Do you wanna know how to get the most out of your games? We've got the answer!

In light of my recent "no screens" week (I know, lame name), I'd like to point out a few thoughts I've harbored for some time now. These thoughts revolve around the idea that video games can only be enjoyed to their full potential when life continues and functions as normal outside them.

If I could, I would spend my whole life playing games, watching movies, eating, and sleeping. No matter how blissful that lifestyle would be, however, it's just not an option. Some people give in to these lazy, self-indulgent ways, but even then it's far from bliss. Inescapable consequences such as bad health and low self-esteem result. No, a happy lifestyle is a balanced one.

My current roles include employee, student, family member, and friend. I love to play games, but a play session that lasts 'til 11:30 at night yields several unwanted consequences. It can negatively affect each of those important roles. It's a vicious cycle!

Compare that to a day during which I take care of all of my priorities, get a solid hour of video games in, then go to sleep at a decent hour. In which example am I going to have the most fun playing video games? I think the answer is clear.

Now that you know the key to getting the most out of your video games (and other entertainment, for that matter), I hope you'll go and implement it! Although, it's funny I should post this at the threshold of a new weekend, 'cause weekends tend to be an exception...okay, okay, enjoy your weekend and play lots of games, then you can exercise good judgment!

Game Trailer: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

This one has been out for a while, but it really struck me as a well-made trailer. First of all, that music! It's the orchestral arrangement created specifically for the 3DS remastering of Ocarina of Time. Isn't it nice? Of course, a good trailer makes the footage fit the music in an engaging way, and this trailer has no problems with that. It manages to do a great video game justice in two short minutes. Now all that's left is for you to go get the game. Oh, and if you haven't done so yet, click here to vote on the "Would Holly get a Playstation 2?" poll. Have a stupendous day!

Girls and games

See isn't love just great? What girl wouldn't want this?

Look at all of the video games we play, there's always at least some romance. For example, in The Legend of Zelda, Link saves Zelda because he is totally crushing on her (it's so OBVIOUS if you haven't noticed). Then you have all of the Mario games. Mario and Peach are Nintendo's greatest couple, though I hate to admit it because personally I like Luigi and Daisy better. I think that the Nintendo world has realized this and that's why they have put love in everything. Love is in, I think, every single one of the Final Fantasy games! Even some of the fighting games I have they have a little insert with two people, who have or do like each other! The Nintendo people have figured us out, ladies. They now know why we are addicted to video games.

I mean think about it! Nintendo RPGs are like books, the only difference is you get to make the decisions. The one thing I think is really weird (that, actually, I just noticed when I was writing this) is that we usually play as guys. So we make the guy go for the girl. Weird. At least we get to choose how the guy acts towards the girl. We usually make him act how we would like to be treated. Yep, that's why that happens, that's why we are always the man. Though it would be cool if we were a girl, RPGs with girls as main characters are never as cool! Maybe when I'm older I'll make one with an awesome heroine and a crazy love story, but it will still have some awesome fighting action too!

Well since it seems I have gotten as off topic as I want to be I think that I'll just end this here. See you guys next week!! Now go and play some awesome video games with lots-o'-love!

Hello again, video games!

The following was written with pen and paper in the very depths of my no-screen week:

Wednesday
The whole "no screen" thing is getting hard today. I wonder what the point is. My eyes don't feel any better than usual. Having to look at screens during classes makes it all feel worthless; a waste of time.

Ha! Funny I should call it a "waste of time", because playing video games until 11:30 at night seems a waste of time, if you ask me. For once, I'm getting to sleep at decent hours. I read a novel in less than 24 hours. This is no waste!

6:34 p.m.
The temptation to play a video game or watch a movie is overwhelming, but I intend to see this through.

Saturday
Wow! It's the last day! Tomorrow I can watch movies, check my e-mail, and read all of the posts I missed on my favorite blogs. The end is so near! And to think, I didn't believe it would ever come. I didn't do half bad!

I expected to prepare more comprehensive coverage during the week, but, alas, nothing profound came to me. At least one good thing came of it: I rediscovered a love of reading that I lost somewhere in high school.   

