Flash Game of the Week: Elephant Quest

Well Ubuntu users this is it, the wait is finally over, the final release of Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal is due out later today :D SO EXITED as seen here <

Anyway unrelated, but what is related is this weeks flash game review: ELEPHANT QUEST!

This game was made by our good friends over at armour games and what does AG+elephants=? Jmtb02! Yes that's right, Jmtb02 did the artwork on this game as he did with all over elephant games and such.

Anyway in this RPG/Shooter/Platformer you are an elephant helping out other elephants with different tasks and looking for this woolly mammoth thing who you must kill for reasons I can't remember...simple as that really.

This is another great game by Jmtb02 and all others involved and I cannot recommend this, and their other games highly enough really.

Hrere is the Kongregate link
And the Armour Games link with a bonus Sushi Cat mini game (2 of my favourite games combined :O)

Yay first time using the link feature :D
Anyway now time for the hardware review, should be here later today.
Ta ta for now!
TheWardy signing off.

Retrospect 4/8: Playstation Vs NES/Famicom

OK I may have to cut this series short because I'm running out of current/last gen (yes playstation is still last gen seeing as the PS2 is still current gen) consoles, may not be the case though.

So this Retrospect is about, you guessed it Sony's Playstation and the Nintendo Family Computer/Entertainment System which were released 1994-1995 and 1983-1987 respectively and discontinued 2006 and 1995-2003 (no joke) respectively so as you can see, Playstation lasted for 12 years and the NES a staggering 20 years which means Nintendo had clearly done something right.

OK time to look at them! We will be discussing 4 things: media, storage, loading mechanisms and A/V output.

I shouldn't have to say what the media advantages but here goes: durability and load times (which by the way are atrocious on the Playstation)

Now storage, sadly most NES games (and fortunately hardly any Famicom Disk System Disks) lack battery back-up but the ones that do have it do not rely on removable storage and the problems it causes, most of you would have one a PS or similar you know what they're like.

Only one thing I can say about loading mechanisms, Playstation toploader NES frontloader. Why are frontloaders better than toploaders? they can be stacked! Which in my case is rather good. NEXT!

Finally we come to the A/V, how is RF/RCA better than A/V multi? Simple, if I lose/damage my RF/RCA cable(s) I simply steal one from elsewhere and even use one RF for my NES, Snes and Megadrive (seeing as they all use the same TV). Inversely if I lose/damage my PS2's AV multi cable (which I use for the PS1 too) I have to revert to my RF cable from my PS1 which does affect the picture quality greatly.

Anyway that ends a painfully rushed Retrospect, I should have the Flash Game of the Week up in a few hours followed by the hardware review.
Bye for now.
TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Hiatus and future plans

This is the part where I denounce Horace Returns' descent into vapourware by putting on hiatus until at least Feburary 2012 because, lets face it, I'm getting nowhere with it and have been trying to hide it for a while (although it should have seemed pretty obvious to people who aren't what leading Oxford scholars are only able to  refer to as "thick"). I have instead decided to focus on my sploder game, Blockhead's Generic Adventure! Part one is due out 1st June 2011, more information on it as it becomes available.

OK 2 more and I have caught up and can start pre-writing a few.

See y'all in an hour or two.
TheWardy signing off.

Review: Secret Maryo Chronicles (PC, Mac & Linux)

Ok this one is a bit naughty because I only came across this game on Monday and have only played it for about an hour but here goes!

About the game

This game was released as an open-source (My favourite lisence) game in January 2003 and is somewhat of a Super Mario World clone therefore I don't need to explain and for that reason I won't.

Graphics

The graphics in this game look great but I have two complaints. The first being that some graphical aspects of the game make it look like a poorly drawn flash game. The second complaint I have is that although most of the game is 2D, the coins and I guess you could say the mushrooms are 3D which stick out like a sore thumb and just make the game look that little bit tackier.

