Cartoon Crack

I blame Andy Burns, he's the one who did this. I am addicted to The Simpsons Tapped Out.

Andy is a great guy, a terrific friend, and the editor-in-chief of the coolest pop culture website around, Biff Bam Pop!. Yes, I'm biased, I'm affiliated with the site, and it's a shameless plug, but facts are facts, I only work with the best.

Anyway, Andy and I talk quite a bit across the internet. Friends, family, news, pop culture, anything that's on our minds are the topics of conversation. We don't always agree but I think we know what we each like. Andy has given me some great music recommendations and I've hipped him to some comics I've thought were cool.

Then he suggested I should be playing The Simpsons Tapped Out.

The game is one of a kind I dislike quite a bit. Like those annoying Mafia Wars and FarmVille games that I hate so much on The Facebook, it is a social media engine, not unlike a pyramid scheme, that requires the player to induct others into the game to rise in level.

I didn't want it, but somehow I got sucked in. And I'm loving it. I'm having a lot of fun. The premise that Homer has destroyed Springfield, and now you have to rebuild it piece by piece. Building of course requires money, or donuts. If you don't have enough donuts you may end up using real cash to buy more. That's how this iPhone app makes money, you gotta buy the donuts.

You can't wait until you have enough to build various landmarks and characters from the TV show, and that's part of the charm. I mean, who doesn't love "The Simpsons"? Especially after a quarter century on the air, it would be un-American not to love it.

Now I can't wait to get my Android's Dungeon built, and I need a Bart... Join the addiction. I'm glenn415, please friend me. Andy, this is all your fault.

"One of us... One of us... One of us..."

Jeopardy!

Until its latest incarnation, syndicated at seven at night with Alex Trebek for the last couple decades, I had never seen "Jeopardy!" which I know is pretty odd, especially for a pop culture guy like me. I was aware of the Art Fleming version, and got all the jokes in "Weird Al" Yankovic's "I Lost on Jeopardy," but had no real frame of reference. The current version, begun in 1984, that continues today, is, of course, a pop culture phenomenon.

It's kind of appropriate that I'm reviewing the Jeopardy! game demo for PS3 here today because Jeopardy! was actually the first computer game I ever saw. When The Bride and I were first dating, she showed the game to me on her amazing four megabyte Apple II computer. At the time, the salesman told her that she would never need a computer with more than four megabytes. Ain't the future great?

That brings us full circle to Jeopardy! on the PS3. The game has some nice features like the ability to create a contestant. The graphics are cartoony, and Alex Trebek is creepy like that, and even creepier without his moustache. The game does use his voice though, which gives the game some authenticity.

There are complaints. You can only answer questions in two categories per round. Not cool. It also makes the games shorter, despite the end credits of the show seeming longer than in real life. The answers are multiple choice, which I suppose makes it easier. And of course, there no worry about putting your answer in the form of a question, but that's okay for me.

Now it should be noted that the multiple choice is only on the easy mode, but still. And just for the record, I encountered the same questions in the easy mode and the hard mode - the difference was in the latter I had to spell out the answers. Seems like a glitch to me. I wanted different questions. Oh well, Jeopardy! was fun while it lasted, and better than a four megabyte game.

Kaiju Combat Kickstarter

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The Lego Pirates

I love Lego. It was a toy I didn't have as a child so I have always had a fascination with as an adult. And now that recently Lego has been putting out Lego versions of superheroes, I love them more. I really groove on having my own Lego versions of the Justice League and the Avengers.

That said, I think having special Batman, Avengers, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and all the other sets for Lego kinda takes some of the imagination play away from the kids. Especially when a set is supposed to be put together a certain way, rather than letting the kid built what he or she wants, ya know?

Soapbox time over. Lego also seems to be a major force in videogames. Heck, one of the first games I reviewed here was a Lego game. Folks seem to like using Lego-ized characters in videogames. This time we have Disney's Pirate franchise in Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. The animatics in the opening of the game are recreations of many moments from the movies done Lego animation style. The game itself however is something else.

The demo I downloaded from the PlayStation Store wouldn't let me free play until I completed the story mode. That was disappointing. And once I hit start, there were more movie recreations in Lego style. There was more TV watching here than actual game playing.

When finally I was allowed to play, there was more disappointment. Without an instruction manual (good luck finding one online, PS seems dead set against supplying instructions), I was at a loss as to what to do. I collected coins Mario style but then found it impossible to leave the room I started in. I suppose I'll have to wait for one of my gaming guru friends to come over. At least I can play with my Lego Avengers until then...