The Geek Bros

I have started to find a little time again as I get used to the new workload that has been thrown on me.  I am rather excited to see that a new game is put out there on the Apps Store from one of my favorite little publishers Gamevil.  You may think this is said like Game Evil, but in fact it is more like Game-ville.  It seems like so far they are focusing on other mobile devices but this is their third for the iPhone.  Zenonia was pretty major, though I didn’t get play it nearly as long as I liked to.  It is the proverbial pile of shame of games to play.  On the other hand it appears that Wii is finally getting a price cut.  3 years after it came out!  We will have to hold on for another 2 weeks or so to find out if it is true!  It means this Christmas will be interesting because everyone is trying a new price point out.  However, I think Nintendo has a really weak schedule of games coming out.  Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks of course looks good, and New Super Mario Brothers Wii looks awesome.  I might check out A Boy and His Blob for old time’s sake and I have some high hopes since Punch-Out! did quite well.   Here is what I have been able to play:

Build-a-lot (iTouch)- A fun game that is kind of in the time management vein.  Basically you build neighborhoods.  Though it seems a little strange to stick castles in random neighborhoods.  Funny enough The Wife was the one that got me started on this game.  I actually am getting quite far in it.

Airline Tycoon (iTouch)- I am in business school, I find tycoon games fun.  However, there is one big weakness to this game that you can totally take advantage of all you want.  It involves not spending money on planes unless they are on sale.  I really like it, until I take advantage of it.

That is it!  I have an interesting quandary about where the best place for difficulty on a game is.  Do I like a game that I never die or does that just become an interactive story?  Do I like the games that I have to replay a million times to get through a little scene.  That is a tough call, what do you think?

Today is the big day, we are finally getting settled into our new home.  That is great news because hopefully it means that I will not have spotty access to the internet and I will be able to write about the things that I have prepared.  However, my time is still being sucked away by school and I don’t anticipate that is going to change anytime soon.  I guess that is what I get for deciding to go back.  However I have found time to play a couple of games.  I think that in the coming weeks it will be a bit more varied since nothing on this list is going to surprise you.  I am pretty much playing the same games as I have been playing.  Here is the list:

Patapon 2 (PSP)- Still loving this game.  If you have a PSP and you have any interest in rhythm games, play this.  That is all.  I got stuck on a level for a while this week so it is still going to take me a while to beat.  I had better hurry though because Disgaea 2 comes out in a couple of weeks and gaving loved the first and never played the second, I am certain I will want to play that when I have the chance.  Hopefully I can conquer Patapon 2 soon.

Defender Chronicles (iTouch)- Interesting take on the tower defense genre.  I think I am not enjoying it as much as a function of being being sick of playing tower defense games rather than an actual problem with the game. 

Hopefully this week I will find the time to write up the reviews that I have been holding off on, namely Ranch Rush and Dapple for the iPod Touch.  Have a happy week becasue at least we can remember that it is Labor Day weekend coming!

Yes I know all of our readers are sooo excited to hear from the ever great youngest brother and I also know I haven’t posted in far too long. Mostly I’ve been meaning to get on and write an article, but something else always manages to get in the way (for example LIFE), my gaming lately has been composed of very little, but will hopefully pick up again here very soon. With life sort of settling down into a pattern. It’s sad to say that even though school is starting I will probably be less stressed out than I have been this summer and now that the fun of summer is over and school is starting it’s a great excuse to get into gaming, right?

In the next bit I am finally planning on putting up a consistent posting of articles on cell phones. Over the past couple years I have studied pretty heavily on phones and I figured I would share some of that knowledge with all the other people out there looking for a good phone and phone company. Next week I’ll be posting about the different service providers and what they provide. So look forward to that and please feel free to post all of your thoughts on the boards.

Well it has been another busy week and as a blog author I really don’t have sufficient access to the internet to do the sort of job that I should.  From what I understand hopefully it will improve in about another week, though that isn’t sure yet.  We aren’t quite settled into the new home yet.  In addition, school started heavily this week and so my time for gaming has been diminished significantly.  My list of gaming is going to be really short though there has been a lot of time into the first one.  Here it is for the week:

Patapon 2 (PSP)- This game is amazing.  I don’t get into rhythm games very much, which is why you don’t ever see me talking about Rock Band or Guitar Hero.  However this game is excellent, the difficulty can change (though I have managed to maintain Normal the whole time) and basically this game is going into my library of games I like to come back to.  I am not even halfway through it yet.  Here is my biggest complaint.  I need to be able to pause in the middle of a battle.  Especially because it is a handheld system I am playing it on.

