The Nomad Returns - Our 50th Article!

I think the band Staind said it best: "It's been a while." After a week long vacation through the Caribbean, I'm back and ready for more bloggy goodness. As it has been a week, I've accumulated a few stories that could be in separate postings, but I'd rather do them all now.

First off: Nomads of the Caribbean
During the past week I've been cruising through the Caribbean with my girlfriend and parents. During my travels I promised myself to be on the lookout for anything SEGA related. Unfortunately, island folk are more into sunshine and beautiful island scenery than video games. Thankfully, the Carnival Freedom (our vessel) had a decent arcade. SEGA made up about half of the units, two of which were brand spankin' new House of the Dead 4 machines. Luckily, the larger of the two HOTD4 units had 20 credits left on it so I played through a bulk of the game. Check out some of the SEGA arcade units below.


I had never played a Metal Slug game before, and I was blown away by how balls-to-the-walls awesome it was! Donkeys with rear mounted machine guns really do make a game.

Outside the arcade was a much larger area devoted to gaming: the casino! Now I'm not a gambling man myself, but if a man like Ryo Hazuki can try a few games then why can't I? I quickly lost $15 at slots and then earned back $20 on one quarter. Not content with winning $5, I dropped one more quarter. The wheels spun and... Jackpot. I won $175! My luck continued in a poker tournament in which I won third place and a cash prize. What is a gamer to do with an excess of cash? Put it towards my student loans? I think not! Upon returning home I bought an XBOX 360 (20gb, refurbished) and a handful of used Sonic games (and yes, that includes the abysmal Sonic '06. What can I say, I'm a masochist and GameSpot had a 2 for 1 sale).


Aside from SEGA (which really was only .5% of the trip), my vacation included many great times including stingrays, beaches, breathtaking waterfalls and even a chance to meet the stunt double for Q from the Bond film Licence to Kill. It's good to be back, but I still miss the chocolate buffet.

Another SEGA Classic Hits the iPhone and yet again it's badly emulated.

While I was gone, Streets of Rage hit Apple's App Store. The frame rate is atrocious, as evidenced in this video. Usually I link to the app store, but from what I've seen I'd rather not endorse this. Stick with the cartridge, kids. Better yet, pop the cartridge into your SEGA Nomad for some on-the-go brawlin'!