Competition only makes you stronger

December 31st, 2011

Competition only makes you stronger

It’s true what they say, that competition only makes things better. To end what has been a pretty exciting year, my friend Jared and I competed in an all-day video game marathon. I ended up winning big but I owe it all to my opponent.

December 19th, 2011

Four Score and Seven Pongs Ago

I finally get a chance to put my arcade gaming skills to good use as I try to defeat a friend in a year-end gaming marathon. If all goes as planned, you can even watch me win from the comfort of your own home.

September 25th, 2011

Radiant Silvergun review

Radiant Silvergun, one of the most sought after shmups ever is finally available on Xbox . The game play and challenge is the stuff of greatness, but don’t think that will make it easy.

August 1st, 2011

Bastion serves up RPG action

Bastion was the first game in Xbox’s Summer of Arcade and it turned out to be a wonderful way to start. A throw back to the SNES days, Bastion is an full-action RPG that looks great, plays great and just doesn’t disappoint.

July 8th, 2011

Galaga Legions DX and Half Minute Hero review

As promised, my reviews of Galaga Legions DX and Half Minute Hero on XBLA. For the most part, both games lived up to my expectations. Two good games worth your time.

June 28th, 2011

Galaga kicks off an arcade summer

The Summer of Arcade on the Xbox Live Arcade looks to be a decent line-up of titles, but if you ask me, the arcade summer starts this week with the release of Galaga Legions DX…and I have high expectations.

May 13th, 2011

Trouble Witches Neo, cute and chaotic

With a new Xbox on my shelf and a “free” $20 to spend in the Marketplace, I treated myself to some fun. After a few Rock Band tracks, the the two arcade choices at the front of my brain were Outland and Trouble Witches Neo. One was sexy and cool, the other cute and chaotic. [...]

May 6th, 2011

Rush N Attack and Yar’s Revenge review

My review of the new Rush N Attack and Yar’s Revenge remakes on XBLA. One of them was awesome, one of them, not so much. Guess which one sucked?

January 1st, 2011

Protect Me Knight, not tower defense but action defense

Protect Me Knight is an Xbox Indie game that drew me in with retro graphics but blew me away with a great concept, top notch game play and just a lot of fun…not to mention the cool retro graphics and music. If you like tower defense games, then Protect Me Knight brings a new challenge [...]

November 16th, 2010

Indie games start an uprising

I’m a fan of indie games on the Xbox Live Arcade. Yes, there are plenty of cheap avatar games and other shovelware in the indie marketplace, but there are also lots of games worthy of your pennies that will keep you entertained and returning to play. But I admit they aren’t easy to find or [...]

September 20th, 2010

Hypership saves me from Space Invaders

Last week Space Invaders: Infinity Gene was release on XBLA without much fanfare. In fact, I completely forgot about that title being the pipeline until it hit the download store. Being an arcade shooter fan, it was quickly on my “buy it” list but after a while there is a little regret. But thankfully a [...]

August 12th, 2010

Monday Night Combat, a winner in a summer of losers

I’m a big fan of the Xbox Live Arcade, but so far this year’s Summer of Arcade has been less than exciting. The first title to get any sort of eyebrow raise from me has been Monday Night Combat, a tower defense/shooter all in one. And it’s not bad.

May 19th, 2010

Are all games worth at least a dollar?

I’m a cheap ass gamer. I make no apologies for it and I’ve praised the likes of cheap games before, but as I was browsing through the selection of Indie games on Xbox Live last night seeing all the $1 downloads, I asked myself if it’s possible that any game is worth a dollar.

April 6th, 2010

Make more old games new

Everyone complains that there is nothing original happening in movies. It’s just remaking old films with bigger budgets and better special effects. The same can be said for video games, but remakes aren’t a bad idea…if they’re done right.

March 2nd, 2010

Finally, Wipeout on the Xbox, kinda sorta

I used to be a Playstation gamer. The PS1 and PS2 days were a good times for gaming. Sony ruled the roost and never looked back. We all know that changed when the Xbox 360 and then PS3 was released. The PS3 had everything going for it - except a decent price. All but hardest [...]

February 14th, 2010

Darwinia+ makes herding cats fun

You know the term “it’s like herding cats”? Well, herding cats has never been more fun than it is in Darwinia+ on XBL Arcade. It’s a great balance of RTS, puzzle game, and God sim. But I was surprised it ended up being a full title in my library.

January 31st, 2010

Trials HD, a true Excitebike

Trials HD from the Xbox Live Arcade is another title saved by having a big TV. When I played the demo on my old TV, I just couldn’t get into the experience. The graphics were too dark and too small. But now, they’re awesome. This is game is what you’d get if Excitebike was really [...]

December 18th, 2009

Alien Breed Evolution, where’s Sigourney?

I saw Alien Breed Evolution on the XBLA release list and it looked like my kind of game. I never played the original version, so I got the demo and quickly found it is my type of game - shooting, aliens, spaceships…and not to mention a nice $10 price tag.

December 9th, 2009

Finally getting to settle the score

The lack of the arcade culture is something I’ve written about many times before. It’s something I long to see come back since I’m too young to have been there during its prime. The world on-line gaming scene makes it hard to be a local champ, so that leaves the only fun competition between you [...]

December 8th, 2009

Placing value on video games

I’m a value gamer. Despite the fact that hype works on me in most cases, I’m very mindful (too mindful) about which video games I spend my money on. I’m always in a value debate with myself. What’s more important, the replay or one-time experience?

October 4th, 2009

Even more Military Madness

A while ago I discovered Military Madness for the (retro) TurboGrafix 16. It’s a turn-based strategy game that had me playing for hours on end. It was a game that hit the sweet spot for me when it came to strategy games - not too complex yet not too easy. Well, Hudson recently remade Military [...]

August 22nd, 2009

XBL Arcade games need DLC too

The arcade games on Xbox Live are typically pretty cheap, usually under the $20 price point, which makes them very appealing for cheap gamers like myself. But in the age of downloadable content (DLC), gamers expect a longer shelf life for games…even the cheap ones. Too bad developers are seemingly overlooking the DLC for arcade [...]

July 11th, 2009

Battlefield 1943 and a little Magic go a long way

I admitted being wrong about first-person shooters when I got Call of Duty at the beginning of the year, but never did I think I would find a new, decent shooter for under $20. But wait, there’s more! I have actually found two great games, both under $20, which to me is the cheapskate gamer’s [...]

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