Hello everybody, SlimKirby here! I hope you guys are having a pleasant 10/10/10! I wish I could say the same, but things have really only been average for the Slimster. Nothing bad, but nothing really that amazing or interesting either. I'm kind of just at that point in my semester where things are just "meh", wishing I could be doing something much more exciting, but unable to do just because I'm so stuck on my normal routine. But alas, I'm sure you guys don't want to hear me talk about that.
First off, I do have some great news! My Wii was actually returned to me quite a bit earlier than I was expecting! And after running some tests, things seem to be running well. What does this mean for the future? A lot of games I can play over the next few months, and the start (and return (CSS)) of some Youtube projects. I actually got to play some Metroid: Other M this weekend, and I gotta say....it's been a lot of fun and I am enjoying the game a lot. It's not the most perfect game (obviously), but what game is? I'll talk more about the game in the coming weeks when I've completed it (and maybe 100%ed it), but I am definitely glad that I purchased the game, despite all of the so-so reviews. This next weekend I am probably going to get both Wii Party and Kirby: Epic Yarn, so soon I'll probably have a lot to say about those games as well.
Speaking of games, and since I kind of mentioned "Youtube" in my last paragraph, I promised ShadowMario41 that I would give him a small plug in this entry (although I would have done it anyways). Do you guys remember The Maze Game? If not, the Maze Game was a short Let's Play I did back in 2008, a game that was actually created by ShadowMario41 through Game Maker. Although the game and project has been highly regarded as a joke through my videos and other projects, it was actually a pretty well-created game despite the limitations of what it could be. Anyways, the reason I am bringing this up is because The Maze Game has actually been remade. Teaming up with Blargg Pit graphics designer, MegaFreak400, The Maze Game has been repolished (to the extreme) and looks amazing. Of course, the game itself really isn't a new game, moreso a remake of the original (so you will see a lot of the same levels), however, the work these two put into the game is incredible, and they would both really appreciate it if you would give the game a try. Of course, for those wondering if I am going to replay the maze game (or rather, play the remake) for my channel, it is something that I will probably do eventually, but not this moment. Anyways, you can download the Maze Game from the following link....
The Maze Game Remastered
Since I'm kind of transitioning into Youtube stuff, I'll go ahead and talk about that next. Still, not much really worth mentioning, as I am still working on (and will probably continue to work on) Donkey Kong 64. At this point, I have fully recorded up to Video #35, and will probably have another session during the week so I can continue right along through that game. I'm still not sure what # I will end up at the end of the project (in terms of video #s), but now I'm at the point where I wouldn't be surprised if I end before Video #60, although that's still kind of unlikely. The recording for the 5th world actually went REALLY well....so well that I was actually shocked by the end of the recording. I swear, the 4th world of the game is just a nightmare....a nightmare I am glad to be finished with. Hopefully the 6th world (my least favorite BEFORE the playthrough) goes at least decently.
With my Wii back, it's also time to start planning Mario Party 7, and just as a small preview for those who read my blog, I actually plan to start the project in the next 3, or maybe even 2 weeks). There are just a few loose ends I want to take care of before I start the project (one more mini-game to unlock, and one more mode to fully complete). However, even if I don't, it's not going to be a big deal, as I can always do that while I'm in the midst of the Party Mode portion of the game. Still though, I'd at least like to have ONE playthrough of the game where I have everything unlocked before I start recording. Anyways, despite this game being my least favorite of the console games, I'm actually kind of looking forward to it now. Keep in mind, "least favorite" doesn't necessarily mean I hate it....I just like it less than the others. The game is definitely the most long-winded of the Mario Party games, in that it always takes forever to play one game. But yeah, that's about all I need to say about that....look forward to the playthrough VERY soon.
As for other projects to start after Donkey Kong 64, I have to admit that I am still having some issues trying to decide. There are a lot of different ideas in the air....but it's just choosing one that I would be set on doing. That is where I'm having my most difficulty. There is one idea I've kind of been throwing around in my head more than the others, so it will probably be that game in the end, but I'm still not ready to tell you guys.
And finally, for CSS, we are going to get back into discussion about the rest of TTYD and future projects within the next week, do not worry. We should finally be back on track soon. It's just that the Wii's repair (of mine) and a few other things kind of just got in the way of things and prevented us from really making any progress on that front.
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Game Talk:
Although not really a "game," last week I promised you guys that I would take a little bit of time during this entry to talk about the 3DS, the next handheld from Nintendo, which recently got quite a bit of information revealed. Don't expect this to be complete coverage or anything, just a few things I've heard about and will spend a little bit of time discussing from an opinionated standpoint...that's really about it. This really won't be that in-depth at all.
First up, the new system is rumored to be released in North America around March 2011. Although I am relieved that it isn't releasing this year (since I barely have any currency), it still seems like the release is just around the corner in only 6 months time (at least), and I'm not really ready for it. Don't get me wrong, the system itself looks amazing and I am definitely going to get one, no question about it, but still...it seems like we only just now got info on it. I was personally hoping for a release sometime at the end of 2011, at the very earliest. So yeah, I guess I got to start saving for that (after all the awesome Wii games coming out of course =D). Another thing I am kind of disappointed about was that I only got a Nintendo DSi last Christmas, and I was kind of hoping that would be around for a little while before the 3DS came out. Instead, it feels like I got that system, and then only a little bit later, something new was announced. Felt kind of like a wasted purchase...even though the DSi is awesome too.
Another thing that has kind of been turning heads (in a good way or bad way, that's up for interpretation) is the price of the system. The launch price for Japan was announced to be set at 25000 yen, which translates to about 298 dollars in American currency (if you are not American, sorry, I don't know all the exchange rates X_X). Now, while this may not be the exact price of the 3DS, I think it is safe to assume that it will still cost a pretty penny....a very pretty penny. Not everybody just has 300 dollars laying around (or even 200). However, when you look at the facts, they are using some high-tech stuff for this system, and it it is implementing a lot of different features, so the price is kind of understandable. If it were Sony releasing the system, you would be broke for even considering to purchase it. The price is indeed hefty, but as I said, it's at least understandable. Besides, as mentioned, the exchanges rates won't necessarily prove anything. The price could always go down for the final release.
One thing I actually got really excited about learning was that there is going to be a Virtual Console library for Game Boy games, which will definitely be a big hit among Nintendo gamers. Say what you want about the sparse updates for the Wii's Virtual Console, or the "Why pay money when you can emulate it?" excuse, Nintendo is still going to get a lot of money from this implementation, and die-hard Nintendo fans are still going to want to purchase the classic handheld greats. Super Mario Land and Link's Awakening are two of the titles that were announced to be the VC front-runners, but I'm sure there will be many other timeless classics to also grace the presence of the 3DS. Whether this library will include Game Boy Advance games...I don't know (don't remember), so if anyone does, please tell.
As for games, there is not much I really have to say. A new Kirby game was announced (which kind of reminds me as a cross between Amazing Mirror and Canvas Curse), which looks pretty sweet, but otherwise, there is not much I really have to say (that wasn't already talked about during my E3 discussions).
So far though, the system is looking to be pretty amazing, despite a things (early release and price), but those "negatives", if you could even call them negatives, are pretty minimal. If I find out some more information that I think is worth mentioning, I will be sure to post it.
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That's about it for this entry guys! I will see you next week for another adventure into The Mind of SlimKirby.
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
10/3/10 - Attack of the Awesome All-Nighters!
Hello everybody, Messed-Up-ScheduleKirby here, and welcome to another week From the Slightly UnFocused Mind of SlimKirby! =P
Ok, not really sure what was up with that intro, but whatever. I'm really not that unfocused, just a little off balance. It's a weird feeling when there are only 7 hours left in the day after waking up, that's for sure. :P
Anyways, I guess should elaborate on what exactly I am referring to. I'm probably making this a bigger deal than I need to be, because this isn't exactly something that's really that foreign to people, but it's something that I haven't done very much, if not at all, and it happened twice in a period of 2 days. I'm referring to the act of "all-nighting," where you basically stay up all night. All-nighting is actually a pretty activity, especially for a college student like myself. You can really only afford to do it if you are good at planning around your normal schedule, and planning for a way to get back onto the schedule after doing it. I think I'm actually a pretty responsible individual, which is the only reason even thought about doing this. And the best part is, I had a lot of fun with it, because I wasn't alone. :P
On Friday night I was in a Skype call with good friend PowerToMario, and the always lovely and fierce MadameWario. We weren't really doing anything major, just chilling out enjoying our Friday nights to ourselves when we just decided to start a call. We really didn't expect it to last til 9 in the morning when we firs entered the call, but it totally did. We entertained ourselves by watching whatever was on TV at the time and commentating over it, whether it was paid programming commercials, a ridiculous cheerleading movie (PTM dreams of being a Clover), and even an episode of Pokemon Sinnoh. It was crazy, but it was also a lot of fun. And let me tell you, if PTM ever does an episode of one his LPs under the amount of weariness he was in....it would be the funniest, yet most incomprehensible LP episode ever. XD
Then, the following night, we pretty much did the same thing over again, this time joined by long-time LP video uploader ThePastaKing (try to find the obvious joke in that statement). We didn't just watch stuff this time, we actually got some games out and played (unfortunately no wifi or co-op though). Me and Madame stuck to our common ground, Mario Party (BIG SURPRISE!) and PTM did too at one point, but also played his Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn file while getting information from me and the King. We also watched more Pokemon at one point too. Anyways, this call went on a bit longer, but not too much more, but it was also a lot of fun. Madame and I laughed at and teased each other about our Mario Party 3 experiences we were having, PK went on and on and on and on about his strategy game knowledge, and PTM was.....once again, just all over the place. It was just so awesome and totally worth the weird schedule for this weekend.
