The Eve of the Expo

In less than nine hours, I will be walking through halls filled with video games among their creators and the people who love them. I'm so excited, I passed out in a restaurant.

via MTV

Expect plenty of live blogging on my twitter and Facebook.

Stay tuned!

Yours truly,
HavokRose

Nintendo Pulls the Plug on Nintendo Power

As a journalism major with a focus on magazines and feature writing, I often pop into the magazine isle of the grocery store or book store. I remember the days when Game Informer was sold in all local stores, when all three major consoles had their magazine on the racks and when the video game section rivaled the wedding section. Now, finding a variety of video game magazines on the shelf is rare.

This week, the our options just became more limited.

According to IGN and G4, Nintendo is stopping production of it's official magazine Nintendo Power. Like the Official Xbox Magazine and Playstation the Official Magazine, Nintendo Power was not only an exclusive news source for the company, but also an easy marketing tool.

via Nintendo Power

Nintendo was the longest running official gaming magazine of the big three. The magazine was originally published by Nintendo, but those responsibilities were handed over to Future Publishing in 2007.

What could this mean for the rest of the video game magazines? Much of print media is already on it's last threads. Game Informer doesn't offer a print version on the shelves. Other gaming publications like GamePro have already called it quits, so who will be next? Will publications be purely online like IGN or will the print publications simply die out? As much as I love IGN, no one likes a monopoly.

On a positive note, Dark Horse Comics announce last week that it is releasing an official english copy of the The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. This book was released for the 25th anniversary of the Zelda series in Japan and is finally making it's way to the US. It will include information about the entire series including the popular timeline that puts every Zelda game in order.

via Dark Horse

It will be released January 29 and is available for preorder now for $20.99 on Amazon.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo Power closing? Will you miss it?

Yours truly,
HavokRose

Website Feature: Gourmet Gaming

Games like Cooking Mama really get my appetite going. Here you are preparing delicious food and you can't even eat it. It's like composing a symphony and not being able to hear how all the parts finally come together - I'm talking to you Beethoven. One gamer has the food creativity of a culinary master and has figured out how to make out favorite in-game treats into real life products.

Daniella - the creator of Gourmet Gaming - takes the concept way farther than the simple Cooking Mama recipes you could easily find around the internet. She has created recipes for Costume Quest's Mossy Log, Pokemon's Poffins and many more. This gamer gone food artist has crafted some of the most delectable desserts and snacks I've ever seen. Maybe it's just her amazing photography skills, but all the food she puts up on her website looks amazing.

Kingdom Hearts - Spark Lemon via Gourmet Gaming

Looking at the recipes and delicious food is one thing, but making them is a whole different story. Each recipe is rated on a scale from one to five hearts to show the level of difficulty. In addition, all recipes include the metric and customary units - a nice gesture for all her American fans.

Out of all her recipes, I decided to take a stab at making her recipe for The Sims  Goopy Carbonara. With a two heart difficulty rating, I figured it would be an easy dinner dish and a good place to start in all of her crazy foods.

Video Game and Reality Carbonara via Gourmet Gaming

For the recipe, click here!

Mine didn't turn out so pretty, but my tastebuds were pleased. The next time I make this recipe there are two things I plan to do differently.

For one, I wasn't able to find cubed ham the recipe called for at my local Fiesta - the Mexican food store my friend insisted we go to for ingredients - so I just used flat lunchmeat ham instead. It worked just as well but because it shriveled so much, it resulted in a frugal amount of ham in the overall dish, leaving it tasting a little bland. It's a good cheap replacement, but if you do use this substitute then make sure you add a generous amount of it.

One other thing I would do is make more of the sauce. The amount the recipe makes just didn't create that 'goopy' feeling for me. It still tasted great, but it would have tasted fantastic if there was just a bit more.

My take on the Goopy Carbonara

I plan on returning to her website for many more dinner recipes. I'm hoping she does a recipe for Fallout's Surgar Bombs next!

Yours truly,
HavokRose