Gaming Anomalies & Questions

There are loads of things in games that we've all come accept as normal, but give them a second thought and, well, I'll let you decide...

1. It's OK to enter peoples houses, rummage through their stuff taking anything of use, even while they're still in it.

2. Why does nobody do anything for themselves in RPGs? "A big stork stole my basket!" I'm told. So why are you standing around outside your house asking me to go and get it back?! Fight your own stork.

3. Shooting barrel shaped objects will result in a huge explosion regardless of what's in it. Red ones usually have the best outcomes.

4. Who's job is it to go around putting all the extra ammo and health packs into smashable crates and then scattering them liberally around the area? And what are the wages like? I could be interested.

Have you ever fought a stork? Tell us about it and any other gaming anomalies on the Forum

How to save our planet

I’m no tree hugging hippy nor am I a green warrior but I’ve been feeling guilty about these carbon footprints that we all have and I want to do my bit to help the environment.

Lot's of us walk and cycle to work. Some take buses and trains more often, buy greener cars and we do as much recycling as we can. A friend of mine attaches this... to the bottom of all his emails, very commendable, and even our government are going to huge lengths to reduce the nations polluting by adding extra taxes to things they deem bad for our environment. Because paying more for things is really going to stop us doing these things isn’t it?! Where does all that extra money go anyway? I haven’t noticed them repairing the ozone layer lately!

So what can the average gamer do to help reduce carbon emissions? We know our consoles consume a lot of electricity. We leave them on standby so that messages, Mii’s and demos can all be downloaded while we’re asleep. We even leave them switched on when we’re busy doing other things and whether you’re a hardcore or casual gamer you can’t deny the power consumption of our consoles is harmful to the environment.

Well, thanks to one Norwegian Biologist we have a solution which will mean we can leave all our consoles and TV's on all the time and play as much as we want to without feeling even a little bit guilty.

“Shoot a moose and you have saved the equivalent of 2 long haul flights”, says Reidar Andersen after research showed that the animal expels the equivalent of 2100Kg of CO2 a year. 2 long haul flights! Wow that equals that’s a lot of game time.

Grab your shotguns gamers and track down a moose today.

Do you own a gun or live next door to a herd of moose? We need to hear from you NOW!.

When's The Wedding?

Recently I've started playing Harvest Moon Rune Factory on the DS. The game revolves around farming a plot of land, dealing with monsters, selling crops, collecting wood to extend your house so it's big enough for you and your wife. HOLD IT THERE! Did you say wife? What sort of crazy idea of a game is this?!

Soon enough though I found myself eyeing up potential mates. The strange girl in the woods? A little scarey and a tad pale too, potential vampire I reckon, nah. The maid in the big mansion? Down to earth, sweet even but she just doesn't do it for me, another no. I was giving up on the whole idea and then, in a shop, there she was. She seemed to be having a bit of an argument with a guy but 'she's the one', I thought. I don't yet know who this other guy is or how she feels about him but, she will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine.

Suddenly she ended the 'argument' and without even a glance ran straight past me and out of the door. I quickly rummaged through my inventory for a gift to give to her as a token of my love. I was woefully unprepared and had to settle... for a log (give me some credit here, I'd been busy ploughing a field all day I'd hardly had time to get chocolates and flowers had I?!). I hurried out of the shop door but the street was empty. Holding the 'R' button as hard as I could I frantically ran from left to right in the hope I'd find her, but she was no where to be seen. It was no good. She was gone. For good? I don't yet know, but from now on when I go to sleep to save my game, her face is the last thing I see.

To be continued...

Ever fallen for a game character? Invite us all to the wedding on the Forum

Vick's Monday Blues

Yes it's me, from the forum! What do you mean it's not Monday?...
Well just for this week we decided to move this to Tuesday due to the bank holiday.
This will be a regular Monday feature from now on from me, with the sole purpose of trying to help rid you of the Monday blues and get you chirping with jubilation about the first working day of the week.
So here we go...



If that raised a smile let us know on the Forum or if you just can't be arsed, leave a comment here instead

Thanks for watching, Vick.

