Zelda and Extra Life 2011

Greetings all!

Yes yes, I know, been a bit of a while.

Current status on The List: I'm playing through The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past right now.

I'm up to the third dungeon in the game, just have to figure out how to get the treasure in it to kill the boss and everything will be golden!



Now for a bit of serious news:

A group of friends and myself have signed up to be a part of Extra Life 2011. What is Extra Life, you ask? Extra Life is a fundraising event made by a group of gamers in order to benefit hospitals in the Children's Miracle Network. On Oct 15th, all participants gamed for 24 hours in order to raise funds for the hospitals they were supporting, myself included.

I was part of a group composed of some friends of mine who sought to raise money for our local Children's Miracle Network Hospital - San Jorge Children's Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We managed to raise up to $687.19. BUT! We still need YOUR help!

THIS SATURDAY there will be a SECOND Extra Life event for those who couldn't participate/donate last saturday.

My team will be participating in the efforts once more in order to see if we can reach (or hopefully surpass) our goal of $1,000! All you have to do is click on the button below to be directed to our team site. From there, you click on ANY participant's name and then click the Support Me button on their Extra Life page. Even if you can't donate, spread the word around!

100% of the proceeds go DIRECTLY to the hospital we are supporting (and are tax deductible).

Please help us reach our goal for San Jorge Children's Hospital! Your donation will go directly to helping chidlren in desperate need of treatment and to updating the hospital's equipment!



  

Did I mention we will be livestreaming the event for a second time? Oh, I didn't mention it was livestreamed on Oct 15th? Do pardon me. If you wish to watch some of the livestream from Oct 15th AND wish to tune in this saturday, just visit: http://twitch.tv/arcadeboxtv

What is...

So, I was going to make a post describing which games I am currently playing but then I found this:

I just had to share it the minute I watched it. I follow this lovely Scottish gentleman on YouTube and if you enjoy Doctor Who and tribute bands, you may want to consider watching him too (By consider, I mean subscribe to him immediately. Never a dull moment with Liam here). 

He does pose a fairly interesting question, one that many of us, myself included, have asked at one point of our nerdy lives or another: just what IS a gamer? Is it the amount of games played? Knowledge on said games? Which console you play? 

There are quite a few different views on just what constitues a gamer, Liam himself asked for a couple of viewers to post a response in his comments section on what they believe a gamer is. The one I found most interesting was this one, posted by EmmaOnATangent: (Note: David Tennant was the actor who portrayed Doctor Who during the 2nd-4th season of the new series. Liam had made a video regarding a curious and rather humorous incident with Mr. Tennant. Which can be found here. Also, bit of a follow-up disclaimer video here.)

Well, I think it's pretty obvious that a "gamer" SHOULD be someone who loves games. Both watching and playing them, even if you play them poorly, or don't happen to OBSESSED with them. Because love is not obsession (as anyone who has been stalked my David Tennant should know ;) JUST LOVE GAMES! If that's chess, rugby, tennis, poker or Portal shouldn't matter, but, of course, for some reason it does.

I say, as Nerdfighters, we should try to oust this stereotype. JUST LOVE GAMES!

Stay groovy! :)

This struck me as a particularly interesting comment because of the definition this subscriber provided in response. The term "gamer" over recent years defines a person who is overly excited or passionate about- and finds a good amount of their time devoted to- playing Video Games. However, this individual defines a "gamer" as anyone who loves games in general, any game, be it through an electronic medium or in the physical world.  Now, I don't seek to propose a change to the definition of the term "gamer", I just thought it was genuinely interesting that this person defines it as such. 

To me, a gamer is defined by a love and passion for every aspect of a video game as well as their experience with them. I don't define a gamer by the amount of games played (Now, now, hold your horses people, I'm not being a hypocrite here, keep reading) because the sad truth is anyone with good motor skills and better hand-eye co-ordination could breeze through a good amount of video games without even the slightest appreciation for the game itself. My personal quest in seeking to play as many games on The List as I can comes from an overwhelming desire to expand my current knowledge on video games and to damn well say I've played all the video games my friends constantly gush about. I was never able to play these games because my first system was a PlayStation 2 and I honestly did not have the money in order to afford the games I wanted; and before you even start, yes, asking my parents was out of the question. I'm not saying that my parents are horrible people, they aren't, they just never really understood why I wanted to play games that were mostly associated as the past-times of boys (the male vs. female debate is one too long and too old for me to really want to get into so let's just leave it at that). 

