I think it’s an understatement to say that most gamers are well familiar with Super Mario Bros 3 by now. While Super Mario Bros reinvented the platformer and introduced us to Mario’s first platforming action game (Mario Bros and Donkey Kong notwithstanding) and Super Mario Bros 2 (US) introduced us to some crazy characters, better graphics and more moves, Super Mario Bros 3 takes the all the basics of the first game and expands upon the advances we saw in the second. Super Mario Bros 3 was the first Mario game to introduce us to the map and the possibility of nonlinear level progression (outside of warps, of course).

In addition, the graphics improved well past even Super Mario Bros 2’s colorful world and detailed characters to deliver one of the prettiest games on the NES. The sprites are large, expressive, and most importantly, add to the atmosphere of the levels. Speaking of the levels, there is a great variety here (grassy, desert, water, ice, castle, cloud, and everyone’s favorite, big world), and nearly every level has secret areas to explore with coins, one-ups, or power-ups. Most secrets are reliant on you using this games defining power-up: the magical racoon-tail-that-allows-you to fly-empowering leaf. It’s surprising that even today, the ability to fly through the clouds in even the first level still holds the wonderment it did back when it was released. It almost feels like going into an a forbidden territory in the game, a place where Mario had never been able to reach. In addition to the tail, you can also receive the Tanooki suit (an upgraded version of the leaf but Mario is completely in a raccoon suit and can turn into a statue on command…man, where did these wacky ideas come from?), the Frog suit (allowing you to swim exquisitely and be useless on land…try an airship with the frog suit, it’s loads of fun), the excellent hammer bros suit, the one level only Kuribo’s Shoe (best item ever), and of course the classic fireflower. These powers are distributed gradually as you progress and are in many ways one of the most defining parts of the game. None of the games following it or before it included as much variety as this one.

The difficulty in the game tends to be on the easy side, but there is a good challenge that really ramps up as you progress towards the end of the game. Also, the game is never cheap with its difficulty, it just is challenging and based on skill or enemy placement.

The music is a wonderful score provided by Koji Kondo that varies from upbeat pop to doom and gloom metal and rock. Each world has its own map theme, and most themed levels also have their own music. It’s a lengthy, diverse soundtrack that is right up there with all the other classic Nintendo soundtracks of the time.

The Game Boy Advance release improves several aspects, most of the graphical improvements were already seen in the Super Mario All-Stars version of the game. Everything is much sharper, the backgrounds are more detailed and similar to Super Mario World, and the characters have much more detail as well, looking closer to their Mario World counterparts. In addition, there is the ability to save anywhere and quit, although these quicksaves are lost once loaded one time. It’s a handy feature that allows you to stop progress between castle saves and not have to lose any ground. This version, like the other Mario Advance games also adds in Mario Bros Classic, which, while a decent time waster, after 5 minutes, it begins to lose its appeal. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, the game allows you to unlock new levels and powers

(the feather!) through the e-reader device. Good idea, but in practice this proves to be kind of impractical and expensive just to use. While e-readers have gotten considerably cheaper due to their unpopularity, it is still pretty annoying that in order to fully play the game, an entire new piece of hardware much be purchased PLUS cards to unlock the new material. Annoying. Regardless, all the new stuff added is simply adding on to an already classic game.

Mario 3 was a hugely hyped game in its time, and has continued to sell well and be fondly remembered to this day. If you haven’t ever played it (however unlikely that may be), be sure to pick up the excellent Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 for GBA, and an e-reader if you can find one, so you can enjoy some great new content.

The Information is kind of a strange story of how it came to be but shows that Beck grows as an artist as much as he looks back to his past and re-works what he knows he does so well (and of course I mean make random words-a-plenty funk rock). He started work on it before even starting to think of 2005’s Guero, but he put it aside till after Guero, and the remixed sister album Guerolito.

The album seems to start out with the same energy and vibe as Odelay and Guero with upbeat songs like “Elevator Music”, “Think I’m In Love”, and “Cellphone’s Dead”. Everything is upbeat, with Beck’s stereotypical voice and sound for the first four tracks. Then it changes it up just a bit for “Soldier Jane”, a great song that really sets you up for my favorite song on the album, “Nausea”. It is a fast-paced, quick song that throws a lot at you with synthesizers, voices, as well as Beck’s singing and great acoustic guitar work. The whole song really seems like it could be the musical definition of nausea. Not that it gets you sick, but it has certain music qualities that just seem to give you the impression of it.

