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Earlier today we received an exciting press release from the Guild Wars crew. The Penny Arcade Store now offers a section devoted entirely to Guild Wars gear! Hit the jump to read the press release for yourself.
By the way, I really want that shirt.
continue reading "Guild Wars Gear in the Penny Arcade store!"
Every time I hear Steve Conte's version of Rain I have to turn the volume way up. I just can't get enough of his voice. His voice has a quality that his female counterpart, Mai Yamane, lacks. Steve's version of Rain wasn't played in the TV series or Movie, so it can only be found on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack.
The video has lower quality in some parts, but all that matters is the song, anyway.
Flipper Critters is a pinball style game with storyline, mini-games, puzzles, and quests. Sounds pretty promising, eh? I certainly thought so. I was looking forward to seeing what the game had to offer.
Shininess: I’ll come right out and say it. Flipper Critters is definitely lacking in shininess. It looks like they tried to duplicate the art style in Animal Crossing and failed. It is no where near the same quality. It’s grainy and jagged where it isn’t blurry. As far as the music is concerned, the soundtrack reminds me of the “build mode” music from the Sims: generic, upbeat, elevator, background music.
Funness: The controls for Flipper Critters are relatively simple. The L button or control pad controls the left flipper and the R button or the A, B, X, or Y button controls the right flipper. The stylus is also used to raise ramps, lower fences, remove obstacles, etc. However, there is no mention of using the stylus for this purpose in the instruction booklet. I played for a long time, frustrated that I couldn’t get anywhere, until I figured it out myself. It can be difficult to use the stylus to remove an obstacle while your ball is in motion and then hit the appropriate flipper button. I found myself using my thumbnail most of the time.
Flipper Critters has a storyline, I think. In the beginning there is something about your friend, Bull, being sad and having to save him. But before you can save him, you have to help other friends, and so on. The dialog is dull and doesn’t always make sense. Luckily, you can skip most of the conversations if you wish. As you play the game, characters will say stuff that you either completely miss because you are focused on the game or you read and lose track of your ball. You really shouldn’t have to choose between game content and game progression.
The mini-games are only available after you win them in Story Play mode. This is one thing that really annoys me in games. You can’t just sit down and play for fun. You have to advance through Story Play mode if you want to unlock the mini-games and pinball levels in Fun Play mode. Guess what? I got stuck in Story Play, so I have one level and zero mini-games playable in Fun Play. That makes Fun Play not so fun.
Flipper Critters can be downright frustrating. The “puzzle” aspect is figuring out how to accomplish the next quest objective. Most of the time I could only figure it out through trial and error, whacking the ball around and seeing what happened. Then came the “fun” of trying to place the ball exactly where it had to go in order to advance. I truly feel the accuracy and skill needed to fulfill the quest objectives and progress is beyond the average player and, especially, the target audience of children (based on the cartoon styling, E for Everyone rating, and $14.99 retail price).
Worthiness: Would I recommend Flipper Critters? Only to a die hard pinball fan who must play every game available. Would I recommend it for anyone else? No. It’s too hard for kids and uninteresting, when it’s not frustrating, for everyone else.
Score: 1/5 Run away!
Are you a die hard pinball fan? You can find Flipper Critters in our store!
Adult Swim on Cartoon Network is playing Cowboy Bebop again! After watching the first episode, I had an uncontrollable desire to hop on YouTube and find a video of my favorite Bebop moment. Ein, a Corgi, eats some funny mushrooms and hilarity ensues.
If you haven't watched Cowboy Bebop yet, you really should give it a try. It's a futuristic space western with a kick-ass bounty hunter, an ex-cop with a robotic arm, a mysterious lady who loves money, a super-smart hacker kid, and a cute Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Also, the soundtrack
Help support the site by purchasing Cowboy Bebop from our store!
Update: We have a winner! Congratulations to Tanya Spence! Your prize will be in the mail soon. Thanks to everyone who participated!
In honor of the release of Guild Wars: Eye of the North, we are giving away exclusive PAX Guild Wars swag to the first person to correctly answer the following questions:
1. The acronym for Guild Wars: Eye of the North, GW:EN, is also the name of a NPC. Who is she?
2. What is the primary difference between Guild Wars: Eye of the North and Factions or Nightfall?
The winner will receive 1 Miniature Grawl code and 4 skill pins! Send your answer to amy@weeklygeekshow.com.
I've been sick the last two weeks so Thursday was the first SRA3 raid I was able to attend in a while. It was definitely a lucky night to be back. During the course of our eight boss run, twenty-six epic items dropped. Twenty-six! I won two items! I received my Lawbringer Boots and Lawbringer Belt. Now I’m just one piece away from having my full Tier 1 Raid armor set. Can you tell from the picture which one? ;)
Starting next week, SRA3 will be adding two additional Onyxia kills per month. We will also be moving on to Blackwing Lair, where several Tier 2 Raid armor set pieces are dropped, after we have killed Ragnaros on Mondays. Upwards and onwards!
Matthew Lesko, in his question mark suit, is a television commercial staple. He’s good at grabbing your attention and making you wonder if his book really could help. After seeing his latest commercial, I decided to find out.
