Here Comes the Motherload

Yes people, it's that time again - the time I buy my annual 8 games off Amazon. I've given up on Lego game reviews, so I doubt I'm getting another Lego game any time in the future. Besides, the only one I've heard I'm really missing out on is Drome Racers, and we all know how that turned out...

Yeah, I don't really want to buy it again anyway. I also got four Backyard Sports games last year, and gameplay'd all of those. Check 'em out if you wish. Let's get on with it.

GAME NUMBER ONE: Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop
Yes people, I am getting the One-Stop Fun Shop titles. These and Pajama Sam's Games to Play on Any Day are the only games for the "Big Four" HE characters I do not have. If you don't already know, these are basic activity games. They're nothing too special, but they allow you to do stuff such as paper cut-outs, growth charts, storybooks, etc. It's general children's arts and crafts. The thing is, these games have had no footage on YouTube whatsoever. Well, that's a lie, brends11 had footage, but of course he closed his old account so that vanished. I think I should also mention that Nancy Cartwright was voicing Putt-Putt at the time of this game's release, just as a fun fact. Next game...

GAME NUMBER TWO: Freddi Fish's One-Stop Fun Shop
What I said above pretty much applies here. Likewise, brends had footage to this game too, but it's also vanished. I'd REALLY like to know why he closed his account, I saw absolutely no reason to. Meh, it is his decision, so whatever. Next game...

GAME NUMBER THREE: Pajama Sam's One-Stop Fun Shop
Unlike the previous two, this game has had no footage. Zero. Nada. What I said about Putt-Putt's version applies here just as well, so there's really nothing else to talk about. Next...

GAME NUMBER FOUR: Backyard Baseball 2001
Alright, we made it to the meat of this list - the Backyard Sports. Funnily enough, this was the first Backyard game I ever played. I originally played it at a friend's house...well, not exactly, you see, during Kindergarten, I would always go somewhere before school, as I had afternoon Kindergarten. On one day of the week, I and a bunch of other friends would get together at one girl's house - her mother was eager to entertain us. After we did a craft or wrote letters or something, we had free time and could play on their computer as an option. This game was one of our first choices - it's what got me hooked onto the series, after all. The reason the original Backyard Baseball was my first Backyard game instead of this was because a neighbor had a leftover copy and gave it to us, but that's a whole 'nother back story altogether. Whatever, I'm going into a tangent now, on with my opinion of the actual game. The opinions on this game are a mixed bag - some liked the pros, some didn't. I was the latter. I felt they were way too overpowered and had little personality. They felt like a total gimmick and took away from the game IMO. The Backyard kids are full of personality and fun. The pros...not so much. I digress, it's almost identical to the original besides, save for graphical changes. Even the sounds and voice clips went unchanged. Kind of a bummer. Ah well, next.

GAME NUMBER FIVE: Backyard Baseball 2003
Yes people, I'm aware Hondo20132 has gameplay of this up, but I'll film a full game instead of cutting several innings ahead. Gameplay-wise, the game is largely unchanged from its predecessor. Sound-wise...oh boy. The voice track got a total makeover, and none of the characters sound anywhere near like they did before. They're still tolerable once you get past that though. Before you say I'm a HE fanboy and was a total jerk to Atari's Pajama Sam voice actor, well, they wanted to make sure you weren't listening to the same voice track for the third time in a row for one. Also, keep in mind in PJS4, they were actually trying to find a VA that sounded similar to Pamela Adlon. So, the one we ended up with was supposed to be similar to the older games. Here, the VAs weren't necessarily supposed to sound similar. Case closed. Off of that tangent, it's about the same gameplay-wise. They did add a few fields though.

GAME NUMBER SIX: Backyard Soccer
I played this at the said "friend's house" too. It's just like MLS Edition, except you don't get pros and you can play as Mr. Clanky after finishing the season. That, and you get a freaking reward for finishing the season. Really, why did they take out the reward in MLS Edition? This game has had no proper footage on YouTube, but seeing how it's a 256-color game, that's understandable. I have very little to say about it, honestly.

GAME NUMBER SEVEN: Backyard Soccer 2004
The Backyard Soccer equivalent of Backyard Baseball 2003 - the voice track got a makeover and sound was changed entirely. I don't know much about this game except the fact that it has no proper gameplay on YouTube, so this will be interesting.

