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Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas!


I know it's a day late, but Merry Christmas everyone!!  I hope everyone had a great holiday with memorable times with family and friends and perhaps even snagged some cool games along the way.  Our oldest is 2 now and it was great to really see her enjoy Christmas morning along with starting to say more real words.  That in of itself is plenty of gifts for me.  On the food front we enjoyed some epic smoked prime rib and have tons left for future use.

We also decided to buy a decent DSLR camera earlier this year and to skip gifts for each other so I have no real gaming news to report.  Though as I've written in the 3DS SwapNote app, I'll probably treat myself to some eShop titles.  (also have $200 in amazon for me and the kids, but may save that for a retail game in 2012)  It's been a little slow going in looking at my options so here are some thoughts.  Feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions and what your gaming Christmas consisted of!

Top of the List:

  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  • VVVVVV (12/29 release)
  • Pushmo
  • Zen Pinball (maybe a January release in the US)
Not sure:
  • Kirby:  The original looked incredibly clear for a game of that era and the 3D remake certainly was vivid.  Though from a few reviews this may not be the best use of my money as I don't have any nostalgic attachment to the series.
  • Blaster Master Enemy Below
  • Tetris:  Come on, it's a classic.  I played the original GB so much as probably everyone did being packed-in.
  • Bionic Commando:  More nostalgia here, though I wish it was the NES version.
  • Adventure Island
Club Nintendo Coins:

I was going to have an entirely separate post for this, though the idea of spending coins on downloadable games is cool.  (albeit painfully overdue)  Super Mario Kart, Fluidity, Xevious 3D and Mario vs Donkey Kong are the current four titles for 100-150 coins.  I'm going to skip the dollar vs coin math for now and just land on the fact of getting something for our purchases.

I'm a bit undecided on Xevious and MvsD with the overall feel that Fluidity is the best buy in this group.  Am thinking I may wait until the next group of games appear.

Retail:

I do keep my eye on a number of retail games for both 3DS and Wii, though have no plans to jump on anything in the immediate future.  Zelda 3D OOT, MK7 and Super Mario 3D Land is a good bit for now.

7 comments:

  1. Hope your holiday season is going just swell. I posted my haul on my blog. :)

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  2. Merry Christmas bud. :)

    I went ahead and picked up both Xevious and MvD, but my wife got me a 2000 gift card for the Wii as well, so I'll probably grab something else off of there later. :) 

    the camera's a pretty big deal though - my wife got a nice one in the last year or so and that was probably where I spent the majority of her Christmas funds - a new lens, some supplies, etc.  I got a pretty good haul overall, as did the family in general.  Hope you and yours have had a great Christmas - and will have a very nice New Year as well!

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  3. Ooooh... A good DSLR camera is a fine thing. My wife and I have wanted to buy one of those for a while now, but money just hasn't worked out for it yet. Here's hoping for next year!

    VVVVVV interests me... Let me know what you think if you decide to get it!

    As far as gaming goodness goes, I've only really been getting game-related stuff on STEAM. I'll probably have an update on that in the near future, but for now, I'll see you on SwapNote!

    -BitNick

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  4. superphillip32    Nice roundup of your christmas goods.  I especially like the Naked Gun and Night Court DVD's.  Hadn't thought about those in a long time.

    Chalgyr Cool to hear about Xevious/MvD and the points card.  I was always more of a Zanac fan and there's also Twin Bee.  Look forward to hearing what you think.  (and yeah, that camera gear can quickly get out of hand)

    BitNick:  We were pretty excited about the camera, but still are sorely lacking some know-how in really using it.  Got a Canon D500 (T1i) and telephoto lens which I think was a good start without going hog wild and spending too much.  The pictures don't always turn out (our fault), but when they do it's really nice.

    As for VVVVVV I've finished it on pc/steam and had a great time.  It's a dead simple mechanic that they've made into a brilliant and difficult game.  Am really interested what they've done with it 3D-wise.

    Just added you on Steam today and man, you're starting to rack up on PC games. :)

    I appreciate the replies guys and good to hear you had a Merry Christmas!

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  5. Old news with the swapnote msg, but I picked up Super Mario Land 2, VVVVVV and Pushmo.  Have only gone through a level or two of SML2, but am really loving VVVVVV and Pushmo.

    BitNick:  For VVVVVV I wholeheartedly recommend it and can't say enough good things.  Personally I like using a controller over keyboard (yes, despite steam KB elitist nazi's on the forums) and I like the feel of the 3DS over my 360 controller for the PC version.  But you really need to like platformers and not mind dying a few hundred or thousand times.  It gets pretty brutal at times especially if you are dedicated to collecting all the trinkets.  

    For example go check out the Veni Vidi Vici videos on youtube and you'l see what I mean.  I JUST got that trinket tonight after tons of deaths and it was just as sweet as the first time.  Though it's completely optional just like the "reward for the reckless" room/trinket as well.  (that's a devil too)
    If you have any doubt go grab the steam demo.  The music and effects seem just as good, though I hear there might be a bug with the "flip mode" unlockable option.  By the time either of us get there I'm sure they'll release a patch.Oh yeah I should mention the 3D.  So far it looks good and adds some depth, but nothing major.  Should be interesting when I get to the areas with very busy parallex scrolling.

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  6. "
    We also decided to buy a decent DSLR camera earlier this year and to skip gifts for each other so I have no real gaming news to report."
    If I said I just had a tab open on a DSLR camera, I wouldn't be lying! If you don't mind me asking, what brand/model did you go with? We're looking at the Canon T2i right now, and used it over Christmas at my parents, and it worked well and took some great quality photos; BUT we're looking around, not sure which route to go.

    If you do mind me asking, forget the question!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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  7. Coffee, we went with a Canon T1i.  She was originally looking at the T3 (not the i) and while I would have liked to go with the T3i, the T1i was a good middle of the road.  Basically was trying to definitely stay under the 60D and 7D as "camera model creep" is easy to fall into.

    From what I remember the differences between the t1i, t2i and t3i weren't huge, but at the time (July) the price increase seemed like more than we wanted to spend without enough return in functionality.  (especially considering we're n00bs)

    I hadn't checked prices recently, but I don't think you can go wrong with any of the T?i models.

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