Throwback Fridays: CTR

For this week's Throwback Friday, we are going to take a look at CTR: Crash Team Racing for the PS1.

Crash Team Racing was in North America on September 30, 1999. It was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Playstation. The game sold 1.71 million units in Europe, 2.64 million in North America, and just under 500,000 units in japan. Because of its success it was re-released as a greatest hits, and a platinum hits as well.

The game has a very Mario Kart like feel to it, each driver has their own car, power-up boxes scattered across the twisting track, items that give boost, fire rockets and so on. The game is very solid and has almost perfect controls that allow the gamer to focus on winning the race.

The graphics are, as it is with all older games, outdated; however its cartoony art style keep the game looking crisp, fresh, and enjoyable.

The game has a single player campaign and a multiplayer mode. The single player mode is a campaign where the player must win races  to win trophies and eventually beat the alien Nitros Oxide,

The multiplayer is as one would expect from a kart racing game. Players race around a twisting track as they try to avoid obstacles, find shortcuts, and outsmart their fellow racers and win the prize.Each track is filled with item boxes, and wampa fruit boxes. Item boxes are filled with various items that can be used to win the race. Wampa fruit boxes are filled with (did you guess it?) wampa fruit, the more wampa fruit you have, the faster your cart goes. You can get turbo by running over green turbo pads, acquiring a power-up, or powersliding. There is also a battle mode where player battle each other with the game's power-ups.

All in all this is a really good game. In fact it is my family's favorite game to play with each other. The game is available for download from the PSN store for $5.99 and I highly suggest giving this game a try. If you still have this game, maybe it's time to dig out the PS1 and get a nice dose of nostalgia.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day!

Finals week

Hey, Just wanted to say that it is finals week and therefor I probably wont be able to post until Friday or next Monday. I apologize for the delays but my summer class is almost over.

Schedule change/ Wednesday News

First of all, I would like to say sorry for not posting on Monday. But, cable is back online so we are good to go. Second, I am changing Wednesdays to gaming News, at least for now.

Ok, time for todays post.

The big news in gaming today, is that Microsoft has revised its DRM policy for Xbox One.
The most important effect this will have is that you WILL NOT have to connect your Xbox to the internet to play offline games. The only time the system will need to connect will be during first time set up. This goes for games downloaded off of Xbox Live as well.
The ability to sell, trade, and share games like you would for the 360 is now back as well. So Gamestop, you have been spared.
And finally, some good news to those who like to play games that normally aren't available in their country, regions have been removed, meaning the systems can be played in all areas of the world, government allowing, and games from across the world can be played as well. I foresee some hardcore RPG fans importing some JRPGs in the future.

Now, there were some features that were dropped as well. I won't go into details but most of them revolved around the cloud and your games library. Most specifically the ability to play your games library wherever you want without needing the disc.

All in all, it is good to see Microsoft actually listening to its fans. Sony, you might actually have some competition if Microsoft can keep it together.

Here is the link to the announcement from Microsoft's head of Interactive Entertainment.

That's all for today folks, be sure to check back for Throwback Friday!

Internet Outage

Just alerting any readers that a storm came through my area today and my Internet connection is down. That means Mondays post is canceled;however, I will try to make next Mondays post extra big to make up for it. Thanks for reading and bear with us.

P.S. if you were wondering how I am posting this, lets just say posting by iPhone on rural 3G is not pleasant.

New Schedule/ Throwback Friday!

First of all, I would like to thank anyone who has read this blog so far.

Now, to the good stuff. I am happy to announce that I have finally come up with an actual schedule and have set myself digital reminders so I won't forget. (I am actually quite reliable once I have iPhone alarms set.)

Here is the schedule:

Monday: I will attempt to post reviews of current games, as in games for current consoles. I generally wont be able to make reviews on brand new games due to lack of funds. But I will do my best to review games as I acquire them. At times I will also give my opinion on current trends and news in the gaming industry.

Wednesday: Will be interesting facts about games and the game industry. I will attempt to set up a way you can send in any interesting facts and I will be sure to credit you as well. These facts will not be limited to Easter eggs and such, they can also be glitches and interesting quirks a game has.

Friday: Will probably be my favorite. Fridays are going to be Throwback Friday, meaning reviews and facts on classic and older games. I'll try to show some of the more under rated ones if possible. I am hoping to e able to provide short clips and such of game-play in the near future along with these.

I am going to try and post these around 10:00 PM Central time. Post could be subject to delays due to homework and such, just a warning.

Ok, on to the actual post.

Throwback Friday: Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Spryo: Year of the Dragon was released in the North America on October 25th 2000 for the Sony Playstation, also called the PSOne, PSX, and of course the Playstation One. Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a 3D platformer adventure game. The plot of the game is that a mysterious stranger has stolen all the dragon eggs and it is up to Spyro and his friends to get them back. Most levels consist of collect gems and completing tasks for characters to earn the eggs back, eggs are also hidden throughout levels and the overworlds as well. Spyro uses his various abilities to complete each task and overcome obstacles.

Personally, this is one of my favorite games. Period. The game is lighthearted and just generally fun to play. The egg collecting gives the game good replay-ability, as does gem collecting. Overall the game has aged well and should be fun for all ages.

Luckily, for those who would like to either, replay this game, or try it out, Sony has put the game up for download to PS3 and PSP, and in extension PSVita I would hope, for $6.99 USD. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking to spend a quiet weekend on the couch with a classic.

Thanks for reading, see you again Monday!