Last year we sent Sarah, 16, to National Computer Camp. She had a great time learning at the camp and it’s our honor to be able to offer the experience of attending National Computer Camp again!

GamingAngels is teaming up with National Computer Camp (NCC) to offer the Second Annual Scholarship for NCC’s June/July 2012 enrollment valued at $985 to a female student (ages 8-18) for one week.
 At NCC (http://www.NCCamp.com), campers can design a 2D or 3D video game, learn to program, create a graphic video, take apart a computer, create a home page, play tennis, play Civilization and make new friends. Now in its 35th year, NCC is America’s original computer camp with locations in Connecticut, Georgia, New York and Ohio. On National Computer Camp’s facebook page, you can see pictures of what the camps are like.

“We’re excited to offer this scholarship again on GamingAngels.com,” said Trina Finton, CEO and Founder of GamingAngels.com. “We had great entries last year and look forward to innovative entries this year. We’re going to step it up by having game designers read over the essays and pick the winner this year. I could not be more proud to offer this scholarship to help encourage young women to explore technology and have fun with it!”

National Computer Camp provides an opportunity for young people from all parts of the United States and around the world to interact creatively. This harmonic integration of young minds is the primary focus of NCC. Computer camp is the brainchild of Dr. Michael Zabinski who was awarded several federal grants to train teachers to integrate computers into their classrooms. In an effort to reach young people personally, he established the first of these educational summer camps, coining the phrase “computer camps” to describe them, and then founded NCC.

Scholarship applicants need to submit an essay in response to the following question:

“What is your favorite video game, and how would you change the design to improve it?”

The 500 – 600 word essay must be submitted to scholarship@gamingangels.com no later than May 31, 2012. Along with the essay, include your name, address, telephone, email address, and age. The winning essay will be posted on GamingAngels.com for readers to enjoy. A GamingAngels.com panel consisting of game designers will judge the essays and the scholarship recipients will be announced the first week of June. For a scholarship to be awarded, at least five entries need to be received. Former scholarship winners are not eligible. Essays submitted previously will not be accepted.

Winners will be announced on June 8th, 2012.

Get inspired and read Sarah’s entry here. National Computer Camp is a great way to encourage your daughter to explore technology and have fun with it!

I almost thought about writing an article on the games I’d played in 2011 that I never reviewed (hint: it’s most of them), but then I didn’t know what I would write about Bethesda’s

That, friends, would not be fair to such a huge, critically-acclaimed game. So, I’ve teamed up with Summer, who is a great friend who’s new to GamingAngels (but if you’ve listened to our podcasts, you know her well). She also happens to be playing Skyrim, so together we’re going to bring you our misadventures. And oh, we are definitely not kidding about the “mis-” part of that word. We’re writing to one another about our exploits and frustrations, and taking Hipstagrams the whole way. Because really. There’s no better way to document such a moody landscape, right?
NOTE: We are mature people playing an M-rated game. Therefore, we use M-rated language in this post (and every other post in the series). Additional note: The format is totally inspired by Kirk Hamilton’s and Leigh Alexander’s letter series on Final Fantasy VII. I will never deny it.

Hey there, Summer.

I choose you to commiserate with mostly because you’re the only other person in my world who isn’t all, “OMGYAY SKYRIM FUS RO DAAAAH,” you know what I’m sayin’? I mean, you’re actively chronicling all the ways you die, for heaven’s sake. You don’t do that unless you’re…you know. Maybe not in complete love with it. Or I could have it all wrong. You tell me

Anyway, I figure people might be into reading the ramblings of two people who are, at best, ambivalent about Skyrim. Or at least two people who can be funny as hell about not liking it, at worst. Or people who like us will read it! That also works. Any of the above, really. As long as they don’t come out of this thinking I like Skyrim. Because I don’t.

So, the other day, I downed my first dragon. I know you’ve done this already, but I take my time with this stuff. Lydia sure is useless-seeming, isn’t she? I would have preferred a pony, especially since I don’t have a horse yet.

ON THAT NOTE. I already have a bit of a criminal record in Whiterun. I don’t pay attention to the time of day in these games, and I wanted to buy a pony (or try to, anyway), but that was not going to happen because it was apparently midnight or something. I don’t even know. It was just dark and there wasn’t a soul outside to talk to about it. So I went inside the house there.

