Freemium, Flintstones, and Family Guy

Regular readers here know of my addiction to Simpsons Tapped Out, but that's not the only freemium game of that type out there, nor is it the only one I'm playing. I'm talking about two other animated series, one an inspiration and the other a frenemy of "The Simpsons," yeah, I'm talking about "The Flintstones" and "Family Guy."

The "Family Guy" game, officially and sarcastically (keeping with the spirit of the show) called Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff. In the plot of the game, the show is cancelled and a battle between Peter Griffin and Ernie the Giant Chicken (never knew he had a name until I looked it up for this post) destroys the town of Quahog. Much like Tapped Out, you are tasked with rebuilding the town.

To its credit, it's easier to get 'stuff' in this game than others, but I actually found myself bored after a while. Sarcasm only works in small doses, it's like spending more than a day at Universal. Later versions have the Star Trek Next Gen characters and actors involved, so maybe a return trip to Quahog might be in order.

The Flintstones hold a bit more power over me as I continue to play that one. Officially called The Flintstones: Bring Back Bedrock, it is just like the other two freemium games, only with the hangings of that cartoon. Bedrock has been destroyed by a meteor shower (a little close for comfort) and Fred and company have to put it back together. Some of it is fun, and some not so fun, I really just want to get Dino. One thing for sure, it's addictive. Either way, I'll still return to my first love, Tapped Out.

Super Bowl Pac-Man

In case you missed it the other night (although I don't really get how, it was both the most watched Super Bowl in history, and a hell of a game), here is one of the best commercials of the night, for Budweiser.

Part of their series of #UpForWhatever commercials, a man was put inside a gigantic Pac-Man machine, and made to play the game.

Are we really sure that Marvel Comics super-villain Arcade isn't in charge of the Budweiser's advertising department??

The video below that is the making of the commercial. Enjoy.

Simpsons Too Smart for the Room?

Folks who are regular readers here know that I love "The Simpsons." I love the game The Simpsons Tapped Out especially, and yes, I've been geeking out watching Every Simpsons Ever on FXX.

In just the last week however, there's been a new game within Simpsons Tapped Out, and I just don't get it. It seems to have a medieval vibe but that's not all. There's nerds, barbarians, seeming Dungeons & Dragons references, and while all that may seem like it's in my roundhouse, the game is completely incomprehensible to me.

Does anyone know how this is played? I think EA just may have jumped the shark by trying too hard and assuming too much…

The Simpsons - Still Tapping

I talked about this one before, The Simpsons Tapped Out. Well, I'm still playing it on my phone. A lot of the folks who were playing when I started have stopped or just faded away, but really I continue to enjoy it.

I have tried other games of its ilk. A few Sims things, Megapolis, stuff like that. But it's just not the same, and I don't like them, so keep your Farmville requests away from me please. It's the familiarity of the characters and the situations that appeals to me. So with that logic, I have to wonder why DC Comics with their amazing fictional cities or Marvel Comics with their fantastic Marvel Universe New York City haven't jumped on the bandwagon. I would be all over either of those two games.

There is one thing I do wonder about however. Where do folks get all the donuts from? Donuts are the currency in this game, and you get one or two per level (currently 27 is the highest level), or you can buy them outright. When a new building is available I see folks who get it immediately, no matter if it's only costs a handful of donuts or hundreds of donuts. Do people really buy that much for one of these games? That's a serious cash put out…

New updates happen all the time, some relating to holidays, or upcoming episodes, or even very Simpsons-centric things like Whacking Day, currently going on. If you want to add me to your Other Springfields, you can find me at monsura2 or if you want, help The Bride out at glenifer. We'll both still be tapping away.

Videogame of The Walking Dead

Okay, zombies are hot right now, and The Walking Dead, whether you're talking the comics or the TV series, is really really hot. So you knew sooner it later there'd be a videogame. This one is probably not the first, but this demo for the PS3 is the first one I've had access to.

It starts with Episode One : A New Day. You play Lee, a limping survivor of the zombie apocalypse as you explore the new world left behind for The Walking Dead. As you move forward, you meet and save a little girl named Clementine. You move through the scenario, guided, if you wish, by hints on how to play the game. This was good for me, the controller handicapped non-gamer, and in this way, I was pretty good at this. See what just a little help and a nudge in the right direction can do?

Some research on the magical Internet shows your player character is actually Lee Everett, apparently a college professor and a, believe it or not, convicted murderer. His backstory unfolds through the course of the game. Lee comes home from work and finds his wife in bed with another man. Lee kills him, is tried for murder, and on his way to prison, an accident frees him in the midst of the zombie apocalypse happening around him.

Brought to life by voice actor David Fennoy, Lee Everett has been celebrated in the world of videogames as a very human character, both sympathetic in the game story and still reflective of the player's actions and motivations. A unique character in the gaming arena. This was the first time I experienced gameplay like this in a game I could actually play, I was impressed.

Gameplay is set solidly in the Walking Dead universe, and continues that way episodically, literally. There are a total of five episodes and three characters from the comics/TV series appear. It's what is known as a point and click game (see, I am learning something), but focuses more on character development than the usual puzzle solving tactics. The writer in me loves this aspect.

