Gaming marathon for charity!

Today is the day starting in just under an hour I will begin playing video games and won't stop till tomorrow morning. I for see red bull and dry eyes in my future but I also see a lot if fun for a great cause. This is all in the name of giving, specifically to the Chicago children's memorial hospital .
Now I will be playing many games throughout the day starting with Dark Souls on Xbox and then changing it up with some Halo: Reach and Mass Effect 3. I will also be nostalgiaing it up with some old ps2, n64, and snes gaming. For those interested to play along with me my Gamertag is Dyce Wins.
I will also be filming this event live via ustream, so if you want to watch the fun as it happens and see me swear a lot at the tv follow me on twitter and look for the link I will be posting there shortly. Thanks to all the fantastic people who have already donated, thanks to you my original goal has been met but fear not if you haven't donated yet there is still time and it can be done here: http://www.helpmakemiracles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=124748
Today should be a fun day that tests
If I'm still capable of doing something I did dozens of times when I was 13. And remember even when it comes to charity events
Nerds Do It Better

Classic Games Spotlight: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

The year is whatever year it was when I was in fourth grade. I'm standing in line at the door waiting to go home with my fellow classmates, and the nerd of nerds, Dylan Winston, can't stop talking about how bad he wants to go home so he can beat Ganondorf. I'm confused. Is he mad at his interestingly named dog? Is Ganondorf a new Pokemon game? I inquire further. It turns out Ganondorf is the horrendously evil and powerful antagonist of Links' newest 64 bit adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I'm intrigued. Luckily, the Winstons just moved next door and I didn't even need to beg my mom for a ride when that afternoon I went over and sat enthralled as Dylan battled Ganondorf in a furious battle of light arrows and Master Sword hacks. At this time I had no way to relate to Link or to understand his plight, but I knew one thing, I wanted into this world. I also knew another thing, whatever time my mom saved not having to drive me to Dylans she was going to lose driving me to the mall to buy this game. So after a few weeks of begging, screaming, whining, and fantasizing about the game, I finally had it and my own odyssey was set to begin.

Back in the present, and I am able to look back at that game with a perspective that I did not have at the time. Back then, the game was entertainment, a fun way to spend the afternoon after school, a world I could get lost in. However, now I am able to see that the game was really one of the defining moments of my childhood. All of the interests that were piqued in me at that time by the game are the same ones that I am pursuing now in my real life. From the game itself, to the sense of adventure and exotic locales visited on the journey, the game really spoke to me. Personal biases aside however, the game really was a great game for a number of reasons. The first of these was the ability of the player to relate to Link. Playing him as a "child" and then later in the game as an "adult" really made you feel like you were Link, that he wasn't just a vehicle by which you could move through the game. I had an emotional investment in him and his success on his journey. The depth and scope of the game really made it feel like a real world, where you could ride across the plains on your trusty steed and be in another town by sunset. The odd and quircky characters were always interesting and gave Hyrule a unique personality. The bad guys were always worthy foes, especially the bosses who usually had special ways they needed to be killed, which had to be figured out on the fly. The puzzles throughout the game made you actually have to think while remaining fun and playable, without long extended periods of not being able to figure them out. The actual gameplay and mechanics of the game were also superb, with the z-target ability making combat and peaceful interactions equally smooth. The storytelling was largely what made the game so compelling, however and there were true moments of gallantry, sadness, heroics, celebration, and death, all of which tugged at the emotions of the invested gamer. I have played many, many great (and not so great) video games in the years since I first popped the Zelda cartridge into my N64, but I am still convinced that it isn't just my sentiment talking when I say that this was one of the best video game experiences of my life.

