Plants Versus Zombies

I would like to bring a problem to light that may be soon affecting your own neighborhood.

Zombies

That's right... You heard me. Zombies.

They're coming to eat your brains.

But fear not. Never fear. For your next-door neighbor who wears a pot over his head and everyone thinks is crazy knew this was coming all along and has supplied you with a weapon to defend your lawn from the approaching zombie horde.

Seeds.

But not any seeds. No, no. These grow plants in an instant, and these plants aren't useless. They fire peas at incoming zombies to destroy them! You've survived the first wave, but what about the next? Again, you needn't fear for you get more plants with varied uses to protect that pink squishy thing inside your skull.

...Annnnd that's pretty much the premise for the game Plants Versus Zombies. I got this game a month ago for my laptop and have been addicted to it lately. At its core, this game is basically a grid-based defend-your-castle kinda game and does its genre well. There is a lot of strategy involved and many ways to do it. Tons of game modes, mini-games, and extras that are enjoyable as well. The zombies and plants are cartoon styled and have humorous descriptions in the Zombie Almanac that makes me laugh my ass off sometimes.

Overall, a good game that only costs twenty bucks. And get the collector's edition while you're at it. It's the same price and comes with a zombie figurine. Now, they just need to make a portable version for the DS, and I'll be happy. Well, more like happier.

Or you could not get it and be unprepared for the upcoming zombie Apocalypse. Your choice. Personally, I like my brain in my head and not in a zombie's gut.

Ode to Minions

First of all this is not mine. I had absolutely nothing to do with this. This is the 200th comic from Brawl in the Family.

It's just pure awesome in a can.

See if you can recognize all the references. I can and that scares me a little.

I Dream of Tetris

What is Tetris?

Tetris is a puzzle video game using seven shapes made up of four blocks first made in 1984. Tetris is the creation of Alexey Pazkitnov, and it's name come from tetra meaning "four" and tennis, Pazkitnov's favorite sport.

But Tetris is more than just a puzzle game, oh yes, it is indeed more. It is cultural phenomenon. It began an age. It's theme music will forever be stuck in our heads. It is not boring as someone who shall not be named (not Voldemont) has said. Tetris is good for the brain.

In fact, it has been found that playing Tetris a half-hour to three hours a day actually improves critical thinking. Those with posttraumatic stress disorder, like my cat, who play Tetris have less horrible Vietnam flashbacks.

No, don't! You won't have a good place for the Z-Block! You anger the Tetris god!

...However, let us not forget the dark side of Tetris. I am of course referring to the so-called "Tetris effect." It has been scientifically proven that playing Tetris over long periods of time will slowly drive you mad. You will associate everything with Tetris. A normal person sees a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked together, you see a bunch of potential tetrominoes. You begin to try find the best combinations in your head and, perhaps, play a game of mental Tetris. Soon, it haunts you dreams, and you start to hallucinate Tetris everywhere until you completely lose you fragile grip on reality.

Now, this phenomenon can apply to many other repetitive video games, but there's a reason why it is named after Tetris.

I, myself, am still recovering to this day, but I do not blame Tetris for my temporary insanity.

Never.

It's an Epidemic

It has spread like wildfire. No one knows where or when it started, but before anyone knew, it was already too late. Everyone has it now...

The Pokemon Fever

Too dramatic? I think not. Ever since Heart Gold and Soul Silver, the remakes of the original Gold and Silver Pokemon games for the Gameboy, came out, everywhere I look someone is playing it on their DS. Hell, I walked into a room with 7 total people (Then 8 when I joined them) playing it. The few people that are unaffected by this phenomena are either people who don't play video games or don't own a DS.

Don't forget the new little accessory that came with it, the Pokewalker. Now, let me explain this device to those unaffected by this disease. The Pokewalker is a pedometer that comes with the game that interacts with the game itself. You can send your Pokemon into it, walk around, level up your Pokemon, find items and catch Pokemon which you send back to the real game. Take my word for it, this is highly addicting.

Personally, I think this a wonderful disease to catch. Others could argue against this, but they're wrong. At least not until they play it themselves, then they can make their judgment. I know there are obvious side effects, like lost of time that could be spend doing something else, but I never thought of video games as a waste of time, otherwise I wouldn't bother with them.

Mission Accomplished

Yes, I have done it. I have finally beaten the extra mode in Kirby's Dreamland! Hell to the yes!

I'll get you Wispy Woods and your evil apples, too

Now, this might sound meaningless and trite to some, but screw you. I could barely beat the regular mode when I was a little kid and that was only after a ton of continues. Extra mode was impossible for me at the time. I remembered the unbeaten extra mode a week or so ago after I picked the game up again and made a goal of beating it.

There was lotsa trial and error and cursing (Don't forget the cursing) but I won in the end. I memorized the each boss's pattern, knew where every enemy was going to pop up, and located every 1up, powerup, and maximum tomato. My reward was nothing special: an enemy showcase after the credits and the code to unlock the configuration mode and sound test. I could have looked it up online, sure, but that's not the point. I couldn't have looked it up when I was younger, so the only way for me to learn the game's secrets was to kick its nonexistent ass. Oh, and kick ass I did today. Wispy Woods, Lololo & Lalala, Kabooka, Kracko, and King DeDeDe (Don't laugh, they're tougher than their names suggest) were trounced by yours truly.

Damn this feels great. I know this is kind of simple thing to be happy about, but, eh, I can be simple sometimes. Now, what to do next...

Old Video Games

Does anyone remember the Gameboy pocket? I do.

In fact, I still have my teal-colored entertainment gizmo and play it occasionally. Question is, why do people look at me weird when I play it? Does no one remember it anymore? Or is it 'cause they do remember but wonder why anyone would still play old, outdated games?

Blasphemy.

The people who forget about their past, in this case the Gameboy pocket, will play today's modern high-definition games without any regard to the roots of video games. I'm not damning today's games (out loud) 'cause there are truly great games out there (And also some really, really horrible aneurysm-inducing ones) but just advocating the appeal of retro games. The people who never played the originals, can never fully appreciate the newer games. Games have really evolved from Pong to Pac-man to Super Mario Bros to etc., and it's important to see said evolution and its continuity from the beginning to now and in the future.

Some old games were truly tests that challenged, not only your gaming skills, but your value as a person. I mean I still haven't beaten the extra mode on the first video game I ever played 'cause it truly it one of most challenging things ever and really tests my patience and anger management especially when that one frickin' enemy comes out of nowhere and kills me when I have one two health bars left. Then, the first boss, which on normal mode is a cake walk, can kill me in only two hits, and there are so few goddamn extra lives... wait... what was I talking about again? Oh, right. Don't abandon the old, 'cause it's old and not new.

I could write a whole book on this very subject, but right now I just want to express my love for my pocket-sized cure for boredom.