The Geek Bros

So I really enjoy the sport of running it always seems to clear my mind so when geek mixes with running,  I’m one happy man. Not so recently Nike released the Nike+ system with some of their shoes and I haven’t quite tried it all out till now.  So just a month ago I picked up some new running shoes and they were Nike+ compatible I was way excited I had finally been able to get my hands on this system I had been drooling over for a while.

Basically Nike+ is a way to track how far your running how many calories you’ve burned and any overall improvement you have over time.  By sticking a small chip in your shoe you can receive the data while running with a watch that Nike sells or simply by jogging with your Ipod while listening to music, that is what I did. Apple has loaded into the newer generation Ipods the nike plus program that gathers the data recorded by the chip which is activated by movement so it doesn’t hog loads of battery. Then after running you sync your Ipod or watch with the computer and it is loaded up to Nike’s website where they organize it nice and pretty for you record you distance ever ran and your best run times. It’s a handy way to keep it all in one spot and you don’t hardly have to do any work just push play then when your done plug it into the computer.

I personally have loved having my new shoes that are Nike+ compatible I would recommend it to those people who don’t wanna spend oodles of money for other equipment that is even more expensive and honestly only marginally more convenient. If you don’t have a pair of nike+ shoes you can take buy the chip and a case to put the chip on your shoelace then off you go in your favorite pair of running shoes, it’s not quite as pretty as sticking the chip in your shoe but just as useful.

Ill wrap it up and just say if you have been looking for a way to keep track of runs and even to motivate yourself this really can be a great tool.

If you would like to know more visit nikerunning

As a dad of three awesome boys I’m always looking for fun things to do with them so when I heard that Lego was releasing board games I jump onboard even before I saw the results. My most recent one I acquired was the Lava Dragon.  Even though the box says 6 and up I decided to try it out on my 4 and 5 year old, and after a couple games I have to say I was pretty impressed. The small size of the microfigs makes it a little hard to move the pieces but the rules where simple enough to understand and they got right into the game.

Ok so I admit I finally got sucked into one of these dumb farm games but come on when there is zombies involved I have a soft spot.  basically take your typical farm game of growing crops and arranging your farm, and then throw in zombie farming. Awesome huh… Well even though there are some very fun aspects of this game there are a few glaring flaws that hopefully will iron themselves as the app matures,  I understand the in app purchases to try and create a revenue, but let me attack other farms of visit neighbors farms.  I would say download this game so you can see when new updates come out but don’t spend to much on brains its kind of dead ends fast(no pun intended). oh and one final though I really believe that the touch screen platform is the best for these farms games in fact its really peaked my curiosity about Simcity on the iPhone.

I know it is kind of weird to talk about PC games twice in a row, especially since that is not normally what we have talked about, but that appears to be the most interesting gaming at the moment with Starcraft 2 out, Civilization 5 coming, and likely the one I am most excited about Elemental- War of Magic.

There are a couple of reasons why Elemental has really caught my attention.  First, it is from Stardock.  This has become my favorite developer over the last couple of years for me because they work to make their games accessible.  You don’t have to go out and buy a new gaming computer for their games.  In addition, they listen to their fan base better than any other developer.  I’ve been participating in the Beta, and it is amazing how many changes they have implemented because fans have made suggestions.  It is incredible the speed at which this thing has been updated.  It seems like every update adds loads of features.

The second reason I’m looking forward to Elemental is the bang for the buck.  The entire campaign from Elemental will be built using the same tools that will then be provided to the modding community.  It appears that the modding will be extremely accessible which really just gets me excited because I am sure that in just a few months we will have enough campaigns and skins to push the replayability to hundreds of hours.  Essentially they are providing resources to create a whole new platform.  Other games such as Civilization 4 have had some great mods like Fall From Heaven 2, but this game will make modding commonplace.

Finally, the game is fun.  It is a mix of many different genres with the ability to win the game in many different ways.  It’s coming out in two weeks, and I hope to block out my entire weekend after to play.  There are some pretty cool bonuses in the collector’s edition of the game which is what will be showing up on my door.  Check it out on www.elementalgame.com

Recently I had the opportunity to revisit an old classic, mostly because it gets released in a few days and i want to be caught up on the the story.  Being a twelve year old game I though i would have issue getting it to run on anything.  so a quick visit to battle.net store and a few dollars later and a digital download I was off playing.

Quickly remembering all the stategies I spent hours learning as a kid I quickly started to plow through the missions enjoying every minute of it.  Its not often you can pick up a 12 year old game and dump 10 or so hours into it. I’m still trying to crush though all the missions but I’m almost finished with Starcraft and starting onto brood wars. With an incredibly deep story you quickly forget its 12 years old and all I seem to want to do is get to the next mission so I can see what happens next.

The one drawback to this game in age is the multi-player, the people still playing it haven’t stopped playing since it came out I just on the battle net. After a few quick matches of me getting slaughtered I quickly gave up.  In the end I’ve totally enjoyed it as much as I would any ten dollar game and it was totally worth it,  just remember to stick to single player get the story and get out.  and only 5 short days until the sequel comes out.