Now, this is apparently what they call “trespassing.” Oh. I didn’t know I actually had to pay attention to the “law” or whatever they call it here. So I was sent by the Jarl’s magic man to get the tablet from the thingy just two minutes ago, I get outside the city, and I’m pretty much immediately arrested…and taken back into the city.

The next time, I didn’t bother with trying to talk to the guy, I just took that damn horse. And even though no one even saw me do it, there’s immediately a bounty on my head! (That…makes no sense to me. What’s the deal with being able to sneak around if I can’t even steal stuff randomly?) Oh, and then I got off the horse in the middle of a field, get back on it, and then…the bounty is applied again. Um, what? I didn’t steal the horse again. It’s the same old stolen horse. It didn’t even go home! Do horses know how to go home? THIS GAME’S MORALITY DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO MY CRAZY HEAD.

ANYWAY, now I’m the Jarl’s number-one lady Nord. (Or is that what he tells all of the girls?) The guards, none of whom saw me take the horse, all get a good look at me (EVEN WHILE WE ARE KILLING A DRAGON, AS I MENTIONED EARLIER) and go, “I know you!” What? No, you don’t. Shh. Don’t bother with me. But now that I am the Jarl’s best-good friend, I just tell them that. It’s enough to get them off my back, but I’m tempted to give them the 100 gold just to get them to shut the hell up.

I think I got slightly off track with this. So, uh, how is your Skyrim life? Or how did it start? Girl needs updates.

-Tiff

Tifferiffic!

Despite holding the world record for number of deaths before reaching the double digit levels, I think I may be having a better experience in Skyrim than you!

I, too, was highly disappointed in the Jarl giving me Lydia as a “reward” for killing that dragon. I mean, I would have liked a house because I need somewhere to keep my ten thousand tankards and all the potatoes Skyrim has to offer, you know? But NOOOOOOO. He gives my Dunmer, Bellona (who has the bitchingest white mohawk ever, by the way), Lydia. She of the completely useless (unless you count the fact that I can make her carry all my shit so I can pick up more shit).

Funny you should bring up Lydia, though. So, the other day, we’re making our way through some Dwemer ruins. And it’s taking awhile (because I suck and have to die every time we run into something that has a mind to kill us). As per her MO, Lydia has to run directly in front of me while I’m casting spells or swing my sword around. I try to heal her, but there’s just so much I can do while being the worst gamer in the history of video games, you know? After about the 18th or 19th I’ve been killed by a Falmer or chaurus or whatever, we come up to this gate that needs a key to open it. We have no key. I also realize, about this time, that we are also not doing the quest I thought we were doing. So. You can’t fast track out of caves and ruins, I guess, so we have to backtrack all the freaking way back through the ruins to the open space.

This was not okay with Lydia.

We’re about halfway back to the mainland where you can fast track when we run across this area that had previous been booby trapped with falling boulders. While this may have been a little of a PTSD trigger for Lydia (one of the times we died, she got crushed by some boulders there), I still feel that what she did next was a shocker. Get a load of this: she turns on me and kills me. Can you freaking believe that bullshit? Of course, I was so shocked by this inevitable betrayal (seriously, how long would you follow someone of my ineptitude?), that I pretty much just stood there and let her kill me.

So. Yeah. We start back up from the last save point and since I know where this is going to lead and that’s the only path we can take, I have to send her back to Whiterun on her own so I can get through the rest of the ruin without being killed by my help. I mean, she has a lot of loot on her that I need to sell for some gold, you know?

At any rate, I would have preferred a pony as well despite my fear of the digital horse (thank you very much, Red Dead Redemption).

-S

Summer —

So, that’s totally fine if you die a lot. I think about it this way: If someone were asking me to go into caves and kill spiders and chase after swords and tablets, I’d probably trip on a rock and die on the way in. So the fact that Aria (that’s my girl) even makes it through the door (do caves even have doors? Not really) is something to be applauded. So, hooray! Same goes for your mohawk’d Bellona.

