Whooped by a Three Year Old!

I had a meeting at the church tonight with the youth leader, as I had agreed to help lead Sunday School for the preschool class this year (after one of the teachers has gone inexplicably missing) and so we quickly wolfed down dinner and walked down to the church so I could get there on time. I meet the youth leader there and we have our meeting and afterwards I decide that I could use a glass of water. Abby asks for one too, so we dash up to the gathering space to use one of the drinking glasses on the side for a quick drink. 

As we get up there, I see that one of the members has lent us his Wii for Rally Day this coming Sunday. They forgot to bring the Wii Sports disc with, so we’re playing on Wii Play- which was alright I guess, pretty simple games designed for older or younger folk than I. There was a couple of games on there that were kind of fun and Abby really liked a fishing game- which I helped her with a little bit and she proceeded to whoop the butt of the church’s community leader (who’s idea it was to get the Wii in the first place). Not only is the Wii for use on Rally Day, but I also heard that it’s a test run to see if the older folks will play it and we can nudge the trustee board to buy one for the church- as we’re planning on starting up a Family Game Night every Friday during the winter when there isn’t a lot to do. 

It was fun and it was so much fun to watch Abby playing on the Wii and her eyes were just like saucers- she was so entranced it was the most adorable thing. I guess I know what she wants to play on come Sunday :p

Celebrity? Moi?

I have been told today that I am a celebrity because I have a fanbase. Say what?! Does this mean that I have to hire bodyguards now and I’m gonna get companies like Apple and Nintendo sending me freebies because I like GameBoys and iPods?

Ohhhh, I wish. While I’m at it, I would like to give a shout-out to Blizzard in hopes of getting the Wrath King expansion for free this Christmas because I promote World of Warcraft on my blog. 

ROFL. Of course, this is as likely to happen as Brad Pitt breaking down in front of my apartment building and asking to stay for the night. Gawd, I wish I will also EAT MY WORDS personally online if Blizzard actually sends me a free copy. I will video tape it and upload it to YouTube, you heard it here first

Pulling my hair out and going BATSHIT crazy!!

I have always thought of gaming as a way for me to relax in the evening, but recently I’ve been playing games that make me want to pull my hair out and drive me batshit crazy. The first one was Lego Star Wars, I decided to buy a cut-price copy for the PC. Haha, I have recently found out that the PC version is buggy as shit and freezes or just doesn’t work in parts. The controls drove me up the wall too, but now at least I have them configured to how I like and everything is peachy-keen again. Until I get to a part in the game that drives me nuts and I get so pissy. Grrrr….

The second one is a game that I borrowed from a friend of mine this afternoon. He’d been harping on about it for a while, and me and Nick are looking after their house while they’re on vacation. He’s a HUGE gamer (even has a whole room dedicated to it) and I borrowed Trauma Center off him for my DS. Urgh…wish I had never bothered, as it lags in parts and then you can’t finish the level in time. I keep having to do the same thing over and over and over again and I want to throw the DS across the room. Not that I would

102 Views?!

Ahhhhh!!! I have my highest amount of hits in a day EVER! 102 so far today So basically, all I need to do is mention the words ‘Apple’ or ‘Nintendo’ in any of my posts and the fanboys come a runnin’ :p Heck, what am I saying? I’m a FANGIRL and I scour the internet for new Nintendo blogs…I’m so lame.

In other news, I got the new Lego Indiana Jones this morning for my DS. Nick keeps looking over my shoulder and making googly eyes at the screen. Looks like we’ll have the XBox 360 version soon…just like Lego Star Wars. 

And then….Lego Batman is in the works too. That’s probably going to be released somewhere around ‘The Dark Knight’ release, me thinks (EDIT: It’s being released in September!)

So many games to buy and not enough money to do it. Where is that $1000 refund check when you need it? Come on, get here already!

Apple vs Nintendo?!

I find this completely ludicrous

From: http://news.cnet.com/8601-13506_3-9961881.html?communityId=2017&targetCommunityId=2017

Why Apple will never kill the Nintendo DS

Has Brian Caulfield of Forbes totally lost it? In a piece entitled, “Why Apple could kill the Nintendo DS”, Caulfield contends that Apple’s new App store for the iPhone and iPod touch could be the first step in replacing Nintendo in the handheld gaming space.

“Monday…Nintendo will likely face a new and far more dangerous foe: Apple,” Caulfield wrote. “Steve Jobs’ computer and gizmo maker will likely launch a long-promised feature, dubbed the App Store, which will let outside developers pour software into the iPhone and iPod Touch. And while it’s unlikely that, say, a mobile version of Oracle’s wonky database will make anyone stand up and cheer, we already know putting games on the iPhone is a pretty powerful combination.”

We do? Ostensibly Caulfield is alluding to games that we saw at the iPhone SDK event earlier this year where Sega unveiled Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone and EA showed off Spore, but I don’t know where else he sees this “powerful combination.”

And if he knew anything about the handheld gaming market, he would probably know that Nintendo’s past is littered with the remains of companies that have tried to supplant it as the leader in the market and failed — miserably.

But to suggest that Apple could conceivably command the market and wrest control from the one company that has controlled it for over 20 years, is both foolhardy and downright ludicrous.

Here’s why:

So far, Nintendo has sold just over 73 million Nintendo DSs. Compare that to the iPhone’s lofty goal of 10 million units sold and the iPod touch’s sales, which have yet to be released, and you can see how much work Apple has to do just to catch up. In fact, last quarter, Apple sold about 1.7 million iPhones and 10 million iPods, although the exact number of iPod touch sales were not given. Considering Nintendo’s April DS sales were 414,800, I just don’t see how Apple has a chance

The DS is currently on pace to not only destroy the Game Boy sales record, but it has the opportunity to do so in about ten years assuming the same rate of sale can be maintained. Can Apple truly produce that many products and then convert those users into gamers? I seriously doubt it.

