The most awesome wedding invites you have seen!

When the task came up of creating an awesome, original wedding invite, I knew we had to go all out, and make something that people would be talking about for years to come. These have already started to make their way around the internet, showing up on some lists for geek wedding invites, but I wanted to still post the full story and details of the invites, as most of the sites share only a very brief description.

Here they are, my wedding invites, I am confident that these are the only invites of their kind (until people copy our idea). The idea started a while ago, when I knew I wanted an invite that wasn't like the cookie cutter ones I print every day at work, I wanted something that had not been done and that would get people talking. Since our wedding has a video game theme the idea hit me, make the invite out of a game. That bloomed into making them look like a real game (wedding themed of course), and we began throwing out ideas. We settled on using Sega Genesis games as our template, since most Genesis games came in a nice sturdy clam shell case, and we knew where there was a mountain of sports titles sitting on a shelf that needed a new purpose in life.

So we had the idea and the template to work with, we had to come up with the title for our "game". We threw out some ideas of remixing well known titles with wedding themes. After many ideas, we decided on "Super Wedding Fighter II Turbo Championship Edition" obviously a spoof on the long titles of the Street Fighter series. With a solid idea and title, we were on our way to creating some one of a kind invites. We started with gathering the donor games, off to the local used record/game shop I hit up all the time to clear their shelf of sad, forgotten Genesis sports titles. Carrying up a stack of $0.99 old sports games (many of them dups) was a fully sight, and explaining them to the cashier was a must. We gutted the covers and manuals, as they would not be needed, all we wanted were the carts and cases.

Next we had to get the cover ready, I know an amazing artist that I knew would be able to provide us with a perfect graphic for our cover to really sell the idea of it being an actual game. I used my mad Photoshop skills to create a template for the cover, and got it all ready for the custom artwork to be placed in. I also printed custom labels for the carts, using a "borrowed" picture from the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel. This served as a "save the date" with a magnet placed on the back to stick on the fridge.

Once we had all of the artwork ready, and we got the first one together, we couldn't believe how great they looked. They were better than we could have hoped for, and really looked like a real game. Upon handing them out we had to explain to most people that they were in fact, just invites and not real games that you could play. Enough of the description, here are the pics I know you were waiting for.

Here it is, in all its glory!

It would look right at home on any collectors shelf.

I tried to keep all the small details.

All of the documentation, including the invite, response card, and warning.

The other side of the invite card (I know there is a typo in there, but don't tell anyone)

 

So there it is, it took a lot of work and time to make these a reality, and we couldn't be happier with them. I hope you enjoyed them too, and maybe it will inspire many video game themed invites to come!

1st Zelda game finished!

I have started a lot of games and never finished them, many of my fellow gamers are the same, maybe the game isn't all that great, maybe you got stuck on a puzzle and forgot, or the worst, your save file was somehow deleted and you can't be bothered to start over. I have fallen victim to all of these and more, but none of those seem to apply to every Zelda game I have started...

So I finally beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D tonight, after buying it the day it came out, and loving it, I just put it down and forgot to pick it back up. Yes, it took me 1 year and 4 months to complete what should have been an adventure that I couldn't put down, but here we are. But that almost year and a half is nothing considering I actually started this game back on the N64 when I was in the 6th grade. At the time I had to play it with a guide in hand to get me through most of the game. One day I lost my guide, and never picked up the game again (we didn't have that all knowing resource of the internet in my house at the time). So you could say that it actually took me 12 years to beat this game, a game that many consider one of the greatest of all time! I never revealed to people that I had never finished a Zelda game, sure I have played most of them in various lengths, but having never finished some of gaming's classics was embarrassing.

These days much of my issue with finishing a game, or even putting in an extended amount of time is that I have too many games too choose from (I know, first world problems). I have a shelf full of current titles, most of which have not been completed. I have a dedicated retro game room that is full of classics that are in dire need of beating. My 3DS is full of downloaded titles, among them the "Ambassador" games that Nintendo gave away to the early 3DS adopters. Among those titles are 3 Zelda games, all of which I have started to some extent.

 There are too many games, and not enough time. I look back on the days of being a kid, when school and homework were the only barriers between you and hours of gaming fun, when a weekend could be spent on a single game. These days I am lucky to have any time on the weekends for gaming, and during the week I play mostly late night before bed. Since my time is so valuable these days, it seems that a game really needs to grab my attention to get me to put in the hours, less it be damned to gather dust in the collection, or occupy hard drive space, never to be played again.

