153 Lines - UPDATE

I love Tetris. I play it multiple times each day. I'm the kind of player that should be described as "Go big or go home." I set up for the Tetrises (four-line boomshakalas) even when it comes to the higher-speed, late stages. If a problem arises, I will solve it, even if it means exacerbating the situation I was already in.

But I live for the Tetrises.

This afternoon as I played my first game of the day, same strategy. I'm rolling through, getting primed for a new high score. (Note: a new high score in points; 153 lines in not close the the highest amount of lines I have scored, which has exceed 200.) My current high score is 137,986 with 106 lines.

Yes, 106 lines. Go big or go home.

And as you can tell by the title of this post, I had 153 lines. But I came across a slight misplacement of an L-block, and there was no way I could correct. I finished with 128,936 points. What was my problem? Well, I knew the risks before I started playing.

The risk of putting iTunes on shuffle while playing.

I typically just play an album straight through so I don't get caught off-guard with a slower rhythm in a song. But I can't risk pausing Tetris to switch songs and throw off my own rhythm.

Here are the songs that played during my run:

Sukie in the Graveyard - Belle and Sebastian
Five - Ratatat
Everything Will Be Alright - The Killers

Can you see what killed me? Everything was not alright when The Killers started playing. I was distracted because as the tempo increased in Tetris, it slowed in the music. Yet I was still able to manage just one more Tetris until a new high score.

UPDATE: 12 hours later (it is now 1:30 a.m.) I scored 150240 with 150 lines. Thank you Deerhunter.

UPDATE 2: One week later, 178 lines and 188,801. With iTunes on Shuffle.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

I received Donkey Kong Country Returns for Christmas, and I played for about an hour and a half tonight. So far, it's freaking amazing.

Playing through the first world's levels, I was very pleased to see how similar it was to the SNES DKC games, and a whole lot of nostalgic awesomeness came flooding back to me. Then I started shooting out of barrels and experiencing new game play, and got quite giddy (but not as giddu as I get around my 3-month-old nephew, who is way more awesome than this game).

But DKCR is awesome! I was able to run through the first world with ease, and collecting the KONG letters in the first mine cart level was the first real challenge. The world's boss was an easy read too, but I also unlocked a secret level...

With all KONG letters recovered from all levels, a new area was unlocked, level 1-K. That was a true gaming challenge. Platforms would fall after a few seconds when you landed on them, and enemies and spikes would hinder my progress, so much so that one touch would likely end my run and kill me. I can't say how many times I tried, but it took me well over 30 minutes to complete this level. I still didn't get all the puzzle pieces in the level...

Which is an incredible sign for this game. The game play is very fluid and the levels are beautiful and fresh, but the challenges and secrets are aplently.

Replay Value

The last new game I bought was Final Fantasy XIII.

Let me clarify this. In March, FFXIII was new, and I bought it. Over the summer, I took advantage of Steam's awesome deals and sales, and downloaded Portal (for free), Dragon Age: Origins (on sale), and the Deus Ex games (for super cheap). I downloaded Mario Tennis 64 on Virtual Console. Something untypical of me was that I also purchased some DLC for Guitar Hero 5. That is where my money spent on gaming went to over this summer.

So what was I playing in the four-ish months that I was out of school? A bit of FFXIII, a lot of Modern Warfare 2, the daily doses of drumming on Guitar Hero, collected 121 stars in Super Mario Galaxy 2, a handful of Gameboy games (pun intended... yeah it's a bad pun), a couple of hours in these PC games, and Hearts. Yes, Hearts.

I also started to replay Tales of Symphonia. And a few missions from each Syphon Filter game. I started the Terran campaign in StarCraft. Another brand new sorceress in Diablo 2. Crushing difficulty in Uncharted 2.