One thing I started thinking about though after these experiences, was the possibility of capitalizing on this for a future event. I'm not saying we'll have just another random all-nighter and then record it for Youtube or a stream or something, but definitely the idea of doing a late night event of some sort, possibly live. I mean, I've done late night streams before, in that my streams usually end up lasting until around midnight or 1 AM my time, but I'm talking later than that. Of course, they'd have to be planned well in advance, and planned around the notion of actually being able to host something like that. Sometimes, especially for me, I just can't randomly decide "Ok, I'm doing this tonight." I'm one who usually likes to stay on a pretty consistent schedule. I'll start workshopping some ideas, and we'll see what happens in the future. In the mean time though....BRING IT ON! >=D And if any of my readers have had some awesome all-nighters before, go ahead and talk about them if you want. Kinda inviting some audience participation here. =P
Something else I briefly wanted to mention, that I probably should have talked about before, is that I've kind of dropped the whole heavily-structured blog format, and I think I'm going to keep it that way. I have more fun writing these entries when they are done from a free-writing perspective rather than a "I Have to Stick to the Format" type of perspective, and I guess, what's more fun for the blog is probably the better way to go. It makes me feel less stressed about updating, and I have a little more fun with it. Plus, I think these last few entries have actually been pretty good. So yeah, no more formal blog updates from now on.
In other news, still no information on the Wii, although I didn't really expect to get any information on it yet. I'd expect maybe getting it back this week and then picking it up when I'm briefly home for the weekend, but I can't make any guarantees. I wish I could get it back soon though so I can start playing some Wii Party and Metroid: Other M. I also need to buy Samurai Warriors 3, and Kirby: Epic Yarn when it comes out. When I get it back, there will be a big wiiaction (reaction) from me. :P
Besides that though, things are going well, I guess. I'm about at the half-way point for the semester and things are looking ok, I suppose. Nothing really terrible anyways, which I guess is a good thing. My classes are definitely a lot more difficult than I originally expected, but that's sometimes the case for people.
In Youtube news, Donkey Kong 64 is still chugging along. I had a very brutal recording session with the 4th world of the game (not the most exciting world, that's for sure, and it's actually quite tedious as well). I would explain what happens/happened, but I'm sure you will see this week when I release the videos. Water worlds have never really been that fun! :P
For those wondering about CrystalStarStudio, other members of the Blargg Pit who haven't been updating as much, and any announcements regarding future projects, I only ask you guys, once again, to remain patient. There really is a lot going on for me and ALL of us, and for some it's been difficult to keep up with everything due to other priorities. However, we're all doing our best for you guys, and we're doing all that we can. One of the main things holding this back, specifically on the announcements and CSS, is my Wii being gone, so those things should be addressed before too long. For anything else, just be patient, please! :P
Ok, well, I think that about does it for this entry. As I hinted in a prior entry, Game of the Weeks are now no longer going to be done weekly (so I guess I'll come up with a new name for that section). I apologize if you really loved that section, but just keep in mind that it isn't going away forever....just not going to happen every week.
And kind of as a preview for next week, I'll try to talk about the 3DS next time because there was some information revealed to the public this past week. I would talk about it tonight, but I'm running out of time! So yeah, have that to look forward to!
Anyways, see you guys next week! Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Ok, not really sure what was up with that intro, but whatever. I'm really not that unfocused, just a little off balance. It's a weird feeling when there are only 7 hours left in the day after waking up, that's for sure. :P
Anyways, I guess should elaborate on what exactly I am referring to. I'm probably making this a bigger deal than I need to be, because this isn't exactly something that's really that foreign to people, but it's something that I haven't done very much, if not at all, and it happened twice in a period of 2 days. I'm referring to the act of "all-nighting," where you basically stay up all night. All-nighting is actually a pretty activity, especially for a college student like myself. You can really only afford to do it if you are good at planning around your normal schedule, and planning for a way to get back onto the schedule after doing it. I think I'm actually a pretty responsible individual, which is the only reason even thought about doing this. And the best part is, I had a lot of fun with it, because I wasn't alone. :P
On Friday night I was in a Skype call with good friend PowerToMario, and the always lovely and fierce MadameWario. We weren't really doing anything major, just chilling out enjoying our Friday nights to ourselves when we just decided to start a call. We really didn't expect it to last til 9 in the morning when we firs entered the call, but it totally did. We entertained ourselves by watching whatever was on TV at the time and commentating over it, whether it was paid programming commercials, a ridiculous cheerleading movie (PTM dreams of being a Clover), and even an episode of Pokemon Sinnoh. It was crazy, but it was also a lot of fun. And let me tell you, if PTM ever does an episode of one his LPs under the amount of weariness he was in....it would be the funniest, yet most incomprehensible LP episode ever. XD
Then, the following night, we pretty much did the same thing over again, this time joined by long-time LP video uploader ThePastaKing (try to find the obvious joke in that statement). We didn't just watch stuff this time, we actually got some games out and played (unfortunately no wifi or co-op though). Me and Madame stuck to our common ground, Mario Party (BIG SURPRISE!) and PTM did too at one point, but also played his Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn file while getting information from me and the King. We also watched more Pokemon at one point too. Anyways, this call went on a bit longer, but not too much more, but it was also a lot of fun. Madame and I laughed at and teased each other about our Mario Party 3 experiences we were having, PK went on and on and on and on about his strategy game knowledge, and PTM was.....once again, just all over the place. It was just so awesome and totally worth the weird schedule for this weekend.
One thing I started thinking about though after these experiences, was the possibility of capitalizing on this for a future event. I'm not saying we'll have just another random all-nighter and then record it for Youtube or a stream or something, but definitely the idea of doing a late night event of some sort, possibly live. I mean, I've done late night streams before, in that my streams usually end up lasting until around midnight or 1 AM my time, but I'm talking later than that. Of course, they'd have to be planned well in advance, and planned around the notion of actually being able to host something like that. Sometimes, especially for me, I just can't randomly decide "Ok, I'm doing this tonight." I'm one who usually likes to stay on a pretty consistent schedule. I'll start workshopping some ideas, and we'll see what happens in the future. In the mean time though....BRING IT ON! >=D And if any of my readers have had some awesome all-nighters before, go ahead and talk about them if you want. Kinda inviting some audience participation here. =P
Something else I briefly wanted to mention, that I probably should have talked about before, is that I've kind of dropped the whole heavily-structured blog format, and I think I'm going to keep it that way. I have more fun writing these entries when they are done from a free-writing perspective rather than a "I Have to Stick to the Format" type of perspective, and I guess, what's more fun for the blog is probably the better way to go. It makes me feel less stressed about updating, and I have a little more fun with it. Plus, I think these last few entries have actually been pretty good. So yeah, no more formal blog updates from now on.
In other news, still no information on the Wii, although I didn't really expect to get any information on it yet. I'd expect maybe getting it back this week and then picking it up when I'm briefly home for the weekend, but I can't make any guarantees. I wish I could get it back soon though so I can start playing some Wii Party and Metroid: Other M. I also need to buy Samurai Warriors 3, and Kirby: Epic Yarn when it comes out. When I get it back, there will be a big wiiaction (reaction) from me. :P
Besides that though, things are going well, I guess. I'm about at the half-way point for the semester and things are looking ok, I suppose. Nothing really terrible anyways, which I guess is a good thing. My classes are definitely a lot more difficult than I originally expected, but that's sometimes the case for people.
In Youtube news, Donkey Kong 64 is still chugging along. I had a very brutal recording session with the 4th world of the game (not the most exciting world, that's for sure, and it's actually quite tedious as well). I would explain what happens/happened, but I'm sure you will see this week when I release the videos. Water worlds have never really been that fun! :P
For those wondering about CrystalStarStudio, other members of the Blargg Pit who haven't been updating as much, and any announcements regarding future projects, I only ask you guys, once again, to remain patient. There really is a lot going on for me and ALL of us, and for some it's been difficult to keep up with everything due to other priorities. However, we're all doing our best for you guys, and we're doing all that we can. One of the main things holding this back, specifically on the announcements and CSS, is my Wii being gone, so those things should be addressed before too long. For anything else, just be patient, please! :P
Ok, well, I think that about does it for this entry. As I hinted in a prior entry, Game of the Weeks are now no longer going to be done weekly (so I guess I'll come up with a new name for that section). I apologize if you really loved that section, but just keep in mind that it isn't going away forever....just not going to happen every week.
And kind of as a preview for next week, I'll try to talk about the 3DS next time because there was some information revealed to the public this past week. I would talk about it tonight, but I'm running out of time! So yeah, have that to look forward to!
