Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy - Nintendo 3DS $29.96

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Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy - Nintendo 3DS

2011 Game Releases

Grown Up Mario

Awesome of Mario and friends...all grown up, badass version!

Realm of Empires

Haven't written a game review in a while, but here goes!

Lately I've been playing a game called Realm of Empires. Yes, it is a Facebook game, but it's not as lame as you'd think.

It can be categorized as a MMORTS (Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy game...what a mouthful). Like all Facebook games, you play this through your Facebook account in your web browser of choice. The gist of the game is you start with a small village and set out to take over the entire realm. In order to do so, you must upgrade your village (silver mines for money, barracks for infantry, stables for cavalry etc.), produce units, form alliances, and take over neighboring villages. The realm consists of NPC villages that players can take over or plunder for silver, and of course rival player-controlled villages.

Overview of a typical village.

There are usually 3 realms running at once, each with a different start date. This way newer players can start on the newer realms without being at a huge disadvantage to the more well-established players in the older realms. So if you want to play with your friends, first make sure you are on the same realm!

The scope of each realm is ever-growing - the first player on the realm starts at coordinates (0,0), and as new players join, they are assigned villages outwards in a circular fashion. If you look at the overall map of a realm, it is basically a circle composed of many points, each representing a village.




Map of a couple villages.

Once you've picked a realm and your first village has been established, you'll likely want to join a clan. Not only is joining a clan highly recommended, it is borderline mandatory. Without a clan, any of your neighbors can attack and invade your village without fear of any repercussions. You need a good-sized clan, preferably close by, not only for protection, but also to coordinate offense. Note that once your last village has been taken over, it is game over! You'll have to re-register on the realm, and start from scratch.

As far as benchmarking your progress in the game, there is a ranking system for both individual players and clans. Each village is worth a certain number of points depending on the upgrades that the village has. Combat units themselves are not worth any points, but can be used to take over villages that will add to your point total. Clan rankings are also based on points, which is simply the sum of all the points of the individual players in the clan. This provides a competitive nature to the game, for those of you out there that like to "win" at a game. In most other Facebook games, you are just playing by yourself, passing time in between class or work. But in RoE, you can actually become highly ranked, lead a top clan, and feel fully immersed in the game.

Combat is fairly simple - each unit has a defensive value and an offensive value. The outcome of a battle is determined by adding up all the offensive points of all the units that the attacking player has sent, and comparing it to the sum of the defensive points of the units stationed at the target village. Whichever side has more points wins. Winning by a larger margin ensures that more units on the winning side survive, so it is in the best interest of each player to have a "landslide victory." Villages can also be upgraded with walls and towers which modify the defensive value of the troops stationed there. On the other hand, siege units are available to counteract the effects of the walls and towers. Once a village has no more defenders left, the attacking player can send "governors" to commandeer the village.

As far as Facebook games are concerned, this is definitely one of the best ones out there.
For starters, a lot of the other Facebook games are mostly geared towards individual play. Some of the Facebook games that I'm familiar with are Mafia Wars, Restaurant City, and Farmville. All of these games are considered "single-player" games, since they require little or no interaction with other players. Of course they offer incentives for inviting other players to the game as a way of making their games more popular, but in the end, you can be quite successful playing the game by yourself. However, in order to be successful in RoE, you must join a clan and coordinate with your clanmates. The game has a built-in private messaging system as well as forums for each clan. The clan leader can designate other members to be diplomats, inviters, forum admins, etc. This introduces a social aspect to the game that many other games are lacking.

The game is also relatively simple. Some of the other browser-based MMORTS games I've played require you to do a ton of calculations on how many farms you need to support how many units, upkeep rates, and other annoying things. However, RoE buildings and units are all very straight forward. There is still a variety of buildings and units that require you to have an overall strategy, but you don't have to be extremely detail-oriented and nitpicky to succeed. The game also does not require a lot of time to play. In fact, the motto of the game is "15 minutes a day." Granted when you are planning a large-scale attack, you'll want to be around more to see how the attack is going and whether or not to make modifications to your attack, but for the most part, 15 minutes a day is enough to keep your villages operating. Of course, more active players that participate on the clan forums and plan for future wars will likely spend more than 15 minutes a day.



The draw of the game is the persistent world, climbing the ranking ladder, and the "high" value of each village. After you've logged out of your Facebook, your villages continue to operate, carrying out whatever instructions you left for them. It is always refreshing to log on and see that your villages have grown while you were away. But on the other hand, your villages can also be attacked while you're away, so you might be inclined to check up on your villages more often if you feel like your neighbors might be a threat. Climbing the ranking ladder can be achieved in 2 ways - managing your villages effectively and accumulating a large number of villages. Both add to your point total, and as you know, more points means higher rank! Lastly, you grow quite attached to your little villages. You can name your village whatever you want (as long as it is not offensive), and they continue to grow every day. Sure, you only put in "15 minutes a day," but once you've been playing for a while, you'd hate to see all that time and effort wasted. Remember, once you've lost your last village, you're literally "dead." You have to start all over from one meager village. So when attacking, or being attacked, quite a bit is at stake. This all adds up to a lot of fun, as long as you're the one winning!