The Information slows down and lets you recover from the chaos of “Nausea” with three smoother more flowing songs all work beautifully together. Beck then goes into his most rap-esque song in the perfectly titled “1,000BPM”, a good venture for him, but ultimately quite repetitive. He has two songs that sound a lot more like your standard Beck song next with “Motorcade”, and “The Information”. “Movie Theme” is up next on the list and it sounds as though if you took out Beck’s vocals it would be the perfect song for almost any video game, it really is a lovely start to the end of the album. Now we arrive at the end, which clocks in at a quite lengthy 10+ mins. Don’t let the length scare you, however, it is really listenable, even if the last third of the song, called “Exoskeleton”, is a man talking over a ghostly otherworldly musical score about a spaceship. It really lays the album to rest, not suddenly but carefully, and leaves you thinking a bit, either about “what the hell is that doing there?”, or about the exoskeleton of this mythical spaceship.

That is the end of my very limited musical review of the album, but I don’t think you can rate an album on music alone, as it really is a lovely thing to behold outside of the musical realm as well. It comes packed with extras including a DVD with videos for every single song on the album, all taped by Beck’s friends. They aren’t all high production value pieces but they enhance the Beck experience so much, and compliment it like a good side of rice. In addition to the DVD, you also get to personalize the album art with a large batch of stickers, and a blank palette on the front and back to make the album truly ‘your’ album. The CD/DVD combos were shipped with six different packs of stickers, so everyone has a different pack of stickers, the tools with which they can creatively express themselves.

With all things considered I can’t say for certain this is my favorite Beck album, but I can say it really is a completely enjoyable experience that I love going through over and over again. It really is one of his top efforts, a complete album with a complete package.

In 2004, Square-Enix decided to re-release Final Fantasy I & II a second time in the US as Dawn of Souls for Game Boy Advance (the first was the similar Final Fantasy Origins for Playstation). While the GBA version lacks the fancy cinemas of its Playstation brother, it adds new dungeons to both games to make up for it. Other than that, the two versions are very similar. I’ll go over each game indivdually. (more…)

This is a blog I made way back when. I ended up doing two VERY long blog posts on Blogger.com, and then I kinda just gave up on it due to lack of interest. I’m planning on reusing it here, and then I will have another blog post to follow and comment, because I’ve DEFINITELY changed my tune on a lot of things since. That follow-up post will happen…eventually. So, here goes (remember, IT’S LONG):

The Internet Ruined Gaming

Yup, I’ve said it, I’d say it again if I had to, and I firmly believe it. The internet has taken our glorious pasttime and turned it into a quagmire of disgruntled fanboys and vulgar competition (like my last topic). See if you can follow me…

What was the first big fanboy debate that you can think of? The first time consoles took on other consoles? For me, it was Super Nintendo vs. Sega Genesis. I have to believe that for a lot of people, this was the first one, and the big one. It seemed that everyone had to pick a side. The boys on my block all had one of the systems, but they never had the other. My best friend, Steve, who lived across the street had a SNES, as did Mike who lived around the corner. David and myself, we had a Genesis.

Now, it wasn’t because I didn’t like the SNES that I bought a Genesis. It was because, frankly, I was about 12 years old and had to rely on Christmas and my birthday for any video gaming to come into the house. And seeing as how my birthday is almost a month to the day after Xmas, I had a LOT of time during the year for waiting. It would have been extremely greedy of me to ask my parents to buy not only one gaming console and games for it, but to follow up the next year with ANOTHER game system. I mean, they were already worried enough that video games were keeping me from playing outside enough. They weren’t going to double those odds.

So it wasn’t out of spite that I didn’t own an SNES. It was out of circumstance. I had no problems going over to Steve’s house almost everyday after school and playing SNES games. But goddamn, did I love my Genesis. I mean, I was adamant (and still am) that while I would play the EA Sports games on Steve’s SNES, the Genesis versions I owned were far superior. I grew to love the feeling of speed with Sonic, the irreverent joy of Earthworm Jim, the odd shooting fun of Vectorman, and the great feeling of Aladdin on the Genesis being the superior version. I wasn’t an anti-Nintendo fan. Far from it. I loved my NES and there were plenty of SNES games I liked (Turtles in Time, Super Mario World), but the main reason I wasn’t as big on the SNES was that a lot of the time, I would be watching Steve play RPGs like Breath of Fire and Chrono Trigger.