It’s especially funny that I mentioned Lydia at all, because until you wrote me, I didn’t know that I could take her anywhere. I just kind of ran by her and said, “You’re kinda nice-looking for my housecarl,” then went on my way. Ahahaha, I am so hopelessly bad at this game. Perhaps because some parts of it require me to actually pay attention. I made the next part of my personal mission actually picking her up and taking her somewhere. And you know, that totally would have been a grand idea if not for the fact that I was out in the middle of fucking nowhere, completely lost. And you can fast track places? Oh god, now we really know how bad I am.

But before I made Lydia a goal, I was trying to climb a mountain. The Jarl of Useless Gifts told me I needed to go see the Greybeards? Grey Wardens? Wrong game? Grey somethings. I know they live on a mountain. So…I just went until I saw a mountain that looked like the right one, with a road that appeared to kind of go up it. Yeah, the road was a lie. Five minutes later, I’m just doing whatever the hell I can to just head in the general “up” direction. I ran into some bandits, beat the hell out of them, then eventually…I was just stuck. So I ran back down the mountain, which is a lot more like forest basejumping than anything else, or just hopping from safe stone to safe stone, and ran into a crazy lady and some crazy magic-casting people. And then a giant beat my skull in. So I respawned back at the place where I inexplicably found bandits living…you know, on the side of a mountain, surrounded by nothing at all.

At least from there, I was able to head back in a direction that made sense. To a town that made sense. Riverwood! I had been there before! Of course, I still had to remember
how to get back to the Jarl, but…familiar territory!

I fell down some waterfalls and made it back to Whiterun. And Dragonsreach. So now I have Lydia. I kind of don’t know what to do with her, though.

So far, I’ve explored the Jarl’s quarters, including meeting his spoiled brat children. Wow, have you seen them? I would like to beat their heads in, but that might make me the opposite of a Thane. But they’re so annoying.

Oh, and speaking of gold, I decided to try and make some. I sold all of what I thought was extra stuff. It was not extra stuff. Now, she’s…well, photo attached.

-Tiffany

Attached: AriaNoClothes.jpg

Hey, Tiffany -

Well, you can fast track to places but only to places you’ve already been to (and you can’t be in a house or ruins/caves). I get lost a lot, too (even with my Clairvoyance), so it’s nice to be able to fast track back to some place familiar and start all over again… I’m suddenly becoming aware of why Bellona always looks so pissed off…

I had a hard time finding High Hrothgar and the Greybeards, too! For a building on top of the highest mountain in the land, I thought it would be easier for me to find. Of course, that would be assuming I have any level of navigating competence in life. Anyway, since I’ve been there and back I picked you up a postcard! While it may have taken me four hours to find the Greybeards, it wasn’t a total snoozefest. Well, I mean, a good  chunk of it was straight out of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, but the rest of it was pretty awesome. I didn’t die every five minutes! And I pulled the heart out of some rogue hiding out in an abandoned fort or something (I honestly don’t even know where I was)! And I killed two trolls! It was great! I also learned how to make an iron knife and a hide helmet! I was on a roll.

I had to send Lydia back to the Jarl after our last correspondence, but I find her to be helpful with carrying everything I can’t carry. Bellona, on the other hand, seems to find her useful in other aspects (as the attached incriminating evidence alludes to). I don’t know. I think Bellona has some serious relationship issues.

-S

Attached: Bellonahasahelmetfetish.jpg

My Son's MobiGo Game Collection

A couple of weeks ago, I came across the following story from the Huffington Post about a game store manager who sadly witnessed a scene where a father deeply chastised and threatened his son for picking a game with a female protagonist and a girly-colored controller. My initial reaction was to get huffy about the father’s reaction and his notion on what is manly for video gaming, and then I got irritated that he wanted his young son to pick a Mature Rated game just because it was more masculine. (Thanks for adhering to the ESRB, jerkwad!)

After those knee-jerk reactions passed, I looked into how I was raising my own young son, as I can’t control that jerk, but I can control what I do. I strongly do not believe that one’s gender dictates which games are acceptable to play. I have several guy friends who play shooters and just as many guy friends who prefer the JRPG or play has female protagonists if they can choose to do so. I like JRPGs with the girly-looking men and the midriff shirts, and I love the dude-bro shooters like Gears of War. My favorite color is blue–never liked pink, even as a child–I played rugby in college, and yet I like girly things like Coach purses, new boots, and big earrings and bracelets. I feel like I’m a decent mashing of preconceived gender tastes, and I want my son to be similar in that I want him to do what he likes, no matter what he’s “supposed” to like.

