GenCon 2010 – The RPG Report
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Posted on August 16th, 2010 by
The annual GenCon gaming convention was held earlier this month in Indianapolis. As is my tradition, I attended for a couple days and thought I’d share my thoughts. The convention has its roots in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gary Gygax held the first one in 1968 as a wargame convention. It quickly grew as Gygax’s Dungeons & Dragons role playing game became popular. GenCon attendance now approaches 30,000 attendees and will be the 4th largest convention in Indianapolis this year, behind both the NCAA tournament and the national FFA convention. While gaming conventions are common, Gencon is the place to be for fans of role playing games. Many companies use the convention to launch new titles and reveal upcoming plans and the only problem anyone interested in trying out a game will have is choosing from the large number of public games available.
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Some Thoughts about Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii)
Posted on August 2nd, 2010 by
Having spent most of the winter and spring away from home, I am rather a Johnny come lately type for any video game releases in the first half of 2010. However, I’ve had some of the summer to catch up and wanted to post a few thoughts I had on a somewhat different title, Endless Ocean: Blue World. This Wii game is a sequel to Endless Ocean. Like the original, you play as a scuba diver and get to explore various pretty underwater areas using the Wii controls. I’m not going to re-review the entire game (you can go check out GamerDad’s reviews for the original game and the sequel if you need) but I wanted to comment on a few aspects of the series that make them somewhat unique.
7/11/10
Posted on July 11th, 2010 by
What are we playing? GamerMom has been too busy to “play” with anything besides the Epicurious App. GamerGirl (10) is still busy making new families and new fashions in The Sims 3 and outfitting her penguin in Club Penguin. One day she’ll figure out that there’s a game there, but for now it’s just a dollhouse and that’s good enough for her! She’s also had a go recently with that slice of super-Japanese weirdness Katamari Damacy and a bit of Peggle on top of that. GamerBoy has been busy, a little Mario Kart or New Super Mario and Mario Galaxy here, a little Mario Baseball there, and a LOT of Toy Story 3, DS and Xbox 360 versions played about equally. Me? Well….Game Review: Picross 3D (DS)
Posted on July 9th, 2010 by
I was excited to come home after a long trip because I knew that, courtesy of Nintendo, Picross 3D was there waiting for me. I’m a big fan of the previous Nintendo Picross games. One could compare them to Sudoku puzzles. While both puzzles involve numbers, the focus is on logic and deduction rather than any math skills. In basic Picross, a grid is outlined above and to the side with a series of numbers that describe how many squares should be filled in each row or column. A series such as 5 3 2 means that row contains 5 consecutive filled squares, then a break, then three squares, then a break, then two squares. Squares on the grid are slowly filled in using logic and deduction until all appropriate filled squares are found an a picture is revealed. I find Picross much more satisfying than Sudoku because I enjoy the process of creating a tangible picture. The newest entry in the Picross series takes the game into the third dimension. Rather than a simple rectangle, puzzles consist of a three dimensional grid of boxes, some of which have to be removed to reveal the shape hidden inside. At first, I was wary of the changes to the game, but soon found Picross 3D to have much of the original game’s appeal.
Cary Cleared the Casino Night Zone: Act 3
Posted on June 28th, 2010 by
On the third and last day, we just walked around and looked at some of the hotels in Vegas. Now, these aren’t just your regular hotels. They’re HUGE! If you tried to walk through all the hotels on the strip, you’d die of exhuastion! Not only do these things house the hotel rooms and casinos, each one also has a big shopping mall with a food court, a stage or two for the shows, and other goodies. Most of the hotels on the strip have a theme. Only in Vegas can you visit New York, Paris, Egypt, Venice, and Ancient Rome all in one day!
Cary Cleared the Casino Night Zone: Act 2
Posted on June 28th, 2010 by
On the second day of our Vegas trip, we mostly visited the shops on the strip. But that night we took a night bus tour to see all the neon lights in Vegas.
Cary Cleared the Casino Night Zone: Act 1
Posted on June 28th, 2010 by
Even though I don’t like Sonic the Hedgehog, there’s one type of level in his games that I look forward to reaching. The ‘casino/pinball/carnival’ type level. Not only are these stages really fun, they’re full of colorful neon lights. I don’t know why, but neon lights have always fascinated me for some reason, and I also really like other games and stages that have neon style graphics (like Mario Kart 64’s Rainbow Road). Heck, one of my favorite things to do at Christmas is drive around and look at Christmas lights. For that reason, I’ve always wanted to go to Las Vegas And this past week, I finally did! So here’s a series of blogs—with pictures—about my recent trip to Vegas!
Cary’s E3 Yarn
Posted on June 20th, 2010 by
Well I’m going to do the totally unoriginal thing and write a blog about my impressions on the news and previews at this year’s E3. I didn’t go this year, but it amazes me how far technology has gone since I first went to E3 back in ’96 (or was it ‘97?). With video technology on the Internet now, you can watch the previews and conferences at the show, and it’s like you’re there! That kind of technology just wasn’t available when I first went! I remember when our press kits were paper in folders, then CD’s, and now you just download assets on Web sites! Wow! Anyway, here’s a little overview on news I read about E3 2010 that caught my attention.
Father’s Day!
Posted on June 19th, 2010 by
Father’s Day is special here at GamerDad, for obvious reasons, but also because GamerDad the website was officially born on Father’s Day 2002. 2002. Wow. That’s like… 8 years! Needless to say we’re super proud. Here’s to 8 more years of … aw heck, lets round it up and say 10 years of gaming with children. Shall we? Happy Father’s Day to all the GamerDad, Moms and Kids out there!
EA Sports Wii Accessories
Posted on June 17th, 2010 by
The Wii had accomplished many things but for me, the single greatest impact it’s had is how I play video game golf. I appreciate good graphics and all but the swing method in Tiger Woods was a revelation to me. It only got better when that Wii motion enhancer entered the picture. Well, what if you could use a real club? How about for tennis? Baseball? Well, you’ve probably seen cheap-op attachments they sell in stores. What does EA do to improve on those?