Defender Chronicles (iTouch)- I picked this one up for $.99 a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to playing it.  It is a tower defense game with a different shell on it.  You do get a hero that is your last line of defense and he can level up and that carries over so that actually can be kind of cool.  However the rest of the game is figuring out what guilds you need to put up to protect whatever the objective is.  Good news there is a story and it does change up the level after around 40 waves on each level.  I think there are about 8 levels.

Lux Deluxe (iTouch)- This is one that I find myself regularly coming back to.  It is Risk but you can get any one of about a hundred maps to play on.  However it is a little pricey.  It is a great game to play for a few minutes and work on your strategy even though I am convinced it is mostly luck.

That’s it for games with any significant time.  The hard thing is currently I have two reviews for the iPhone/iPod Touch that I would like to do (Dapple and Ranch Rush) but until I can get access to my normal computer that is impossible because I need to get some screenshots.  Patience I guess!  After a lot of games coming out that I don’t really care about the drought is finally over about now with the release of Professor Layton’s second adventure.  In addition a port of a PS2 game for the Wii, Phantom Brave has caught my attention as well.  It is going into my pile to watch and play if I find time later.  What are you playing these days?  It seems like our traffic is down and part of that is our fault with fewer articles but we would like to hear from you and know what we can address that will be of use for other!  Have a great week!

First of all I would like to wish Happy Birthday to the Geek Bros Mother today.  Second, I’m sorry my volume of posts has decreased, but I am certain my brothers will be picking up the slack until I can hit a routine in my new home.  I am working to get things settled in and then I should be back to full strength soon unless school kicks my butt.  The PSP Go! information is starting to come but so far I haven’t seen anything that makes me think the price is justified.  I just hope they are trying to increase the library which could use a refreshing since they only have one new game a week.  Anyway, I am rambling, here is what I have been playing for the week:

Patapon 2 (PSP)- I kept thinking I should hold off on this game since I just reviewed the first one.  This week I decided I was going to play it anyway, mainly because I really wanted to.  I am sure glad I did, this game so far takes all the things that were wonderful about the first one and the game  gives me lots of customization and essentially made this game stellar.  I am no where near done with it, but so far I really like it.

Holy Cow Badman! What did I do to deserve this? (PSP)- You build a dungeon to kill heros.  It is not really appealing to me yet.  I don’t know if it is the game or if I just haven’t understood it enough yet to play it well.

Words with Friends (iTouch)- It is Chess with Friends but with Scrabble.  If anyone wants to play just send us an e-mail @ thegeekbros@gmail.com and I will start a game with your right away.  I need more partners to play with.  Sure it only allows you two players, but it is free and you can have great games spanning over months.

Ranch Rush (iTouch)- They keep playing with the price on this one so watch it to see if you can pick it up for $.99.  I like it as a time management game.   I hope to get the chance to do a full review shortly, though it should be a sign that I have played it after beating it.

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (NDS)- My progress is pretty slow in this game because it is pretty hard for me to sacrifice a character and you are required to for some battles.

That’s it for tonight.  Let us know what you are playing.  Hopefully the Wii and computer will have a permanent home shortly which means the reviews may go that way.  Happy gaming until next week!

It has been a really busy week in the family as we have tried to have a vacation together while staying home.  This has seriously cut into my time personally looking for news to keep people updated about.  Luckily as I am reviewing some of my favorite haunts, this week was a little slow.  The biggest news seems to be the fact that everyone is ready to delay more and more games out of the Christmas season this year.  The hit this week came in the form of Starcraft II being delayed.  I can’t say that I am very surprised, about the first time that Activision Blizzard gives you a release date on one of their big titles, you can pretty much add a year or two.  Such is the way that they work.  Next week I am moving and I am returning to school but I hope to maintain a regular contribution to blog, but perhaps with a slightly smaller focus on gaming.  In the meantime, this is what I have been playing this week:

Ranch Rush (iTouch)- It is another time management game that seems to have so many clones out there.  This is actually one that kept my attention however but perhaps it is because I like to play in the garden.  I hope to review this one late next week.

Dapple (iTouch)- This one is really a good puzzler.  The review hopefully will be up Monday but it is good for those that just need Bejeweled clone with a small twist.

Valkyrie Profile (NDS)- I am starting to get into this one.  The story is interesting, but the graphics are terrible.  Games where you aren’t really sure if you are a good guy or bad guy sometimes sit a little funny with me, and this is one of those games.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii)- Ping pong is awesome!  The Wii Motion Plus really does add quite a bit to the game.  I have played through nearly all the sports yet, but  I think this is going to be one of the must own party games in a few months.  The only problem is the fact that I don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of $20 accessories, I have enough plastic add ons and yet I would like to play some with The Wife.