Anyway, outside of my own world, Sega and Nintendo were going at it, but it seemed at the time to be less cutthroat. I wondered why recently, because I’m sure that if Nintendo could have done to Sega what Sony did with the PS2, they probably would have done it, and vice versa for Sega. And I came to this conclusion: it was because you had to talk to people to argue with them.

Think about talking about politics/religion/video games/etc. To someone in real life. You probably will be more deliberate in what you say, think before you speak, try to monitor your language, and be more persuasive because there is such a great feeling from getting someone to agree with or at least understand your point of view. Humans are social creatures, and I know I get a much more palpable feel of excitement when I can discuss something I find of interest with REAL PEOPLE. Best example is when I go to MAGFest in Virginia. Being able to talk to people who are seriously interested in video games and have strong opinions about certain topics is such a great feeling. It’s like you’re suddenly transported out of the regular world and into a world of understanding. Even something simple as talking football with someone is a great feeling, because you get so many different points of view, reinforce some of your own thoughts, and walk away (hopefully) knowing more and having more to think about.

All of this has changed thanks to the internet. When I post on a message board to people I’ve never seen and never will, I could care less about monitoring my vulgarity (as seen in my last topic) or persuading someone. It becomes (much like this blog) a sermon of sorts, and less of a negotiation or compromise between two points of view. Also, unlike in the past where you were essentially discussing gaming with your own age group, the variance in ages for discussion have increased immensely due to the internet. Sure, a 20 year old brother can talk about gaming with his 15 year old brother, but for the most part, when you talk about games with your friends, and that variance in ages doesn’t really differ all that greatly. On internet message boards, you can run the gamut from 30 year old gamers to 12 year old gamers, and when that happens, the level of discussion changes greatly. I mean, in real life, when you talk your grandparents (if you have any soul whatsoever), you give them the time of day, try to show them some proper respect, and give them a sense of importance in what they are saying. If you did not know your grandparents and they tried to tell you something on a message board, would you even give a damn?

There are always exceptions to the rule. Certain message boards I go to have a great amount of extremely nice and courteous people, who enjoy their passions and want to make everyone feel welcome, as long as they aren’t giant assholes. There are even certain message boards that, while mainly populated with insensitive morons who can’t avoid flame posts, have a percentage of people who post intelligent, well reasoned lines of thought. These are the people that I enjoy reading, because it’s like finding a great pair of pants at Goodwill. Something special about that…

But what I really yearn for is a return to the days of gaming before the internet. When games didn’t have to constantly be released. When discussions were relegated to real life debates instead of message board flaming. When video game magazines were thick as Vanity Fair upon the release of a new game console. When the game itself spoke volumes instead of the spectacle of marketing shows.

It certainly doesn’t give me hope that the one console company I chose to love has gone the way of the dodo when it comes to creating consoles. It’s like how my favorite new show of the season, “Just Legal”, was recently cancelled….Only times 100. It’s like being flicked by a little kid to your left, and when you go to tell him to stop, some guy comes and punches you in the stomach on your right. It’s like something you started to enjoy was ended, and you can’t really do much about it because the market decides what survives. The market has brought so much growth and prosperity, but it can, at times, also damage the soul and what the soul desires…

So while I can hope for a return to the past, the truth is the future is all that lies ahead, and I weep for the future.

One cannot see the word “Excite” preceding a type of vehicle without recalling the splendor of the original Excitebike. Excitebike consisted of little more than ramps and other obstacles and a rough racing setup, but it was fun. Lots of fun. Excitebike 64 sounded like a good idea, but it ended up being little more than most other motocross games at the time. News of Excite Truck for the Wii launch got me revved up, but I remained cautious. Early video of the game eased my worries though; the game looked fast and furious, perhaps too fast and too furious.

On the advent of the Wii launch, I decided that Excite Truck would be the only game I purchased. Why not Zelda? Because I didn’t have time to dedicate to it. But Excite Truck looked fun enough that it could satiate my gaming needs. And it did.