Anyways, see you guys next week! Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, September 26, 2010
9/26/10 - So Many Games...So Little Time and Moolah
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!
That's right! I'm actually hoping to get the blog out on time this week....mostly because I actually had time to work on it today. Anyways, another week has come and gone, and my fall semester is already 1/3 over. For those wondering about my classes and how I'm doing; let's just say I'm hanging in there. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm getting it done.
I don't really have anything to talk about or complain about this week, so I will save you guys from having to hear about it. Besides, things have been going pretty well for me regardless. My sleep schedule has been kind of messed up *glares and smiles at someone*, but it's cool. I'm still getting things done, and getting them done right.
In other news, the release of Wii Party is coming very, very soon. Unfortunately I don't currently have a Wii I could use, which I finally did get sent in for repairs (or at least tomorrow when I go by the post office), so hopefully I get that back before too long. Besides, I still have to play Metroid: Other M, purchase Samurai Warriors 3, and hell, even Epic Yarn might be out by the time I get it back. There are really a lot of games coming out in this one month period. Money for them isn't really a concern or anything, but still, it's a lot of games.
Anyways, I did want to talk about Wii Party specifically, because I've been looking at a lot of information about it, and being the Mario Party guy of Youtube, people have been interested in what I think about the game so far (from previews obviously), and the possibility of whether not I'll have a Wii Party video series on my channel. So far from what I have seen about the game, I can say for certain that it is definitely not going to be like Mario Party (besides the obvious similarities). However, I wouldn't say that is necessarily a bad thing. The game seems to be more oriented to the board game aspect, which I think is cool. I like board games after all. From what I've been hearing from reviews, it hasn't been scoring very highly, but neither have the other Mario Party games, and I've enjoyed them. Sometimes I think people put too much emphasis on the review scores rather than what is actually said in the reviews themselves. After all, there was that one case of a Twilight Princess review where the Gamecube version scored higher than the Wii version, despite the review telling everyone to get the Wii version because it was better. Anyways, I am very much looking forward to Wii Party despite all the criticism it has been getting. Not to mention I still don't see why Nintendo completely refuses to put online in these mainstream titles. It's really gotten to the point where it's not that Nintendo Wifi is bad...it's just that they refuse to use it, which kinda makes me mad. I don't think online play makes a game, but I do think that it enhances it for more playability, and it just doesn't make sense to why they refuse to put it in. As for a possible Wii Party project in the future, I'm definitely not going to count that out. Just let me finish the Mario Parties first! :P
Moving on Youtube, things are still going smoothly with Donkey Kong 64. At the time of this blog, I'm up to Episode #15 being uploaded, and in recordings I'm up to #23. In comparison with my old project, I'm about 7 videos ahead, which isn't that surprisingly given the time limit and such, but still, I'm glad that I'm making a pretty smooth progression through the game. I'm also having a lot of fun with it.
For future projects, these are still things I am thinking about. I have a few ideas at this time, but again, the big thing is figuring out when I want to bring them out. Right now, the only thing known for sure is Mario Party 7 which can be expected by the end of the month (assuming I get my Wii back ok). The same could pretty much be said for CSS as well. Don't expect anything right now, but once we get things figured out, we'll be sure to get moving on that as well.
I think that will about do it for this week's entry, but since I promised you guys a Game of the Week, I'll do that now.
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Game of the Week:
This game of the week has been something I've been meaning to do for awhile now, but I was unsure of whether or not it would be a project I would do in the future, since one of the things I try to do in these sections is talk about future project possibilities. However, a good friend of mine has recently started a project of a game that fits the same bill, so I figured that it might be a good time to talk about. So...in other words.....WELCOME TO MARIO GOLF!
Mario Golf (N64)
Next to the Mario Parties, and maybe Mario Kart, Mario Golf is probably my favorite sub-franchise, and I'm ticked they haven't brought it to the Wii yet. Either way, that's not the point, the point is I love Mario Golf. A lot of people wonder how Mario Golf could possibly be that much fun, just because it's Golf, but for some reason, it works....and it works well. Obviously, being Mario, you can't really expect a lot of realism, but when it comes to the gameplay, it feels authentic, which I think is a big charm of the game. Even though the sequel, Toadstool Tour (which is what ShadowMarioXLI is currently playing on his channel), improves on the formula of the series, I wouldn't say it really does that much extra to take away from the original. The original is definitely more challenging as your shots have to be precise, and you don't have the advantage of seeing your shot in action all the way. Plus you don't have the rather cheap "super topspin" or "super backspin either. Anyways, for awhile, this turned me off from the original since i got really into Toadstool Tour for a period of time, but recently in the last few years, I gave the original another try, and I got instantly hooked and had a really good time with it. Now I ironically think I'm better at the original than Toadstool Tour. XD
Now for those who haven't played Mario Golf, there really isn't that much to discuss. It's Golf with Mario characters and that is basically it. However, if you are only expecting just normal golf, that's not completely true. There are a variety of different modes you can play in addition. There is Speed Golf, where you are timed on how fast you can finish the courses, Ring Attack, where you have to hit your ball through rings scattered across specific holes and then score the par, Club Slots, where your club set is limited to just 3 clubs before you tee off (chosen via a slot machine), and even a fun little mini-golf mode (which I found kind of disappointing when they didn't bring it back for Toadstool Tour). So yeah, the fun doesn't have to stop at just the tournaments.
One of the biggest challenges of the game is unlocking all the characters. To unlock the characters, you have to play against computer-controlled versions of those characters and beat them in Match Play. From the get-go, you can probably expect how difficult these can be, especially since the characters are generally expected to hit the fall further than you and are programmed to at least play competently. You won't see them hit it out of bounds or in the water very often. They also have the ability to randomly get super long putts and ridiculous chip-ins that you normally wouldn't expect them to get so easily, but that's the downfall of playing against a random AI. Unlocking all the characters, I think, is one of the most rewarding challenges of the entire N64 library of games (not because of the characters, just the feeling of getting everything). Obviously it's not THE most rewarding, but still, when I did it for the very first time, I was very happy because of how difficult it was. Because of this, if I ever do a playthrough of the game, I won't be stupid enough to delete all the data (on my N64 cartridge or Virtual Console copy), so I will not unlock them all again....let's make that straight right away. =P
Overall though, for what the game is, it's really fun, and despite what it may seem, I think it has quite a bit of replay value. I often find myself playing a round or two just out of boredom. Of course though, if you aren't into golfing games, you might have trouble getting into the game, but you don't have to exactly be a golf enthusiast to enjoy it either. That's what I love about Mario games. They can make anything a lot more fun. =P If I had to give it a score, I would probably give it a 4/5.
Future Project Possibility: I will say right now that I am very interested in doing a Mario Golf project in the future (possibly this one), but it definitely won't be for awhile. I'm thinking that after I finish Mario Party (and Wii Party -_-), I might try to advance to some of the other Mario subfranchises, and Mario Golf will probably be one of the first ones I do.
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Ok, that's about it for this entry! See you guys next week! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
That's right! I'm actually hoping to get the blog out on time this week....mostly because I actually had time to work on it today. Anyways, another week has come and gone, and my fall semester is already 1/3 over. For those wondering about my classes and how I'm doing; let's just say I'm hanging in there. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm getting it done.
I don't really have anything to talk about or complain about this week, so I will save you guys from having to hear about it. Besides, things have been going pretty well for me regardless. My sleep schedule has been kind of messed up *glares and smiles at someone*, but it's cool. I'm still getting things done, and getting them done right.
In other news, the release of Wii Party is coming very, very soon. Unfortunately I don't currently have a Wii I could use, which I finally did get sent in for repairs (or at least tomorrow when I go by the post office), so hopefully I get that back before too long. Besides, I still have to play Metroid: Other M, purchase Samurai Warriors 3, and hell, even Epic Yarn might be out by the time I get it back. There are really a lot of games coming out in this one month period. Money for them isn't really a concern or anything, but still, it's a lot of games.
Anyways, I did want to talk about Wii Party specifically, because I've been looking at a lot of information about it, and being the Mario Party guy of Youtube, people have been interested in what I think about the game so far (from previews obviously), and the possibility of whether not I'll have a Wii Party video series on my channel. So far from what I have seen about the game, I can say for certain that it is definitely not going to be like Mario Party (besides the obvious similarities). However, I wouldn't say that is necessarily a bad thing. The game seems to be more oriented to the board game aspect, which I think is cool. I like board games after all. From what I've been hearing from reviews, it hasn't been scoring very highly, but neither have the other Mario Party games, and I've enjoyed them. Sometimes I think people put too much emphasis on the review scores rather than what is actually said in the reviews themselves. After all, there was that one case of a Twilight Princess review where the Gamecube version scored higher than the Wii version, despite the review telling everyone to get the Wii version because it was better. Anyways, I am very much looking forward to Wii Party despite all the criticism it has been getting. Not to mention I still don't see why Nintendo completely refuses to put online in these mainstream titles. It's really gotten to the point where it's not that Nintendo Wifi is bad...it's just that they refuse to use it, which kinda makes me mad. I don't think online play makes a game, but I do think that it enhances it for more playability, and it just doesn't make sense to why they refuse to put it in. As for a possible Wii Party project in the future, I'm definitely not going to count that out. Just let me finish the Mario Parties first! :P
Moving on Youtube, things are still going smoothly with Donkey Kong 64. At the time of this blog, I'm up to Episode #15 being uploaded, and in recordings I'm up to #23. In comparison with my old project, I'm about 7 videos ahead, which isn't that surprisingly given the time limit and such, but still, I'm glad that I'm making a pretty smooth progression through the game. I'm also having a lot of fun with it.
