Three episodes in and I still have the sickness.

For this installment of Free Games for Fun People who like to have Fun I dug up a little gem by the name of Super Karoshi.  It is a platformer puzzle game where your goal is to die in each and every hilarious level.

Super Karoshi is clever, dark and a lot of fun.

Unlike most games, the goal of Super Karoshi is figuring out how to die in each of its 60 levels.  Most of the time this means that you are jumping onto spikes after dealing with some skilled jumping or a brain teaser.  However, there are a few cases where you have to think outside of the box.

95% of SK is played with your arrow keys for movement and the 'R' button for restarting.  Trust me, you will be retrying levels a lot.

The best part of SK is its humor.  Every level is a different joke and in some cases the joke is clue to the level's puzzle.

Topping off the package is its amazing one song looped sound track.  I can't hum it to save my life, but I am willing to say that it is fantastic.  60 levels and that song never got old.

I guess the one turn off the game could have for people is the silly amount of blood that splashed on the screen whenever Karoshi dies.  This is a bit of a strench, but if red makes you pale, then this isn't the goofy flash game for you.

	I have no idea what this is. Image from Wikipedia.

Last time I checked I thought I was in America.

So why is it that Japan's 360 users are getting two things that still seem like pipe dreams here in the US of A.

1. Monster Hunter Frontier - MMO
    I don't care about Monster Hunter Frontier. I don't even care enough to look it up on giantbomb or wikipedia to gain a basic understanding of what that game is. I do however, understand that it is an MMO with monthly fees and it is going to be running on the Xbox 360. Not only is it going to be running on a 360, but paying for it will wave your gold account fee.
   How is it that Capcom and Microsoft Japan were able to bang this deal out while Microsoft US dropped the ball with Atari's Champions Online?

2. Stand alone 250 GB HDD
    The 360 Hard Drives in all of their flavors have been the most evil form of robbery that is currently taking place in the video game industry. They are beyond over priced and Microsoft has made sure that no 3rd party competition could set fair pricing.The worst part is that technology has not been standing still for hard drives in the last 4 years.
                                                  RIGHT NOW
                                    $149.99 = 120 GB 360 HDD
                                    $159.99 = 2TB External PC HDD
    Now I understand that buying a console instead of a computer is about trading freedom for ease of use, but this is stupid. Anyway, Japan is getting a 250 GB HDD for about $173. That still sucks, but it finally crosses the line where we are paying less than a dollar per Gigabyte. I guess that counts for something.

So why is the homeland of Microsoft getting less than in Japan? I would have to say that desperation is the key. The competition is killing them over there and that is forcing Microsoft to think about the consumer instead of taking advantage of them.

Sure we will see the 250 GB HDD over here, but that won't happen till they milk all of the 120 GB money out of their fans. Sure we will have another MMO on the 360, but not until Sony forces Microsoft to play catch up.

Wow, this turned into a bummer of a blog.

I just hope that Microsoft US comes to its senses or has some great 2010 surprises.

I just edited this blog and it gets a little too dark. Let's cheer things up with funny out of context screen caps I took while watching shows about video game!

This is from COOP. It looks like the little guy hates the big guy!

This from a Giantbomb interview about Star Craft II. He looks crazed!

Welcome to the second installment of Free Games for Fun People who like to have Fun. Two days ago I showed off a free Guitar Hero clone. Today, I come to the table with a game so awesome and powerful that even saying its name would bring a world of hurt on my head.

It is survival horror game that tackles a situation that we have all faced. This isn't a game about fighting zombies or trying to the save world. It is a game where you have to fight against nature itself.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Don't &#*% Your Pants!

Other the title and subject manner, one of the most charming things about this game is the awful sounding intro music. While most people would call it noise, I see it as a wonderful throw back to the golden age of beeps and boops.

As you can see from the title screen, DSYP is a text adventure. You play the game by typing in random words in the hope that the game understands what you are talking about. Without giving the game away, I can say that the key to victory is mixing verbs and nouns.

Everything starts with entering the word "Play"

Two walls, the floor, a fat guy (that's you) and a door. That is all you have to beat this game by living up to its title.

Like any good text adventure there are multiple and humorous ways to approach this situation. In fact, the overall goal of the game is earn 10 different achievements.