At first, Excite Truck seems very difficult. The controls are sensitive and take some time to get used to. To steer the trucks, all that is required is holding the Wii remote sideways and tilting it like a steering wheel. There is obviously no resistance like a real steering wheel, so it is easy to get a little too wild and crazy. The game is fast, and there are humongous jumps and fast, sharp turns. And lots of trees to crash into. There is a bit of Zen tranquility required to master the game, and learning to calm down and deeply focus is very rewarding.

This Zen calmness is necessary to tackle the many challenges that Excite Truck presents. Aside from standard racing, there are rings and spins that give points required to pass the various courses. Courses are won not by finishing first, but by getting a B rank or better. The rank is determined by the points aquired in the race. Spins and ring bonuses provide one way to get points, drifting and “tree runs” and crashing into other racers another, and your finishing place gives you a bonus. It is possible to S-rank a course and not even come close to 1st place, so players can develop their own style.

As far as the actual courses go, there are a few different locales that the races take place in covering several terrain types. These locales are expanded upon in each cup providing familiar, yet new courses.

Beating and S-ranking the normal difficulty opens up an expert mode, which uses the same courses but increases the points requirement and makes the opponents harder. S-rank this mode and get an extra, out-of-this-world course.

As courses are completed, more and more trucks are unlocked. There is enough variety in the trucks that it’s hard not to find one to love, but it’s also easy to find ones to hate.

Excite Truck is vibrant and colorful, and when combined with the speed of the game, the limits of the graphics are well hidden. The real graphics power of the Wii is still unknown, and while Excite Truck could look better for a next-gen game, it still looks quite nice.

The weakest part of Excite Truck is by far the sound. The music is just… not that great. Fortunately, if you own an SD card, you can play your own songs in the game. This works really well, and is much better than listening to the default music.

Excite Truck is a love-it-or-hate-it game. Most people will either instantly fall in love with the cheap thrills or get so frustrated at the touchy controls. From my experience, most people I know fall in the former category. It takes a bit of getting used to, but Excitetruck has a lot of simple fun to offer.

I almost dread writing this review because I already know that most people that have a DS have Mario Kart, and most everyone knows it is great. In other words, there’s a good chance I’m already preaching to the converted here. With that in mind, and considering the scope of the game, I’ll try to keep this brief.

This iteration of Mario Kart, developed by the same crew that brought us Mario Kart 64, is quite possibly the best game in the series. Instead of trying to emulate any certain game in the series, it takes all of them and incorporates all the best elements from each one. It even includes choice tracks from each game from the SNES version up to the Gamecube version.

Graphically, this game is really pretty, looking a little less sharp than the Gamecube one, but the characters and environments are very animated nonetheless. The music varies from forgettable to reprises of famous Mario and Mario Kart tunes to the slightly aggravating (the waiting to connect to wifi music get old pretty fast), but overall it’s not bad. Control is great, perhaps the best the series has had. It has the tightness of Double Dash, but it also features a tweaked powerslide and the return of the hop from the older games.

What I really like about this game is the full-featuredness of it. It is a well thought out and well rounded game. There is just the right amount of challenge without it being frustrating, and it has plenty of hidden material as incentives for multiple playthroughs. Not that you need much incentive, because the tracks are great. The old tracks span every game, and the new ones vary from themes of new and old Mario games to new crazy ideas (Waluigi Pinball!). The game also has a nice mission mode which serves as a tutorial at first, but later helps you truly master all of the moves in the game. In some ways, I find it very remiscent of the mini-games in Crazy Taxi, where after you had completed them, you found yourself markedly better at the game. The multiplayer modes are also rather varied and fun for up to 8 people wireless. The battle mode makes a return, which is still pretty fun, but as opposed to Double Dash’s battle mode which was one of its best features, this one just never seemed to pull me in. To date, while I have over 800 matches in race, I have only 9 matches in battle. What’s there is fun, but the racing portion is the real star.

In addition, a Wifi mode has also been added which allows you to play 4 others via the internet (racing only). For being the first title with internet support, this game plays pretty great on it. There are some issues that should have been fixed regarding drop-outs and snaking, but overall, it is a fun and easy way to play friends online. The game has however become a hotbed for cheaters and heavy snakers in recent months, so be sure to play with people you know. It’s much more fun that way anyway.