GAME NUMBER EIGHT: Backyard Hockey
The final game on our list. I played this at a friend's house but never actually owned it. I think it was one of HE's final games. All the characters were redesigned in this game, but it's still a fairly enjoyable game. No footage of it exists on YouTube, so this will be interesting.

Well, that's all I have to say. The times I get these up depends on how long it will take for me to be ready for it. If someone requests me, it will make it more likely for me to do that game first, but it all depends. I'll probably regret saying that, but whatever. Just a quick update on this rarely-updated blog. Goodbye everybody.
UPDATE: The data file that has the music in Baseball 2003 is scratched beyond repair. It's still playable, I just can't have the music. I'll reorder it quickly.
Reply: Turns out it wasn't beyond repair, I bought a CD repair and it worked perfectly after that. So, false alarm.
UPDATE 2: A data file on Backyard Hockey is scratched beyond repair and the game refuses to run. I'll rebuy this one too. Geez, I have never been this unlucky when it comes to the mail.
UPDATE 3: Instead of Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop, the incredibly ignorant sellers gave me Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo. SERIOUSLY, THREE MAIL MISHAPS IN ONE ORDER. I'm really mad about this. Can these sellers learn basic mail etiquette?

My Recording Setup for Walkthroughs

A lot of people have asked me how I make my walkthroughs. This is not for LPs - this is for the commentary-free ones, so if you want to do commentary, look elsewhere. Anyway, let's get on with this.
For the most part, I use HyperCam 2. HyperCam 2 has been free for a long time now, so don't worry about the stupid "Unregistered HyperCam 2" watermark. It's free to use in this day and age. You can download it here.
When you open it, you should start at this screen:

 So, the first thing you want to do is uncheck "Show rectangle around the recorded area" but check "Make this rectangle blink". If you don't, the video will play faster than the audio and it goes way off-sync. I'd also recommend you check "Iconize HyperCam Window to the Task Bar". This way it will stay out of your way but you can still check its status at any time. I leave my computer at 1024 x 768 res, so a windowed 640 x 480 game will typically be at 192 start x 157 start y. Now for the next screen:

This is how my hotkeys are set up. These I have nothing to comment on, just tweak it to your liking.

 I scribbled over part of this picture to obscure my real name. Anyway, this is the one most people would like to know about. I use Ligos Indeo 5.11, which most people wouldn't have. You should easily find it or 4.5 free to download somewhere on the net, it's free stuff. YouTube has a 30 FPS cap, so there is no need to go over that. As for what I have configured in the compressor...

I was able to achieve minimal file size with it configured this way. Before I did it this way, I was getting files of ludicrous sizes like 10 GB in a 15-minute video. Now I achieve about 1 GB in that time. This is the best way I have found, and it works quite well. Moving onward...

Oh boy, sound. This is easily the most fun part of the whole thing. I'm being sarcastic, of course. Sound is the biggest pain in the butt when it comes to finding out how to record video. It's pretty sad when this becomes a bigger pain than all else. For the few who still use Windows XP like me, it gets a little bit cryptic, but I'll do my best to walk you through this. Firstly, go right click the volume icon on your task bar and click "Open Volume Control. Now go here:

This screen should pop up:

 

 Guess what? You're at the wrong place. Click the "Recording" prompt.

What the actual sound is varies. I have Stereo Mix, which is relatively common in most computers, even today. Check whatever you think is the correct option, and if you are unsure, once this is done keep repeating through trial-and-error and you'll eventually get it. Click OK and...

Pick "Select" to what you think is the correct one. The ones you had checked in the previous screen are the ones you'll find here. You may also want to adjust the volume; remember, your speaker volumes are not the capture volumes. In fact, even if you mess with the speaker volume in the middle of a recording, the volume inside the recording will not change at all. HyperCam is quite sensitive, and starts overpeaking even if you barely go high at all. Once that's checked, you are good to go. Just pick your audio device in the drop-down menu in HyperCam and you are set.

