The Gay Gamer x Tiny Cartridge, take three

The third of the four posts I wrote for the guys at Tiny Cartridge was published this morning.

I would have mentioned it earlier, but there was a typo in said post (my fault, not theirs) until a little while ago and I didn't want to link to it until it was corrected.

Anyway, the focus of this particular post--check it out here, if you're at all interested in such things--is one of Filip Johannes Felberg's most recent LEGO Pokémon creations: A beautifully rendered Bulbasaur.

(I decided to include the photo of Felberg's Farfetch'd, right, in this post so as not to spoil the surprise that awaits at tinycartridge.com.)

See also: Previous 'The Gay Gamer x Tiny Cartridge' posts

'Jar of Heart Containers'

I can't say that The Legend of Zelda was the first thing that came to my mind upon hearing Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts," but after seeing the following illustration on artist Ryan Grant Long's blog last week, I'm not sure I'll be able to think of anything but that Famicom/NES classic whenever I hear the Phillie-born singer's hit single.



Unfortunately, I can't link directly to Long's blog post about his "Jar of Heart Containers" drawing at the moment, as it seems to have been a victim of "The Great Blogger Blow Up of 2011." What I can link to: Long's spreadshirt.com shop, where you can buy t-shirts bearing the design above. Also, here's a link to his blog and deviantart gallery.

The Gay Gamer x Tiny Cartridge, take two

The second of four posts I wrote for Tiny Cartridge has been published on the handheld-focused site.

The headline I wrote for this post--"Three GBA imports (not Mother 3/Rhythm Tengoku) that should hit the eShop"--does a pretty good job of describing what it's all about.

Basically, I suggest that, assuming they eventually decide to sell GameBoy Advance games via their 3DS eShop, the folks at Nintendo should give Westerners access to a few first-party releases that have never seen the light of day in our neck of the woods.

Photo by Wayne McManus

To see which games were included on my list--and to hear why I selected them--check out tinycartridge.com when you have a chance.

See also: 'The Gay Gamer x Tiny Cartridge, take one'

But will the characters in Animal Crossing 3DS still look creepy?

While seemingly every other Nintendo fan the world over is looking forward to next month's E3 so he or she can finally get a glimpse of the company's next console (currently codenamed Project Café), I'm looking forward to the event, to be held June 7-9 in Los Angeles, so I can see if the characters in its upcoming Animal Crossing 3DS still look creepy.



I can't be the only person who thinks the game's more properly proportional--with the exception of their big ol' noggins--characters look a bit odd, can I? (Please share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section of this post.) For whatever reason, I find the shorter, stubbier characters seen in the series' previous iterations much more aesthetically pleasing.

Proof that Nintendo's Urban Champion has at least one redeeming quality

Serious question: Does anyone actually like Nintendo's early Famicom/ NES brawler, Urban Champion?

Now, before all of you Urban Champion junkies (yes, all three of you) jump on me, you should know that back in the day I was slightly enamored with the game. Specifically, I was enamored with the colorful packaging that it came in, which called to me in a way that most of Nintendo's Black Box titles didn't.

Then I played it. Ugh.

As I'm sure anyone who has played the game can imagine, that lone experience I had with Urban Champion (I rented it from the local grocery store) led me to believe, quite firmly, that the game lacked even a single redeeming quality.

Then I saw the piece of pixelated art to the right, titled "Flowers."

Clearly, artist Ashley Anderson has a different sort of relationship with Urban Champion than I do, as he says of his latest game-inspired illustration, which was created for an auction to benefit the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences: "I've been wanting to do some kind of treatment of these flowers for a while.

"This is the second color image I've worked on since I went to NYC for the first time a few weeks ago," he adds. "I looked at art for hours everyday for a solid week. I think hanging out at the Met looking at all those Georgia O'Keefe paintings rubbed off on this one, I'm glad to say."

To see more of Anderson's creations, check out his Flickr photostream as well as his etsy and zazzle shops.