Sunday Night Insomnia

Why do I always find it hard to get to sleep on a Sunday night? Am I worrying about Monday morning? Am I too relaxed or even over tired? Is it denial because I wish it were still Saturday night?

I went to bed last night at around 1am. I thought I was tired but I found myself staring at the blackness that was swirling around the ceiling while my mind raced hand in hand with nothing in particular. I tried to count sheep but it didn’t help. I’d been playing Space Giraffe earlier in the evening and that freaky psychedelic sheep kept appearing in my minds eye. So, I did the only thing I could and decided I was going to get up. I went downstairs, made a cup of camomile tea, turned on the 360 and loaded up Sonic the Hedgehog. In my sleepless yet tired state I found the blue spiky one quite relaxing. My blurry eyes helping the new HD visuals look extra special. That I didn’t need 30 fingers to play it certainly helped me and this simple gameplay meant I was soon racing through the Green Hill Zone and on to the Marble Zone. 03.50 arrived and with only 4 hours until I’d have to get up for work I had to put Sonic down (not like a vet does!) and go back to bed. A few minutes after climbing into bed I must’ve drifted off because the next thing I know it was time to get my weary self out of bed.

I still don’t know if it was the Camomile tea, the fact I stayed up until nearly 4am or a game of Sonic that helped me to finally get some sleep but whatever it was it hasn’t helped me through the day. I'm shattered!

Do you suffer from Sunday night or any night insomnia? Do you have a cure? Please tell me on the FORUM.

Polishing Turds

There's loads of top 10 lists of the worst video game box art on the internet, but what I want to know is what's going on in the peoples minds that create/choose this 'art' to sell their game?
Now I'm no marketing wiz kid, but for people to buy things they have to desire it right? So I put this to you, who would desire any of the following?

Let's start with this lovely piece:

What's this all about and what's their talent exactly? Not box art I can tell you now.... and who the hell are Drake & Josh anyway?!

Lets move on... quickly!




It struck me while researching this that amongst all the awful illustrations was a huge amount of games with photos on the cover.

Tip number one then: Putting a photo on the cover does not a cool game make! In fact any photo on there creates an instant 'cheapo game' look for you.

See what I mean?



Ok so let's readdress the balance a little with an illustrated cover. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Black Belt!


As if the backgrounds used for all these cartridges wasn't bad enough, it's worrying that someone actually thought, 'you know what this needs? A dismembered leg'.
Actually this one goes against the grain as the actual game is not that bad.


Now stop me if I'm wrong but surely if you're trying to fob crap off onto people, you'd try to make it at least look attractive and enticing to trick them? Isn't that the premiss behind the tonnes of little gadgets that get released? The cheap DVD player that looks like a Wii and is even called 'Wee'. Or the cheap DS ripoffs, it looks like a DS but open it up and it's more Game & Watch than 'Touch Generation'.

My only conclusion can be that with game art maybe you really can't polish a turd... but you can still put your game in a box smeared with one.

Show us your favourite worst covers on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Wii Still Sell Like Hot Cakes

It seems people just can't stop queueing up for a Wii... Ok it's an old joke, humour me...

According to figures from VG Chartz worldwide Wii sales have just passed Microsoft's Xbox 360. This is based on actual retail sales and not shipped numbers.

This is the first time that Nintendo has been market leader in the home console and the handheld market since 1994 when the SNES and Gameboy dominated the scene. Another interesting claim is that the Wii is now officially the fastest selling console in history even with all the shortages.

Just look at these guys eager little faces. Scenes such as this are still being mirrored all over the world. It's a Wii phenomenon and all this is happening even while we wait for some of the biggest hitting titles to arrive before Christmas. Lately it seems you can actually pick up a Wii now when you want one but it's looking like Nintendo's cupboard is going to be very bare again for the festive season.

Nintendo are appealing to a wider and wider audience attracting people who've never even bothered with games before. They took a big risk with both the DS and the Wii and it's sure paying off. Was it a lucky fluke or a great game plan?

Please tell us and while you're at it show us your tank top on the GAMEOVER Forum