Day 100 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Gaming Setup

FINALLY MADE IT TO DAY 100!!!

I thought I'd wrap things up by going through our gaming setup, each console one by one.

Wii U (currently at my parents house so it's not in the group shot)- we got the Wii U this year specifically for Mario Kart 8 and despite what people say, the Wii U is a great console. We had a terrible time just getting this delivered after Yodel, a dreadful package delivery company, messed up everyone's orders. When the Wii U finally turned up we had an absolute blast, MK8 is phenomenal, Super Mario 3D World provided some multiplayer platform fun, and Nintendo kindly threw in Nintendoland for free!

Since getting the console in May we've slowly built up our collection with Zombi U, Pikmin 3 and of course, Super Smash Bros. Not to mention the amiibo's making their way over on Christmas Day.

The Wii U however, is at its best with local multiplayer, an experience now becoming a thing of the past thanks to gaming online. Yet nothing beats having your friends and family over for a race on Mario Kart or a fight on Smash Bros.  

XBOX 360 (Star Wars edition)- the very first console I posted about back on May 4th, it seems like ages ago. I picked his up when my original 360 was showing signs of giving up, plus I'm also a big Star Wars fan, and the Star Wars edition has a bigger hard drive so it was an obvious choice.

It came with Star Wars Kinect, which is rubbish, a C-3PO controller, that broke despite barely being used or knocked around, and the kinect itself alongside some Star Wars related freebies. It makes R2-D2 sound effects when you switch it on or open the disk drive, adorable but it gets annoying after a while, and it has 'help me Obi-Wan Kenobi...' written along the disk tray.

Top memories from this machine include completing Red Dead Redemption 100% without a manual (oh, yeah!), waiting patiently for Minecraft to download when it was first released and staying up till 4am playing it, and watching helplessly as my nephew drove my motorbike into a river on GTAV.

Wii- these were near impossible to find when they first released, but one day I was going to a picnic in the city centre and nipped into Argos to see if they had any in stock. They did so I spent the entire picnic guarding the shopping bag, it wasn't my brightest move.

The Wii came with Warioware Smooth Moves and Wii Sports; my wife and I played for 7 hours straight leaving us with aching bones and creaking joints. Great fun though.

Memorable moments include playing through most of Skyward Sword with a broken sensor bar (I didn't realise until I was two thirds of the way through the game), and making inappropriate memes with Smash Bros. Brawl after 2 hours of playing it (we found it really boring).

PS2- I was late to the PS2 party, I think the PS3 was out by the time I bought one. I remember I bought it from HMV and I think it was bundled with Hitman Blood Money, Rampage World Tour and Canis Canem Edit (later renamed Bully). I played through CCE and it thought the hand to hand fighting was more violent than GTA: San Andreas, it was brutal landing punches and kicks, and launching bricks into your schoolmates faces.

There were some absolutely phenomenal games on PS2, but my all-time favourite has to be We Love Katamari. My wife and I would spend hours and hours together playing the co-operative mode, collecting all of the cousins and beating our high scores, go find the soundtrack if you haven't heard it because it's brilliant.

Dreamcast- Sega's last hurrah. The strangest thing was when I moved out of my parents house I found all of my Dreamcast controllers, including my memory card, went walk about. Luckily I found someone eBay selling 4 boxed controllers for £20! Memory cards are also easy to come by, except the PAL version, so I've got a nice clear blue memory card as a replacement.

The best game on the system for me has to be Skies of Arcadia. I played through the game until the final battle, realising I hadn't levelled up enough to defeat the final boss, so I started the entire game again. It was interesting summer. (^_^)

Nintendo 64- Where to begin. The Nintendo 64 saw me through my early high school years, a mate of mine used to come around every Sunday to play classics like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Pokemon Stadium and WWF No mercy. It was a great time to be a Nintendo fan as there were so many fantastic multiplayer titles available and they just kept coming ... Diddy Kong Racing, Conkers Bad Fur Day, etc etc.

There some great single player games as well of course. I don't even want to know the number of hours I've sunk into Super Mario 64 and Lylatwars. The Nintendo 64 is a testament to my misspent youth. (^_^)

Sega Mega Drive- I think I got a Mega Drive for my 5th or 6th birthday and it was bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog, awesome present. I remember I always had great difficulty getting past Dr Robotnik in the Green Hill Zone, but eventually I learned the infamous level select cheat so it wasn't a problem.
\ (^ v ^) /

It was great to follow the Sonic series through those early years with the introduction of new characters and killer soundtracks, but it was even better to see Sega inventing new IP's to compete with Nintendo as anything seemed possible. We had some funky beats and outlandish humour with Toejam & Earl, gorgeous and unique gameplay from Ecco the Dolphin, and amazing multiplayer brawls and battles with Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. One of the greatest times to be playing video games.

