PixlBit

Hey folks, I have another batch of reviews and articles I’ve written over at GamerDad.com lately, including my articles on the National Videogame Museum!  If you read my April Fools’ blog from a few weeks ago, you know that I’ve been volunteering at the newly opened National Videogame Museum in Frisco, TX, and I also wrote some articles about them at GamerDad.com.  So if you read any of my reviews, please read those especially, as I put a little extra effort into them.  They’re a lot like my PAX and E3 articles, because the museum is nearly as good as those places.  So if you can, please click on the links, read the reviews, post comments here or there, and maybe even click that ‘Like’ button.  I’d really appreciate it!  OK, let’s begin!

The National Videogame Museum Opens in Frisco, TX: Part 1

There’s so much stuff at the museum I had to split it into two parts.  In the first part, I mostly just talked about the main exhibits.  But I still didn’t take pictures of ALL the displays, so if you come, you’ll still see some surprises!

The National Videogame Museum Opens in Frisco, TX: Part 2

The museum also has a bunch of video game themed painted murals from talented local artists, and it’s almost as much of a video game art museum as a history museum.  So in Part 2, I showed off the murals and other art, as well as the big 80s arcade and some opening day fun.  I’m still volunteering at the museum, but please keep me in your thoughts and prayers that I may hopefully someday find employment there.  I’d really like to work there, but some recent things and events there have me wondering if that will even be a possibility.  I know I’m just being a little impatient, but I’m still a little worried.  I won’t go into the details here, but if you really want to know, you can send me a PM or something.  Anyway, thanks for reading these articles and thinking about me.

Free Play Barcade

So let’s say you’ve planned a trip to Texas to visit the museum, but it makes you hungry for more classic games!  Luckily, only 20 to 30 minutes away, in Richardson, TX, is a bar and 80s arcade that’s really cool!  Man, I’m starting to sound like a travel brochure!  Anyway, my brother Jeff and I went to this Free Play place a few months ago, and I took some pictures.  I got a little busy so I only just got around to posting them recently, but it’s still a neat place so check out the pictures!  If you “Like” their Facebook page, you can even get updates on specials, new drinks, and new and repaired arcade machines added!  I hope I get to go back there someday.

LEGO Dimensions Midway Arcade Level Pack

And the retro theme continues!  When I wrote my big article about LEGO Dimensions last year, I talked about a Midway Arcade level where you play LEGO versions of classics like Defender, Gauntlet, Robotron, and more!  So you’d think the Midway Level Arcade Pack would be like that as well, right?  Well, you’d be wrong!  It’s totally not what I expected!  Wanna know what it’s like?  Well you’ll just have to click on the link and read my article to find out!

Replay: VHS is Not Dead (Wii U)

One last retro thing.  This is a puzzle platformer game where you are sucked into a movie and must get yourself and the other movie characters to exits at the same time.  The gimmick is that you can rewind one character’s moves, and then switch to another player and the other character will play out his moves from before!  So you have to use that aspect to get through the levels.  It’s a little hard to explain and wrap your head around at first, but after a few levels you’ll get the idea.  It kind of reminds me of the SNES games I’d rent back in the day.  The game has a lot of funny movie spoofs and humor, but I don’t think kids will get the whole VHS thing.  I doubt most kids today have even seen a VCR, let alone know what rewinding a movie means.

Yo-Kai Watch: Wibble Wobble (iPad)

This is a free-to-play game for mobile devices, and you may have even seen TV commercials about it. I know I have.  It kind of reminds me of a cross between the 3DS Yo-Kai Watch game and Puzzle & Dragons.  You match Yo-Kai character heads to execute attacks, but you can also do things from the game like perform Soultimate moves and such.  So if you’ve played the 3DS game, this will be easier to understand.  It’s one of the better free-to-play games I’ve reviewed, so if you can’t get enough Yo-Kai Watch and have a mobile device, check it out!

Star Ghost (Wii U)

This is a 2-D side scrolling shooter, but it has a different way of controlling your ship.  You move up and down by holding down a button, and it reminds me of the controls from games like Joust and Balloon Fight.  Normally I don’t like it when game developers make their games more difficult by changing the controls, but it’s not so bad here.  The folks who made this game also consist of former Retro and Rare employees, and I even think David Wise did the music.  He did some cool songs while at Rare.

Free Skylanders Battlecast Card in Kid Cuisine Meals

And finally, there is a brand of kid themed TV dinners called Kid Cuisine (does anyone even call them TV dinners anymore?), and they did a promotion with Skylanders where you can get a free card for the Skylanders card game in special boxes.  Some of the dinners even have Skylanders shaped chicken nuggets and mac & cheese.  But you only get one type of card.  You’d think they’d put different cards in there so you’d want to buy more TV dinners.  They didn’t have kid themed TV dinners when I was a kid, but then, I’ve never been a fan of TV dinners anyway.  I only wrote this article because the Skylanders folks have sent me all their games to review in the past, which is a lot, so I try to be supportive of them when I can.  Plus, it’s a big kids franchise so I should write as many Skylanders stuff as I can on GamerDad.com, I reckon.

Thanks for visiting and reading!

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading my reviews and articles and posting comments.  I really appreciate it.  Later!  --Cary