Used Console Games From JJGames!

I’m really against pirating games, but who can pay $50 or so for a new game? JJGames is a new site where gamers can buy used console games without going broke. They has used games for the N64, Playstation, and other systems, and accessories like controllers, memory cards and rumble packs, etc., and even some used consoles. Plus, their logo matches our colors!

Um, back to the games. Usually the price of shipping or the wait time can be a deal-breaker for online discount sites. You save $6 only to pay $10 in shipping. But they offer free shipping on orders that total over $25 or you can pay extra for faster shipping, like on Amazon.

You might also be able to sell games that you’ve beaten (or gotten bored with) to JJGames, if they’re in good condition. See if the games you have gathering dust qualify here.

Definitely worth checking out before you pay full price for your next game!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Game Review: Funky Farm 2

I really like farm management games, which is odd since I can’t keep a real plant alive, but after playing Harvest Moon, FarmCraft, Farm Frenzy and so many others, I wasn’t sure there was any more room left for new farming games. I didn’t know if Funky Farm 2 by SortaSoft could bring anything new thatother farm sims hadn’t alreayd done.

The premise begins just like any other time management game. Raise your chickens, sheep, and pigs to maximize profits, unlock new animals and farm tools as you improve. But when I saw the rewards, I quickly realized this is not another rinse-and-repeat farm sim. Players don’t receive the typical bigger watering can or a new seed to cover more ground. As you play Funky Farm, you unlock a mailbox for government farm grants, a pet llama, a pet duck and other funny farmyard surprises.

Your sidekick, Piper the hep cat, wants to help you get the farm going so you can throw a happening party.  He guides you through the first levels with beatnik words of wisdom, explains the rules, and encourages you to pick up some new duds for the party. Even the error messages arrive with hep cat style!

Any money you earn above your level goal can be spend on accessories. I was a little apprehensive about this part, because I expected the casual-game cliche of a portrait of your hep cat friend wearing each new accessory. (Much like the annoying rewards screen in Tropical Dream and others) Oh no. When you buy accessories, your new livestock appears wearing the Chucks and shades you selected.

Each animal type needs a different type of care, sheep (and your pet llama) need to be sheared, pigs need to be slopped and slaughtered, and cows need to be milked. I was a little grossed out by turning the cute piggies into plates of bacon, but then I took a harder attitude and harvested* all my cows, sheep, chickens and pigs at the end of the day to save herding them into the pens at night. Did I mention that your new animals come with names like “Count” and “Basie”?

Like all time management games, this is all about balance. Players need enough farm products to sell and continue to buy new animals. With too many animals — especially those messy pigs! — you’ll spend the whole time reseeding the ground. With too few, you won’t be able to make the cash for your beehive hairstyles and bowties. This is a very well-done farm management game, with the right level of difficulty and reward, but it’s the wild beatnik personality that really makes the funky farm stand out.

*special Meg euphemism for “killed off”

Popularity: 16% [?]

Character Art

Do you love your role-playing character? What about your WarCraft toon? AvatarArt offers portraits of your role-playing characters. You describe your character, and they’ll make it into a pretty picture for your game room. Or wave your nerd flag at work by framing your picture of Gudrun the dwarven warrior, and having it on your desk where your co-workers have pictures of their wives and kids!
AvatarArt also offers a character life insurance policy:

One improvement this policy has over a real policy is that it doesn’t cost you $100 per month.
A second and even better improvement this policy has over a real policy is that you don’t have to die to collect
This wonderful policy is offered as a free rider to any conventional character portrait package offered by AvatarArt. To wit: if/when your character dies AvatarArt will, free of charge, remit to you, free of charge, one portrait of similar style to the one that you purchased, which was therefore not free of charge, illustrating your character’s death. Free of charge!

Would you get your favorite character’s portrait done?

Via Avatar Art.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Charter’s Wii Sweepstakes

Gamers! Check this contest out! Charter internet is running a sweepstakes here to win a Nintendo Wii with some games and accessories.

The contest is linked with Charter’s Internet For Life promo (I don’t know why anyone would want a lifetime of Charter but I guess for $10 it would be ok.), so you have to be in a neighborhood that can receive Charter to enter the Wii contest as well. Go here and go to the bottom right of the page to try for a Wii without bidding on a lifetime of Charter. It looks like there’s no charge to sign up, and at worst, you’re trading some spam for a shot at a new Wii.

The winner will receive a Nintendo Wii console, Wii stand, 5 sports games (Boxing, Baseball, Tennis, Golf and Bowling), 1 remote controller, 1 nunchuk controller, 1 sensor bar, 1 Wii AC adapter, 1 Wii AV cable. Just remember not to hit yourself in the face with the Wii-mote, ok?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Fashion Solitaire From Large Animal Games

Large Animal Games, the people behind Diner Dash and Penny’s Vegas Adventure, just launched a new game in connection with Lifetime. This new game, Fashion Solitaire is a cartoony casual game, which wins huge points in my mind for being a girls’ game that isn’t pink.