Super Nintendo- What a year it's been for old Snezzy; he's died, then been resurrected, and had a load of games bought for him that I'll have to set aside a 2 year holiday just to play through them all. It's starting to become my favourite console thanks to its superb back catalog and simplicity.

I remember getting my first SNES one Christmas, must have been at least 20 years ago (wow, that made me feel old), and it came bundled with Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars. A kid couldn't have asked for a more perfect Christmas present, a collection of some of the finest platform games of all time and a another that is arguably THE finest platform game of all time.

Later on down the line I would be having loads of fun racing against my Dad on Super Mario Kart, he was always annoyed when I used weapons. Then of course there's Street Fighter II, Donkey Kong Country, Starfox, A Link to the Past and so many others, ensuring the SNES was one of the greatest consoles of all time. 

Day 54 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Project Zero II Crimson Butterfly

I finished Project Zero II (also known as Fatal Frame II) over the weekend and I have to say this game scared the bejeezus out of me. I found It much more terrifying than Silent Hill or Resident Evil.

The story revolves around twin sisters (Mio and Mayu) who return to a forest from their childhood, days before it's due to be destroyed with the construction of a new dam. While they reminisce Mayu is spirited away by a strange crimson butterfly so Mio goes after her. They're eventually led to a village that appears to have been abandoned; but the sisters soon discover the village is crawling with the tortured souls of the past who have brought the twins to the village for a terrifying purpose.

The game revolves around exorcising ghosts using the Camera Obscura, a device that allows the photographer to see and defend themselves against spirits. It's quite a unique mechanic and it makes a change from the standard pistol/shotgun/machine gun etc routine often found in survival horror titles. The camera can also be used to solve puzzles; for instance you may encounter a door that's been sealed shut, but photographing the door will reveal an objective that you need accomplish before proceeding.

I feel the key to a successful horror game is the audio, and clearly the developer has the same philosophy, as Project Zero II has some of the most chilling effects I've ever heard. When your camera locates a ghost for example, a distorted noise will wail about you and amplify when the spirit gets closer. I imagined I would find it annoying after a while, but even after 8 hours of playing I was still sufficiently freaked out.

I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't played this before, but for those looking for a  classic survival horror title they should certainly check out Project Zero II. The game was released for a number of systems, I played the Directors Cut version for the original Xbox (it also runs on 360), but it was also released on the Wii with all of the features from the Directors Cut version along with an extra ending. All in all it's exciting, terrifying and it gives you nightmares, exactly what a good horror game should do.

NERG, Pickups and Being Sick

I've been quiet for the last week as I've been especially run-down and I even had to take a sick day from work for the first time in three years. Now that I'm feeling better I'll fill you in on what's been happening.

NERG and Pickups

Last Saturday I went to the NERG (North East Retro Games) show at Gateshead Stadium. It was their second annual show and this year provided more arcade cabinets, more pinball machines, and more consoles. There was also 28 vendors selling an abundance of retro games, with plenty of Japanese import titles up for grabs, alongside clothing, consoles and various arts & crafts.

Unfortunately I didn't get much of an opportunity to play on many arcade cabinets or consoles as the venue was full to bursting, but I must admit a lot of my energy was focused on expanding my collection and being a nerd. Myself and the Missus did manage to find some absolutely fantastic games to add to our over-burdened shelves, here's a little list of what we got.

• Silent Hill- PS1 
• Theme Hospital- PS1
• Final Fantasy VII (NTSC-J)- PS1
• Parasite Eve- PS1
• Bomberman Fantasy Race- PS1
• Tenchi Muyo (NTSC-J)- Saturn
• Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly Directors Cut- Xbox
• Kirby 2 (NTSC-J)- GB
• Goof Troop- SNES
• Kid Klown in Krazy Chase- SNES
• Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak- GBA 
• Sailor Moon- SNES

Sick Day


Tuesday was an absolute nightmare as I fell ill and had to take the day off work, but in-between all of the sleeping, fever and mucus I did manage to play some games. I went back to GTA Online for the first time in weeks and is it just me or have the servers gotten worse? The game disconnected at least 3 times, and occasionally wouldn't connect at all, but this was the least of my problems.

While waiting for a Deathmatch to start I was treated to the musings of a 12-13 year old, which involved claims that he was going to rape and murder our families. Unsurprisingly he was kicked before too long, but if I ever hear a kid of mine talking like that while playing games I'll hollow out their console to make a litter tray for my cats. I'll be playing the SNES on sick days in future.



