Button Mash This: Tiny Tower

July 21, 2011 By 16 Comments

Over the past week, I’ve become obsessed with Tiny Tower. The premise is simple: create an ever-growing skyscraper with varying floors, equal parts business and residential, that generate money when the building’s occupants are optimally maintaining said floors. Essentially, the main goal is total Authoritarian control. And that’s it! Sounds monotonous, right? Try ridiculously addictive. I have never come across a gaming stronghold quite like this before. I play this game while I’m walking on the street, when I’m on the subway train, and at the dinner table. I check to see that my stores are fully stocked just before I fall asleep at night and first thing when I wake up in the morning. I have ignored loved ones while watching Bitizens pace aimlessly and I have forgotten obligations amidst maximizing the use of my VIPs. I’ve even googled it — searching for tips, scouring this wiki site and that wiki site, and checking the latest statistics. Hell, I’m playing it RIGHT NOW.

If you play, you understand (and likely share) this addiction. But if you don’t, I’ll try my best to explain myself. Here are my Top Three Reasons Why I Love Tiny Tower

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Button Mash This: Game Adaptations

July 14, 2011 By 3 Comments

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 releases in theatres tomorrow. While this epic finale to the eight film series is the most highly anticipated movie of the year and has already received rave reviews, its video game counterpart has failed miserably. This highlights the main reason why gamers are reluctant to play games based on existing licenses. More often than not, they simply turn out to be quick and dirty tie-ins that dishonour the original source material and are created solely for the purpose of cashing in on fan loyalty. This wasn’t always the case though. Back in the day, I thoroughly enjoyed playing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on my GameCube. Whether you were learning to cast new spells or racing around the school grounds on broomsticks, exploring the world of Hogwarts felt truly magical. It’s a shame then that this level of care and detail has not followed though, especially considering all of the action-heavy potential in the later games.

But instead of lamenting the games that could have been as great as their inspirations, let’s celebrate the games that got it right. Here are my Top Three Video Game Adaptations

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Button Mash This: Chiptunes

July 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, an open call for submissions was announced for a rather unique art piece at this year’s Nuit Blanche in Toronto. TIFF’s Gaming and New Media Think Tank members, in collaboration with Site 3 coLaboratory, are curating an event called The Music of The Video Game! Their applicant search varies from musicians to visualists, ranging in expertise from hobbyists to seasoned pros. The ambitious evening will include performances from the newly created Royal Canadian Chiptunes Orchestra in addition to large format video game visuals to be displayed on the Cinema 1 screen of TIFF Bell Lightbox. If you’re interested in contributing or participating, more details can be found here.

Needless to say, the mere thought of this awesomeness has me beside myself with excitement! And when I’m all hyped up, I like to share that joy. So here are my Top Three Chiptune Albums

UPDATED: Learn more about how this growing genre of music is created here.

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Button Mash This: Music in Video Games

June 30, 2011 By 4 Comments

First, let me say that you have not stepped back in time to 2007. 4 years later, I’ve returned to my brother’s blog team to give another go at Button Mash This, a weekly column on all things gaming. I’ll likely spend most of my time here gushing over games that I love, but I also encourage you to share your favourites with us too. So, let’s get right to it.

Tonight, I’ll be attending Midsummer Rock Showcase at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The evening will feature music from the iPhone\iPad indie smash hit game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, which will be performed live for the first time by the music composer and sound designer Jim Guthrie and his seven piece band. By the way, this is a no-brainer, must-buy app for your iDevice of choice. I promise you will not be disappointed.

In honour of this amazingly rare one-night-only event, here are my Top Three Video Game Soundtracks

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Second Guitar Purchased

April 4, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Accompanied my sister downtown, because she was picking up a new keyboard at Steve’s Music, but quickly decided to check out the newly open EB Games on Queen Street West, just because. That’s where we found a”USED” Guitar Hero III controller for the Wii.

a) it cost us $30
b) when we opened it up at home, despite the banged up box, the guitar itself looked brand new.

I have to equate Guitar Hero for the Wii with relationships, you tend to find them, when you aren’t looking. That’s how I found my first one prior to Christmas.

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Rock Band – Double Duty Styles – In Bloom

February 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment


Rock Band – In Bloom (Double Duty) from photojunkie on Vimeo.

Trying out Vimeo, because I’m tired of You Tube and wanted to customize the size of the embedded video. Here’s a clip of my playing Rock band at my sister’s place. I’m doing double duty here, both singing and bass guitar.

You can find my vimeo account at vimeo.com/photojunkie

Filed Under: Blog, Button Mash This

Become a Freelance Photographer

January 27, 2008 By 1 Comment

I’m subscribed to a Nintendo emailed newsletter and recently I got this one regarding the new game Endless Ocean for the Nintendo Wii. I suppose what peaked my interest was the romanticized notion that I could become a freelance photographer for travel and science magazines, as noted in the screenshot above. Personally, I think it sounds pretty amazing, as I doubt I would ever find myself doing this in real life.

Check out the hands on review over at gamespot, which gives you a mellow breakdown on the gameplay. It’s in stores now, and is value priced at around $29.99. I think I may pick this one up.

Crossposted to ButtonMashThis.

Filed Under: Blog, Button Mash This, Photography

Blogging in Video Games?

December 27, 2007 By 1 Comment

So I’ve been playing a lot of DS games lately, especially over the holidays. One of the games I played and completed was Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrolreally fun BTW.

So should I be completely surprised at this blogging reference half way through the game, right after I finished fixing the computer? How could I not blog this.

Crossposted on Button Mash This.

Filed Under: Blog, Blog on Blogs, Button Mash This
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