For future projects, these are still things I am thinking about. I have a few ideas at this time, but again, the big thing is figuring out when I want to bring them out. Right now, the only thing known for sure is Mario Party 7 which can be expected by the end of the month (assuming I get my Wii back ok). The same could pretty much be said for CSS as well. Don't expect anything right now, but once we get things figured out, we'll be sure to get moving on that as well.
I think that will about do it for this week's entry, but since I promised you guys a Game of the Week, I'll do that now.
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Game of the Week:
This game of the week has been something I've been meaning to do for awhile now, but I was unsure of whether or not it would be a project I would do in the future, since one of the things I try to do in these sections is talk about future project possibilities. However, a good friend of mine has recently started a project of a game that fits the same bill, so I figured that it might be a good time to talk about. So...in other words.....WELCOME TO MARIO GOLF!
Mario Golf (N64)
Next to the Mario Parties, and maybe Mario Kart, Mario Golf is probably my favorite sub-franchise, and I'm ticked they haven't brought it to the Wii yet. Either way, that's not the point, the point is I love Mario Golf. A lot of people wonder how Mario Golf could possibly be that much fun, just because it's Golf, but for some reason, it works....and it works well. Obviously, being Mario, you can't really expect a lot of realism, but when it comes to the gameplay, it feels authentic, which I think is a big charm of the game. Even though the sequel, Toadstool Tour (which is what ShadowMarioXLI is currently playing on his channel), improves on the formula of the series, I wouldn't say it really does that much extra to take away from the original. The original is definitely more challenging as your shots have to be precise, and you don't have the advantage of seeing your shot in action all the way. Plus you don't have the rather cheap "super topspin" or "super backspin either. Anyways, for awhile, this turned me off from the original since i got really into Toadstool Tour for a period of time, but recently in the last few years, I gave the original another try, and I got instantly hooked and had a really good time with it. Now I ironically think I'm better at the original than Toadstool Tour. XD
Now for those who haven't played Mario Golf, there really isn't that much to discuss. It's Golf with Mario characters and that is basically it. However, if you are only expecting just normal golf, that's not completely true. There are a variety of different modes you can play in addition. There is Speed Golf, where you are timed on how fast you can finish the courses, Ring Attack, where you have to hit your ball through rings scattered across specific holes and then score the par, Club Slots, where your club set is limited to just 3 clubs before you tee off (chosen via a slot machine), and even a fun little mini-golf mode (which I found kind of disappointing when they didn't bring it back for Toadstool Tour). So yeah, the fun doesn't have to stop at just the tournaments.
One of the biggest challenges of the game is unlocking all the characters. To unlock the characters, you have to play against computer-controlled versions of those characters and beat them in Match Play. From the get-go, you can probably expect how difficult these can be, especially since the characters are generally expected to hit the fall further than you and are programmed to at least play competently. You won't see them hit it out of bounds or in the water very often. They also have the ability to randomly get super long putts and ridiculous chip-ins that you normally wouldn't expect them to get so easily, but that's the downfall of playing against a random AI. Unlocking all the characters, I think, is one of the most rewarding challenges of the entire N64 library of games (not because of the characters, just the feeling of getting everything). Obviously it's not THE most rewarding, but still, when I did it for the very first time, I was very happy because of how difficult it was. Because of this, if I ever do a playthrough of the game, I won't be stupid enough to delete all the data (on my N64 cartridge or Virtual Console copy), so I will not unlock them all again....let's make that straight right away. =P
Overall though, for what the game is, it's really fun, and despite what it may seem, I think it has quite a bit of replay value. I often find myself playing a round or two just out of boredom. Of course though, if you aren't into golfing games, you might have trouble getting into the game, but you don't have to exactly be a golf enthusiast to enjoy it either. That's what I love about Mario games. They can make anything a lot more fun. =P If I had to give it a score, I would probably give it a 4/5.
Future Project Possibility: I will say right now that I am very interested in doing a Mario Golf project in the future (possibly this one), but it definitely won't be for awhile. I'm thinking that after I finish Mario Party (and Wii Party -_-), I might try to advance to some of the other Mario subfranchises, and Mario Golf will probably be one of the first ones I do.
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Ok, that's about it for this entry! See you guys next week! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
Monday, September 20, 2010
9/20/10 - A Somewhat Philosophical (But Still Quite Late) Entry
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!
Hooray for another blog entry, and “Double Hooray!” for it being late! I know it really feels like I’m not taking this blog seriously, but I assure you that it is nothing like that. Things have truly been a lot more hectic than I’ve given them credit for, and I was working until like 1 AM last night before MegaFreak400 reminded me, “Hey! You have a blog to do, don’t you?” At that point, I was ready to move away from the keyboard and not even think about writing anything at that point. I do apologize if some of you guys truly look forward to my blog entries, but I really have to prioritize the way I do things, and unfortunately my blog is at the bottom of that list when it comes to things I have to do on Sunday. Trust me though, it would be a lot higher if I didn’t have any classes the next day…but unfortunately I can’t get that lucky.
So yeah, if you couldn’t tell, things have been really busy for the Slimster once again. I’m not sure what is up with my professors this semester, but they are seriously out to get me. One of them is set on assigning really difficult programming assignments and is a real hardass when it comes to things he doesn’t care for, and two others teach a class filled with very difficult mathematical content….content I define as “Who Cares Mathematics.” Generally, I’m actually somewhat of a math enthusiast, but when it comes to this kind of math, I just stare at the problem and say to myself, “does the fate of the world really depend on knowing how to use Taylor’s Theorem and MacLaurin Series?” I swear, after midway through Calculus I, math was just ruined for me. It really sucks that my major pretty much requires these types of classes, and I’ll do what I can to pass them and come out of them with good grades, but I really hope I don’t lose my sanity over it, because that would just not be worth it.
Besides that though, the week really wasn’t that terrible. There were some downs, but there were also some ups too. Things often alternate in the world of SlimKirby, I’ve started to notice. One minute I could be getting excellent news about an opportunity that could further my life and help me obtain an exciting future career, and the next minute I could be feuding with a close friend. It’s a shame life can’t be all gumdrops and lollipops, but the world doesn’t really work that way, now does it? You can try to change it, but it probably ain’t gonna happen…..life just sucks in general. I know that’s a rather negative view to have on things, but the way I see it, it’s only a general outlook, not a feeling. Even the most unfortunate person is bound to have a stroke of luck and goodness every now and then, and when they do, they should enjoy it…..they should feel warmly about it….they should EMBRACE IT…THEY SHOULD LOVE IT! THEY SHOULD….ok, getting a little carried away there. Anyways, yeah, I’m not saying that you should just dread life in general, I’m just saying you shouldn’t go into it expecting only good things, because most of the time, you will be easily disappointed, and that’s not that much better than feeling miserable all the time. So my motto is, be prepared for the ugly, so you can deal with the bad stuff as soon as possible and then enjoy the things that make you happy. I know it’s a rather weird, maybe even a blasphemous, viewpoint, but it’s worked for me at least, and I’m a happy-go-lucky, all-around, nice guy……..right?......RIGHT? You better have answered yes to that. >=( =P
And that actually brings up another point….why are people so obsessed with gumdrops being used as a metaphor for happiness? I’ve never found gumdrops to be that exciting. In fact, I’ve always found them to have a rather bland taste, plus the fact that small pieces can get stuck to your teeth….very annoying. =\
In Youtube news (yes, that’s right, screw the dotted-line format I’ve been using), Donkey Kong 64 has been moving pretty smoothly so far. I’m already on the road to finishing the project in a lot less videos, and at this point I already have the first 3 worlds recorded (not completely though (I still have World 3’s boss fight to record and I have to go back and collect a few things in World 1 and 2, but I don’t imagine that taking me very long to do)). Not sure when I’ll get the chance to record more, but hopefully Thursday, or even tomorrow, opens up a window of opportunity. I’m actually really enjoying the project thus far. It’s given me a lot of time to think about the old days when I was playing through the game during my first few playthroughs of the game. I won’t get into it now, because I will in a future video, but I actually have a lot of history with this game, complete with many fond memories.
For those wondering about any future projects on the horizon, I honestly wouldn’t expect any at this time. Right now it looks to just be Donkey Kong 64 for the next few weeks, mainly because at this time I don’t even have my Wii, and some of the projects I’ve been thinking about are only playable on my Wii system (keep in mind, this means Wii, Gamecube, and Virtual Console games, not just Wii games). Before anyone brings up the possibility of me bringing another system with me, let me quickly say that I already have my N64 up here, my second system is always reserved to be my Playstation 2, and there is no way I’m bringing up more than 2 systems for my temporary home…..no, just not going to happen.