I think I’ve done a halfway decent job so far.

Gabe’s favorite color right now is pink. He likes to color with pink crayons, markers, etc. His second favorite is purple. He loves looking at my jewelry and telling me how awesome some of the bracelets are. I don’t let him wear my jewelry, because well, it’s MINE, but I did give him a bunch of Mardi Gras beads that he likes to occasionally wear. He also likes “boy” things like dinosaurs, trains, cars, tools, and building blocks. He actually has a pink train. And if you look at his video game collection to the right, you’ll notice a distinctly “girly” game in the mix: Tangled. He played Tangled during a playdate at a friend’s house, and he liked it so much, he begged for it for days. After a solid week of picking up his toys every night, we surprised him with Tangled. So it’s kind of girly. It’s also very educational, and he likes it. Can’t ask for much more than that.

And if he grows out of liking princess games and the color pink, that’s fine. If he doesn’t, that’s fine too–although peer pressure may change that later. As long as he understands that it’s fine for girls and boys to like what they like, no matter the gender preconception, it’s a victory for me.

However, I will have to draw the line at Barbie Horse Adventures, as that’s just a terrible game.

Please note that I only included games that were released in 2011 and not all games I played in 2011. If the latter were true, it would be nothing but Mass Effect scenes.

Please also note that THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS LIST. Ye has been warned, so I don’t want to hear the hate in the comments. Send me hate via Twitter like proper illiterate trolls.

5. Portal 2 – The Origin of GLaDOS

When you stumble into a particular office in Portal 2, carrying that little talking potato, you come across a portrait of Cave Johnson and his assistant, Caroline. It’s at this moment where both you and GLaDOS learn of the computer’s origin and Caroline’s sad end. The Portal games are quite dark and even humorously so, but I was not prepared for that. I actually had to step away from my computer for a minute to fully process what I had just uncovered. Funny thing was that GLaDOS potato needed time to process that as well.

Of course, within seconds, I’m laughing hysterically at something incredibly wrong Cave Johnson said in a recording.

4. Gears of War 3 – Adam Fenix Sees Marcus

I went into this more in depth in another article, so I won’t go into it as much here. The look on Adam’s face when he sees Marcus for the first time since he “died”, the way he reaches out to him, and the immediate question of where he got that scar just nails everything a parent can relate to.

Moving on…

3. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Titus’s Fate

Even if you didn’t play Space Marine–and shame on you if you didn’t–you can rightly assume that the hero, Captain Titus, saves the world. However, Titus doesn’t receive the accolades a normal hero receives. There was no party, no parade in his honor, no promotion, and no medal ceremony. Instead, as Titus returns from his horrific one-on-one battle with the final boss, he is arrested by the Inquisition (because no one expects the Inquisition!) for heresy. Titus goes willingly as he has nothing to hide, but I was left in jaw-dropping shock.

There may not be a direct sequel to follow up on what happens to Titus, but I need a book or comic at the very least that will pick up on Titus’s Inquisition.

2. Uncharted 3 – Combing the Desert

Uncharted 3 may have had difficulties with its combat, but no one can deny how its cinematic and interactive experiences make you feel like you are there with Nathan Drake. After I finished the ship graveyard and cruise-liner parts of the story, I felt absolutely waterlogged. Just a couple of chapters later, Nathan is thrown into a scene with absolutely no water. Instead of having the player simply watch Drake fumble through the desert and dying of thirst, the game forces the player to make Drake fumble about through the sand dunes. As Drake tires, you can almost feel the sluggishness of his steps as he struggles to wade through the sand.

I found myself needing to drink lots of water as I trudged through this portion. I could not stop feeling thirsty. I’m feeling thirsty now just reminiscing about it.

