I’ve just been checking out Serious Quitters’ Arcade which is a website containing three free arcade games designed around the theme of quitting smoking.

Before I continue, I want to be upfront that I was approached by Buzzparadise and asked to write an article about Serious Quitters’ Arcade for money. I don’t have to say nice things about it, just write about it, which seems fair to me. Well I’m a non-smoker and my dad is extremely ill from smoking and so I can wholeheartedly support the message of this site without compromising myself. I’ll also report back later if Buzzparadise actually keep their end of the deal and pay me, because if they do, and you have a blog, you might want to look into it.

One thing that Serious Quitters’ Arcade has got right is the apostrophe in its name. That’s a good start in my book of pedantry. There are three 80s-style arcade game cabinets and each one has a different arcade game as follows:

Blast N Quit

This is basically a side scrolling shooter with simple controls. It’s got a nice style of retro/mono graphics but only held my attention for a short while. It’s quite tough from the start and you have to hammer on the Ctrl key which isn’t so hot. Basically it’s just a minigame, but it has a few different powerups and different cigarette-themed enemy types. See you what you think:

Bin ‘Um

I felt this was the weakest game, it’s not even a mini-game, more like a micro-game. Basically a hand carrying a pack of fags (fags are cigarettes to you non-UK readers, not homosexuals) moves left to right and you have to stop the hand on a column that contains a bin. Then you have to hold down a button to get the correct power to throw the fags in the bin, and that appears to be it. Didn’t play for long. Check it out:

Escape From Planet Smokey

This is a vertically scrolling platformer where you have to collect coins as you leap from platform to platform whilst avoiding smoking related enemies. I actually found it quite funny because it has these women puffing out smoke in your direction and when the smoke hits you, you fall off and die. Sometimes I feel like that walking around Yaletown. You see a nice looking young lady and then she goes and ruins it by lighting up and puffing stink in your direction … sweet. Probably this is my favourite game on the site.

Apparently if you play these games that I’ve embedded on my site, a total score will be recorded for this site and it should be visible in each game’s high scores. Neat. So please help this site get into the top 10 by giving them a go. Better still, help yourself by giving up smoking.

Disclaimer:
Quittersarcade.com is built to leverage awareness about seeking help and support from your doctor to quit smoking. If you wish to quit smoking, please seek professional medical advice.

If you are reading this post expecting a conspiracy filled anti-American rant then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place (and my sneaky title worked), because this post is about Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution on XBox 360.

I bought the game a couple of weeks ago after playing a demo and have played it a lot since because it’s very addictive indeed. The aim of the game is to grow your civilization from ancient times to modern times and to win one of four victory types: Domination, Technological, Cultural, and Economic. I’m now playing the game on Deity level (the hardest level) after having beat it quite a few times on the easier levels.

I first beat Deity level with the Chinese by winning a Technological victory, but it was *hard*! For my next attempt I chose the Americans with the aim of winning an Economic victory. I had build a great civilization but was slightly behind the other civilizations in all areas and they were all warring against me because I seemed to be in the middle of the map. Then the French built and launched an Alpha Centauri colonisation ship which was going to arrive in 10 turns (thus they would win a Technological victory) and the Arabs reached 20,000 gold meaning they could build the World Bank to win an economic victory in a few turns – and I was nowhere near either type of victory!

So I had a brainwave; I got every city I had to make spies which I formed into spy rings (a group of 3 spies) and then I sent them to the nearest two Arab cities and stole their gold – huge amounts of gold. In no time at all I had 20,000 gold and then got my best production city to make the World Bank in 5 turns thus securing an economic victory! It was a pretty funny victory because I thought I was going to loose but I found a new way to turn around my fortune in no time at all – I’m pretty sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere 😉

Anyway the game is great and I totally recommend it (and all the other Civilization games) but beware that they are very addictive and, if you are a tad compulsive like me, you’ll find yourself drawn right in and up very late at night in no time. So if you’ve got a busy schedule as a game developer, you may wish to avoid 😀

I’ve recently been playing Droid Assault which I bought for only $9.95. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned another game on this blog, but this one is cool! It’s a super addictive modern-retro robot shooter in the vein of the C64 classic Paradroid. Do yourself a favour and check it out now! 🙂