Vidya Game News – November 19, 2015
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” – The Legend of Zelda.
– A cool project by a programmer dude is detailed on AtariAge, as he modified Dark Chambers into a version of Gauntlet that works on the Atarti 2600! Read about his work here.
– Confirming earlier trademark and copyright work, this week Sega confirmed that they are making a new Valkyria Chronicles for the Playstation 4, and remastering the old games as well. Sega Nerds had a translation of the Famitsu article. The third game never made it to the U.S., so it’s unclear if the new game or the remastered games will either.
– Two big Nintendo items this week. There will be a female Link, Linkle, in 3DS game Hyrule Warriors, per Twitter. Also, per almost every site on the Internet, the original Pokémon games will be getting re-releases.
– Neat advertising stuff, as Gamezone has an article by Samantha Bishop on the cool, old Kay Bee Toys flyers that got posted on Flickr. And from Tech2, they have the six worst gaming ads of all-time.
– Robyn Miller, the composer of Myst, has signed on to provide the music for Obduction. It’s a new graphical adventure that is clearly influenced by Myst.
– Cool Kickstarter project: an illustrated history of game controllers from 1972 to 1989. Check out the project from Player One Books here.
– Very important business from The Chicago Sun-Times, as Chicago Bulls player Tony Snell claims to have loved playing as Michael Jordan in NBA Jam. Say what? Everyone knows Jordan wasn’t in the game! He is probably confusing it with NBA Live 2000, which was the first basketball game in ages to actually have Jordan.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2000, Banjo-Tooie came out. The sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, it was also well-reviewed. The platformer was the second-to-last game that Rare did for Nintendo, before becoming a developer for Microsoft.
– Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released for the PC in 2003, a few months after its initial release on the Xbox. It was an excellent RPG developed by BioWare.
– Not quittteee this day, but on Nov. 18, 1998, the Game Boy Color came out. It’s a popular day for Nintendo releases, because the Wii came out on this day in 2006.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – November 12, 2015
“Over the centuries, mankind has tries many ways of combating the forces of evil… Prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun.” – Terry Pratchett.
– Remember a couple months ago, when some dudes claimed to have found a prototype of the Nintendo-Sony CD project? Well, Engadget has an awesome follow-up by Richard Lai, and the system actually works! The CD drive doesn’t function, but it’s backwards compatible with some SNES games. If you’re unfamiliar with the backstory, Nintendo and Sony were originally going to collaborate on a system, but Nintendo was allegedly uneasy with Sony’s dominance in the tech industry already and pulled out. This led to Sony creating the PSX.
– Also in “cool older game news,” the Genesis port of Duke Nukem 3D is now available worldwide for $39.99.
– Radiant Historia was an awesome RPG for the Nintendo DS that had a Chrono Trigger-like game element that allowed you to manipulate the timeline. Now, according to Nintendo Everything, the director is interested in making a sequel.
– On the latest UpUpDownDown podcast on YouTube, Xavier Woods and Curtis Axel played each other in “Super Tecmo Bowl,” a.k.a. Tecmo Super Bowl, which we played a few weeks ago.
– From Now Gamer, a neat feature on six games that pushed hardware to its limit. Included are Mayhem in Monsterland (Commodore 64), Under Defeat (Dreamcast), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES), Conker’s Bad Fur Day (N64), Adventures of Batman and Robin (Genesis) and Solaris (Atari 2600).
– On James and Mike Monday (Angry Video Game Nerd) this week, they played Power Punch II, a bizarre sequel to Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. For the NSFW video, click here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Metal Gear Solid 2 was released for the Playstation 2 in 2001. It has since gone on to sell seven million copies, and it was one of the first to heavily involve cinematics with a shooting sort of game.
– In 2007, Super Mario Galaxy was released for the Wii. It was super well-reviewed and remains a beloved vidya game.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – September 24, 2015
Would you kindly read these news stories?
– The U.S. never got the SNES game The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes. Until now! A translation patch is out for the Japanese ROM, which is said to be one of the few 16-bit licensed games that didn’t suck. It was done by kepeb.
– Jacob Kauffman of an Arkansas NPR station has a cool interview with Dona Bailey, one of the few female programmers for the Atari 2600 and the creator of Centipede.
– From Sonic Retro and other sites, a lost arcade game, Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, is going to be preserved soon via backup means. The game itself isn’t all that good, but hey, it’s a neat bit of history.
