I CANT WAIT!!!

This trailer is for a flash game that became popular enough to be released for Mac and PCs.  The developer Tiny Build Games is hoping that it sells well enough to warrant a release on major consoles.  Watching the video gives me memories of Alien Hominid and I'm truly hoping for a release on XBLA.  What are your first impressions?

Update 3/22

It's been a pretty game-filled weekend for me.  For starters, we hosted our Heavy Rain Night last friday at 1030 pm and got through the game at 830 the next morning.  Each of the four main characters were controlled by one of the guys and were as followed:

Mikey - Ethan Mars

Roski - Norman Jayden

Diover - Scott Shelby
Virgil - Madison Paige

We also decided (another testament to our nerdom) that we would come in costume.  Since the four main characters were taken, I was stuck with dressing up as Detective Blake.  You can catch all the pictures on my facebook if you'd like and see how dumb we all looked.  Best costume of the night hands down belonged to Diover.  See for yourself:

 

Not bad huh?

Another great surprise was one of the BEST CAKES I'VE EVER SEEN.  For fans of my writing, you all know one of my favorite XBLA titles last year was Super Meat Boy.  Feast your eyes on this greatness:

Is that not one of the coolest ice cream cakes you've ever seen?  This was given to me by Michelley (made the cake and her boss made the icing) and has got to be one of the most perfect desserts I've ever had.  Not only was the cake chocolate, but the ice cream was a cool mix of banana and cookies and cream.  Seriously, I fell in love. 

Finally, last week I had received a message from a guy named Eric.  He had told me that he was brought to my blog from his friend Alex and I couldn't figure out who Alex was!  Upon further digging, I found out that my friend Austin was a mutual friend with Alex and suggested for him to have a look.  Flash forward about a week and I'm now writing for the newly made website Vivid Gamer.  You should check them (I guess us now?) out because not only do they have lots of good features, but there's also tons of giveaways!  Hmm..I wonder if I'm eligible for the Maw plush or the LBP2 giveaway...

Check em out at: vividgamer.com

I'm still working on beating Yakuza 4 and at a few hours in, I'm kind of torn on my opinion.  On the one hand, I enjoy the story and feel of the game.  On the other hand, this game takes an eternity to truly get rolling!  I can say without a doubt that I've spent more time watching cutscenes then I've actually spent playing the game!  I'll continue pushing through it but I don't know how far I'll get because Fight Night Champion is still calling me and WWE All-Stars is just around the corner.

Even though I'll be writing for Vivid Gamer now, this doesn't mean that I'm going to stop writing on my blog.  The editors there enjoy some of my work and like my reviews, but I still want to play with some ideas on my blog.  If it's good enough quality, then I'll most likely attempt to have it posted there.  Please continue to give me feedback here and thanks for reading!

But Which Is Better? #1

Every person in this entire world has had to choose between one thing or another.  With money being as tight as it is today, many of us are forced to decide which is better worth our time and money.  This is especially hard if the choices are similar in genre or content.  Should you buy "Scott Pilgrim Vs The World" or "Kick-Ass?"  How about the "Nintendo 3DS" or save for the "Sony NGP?"  To help make life easier for you, I'm introducing a new article titled "But Which Is Better?" to weigh out the pros and cons of similar games and movies. 

Today we pit two pocket-gaming giants against eachother.  These bird-centered titles have collectively been #1 on the iTunes app store for over a year and still remain in the top 5 today.  Both priced at $1, which is truly worth your 99 pennies?  (*Answer: Both!  Stop being cheap!)  But we're not here to discuss your penny-pinching, we're here to decide:

WHICH IS BETTER?



ANGRY BIRDS



TINY WINGS





OR 

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS

Angry Birds is truly a cultural phenomenon with over 100 million downloads, popular plushes, costumes, a tv show in the works, a spin-off title, and multiple devices supporting it.  Seen as the first game to legitimately give pocket gaming giants Sony and Nintendo a run for their money, Angry Birds remains one of the highest grossing games on the App store and nearly a year and a half after it's release, it continues to be downloaded daily.

Tiny Wings recently released and while not the first title to dethrone Angry Birds at number 1, it's the only title that has remained at the top of the Paid apps for weeks.  While still being relatively new (only a month old) many have already predicted that Tiny Wings will be the Angry Birds of 2011. 