My verdict-8/10

Sound

Not too much to say about the sound, except for the fact that the music appears to be missing in Ubuntu at least (Anyone proving otherwise, let me know, UPDATE: I have since found out that there is music, but it has to be downloaded separately and seeing as I did not get this game from its original website I did not know it was not included which is a pain in the arse so just 2 points added) and the sound effects are a bit hit and miss to say the least.

My verdict-4/10

Control

The control isn't to obvious (unless you look at the options menu) but is relatively simple to grasp and easy to remember.


My verdict-9/10

Difficulty


This game holds the same difficulty factor as most mario games so theres not really anything to say.

My verdict-9/10

Length


This is where the naughty bit comes in, I've only reached level 3 of this game but because it has a level editor and I think levels can be sent to other users therefore I declare this game technically has infinite length.

My verdict-10/10

Replay value


As I just said: Level editor, make own levels, spread, play more, SIMPLE AS.

My verdict-10/10

My final verdict-52/60-A-This is a great game based on a greater franchise.

Well thats another post closer to catching up, the dev blog is right around the corner.
Back soon!
TheWardy signing off.

That's Interesting: Mortal Kombat IX

ITS FINALLY HERE!

That's right folks Mortal Kombat 9 has arrived, it was released on the 21st April for the 360 and PS3, I have yet to play it but am very excited to get my hands on it.

OK this one is extremely short and this is the last bit, what I know so far.

It has Noob Saibot in it :D as well as Kratos from God of War on the PS3 version. There is also a new feature known as x-ray moves (basically you can see inside your opponent during the attack and watch the bones break etc.). We also see a lovely 2.5D perspective in that we have 3D characters on a 2D stage. Finally this game is apparently a homage to Mortal Kombat II (which I have the Genesis version of :D) hence why we have the recreated levels from II, Noob etc.

Anyway that's it for that story, review next.
Goodbye for the third (and officially final) time tonight.
TheWardy signing off.

Hardware review: EyeToy (Playstation 2)

OK sorry again I'll have everything back on track by tomorrow I promise.

Ah Kinect, Microsoft's newest monstrosity in order to sell more Xbox 360 units and games(along with the ugly as fuck slim console, the word slim being used extremely loosely seeing as it has had less than 1/5 cut off) but it is a stolen concept really, a mod of an existing motion sensing camera so lets disregard Kinect for now (or for good) and look at Sony's EyeToy.

I don't really have much on this so bear with me.
EyeToy was released by Logitech and Namtai in 2003 for Sony's second console, the Playstation 2 in order to increase sales and such I had one it was great etc etc etc.

Anyway the EyeToy was supported for about 5 years and pulled in about 10.5M sales which is only about 500K more than the Kinect has sold but the EyeToy was never hyped and stuff. Another interesting thing about the EyeToy is that there were fewer problems, the only major one it had was the whole lighting thing that was even worse on the Kinect.

In conclusion the EyeToy was great but alas it was a cheap control gimmick (like 3D effects, take note people)

Anyway I will be starting That's Interesting after I reboot and such.
Until then.
TheWardy signing off.

Apologies + announcements

OK let me start off by saying I am so sorry! I planned out blog for Thursday-Monday to be queued up for when I went away for Easter but I ran out of time.

Anyway I am proud to announce that I am now using the open source Linux distribution Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx (Soon 11.04 Natty Narwhal) which will be my primary operating system for programming, blogging and OpenGL development :)

In other news I have decided to drop the comment questions and weekly polls (I will still be putting polls out from time to time)

OK hardware review up soon.
Be right back :)
TheWardy signing off.

Flash Game of the Week: Fade

OK I have a feeling this is actually stolen content but it was featured so here goes.

This game was released 3 months ago (but I remember it being around at some point in 2010, maybe even 2009) by Frozen Coin and involves a llama running across platforms, gaining speed as it goes along and as it gains speed, colour is added to the game and when I last completed it it was like 200mph (I think?) anyway you also get upgrade points and such.