Now for Vista/7 users. You guys thankfully have a much less cryptic one. These pictures were taken off YouTube user DJCandyz, so credit to him. First, right click the volume icon on the taskbar just like in XP and click "Recording Devices":

Now you'll get this:

Hold it there, this isn't what we want. In fact, it's far from what we want. Right click and pick "Show Disabled Devices":

Alright, NOW we can move on. You should see some more devices. More than likely the one you want is going to look like a circuit board. That's the option you want. Right-click it and pick "Enable":

Go select your sound card in HyperCam's settings, and presto! You are set for sound! Geez, why is it so cryptic to do this?

Whew! Alright, back to where we were what seems like years ago. This is my setup. I chose 16-bit because in 8-bit, either you get a lot of white noise or the audio overpeaks. Bad thing. I also have it recording at 22 khz, but I've never messed with that. Alright, FINALLY onto the next thing.

Tweak these to your liking. The record cursor option is something you should uncheck sparingly - unless a game uses a virtual cursor and HyperCam puts the regular cursor on the screen with it, you should leave this checked. It allows people to follow along with the video much more easily. For the starburst, use it when you only feel it's necessary. I have used it in my debug videos, when I often show I'm clicking on something and it's doing nothing. For the mouse click volume, PLEASE DON'T USE IT. It's annoying as heck and adds little to the video. Just go with the starburst option if you really want people to know. The screen notes are something I almost never use; the one time I used it was in my Freddi Fish 4 walkthrough where I took messing with debug mode a little too far and had to note why my purple sea urchin count suddenly went up. These options are left untouched for the most part though.

Well, that'll do it. Some pointers:

- When you're recording the game, make sure it records well. If HyperCam is not fond of a particular game you want to record, I suggest finding something else.

- DO NOT RECORD DIRECT3D GAMES WITH HYPERCAM. You will get a very flashy, seizure-inducing effect. It is not pleasant to look at. Go get Fraps for that kind of stuff.

- To record full screen games, first check what the resolution is. Most older games are at 640 x 480, and I assume that's what you want to use HyperCam for. Set it to Start x and y at 0, and when the game has loaded start recording.

- To record 256 color games, wait until the game starts. Then begin recording. If you start before the game transitions to 256 color mode, it will appear messed up. 

- For heaven's sake, do not record full screen games while recording your whole desktop and then opening the game. I sure as heck don't want to see a huge black border around the game, let alone having it a really small unsee-able box.

Well, that's all. I hope this tutorial helped. For those who ask, I will not make a Fraps tutorial because that program is easy to use and picks your sound card stuff for you. It's $37, so no it is not free. Anyway, I hope this tutorial helped, and if it did, I'll be glad to see you begin to make walkthroughs yourself.

Reviews Are Going For Good

Alright, I need to stop sitting around doing nothing about my reviews. I'm afraid I am going to give up on them. A lot of you might go up in arms about this, but I have lost any kind of motivation to do them whatsoever. It's all gone down the drain. I've lost every last motivational aspect to do one. I just don't want to. When I started this channel, I didn't have a clue on what I could have done, so I just posted a random video of me drooling on about Lego Racers. It got semi-popular. I started making more of the same thing. It got to the point where it's all of what my fans wanted. Just before I reached the last one, I started making Let's Plays of HE games. At first, I didn't have anything to record HE games because Fraps didn't work with them. But after I got CamStudio, I jumped on the LP bandwagon. I was still making reviews by this point, but I noticed I was enjoying making LPs much more. So I started neglecting game reviews and began Let's Playing. I had a small audience, but I was determined. It got to the point where I completely forgot about them, so I made a comeback with Lego Island Xtreme Stunts. I noticed it was actually of good quality given that it was scripted. But I started dedicating the channel far less to Lego game reviews and more to Humongous Entertainment. And here I am now, not wanting to do a review anymore. You see, everybody has to start somewhere. And if it's not what they like, they have to find something else. It took me a while to find I actually wanted to do Let's Plays, but it finally got there. Now I've lost every last piece of motivation to do such. I'm sorry it has to end this way regarding reviews, especially since I never got around to doing those three other Lego games, but I just don't want to. I am going to get a lot of backlash from this, but let's face it - reviews aren't my thing. So, to those who are subscribed to me for my reviews (and ONLY my reviews and nothing else), you may unsubscribe. Seriously, do. It will do me more of a favor than anything else.