However, some of the drawbacks to the game are that it is very difficult to catch up in a well-established realm. Once some players / clans are ahead, newer players will have a tough time competing with them. They can quite literally steamroll your villages (if they feel like it is worth their time to). If you wish to remain competitive, I'd highly recommend starting in a new realm. The oldest players are generally the highest ranked as long as they remain active. Also, the consequences to losing villages are rather harsh, but keeps the game exciting. Lastly, sometimes you just want to play the game, but there's nothing left to do! There is quite a bit of downtime while your villages are upgrading and your armies are training. But don't forget, the game was designed to be played in 15 minutes each day.

Pros: Simple, Multiplayer, Social, Competitive, Takes Very Little Time, Abundant Room for Strategy

Cons: Downtime in Between , Dying Sucks, Difficult to Catch up

Overall, I highly recommend this game if you have 15 minutes a day to spare.
Look me up on Realm 6, "Academy of Kings."
My in-game handle is remixnzza, and I'm part of clan LEGENDARY {LDT}.

Right Way to Play Gran Turismo on PSP

Lil' Shoto - EX Legs

Zangief Flowchart

Crazy Christmas Kids

Forget the Wii, its all about NINTENDO SIXTY-FOUR!

Blizzcon 2008

Going to Blizzcon tomorrow!

Girl Saves Family Through GTA Experience

So apparently this family was driving along in their Jeep Grand Cherokee when it crashed and flipped over 4 times. The entire family was trapped inside the car, save for 1 little girl. She was able to get loose and help the rest of her family escape the car.

This is what her mother attributed her daughter's bravery to:

"She just knew, from playing 'Grand Theft Auto.' She saw on there that when a car rolls over, it can blow up. She knew that could happen to us," Norris said.

Finally, Grand Theft Auto gets some positive press instead of the usual rampaging kids that supposedly learned how to shoot a gun by playing GTA 4.

PS3 - Saving One Family at a Time

A man who robbed a video game store at gunpoint Wednesday told the clerk he was doing it to save his family, the St. John Police Department said.

Police said the incident took place around 6:35 p.m., at an EB Games store located in the 9000 block of St. Charles Rock Road, about 14 miles from downtown St. Louis.

The suspect went into the store, picked out a video game and approached the counter to check out. He pulled out a small handgun and told the store clerk that his family was being held hostage and that he needed a Playstation 3 in order to have them released.

As he left the store, the suspect told the clerk to call the police, because his family needed help.

Police arrived shortly thereafter, but the suspect had fled the scene.

Super Mario Theme - RC Car Remix

So the GF brought this video to my attention. Those Chinese people must be really bored, with their internet being blocked and all. My favorite part is the security guard at the end watching the whole thing.

http://view.break.com/487616 - Watch more free videos

Team Fortress 2 - Lego Version

Cool

More Tower Defense Games

I've come across a couple of more tower defense games to add to my original list. Without further ado, here they are! Enjoy.

And here is my original top 10 list:

Must Have for Hardcore Zelda Fans

Die hard Zelda fans need to buy this HERO PACK for the Nintendo Wii. Just attach the plastic shield and sword onto your Wii remote and nunchuck, then you're ready to slay some monsters! Makes the game 10x more fun, guaranteed or your money back. OK I don't know about that guarantee but this looks like a highly efficient way of using the earth's resources, and I'd really like one for Christmas.

Japanese Tetris IRL

There's apparently a Japanese gameshow where people play tetris with their bodies. It's hard to describe, so just watch the video. I found it hilarious. Thanks Christine for showing me the video - I'd like to be on this show as well. I think I could do all of them except for the jumping man one. That one's tough. I'd probably try just crawling through it as it came close to me.

Technorati Tags: japanese tetris

I'm a NINJA

I've always wanted to be a ninja, or maybe a pirate. But a pirate ship is too dirty and cold. So I'm going with being a ninja. This flash game fulfills my dreams! Try to get as many stealth kills as possible. Use the arrow keys to move around, UP to jump, DOWN to crouch. S is for attack, and D is for defend. Have fun!

Courtesy of onemorelevel.com

Technorati Tags: ninja, flash games

Starcraft 2 - FINALLY ANNOUNCED!

YES! Blizzard has finally confirmed that Starcraft 2 will indeed be made. The official website, http://www.starcraft2.com/ has been launched. It will feature the 3 original races: the Protoss, the Terran, and the Zerg. There will be:

Legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types will do battle
across the galaxy, as each faction struggles for survival,

with both single-player and multiplayer modes, as expected. Battle.net will return, but with "some exciting new changes and features."