As I mentioned briefly, the practice of snaking (powersliding back and forth on straightaways to gain more speed over your opponent to get large leads) is very annoying and creates an unfair advantage for people who choose not to do it or simply are new to the game. In future games, this should be changed to not be allowed, as it makes racing head to head or online very frustrating sometimes. Of all the things this game did right, this is one exploit that makes the game completely unfun when facing others online or “expert” players. Some people argue whether it should be allowed or not, but my personal feeling is that if it’s not something everyone can do and it is obviously exploiting a feature in the game (powersliding, in this instance), it’s definitely not something that should be in there.

Regardless of that annoyance, the game is extremely well rounded and easily one of the best games for the DS. If you want a game you can easily play with friends for hours and hours, this is certainly that game. Just make sure they play fair.

One could say that Comedy is dead.

Practically everything that has recently been released in theaters has degenerated into a shock and gross out fest that not only seeks to offend the audience, but make them lose their lunch while doing so. Just follow the formula and you have a guaranteed hit. Put some comedic actors in costumes and outrageously zany situations, usually involving sexual organs, then throw in random celebrity cameos that wouldn’t even be allowed on The Surreal Life (no offense, Webster), write a screenplay and edit a film that barely scratches the 90 minute mark, and toss it in the reel. Little Man certainly does not help turn the tide away from these trends. (more…)

Forget all the subgenres—Chief Beef is straight up, in-your-face, passionately performed rock music. And so it follows that the title of the Phoenix, AZ based band’s debut album, Something about Rock, couldn’t have been more aptly named. Pull up a chair, sit down at the table of rock, and prepare for a hefty plate of the tastiest of musical meats. (more…)

With the Wii launch coming and going, there’s been time for us to take in everything that the system has had to offer so far. One of the numerous launch titles that may have been under looked was Trauma Center: Second Opinion, created by Atlus. Some of you may recognize the game for starting off on the DS as Trauma Center: Under the Knife (which Zach happens to review). This new version of the surgery drama game is actually a “retelling” of its portable relative, with a revamped control scheme in the form of the Wii remote and a good amount of bonus material added to the main storyline. But is this enhanced remake of a cult classic worth a full 50 dollars, especially to those who have played the game already? (more…)

Four times a year the Cyclorama in Boston’s South End fills with very happy and inebriated Massholes. These events are the quarterly Beerfests and they assume numerous guises: the New England Beerfest summons all manners of local breweries to promote their pride and joy whereas the Belgian Beerfest dishes out deliciously potent Belgian and Belgian-style brews. The so-called “Extreme” Beerfest came to town on February 9th and 10th, with the 10th being split into two sessions from 1-4:30 and 5-9:30. My friends and I attended the first session on the 10th and indulged in many an “extreme” beer. Upon entering we were each given a 4oz plastic cup with a 2oz marking, indicating the pour level for each beer. Tickets were $30 but you could drink as much beer as you wanted to, in 2oz increments.

35 different breweries were present, including my favorites Stone, Rogue, Allagash, and Dogfish Head. By the end of the fest I had made my way around to about 26 of them, sampling at least one, if not more, brew from each. Here are the highlights:

Beginning with SixPoint Craft, we kicked off the fest with their Gemini double IPA. At a solid 105 IBUs (international bittering units) and 10.4% alc/vol, the Gemini was a pleasant palate shocker although light on the body (not much maltiness).

Boulder Beer Co.

They just had two beers available, the Killer Penguin Barley Wine which was potent and delicious and the Mojo Risin’ Double IPA. The Mojo was a limited single-batch brew and I’m grateful to this day for having the chance to try it…overflowing with luscious Amarillo hops this blasted my tastebuds with bittery goodness. Hopefully one day we’ll see this commercially available.

Goose Island Beer Co.

These guys came from Chicago and I tried their “Special Ed” Imperial Smok-ED Brown Goose which was brewed with 60% Weyerman beechwood-smoked malt and barrel aged for 4 months. Wow, what a delicious smokey beer, I’ve been off of brown ales ever since I had 3 skunked Newcastles in a row but this might just have been what I needed to get me back.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Oh glory of glories, I made a beeline to their 120 minute IPA; at a whopping 120 IBUs and greater than 18% alc/vol this brew will mess you up and good. They had a number of other brews there but their table was mobbed by drunks so I settled for my 2oz.