– Amanda Bell of MTV.com has a collection of modern songs done by the ole Game Boy.
– The Local Voice of North Mississippi has a piece on Daniel Lee Perea, who’s an expert NBA Jam player and who holds 72 different video game records. You can read it here.
– Jonesing for a modern day version of Myst? Then the long-developed The Witness might be up your alley. It finally has a release date of January 26.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
-Hey, speaking of Myst… It was released on this day in 1993. If you didn’t catch our episode on it, along with special guest Jovial Jackee, check it out here.
– In an actual bit of history, on that day in 2002 Rare was purchased by Microsoft for a reported $375 million. Thus began an “interesting” phase for the company, as games have generally slid in quality and sales since that time, instead of being a killer first-party developer for Microsoft.
– Speaking of weird departures from established standards and practices… Star Fox Adventures came out 13 years ago for the GameCube, between Sept. 22 and Sept. 27, depending on the country. It took Star Fox into the area of Zelda games, and away from traditional space shootin’. And another shameless plug! Check out our Star Fox and Star Fox 64 episode here.
– Ico, a well-respected, unique puzzle platformer, came out 14 years ago for the Playstation 2. It was considered one of the games of the year.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – September 3, 2015
While Kanye is running for president in 2020, the only one that’ll get our votes is President Ronnie. Are you a bad enough dude to save him? Prepare for the onslaught of political news with this much more appealing vidya game news:
– The aptly named Steven Lebron of Vice Sports has a lengthy interview with Tim Kitzrow, the voice of the NBA Jam series. Among the neat facts in the piece? He only got paid $900 for his initial voice work.
– The final tally for the first sale of Atari 2600 cartridges from a New Mexico landfill? About $107,000, according to Jacqueline Devine of The Alamogordo Daily News. The lot up for sale was 881 games, with the biggest earning being a copy of E.T., which went for $1,535.
– On YouTube, the iBookGuy has a cool series about how graphics and sounds work in older systems. This week’s topic was Apple and Atari, and you can see it here.
– Are you near central New Jersey at all? Cool! Then you can attend A Video Game Con – AVGC – which is being put on by Paul Solomine. The video game-focused event will have more than 60 vendors and 100 merchandise tables, as well as pretty much every old school console. Chuck O’Donnell of MyCentralJersey.com has a full article here.
– Jaz Rignall at US Gamer has an article on one of those obscure consoles you probably haven’t heard of, the Amstrad GX4000. It also gets into the odd European market, which was not dominated by the NES.
– In celebration of its birthday, Uproxx’s Nathan Birch has a long piece on some of the trivia aspects of the Super Nintendo. Amongst the tidbits: Nintendo never wanted to make a follow-up to the NES, most N64 games started as SNES projects, and yes, the system turns yellow over time.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pretty much zero games of note came out in America, unless you’re really into NFL Head Coach 09 or Blade II (2002). And if you are, well, it might be time to reevaluate your life and your priorities.
– In Japan, the awesome cult game The Magic of Scheherazade came out in 1987. It didn’t hit American shores until December 1989, but it was a cool game that mixed adventure and RPG elements. And oh yeah – some game called Metal Gear Solid came out in Japan. It became kind of a big deal…
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – August 6, 2015
Super Breakout (Atari 5200)
Hey, it’s August finally! We’re getting closer to the magical fall and Christmas seasons, the actual times when video games are released. The best times. The greatest times. To tide us over until then, here is some vidya game news:
– A Nintendo Game Boy from 1990 survived a bombing in the Gulf War. Click here for the photo and story from Twinfinite.
– Another neat thing on Kickstarter is The Story of the Commodore 64 in Pixels by Chris Wilkins. For more info, click here.
– BBC News’ Kim Gittleson has an interview with Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari.
– Per MCV reporter Christopher Dring, Nintendo will soon be offering a monthly box of goodies, tentatively named The N-Box.
– Looking for a free, good, classic game to play? Super Breakout, an Atari paddle ball puzzle game, is free currently. It’s the Spokesman-Review’s Tech Deck featured game.
– Looking for a not-free, but new, classic NES game? Star Versus is an indie NES game, and you can purchase it here.
– Unofficially, a new Ducktales cartoon series will be CG-animated, per Brandon Smith at Rotoscopers. Kim Possible and Darkwing Duck are also being considered for remakes.
Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSX)
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1999, Star Ocean: The Second Story came out for the Playstation. Confusingly, it is the first game to reach America, despite the name. It’s a neat action RPG series, heavier on the RPG than some other games, and the fifth main series game (Integrity and Faithlessness) is due out later this year.
– It was only two years ago, but Dragon’s Crown came out from Atlus for the Playstation 3 and Vita. It’s a cool side-scrolling throwback to games like King of Dragons and Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystra though.
– Past show topic Secret of Mana came out (in Japan) in 1993 today! You can listen to our episode on that fantastic game here. In another significant Japanese release, Metroid came out for the NES in 1986.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – July 23, 2015
The original box art for the Sega CD version of Night Trap.
Man, July is almost over! Where does the time go? Quicker than the final quarter in a game of NBA Jam! Anyway, here is this week’s news post:
– Dave Voyles is a sturdier man than most, since he’s taken on the technical challenge of turning the infamous Night Trap into a playable online game. For more information, check out his post on Gamasutra.
– There is an awesome new documentary project on Kickstarter, called Insert Coin: Inside Midway’s 90s Revolution. If the project hits its goal of $75,000, it plans to cover all the games of the era: Smash TV, NARC, WrestleMania, and of course, NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat.
– On past episodes, Steve has mentioned how much he liked the book Console Wars by Blake J. Harris, which really covers the rise and fall of Sega. The Mary Sue’s Dan Van Winkle has an interview with Harris here. (And hey, if you want to buy the book, don’t forget about our Amazon link!)
– From Chris Arrant of Newsarama, details on the deal between Atari and Dynamite to publish items on the gaming company’s deep back inventory of items.
– The latest effort from Honest Trailers? The Super Mario Bros. movie!
– A United Kingdom company is now offering retro game mural wallpaper.
– Via Riley Little of Game Rant, a dad has turned his child’s nursery into one with a Mario Kart 8 theme.
– Business Insider has an unwrapping of the new $500 Nintendo Entertainment System. (Warning: Video will autoplay!)
– David Nield of Motoring Research has a list of the best retro tech of the 1990s, which includes the Super Nintendo and the Game Boy Color, amongst other devices like beepers, point and shoot cameras, and Nokia phones.
Box art for Max Payne.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2001, Max Payne came out for the PC. According to Wikipedia, the three games in the series have now sold more than 7.5 million copies. It was known for introducing Matrix-style “bullet time” to games.
– And since it’s July, almost nothing else came out. Womp womp womp.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – July 16, 2015
Now this looks PRETTY legit.
It’s way too friggin’ humid in New England, but despite the condensation, we’ve prepared only the best news for you to enjoy today! Here are some of the stories about classic games and series we’ve culled from around the Interwebs:
– In last week’s “Four of a Kind” feature on Purple Revolver by James Brookfield, they cover bad celebrity endorsed games. The finalists? Shaq Fu, Chuck Norris Superkicks, Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, and William Shatner’s TekWar, which apparently exists!
– Looking for some classic game recommendations? Nicholas Bitonti of The Detroit Metro Times has some good recommendations. While I don’t agree with all of them, they’re more obscure and interesting than the usual ones you see floating around the web, and cover a variety of systems.
– For the upcoming release of Pixels, Chauncey Alcorn of The New York Daily News has a ranking of his favorite 10 arcade games of all-time. Spoiler alert: Tekken 4 is way too friggin’ high, and while it’s nice to see Virtua Cop get some love, there is no Time Crisis on the list, which is just silly.
– Continuing with controversial #hottakes: Lizzy Finnegan of The Escapist has an article, “When the sequel is worse than the original.” Unfortunately, her examples are The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania, and I’d say that only the latter is actually bad.
– IGN.com’s Cam Shea has a good, longer read on the downfall of the SEGA Rally Championship game series. Warning though, a video autoplays from that link!
– On the Gradius episode, we mentioned that it was seen as Konami’s response to Namco’s classic Xevious. It’s probably for the best that an Atari 2600 port of Xevious never saw the light of day, because the recently unearthed prototype copy is pretty horrible. (Via Kotaku Australia’s Mike Fahey.)
