Renato Oliveira's blog

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What's the first image that comes up when you Google your name?

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We tried to pull off another successful shopping session. Unfortunately this time the weather was truly unfavorable and I mean "pound you on the face with snow and cold cold winds". We decided not to travel too far from our area but were nonetheless hit hard. We found a shop that was obviously in the process of closing down, which was good for us of course, but they had very little in the means of old-school gaming. Nevertheless, Michael asked the man behind the counter once again to hand us a box of games. We found very little but the one game that stuck out for me was a SNES game entitled Axelay.

Axelay_SNES_box_art

The game is a shooter with an unusual style of play. Though you move as you would in any old shooter, that is to say, upwards, you can actually move your ship horizontally outside the usual vertical TV screen boundaries, thus giving you a sense of freedom while avoiding enemies. In some instances the game uses obstacles in order to force you to move horizontally at a higher speed to give you a great adrenaline rush. While enemies do attack you by usually coming from the upper part of the screen there is this nice graphic style that gives you an effect of constantly staring at a horizon, enemies "come into view" instead of just flying down towards you.

I have really enjoyed my time with this lucky pick. I remembered the name somewhere deep in my memory but couldn't quite place it, but for the price, I could not pass on the chance of this actually being a great game. A nice note, after checking Wikipedia, I found out that one of the developers that worked on this game helped found Treasure, the makers of Ikaruga!

This was the only game we found that was worth our bucks. The rest of the stores we encountered had nothing of interest. We walked down Wellington Street, in the town of Verdun, where Michael lives. I regret walking there yesterday because it was so cold, so full of snow, by the time we got to the last store in our plan, my knees hurt, my face was frozen and my nose running like a faucet. It was a better known store so they permit themselves on the high prices which take out all the fun of the process of finding these games. They have rare games, but they ask 30 dollars for games I know I could find for 5. We even compared prices with the games we had already found elsewhere and the difference was indeed staggering.

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After we finished playing Axelay, Michael wanted to continue going through my old box of NES games and basically played through them very quickly. We're not the gamers we used to be, and it was pretty obvious. We get punished rapidly in these games. Once he was done with his quick fix, we moved on the the main course which was Winning Eleven 10. We love this game to death, we have played this series since the first game on the PS2, that is to say the 6th one over here. I love playing co-op at the hardest difficulty. We have great chemistry and the things we pull of are nothing short of magical. Michael is more of a competitor, he loves versus games but he confessed that when we play co-op the only reason he puts up with it is because he doesn't feel like he is playing with someone else. What we like to do lately is take crappy teams and win the world cup. We have done this with Ivory Coast, Norway, Greece... The latest team was the Czechs, we won the world cup without having a single goal scored, that is until the final which we won 2-1 against Italy. No game comes close with the sheer exhilaration  we go through since it is a real team effort. Our other rule is that we never, ever,  save our game. We are real soccer fans. I'm from Brazil, I used to play soccer seriously, almost making it a career choice, so you know I like me some soccer and this game translates it perfectly.

Poor Veronic, she has to put up with us screaming our guts out as we play while she chats on her cute little Mac.

Ah, I've awaken from a postless coma. I can't explain why it has taken such a long time, but perhaps I was tangled up in "such and such", bah!, probably not a good excuse.

What has managed to push me from the edge of silence is a simple and interesting event, the act of pawnshop shopping.

I know about this shop named L'idee Fixe down on Ontario Street. When a fellow gamer came over, and we were playing Gunstar Heroes, we began to speak of old-school games. The moment had us so pumped we even bought a Virtual Console game with my remaining 600 points. I can't recall the name of it, it's a sidescroller on the TurboGrafx and it is single-player only. I eventually mentioned the shop, which I had not gone to in over a year. I quickly proposed that we visit it the following day.

What a day it was indeed!

