Changing Social Habits to Get Ahead in Social Games

I just added a perfect stranger to my Facebook friends list because she too is playing Ponzi, Inc. A newer FB game where you run a business and hire workers. It's pretty fun and I need more friends to build my pyramid scheme.

I never add FB friend requests I don't know through at least a few friends or cartoonists, until now. Social games may not make me more social IRL, but I admit I have made a few new "Neighbors."

Disgaea Infinite visual novel for PSP releases this May

Disgaea Infinite visual novel for PSP releases this May

Like whoa! Disgaea one and two for PSP are my brothers #1 game if you count hours played. I'm not a fan of any grid based battle system, myself (this may be due to my personal lack of spatial cognition), so the game did not suck me in. But a visual novel! Why, that sounds mighty like a comic...

Speaking of Downloadable Content...

Steam Exploded In 2009
With active users surpassing the 25 million mark and a 205% jump in year over year unit sales, 2009 was an extremely good year for Valve's Steam service.

Best News of 2010!!!!

EEE! Have I mentioned that Dragon Age is the best game of all time?

This is the first video of the hotly anticipated Dragon Age: Origins expansion Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.This video features a new area players will explore called the Blackmarsh It also shows the powerful and fearsome Queen of the Blackmarsh, a powerful Spectral Dragon.

Mass Effect Returns - In Full Effect?

I'm anticipating Mass Effect 2 with less bloodthirsty lust than my friends, although I enjoyed the roleplaying of Mass Effect 1 I found the lack of treasure disappointing (is there no treasure in space?), and the graphics and weapons were great but not mindblowing. Once I started getting really into the roleplaying, I was dropped into the super annoying mini game of navigating a boring terrain that was terribly hard to control. My friends told me that was pretty much the rest of the game, with far less roleplaying, so I declined to finish. I've since heard the planetside minigame is much easier to control on PC, hence the whole experience more enjoyable.

I assume they'll make up for the annoying planetside controls in the next Xbox version, but at the same time my confidence in the game isn't at the same level as for, say, BioShock 2.

11-Year-Old Girl Chases Xbox Robber With Crutch

It would seem that the women of today are willing to fight you over the claim they don't like video games as much as men. With whatever they have on hand, as plasma guns not usually handy.

http://kotaku.com/5458676/11+year+old-girl-chases-xbox-robber-with-crutch

iPad!

Am I the only one here thinking about video game possibilities for iPad? Not just playing them on a bigger mobile touch screen, but making them on a big mobile touch screen. Imagine drawing a video game and then playing it. Or drawing a character and then animating it, without the need of a monitor. I've been waiting for this a very long time ineeed, my friends...

They told me to learn the Wacom and other web comic stuff, to make it in the modern world. But I've honed my IRL skills for too long to give up now - I'm wating for technology to come to brush and paper. We're getting closer!

Stolen Pixels #150: +2 Shoes of Floppiness

Stolen Pixels #150: +2 Shoes of Floppiness

The age old quarrel: pain vs. beauty, fashion over function.

"Maybe I want to wear white robes even though I'm evil? Maybe someone wants to play as an archer but they don't want to run around half-naked? "

Little Girl Tries To Distract Me From Puzzle Quest with a Dinosaur

What I'm Playing - Social Games pt.2

Facebook has a lot of copy cat games. It's pretty entertaining to watch. I don't know which came first but clearly as soon as one game is successful there are 1,000 copycat versions. Like 20 different aquariums! But like I said, I played THEM ALL so you don't have to.

In most cases the 'bigger' and more popular a game is, the more fun of a social game it's going to be. Nothing is more depressing than a farm with no neighbors. Then again, we can't cow tow to sub-par games purely because our friends are. I try to have a healthy mix of both, I'll try to get my friends to join games I like that no one has heard of (THE SUMMONING AHEM), but I'll play some games that aren't so great just because I have 40 neighbors and 10 pending gifts.

PETVILLE vs. PET SOCIETY

PETVILLE IS THE WINNAH! Oh the graphics, game play, server speed and shopping experience are sooo far superior! Pet Society has the additional thrill of a garden, fishing pond, aquariums, food stores, more neighbors, and pretty much everything that should make this game great. But for some reason I don't find the rewards of Pet Society (slowed animations, plain low-tech graphics, poor treasure/coins/shopping rate) nearly as exciting as watching my Petville Pet eat one Ninja Cookie.


CAFE WORLD vs. RESTAURANT CITY

RESTAURANT CITY IS THE WINNAH! I will keep playing BOTH for some time, they are both addictive games in different ways. Cafe World has better graphics and a more satisfying cooking process. Restaurant City makes you scrabble and hunt for each ingredient unless you're willing to pay IRL money (or wait each day to win a free ingredient via the food quiz). The process of combing my friends restaurants hoping they'll trade me a bay leaf for some flour is really fun to me. You can also grow a tree by your Restaurant and go visit random restaurants around the 'city,' as you wonder what on earth gets you good enough ratings to one day make it to "Gourmet Street" - there are a number of articles online with things like Game Play instructions, as it's actually pretty complicated to get ahead in Restaurant City. But I'm happy with my humble, slowly expanding restaurant... I've noticed when it comes to FB games, if I can't figure it out by clicking around, I just won't play.

What I'm Playing - Social Games

On Facebook - I've been mercilessly letting my OCD loose on dozens of Facebook games to report to you the cream of the crop!

Farmville - The best graphics, the fastest servers, the most neighbors. People who live on farms don't seem to enjoy this one as much, but for city folk its a nice release to grab some clusters of juicy jpegs from the vine.

The Summoning - This old school text and pic style RPG is so compelling - as soon as I make any headway, I run out of energy and have to wait until later (unless I wanted to spend money, which I don't - I already have to read a ton of annoyingly targeted ads on my sidebar). But it's worth the wait for the lovely pictures and fun gaming full of plant picking, battles, quests abroad, and magical conversations with anime style characters.

Next installment: Cafes and Pets!

What I'm Playing - PSP

Right now I'm playing Puzzle Quest for the PSP. My friend Luke was telling me I just HAD to play, and he's right! An RPG where each fight is a bejeweled style puzzle, and the color gems are the 4 different manas of the spells you cast. I keep meaning to just play it for a minute and then hours fly by.

First Post

First post on a new blog, by and for gamer people. Driven by the notion not all games are created equal, but all gamers are. If you'd like to contribute please contact me, rupeegroupie@gmail.com.

Let's get this Mario Party Started!