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Again, it’s a fairly crappy day for video game releases, because it’s the summer. The Game Boy Color version of Dragon Warrior III came out 14 years ago. The original was an incredible RPG that featured multiple classes for the first time in a Dragon Quest / Dragon Warrior game, and even better, you could change at-will once you reached a certain point in the game. However, it originally came out in Japan in 1988, and in June 1991 in North America, and didn’t have much of an impact in the states. On Amazon, GBC prices range from $19.99 (used) to $149.98 (new). Want a boxed copy of the NES edition? It’s only $1,499.95, with used copies starting at $47.95.
– One major studio game released in the summer back in the day: NCAA Football 2004, which came out in 2003 on July 16 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube. The cover athlete was Carson Palmer, who is now 35, and the game sells for $1 or less pretty much everywhere in the god damn world.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – July 9, 2015
Holy crap, a Nintendo Playstation!
First, some important show-related news! You can now support us whenever you’re making a purchase on Amazon. Got something to buy? Do it via this link, and we’ll get a cut of your sale, at no extra cost to you. It can be for any goods, even non-vidya game stuff, and we’d definitely appreciate it! (Let us know if you make a purchase, and you’ll get a shout-out on the show. ❤ )
Surprisingly, even though we’re now in the dog days of summer, it was a great week for news. The biggest of which…
– A prototype of the 1991 collaboration between Nintendo and Sony on a CD-based system has been unearthed [right]. Polygon’s Brian Crecente had a good interview with the guy who found it, and that’s also where the picture comes from. That system eventually became the Playstation. (And to hype that Amazon thingy once again, there is an awesome breakdown of the rise and fall of Sega, and how Sony’s Playstation factored in, via Console Wars.) Some folks online aren’t convinced the prototype is real, but no one official has come out strongly to refute it.
– Speaking of failed Nintendo projects, Jon Fingas from Engadget details how Project H.A.M.M.E.R. became vaporware over the course of six years of painful development.
– Have you ever played Missile Command, Centipede or Asteroids and thought, “Man, wouldn’t this be cooler as a graphic novel???” … Okay, me neither. But hey, Dynamite Entertainment has you covered, via an article from UK Wired’s Matt Kamen.
– A neat feature, if you like readin’, from Matt Gander at Games Asylum. In “We’ve Got Issues,” he covers the Dreamcast magazine wars of the United Kingdom.
– I must begrudgingly give credit to Food and Wine’s millennial section for featuring “the ultimate bar setup for Nintendo nerds.” It includes Mario pipe shot glasses, Legend of Zelda ice cube trays and NES Zapper bottle openers.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The Wizard’s Castle was released in 1980. Like many other games “featured” in this here blog in July, well, there really wasn’t much to choose from in terms of releases. However, the awesome CRPG Addict has an exhaustive review of the game available. It should not be confused with the wonderful Home Movies episode “The Wizard’s Baker.”
– Cryptic Studios was incorporated in 2000. They’re the makers of popular online multiplayer games City of Heroes and spinoff City of Villains.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games.
Vidya Game News – June 11, 2015
The weekly news post! Good times, good times. It’s a bit shorter this week, because we’re all still decompressing from traveling, and Steve either has a sinus infection or black lung or the plague. Looking around at classic video game news and tidbits…
– Eight Bit Cinema presents… Jurassic Park.
– Via Destructoid and some other sites, there is the “Fake Nintendo releases at E3” generator. My best results? Yarn Splatoon Party and The Legend of Zelda: Disgusted Appendix.
– Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland has a fascinating article on the long, twisted path it took for Chip’s Challenge 2 to see the light of day, more than 15 years after it was completed.
– Kotaku, via iRetroGamer.com, has video of a kid opening a SNES on launch day in August 1991.
– A cool story about a guy buying some of the garbage from the infamous Atari 2600 cartridge and E.T. dump in New Mexico.
– Exactly what it says on the tin: Watch Teens Fail Hard At Contra.
– The usually stoic Washington Post actually has a neat story on how to play the first six games inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. (Oh, you wanna know the games? No big surprises – Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Doom and World of Warcraft.)
– Bloomberg says that leaving your parents basement is good news for the economy, which seems like hogwash to us…
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1983, Capcom was formally established.
– The Legend of Dragoon, an RPG that was not Final Fantasy 7, came out for the Playstation in 2000. It is a somewhat mediocre game, with a MetaCritic score of 74, although it has its fans.
– The Game Boy Advance came out in 2001. Although it was only out for three years before the DS came out, it still sold 81.51 million units.
Your Parents Basement 