I try to set goals for my games, hoping that if I set some deadline I can force myself to stick to one game, but this tactic seems to make me want to play every game but the one I am sticking to. I always end up picking up more games for my collection, many of them only get played for a minute, or just long enough to check that they work. I always try to keep the mind frame that I will get back to certain titles, and try not to start games in a series before I have beaten its predecessors.

Back to Zelda, I am currently "actively" playing 2 separate Zelda titles (not counting Ocarina of Time that was just beaten). I picked up a Wii again, after trading my launch console for am Xbox 360 shortly after getting it just so I could play Skyward Sword. I poured hours into the game and loved every minute of it, and then I just...didn't play it again. I know I need to get back to it, having completed about 1/3 to 1/2 of the game I left a lot unfinished. When I first bought my 3DS and I was starving for games to play on it,  I purchased Link's Awakening as soon as it was available, and once again enjoyed the hell out of it. Then other games came along and took my focus away. Its hard to go right back into these games because when you boot them back up it takes a little bit to figure out where you are in the game, why you are doing what you are doing, even the controls need to be readjusted to. I am sure I will go back to these, and hopefully I can stick to them and see the credits roll.

By my count I have put some amount of time into no less than 10 Zelda games, with only one completion under my belt. Its not that they aren't fun, I wish I could get sucked into the world and have to play until the end. I am sure I will get back to some of them, others will just be a distant memory. Now I have some games to finish....or now that Ocarina of Time is done I could start Majora's Mask....

Don't judge a game by its cover (DIshonored)

I picked this super cliche title for this post, as it is a perfect example of assuming something about a game based on nothing but hearing the name and seeing the box art, I am talking about the newly released game "Dishonored"

This game had not gotten a second look from me until a few days ago, I had heard the title, and seen a cover that reminded me of the terrible game "Army of Two" and I assumed that it too, would be some lame third person action shooter. That was until my wife and I were watching episodes of Face Off (a special effects make up show on SyFy) and they did an episode on this game, calling it "one of 2012's most anticipated games" which I laughed at, considering all of the heavy hitting titles that are set to come out this year. But then they explained the game and showed some footage and I immediately knew I was very mistaken about this game.

There is a slight resemblance

After watching some videos, and reading some previews, I was sold and picked this game up, and have put in around 6 hours into it. It feels like Bioshock, Assissns Creed, and Hitman rolled into one. You gain supernatural powers that are similar to the plasmids in Bioshock, being able to upgrade them individually when you have enough of the required "Runes". The stealth is very fun, hiding in the shadows, watching the enemies, learning their routes and using your various powers to get the drop on them feel like you could give Snake and Sam Fisher a run for their money. The combat is violent and unforgiving, if you are spotted and have to engage a large group it is very easy to die, one good blow from a sword will kill you, as will a well placed bullet. Every section has multiple ways of achieving your goal, some obvious ways, and some not so obvious. The replay value is through the roof on this, I have problems with even finishing a lot of games, not only do I want to finish this, I want to play it again and try a different approach to the levels, maybe try a no kill playthough.

To anyone that has complained about all there is is sequels and nothing new out there, this is the game to pick up. This is not a "buy it used" or "Steam sale" game, this is a game that needs to be bought now to support the developers that took a chance on a new IP, and show them that we do want new and fresh ideas. Sadly, I feel that this game has come out at a terrible time, they are trying to beat the huge releases this holiday season (COD, Halo, Assassins Creed etc...) but I fear this will get swept under the carpet as some low quality game, and that is a shame. If this game does not gain commercial success, it will surely become a cult classic, and be on hidden gems lists in the years to come.

If you want something fresh with some great ideas, interesting story, and awesome game play, you owe it to yourself and the games industry to pick this up.

"What kind of collector are you?"

For my first post in my newly created blog, I wanted to share something I wrote recently about collecting, and losing sight of why we all love this hobby in the first place.

   I have not been “collecting” games for too long, I would say its been about 3 years since I officially was going out of my way to obtain games for my collection. In this time I have obtained many games through various means, but I have always had the intention of having either my Fiance' or I play them. I hate sealed games, and can't stand to have any on my shelf, games are meant to be played. Sure there are some games I have that I have not put in a console yet, or have not given the proper attention to, but I always know that I will at some point, and if I don't feel that I will, I trade or sell it to someone who will enjoy it.