This game is a good one but be warned the replay value is next to none as it does get rather repetitive after a while.

Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/frozencoin/fade
Games Butler: http://www.gamesbutler.com/game/4975/Fade/

OK sorry I was late again, the hardware review (Eye Toy) will be up later on today sometime.
See you tonight.
TheWardy signing off.

Retrospect 3/8: Xbox Vs SNES

I don't know why I keep doing these so late but here it is! Like a whole day late but oh well.

Today I will be comparing Microsoft's Xbox and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which were released in 2001-2002 and 1990-1992 respectively and were both pretty successful, the SNES being moreso but the Xbox was still pretty successful.

OK onto the comparison, thingy.

The first point is, you guessed it, media, faster, more durable etc etc. Also you don't really need casing for them, I mean ideally you would keep them in boxes and stuff but they are not essential.

Second point is the weight, for anyone who hasn't held an Xbox, it weighs about 1 1/2-2 360 units, basically if you dropped one on your foot, you'd know.

Finally there is sound, with the SNES the only noise you get is that god awful click you get when flipping the power switch whereas the PSU (or possibly CPU fan) on the Xbox makes a terribly annoying whirring/buzzing sound.

Anyway I think that's it for this week's retrospect, once again sorry I'm late.
Be back in an hour or two with the Flash Game of the Week.
See you then.
TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Week 12

Hey guys.
Sorry I'm late...YET AGAIN.

OK today's blog will not be about the game which I am borderline neglecting at the moment but instead the dev tools I have aquired of late.

One of the development tools I am now using is for like...10 year olds but I don't really care. Sploder the online tool I mentioned a few days ago. Anyway I am actually working on a little 4 piece game at the moment called Blockhead's Generic Adventure, the first part of said game should materialise in the comming weeks so stay tuned.

Another I have started using is 3D Rad, alas I have no bloody clue how to use it properly so it'll be a while before I use that, possibly after Horace Returns.

 I am also about to start using a form of BASIC I've come accross called Basiegaxorz (I think) which will enable me to program Genesis/Megadrive games, YAY!

Finally I have 2 new 2D game engines that I can't remember the names of and can't be bothered to look, so I won't.

Anyway that's all I have at the moment.
Retrospect will be up in the next 2 hours.
Until then.
TheWardy signing off.

Promotions and stuff: Level up

For the third time today, hello and welcome to another blog post.

I've decided to discontinue the little opening thing because quite frankly I hated it.

OK I've mentioned this before about 2-3 months ago but I wanna put it out again because I'm nice and don't want any special offers or anything of the sort.

Anyway if you are a gamer within the Merseyside area there is a game shop located within Quiggins (give you the address in a second) called Level Up, this shop was established on I think 1st-2nd November 2010 and has since moved from the 1st floor to the basement following a break-in and the subsequent closure of the entire 1st floor. Anyway Level Up has pretty much everything, consoles, accessories, plug and play stuff, and games ranging from Xbox 360/PS3 from 2010/11 to Atari 2600 games from 1977 (but those are all mine mehehe). On top of that there are comps, tournaments and of course, excellent customer service, very friendly and resourceful (take note highstreet gameshops!) as well as the leisure of being able to reserve anything in store for really any period of time.

Ok address:

Level Up

Quiggins basement (behind Grin, the main shop when you enter the building)

Grand Central Hall

35 Renshaw Street

Liverpool

It's around 3 minutes away from Liverpool Central (turn right as you leave the station and you should see the building as you turn the corner)

Web adresses:

Main site: www.leveluponline.co.uk

Tournaments: www.leveluptournaments.weebly.com

And thus ends, quite frankly a shit weekend which was made..less shit by the tournament (and Lucy's obvious attempt to help me win, that or her complete lack of understanding of the words VOLUME and CHANNEL)

I shall be back tomorrow with the dev blog.

Byee.

TheWardy signing off.

