Day 64, Game 64 - Wreck-It Ralph

Today was an awesome, awesome day for releases, and marks the start of several weeks in a row crammed full of great games coming out. Tuesdays have been my favorite non-weekend day of the week for YEARS now, as all new games, music and movies usually is released on Tuesdays.

I actually picked up two new games and downloaded another 4 or 5 I think. On top of all that, however, was the release of possibly the coolest thing to happen for the video game industry in a very long time. Disney's Wreck-It Ralph (the movie) came out today, and I happily picked that Blu-Ray up as well. I took my two boys to see it in theaters, but since my little girl hasn't seen it yet, I got to sit down and watch it with them all tonight, which was awesome.

I can't say it was a fun day up to that point, however, as my little princess got sick at daycare only 20 minutes or so after I dropped her off this morning, so I had to leave work and pick her up. I joked on twitter the other day about taking a sick day to catch up on my gaming back-log, but this wasn't what I had in mind. Taking care of a sick kid (even though she was feeling pretty good after puking) is exhausting, and doesn't leave as much time to game as an empty house would wield, although I did catch up a little bit.

ANYWAY ... Wreck-It Ralph. This is an excellent movie, beautifully done by Disney's animation studio, that sheds an awesome light on the video game universe, especially arcade gaming and "retro" games. There is even a line in the film about "being retro means it's old, but cool," or something like that. This is a perfect homage to the glory days of arcade games and the transition from that era to the new one. The cameos, the references, the nods to other video games throughout is such a nice touch, and isn't over the top for people who don't have a vast wealth of gaming knowledge, but still enough to ensure those of us with a rich history of gaming are entertained as well.

So, because of how much I love this movie, and how excited I was to finally get to watch it again, I played the movie tie-in game that was released on the Wii. Now, I played this earlier today, so I have no idea why I waited so long to write about it, but hey, that's life I suppose. The game is OK at best, nothing special. It's a follow up to the movie, a side-scrolling adventure. You go back and play through all the levels you see in the movie, but honestly, it just kind of falls flat. Especially when you have the movie right there to compare it to.

I also recently found out that at Disneyland, they have an arcade modeled after Wreck-It Ralph, which is awesome. And, considering we are surprising the kids at the end of this month with a trip down there, I am super pumped to check that out. Think I could work some of those games there into my blog? I fully plan on it!

Long story short, Wreck-It Ralph is awesome. The movie, I mean, not necessarily the game. If you love games, watch the movie. If you love the movie, you don't need to play the game. Get it? Got it? Good...

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