MOVIE MONDAY! - Runaway Brain

Hey hey, it's Monday and you know what that means, right? Absolutely correct, it's MOVIE MONDAY!!! Today we take a look at one of the best Mickey Mouse shorts that probably hasn't seen the light of day since 1995.


Oh yes, I love the smell of forgotten treasures, don't you? Runaway Brain was Mickey's last theatrical short and for a brief time, was played before the movie "A Kid in King Arthur's Court." Honestly, I didn't drag my Mom out to go take me to specifically see that movie. No no, I of course just wanted to see the new Mickey Mouse cartoon. And this time, Mickey was edgy. He was hip. He was up to the times. Why?

Because he played videogames! Yes, the cartoon starts off with Mickey addicted to a video game and playing it in the dark alone at night. I could totally relate to that. Pretty different from the classic Mickey cartoons of the 30s and 40s, but I feel it was an accurate statement of life in the 90s.

Even look here, when the camera pans to Mickey's television, you see a Snow White game where apparently Dopey is fighting off an evil witch. It's fake, by the way, but it looks like it's trying to parody another game. Can anyone say MORTAL KOMBAT? See? Look, Dopey looks like he's going to pull off a ninja move, there's a lifeline over the witch, and apparently six other dwarfs died. K.O.s, without a doubt. I think Mortal Kombat came out around this time too, somewhere in the early to mid 90s. It's another statement that I think the animators were trying to make.


Basically, the cartoon starts off with the premise that Mickey was lazy, irresponsible, and totally into his games. This pisses off Minnie who has wanted to do something special for their anniversary and knows that Mickey forgot. That speaks to me. I truly think I can learn something from this cartoon, people. Yes, I have it! Remember to lock your door so your girlfriend can't interrupt you when you're on the last level. Okay, peace! I'm out.

Anthony

P.S. In case you're wondering, Mickey successfully makes up for his irresponsibility to Minnie after a harrowing but hilarious journey.

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Great Moments in Videogame Dining

Okay, so when you think of videogames, you of course think of a dining experience, right? Anyone? Anyone? No? I'm the only one here? Okay, fine. Be that way, you uncultured people.


Yeah but seriously, there were some nifty videogame-related foods back in the day. And by back in the day, I mean MY "back in the day" which would be the mid 90s. You of course had to have your Donkey Kong fruit snacks, your Kraft Super Mario Macaroni and Cheese, and then there was my favorite: Sonic the Hedgehog Pasta with Tomato and Cheese Sauce. Or as liked to call it: Sonic Spaghettios. Probably every other school kid did too.

Now it just so happened that this time period was the peak of the Sonic's popularity. Sonic was just about everywhere. He was on t-shirts. He was on a weekday morning cartoon. He was on a Saturday morning cartoon. He was a huge balloon in the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade. So obviously, character-shaped pasta was the next logical step. This stuff was made of the same ingredients as regular Spaghettios, which tasted pretty good in itself. But when the pasta noodles were shaped like Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Robotnik; that made it taste like 100% awesome. Yes indeed, seeing your pasta in the shape of your favorite videogame characters makes it taste better. I must have eaten a whole truckload of these over the course of my early school years. Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't turn orange. A version came out later that had meatballs in it too, but I liked the non-meatball version better.

When it originally came it, it even had a coupon on the back of the label for a dollar's worth of free tokens at participating arcades. The list of participating arcades was a bit small. The nearest one to me was at the Disneyland Hotel which was actually quite a distance from where I lived at the time. But I did redeem a stack of those collected coupons on one of my annual trips to the Magic Kingdom. Aside from that small factor, it was just cool to think that I was being rewarded with the offer of free arcade games from eating my delicious Sonic Spaghettios.


As you can see in the photo above, it looks like the Sonic the Hedgehog Spaghettios lasted for quite a while from the Genesis days into the newer Dreamcast version of Sonic. I never had the two on the right myself, but I would have to say that it continued to be the most genius collaboration between Sega and a pasta company. I'm not sure if it's still around today since I've outgrown the desire to check the children's canned pasta section at the local market but I'll always remember the good times (probably unhealthy too) that I had with the old school Sonic Spaghettios.

Anthony.

Nintendo DS

I really enjoy playing the Nintendo DS. Its quite useful when you want to pass time or when you are bored. I remember when i was a senior in high school, it was the new buzz and everywhere you turned, someone had one in their hands. I always had to borrow one of my friends to play with them. I don't know why i never got one. But i'm glad i didn't because during that time they did not have the red/black ds. Black and red are my favorite color. Lol but when that came out i still didn't get it. But now that I'm in college, not having one is better. Because I can concentrate on studying, or else i would never have time to study.