Review: Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow (Gameboy)

Hello again it is Sunday the 17th April 2011, I have just (well, not just) came back from a tournament, I'm TheWardy and this, is My2 Rusty Pennies.

Might drop that soon.
Anyway today I thought I'd review one of my many childhood memories, Pokémon! Interesting fact I got Crystal before Red...That wasn't interesting at all was it. Moving onto the review now :)

About the game

Pokémon! Red, Blue, Green (Japan only) and Yellow were released between Spring 1996 and Autumn 1998 worldwide and is about...10 year olds forcing animals with magical powers to fight each other...or something like that.

Graphics

The graphics on this game are not that bad seeing as it is a Gameboy game in...I guess you could say colour, its monochrome but not black and white like most Gameboy games, this being said, this came out near enough the same time as the Gameboy Colour so they could have pushed it back by a few months but there was probably some sort of financial issue there.

My verdict-9/10

Sound

The sound on the game is great bar one thing, for some reason during the health alarm most of the sounds are either absent or distorted in one form or another. Not too much to say

My verdict-9/10

Control

Not really much control to this game, just walking and fighting which is sort of a "press and watch what happens" style as is standard with RPGs and particularly J-RPGs and eventually becomes a bit of a button masher which is kinda good because it is not as tedious as one that keeps you over involved, take Final Fantasy XIII for example.

My verdict-9/10

Difficulty

This game (as with most RPGs) has an excellent difficulty curve, that is all I can really say to be honest.

My verdict-10/10

Length

I recently ambled through this game and got to victory road in about 48 hours so I imagine the average length is about 12-24 hours or maybe 4-8 if you tank through it. All in all great for any amount of time you have on your hands.

My verdict-10/10

Replay value

I'll let you guys work it out, you will play on even after the game has finished and only delete your file when you get bored of that.

My verdict-10/10

My final verdict-57/60-A-This (only just noticed I've been referring to them as this, but I won't change them as I am too lazy) is an excellent game that has gone on to make a successful (but getting worse) franchise of games, in the words of Kieth Lemon "Tellyshows" and films along with other merchandise.

OK sorry for another late, one more coming up in the next few hours so stay tuned.

TheWardy signing off.

That's Interesting: Lisenced by Nintendo

Good afternoon people it is Sunday the 17th April 2011, this is another late (sorry), I'm TheWardy and this, is My 2 Rusty Pennies.

So does anyone remember when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out? I don't, I was 5 at the time but I do remember the port coming out in 2003 (I kinda thought it was the original at the time) anyway there have been rumors (not sure wether or not they have been confirmed yet but we'll see) that Ocarina of Time 3D is not being developed by Nintendo but by another studio (whose name I cannot remember), now as optimistic as I am about this port, I've seen things like this happen before which didn't work in favour of the developers (e.g. the Mario/Zelda CDi games and Renegade III: The Final Chapter), will this be worth the wait, we will see in June.

OK sorry about this being as late as it is, review is up next.

Also I'm now using Sunday to send out personal messages, promote stuff, announce things etc etc.

So that's it for the moment, I will see you in about an hour.

Bubyee.

TheWardy signing off.

Hardware Review: Venom Dualshock 2 controller (Playstation 2)

Morning all it is Friday the 15th April 2011, I'm now on Sploder, I'm TheWardy and this, is My Two Rusty Pennies. But more on that later.

OK this review is about Venom's Dualshock 2 controller which is so far the best PS2 controller I've ever used.

Bit of history first: My original controller sucked and died in about 2005-2006 (bearing in mind I was given my PS2 in Summer 2004) and luckily I had bought (well my parents bought it) a 3rd party 2nd controller in late 2004 I think and it only died in 2010 and I got 2 other controllers which seem to be based on the Venom models (in fact they're the same excluding the Venom logo) and they're still going today.

OK the last thing I will say about them is that the difference is that it is black (mine was, like my PS2, aqua), the Venom logo and 3 additional buttons; a turbo button, a slow button and a turbo clear button. Anyway sorry this was kinda rushed and shit. I'll try and put out better ones in the future.

