It was a relatively quiet week gaming news. So quiet in fact that I declare Pokemon/alpaca crossovers as news!
But on a more serious note, my mind was totally blown when I discovered you’re actually not supposed to play into an NES cartridge.
Mind.
Blow.
Here are some people on YouTube you should totally follow
Maybe this would be more fit for a Twitter Follow Friday, but I’ll do what I can. I don’t often watch video game videos online. I usually stick to my main channels, like the Angry Video Game Nerd and Egoraptor. But lately there have been some others I’ve been enjoying, and you should too!
JonTron: He is a comedic gamer that makes very interesting videos looking at (sometimes) crappy games. Very entertaining.
Egoraptor: As mentioned above, Egoraptor is a cartoonist that has a certain love of gaming. His animations are fantastic, his voice acting is hilarious, and you should be watching his stuff.
Game Grumps: Strangely, the two above YouTubers recently started a channel together where they play and comment about any and every game they get their hands on. I very rarely watch Let’s Play videos, or commentaries such as this, but these two are just hilarious. It’s a good channel to watch when you just want something to listen too and iTunes isn’t doing it for you.
Did You Know Gaming?: I’ve mentioned their blog before, but DYK Gaming has a pretty cool (despite being an upstart) channel with videos containing finely edited material to go along with their written blog. I think the title of the channel describes what you’ll be getting in each video: game trivia and knowledge!
All three Mass Effect games are getting bundled together, so the two of you that haven’t played them yet can finally play them
Just in case you somehow missed playing any of the three exception space-RPG masterpieces by BioWare, you can soon get them all in one convenient collection. Dubbed the Mass Effect Trilogy, the compilation will include all three games, come with a sleek new case, and only set you back $60. Not bad, considering each game is well over 30 hours and your character can be used throughout each game. The package will drop November 7th of this year. (Source: Kotaku)
Mario’s creator sheds some light on many questions gamers have about the Mario series
Many games, myself included, have wondered many a thing about Mario: Why does he play tennis with Bowser if he keeps kidnapping Peach? How many children does Bowser actually have. And is Mario’s last name really Mario? Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario (and many/most of Nintendo’s other major franchises) took to answering these questions and more in an issue of Game Informer magazine. It’s a fun read for any Nintendo fan. (Source: Game Informer)
Turns out blowing in your NES cartridge didn’t do anything to help the game work properly
A recent article via Mental_Floss found that blowing your your NES game cartridge in hopes that the game would load properly was nothing but a false solution. Through research, the team discovered that the game not loading properly was due to pins in the NES system and the cartridge not lining up properly due to springs wearing out over time (it’s more complicated than that, but that’s the gist). So when you would take the game out and blow in it, put the cart back into the console, and the game magically worked, it wasn’t your blowing that fixed it, but the second chance the system and game pins had to line up that solved the issue. You know, this seems so simple, I am honestly surprised this wasn’t discovered in, oh you know, the 1980’s! Anyway, the article also says blowing into a game cartridge is actually bad for the game, so stop blowing your video games! (Source: Kotaku)
Ever wonder what Pokemon crossed with Alpacas would look like? Me neither, but the results are adorable!
In what is easily the coolest Tumblr post of the week, you can now see a few of your favorite Pokemon as alpacas. I only mention this because my girlfriend absolutely loves alpacas. In fact, she usually swoons over any particularly fuzzy stuffed plush alpaca, and she’s also a Pokemon fan. So the two crossing paths is almost like the world exploding in a mass of criminally cute softness. (Source: Tumblr)
Xbox Live Rewards program gives you gifts for your Gamerscore
Starting right now (!) you can sign up for Microsoft’s new My Achievements rewards program. Microsoft already had the Xbox Rewards program available, which allowed gamers to take surveys, earn MS Points, and in general earn something for all the money you’re throwing at the company. With this new program however, you earn via your Gamerscore: the more Achievement points you have, the better tier you fall into, and higher tiers give out better rewards. The first tier at >9999 GS gives you a free birthday gift, the next tier between 10000 GS and 24999 GS gives you the gift and a 1% rebate on all Xbox Live purchases, and the final tier for <25000 GS gives you the gift and a staggering 2% rebate on purchases. Really Mircosoft? That’s the best you can do? (Source: Machinima)
Laters,
Jsick
