You seem to have to depend on word-of-mouth to know about anything free from Microsoft–that’s just how it was when I found out I could get Carcassone and Undertow for free. So thanks to my friend Terry for the info!

Pinball FX2 doesn’t cost anything, and comes with some trial tables. I’ve had it for a long time, but I couldn’t justify paying the asking price to unlock some of the full tables. I’m actually very fond of pinball games, so I’m glad they put this one up for free (especially with the spookiest day of the year almost upon us). I’ve already played it for a couple hours, and it’s shockingly realistic, fun, and full-featured–but I guess all modern games seem that way when memories of Sonic Spinball, Kirby’s Pinball Land, and  Maxis’ 3D Pinball for Windows still swim around in your head Anyway, addictive and authentic pinball action it is, and I highly recommend it.

So GO GET IT!

I guess whoever was “holding” my domain name when I let my registration expire finally gave up the ghost, because I was able to buy it back just a few days ago. As if you haven’t noticed…

Well, it just made me happy.

Here’s a brief update on my gaming activities of late.

Playing:

Banjo-Kazooie on N64 – possibly the best game I almost didn’t play. May have to get XBLA version one day, but only after I’ve played Tooie.

Kirby: Return to Dreamland on Wii – a really nice throwback to 8- and 16-bit days in a lot of ways. Highly recommended.

Watching:

Batman: Arkham City on PS3 – technically a nice game, but some of the characterizations and writing wears on me QUITE a bit. See nerdbastards.com: http://nerdbastards.com/2011/10/21/not-to-btch-but-whats-with-all-the-btch-ing-in-arkham-city/

Wanted games:

Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Radiant Silvergun

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Ms. ‘Splosion Man

and more

I was already planning to incorporate these memories into a video someday, but really, this is the best way I can tell the story So here we go!

Rental stores were such a fixture in my life that I used to play “Video Game Rental Store” with my NES and Genesis games (though I only ever had about ten games and 2 customers). There were two rental places in particular that I loved as a kid.

One was Tropical Video, located three doors down from my first house.  (The fact that I could walk down there by myself to rent a movie or game was kickass!) To the left of the entrance, there were a couple of saloon doors and a room beyond with posters for Chucky II, Pulp Fiction, and others–the owner didn’t like kids near there, but I always tried to peer inside. I think my brother once ran in there and I went after him; that was quite an experience.

Why I loved the place was this room in the back. Through a low-ceilinged passage, just the right size for a kid, you would suddenly find yourself in a big white room wallpapered with NES and SNES games! There was a rack in the middle stuffed with Game Boy and Sega Genesis games, too. It even had a little drawing table and toys… just great for kids. You could only rent games for two days at a shot, but I tried some of the best games from that place: Kirby’s Adventure, Little Nemo, Gunstar Heroes, Star Fox, Super Mario Kart, some of the Game Boy Mega Man and Ninja Turtles games… the list goes on. We also got the THX-Remastered Star Wars VHS Set from there, which remains one of my favourite things of all things ever.

My approximation of the Tropical Video store logo

When Tropical went under in ’97 or ’98, I was pretty heartbroken. If I had been a little older and richer, I would have bought up so many of their games; as it stood, I could only pick up a few of the pink and white plastic Nintendo cases from the curb in front of the store.

The other place I loved was Jumbo Video, which still operates a store in my town, though the one I went to closed long ago. They had a theatre-style popcorn machine and let you take a free bag just for walking in–sooo good. By seeing all the VHS boxes, I became aware of a lot of films of the day, like Silence of the Lambs, that I wouldn’t see until much later. There was this cool corner of the store that was made up to look like a castle dungeon, under an archway with “Occult” written on it, with movies like Hellraiser on the rack inside. They had different lighting and everything; I wasn’t allowed too linger too long in that place. I think they might have done that especially for Hallowe’en.

The newer logo of Jumbo Video rental stores, still with the same old elephant, Jumbo.