Anyway onto Sploder!

Sploder is a sorta online game creation site that allows you to make, play and share games and such.

Anyway I have created an account and will be releasing games in the summer.

My username is Pyrogramgames

So for the first time as the founder of Pyrogram Games, goodbye.

TheWardy signing off.

Flash Game of the Week: Monster Castle Defence

Once again, good evening, it is Wednesday 13th April 2011, my Runescape membership is about to run out, I'm TheWardy and this, is My 2 Rusty Pennies.

OK this wasn't a featured game but they're all shit this week and this caught my eye 'cause I'm a sucker for tower defence games,

I found this one slightly different seeing as it is 1D in a sense (in other words it is rows as opposed to a map layout thing.
OK this is a save the princess game, can you say cliche? But that is one of its few flaws, the only other thing I can see is that it does seem ridiculously short (4 bloody levels!)

All in all this is an average game that may or may not tickle the fancy of TD lovers (certainly did it for me though) And just to throw it in there this game was made by Fliptico.
Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/fliptico/monster-castle-defense
And there doesn't appear to be a second link so I'm going to assume that Kongregate is the host site.

Anyway sorry about the lateness of the Retrospect (again), will try not to let it happen again.
Tomorrow I will be reviewing the Sony Playstation as part of my hardware review series, be excited!
See you laterr!
TheWardy signing off.

Retrospect 2/8: Gameboy Vs PSP

Good evening ladies and gentlemen its Wednesday 12th April 2011, I fell asleep whilst writing this last night, I'm TheWardy and this, is My 2 Rusty Pennies.

OK so the consoles I will be comparing today are the Sony Playstation Portable and the Nintendo Gameboy which were released in 2004/5 and 1989/90 respectively which is kind of irrelevant so I'm going to move on.

First off, media, Gameboy uses cartridges (or "Game paks") and the PSP uses UMDs, 2 things with this.

The first is an obvious one, the load times, PSP load times are usually 30s-1min, Gameboy instant load blah blah blah I know it cant be helped.

The second involves the durability of the media, now I've only had one Gameboy (Gameboy colour to be precise) and I've had my fair share of UMD cases split on me making them unusable.

Secondly there is storage, put simply with the Gameboy you don't have to worry about SD cards and stuff like that.

And I think this is the last one, this is sorta stupid cause of the ad-hoc game sharing thingy but you don't have to worry about wi-fi or anything like that.

That's all I can say really, next one I think will be the SNES and the Xbox Classic.

I'm sorry this came out late, will try write them earlier.

Anyway Flash Game of the Week should be up in about 15-30 mins :)

See you then.

TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Week 11

OK it is Monday 11th April 2011, it is week 11 of me not doing anything, I'm TheWardy and this, is My 2 Rusty Pennies.

I am going to try keeping that intro going :)

OK again not much going in terms of development but hey, Easter holidays are just around the corner and I'm broke so...

OK a few words before I go too, first off I am proud to announce I am once again dabbling into the wonderful world of fan-fiction once again, I shall link to my latest story when I finish the first chapter.

Second is I still need help improving the look of the blog/youtube channel when it materializes so if you feel you can help do not hesitate to get in touch with me either on the comment section below, in a private message or on twitter @sadonions

Third notice is that I NEED PROMOTION cause the monthly views are slumping now (have about 30 at the end of the month by the looks of it) so please, tell your friends, family, neighbours, Jack Thompson ANYONE just get the word out, thanks.

Finally I am on the road to recovery my throat feels a lot better and I don't feel like death. YAY.

OK that's it for this weeks dev blog, I will be back tomorrow with Retrospect 2/8-Gameboy Vs PSP so I shall see you then, bye.

TheWardy signing off.

Review: Super Mario Bros 3 (NES/Famicom)

Ok sorry about the lack of formatting but i can't get onto the computer, thanks sis.

