Today was a highly anticipated day for me as I anxiously awaited the arrival of my brand new Nintendo DSi.  In a nutshell the improved sleek design is in my opinion a dramatic overall improvement over the last DS, not so much in its esthetic, but rather its functionality.  The DS has now caught up to its gaming counterparts, and surpassed them in some ways, with the addition of 2 cameras, SD card support, an online store, music player, and a streamlined interface.  At the end of the day it still is a Nintendo DS (minus the GBA back-compat support), but it is the best DS you can buy.

I once owned an original Nintendo DS (the 'fat' one), and when I did I jumped through all of Nintendo's online hoops that they had set up at the time.  Fast forward a few years later with my new DSi in hand, and I decide to see what is the current state of their websites.  Even though I had not logged on in years it still retained my account which I originally signed up for December 17, 2005!  All of my account info was there, but now it has been transferred to there latest online portal, Club Nintendo.

So what is the deal with Club Nintendo?  When you purchase Nintendo goods, you earn 'coins' which can be redeemed for neat Nintendo prizes!  For me this is Nintendo's counterpart to Microsoft's Gamerscore.  By registering my DSi I earned a pile of coins, I also earned for all the registrations I signed up for my first time a round with the DS.  At the end of the day I am near 'Gold' status which will earn myself some sort of prize.  My next purchase will put me over the top.  A dangerous thing I see these coins being.

All in all it was an interesting Nintendo day.  After all my previous Nintendo history of the SNES, N64, GameBoy, DS, and now the DSi, I will see if I can make Nintendo stick around my house for a while.  After all, I have some coins to earn!

Club Nintendo | Nintendo Member Rewards

-SG

 

I, like most other gamers out there, have really been enjoying the latest installment in the Resident Evil franchise.  Leading up to RE5's release I had got to thinking about the franchise as a whole and my participation with the series.  This post will be about my history in brief with Resident Evil and how I have thought of it throughout the years.

Resident Evil:  The game that started it all.  Sure there were 'horror' games before Resident Evil but for me this was the first one that really came alive and impacted me as a gamer and a fan of spooky stuff.  I remember the day my cousin 'COKTOE' (online alias) purchased the Playstation 'big box' version of RE (pictured left).  I also remember quite distinctly the games first big scare when the zombie-dogs pounces through the window and panic ensued.   I knew from that moment that this game was special.  As I never owned a PS1 I had to bide my time until the Sega Saturn version arrived.  Once I had my own version I was finally able to play the game fully and in my home.  I still own my Sega version and hope to bring it out again some day.  Recently I purchased Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, all I need now is my DSi and I am in buisness.

Resident Evil 2:  My favourite game in the series to date.  What I liked best is the urban environment of Racoon City and the chaos that ensued after the incident at the mansion.  for this game I took the unsual path of playing the N64 version.  While I no longer own the N64 version, I did make amends and buy the Dreamcast port of the game which I still own today.

Resident Evil 3 - Nemesis:  The game in the core series of games that I have played the least.  I did pick up the DC port like RE2 but have never got around to completing the game, in fact I only played it for an hour.  I reallly regret my lack of play of this one as like with RE2, I love that urban-Racoon City environment.  Perhaps the next time I pull out my DC I will give this game another shot.

Resident Evil - Code Veronica:  The once Dreamcast exclusive gem that was a feather in the cap of Dreamcast owners eventually saw ports accoss other consoles with longer legs.  The first 'next-gen' Resident Evil game wowwed me with its awesome graphics and cut-scenes...but I still only got half way through the game.  I picked up the PS2 'X' version yesterday.  As my PS2 is hooked up at present I am interested in taking Code: Veronica for a spin once again!

Resident Evil 4:   I was really late to the party on this one.  This winter I picked up a PS2 to catch up on some titles I missed from the last generation, Resident Evil 4 being first on my list.  I am over 10 hours into the game and besides the shoddy acting, I am really digging it.  In the end it was a recent session of RE4 that sold me to get RE5. 

And the Rest:  At the time of his writing I am hip deep in RE5, and at this point I am looking forward to finishing just so I could start all over again.  Before RE5 I could easily find the Outbreak RE games, but since everyone is RE hyped now, they are gone.  The Gun Survivor series I could care less about...but the Wii shooters look pretty tight!

So what does the future hold?  Resident Evil is hot on the current-gen systems and is looking to attack the Wii in short order, expeanding on their curent offerings.  The recent animated movie, Degeneration, just added more flavor to the canon as well as an all new avenue for the franchise.  All I know is I am interested in seeing what will be next.

RESIDENT EVIL 5

-SG

 

Text Adventure is proud to present to you Face Off.  In Face Off myself TormentX along with fellow adventurers SUPERGHOST and Schuey will take part in a short , but sweet discussion about our favorite games.

Less of a review more more of just pointing what we really enjoyed about a game or even what  we may or may not be looking forward to in a upcoming release.

Taking the the typical topics such as graphics, gameplay and innovation we will go one on one or maybe even 3v3 and “Face Off’ against each other while breaking down our subject.

Look for Face Off to make its way to Text Adventures real soon !

-TX

 

I thought that the actual post I was going to write today would be about the Nintendo DS Lite (the now discontinued Onyx/Black colour) that I just received for my birthday (which is tomorrow).  About now I would have just unboxed it and start charging it up so I could play the new crop of DS games I have been stockpiling.  Stop the presses!!!

Today Nintendo announced the day and date for the arrival of the third iteration of the DS, the DSi.  So, instead of cracking open my newly purchased DS, it is back to the store with that so I can get my brand-spankin' new DSi on its launch day of April 5, 2009!  That is not that many weeks away.  The price isn't that bad either, it will be coming in at $169!

So I am going to hold off on my DSi Text Adventures for the time being, but come April I will be unboxing and telling all of you about my new DSi.  Once I get my copy of Phantasy Star 0 the circle will be complete.

Nintendo DSi and DSiWare – Official Web site

-SG