Then there were the games. They had a Sega Genesis in a 6-game demo unit, with Sonic 2 and Eternal Champions, among others. I used to play the crap out of Sonic 2 just because it was there, though I wished they would change the games more often. I rented most of my games from this place–probably 80% of the games I played on NES and Genesis–including my first and most-treasured RPG, Phantasy Star IV. I even tried a couple Game Gear games from there.

Then of course there was Blockbuster, which was where I went mostly once we got our own SNES and later, the 32- and 64-bit games. Those were great days too, but these are the stores that were gone too soon, and I’ll always wish they were still around.

We just have to keep telling ourselves: Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming… er, the video, that is

EDIT: sorry for the video’s absence up until now. I think this standard player is the one I have to use in WordPress.

Finallyfinallyfinally! A new video, made by me, for you! Well, I hope some of ya will take an interest. It’s part 1 of my personal gamerography, with a focus on my first video game, and that of so many other people my age: Super Mario Bros.! So if you want one girl’s honest, heartfelt account of her 8-bit gaming memories, this is the right place. And if you want more, there will be more! (if you don’t, well, there may still be more.)

Here is Part 1: “The Wee Years”

EDIT: Look how much bigger the standard Blip player is!! A shame I only realized it now, because my second video wouldn’t display at all.

(Well, I still do write for the PSP blog on About.com, but that doesn’t _really_ count.)

Now, a few words about the curious circumstances that bring me here. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking (read: gaming), and boy, do I have a lot of new games I could talk about. Maybe even… PROBLEM games. Marvel vs Capcom 3 is one I’ve poured all too much time into.

I recently bought the whole AVGN DVD collection, which has been a complete blast to watch (I watched them all in about a week). I really recommend getting this set just to get properly immersed. When I see all those boxed carts and the posters that came with them, or hear the sounds of the NES for 6 hours straight, it really revives my nostalgia for the games of yesteryear.

It’s all begun to remind me why I got into making videos, and his most recent behind-the-scenes episode reminded me a little of what it was like to make my own videos (granted, on a much smaller scale).

I don’t really know why I’m writing this… but I do want to get working on another video project some time. I’m a writer first, but few things beat making a movie.

Since last update, I have been contracted by About.com to write articles for their “PSP Games for Kids” sub-specialty. This is pretty awesome news for me, though I was really holding out hope for “DS Games for Kids”. Oh well. I’ll be writing 12 pieces monthly and getting paid decently for it, to boot. Well worth learning a thing or two about PSP games! And if I’m reeeeally lucky, I could ostensibly score a PSP2 — though I might have to send it back >.<

My articles so far are Top 5 PSP RPGs for Kids, How to Choose PSP Games for Kids 10 and Under, and Choosing the Best PSP for a Young Gamer. Check the blog at psp.about.com for more in the future. Page views are my bread and butter!

I haven’t had a working camcorder for some time. The gold pressure plate (where the ‘+’ end goes) in the the battery compartment of my Kodak Zx1 had an apparent susceptibility to metal fatigue, and broke clean off. I would have to ship the 2-pound box to Manitoba at my own expense and, since it’s half a year out of warranty, pay for the repairs or replacement, whatever they decided. Since the estimate was $63, I’m not really too keen on doing this, and I think I’ll be avoiding Kodak camcorders from now on. Or at least, ones that aren’t brand spankin’ new (as was the case with mine, though they never told me it was a return when I bought it).

The moral of my cautionary tale is that you shouldn’t settle just because something seems great and is (almost) exactly what you wanted. Or maybe it’s that Kodak pocket camcorders are cheaply made. This was the rough-and-tumble weatherproof model, for crissakes… but I did get some good use out of it.

Here’s hoping my next one will be a little more long-lived.

Also, I would like to do another video at some point!

I’ve had my nose buried in my DS with Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, and the musical influence of that game shows a bit in this remix, which is dedicated with undying love to all things Phantasy Star IV and the original series. I hope to do more remixes from this game, which is surprisingly under-represented on OCRemix and in VGM appreciation circles.

Download the file from ScrewAttack here.

Original title: “Motabia Town”. Credited composer: Ippo. Year: 1993 (JPN), 1995 (NA).