Vidya Game News – September 2, 2016
– IGN’s Alex Osborn has a great interview with Peter Moore, talking about why Sega failed as a hardware company. Understandably, the Saturn was seen as a turning point.
– From Mattel, via Polygon, Hot Wheels versions of Nintendo characters are coming soon! They actually look pretty nifty, so, congrats Nintendo. Thank you for successfully taking more of my money.
– Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey is available on Netflix as of Sept. 1. You can listen to our episode on the horrible vidya game here!
– Chris Schilling of VICE writes about how the Nintendo DS was his deepest love, when it came to vidya game systems.
– From noted video game journalism outlet InStyle, Christina Aguilera’s daughter had a Mario-themed party for her second birthday.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Command and Conquer, the first title of that popular series, came out on Aug. 31, 1995. The PC game from Westwood Studios became a staple of online RTS duels for years and years. It sold more than three million copies, and the series has sold more than 30 million units.
– An awesome character known as Crash Bandicoot had his initial release for the Playstation on Aug. 31, 1996. More on him Monday though.
– On the other end of the PSX spectrum… Released on Aug. 31, 1996, Beyond the Beyond terrorized Steve as a teen. He loved turn-based RPGs, but one of the main “features” of the game by Camelot Software was lugging around a cursed character for several hours. Fun, fun, fun.
– Guitar Hero 5 from Neversoft came out in 2009. It was the second-to-last hurrah for the series, as it was already starting to slowdown before Warriors of Rock came out in 2010.
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 21, 2016
– Gizmodo has an awesome write-up of the find of a Seattle man: The incredibly rare Nintendo 64 disk drive.
– Of all places, Playboy has a long read on how the really good 2009 Ghostbusters game came together. You can read it here, although your work’s spam filter might block. And hey, listen to our show on the NES Ghostbusters here!
– Engadget has a good summary article of Ben Heck ripping into the “newly” discovered Nintendo-Sony CD unit.
– There is now a Kickstarter for the old NES Wisdom Tree games, which were pretty horrible games based on Bible stories. But still, if you want to support it, go here.
– Now in Japan! Kirby restaurants. (And check out our Kirby show.)
– From The Daily Mail, games like Mario Kart might make you a better driver, according to a study. (Check out our episode here!)
– Gizmodo’s Adam Clark Estes has a review of the Analogue NT, a souped-up clone of the NES. It’s basically like a great version of the NES Classic going on sale this November. And, oh, it costs $500.
– From Mashable and Reddit, Matt Damon might be interested in doing some video game stuff.
– Posted on a bunch of sites, including the developer site: Obduction, a spiritual successor to Myst, has been delayed from July 26 to the week of Aug. 22.
– Looking to move out of your parents basement? Booooo! But if you are, then don’t go to Worcester. Your parents’ basement is good enough for Jeff Teague, so it should be good enough for you.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– A pair of classic Genesis games, Shinobi III and Road Rash 2, came out in 1993.
– On July 22, 2008, a remake of Final Fantasy IV came out for the DS. It was… really bizarre. Developed by Matrix Software, it was in 3D and had an augment system that allowed you to power up characters after they left your party. The difficulty was also ramped up, and some story segments were added back in.
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 – May 19, 2016
– As Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett types in his write-up, Sega’s game testing training videos were peak 1990s, right down to Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails background music.
– From Polygon’s Allegra Frank, a remake of cult classic Wild Guns is coming out for the PS4!
– In unnecessary video game movie adaptation news… A Tetris movie is in the pipeline, according to Deadline. And not a documentary about the game’s interested and tangled history, but a science fiction game. A discount film studio has picked up the rights to Atari’s Missile Command and Centipede, also per Deadline. Also, confirming long-standing rumors, Nintendo said it would look to re-enter the ole Hollywood business.
– What was the code name for the biggest heroin bust in Delaware’s history? Operation Duck Hunt, of course. Read more via The Sussex County Post.
– Nintendo Player has an awesome long read on the recently-unearthed Happily Ever After, a Snow White-based NES game from the early 1990s. The game itself is a generic, Nintendo Hard affair, but the story behind it is fascinating. Plus, the ROM has been made available for free online!
– From several sites, a retro 8-bit version of Monopoly, featuring Super Mario Bros., now has a sale slug on Amazon.
