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What is a gamer?

I am no longer a gamer. I used to define myself by either computer or video games. I used to think about video games all the time. I used to want to collect video games and computer games and peripherals and joysticks. Now, at 29 years old, I finally have come to the realization that I am no longer a gamer. Why? It’s not because I don’t like games anymore, or I don’t think they’re cool. The reason why I am no longer a gamer is because I keep getting my butt kicked in Heroes of Newerth and other games like Starcraft and Warcraft 3 and quite frankly games take too much time nowadays. Who has 80 hours to pound out an RPG anymore? That’s a donkey-load worth of time to grind out on a game. I don’t even want to think about how much time I spent playing Diablo 2 back in the day. If I had a nickel for every time I pked someone in hardcore mode I would probably be the “Nickel King.” Or maybe my clan leader would be the Nickel King and I would be the Nickel Knave or something.

I remember playing hours of Nintendo (NES) when I was a kid. I used to sit in my brothers room and play ZANAC and Strider for hours. When I got to the last stage in ZANAC these brains were there and I couldn’t figure out how to beat them. They were too strong. I decided that I wasn’t old enough to beat that game and so I shelved it for literally 13 years. I was like that with other games too. There was Alien Syndrome in the arcade and the game was really nasty gory alien imagery. I remember teenagers playing it when I was still in grade school. I was like, “I’m no way old enough to play that game.” I was almost self-censoring, there was a lot of organic semi-sexual imagery of guts and worms and orifices that was really intense for a 10 year old.

Playing games in the arcade with my brother was so great. I felt like I had a handful of coins and I could be entertained for hours. My brother would always come back and take some of my coins because I would be still playing Street Fighter II and others. I remember he said once, “You know you really shouldn’t beat the older people with the same move over and over again. They might get mad.” I took no heed. I thought I was the master. But now games have changed. There is this online/multiplayer fun factor that is tapped into for modern gaming. It does bring a level of excitement, but the overall gaming experience is just time consuming. I find myself feeling guilty after playing hours of Heroes of Newerth and thinking about how many blog articles I could have written in that time. Or how I could have typed up my book. It’s almost like challenge in games has been replaced by learning curve, specialization and time consumption. I miss the days of old Nintendo games where the game had relatively simple gameplay  but the actual experience was intense and hard as diamond.

I guess it’s all a part of growing up. Some hobbies and lifestyles don’t survive into adulthood. It’s kind of like outgrowing old toys and finally not caring about any toys anymore. This may seem hypocritical but someone just messaged me on Facebook and he wants to play HoN and I said I’d play with him. Isn’t that funny? The difference between how I would play the game before this article and afterward is that now I won’t play the dumb game ’till my neck hurts! I saw this video about a girl who is angry about her boyfriend who played PS3 too much. Check it out!

-Tyler

Heroes of Newerth makes my Neck Hurt! This game is addictive! I don’t know why I play this game so much. The game itself is setup as some kind of twisted mix between Warcraft 3 and football…NO JOKE. You pick a hero and play on a team and then go back and forth trying to score a “Touch Down” by getting to the opposing team’s Great Tree or Sacrificial Shrine. You also get “First Downs” by destroying enemy towers. The game takes about 30- 55 minutes every time you play a match and that doesn’t usually count the time you spend in the lobby and pre-match screen waiting for the game to start and character selection. I think the reason why this game makes my neck hurt is because you have to be in a constant state of attention in order to play and not get served by the enemy team. One misplaced right click on the screen can cost your hero to get killed and can put your team at a disadvantage for an entire game. Basically, this game is an hour of stress every time you play it.

But is it fun? I’d say it is pretty fun. Here’s an article that I wrote about Heroes of Newerth and how I wanted to start waking up early. How did it go for waking up early? Well I woke up early today, but I surely didn’t play Heroes of Newerth last night. That game drains my brain. But why does it hurt my neck. Well, the problem is that when you play the game, you don’t usually play just one round, you usually are playing with friends and talking with them via Ventrilo and after you win or lose you want to play again…and again. After a while you need to go to the bathroom while your character is dead and respawning and you are trying to hurry and take a leak at the same time and that experience is bad times, and when you come back your base is being attacked and your friends are like, “Where are you! Get over here and spider this scout!”

After playing one game of Heroes of Newerth I feel like I’m in a small fog. My eyes are kind of squinty and you feel an overwhelming desire to drink San Peligrino and eat Ritz crackers. After two games I begin to feel like I’m being sucked into my laptop and there is a tingling sensation and the base of my nerve stem. After the third game my neck starts to hurt and feel sore. It almost like that episode of Star Trek Voyager, where Janeway has aliens that are invisible that are sticking needles in her head causing pressure. Well in my case it’s like I’m sitting in a movie theater with crappy seats because I came too late to see Avatar or something and the angle is crunching my neck.

Is Heroes of Newerth going to cause you neck pain? I don’t know. Maybe. I suggest taking breaks every hour or so. Because pounding the game out over and over again not only is dumb because there are better things to do, but you will be giving yourself stress and disguising it as fun even tho it’s just an excuse for seeing some death animations of enemy heroes. The most fun part of the game is when people bicker and yell at each other anyway. Here’s a video where two people are yelling at each other on Heroes of Newerth.