Demigod (PC)- I know A already reviewed this, but I finally have everything in line to actually enjoy this game on the internet.  The only thing still missing?  I suck at the game compared to everyone online.  I am wondering if my next step should be looking around for pointers on forums or if I just need to get my butt kicked 20 or 30 more times.  Amazing because every battle is epic in its own way.

Well that about does it for the week.  We should be back to full strength next week.  I hope everyone is doing well.  Feel free to contact us, thegeekbros@gmail.com or follow us @thegeekbros on Twitter.  Oh and let me know if you have any good Demigod strategies.  Regulus is killing me!

This week has been rather interesting for a variety of reasons.  As I mentioned The Wife and I are planning on moving in just over a week which means whenever I am home I feel like I have tons of things to do to prepare for the move.  Therefore, my console gaming has completely stopped, which is so sad because I have copies of Little King’s Story and Wii Sports Resort that I haven’t even cracked open.  However I have kept up my habit of carrying portable gaming devices with me, which has resulted in some good times.  Here is the list for this week:

Rachet and Clank: Size Matters (PSP)- I have been interested in for a while and with the completion of Patapon this has become the go to game on the device.

Mother 3 (GBA)- I actually finished this game this week and I will be writing a review for it early next week.  Stayed tuned for a Retro Review on the sequel to one of my all-time favorite games- Earthbound.

California Gold Rush (iTouch)- I also finished this game today and I will probably write a review early next week.  It seems to fall into a mold that Digital Chocolate does a lot in games.  It is fun and fairly simple with a lot of levels.  Though there is a certain level of strategy that I have enjoyed.

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (NDS)- Tactical RPG with a couple interesting dynamics but not very good graphics.  I need to get farther before I can publish more on it.

Kaloki Adventures (iTouch)- A cool economic simulation in which you build lemonade stands for starfarers.  This one seems to have a good difficulty and enough scenarios to keep me playing.

Dapple (iTouch)- A cool puzzle game.  I think The Wife will get into it but she hasn’t yet.  It is all about mixing colors of paint to connect 4 in a row.  It is simple but challenging.

So there is my list.  A lot of mobile gaming and I think that will probably be the theme for the next month or so.  Let me know if you have any ideas for good games for roadtrips because we have around an 11 hour drive.  Be sure to follow us @thegeekbros on Twitter and feel free to e-mail us thegeekbros@gmail.com.

This week has been quite interesting for me.  I ended up spending lots of time canning apricots to try and cut costs for when I return to school.  Because of this my list of games that I have played is rather short.  This is also the reason I did not do a review of an iPhone game this week.  I am certain next week I will have something great.  The games that I did play however, I played quite a bit.  Plus Little King’s Story showed up in the mail today and I am excited to finally give that a go, along with Wii Sports Resort in the next week.  Here is what I have played this week.

Patapon (PSP)- I just beat the game.  I really want to build up an awesome army but I have decided that I am going to do it on Patapon 2.  It is quite difficult becvause if you get stuck it can be quite hard to train a better army to get past the next level.  However, I would have to say of all of the rhythm games I have played this is probably my favorite.  I am really looking forward to writing a review and playing the sequel soon.

Loco Roco (PSP)- What can I say?  I have wanted to get a better feeling for the new system and so it has dominated my gaming time.  I have played Rolando for the iPhone (though I still have yet to beat it) and I can see where the similarities are.  However each has things that I like better about it.  Your goal is basically tilting the screen and jumping so your little round guy makes it through the maze.  Simple but addicting and fun.

Mother 3 (GBA)- It is pretty much certain now I am going to be finishing this game and writing up a full retro review.  If you loved Earthbound it is completely worth your time.  The graphics aren’t great but the humor is there along with the interesting storyline.  This week I have had a couple problems being lost and not knowing where to go next but that is kind of normal for the series.

That is it!  Three games, but as I said each had a significant amount of time put into it.  This week we are also going to hit a milestone of 100 posts.  Time seems to fly as these just start adding up.  Let us know things you would like to see by writing our e-mail thegeekbros@gmail.com and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @thegeekbros.

