For the week of October 18 – 24: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Borderlands, Famitsu’s 40/40, NXE update preview and Doom gets fancy.
Mucho releasiosos this week, mucho reviewio and more framed vagina shots than you can shake a stick at!
NEW RELEASES
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
This week the COOP crew had a great discussion about the newly released Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Why didn’t I talk about it last week when it was released? Well in case you haven’t noticed I try and keep my efforts to a minimum and waited for someone else to do the work for me so I can post that.
Game looks fantastic. A little Prince of Persia environment navigation, a little Indiana Jones adventuring, humongous set pieces to explore, interesting story and some of the highest quality productions to date.
Borderlands
Also out this week, Boarderlands, a post apocalyptic FPS with a heavy lean on loot drops, RPG upgrading and procedurally generated guns. A FPS Diablo from Fallout 3 with an amazing art style if you will. The ability to run through the campaign online with three other players sounds like a lot of fun too.
Giantbomb.com’s got my back this week with another great video review!
NEWS
Japanese game publication Famitsu has some interesting news tucked away inside its latest issue. Known for being incredibly stingy with its perfect 40/40 score has awarded Sega’s latest release Bayonetta with the award. Could it be the game is rightfully deserving or the gratuitous T&A?
It comes from the director of Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe which are both pretty great games so I’m willing to hold my tongue until I pass judgement. I just can’t help but see the Ms. Lemon character from 30 Rock all sexed up and kicking demon butt.
Peep the game trailer.
List of games Famitsu has awarded the coveted 40/40 score.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, Nintendo, for Nintendo 64)
Soulcalibur (1999, Namco, for Dreamcast)
Vagrant Story (2000, Square Co., Ltd., for PlayStation)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003, Nintendo for Nintendo GameCube)
Nintendogs (2005, Nintendo, for Nintendo DS)
Final Fantasy XII (2006, Square Enix, for PlayStation 2)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Nintendo, for Wii)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008, Konami, for PlayStation 3)
428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de (2008, Sega, for Wii)
Dragon Quest IX (2009, Square Enix, for Nintendo DS)
Monster Hunter Tri (2009, Capcom, for Wii)
Bayonetta (2009, Sega, for Xbox 360)
Take note that half of this list comes from the past two years. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised anymore?
Giantbomb.com has also put up an early look at the latest NXE update coming this November. Major additions include a bunch of social networking junk. Check and post to your Facebook and Twitter. The LastFM integration could be useful if you’ve got a nice entertainment system hooked up to your tv.
Finally via Game Set Watch comes a Doom re-imagining that melts my heart.
For the week of October 11 – 17 - Brutal Legend review, New Super Mario Brothers Wii and we get Brutal.
REVIEWS Just a short update this week to remind you that Brutal Legend has finally hit the shelves to some glowing and some mixed reviews. While no one is arguing the genius of the art work, characters and writing, the actual game play is getting people talking. Some calling it the jack of all trades and master of none.
At the games core, it’s an RTS with a short but super concentrated single player campaign. I was hoping for a longer single player experience since I think the Brutal Legend world and characters deserve it but if online multiplayer is your thing, then you’re in luck.
Also I really wanted to link the commercial that Film Riot has made for the game. So, so funny.
For the week of October 04 – 10: A screen saver that’ll make your jaw drop, Brutal Legend and Platinum Hits.
Possible the most ingenious screen saver I’ve ever witnessed. Get this, computer goes into screen saver mode and a mosaic of your favourite NES games appear in small tiled windows and begin looping through the game. Cool right? Well chew on this. At any point you can take control of the game of your liking and begin playing from the same moment that was only playing on demo mode a moment ago. Brilliant!
From the mind of Tim Schafer, the man that brought you Maniac Mansion (tools programmer), The Secret of Monkey Island (co-writer), Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (co-designer/co-writer), Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (co-designer/co-producer/co-director/co-writer), Full Throttle (writer/designer/project leader), Grim Fandango (project leader/writer/designer), Psychonauts (creative director/co-writer/designer) comes Brütal Legend!!! Not really anything new to add here, but simply a reminder that it’s coming to melt your face next week.
In case you are still on the fence on whether this game is metal enough, check out the track listing. Over 100 examples of madness!
