And the winner of The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Painter Momopie Edition is ...

... finchiekins.

Congratulations! Also, sorry to those of you who threw your hats into the ring but didn't walk away winners.

Don't fret, though, as I'm planning to hold at least three more such "Gay Gamer Giveaways" in the coming weeks. In fact, I'll likely publish a post about the second one early next week.

In the meantime, finchiekins, please send me your address so I can mail this copy of Painter Momopie to you, pronto. We follow each other on Twitter, so maybe you could send that info via a direct message? If not, let me know and I'll share with you my e-mail address.

Congrats again, and thanks to everyone who participated!

See also: 'The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Painter Momopie (GameBoy) Edition'

It's a cute Japanese puzzler for the GameBoy--so of course I bought a copy!

Those of you who read my last "Shall We Do It?" post may remember that I wrapped it up by chatting about a Japan-only, tile-matching puzzler for the GameBoy called Nontan to Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle.

As I suggested there, this Victor Interactive-published title is far from a long-lost treasure. It is cute, though, and it's also a puzzler, which should help explain why I recently hunted down the copy seen in the photos below.

Add in the fact that it's a cute puzzler for the GameBoy and, well, it almost would've been criminal had I not done so.

Anyway, the box art produced for this version of Nontan to Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle--another was released for the Super Famicom and was made by the Pokémon devs at Game Freak--is nice enough, if you ask me. 

The sticker remnants in the upper-left corner notwithstanding, of course. (Don't worry, I'm planning to bid them adieu by sending them on a blind date with a bit of Goo Gone soon.)

The cart label's cute, too, of course--although I kind of miss the grinning ant and slug that can be found on the box art. The titular Nontan (the cat) is still grinning like a fool, though, so if that's your thing you probably don't care that the ant and slug have gone AWOL.

As seems to be the case with the packaging produced for most Japanese GameBoy titles, the back of Nontan to Issho's box is pretty barren.

Oh, well, it's not like there's much that can be said about this Puyo Puyo-esque game anyway. "Flip and match cute tiles while controlling cute characters and listening to cute tunes!" Surely that's covered in the smidge of text seen in the photo above?

See also: 'Lucky Monkey? More like lucky me ...'

A few quick thoughts on Nintendo's presence at E3 2014 thus far

Yesterday at E3 2014 was quite a day if you're any kind of fan of Nintendo's systems or games. After all, not only did they offer up a 45-minute "Digital Event" (their pre-recorded take of the traditional press conference) that quite literally was crammed full of content, but they followed that up with a number of hours of "Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3" coverage that shined even more light onto the titles that had been all-too-briefly discussed during the "Digital Event."

Here are a few quick thoughts on all of the above and more (as Nintendo announced a couple of 3DS games during one of the aforementioned "Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3" broadcasts--which are the hit of this event, in my opinion):

Amiibo, eh?--To be completely honest, I'm not yet sure what I think of Nintendo's NFC-enabled "toys to life" figurines that will be put to use in upcoming games like Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (and possibly already released ones like Mario Kart 8, too). Still, I'm pretty sure I'll pick up at least a couple of them just so I can display them on my desk or something--especially if they release Birdo, Tingle, Pikmin or Ness ones.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker--I love it when Nintendo announces a game I didn't even know I wanted until I see it in action. Of course, it helps when the game in question looks as cute and charming (there's that word again) as this one does. Anyway, I'll definitely pick up Treasure Tracker after I finally acquire a Wii U, whenever that may be.



Fantasy Life--No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. This enchanting-looking 3DS title, made by Level-5 (of Professor Layton fame), will finally see the light of day in North America this October. Even better: it looks as though this is a localization of Japan's Fantasy Life Link, which added in an online multiplayer option. Now if Nintendo of America would just announce a North American release for Dragon Quest VII so I could die happy.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse--Who could've predicted that Nintendo would ever make a sequel to one of the best (as well as one of the most over-looked, at least commercially) DS games around, Kirby's Canvas Curse? Honestly, this will be the first game I buy for my Wii U--assuming I wait until 2015 to buy one, I mean--thanks in large part to its drop-dead-gorgeous claymation art style (which can be seen it in all its glory in the trailer below).



