From Joystiq: Nintendo has a nice gaming advent calendar online called "Mission in Snowdriftland." Each little window opens a mini-game into a snowbound Mario-esque world, and you guide a snowman around collecting snowflakes. It's simple and fun, and the music ain't half bad either. Sure, there are ads pimping Nintendo games in the bottom right hand window, but it's a small price to pay for a sweet little gaming diversion in your web browser.
I love advent calendars! I wish they were a part of my childhood so I could remember to incorporate them every December, but I'm not tooo late in the game. And this isn't video game related, but while we're on the subject, I love this advent calendar that julieree made by herself! I hope to be as crafty when I have more time and money on my hands. But anyway, back to games! Nintendo did a good job with these; the mini-games are really fun to just start up and play, and the music is pretty rad. Man, if only I could get a piece of chocolate at the end of each level ^_^ And speaking of snow games, who can forget the classic Snowcraft?
Line Rider is a flash game where you design a course for the bike rider to ride on. It seems simple enough, but after seeing some of the cool courses that people have designed, it's amazing how much fun this game is. And even better news, this game is due to be imported onto the DS and the Wii. I can only imagine what new things they'll add to this game when it hits the DS.
And while we're on flash games, I might as well mention Orisinal, which keeps me entertained for hours with its addictive gameplay and ridiculously cute designs ^_^ Then there's the world map game which I SUCK at, and Word Shoot; spell fast or die!
From Kotaku, because I am too lazy to write my own review: "Apparently, someone has gone to the trouble to make a PC holiday themed game "in the vein of Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series." It's a grid based game that was created for the Daily Click Grid-Based X-mas game competition. It features Santa in a MGS style 8bit environment using distract tools to get past his enemies.
The site says the game takes about 10-20 minutes to play and has a plot based along those of the original games. Game features include: Full featured AI with sight and hearing, 4 different tools to use, Full voice acting and original music, A GRIPPING PLOT THAT WILL MAKE YOU SWEAT TEARS, and a ranking system that keeps track of statistics throughout the game.
I hope Santa pulls out a really huge gun and mows down all the enemies in a terrifying bloodbath. Or, maybe we could have Resident Santa 4 where you battle zombie Santas in a North Pole gone wrong..."
Where have all these flash games been all my life? Thank goodness I finally have a fast computer to play all of them. In Samorost 2, you play a space traveler dressed in his nightgown who is trying to rescue his dog after aliens that look very similar to the duck-bots in The Fifth Element whisk him away.
Samorost 2 is nominated for "Best Web Browser Game" and "Excellence in Visual Art" for the 2007 Independent Game Festival, and after playing through this game, I really need to check out the competition, because if there really is more stuff out there like this, I NEED THEM. This conveniently comes at a time when I want to pursue illustration as a minor as well... anyway, check this game out. Unfortunately you can only play through one level and have to purchase the full version of the game, but it is very well worth it. Or try the first Samorost, I believe you can play the entire version of that one.
3rd World Farmer - Exactly what the title suggests. You play as a third world farmer with a tiny plot of land, small amount of cash, and some crops to plant. As you progress through the years, you can choose to purchase animals or farming equipment, go to school, and marry off your children. However, a ridiculous amount of freak accidents and sicknesses make this game challenging. But the idea is not to have fun while playing this game, it is to learn about the hardships of a life that we will all probably never have to face. Though it is very satisfying when you pull yourself out of poverty.
Ayiti: The Cost of Life - Similar to 3rd World Farmer, except that this game takes place specifically in Haiti, spans over four years, and IS IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN. Seriously, by year two my family is all on the verge of death. I think I once made it to the end of the fourth year, and my summary was, "Your family is in terrible shape. They had OK lives." This game is sponsored by UNICEF, and I bet you they don't WANT you to win. Again, the idea is to learn. Blaaah.
Britney's Baby Dash - Britney Spears is back with a vengeance! After the incident where she was caught driving with Sean Preston in her lap, child services are threatening to take little Sean away from his mother, unless she has anything to do about it. Which apparently involves chucking her baby into the air while throwing soiled diapers at the child services people. This is a pretty simple side-scrolling game, though it would be better if the soundtrack was "Oops! I Did It Again". ^_^
Loa and the Island Quest - A Rayman-esque character named Loa is sent back to the past to defeat the "evil" that is ruining the future. This adventure/platform game is pretty awesome; very fun game play and fun music, it almost feels like a real video game! The levels are pretty tricky, but then again I'm not too skilled with playing on a keyboard. But the best part by far is simply the fact that I can fast forward through cut scenes (a flash game with cut scenes?!) and run really fast. Because the best part of video games is when you can run really fast. Games where you can't go fast are torturous.
Roly Poly - A cute little puzzle game where you guide Poly the Hedgehog to the finish line. It even comes complete with some neato retro video game music ^_^ A very good time waster, this game.