Each model needs to be decent (a top, a bottom, shoes and hair), and then you can add optional accessories like jackets and jewelry. But models want to wear certain things. One might want to wear a skirt, or something red, or something plaid, and you get bonus points for dressing them in what makes them happy. Your bonus points become money, and you can spend your money making new clothes. This is the part where Stick came over to kibbutz.

The game rewards you for dressing your girls like freaks. You recieve bonus points for dressing your models in their chosen color or pattern, so it’s better to put as many colors as possible on one item when you make your clothes. You also receive bonus points for grabbing as many clothes cards at once as possible, so you should throw the first thing you see on your models, resulting in “got dressed in the dark” chic. Sometimes disaster play is more fun than trying for success.

Read the whole article here.

You can download an hour’s trial of Fashion Solitaire right here and see what you think!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast is a great video game system. While it is no longer supported, some great games have been released for it. Since the Dreamcast is no longer being supported, you can find some great deals on one at auction sites and pick up games for very little money.

The problem with the Dreamcast was that it was put out by Sega, who is notorious for pulling support of their products in the United States. I have a Sega museum with my Genesis, Saturn, and Game Gear to prove this point. In it’s heyday, there were some good titles put out for the Dreamcast that still can be a lot of fun to play today.

Not only can you pick up a Dreamcast for very little money, you can get controllers, memory cards, and other accessories really cheap. I picked up a controller from Gamestop for 99 cents. Games are also pretty cheap and there are even homebrewed Dreamcast games that have been created by fans who know how to make games.

An exploit with the Dreamcast allows copied games to be played on the system without any hacks needed. This problem has been cited as a reason for the demise of the console, whether it is true or not is another story. There were probably several factors that caused Sega to pull the support plug. Sega is much like the big networks that pull the plug on great programs before they have a chance to find their audience. Sometimes people need a few years to catch on to a really great product. The Dreamcast is still a great console that offers a wonderful gaming experience.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Why Morrowind Will Ruin Your GPA

About two years ago (Long long ago, before I met my boyfriend Stick), I was at Eric’s, lying on the couch and studying. With characteristic focus on my homework, I looked over Eric’s shoulder and saw Morrowind.

“Oooo, that looks pretty. And you have lots of stuff in your bag! Can I play?”

“I told you about it when I first got it, and you said it looked like a bloody game and you don’t like violent games and you wouldn’t even let me make you a character,” Eric reminded me.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Well, you were slashing somebody up then.”

“Oh yeah,” (This conversation explains why Eric and I don’t argue)

I like really open-ended games. If a quest has more than one ending, I’m happy. If almost every quest has different endings, which unlock even more quests… I’m in gamer girl heaven. Morrowind is the most open-ended game I’ve ever played. You can pick a detailed combination of racial traits, birthsign, talents and skills, or if that’s still not enough customization, you can invent your own character class. (And the preset classes include Witchhunter, Nightblade and Spellsword, instead of just Fighter, Mage and Rogue) If you decide, after hours of gameplay and several levels, that you’re not so crazy about your skills and you want to become something else, it’s possible to work on those other skills. Nothing’s forbidden.

The Morrowind world is well-written, too. You find (or in my case, steal) bottles of flin and mazte, instead of Potion of +50 HP. When you find (or steal) books, you can read about the history and myths of Morrowind. If anyone from Bethesda is reading this, and needs someone to write fictional myths for a computer game, I’m your girl!
Celtic and Persian-inspired clothes, NPCs with Roman-style names and an incredible variety of architecture keep Morrowind from becoming pseudo-medieval generic fantasy.

If you ever run out of things to do in the game, say there’s a blizzard and you can’t leave the house for weeks on end, you can download new mods for Morrowind. My personal favorite is the boyfriend mod. (Hey, this was before Stick, ok?) He’s programmed to say sweet things, and you can sleep at his place without the assassin mod coming for you. You can also leave some of your loot at his place.

And I really like games with stuff. Sure, I like leveling too, but I’d much rather have a sexy new set of armor and a better sword. (New cleavage-baring robes for the magic-users don’t hurt, either) Morrowind gives you different styles of clothes, armor, weapons… and modders have built a complete wardrobe, plus weapons and all kinds of trendy Pottery Barn accessories for your house.

The mapping system is not so good… or maybe my sense of direction is not so good. Quite a lot of my Morrowinding time involved me shouting “Eric! I’m lost again!” into the kitchen. I was playing it at Eric and Chris’ place because Morrowind requires a better videocard than I had at the time.

I liked Morrowind so much that finally got my finances into a spot where I could buy a new videocard. I was supposed to go see a movie with a boy I’d just met and kinda liked but I was so excited to play Morrowind that I kind of blew him off.

Luckily, Stick asked me out again.

Popularity: 2% [?]