– Per Gamasutra and several other sites that got the press release, mod support for older Sega games caused them to sell 350,000 copies on Steam since April 28. For the details, click here.
– For James and Mike Mondays, the guys play Doom 64, which Steve remembers somewhat fondly from his childhood! If you didn’t have a high-powered PC back in the day, it was a fairly easy way to play the ole game. Also from that site this week, Mike and Bootsy play Pinball for the NES!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1997, Eurocom released the Midway arcade game War Gods for the N64. Because the system was so starved for games at various points, it was hyped for months in Nintendo Power, but it ultimately was just a mediocre fighting game.
– New Super Mario Bros. now isn’t, as it celebrated its 10th year on May 15. (Note: It’s still an awesome platformer for the DS, though.)
– For a brief history in time, people thought they’d get in shape via vidya games. On May 21, 2008, Nintendo came out with Wii Fit and the Wii balance board. Both the balance board and the Wii are now probably in your closet.
– The year after Wii Fit, Next Level Games dropped a remake of Punch-Out!! for the Wii. While it was well-received, it wasn’t the iconic game that the original was.
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 – April 7, 2016
– On Polygon and a bunch of other sites, Sega announced that it had finalized its acquisition of Atlus. As of now, operations aren’t supposed to change at either company as a result, except for Atlus helping in some North American localization for Sega games.
– Now Gamer has an interesting piece on the failed development of the M2, a follow-up to the 3DO, that never saw the light of day. Panasonic still spent $100 million on it though, and its tech made its way into some Arcade games. Read the piece here.
– Micah Mertes of The Omaha World-Herald has a neat story on a tech museum that had a “petting zoo” display for April 1, featuring old systems, typewriters and Tamagotchis.
– Mike Matei of Cinemassacre (home site of the Angry Video Game Nerd) has a video on the top 10 obscure NES asshole enemies. Check it out here! It’s NSFW and frustratingly accurate.
– From IGN and a bunch of other places, there is now a 24-carat gold NES available. (Warning: Autoplay video.)
– Jimmy Maher of The Digital Antiquarian has a great long read on how the NES muscled its way past the 1980s computing industry, thanks to a focus on fun games.
– Ryan Gibbs of The Young Folks reviews Atari Vault, the 100-game Atari collection that recently came out for a bunch of different platforms.
– From ABC News’ Avianne Tan, a grocery store created a Super Mario Bros. display from soda boxes.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– To circle back to a news roundup item… Not many games have historically been released on April 7, buttttt, Atlus was founded in 1986. If you’re into RPGs, you know them as the developers of Persona and the Shin Megami Tensei series of games, as well as quirky stuff like Etrian Odyssey and Radiant Historia. And, Rockin’ Kats! (And by the way, the director of Radiant Historia would love to make another one, per Siliconera.)
– Per Moby Games, in 2005 VIS Games filed for bankruptcy. Their most prominent games were a very bad version of Earthworm Jim 3D for the Nintendo 64, and State of Emergency, one of the few Rockstar Games that wasn’t a smash hit. However, it did inspire this awesome Lewis Black rant.
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 – February 11, 2016
– Legitimately cool, but some NSFW text and language: Canadian punk band PUP has a ton of re-purposed vintage video game stuff for its music video of “DVP.” Check it out on YouTube! It’s definitely a must-watch for any old games fan.
– James Trew of Engadget has a cool retrospective on the Atari Lynx, which is one of those obscure systems from the early to mid-1990s.
– Are you in the Austin, Texas area on Feb. 21? You’re in luck! You can attend the NBA Jam Invitational Tournament at Empire Control Room & Garage. Find more details here. Also, from FOX Sports and several other sources, the University of Florida used NBA Jam graphics for a promotion.
– In “WTF Sega???” news, The Worldfolio has an interview with the president and CEO of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., and he said development continues on a live action-animation hybrid Sonic The Hedgehog movie. It’s tentatively scheduled for a 2018 release.
– A hat tip to Friend of the Show Hypermotard, as he passed along this Reddit AMA with Don Rawitsch, one of the co-inventors of The Oregon Trail.