I'm sorry, I've been keeping something to myself and not telling you all about it. If you had any sense of humor back in the 90s, you loved the game You Don't Know Jack for the PC. Weeehelllll the folks over at JellyVision have brought back part of the game to play over the internet. YDKJ's DisorDat is updated every week day with themes like "Mustache and Squirrel", and my personal favorite so far, "I Can Count to at Least Two." Basically, Cookie, your host, will give you a word or a phrase to match the day's theme, and you have to pick either this answer or that answer. Simple enough, and only 7 questions. Which unfortunately means the game is very short lived. But it's the least we can get from these awesome games! If only they would add games like Gibberish Questions and Road Kill. Siiigh, are they even planning on making any more YDKJs?
I have to admit, I know nothing about Tron, other than the fact that it was a Disney movie back in the DAY, and that the level was pretty fun in Kingdom Hearts 2. I always knew the general gist of the game, like a crazy version of snake, but now there is a flash version of the game online! Horray!
FLTron. Very addictive too. In my defense, Tron is the next movie in my Netflix queue, so I won't be a Tron-playing poser for long!
Ben introduced me to More Rooms, a flash game where you kill zombies. Gets kind of bloody. However, because the game has an aerial view, I can handle this zombie game :) Not so much with Resident Evil games...
You like board games? I like board games. But I don't always have someone to play with me. My friends, this is why we have the Internet. You are never alone on the Internet.
The Got Milk? people are spicing up their campaign with an online board game called Get The Glass! Your mission: to help the Adachi family break into Fort Fridge and get the glass, which translates to an unlimited supply of milk which will (what else?) help them with their various health ailments. However, if Fort Fridge Security catches them, the family will be sent straight to Milkatraz (a little extreme, don't you think). The game designers did a fantastic job, I love the art style and the board's environment, and some of the missions are quite challenging. However, the loading times are TERRIBLE. So make sure to clear lots of time out for this one, it's pretty fun!
edit: Oookay so apparently I'm the only one experiencing long load times... guess that's what you get for stealing the intarnetz =P
Chick Chick BOOM is a pretty fun flash game! You draw the weapons to attack Poster Bunny's clicks, while telling your own chicks to move left or right to avoid getting hit. The better you draw, the stronger your attack! Which isn't very good for me, because I'm using my laptop's touch pad. And better yet, you win downloadable items! So far I've gotten a Mario Hoops wallpaper and a Kororinpa wallpaper. So, fun music, cute graphics, hilarious heavy attack items ^_^ Too bad it's called "Chick Chick Boom" and reminds me of that awful song on the radio and the movie that went with it...
Now you can play 100 of your favorite NES games through Nintendo8.com, a website that emulates the games right into the webpage. I had some fun with Super Mario Bros. 3 for a little while, but then I realized I could just fire up my own emulator and play fullscreen. Welp, for those who just want to kill a little bit of time, or aren't on your own computer, why not play a quick game of Tetris, or some Kirby's Adventure?
I can't stop pewpewing these little fellers. Really. I've been playing this game on and off ALL DAY. And I STILL CAN'T WIN. I've made it to Level 46 (I'll admit it, I'm playing on easy, but hey if I can't even win on easy, there's no use trying medium), even with almost all of my lives, and then it just comes crashing down. Sneaky round buggers. I love this game.
Test your memory skills by figuring out what these 20 NES games are from the box art and an image from the game. Go play! Brought back some fond memories ^_^
5 Minutes to Kill Yourself: Man I can't wait until I'm a cubicle pencil pusher and this game becomes relevant. As someone who is trapped in a terrible job, you decide to stick it to the man by sticking it to yourself. Find ways to kill yourself around the office - whether it be by stapler, paper shredder, or shark tank. Quick, you only have 5 minutes to do it! This gory game is a part of Adult Swim.
Bible Fight: Another game on Adult Swim. You play as one of seven popular Bible characters and rosary whip, stampede, and plague your way to a K.O. My favorite part is figuring out the stories that accompany each fight move. ^_^ Not only is it well animated, it plays really well too. Great if you love Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and a little bit of sacrilege.
Tangerine Panic: Fun little time-waster where you try to dodge bouncing tangerines. It's not easy. I really like the music and the little comments that the stick man makes.
ZWOK: This crazy alien snowball fighting game, apparently made by Sony Europe, is fun, cute, addictive, and best of all, multiplayer! You use different weapons to defeat the other team, and your character can grow to have better abilities and weapons. Great game.
I'm a sucker for word games, and I've found a word game online that I can't stop playing. In Guessword, you work with other online users to try to figure out the word. It's similar to the game Mastermind, where they tell you how many letters are in the correct place, or how many letters are correct, but in the wrong place. The people playing it (at least right now), are SUPER fast too... so far I've only guessed one word correctly, but someone guessed it right before me. If you need a good time waster, play Guessword with me!