“A Serpentine Crave” Bishop of Hexen
“Ad Notics” Rotting Christ
“Am I Evil?” Diamond Head
“Angel Witch” Angel Witch
“Angels Don’t Kill” Children of Bodom
“Assault Attack” Michael Schenker Group
“Back at the Funny Farm” Motörhead
“Battle Angels” Sanctuary
“Battle Hymn” Judas Priest
“Believer” Ozzy Osbourne
“Betrayal” Lita Ford
“Birth of the Hero” Tvangeste
“Blackout” Scorpions
“Blitzkrieg” Deathstars
“Bomber” Girlschool
“Breadfan” Budgie
“Cathode Ray Sunshine” Dark Tranquillity
“Children of the Grave” Black Sabbath
“Crack the Skye” Mastodon
“Cremation” King Diamond
“Cry of the Banshee” Brocas Helm
“Dawn of Battle” Manowar
“Deadly Sinners” 3 Inches of Blood
“Destroy the Orcs” 3 Inches of Blood
“Diary of a Madman” Ozzy Osbourne
“Die For Metal” Manowar
“Dr. Feelgood” Mötley Crüe
“Drink the Blood of the Priest” Brocas Helm
“Fast as a Shark” Accept
“For the Glory Of” Testament
“Free Your Hate” KMFDM
“Frost” Enslaved
“Girlfriend” Kabbage Boy
“God of Thunder” Kiss
“Goliaths Disarm Their Davids” In Flames
“Hall of the Mountain King” Savatage
“Her Ghost in the Fog” Cradle of Filth
“High Speed Dirt” Megadeth
“Holiday” Scorpions
“Ignisis Dance” Wrath of Killenstein
“In the Black” Motörhead
“Insomnia” Dark Fortress
“Kickstart My Heart” Mötley Crüe
“Lay It Down” Ratt
“Leather Rebel” Judas Priest
“Live Wire” Mötley Crüe
“Loke” Enslaved
“Love Dump” Static-X
“Machine Gunn Eddie” Nitro
“March of the Crabs” Anvil
“Marching Off to War” Motörhead
“Master Exploder” Tenacious D
“Murmaider” Dethklok
“Metal Church” Metal Church
“Metal Storm/Face the Slayer” Slayer
“Metal Thrashing Mad” Anthrax
“More Than Meets the Eye” Testament
“Mr. Crowley” Ozzy Osbourne
“Mr. Scary” Dokken
“Narita” Riot
“Never Say Die” Black Sabbath
“Nightstalker” Cloven Hoof
“No Love Lost” Carcass
“Oblivion Instrumental” Mastodon
“One Shot at Glory” Judas Priest
“Overnight Sensation” FireHouse
“Painkiller” Judas Priest
“Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” Dimmu Borgir
“Pure Evil” Iced Earth
“Queen of Desire” Ostrogoth
“Queen of the Masquerade” Crimson Glory
“Riding the Storm” Running Wild
“Rip the System” KMFDM
“Road Racin” Riot
“Rock Bottom” UFO
“Rock of Ages” Def Leppard
“Skeleton on your Shoulder” Coroner
“Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” Prong
“So Frail” Mirrorthrone
“Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery” Skeletonwitch
“Stigmata” Ministry
“Still of the Night” Whitesnake
“Sulphur Injection” Apostasy
“Superbeast” Rob Zombie
“Swords and Tequila” Riot
“Symptom of the Universe” Black Sabbath
“Tag Team” Anvil
“Technical Difficulties” Racer X
“The Axeman” Omen
“The Beautiful People” Marilyn Manson
“The Hellion/Electric Eye” Judas Priest
“The Metal” Tenacious D
“The Somber Grounds of Truth” Bishop of Hexen
“The Wild and the Young” Quiet Riot
“Thieves” Ministry
“Through the Fire and Flames” DragonForce
“Thus Spake the Nightspirit” Emperor
“Tornado of Souls” Megadeth
“Warriors Dawn” Slough Feg
“(We Are) the Road Crew” Motörhead
“Welcome Home” King Diamond
“Wheels of Steel” Saxon
“When the Night Falls” Iced Earth
“Witches” Candlemass
“World of Hurt” Overkill
“Y.R.O.” Racer X
“Youth Gone Wild” Skid Row
“Zoom Club” Budgie
Convinced? Brutal Legend out (R)Oc(k)tober 13.
Grand Theft Auto IV, Street Fighter IV, Left 4 Dead, Saints Row 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed have joined the ranks of the Xbox’s Platinum Hits series. (With a small caveat) Before when a game was inducted to the “Best Sellers” list, it was assumed to be listed at $19.99, but these days that may not always be the case. No one is quite sure the new prices for these games, just that they’ll be cheaper than normal, and that’s a good thing, right? Just remember Super Street Fighter 4 was just announced and Left 4 Dead 2 will be hitting stores next month.
Until next week.
Dale can also be found over at www.8bitcyclops.com, looking at design, photography and old video game magazines.
For the week of September 27 – October 03: Super Street Fighter 4, New Final Fantasy 13 Trailer and PSP GO!
NEWS
Details for Super Street fighter 4 are starting to hit the net including a new trailer and video of the new characters. You know, for as much as the rapid fire pace Capcom released the Street Fighter 2 games back in the day frustrated me, seeing it potentially happening again feels nice in an odd way. A little bit of my formative years saying, Hey, how’s it going? Remember when this happened before?
New (Gorgeous) Super Street Fighter 4 Trailer
New Characters
PSP GO/ Rant on games moving digital
The new PSP Go hit the streets this week and so have the unboxing videos. Anybody excited about the new device? What happens to the library of UMD games you have left sitting around?
