Well it’s the obligatory “What I got for Christmas” blog. So I’ll list my Christmas loot, but not only that, I’ll also list what I GAVE to others for Christmas, because I like giving presents just as much, if not more than, getting them.

What did I get?
From my family I got some clothes, like dress socks and some funny T-shirts. I also got some University of Texas (that’s where I went to college) bathroom décor like a UT shower curtain and bath mats to spruce up my bathroom. And I got a Wii Remote charger station, which will come in handy when Jeff and his friends come over and sap the batteries out of my remotes with their Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii binges! I also got some stuff for the office, like an M&M’s calendar, Alabama (my other favorite college) mousepad, and a weird frog tape dispenser thingy. One of my good friends gave me this really neat Astro Boy promo poster. I’ll probably get a poster frame for it, but in the meantime I just hung in on the wall in the entertainment center room with the cardboard backing still on it! And I also got some assorted other junky stuff and candy I won’t eat (I’m not a big candy person).

I also got the Mystery Science Theater 3000 vol. 4 DVD, which I’m very glad for. It’s the only volume I don’t have. I got all the others. I just wasn’t in any rush to get vol. 4 because it has two movies in it I didn’t like when I first saw them on TV. One was Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, which was painful to watch even WITH Mike and the Bots heckling. The other movie on vol. 4 that I detested was a really bad version of Hamlet. I hate Shakespeare enough as it is. Plus, when MST3K was doing reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel, they ALWAYS showed this Hamlet movie. Guess it was one of the only ones they still had the rights to show (that and the Killer Bees movie they always showed as well).

One of the only things I got from my dad’s family I was a little disappointed in. It was a board game, and I NEVER play board games! I’m only disappointed because I specifically asked for a Sam & Max DVD set (which was probably cheaper than the board game). But I think they just ignored my list. I just went and got the Sam & Max DVD at Fry’s for 20 bucks myself later. I wouldn’t have minded if they would’ve at least TRIED to look for what I wanted. Oh well.

Last but not least, I got some gift certificates to places like Kohl’s (where I get most of my clothes) and Best Buy. I also got a TON of Xbox Live and Wii Points cards. Earlier, I got a ScanDisk memory card for my Wii since the Wii storage space is crap, so I used the cards to finally get some of the WiiWare games I’ve been wanting. So I thought I’d give my brief impressions of the WiiWare games I got.

Alien Crush Returns
It’s video pinball, and an update/remake of the classic TG-16 video pinball game: Alien Crush. You can get Alien Crush and its spiritual sequel: Devil’s Crush, on the Wii Virtual Console. I highly recommend all three of them! Anyway, Alien Crush Returns has updated 3-D graphics, sounds, and gameplay. Plus a story mode, which is a pretty silly thing to have in a pinball game. Alien Crush Returns is definitely worth the 800 Wii Points, though. I would even go so far to say that if this were a regular disc game and cost 20 to 30 bucks at most, it would even be worth that. When I was at PAX, Hudson let me play a preview copy of Alien Crush Returns and I had to pry myself away or else I’d be at Hudson’s booth all day! Definitely one of the good WiiWare games.

I have to hand it to Hudson. I really like how they’ve been supporting the Wii with Virtual Console, WiiWare, and regular games. They seem to be one of the few third party companies who really ‘get it’ with the Wii (alongside Capcom and sometimes Namco). Their Kororinpa marble maze rolling game was WAY better than Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. And their Deca Sports game is one of the only Wii Sports imitators that doesn’t suck. And they’ve been really supportive of the Virtual Console, with awesome and reasonably priced TG-16 releases and even some import Turbo CD games like Star Parodier and Super Air Zonk. Plus compelling WiiWare titles like Alien Crush Returns and Bomberman. So yeah, I think Hudson is pretty awesome right now.

Space Invaders: Get Even
It’s classic game related, so you know I’d have to at least take a look at this. In Get Even, you play as the Space Invaders (pixelly sprites and all) and you ‘get even’ against the Earthlings by destroying targets on the planet and whatnot. You control the UFO and point the Wii remote at the screen to send invaders off to destroy parts of the city, so there’s some action and strategy mix. Your UFO can only be on Earth for a limited time, so when you get shot, you don’t lose energy, but instead you lose seconds off the clock. The game’s not as good as say, Space Invaders Extreme, but it’s an interesting diversion anyway. It’s only 500 points, too. Only problem is that if you want to play more than the first few levels, you have to pay more points. I don’t know if I’ll do that or not, but I’m glad I spent the 500 points just to try this one out. I think that if arcades were still big, we’d see Space Invaders: Get Even there instead.

