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I decided to get a little creative tonight with one of my old favorite PC games Rollercoaster Tycoon. There is something special about that game. I return to it often when I’m stressed. Recently we watched “How to Train Your Dragon.” The star dragon of the movie of course is “Toothless” a night fury dragon. I thought I would make a little kiddy coaster in Rollercoaster Tycoon themed after a night fury! Here’s my creation!

I know it’s not likely that any of my readers still play Rollercoaster Tycoon like I do. But I’ve included a download to my coaster creation. Catch ya next time.

This weekend I discovered another one of those, ‘Suck the life out of you’ flash games. You know the ones where ya sit down, play and don’t realize it’s been a few hours. This one is called Cargo Bridge. It’s a construction flash game where you design/build a bridge to complete task(s). Sounds easy right? Well it is for the first few levels. But like Fantastic Contraption, it gets harder as you go. The tasks get more advanced. As you move up, you’re presented with more building materials and so on. So go ahead, get sucked in. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

This weekend, our friends rented the game Little Big Planet for the Playstation 3. It was a blast. I’m usually not real big into platform games, but I loved it! The game supports up to four players playing on 3 different platform planes all at once. Your characters are all little sack-boys that can be customized. We had hours of fun playing through most of the levels. However our friends only had two controllers. There were four of us. So ya get the picture.

For one the middle PS button is missing on the PS2 controllers. This is not an issue for 3rd and 4th players most of the time anyways. The triggers are slightly different as well. But again it depends on needs of the player and which game you’re playing. For games like Little Big Planet this is the perfect solution to add two more players to the game without breaking the bank. Not to mention Little Big Planet Game of the Year Edition
is available half off the original price! There ya go, we’ve saved ya money again!

One word “Exhausted.” It best describes how I’m feeling right now. Last night was the first night of The Bigggest Loser Wii Game at our place. I started a new profile on the game labeled “Matt” and input my age, height and weight. Then I chose my trainer (Jillian), I think she’s very tough on the contestants. Then I selected a four week training plan as a beginner. In this time period I’m aiming to lose at least 10 pounds. Little goals at first and then I’ll work my way up.

After I got my profile out of the way, I decided to do the warm-up. The warm-up did a great job of preparing me for exercise. It’s basically a six minute series of stretching and loosening exercises. At first I wasn’t going to do it. But then I remembered the importance of stretching from high school PE class. Most of the stuff I did during this phase was very basic. It reminded me a lot of what was taught in high school PE and health class. I was very glad that I did the warm-up. Because nothing else could have prepared me better for the next thirty minutes.

Moving on to the main exercise. At first I was like “Yea, this isn’t much different than Wii Fit.” Then I realized it was nothing like Wii Fit. The exercises are completely planned out in circuits. My character on the screen worked outwith me, right along side Jillian. They showed me everything for a few brief seconds and then kicked up. Literally. Each circuit began with marches to get your heart rate up. Then we did squats with kicks exercises. Not to mention round-house kicks. The hardest for me, were the floor exercises. They were very simple, lay on your back and lift your butt up. Some of the exercises reminded me much of Tae Bo, mainly the kicking and squats. I would start to slow down, only to get harassed by Jillian (just like the show). Near the end, my lower back kept hurting. But the short breaks between circuits helped out.

After the 30 minute main exercise, I moved on to the cool down stage. Again at first I didn’t think it was that important. I just wanted to go sit down on the couch and just crash. But I found the post-exercise stretching incredible. Some of my aches and pains went away. It really did cool me down. I was sweating like I’ve sweat before. Ok, I know that sounds gross. But you get the picture.

I enjoy the constant feedback from the game. I like how Virtual Jillan and Bob provide feedback the whole way. Based off your inputs through the Wii controls, it has a sense if you’re doing it right or not. It’s almost like they’re playing bad cop/good cop. One minute Jillian will knock ya down and then Bob will pick ya up. They encourage you to drink water during your breaks. I thought was very informative. A lot of people forget to drink water while exercises. It’s very easy to get caught up in working out, forget to drink water and then get dehydrated. The plans are customizable. But I’ve decided to see how the basic program works first. Keep in mind, I have little workout training experience beyond Wii Fit, walking, jogging and running for exercise. So you could say, I’m learning as I go. I’ll post up more in later posts and keep you informed on how it’s going.

When I was a kid I sat in the back of the car and play maze games. We had this little magic drawing pad, that when you used a special marker it drew clear and then change color. I thought it was so cool! It had tons of word puzzles and maze puzzle. However I quickly realized, how much was easier it was to solve maze puzzles backwards. Ya I know, I was a little cheater!

If you like mazes too, here’s something that might keep ya entertained while bringing in the New Year. Maze-A-Pix, a fun new maze/picture game. Just like regular maze games, however there is something extra. The twist is, as you solve the puzzle you reveal a picture! Puzzles will change weekly. So come back for more later! Let’s see what today’s picture is.

Looking for more exciting maze puzzles. Check out some of these maze books from Amazon.com!

Best wishes in the New Year!

A few months ago, The Sims 3
hit store shelves. For our anniversary, my wife bought the collectors edition. Sweet present, don’t ya agree? I dove right in and played for hours. However, this version and previous versions have left me with the same question. “Why couldn’t life be more like the Sims?” Take a look at how easy Sims have it.

1. Learning is easy. Click and know!

I need to learn how to cook and repair stuff today. I’ll just start out in the morning. Alright let me grab my books. I’ll read at warp speed. Three hours later, I’m now a master chef and repair person! I can cook without setting the kitchen on fire or fix stuff without electrocuting myself!

2. Don’t like your environment? Complain!

I’m not happy with my pad! I’m just gonna scream, shout and point to whatever I don’t like. Like magic it will either go away or get replaced with something nicer. That neon sign on the wall is too tacky. No biggie! Wahhhhh! OOOOH LAAA!