Nintendo Music: Melty Monster Galaxy

Does music get any more epic than this?! Booming brass, smashing percussion, and energetic strings combine to give Super Mario Galaxy 2's Melty Monster Galaxy an atmosphere of immersive adventure and fun.The music is great, the level is great, the game is great. I suggest you go pick it up right now.

Note: if things have gone according to plan, I should currently be looking forward to Monday, when I can finally pick up video games again. Join us on that day for a special anti-video game post! I kid, of course. It'll be a must-read, though! Don't miss out!

Infendo Wednesday: Video games are a skill!

Can video games be considered a skill to be learned and practiced? Anyone who has gone their entire life without picking up a controller, then finds one thrust into their hand suddenly can probably answer that question. This and more discussed in this week's Infendo post.

See you in a week, video games!

I'm going on vacation for a week! Well, that's partly true. I'm taking a vacation from screen time for a week. That includes video games, internet, movies, and TV. I spend a lot of time doing those things each week! All of the posts you'll see here on the Nintendo Lifeline over the next week have been prepared in advance, except Mary's.

Why am I doing this? It's partly to prove that I can. It's also for my poor eyes. Sometimes it's hard to tear myself away from a good video game and, before I know it, it's 11:30 at night. It's time to give my eyes a break!

Can I do it? I don't know...what do you think? No Chrono Trigger for a week. No Zelda for a week. No Wii Sports Resort (great game, by the way) for a week. It'll be a challenge, for sure! Here's hoping I have it in me! See you in one week...you won't want to miss it!

Giant AR Card: A Club Nintendo review

I don't expect many of my readers to be big enough Nintendo fans that they frequently use Club Nintendo, but I regard my precious Club Nintendo coins as very valuable. You don't just spend them on anything!

Today's Club Nintendo item is the recent Giant AR Card. I simply jumped at the chance to get this one for 200 coins. You've seen my regular AR photos: little Mii's on my desk, little Nintendo characters at school. But if you're a regular Nintendo Lifeline reader, you've also seen glimpses of what the Giant AR Card can create: a giant dragon coming to life on the back lawn, a giant Mii rushing down the stairs. (For all that and more, visit this previous post.)

Now that you have an idea of what this thing is, let's get down to business. First of all, this card is even bigger than I originally expected. Sometimes it's a little too big. To get it to register with my Nintendo 3DS camera, I've used a rickety ladder and the top of a high deck, among other things. Don't get me wrong, though: the size is great. Best part about it. There is something valid to dislike about the Giant AR Card, though: it is painstaking to get it to register because 1) it's too floppy and 2) it catches glares all too easily. As if it wasn't tedious enough to set up the regular-sized AR card, this one is even more difficult to work with. But if you can get past that, it's quite fun to mess around with.

So is the Giant AR Card worth 200 of your precious Club Nintendo coins? Well, if messing around with augmented reality appeals to you, definitely. If not, the added frustration might not be worth it. Have a great week, and spend those coins wisely!

Infendo Wednesday: A new way to rank games

Click here to check out this week's Infendo article, which explains one of my ideas on how media (video games, in this case) could be ranked.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: A First

So I finally got my hands on DKC 2! Well I gotta say I loved it! I mean it kept to the original pretty well but it also went off on some of its own stuff. I liked that a lot; every game has to have its own attraction to it. It can't just ride off of the first game, contrary to some peoples' beliefs. Of course a question that I was asked by Holly was: Did I like the first or second one better? Ooooh, tough decision!

Well, as of right now, I definitely like the first one better. Heck I probably always will, though I do have to admit the second one is growing on me. I love how it is its own game! I just can't get over it!! I thought that it'd be a lot like the first but boy was I wrong! Sure it has a new character but there were other things too! Some things were missing (like Candy Kong at the save points) but they still kept some other things (like Diddy Kong and Funky Kong) and of course they added new things as well (like coins to collect).