Anthony was right about the bomberman game. It definetly is a very entertaining and simple game. I like playing with actual people in this game. I don't like playing with the computers, I feel like they are cheating. There are types of map on this game. I like the one where you try to be the last one standing. Or the one where you have to get the whole map your team color. However, when i play by myself and put the computers on easy, it looks like i'm very good. but when i play with my sisters, i actually suck at it. lol


Another game that I love playing is Tetris. I know this game has been around for decades but it still gives the excitement of clearing lines. Its a very simple game, just trying to put blocks together. I like how the DS allows you to play with many different players at a time. You can also play with people around with world with the Wi-Fi. I never get tired of this game.

NBA 2K9

NBA has came out with another basketball games. They come out with one ever year. Haha it took me a sec to understand what the K mean, but it was NBA 2009. :\ The game was released back in October of 2008 and has a 8 of out 10 rating on Gamespot.com The game is basically picking your favorite team and playing against another team of your choice. And you have control of your whole team. Each year, the games change because each year the Stats of real life players change. In my opinion, thats quite clever.


I've never played the NBA 2k9 version before, but i have played the other ones. I think it was NBA live, i'm not totally sure. I wasn't good at it. I just picked my favorite team, which is the Los Angeles Lakers. Then i just keep pushing the same button. If you push the shoot button, the game will automatically find a way to shoot the ball. I didn't want to learn all the techniques of the game, because i knew i was never going to play it again. It was fun trying to block the other team and etc.




If you want to learn more about basketball, you should onto another blog that is also in the ISDS 265 class: http://fullertonbasketballleague.blogspot.com/ .

PS3 Control like the Nintendo WII

For those of you who like the Nintendo Wii and hate how you have little control over the remote, good news is on the way. PS3 is coming out with a new remote with same technology as the wii remote, but better.


From the website gamepro.com an article about the new remote stated that "A real-time demonstration of the PS3's controller showed that players use the entire controller as a controller by tilting, flipping, and sliding the controller. This is in addition to the controller's standard button functions. The demo showed the upcoming PS3 game Warhawk in action, and the player can control the flight, rolls, and yaw of the jet simply by moving the controller accordingly."
There is also a video from the website, Gamenet.com that demonstrates how the remote is used.

I can't wait until the remote comes out, if it has more accuracy i definitely want to try it out. Maybe it will help me with my motion sickness. Because in ps3 games, i have a hard time trying to control the movements of the screen with that little joystick. I always move it too high or too low and it just drives me crazy. It actually makes me want to throw up and sick at the stomach. It has happened before, its not game related, but the movie Quarantine, it was moving around too much because the directing wanted it to be based on an actual person in the movie holding the camera. It was just moving around too much and i threw up in the theater.


Overall, I still like the games on the Wii more than I like the games on the ps3, so i just hope that nintendo comes out with a better remote.

MOVIE MONDAY! - Back to the Future, Part II

Hey hey, kids of the 80s! Today for Movie Monday, I thought we'd take a look at Back to the Future, Part II. Now if you haven't seen this movie (or the triology) then shame on you! This is one of the best in my book, especially because it shows us what life was like back then and how they thought the future would be. Hey, I'm still waiting for my flying DeLoreans and Mattel hoverboards.


Anyhow, this movie connects to videogames because of the Cafe 80s scene. It's kind of like how we view a 50s diner today, except that it's done 80s style with in-your-face Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan among other crazy way out-of-style things. And of course, what would the 80s be without arcades and videogames! Hey look, there's a Pac Man arcade cabinet in the left corner! Aww, but it looks like it's out of order. Man, that's too bad. I was sure that this time I would be able to get to the kill screen. Yeah right... you know what that is, right? It's when games back then were continuous from level to level and eventually had a screen that automatically ended your game because there just weren't any more levels programmed into memory.


Lo and behold, what do we have in the other corner? Why it's Wild Gunman! And it still works! Now I honestly have never seen an actual Wild Gunman still out in the wild. If ANYONE knows where to find one of these bad boys, please tell me. Back to the movie, the main character Marty McFly tries to impress two future boys by telling them that he's a crackshot at the game and he goes ahead and instantly kills the pixelated desperados on the screen using just one virtual bullet for each with the light gun.


"You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!" says one of the boys, and they both march off disappointed leaving Marty to look like an idiot. BWAHAHAHA.... pwned! Well back in the real world, it's getting awfully close to 2015 when this took place in the movie, and it looks as if we are STILL using controllers, guitars, maracas, light guns, and other peripherals. We had virtual reality for a little while in the 90s, but that seems to have faded into twilight. Of the inventions in the game industry we've had in the last couple of years, Nintendo's Wii is the closest innovation we have to moving away from controllers. That's it for today, people. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see Jaws 19, hydrate a Pizza Hut pizza, and bet some money on the Florida Gators.

