A New Arrival, Etc......
Hi again, all you rabid fans who have been just drooling over your keyboards just waiting for me to do another post. Well, here it is, so you can stop drooling for a few minutes, at least.
We welcomed a new member to our family on January 7th. (yes, I know I'm a little late, but you all know I can't ruin my reputation for procrastination when it comes to this blog) Derek Joel Martin arrived at about 1:20 PM. He was a good-sized baby, weighing in at 8 lb, 2 oz. (I don't remember how long/tall he was though) For the most part, he is a good baby, and seems to be a little more laid back than Karissa, which is a good thing. He is almost 7 weeks old now, and when we last weighed him a couple of weeks ago, he had already beefed up to a little over 10 1/2 lb.
And, here's a picture......
Karissa is talking much more and learning much more. She says all kinds of new words and, with a little help, can count to 10! She was talking in her bath the other night about Lee, Jussin, Kemin, Susan, and Debi! She didn't get all the names quite exactly right, but the were all there! Also, one evening a week or so ago, Renee was doing something in a hurry, and something didn't go quite right, so she said "oh, shoot!" A few days later Mom was babysitting Karissa at the shop and Karissa was playing with a roll of adding machine tape. She dropped it and said "shoot! shoot!" We got a big kick out of that. The moral of the story: Be VERY careful what you say around children this age!
I have yet to do my "My Favorite Video Games of 2007" post yet, so I think I'll just do an abbreviated version of it now. I think I have already posted about most of them already, so I'll just do a short note about each one. If you want to know more about them , there's always gamespot.com or ign.com! Also, since I only played seven games last year, I'll just do a brief note about each one, instead of just the top five.
First, I started out the year with Psychonauts, a 3D platformer. It takes place in a "Psychic Summer Camp" (kind of like most Summer camps you could send kids to for a couple of weeks) which is for kids who have special psychic powers. I know this sounds like it would be some wierd occultish game, but it really isn't. Your character runs away from home to attend the camp, and his parents are called to come get him. While you are waiting, you are allowed to participate in the camp activities on a limited basis. Then, the kids' brains start disappearing! As in see-in-one-of-their-ears-and-out-the-other brain disappearing. And, of course it's up to you to find out what's going on and save the day. Each level in the game takes place inside of the mind of someone in the game, and you will encounter the objects of their nightmares, things that happened to them in their past, thir hopes and dreams, etc. Very ineresting and very creative and fun.
Then for a change of pace, I spent the most time I've ever spent on a racing game, Quantum Redshift. It's a futuristic racing game for the XBOX and is basically a clone of the Playstation Wipeout series. You pilot high-speed armed hovercraft around futuristic tracks. It's quite a lot of fun, and VERY competitive on the higher speed classes. Ther were a number of races that I won as the only racer to finish! The competition is that stiff at times!
Then, I played Army Men RTS, a real-time strategy game for the PS2. The Amry Men series is described as "real combat, plastic men", and it fits perfectly. In each mission, you collect resources from toys, batteries, and other such items scattered around the environments, build a base, and attempt to accomplish the mission objectives. It reminds me a lot of the Cannon Fodder game that I had when I was a kid, only with plastic soldiers that turn into plastic blobs instead of bleeding when you shoot them. Good times!
Next I played Chicken Little:Ace in Action for the Wii. It is a 3d platformer/3rd-person shooter that would seem very much like a shorter, Chicken Little themed version of Ratchet & Clank, which I love, and since no Ratchet & Clank game came to the PS2 last year, it fit in nicely. At the end of the Chicken Little movie, a hollywood movie was made of the story, featuring Chicken little and his pals as grown-up hero types. This game is based on that movie in the movie. It was a little short, but very much fun while it lasted.
Next, I played the Wii game that I originally bought my Wii for- Metroid Prime 3:Corruption. It is a first-person adventure/shooter like the previous Metroid Primes. Beautiful graphics, great puzzles, epic boss battles, lots of power-ups to collect. Just what you'd expect from another Metroid game. I didn't think it was quite as good as the previous Primes, but I think it was mainly because it was the third one, and wasn't just terribly different from the two previous ones. It was still an excellent game, and I'll play through it again sometime.
Then, I played Super Paper Mario for the Wii. The previous Paper Mario games have been RPGs, which I am not a fan of, but this one is quite unique. It is a 2D/3D platformer with some RPG elements thrown in. Mostly, it is a classic 2D platformer, much like the NES and SNES Mario games, but, at the touch of a button, you can flip into 3D. There are some puzzles and platforms that can only be reached/solved in 2D, 3D, or with a few switches back and forth. Very creative, unique, and lots of fun.
And, finally, 2007 must have been the year of the Wii for me, because 4 of the 7 games I played were Wii games, and the first one I played this year was for the Wii. I finished out the year with Super Monkey Ball:Banana Blitz. It's basically just like the previous Super monkey ball games (roll your monkey in a hamster ball through the maze and collect as many bananas as possible before the time runs out), except that you can make your monkey jump and it uses the Wii's tilt controls instead of the analog control stick. It's definitely the best Super Monkey Ball game and the only one I've finished, but I wish it had some of the party games that the earlier ones had.
What are a few that are likely to make next year's list? Super Mario Galaxy? Ratchet & Clank:Size matters? Panzer Dragoon Orta? Snoopy vs. the Red Baron? Check back next year to see. (knowing me, that'll also be the next time I update?
And, finally My littlest sister Susan is getting married next weekend. I won't give out too many details, since anyone who's reading this probably knows more than I do (I just know I'm an usher and have to be up and about for pictures WAY too early Sturday morning). I could use some help trying to come up with some memorable stunts to pull at the wedding though. :-)
Anyway, untill next time......
