Win a free copy of 2 Fast 4 Gnomz before the public release date!

If you like free games, you may just be interested in a sweepstakes hosted by developer QubicGames. Enter for a chance to win an advance copy of the company's running platform game 2 Fast 4 Gnomz, which hits North American eShops on November 1st. Also up for grabs is a special T-shirt for 3 of the 10 winners. The winners will be contacted this Monday, October 29 at 12:00 GMT +1, which is about 7:00 AM Pacific time.

For more details on the contest, including how to enter, click here to go to the official QubicGames website and scroll down to the first post on the home page. Good luck!

Donkey Kong Country Returns, but it's not as welcome as I had hoped - A Review

Back in the SNES days, the three Donkey Kong Country games were pure gold. If there is a gamer out there from that generation who somehow missed out on all of them, I am frankly shocked. Even many of my non-gamer friends can relate dear childhood memories stemming from one or more of the original Donkey Kong Country games.

Fast-forward to E3 2010, when Donkey Kong Country Returns was announced for Wii. I would bet I wasn't the only gamer who became ecstatic over the shiny trailer Nintendo had prepared. However, after finally beating the game, I must say it failed to deliver in more than one way. Read on to find out why.

Donkey Kong Country Returns adopts the simple Wii remote-turned-sideways control scheme that has come to be easily recognized in the Wii's rather extensive library of platform game revivals. As fans of the genre have come to expect, this works just fine, even in the more challenging levels of DKCR.

What I'm not so happy with are the levels themselves. Platforming is a precise art. However, it feels clumsy and imprecise in DKCR due to an abundance of uncertain jumps and a sluggish feel to Donkey Kong's movement. A feeling of inconsistency persists throughout. I admire and praise the fact that each of the game's levels offers something different than the last. But in this way, the game often throws unpredictable and unfair obstacles into the player's face, causing many levels to be an exercise in frustration. Where vine-swinging, barrel-hopping, and mine cart-riding were all extremely fun in the original Donkey Kong Country, the charm has disappeared in Returns.

Speaking of charm, the music in Returns doesn't capture the trait nearly as well as its SNES counterparts. With so much inspiration readily available, one has to wonder how the music in Returns falls so flat.

The worlds in DKCR are pretty generic, particularly the last one. I compare the worlds in Returns to the worlds in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, which I see as being the golden standard in geographic variety. Part of the Donky Kong Country charm comes from the offbeat and often outlandish worlds, like the carnival, haunted, and beehive settings in DKC2. I think Returns missed the mark in that regard.

Though I don't put much weight on a game's visuals, I have to admit I was very impressed with the graphics in DKCR. My admiration only goes so far, however: unnecessary clutter on the game screen often detracts from gameplay in DKCR. While playing, I was frequently left puzzling over where safe platforms were or why I just fell into that bottomless pit because it didn't have the safe platform it seemed to.

There was a definite charm to the short little cut scenes scattered about in DKCR. That's about the only redeeming quality I could pick out in the whole experience. And, as you may have already guessed, it wasn't enough to fully redeem the game.

Conclusion
After devoting so much time to Donkey Kong Country Returns, I wondered whether the original DKC games were actually as good as I seemed to recall. Imagine my surprise when I played the original and it was actually fun! On the surface, DKCR has everything that the original has: vines, mine carts, rhinos, barrels, and the like. What it lacks, on the other hand, is the same spirit and charm. The platforming gameplay, the music, and the settings all drag this game down to what I would call mediocrity, to be perfectly frank.

Are boys better gamers than girls?

I'll just tell you what I think right off the bat: boys are generally better at video games than girls. I've seen it time and time again.

I am a girl, and I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. Super Mario World was my sustenance growing up. I beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the first time at a young age, and I have since beaten it countless other times. I played all three Super Smash Bros. games in an abundance during their respective times. And I'm not gonna lie: I work my butt off to be as good at games as I can be.

Why then does my younger brother often trump my own Super Smash Bros. Brawl skills when he doesn't take video games nearly as serious as me? Why also can he beat me at Metroid Prime 2 multiplayer when I've got several hours on him from playing single player?

I have decided that boys are more aggressive than girls, and that's why they tend to have more natural skill in gaming. Many games are reflex- and instinct-driven, and boys just surpass girls in that area, plain and simple. However, there are certain kinds of games that I think us girls have an advantage in. I'm talkin' puzzle games! Girls tend to have more patience than guys, and that suits them to games with a slower pace. And I can't forget to mention dance games. Girls are definitely better dancers than guys...or at least more willing to dance!

Obviously, these are just generalizations. Even though I'm a girl, I love to play all types of games. And if you are a boy who's unafraid to break out the mad skills with Just Dance, great! What I'm saying is that boys are typically more naturally gifted at video games. What are your thoughts?

Nintendo is everywhere!

This video is awesome. It proves that NINTENDO IS EVERYWHERE! Also, that this band director is totally awesome!

StreetPass: Changing Perspectives

The Nintendo 3DS system was released on March 27, 2011. I got my system on April 1, 2011, and I'm not even fooling you. Ahem...anyway! I've been seeking StreetPass encounters ever since. My very first tag was arranged, so it felt pretty cheap. You could say my first genuine tag was a few weeks later when I went to the local Taco Time and came home with that green light on!

Up until the end of August this year, StreetPass tags were rare and special occasions for me. Then I moved to a significantly bigger town with a significantly larger college campus than I previously attended. Talk about culture shock! Most of the changes seemed awful to me, but one change did not: increased probability for StreetPass tags! I mean, they actually happen in big places? And not only that, but they happen often in big places?! Now I can expect StreetPass tags almost daily, and there are even a couple of regulars that I've tagged more than once.

How have your perspectives changed (or stayed the same) on StreetPass?