Weekend Site Update November 6, 2011

Over the weekend I did some minor tweaking of the Site Categories section in the lower right hand side of the site.  I have been occasionally adding new categories for various editorial or video series when they become frequent enough, but I never attached proper information to them.  That has been rectified.

As I’m sure you’ve also noticed, I have the abilty to upload videos in excess of 15 minutes again, and I intend to continue to use it for as long as I am able to.  Have a great weekend guys!

New York Comic Con 2011 Update October 12, 2011

Tomorrow marks the start of the first day of the New York Comic Con and I plan to be there.  Just a quick little update about what will be going on with the site while I’m gone.  I probably won’t have access to enough bandwith to contribute anything not comic con related (like a major editorial) while the con is going on, but there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find me doing regular con-related updates while at the event, either on this site or my official twitter feed.

I do have a few ideas for non-con related editorials (including another Science Check) but I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete them before the Con, and I kind of want to hold up writing another Science Check until after the Con, to further space them out.  That said, I would like to post up one non-science check editorial before leaving for New York City, but don’t hold me to that.

See you at the Con!

Maniac is Going to the New York Comic Con October 4, 2011

It’s official.  I just got the paperwork from the convention organizers.  I will be attending the New York Comic Con!

The New York Comic Con will be going from October 13th to the 16th in New York City!  Lots of games will be shown there ranging from Batman: Arkham City, Halo: Anniversary and The Darkness II!  Hope to see you there!

Metroid Prime 3 Friend Vouchers Giveaway September 19, 2011

UPDATE:  One year after originally offering this, I am ending the giveaway.  I would like to thank all of you for your interest.  I will continue to post up comments made for those of you who would like to exchange friend codes among yourselves.

As promised, over the course of my Metroid Prime Trilogy Run, I have accumulated a bunch of friend vouchers which have to be given away to friends to make for Green Credits. Green Credits are required to unlock important special items in Metroid Prime 3, such as the Mii Bobblehead for your spaceship, certain concept galleries, or the screenshot tool.

According to the research I’ve done, while you can receive an infinite amount of Green Credits from friends, you only need 15 Green Credits to unlock everything those credits will unlock. The game offers a single player more than that amount in friend vouchers, and as such I have plenty I can share, and I want to share it with my site visitors.

So here are the rules. Simply post a comment on this page with your Wii Friend Code and tell me specifically what game you want the credits in, and in exchange I will send you a friend voucher you can convert to a Green Credit. Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime Trilogy friend vouchers are not cross compatible, but do not worry as I have vouchers stockpiled in either game. Add my friend code to your address book before messaging me as we need to have each others friend codes registered to communicate. My Wii Number is CENSORED. Add that to your address book (file nickname as Maniac or gameXcess if you please.) You must have a savegame in either Metroid Prime 3 or Metroid Prime Trilogy or I will not be able to send you a voucher. Free free to put in the comment if you want the friend code visible on the site or not, as I have the ability to keep it hidden. You do not need to send me any vouchers in exchange, as I have already accumulated all 15 I needed.

To ensure you get them, make sure that Wii Connect 24 is enabled in the game menu before sending me your friend code. Also remember, the credits will go to whichever savegame you load first once the credits have been sent, so be aware of that.

UPDATE:  I neglected to mention that this will only work for Wii owners who use the US/North American version of Metroid Prime 3 or Metroid Prime Trilogy.  Apparently PAL and other international versions of the game are not Friend Voucher cross compatible.

25th Anniversary Metroid Prime Run Completed September 19, 2011

After one month of continuous play, I have just completed the third game in the Metroid Prime Trilogy. As I did with the previous two games, I was able to 100% it by collecting all expansions and collect all in game log scans, but Metroid Prime 3 also had extra credit bonuses for certain tasks like saving troopers in a firefight or scoring high in target practice.

People do celebrations in their own way. This has been a long time coming for me. I bought the first Metroid Prime game for the GameCube back in 2003 and was never able to complete it. Even though I did get copies of Metroid Prime 2 and 3, I wanted to beat the first game before tackling the next two. With the free time I’ve had this summer and a copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy I felt now was the perfect time and I wanted to let my readers be a part of it.

Its been a very long month but now my Metroid coverage will start to wrap up. I’m going to do two further things for the site and then end it.

First, I will be giving away friend vouchers to anyone who posts up a friend code on the site (I have plenty for either version of Metroid Prime 3). I promised I would offer to give away credits and now that I’ve stockpiled a good amount I want to offer them to my site readers.

Second, I’ve decided to do a discussion video on the game series. I will do a final talk about what I liked, disliked, and my favorite moments. That will be my postmortem on the event and the last posting I’ll do on it.

You can expect both very soon. Until then, here’s my game completion screen for Metroid Prime 3. 100% in fourteen hours. Not bad.

YouTube Update September 11, 2011

I got an email from YouTube this weekend telling me that they possibly could be interested in revenue sharing with me for some of my videos.  When I submitted my account for acceptance into this program, I received an email of acceptance in just a few hours.

I am now able to submit requests to them to receive revenue from them for videos that meet their requirements.  What this means is that in some of my more popular videos that meet YouTube requirements (feature no gameplay or music) you might see advertising in them from now on.  The difference with these ads are that I will be getting a cut from them.  This is fantastic news as I finally have an opportunity for financial income coming in from the site.

I have over 160 videos on YouTube currently, and plan to make plenty more!  You might notice from now on I will have a change in formats for my future YouTube videos.  I’m no longer going to use a title sequence and I will have a shorter end credits sequence if I have one at all.  I will no longer use any music tracks under fair use.  I also am going to refrain from showing gameplay footage in my videos, which means I may no longer do Top 5s or Let’s Plays.  What you will probably see in the site are a lot more video discussions on a regular basis!