And perhaps that’s where Caulfield’s logic really falls off the tracks. Apple will most likely try to make some inroads in the handheld gaming business, but the sheer number of DS units already in the wild is enough to ensure that the iPhone and iPod touch will never come close.

Let’s face it — Apple is struggling to sell 10 million iPhones. How can it truly expect to supplant the Nintendo DS in the handheld gaming space if it’s still more than 60 million units behind?

But maybe I should give Caulfield the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps his title about “killing” the Nintendo DS was a little too strong and it’s not about the numbers. Of course, I’m not quite sure how he can run from the sales figures so easily, but that’s another story altogether.

Maybe, just maybe, Caulfield meant that the iPhone and iPod Touch would kill the Nintendo DS by selling more games in the App store. If he believes that, he’s probably even further off than even I want to admit.

Can anyone see any way for Apple to kill the DS by selling games through the App store? If the sales figures (oops, there they are again) aren’t nearly as high as the DS, which has about a 4.7 game attach rate, can we really expect Apple to beat it?

Assuming we’re going to judge the “killing” of one device in the handheld market by software sales, each iPod Touch and iPhone would need an attach rate that has never been achieved in the history of gaming: 34 games per device assuming there are 10 million iPhone and iPod Touch units in the wild.

Now that is doing something.

Sadly, Caulfield makes, well, no sense. Regardless of how hard he tries, he can’t run from the overwhelming discrepancy between the DS sales figures and those of the iPhone and iPod touch. And although he has faith in Apple’s upcoming App Store, does he really trust it that much?

I certainly don’t.

And although I haven’t mentioned it due to the overwhelming evidence that can be found elsewhere, what about the 800-pound gorilla in the room? You know, that whole issue with Apple not understanding (or even caring) about gaming at all. How does Caulfield account for that?

I understand that some folks would like to believe that Apple can control every industry it may have some impact on, but I guess I’m not that naive. Suffice it to say that in some markets, Apple can’t (and won’t) be the leader.

Is that so hard to accept, Mr. Caulfield?

Duck Hunt FTW!!

I’ve just been watching old video games on You Tube. Man, I miss my old consoles. The only one I have left is my original 1989 Nintendo Game Boy. I was saying to Nick the other day that we need to scour rummage sales for a NES…I want to be able to play the original Super Mario Bros or Duck Hunt. I remember going over to my friend’s house to eat Nutella sandwiches and play Duck Hunt all afternoon. Duck Hunt, Mario, Zelda, Tetris and Pokemon. I don’t require any other games, cause they all suck donkey balls compared to the originals. My brother had a Sega Mega Drive (the Genesis in the US/Japan) and he had the Sonic games…which kicked butt too. I’m a Nintendo girl through and through, I will never ever buy anything by another company…even if you paid me a million pounds to do it. 

Kids and Video Games

So I’m slightly miffed about something. I’ve been reading a lot of things recently that seems to state that some parents today are giving their children who are as young as three VIDEO GAMES. I don’t mean the lame-o V-Smile systems or Leapfrog. Heck, Abby has a Leapfrog Leap Pad and she loves that thing- best $40 ever spent on her, it’s taught her a lot when it comes to colours and stuff. 

I mean Nintendo DS systems. You know, that one that I got for my 26th birthday last year so grudgingly (Nick still likes to bring it up in arguments from time to time). I’ve been playing Nintendo since I was about 8…and Abby loves to watch me play, but there is NO WAY that I am letting her touch them until at least her 7th birthday. Until then, she can have a Leapster L-Max and it will be at least teaching her stuff instead of frying her young brain. I honestly cannot get my head around it, why on earth are parents giving their young ones video games to play on? I DON’T CARE if they have games like Dora the Explorer or Care Bears. It’s just wrong, did your parents not teach you the difference between right and wrong? Do you have that little amount of patience that you cannot tolerate your kids being bored, so you just shove a video game system in their hands and tell the to shut the fuck up? 

YOU NEED YOUR HEADS LOOKING AT. HOW ABOUT SEEING A SHRINK, YOU DUMBASSES?!

ARGH….Frustration!!

Fuck me, I hate being frustrated. I decided to take a trip up the street to our local coffee place, Sven’s. It was nice and I got some peace and quiet to play uninterrupted on my new DS game. It helps that the place has WIFI too, I traded a couple of Pokemon to someone in Japan. Heh. I even got to do my good deed for the day, there was a lady there having a problem with the wifi on her iBook so I helped her out a little. Got that fixed and then headed home. That was where the problem started.

It takes about fifteen minutes to walk there and fifteen minutes to walk back. I got home and I’m standing in front of the lobby door, searching for my keys to open the door. I search and search, and I cannot find them so I start to get a little panicky. I figure that I’ve left them at Sven’s, so I walk all the way back up there. Oh, did I mention that it was RAINING? They weren’t at Sven’s and the lady who I helped out with her computer asks if she can do anything to help. I said no, but thanks and started to head home. By this time, I feel like an idiot for looking a bunch of keys that weren’t there and I’m getting frantic about Nick not letting me in for forgetting my keys. I get home eventually and buzz Nick upstairs. I talk to him over the intercom and he sounds slightly pissed. I walk in the door with my head hung in shame and Nick asks what’s wrong. I tell him the whole story about how I thought he’d be angry at me and then I burst into tears out of sheer frustration. He gives me a hug and I calm down a little. 

Turns out, I’d left them on the kitchen table and locked myself out. I’m such a dumbass.