Vidya Game News – July 2, 2015
Hey, it’s July! Bask in the summer heat with some hot video game news! Good times, good times.
– A slew of old Sega games are getting released on the 3DS eShop in the next couple weeks, according to Nintendo Life. First up is Streets of Rage 2 on July 16, followed by Gunstar Heroes in August and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in September. Sales on those games will determine whether additional games get pumped out. (The latest Sega-related app game though, Sonic Runners, got a negative review from Touch Arcade.)
– The classic Atari series Battlezone is getting rebooted by Rebellion for the PC and Playstation 4, according to International Business Times.
– Nintendo fans are pissed about the early videos and screenshots from Metroid Prime: Federation Force. It’s supposed to be a multiplayer-focused game on the Nintendo 3DS, which basically means it doesn’t sound like a Metroid game at all. Forbes.com has an article on the controversy. Wired has an interview with the man behind the game, Kensuke Tanabe.
– Speaking of the Big N, their next console could hit stores in July 2016, according to Digitimes.
– The developer of Mario Strikers pitched Nintendo a volleyball and wrestling game, according to Gamespot. It didn’t get picked up.
– From Siliconera, a fan is doing a new indie version of the Mega Man series, Mega Man X: Corrupted. Read more here.
– The Sporting News is doing a best sports video game bracket. They’re down to the final, NBA Jam vs. NHL 94, which might be familiar to Your Parents Basement listeners. Check out our NBA Jam show here, and the NHL series here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pretty much zero games of significance were released in the United States. This is probably because it’s the middle of summer, and on top of that, two days before a major holiday. Even in Japan, this is a traditionally light release day. The only one I ever really played? Nolan Ryan’s Baseball, one of the early SNES sports games from 1991 and 1992, and it isn’t anything impressive.
– July 2 does have one big event from a gaming history standpoint though. Warner sold its home computing and game console divisions, which included a company named Atari, to Jack Tramiel, in 1984. This was after the video game crash of 1983, so Atari wasn’t in great shape, and Tramiel had a spotty reputation in the gaming industry as the former owner of Commodore. Atari and everyone else was run over by the NES juggernaut after the industry recovered from the crash. For more, check out Wikipedia.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games.
Episode 005 – NBA Jam (1993)
In this week’s Your Parents Basement podcast, the gang tackles NBA Jam on the eve of the NBA finals! Like all good sports programmes, they use the game to predict the final of the series, and they also talk about their other favorite basketball-based video games, like Scottie Pippen’s Puzzle Challenge.
To download this week’s show, click here! You can also subscribe to the show via iTunes, or manually use this link. If you like the show, be sure to give us some starrrrssss. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
The show notes for this week:
- A download of NBA Jam for iOS devices is free this week. This is the On Fire edition we mention at the end of the game discussion. It’s quite splendid on my PS3, although I’m not sure how well it translates to iOS.
- At one point, Huell mentions a ranking of the “best” NBA Jam teams by Deadspin. You can find that here. It is humorously presented with absolutely no summary information for the decisions.
- Mike Iuzzolino’s NBA career was so short that his Wikipedia entry has a mention to his appearance in NBA Jam. It’s an unplanned career highlight!
- When NBA Jam was being remade for the Wii, ESPN.com ran a good interview with a producer from the game. He gets into how EA Sports procured the rights for making a new version of the game, which evolved from a prototype clone called Bounce. The Wikipedia entry on the series also has some information on the Midway and Acclaim split.
- Unfortunately, Scottie Pippen’s Puzzle Challenge and Space Jam Basketball do not exist (yet). However, Shaq Fu, Michael Jordan: Chaos In The Windy City, and Barkley Shut Up and Jam! do absolutely exist. They are varying degrees of “meh,” although Sir Charles’ game is actually kind of OK… it just features no other NBA players, so why would you ever want to play it instead of NBA Jam? And shockingly, Pippen DOES have his own video game: Slam City With Scottie Pippen on the Sega CD. It is not well-reviewed.
- Finally, a fun list from a blog: The 11 Current NBA Players Who Have Never Dunked.
Episode 002: X-Men (1992)
Episode 002: X-Men (1992)
The 1992 X-Men arcade beat ’em up is the second game tackled by Steve Greenwell, Huell and Todd Brisket on Your Parents Basement Podcast, even if it required us leaving the cozy confines of the basement back in the day. Click here to listen!
Want to subscribe to future episodes? Pop this link into your podcastin’ device or iTunes! You can also subscribe by searching for “Your Parents Basement” in the iTunes store. We are absolutely looking for guests and ideas for future shows! For both, please email them to us – parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com – as opposed to leaving them as comments. (Mystery is good for the rest of the listening audience!) You can also follow us on Twitter.
Supplemental material for today’s show:
- The piano tease from last week can be found on YouTube here.
- A gameplay video of the final stage.
- A short, December 2013 article from Polygon on the expiration of X-Men from the various online stores.
- Hey, isn’t the timeline of the Marvel movie universe confusing? It sure is! But if you want to deep dive, go here.
- The TV Tropes article on Wolverine Publicity, a.k.a., “Wolverine does not appear in this issue.”
- The lead graphic on this post comes from this blog.
Your Parents Basement 