So most people out there complain solely and most about X Invasion 2 and that fact it takes up more than a fourth of a gig on your iDevice. While this is definately annoying and in my opinion totally uncalled for, I think we can all agree we can look deeper into the game and see if it’s even worth the sit down and play through on it.

Score for the good guys! the f-22 alone makes this game worth it.

First of all this game comes currently with the pricetag of free this alone gives it a free point from me, believe me I won’t kick a gift horse in the mouth.  Despite many of the errors and mistakes that X Invasion 2 has it seems to have a lot of good in it as well. The graphics while a bit chintzy are really decent for the itouch/iphone playing field and the controls on it are very good. It responds to what you want it to do even if it is unrealistic with real flying in the fact that in real flying you can’t turn nearly as easily. The system does work fairly well especially as a beginner in the simulator world.

Lock on the target missiles away!

My suggestion with this game is to download the huge file to your computer because a lot of  devices  have been crashed by trying to download it straight to your device. Then sync your ipod afterwards. Play the game get used to it and then I would say clean the space off your device because it does take up a lot of space and does have a lot of flaws in the game it can be finicky and does get old very quickly, but who doesn’t love to just shoot up some aliens sometime. If  you enjoy this sort of game or would like to have a nice easy one to toy with this is a great game to pick up.

Overall 6/10

So when Mini sqaudron went on sale around Christmas of this last year I didn’t get it immediately, but eventually got some hours into it, and i must say this game is a very satisfying experience.

The Good-

Mini squadron really delivers if you are looking for a fast paced fun game, pop a squat and play for just a couple minutes of some awesome action packed all into this pocket sized game. With this the game features some awesome graphics lots of plane choices, and makes you want to keep playing and playing just to get all the unlockables.

The Bad

Mini Sqaudron doesn’t suffer from many faults besides those that come default with the iphone that fact that, maybe some of the graphics occasionally blur, but on my 2nd gen itouch things run great!.

OVERALL 9/10

The simple answer, YES

So Mech warrior 4 just got released absolutely free to the public, and after getting flooded with a massive amount of hits, and the server failing, the server is back up and ready to give you some awesome gaming for FREE because i know everyone loves that word.

You might ask why microsoft and mektek is doing this, they are trying to encourage support for an upcoming release that is supposedly going to happen. So we see with this that the mechwarrior universe is not dead it still has a lot of cult followers out there somewhere.

So to any of you out there that never picked this game up, because you were on the fence about it. go to http://www.mektek.net/projects/mw4/

Just follow the instructions and have a great time with this great deal of a game, and good news apparently they are releasing free updates and content with this free game. What a deal!

With me recently getting an iTouch it’s been a priority with me to find the absolute best case I could so I ended up buying a few of the ones out there and seeing which one I liked the most.  In the end I have liked different things about every single one and have yet to have a definite winner, so far I think the Speck candyshell has done it for me though. With this case featuring a neat way of protecting and absorbing shock while not making it entirely rubber thus causing it to get aggravating with the silly thing gets stuck in your pocket. With the candyshell the thin rubber is coated by a hard plastic shell thus giving you the convenience of plastic casing and the some of the protection of a full rubber case.

Pros: I’ve been very pleased with this case it seems like the times that my iTouch has slipped out of my pocket or been dropped like every device does its none worse for the wear. I have absolutely loved how this case is a perfect mix between stylishness and durability, this case is absolutely fun and coming in four colors it gives you a little bit of choice with the iTouch in the iPhone version it has even more colors. I have really loved how this case has never been in the way of me using the iTouch for practical purposes or gaming and has not made it bulky either basically a great case for you device.

Cons: The only gripe I have is that the lining on the bottom of the case is thin within a couple months of getting the case strip above the headphone jack and docking port has broken off leaving other parts of the case to start breaking. The only other minor thing is that the rubber on the edges darkens quickly and shows dust.  I did not notice this at first, but it gradually has gotten darker and darker and you can tell this when I pop the iTouch out of the case and compare it to the rubber inside the case compared to the little bit showing on the edges it is obviously darker.

Overall rating 8.5/10

I think everyone would agree with me that some of the most inventive games of the past year and a half would include World of Goo and Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure.  As a gamer, I have been wondering when 2D Boy and Kyle Gray (of Henry Hatsworth) would be making something new.  So when the press release came out that they are joining forces, it just made me happy inside. While no games have been announced it seems like it could lead to some great things.  From the press release in the classic style of World of Goo:

“For years, giant corporations have been hurt by scrappy indie studios hogging the limelight with titles like Crayon Physics Deluxe, Braid, World of Goo, and Super Meat Boy. To those tiny, un-American, indie developers, Tomorrow Corporation would like to deliver a message: Your reign of terror ends… Tomorrow! ”

Over at www.tomorrowcorporation.com you can read the full press release and we can speculate now as to what platform will be used.  I would like to see some more high quality Wii-ware myself!