My complete collection of computer and video games

I haven't posted here in such a long time now >_>
Anyway, I thought about making a video showing off all my games, but it turned out to be too much of a hassle so I'll just make the list here, in case somebody ever asks me what I have. I wouldn't consider myself a gamer, so I don't really buy that many games these days. And also, to those who ask why my collection is littered with kids' games... they're extremely cheap and easy to find these days, and considering I'm known for uploading walkthroughs of them, it makes more sense. Plus, they're much easier to come across in thrift stores dirt-cheap. Anyway, here's the list for ya.
PC Titles:
Lego Racers
Lego Racers 2
Lego Rock Raiders
Lego Island
Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge
Lego Island Xtreme Stunts
Legoland
Lego Alpha Team
Lego Stunt Rally
Rayman Forever
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
Rayman Arena
Frogger 3D
Monopoly
Wheel of Fortune: 2nd Edition
Humongous Classics Collection (Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise, and Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon)
Humongous Entertainment Collection (Let's Explore the Farm, Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds, Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, and Putt-Putt & Fatty Bear's Activity Pack)
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (3 copies, both 1999 version, but all are different looking, and between two of the three, one's disk label is slightly different, as it has the the Atari copyrights instead of the HE copyrights)
Let's Explore the Airport with Buzzy the Knowledge Bug
Let's Explore the Jungle with Buzzy the Knowledge Bug
Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse (1999 version)
Pajama Sam in "No Need to Hide When it's Dark Outside"
Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"
Putt-Putt Travels Through Time
Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't So Frightening
Putt-Putt Enters the Race
Spy Fox 2: Some Assembly Required
Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch
Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet
Putt-Putt Joins the Circus
Spy Fox 3: Operation Ozone
Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove
Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness (1999 version)
Super Duper Arcade 1 (Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama, Spy Fox in Cheese Chase, Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries, and Pajama Sam's Sock Works)
Super Duper Arcade 2 (Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick, Spy Fox in Hold the Mustard, Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness, and Pajama Sam's Lost and Found)
Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop
Freddi Fish's One-Stop Fun Shop
Pajama Sam's One-Stop Fun Shop
Backyard Baseball
Backyard Baseball 2001
Backyard Baseball 2003
Backyard Football
Backyard Soccer MLS Edition
Backyard Soccer 2004
Backyard Basketball
Backyard Football 2002
Backyard Hockey
Pajama Sam: Life is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff!
Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise
Tonka Construction
Tonka Construction 2
Tonka Garage
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games 2007 (A title my parents got me for Christmas, even though they enjoy it way more than me)
RollerCoaster Tycoon Gold
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum
Living Books: The Tortoise and the Hare
Living Books: The New Kid on the Block
Living Books: Arthur's Birthday V1
Living Books: Arthur's Birthday V2
Living Books: Sheila Rae, the Brave
Living Books: Dr. Seuss's ABC
Living Books: The Cat in the Hat
Living Books: D.W. the Picky Eater
I Spy School Days
I Spy Treasure Hunt
I Spy Spooky Mansion
I Spy Spooky Mansion Deluxe
I Spy Fantasy
Reader Rabbit's 2nd Grade
Secret of Monkey Island (via the iOS port)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (via the iOS port)
Team Fortress 2
The Oregon Trail Deluxe

PC Titles I had as a kid but not anymore (This list is likely incomplete; I can't remember every computer game I ever owned!):
I Spy Junior
Jump Start Kindergarten (Original Release)
Jump Start Reading For First Graders
Jump Start Preschool
Reader Rabbit's First Grade
Reader Rabbit's Second Grade: The Mischeese-ious Dreamship Adventure
Tonka Search and Rescue
Tonka Dig n' Rigs
Disney Animated Storybook: 101 Dalmatians
Amazon Trail: 3rd Edition
Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Rescue Heroes: Lava Landslide
Aladdin Activity Center
Toy Story Activity Center
Toy Story 2 Activity Center
Detective Barbie: Carnival Caper (My sister's game, but what I find funny is that they have a list of names so that the game can say yours, and not only did they have my sister's very rare name, but they had MALE names too, including mine!)
Barbie Pet Rescue (Again, my sister's game)
The Way Things Work
George Shrinks (Living Book clone)
Forever Growing Garden