All of these games have an incredibly high replay value to me, clearly. This is something I look for in each and every video game I own, which sadly also explains why I haven't played a whole lot of good games. I don't rent a whole lot. I stick with the same tried and true games. I prestiged multiple times in MW2, and have many more prestiges to go through. I have trophies that need unlocking in Uncharted 2 (and pretty much every other PS3 game I have). I HAVE ALL BUT ONE GREEN STARS TO FIND IN SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2!

So while I fully intend to complete all of these tasks, I need to make sure I experience a lot more games in my career. Metroid: Other M was just released today. I don't know if that is a purchase (despite my love for the Metroid series) I may need to rent the game this weekend and run through it in about two or three days. It can be done.

Also, Ben and I want to play all three Halo games in one (or two) sittings. REPLAY VALUE.

Are there any games you would suggest that I play? Mainly any Nintendo or Sony console games. What games have the highest replay value to you?

(It's cute that I pose questions at the end of my post for the zero readers I have.)

Brianstorm

Remember last summer when I beat Everlong on expert drums? Well, my goal for this summer was to beat Brianstorm on expert drums.

I took care of that pretty quickly.



This video was of the second time I finished the song. Hell, I beat it once, I knew I could do it again. So I put it on video (mainly to rub it in Clark's face). That and to put some more fun content on the blog.

I got 3 stars on this play; earlier today, I played Brianstorm again. Earned the 4 stars in the last seconds of the song.

Beating the song was the goal, and it happened in the first week of my summer. Now I need to 5 star it. My apologies to the neighbors....

It's weird, but I like it! - Anamanaguchi

So I'm still awake at a quarter after 1, and my iTunes are on shuffle. Helix Nebula by Anamanaguchi starts playing, and I smile. It is such an odd song by such an odd band, but it always brings a feeling of joy to me.



In a way, it's weird, but I like it.

And that is my new idea. Why not write a couple of posts and have a series called "It's weird, but I like it?" This is that inaugural post.

Anamanaguchi "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." And it's awesome. I'm a fan of guitar riffs and fast beats; anything that is really upbeat and rocking. My gaming roots absolutely love the synth beeps and boops, especially how they rise and fall.

Without any lyrics or words, the song tells a story, and it's all in 8-bit. My favorite parts? When the beat chops during the bridge, around marks 1:02 and 1:53.

When I first heard these guys, I was pretty amazed with what they were doing, and I saw how they did it through videos and such from YouTube. It really wasn't until a few plays after where I started picking out each individual instrument playing with the melody. The guitars riff awesomely and keep that upbeat rhythm, and the drums keep pounding.

Why hasn't anybody made a Rock Band chart for any of their songs yet? I would love to drum along with any of their songs, but especially Helix Nebula.

It's weird, but I like it.

Just Wing It

Okay folks, I've done some thinking. Within the next month, I will be starting a brand new blog, one that will encompass all the works that I enjoy to write about here and at my other blog.

I hope to still enlighten gamers with my articles, stories, reviews, previews, and hopefully some new video at the new site, and you can bet that during E3, I will engage everyone with great solo coverage from the comfort of my living room.

Something that goes on at my other blog is some creative writing, some silly pieces of non-fiction, assignments that I've written in class or for another publication, other random things?

Well, what I hope to accomplish with my new blog (which is still in the brainstorming phase) is to encompass all of the above, and some fresh things. If there is any photography I've done, I would like to put that up. Any quirky one-liners or quick thoughts from the day, that will be posted, too. It's a blog, like this one, but it's about damn time I start becoming a LOT more active with my writing.

I want to get at least one thing new each day. I also hope that I spend more time writing separate pieces so that I can have them automatically publish the next day, or at a future time, in case I find myself too busy.

One thing I absolutely want to do is have a weekly feature of some sort; what I have in mind would be something like "Tim's Top Trio," a column I used have in high school, and I think it's appeared on this blog too.

Possible titles and addresses for the new site involve word play on my last name. Things like "Just Wing It," "Don't Just Wing It, Tim Wing It," something something Wing. You get the idea. I'm thinking something that is more simple and silly and fresh. Good luck with that.

Thanks for the support through all of these years. Bye!