To explain, the PSP Go is the PSP in a new narrower form minus the UMD drive. There’s 16 gig’s of internal memory and a newly launched Sony store from where you can download your games and videos. As nice as the new PSP looks, I’m still not sold on gaming’s move to digital downloads. There are cases where I think it works great like with additional content, ala Burnout Paradise, but when it comes to full games, I like to have the physical copy to do what I please with. Lend it, sell it, collect it. And that goes for all media.
I have a whole closet full of old games and systems that are great to go through and play on a rainy day and I look forward to the day my son is old enough to play along with me. Even the boxes of video game magazines archiving just what exactly happened over the course of any month sitting in the corner of my bedroom that my wife grumbles at every time she walks around them.
I’m afraid that the push for digital downloads are really going to hurt us in the long run. News online is here today gone tomorrow, good luck trying to consolidate well written articles about a specific month in the future like you could when game magazines were king. 30 years from now I guarantee people won’t have that collection of great games from their past if things become strictly digital.
I suppose the idea of companies is to provide an on-demand service, so anything you’ll ever want to watch or play will be available to you, so you won’t need that great closet collection. But how many times will you have to buy the same thing over again whenever there’s a new device for the same content? There are just so many questions about the future of this proposed business model that this whole download only service has me nervous.
Case in point. Walmart used to sell music online. They decided to stop so they turned their servers off. Since all their music had DRM on it, it couldn’t call home to verify if it was ok to play on the owners computer so it locked up and became unusable. Buy it again suckers. I realize this isn’t in exact correlation with games but when you’re counting on some other company to provide you with the content you paid for you can understand my concern.
There’s also the case of re-releasing those old games you loved not always being the exact emulation of the game you remember, or being censored or the fact you’ll be playing them with a different controller on a different interface. You can’t hold onto your original experience.
Finally some more FF13 footage to gawk at recently released from this years Tokyo Game Show.
FF13 Tokyo Game Show Trailer
Until next week.
Dale can also be found over at www.8bitcyclops.com, looking at design, photography and old video game magazines.
For the week of September 20-26: Tokyo Game Show 2009 is upon us. RUN! Also, Halo 3: ODST
NEW RELEASES
Halo 3: ODST
Out this week is Halo 3: ODST. You may have heard of it. This time around, you are playing as a Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST, get it?) Personally I would prefer to play as a Goof Trooper, but life’s not perfect now is it. The time line of the game runs along the Halo 2 events and rather than the linier play though of a typical Halo game, ODST is structured a little differently.
As a Shock Trooper, you’ll be exploring an open ‘hub’ world looking for missions activated by finding special objects. A short movie will play showing the history of why the object you’ve found is the way it is, an then you play a mission based around that particular event.
Since the game is based on the Halo 3 technology, expect it to look and play a lot like Halo 3. It should be also noted that the game comes with a second disc containing all Halo 3 multiplayer maps currently available and more maps and modes have been added.
The good guys over at giantbomb.com have done a review of the game in the video format.
NEWS
It’s fall, and that can only mean one thing. That’s right, the Tokyo Game Show! You can think of it as the E3 of Japan, but only smaller with less announcements and a lot of games you probably don’t really care about.
Unlike E3, two of the days are open to the public and boy to the people ever turn out. Back when I lived in Japan, I made the trek out to Chiba a couple of times to attend the show and totally ran into Cammie from Street Fighter. At least that’s what s/he told me…
Ha, ha. Yikes! Those are some mad muscly thighs.
So while the games are fun and interesting, I find the articles of what the foreign press is getting up to be much more interesting. Because much of the time, it’s their first time to Japan, or they’re experienced and go to some really cool places. Jeremy Parish of Retronauts and his crew from 1up.com are currently in Japan and have been posting some great footage of all the retro game stores they’ve been hitting during their stay.
For the week of August 13-19: A Life Well Wasted: Episode 4, Video game Art, Coin-Op D.I.Y. and Scribblenauts makes its debut!
Hello my little Squidlets, did you miss me? I’m back in the saddle all sexy and tanned up… well, currently peeling skin from my back and feet, as you see, I don’t make it out into the sun all too often. But I do it for you! Now help me out with a spot around back I just can’t seem to get to. On the count of 3.
NEWS
The biggest news I feel going on right now is a new episode of A Life Well Wasted is out. This is episode 4 – Artists, Fans, and Engineers and according to this interview, Mr. Robert Ashley (the brains behind the outfit) has put more than 100 hours into this episode and boy does it show.
Now you’ve heard me jumping up and down trying to convince you people (you PEOPLE?!?) to tune into this incredible show and I haven’t heard so much as a peep out of you. Well you’re going to get it this week, because I’m going to do my darnedest to drum up some more interest. You can thank me later.
First a snippet from the interview with Robert Ashley from A Life Well Wasted: An internet radio show about video games and the people who love them. (via: http://bygonebureau.com)
Q: In the most recent episode, I think during the cosplay interview, you really blurred the line between the music bed supporting the interview and the interview becoming part of the song.