Anthony.

Nintendo Wii Redux

Anthony here, kiddies! Okay, so I was going to write about something else today but then here I come and read from Stephanie's blog:

"Well, the Wii is mostly for the family and girls. They target those customers because the games that are for the Wii isn't very graphical for guys to play with."

Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone there! Wii is NOT mostly for the family and girls. Wii is for everyone. And games aren't all about the graphics, it's about how fun of a game it is. Sell the sizzle, not the steak. And by the way Stephanie, I'm not attacking you; I'm just presenting my view.

Case in point. Bomberman is a super old game. Check out the graphics above. Very crappy by today's standards, right? But it is still one hell of a fun game and makes it to the top of my list. Get your manly friends over for 4 player action and you all try to explode each other with bombs and trick them into a trap. The trash talk that comes out of our Bomberman sessions is just hilarious. It's like espionage and explodification put into one, I'm lovin' it!


And let me tell you, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Punch-Out, and Super Smash Bros. are a few Nintendo franchises that aren't JUST for family and girls. Mmmm.... sword fighting, gun blasting, and beat-em-ups. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And of course you've got the regulars that appear on all the systems such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band to name a few.
Besides, Cartman wanted it. CARTMAN, for crying out loud. And you know he doesn't do anything JUST family or girly. Except for Mr. Kitty. And the thing with the pony. But that's another story. [Haven't seen that episode? Watch the full video here] Yes, I will admit that the Wii does attract more families and females than the competing systems do, but I think that the Wii does the best job of putting out games not just for a particular group, but for everyone. Girls. Guys. Families. Midgits. Clowns. Michael Jackson. Now let's all sit down around the campfire to sing some Kumbaya and get to playing Wii where it counts.

Nintendo Wii

Guess what I got my boyfriend for Christmas? That's right. I got him a Wii. A bad idea. I bought the Wii a couple of months before Christmas, and a couple of months b4 Christmas, he said he wanted one. But by the time he changed his mind it was too late. I opened it already. Lol. I wanted to look inside. Well, the Wii is mostly for the family and girls. They target those customers because the games that are for the Wii isn't very graphical for guys to play with. In my opinion, the Wii is fun, and I guess because I am a girl. However, I suck at the games and my bf always beats me in them. :\



My favorite game on the Wii ATM is the tennis game. These games are way better than those shooting games that make you aim and move through the monitor.




The game my boyfriend enjoys the most is probably the resident evil game. I watch him play. It's scary, i don't like when things pop out of no where. I've played a couple of time. The only thing i do is shoot and ending up dying.





I hoping to get more arcade games on the Wii. There are games where you try to throw darts and shoot targets. I'm only interested in those games. I know its boring, but its simple. I'm a very simple person.

Gunbound

Gunbound is another game that I have played. And I'll let you guess, it's 2-D. Gunbound is a online computer game, just like Maplestory. I forgot to mention that in the Maplestory blog. Gunbound is not like Maplestory though. GB is a Player Vs Player game. It is a simple game as well. You create a account, either female and male. The characters all look the same. However, you level up to get avatar to make yourself unique. For beginners, they have a 'chick' by their username. And it will change as you level up. The game is to choose teams from up to 4v4. Each team take turns taking each player out. The last one standing wins.



I played this game back in high school also, i was at the level 'double silver ax'. It wasn't high, but it was something. This game was a bit more entertaining than maplestory IMO. But I don't play games that much anymore. Too much school work :( GB got creating with their avatars, it made me want to level up to be able to get the avatars.

MAPLESTORY!!!

Like Streetfighter, Maplestory is a 2-D games. I love 2-D games. Well I am able to play it without getting motion sickness. Maplestory is leveling game. I believe the game is designed for kids and girls. Maplestory is not like war craft, star craft, or ragnarok that shows dark and un-cute features. Maplestory is a cute game with bright colors. That is what attracted me to the game. The game was simple to follow. There were four different jobs you can choose from, the magician, thief, warrior, and the bowman. I played this game when i was in high school, however, i stopped playing since. It a fun game, it can be addicting. But then you realize that there is know real prize in playing this game. But hey, most games are like that. There isn't really anything beneficial to playing games, but to past time. Many say that it helps with hand eye coordination, but i guess it's true. Anyways, now there's a fifth job, a pirate. That's quite interesting. When I was playing maplestory, there were four worlds, but i think there are at least eight now. I am not sure. The game was fun. You can play with your friends in party quest and just level up with each other. Or you can play solo and do quests on your own too. When I played maplestory, I was a magician. Oh yea, i played the Beta verison until level 50 and they discontinued the Beta Version and created a final game. I was mad because i had to start over. In the game, I played until level 70 and I became bored with it.



