Category Archives: Video Games
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.
XBLA Deals You Wont Want to Miss!
A glimpse of an upcoming deal flowed through my twitter feed today. Upon further research and confirmation from http://majornelson.com/ early reports appear to be true. This Friday a slew of XBLA titles will be available at 50% OFF.
Friday April 15th 2011 you can get the following titles at bargain prices:
- Limbo – 600 pts
- Castle Crashers – 600 pts
- Shadow Complex – 600 pts
- Trials HD – 600 pts
- Monday Night Combat – 600 pts
Now I’ve already purchased the first 3 titles, which I highly recommended, but with a deal like this I may not be able to pass up the purchase of a 4th or possible 5th addition to the collection.
If i had to recommended just one.. it would probably be Limbo, or Shadow Complex, you really can’t go wrong. I reviewed Limbo when it first came out for GirlGamer.com.. You can read that review HERE.
No matter what your genre is, these are quality titles at a fantastic price. So dust off your MS points and don’t miss out!
Meet Hogrocket Studios!
It wasn’t that long ago that we told you about the unfortunate closure of Bizarre Creations but we also knew it wouldn’t take long before some of these talented folks would start to resurface…and now they have!
Meet Hogrocket!
Hogrocket was founded in March 2011 by three former senior members of award-winning developer Bizarre Creations and will concentrate on providing extremely high-quality games on mobile, social and connected platforms.
The three founding members of Hogrocket are:
Want to find out more? Click HERE to read the full article at GirlGamer.com
Call me Princess! Cool Princesses in Video Games.
Top ten Princesses it would be cool to be.
You know how the cliché goes: every little girl dreams of growing up to become a princess.
*cue rainbows and harpsichords*
Being a princess means a fairly tale wedding or lineage appointed royalty and it is usually associated with attitudes of entitlement or helplessness. But not all princesses are created equal. Here’s a list of ten princesses who are as cool as the other side of the pillow.
Challenge: Can you name the game that each princess first appears in? Extra bragging rights if you know the game AND system.
MyaSharona.com 
