The Cover Project

There's a website called The Cover Project that's begun to archive (and, in many cases, create) covers for almost every video game you can think of. It's kind of neat just to browse through and see what people have come up with. I happened to have quite a few games missing the cover inserts myself that I'd purchased from Gamestop, and since my girlfriend and partner is a whiz with paper (she's a scrapbooker) she was able to print the images and trim to size from the site perfectly so I could clean-up my collection.

Before:


After:

Do I hate Mario Kart Wii?

To be fair, I've only played through one single-player Grand Prix since I bought it, but it's such a frustrating experience. I race the best I can, I make it to first, and then it's just a never-ending barrage of blue shells, red shells, POW blocks, lightning bolts, etc. Why do they even bother to warn you when a blue shell is coming? If you could shake it off, like a homing missle in a Star Fox game, maybe I would understand, but instead it's just a way to inject some additional dread into your random catastrophe.

One of the big changes to the Wii edition of Mario Kart is you can have 12 players in a race now. This sucks, because the farther back someone is, the more likely they are to find a blue shell -- and if you don't know, the blue shell is a magical power-up that only attacks whoever is in first place -- so if you're a good driver, you'll probably get hit with several blue shells over the course of 3-lap race. What's more annoying is that the blue shell doesn't even help the player who gets it, because they're too far back anyway, so really it's just a way for the guy in 8th to give a middle finger to the guy in first. It's the most petulant of power-ups: If I can't win, you can't either.

[image via Penny Arcade]

Tax Rebate + Buy 2 Get 1 Free = Perfect Storm

Put some tax rebate money in my hands and give me a Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale and I go a little crazy. This weekend I bought the following items from Gamestop. I spent almost exactly $200. And yes, I did separate the items into multiple transactions to get the best values on my "1 free"s (e.g. getting three of the most expensive games separately to ensure one of them would be taken off).

Game Boy or Game Boy Color:

Donkey Kong
Game & Watch Gallery 2
An actual Game Boy Color - Purple
Kirby's Dream Land 2
Kirby's Pinball Land
Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble
Mario Golf
Motocross Maniacs
Pokemon Pinball
Revenge of the Gator
Super Mario Land
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
Wario Land 2
Wario Land 3

Game Boy Advance:

Dr. Mario / Puzzle League
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission
Wario Land 4
Wario Ware Mega Microgames

GameCube:

Chibi Robo
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Pikmin
Star Fox Adventures
Super Mario Sunshine
Wave Race Blue Storm

PS2:

Ico

Other:

Edge 10% Discount Card w/1 year subscription to Game Informer