If i ever get the chance I will probably download it and just check it out again. However, I doubt I will start playing again. That game took up too much of my time.

MOVIE MONDAY! - Super Mario Bros. Movie

Hey ladies and gents! I'm Anthony and I'll be half of the amazing Anthony and Stephanie Blogging Duo! For these last few weeks in the semester, I plan to take a turn from what Stephanie will probably be posting and take look back at some retro gaming as well as some non-game stuff... based on videogames. Yes indeedy, and away we go.

Today we be trip back to '93 at what some people might consider modern art, what a LOT of people consider a pile a steaming crap, and what I consider to be a cult classic. Got some 'shrooms? That's right, I'm talking about the Super Mario Bros. movie.


So you most likely already know about the Mario Bros. They are always out to save the princess but I'm sorry, the princess is in another castle. This movie is somewhat based on that premise, except that the princess is really a college student in Brooklyn digging around for dinosaur bones, Luigi is the one who has the hots for her, and Mario is an old fart. Daisy gets kidnapped by Iggy and Spike, two evil Koopa brothers introduced in Super Mario 3. They take her back to their dimension in which humans have evolved from dinosaurs, their world is ruled by King Koopa, and Koopa knows about the real world and wants to merge the two together. You see - Daisy happens to belong to royalty of that dimension and has a special rock that can merge our universes together. Luigi goes out to save her, Mario comes along to help his brother, and they encounter a bunch of wacky characters in their quest to save the princess that they didn't initially know was a princess. That is - until she found out herself and introduced them to her father who had been de-evolved into slimy fungi. Will they save her? Well you probably already know the answer. If not, then shame on you! Play the games or watch the movie! Anyways, mischief and mayhem aplenty and well as whole-hearted cheesyness.


And now... the TOP 10 WEIRDEST THINGS ABOUT THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE!

10. While Mario and Luigi for most of the movie wear their trademark red and green overalls, at one point in the movie the wear leisure suits.
9. Toad is a reptile instead of a mushroom thingy like he is in the games. He's also a harmonica-playing hippie.
8. Goombas don't look like evil mushrooms like in the games. They look more like retarded Frankensteins with goofy reptile heads.
7. The Bob-omb enemy apparently wears Reebok shoes. COUGH*Product placement*COUGH
6. Yoshi is shown as a real dinosaur. Cuteness beaten with an ugly stick.
5. The princess is named Daisy. The games are usually based around Princess Toadstool except for the Game Boy version which did have a Daisy.
4. Mario and Luigi are mugged by an old granny for Koopa coins.
3. This might be one of the first times we learn that Mario's name is Mario Mario and Luigi's name is Luigi Mario. Hence the Mario Bros.
2. King Boswer looks human (Dennis Hopper, might I add) and has machines that can de-evolve anyone he doesn't like. Hey, he never had that in the games.
and 1.... The Mushroom Kingdom is dark and corrupt, almost like Tim Burton made it. Almost as creepy as 1990s Gotham City. What happened to the Shigeru Miyamoto's cheery world? Oh yeah, that's right... weird and creepy was popular back then.

So love it or hate it, that's up to you. As for me, I love it for it's cheesy references to the actual Mario games and because it just reeks of 90s pop culture. And this was one of the catalysts for the trend of turning excellent video games into subpar B movies such as Mortal Kombat which came out just a little while later. That's it kids! See you in the next blog!

Streetfighter 4

This game just recently came out about a month ago. It receive a 9 out of 10 on game spot.com. With brand new characters and high quality, the game was a big buzz. It wasn't until recently where I began to be interest in videogames. The only games that I am comfortable with is playing 2-D games. I get motion sickness when I play 3-D games. Most games on the X-box and PS3 is 3-D. So the streetfighter was a game to play. However, being able to look at the screen was one thing, attempting to play was another. It is very difficult to do the combo moves. I am able to play with the basic movies, but one cannot win by just using those moves. Also, I feel more comfortable playing with the basic remotes rather than the joystick. In the game, there is a challenging mode where they teach you the skills of each character. So far, I am only play Ryu and can only pass 2 of the 6 challenges. Its quite sad, but I'm learning. Streetfighter IV is the first streetfighter I've attempted to play. I've seen the others in arcade but never actually learned the moves. I was what they call a button masher.



What are your opinions and comments about Streetfighter IV?