1. inFamous 2 – Both Endings

Any hope I had of an inFamous 3 was readily dashed into the ground when I reached the ending. The decision to either kill yourself and others with the super gene to save the many or kill the many to save yourself was both incredibly surprising and incredibly hard. As soon as I finished playing the good route and watched that super-sad ending, I started a new game as an evil Cole. Being forced to kill your best friend and then countless other people was just as sad. It was worse than the Renegade ending to the first Mass Effect, which greatly horrified me.

And speaking of Mass Effect, I can’t wait to see what jaw-dropping moments Mass Effect 3 has in store for me. I’ll try to make my 2012 list not be all Mass Effect, but I make no promises.

1. Get one character to level 85. I’m so close on this one that I can taste it. Ariadne up there (she’s been race-changed and name-changed in the past month because I was just tired of being a Worgen), as of December 30, sits at level 84. That means one to go before I hit the big one — and level cap. Can I do it? Absolutely, especially with the friends and guildies I have (that I didn’t really have at the time of making said resolution) who are willing to help me out by queuing for random dungeons and giving me advice.

Of course, I have tonight (Friday) and Saturday night. But Saturday gets a little more difficult when you factor in the holiday — how much leveling can I do on New Year’s Eve, before midnight? I might not actually make it, but I can definitely say I gave it a good shot. Perhaps not my best, since there were weeks where I didn’t play at all, thanks to school, but at least a genuine shot. At the very least, I didn’t give up.

2. Don’t start any more alts until I have a level 85 toon. Well, I obviously messed this one up, given that I started two new characters, both very recently. Resolution (and Ariadne), please forgive me for wanting to explore the worlds of the Shaman and Death Knight classes. They were fun, too.

So, what’s on the menu this year? It’s pretty simple, really.

I want to punch Deathwing in the face. Yep, that simple. Well, okay, in a sentence — yeah, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot to it if you don’t know the game. But in reality, that means I have a lot to do. What will follow for me for the next year will be a merry-go-round of gear collecting, equipped item level raising, and begging people to go on old content raids with me (pleeaaaaaaase? Pandas can wait, right?). It’ll all culminate in an eventual trip to Dragon Soul, once I’m geared enough and deemed ready.

I guess some of this gets easier with the very recent addition of the Raid Finder to the game, essentially putting the endgame in “easy mode,” but…I want to avoid that. I want to, if at all possible, go with the people who kept me in the game in the first place — awesome guildies.

Yeah, I know. I’m getting sappy. But they’re the people I want to learn from, so it really only makes sense.

So — one goal, many steps. I’m emotionally-invested. I’m ready to go, 2012.

I just have to finish up 2011 first.

Yes, that's a Portal plush turret to the left.

I usually make a couple of gaming resolutions every year, and there have only been two years where I actually fulfilled one or two of them. There’s generally the typical resolution to play what I have first before I buy something new, but that’s such a fool’s resolution, especially since I now review games. Really no sense in putting such an unrealistic resolution in my list this year.

There’s also a resolution that I will finish one or two particular games by the end of the following year. It was thanks to such resolutions that I finished Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. My must-finish resolution this year was Red Dead Redemption, but I never took the game out of the box. I got distracted with so many of the great titles that launched this year and I was introduced to Mass Effect. Why play a new game when I can run through both Mass Effect games three times with three different agendas?

Another resolution I had this past year was to really get through my stack of shame and either finish those games or trade them in. I actually started off very well. Work on what I’m reviewing during the week, pick a stack of shame game on the weekend. My stack really started to reduce in size, but then this past November happened. And then I got a few games as Christmas presents. As a result, my stack as nearly doubled.

As I look toward 2012, I don’t see the stack dwindling. So I think it’s time to create a new type of gaming resolution; one in which I set priorities for my stack of shame. That is my stack of shame above. Let’s see if I can trim it down to something more realistic promising.

First thing(s) to go will have to be the Halo games. They were a gift from a friend since I liked Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary so much, but considering that the fourth game will not come out until holiday 2012 at the earliest, I’m not seeing much motivation to keep them in the stack right now. Out you go.

Next I think will be Fable III. It’s still in the original wrapping, and considering I didn’t like Fable II and never heard many good things about it…maybe I’ll just outright trade it in.