Thank you for all your support for the site!

Metroid Prime 25th Anniversary Update 2 August 31, 2011

I finally have Internet restored after several days of it being out due to Hurricane Irene. However, even without Internet I have continued my Metroid Prime Trilogy Anniversary run as promised.

Yesterday, I was able to 100% Metroid Prime 2 in 16 hours 11 minutes and unlocked both of the secret endings of the game. It really came up to the last minute before I could determine I scanned everything in the game before getting to the final boss.

It turned out I had missed scanning something but it was a research item that I did stumble back upon while playing the last section of the game.

Two games down, and with Internet back, I’ve started the third and final game. Anyone with a copy of Metroid Prime 3 or Metroid Prime Trilogy, post your Wii Friend Codes in the comments section (and which game you play), and I’ll send you a friend voucher good for a green credit. You’re welcome to send me friend vouchers as well!

Metroid Prime 25th Anniversary Update 1 August 27, 2011

I didn’t want to clutter up the main page with incremental updates on the progress I’ve been making on my promise to 100% the games of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, but I figured that big updates on the main page would be a good idea.

I am currently over one-third through this run in just under a week of playing. I have been able to 100% complete the very first Metroid Prime game and my progress is continuing through Metroid Prime 2. Keep your eyes on the twitter feed to regular updates to my progress and stay tuned here for major updates to my run.

In other news, did anyone else know that Samus Aran was a girl?

25th Anniversary Metroid Prime Run August 22, 2011

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of Metroid’s release, I decided to have my own little game off.  Even though I am what would be considered a huge Metroid fan, I have never 100% completed any of the games in the Metroid Prime Trilogy.  I think now is the perfect time to rectify that.

Here are the rules.  I’m going to be playing the versions of the game that came with the Metroid Prime Trilogy released for the Nintendo Wii in North America.  (FYI I do own all the original editions of the games as well).  The goal is to 100% complete each game.  That includes finding every log note, creature scan, every health and weapon expansion, and every last item in the game before completing each one.  Since finding everything in the game in one go by yourself is pretty much impossible without help, I will be consulting a guide to help me get through each game.

I honestly have no idea how long this will take, the games are not short if you’re going for 100% completion.  Could take a few days or longer.

I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress on the site’s official twitter feed.  You can check updates on the lower sidebar of the site as well.  I’m not going to be doing a full video record because it would be far too long and probably pretty boring.  So check the feed to see my progress and send me comments.  I’m also going to be logged into WiiConnect24 while playing, so if you want to send me friend tokens, just tweet me your Wii Friend Code and I’ll add you.  I may post pictures of my progress as I go.

FYI, I have already 100% completed Metroid: Other M.  No need to do that again.

Collector’s Editions Reviews a Possibility July 9, 2011

Right after I posted up my inFamous 2 Hero Edition unboxing video I was asked by several people on YouTube that since I buy enough of these Collector’s Editions anyway, I should do site reviews of them so people can know if they are worth buying, espessially given the excessive premium so many of them have for the past three years.

I have avoided doing reviews on this site since I figured if I dared do a game review somebody would disagree with it and it would be like throwing gasoline on a fire.  However, since Collector’s Editions are a premium purchase on top of a game, I don’t have a problem with doing a review of them.

If I were to do a CE review, it would be part of a simple system.  There’s just no point on throwing a 100% or five point scale at something like this, people just simply want to know if the package is worth paying the extra premium over the game itself, and THAT is what I will base my reviews on.

In that case, a three point rating system would work best, and since I’m the one doing it, I’m going to name what the ratings will be, and tell you all what each rating would merit.

1. REQUIRED – The highest honor I can give a Collector’s Edition.  There is some VERY good content in this package for the price.  This could range from the physical content being fantastic and very in depth unique content.  A video documentary included could be fantastic.  An art book could be very well done.  The DLC could add a lot more value to the game.  Also, the choice of any included items will be checked for how good their quality is.  Box will also be taken into effect.  All these are possiblities for what could get this rating, and just be sure since I’m buying these things out of my own pocket (unlike what some unpaid intern who is likely writing a review on a major site) price will be taken into effect.  I have not decided if the game will have to be good to get this title, or if I should break it down between having a GAME GOOD TOO or GAME NOT GOOD suffix added to the end.
2. FANBOYS ONLY –  The content in this kind of CE can only be appreciated by either die hard fans of the series or game itself and not required for everyone of every walk of life to purchase.  This can mean that a lot of the content, while nice, mostly comprise of fluff pieces that don’t live up to merit the price premium over the game itself.  It would be worth the value if you are a die hard fan of the game, the game series, or if you are fortunate enough to find copies of the CE at a reduced price new at your local game store.  The fact that the game is good or bad is not factored into this decision, and usually the people who would buy this kind of CE will have already purchased it before the review has even been posted.  They certainly will enjoy it, but the people who haven’t aren’t losing out.
3. DON’T BOTHER – The CE is a complete waste of money and adds no actual value to the game itself.  The amount of content isn’t very good and not worth the price premium over the game itself.  If you bought it at full price, I feel very sorry for you.  The quality of the game itself is not factored into this decision, meaning that there’s no way it is in any danger of turning the CE into a REQUIRED purchase, even if it is bundled with (hypothetically) the Greatest Game Ever.

So that would be my criteria for rating a Collector’s Edition.  Now the problem with doing it like this would be I’d need some extra time to do the unboxing and play the game before a rating can be issued.  I would be more than happy however over the next week to list off some Collector’s Editions I have purchased this year (and if you’d like, earlier years) and give my ratings for them and why.