A: Yeah, and I’ve gotten a lot of requests from people to put out the music from the show. I can see people wanting that music, and that’s cool and everything. But what I would really like is for the actual product to be the music. I would really like to make something where the music was so good, it was so interesting, that you might want to go back and listen to it as if it were music. Sometimes I think you can push the music too far. Every moment in an interview doesn’t work as music, sometimes it’s just information, or sometimes something really low key is happening and if you put music in there you’re gonna kill any sense of what the person is actually saying. But I love the idea of trying to turn it into music, and using the language of music to communicate.
Naturally, the show can be found on the A Life Well Wasted website and might I recommend episode 2, Gotta Catch ‘em All.
From the site:
Gotta Catch ‘em All: Robert Ashley explores the world of collectors and archivists, visiting a massive underground collection of videogames, a vintage pinball museum, and a program at Stanford University that hopes to save the history of online gaming.
And if that has piqued your interest, Mr. Ashley has teamed up with an amazing designer named Olly Moss to make a poster identifying each episode. Because each show takes so long to produce, I fully support the idea, as each show needs an identity beyond any interpretation you may have gathered while listening. Plus the posers are frickin’ gorgeous.
I picked up the piece from episode one: The Death of EGM, for a number of reasons. I’ve been a game magazine junky since the early 90’s as evidenced by the photo I posted a few weeks back and I think the closure was a real landmark point in the history of games journalism. Plus I liked the design most, so bonus points on that.
Currently only 2 of the 4 posters (which are actually printed on thick art paper stock, so it sounds a bit silly calling them posters) are available at this time. More importantly they are limited to only 200 prints. Go support the show.
NEW RELEASES
The Nintendo DS has some new games out this week that have me pretty excited.
First off is Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. I was a big fan of the first Mario & Luigi RPG game for the GBA for its humours dialogue and involved timing based/turn based combat. I skipped the second game, but I’m ready to get back into the third. This being the first time I’ve played the series on the DS, I’m curious about how they’ve use the new hardware.
Also out the week, we finally see the debut of Scribblenauts! The game that blindsided everyone at this years E3 and won game of the show from numerous sites. The premise of this DS title is that it’s a puzzle game at heart and requires a lot of imagination from the player. The challenge is to collect a star on each stage by typing a word into the games dictionary to produce an object or person to help you reach that goal. It’s been reported that the game boasts over 22,000 different words so I dare you to stump it. And no, vulgar words do not produce any in game objects.
VIDEO
To close out the week, a couple of interesting videos to chew on. First is a project I wish I could get my hands dirty with. I’ve got another 2 or so years before my son is at an age where he’d appreciate something as cool as this and I think it would be an amazing project to tinker around with.
And finally a blast from the past. An old arcade trade show from the 80’s. The fashions, the sounds, the product….
For the week of August 23-29: Price cuts, Blizzcon, Batman and the Diabolical Box. Also the arcade dreams are made of!
NEWS
Last week Sony unveiled the new Playstation 3 Slim along with a much needed price cut to a competitive $300. Microsoft, never one to be shown up, followed suit this week with a price cut of their own and announced that they will be phasing out the Xbox 360 Pro model and cutting $100 off of the Elite to bring it down to $300. The remaining Pro models will be cut to $250 while supplies last, the only difference being color and the 60 gig hard drive. 1up.com has the full story.
Man, I remember buying a brand new console for $200 and it came with two controllers and an amazing game…
Blizzcon was this week. Honestly I don’t play World of Warcraft and don’t intend to. Those of you who do, have already gobbled up all the info you could and don’t need me telling you what you already know. To those who haven’t heard the news, Blizzard announced a new expansion called Cataclysm. Some are calling it some what of a WOW 2 considering they are redoing all the graphics through out and changing the game from the bottom up, so early parts of the original game may now take place later and be for only stronger characters and a few differences throughout the game world.
Also they announced a new Monk class in Diablo 3 and talked about Starcraft 2. For more information, head on over to the official Blizzcon site.
NEW RELEASES
All you brainiacs better get your think on because a new Professor Layton game for the DS is coming your way; Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box!!! My match stick puzzle skills are still sharp from the last time around and I am ready to bring this shit on!
For those not in the know, Professor Layton is a game developed by the fine people at Level 5 and published by Nintendo and entails a Professor and his boy accomplice as they solve whodunnit type mysteries and are challenged with a barrage of brain twister puzzles all set in a wonderfully animated world reminiscent of Les triplettes de Belleville.
Peep the trailer if I’ve caught your interest. I adored the first game and can’t wait to dig into this. Japan has already seen the third in the series come and go, so only localization stands in the way of our getting the third as well.
Also out this week is a game I’m sure a few of you have been waiting for and that’s Batman: Arkham Asylum. If you’re reading this on friday, you may still find it available for $39.00 CAD in select stores. I’ve been hearing a lot of positive feedback about the game which is promising. There is a demo available to give you a taste and at $40, it’s sure to be a good time. One thing to note is that the developers made the smart move and got the cast of the Batman animated series to do the voice work for the game, so Mark Hamill as the Joker as it should be.
