Plans for the Weekend

If all goes to plan I'm hoping to get my head down and make some music this weekend.

As I mentioned just before the New Year I have a whole pile of recordings with ideas for new tunes, so perhaps I'll get a 'work in progress' posted on Soundcloud before the weekend's out.

I hope you enjoy the drawing of Jules listening to his walkman too. ^_^

Early Night

It's been a hell of long of day today, guys. Plus I have no idea what to write about so I think I'll take a leaf out of Rosie's book and get a much needed early night. ^_^

Minecraft Pocket Edition

Today I decided to dig out Minecraft Pocket Edition on my iPhone. I hadn't played it in ages and I wanted something different to brighten up my commute.

Here's where I started, a quaint little spot by a river.

Aww, look at the adorable baa lamb.

Anti-gravity pigs

This is the last thing I remember seeing when night fell, I think I died 3 times consecutively. If you look in the background you can see many more monsters waiting to kill me as soon as I respawn.

The reason I was killed so many times is because of the difficulty bar in this picture. Set to the left and you can enjoy a peaceful meander, set it to the right and you open the gates of hell...it only has these 2 settings. ^_^

I got fed up after I snuffed it countless times, so I started a new seed with this amazing view.

The cuteness level...it's over...9000!!!

I finished the day where most first days in Minecraft end, with a poorly constructed shack.

Are YOU A Nintendo Ambassador?

This morning Nintendo sent emails to randomly selected Club Nintendo members offering an exclusive 3DS Ambassador Edition bundle.

This is the New 3DS set to arrive later this year, the one with the added joystick and SNES themed buttons, so not only do you get the exclusive goodies; you get it before everyone else as well.

The bundle includes the following:

The New 3DS Console (white)

2 Ambassador Edition Cover Plates (front and back)

A 4GB SD Card

AR Cards

A Charging Cradle

And some Smash Bros. Cover Plates (front and back)

The entire bundle costs £180, so if you want to buy it; check your emails to see if you're eligible and follow the instructions. Keep in mind if you are eligible you only have until 23:59 on 12th Jan 2015 to make your purchase.

The alternative is to buy one of the bundles that have already found their way to eBay (for as much as £450 so far), which is ridiculous since the seller can't possibly have the console yet as the emails only went out this morning. (o_O) 

Hyrule Warriors First Impressions SPOILER ALERT

Over the weekend we picked up a copy of Hyrule Warriors, a spin-off title in the Zelda franchise that mixes gameplay from Dynasty Warriors with the Zelda universe.

I have never played Dynasty Warriors and I was skeptical about Hyrule Warrors, as some of the gameplay trailers were impressive but it felt like a bridge to the new Zelda title coming out later this year. After having a blast playing on the Wii U over Christmas however, we were looking to expand our library of multiplayer games, and we're also big Zelda fans, so we decided to embark on yet another journey to Hyrule.

The game focuses on epic battles so each map is populated with hundreds of enemies for you to cleave your way through, but there is some strategy involved. The aim is to control as much of the map as possible, and to do this you need to take over enemy keeps and outposts by defeating their captains. Each map also has its own objectives and victory conditions, e.g defeating bosses, collecting items etc, but if you control more of the map the easier completing these objectives will be.

Hyrule Warriors is brimming with Zelda fan service. There's levels set in eras all over Hyrule's timeline,  fantastic weapons and items plucked from pretty much every game in the series, and warm, fuzzy nostalgia taking you all the way back to the Legend of Zelda for NES. You can even play as a wide range of characters (besides Link); including Zelda, Ganondorf, Impa, Fi, Midna and so many more you'll feel spoiled for choice.

In multiplayer one person uses the television and controls their character using a Wii Remote/Nunchuck or the Pro controller, while the second person uses the gamepad, allowing each player their own screen. Apparently the graphic quality is dumbed down to allow for the additional player, I couldn't tell the difference, but there was occasional lag when certain bosses arrived on the battlefield.

I can imagine Hyrule Warriors being pretty dull when going through the game solo, at its core it's a basic hack 'n' slash fest, and being a Zelda fan is essential before even considering buying it. So if you and a buddy are completely barmy about the world of Hyrule, and you have always dreamt of battling hordes of demons and monsters on a GARGANTUAN scale, then Hyrule Warriors will certainly be your cup of tea. ^_^ 

Why Didn't I Take The Day Off Work? ( ; _ ; )

Why didn't I take the day off work? ( ; _ ; ) My body clock is still shot to ribbons thanks to the New Year festivities, staying up till 1AM playing on the Wii U didn't help matters, but it was fun.

The game of the night turned out to be Pikmin 3, my sister and I relived old rivalries and played the Bingo Battle mode. The aim of the game is to match a line on your bingo card by collecting items and defeating enemies, you can also win by default if you steal your opponents flag (and by flag I mean macaroon). (^_-)

You can choose the number of Pikmin you start with, but if you want to make the game a more exciting I suggest keeping this amount to the minimum. This way you each have to build up your squad to collect the larger items and defend yourself from enemy attack. 

If things aren't going in your favour, just have your Pikmin collect a cherry and you'll earn a spin of the weapon roulette wheel. You may get to shower your foe with meteors, electrocute them (and their Pikmin), annoy them by reshuffling their bingo card, or teleport them from the battlefield altogether so they can't control their Pikmin army.

Later we discovered the mission mode has co-op multiplayer included! This is where you have certain objectives e.g collect treasure, defeat enemies; and you just need to finish in the fastest time possible. The only problem is that it's horrendously addictive thanks to the online leader boards, as soon as my wife and I got home we kept on playing till stupid 'o' clock.

Pikmin 3 multiplayer is a little difficult for newcomers as the controls take some getting used to. The more experienced player will have most likely used the Gamepad, meaning they won't be able to help with the alternative controllers (such as the Wii Remote + Nunchuck). After 2 or 3 rounds of Bingo Battle however. you should be able to get a decent game going.

Well, that's it for tonight. I'm going to get some much needed sleep. G'nite y'all.

Happy New Year and Pikachu Smash Bros Controller?

Happy New Year everybody, I hope you all had fun ringing in 2015.  

This morning I was looking for a Mario themed Super Smash Bros. Controller to go with my Mario Wii Remote, but unfortunately they're all sold out at the moment. ( ; _ ; )

I decided to take a look at Amazon US and I found this extremely bright Pikachu themed controller. This one is made by Hori and is pretty much identical to the original Gamecube contollers, save for the left shoulder button, turbo switch, and the home/select buttons. 

There's also a Pikachu sticker included to jazz up your Wii remote, and even the box everything comes in looks amazing.

Apparently the Pikachu controller was released in Japan on December 20th, and a US release has been slated for March 2nd, but sadly there's no word on a European release (at least none that I can find). Looks like if anyone in Europe wants one of these they may have to search overseas, so this may be my first looney purchase of the year. \ ( ^_^ ) /