Nemo's Reef

Parenting, man: who knew it would take up so much of your valuable gaming time? I mean, I have tried everything to get my now sixteen-month old to engage and game with me, but he just won’t do it. We tried a little Minecraft together and at first he was distracted by the colors or maybe it was the game’s aesthetics? Okay, okay, it was the sounds the cows, sheep, and pigs were making. And before you get all PETA on me, I promise you none of the virtual animals were hurt in the creation of this post. No, that’s a lie, too. I’ve tried to make my character into a vegan, but why eat mushroom stew when beef and pork is so plentiful? But ultimately he gave up on the gameplay in favor of chewing on the left joystick on my Xbox controller. I don’t blame him, though; they do have an interesting texture and a surprisingly mellow yet distinctive flavor. I tried to bribe him with an old 3rd party Dreamcast controller but he wasn’t biting (get it? Biting? Ha, I kill me!). I guess once you have a taste for Xbox, no other can replace the craving. So, long story short, it was the end of our short-lived foray into gaming together: or was it? Upon his first trip to his new pediatrician’s office out here on the west coast I noticed just how fascinated he was with the fish tank, something that unfortunately due to the two crazy Siamese cats that I mention in my bio, we cannot have in our home. But thanks to a quick search on the App Store, I found the next best thing: Enter Nemo’s Reef.

Clash of Clans

So my time that was once devoted to such things as a quest to beat Zelda (I haven’t quit yet, I was just delayed) and Minecraft on both my iPhone (I deleted my game level by accident) and Xbox has now been taken over with a new obsession: Clash of Clans. Somehow I managed to escape Farmville and Mafia Wars, but I was sucked into Clash of Clans by a co-worker. At first I thought this was going to be just a brief obsession that would quickly fizzle out. The game is pretty simplistic, but somehow something that started out as a time waster back in February has turned into a juggernaut. I’ve made it thus far without spending a single dime on this “free” game, but the temptation is growing. I mean, who doesn’t want a Barbarian King, right? And I now find myself asking just how bad do I still want Dragon’s now that my wife has gone all Daenerys Targaryen on me? Oh yeah, that’s right, even my wife is sucked in now…

Mutant League Football

Last year I remembered my best friend by sitting down and conquering a game from our youth that we never had a chance to beat together; Mega Man II. This year I had plans of continuing that same tradition with the second annual Mega Man II Marathon, but as I previously mentioned in last years Mega Blog, life is what happens when you’re busy making plans. My two cohorts from last year’s marathon were scattered across the United States. Joe is keeping America’s skies safe as a member of the Vermont Air National Guard Alert Detachment, and Covino is touring the country in support of his amazing documentary A Band Called Death (If you haven’t seen it yet, you should and chances are it’s coming to a theater near you!). So that left me to sit down solo and take on the behemoth that is Mega Man II. The only problem with that is I don’t exactly have the free time that I used to (notice the blogs have been a little light lately - sorry about that). I have this tiny dictator in my life now that I love to pieces but that doesn’t give me a lot of time off. So with that in mind, I changed the game…

Minecraft

I should be sailing across the Great Sea with my trusty talking ship (the King of Red Lions) but instead I find myself very low on health and lost in the darkness of a densely overgrown forest with nothing but the stars as my guide. “Why didn’t I bring a map?” I ask myself as the sounds of an approaching horde reverberate from the trees. I know my keep must be around here somewhere, but where? How did it get dark so fast? Didn’t I just see the sun drop off the horizon? “Ry, can you hear me?” I ask into my headset; his silence echoes in my ears, I am alone… So utterly alone… Out of the darkness I hear the call of the zombie; he’s almost right on top of me. I run quickly towards the direction I think should be home. Any second now I should see a torchlight beaming off of the rising cobblestone towers. Any second now I should be safe in bed. Suddenly, I hear a noise from the darkness that makes the hair stand up on the back on my neck. “Hissssssssssssssss.”  Before I can react, it’s too late. “Boom!” I don’t even have time to face the Creeper before I’m killed and re-spawn empty-handed inside my keep.

PAX East 2012 Day Two

Previously at PAX East…

After getting a late start and arriving at the Boston Convention Center later than originally planned, our group quested for swag bags, badge lanyards and sustenance, ultimately missing out on our first opportunity to hit the Expo Hall Floor. The night was salvaged by the awesomeness of the Friday Night Concerts, getting to see Supercommuter, The Minibosses, Metroid Metal, and The Protomen (read about it here). And now, with sleepy eyes and happy hearts, our heroes shuttled back to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers for some much needed rest…

PAX EAST 2012

It seems like just the other day we were gathered around my Sister in-law’s kitchen table and I was setting out on what would be my maiden voyage into the world of Zombie Fluxx.  The delicious smell of bacon and turkey mixed in the air, tantalizing our nostrils as I first sweat over the ever-changing rules of the game. This was November 25th, a date that will be forever known in my family as Bacon Christmas (I’ll better explain this awesome holiday in a later entry) and it was time again to discuss our plans to travel to Boston for the gaming mega-fest known as the Penny Arcade Expo East (or PAX East). Last year I entered PAX East a mere babe lost in a sea of digital stimuli, cosplay, chiptunes, nerdcore rap and 20-sided die (read about it here).  But this year would be different… This year I was no mere N00b; I’d spent 2011 listening, gaming and absorbing all the wonderful things PAX East had to show me, and now it was time for the 2012 festivities to begin…

Mega Man II

When I was much younger, Friday and Saturday nights meant one thing, and that was sleepovers at one of my two best friends houses. If it was at John’s house it meant epic G.I. Joe battles and scary movies; if it was at Mark’s house it meant army crawls through the woods with our plastic assault rifles or videogame marathons. These marathons might have changed as the years went by and the systems evolved, but back when they began it was all about one game and one game only: Mega Man II.

PAX East 2011

Although I am currently making progress in The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask, I’ve yet to complete it and rather than slack in the month of January on the only New Years resolution that I seem to be sticking with I decided to blog about something Zelda related, my first trip to the Penny Arcade Expo East (PAX East, from here on out). I’m headed back this year with some friends who are much bigger gamers than myself but now that I’ve logged multiple hours of playtime maybe I won’t be such an outsider. But what does this have to do with Zelda? You’ll see. Sit back and relax and enjoy the long lost PAX East 2011 blog…