PS1/2 Titles:
Pac-Man World
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Crash Team Racing
Crash Bash
Pac-Man World 2
Rayman 2: Revolution
Rayman Arena
Sonic Mega Collection Plus
Lego Soccer Mania
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies (My dad's game)
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (Again, my dad's game)
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Nitro Kart
Crash Twinsanity
Crash Tag Team Racing (This game deserved way better reviews. I had a blast in multiplayer with this game, mostly because it was easy for my friends to pick up and play!)
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 (Gutair Hero still wasn't popular when we bought this. In fact, I STILL don't have GH or Rock Band)
Shrek 2 (Actually a pretty awesome game)
Namco Museum (Has Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Galaga [Arrangement], Dig Dug [Arrangement], Pole Position, Pole Position II, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, and two unlockables Pac-Attack and Pac-Mania)
Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue (My sister's, and widely ridiculed I might add)
Backyard Baseball

PS1/2 Titles I used to have:
Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge (The whole reason I had this version was because I couldn't get the PC version to work on my old low-end computer back then, so I had to settle for this one instead.. I got rid of it after I got my 2005 computer)
Pac-Man World 3 (That game was a huge let-down, as it was WAY too focused on combat and not enough on platforming)
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game (Must I go over this again?)
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Pac-Man Fever (I was young when I bought this and only bought it because it had Pac-Man. It turned out to be a Mario Party clone with characters from other Namco games competely out of my age range at that time. It was actually pretty good even so, but I got rid of it so I could make a quick buck)
Shrek Superslam (I didn't have a Nintendo console, so I just bought the closest thing to SSB as I could. It entertained my friends, so it was good. I gave it to my friend after I didn't want it anymore)
ATV Offroad Fury (Only played it for a little bit for me to get bored. Was originally a Christmas gift and my second PS2 game, after PMW2)
ATV Offroad Fury 2 (Why did I buy this again?)

Wii/GameCube/VC Titles:
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Super Paper Mario
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Super Smash Bros Brawl
Super Smash Bros Melee
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Mario Party 6 (This series gets hated on a little too much IMO. I actually like it for being good, simple fun, not matter how similar the sequels are)
Mario Party 8
Sonic Unleashed
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Wii Sports (And how!)
Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels
Super Mario World (Best SNES game ever!)
Super Mario 64
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Mario Kart 64
Super Mario Kart
Mario Party 2
Kirby's Adventure
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Earthworm Jim
Yoshi's Story
Wrecking Crew (Why did I download this again?)

Wii Titles I used to own:
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Must I go over this one for the hundredth time?)

GBA/DS Titles I own:
Super Mario 64 DS
Lego Battles
Namco Museum DS (Has Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig Dug II, Xevious, Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, and Pac-Man Vs.)
Kirby Super Star Ultra
Kirby Squeak Squad
New Super Mario Bros
Mario Kart DS
Super Mario Advance
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 2
Mario Kart Super Circuit

DS Titles I used to own:
Crash Boom Bang! (Lost it. Wasn't really a good game anyway)

Whew, I had way more games than I imagined. I didn't think this would take me the whole night to type up.

My Initial Thoughts on Soccer/Football Mania

Whew, this place has collected a lot of dust! I haven't had much to say, but I've finished Lego Soccer Mania now, and I figured I'd give my initial thoughts on it. It's by far my favorite of the three Lego games I ordered, so it shouldn't have been surprising that I finished this one first. Jamessterv2 had told me it lacked difficulty, and he was mostly right; until the last world. The first three worlds aren't very difficult, but the last world is another story. It's quite a fun game even so. It's very fast paced, the only times you are halted are when somebody scores a goal or halftime comes in. I also like how they made each of the power-ups useful in a way, unlike most other games where some power-ups are completely useless. Now, they aren't blanced in power (coughrocketballcough), but they're useful, and that's all that matters to me. The controls work perfectly and I never had an issue with them. The music is mixed; some are catchy, some will drill into your head from their annoyance. I won't turn this into a full review, I'm just saying what I thought. The full review won't come until after Alpha Team, which I still need to play through, so don't yell "UMG WEN WIL U REVIEW EHT". Be patient, I don't want to review a game I don't have enough knowledge on. I have seen a certain other irate (hint hint) reviewer do it way too often, and the outcome is horrendous.