Over a thousand men (in relationships) were recently polled on a British website to find out if men would rather play video games or have sex with their partners.

32% said they’d rather play games.

Which is a pretty moderate statistic. What’s more remarkable is that the number shot up drastically when the game in question was a new game.

72% of the respondents said they would rather play a new video game than play bedroom games with their partners.

This tells me one thing: There is hope yet for mankind.

Google has the full report.

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Table of Contents

1. Larry is back!
2. Time Wasters by Swordplay
3. Plants vs. zombies. Who will win?
4. Positive gaming news
5. April Fool’s Day in Guild Wars
6. Results of last week’s contest
7. Win 4 boxes of Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition!!

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Larry is back!

I didn’t play Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (2004), although I wanted to. I actually had a copy sitting around but was too busy to play.

Now I don’t know where it’s gone, and its sequel, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, is here, after five long years.

Well, sort of here, anyway. The last I heard, it’s now sitting in someone’s office in MDA waiting to be rated before it can be released in Singapore.

This sequel continues the adventures of Larry Lovage, nephew to the original Larry Laffer in the earlier Larry games.

I tried a bit of the early games (those created by Al Lowe) and liked the humour and sarcasm and the problem-solving.

I don’t know how this new release will measure up. There were mixed reviews on Magna Cum Laude, with critics complaining that it’s not the same without Al Lowe’s touch. The gameplay was apparently slightly modified to keep up with the changing face of video games.

Of course there were also those who liked it, too. So, it’s always best to play the game and judge for yourself, you think?

Well, it’s any time soon. I hope it’s good. Will let you know if I get a copy of the game.

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Time Wasters by Swordplay

Swordplay is my pesky li’l bro who spends all his time playing time-wasting games. To make him a little bit more useful, I’m sitting on him and making him recommend one fun and simple web-based game each week.

Today’s recommendation:

This is the well-loved Flash version of the well-loved classic Whac-A-Mole arcade game. You know, little critters pop out of holes? Whack ’em with hammer fast as you can?

Tontie is that, and harder. A lot harder.

Accompanied by a chirpy soundtrack reminiscent of cheesy Japanese game shows, Tontie is simple and addictive, and infuriating at higher levels.

Each level introduces a new critter which requires different handling. Some of them you have to hit twice, some you can’t hit without losing life, some you can only hit when the conditions are right, and so on.

You have to memorise the conditions for every monster because, by level 20, you’ll be getting 20 different kinds of monsters popping out at random, very fast, like at the speed of light or close. As you progress, you can buy weapon upgrades and extra life to help you conquer the game.

So many years after release, Tontie is still widely played and Swordplay goes nuts over it. Apparently, he cried out in agony when he accidentally downgraded his weapon to a red hammer with a click, right after parting with his life savings for a gold hammer.

Can’t say I blame him. I would too, probably worse. In fact, I haven’t even reached the stage where I have enough money to buy a gold hammer.

Well, this game is very good for taking a quick break and refreshing your energy between work or study. Just be careful not to get addicted!

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Plants vs. zombies. Who will win?

I don’t know how Swordplay does it, but he has a knack for finding rubbishly cute stuff on the Internet.

His latest find: An MTV for a B-grade zombie game that will be released on May 5, 2009, by PopCap.

Okay, it’s not really a zombie game in the usual sense of the genre. Plants vs Zombies is advertised as a tower defense game. I think you’re supposed to use a bunch of cute assorted plants to repel zombie invaders.

The MTV is cute and funny and catchy. Have a watch. I LOL’ed at the opening sequence because it was so unexpected and comical.

Swordplay also did some detective work and turned up the identity of the singer behind the MTV: A pretty Japanese lady by the name of Laura Shigihara.

Okay, I don’t know if she’s actually Japanese. At least half, I guess. She was educated in the USA, so she could be an American Japanese or Japanese American, or something in between.

What’s important, though, is that she’s got a super cute voice and she’s pretty and she writes and performs videogame music for a living!

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Positive gaming news

After months of bad press on gaming, we finally see some good news articles that should give you some ammo against critics of your lifestyle.