The air was cold, the sky a depressing gray, and the snow was slushy and dirty. I wondered if I had picked the best day for this excursion mostly because getting to the shop takes about an hour. It isn't conveniently located and is situated in a part of town considered "questionable". Nevertheless, we were after rare games not sightseeing. We walked a while before finding the shop at its new location and after entering I was somewhat disappointed. There were comics, there were games for just about every console but nothing that peaked my interest right away like my previous visit. While I browsed through some old Playstation games, my friend, Michael, asked the teller to hand him the box of Nintendo games, which I had not seen. "Come check it out", he says. I quickly join him as we scavenge through some truly old, old stuff. Then Michael hands me this game, "Rolling Thunder". It's one of those Tengen games, with the golden box and black cartridge. As soon as I saw it, I knew this was the first Nintendo game my mother had ever bought me. It felt incredible since I thought I would never see it again. Had I seen screenshots of the game online, perhaps, somehow, I would have recognized the game but the box art, it is so particular, that it struck me immediately. "Holy shit!!! This is the first game my mother ever bought me. Even if this is the only thing we find today, this trip was still worth it!", I exclamed as pure joy ran through my veins. The rest of the stuff I bought from L'idee Fixe can't be considered a "treasure" find but they were nontheless cheap. I got a copy of True Lies, which I have but was damaged by someone I shall not mention, another Nintendo game which the name escapes me at the moment and Michael picked up a David Bowie album (don't ask). We came out of the store excited but with a strange feeling that we might have missed something.

Rolling Thunder

Getting there was fun but the coming back I believed was going to be a hassle. The shop had moved somewhere deep on Ontario Street and so we had to walk a long way. Nevertheless, the walk back to the bus stop turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As we made our way on Ontario street, my friend suggested we visit the other pawnshops, which didn't inspire me at all."We'll go through all their boxes of old video game stuff, they keep some games in view but some good stuff might be in thoe boxes they keep away." my friend suggested. The thought of finding something exciting again was too good to pass. In the first shop, we found a cheap Dreamcast, which my friend intends to buy, For my part, I bought Ice Hockey and Top Gun in box in mint condition. In the next shop, there were less interesting stuff but my friend suggested I take a chance in this obscure game, which I did. Finally the last shop before reaching our destination, I found Ys III for the SNES, Silent Hill 4 for the Xbox and a cheap PS2 memory card. What was really exciting was looking through tons of games, the memories that flooded back. A lot of these games we experienced by renting and simply finding treasures by accident, much in the same manner that we were trying to do now.

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Top Gun NES

Ice Hockey

If you know any good NES, SNES, Genesis games, lemme know. We went there kind of unprepared, and finding new stuff to play on my old consoles would be a blast because we are definitely doing that again. So if you know about some nice old-school treasures, hit the comment button! 

What were your top 5 TV shows of 2006?

1. Dexter - Drama

By far one of the most creative, exquisitely written shows I have ever experienced. How Michael C. Hall managed to shake the role of David from Six Feet Under is beyond me but he pulled it off superbly. If you haven't given it a try, you're missing out on something special. You haven't experienced anything like it.

2. Heroes - Drama

A big surprise for me. This TV show was marketed everywhere. I couldn't go to a website, read a magazine without seeing an ad for the show. Nevertheless I still ended up giving it a try and it was a breath of fresh air in the wait for the next 24, Sopranos, Scrubs... A show that handles its storyline à la Lost, by having a big cast who are connected somehow and through their experiences come together in original fashion.

3. Battlestar Gallactica - Sci-Fi

Amazing, simply amazing. This would be the top of the list but since it is in its third season I preferred to mention it later on. The third season is as amazing as the previous ones. The writers aren't afraid of taking chances, of pushing their characters far and beyond the expectancies of their fans. The cast is amazing, the writing top notch and the filming is original... What more can a sci-fi fan ask for?

4. Lost - Drama / Mystery / Thriller

What else needs to be said about it? It's amazing, most agree, the writing is excellent, clever and original. Complicated, twisted and fun. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, answering questions and raising new ones. This is quality television at its best.

5. The Office - Comedy / Drama

I love this show and it deserves to be higher on this list but the 3rd season has not been at the same level as the past ones. I saw myself pushing this further down as I thought of the new shows I have experienced this year. In the realm of comedy this rules for me by far. Even taking over Scrubs who has recently begun its sixth season. Scrubs has reached its end in my opinion. One of my favorite series of all time but The Office has overtaken it in originality. Sure, maybe I'm being a little picky here but I am disappointed in some of the decisions taken by the writers. As a viewer, the show shouldn't take the road I wish it to take, but some of the decisions seem nonsensical. In my opinion the Jim and Pam storyline is getting old. If they keep pushing it they'll end up with a Clark and Lana from Smallville and we all know how f*ing dull that has become. To the point where you could care less, where they poke you with the same situations and feelings that at a certain point you simply don't care. It is an amazing series with established characters that I love. It remains awkward and funny. Steve Carell is pure gold as Michael Scott. I love this actor, he understands comedy. 