As much as it pains me, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is next. The game has been out for how long now and I just started playing it this year? I know it didn’t get the best reviews, but I loved it just because using the force to fling Storm Troopers everywhere always made me giggle. I won’t sell it yet, as I shall keep the foolish hope alive that I will have some down time some summer to play it.

I’ll keep Fallout 3 just because I’m curious what everyone has been raving about for the last couple of years, and Transformers will stay for purely nostalgic reasons. God of War Collection is definitely not a priority, and I’m not sure I’m ready to unprioritize Darksiders or Two Worlds II yet. Maybe they’ll go into a secondary priority stack. But that might be too ridiculous.

Much better! It doesn’t look nearly as scary now. I just won’t think of the additions it will get come January 31st and March 6th. Doesn’t Inversion release in February? Ugh, so screwed yet again. I’ll have to make a report this time next year as to how well I got through this stack.

Do you have any suggestions for what I should prioritize? Leave them in the comments below!

It’s the holidays and the staff at GamingAngels have been good and are hoping for great treats under their tree (or for Hanukkah). The staff wrote down what they were hoping for and I thought we’d share it with you. Maybe trigger some last minute gift ideas for others or yourself.

You know we love our games….

First up is the Portal 2 Plush Turret with sound from Think Geek. This got a resounding vote from Keri, Tiffany and Stephanie.

“Look at how adorable this thing is! And thanks to its motion sensor, it really will respond to you using actual phrases from Portal and Portal 2. No Portal fan should go without one in their stocking.”

Stephanie is a huge WWE fan. So it’s not surprise that she wants WW 12 on her xmas list:
I’m a huge wrestling fan and the games have really been improving as of late. WWE 12 looks to be amazing, have great graphics, fantastic gameplay and a roster of superstars and divas whom I’d have a blast playing as!

Steph and myself want Star Wars Old Republic which comes out today.

Also on Steph’s list is World of Warcraft Premium Series 4 Action Figures.

“I love figures. I love the special figures that are larger and more flashy. So of course I want this series from DC direct and Blizzard! This premium series features a Moonkin and The Headless Horseman. I swear I have space on my shelves for both of these and they would both look fantastic!”

All Beth wants for Xmas is the Star Wars Xbox 360 announced earlier this year.
“We still don’t have an Xbox, and my husband is drooling over this one. I’m in it purely for the Kinect side of things, but he has a point about how cool the skin and controller is.”

Beth is looking for Gaming Hardware this holiday with her 3DS wish:
“I’m still using the original DS (no, not the Lite or the DSi, the original brick) and had to special order a new AC adapter for it since mine was lost in the move. Of course, I bought one at a big box store first, so now I have one that works with a 3DS. Which means I need the 3DS to go with it. That and I can hand mine down to my kid and have the new, awesome device for myself. Oh, and I want it in blue.”

Personally I want a 3DS and money for a PS Vita next year!

Many of the GamingAngels staff love their DSLRs. Which means many camera items fall on our Xmas list. Monique wants a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 Prime Lens.
“For reasons that have everything to do with a currently borked 55mm lens and not owning one of these already.”

To go with the lens she wants a Theit Camera Bag in Gravel. I love that camera bags look so fashionable!
“Laptop, DSLR, extra lens, diapers, snacks, DSi, NookColor, the baby? With this bag, everything will fit and I’ll still look fabulous.”

Tiffany joins Monique in her love for photography. I believe both ladies take pictures professionally. On Tiffany’s list is the Lensbaby Composer Pro.
“As a photographer, I love to play with photo effects — but not the kind you set up in Photoshop. Lensbaby’s offerings let me set up a dreamy scene and make it look that way before I ever touch a single digital filter.”

But we can’t forget about the gadgets! Both Keri and I want a Kindle Fire. Tiffany wants a MacBook Air 11″.
“This is one of the things I’ll probably never, ever get. But this super-light laptop is great for a lot of my everyday tasks — whether it’s posting here at GA or taking notes at school. My current MacBook Pro behemoth is just a little bit heavy for the kind of use I’d like to throw at it.”

These are just a few of the things we want at GamingAngels. What are you hoping to receive this holiday season? Comment below and if you’ve been good you may get a treat!

The sale runs from now ’til January 1, 2012. Every day, there’ll be a new set of games with deep discounts as well as new objectives for the Great Gift Pile — where you’ll want to get coal for a change.

