Tuesday, April 15, 2014

What I Learned from Watching Game of Thrones: Northern Inuit Dogs are the Cutest!

Hey everyone!
(Just as a warning, if you haven't watched season one of Game of Thrones, but want to, don't read further. There will be some small spoilers.)

So, recently I've been really interested in Game of Thrones. Unfortunately I do not have HBO GO, nor do I have tons of spare money to blow on buying the seasons out so far on DVD. Luckily, my boyfriend's mother has Netflix. Not the instant streaming one, the one where she gets DVDs in the mail (I miss when those used to be part of the same thing).

So me and the boyfriend got snuggled in some comfy blankets, eating some really good food, and settled in to watch what we could of Game of Thrones. We finished the first season just a few days ago(so no spoilers about anything upcoming please! It's hard enough to avoid spoilers on Tumblr!), and I absolutely fell in love with the direwolves that belonged to the Stark children.

All of the direwolves are so perfect, and the dogs that play them do such a good job. And oh my gosh are they cute. I don't actually care for the Starks that much (although I do like Arya, and sometimes, only sometimes, I like Sansa and Jon Snow as well.) but I love their direwolves.

(I'm more of a fan of the Lannister's and Daenerys)

Anyway, I learned through watching some of the bonus features on the last disc of the season, that they used dogs called Northern Inuit Dogs for the direwolves. Just look at this cutie, and tell me that he/she is not the cutest doggy you've ever seen:

Picture from Wikipedia
I love how much they resemble wolves. I've never owned a large dog before, but if I did, I would want it to be a Northern Inuit Dog. My boyfriend feels the same, so maybe one day in the future, we'll have a little Northern Inuit puppy to call our own.

And, after looking up so much about these types of dogs, and gushing over how cute they were, I felt a little guilty about not taking the time to gush over the cuteness of my own puppies so I had to take some pictures of them too and play with them a bunch to ease my guilty conscience!


 So there is my sleepy puppy with his pretty blue eyes that I really need to take into the vet sometime soon to get his nails clipped. Maybe he doesn't look like a pretty wolf, but he's really cute in his own way too!

Who is your favorite character from Game of Thrones, season one? And which is your favorite direwolf?

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Tomodachi Life is announced. Yeah, I'm freaking out.

Hey everyone!

So, as some of you that have been following me for awhile know, I absolutely love my 3DS. Last year was a fantastic year for Nintendo in terms of 3DS games. I'm pretty sure my Nintendo 3DS got more of my attention than my Xbox 360 (which is something I never thought possible before I got this absolutely perfect handheld system).

And with the line up of games this year, I'm starting to think my 3DS is going to get more love than my Xbox One as well. (Although once Elder Scrolls Online comes out, I'm sure I'll be glued to my Xbox One for quite awhile.)

Tomorrow I'll be getting a game called Disney Magical World. Which, by the way, sounds completely amazing. I'll give you all the run down on that game tomorrow though (if I can tear myself away from my 3DS long enough to post about it!). So luckily, I'll have that (and Watch Dogs) to keep my busy until June 6th, which is when Tomodachi Life will be released!

"What is Tomodachi Life?" you may be asking. Well, I will tell you: It is perfection. At least, it looks like it is. It sold incredibly well in Japan, so I'm glad they decided to bring the game over to North America and Europe. For a more detailed answer to your question, check out this Nintendo Direct:


I guess if I had to try to explain it simply, it would be... A game where the Sims meets Animal Crossing. Except it's more relaxed and a lot more strange and hilarious.

You create your Mii, or import it from your Mii Maker, pick out its voice and personality, and then have it move into its new apartment. You help it on its journey through life, playing games with it, giving it advice, and watching as it goes through struggles, love, and what seems like some very strange scenarios at times.

How strange? Well, you can check out this Kotaku article titled "The Most Insane Gifs From Nintendo's Weird New 3ds Game", and judge for yourself.

Also, if the above video is a bit too long for your liking, go ahead and check out this advertisement for the game instead:


So, what do you think? Cute and crazy, or just a little too bizarre for you? Let me know in the comments below. I'll be sure to tell you guys much more about this game when I manage to get it! 

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Save Shenmue - Video Games of the Past

Hey everyone!

(Sorry for my absence once again. I'll tell you all about it in another post soon. Let me tell you, though, wearing a knee brace is not fun.)

Does anyone remember a game called Shenmue?

(Wanted to get all of my Shenmue stuff in the picture.. couldn't find my Dreamcast Shenmue II case. Agh. )


It was released for the Dreamcast in 2000 in North America (a year earlier in Japan) and was probably the best experience I've had with any video game in my life so far.

It was my first experience with a more open world type game, exploring the streets of Japan as Ryo Hazuki, a young man determined to get revenge against the man that murders his father. It was an amazing game, and a second game was created for the series, which was also released on Dreamcast, and then later on the Xbox.

Unfortunately, the third game for the series was never created, leaving the game on a cliffhanger.

And now, more than ten year later, fans of the series have started doing whatever they can to make their voices heard. They we want a final Shenmue game. Today, tons of people are on twitter, using the hashtag #SaveShenmue and sending their pleas to Sony, Sega, Microsoft, and even Nintendo. Maybe it won't help Shenmue III get created, but it certainly doesn't hurt to try.

So if you ever played Shenmue and enjoyed it, be sure to join the tons of other voices on Twitter asking for the next game. Maybe together we can convince the game companies that there are tons of potential customers for this game.

Personally, I would even buy a system I don't have yet to play it on. That game would be a system seller for quite a few people, from what I've seen, me included.

Shenmue means the world to me, as it is the most influential game I have ever experienced. I was only about 9 when I played it, and there were a few things I didn't understand (like combos for different fighting moves) but the world of Shenmue drew me in anyway, and never really let me go. Whether I was fighting thugs, or driving a forklift around at my daily job, or even just buying little toys from a capsule machine for my collection, I had fun doing it all.

Shenmue was a game that made me realize just how much was possible for gaming. Even though I had played plenty of video games before Shenmue, I'm certain that this was the game that started my huge love of everything gaming-related. In many ways, it is the most important game to me, even though I haven't played it in far too long.

Which is why I'm willing to try as hard as I can to let people know about this amazing game, and to tell gaming companies that there is an audience for this game if they decide to create it.

Are there any video games from your past you'd like to see a remake of/ a sequel to? Let me know in the comments!