InsAnE iN tHe Mem...MaMe

Whatcha know about being a kid in the early 90's, dropping quarters into the TMNT game at the arcades like it was hot? Arcades? Remember... those old archaic rooms where there were about 20 machines where you had to stand up and mash the buttons numerous times? Do you remember games where you had a HUGE red or blue gun and stood 2 feet away from the screen shooting at aliens pop out from crates or criminals that are shooting you from a helicopter.


If not then check out this website

http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/arcade/mame.html

MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. This is the definition of a true broke college gamer. No money, but internet access at school or at your parents house will get you every arcade game ever made. Let me say it again, EVERY ARCADE GAME EVER MADE! No need to go out and spend money on systems or games from the past, this is the real deal.

So in the end you get all your favorite arcade games on your computer and can play them right off. But wait, your 12" monitor is to small, no worries, you could hook up an S video cable to your plasma, hd, dlp, whatever tv and play right off of it (if you have this option available). Also if you have an xbox 360, you could play using your controls with an attachment piece.

Enjoy. And if you have any old school games you like, post a comment and share the love.

Not Game-Related But Funny As Hell...

http://www.break.com/index/trapped-in-an-elevator-with-diarrhea.html

Enjoy!

Inclass Game of the Week

And I am back, to give another in class game of the week. This is a special edition article because I am actually in class writing it. It is not like I would pay attention in Intro Artificial Intelligence. And just so you know, it is virtually impossible to actually do real A.I. and I'm sorry to burst your bubble. So Pac-xon takes the characters from pac-man and use them in their game. What happens is that when you move pac-man a tail will be made that will follow you. To close the tail you connect to the solid borders. Meanwhile there are the ghosts characters that if u touch you or your tail it will kill you. You need to fill out 80% of the map to move to the next level. It is very addictive and the pac-man theme just adds to the fun!

Economy-ics

The sun has been shining and the birds have been chirping over the last few days in Northern Virginia, and Easter has come and gone (no I'm not crazy, but I am Coptic Orthodox www.stmarkdc.org). Fellow Broke College Gamer Rob came down to visit family as well which gave us time to catch up and discuss video game... belt buckles. Besides that though, Rob and I spent some time together at several video game stores (EB Games and Game Stop) just browsing, destroying the video game demos in less than 5 minutes, and staring all googley-eyed at the GTA4 promos.

Walking through all these stores, I noticed something that I really wasn't aware of before. Something that has been there for the last 8 years now but every time I walk in, it tends to grow more and more, taking over the store. Originally it was no bigger than just the black cart they stayed in, but now, oh man now...

These used game carts are so conveniently placed in the middle of the store with huge signs of "$9.99 cart and below," or "Buy 2 used games Get 1 FREE!" These of course are great deals, for these older systems if you have them (and by the way, original xbox is $60, game cube is $30, and PS2 is $70), but with these new next gen consoles out, I just shake my head and walk away. I don't sell games, in fact I have kept every game I have ever had for any system, yet seeing these carts make me wonder. The majority of people probably bought these games at retail price when they first came out, beat them, and then sold them for $11, $27 or what $38, only to have these stores turn right around and almost double the price.

I remember the joy of opening up brand new games and taking the plastic cover off, then the sticker in anticipation of seeing the disc design of the game. Now, this feeling has gone away slowly since I can buy used games from an overstocked cart with games in no order whatsoever and spilling over on to the carpet. Now if you're like me, you will still go to these ugly beasts of wonderful deals to buy games, but if you're like some of my more economic Broke College Gamers, you should look in to getting a Gamefly account.

So if you're like me, be cheap and hold out until those once $60 games go down to $5, or be like a fellow Broke College Gamer and get Gamefly. Either way, stay broke, and enjoy it.

A Little Rant on GTA4...

So I "heard" from somewhere that Grand Theft Auto IV's camera works on a standard axis. You push up on the right stick, the camera goes up. Left goes left, down goes down, right goes right. That's pretty normal. They also have an invert look option which swaps the y-axis. Up goes down, down goes up, and left and right go left and right respectively.

Now what really pisses me off is that there isn't the option in invert the x-axis at all. If you are not familiar with either of these camera schemes, you are going to be stuck trying to learn the camera controls. While it's not a huge deal, it really disappoints me. You would think a game of this much caliber and hype would have a simple option to invert both.

I normally play 3rd person games with both invert x and invert y on so this kinda makes the game unplayable for me... Until I decide to suck it up and play with the crappy camera controls.

Guh...

Difference of Opinion

So I ran into an article online today called "Making Gaming Better". The author put up seven things to make gaming better. Some of his points made sense.... like buying direct, finding random games that get no press but are good, and stop wasting time defending bad games with bad reps. But the other tips would take more away from the gaming experience.
The first thing he said was "don't be a jerk online." HAHAHAHA.....I believe there is a reason for stereotypes and a stereotype for gamers is that we're jerks. Its just our style. For example, the best time I had playing online was when I got drunk with a close friend and played COD4 and having them yell at us. It was even better, and ironic, because my friend was cursing in Arabic and we heard the funniest comments. To tell the gaming community to stop being jerks is like telling frats to stop hazing pledges. It's just not going to happen.
The next thing that sort of made me laugh was that he had an issue with gaming piracy. Piracy is just a part of life now. It is everywhere and is so easy to do. It doesn't mean that I am pro-piracy because we have seen casualties. For example, the Sega Dreamcast, which is in my opinion one of the best systems ever created, was completely hacked and modded so that a person could basically burn all of his/her games. It basically killed Sega's chances of staying in the hardware business. But we all still love what came from that system. So I think piracy will always be around and maybe the gaming companies can lower their prices so we can actually be like...I'm a broke college gamer, but this game is a good cost and I will pay for it.
The last thing that the writer said that made me laugh was be nice to newcomers aka n00bs. And we all know we need an initiation for the newcomers. It's just a part of life. I can't help but think about my WoW experiences. If I wasn't called a n00b in the beginning I wouldn't have tried so hard to become better.
That is just my two cents about it, since thats all I have anyways.

Confessions of a True Broke College Gamer...

I must say that I was a bit iffy when I bought my 360 because I already had a PS3. But man... I must say I'm happy with my decision for reasons I probably shouldn't post here. ^^v