For anyone wondering about my Wii, as I’ve explained in past entries, my Wii is currently being sent in for repairs to have the lens reader fixed (or readjusted). I’ve been having problems with my system reading certain games, specifically my Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii discs. I haven’t physically sent in the system yet, but I will this weekend when I go home. All I’ve done at this point is call customer support so I know at least what to do, but it will be under way soon.
For those who continue to wonder about CrystalStarStudio and the future of the co-op channel, the only thing I’m going to ask you guys is to continue to remain patient with me (and us) as we try to figure out a few things. Believe it or not, we have actually run into some difficulty at this point, a difficulty that will probably delay things even more (if me not having my Wii wasn’t enough). However, I promise that we will try to figure things out as soon as possible so we can go back to creating videos for you wonderful people.
I think that’s all I’m going to talk about for this entry. I know I promised a GotW this week, but the lateness behind this entry kind of prevented that from being made. I do have a candidate in mind though for next week, so hopefully next weekend’s entry doesn’t get delayed. -_-
Anyways, I’ll see you guys later, whether it’s in my next video upload, or my next entry! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
Hooray for another blog entry, and “Double Hooray!” for it being late! I know it really feels like I’m not taking this blog seriously, but I assure you that it is nothing like that. Things have truly been a lot more hectic than I’ve given them credit for, and I was working until like 1 AM last night before MegaFreak400 reminded me, “Hey! You have a blog to do, don’t you?” At that point, I was ready to move away from the keyboard and not even think about writing anything at that point. I do apologize if some of you guys truly look forward to my blog entries, but I really have to prioritize the way I do things, and unfortunately my blog is at the bottom of that list when it comes to things I have to do on Sunday. Trust me though, it would be a lot higher if I didn’t have any classes the next day…but unfortunately I can’t get that lucky.
So yeah, if you couldn’t tell, things have been really busy for the Slimster once again. I’m not sure what is up with my professors this semester, but they are seriously out to get me. One of them is set on assigning really difficult programming assignments and is a real hardass when it comes to things he doesn’t care for, and two others teach a class filled with very difficult mathematical content….content I define as “Who Cares Mathematics.” Generally, I’m actually somewhat of a math enthusiast, but when it comes to this kind of math, I just stare at the problem and say to myself, “does the fate of the world really depend on knowing how to use Taylor’s Theorem and MacLaurin Series?” I swear, after midway through Calculus I, math was just ruined for me. It really sucks that my major pretty much requires these types of classes, and I’ll do what I can to pass them and come out of them with good grades, but I really hope I don’t lose my sanity over it, because that would just not be worth it.
Besides that though, the week really wasn’t that terrible. There were some downs, but there were also some ups too. Things often alternate in the world of SlimKirby, I’ve started to notice. One minute I could be getting excellent news about an opportunity that could further my life and help me obtain an exciting future career, and the next minute I could be feuding with a close friend. It’s a shame life can’t be all gumdrops and lollipops, but the world doesn’t really work that way, now does it? You can try to change it, but it probably ain’t gonna happen…..life just sucks in general. I know that’s a rather negative view to have on things, but the way I see it, it’s only a general outlook, not a feeling. Even the most unfortunate person is bound to have a stroke of luck and goodness every now and then, and when they do, they should enjoy it…..they should feel warmly about it….they should EMBRACE IT…THEY SHOULD LOVE IT! THEY SHOULD….ok, getting a little carried away there. Anyways, yeah, I’m not saying that you should just dread life in general, I’m just saying you shouldn’t go into it expecting only good things, because most of the time, you will be easily disappointed, and that’s not that much better than feeling miserable all the time. So my motto is, be prepared for the ugly, so you can deal with the bad stuff as soon as possible and then enjoy the things that make you happy. I know it’s a rather weird, maybe even a blasphemous, viewpoint, but it’s worked for me at least, and I’m a happy-go-lucky, all-around, nice guy……..right?......RIGHT? You better have answered yes to that. >=( =P
And that actually brings up another point….why are people so obsessed with gumdrops being used as a metaphor for happiness? I’ve never found gumdrops to be that exciting. In fact, I’ve always found them to have a rather bland taste, plus the fact that small pieces can get stuck to your teeth….very annoying. =\
In Youtube news (yes, that’s right, screw the dotted-line format I’ve been using), Donkey Kong 64 has been moving pretty smoothly so far. I’m already on the road to finishing the project in a lot less videos, and at this point I already have the first 3 worlds recorded (not completely though (I still have World 3’s boss fight to record and I have to go back and collect a few things in World 1 and 2, but I don’t imagine that taking me very long to do)). Not sure when I’ll get the chance to record more, but hopefully Thursday, or even tomorrow, opens up a window of opportunity. I’m actually really enjoying the project thus far. It’s given me a lot of time to think about the old days when I was playing through the game during my first few playthroughs of the game. I won’t get into it now, because I will in a future video, but I actually have a lot of history with this game, complete with many fond memories.
For those wondering about any future projects on the horizon, I honestly wouldn’t expect any at this time. Right now it looks to just be Donkey Kong 64 for the next few weeks, mainly because at this time I don’t even have my Wii, and some of the projects I’ve been thinking about are only playable on my Wii system (keep in mind, this means Wii, Gamecube, and Virtual Console games, not just Wii games). Before anyone brings up the possibility of me bringing another system with me, let me quickly say that I already have my N64 up here, my second system is always reserved to be my Playstation 2, and there is no way I’m bringing up more than 2 systems for my temporary home…..no, just not going to happen.
For anyone wondering about my Wii, as I’ve explained in past entries, my Wii is currently being sent in for repairs to have the lens reader fixed (or readjusted). I’ve been having problems with my system reading certain games, specifically my Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii discs. I haven’t physically sent in the system yet, but I will this weekend when I go home. All I’ve done at this point is call customer support so I know at least what to do, but it will be under way soon.
For those who continue to wonder about CrystalStarStudio and the future of the co-op channel, the only thing I’m going to ask you guys is to continue to remain patient with me (and us) as we try to figure out a few things. Believe it or not, we have actually run into some difficulty at this point, a difficulty that will probably delay things even more (if me not having my Wii wasn’t enough). However, I promise that we will try to figure things out as soon as possible so we can go back to creating videos for you wonderful people.
I think that’s all I’m going to talk about for this entry. I know I promised a GotW this week, but the lateness behind this entry kind of prevented that from being made. I do have a candidate in mind though for next week, so hopefully next weekend’s entry doesn’t get delayed. -_-
Anyways, I’ll see you guys later, whether it’s in my next video upload, or my next entry! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
Sunday, September 12, 2010
9/12/10 - September Blandness
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another exciting blog entry! Let’s see if I can actually get this entry up before the clock strikes midnight (my time). Anyways, not much to really report on this week from the life of SlimKirby….nothing that would be worth mentioning. Although I guess I should mention that I did sign up for a twitter account, for those who would be THAT interested in following what I’m doing during the course of the week. Don’t expect there to be any extra or important information exclusively on the twitter account though. It’s really just something new I feel like experimenting with. Anyways, the link is as follows:
http://www.twitter.com/slimkirby
Besides that though, as I said previously, there is not much really to report on.
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Youtube:
Let’s Play Donkey Kong 64
Although the project starts tomorrow, I don’t think there is really any harm in talking about it. I recorded the first 5 (or 4 1/2 if I decide to add more to the somewhat short 5th video) episodes at this point, and at this point, I think they came out ok. The only way I could really describe them is that, if you like the majority of my videos, or rather, the style I do my videos in, you should feel right at home. Definitely expect the first batch of videos to be a bit informative though, just because the nature of them.
I have to say though, doing these episodes of Donkey Kong 64 has gotten me thinking about a few things, a few things that I’m sure some of you (although, maybe not) would be surprised by. For one, I’m really not as confident with my ability to do commentary as many people would probably think. I mean, I can sit down and do it no problem, but watching it back, I always seem to get the feeling that I could do so much more with it. Maybe it’s just because it’s hard for anybody to listen or watch themselves, but still, I’ve never really been able to move past that confidence barrier, even after almost 2 ½ years of doing commentary. Maybe it’s just something you never really get over? Meh, I dunno, but I do know for sure that I’ll never let that discourage me from continuing what I do, so don’t worry about that if you think I’m getting tired of doing LPs, because I’m definitely not. It’s just more of a mental thing.
Anyways, getting back to the actual project, this should definitely be a lot of fun. I’m very much looking forward to kicking this game’s butt and having fun with it too. I’ve already started to plan my routes throughout each level, which I know probably seems a bit unnecessary, but I’m actually challenging myself to get this done in as few videos as possible without making any extravagant cuts. At this point, I see less than 70 videos as a very distinct possibility. My original project was about 84 videos, and that was with the old time limit. Adding 4 to each video will definitely make this project go a lot faster considering that the equivalent of 3 videos now is 4 with the old time limit. Maybe I should have project video # ending predictions? :O
Anyways, as usual, I hope you guys enjoy the project. I’m not sure when or if I will have a secondary project right away or not, but it’s something I may consider. It would be nice if I actually got my Wii back first though, because there is something I have on my Wii that I have considered LPing……what that game is? You will have to find out later. ;)
CrystalStarStudio:
Well, I have some good news….me and the guys at CSS have finally discussed some future plans. Not in very great detail, but enough to know what we might be doing next besides TTYD extras. As usual though, can’t really give you any information besides that….sorry. =(
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I’m actually going to end the entry here actually. I know this is kind of a short entry and there is no Game of the Week, but I did say a few weeks back that I am going to try and make the GotWs less frequent because I won’t have as much time during the week to play games anymore now that I am back in school (besides my Youtube projects of course), and sure enough, I didn’t really play any new games (that haven’t already been GotWs) this week, so that is pretty much an excuse in itself not to update.