All in all I was really happy with this game. There was one thing that sort of threw me off though. It was the graphics of the game. I don't know if it was because I was playing it on the Wii or if they were just strange; the point is, I didn't like them. Somehow they were too different from the first one. I don't know why! On the bright side I can now say I have played all four of the Donkey Kong Country's. The first one is definitely the greatest in my mind, but hey, maybe that'll be different in the future!

The tragic story of my first GameBoy

Sometimes I wonder why I've stuck so firmly to Nintendo all these years. Some of my earliest video game memories involve the Super Nintendo, then the Nintendo 64. The NES didn't come until after both of those, if I recall correctly. Unlike most other hardcore gamers, I was by no means "born with a controller in my hand." Heck, my first go at Ocarina of Time was disastrous.

But there was something that bridged me into the world of video games: the Pokemon animated series. Yep, I blame it all on that cartoon show. It was a revelation to me that the cartoon actually stemmed from the best-selling GameBoy games, Pokemon Blue version and Pokemon Red version. That was when I knew I had to get a GameBoy. When that dream became a reality, the GameBoy Color had already hit the market. I got a beautiful GBC with clear purple casing for Christmas one year. The one game I got to go with it was SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula. I struggled with that game, though my neighbor beat the whole thing in about an hour.

It was only a matter of time before I had the money to get Pokemon Gold or Pokemon Silver. Before that time came, however, "it" happened. I left the system on the bleachers in the gym during PE one day. About half way down the hall afterwards, I realized I had forgotten it. I ran back quickly to retrieve it, only to discover that it was gone. Stolen, most likely. I was in fourth grade at the time, and not brave enough to go to the principal's office for help recovering it. To this day, I wonder what happened to that beloved GameBoy Color of mine. Could it still be out there somewhere? Pokemon FireRed, a GameBoy Advance game, would be the first Pokemon game I enjoyed. Have a great week, and take care of your small electronics!

Strange new world: The RPG genre and me

I know a thing or two about the RPG genre! I've played Pokemon since I was ten! Other than that...well, who needs more?

My line of thought was somewhere along those lines before I played a little game called Chrono Trigger. RPG's, where have you been all my life! That's what my new thoughts are.

But before I get ahead of myself, let's go over the meaning of "RPG" first. RPG stands for role-playing game. A "party" is almost always key to the RPG formula. Leveling up is also a necessary ingredient. Battles must be fought. These can be turn-based or action-based. In a turn-based battle, each active character can choose how to act, then the battle proceeds, generally with the fastest character attacking (or not attacking) first. Thus, a certain degree of strategy is involved in turn-based battles. Action-based battles, on the other hand, play out much like battles in any action-adventure game. In fact, "Action RPG" is its own sub-genre.

I hope that at least gives you the gist of it. Back to Chrono Trigger! What a spectacular game! I must acknowledge Mary as the one to whom I owe the finding of this game. The question that remains now is this: is the RPG genre for everyone? Absolutely not! And I'll tell you why: many gamers want that quick burst of gameplay, which comes from a Mario platformer, or a Star Fox shooter, or a Wii Sports party-er, or a Mario Kart racer. There's a great deal of complexity in RPG games! And, oftentimes, there's a degree of drag to them as well. It was hard even for me, a big Pokemon fan, to accept the foreign RPG style of Chrono Trigger (What? I can't catch 'em all in this game?! Ludicrous!). But the bare-bones truth is, RPG's provide deep, rewarding experiences that are worth all the trouble of learning all there is to know about them. So dig a little deeper, and maybe you'll find that there's an RPG fan in you after all!

Infendo Wednesday: How goes your Master Quest?

Click here.

This week's Infendo article, titled "How goes your Master Quest?", asks readers to share their experience with the ultra-challenging unlockable quest in Ocarina of Time 3D. Enjoy!

Video games into movies!

So this isn't the real trailer for FF7 Advent Children but who cares! It's freakin amazing! A lot of people made their own trailers for this! That's how strong its following is.

Imagine, you've been playing a video game and have gotten way into it. A few days later you hear about a movie coming out of that exact game! What do you do? Personally I'd freak out. Heck I already did when Final Fantasy VII Advent Children came out! It's so awesome when a video game becomes a movie! Surprisingly a lot of video games do that. I'll have you know contrary to popular belief the Pokemon game series came out before the cartoon did. Really quite surprising isn't it?

