PixlBit

Shadow Link probably stole all the mens' gloves from other stores. Bastard. 

Hopefully, it'll look good on my laptop, despite having only the minimum video card req.

That last part reminds me I still need to make my annual charity payments. Don't worry, I'm nice all year round, but it's just easier to budget those at the end of the year. Speaking of which, I have to do my taxes a special way this year, and actually pay money on what I earned now instead of out of my checks from long ago, since I was freelance. Dammit. 

I commented your Adventure Time review and will comment more later, but I REALLY need sleep right now. 

Your gift is Jake the Dog's magical powers, which I'm not quite clear on exactly aside from the stretchy thing, since he seems to have more powers hidden away. 

Like becoming Pikachu, for instance. I don't think you get to be electrical, though. 

Merry Christmas Eve, Carey!

I just read TheLastninja's RETRO Christmas games blog, and I thought one game he described involved Santa hitting kids in his invincibilty mode. I guess I'm just misinterpreting left and right. I'm literally so tired I'm dizzy now and was when I wrote my initial response to your blog. I need sleep.

I definitely see your point. I agree having something like this in the middle of everything would be better. 

I forgot all about Unfinised Swan, but I really want to play it. I thought it had a great art style and concept when I saw the trailers. I'll check for it on Steam. 

Forza is always the racing game on display at the Gamestop kiosks I see for some reason. They are pretty games, but I've never been all that impressed playing them. This Need for Speed element and racing rivals while going around looking at billboards talk intrigues me, though. 

NFS is possibly my favorite racing series, so I can't argue with the Most Wanted choice, though I've never personally played that game. 

No surprise with Simpsons being your Android pick. Is it free? I might get it on Google Play. 

I never played Temple Run, but I had seen people play it in some of my undergrad courses. It looks fun. I didn't know they added Usain Bolt. Makes sense. 

Sorry Disney Infinite was such a let-down. I didn't know you couldn't mix and match the characters and worlds, that sucks. And if the figures are so useless, it sounds like a waste to me.

Again, can't argue with NFS Most Wanted. I think I'll buy Tomb Raider on Steam today. It's on sale for $10. My system meets all the minimum requirements, but doesn't quite meet the right graphics card recommendations, so I'm paying for it with a gift card my parents got me last year. That way I don't feel like I've lost anything should it wind up being too slow. 

Yeah, that's why I'm confused. It did work before. I'll try the other method, though. 

Never heard of Proteus, how was it? 

And I tried Ugly Pug well before I asked you, actually. I didn't like it and thought it just tasted like regular beer, to be honest, but I'll try it again. I only drank about a third of a bottle. I think I'm just not a beer fan, but I have responded really well to dark lagers before, so I wanted a second opinion from someone a bit more in the know. Specifically, whatever is recommended along with the blue cheese burger at the East Dallas Beer Garden was really good, I forget the name of it, though. 

I was expecting all of these to be crap games you were going to lampoon, but actually they all sound like fun. 

I used to love killing the Lemmings when I played the original game after school on the computers in the computer lab. I don't think I ever actually attempted to solve any puzzles, just create death scenarios I found entertaining. It is interesting how similar in concept Pikmin essentially is to Lemmings, and people talked about what a novel concept it was when Pikmin first came out. Just another example of nothing being new under the Sun. Someone should really look under the moon some time. 

I definitely wasn't expecting the variety game you mentioned to sound as much fun as it does. Usually, Wii games like it are pretty crappy from what I tend to hear, or at least overpriced (which it still could have been), but with inspirations like Paper Boy, Game & Watch, Cooking Mama, it sounds like a winner. Granted, I never actually played G&W or CM, but they sound like fun concepts.  I don't actually like the original Paper Boy either, cause I find it frustrating, but I do like the Snowboard Kids 2 mode that draws inspiration from it, so I know it can be fun, and the presents dropping gimmick is a perfect fit for this kind of minigame. 

Daze Before Christmas sounds the most interesting to me, since side-scrolling platformers are a favorite genre of mine. I need to get more sleep, though, I initially misread that Santa beat kids with his sack in Anti-Clause mode and did a double-take.

Elf Bowling just sounds hilarious. I like bowling video games ok, but usually I find the place I should hit the pins and the right strength to let the ball fly at, and feel like I'm done. In real life, there's a legitimate challenge to making strikes happen on a regular basis, but I feel like in games it's completely down to timing or the game preventing you from consistent success artificially by having the pins respond differently to the exact same strength and aim of the ball that should cause you to make a strike. I think I'd be a lot less bothered by that if I had the satisfaction of getting revenge on a spiteful elf, and watching them do entertaining stuff like smoke in the background.

As for Nights, I'm still not sure I understand the appeal of the core game, despite it being a big deal for a lot of people. I'll just have to play it for myself some time to see what all the fuss is about. The internal clock thing and the Sonic stage sound cool, though.

Merry Christmas! 

Yeah, in general I'm just not a sports guy the way most around me are. I definitely get into it all, but only for specific teams, and usually I only pay much attention when my favorites get into the playoffs. Speaking of which, hell of a win for the Cowboys yesterday, huh? We caught the end while out to lunch for my dad's birthday at Grimaldi's.

By the way, if you live near El Segundo, CA you should really go there (Grimaldi's) some time. Best pizza ever. That I've tasted, anyway.

And I'm curious, since you've always seemed to be a very music savvy guy, do you have a favorite artist, song, or LP, or some examples of what might make those lists for you? 

Looking up Youtube footage, I can see why I had a hard time as a kid. I was pretty impatient and liked to know pretty much immediately where I should go (aka I preferred side-scrolling platformers that pretty much just had you go right), so I probably just tried to speed my way to the right and wound up dying. Or maybe I just wanted to quit playing and do something else at the time; this is all based on like one memory of playing it at someone's house. I can definitely see the later levels being hard for non-moronic children, though. Looks like there wasn't too much of a hit meter. 

By the way, if you ever don't want to break out the Genesis, ssega.com seems to have most of these games. That's the real reason I came back to comment, just in case you didn't know about that website. Tis' the season and all.