Posts for 'Video Games'

In a follow-up to the article I wrote on the Wikipedia Microsoft Points article, here’s the chart that originally got deleted. Hopefully if everything else all fails, the chart will still be accessible, at least through here. 🙂

I think it goes without saying that I really love Steam. I wrote a little piece a while back on the pros and cons of digital distribution in regards to Steam, and I’m still finding it cheaper, faster and easier than anything else. On that note, Valve blessed us with another couple of huge additions to Steam this week…

Steam now has a Mac client, all Source engine games (and some third party ones) are being ported to it, and it’s free for PC users who already own the games. 😀 (And just to be super-awesome, they made Portal free for a limited time to celebrate. XD)

Just to put it out there, I don’t think mere words can cover how truly epic this is. This is a pretty epic thing. XD

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I’ve been sitting on this post like a crazed gunman with an itchy trigger finger. XD

The newest addition to the Pokémon  line of games is finally upon us, HeartGold and SoulSilver. It was released in America a few days ago and will be released here in Australia in a few days time. When it came out in Japan last year, one of my Japanese teachers was able to pick me up a copy and bring it back over, of which I’ve been playing ever since. ^_^
At the time, my blog was offline, so I figured I’d hold onto this lovely post until the time of the English version release, where people might find some of this information useful (As opposed to posting it during Japan’s release, where it would be all but forgotten by now). 🙂

When my Japanese teacher was on exchange with some students in Japan, I emailed her and asked if she could pick up a copy of the new HeartGold over there. I chose Gold over Silver since Silver is what I got for the GBC originally, and wanted it to be different than before. She said she checked out a Sofmap on her last day there, and found this copy of HeartGold, which was the last one they had. Suffice it to say when HeartGold/SoulSilver came out, they were selling like hotcakes!

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I was really thrilled to hear this. So much so, I think I might put it on my blog and break into the world of using my blog to comment on current gaming events. XD

So I’m a little behind the 8-ball here, but the Tokyo Game Show for 2010 was announced recently, and will be held from the 16th of September. Of all of the game shows out there, TGS is probably the best of the high profiling ones that I can actually afford to go to, and so this year, if all checks out, I’m seriously considering going. 🙂

After a little bit of Googling the topic though, I’m a little wary of one interesting tidbit that Kotaku raised… it seems that being held in September, TGS is less than a month behind the Gamescom event in Germany, which will most undoubtedly force the majority of games companies to choose between presenting at either one or the other. Since Gamescom is much higher profile, it is quite likely that TGS may get shafted by a lot of companies as a result of this.

That being said, I’m still happy to give it the benefit of the doubt. Since I’ve been hearing that Japanese games companies do prefer to announce new projects in their own motherland events more often, I would bet that a lot of those companies will still be presenting at their main content at TGS. And even if many companies decided to pick Gamescon over TGS, I would still assume the event will be huge, and definitely worth the trip… especially since I can’t really afford a ticket to Germany haha. XD

And, there’s always the off-chance that all of this discussion about Gamescom might convince the TGS organizers to push the date back as well. To that end, I’ve decided to hold back and wait before doing any bookings. 🙂

Either way, I’ve already spent my life up until now not going to any huge game development events. This is something I definitely want to change. XD

Is anyone else considering doing TGS or Gamescom or both?

Way back in ye 2007 after I arrived back in Perth from Japan, I did some looking around for a job. One place I got an interview with was Perth’s ‘flagship’ game development studio Interzone games. The position was a junior programmer and the pay rate was going to be an epic 13 bucks an hour. Slightly small I know, but it being games programming, I didn’t care.
While the guys were all cool and they were impressed with my demo of RPG-X, they told me that without being awesome at Python scripting, there’s not a lot I could really do for the company. They said I could come back later after I’ve learnt Python and try again, but the very next day, I got a job at Tourism WA (which paid a LOT more) so I let it rest.

Turns out I dodged a major bullet there. ^_^;

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This is a little follow-up to my hospital escapade. After this, I’ll let it rest. Honest. 🙂
It’s something I was thinking about in my last day in hospital and I thought I’d share it with you.

So, as much as I’d like to sugarcoat it and pimp it out, I really can’t;

Being in hospital is boring as hell. 😛

Aside from watching daytime TV (*shudder*) or staring at the ceiling, there’s not much else you can really do in there. 🙁

To that end, I am very, VERY happy that I made sure to take my Nintendo DS along with me, and I can probably justify the integrity of my current sanity to the fact I was able to play on it during that time.  XD

On the last day of my stay, I had a thought. How many other people younger than me were in hospital, going through the exact same thing as me, but didn’t have access to anything like I had? How many other people were in hospital for reasons beyond their control, and were just silently tolerating it without any fun at all…?

So my mind started to wander towards Child’s Play (@CPCharity) and I thought, the stuff these guys are doing are a blessing to all people in hospital. They must be bringing so much happiness to so many people who started off with very little. Video games are a great thing to kick back with and enjoy, and their relative immersion factor usually means you can even forget about your predicament for a few hours, and just, have fun.

So if you haven’t already donated to Child’s Play, I urge you to please do. A couple of DSs and maybe a Wii in a hospital can definitely bring more joy than most people realise. 🙂

I’m also hoping that one day (or if I can even help it along), we can get a Child’s Play branch here in Perth as well. 🙂