3. Jobs are easy to obtain. Everyone is hiring in the Sim world.

Bummer, I’ve gotta get a job? Let’s just pick up the paper. Oh there’s so many exciting jobs. I want to be a writer when I grow up. I’ll just start delivering papers now. No interview needed, just start on Monday!

4. Spin yourself around to dress yourself.

Oh time to change clothes. No biggie, I’ll just jump and spin around. Presto I’m decked out for whatever occasion. Gotta put on my work clothes. I’ll stop and spin again to get ready for work. Time for bed, let me just spin into something more comfortable!

5. Can’t make it to the bathroom. Just go wherever you are!

Oh man someone’s in the bathroom. I’ve gotta go real bad. Oh well, I just went on my nice hardwood floors. Now I’ll cry and clean it up later.

6. Whatever I need or whenever I need it, will appear in thin air!

Man, it sure would be fun to have a rocket to blast into outer space. Let me pull one out of my ass. Oh there it is. Ut oh! I peed on the floor again. Poof! Oh there’s my mop! “Singing in the rain… Singing in the rain…”

Isn’t life with the Sims easy? I would think so. Maybe it’s a little too easy. Granted I’m sure it would get old after a while. But at the end of the day. It’s a video game. Like other video games, it’s a fantasy world. If it were that easy, it would be kinda boring. Life on the Sims kinda reminds me of the Enzyte, natural male enhancement guy. “Look at Bob, he’s happy….” If you haven’t played it, be sure to check it out
.

Two flash games in a week? Yea I know its odd. But I got thinking about some holiday movies today. I remembered in the movie Elf, where Buddy the Elf (played by Will Ferrel) was having trouble putting together Etch A Sketches.

Elf: It’s okay, Buddy. Just how many Etch-A-Sketches did you make?
Buddy: I made… 85.
Elf: 85. Well, that puts you… 915 off the pace.
Buddy: Why don’t you just say it? I’m the worst toy-maker in the world. I’m a Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins!

Poor Buddy. Anyways. I’ve been working on learning Flash Actionscript programming. I should have some examples up later this week. I’ve been working towards to making a doodle pad. Exciting stuff! Till then have fun playing with the Etch A Sketch.

Get more games like this at ArcadeZip!

Winter/Holidays are closing in quickly. Thought I would throw up a winter/holiday theme flash game! Remember when you were a kid sitting by the radio waiting for your school to be called off for snow? I know I do. Sometimes I still listen for school closings. In this flash game you play a kid, longing for that perfect snow day! Your objective is to throw ice up into the clouds, to make them snow. Kinda like giving them a shot of turbo lax! Ok, bad reference. Unless you’ve seen Dumb and Dumber. But anyways. Very simple to play, hours to master. Move your character back and forth to aim, click/hold to set the power of your throw and release. Keep hitting clouds with ice and the snow will continue to fall. A meter on the side, tells you if you’re getting in danger of having to go school. Have fun!

Click to Play the Game

My Mini City - Ale8oneville

My Mini City reminds me of Sim City, however you don’t really build anything. So how does your city grow? Simple, you give out a link and the more hits your city gets, the more it grows. However you have to generate a lot of traffic. Otherwise your city is going to remain small. You can also link to an RSS feed, that makes it easy to keep track of how your city is doing. We found out about it through mysterygoogle.com (awesome site). I decided to create “ALE8ONEVILLE” to honor my favorite soft drink ALE-8-ONE! If you would, visit Ale8oneville and give everyone a wave for me!

Ale8oneville RSS Feed:
[InlineFeed plugin cant retrieve: ale8oneville.myminicity.com/rss...]

Years ago back in elementary school I can remember spending breaks during class playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Next to Oregon Trail and Math Blaster Plus, this was one of the greatest educational games ever made. What started as a video game to help teach people about geography, spawned into the longest running tv game show on PBS. I can also remember rushing home to watch the show after school. This was only after watching the now defunct, Reading Rainbow of course. Yes I was a bit of a geek. My wife reminds me daily that I still am. But anyways back to Carmen Sandiego.

The game puts you in the role of a gumshoe detective. Your job is to travel around the world looking for clues to help solve a case. You must complete a warrant for an arrest and proceed to follow that person across the globe. Once at the final destination you will watch an animated cop chase. Then listen for the musical foreshadowing  to tell if you’ve won your case.

After so many successful cases you will be given a chance to answer questions. These questions require research. The game says you can find the answers in a World Almanac. My wife and I felt like it was a ploy to sell more of these fact books. If you do not have a World Almanac, the answers are easily found on Wikipedia. After successfully answering the questions you are promoted. After a number of cases you will answer another question and be promoted again. Once you’ve solved enough cases and have been promoted a few times, you’ll get your chance to capture Carmen Sandiego.

A few weeks ago my wife and I played the game for the first time in over a decade. I found it online through an abandonware site called Abandonia. At first we just played around with it. But then we were sucked in all over again. We felt the need to play through and find Carmen Sandiego. A few hours later we captured Carmen Sandiego. However the ending to game was not as glamorous as we remember.

When capturing Carmen Sandiego (at least on the older versions of the game) you only get your name on a Hall of Fame list. Big deal right? You don’t even see a picture of the captured boss character. In fact the only picture of her, are in the dossiers files. Granted I know this is an old  game, but they could have made something special out of defeating the main boss. Oh well. But we still had fun and there was some teamwork at play.

Now it’s your turn to find Carmen Sandiego and get your name on the Hall of Fame. You can check it out on Abandonia’s website or download it for yourself below. I’ve posted the DOS version of the game. You will need to find a DOS emulator to properly run this game. I recommend DosBox. Have fun!