The Landing

School is finally out! So where were we again?

Through a succession of events to which I will not dive into here I managed to acquire a PS3.
The machine is, to say the least, to any capital earning citizen, a big blow to the wallet. At this moment, my wallet looks like Starvin' Marvin'. The beast waited for me at home and I couldn't wait to hold it. My girlfriend asked me if I wanted her to put the phone against the box, she knows how kinky I can be, god I love the woman. Perhaps she thought I could hear it breathe, it is after all some kind of alien technology, for the price, I could not think otherwise.
Veronic giggled, and said:"You got it baby!"
I could not come home immediately after work since it was my best friend's birthday. Sure, I felt bad that the thought of opening the box haunted my thoughts from time to time, but I had so much fun that by the end of the night I could care less about Sony's behemoth.
Mati turned 24, surrounded by family and friends. So much warmth, so much love that I could see that he was happy and to me being there for him was all that truly mattered.
We ate at a nice restaurant and went back to his house to celebrate in good Polish fashion. I am not one to drink but I could not refuse the different concoctions served.
Once the celebrations were over and we were home I rushed to the PS3 box and opened it enthusiastically. Veronic took out the camera and snapped a few shots.

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The dashboard of the PS3 is also essentially the PSP's. I don't know what I was expecting after reading tons of info on the whole machine but nevertheless experiencing is even more of a let down.
Try writing down your network key while configuring the damn network settings. Sure you can plug in a USB keyboard, but I just don't have them laying round...
It was painful, really painful.
I managed to snag the 60 gig version which has all the bells and whistles (if you can call it that).

Happy or screaming on the inside? You decide!

In other news...
I finally finished Zelda Twilight Princess on the Wii and it was everything I hoped it would be. After finishing it everything else just felt boring. I even tried playing some Rainbow Six Vegas but it didn't do it for me. It's the after taste of great games, it shrinks all the others.
The ethernet port on my 360 simply stopped working. That's right, I turn it on and I can't connect to Live. I checked everything from cable connections to modem. It can't even recognize that the cable is plugged. I had just acquired Live Gold because of Gears of War and now, capoot, it's gone! Just like that!
Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is a great experience. Having more info on Big Boss is great and through the art of Ashley Wood it makes it all the sweeter. You got a PSP? You have to buy this game.

For as long as I have known her, my girlfriend, has stood mostly as a spectator in the realm of video games. She enjoys Tetris beyond anything else, The New Tetris on 64. She appreciates all the wonderful games I show her but she never feels the need to experience them herself.
That all changed on Sunday.
After we arrived home with the Wii, I made sure to plug it as fast as possible and she snapped a couple of pictures. We booted the machine, downloaded a couple of updates and created our "Miis".
All in all I am extremely satisfied with the machine. I feel I made the right choice without a doubt. The Wii served its intended purpose which was to make people want to at least "try" gaming. Thus the term, accessible gaming.
Wii Sports captivated my girlfriend. Ceasing the opportunity, I ran immediately to the downtown streets of Montreal looking for an additional controller. I found one at the very non-accessible price of 54 CDN dollars + tax.
I also picked up Trauma Center and Rayman Raving Rabbids.
Two of my friends visited since the week-end. One of them not being much of a believer in the machine, and the other not being much of a gamer, both let me know how impressed they were. I really missed playing games with the guys and now they are willing to pick up a controller and just go at it like the old days.
Tennis was by far the most fun I had with them. Golf coming a close second.
Raving Rabbits has some nice mini-games and Trauma Center relies on its' already great, DS tested, gameplay.
My fellow voxer, gotkube, has documented the Wii in-depth, especially its questionable sensor bar which has also caused me some annoyances. Refer to his blog for much more information on the Wii. I prefer to keep things light but his "play by play" is very entertaining. I highly recommend it! :D
I can't say I have experienced the same issues as him but I have been irritated by the sensor bar on occasions. Nevertheless the overall experience has been great, especially when playing with others.
Oh, and I almost forgot. I just got that game, you know, Zelda, for the Wii. :D  I received it in the mail today. I almost did not pre-order it for the Wii. I wanted to experience it on the Gamecube. The poor thing has been sitting lifeless on my gaming shelf for ages. The Wavebird, not having done much flying either, was only awakened for a short gaming time due to the release of Baten Kaitos Origins. I had to put it on hold, too many great games coming out at once.

