Archive for Tag: Paul Franzen

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    Dear Readers: My Game Collection

    Columns Columns by Paul Franzen on

    As I have made clear many times within this virtual realm of GameCola, I am absolutely terrible at video games. This has been confirmed again recently when I combed through the list of games I own, and created a new list of games I own and beaten, and games I own and have not beaten. The results are shocking (to someone who would expect the Editor-in-Chief if a video game webazine to actually be good at video games, anyway). Out of the 331 unique games in my collection, 267 remain unbeaten, meaning I have completed a completely unimpressive 19% of my video games. This is sad. Granted, some of the games are for systems I don't even own, and some of the games I got nearly to the end but was then distracted by something newer and shinier; but the vast majority of games I own I have not completed just because I got stuck at some point and called it quits. So this, my readers, leads me to my latest life goal: to have more games in my collection beaten than I have not beaten. Send all letters of encouragement, sympathy, and bemusement to pfranzen@gamecola.net.

  • Versus Mode: Super Mario RPG vs. Kingdom Hearts

    Columns Columns by Paul Franzen on

    When I first heard about Kingdom Hearts, one of the initial things that came to my mind was a comparison of this game to Super Mario RPG. With KH being a collaboration between Squaresoft and Disney, and Super Mario RPG being a collaboration between Squaresoft and Nintendo, it seemed only natural that similarities might be conjured up between the two. To me, anyway. If you don't agree -- tough cookies. This is my first shot at writing Versus Mode, and this is the topic I wanna discuss. So sit on it, disbelieving headwire.

  • Christmas: UNLEASHED

    Blog Posts Blog Posts by Paul Franzen on

    The lights have been taken down, and stored in a cardboard box in the dank, musty basement, not to be seen again for another eleven months.  The tree, now brown with death, is in the backyard, with a

  • Ice Hockey (NES)

    Reviews Reviews by Paul Franzen on

    In a world of ultimately customizable hockey games, it's refreshing to have a game like Ice Hockey.

  • Carbonated News (February 2004)

    News Posts News Posts by Paul Franzen on

    - The "Walkman of the next century", aka the "PlayStation Portable", is reported to have a release date for November of this year.  According to the official PlayStation website, the PSP is confirmed

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    Dear Readers: Did We Make the Right Choice?

    Columns Columns by Paul Franzen on

    You know what I'm grateful for? That I can finally write one of these introductory articles without sounding like a total toolbox. The last several "Dear Readers"s have been all about getting more people to write for GameCola, or how awesome the newest issue is.. finally, now, I can talk without having to shill something.

  • Dragon Warrior VII (PS1)

    Reviews Reviews by Paul Franzen on

    Dragon Warrior VII is one of the better RPGs that I've played for PlayStation.

  • Carbonated News (January 2004)

    News Posts News Posts by Paul Franzen on

    - Well it sure took them long enough.  Sega is in the process of suing Electronic Arts over EA's 2001 Simpson's Road Rage.  Sega is claiming that Road Rage was designed to "deliberately copy and imi

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    Dear Readers: The Janish.

    Columns Columns by Paul Franzen on

    Dear Readers,This is it, gamefans. This is the issue you've all been waiting for: the WrestleMania of GameCola. Or, if you don't fancy yourself a fan of the fake fights: The Super Bowl of GameCola. (Not that I'm one to endorse football in any way -- I'm just trying to provide a decent analogy for you.) This, the January issue of 2004, is the biggest, most important issue of the past twelve months, and you are mere moments away from diving head-first into it. Are you ready?

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    Dear Readers: Please Send Me Stuff for the Janish!

    Columns Columns by Paul Franzen on

    I trust that you all read my "Dear Readers," column last month. If you missed it, I basically said that GameCola is looking for your guest reviews and top 10 lists for our super-duper January extravaganza issue (interested in writing either? Contact me via pfranzen@gamecola.net.). After writing that month's column, I realized that I'd forgotten something. In last year's New Year's Special, we started featuring a few new monthly columns. These new columns were written by new staff members, and we started them in the January issue to add to that particular issue's mystique.