I'm sure there's a little part in all of us that wishes that we were really in a RPG. Or that we could level up our XP and get sweet skillz. Our time has come, folks, in the form of Chore Wars, an online game that turns mundane tasks into RPG goodness. Recruit a party of adventures (your family) and assign experience points for chores, and as their XP increases, so do their levels and classes. Really, it's just a cheap attempt to make kids enjoy taking out the trash and doing the dishes. And I am totally going to submit my kids to this if this is still around. Muehehehehe...
BoM Beat Battle from Newgrounds takes rhythm games to a new level. It's arcade style, but for every move, you have to press the correct keys at the right time, to the beat. Good time waster, and keeps those typing fingers nimble.
If you're having trouble waiting for the next installment in the Katamari Damacy series, or confused about whether you actually have the right console for the next game (is it on the Wii and the PS3 now?), then head over to 8-bit Katamari, where the music is midi, the objects are square, and the target goal is as ridiculous as the King's headgear.
It's been a while. Let's talk video games, shall we?
There's a ton of stuff I want to update about, but I've been bogged down by school and work and trying to catch up on sleep. But my bookmarks folder is getting pretty insane, and I'm tired of not updating. So I'm thinking I'm just going to knock everything out in one whopper of a post, seeing as most of this stuff is pretty old news, and my night class got canceled so I have three extra hours to bum around ^_^ Sorry, this is going to be pretty unorganized and to the point!
ONLINE TIMEWASTERS
To start things off, here are the two main reasons why I'm doing terribly this semester - Scrabulous (online Scrabble) and Warbook (a strategy, level-up type game), two of the most popular applications on Facebook. Be forewarned - these games are incredibly addicting.
DiggKiller is a simple shooter game where you kill recent top stories on Digg.com. I like how when the stories explode, you can collect all the comments, heh. Pretty clever.
Even though it's not really a game, the treehugger in me has to plug Consumer Consequences, a flash application that calculates how many Earths it would take to sustain life if everyone lived like you did. It takes 4 Earths for me, but there's little I change while I live in an apartment complex :(
Lastly, some of the best time wasters on the net - Grow Games. I've mentioned these before, but they're still fun and challenging, and very cute, of course. ^_^
SO YOU WANT KAWAII... Wan! Entertainment Music Channel
I don't understand... why are the dogs dancing in little costumes??!
Angel Love Online
This MMO is called Angel Love Online 'Nuff said.
MUSICAL GAMES
To the makers of the fully functional Lego and KissGuitar Hero controllers - you're insane! But good work.
Anna has introduced me to Anime Song Generator, and while I'm not sure this is a game, it's closely related enough. It's a computer program that lets you create sickeningly poppy anime songs, and the results are pretty impressive. It's like GarageBand for otakus, yikes.
I haven't said anything about Rock Band yet. Wired has covered it pretty extensively, so I say just go check out their articles. But basically, it's like Guitar Hero but with the whole band, the setlist is killer, and since this game is produced by MTV, the game includes the actual songs rather than covers like in Guitar Hero and all the other Konami games (like the RATM cover in GH3 :shudder:). The only kicker? it's $200. Sigh.
101 Things You Didn't Know About Games - No list should be longer than 50. But this still includes a lot of interesting trivia to, you know, impress the stranger in the elevator with.
UP AND COMING WII GAMES Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is coming to the Wii, PS2 and PSP this holiday season in a Phoenix Wright-like crime solving game.
Be prepared to use the force as you swing your light saber Wiimote in the upcoming Star Wars game.
Read everything you ever wondered about the new Wii title, MySims, which is high on my to-buy list.
This beautiful 2D platformer, Eternity's Child, is making the move from XBox's Live Arcade to the Wii and DS. I don't know much about this game, but it looks gorgeous, and the plot sounds intriguing.
RELIVING THE LEGENDS Chrono Trigger, one of my favorite games of all freakin' time, has been lovingly retranslated into clearer English! It's available in HTML, Excel files, text files, and as a playable patch. I'm excited, I'll happily replay this game.
I thought I had more for this section, but I guess Chrono Trigger is it. Whoops.
And one of the most beautiful games of all time - Okami - now has a book completely dedicated to the art from the game. Really, it's more a study of Japanese art rather than video game art. I'd really, really like this for Christmas, thanks. ^_^
Warning: Do Not Attempt To Start Any Of These Games
CNet UK has compiled a list of the ten most additive flash games EVER. Unfortunately, now that this list is out, my life will go from slightly productive to zero. A few familiar ones are on the list - Line Rider, Desktop Tower Defense, and the newly popular Portal that I still have to check out - but there's also a game all about poop, and another where you kill zombies, which will NEVER be addictive for me.
Well, I've warned you! Have a nice rest of the day! :skips off to plaaay:
I'm sorry, I've been keeping something to myself and not telling you all about it. If you had any sense of humor back in the 90s, you loved the game 