Pit Crew Panic
I really got this one out of curiosity more than anything. Plus it’s made by Hudson, and since you already know I have a high regard for them, I wanted to try this one for that reason as well. You control a pit crew team and use the Wii remote to point to each crew member and assign them to a part to repair on the “Whatsit” that needs fixing. You want to finish the repairs as quickly as possible, so multitasking all your crew members is a must. To help one of your crew along, you can point at them and hold the B button and move the Wii remote as shown on screen (like a hammer, saw, or wrench motions) and the crew member will perform the task faster. It kind of reminds me of those online games like Cake Mania and Diner Dash, where you have to multitask to please customers. But Pit Crew Panic has more of that quirky Japanese flavor that I like.

For one thing, you’re not just fixing cars and motorcycles in the pit. Oh no. You’ll be fixing whatever comes driving in, whether it be a toilet, wedding cake, tugboat, or tank! Even when you have to repair a car or cycle, there’s usually something weird like a cake in the engine, or an angry eye instead of a headlight!

Whenever I would get a press release announcing Pit Crew Panic, one of the key points they put on the press release was that it was an all female pit crew. I tried to figure out why they would make such a big deal out of that. It could’ve been an all armadillo pit crew and the game still would’ve played the same. Were they trying to attract the hormonal teenage boy crowd? No, I don’t think so. This isn’t Soul Calibur Girls Pit Crew Panic (though that would be kind of neat). All the girls in Pit Crew Panic are short, squatty, and look like Miis. I guess one of them would make for a good girlfriend for my Mii or Live Avatar, or my Animal Crossing dude. On second thought, maybe not. I don’t want my video game characters having better social lives than I do! Possibly they were trying to attract a female crowd, but more than likely I think they just did that in the game just for the sake of being cute. And that’s something that a lot of Japanese games tend to do.

So is Pit Crew Panic worth the 800 points? Nah, not really. But then, most WiiWare games aren’t worth 800 points. I think Pit Crew Panic might’ve made a better budget DS game. I wonder if I should get World of Goo next? I hear that one’s really good, but it’s also 1500 points! That’s a lot!

What did I give?
Giving is better than receiving, and it’s a lot more fun, too. So now I’ll fill you all in on what I gave others for Christmas.

I got my mom a new DVD player. Hers konked out on her, and she’s not ready to move to Blu-Ray yet. Heck, we’re pretty low tech, the PS2 is still the main DVD player in the living room! I also got her some jewelry and a calendar and the Xbox 360 Scene It game. We played it when we visited a friend in Houston last year and she loved it, so I bought it for her to play when she’s around.

On my dad’s side of the family, I got him a super nice flashlight, a puzzle mousepad, and an atomic clock. My stepmom got jewelry, too, and a plaque I sell at work. I kind of wimped out on my little brothers on my dad’s side. I didn’t know what to get them, so they got GameStop gift cards, but I did put them in neat Christmas cards that had annoying sound chips in them (I love those). I knew what to get Jeff, though (Jeff is on my mom’s side). I got him a book he keeps checking out of the school library. Jeff’s big Christmas gift was a ski trip with his friend and their family. They’re on the trip right now, I hope he’s doing OK. Some of my friends got assorted junky video game toys, while other online friends (and co-workers) got WiiWare games sent to them. I also sent a Wii VC game for my little brothers.

At Christmas it’s always important to help the less fortunate, so I always like to get a few toys to donate to one of those charitable organizations like Toys For Tots or whatever. So this year I donated some Hulk Hands, because those are one of the coolest toys ever. I also donated Hungry Hungry Hippos, because that was my favorite ‘board game’ as a kid. Heck, it’s still my favorite! And I got some Barbie dolls for any little girls. And that’s pretty much all I did for Christmas.

In the comments section, let me know what you got for Christmas and what you gave to others as well.  –Cary

Tags: Misc