Pfew, after a afternoon of extreme heat (reaching over 30 degrees) around these parts of Portugal, i’ve almost finished the work on the new theme for this site.

Alot of the previous elements and colours were ported but there’s still work to be done in various sections. As a bonus the portfolio section is reopen but it needs some serious remaking. The theme is based on the Hemingway wordpress theme with alot of tweaking from myself and help from the discussion forums.

I still need to sort the problems with the tags, find out what’s wrong with other minor details and figure out a clean way to maintain the portfolio section, perhaps in the next day or two. Good weekend.

[update 1] fixed problem with 1024×768 screen resolution. I temporarily disabled the contact and feed button so I guess I’ll have to review the menu. The image with the glasses (png) should be transparent but doesn’t look that way, I’ll have to check out why.

I found out this fantastic video on Youtube about problem solving using the “Zidane technique”, it’s really funny and not too shocking.
So, if you’re into a good laugh, check out the video by maecx. There’s also a t-shirt for sale with this summer hottest trend - Zidane.

PS: He’s a good player, no harm intended. :)

Since I bought my Nintendo DS i’m taking it with me almost everywhere I go, afterall, it does have some slick games and since I have to commute every day I get to play alot too.

And so I’ve decided to sum up all the games i’ve been playing recently and feature the best among them, afterall, they’re still a tad expensive around these parts.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

I was very surprised by this game, the storylines surrounding the 5 cases that Phoenix Wright has to crack as a rookie atourney are almost perfect and the game feels like the old point-and-click adventures but with a twist of Law & Order and a bit of detective investigation like CSI (although dumbed down). You get to stand in court and discover lies in the various witness testemonies or participate in huge discussions defending your theory for each murder case. The game never gets repetitive despite it’s longevity and all the cases are really interesting. It’s a fantastic game really.

New Super Mario Bros.

Not entirely new but a remix out of the first Super Mario game. Most remakes from old game turn out to be crap (ex: Space Invaders) but Nintendo did a very good job in Mario’s case. The game leaves out all the 2D sprites from yesterday and goes for 3D looks but leaves all the colourfull and cute looks. They look more wonderfull than before and makes it possible to add zooming action and other small elements to the screen.

The gameplay works as before, alot of well placed platforms (no impossible jumps or leaps of death), still or moving, a wide variety of enemies and the inclusion of new elements, mostly derived from the Super Mario World game. There’s also new powerups that make Mario a giant or very tiny and light. The inclusion of wireless multi-player gaming with a friend contributes to making this a very fun game and an essencial one in anyone’s collection.

Tetris DS

Yet another version of Tetris, how many do we need in our life anyway? Well at least this one is good. The general look and feel of the game is very nice and colourfull with references to the Nintendo universe (like musics and graphics from Zelda or Donkey Kong).
The gameplay was tweaked, you now have the option to toggle a swadow indicating where the current piece is going to fall and you can also keep a piece for later on switching with another if you feel.
There’s also new game modes by Nintendo which includes the use of the stylus, mini-puzzles, going against the IA or puzzles to clear the screen in a certain number of moves, create a four-line-chain, etc.
The best of all is the online multi-player where you can compete head-to-head with other players, very addicting.
It’s a very polished game, without the multi-player it will grow old very fast but a good choice.

Mario Kart DS

Another attempt to bring back a Nintendo Classic. Mario Kart tries to take the gameplay elements from the old Snes game and tweak it with new stuff, like new tracks and characters but with partial success. What I mean is, it’s really top notch, the old Mario Kart was one of my favorite games of the Snes era, but it doesn’t have a long lifespan. The tracks are very well laid out and the characters are balanced, each one has a set of qualities that stand out from the others, there’s also a bunch of powerups to make the races more exciting, it’s a pity that the karts are so slooooow.
The problem also lies in the short number of objectives you have in the game and the mini-games are also easy to acomplish. The wi-fi races are really fun to play, there’s the usual races along with battle modes which make it interesting.
A good game in overall but won’t keep you busy for too long.

That’s part one of my list, I shall name the other games in part two in a few days.