini-golf style game without the golf, and without any Monkey Ball type tilting. Instead you slingshot your egg around the map, which takes damage when it hits things. Which is the stupidest game design ever as it means you are discouraged from trying any fancy banking etc. That makes for a boring game demo.

Ninja Blade (360): Take Ninja Gaiden and mix in ridiculously prevalent Quick Time Events, and you get this absurdity, which continuously mixes in the action with cutscenes and Quick Time Events where you have to press the right button or – you don’t die, but rather time resets and the Event repeats over and over again until you get the button press right. Is that supposed to be gameplay?

Arkanoid LIVE! (XBLA): I used to like Arkanoid once, on the old black and white Game Boy. Now, I am no longer sure, as this demo was boring to play. There doesn’t seem to be any skill left – the ball and paddle are too small to have any strategy, random enemies that float about deflecting the ball make it worse, and there was actually a period of time once where the ball just banged back and forth between 2 indestructible blocks, wasting my time.

Space Invaders Extreme (XBLA): This old school looking game turns out to be rather new after all, with fancy weapons like the laser that can wipe out a column in one shot, as well as constant and challenging action that is also fun.

Halo Wars (360): I played the first stage of the Tutorial, and my first comment is how beautiful Ensemble’s engine has gotten, full of detail in closeups and quite the interesting terrain affects.

Uno Rush (XBLA): An odd variation of Uno, where you can see everybody’s card – solving the problem of how to let multiple people play in the same room. The pacing is really fast and after a multi-round game, I never won any rounds due to the mix of fast speed and random luck.

R-Type Dimensions (XBLA): Seems to be a remake of a retro game or two, which is all the trend nowadays. I played the endless mode, and died quite a few times in the single stage available in the demo. The game seems designed with maximum player death in mind, so for casual play you lose all sense of achievement.

Miami Law (DS): It seems this game follows a storyline interrupted by various minigames. The 2 minigames in the demo weren’t anything special or fun though.

Haze (PS3): Good looking FPS game that is exclusive to the PS3, developed by Free Radical, whose Timesplitters series I had a fondness for. The game looks and plays fairly well in the demo, but doesn’t really stand out in any way. Pity about Free Radical getting shut down due to the bad reviews and sales this game got.

Super Stardust HD (PSN): While I have played this before, I played it again just to have some fun. Its a pretty neat space shooter, kind of like a distant cousin of Asteroids.

Over the weekend, I turned on Animal Crossing to get my Friend Code to send to a co-worker. 2 hours later, I was still playing, and realized that the biggest reason why Animal Crossing works is due to how charming it can be. My animal neighbors all commented on me being missing for 5 months. Twiggy roped me into a game of Hide & Seek, getting 2 other animals into the action – I managed to find them all within the 15 minute time limit. I did get a delivery errand, but they provided context, having an animal talk about 2 others having a fight, then having one of them ask me to deliver a present to make amends. Bill the Duck decided to nickname me Big Bro, and later tried to get a compliment on his idea – once I shot him down, he started crying (but pretended that it was just sweat from the eyes). Some also commented on my hair, which was very misshapen – one called it bed head style from sleeping for 5 months. Heh.

Meanwhile, Sydney couldn’t find his key, and strongly hinted it got dropped in the river, but I tried fishing and only caught fish. I also caught a lot of different butterflies, and donated both to the museum. I sent my co-worker a mail from within the game to his Wii System Board, which is a cool feature, then went on my first trip to the City – with Rover on the bus along the way verifying whether I wanted WiiConnect24 to be enabled (for automatic sharing of data between friends, and without friend codes). The city was interesting, picked up a bubbles blower that Alisha loved, and learned how to emote anger at the theatre. Also got a makeover, and can now switch to looking like my Mii at will. Finally, Gracie’s store is a ripoff. I did put up an umbrella for auction at the auction house though.

Later at night, I turned on the game again to put in my co-worker’s friend code. I had letters from others, Sydney still couldn’t get into his house, and I created a Constellation at the observatory – one which the game then let me know would be visible at it’s brightest on July 30th at 8 pm. The constellation I made looks like a Heart. I also checked out the salon, where KK Slider sang a song and gave me a copy. I also claimed everything in the Lost & Found and then sold it all for profit at Tom Nook’s Cranny.

This morning I turned on the game again, and got my first DLC – a Flag Design that looks like the Mayor’s Face, delivered by Wendell (who Alisha excitedly identified as a Sea Lion). A new animal moved in to town, and again Alisha was excited to identify Cube as a Penguin. It’s strange how this game, without any real objectives, can suck you in and get you playing for longer than you could have predicted. I am thinking, maybe later tonight I will turn it on again, and see if I can help Sydney get in his house.