One thing that will be very different is that the second Starcraft will be fully 3-D. Listed under upcoming new features are:

Vibrant new 3D-graphics engine with support for dazzling visual effects and massive unit and army sizes.

This is both exciting and somewhat troubling. By 3-D, I hope they mean 3 actual axis, not just the occassional ledge that gives you some height advantage. I'd imagine that the terrain would be much more complicated to fully implement 3-D battles. I doubt air units will be able to fly at different altitudes, so the next best thing will be rolling hills and other landscape features. Hopefully, Blizzard will still focus primarily on gameplay and balance issues, not just graphics. It would be a shame if Starcraft 2 is unable to live up to its name.

From what I can gather from the FAQ, there will still be only the 3 original races. There has been no word of a new race, but the 3 existing ones will all receive new units as well as modifications to pre-existing units. So far, there have been 3 new Protoss units announced: the Immortal, Stalker, and Phase Prism.

The Immortals will be the new version of the Dragoon. It's unit description is:

The remaining dragoons have become the immortals, refitted with twin phase disruptors and hardened energy shields that can shrug off the most powerful weapon strikes - though at the cost of leaving them more vulnerable to the pinprick attacks of lesser foes. The heavily armed and shielded immortals give critical fire support to the ferocious legions of zealots by eliminating enemy artillery and ranged attackers, allowing the zealots to close in and complete their work of destruction.

In short, they are Dragoons with twice the firepower, and big shields. They're probably meant to counter the Terran Tank, since the Protoss lacked any real siege units in the first Starcraft. They only had Reavers, which were decent when used in conjuction with Shuttles, but were still no match for Tanks. The Immortals will have big shields to counter the Tank damage, but it appears that these shields will be ineffective against small melee units such as Zerglings and Zealots.

The Protoss will also get Stalkers, which look like mechanical Zerglings, but act more like mechanical Hydralisks. That can teleport. Stalkers will have

the ability to instantly teleport or 'blink' from one spot to another. ... The deadly particle disruptors mounted on the stalker's carapace are equally adept at crippling targets on the ground or in the air.

The only teleporting in the first Starcraft came in the form of Arbiters. This will make it interesting because Stalkers will be able to get around choke points, as well as attack a base from the back and go straight for the workers. I doubt they'd be too strong, or they might be very expensive to build; otherwise I'd see a lot of cheesing with these. It also depends on the range and speed of the teleporting.

The last unit revealed at this time is the Phase Prism. More teleporting! It seems that the function of the Phase Prism is to field units quickly. Units spawning from a gateway will appear at the location of the Phase Prism instead of outside the gateway. I can already see many sneaky tactics that can center around the Phase Prism. A Phase Prism can fly into the rear of a base just outside of the enemy players view, and slowly teleport units over until a good sized force is there. Or, they can be used to assault small islands that only have anti-air defenses. Missle turrets don't work very well against zealots. Phase Prisms can also serve as mobile pylons. They are able to deploy themselves and power cannons and buildings. I don't see this as being incredibly useful, but if Phase Prisms are relatively easy to be built, they may be used in photo cannon rushes, another cheesy tactic.

The big question on everyone's mind: When will Starcraft 2 be released? Unfortunately, they have not released a date, but rest assured, I will be first in line to buy it, not to mention beta test for it.


I'll leave you guys with a few screen shots from the game, which I'm sure most of you have seen.

Technorati Tags: starcraft 2, blizzard

Kill the Zombies! - The Rooms

Kill as many zombies as you can. You get better weapons as you kill more zombies. Did I mention kill the zombies? Courtesy of Novelty Arcade.

NoveltyArcade

Technorati Tags: zombies, online flash game

My High Scores in Tower Defense

Remember all of those Tower Defense games I posted earlier? The two that I've been playing the most are Onslaught by Gaby and Flash Circle TD by David Scott:

I just wanted to share my high scores and screen shots of my setup:

For Onslaught, I reached level 203, using the 'nuke' combo, which consists of 1 red turret combo-ed with 2 blue turrets. I just kept building damage multipliers so each nuke would kill the creeps in 1 shot. However, I started to run out of space to build the damage multipliers, which eventually led to my downfall.

For Flash Circle TD, I reached level 372. As you can see, I had so much money that I could not spend it anymore. I filled the entire screen up with fully upgraded turrets. I think I could have gotten further by micro-managing which turrets I had up against certain creep waves through selling and rebuilding, but by level 372 I was tired of the game already and was hoping to just stop. I started with splash towers at key choke points, with damage towers spread out. I built air towers for the fliers, obviously. The trick is to always try to accumulate more money in the bank. Do not overbuild, because interest is what wins the game. After a while, you will be receiving so much interest you won't know what to do with it.

If you've got tips or a better high score, feel free to leave a comment. All TD games are open to discussion, not just these two. You can find my list of top 10 Tower Defense games here.

Update: Jodan beat my Onslaught score =( He got to level 204, with an overall score of 405M.

Technorati Tags: tower defense, td, high score