Now that I am older and have the means in order to acquire games myself, I have decided that it is a perfect time to look back on the games of old and finally play that which I had coveted from my much more fortunate friends. Currently, I am playing through The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on my Nintendo DSlite and finding it quite enjoyable. I'll be putting up reviews on each game as I complete them and possibly making vlog (video log) or podcasts about my experience (this is less of a "possibly" and more of an "almost certainly" considering my friends decided it must be so.)

I'll leave you with this though: What do you consider a gamer? In your own words? (That's right, close out of that wiki entry right this minute and use that wonderful mass of tissue in that head of yours to conjure up an original answer)

Cheers!

The List

Herein The List shall be transcribed (not for the faint of heart)(and in no particular order)(they aren't numbered because god damn I don't want to fear this list any more than I already do):

Resident Evil Series
Xenogears (I can hear the screams already)
Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger
Super Metroid
Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past
Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong Country Series (I have played SOME of these, just can't remember which ones)
Super Mario RPG
Kirby's Adventure
Kirby Super Star
Super Mario Allstars
Final Fantasy Tactics
Star Fox 64 (Down, rabid fanboys!)
Megaman 3, 7, 8
Megaman X
TMNT 4
Tales of Syphonia
Sonic Series
Gunstar Heroes
Streets of Rage
Lunar TSST
Super Mario 64
Mischief Maker
Goldeneye (...)
Perfect Dark
Majoras Mask (I know, quite the controversy with this one, but we'll see what I make of it)
Rogue Squadron
Mario Kart (Ok, I HAVE played Mario Kart before, just... you know... not the original one...)
Crash Bandicoot 2
Castlevania Symphony of The Night
Parasite Eve
Twisted Metal
Valkyrie Profile
Blast Corps
Tony Hawks (I cannot express how much I really don't want to play this game -_-)
Metal Gear Solid
Mistical Ninja
Silent Hill Series (Fully intend to play this in the dark at 2am)
Paper Mario
Tetrisphere
Earth Worm Jim
F-Zero GX
Ducktales (I'm an Animator, what?)
Chip n Dale (Deal With It)
Darkwing Duck (Seriously, just let it go)
Super Adventure Island 2
Ecco the Dolphin
Metroid Prime
Ninja Gaiden
Contra
Ikaruga
Beyond Good and Evil
Eternal Darknes
Power Stone
Shenmue
Chuchu Rocket
Phantasy Star Online
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
Fire Emblem
Pickmin
Mario Sunshine
Turok
XenosagaC
Persona
Wolfenstein
Age of Empires
Diablo 2
Oblivion
Half Life (ALL of Half-Life)
Deus Ex
Quake
Starcraft - Broodwar
Dungeon Keeper
Age of Mithology
Max Payne
Dungeon Sige
Comix Zone
KOTOR
ICO
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Other M
DCK R
Bayonetta
Prince of Persia
Bioshock (Played a tiny bit of it, but never all the way thru)
Dead Rising
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Penumbra
Metroid Fusion
Uncharted
Advance Wars DS
Phoenix Wright
Profesor Layton (CANNOT WAIT)
God of War (not particularly looking forward to this one, my inner mythology nerd will rage)

This in NO WAY represents the ENTIRE list. Simply the games me and my mentors (stfu guys) were able to think up off the top of our heads. If it makes you feel better, here's a list of games I HAVE played (subject to changes if I remember any others I may have forgotten):

1. Final Fantasy VIII
2. Kingdom Hearts 1 + 2
3. Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
4. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
5. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
6. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
7. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
8. Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
9. Portal
10. Portal 2
11. Left 4 Dead 2
12. Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver
13. Red Faction
14. Spyro (I love that little purple dragon, so you can go shove off if you have a problem)
15. Batman: Arkham Asylum
16. Mass Effect 1 + 2
17. Mortal Kombat
18. House of the Dead 2 (Arcade)
19. Jurassic Park  (Arcade)
20. Super Mario Bros (First released for GameBoy)