I’ll try to have a much larger entry next week and hopefully I can have an exciting week for a change so I can actually have things to talk about. =P
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
http://www.twitter.com/slimkirby
Besides that though, as I said previously, there is not much really to report on.
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Youtube:
Let’s Play Donkey Kong 64
Although the project starts tomorrow, I don’t think there is really any harm in talking about it. I recorded the first 5 (or 4 1/2 if I decide to add more to the somewhat short 5th video) episodes at this point, and at this point, I think they came out ok. The only way I could really describe them is that, if you like the majority of my videos, or rather, the style I do my videos in, you should feel right at home. Definitely expect the first batch of videos to be a bit informative though, just because the nature of them.
I have to say though, doing these episodes of Donkey Kong 64 has gotten me thinking about a few things, a few things that I’m sure some of you (although, maybe not) would be surprised by. For one, I’m really not as confident with my ability to do commentary as many people would probably think. I mean, I can sit down and do it no problem, but watching it back, I always seem to get the feeling that I could do so much more with it. Maybe it’s just because it’s hard for anybody to listen or watch themselves, but still, I’ve never really been able to move past that confidence barrier, even after almost 2 ½ years of doing commentary. Maybe it’s just something you never really get over? Meh, I dunno, but I do know for sure that I’ll never let that discourage me from continuing what I do, so don’t worry about that if you think I’m getting tired of doing LPs, because I’m definitely not. It’s just more of a mental thing.
Anyways, getting back to the actual project, this should definitely be a lot of fun. I’m very much looking forward to kicking this game’s butt and having fun with it too. I’ve already started to plan my routes throughout each level, which I know probably seems a bit unnecessary, but I’m actually challenging myself to get this done in as few videos as possible without making any extravagant cuts. At this point, I see less than 70 videos as a very distinct possibility. My original project was about 84 videos, and that was with the old time limit. Adding 4 to each video will definitely make this project go a lot faster considering that the equivalent of 3 videos now is 4 with the old time limit. Maybe I should have project video # ending predictions? :O
Anyways, as usual, I hope you guys enjoy the project. I’m not sure when or if I will have a secondary project right away or not, but it’s something I may consider. It would be nice if I actually got my Wii back first though, because there is something I have on my Wii that I have considered LPing……what that game is? You will have to find out later. ;)
CrystalStarStudio:
Well, I have some good news….me and the guys at CSS have finally discussed some future plans. Not in very great detail, but enough to know what we might be doing next besides TTYD extras. As usual though, can’t really give you any information besides that….sorry. =(
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I’m actually going to end the entry here actually. I know this is kind of a short entry and there is no Game of the Week, but I did say a few weeks back that I am going to try and make the GotWs less frequent because I won’t have as much time during the week to play games anymore now that I am back in school (besides my Youtube projects of course), and sure enough, I didn’t really play any new games (that haven’t already been GotWs) this week, so that is pretty much an excuse in itself not to update.
I’ll try to have a much larger entry next week and hopefully I can have an exciting week for a change so I can actually have things to talk about. =P
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Monday, September 6, 2010
9/6/10 - Happy Labor Day! =)
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!
I hope you guys have a great Labor Day! I'm not sure how it works for every person in the world, but in the case of me and the majority of the people I know, there are no classes today, so I had a nice little small vacation this weekend. Given, it was only 3 days, but still, some times even one extra day can be a lot.
Anyways, first off I once again apologize for the lateness of this entry. I didn't really have a very productive Sunday and didn't really get anything done. I guess I've truly underestimated how much my new schedule has been wearing me out that I just crashed at a very inopportune time. Oh well, it's something to get used to, I guess. Basically with the way I have things going on now, I can stay up as late as I want most days, however, some days I have classes at 9 in the morning (which is early for most college students), and staying up late doesn't usually help me for those. However, since I'm so used to my late schedule, I end up staying late anyways which means I usually don't get much sleep for those early class days, and as far as naps go, you can only take a nap in the middle of the day for so long before you just can't stand to lie down anymore. So basically, I have definitely lost some sleep over the last few days...thankfully though, not too much sleep. I'm still getting things done and not falling behind on really anything, so I guess that's the important thing.
Speaking of classes, things actually went a bit better this week than last. I might actually enjoy this semester a lot more than my past semesters, believe it or not. I guess I was just too focused on the work load that I forgot that the work really wasn't that bad. Plus, I have plenty of outside time to do it in as well, so I really had nothing to complain about. It's also kind of cool because one of my professors is actually a gamer and I'm thinking about telling him about what I do on Youtube. I'm not sure if there are any other Computer Science majors out there (besides those who I already know), but if you are, he's the kind of teacher who is really into technology and really enthusiastic about his work, so I think that class will have a lot of fun times this semester.
In other news, I got The Simpsons Season 13 on DVD and Metroid: Other M on Friday (although the latter I haven't touched, nor will I probably touch for a few weeks (since I am sending my Wii in for repairs). So far, I'm actually enjoying season 13 quite a bit. There have been a lot of my favorite episodes, and I think it's probably the season right before the series started to go downhill a bit (granted, I've never really thought the series got that much worse, but I think it can be argued that the older episodes are definitely better than the newer ones). But besides that, not much new going on the real life world of SlimKirby.
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Youtube:
I really don't have much to say either just because I said pretty much all I wanted to say last weekend, and I won't have any videos this next week, nor will CSS. I am very much looking forward to starting Donkey Kong 64 though. I haven't been this excited about starting a project since Kirby Super Star. Not that I haven't been excited about anything else I've done since then, I just really want to do this particular project so I can make it better than the first one I did and do the game justice. The first video of that will be going up on next Monday, so look forward to that on the 13th of September.
I've been wondering though if I should start doing...not really shout-outs, but basic run-downs what others have been doing and what I think of their projects, but the problem there is that it would be too restricted. I have a lot of LPers I try to keep up with, and I'm sure there are plenty out there who will want me to add them and....yeah, probably not a good idea in the long run. Maybe if I keep it restricted to community members of the Blargg Pit and CrystalStarStudio (since this blog is directly related to the site and CSS), but I dunno, that almost seems too selective to me. I guess it's something I could consider though.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Game Discusssion:
There will be no Game of the Week this week because MadameWario stole all of my attention away, so this section will not added.
Ok, not really! =P
Madame herself actually suggested I put that since I couldn't really think about anything to talk about and I'm really trying to get this done. Although, the statement is kind of true though as she does distract me quite a bit already......but in a good way. =P
Anyways, today I was actually considering talking about my first thoughts and impressions on Metroid: Other M (as I mentioned earlier, I did buy it this weekend), but because I didn't play it and because I won't be playing it for awhile due to my Wii not being available, I can't really do that anymore. I guess I could talk about it for a little bit though, based on what I expect from the game based on what I have seen thus far and from what I have heard from other people.
Basically, some of the things I've heard and predicted are that the game is 1) kind of a combination of Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, specifically with the 1st person and 3rd person switches, and 2) is really centered on the storyline and character development. Basically, consider those two the main topics from my brief discussion.
First off, I will say that I'm one of those individuals who really fell in love with Super Metroid for the SNES, but never really got into the Prime series. While I think Metroid Prime is a very well-made game/series, I myself couldn't really get into the gameplay as much. I still acknowledge it though as one of the best Gamecube games, even though it's not up there on my personal preferences list. I do think the change from 2D side-scroller to 1st person shooter was needed, or rather, bound to happen, and I think Prime succeeded with that. As for Other M, where you pretty much switch between those perspectives, I'm not really sure.....although I do see how it could work and work well, but with that, I could also sense some faults as well purely from the game's controls and how they are set up. Keep in mind, I haven't played the game yet, so I really don't know how things actually are, and am purely basing this on assumption. Either way though, from what I have seen the gameplay looks pretty sweet and I am really looking forward to giving it a spin.