Gears of War 3: Holy Shit

  
   So as you all must be aware by now (and if you aren't you may have had your head up your ass for the last three months and should probably see someone about that) Gears 3 has dropped and it is, in my opinion, the best of the trilogy. Some say the original is always better, but thats not the case. Not to take anything away from the first two games; they were great in their own right, but with the implementation of horde mode in Gears 2, Epic started the franchise down a path of eternal awesomeness which they got to the end of in Gears 3. While the campaign of the third installment is epic (pun intended) the real meat and potatoes of the game are Versus, Beast, and Horde modes. They're what you're going to be playing the majority of the time, and by God they're worth it. Versus mode is the typical player vs. player games which are always fun. As always, hiding around corners and chainsawing guys as they nonchalantly run past is great fun, if a little cheap. But hey, kills are kills and thats what versus is all about. Just watch out for the guys with the new sawed-off shotguns, they're slow, but you will lose every close quarter encounter aginst one of these in the hands of a mildly capable player, so keep your distance. Beast mode is a great new addition that lets you essentially play horde, but as the Locust. You start with a certain amount of money, and everytime you die you use that money to spawn as the baddie character of your choosing. The tickers are fun, effective, and cheap to buy for the early levels. The Boomer is somewhat expensive but packs a big punch, and the giant serapede, armored kantus, and berserker at the higher levels are fun and capable of completely fucking shit up. The jewel of the game, however, has got to be the new horde mode and that is what I spend most of my Gears time doing. Differences from the classic horde mode in Gears 2 include the awesome new fortifications that you can build with the money you earn slayin the baddies. You buy an intitial base at the beginning of the game, and from there you can build fences, machine gun turrets, sentry guns, and decoys to mess with and kill the enemy as you attempt to keep them at bay. Between rounds you have thirty seconds to do all your fortifying, so don't get caught on the other side of the map at the end the round and miss out on reloading your machine gun. The fortifications make some maps more defendable than others, and when looking for a good defensive position you should first look for a base with few approaches (two is good, Overpass has a base with only one approach). You should also take note of what you can buy at a given base. Having the map's heavy weapon in or near your base is always a plus, especially for the boss waves. The hammer of dawn is a good heavy weapon on just about all maps, the mortar is good on open maps without a lot of overhead cover, and the mulcher is good down hallways and other fuck em up trap areas. Another thing to look for is how easily can you get the fuck out of your base if shit starts getting real, as it always does. Having a decent fall back point that isn't a main spawn point of the bad guys can keep you alive for a few extra rounds. When you start the game check out what defenses you can buy around your base. You want to have a turret for sure, they help out when the lancer isn't quite cutting it anymore. Fences are good for slowing the enemy down and sentry guns do relatively weak but sustained damaged making those tough bad guys not so tough. Decoys just make the enemy look stupid as they focus their attention (and bullets) on cardboard cut-outs and mannequins. Dumbasses, thats why you deserve to get chainsawed.....Anyways once you have your base established you can either save your money for bigger upgrades, like the relentlessly powerful, never run out of ammo, kill every living thing within view silverback ($12,500, no chump change), or start buying fences and the like. Either way, upgrade your fortifications as fast as you can and keep them from getting destroyed, as nothing sucks worse than dropping 4 grand on a red laser fence and then having to do it again in the next round (this is a sure way to not get far noobs). Sometimes one fortification will help another be more effective. For example, buying a decoy and then a machine gun that overlooks it will not only protect the decoy from some damage, but will allow the machine gunner to obliterate the locust who are pathetically trying to kill it. Throughout the levels you continue to expand and upgrade your defenses and try to hold out as long as possible. Eventually you will all be dead however, unless you can get to and beat the 50th wave. In a matchmaking game, it doesn't really seem possible to reach this lofty video game acheivement. There are too many people not in it for the team (yeah I'm talking to you guys who run right past me when I'm downed and don't help you selfish bastards). These people, however, are assholes. For those qualifyed gamers out there, get four of your nerdiest, most badass friends and get the fuck in a horde game STAT. Make sure you can communicate and play smart and level 50 should be yours in no time.

Note: Try to keep your bloodlust to a reasonable level while playing Gears of War 3 or risk upsetting roomates, neighbors, or sleeping girlfriends with your terrifying war cries.

Slywalker

Video games to me...

   I don't know about you but I can think back to a time when I could literally spend an entire 48 hours of a weekend sitting in front of a screen completely absorbed into whatever video game I was into at the time. Video games to me are not just and escape and cheap entertainment, they are some of the most fulfilling and influential stories I have ever experienced. One of my all time favorite video games was one entitled Lunar: silver star story complete which was about a boy who dreamed of adventure and went on a quest to find four powerful dragon artifacts to become the next savior of the world. I played this game at a time when I was confused about myself and the direction I was going with my life and i felt a deep connection with the main character. The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the greatest games ever made and was the first game I ever beat completely on my own, I remember feeling an immense amount of pride.

   The thing is is that mainstream culture is only now catching up and starting to realize that games are a legitimate form of media/literature many are just as good if not better than movies but us nerds know the truth. Games have always been a place to get deep, fulfilling, character driven stories that can move you and shape your view of the world. Now I'm not saying you'll get a lesson about life after death and how to eat properly just by eating ghosts and fruit in a game of pac-man certainly there are games that have only the purpose of wasting your time for a few hours but other games like (oh I don't know) Final Fantasy 3- 13, Mass Effect, Fallout 1-3, Baldur's Gate, Diablo1 and 2, Elder Scrolls 1-4, Metal Gear Solid, Dragon Age, Dragon Quest, Red Dead Redemption, Breath of Fire, Secrets of Mana, Fable 1-3, Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, Grand Theft Auto 3-4 (that's four games), Star wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, and Chrono Trigger (just to name a few off the top of me head) have rich character driven plots that make you care and become emotionally invested. I myself recall a well of sadness when I messed up my first play through of mass effect and ended up getting Wrex killed (I love that big lizard). You don't have to take my word for it, play a game, make a virtual friend and tell me if there worth your time or not.

The dozens of poems mourning the death of Aries at the hands of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7 can still be found all over the Internet. People care about these characters just as much as people care about characters in movies. Someone told me you won't find a Sophie's choice moment in a video game, wrong, the difference is that in a video game your not watching that kind of choice you have to make it yourself, ask the thousands of people who spent hours just trying to decide who to save Kaiden or Ashley in the first Mass effect.

I'll remember you always Kaiden

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this. -  The Legend of Zelda