Justin Calvert over at Gamespot gave the game a 9.0 out of a possible 10 which may sound high, but is right in line with the current score of 91 at Metacritic.com. To see if you agree with his views of the game, check out his video review.
And finally, to close out this week, we’ve got G.I. Joe’s playing scaled down coin-op machines, which I might add, are fantastically detailed. Thank you to saturdaymorningcentral.com for bringing it to my attention and you can see the full line up of machines over at the creators Flickr stream. Hats off to Big J.W. for putting his crafty skills to such a fine cause. Each machine is $20 bucks, custom build and worth every penny.
I’m going on a much needed vacation for the next 2 weeks so I won’t be able to fulfill my weekly post, but keep your eye on Giant Killer Squid as always for all the news that matters. Aloha!
For the week of August 16-22: We talk id’s newest game Rage, new PS3 Slim, XBL Indie game Dust, Shadow Complex releases and Some Kind of Bloop.
NEWS:
Quake-con was this past week and some guys from the id team (Doom, Quake, ect) were kind enough to talk about their newest project, Rage. By the sounds of it, the game is shaping up to be what sounds a little like Fallout 3. An open world, post-apocalyptic setting, mutants, ect. But considering the team behind it, I’m still excited about what’s to come.
Giantbomb.com was able to get a great interview talking about the finer points of the game and the new game engine id has been developing.
id also released a new trailer for Rage. I’m curious how balanced the car combat is to shooting and exploring. The game looks like it’s shaping up nicely but the monster designs still have that same high school notebook monster look they’re known for. Not totally a huge fan, but the world they’re presented in looks really interesting.
The XBL Indie Games scene hasn’t exactly been pumping out anything worthwhile, but considering how young it is that’s to be expected. After seeing this video, my perspective has definitely changed.
Dean Dodrill has created a 2D brawler style game called Dust, An Elysian Tail and I am astounded with what he’s been able to pull off with the animation and style. Sort of a combination between the old 16-bit Disney classics, the PS2’s Odin Sphere and Devil May Cry. This ‘indie’ game has definitely raised the bar in what is possible in game animation and the 2D world in 2009.
On a side note, 15 odd years ago I wouldn’t have had a second thought of the humanoid animal characters considering I watched Disney’s Robin Hood all the time, but in 2009 in the age of the internet, all I can’t think of are those G.D. furries. Considering how great the game looks, I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually, but damn do I want my innocence back now more than ever.
Sony had a press conference this week announcing the PS3 slim. 1up.com was able to get their hands on a unit and provided a nifty unboxing video. You can head over to the site for more pictures and impressions of the system. What do you think of the new system? $300, 120 gig hard drive. Sounds like Sony is finally keying into that price point sweet spot consumers have been begging for for years.
NEW RELEASES
Finally the day has come. Shadow Complex was released this past Wednesday on XBLA and I can happily report I’ve been having a great time with it so far and by the looks of reviews around the net, so is everyone else. To recap, Shadow Complex is a $15 downloadable title similar to the game style you would find in games like Metroid or Castlevania. Explore the world to find an item to gain access to more parts of the world. The game clocks in between 5-8 hours and all the experience points your character has gained on the last play through carries forward to the next play through and there’s plenty of reason to take another crack at it.
An interesting feature I’d like to mention is the real time achievement tracking. Say there’s an achievement for 5 head shots, after you complete it, the game will notify you on what your friends have accomplished for that specific task so you’re always aiming for that number one spot amongst your friends which adds a lot of scoreboard chasing to an otherwise finished goal.
And to close out this fantastic week I leave you to the smooth 8bit tribute to the classic Miles Davis release Kind of Blue; conveniently titled Kind of Bloop. As sterile as it sounds, I can dig it. Can you dig it? Caaaan you diiiig iiiiit?
For the week of August 9-15: Cliff Blizinsky is looking for a pen pal and Tubby Dog does Street Fighter 4 (update).
First off, a small correction from last week about the Xbox dashboard update. It is not a fall update. It is a last Wednesday update. My bad. New features include games on demand for a select number of 360 games (the ability to download 360 titles to the hard drive), a user ratings system, Netflix added functionality for US residents, and much faster navigation around the dashboard menus.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about Tubby Dog’s Street Fighter 4 night. I’ve gone a handful of times now and have to say it’s a lot of fun and growing every week. Last Wednesday they added a 3rd set up and every station has arcade sticks and the whole nine yards. Usually there’s a small tournament bracket you can get in on, or just have some casual games. Tubby Dog is licensed so expect beers, food and great music and of course a couple dozen guys playing Street Fighter 4.
Let me know if any of you decide to go.
I was flipping through this months Game Players magazine (from 1994) and to my surprise, right there in the letters section there’s a Pen Pal request from our old friend Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director for Epic Games. Makers of Gears of War, Unreal Tournament and Jazz Jackrabbit. 1994, eh…… according to my calculations (and Wikipedia) that puts him at 19 years old when he wrote in. Pretty cool to see what that kid went on to do.
Just a reminder, Shadow Complex comes out on Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday. This is related because Epic Games bought Chair, the games developer. Just a heads up.