   I was thrust into the world of Neo-Geo a couple months ago when a once in a lifetime deal came across Craigslist for an AES system in box. I didn't know much about Neo-Geo at the time, just that it was a very expensive system to collect games for, and has a huge cult following. I made the deal and was the proud owner of a boxed Neo-Geo AES Gold system with a single game, League Bowling. The novelty quickly wore off when I realized that any games worth owning for the system were out of my budget. AES games can be anywhere from $50 to hundreds, even thousands of dollars for the really rare titles. I then decided that, while having the console would be a great conversation piece, it would never properly get the play it deserved in my house. I then sold it online, finding a buyer rather quickly and the console was gone.

   I was not sad to let the most expensive and rare console I could hope to own slip away, but I still wondered what I was missing out on. A few months later I come across an ad online with someone selling a Neo-Geo CD console for a very reasonable price. I had read into the Neo-Geo CD before, and while it homed most of the same games as its AES/MVS counterparts, people warned of the loading times being unbearable. I thought that the savings on owning this console surly were justified by some load times here and there. I went ahead and made a deal for this console, knowing that not only were retail games much cheaper than their AES brethren, but I could burn images of the games to try out, and be able to play some of more rare or expensive titles on actual hardware (even though most games are cheaper, there are still some that hit the $80-$100 range).

   After I got the Neo-Geo CD, I started to play all sorts of games that I had either only touched for a minute in the arcade, or never played at all. I was hooked once I got into the more popular titles of the system. I could see why Neo-Geo games have such a huge following, SNK really knew their games. With the acquisition of this console, I decided to register on the main Neo-Geo forums to gain some knowledge and meet some people that share the passion. I had an idea that the members on this forum would be from all walks of life, seeing that there are so many ways to enjoy this fine piece of hardware, ranging from the inexpensive Neo-Geo CD, to the out of this world AES.

   I found a discussion asking the same question that I have posed in this article, what kind of collector are you? I thought this would be very interesting to see, since it would be input from all Neo-Geo collectors. There was one member who commented on how he takes care of his collection that inspired me to write this article. He started by stating how he always looks for a better condition copy of games he has, be it less creases on the manual to having a label that is more centered than the other. He then went on to talk about how he handles the games, his house has all of its windows tinted to protect from UV rays, he places the games on fresh bubble wrap and wears cotton gloves when touching the carts. He shared some more information about using certain versions of his consoles to prevent wear from placing the games into them (worried about the plastic contact causing marks). There was more, but you can get the picture about how much he cares for this collection. He treats his games as if they are museum pieces, and not the video games that they really are. I'm not saying that I go out and drag my games through dirt or anything, I make sure I have the best condition possible and handle them with care, but at the end of the day they are games. I understand that they are an investment as much as they are a hobby, but to seal them away in boxes, never to be played saddens me. One of the rarest games I have owned (so far) was “The Misadventures of Tron Bonne” for the original Playstation. This game normally sells for $100+ and my copy was in as new condition as it could be without taking the shrink wrap off yourself, but I'll be damned if I didn't play that game and enjoy it.

   There are many people in this hobby that I have seen that enjoy the collecting aspect more than actually playing the games. I was almost in that boat for a while, obtaining games and reading about them, watching videos, but rarely actually playing them. I felt that I was spending more time online talking about games then I was holding a controller. I recognized this and was not happy with myself for taking this path in my collecting. I can honestly say that the Neo-Geo games have pulled me in the other way, I catch mention of a good game and I look into it, but instead of just wanting to read more about it, I want to play it! That is a good feeling that I have been missing in recent times. I find it ironic, that the games I am enjoying most at the moment, are the ones that are most collectible and will get played the least so they can look perfect on someone's shelf.

   I am glad that I realized the direction I was heading with my favorite hobby, and have caught sight of what really matters, playing and enjoying the games. If you have sealed games or games you are collecting with no intention of playing, you are doing a disservice to the developers, and the time and effort they put into the game. I like seeing my shelf nice and full of great titles from all generations as much as the next guy, but if they never get opened or played then they might as well be empty boxes. Enjoy your collection, and the thrill of finding that hidden gem or ultra rare title, but don't loose sight of why we all do this in the first place, the love of playing the games.