We welcomed a new member to our family on January 7th. (yes, I know I'm a little late, but you all know I can't ruin my reputation for procrastination when it comes to this blog) Derek Joel Martin arrived at about 1:20 PM. He was a good-sized baby, weighing in at 8 lb, 2 oz. (I don't remember how long/tall he was though) For the most part, he is a good baby, and seems to be a little more laid back than Karissa, which is a good thing. He is almost 7 weeks old now, and when we last weighed him a couple of weeks ago, he had already beefed up to a little over 10 1/2 lb.
And, here's a picture......
Karissa is talking much more and learning much more. She says all kinds of new words and, with a little help, can count to 10! She was talking in her bath the other night about Lee, Jussin, Kemin, Susan, and Debi! She didn't get all the names quite exactly right, but the were all there! Also, one evening a week or so ago, Renee was doing something in a hurry, and something didn't go quite right, so she said "oh, shoot!" A few days later Mom was babysitting Karissa at the shop and Karissa was playing with a roll of adding machine tape. She dropped it and said "shoot! shoot!" We got a big kick out of that. The moral of the story: Be VERY careful what you say around children this age!
I have yet to do my "My Favorite Video Games of 2007" post yet, so I think I'll just do an abbreviated version of it now. I think I have already posted about most of them already, so I'll just do a short note about each one. If you want to know more about them , there's always gamespot.com or ign.com! Also, since I only played seven games last year, I'll just do a brief note about each one, instead of just the top five.
First, I started out the year with Psychonauts, a 3D platformer. It takes place in a "Psychic Summer Camp" (kind of like most Summer camps you could send kids to for a couple of weeks) which is for kids who have special psychic powers. I know this sounds like it would be some wierd occultish game, but it really isn't. Your character runs away from home to attend the camp, and his parents are called to come get him. While you are waiting, you are allowed to participate in the camp activities on a limited basis. Then, the kids' brains start disappearing! As in see-in-one-of-their-ears-and-out-the-other brain disappearing. And, of course it's up to you to find out what's going on and save the day. Each level in the game takes place inside of the mind of someone in the game, and you will encounter the objects of their nightmares, things that happened to them in their past, thir hopes and dreams, etc. Very ineresting and very creative and fun.
Then for a change of pace, I spent the most time I've ever spent on a racing game, Quantum Redshift. It's a futuristic racing game for the XBOX and is basically a clone of the Playstation Wipeout series. You pilot high-speed armed hovercraft around futuristic tracks. It's quite a lot of fun, and VERY competitive on the higher speed classes. Ther were a number of races that I won as the only racer to finish! The competition is that stiff at times!
Then, I played Army Men RTS, a real-time strategy game for the PS2. The Amry Men series is described as "real combat, plastic men", and it fits perfectly. In each mission, you collect resources from toys, batteries, and other such items scattered around the environments, build a base, and attempt to accomplish the mission objectives. It reminds me a lot of the Cannon Fodder game that I had when I was a kid, only with plastic soldiers that turn into plastic blobs instead of bleeding when you shoot them. Good times!
Next I played Chicken Little:Ace in Action for the Wii. It is a 3d platformer/3rd-person shooter that would seem very much like a shorter, Chicken Little themed version of Ratchet & Clank, which I love, and since no Ratchet & Clank game came to the PS2 last year, it fit in nicely. At the end of the Chicken Little movie, a hollywood movie was made of the story, featuring Chicken little and his pals as grown-up hero types. This game is based on that movie in the movie. It was a little short, but very much fun while it lasted.
Next, I played the Wii game that I originally bought my Wii for- Metroid Prime 3:Corruption. It is a first-person adventure/shooter like the previous Metroid Primes. Beautiful graphics, great puzzles, epic boss battles, lots of power-ups to collect. Just what you'd expect from another Metroid game. I didn't think it was quite as good as the previous Primes, but I think it was mainly because it was the third one, and wasn't just terribly different from the two previous ones. It was still an excellent game, and I'll play through it again sometime.
Then, I played Super Paper Mario for the Wii. The previous Paper Mario games have been RPGs, which I am not a fan of, but this one is quite unique. It is a 2D/3D platformer with some RPG elements thrown in. Mostly, it is a classic 2D platformer, much like the NES and SNES Mario games, but, at the touch of a button, you can flip into 3D. There are some puzzles and platforms that can only be reached/solved in 2D, 3D, or with a few switches back and forth. Very creative, unique, and lots of fun.
And, finally, 2007 must have been the year of the Wii for me, because 4 of the 7 games I played were Wii games, and the first one I played this year was for the Wii. I finished out the year with Super Monkey Ball:Banana Blitz. It's basically just like the previous Super monkey ball games (roll your monkey in a hamster ball through the maze and collect as many bananas as possible before the time runs out), except that you can make your monkey jump and it uses the Wii's tilt controls instead of the analog control stick. It's definitely the best Super Monkey Ball game and the only one I've finished, but I wish it had some of the party games that the earlier ones had.
What are a few that are likely to make next year's list? Super Mario Galaxy? Ratchet & Clank:Size matters? Panzer Dragoon Orta? Snoopy vs. the Red Baron? Check back next year to see. (knowing me, that'll also be the next time I update?
And, finally My littlest sister Susan is getting married next weekend. I won't give out too many details, since anyone who's reading this probably knows more than I do (I just know I'm an usher and have to be up and about for pictures WAY too early Sturday morning). I could use some help trying to come up with some memorable stunts to pull at the wedding though. :-)
Anyway, untill next time......
posted by Jason Martin at 2:53 PM
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