So, I broke down and bought a Nintendo DS Lite...

And I am in love with it!

Now, let me set a bit of a back story on this one. I used to have a Gameboy SP, and I played the little machine so much I thought the buttons were going to fall off. Then, shortly after the release of the original DS, I sold it and purchased the DS. I was immediately unhappy with the swap. The original DS was a large and clunky machine, and most games relied heavily on the use of all the controls, as well as the stylus.

The combination of the controls and the bulk of the machine made it very hard for me to use. Games I should have loved, such as Metroid, were virtually un-playable. Eventually, it got traded in and forgotten about.

I moved to the PSP, and I was reminded how good portable gaming could be. I honestly thought nothing could top this little powerhouse. I watched the release of the DS Lite, and DSi both, all while playing away on the PSP, blissfully unaware of what I was missing.

There was, however, always one glaring problem with the PSP. That problem was the selection of casual games. Now, don't get me wrong, I"m a hardcore gamer, and love a deep and involving storyline. However, sometimes I just simply don't have the time to lay down an hour or so between saves. I really needed a system that I could whip out, play for 15 minutes or so, and not have to pay much attention to.

Queue this Thursday, and some time on Craigslist. I was sitting in a truck stop in Johnson Creek, WI, and located a local guy selling a black DS Lite, cheap. He was willing to meet me at the truck stop, and the deal was done. The system came with a copy of Mariokart DS, and was purchased for a whopping $50. I figured even if I didn't like it, my son would.

I spent about 15 minutes playing Mariokart DS, before I was hooked. The problems I had with my first DS were all gone! The size was perfect, the game barely used the stylus, and it was a great time-waster!

Since I picked it up, I've made a couple trips to local gaming stores, and picked up copies of Super Mario DS, and Super Mario 64 DS. Both of these titles are fantastic, and reviews will be following in the coming days.

Seriously, though, why couldn't this have been the original console?

Video Review series: Valkyrie

Over the weekend, I had a chance to finally sit down and watch Valkyrie. This is Tom Cruise's latest flick, and to be honest, I'm hoping his last... His acting abilities have really gone down hill.

Valkyrie is based on a true story. During World War II, there were many attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Some of them were from rival forces, but many were orchestrated by his own countrymen. You see, even people deep within the Reich believed Hitler was insane, and worked hard to remove him from power. Unfortunately, all attempts failed.

Valkyrie was the final attempt, organized by high-ranking officials from within the Reich, as well as defectors from Hitler's Germany. The story itself is fascinating, and there are some good History Channel documentaries available on it.

Back to the movie, it is most certainly what I would classify as a "Netflix Only" title. This means, I wouldn't even waste the money to rent it from a video store. If you have Netflix, and you are very bored, throw it on the queue.

I viewed the movie on Blu-Ray, on our 62" HDTV. It's a visually beautiful movie, and it was kept very period-specific in detail. I was impressed with the time taken to do so, as many movies really phone-in the fine details.

That is where my enjoyment in the movie ended. This film was plagued with problems, and the story flow I felt was terrible. I had no interest in the characters due to lack of proper development, nore did I feel that the story was conveyed in any kind of organized fashion. In fact, I had to watch the documentaries just to figure out what happened.

The next major flaw, and probably the worst, were the very poor attempts at German accents. What it led to were a bunch of people walking around sounding like drunk Englishman. Seriously, I kept waiting for Hitler to ask for tea and crumpets! It would have been much better had the actors used their natural accents, and just focused on story progression.

So, the basic opinion is this movie lacked organization, good acting, and story. It had such potential, and it flopped hardcore.

My gaming areas. I've been asked for pics, so yee shall receive!

I've been focusing on systems and games, so not much for memorabilia yet. However, we now have the means to work on both, so you'll be seeing a lot more.

Upstairs living room:

40" 1080p LCD, Wii, Dreamcast, Media PC, and original Xbox. Missing from the pic is my wife's gaming laptop. Its an Asus G Series, and it rocks harder than I could have imagined a laptop could.

This is the retro are in the family room. Sega Genesis and Saturn, NES, SNES, and N64. All hooked up and working. The tv is a 32" LCD, but we're swapping it out for a CRT as soon as w can find a good deal on a nice one. Light guns don't work on LCD's.... lol. Also, you can see the Halo bobblehead, my modded PSP-1001, and original NES storage case, as well as my MAG promo poster from Gamestop. Can you believe they throw them away? My iPhone 3g is in there as well, because I set it there and forgot it. There's a few games on it, but it isn't that great for gaming.

My Modern Warfare 2 poster

My Alien vs Predator poster

GoWIII poster, Dexter's Lab bobbleheads, MW2 night vision goggles, Dante's Inferno preorder figurine, and an import Monster Hunter Wii stand kit.

The main show. 62" DLP, PS3, Xbox 360, and home theater receiver.

This is my game shelf. Its in a side-room that is basically used for storage and wife's crafts. I put it in there because we can lock the kids out of it.