GAMEPLAY

Angry Birds gameplay is simple in concept, but perfect in execution.  Similar to the flash title "Crush the Castle," here players slingshot birds at pigs in an attempt to retrieve their stolen eggs.  Along the way, new birds with new powers are introduced as well as more difficult level designs.  Tiny Wings on the other hand, doesn't really have levels, but has more of a free-flowing feel.  Your bird's wings are too small for him to fly on his own, so he must use the momentum of hills to assist his flight.  Perfectly timed dives into the curves of hills allow your bird precious seconds in the air as he continues forward until the nightfall comes and he falls asleep.  While both games are enjoyable, they each are different in play styles.  Angry Birds is more of a luck based game as opposed to Tiny Wings careful precision and timing.  Both are easy to pick up and nearly anyone can play either title but I'd have to give Tiny Wings the edge in this category.  With Tiny Wings, if something messed up, I didn't have anyone to blame but myself.  Often times with Angry Birds, I would grow irritated at getting unlucky bounces or pigs that I thought I should have destroyed, still sit there at the edge, just looking at me with that ****-eating grin. 

Winner: Tiny Wings

CONTENT

Tiny Wings has many different islands in the game, but they really feel like palette swaps at best.  I'm assuming the developers are working on new skins or possibly bird-modifiers but just like Doodle Jump, there really is only so much you can do with these never-ending games.  I'm sure there can be additions like multiplayer added in the future, but for now gamers are only given tasks to accomplish during their runs.  Angry Birds has over 240 levels with new content given consistently!  Aside from the main objective, there are tons of golden eggs to find, a story (sort of), and multiple birds.  There really is no contest here and even though Tiny Wings is still a young property, I don't really think they could have a chance of competing with Angry Birds content based solely on the different gameplay styles. 

Winner: Angry Birds

FUN FACTOR

While there's no doubt about Angry Birds popularity, surprisingly I've found a good amount of people that either hate the game or find it downright boring.  Some find the game to just be lacking in engagement and while some games can pull off the "Aim, Shoot, Cross Your Fingers and Watch" gameplay (see Peggle), a lot of people can't stand Angry Birds.  Tiny Wings is much more engaged and has that addictive quality of other arcade titles like Pac-Man CE.  I often found myself saying, "Okay just one more game" more then a few times after playing and sadly the same can't be said about my time with Angry Birds.  If you own both titles, what compels you to play Angry Birds more: the fun of the levels, or the need to beat the levels?  Most flock towards the latter and this doesn't translate to "fun" in my opinion. 

Winner: Tiny Wings

MORE SATISFYING

We all play games for some type of satisfaction and while I've had my share (tomahawking in CoD, getting a pick 6 in Madden, etc) I get an incredibly satisfying feeling when my bird (I call him Beardy) transitions from one island to the next in Tiny Wings.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, rewatch the video above and you'll hear him cry "YAHOOOO" with such joy that you can't help but feel good.  However, the satisfaction I get from sticking it to those pigs in Angry Birds is a feeling I'm sure EVERYONE has experienced.  The mocking smile they give whenever players fail is downright infuriating, making it all the more satisfying when you do eventually succeed.  Similar to the joy gamers get when they've earned an achievement/trophy and they see it pop up on their screen, we often will do mundane tasks just to hear that satisfying ping. 

Winner: Angry Birds



SUMMARY

To be honest, I'm not really the biggest fan of Angry Birds and if given the choice between that or Tiny Wings, I'd definitely play Tiny Wings.  However, Angry Birds is the perfect title for phone gamers in that you can stop and play at anytime, anywhere.  You can launch one bird now, reread my post, and then finish the level up after without ever missing a beat.  The same can't be said for Tiny Wings which requires more concentration.  I highly recommend getting both titles but you're torn between quantity (Angry Birds) and quality (Tiny Wings) and if you had to twist my arm, I'd have to recommend Angry Birds.  There is just too much content here that more then warrants the asking price but hopefully Tiny Wings will insert some new features in future downloads. 

WINNER: ANGRY BIRDS!

So what do you think of my new article?  Do you agree with my choice or do you feel like I'm a blind fool?  Leave me a comment or message and suggest some other games/movies you'd like me to pit against each other!  Either way, thanks for reading!