IEatGames.net is now ready for your perusal.  I hope you enjoy the new look!

Also, if you’re subscribed, you should not have to point your feed anywhere else.  Thanks, dearies.

The site redesign and uploading to a new domain (!) are nearly done.  This site should be up and running by Monday, with a new review and (hopefully) a clean design that everyone will enjoy.  Thanks again for putting up with this.

In the next week or so, I will be messing around with the domain-hosted version of this site. Please bear with me. I don’t know when I’ll get everything up, but I will try to post a game for all of you at least once a week until I do. Your wait should be about a week and no more than two weeks.

So here’s a game for you… one that will, as the title says, tide you over in the desert of posts that will be next week.

Okay, so Visual Acoustics is not really a game. More like a strange hybrid of classical music and a Flash programmer’s acid trip. What ensues is a neat activity that basically allows you to “paint” with brushes that are not colors; rather, they’re musical instruments. It’s fun to mess around with; one of the cooler things on the Internet. (If I do say so myself).
Enjoy!

Here are some of the things I hope to accomplish starting after January 8 (I’m home right now, and I’m taking a break, since my home is over 5,000 miles away from college):

• Move to a hosted domain
• Make my own theme
• Publish one review a week (on Wednesdays)
• Post at least four times a week
• Answer all my comments
• Start interviewing gamers and programmers
• Write and record a podcast

Anything else you would like to see on I Eat Games in the coming year?

Winterbells is an absolutely gorgeous flash diversion. It falls into the same category as the other flash games that are unbelievably simple, but, at the same time, will devour your time as you find you are addicted to bouncing around on gorgeously rendered bells.

This mouse-driven game has you guiding a bunny as he hops from bell to bell. Each acts as a sort of trampoline to get you to the next one. You don’t technically need to bounce on the bells, you can bounce through them, too. Oh, and using birds as springboards earns you double points.

The game also records your high score, so you can, in effect, try to beat your own best score. Unless, of course, other people are also playing on your machine. Then you’d be competing against them.

The graphics make this flash game stand out, so much so that the first time you play you’ll be drooling. And the gameplay makes it stick.

Winterbells is from a website by Ferry Halim called Orisinal.  Her other games are equally beautiful and playable. Thanks to Carina for the tip!

Merry Christmas to everyone that reads this blog.  Take some time off for your family.  Be happy. 

Christmas is on Monday. Today’s your LAST chance to get anything by Dec. 22 if you order from Amazon. So get your last minute on-line shopping done and over with. Here’s my suggestion of fun, yet amazingly cheap, games playable on any home or handheld console. (In no particular order, might I add).

Escape from Monkey Island — Windows ($19 from Amazon Sellers)

This jewel case version for Windows (it works on XP, if anyone’s wondering, although it’s made for older versions) is a little wonky with the controls, but still has that genuine Monkey Island humor to it. You play as Guybrush Threepwood (Mighty Pirate) as he wanders (erm… sails) through the Caribbean trying to bring his wife back from being legally declared dead. And other mishaps leads him back to that place he was before: Monkey Island. Fun all around.

Sidenote: Okay, fanboys, eat me up now, since I know you think this is the worst of the Monkey Island series.

Beyond Good & Evil — Windows ($6.97)

This game, widely lauded as one of those gems that never really took off, is now cheaply available at less than $7! It’s one of my favorite games due to the storyline and character development. You play as Jade, a photographer who carries a large stick, as she attempts to unearth a governmental conspiracy. My only complaint is that I wish the game were longer. Either way, you’ll have fun. If not, it only set you back $7.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past w/ Four Swords — GBA ($19.82)

Everyone loves Zelda. At least, everyone I know loves the Zelda series. My friend claims “A Link to the Past” is the best version of Zelda ever. And so, here it is, for all of you Gameboy Advance and/or DS owners in the world. Love the Link. Be the Link.

Mad Maestro — PS2 ($14.99)

Probably the most different rhythm game you’ll play (yes, even weirder than Elite Beat Agents), only because you lead an orchestra instead of dance hyperactively to modern tunes. Yes, that’s right. All the songs are movements from well-known orchestral compositions. Including such gems as Hungarian Dance No. 5. The game is entertaining, and is a must for anyone who appreciates old school music. You know, really old school.

