With Super Mario Galaxy, my interest in Nintendo’s classic series started to wane. I just didn’t see how the game could get much better. It was starting to feel so repetitive. Soon after clearing Super Mario Galaxy, I wasn’t obsessive about finding every last secret. But two years later, I wandered into Best Buy. That’s where I would find new excitement for the franchise. On display was the New Super Mario Bros Wii. The game went retro. It’s the traditional 2D style controls, tempered with modern graphics. Oh, and four people can play at the same time. Those seemingly minor additions added life to a 24 year old game.
Author: Photics
Guild Wars – Dead Ends
Guild Wars is a great game. You’d probably expect me to say something like that, considering that I run a Guild Wars fansite. I’ve been playing the game for years. But every once in a while, ArenaNet does something to annoy me. Usually it’s with their storyline. It started with Rurik and it seems to be getting worse. Eventually, the lore travels down roads that are so twisted, I can no longer follow them. I like to beat video games, to complete them entirely, but I have not been able to finish Guild Wars Chapters 3 & 4. There are parts of the game that I consider to be dead ends.
TANK – The Legendary Survivor (Again)
It took longer than expected, but my Ranger is now a Legendary Survivor. There were many failed attempts. Regaining the survivor title was one of my New Year’s Resolutions. That’s why I started one attempt on 1/1/2010. I failed. I started again on 1/11/2010. I failed again. But on 1/14/2010, I started a successful run. By 1/16/2010, TANK had 1,337,500 experience points and one maxed out title. It wasn’t about the journey. It was about the destination – 100% pure grinding. The focus was on speed. Once at Gunnar’s Hold, I jumped from level 11 to 15 in mere minutes. I had been there before, but this time I was extra careful to prevent link deaths or knockouts.
January 11, 2010 Nintendo Downloads – WiiWare, Virtual Console and DSiWare Updates
Wow, I haven’t done one of these updates in a long time. But during the holiday season, Nintendo released some great games to their downloadable library. I recently purchased Blaster Master. While the game didn’t impress me, not like it did back in the 80’s, it did help to get me back into the routine. Nintendo likes to update their library on Mondays, so I decided to check out the latest updates. The DSi picked up some some casual games, like Solitaire, Billiards and Word Search. Meanwhile, the WiiWare library was updated with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. You might recognize the iconic fingerpointing. It has become a popular Internet Meme.
How to Add Menu Items to Android Apps
I’ve been looking at the new Android phones and a lot of them do not have keyboards. I don’t know why the industry is still playing “me too” with iPhone-like interfaces. But as an app developer, I have to be aware of this issue. Considering that keyboard-less android phones have few buttons, the menu button becomes more important. That meant I had to get past a developer hurdle – learning how to add menus to my android apps.