Sly Fox Brewing Co.

I had their Black Raspberry Reserve Fruit ale although while tasty and rather sour it just didn’t leave much of an impression.

Cambridge Brewing Co.

I go to this local microbrewery often enough an was hesitant to even try what they were offering but their Cerise Cassee caught my eye. It’s a sour-mashed beer fermented with cherries and their own strain of Belgian yeast, aged in French oak Pinot Noir and Chardonnay barrels and then further fermented with Brettanomyces. Wow, a very, very, VERY unique brew, although not something I could really drink much of in one go.

Shmaltz Brewing Co.

Ahhh, this very decidely Jewish brewery brews the so-called Chosen Beers. Definitely brought me back to my Brandeis days. Sadly, their Monumental Jewbelation was nothing to write home about despite their boasts of using 10 type of malts and 10 types of hops. Meh.

Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey

Tried their En Garde brew and I honestly can’t remember a single defining characteristic. Pass this one up if ever presented the chance.

Boston Beer Co.

Sam Adams HQ, basically. I had their 3 Weiss Men, a Weissbock-style ale that is only available at festivals. At 10% alc/vol it was rather sharp but overall pretty nondistinct. Oh well, nice try Sammy.

Rock Art Brewery

I have a bottle opener that I bought from these guys during the Belgian fest and it broke. Luckily their Riddler beer, a Belgian dubbel which contains 9 different malts won me over. Only 8%alc/vol and a paltry 32 IBUs, this beer was a tasty treat! A very mellow yet rich malty taste with some sharp overtones.

Founders Brewing Co.

Tried their Kentucky Breakfast Stout which was had tons of coffee and chocolate in it (!) and was aged in bourbon barrels for a year. The flavor was quite sharp yet pleasant, especially for a 10% alc/vol brew. I then tried their Blushing Monk, a lambic-ish brew (a pleaser for the ladies), and their Devil Dancer, an incredible Imperial IPA which had an amazingly floral nose, testament to their 13-day long dry hopping with 10 different hops.

Oskar Blues Grill and Brewery

I can’t for the life of me remember what I had here…they only had two offerings, the Gordon In A Can and the Old Chub Scottish-Style Ale In a Can. Oh well.

Stone Brewing Co.

I was VERY disappointed with their selection…a paltry TWO beers were available: Bourbon-Barrel Aged 2006 Imperial Russian Stout and the 2006 Double Bastard Ale. I had a ginormous bottle of the Double Bastard so I tried the Imperial Russian and wasn’t even interested in finishing my remaining ounce. What a letdown from an otherwise excellent brewery.

Allagash Brewing Co.

Mmmmmmmm, I had their 11th Anniversary Strong Belgian Ale which is fermented witha Champagne yeast throughout primary and secondary fermentation. 9.2% alc/vol and a blast to the palate, if given the chance to try this one again I wouldn’t pass it up.

Rogue Ales

Their Imperial Pilsner is absolutely brilliant. They only use French Pilsner malt, Sterling hops, and most importantly free-range coastal water and Czech Pilsner yeast to make a dry and utterly delicious lager. Very refreshing to have after all the barley wines and IPAs, this brew’s nose was floral yet subtle and the maltiness was like eating a delicious scoop of Ovaltine. 8.8% alc/vol and a midrange IBU of 74 makes for a perfect beer for any occasion.

John Harvard’s Brew House

Forget John Harvard’s, they’re garbage brew. At this point I was full of such good beer that nothing Mr. Harvard could piss out would be good enough.

Milly’s Tavern

Well, from this brewery onwards I was quite tipsy and was unable to further study and dissect the tastes of all the subsequent beers I had apart from “Good” and “Blech”. I’ve listed the others which I tried but I can’t remember the beers at all.

Iron Hill Brewery

Harpoon Brewery

Troegs Brewing Co. (I apparently bought two shirts from them too).

Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.

Stone Coast Brewing Co.

Overall the Extreme Beerfest was a delightful assault of hops and ethanol; what saddens me greatly is that many of these brews are not sold commercially in MA or at all, and thus appreciation of said beers becomes rather difficult. Anyone planning to visit Boston should hit up beeradvocate.com and schedule their stay appropriately to coincide with any of the beerfests.