I will start by saying I am impressed. I actually had started to wonder if MS will have much interesting stuff coming up in the future for the 360, and as it turns out they do.

I liked that they decided to skip the traditional charts, stats, and graphs. Let’s see if Nintendo and Sony follow up with this idea. Instead, MS decided to start with showing some of the bigger 3rd Party Multi-Platform (usually shared with PS3) titles, before moving on to exclusives. In the shared games space, they did waste15-20 minutes with Beatles Rock Band; I am sure some people are really excited about that, and the appearances by Paul and Ringo and Yoko Ono may have excited some, but it was rather boring for me. Other titles in this section included Modern Warfare 2 (which looks great!), Final Fantasy XIII, and Tony Hawk Ride (with the new Skateboard controller, shown off by Tony Hawk). Later on, they also had Kojima show up to reveal a trailer for Metal Gear Solid Rising (featuring Raiden rather than Snake). Interestingly, while last year we had multiple games with ‘exclusive DLC’, this time they only had Modern Warfare 2 with a ‘2 month timed exclusive window for the first map packs’.

They showed off a couple of XBLA titles, an Avatar supporting cartoony racer called Joy Ride and Epic developed Shadow Complex, which seems to be in the vein of Metroid and Castlevania, and looks interesting. They also announced 1 vs 100 starting later in the night, which I played at night and rather enjoyed – this may actually be the future for the ‘TV Game Show’, free to play, multiple people support, with a live host/commentator. Not at the conference, but information later came out that a new Games on Demand section will start in August with downloadable versions of older retail 360 titles.

In the exclusives, they did have some new reveals: Crackdown 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 got announced, along with Halo Reach (to go along with the also shown Halo ODST – franchise overkill maybe?). They also showed Alan Wake (it’s a horror title? Oh… for some reason I thought it was a driving game all this time!) which looks interesting, and Splinter Cell Convictions and Forza Motorsports 3. I didn’t notice any ‘montage’ of games, so these seem to be the major ones they are showing off.

The interesting stuff for 360 as a media hub is the new services – radio (Live.fm), expansion of Netflix (browsing and adding to queue), Live TV (only in UK/Ireland though), rebranded Zune Video service w/ instant streaming, 1080p; a Live Party addition with the Theatre, to watch movies with others at the same time, as well as integrations with Facebook and Twitter. Games can make use of the Facebook integration also, which I am interested to see implemented…

The big news though is Project Natal – a new Camera peripheral that provides a 3D camera + voice recognition, and attempts to out-do Sony’s EyeToy, while attempting to compete with the Wii Remote (the hook – its motion controls without a controller). The fake ‘concept’ video was interesting, but the actual demos shown (Ricochet and Splat) didn’t work much better than EyeToy on the PS2… Still, dashboard navigation seems interesting, and Molyneux’s creepy Milo tech demo (where you interact with a virtual kid, sharing drawn images and asking him about homework) shows that the tech does have some promise and potential. Though Spielberg showing up randomly to ‘certify’ the product was rather stupid.

So anyways, in the end, they impressed me. The focus on games makes it likely better than Sony and Nintendo in pacing, as those two have traditionally had some time devoted to sale stats and charts; lets see if they still do that now! It does seem like MS is losing out on exclusives, but they still do have some major ones coming out internally, and Natal could add new life to the 360, if it is done right – but if not, it will just suck. That said, the enhancements to the 360 Dashboard and the possibilities with stuff like 1 vs 100 show there is still a lot of cool things possible on the 360.

Alisha keeps learning new words, both in English and Urdu, and has also been very active about putting words together to form sentences. Sometimes, she will even mix in English and Urdu words together in a sentence, though she seems very quick to understand that something can be called 2 different things and is very willing to switch words when needed (e.g., when I asked if what she was wearing was juta, she replied no, its chapal; but then i immediately asked if they are shoes, and she replied not they are sandals).

Anyways, due to movies and games, one word she caught on to is Gundah – Bad Guy. More recently I also taught her Hero, the opposite of Bad Guy. Well, today, while playing the new Wii game, Punch Out!!, Alisha started labeling my opponents as Gundah. So King Hippo, well, he was Hippo (I happened to mention the name and she latched on to it). Great Tiger (who spoke a lot of Urdu himself) was Gundah. Piston Hondo (a handsome looking Japanese fighter) however got labeled as Hero (and also baba’s dost – thus, my friend). It was when I got to Don Flamenco, however, that Alisha cracked both me and Farah up.

Don Flamenco is a Spanish fighter, and his intro shows him defeating a bull and having ladies fawn over him. At that point, Alisha was calling him Gundah. But when he entered the ring, he carried with him a red rose. So Alisha decided to change his label. Now, Don Flamenco is known as the Nice Gundah!

Alisha (2.5 now) is awesome.