Author Archives: Sharon
On The Road to Review
Currently On The Road to Review:
Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game
Real-Time Grand-Strategy: a game genre that’s as complicated to say as it is to undertake but in the best possible way!
Paradox Interactive, a former division of Paradox Entertainment, are hitting 2011 hard with a HUGE list of releases. Among others you can expect to see Sword of the Stars II: The Lords of Winter, Pride of Nations, Salem, King Arthur II, and this newly released title Darkest Hour.
“Darkest Hour is a stand-alone Hearts of Iron game featuring a mixture of short and in-depth campaigns set across the darkest chapters of the 20th century, from the outbreak of the Great War up to the onset of the Cold War.” -Paradox Interactive
And when they say “in-depth” they aren’t kidding. Granted, it has been many moons since I fully immersed myself in any type of real-time strategy game, let alone a GRAND strategy wargame like the one here, however all of the time eating action and addictive concepts are seeping their way back into my gaming limelight. There is a steep learning curve, for me, being satisfied here and therefore the review of this April release may be a while still to come.
Gameplay features in Darkest Hour include:
- Short and grand campaigns allow players to experience the darkest hours of the 20th century, from the Great War to the onset of the Cold War
- New map, redesigned to offer greater detail as well as strategic and tactical opportunities
- Dynamic diplomatic system giving the player greater influence on the course of events
- New artificial intelligence capable of reacting to hundreds of different situations
New Post at GamerFitNation
GFN Gives Back: Mike Cichowicz Winner of PS Move and Tomb Raider Trilogy
We say THANK YOU to Mike Cichowicz
You may recall, a little while ago, GamerFitNation launched the GFN Gives Backprogram in which we reward supporters of the site with great prizes. We are happy to announce that we were recently able to name our first winner!
Congratulations to Mike Cichowicz of Norwalk Connecticut who won A Sony Playstation Move and TombRaider Trilogy for the PS3. Mike was our 25th donator of $5.00 or more and for helping support the site, GamerFitNation wanted to give back.
“I’m so happy I got to win the move and tomb raider! Thanks GFN!”
What is the GFN Gives Back program?
To recognize the support of its fans, GamerFitNation is launching a new program to thank supporters of the site. The GamerFitNation Gives Back initiative will give donators an opportunity to win great prizes which will be related to gaming and health.
Read more about the program at GamerFitNation.com
Transformers: Dark of The Moon: The Ultimate Battle is Coming
New at GFN
Transformers: Dark of The Moon
Transformers: Dark of The Moon, Michael Bay’s anticipated conclusion to the blockbuster series, hits theatres July 1st in the US and fans of the series will want to be sure to pick up the upcoming game of the same name. Published by Activision, Transformers: Dark of The Moon the game (herein referred to as DOTM) is a sequential prequel to the film and players are given the chance to to experience the epic battles on Earth that will shape the events of the upcoming blockbuster film.
Developers High Moon Studios and Behaviour Interactive have brought us a new gameplay mechanic called Stealth Force. Players will be able to instantly convert to a third, hybrid state that combines the weapons and firepower of Robot Mode with the agility and maneuverability of Vehicle Mode. The developers didn’t forget about multiplayer; fans can play the game with or against their friends through intense, online multiplayer game modes as iconic characters
DOTM has key features that will engage us in some really cool gameplay, features such as:
Read about the game features at GamerFitNation.com
New Article at GFN
Keeping Fit: Mind, Body, AND Soul
When we talk about being ‘fit’ it is easy to conclude that we might be talking about workouts, muscles, and getting in top physical shape. Being fit, however, is a result of exercise for the mind, body, and ‘soul’. Exploring the ways we can use technology to help us maintain and develop an overall level of fitness is exciting and fun but ultimately it is up to us to understand and exercise all areas of fitness.
Exercising the mind
We all love a good puzzle game, a good noodle scratcher, something to get the hamster running, but does this kind of mental exercise (such as a brain training game) really have merit when it comes to a fit mind?
Scientific America stated in 2009 that while nearly 50 studies of this activity had already taken place “most of these early studies were done on rodents”. Melinda Smith, M.A. (an editorial writer with a masters degree in psychology) suggests, in a recently revised article, that physical fitness including important areas such as sleep, food, and exercise all aid in achieving fit mental health. In her article “How to Improve your memory: tips and exercised to sharpen your mind and boost brainpower” she provides similar exercises to help memory and cognitive skills as the ones found at Lumosity.com.
Lumosity is a website offering users fun, engaging exercises for improving the brain. Lumosity.com grounds all of its brain exercises in extensive research and cutting-edge science from around the world. Under the guidance of their Scientific Advisory Board — which includes researchers from such institutions as UCSF and Stanford — their neuroscientists design their training programs to produce noticeable cognitive benefits. Using novel, engaging and constantly adapting challenges, our exercises strategically target brain areas such as memory, attention and processing speed.
Of course I decided to give it a try. …
Read the rest of my article at GamerFitNation.com
The next Contender has been chosen!
I am really looking forward to doing some fan art related to my next venture.
Here’s a little, nay big, hint.
Call me Snake.
I have been a Metal Gear fan for a very long time and yet somehow I haven’t kept up with the numerous iterations as much as my fandom would indicate.
Despite PSN being down today for a third day I intend to continue as planned and spend Saturday of Easter weekend with Snake. Let’s hope that MGS4 is everything I am hoping it will be.