Another thing that I have heard a lot about, mostly from my friends though who only go by specific reviews and always assume things rather than experience them for themselves, is that Other M has quite a bit of focus on story and character development, something that hasn't really been shown very much in the series (at least on this level). Now, if you are my friends, you'd be saying that this is an awful thing and that it ruins the character of Samus because she is normally portrayed as a silent badass bounty hunter who goes out and kicks ass. I for one am a little more open than that. I do think it's a bit out of character for Samus, but does that mean it's going to be a bad game because of that? I don't think so. Besides, game developers can't exactly win with mass crowds anyways. There will always be a lot of people who complain about a game changing too much, or a lot of people who complain about the game not being unique or different enough. Those are just the facts of video games....there is no arguing side that is right, and the sooner people learn that the better. Unfortunately we live in a world where people don't like to compromise their opinions to be opinions...they see their opinions as facts and won't stand for anything else. Anyways, I kind of went on a little tangent right there, so allow me to go back to the main point. I'm actually quite interested to see how the story actually stacks up for me. Story has never really been a determining factor for me, especially considering my favorite video games are games where the storyline is basically "princess gets captured, hero saves princess." I am and have always been a gameplay guy, and right now I think that's where Other M is going to be judged on most. As long as they don't screw it up so much that it makes the game unplayable, I don't think story is going to be that big of an issue, even if it ends up being odd. Still though, it's interesting to think about. I'm hoping that The MBD ends up taking control of the universe. =P
My prospects are high, but how will they be at the end? I guess we will have to wait until I actually play the game (which again, won't be for awhile). The only thing I ask is that you don't give me any spoilers because I want to experience the game for myself. I also apologize for no Game of the Week this week either, but I didn't really play anything besides what I played already for Youtube. There will be one next week though, I promise!
-----------------------------------------------------
Anyways, that's about it for this entry. Sorry if it was kind of on the short side, but I'm on 3-day vacation, give me a break! :P
Later folks!
- SlimKirby
I hope you guys have a great Labor Day! I'm not sure how it works for every person in the world, but in the case of me and the majority of the people I know, there are no classes today, so I had a nice little small vacation this weekend. Given, it was only 3 days, but still, some times even one extra day can be a lot.
Anyways, first off I once again apologize for the lateness of this entry. I didn't really have a very productive Sunday and didn't really get anything done. I guess I've truly underestimated how much my new schedule has been wearing me out that I just crashed at a very inopportune time. Oh well, it's something to get used to, I guess. Basically with the way I have things going on now, I can stay up as late as I want most days, however, some days I have classes at 9 in the morning (which is early for most college students), and staying up late doesn't usually help me for those. However, since I'm so used to my late schedule, I end up staying late anyways which means I usually don't get much sleep for those early class days, and as far as naps go, you can only take a nap in the middle of the day for so long before you just can't stand to lie down anymore. So basically, I have definitely lost some sleep over the last few days...thankfully though, not too much sleep. I'm still getting things done and not falling behind on really anything, so I guess that's the important thing.
Speaking of classes, things actually went a bit better this week than last. I might actually enjoy this semester a lot more than my past semesters, believe it or not. I guess I was just too focused on the work load that I forgot that the work really wasn't that bad. Plus, I have plenty of outside time to do it in as well, so I really had nothing to complain about. It's also kind of cool because one of my professors is actually a gamer and I'm thinking about telling him about what I do on Youtube. I'm not sure if there are any other Computer Science majors out there (besides those who I already know), but if you are, he's the kind of teacher who is really into technology and really enthusiastic about his work, so I think that class will have a lot of fun times this semester.
In other news, I got The Simpsons Season 13 on DVD and Metroid: Other M on Friday (although the latter I haven't touched, nor will I probably touch for a few weeks (since I am sending my Wii in for repairs). So far, I'm actually enjoying season 13 quite a bit. There have been a lot of my favorite episodes, and I think it's probably the season right before the series started to go downhill a bit (granted, I've never really thought the series got that much worse, but I think it can be argued that the older episodes are definitely better than the newer ones). But besides that, not much new going on the real life world of SlimKirby.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Youtube:
I really don't have much to say either just because I said pretty much all I wanted to say last weekend, and I won't have any videos this next week, nor will CSS. I am very much looking forward to starting Donkey Kong 64 though. I haven't been this excited about starting a project since Kirby Super Star. Not that I haven't been excited about anything else I've done since then, I just really want to do this particular project so I can make it better than the first one I did and do the game justice. The first video of that will be going up on next Monday, so look forward to that on the 13th of September.
I've been wondering though if I should start doing...not really shout-outs, but basic run-downs what others have been doing and what I think of their projects, but the problem there is that it would be too restricted. I have a lot of LPers I try to keep up with, and I'm sure there are plenty out there who will want me to add them and....yeah, probably not a good idea in the long run. Maybe if I keep it restricted to community members of the Blargg Pit and CrystalStarStudio (since this blog is directly related to the site and CSS), but I dunno, that almost seems too selective to me. I guess it's something I could consider though.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Game Discusssion:
There will be no Game of the Week this week because MadameWario stole all of my attention away, so this section will not added.
Ok, not really! =P
Madame herself actually suggested I put that since I couldn't really think about anything to talk about and I'm really trying to get this done. Although, the statement is kind of true though as she does distract me quite a bit already......but in a good way. =P
Anyways, today I was actually considering talking about my first thoughts and impressions on Metroid: Other M (as I mentioned earlier, I did buy it this weekend), but because I didn't play it and because I won't be playing it for awhile due to my Wii not being available, I can't really do that anymore. I guess I could talk about it for a little bit though, based on what I expect from the game based on what I have seen thus far and from what I have heard from other people.
Basically, some of the things I've heard and predicted are that the game is 1) kind of a combination of Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, specifically with the 1st person and 3rd person switches, and 2) is really centered on the storyline and character development. Basically, consider those two the main topics from my brief discussion.
First off, I will say that I'm one of those individuals who really fell in love with Super Metroid for the SNES, but never really got into the Prime series. While I think Metroid Prime is a very well-made game/series, I myself couldn't really get into the gameplay as much. I still acknowledge it though as one of the best Gamecube games, even though it's not up there on my personal preferences list. I do think the change from 2D side-scroller to 1st person shooter was needed, or rather, bound to happen, and I think Prime succeeded with that. As for Other M, where you pretty much switch between those perspectives, I'm not really sure.....although I do see how it could work and work well, but with that, I could also sense some faults as well purely from the game's controls and how they are set up. Keep in mind, I haven't played the game yet, so I really don't know how things actually are, and am purely basing this on assumption. Either way though, from what I have seen the gameplay looks pretty sweet and I am really looking forward to giving it a spin.
Another thing that I have heard a lot about, mostly from my friends though who only go by specific reviews and always assume things rather than experience them for themselves, is that Other M has quite a bit of focus on story and character development, something that hasn't really been shown very much in the series (at least on this level). Now, if you are my friends, you'd be saying that this is an awful thing and that it ruins the character of Samus because she is normally portrayed as a silent badass bounty hunter who goes out and kicks ass. I for one am a little more open than that. I do think it's a bit out of character for Samus, but does that mean it's going to be a bad game because of that? I don't think so. Besides, game developers can't exactly win with mass crowds anyways. There will always be a lot of people who complain about a game changing too much, or a lot of people who complain about the game not being unique or different enough. Those are just the facts of video games....there is no arguing side that is right, and the sooner people learn that the better. Unfortunately we live in a world where people don't like to compromise their opinions to be opinions...they see their opinions as facts and won't stand for anything else. Anyways, I kind of went on a little tangent right there, so allow me to go back to the main point. I'm actually quite interested to see how the story actually stacks up for me. Story has never really been a determining factor for me, especially considering my favorite video games are games where the storyline is basically "princess gets captured, hero saves princess." I am and have always been a gameplay guy, and right now I think that's where Other M is going to be judged on most. As long as they don't screw it up so much that it makes the game unplayable, I don't think story is going to be that big of an issue, even if it ends up being odd. Still though, it's interesting to think about. I'm hoping that The MBD ends up taking control of the universe. =P
My prospects are high, but how will they be at the end? I guess we will have to wait until I actually play the game (which again, won't be for awhile). The only thing I ask is that you don't give me any spoilers because I want to experience the game for myself. I also apologize for no Game of the Week this week either, but I didn't really play anything besides what I played already for Youtube. There will be one next week though, I promise!
-----------------------------------------------------
Anyways, that's about it for this entry. Sorry if it was kind of on the short side, but I'm on 3-day vacation, give me a break! :P
Later folks!
- SlimKirby
Sunday, August 29, 2010
8/29/10 - Back to Work....Unfortunately
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, welcome to another week of….blogginess? Anyways, lots of things happening this week in the world of SlimKirby, so I’m going to make this entry kind of expeditious. This past week I started my Fall semester of classes, so as you can probably tell, I’ve been pretty busy with that. I swear, for a beginning week of classes, I’ve gotten a lot more work than I should have, but I guess that’s to be expected with the higher level classes. Overall though, I guess it is just something I will have to work with. I’ve done pretty well with my classes through the last 3 years. I’ll just have to step it up a notch. As for my classes interfering with any of my recording time, it really shouldn’t be that bad. I actually have quite a bit of free time considering the difficulty of my classes. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have nothing until 3 PM and I’m done at 6:15, and because of that late start, on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, I can stay up quite late. I wouldn’t say it was the best result in the world in terms of how my schedule could have gone, but it could’ve been worse.
Besides that, there is not much to report on…just hard work in general.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Youtube
Majora’s Mask – Well, the main part of the project is over, and dammit, I can’t believe it. It seems like I just started, yet it’s been almost 3 months and now it’s finishing. On the whole though, it was a great project and I’m glad I decided to embark on it. Would I say it’s been my best project? Well, I think it would definitely be a candidate, although I still have a lot of pride in my Hit and Run Let’s Play. Either way, it was a lot of fun, I’m glad I decided to work on it. Extras videos will start coming out in the middle of this week, and will probably be over by the weekend.
