here is something i found just this morning. i am not quite sure i agree with all the man says, but it's definitively something to think about, and try to see where you stand.

Retro Gaming Gadgets

The Generation NEX

The NES is quite possibly the worst designed system ever built. It's toaster like style of loading game cartridges leads to frequent breaking. It is also the system with quite possibly the best lineup of games ever. This means that even after more then 20 years, I still want to play my NES games, and to do that I had to frequently buy new 72 pin connectors to repair it. It was growing very tiresome, but it was the only way I knew of.

I believe I read about the NEX in a holiday gift guide from a past issue of EGM, I promptly bought one as well as the set of wireless controllers. 20 years had passed since Nintendo patented the NES design, since they never renewed it, it had expired. This meant the fine folks at Messiah Entertainment could come along and make a brand new NES, one that could actually play games without breaking. The NEX is exactly that, a dependable NES system.

Not only can it finally play your games without having to blow into the cartridge or hit the reset numerous times, it plays famicom (the Japanese NES) games via a port on the top, has support for all the original NES controllers, and has wireless support for up to 2 controllers. Combined with the 2 wired controller ports this means 4 person play on games like Ninja Turtles Arcade Game. Plus it comes with a price guide for every single NES game ever made so that you don't get screwed over on ebay while hunting down the classics.

There are downsides of course. The games go in pretty tight and can be hard to pull out sometimes, and not every game is compatible. Games that have extra chips and such in them like Castlevania 3 don't work, they have a compatibility list so that you can be sure of everything before your purchase. Also there have been some claims on the Internet that the system incorrectly wires the cartridge port in a way that could potentially damage NES carts played in the system as well as the system itself, though no one has yet to report this scenario ever taking place.

I've had no trouble with it and wouldn't have a problem recommending it, but if you are worried then you might not want to buy one, its definitely been worth it for me though. As of late, however, Messiah's website hasn't been working for me. I'm not sure if this means they have closed down or are just having problems. I put the links up anyway in case they come back up. For now though, you can easily find the NEX on Amazon by searching Generation NEX or Messiah Entertainment. Hopefully they haven't gone under because I'm looking forward to seeing what they came up with next.

You May Have Missed:

The World Ends With You
for Nintendo DS


SquareEnix didn't really give this game much support, the word of mouth spread quick though. As a result, it can be pretty hard to find. I've actually never seen it in a store despite the fact that I would make a point of looking every time I was at a store for about 6 months after its release. Eventually I got it from Goozex and have been playing obsessively for a couple weeks now.

There are many things to make you groan involved here. Many cliches like the protagonist having lost his memory, it can be extremely emo, the j-pop soundtrack can drive you crazy sometimes, and it includes what is basically a fashion trend simulation. However, you quickly learn to forget all these complaints.

The lost memory is explained in a pretty clever way, the fashion trend thing isn't forced upon you, and the soundtrack has many tracks that are quite good. The core of what makes up the game, more importantly, is all amazing. Granted, I haven't quite made it through the whole story, but what I have has been insanely unique compared to most video games. Plus, I haven't finished the game yet because I've been obsessed with just turning it on to fight battles and level up.

The combat is definitely the most creative thing about The World Ends With You. You have your main character, and one partner, that you control simultaneously. Neku, the main character, fights on the touch screen, and his partner on the top screen. His partner is controlled by either the direction pad or the face buttons, or can be put on automatic if your head is going to explode. Neku fights by using pins that you collect throughout the game. Each pin has a different attack and way to trigger it, be it by slashing across the enemy, tapping the screen, drawing a circle, blowing in the mic, or any number of other ways. You can work your way up to holding 6 pins at a time which means a whole slew of different ways to attack in a battle. It can be super hectic, but is ultimately very rewarding.

As I touched on with the fashion trend stuff, there are other clever systems in this game. For me, it was the combat and story that have pulled me in, but there are many more that others may get equally absorbed in. This game is certainly one of those cult hits, that may have gone under the radar for many people, but has gained a following of fans through great reviews and word of mouth. You owe it to yourself to play this game if you like RPG's at all, or even if you just want a unique experience on DS. It eschews from so many of the RPG genres traditions that it could easily be enjoyed by even those who would never touch an RPG, and if you got it for the list price then you can always sell it on ebay for probably double that.

I have a goal

I come up with a lot of ideas of things I'd like to do, and usually I never have the resolve to actually do them. I'm posting this so that someone can hold me accountable, not that anyone reads this yet but it's better then only having told my wife as she couldn't care less. I am going to get into some video game modding.

I took an electrical class back in high school and have promptly forgotten most all of it but I think I can stumble my way around some basic projects and come out with some awesome things. So, in the interest of accountability, I am going to start by making a portable NES.

Something along the lines of this, http://www.ladyada.net/make/gamegrrl/index.html. I'll use my old Game Boy for the case. Hopefully it won't be too difficult. I've got some other ideas but I don't want to throw them out there now because if I give up I don't want to be called a quitter. I have a fragile ego and people on the internet can be mean.

Should I come up with a cool nickname like Game Grrl before I jump into the modding community? How about G4m3 M4st3r?

-Alex Cronk-Young