Grand Re-Opening

I would like to announce the official re-launch of my blog!
*Fanfare* *Applause* *Clapping* *Awkward leftover clapping*

My blog was previously without direction.  It had no purpose, no clear theme (except for piratey stuff).  But now, I'm happy to announce that my blog...

Remains without purpose.

What? You got a problem with that? Didn't THINK so! However, I am making the soon-to-be-broken promise that I will post more regularly.  Twice a week, Saturdays and maybe Wednesdays, yeah let's go with Wednesday, I will be posting something spectacular and amazing.  You will be blown away by my profound insight and exquisite tastes. You will burn with rage at my critical reviews only to crumple in embarrassment as you realize that I'm always right, especially about pirates being better than ninjas.

I will kick off my new blog with something we can all enjoy.  Free games.



Today's Free Lunch: Battle for Wesnoth

My friend and I were discussing game ideas the other day and I was suddenly reminded of a game I had played before. Before I go any farther, I want to give credit where credit is due. My little brother Sam introduced me to this game after he discovered it online. Sam has horrible taste in console games, but I have to give him this: he finds the best free stuff on the web.  As I was saying, Battle for Wesnoth in an Open-Source game that has a certain level of internet popularity.

Battle for Wesnoth plays very much like a miniatures board game.  Players control an army of distinct fantasy units.  These units move around on a hexagon tile board and then attack units that they are adjacent to.

There are several things I could relate this game to:

Advance Wars: Units are purchased with Gold which is earned by capturing certain tiles on the map.  This allows for a somewhat constant stream of units to be produced.

Fire Emblem: All units automatically counter-attack their attackers, often for very effective results.  Units are very specialized and level up after gaining enough experience.

Lord of the Rings: The thematic and 'story' elements of the game are very generic fantasy.  Orcs, elves, knights and wizards all clash in the epic fantasy battles that take place.

One thing I'd like to note about Wesnoth is that it's riddled with terrible names.  Wesnoth itself sounds like a horse sneezing or something.  The first campaign features the adventures of Konrad (meh) and Delfador the wizard. They fight their way across the fantasy world to combat Ashivere the evil queen (I think I got that right).  If you don't mind fantasy, then you'll be okay.

Overall, I found the game very entertaining. It would definitely make my top ten list of the best free games. I should make that sometime.

If you have suggestions for 'The Top Ten Best Free Games Ever', please leave your suggestion as a comment on this post.  Games must be legally free and they must either still be distributed on the web or you must have a copy that I can share with everyone else.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Dylan and Dracula

My friend and I were talking about my hair earlier today.  Someone once told me that my hair looked like a famous somebody's hair and I couldn't remember who they had mentioned.  Well, I remembered.
Bob Dylan's hair:

Also, I was recently stuck on Castlevania, but I found out that it  was because I was trying to get into a secret area of the game, not the place I was supposed to go.  So, I'm back on track now.
Dracula's Castle:

Freebies For Friday

It's not Friday so I can't call it "Freebie Friday" but I wanted to post now.  I visit many sites on the internet for fun and profit, but Kongregate is one of the most professional sites I've found for playing Flash games.  I used to use freearcade.com and get freeware from gamehippo, but they aren't as good as they used to be.

Here's some selections you should really give a shot.

Epic Battle Fantasy II

Linear as FF XIII, but far more entertaining. (I'm just playing, calm down)

You should play 'Epic Battle Fantasy I' as well, not because the story matters, but because they have Kanti from FLCL as a summon.

The Space Game

Better than Turret Defense


Minim

Sudoku on crack!


That's all I got for today folks.  Btw, those of you who know me, should be alerted to the fact that I have ruined my phone, and I am currently in the process of getting it replaced.  I have a temporary replacement phone right now, but I'd rather not give away the number.  If you need me, I'm on AIM, like, all the time, also Yahoo, and I get instant updates when I get email.  In other words, find me on the internet, it's not that hard.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Cave Story

 I know I'm about 6 years late to the party, but I'm hear to spread the word.  Cave Story...

Best Freeware Game Ever

Take a platformer like Mario, a scrolling shooter like Contra, an RPG like Earthbound, and an anime to top it off, shake well and serve.  Cave Story is a Metroid-esque platformer for PC that is "Free" thas right, free.  It has:
*Engaging plot
*Beautiful pixel-based artwork
*Wide array of weapons
*Several very expansive levels to explore
*Challenging boss fights
*Multiple Endings and dozens of secrets
*Did I mention it was kawaii?  (Cuz I was trying to avoid saying it)

I know I may seem a little overzealous here, but don't knock it til you try it, cuz hey, it's free!
Get it here, get it NOW!  Get the Deluxe Version, it doesn't cost more, it's all free!

I would also recommend using a PC Gamepad of some kind, I haven't tried the keyboard keys, but I imagine it's gotta be harder to work with.

PS, it came out for the Wii recently as well, may or may not be free there.  If I had a Wii, and it cost less than five dollars, I'd buy it.  Otherwise just go online and get it... FREE.

No More Heroes?

I watched the entirety of Heroes: Season 1 and despite an ending that I felt was a bit of a plot-hole, it was a really good show.  Before starting Season 2, I searched the internet for reviews of the show.  Everywhere I looked I found the same thing, "Season 2 and after sucks," "Great show that went downhill at Season 2"  I even found one review that likened Season 2 Hiro Nakamura to Jar Jar Binks!  Well, I was stubborn and watched it anyway, but I'm glad I did.

To get to the point...

Reviews of Season 2's failure are GREATLY exaggerated.  I found Season 2 to be just as entertaining and compelling as Season 1.  I now intend to continue following the series to find out whether or not the rest of the series is just as badly framed.  If you are a fan of Sci-Fi, Super-Heroes, or day-time drama, I encourage you to not only watch Season 1 of Heroes, but also Season 2.

Now certainly hundreds of reviews on the internet can't be wrong, right?  Well, I'll leave that to you, but I thought I'd give my theory on why I think it got such a bad rap.  Heroes is a show that you CANNOT miss a single episode.  The story is continuous, constantly changing and missing even a single episode can make things fail to make sense.  Does it make it a bad show?  No.  Does it make it a bad show to watch on TV?  Definitely.  If you want to watch Heroes (and I know you do...) I would advise watching on DVD, on Netflix Instant Watch, on NBC.com or whereever you can get access to each episode, in order.

Also, start at Season 1 because the story is continuous between Seasons as well.

Sunshine

It was okay.

Only the Good Die Young

This is a list of under-appreciated shows that got canceled before their time.  I will add to this list later when I think of more.  Comment on this entry if you have suggestions.

The Good:

The Weekenders
Lloyd in Space
Megas XLR
The Pirates of Dark Water