About the game

Super Mario Bros 3 is the third game in the super mario series with the same story as the 1st blah blah blah I'm running out of time making this quick.

Graphics

This game looks a lot better than its predecessors but it really doesnt utilise the graphical capabilities of the nes to its full extent (but to be honest the better part of those graphics look awful)

My verdict-9/10

Sound

Nothing to say about the graphics really, great but not the very best.

My verdict-9/10

Control

As with the 1st game the controls are decent with a few minor problems that will happen in most games really.

My verdict-9/10

Difficulty

This is actually quite challenging for me (mainly cause I suck but y'know..)

Only frustratingly difficult aspect of this game is those fucking scrolling levels *rages for a few hours*

My verdict-9/10

Length

This is quite a long game really seeing as it has...7 worlds? Which each have around 7-20ish levels? (just a guess) so it is satisfyingly long.

My verdict-10/10

Replay value

Like the first game i cant put it down, could play it forever, never gets old.

My verdict-10/10

My final verdict-56/60-A-Another great game from the smb series :)

And thus ends a very unstructured week on the blog.

Should be back on track next week though.

I'll see ya monday.

TheWardy signing off.

That's Interesting: Did Not: Finish

Well I'm sure most of you have heard the news, the upcoming first person shooter Duke Nukem: Forever has been pushed back by a month, this is getting a bit stupid now you've been doing this for 14 bloody years now! Word of advice guys, either get it together or declare vaporware, simple as that. I am excited to see what this becomes (which at the moment looks a bit like Half-Life which is both good and bad I guess) but to be honest, Mortal Kombat 9 is my main focus at the moment. Anyway, schedule is kinda back on track now, shall be back tomorrow with Super Mario Bros 3. Until then. See ya. TheWardy signing off. P.S the formatting seems to be a bit fucked up and Doesn't want to present the post with the right formatting, sorry about that.

Flash Game of the Week: Bullet Haven

Well today has not been a good day at all, finding out Nu Foundation died 2 weeks ago (how I enjoy trying to come to terms with this) to finding out MC Sharkey is quitting hardcore this year to discovering that there is one last Jory Caron Opens Mail and Shit.

Bullet Haven put simply is a top-down flying shooter game from kupo707 that I guess you could call a spin-off of Epic Battle Fantasy? Basically you shoot things, you get coins, you finish levels and upgrade, nothing different to most but damn is it fun.

My only real complaint about this game is that they could have put a bit more effort into creating original characters instead of making a tie-in but its no real biggie.

This is a fun game if you have an hour or so to spare, recomend you all check it out.

Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/kupo707/bullet-heaven

This is actually a Kong native game so I have no second link.

Ok apologies again I was gonna upload this last night but I dozed off (Then woke up feeling like death D:)

Anyway poll will be up shortly followed by that's interesting.

See you all in a few.

TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Week 10 + moar announcements

Ok basically I've worked on the controls that's it, I need to get these announcements out.

The blog is to receive a nice little restructure this week.

Ok new schedule

Monday-Dev blog

Tuesday-Feature/Series (e.g. Retrospect)

Wednesday-Flash Game of the Week

Thursday-Hardware review (Starting next week)

Friday-How interesting (Basically I go over a news story/event from the last 7 days)

Saturday-Review (Returning next week)

Sunday-Hey even I need a break!

Anyway I still need help with the blog/channel appearance so if you think you could assist leave me a comment, message or tweet @sadonions

So that's all I have for you right now.

I shall see you tomorrow with the ngp rant.

Bye guys.

TheWardy signing off.

Announcements

Ok I know there is no review, and there's a reason for that.

On Friday I noticed that there were still irregular breaks in my week therefore Super Mario Bros 3 will appear on Thursday.

Thanks for understanding.

Ok one last thing I will soon be opening up a YouTube channel in the next month, more details as that unfolds.

Speak Monday.

Traaa.

TheWardy signing off.