The 3DS at E3 2012: A Wishlist

In less than two weeks E3 will kick off.  While many gamers are focused on what will be said about the Wii U, I'm slightly more interested in what's happening with the 3DS.  So here's a little wishlist of things I hope are announced for the handheld at E3 2012.

1. Give me Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario 3D for the holiday season. If I had to pick one, though, I guess I'll go with Luigi. Just don't announce that both of them are coming out soon and then delay them both. I can't take anymore delays this year.


2. Give me more downloadable games. I'm not ashamed to admit I spent a lot of time "window shopping" in the 3DS eshop. I especially want to see all the older Legend of Zelda games available. If Nintendo isn't going to remake a Zelda game for the 3DS before they release a new one, the least they can do is let us download the originals.  Why don't you want to take my money, Nintendo?


3. Show me anything new Zelda related. I don't care if it's a picture of poorly drawn Link framed by a 3DS. I'm not hoping for a definite release date, just something to remind us that you're making it.

4. Something brand new, exciting and a surprise to everyone. I suspect that the Wii U will get its share of (hopefully) awesome announcements, but don't leave out the 3DS.


That's about it. I'm not a greedy person. I just want everything on this list and anything else you think is cool. Okay, Nintendo?

Nintendo's presentation will be on June 5 at 9:00 am PDT. You can watch it at http://e3.nintendo.com/

The Slow Death of an Xbox 360

While I written about my experiences with Xbox 360s and their problems before, this is something new to me.

Whenever I had a console fail or break in some way, it was always quick. One minute it's fine, the next it's RROD. So I decide to chronicle the very slow and painful death of my son's 20gb  Xbox 360.

Here's how it went down:

Back in March we got Operation Raccoon City. I played a bit of it on my 360. He popped it into his and it froze three times in 30 minutes. We thought maybe the disc was defective. But, he tried it on mine and it works perfectly.

A little while later, it wouldn't download the Trials Evolution demo. Then it stopped playing any game that was downloaded.  This made me think it's the HDD, but nothing looks corrupted and all the saved game data works fine. I think it went back to playing downloaded games a few days later.

Everything was okay for a few weeks, but then the two red rings on the left side started appearing. According to the Xbox support website, this means it's overheating, but it would happen even if it was on for a few minutes.  My husband took it to get it cleaned, thinking that it's old and probably very dusty inside.

After the cleaning, the two rings stopped, but now if you try to play a game, one red ring on the right side lights up. So I looked this up and might be the dreaded E74. But, we're not getting the screen for it. The screen is just black. So I tried everything it told me to do. Including unplugging it, taking out the HDD, etc.

At the same time, we got Ninja Gaiden 3 and it's freezing constantly.

He can watch Netflix on the 360, but I think that's about it for now. It seems everything that can go wrong with it, will. I'll admit that I'm somewhat fascinated by this process. It's like the 360 is having one last swan song and we're forced to deal with it.  It's an old system that's gotten fixed by Microsoft. It's not under warranty anymore, of course.

While I'm a bit upset to see the sad state of this 360, I'm looking forward to getting my son a newer model, like mine. Then I will be able to actually play my 360 in peace again, which will be awesome.

I Got An Award!

Jeremy at Geeky Tendencies  kindly bestowed upon me this neat award:

In order to accept it I guess I have to give 10 random facts about myself and award six other bloggers.
So, here we go:

1. I am a very private person. Even offline, it takes me a long time to feel comfortable around new people.
2. Next month, my husband and I will be married for 16 years.
3. I have four cats, Twiggy, Ramirez, Hedwig, and Mr. Mostly Mittens.
4. I also have a ball python named Nagini.
5. I don't like the taste of red meat.  I prefer vegetables and fish.
6. I wear mostly black clothes all the time.
7. I'm very short, only 5'1.
8. I hate pants. Give me a dress or skirt and I'm happy. .
9. I love the ocean and live only 15 minutes away from it.
10. I saw JK Rowling at Radio City Music Hall in 2006.


Now, the six other bloggers I'm awarding:

http://lilgracielou.blogspot.com/

http://michaelabayomi.blogspot.com/

http://kyralennon.blogspot.com/

http://alsgeekbanter.blogspot.com/

http://kweenytodd.blogspot.com/

http://fatalblushaddict.blogspot.com/


This award seems to be traveling fast. I've found quite a few blogs that already had it. So, if I picked you and you got the award last week or something...whoops.

Skyward Sword Mosaic is Unveiled

Earlier this year, Nintendo asked Legend of Zelda fans to submit their photos on facebook. These 25,000 photos were turned into a gorgeous mosaic of Skyward Sword Link. The mosaic is in the Nintendo World store in NYC.  I'm pleased to say my photo is one of them.

You can find a nice size picture at Zelda Universe  However, it is still very difficult to make out the individual photos. I've been searching the web for a detailed, clear picture of  the Link mosaic. So far, I haven't found much. The Nintendo Store website doesn't have one. And while I found one close-up pic in the comments on Zelda Dungeon, it's just of one small section. Hopefully, as more people go to the store to see the mosaic, more pictures will be available online.

I would love to see a bigger picture of the Skyward Sword mosaic and be able to find my photo. Better yet, Nintendo should sell posters of it.  They have at least 25,000 eager, would-be customers already.

A to Z Challenge Reflections Post 2012

This was my second year completing the A to Z Challenge. Even though I felt disorganized in the beginning, I knew I would be able to do it. I tried to visit and comment on as many blogs as I could and I found some really great ones!

These are a few of the blogs I know will I continue to check out in the future:

http://www.videogamesinteractive.com/

http://geekytendencies.blogspot.com/

http://michaelabayomi.blogspot.com/

http://deathofahardcoregamer.blogspot.com/

http://lilgracielou.blogspot.com/

http://claredugmorewrites.blogspot.com/

http://kyralennon.blogspot.com/

http://www.preciousmonsters.com/


I admit that I'm not much of a commenter. If I stumbled on a blog and the theme or topic was completely foreign to me, I usually didn't say anything. I know I have a very niche blog. I understand if some  A to Z visitors don't care about video games. I wouldn't expect them to leave a comment, just for the sake of commenting. So, if you visited and commented, you're awesome. If you visited and didn't comment cause you don't know anything about gaming, that's cool.


My only gripe about the challenge is visiting blogs who never seemed to post about the challenge at all or gave up on the letter "C," for example. I know real life gets in the way. However,  I also found a number of bloggers who couldn't complete the challenge, but they made a short post about needing to quit.


 I love that I have to think of a gaming topic for every letter. It's fun, but sort of difficult especially the second time around. But I will definitely do it again next year.

Thanks to everyone who put this challenge together!