And, since I'm the OTRGamer, here's my mobile gaming zone.

Like I said, still working on the collection. I built the theater first, so we're just getting started on everything else. I've got tickets to Midwest Gaming Classic, so I'll hopefully bring back a few things.

Possibly the worst gaming store I've seen?

Normally, I hate to write anything negative. It doesn't benefit me at all. So, if you read something negative on my blog, I really have thought it all out, possibly for days, before posting it. This, unfortunately, is going to be one of those posts.

I've heard of a multi-generational game store in Wisconsin Rapids that I've been meaning to check out. The store is called Trade-A-Game. I've received mixed reviews on this store, but I've noticed that the only good reviews were coming from people who didn't realize that Stevens Point, the town right next door, had other gaming stores available.

So, one Saturday evening, the wife and I decided to head over there and check it out. Now, my wife is an avid gamer as well, and is pretty versed in the more retro titles. Needless to say, she knows what to look for nearly as well as I do.

We arrive at the store, park the car, and before walking in we notice a sign on the door that advertises U-Haul rentals. A game store and a U-Haul rental agency? This is already looking bad. Ok, its a small town, I can overlook that. It isn't the kind of crowd I would want to attract to my game store, but I guess any extra business is good in this economy.

We walk up to the store, and open the door. Almost instantly, the pungent odor of stale cigarette butts, and tobacco tar hit you like a brick. Now, I'm not saying the guys shouldn't smoke, but in a store full of vintage games and systems? That tar is death to vintage games!

My wife and I manage to make it passed the initial stench, and continue into the store itself. Now, I will give the guy credit, he has quite an amazing selection. However, it is all poorly organized, and nothing seems to be taken care of. Systems are covered in dust, and look as though they've never been tested. Peripherals are scattered throughout the store haphazardly, and there are pieces and parts strewn across every inch of space. Think less of a store, more of a poorly maintained flea-market stand. It was a real shame to see such a serious collection in shambles.

Well, overlooking that mess, we decided to investigate a bit more. Like I said before, he does have a good selection, and we even found some titles we were some-what looking for. That said, we did walk away empty-handed. Now, it wasn't by any means a lack of money. It was an abundance of good sense that prevented us from purchasing anything. Not only were things in sad shape, but the prices were three to five times what any other store or eBay would have charged! To give you an idea, Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt for the original NES can be bought pretty much anywhere for under $5. I actually have 3 copies of it. 1 came from the NES set, the other 2 I have no clue. Needless to say, it's common. Well, there wasn't a single cartridge-based game under $20, including that one.

Another thing I'm always on the lookout for are consoles. We're still building our collections, so having a couple classic consoles around in case one breaks is a good idea. In this case, a rather sad looking Sega Saturn caught my eye. Now, I find these consoles regularly. In fact, another store I frequent has quite few of them. Depending on where you go, you can find them from $30-$50. I paid $90 for mine, with 27 games (mostly top-tier titles to boot), and a bunch of other accessories. I even narrowly missed a new-in-box model 2 on eBay that went for $48+ shipping (darn work days...). So, suffice to say, they're cheap.

This particular console was in rough shape. It was dusty, and dirty. It was also very scratched up, and it looked like the lid for the CD drive was just barely hanging on. His price? $90. Yes, you read that correctly. $89.99 to be exact. No box, nothing special, just a beat-up Saturn. To paraphrase what my wife said, it's like paying Lamborghini prices for a Ford Escort.

We did meander the store some more, and everything seemed to be the same. Poor condition, prices that are far too high, and a very dirty store to boot.

One thing is definite, there will be no return trip for us.

Midwest Gaming Classic coming up!

Yup folks, its time for the Midwest Gaming Classic, in Brookfield, WI. This year's event will take place March 27-28, at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel.

This is THE event for gamers of all backgrounds. There is so much to see and do, from the vendor's area to the museum. There are also numerous speakers and presentations, tournaments, and all sorts of other video game debauchery.

Check out http://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ or click the banner at the top of the blog for more info.

Today's Plays: Home Edition

Hello gamers! I'm home for the day, so I figured I would update my Today's Plays segment with some of the things I've been catching up on.

So, here goes.

Since recently purchasing a PS3, I've been trying to catch up on the system. I've been playing some exclusives, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, and Little Big Planet. I've also been grabbing some titles that aren't exclusives, that I just haven't played, or had minimal play time with.

Today, I worked through Prototype a bit more. I am absolutely in lust with this game. The open world environment, plus the capabilities of the character are just amazing. This is a definite must own for anyone with a PS3 or XBOX 360.

I also picked up Bioshock on PS3 from Best Buy for $10. Well, it was $20, but I had $10 in Reward Zone Points to use. I've played this before on XBOX, but with the release of Bioshock 2, I wanted the storyline fresh in my head. Besides, it was a good opportunity to add another top-tier game title to my PS3 library.

I received the Netflix PS3 disc today as well, so look for a full review of the PS3 Netflix Streaming in the next week.

As usual, keep the rubber side down!
OTRGamer