I really dig this game, both for its innovation and for its handholding instruction. Maybe if Sleeping Dogs or Saints Row were more new gamer friendly, I'd like them this much too.

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.

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...

The New PlayStation Store

Since getting my PS3, and writing this blog, I have been quite dependent on the PlayStation Store. It's where I get all the wonderful free trials and demos I play and write about.

As with all things that we rely on on a daily basis, whether we realize it or not, they are just old and lousy. No matter how good we think they are, and how much we live them - trust me, it's all old and lousy. You know how I know? Because invariably, something 'new and improved' will come along. Like today.

Welcome to the new PlayStation Store. I am, of course, hesitant. Both because I am old, and because I liked the old interface. Just because something can be improved, doesn't mean it should, ya know?

All that said, it does seem like a happier, shinier, and most importantly, easier to navigate interface. It gives a good view of everything the store has to offer - movies, television, applications, and (whodathunkit?) games. Use the left side menu if you want to find specific games, or types of games, however.

Nice, for once, it's a new and improved that is new and improved.

Lions, and Robots, and Anime, Oh My!

I don't get Voltron. I mean I get it, I understand it, but I don't get it. It holds no nostalgic value for me. It came out some time after I traded cartoons for girls, you know, waaay back in college.

For those of you in my situation, I'll refresh your memories. "Voltron: Defender of the Universe" was an animated series in the early 1980s that was edited together with segments from two earlier Japanese animes called "Beast King GoLion" and "Armored Fleet Dairugger XV." It was done in much the same way "Power Rangers" was put together, only not live-action. In the American compilation, the Voltron Force are five individual who fight the forces of evil in five different colored robot lions, that can combine into one giant robot and fight the bigger badder menaces they can't on their own. It was a huge hit here in the States for boys and girls.

As I said, it was past my time, much like G.I. Joe or Transformers. Still, I like giant robots, and especially monsters, when I saw that a game called Voltron: Defender of the Universe was available for free download from the PlayStation Store, I thought, why not?



The game starts with a whole lot of animation, old animation, which makes me think it's probably from the original American TV series. There's a bunch of it, so much of it, that you expect that to be what the game is like, but no, that's not the case at all.

Had the game had a Japanese anime feel to it, it might have been a bit juvenile, but it would have worked. The game however is nothing like that. It's like a crisp high definition version of what the old 8-bit and 16-bit video games for Atari and Nintendo used to look like. If you were told that blue and red pixilated blur was supposed to be Superman, you just nodded and blindly accepted that.

This stolen-from-the-web pic is 100% clearer than what I saw in the game...

It's like that here. After about five to ten minutes of running my black segmented blob of shiny metal through bad obstacles and having it gobble up good obstacles, it occurred to me that might supposed to be the Black Lion. Yeah, it's like that. What I was able to see of the game was pretty, indistinguishable, and pretty primitive. I gave up out of boredom, not frustration. If there are giant robots or monsters, I wouldn't know. I didn't get that far.

If you got a hankering for Voltron, get over to Netflix, not to your PlayStation, just my opinion.

Bat-Pr0n

Okay, so my buddy Ray, in order to indoctrinate me into the highly addictive world of the PS3, lent me a stack of games he thought I might be into. There were a lot of comic book based games in that stack as we are both comic book fanboys. Of course those are the games I gravitated toward first.

I had tried Marvel Super Hero Squad first as I liked the cartoon and Ray had told me it was ridiculously easy. It wasn't. So I placed a call to my friend to ask how it worked, how I could get through a certain sequence and to bitch at him for saying it was so easy - especially since I couldn't figure it out. Ray was out, and I gave up quickly on the game.

By the time Ray got a chance to call me back, I had ejected MSHS and put in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Compared to the previous game, B:AA is very realistic, and add to that, it's also rather frightening. The graphics and the characters are pretty scary here, as an Arkham game probably should be. I should mention that some of the game is also in 3-D so I'm sure it's even scarier that way. This certainly isn't the Lego game. The intro is totally crazy town, but exactly what you would expect every time the Batman returns the Joker to Arkham. We get an inside look at something rarely seen in the comics, but we know happens on a fairly regular basis.

This game, should I ever get farther than the intro (which seems unlikely honestly, I'm not too good at this), should be a treat for me as a fan of "Batman: The Animated Series." This game features one of the last times those voice actors have worked together. Not only does Kevin Conroy reprise Batman, Mark Hamill is the Joker, and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn in a story written by Paul Dini. A treat indeed.

The phone rings, and it's Ray. Okay, now this is important, picture this: I have put the controller down, I'm chatting with Ray on the phone, and the Batman menu is on and running. The image on the television is a shot of Batman, a close-up shot of Batman, from the neck down, the camera slowly panning up from his boots. As the camera slowly pans up, Batman is breathing heavily and flexing his muscles. No face, only the same visual cruise up his flexing sinewy body, with a bit too much lingering at the groin area. Yeah. Got it?

I look up and notice this. All I can think is "Oh my God, what the hell am I watching?" and then the real hammer hits me, "Oh my God, I'm watching Bat-pr0n!" At least there aren't any Bat-nipples in this game... that I know of...