I began by creating my Sim - a female manic who is easily impressed and named her Molly. The game starts you in a modest house with modest adornments. You do have a TV, couch, bed, refrigerator, etc. You also begin with a few simeoleans so you can buy more stuff or either upgrade some items right off the bat.

Molly’s first job was on the culinary track at the Corsican Bistro and was “killed” on her first day. So lesson learned. This is The Sims. If your Sim isn’t happy then don’t send her to work. She then got a job at the laboratory and worked there for a while until she gave the Bistro another try. Unfortunately she took a chance by telling on a co-worker who was cheating the company and was then implemented by said co-worker. She lost her job. Now she is unemployed but makes money from her garden and fishing at the local lake. In fact you can make a lot more than the starting pay by just fishing all day. Take your fish to the super market and sell them.

Your Sim will have personal goals - like Molly has a personal goal of using everyone’s bathroom at least once. There are also random goals that are assigned as you play the game. You can lock in those goals since they do expire. One goal is to kick over a Sim’s garbage can but be warned. This will not go over too well.

As you play the game, you unlock more items you can buy and upgrades to your home. Also if you complete all of the goals, then you unlock something, too.

When you meet a Sim, they start off as a stranger. Be sure to talk about different topics like gardening and fishing so that more of their personality traits are revealed. Also sometimes Sims will give you tasks that if completed will earn you some extra simeoleans. Why just the other day Molly earned 50 simeoleans for kicking over Marcell’s garbage can.

I was disappointed when Molly got married and didn’t gain any of Luke’s income or items to her household. But I realize that the mobile version of The Sims 3 is not like the full version for the PC/Mac.

I’m having a lot of fun playing The Sims 3 on my iPod. It just makes me want to play the full version of The Sims 3 even more if that is even possible.

My first impression is that this is Mario Brothers meets Mario Party. Up to four players can play at one time. You can toss other players to put them either out or in harm’s way. Players can join at any time during the level. At the end of the level, players are ranked based on their score, enemies defeated, and coins collected.

Mario, Luigi, and two Toads are playable characters while others from the Mushroom Kingdom make appearances throughout the game.

There are also new items like the propeller suit that with a shake of the Wiimote will send your character high into the sky. Mario also has the new ability to turn into Penguin Mario.

New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii will be available Holiday 2009. Rating is still pending as well as the price.

The Beatles: Rock Band

I’m not sure why The Beatles: Rock Band interests me other than it’s a Rock Band title. Sure, I like The Beatles but not a major fan. There will be 45 Beatle songs and an exclusive “All You Need is Love” track for the Xbox 360 version. On stage during the presser was Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono Lennon, and Olivia Harrison. Fans will get to experience The Beatles career first hand as they play through various points in their existence as a band including the early touring days of 1963.

Joy Ride

Take your avatar for a spin in this cartoon racing game. You can customize your car and put your avatar in the driver’s seat.

Final Fantasy XIII

Ok, I admit that I’ve never actually played any of the Final Fantasy game but when I saw this character, I may have to give it a try.

The little chick is just too darn cute! Maybe I should just buy Animal Crossing instead.

Alan Wake

Alan Wake is another type of game that I normally don’t play but the premise hooked me. From the E3 fact sheet:

In this dynamic new title exclusively for Xbox 360, players assume the role of Alan Wake, a best-selling suspense author suffering from writer’s block, who escapes to a small town only to experience the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée.In this dynamic new title exclusively for Xbox 360, players assume the role of Alan Wake, a best-selling suspense author suffering from writer’s block, who escapes to a small town only to experience the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée.

I was reminded of The Fugitive while watching the press conference. Definitely something to keep an eye out for in Spring 2010.

Project Natal

Project Natal is not a game but a whole new way to play games. Instead of a new type of controller, you are the controller. No longer will you have to use a controller to play games. Just use your movements to control the game. The games looked pretty neat. Project Natal will also have voice recognition, too. You will also be able to scan your own items to use as objects in the game. The video showed a kid scanning in skateboard for his character to use in a game. Really interesting but totally seems like it will appeal to casual gamers. Microsoft looks to be going after Wii gamers with Natal.

So far it looks like 2010 is going to be a good gaming year. Just hope someone has something new to tell us about 2009.