Ratchet and Clank — PS2 ($19.82)

Along with Jak and Daxter (also under $20 from Amazon), Ratchet & Clank is one of my favorite platformers available on the PS2. The worlds were extensive, and Clank is perhaps one of the cutest robots ever. I’d say so, anyway. If you haven’t yet delved deeply into the world of the cat-like thing (what is Ratchet, really?) and the miniscule robot, you’d do well to invest in this game.

Dark Cloud — PS2 ($19.99)

One of the first PS2 games I’ve played, Dark Cloud was an original RPG that I still remember fondly. Although the regular elements apply: leveling up, battling monsters, random dungeons, Dark Cloud stood out for one reason, the ability to create and build towns. Of course, towns came out in somewhat the same fashion because the villagers would request certain things of the main character, but all in all, I felt satisfied with the level of customizability Dark Cloud had.

Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door — GC ($19.82)

This is how Mario does RPGs. The fun graphics, neat (albeit slightly contrived) storyline, and the unique battling system all add up to a great game. Yes, Mario does have to save Princess Peach, again, but what kind of Mario game would ignore that particular storyline?

That’s it for now. If you have any suggestions, post them in the comments. I’ll put together a “Reader Suggestions” post after Christmas, so everyone can spend their Christmas money on video games. And please send in suggestions for the much-ignored Xbox systems and the DS, since the only game I could think of is actually selling for twice as much as we bought it for.

Fun for everyone as you play as a snowman in Nintendo’s version of an advent calendar. So, yes, it is month-long advertisement for various Nintendo games. But the levels are entertaining and there’s a new one everyday.

(Sorry that I posted this so late in the month) Also, I forgot the link. [Thanks, Travis!]

Most times, board games translated into ones and zeroes don’t turn out so hot. Case in point: any console Monopoly game and The Game of Life for PC. But Days of Wonder, a prominent card and board game maker, managed to do with their javascript games that companies like Parker Brothers have not: made them engaging. Currently, I tend to play “Ticket to Ride.”

Basically, you try to claim as much of the available train track as you can. Okay, no. That’s pointless. You have to make very long continuous tracks while connecting destinations on ticket cards. Ticket cards ask you to go from city to city. In the USA version, it could be anything from a ticket pointing you on a route from Los Angeles to New York or one that requires a quick jaunt from New York to Miami. While the more ambitious ticket choices have higher point values, if you fail to connect the dots, the points are deducted from your score.

You can only set down trains if you have card colors that match the track colors and if you have the right number of cards to claim the track. Locomotives are like wildcards (I guess not all trains need them?), so they can be any color.

Of course, while you’re trying to hoard enough purple cards and locomotives in order to claim that long stretch of railway between two cities, someone might take it before you. Yes, I’ve cringed a few times at the computer screen when a fellow player (probably sitting pretty behind his computer console in some place interesting like New York or Paris) took my much needed route from Point A to Point B.

The game challenges its players to plan multiple routes for their trains so they don’t get trapped without a railway to their destination point. Or, and this has happened to me more often, I ran out of train cars. That’s right–you only get a limited number of cars to work with, and once someone has only one or two left, the game cycles into its last turn. Because of this, creative thinking is a must-have quality in the game.

By itself, the game is a great javascript version and will only take about 45 minutes to an hour of your time. An account on the Days of Wonder site is free. However, the folks at Days of Wonder hope it will entice you enough to buy the board game.

Whether or not you wish to invest in the actual, real-live board game (do they still make those these days?) you should definitely check out Ticket to Ride. It’s enjoyable, and, dare I say it? Fun.

After an excruciatingly long download of “Maple Story,” I excitedly booted it up, made my cute character, and happily sliced away at snails.  But five minutes in, I got bored.  Perhaps it’s my lack of game savviness.  Perhaps it’s my complte lack of an attention span.  It’s probably because I didn’t have the patience to get to the community aspect of the game. Whatever it is, I did not have a great time playing it.

I can’t imagine leveling up my character for no reason.  If anyone has any good things to say about Maple Story (or any other free MMO game), please leave a comment.  I feel like I’m missing the point of these games.