If your looking for a good read this weekend, Wii.com has been putting up extremely interesting interviews among the staff at Nintendo of Japan. I particularly liked this one with Saturo Iwada (President), Shigeru Miyamoto (General Manager and the guy that made all the games you love from childhood) and some of the developers of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! from back in the day.
The interview is extremely candid and they talk about all the little Easter eggs they put in the game and why they made some of decisions they did. One of them even reveals that they didn’t have permission to use Mario as the ref in the game but did so any way. That’s why he looked a little wonky.
For the week of August 02-08: Review of ‘Splosion Man, plus an early look at this fall’s NXE.
Apple has taken my computer hostage so just a quick update this week.
REVIEW?
I’ve been completely taken by the recent XBLA game ‘Splosion Man. I can’t remember the last time I’ve played a game night after night after night. The combination of the games humour, level design and ‘Splosion Man’s crazy antics just keeps sucking me back in. As well as the leader boards you hit as you cross the finish line just begs you to try over again for a faster time.
There’s a slight Sonic the Hedgehog angle to it because you’re blasting through the obstacle course trying to make it out the other side but in complete control and not just bouncing around wondering what the fuck is going on and bragging about Blast Processing. Check points are plentiful since you die… a lot. Thankfully there are zero load times so it’s as painless as they could make it. Lots of trial and error and frustration at times because you think you’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel and POW – spiky wall in your face. But now you know and next time you’ll be ready. Each level takes me around 10 minutes on the first play through (level par is usually around 3:00 minutes) and there are 50 levels to the game, so lots of content to run through and (I hear) one of the best endings to grace a video game in a loooong time. And for 10 bucks that’s not bad.
I’ve also had the Donut song constantly on repeat in my head for 2 weeks. Not that I mind, because I too, go nuts for donuts.
NEWS
1up.com is reporting the Wii Sports Resort has sold 500,000 copies in just 8 days. That’s a copy every 1.5 seconds people. But considering the install base of the system is expected to hit over 50 million units by New Years Eve, that’s a pretty meager number. That says a lot about the Wii’s demographic in my books. This game will continue to sell gang busters for the rest of the year as word of mouth spreads. Any guesses how many will sell before sales start to slow? Remember it comes with the Wii Motion Plus packed in. My guess? 12 million units, but that’s leaning a little conservatively.
In other news, Giantbomb.com has an early look at the Xbox dashboard update coming to systems this fall. Unfortunately one of the best features is only available in the US which would be the added Netflix functionality.
For the week of July 26-August 1: Fat Princess, Shatter and we visit August 1994 in magazine form!
Although Microsoft has been celebrating the Summer of Arcade with its meatier offerings and bigger marketing budget, the PS3 looks like the platform to hit up for some arcade action with two fantastic releases; Fat Princess and Shatter.
NEW RELEASES
Fat Princess
We first saw Fat Princess at E3 2008 and for being a smaller budget game it had a ton of buzz around it. Right now some people are reporting troubles with online lag issues, but that should be addressed in the coming days. Check the trailer out, this game is going to be huge. $15 and a PS3 to get in on the action.
Shatter
Shatter is basically a new take on Arkaniod. You control a paddle and you’re deflecting a ball into the bricks you want to break. The twist with Shatter is the ’suck and blow’ mechanic your paddle has. When you break bricks, fragments are released and you can suck them up into your paddle but doing so affects the trajectory of the ball.
You can also blow, again changing the direction your ball is traveling to try and get the more stubborn bricks which are sometimes floating freely around the arena. The fragments you suck up build towards a meter, once full, you can activate a timed weapon attack from your ship where you release a torrent of bullets. The games art direction works well, it has deep game play mechanics, there are boss battles and a soundtrack some claim is even better than the game.
Giantbomb.com put together a Quick Look of the game showing off some game play footage which should give you a good idea of how the game works.
NEWS
With this time of year being typically slow, I thought I’d dive into my pile of game magazines I’ve amassed over the years (about 20 years worth) and see what games were doing this month exactly 15 years ago. All the way back to August of 1994…
I was able to pull up 3 issues from that month; GamePlayers, GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly and scanned a handful of pages from the issue of EGM with the highlights and 90’s ads all nicely pdf’d for your browsing pleasure.
I found it interesting that the EGM editor was addressing the issue of developers pushing out the same title year after year in regards to the Street Fighter 2 series. Funny that 15 years later, things haven’t changed a bit.
(Putting on my magazine editor voice, ahem…) Also, shots from CES of a new powerhouse game system called the Playstation. Is Sony really throwing its hat into the gaming ring? System Wars takes over reader mail this month (SNESFTW), envelope art, Arcade Action with Primal Rage, reviews of Booger Man (a Pick and Flick Adventure), Ren and Stimpy: Time Warp and a first look at the bloody Fatalities in the SNES version of Mortal Kombat II straight from the CES show floor! Plus all those crazy ads you remember. Way of the Warrior anyone?
For the week of July 19-25: Night Vision, summer trailers, Shadow Complex game play, lazy days and Ed Boon keeps the video game news writers semi-busy.