-Tyler

PS: If you want to check out my Blood Hunter Guide then click here! It’s a little outdated but it still shows the basics.

Click Here for an explanation of the Blood Hunter's Spells and Special Abilities!

Heroes of Newerth is a fun game, but it’s a lot more fun if you have an idea of what character to pick and especially how to skill the character out, and what kind of items to buy for your character. So this is overidon.com’s first guide on how to play the Blood Hunter.

The Blood Hunter is a fast melee, agility based hero that has cool abilities. Here’s a link on where you can find out detailed information on the Blood Hunter’s spells and abilities. But so you can quickly start playing with the Blood Hunter, I’m going to give you a breakdown on what to level up and what to buy. First when you start a standard 5 vs. 5 game you should put your first skill point into Blood Crazy. This skill silences a friendly or enemy target and it also damages it a bit per second, while increasing the targets base damage. As you level this skill it will increase in effect duration and base damage bonus but the amount of magic damage will go down. Use this skill to hurt and silence casters in the game early on. Later in the game you will use it to really help out your teammates by silencing enemies so they can’t use their skills/spells. This will practically make casters useless for the few seconds that they are silenced. But be warned as you level up this skill the damage bonus can go up to 80% bonus base damage and if you cast this on a tank it can make them uber strong. I use Blood Crazy after it’s level 3 on myself when I’m fighting creeps. It makes farming creeps really easy.

So right when you first start put 1 point into Blood Crazy and then buy 1.5 fortified bracers from the item shop. These items are located under the “Initiation” section of the item shop. This means get two pairs of the +3 strength gauntlets and one of those crowns of the pretender that gives +2 all stats. I also recommend getting those runes of blight that let you eat a tree for Health Points (HP) regeneration. After that pick a lane and start to get some exp. Be wary of fighting other heroes early on because your attack isn’t that great. I suggest using your Blood Crazy skill to damage enemies and silence casters early game. Then after you level up get the feast ability. This will let you get extra HP every time you kill a creep monster and an even greater amount of HP if you kill an enemy hero. After you have some money go back to base and finish the 2 Fortified bracers by getting 2 scrolls of the fortified bracers and 1 pretender’s crown. Now you should have 2 fortified bracers that boost your HP and other stats. If you have more money you should start to build your Enhanced Marchers. These are really good boots that are available again from the initiation shop. But at this point you will probably only have enough money to buy the basic boots called “Marchers” for 500 gold. They are good. You get 50% bonus run speed. Next get the other pieces to the Enhanced Marchers.  These will give you increased attack speed which is key for the Blood Hunter. Also you can click on the boots to activate their special phased ability which gives you increased run speed for a short duration.

Now get back in the fight and level up and/or assist your allies in taking down some enemy heroes. As you level to 5 keep putting points into Blood Crazy and Feast. Once you hit level 6 put 1 point into Hemorrhage. This skill is important because you can really use it to perturb enemies. How it works is, once you cast the Hemorrhage you pick a target that is pretty far away if you want. Make sure the target is moving. Once the Hemorrhage attack hits the enemy hero will take magic damage. Then as the enemy tries to run away he/she will drain blood and take serious damage for every step that the enemy hero takes. They only way the enemy can stop the bleeding is if they stand still. So this skill is used best when you have your enemy on the run. Or else if you have friends attack the target while they are standing still trying to avoid from bleeding to death. Once you have enough money go back to the shop and finish the Steam Boots recipe by buying the Bolstering Armband and the Steam Boots Recipe. You’ll have to make sure that all the items are either in your stash or in your current inventory for the recipe to activate and combine all the items. Once complete your Steam Boots you will get extra bonus to your attack speed and 65% bonus to your run speed. And don’t forget to switch your boots from strength to agility by left clicking on them.

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CastleVania Front Door click here to play now!

About a week ago I was at Peet’s Coffee and Tea and I wanted to reminisce on some classic video games. The one that came to mind was CastleVania for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). So I typed CastleVania into Google and I was expecting to find some reviews on the great action game. But instead I found a link to this great site, Nintendo8.com!

Nintendo8.com is an online gaming area where you can play Classic Games on your computer online without downloading any additional software. The site uses a Java platform of an emulator called vNES. This Java version of the emulator allows people anywhere in the world to play classic games right in their Firefox or Internet Explorer browser. I was on my laptop so it was fun using the keyboard to control Simon from CastleVania. You use the arrow keys to move, and “Z” is the B button and “X” is the A button. You control star and select with the Enter and Control keys.

Play the Legend of Zelda Now!

On the Nintendo8.com website you can play everything from The Legend of Zelda to Contra. The emulation quality is good. My only complaint is that the V-Sync (Vertical Synchronization) is a bit choppy when you move horizontally. So games like CastleVania are fun to play for nostalgia sake, the actual gaming experience is far better played on another emulator or an Original NES Console. One game that played very well was, The Legend of Zelda. The reason why it was good was because the screen stays relatively still, and it only moves when you shift from area to area. Here’s a link to the The Legend of Zelda on Nintendo8.com!

Overall if you want to kill some time while waiting for your drink to come at your local coffee shop, I definitely recommend nintendo8.com for your classic gaming needs. But if you want a hardcore gaming experience, nothing beats playing the games on an original NES Console! In order to play the games you will need Java installed on your computer. Here’s a link to where you can download JAVA.