You shouldn't be loading up DSYP if you want to play something that will last a while. The game doesn't overstay its welcome and earning all of the achievements is easy once you get into the swing of things.

DSYP is all about the comedy. The laughs are good and it is the perfect you have to check this out game.

Have fun with it and remember Don't $#!& Your Pants!

Welcome to the first episode/installment of my newly conceived feature that I have lovingly titled Free Games for Fun People who like to have Fun. The main goal of FGfFwlthPF to weed out awesome flash games from the deepest and darkest corners of the net.

I do this for 2 reasons:
    1. It can be hard to find a good flash game.
    2. Flash games are free. That fact benefits you and me.

So lets kick this feature off with a free and fantasic Guitar Hero clone called...

 Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 3 - Play it Here

SCGMD3 is a Guitar Hero clone that you play with your computer keyboard. Single notes are played with the arrow keys and held notes are played with the 1-4 number keys. You start the game with a handful of songs and earn medals from getting high scores in order to unlock new songs to play. The song selection, like the game itself is completely indie and a lot of fun.

Notes scroll from right to left and are matched to beat of each song. Note placement makes sense and after a few rounds your hands should get the hang of playing this game. Like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you gain a score multiplier by not making mistakes and hitting all of the notes. 

SCGMD3 also has a charming stick figure rocking out on the bottom of the screen. I doubt your eyes will wander from the note track to see him, but I can assure you that he is fun to watch.

The only problem I have with this game is its difficulty.

This game goes from playable to train wreak within its first 3 songs. I know that the game warns you about this fact up front, but really don't see why the difficultly curve had to be so rough.

If you can handle the stress, this game is well worth checking out.

Another opinion is trying out the equally awesome Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2 (play it here). It is much easier to play, but lacks the refinements of its sequel. It's UI is less colorful and the note track only has 3 lines. You also play the note keys with ASD instead of the 1-4 number keys. This means that your fingers are going to get lost more.

The worst thing about this game is that missing a note has no audio cue. The 3rd game mutes part of the music when you mess up. This makes it feel more like RB or GH and makes the game a more interesting experience.

However, this game isn't impossible and that fact makes it a lot more fun.

Game Links
   Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2
   Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 3

I am finally free.

The Star Trek Online Beta ended at 9:00 PM EST and I have been living clean ever since. And by living clean I mean that I have been sitting around thinking about Star Trek Online.

4 Hours Ago

I had rushed home after dinner to claim the 400 skill points I needed to rank up and gain access to new and more awesome ships. I rushed past my dog and hammered in my password into the already open and waiting login screen.

"Can't Login"

Time stopped and my jaw hit my desk. Retry and disappointment. Retry and disappointment. Twitter about disappointment. Retry and MAGIC.

I was in and ready to go. 5 Klingon listening posts and a trade dispute later and I had the points I needed for my promotion.

Transwarp back to the Sol System...

3 Hours Ago

Betas never go peacefully into the night.

The starting zone was over run with Borg. This made things difficult to say the least.

I finally made it to the Admiral's office after a handful of deaths and was given my last hour promotion. Eight deaths and a short walk later, I had collected my new ship from the ship yard.

Wanting to avoid more Borg murder I teleported to my new ship. Or so I thought.

Turns out you have to talk to an NPC on the main deck (aka kill town) to change your ship. So the teleported myself into a mountain of pain. 5 deaths later and I had switched ships.

I then remembered that I wanted to customize it. That NPC was about 5 feet or 4 deaths away from where I was standing. I ran, I died and I was victorious!

What do with 24 minutes and my beautiful ship?

Well, I spent about 6 minutes flying around and getting blown up by over leveled Borg.

It was at that moment I decided that one ship wasn't enough for me. Ranking up gave me a free ship and enough cash to blow the on a second one.

Wash, rinse and repeat.

A billion deaths later and I picked up this little beauty.

10 minutes left! I had only 10 minutes before all of the beta data was going to be wiped.

Needless to say, I spent that time getting blown up by Borg and then trying to fly to what was left of Romulus.

Why Romulus? Because Giantbomb already went to DS9.

Now

I never made it to Romulus and I will never see my ships again. I am also not going to buy this game until I buy and beat Mass Effect 2.

I can only hope that people are still playing this game in a March.

Too bad, things really started to pick up once I hit level 9. If only there had been more time...