NEWS
Some news from last week I forgot to include was the announcement that Infinity Ward will be including a working pair of night vision goggles in the Prestige Edition of Modern Warefare 2. This can’t end well.
PICTURES
Ed Boon, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series, has been kind enough to post some pictures from ‘the good old days’ on twitter (@noobde). As a fan of the old MK games, I find this sort of thing fascinating. A little behind the curtain peek at the nitty-gritty parts that went into making the monsters of MK. Also a picture of a MK themed basketball court they proposed to be an unlockable in NBA Jam. Skinless head for a ball, spine/skull backboards… why wasn’t this added again?
VIDEO
Chair Entertainment’s Creative Director Donald Mustard was kind enough to sit down with 1up.com for a quick look at the first 20 minutes or so of one of my most anticipated games of the year, Shadow Complex.
Gaming blog Destructoid posted a rant from Mr. ”Reverend” Anthony Burch this week about why gamers are willing to take pay $60 on a game they may potentially like and zero dollars to games they do like but have played for free. A bit repetative and could be 3 minutes shorter, but the guy makes some good points. What do you think?
A trailer for a new twin stick shooter called Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet has been posted and normally I don’t get excited about these things, but everything about this game look amazing. Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet have not been confirmed for the sound track, but that would be appropriate.
Take a peek and tell me you’re not interested. I dare you.
And finally, to start your weekend with a smile, a new trailer for Scribblenauts. Enjoy!
For the week of July 12-18: MADBALLS, MADBALLS, MADBALLS! DIY Rock Band, Shadow Complex and Secret of Monkey Island: SE.
NEW RELEASES
Remember Madballs? Well someone else did too and decided it was a good idea to make a videogame and call it Madballs In….Babo: Invasion. If the punctuation of the title still hasn’t deterred your interest, here’s a trailer. If it has made you lose interest, here’s a bunch of pictures of Madballs. Available now on XBLA and PC.
I’m pretty sure I had the green guy with the eye hanging out, the pink guy with his brains showing and the mummy. And 7-up was a good method of getting the paint to peel off. Who’s the cool guy now?
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is out this week on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points. That’s $10 US and about $12 CAN. A remake of the first game in the Monkey Island series, filled with genuinely witty humor and classic PC adventure game play. Now with updated graphics and new hint system and I recommend you play it.
NEWS
Harmonix has announced The Rock Band Network. A program users can use to create a Rock Band track from their own music with the tabs and the background action and the scoobidy-doo, then upload it for review. If they’re lucky, it will appear in the new market place for user submitted music and players can shop around like they would the normal Rock Band store. Prices will range from 50 cents to $3.00.
Offworld has all the details. If done right, we might be seeing some great content from bands that had zero chance of getting in to the game otherwise. Woo!
If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know how jacked I am for Epic’s newest game, Shadow Complex. Giantbomb.com just threw up a good read about why you should be excited for this game if I didn’t do a good enough job to begin with you should read Five Pretty Neat Things About Shadow Complex.
For the week of July 5-11: Street Fighter 4 and hotdogs, the Wayne Gretzky of the Dice world, dissecting level design and the $17,500 game. Oh, and Wii Sports Resort and the Summer of Arcade.
NEW RELEASES
This week Nintendo released its follow up to Wii Sports, the sure to be juggernaut, Wii Sports Resort and introducing Nintendo’s newest peripheral, Wii Motion Plus, a smallish dongle you attach to the back of your Wiimote that gives the controller much more of a 1 to 1 type feedback.
You already know if you’re interested so I’ll save you the details. While Wii Sports was more an exercise in tech and what the new controller was capable of, Wii Sports Resort is a more fleshed out game with lots to do and more control to do it with. Just remember, it’s best played with a group and with only one Motion Plus coming packed in you may want to shell out for at least one more.
Microsoft has released details regarding this years Summer of Arcade, a little campaign they put on to highlight the whirlwind of strong Xbox Live Arcade games released in succession. I don’t believe this year is as strong as last years line up of Bionic Commando, Geometry Wars 2, Castle Crashers and Braid, but there are some games that look promising.
Street Fighter 4 fans in Calgary have a reason to get excited. Everyone’s favourite hotdog/concert venue/fun zone Tubby Dog has announced Street Fighter 4 nights every Wednesday from 7pm to closing. So head on down to 17th Avenue to enjoy some SF4 action against live opponents, beverages and world famous (well, city wide famous) Tubby Dog. Hit me up if you’d like some company, it’ll give me an excuse to get out once in a while.
Lou Zocchi isn’t exactly a household name, but if you ask me, he sure as hell should be. The guy is the Wayne Gretzky of Dice and could make even an episode of The Hills sound interesting. What this man has to say about 20 sided die and why he makes his a certain way and why the competitors product is complete garbage had me riveted for the entire 20 minutes. He invented the Zocchihedron folks! That’s the 100 sided die. It’s basically a golf ball in dice form!
