So without further interruption, on with the show:

Would you like to see more of this? Let me know in the comments here or on YouTube. Still have a few audio/video bugs to figure out – but for the most part, didn’t do too bad (considering I haven’t recorded anything in a while).

Mhykol Mines – This series gives you the basic walkthrough of somebody playing through Minecraft and covering all the basics. Mhykol does a great job at putting together videos that follow him through building up various traps, bases and other things through the game of Minecraft and keeps things interesting enough that you want to see what might come up next in his mining adventures.

Etho’s Lab – If you are more of an inventor, rather than an explorer – you might like the videos Etho has put together.  From building simple dark room traps to loot the booty from the various mobs in the game to creating complicated devices to make you time in Minecraft easier – Etho does a fantastic job at creating elaborate devices in Minecraft.  After watching a few videos you literally can’t wait to see what kind of wacky devices he will come up with next.

Coe’s Quest – Now I have touched upon Coe’s Quest before in an earlier post and everything I said back then still applies. Like Mhykol’s videos, Coe does a great job at taking you through an interesting task or adventure in every video.  If anybody was going to ask me for a basic tutorial or guide to getting started in Minecraft, I would definitely send them to Coe’s Quest.

The Yogscast – The Yogscast is far different from other Minecraft videos out there.  Taking a more entertaining route, Simon and Lewis go through various "adventure" maps that people have created and also take a look at a lot of the various mods out there for Minecraft.  The videos are always have the right balance of comedy mixed with adventure.

So there you have it. These are the four best Minecraft series I have found on YouTube as of late.  Let me know what you think or if you have found any other Minecraft series worth checking out yourself.

You start the game off with your axe and pick, and you’ll need to chop away at the trees or the earth to create your first little home.  As you explore, you will find more items you can craft with – mix together and make new objects with.  You can then keep digging deep under ground and find elaborate dungeons, and enormous bosses.

Check out the Terraira trailer here:

To wrap things up, I think Terraria does a great job at doing some of the same things Minecraft does – but in it’s own unique way. Calling it a Minecraft clone or a 2D Minecraft does not do it justice as the game has much more going on for it past the mining and digging.  I am excited to see how the game will develop more in the future, and wish the creators the best of luck with it.

Want to give it a shot? Head over to Terraria.org!

Steel Diver

Ever want to pilot your own submarine? No? Well, me neither – however Steel Diver still takes the cake when it comes to delivering a fun and unique experience. It is essentially a submarine simulation game that kind of mashes up the gameplay from strategy games and arcade shooters.  The periscope mini game missions (where you can turn yourself 360 degrees to look for ships to shoot) is really fun too.

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition

Fighting games on portable systems usually suck due to lack of features and poor controls.  This variation of Street Fighter though is thankfully the exception to that rule.  Sure, "professional" players might be turned off a ‘bit by it – however the inclusion of the touchpad combos and special moves for me, makes it a much more enjoyable experience.  It keeps the gameplay fast and you won’t have to worry about spamming Hadoukens by pressing the touch screen cause the computer will often counter you quickly.

Pilotwings Resort

Last but not least, you have Pilotwings Resort.  This game (especially with the 3D turned on) is amazing to look at and play too.  The best way to sum it up quickly would be if you took the flying parts of Wii Sports Resort and made them into their own game – plane and simple.  Really fun and there is always the challenge of beating your previous score in many of the missions.

Overall, I am pretty happy with all three game choices.  Each showcases the abilities of the 3DS really well, and should at least be looked into if you are wanting to pick up a few more new games for your new 3DS system.

The 3DS System Itself

The first thing you’ll notice, if you have had one of the other variations of the DS systems before is this one is a little ‘bit heavy in comparison.  It is nothing mind-blowing or anything, but it is a little noticeable.  I also keep wanting to pull the stylus out of the side, even though now it has been relocated to the back of the 3DS.  The buttons and controls feel really solid, not cheap at all.  Some people have said that the fact that it is a little ‘bit bigger than the regular DS Lite is an issue, but for me it wasn’t really noticeable.

The 3DS System Software Basics

Playing around with some of the basic applications and the system itself was almost as much fun as playing the games.  I am sure eventually the novelty of running around the house taking 3D pictures of things might wear off, but right now it’s just really cool.  I’ve also thought about using the 3DS as my defacto MP3 player too.  It does have all the functionality there – but not sure yet if I want to carry it in my pocket with me everywhere I go.  Right now it is more of a really expensive baby I am taking really good care of.