*my low tech instagram screen snap*
NES Challenge: Adventure Island II
The year was 1991. As a gleefully naive eleven year old, I wonder what ‘war’ really means while I follow the news regarding turmoil in Iraq. The shortcuts on my computer take me to Lemmings, Hugo, and my favorite of that year, Duke Nukem. While the family nintendo enjoys a useful rotation between my brother, myself, and our friends, having a computer in my room at eleven years of age (and honestly even long before that) means uninterrupted game time. The result of my indifference to consoles at the time made for many missed hours of game play with popular NES titles.
In my NES challenge I intend to take a look back at the titles I missed. Some games good, others not, but all having a place as “a bit of gaming history that I missed”.
First Look: Adventure Island II
Adventure Island II was developed and published by Hudson Soft and made release on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy in February of 1991. The story is aparantly one in which we find Master Higgins, a tropical villager who is trying to save his girlfriend from the aliens that are invading places surrounding Adventure Island; he is aided by skateboards, dinosaurs, and axes. Unsurprisingly very little of this story was apparent to me as I played the game.
What I loved:
The Characters: While Master Higgins himself is an endearingly chubby little fella, he can really book it when he needs to. The only thing that made me smile more than his era appropriate skateboarding was the dinosaur helpers he encounters along the way. Yes I may be somewhat guilty of already being partial to dinosaurs but these colorful dinos have the biggest eyes and goofiest grins and I just love it! After reflecting upon my time playing I found that I had inadvertently collected screen-grabs containing the friendly dinos almost exclusively.
Water levels: If you know me then it will come as no shock to you when I say that nothing beats a great side scrolling water level. Adventure Island II has plenty! Seaweed, bombs, jellyfish, nor-whales (i think), and crazy encapsulating bubbles all proved to make my water levels that much more exciting!
The music: Yes, this challenge is, in part, an attempt to become more familiar with awesome game music that I may have missed from ‘the good old days’. Because my mind has now been opened to this element of game play I have become much more aware of when these funny little tunes get stuck in my head. Whether my enjoyment of the Adventure Island II melodies is because this game is my first in the challenge or not, I can’t say for sure, but I did find myself humming along. I am okay with this result.
What I didn’t love:
The weapons: Don’t get me wrong, the axe is cute! What I wished for was a slightly larger variety of weaponry. Let’s face it, I am fighting against a myriad of jungle creatures all with different offense and unless I am able to utilize the tail whip of my adorable buggy eyed dino, the axe is all i have.
Level End Prize Egg: I have to assume that not all the eggs in the egg rotation that occurs at the end of each level contains a measly 100pts but no matter my strategy that is all I was ever able to obtain.
As I played through the game I approached each level with different strategies. At first I made an attempt to kill everything in sight. Later levels had me attempt avoidance at all costs. I took my time, I raced through, I considered all possible ways to play the game. And in the end my success rates were about the same.
My first venture into the vast pool of gaming experiences that I missed was an enjoyable one. While the game will never be one of my top ten I did truly enjoy my time with Master Higgins and knowing that there were more iterations to follow is a good thing. More Adventure Island means more chances for me to see how the franchise developed and whether or not it really is one of the more substantial pieces of game history that just happen to be clouded by my interest in other areas.
Now that the first game in The NES Challenge has wrapped up it is time to look forward. I wonder what will be next….
Bioware and Ubisoft ready to sweep the Canadian VGAs.
The finalists have been announced and the 2011 Canadian Video Game Awards are ready to honor the very best Canadian made games.
Leading the pack of nominations is Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.
More than 70 nominations were received this year from all parts of Canada, with 31 submissions represented in the list of finalists. Winners will be voted on by a body of industry experts from across the country.
FINALISTS
Game of the Year
- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
- Dead Rising 2
- FIFA 11
- Mass Effect 2
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
Best Console Game
- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
- Dead Rising 2
- FIFA 11
- Mass Effect 2
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
Best Game on the Go
- Lil’ Pirates
- Osmos for iPad
- Scrabble for iPad
- A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks
- Trainyard
Best Downloadable Game……….
Head on over to GamerFitNation to read about the rest of the nominees, categories, and find out how to cast YOUR vote!
Sega Spotlight for GFN
A look back at Sega.
There are only a few major names in video games that resonate for new and long time gamers alike and Sega is one of those. The Sega we are familiar with made waves with its legacy of home consoles, the first being the SG-1000, but in actuality Sega began as far back as the 1940s. Even with a strong presence in the arcades Sega continued to take on the home console market before shifting away from hardware production at the turn of the century. Continuing to hold their place in the video games industry Sega brings us big titles across many platforms.
In the beginning a few fellas, namely Marty Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert, realized that the US military men in Honolulu had an abundance of free time and nothing to do. Out of this situation the three men worked to create coin-operated amusements before moving their operation to Japan naming it Service Games of Japan. Get it? SErvice GAmes of Japan! Ah HA! There’s the humble beginnings of SE-GA! Rosen Enterprises and Service Games merged in 1965 to create create………….
Head on over to GamerFitNation to read my full article.
New Logos: Sneak Peek!
I made a set of logos/images for the blog and today I’m going to give you just a little taste of what i have in store.
Stay tuned for the rest as they are put into use here at MyaSharona.com.
MyaSharona.com 