This week has been pretty busy.  I was down sick at the first of the week, and then The Wife and I are moving in a few weeks and we started to put some time into getting ready to go.  I am headed to get a little higher education, but hopefully once I get settled into my destination I will again be able to report my observations and reviews on the technology for an average person.  This week the gaming has been highly centralized for me.  I have actually had quite a bit of time to play, but the number of games that I have played is small.  I guess this is because a few games really have my attention, however they are all long and so it will probably still be a few weeks before I am able to write good reviews on them.  Here is the list for the week:

Patapon (PSP)- I really wanted to play the sequel to this game and it was actually one of the things that convinced me to buy the system.  However I decided I needed to play the first one first.  I am working on this one, but it is kind of hard!  There have been times when I have tried the same boss several times before beating him, even taking breaks to power my team up.

Sid Meier’s Pirates! (PSP)- I have a friend at work that wishes he was a pirate.  He knows tons of the history of them.  I played this game for a few hours mainly for him to let him know how close it was to the PC game.  My answer is that it is nearly identical which is not necessarily a bad thing.  You take the role of a pirate, searching for treasure, sinking other ships and looking for your lost family.  I like it though I don’t feel drawn to playing it much.

Mother 3 (GBA)- This was the brief article that I wrote about earlier this week.  I wish this game would have come out in the US.  I have enjoyed going back to the art style even though most everything else is different.  I am really glad I found this and pulled it out for the slow time of July and the gaming we have seen.

The Legendary Starfy (NDS)- This one is actually going on hold for about a week while I order a copy for The Wife to play.  I think she is really going to like it and there are some co-op moments that I would like her help with.

Dawn of Discovery (Wii)- The campaign on this game is really a 10-hour tutorial, but it is bearable.  I am still not through the tutorial but it seems like a good one.  The interface works well on the Wii even though it really is a computer game.  It is kind of a city building sim where you have to keep track of a lot of different resources happening all at the same time.

StoneLoops of Jurassica! (iPod Touch)- The Luxor clone that I beat so that I could review it for you this week.  I really enjoyed it and recommended it at $.99.  A great game to play a few minutes at a time.

Tower Bloxx 3d (iPod Touch)- It was on sale for $.99 so I thought I would finally pick up the full version.  I am not through it but so far I am really not that impressed.  Maybe it is just because I am still upset with Digital Chocolate for what feels like Shovelware in Crazy Penguin Catapult 2.  Hopefully I will have a review ready for this sometime next week.  After which I will swear off the publisher and reviewing their games for a month unless I am told otherwise by someone.

That is it for the week.  What are you playing during July?  I am looking to getting my hands on Little King’s Story in the next week or two along with Wii Sports Resort.  Follow us on Twitter @thegeekbros.  Feel free to contact us at thegeekbros@gmail.com.  We are happy to listen to what you want to hear about and will try to include future content you are interested in.

P.S. Does anyone play Chess with Friends on the iPhone or iPod Touch?  I need another couple matches, my brother-in-law is the only one currently playing with me.

It has been another busy week but like I said last week at least there haven’t been much in the way of games that I really want to play so I can work on some of the backlog.  I hope that some of you were able to take advantage of some of the deals that we have run across.  I have a couple of big goals for games to complete in the next little while, plus I think I might finally end up breaking down and buying a PSP so that we can make sure that all the major platforms are represented.  Here is what I am playing in the past week:

Knights in the Nightmare (NDS)- For more commentary on this see the full review that I did on Tuesday.  I played it pretty intensly to make sure that it was beaten for the review.

The Munchables (Wii)- I played this for a few minutes but The Wife has had extra time and has played this one extremely heavy.  I am trying to convince her to do a review on it, and I will see if we can make it happen.

EA Sports Active (Wii)- I did it!  I completed the 30 day challenge, I think that I will be able to review this one in the coming week so stay tuned for a full review on it.

The Legendary Starfy (NDS)- The game that didn’t come over until late because it was judged as not appropriate for North American audience.  It is pretty good though, I think it really might be a great game for The Wife.

Knights Onrush (iPod Touch)- This is a castle defense game that is probably better than Defend Your Castle.  I still need a lot more time on this one.

Crazy Penguin Catapult 2 (iPod Touch)- This one only took me a few hours to get through.  I hope you enjoyed the review that I completed earlier today.

Stone Loops of Jurassica- This is a sort of knock off of Luxor, and I really like it.  It has so many levels that it will be a while before I get to a review.  I would say it is worth it for $.99.  I will be playing this one for a while!

On a side note, Rolando 2 came out this week.  I really am looking forward to this but I never completed the first one.  I am going to try and take that on in the coming weeks and hopefully I can hold out long enough that I can get a price drop.  I know it is probably worth it but I just can’t justify the cost yet.  To contact us just send us an e-mail at thegeekbros@gmail.com.  Follow us on twitter @thegeekbros!