In other gaming news, I've enjoyed Gears of Wars tremendously. I finished it and got Xbox Live Gold just for it.
Here's a list of games on other consoles I am currently playing:

Call of Duty 3 Xbox 360 - great fun online
Xenosaga III PS2
Yakuza PS2
Valkyrie Profile 2 PS2
Sega Genesis Collection PS2 - have some on the old system but couldn't pass the great price
Neverwinter Nights 2 PC
Company of Heroes PC
Dark Messiah PC - extremely buggy game, very disappointed
Final Fantasy XII PS2 - amazing, but I didn't need to tell you that
Lumines II PSP - addictive as the first because it plays exactly like it
Every Extend Extra PSP - great mechanics but feels unpolished
Marvel Ultimate Alliance XBOX 360 - did not think I would pick this up but it is a lot of fun!
Splinter Cell Double Agent XBOX 360 - same old fisher, some new moves, enjoying it a lot
Bully PS2 - love it
Guitar Hero II PS2 - the co-op is genius
Elite Beat Agents DS - weird, fun, addictive
Final Fantasy III DS - love the music, classic gameplay

On a side note, I also picked up the HD-DVD drive for the 360. I am very impressed with the quality of the image and how the whole thing functions. King Kong isn't particularly appealing to me but it does show off the colors and sharpness of the whole next-generation movie viewing.
All in all, I've a lot of gaming to do, little time to do it but I manage to fit it in whatever way I can. The Wii has made a gamer out of my girlfriend, well, a Wii gamer for now, nothing more.

What's on your Top 5 video games list?
Submitted by mileena.

1. Super Mario World

I played the shit out of this game when I was young. There was no internet, no guides (couldn't dream of affording them), we had to find everything for ourselves. There were myths about what you could do in the game, friends would show us secrets and in turn we would reveal some of ours. It was a magical time for me and I knew this game inside and out.

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time

Incredible fun with a friend. Being a only child whenever I had a friend over I always tried to rent this game. The music was amazing, the gameplay so much fun and the graphics were mind blowing to me. I loved being able to throw baddies on the screen. I still play this game today.

3. Super Mario Bros.

The one that started it all. What can I say about this game that hasn't been said over and over again. It isn't so much the game but also the nostalgia it brings. I arrived in Canada a year prior to getting the NES, and with all the friends I made in the "accueil" grade (translates to "welcome"), we couldn't speak of anything else. This is where all the gossip about secrets and myths about what could be done in a game began for me.

4. ICO / Shadow of The Colossus

Both these games touched me in the same manner. They both impressed me with their creativity and innovative gameplay. I loved the fairy tale feel throughout each of them and how much they made me feel.

5. Final Fantasy II (US)

I got this game at a very cheap price when I was in elementary. A friend of mine said he had two games for sale and would let them go for 20 bucks. I was euphoric! I didn't own games except for Street Fighter 2 (when it was dirt cheap) and Super Mario World that came with the SNES. The games, he said, were "Final Fantasy 2 and Mario is Missing". I could care less about what the games were and I just wanted to add to my collection. I went home to convince my mom to give me the cash for the games. I put Final Fantasy II and couldn't understand it. I only knew French at that point in time. It wasn't until years later when my English was much better that I played and finished the game. I was blown away and never let another Final Fantasy pass me by. It is by far my favorite in the series. Final Fantasy III was amazing as well but I never owned it and played parts of it here and there but never as a continuous experience. The game was 100$ CDN + tax brand new! So, now that I have played the game, I can attest that it is a superior title in terms of graphics, music, story than FF2 but FF2 holds a special place and for that I prefer it.

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That is my list, I probably forgot tons of titles but these are what came to mind. Just to let people know, I loved Zelda, I loved Super Punch Out, Super Metroid, Castlevania, Sonic 1, 2 ,3 but the games I listed are those that really meant something to me. I never owned most of the classics back in the day and the games that I listed I could play over and over again. I really got to experience them inside and out so I can say they are my favorites. For the rest, they were great, they were mind blowing but they were never more than that. My favorite 5 are those who meant much more and are attached to parts of my life I hold dear.