Free Money to Pay Your Bills is well organized and, although a couple of the programs show up more than once as they fit under multiple categories, there are hundreds of programs listed. The book gives a heading, such as “Emergency Rent Money”, and then presents the contact information of all the organizations that offer that type of program.
Even though I do not qualify for most of the programs listed, I did find a couple. If you are a low income family or individual, take care of an elderly parent, have children or are pregnant, have a disability, or are a veteran, this book has plenty of programs that may help pay your bills. If you do not fall under any of these categories you might find one or two. Check the book out from your local library or peruse it in your local book store. What can it hurt to look?
Every Monday from 6-10pm I raid the 40-player dungeon Molten Core with Silvermoon Raiding Alliance 3. On Thursdays from 6-10pm we fight Onyxia, a giant dragon, and then fight some more in Molten Core. Raiding has added a whole new aspect to the game for me. When my main goal was getting my Paladin, Bekka, to level 60, I avoided grouping as much as possible because I hated relying on others in order to progress. Then, I discovered the only way I would be able to get the Lawbringer armor set was to join a raiding guild or alliance. Luckily, I heard that SRA3 was recruiting. I did a Google search to find out who they were, asked The Geek if he would mind me spending eight hours a week ignoring him, and applied. It has been a very educational and entertaining experience. In the four months since I joined, I have already received five pieces of my armor and three other items.
Sybel is the daughter of a powerful, hermit wizard. She grows up learning how to call and take care of legendary animals. When her father dies, Sybel is left with only the menagerie for company. One day, a man shows up at her door with a baby boy in his arms. He tells her the child is her cousin and she is the only one who can keep him safe. She reluctantly takes the child and raises him as her own. Sybel’s life is never again the same. She soon learns to love, to hate, and to forgive.
For the last decade The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has been one of those books that I kept meaning to read but never did. I rarely read a book with expectations, but I guess I was expecting more from this book since Patricia A. McKillip wrote one of my favorite fantasy trilogies, The Riddle-Master. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a nice story but it lacks a sense of depth. It comes across more as the telling of a legend or story than a novel. It would be a good book to have read to you but the solo reader might find it lacking. I did enjoy the book once I adjusted my expectations.
For those of us who play World of Warcraft, or are familiar with the Warcraft universe, I did find one interesting tidbit. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld mentions “the black marshes of Fyrbolg” on the very first page. In Warcraft the Furbolgs are a race of bear-like humanoids. I did a Google search and did not find any correlation between Fyrbolg and Furbolg but I did discover the Fir Bolg, an ancient race in Irish mythology. I feel it’s too much of a coincidence for Fyrbolg or Fir Bolg not to be the namesake of Furbolg, but I wonder which one it is. Isn’t knowledge fun?
For more information about Patricia A. McKillip and her books visit http://www.patriciamckillip.com/.
Find this book in the Weekly Geek's Amazon Store.
The Tortall Universe currently consists of fourteen books with at least five more planned over the next few years. Created by Tamora Pierce, it is one of the best and hardest to put down series I have ever read. First published in 1983 and still going strong, the Tortall Universe appeals to all ages. Don’t let the fact the books are considered Young Adult fiction discourage you from checking them out. The characters are very well developed and have more depth than most adult fiction I have read. The series is written so that you don’t have to read the earlier books to enjoy the later ones but I highly recommend reading them in order.
I first read the Song of the Lioness quartet the summer after my seventh grade year. Up until that point I had read very little of the fantasy genre, but the story of Alanna hooked me like no other. Alanna of Trebond is a strong, young girl with a magical healing Gift who disguises herself as her twin brother so she can study to become a Knight of Tortall. Anyone familiar with the game characters I play would recognize how these first books influenced me.
After signing up with my local library, I decided to check out the other novels of Tortall. Next in the series, the Immortals quartet tells the story of Veralidaine Sarrasri, a Wildmage who can talk to animals. Orphaned when her family is killed by raiders, Daine heads west to the kingdom of Tortall where she learns to control her magic and proves invaluable in the war against the immortals.
Hi all! I've been playing with designs in AC: WW ever since I took a peek at the pattern maker on DS Meet. I bet you can't guess what I made!
My new clothing pattern.
My new town flag.
Ta-da! Big surprise, huh? ;)
Also, here is the grid I made for posing my nifty designs. Just open the grid in your favorite picture editing program and use the paint bucket tool to fill in each square with the appropriate color.
--White Mage
Yesterday was so frustrating. All I wanted to do was play FFXI and it was down. I had to satisfy myself with Halo 2, which isn't a very good substitute. Yes, it has killing, but no moogles, no chocobos, and no NewFunkAllstars (my linkshell). The frustration is always worse when you know in two days it's going to be down again for scheduled maintenance.
Over the past couple months, nearly every bit of unscheduled downtime has had the same basic explanation:
"After investigation, we have confirmed that the login difficulties are due to a continuous DDoS attack from anonymous third parties. This is currently affecting certain ISP (Internet Service Provider) users.We will continue investigating the issue and bring this matter to a speedy resolution. We will also inform you with any new updates when they become available.
If you cannot log into FINAL FANTASY XI, we ask that you please wait a while and then try again.
We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
With such frequent use over a long period of time, I am beginning to wonder if "DDoS attack" has become a blanket excuse.
I have been patient. I have been understanding. But, after last night, my patience and understanding is wearing thin.
--White Mage
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