• 3 Doors Down
• A Perfect Circle
• AFI
• Attack! Attack!
• Band Of Horses
• Beastie Boys
• Beck
• Billy Idol
• Billy Squier
• Blink-182
• Blur
• Bob Dylan
• Bon Jovi
• Brand New
• Bush
• Children of Bodom
• Coldplay
• Darker My Love
• Darkest Hour
• David Bowie
• Deep Purple
• Dire Straits
• Duran Duran
• Eagles Of Death Metal
• Elliott Smith
• Elton John
• Face to Face
• Garbage
• Gorillaz
• Gov’t Mule
• Grand Funk Railroad
• Iggy Pop
• Iron Maiden
• Jeff Beck
• Jimmy Eat World
• John Mellencamp
• Johnny Cash
• Kaiser Chiefs
• King Crimson
• Kings Of Leon
• Kiss
• Love and Rockets
• Megadeth
• Mötley Crüe
• Muse
• My Morning Jacket
• Nirvana
• No Doubt
• Peter Frampton
• Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde
• Queen & David Bowie
• Queens Of The Stone Age
• Rammstein
• Rose Hill Drive
• Rush
• Santana
• Scars On Broadway
• Screaming Trees
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Sonic Youth
• Spacehog
• Stevie Wonder
• Sublime
• Sunny Day Real Estate
• T. Rex
• The Bronx
• The Derek Trucks Band
• The Duke Spirit
• The Killers
• The Police
• The Raconteurs
• The Rolling Stones
• The Sword
• The White Stripes
• Thin Lizzy
• Thrice
• Tom Petty
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• TV On The Radio
• Vampire Weekend
• Weezer
• Wild Cherry
• Wolfmother

There really isn’t too much strategy involved although some say that by starting the corners you can clear the levels easier and rack up more points. I have mixed results when I start in the corners, so I try to watch the pattern for a few seconds and to see if I can capture as many balls either horizontally or vertically. It seems the wider the net, the better chance I have of finishing the level.

The best part of Chain Rxn is all the points you earn. If you love to see a high score, then play this game. My first time playing Chain Rxn I score over 10 million points! The more balls you capture, the more points you earn. Each ball is worth thousands of more points than the previously captured one.

Chain Rxn is a great way to kill a few minutes since it doesn’t take that long to play. And if you don’t capture all the balls in one round, just keep trying. Your score is then added to your previously completed level. I like to publish my new personal high scores even though they are still way lower than some of my friends. It’s nice to see progress.

The only downside to The Sims 3 is that we are back at the starting point. No cool expansions yet although they are touting that there will be plenty of free downloads and if I were a betting gal, I’d say some paid ones, too.

So for my 99 cents, I get to revel in The Sims 3 plus I get a free music download of the theme music, a $5 off coupon, and some The Sims 3 stickers. Not too bad.

The Sims 3 ships June 2, 2009 and it’s went gold - so it won’t be delayed.

There will be a lot of E3 news that we will be publishing here at Romperz and also at JoeGamer.net. Already companies are releasing what they will be displaying at E3. It will take a few days to sort everything out but hopefully we’ll be the most organized we’ve ever been for E3.

In Pikmin, these small creatures help you put together your space ship that has landed on their planet. You can command the Pikmin to do your bidding like moving your ship engine to the rest of the ship. You can toss Pikmin to areas that they can’t reach to retrieve buttons that are colored and have a number on them. The number is how many Pikmin it takes to move it. The color is the color of Pikmin. The Pikmin will take it back to their ship where more Pikmin will sprout up out of the ground. Then you will pick them and have even more Pikmin at your command.

Pikmin is fun but I’m not sure the Wii version is worth the extra money. It’s only $30 but Pikmin for the GameCube is under $20. I don’t think any of the game is actually different. But I now know that Pikmin would be a title worth buying because it is fun.

With the New Play Control, you use the Wiimote and Nunchuk to play the game.

This week’s Ultimate Gamer was the final showdown. The show started with three contestants left - Robert, Mark, and Jamal. One was about to be eliminated. Jamal was eliminated as he had the lowest Halo score of the three remaining players. Jamal admitted that Halo wasn’t his best game. Next Mark and Robert prepared to face off at Samsung Stadium.

They did get to choose one former player to help them prepare for the three games they would be playing - Shawn White Snowboarding, Gears of War, and Soulcalibur 4. Robert chose Swoozie and Mark chose Jamal. Robert figured Swoozie could offer some advice on fighting games while Mark knew Jamal was really good at Soulcalibur.

At Samsung Stadium, the first game was Shawn White Snowboarding. A victory would score 1 point. The player to reach three points wins the game. Mark won the game and scored one point. Up next was Gears of War. The winner would receive 2 points. Robert won that showdown. The final game was Soulcalibur 4 that was worth 3 points.

The first player to win 5 matches would be the Ultimate Gamer. Robert got off to a blazing start and won the first four pretty convincingly. Then Mark came from behind to take the next five matches and won. Mark was crowned the Ultimate Gamer.

Mark was definitely the underdog but showed that he is a very adaptable and capable gamer. Congrats to Mark and all the contestants. I do hope they do this show again.

I got in the mail a gift certificate for the Mt. Everest Hidden Adventures casual game. I bought the game and it’s pretty fun. Not sure my mom would enjoy it for Mother’s Day so may just give it to a friend. So if you are a Big Fish club member, check your mail and don’t dismiss mail from Big Fish. It’s usually something good.