PilotWings 64 – Like Majora’s Mask, I also finished the main part of this project as well. Like Majora’s Mask, I also had a lot of fun with this project, despite the limited amount of entertainment a game like would normally get, and I thought it turned out pretty well. I think one of the greatest feelings I get from doing the work I do on Youtube is getting people interested in games that normally may have not been heard of before. That is definitely one of the goals I try to make with my Youtube, especially the more unnoticed games I play. Anyways, enough about that…..I’ve already uploaded some of the extra videos today, and the rest will be up tomorrow, so no more PilotWings after tomorrow.
Donkey Kong 64 – Yesterday I announced in an update video that a replay of Donkey Kong 64 would be my next project. I’m really getting pumped for this replay just because Donkey Kong 64 has always been a personal favorite of mine, and I actually have a lot of history with the game, some of which I’ll definitely reveal during my playthrough. I’m hoping this project will be a lot shorter than the original (especially with the new Youtube time limit), and I can already guarantee better video quality and commentary. Anyways, look forward to this project in September.
CrystalStarStudio – Still not setting anything in stone just yet, but I’ll (or rather, we’ll) probably have some information soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game of the Week:
Note: There is one thing I would like to keep in mind in regards to this edition of GotW and all future editions. This is not necessarily a review here, despite me writing it like one. When doing these issues, I try to focus on personal experience rather than nitpicking all of the different aspects of each game. If I wanted to write reviews like that, I would write them for a website or something. The only thing “reviewish” I would like to keep consistent is the scoring thing, besides that though, don’t be surprised if I don’t talk about every little thing.
Pokemon (1st Generation)
During this past week, I very randomly decided to pick up my old Pokemon Red Version game pack, and since it’s the only game I’ve played this week that hasn’t been one of the projects I’m currently doing, I suppose that it makes this game a candidate.
What can I say about the 1st generation of Pokemon? Like for many, this game took me on a very unforgettable adventure throughout the world of Kanto, capturing Pokemon and gaining gym badges to become best Pokemon trainer in the land. It was all the rage back in the late 90s, and has kept pretty consistent in the recent years as well. The success of this craze is no-doubt attributed to the first games, which are perhaps my all-time favorites.
Sure, when looking back at the first gen games, they seem inferior to the later games, and my favoritism could be merely for nostalgic reasons, but is there really anything wrong with that? Even if you do go back to these games, after spending years upon years with the new additions and changes to the series, going back to the old games can still be a lot of fun. In fact, a few years ago, my friends and I actually came up with a Pokemon tournament idea where we would revisit our old games with new files and a new adventure, and after a few months had passed, we’d have our own competitions with our Pokemon. We had so much fun with that, even though we never really finished (some of us got way too far ahead with our Pokemon levels, the level cap we set was too high, and many of the people actually dropped out after awhile). This shows that the old games still have quite a bit of charm left in them, even if you had to deal with a lot of the outdatedness of some of the game concepts.
As for my current file, I really just started out of current boredom. I’m not really sure if it’s something I’ll try to completely finish or not, as I have gotten all 150 on the first gen before. And as rewarding as that was back in the day….now it just doesn’t seem like it’s something I’m 100% set on. It will definitely be something that I might go to though whenever I get bored.
Giving this game a review score is actually pretty difficult, for a variety of different reasons. I would like to give it a score based on how it was back in the day, because of how easy it is to stack the game in comparison with the newer generations, yet on the other hand, you really don’t want to blind it by nostalgia either. For it’s time though, and for its enjoyment in recent years, I think I can feel pretty confident with a 4.5/5.
LP Possibility: SlimKirby! Would you ever Let’s Play a Pokemon game? I will admit, I have thought about it, and I have determined that sometime in the future, I would like to do one, but now is just not the time. The problem with Pokemon is that there are already so many different Pokemon LPs and LPers already, and all of the major games and different versions have already been hit multiple times. Not that I am completely against doing games that have been done before, but still, I think it would be kind of difficult to keep the playthrough unique and interesting……in my opinion at least. With an overdone game like Majora’s Mask, I thought I could at least keep it interesting from my knowledge of playing the game multiple times when I was younger, and not really getting that feeling from other LPs of the game. Oh well, I suppose Pokemon is always a possibility for the future….just not now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that is about it for this entry this week…and how appropriate, just when “Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder” ended. I guess that means that it is about time to go to bed! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
Besides that, there is not much to report on…just hard work in general.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Youtube
Majora’s Mask – Well, the main part of the project is over, and dammit, I can’t believe it. It seems like I just started, yet it’s been almost 3 months and now it’s finishing. On the whole though, it was a great project and I’m glad I decided to embark on it. Would I say it’s been my best project? Well, I think it would definitely be a candidate, although I still have a lot of pride in my Hit and Run Let’s Play. Either way, it was a lot of fun, I’m glad I decided to work on it. Extras videos will start coming out in the middle of this week, and will probably be over by the weekend.
PilotWings 64 – Like Majora’s Mask, I also finished the main part of this project as well. Like Majora’s Mask, I also had a lot of fun with this project, despite the limited amount of entertainment a game like would normally get, and I thought it turned out pretty well. I think one of the greatest feelings I get from doing the work I do on Youtube is getting people interested in games that normally may have not been heard of before. That is definitely one of the goals I try to make with my Youtube, especially the more unnoticed games I play. Anyways, enough about that…..I’ve already uploaded some of the extra videos today, and the rest will be up tomorrow, so no more PilotWings after tomorrow.
Donkey Kong 64 – Yesterday I announced in an update video that a replay of Donkey Kong 64 would be my next project. I’m really getting pumped for this replay just because Donkey Kong 64 has always been a personal favorite of mine, and I actually have a lot of history with the game, some of which I’ll definitely reveal during my playthrough. I’m hoping this project will be a lot shorter than the original (especially with the new Youtube time limit), and I can already guarantee better video quality and commentary. Anyways, look forward to this project in September.
CrystalStarStudio – Still not setting anything in stone just yet, but I’ll (or rather, we’ll) probably have some information soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game of the Week:
Note: There is one thing I would like to keep in mind in regards to this edition of GotW and all future editions. This is not necessarily a review here, despite me writing it like one. When doing these issues, I try to focus on personal experience rather than nitpicking all of the different aspects of each game. If I wanted to write reviews like that, I would write them for a website or something. The only thing “reviewish” I would like to keep consistent is the scoring thing, besides that though, don’t be surprised if I don’t talk about every little thing.
Pokemon (1st Generation)
During this past week, I very randomly decided to pick up my old Pokemon Red Version game pack, and since it’s the only game I’ve played this week that hasn’t been one of the projects I’m currently doing, I suppose that it makes this game a candidate.
What can I say about the 1st generation of Pokemon? Like for many, this game took me on a very unforgettable adventure throughout the world of Kanto, capturing Pokemon and gaining gym badges to become best Pokemon trainer in the land. It was all the rage back in the late 90s, and has kept pretty consistent in the recent years as well. The success of this craze is no-doubt attributed to the first games, which are perhaps my all-time favorites.
Sure, when looking back at the first gen games, they seem inferior to the later games, and my favoritism could be merely for nostalgic reasons, but is there really anything wrong with that? Even if you do go back to these games, after spending years upon years with the new additions and changes to the series, going back to the old games can still be a lot of fun. In fact, a few years ago, my friends and I actually came up with a Pokemon tournament idea where we would revisit our old games with new files and a new adventure, and after a few months had passed, we’d have our own competitions with our Pokemon. We had so much fun with that, even though we never really finished (some of us got way too far ahead with our Pokemon levels, the level cap we set was too high, and many of the people actually dropped out after awhile). This shows that the old games still have quite a bit of charm left in them, even if you had to deal with a lot of the outdatedness of some of the game concepts.
As for my current file, I really just started out of current boredom. I’m not really sure if it’s something I’ll try to completely finish or not, as I have gotten all 150 on the first gen before. And as rewarding as that was back in the day….now it just doesn’t seem like it’s something I’m 100% set on. It will definitely be something that I might go to though whenever I get bored.
Giving this game a review score is actually pretty difficult, for a variety of different reasons. I would like to give it a score based on how it was back in the day, because of how easy it is to stack the game in comparison with the newer generations, yet on the other hand, you really don’t want to blind it by nostalgia either. For it’s time though, and for its enjoyment in recent years, I think I can feel pretty confident with a 4.5/5.
LP Possibility: SlimKirby! Would you ever Let’s Play a Pokemon game? I will admit, I have thought about it, and I have determined that sometime in the future, I would like to do one, but now is just not the time. The problem with Pokemon is that there are already so many different Pokemon LPs and LPers already, and all of the major games and different versions have already been hit multiple times. Not that I am completely against doing games that have been done before, but still, I think it would be kind of difficult to keep the playthrough unique and interesting……in my opinion at least. With an overdone game like Majora’s Mask, I thought I could at least keep it interesting from my knowledge of playing the game multiple times when I was younger, and not really getting that feeling from other LPs of the game. Oh well, I suppose Pokemon is always a possibility for the future….just not now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that is about it for this entry this week…and how appropriate, just when “Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder” ended. I guess that means that it is about time to go to bed! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
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