Why coal? Completing each set of daily challenges gets you some coal, which you use to enter the Epic Holiday Giveaway, which is actually Super-Epic, mostly because the grand prize is a copy of every. Single. Game. On. Steam. Yeah. That’s a lot.

Coupons and free games are also up for grabs every day as long as you complete the objectives — so hopefully you have some fun and get some coal, too. For more information, visit the Holiday Sale page.

Cloud Bon Jovi

It wasn’t very long after its PSN launch that fans clamored once again for an HD remake of Final Fantasy VII. Once again, you give gamers a cookie, and they’ll demand a box of Godiva chocolates. Never mind the fact that FFVII is readily available on the PSN for PS3 and PSP-playing pleasure. Oh no, we have to bring up talk once again of rebuilding the game entirely in HD. They already have the character models from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, they already have voice actors from the same cast, and the game’s story has already been written. So why not, right?

I have a thousand and one reasons why not.

First, nostalgia is blinding virtually everyone in this picture. I was a late-blooming gamer, so I didn’t play FFVII back in the day. I wasn’t able to get ahold of it until four years ago, and while many things about the game captured my attention–the funny dialogue, the unusually fast-paced battle system for a turn-based game, the layer of goofiness beneath a quite serious plot–none of it was enough for me to finish. I didn’t even get close to finishing. So much of the game is so archaic, from its lack of checkpoints to its directional pad-only controls. It would require an overhaul of several mechanics to attract any new players to give the game a chance. Then you run the risk of upsetting the “purist” faction of fans. Let’s face it; above all else, no one is going to be completely happy with a remake. Something was changed that shouldn’t have been, something wasn’t changed that should have been, and it won’t be long before the initial nostalgic glee wears off and fans either move on or go back to the original version. Newcomers will wonder why this was so great in the first place. It’s kind of doomed to fail before it even begins.

Next…what do you do with the dialogue? Part of the charm of FFVII was the written dialogue, especially since it was translated so poorly. I was so happy when the PSN-port kept the original translation. How could a remake keep that charm and do it well? Would it all be text boxes again? Or do you get the voice actors to read the bad lines? Most likely, the script would be corrected, and the voice actors would deliver perfect English lines. We’d never hear or read, “I hate the Shinra.” That would be such a crying shame.

I could list my other 999 reasons, but I’ll spare you all the sordid details and wrap up with my personally biggest reason. I want Square Enix to focus on the future and not the past. I love that they’re bringing older games to the PSN and even iOS, but I’m ready for them to stop and use those resources for new games. Like oh, maybe fixing Final Fantasy XIV? Or how about starting the 15th installation? Or what about that one franchise that is just hanging there–Kingdom Hearts? Hey, why don’t they do something crazy and create totally new games all-together?

In 2011, Square Enix broke away from the traditional JRPG mold and worked with other studios to craft very unique games for the Squenix brand, such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dungeon Siege III. Obviously each of these were sequels/prequels to other successful franchises, but SE proved that it could have a hand in games like these and do very well. I hope that more game ideas like these spin off other game ideas so that Square Enix isn’t tied down to just the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest franchise. I love both series, but I love variety too.

So Square Enix, just keep doing what you’re doing. Port old games into the PSN so that nostalgic suckers like me will buy them again. But don’t use massive resources to remake FFVII. Let old game remain old and be forever treasured in memories. If you need something to do instead, why not kick the Kingdom Hearts team in to developing a true KH3? Just a thought.

Their “Circle Pad Pro,” AKA “That weird-looking second circle pad for the 3DS” will launch on February 7 in the United States at a retail price of $20. It will be sold only through GameStop, which is surprising. The attachment will be compatible with Resident Evil Revelations as well as Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater right off the bat.

Nintendo also provided an official release date for Kid Icarus: Uprising, something that has always, at the very least, looked like a launch titles — March 23.

The Wii isn’t left out in the cold. Rhythm Heaven Fever will arrive on February 13, with Mario Party 9 coming on March 11.

Here’s a list of what we know at this point — it’s not complete, but it’s what Nintendo has at the moment. Is there anything you’re looking forward to?