Here is a quick rundown of the built-in software:

• Nintendo 3DS Camera  – Not a replacement for your expensive digital camera, but it is fun to take both 2D an 3D pictures.  There are also a lot of interesting photo effects you an add too.
• Nintendo 3DS Sound – Your standard sound recorder and player.  Comes with a few audio effects you can add too – just in case you wanted to listen to yourself in a tunnel while talking into an electric fan.
• Mii Maker – Creating a Mii from your photo is really the draw with this application.  You also have a few more items to choose from in comparison to the Wii Miis, however facial hair is still rather wonky looking.
• AR Games – A great example of what the 3DS is really capable of.  I haven’t gotten around to playing with all the cards and features, but this one is great to use when you want to show the 3DS off to a friend.
• Face Raiders – I thought this would be stupid and I was surprised by how fun it was.  You pretty much turn around with the 3DS, shooting flying faces you input into the game.
• Activity Log – Here you can check to see how long you have played each game and some other interesting stats.  I really haven’t played with the 3DS long enough to get much to show up here.

I am sure over the next few days and weeks I’ll have more to say about the 3DS, as I get a chance to play with it longer.  Overall, I can sum up the experience like this.  It was the same sort of wow factor I had when I played the Wii for the first time.  You are kind of in awe of the technology – and then realize, they the games are pretty fun too.

The bookmarklet will only work in Firefox 4 or Google Chrome – but if you are using either of those two games, you will soon find out this can be a pretty fun and addicting time waster.  When you first start it up you go through a few options to tweak and then you too can start picking up website elements with the ball you control – rolling it all over the website until you have picked up everything there is to pick up.

Want to give it a shot? Head over to kathack.com and drag the bookmark there to your bookmarks toolbar.

Coe’s Quest is the YouTube web series I ran across when I was looking for a way to do more inside of the game of Minecraft. He has a very pleasant tone about him and his videos are not filled with cuss filled rants just for the sake of cussing.  Not that I have anything against adult language – but I have been even able to show my two nephews an niece the videos without worry of having to cover their ears every two seconds.

Here is the first video – just to give you a sample of how neat this series of videos is:

You can learn more about Coe’s Quest from coesquest.com. I hope you find it as useful as I have when it comes to navigating around the world of Minecraft.

Want to take a look at what HTML5 can do? Not only is it able to give us slicker user interfaces and more tools when it comes to setting up websites, it can also be used to develop really awesome Tetris clones.  Ok, Torus might be a little ‘bit more than your average Tetris clone because it sports a nifty 3D interface.

You use your left, right, up and down keys to spin the blocks around the ring the Tetris blocks are on.  The goal is to make a complete ring of blocks (all the way around) to clear them out.  Well, I don’t really need to explain how to play Tetris to you, do I? Just think of it as a game of Tetris where you are building a cup – rather than just filling up a big wall. 

Go check out and play Torus for yourself.  You will need Firefox 4, or another HTML5 capable browser installed before you can play it – but if you do it is well worth wasting some time on.

Here recently I have been playing games like it the mid-90s all over again. How? Well, I thought it was about time I bought myself a replacement Super Nintendo.  My old SNES bit the dust the last time I tried plugging it in (it served me well) so this time I picked up one of the newer models – well as new as a system built in 1997 can be.

This new system I have now was released by Nintendo at around the end of the SNES’s lifespan. It is slimmer and lighter than the original SNES I own.  However, it might even feel too light.  When I first took it out of the box, I was a ‘bit concerned about the weight.  It really feels like it weighs nothing at all.  After doing some research though I found out that this was done on purpose.

I still love the old SNES design, mainly due to childhood nostalgia – however this new system will  hopefully be up to my wear and tear when I get in the mood to play one of my classic SNES games.

Minecraft, simply put, is a game where you go around building things for fun. If you want to go out and build a 400 foot monument to yourself, go for it.  If you want to go dig a house out of a mountain, you can do that too.  From what I have seen there really is no right or wrong way to play the game. You pretty much sit down, figure out your goal and do it.

At the core of the game, you gather resources to make things.  For example, when you start out – you can go punch a tree down.  Yes, this is as awesome as it sounds. You can then gather the pieces of wood to craft something else. You might make a crafting table, so then you can create a pick axe.  With the pick axe, you can start mining for coal to make your torches.  Then you can build a shovel to dig faster in the dirt.  Before you know it, you will have an entire fort built for yourself with animals randomly spawning in your second floor (as you can see from the picture above). 

You can download this amazing little game and play it again and again for only about $20 or so (technically, If you pre-purchase now during beta, you pay  €14.95!)  My entire Sunday was lost in Minecraft and I am sure more productivity will go down the drain soon.  How else will I finish my 200 foot tall stone badger monument?