Here’s a small excerpt of her post but definitely click the above link because it’s one of the better reads I’ve had in a while.
halfway through world 1-3, the first ‘indoor’ stage of the game, the player is given a choice. the path rightwards splits into three routes – up, middle and down – though the choice is in fact between only two of them: either of mario’s states makes one of the routes inaccessible. the upper route is blocked by bricks that only big mario can break by hitting them from below. the lower route’s entrance is only one block tall – little mario alone is short enough to enter.
this is interesting because little mario is, most of the time, an undesirable state to be in. little mario can’t break blocks, is only one hit away from death, and must find two power-ups to be able to wield the ’superball’ weapon[3]. here, mario is given access to a special place as a kind of compensation for this otherwise weaker state – and the bottom route is in fact the most lucrative of the three.
but note that it’s not obvious to a first time player that the bottom route has the best outcome, because at the moment of the player’s choice the screen hasn’t scrolled far enough to the right to reveal the horde of coins. because the entire height of the stage fits the height of the screen, though, a player on the upper route will see the treasure she’s missed. this helps to mitigate the frustration of losing a life against the tough enemies to come: starting over halfway through the stage – and mario returns as little mario, regardless of what state he died in – means an opportunity to nab the coins i saw earlier.
For what was dubbed the Nintendo World Championships, 116 competition game cartridges were made, 90 being grey versions and 26 in gorgeous gold for the winners. The game itself is interesting because it consists of three Nintendo games and you run through them trying to accumulate as many points across all three games within the 6 minutes and 21 seconds time frame just like you saw the autistic kid do in The Wizard. Not exactly an amazing experience but definitely unique and definitely a rare one.
For the week of June 28-July 4: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Kudo, Donkey Kong Easter Eggs and Russian coin-ops. It’s summer time folks, give me a break.
RELEASES
What can I say. The summer months are slow for games, big for movies. All the kiddies are getting their titles ready for the holiday season so they can get buried by the hundreds of other releases happening at the same time. All except this weeks release Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.
A new entry in the desperately lacking Western genre, Call of Juarez is a 6 hour first person shooter filled to the brim with variety and excellent pacing. The game gives you the choice of playing as one of two brothers each specializing in different styles of game play. One as a guns blazing, duel wielding, six shooter shooting wild man, and the other as a hide in the bushes from a far and take out enemies with you rifle. Whatever you decide, the brother you didn’t choose will be fighting right along with you, and fairly well at that. Even though it sounds like a short play through, the game has been given a lot of praise from the guys at Co-op and The Totally Rad Show and warrants a second run through as the brother you chose to neglect the first time around.
There has been a potentially exciting game released last wednesday under the Microsoft Community Games part of Xbox Live called Kudo. Kudois a console based Game Creator Platform where that all you need to make a game is a controller, no coding required. Personally I haven’t heard a ton of people talking about it, (well nobody is talking about it), but the guys over at Joystick have a great video walk through explaining how it works. I don’t think I’d be up for it, but it looks strong enough to get me interested in what you people out there come up with.
NEWS
After 26 years of searching some guy you and I don’t know, Don Hodges has discovered the easter egg planted by Landon Dyer in the Atari 400/800 version of Donkey Kong.
I find it to be a fascinating read about how he went about discovering it but if you have a copy kicking around and you want to try it, according to Mr. Hodges this is how it’s done.
1. Play a game and get a score of 33,000 through 33,900. This score must become the new high score. [Some other scores will work as well, see below.]
2. Kill off all of your remaining lives. However, your last life must be killed off by falling too far – by walking or jumping off a girder that is too high to land safely. If the last life is killed any other way, the egg will not appear.
3. Set the game difficulty to 4 by pressing the Option button 3 times. The icon for this difficulty is a firefox.
4. Wait a few minutes, and the demo screen where Kong jumps across the screen will appear.
5. The title screen will then appear, and Landon Dyer’s initials [LMD] will be at the bottom center of the screen:
And to finish off this jam packed summer week, I will leave you with pictures of Russian coin-ops. I don’t know any Russian what so ever, so the text on the linked site is of no use but I do know these machines are very cool!
Until next week.
Dale can also be found over at www.8bitcyclops.com, looking at design, photography and old video game magazines.
This week the COOP crew had a great discussion about the newly released Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Why didn’t I talk about it last week when it was released? Well in case you haven’t noticed I try and keep my efforts to a minimum and waited for someone else to do the work for me so I can post that.
Also out this week, Boarderlands, a post apocalyptic FPS with a heavy lean on loot drops, RPG upgrading and procedurally generated guns. A FPS Diablo from Fallout 3 with an amazing art style if you will. The ability to run through the campaign online with three other players sounds like a lot of fun too.
I was flipping through this months Game Players magazine (from 1994) and to my surprise, right there in the letters section there’s a Pen Pal request from our old friend Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director for Epic Games. Makers of Gears of War, Unreal Tournament and Jazz Jackrabbit. 1994, eh…… according to my calculations (and Wikipedia) that puts him at 19 years old when he wrote in. Pretty cool to see what that kid went on to do.