With those type of video games it doesn't really baffle me. With video games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, well that's a different story. Mortal Kombat got three movies from just a normal old fighting game. No real story line at all. I think Street Fighter is even crazier though, they got a whole series. I mean it's just insane! Actually personally I think Mortal Kombat has more story line than Street Fighters (game wise movie wise . . . lets just say nothing can beat Street Fighter).

Another one is Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. This one only has two movies, but six games. The movie is currently the highest-grossing video game adaption movie in the U.S. and only falling second worldwide behind Prince of Persia. So what makes all of these video games legible to be made into movies? An awesome story line, cool characters, and of course an immense following of people. Personally I think that the following is the most important. I mean even if the game is stupid, if people are making petitions and sending things to the, uh, CEO guy (the guy who is in charge okay?) and just all in all being crazy they'll most likely get a movie.

Of course sometimes since the game is just so awesome, *cough* Final Fantasy VII *cough*, they just decide to make it into a movie because they know it'll get a way positive response. So if you want a game to become a movie then it's most likely not going to happen unless it has a crazy following or if its name starts with an F and ends with a roman numeral. Just kidding, there are a lot of games that aren't super big that are movies. Some like: Animal Crossing, Like a Dragon, and Tekken. See I bet you don't even know what those are, well maybe Animal Crossing but that's it! I guess the point I'm trying to make is . . . wait, I don't even know what it is. Oh well! It was fun finding out all of this stuff anyways! What game do you want into a movie? Go do something about it!

Poll: Holly got a PlayStation 2. Believe it? Or not?

Do you believe it?

A weekend guide for Nintendo fans

Wednesday was a big day in many ways for Nintendo fans. So maybe this is old news, but if you have gotten lost in all of the Nintendo goodness that happened, let the Nintendo Lifeline help you find your way through it this weekend!

First, a special Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword bundle was announced. The first shipment of the game will include a bonus 25th Anniversary Symphony CD, all for $50. Upgrade to $70 and the game comes with a special limited edition gold Wii remote Plus. Pre-order your preferred package on Amazon today!

Next, 3DS Ambassadors are now able to download the ten free NES games promised a few months back. Here follows a list of the games and my impressions so far:

Super Mario Bros.: How can you go wrong with the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES? Okay, the gameplay might have aged a bit, but this classic can still be fun today. It feels pretty good on the 3DS, but it is admittedly not as comfortable as the sideways Wii remote set-up.

The Legend of Zelda: I've never understood why the original Legend of Zelda was so innovative back in its time. Perhaps that's because it is anything but innovative at this point in time. But, in celebration of the series' silver anniversary, I'm willing to give it more of a shot than I ever have before. Stay tuned!

Yoshi: Puzzle games never seem to make it into my gaming libraries, but they probably should, because I have enjoyed the heck out of Yoshi, a simplistic NES puzzle game. This game is definitely the hidden gem in this group of NES freebies. When this game is released for the general public, the $5 should be worth it.

Donkey Kong Jr.: I haven't had much time with this game, but I don't like what I've played so far. The action is slow, the gameplay is boring, and the controls are iffy.

Metroid: I've talked about this game before, so you should just check out this post to get the full picture. In short, this is a great game. Go for it if it's free, and consider it even if you have to pay the $5.

Other free games for Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors include Wrecking Crew, The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, and NES Open Tournament Golf. I'll play those a little more in order to provide more coverage on them in the future.

Finally, I want to include instructions on how Ambassadors are to download these games, because it's a fairly complicated process: 1) Go into the Nintendo eShop from your Nintendo 3DS menu screen. 2) Scroll all the way to the left in order to find the Settings/Other icon and select it. 3) Scroll down to the Your Downloads button and select it. 4) Scroll down until you find the ten free games and select Redownload on the first one. You'll have to repeat steps 2-4 multiple times in order to download all of the games.

Have an amazing Labor Day weekend!