Mario Maker--If you've ever wanted to make your own Super Mario Bros. levels, this 2015 Wii U title is for you. I'm not entirely sure it's for me, though. I mean, I like Mario platformers as much as the next guy or girl, but I can't say I've been chomping at the bit to make my own. As such, whether or not I buy this 2015 release likely will depend on its price. ($9.99? Sure. $39.99? Probably not.)

Xenoblade Chronicles X--This is the final name for the Wii U title previously known as X. And, truthfully, the teaser trailer shown during Nintendo's "Digital Event" was ... dreadful. Thankfully, the actual gameplay footage shown during its "Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3" session looked worlds better. Definitely another title on my Wii U "wish list"--despite the fact that I've yet to finish its Wii-based predecessor.



Yoshi's Woolly World--First, I was glad to find out this Wii U game hadn't been cancelled (as had widely been feared). Then, I was sad to hear its release had been pushed into 2015. And after seeing some actual gameplay footage of it? I'm feeling both glad and sad, to be honest. I mean, I absolutely love the look of it, and I'm sure it's going to control like a dream, but it also looks a bit too derivative of Kirby's Epic Yarn. Hopefully this game's devs will be able to differentiate this one from that adorable Wii effort enough to make it a worthwhile purchase.

A handful of other 3DS and Wii U titles (mostly the latter) also were highlighted during yesterday's festivities, but I don't have much to say about them--well, other than to say that I like the looks of the Wii U Zelda title, but that in no way assures I'll buy it once it's available. I most likely will be buying Bayonetta 2, though, especially as retail copies (which will hit store shelves in October) will include the first game, too.

Now that I've had my say, what do all of you think about Nintendo's E3 2014 output so far--assuming you have any thoughts on the matter at all?

Anyone else own one of these as a kid?

I'd completely forgotten that I got one of these "official" Pac-Man mini-arcade machines for Christmas back in the day before I came across this blog post a couple of days ago.

I can't remember exactly which Christmas, of course, but I'm guessing it was in 1981 or shortly thereafter, as that's when this eBay listing says it was released.



If memory serves, it plays a pretty spot-on version of Namco's classic arcade game. Sadly, my memory's also suggesting to me that I sold my mini Pac-Man machine at a garage sale a few years later--most likely for chump change.

Should any of you want to relive those memories--or make some new ones--check out this auction, which ends at about 6:56 pm Pacific today. (Current bid is $100, not including shipping.)

(Via retro-treasures.blogspot.com)

Three trailers for PS4 indie titles that caught my attention yesterday

So, yesterday afternoon I published a post about a trio of trailers for Xbox One indie titles that caught my attention at E3 2014.

Not wanting to play favorites, I thought I should publish a similar post about a few of the awesome-looking PS4 indie titles that were shown during Sony's early-evening press conference at the same event.

Here they are:



The trailer above is for ABZU, a captivating title that's being made by Giant Squid, the development studio opened by former Journey art director, Matt Nava.

I do wish this trailer gave viewers a better idea of how the final product will play. Even in its current state, though, I'm curious about it and will keep an eye on it (despite the fact that I don't own, and may never own, a PS4).



This second trailer, above, is for a game called Entwined. Sadly, it offers up even less gameplay than ABZU's trailer.

PS4 owners won't have to wait months or years to discover how this Pixelopus-made title plays, though, as it's already available for purchase on the PlayStation Store for $9.99. (Apparently it'll be made available to PS3 and Vita owners down the line, too.)



Finally, there's the trailer for No Man's Sky, above. This one's all about "exploration and survival in an infinite procedurally generated universe," according to developer Hello Games.

The question is: will the gameplay be able to live up to the hype created by this trailer? I certainly hope it will, although I've got to admit I'm a bit skeptical.

How about all of you? Did any of these PS4 indie titles trip your trigger yesterday? If so, which ones--and why?