Shooter video games ‘sharpen vision’

FPS games have been found to improve an aspect of our vision known as contrast sensitivity. Yes, playing FPS can indeed train our vision with long-term benefits! I celebrated this discovery by playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox 360 last night. Not only do I think it’s good for the eyes, I think shooting zombies is good for the soul, too!

Study: Violent games least likely to cause gamer aggression

A study has shown that, out of three different kinds of games, violent games were the least likely to cause aggressive behaviour. The test was done on the Xbox 360, using an FPS, a racing game and a 3D tennis game. It was found that the racing game caused the most agitation and agression among the gamers.

Hey, next time anyone’s doing any tests involving gaming, invite me! Any excuse to play games, you know? ;)

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April Fool’s Day in Guild Wars

Most MMORPGs feature “live” events to commemorate special days, such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas. You’d get limited edition items and fun themed quests. If you’re enterprising, you’d also get to make a fast buck by stocking up on those limited items and selling them after the event is over.

But I never saw a game commemorate April Fool’s Day until Guild Wars.

In the last two years, the game brought joy and laughter to players by turning them into funny things on April 1st.

Last year, everyone got turned into stick men.

This year, we all got turned into Gwen-chan. It was very well-received.

Gwen is an important NPC whom everyone loves because she features very largely in the game’s storyline. She normally looks like this:

Anyway, there was some kind of glitch where newly-created characters didn’t get turned into Gwen-chan, and that led to a lot of hilarious roleplaying among gamers.

Whereever there was a normal player, a huge school of Gwen-chans would surround him or her.

Players spoke in baby talk and pretended that the normal players were parents.

By unspoken agreement, the normal players would dance and all the Gwen-chans would crowd around and watch, and make inane, kiddy comments.

Overheard: “Why are we all gathered around the naked lady?”

Overheard: “DAAAAAAAAAADDY!!!!”

At one point when everyone was crowding around two “daddies” and feeling deprived of maternal care, someone suddenly shouted: “There’s a mommy by the storage!!” (storage = bank)

A few Gwen-chans rushed over to the storage and started MOMMMMMMMYing the mommy, but I think she was AFK or busy sorting her inventory or something and didn’t respond.

After a while, one of the Gwen-chans complained, “YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A MOMMY!”

And: “Daddy are you AFK??????”

LOL.

This one’s a good mommy:

And good daddies:

This is me attempting to pull Swordplay’s hair:

Haha, yes. Swordplay is the one kneeling on the floor.

I logged in the game but didn’t play (in the sense of adventuring and questing). After participating in the cutesy roleplay for half an hour or so, I basically just left my avatar there and, while doing other stuff on my computer, occasionally checked in to read the chat and laugh.

It was a total riot. I’m already looking forward to next year’s April Fool’s Day! Um, that is, I hope I’ll still be playing Guild Wars by then.

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Results of last week’s contest

Ahtiong is a lucky boy! He is about to win yet another GGF prize. This is his fourth time in five months! How cool is that? This week, he wins for himself a copy of Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition!!

Congratulations, ahtiong! I will contact you this time I since I already have your contact info, several times over. *lol*

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Win Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition!!

So, what’s the matter, huh? You people tired of getting free stuff, or was last week’s contest too difficult?

I still have four copies of this to give away.

Fine, I’ll make it easier this time. Just answer these two questions if you want a copy!

1. At the German Games Convention 2008, 16% of participants said they’d had a game account stolen by hackers.

a) No way!

b) True.

2. What exactly is Gamer Mode in Norton AntiVirus Gaming Edition?

a) The opposite of a younger brother: Won’t bother you while you’re in the middle of a game, but keeps you protected throughout.

b) Something that automatically suspends updates, alerts, and other background activities when the system goes into full screen mode.

c) All of the above.

Closing Date: April 9, 2009, 11:59 pm.

Find out more about Norton Antivirus Gaming Edition here.

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I’ve been wondering whether I should spread GGF out and, like, publish one small entry a day, rather than compile everything at the end of each week.

It would probably be easier for you as a reader and for me as a writer, no? The only problem would be that the name Gamer Girl Friday would become a misnomer.

What think you?