Later on in the day I opened Facebook to find a new advert for the highly anticipated Destiny from Bungie/Activision, revealing 2 expansion packs offering 'new' missions...but the game itself isn't even out until September. It didn't take more than a brief look at the comments section to show that consumers weren't too happy about content being cut from Destiny and repackaged as DLC, with some even considering cancelling their pre-orders.

Sadly this seems to be the way things are going with new releases as publishers attempt to squeeze every last penny from our wallets. I enjoy getting new content for my favourite games but shameful cash-grabs like these really put me off buying the latest games.

Still, at least there's a new 100 Happy Gaming Days post coming tomorrow and luckily I have a bunch of new games to choose from. Which one is it going to be?

Day 36 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Grand Theft Auto Vice City

I remember just before GTA: Vice City was released in the UK, there was a teachers strike planned meaning schools, colleges and universities were going to be shut for a few days. I like to think the whole thing was an elaborate plot by the Department for Education so everybody could stay home and play GTA.

There was a buzz of excitement as fans were ogling the dedicated Vice City website for details on the upcoming release. Rockstar had made stacks of improvements since GTA 3 with the inclusion of motorbikes, apache helicopters, the ability to wield power tools, multiple outfits and that's only scratching the surface. I must admit I've missed the power tools from later instalments to the series, it was always fun climbing onto someone's car and slicing through the roof with a chainsaw.

I didn't even get to play Vice City when it arrived as I didn't have a PS2. I had to wait until the Xbox version emerged over a year later in a bundle with GTA 3, but the wait was worth it. Rockstar had improved the overall graphics, the car models were overhauled and they included the ability to have your uploaded songs play on the car radios.

In my opinion GTA: Vice City was the best game in the series (pre-GTA V, of course). Vice City was well scripted, the map design was excellent and the stylish 80's setting simply oozed class. 

Sadly, now that GTA V is on its way to next-gen consoles Vice City is starting to look like a bit of a relic due to it's clunky targeting system and ugly character models. It's been great however, to see the series evolve from its humble beginnings as a top-down 2D crime simulator, to a massive open-world action/adventure game and an indisputable gaming phenomenon. 

Hopefully when GTA makes it's valiant return with its sixth installment, we'll be returning to Vice City for more sun, sand and psychopathy that only GTA and Rockstar can provide.

Day 20 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Halo: Combat Evolved

At a time when the majority of my friends had their Playstation 2's, I was getting acquainted with Microsoft's new Xbox console and it's launch title Halo: Combat Evolved. In a market that's now over-saturated with first person shooters it may be difficult for some to find something special about Halo, but at the time this was considered a masterpiece of gaming that made people believe Xbox was a true contender in the 'console wars'.

Halo begins with a massive starship, crewed by human space marines, coming across a mysterious ring world after being chased across the galaxy by the alien Covenant. When the Covenant send in their boarding party the humans decide to abandon ship and flee to Halo, but before they leave they revive the last of their race of super soldiers; Spartan 117, otherwise known as Master Chief. 

Accompanied by his digital sidekick, Cortana, Master Chief had to fight his way through 10 brilliantly designed levels that saw you uncovering the secrets of this fascinating place. The levels would see you venture across snow covered mountains, tropical islands, dense swamps and alien cruisers, with the variety and attention to detail being phenomenal in every sense of the word.

Halo had a graphic quality that really demonstrated what the Xbox was capable of, sunlight would slip between the leaves of trees, while plasma shots would burn brightly across the battlefield; sometimes leaving you so stunned that you'd be shot to pieces before you realised what was happening. Audio was also impeccable as grenades would give a satisfying explosion; followed by the trickle of falling debris, the Covenant's plasma weapons had their own distinct sounds and not to mention one of the most wonderful gaming soundtracks of the era.

AI was also very well presented, not just from the enemy standpoint, but also your allies as they would provide suppressive fire and other tactical manoeuvers to help you secure victory. The Covenant however are also just as clever, especially in the Legendary difficulty mode where they seem almost unbeatable, flanking around you and using stealth to make you feel helpless. You can always get your own back though in the easier settings, with Grunts retreating when their Elite leaders are killed by a well placed plasma grenade.

Halo had some great multiplayer support as well, no Xbox Live, but there was support for up to 16 players via system link. You could customise maps how you wanted, deciding which weapons to include, alongside vehicles and power ups to add tons of variety. You could even tackle the story in co-op mode, which was great for when you needed a helping hand beating the game on Legendary, and you could even partake in Warthog jumping (something that you can't do now as the Warthog's are destructible).

Halo: Combat Evolved was everything a launch title should be. It demonstrated the power of the system, delivered excellent gameplay and set the standard for all those to come, while making owners of rival consoles green with envy.