For whatever reason this summer there are only two movies due out that really have me excited: Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. With Edgar (Shaun of the Dead) Wright’s film version of Scott Pilgrim just a little over a month away from hitting theaters, it occurred to me that many of the regular visitors of this site may not be particularly familiar with the character. I worry that people will think it is just another Michael Cera playing Michael Cera movie. To prepare you for the film and really just as an excuse to post the awesome trailer below, I’ve put together this little primer on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s deliriously fun series.

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When I wasn’t at a Phillies game this weekend, I spent some time rediscovering the XBOX Live Arcade. I had seen some chatter about Earthworm Jim being available and I just had to check it out. I soon found myself on a detour from actually purchasing Earthworm Jim, instead downloading 5 game demos. Most of the games are older titles from other systems, so I’m hopeful that I’ll see more titles like this in the future. One is something entirely new that just about blew my mind.

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Today marks Pac-Man’s 30th birthday and I was just pointed to Google’s acknowledgment of this special day.

And yes, it’s playable…

This is another article about the iPad.  If you don’t like awesome stuff, stop reading.  If you refuse to use Apple products, you probably already stopped reading, but anyway… If you refuse to use Apple products you won’t get to enjoy this awesomeness, so you might as well not get your hopes up and move along.

Pete and I know we want an iPad.  We also know we don’t need one.  But maybe we DO need one.  I mean, it would almost be wrong for us to not buy the next greatest Apple product since Apple is responsible for our future baby-making.  Back on track – we know we want an iPad.  So we went to check it out.  See if it was really as awesome as they say.  We ended up playing games on it the entire time we were in the store.  My game of choice was Plants Vs. Zombies by PopCap.  I wouldn’t leave the store until I completed a level.  And since it was a version made for the iPad, it was AWESOME.

Knowing that we will eventually get an iPad, I was stubborn and said I would not download the app for my iPhone because it was a waste of money since I will need to re-buy it for the iPad.  (Look Mom, I am concerned about spending $3!)  Sorry, that didn’t last too long.  By 11pm that night I was in bed downloading the game to my iPhone.  I had to have it.

I just need to tell you that the game is super addictive and super awesome.  It is completely worth the $3.  There is definite strategy involved, and with “Achievements” there is absolute replay value after completing Adventure Mode successfully.  Replay value on a $3 game is clearly important.  Just like my first adventures into Gossip Girl, this game has kept me up far past exhaustion, because I just have to know what’s next!  And it isn’t just me, Pete beat adventure mode like a day after I downloaded it.  If you want to actually know anything about the game, let’s just say, the plants keep the zombies out of your house, and bacon is involved.

I feel this way about almost all PopCap games though.  Peggle on the xBox could have a whole separate post…. I never thought I would get into using my iPhone for games.  After one visit to the Apple Store, I KNOW I would be using the iPad for mostly gaming.  Games, and I think it would be ultra-handy for recipes in the kitchen.

So, like I said…this was really a post about the iPad.

Don’t be in it for the success.  Be in it for the fun.  We have played Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Sluggers, and I am sure a few other Mario based games 4-player…..but nothing compares to having a whole team working on smashing goombas, koopas, and defeating Bowser.  Seriously – how could we ever make it to Bowser?  We spent most of the time trying to a.) figure out what character you are ACTUALLY moving, b.) not kill each other with shells when you jump on a koopa.

Favorite parts included:

• playing as a toad, but moving the wrong toad….I was yellow toad, and blue toad was doing what my hands were telling it to do…..BUT – yellow toad was on a different part of the screen….jumping right to his death.
• coin battles…simply run faster than everyone else….maybe you can push them off the screen to their death and claim all the coins for you.  OR  pick up other players and simply throw them to their death.  Watch out though – neither of these strategies actually result in a win (ok, so the first one did), but while you are fighting with your spouse to try to kill each other, Chris is racing around as Luigi getting ALL the coins.
• once or twice….all four players ended up in a bubble.  I understand when two of us do it  the game is STRESSFUL!  But all four of us?  You would think the odds would be in our favor.

There are many more things to talk about it – but this is a micro review – so go see for yourself.  And see our original review here.