1985 – G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

Almost two years ago, I bought this giant box set of my childhood. It was the G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Complete Collectors Set [The Complete Series]. GI Joe was “the toy” I played with in the days before video games. I watched the Ninja Turtles cartoon, and I was one of the few who may have liked GO-Bots more than Transformers – but when it came to having a ton of any one kind of toy? GI Joe was my weakness.

The GI Joe cartoon was an early morning addiction. I have a childhood memory of waking up in the middle of the night and going in to the living room, then turning on the TV. My parents came out of their bedroom and sent me back to bed. I just wanted to watch GI Joe, but it was only about 4:30 in the morning and not 7:30! Oh the days of being a child, without even having a clock in your room! I just lived for all-things GI Joe. I’ve handed my toys down to my cousin’s children, and when we talked about our memories, we came to found out we both bought the same mini-footlocker of DVDs to relive our childhood! These GI Joe episodes were so memorable, and I think I’m going to rip and digitize my collection in the near future. So I thought I would share and see if anybody else remembered the GI Joe series! If ever there was a promo for a must-have toy, GI Joe was it, and they had me hook, line, and sinker. I even had the game for my Commodore 64! The least you can do is relive the good ol’ days, with some nice bonus treats found in the G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Complete Collectors Set [The Complete Series].

Password safety: you're NOT getting a free Xbox or PS4

A group named XboxLIVEAvatarGear on Facebook recently posted the above picture. Although the website has been shut down, it brings up a good topic that we should talk about this month, as I anticipate many, many more scam sites to start popping up.

The point of XLAG’s post on Facebook was to alert people to a website called XboxGifts.com – there’s nothing there, now, don’t worry. But the website looked identical to Xbox.com and surved one purpose: to promise you free things for forking over your Microsoft Account ID and password. No gifts would come, only pain of dealing with your account being hijacked and the possibility of Microsoft points and games being purchased under your ID, then charged to your credit card. Sites like this pop up all the time, but when the release of a big game, or a new console is around the corner, scam sites more than double in frequency.

With the upcoming announcement of the next Xbox console, you can bet there will be sites promising your free consoles, beta previews, insider news, etc… all if you just log in with your Microsoft account! Do yourself a favor, only get your news from trusted sources… say like Kotaku, or Joystiq, or Unscripted 360, and don’t put your Microsoft password anywhere that isn’t Microsoft.com or Xbox.com. Watch the address bar at the top of your web browser closely, make sure you know you’re on Xbox.com. I would even suggest people worried about this type of scam enable smart screen in Internet Explorer.

Nintendo needs to get their act together: RELEASE the eStore catalog!

This week Nintendo simultaneously lost Madden NFL 25 on the Wii U, saw prices slashed again at retailers in the UK, and sent a message to your custoemrs begging them to buy the Wii U. This is getting pathetic.

I had a stack of Wii U’s I was planning on making some money on. They didn’t sell. I’m still sitting on some of them. It seems good to know that in 15 years they’ll be a rare treasure that sells well on eBay, especially in a sealed box! Too bad I’m stuck with these pieces of crap for another 15 years.

I’m thrilled with New Super Mario Bros. U, it’s a fun game. But the system is failing, it’s not a secret. It’s Nintendo’s best online service yet and the eStore is just finally starting to take off. The video above shows games that will be launching on the Wii U’s Virtual Console service. But if Nintendo really wants to keep the Wii U on life support until larger publishers and triple-A title games return to the platform, I know how they can keep it going. Release more Virtual Console games!

Nintendo, I don’t want to import my games from my Wii U. It’s absolutely the right move to allow people to do that. And the upgrade process to Wii U sounds great. But where are the games!? If I could turn on my Wii U tonight, and download a bunch of games, I would jump right on it. Super Mario 64, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Street Fighter, even Gameboy games like Metroid II, or Donkey Kong Land II, and classic NES titles like Mega Man III (my favorite), or Darkwing Duck (also: insert obvious Metroid request) – give all of these games to me, and you’ll make a fortune in a day. It seems too much like they want to drag it out and slowly release more and more content, much the way Xbox Live Arcade works, or other online systems. But if the basic formula is to take an existing, old ROM file, drop it into a wrapper that lets me sett it on my TV and my Wii U Gamepad, and upload it to the eStore… then GET ON IT. Make a splash – give users a compelling users to have this console! You’re floundering too much, and it’s frustrating me to near insanity.