– From the appropriately named This Is Why I’m Broke, it’s a Nintendo console lamp. The price of $95 seems a bit steep to me, but still, it looks pretty cool.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2014, Square somewhat buried the third installment of Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning Returns, by releasing it in this traditional “dead” period. The game itself is a bit of a mess, but it has some cool concepts, like the ability to hunt enemies to extinction and the setting of the end of the world. Like a lot of recent Square efforts, it’s undone by some meh storytelling in the third act.
– We typically don’t use Japanese dates for “anniversaries” on the old YPB blog, but for whatever reason, Feb. 11 is a banner day for the genre in Japan. In 1990, Dragon Quest IV came out, and as usual it did major business in Japan. It didn’t hit American shores until October 1992, and it was very much a “niche” title with seemingly only 15 copies released. A Nintendo DS remake came out in 2007 and 2008; it tends to be controversial, because while it cleans up some gameplay and “where do I go next?” aspects, it gives all of the characters ridiculous accents.
– In 1998, Xenogears was released by Square in Japan. It has a strong cult following to this day because of its unique RPG system with martial arts and robots fighting, along with a plot that focuses on religion, psychology and identity crisis. The reaction is still mostly positive, even though the second half of the game falls apart a bit for behind-the-scenes budget reasons.
– Square released Final Fantasy VIII in Japan in 1999. It was the second Final Fantasy game for the Playstation, and drastically different from the preceding game, and as a result it’s somewhat a black sheep in the series. Although it has sold more than 8.5 million copies, it’s been passed over for remakes in favor of VII and X, even though its story and “look” hold up somewhat better. It’s not really a game for Final Fantasy newcomers though, as the battle system takes some getting used to, and exploit knowledge on a second playthrough can let you become an all-powerful character within the game’s first few hours.
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 25, 2015
This week’s news post is a day early, because of Thanksgiving on Thursday. If you’re feeling grateful for YPB this year, give back via our Amazon link. ❤ It won’t add anything to your Black Friday purchase! Shop by using it here.
– The AV Club’s Annie Zaleski has an incredible roundtable interview with three Nintendo game counselors. It’s really long, but totally worth reading. Highlights: Nintendo would pay for limos and tons of booze at the annual Christmas party, counselors got free systems and discounts on games, and it was hell to answer the phones the entire day.
– One of the newest Rifftrax movies is vidya game “classic” The Wizard! You can purchase it here. It has Fred Savage, Rilo Kiley and others in full glory.
– From a Reddit user, it’s an old school ad from Electronics Boutique! At one point, Donkey Kong Country 3 was $69.99. A new SNES with Killer Instinct? $79.99.
– John Markley of The Escapist has a feature on the history of Nintendo’s religious censorship in games.
– Rollin Bishop of Tech Times has an oddly named feature, Licensed to Kill, although he has a nifty review of Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Depending on what country you’re in, Donkey Kong Country came out for the SNES either on Nov. 21, Nov. 24 or Nov. 26 of 1994. It’s renowned as one of the best vidya games of all-time, and re-established the vibrancy of the series. It is yet another strong game released by Rare. (Past YPB episodes on their games include Goldeneye and R.C. Pro Am.)
– Speaking of Rare… Killer Instinct Gold, the Nintendo 64 version of the arcade game Killer Instinct 2, came out this day in 1996. While the first game was seen as revolutionary because of automated combos, the sequels had diminishing returns.
– Chrono Trigger came out in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. The re-release added a bonus dungeon, and made the game much easier to play and purchase than past versions for the SNES and PSX.
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.
Episode 014 – Contra (1988)
Episode 014 – Contra (1988)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are fighting our way through jungles, the tundra and H.R. Giger styled bases to strike at the heart of the alien invasion! That’s right, we’re playing that classic run-and-gun shooter from 1988, Contra! With special guest and Contra virtuoso Backsack! (He got to the ice stage without losing a life!)
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TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – The intro, which features music from video game music cover band The Minibosses.
- 44:15 – Emails. The gang talks guilty playshures games.
- 1:02:00 – Snifferoo.
SHOW NOTES
– As mentioned in the timestamps, the main theme this week is by video game music cover band The Minibosses. Besides Contra, they do a lot of other cool tunes that you should check out. The sound effects from Contra were gotten from this nifty site.
– Amazingly, some people can play Contra even better than Backsack! There are various speedruns on YouTube, such as this one in 10:11, which seems to be the world record as of 2012. It tends to be a popular pick for charity gaming sessions and what not.
– The resemblance between the heroes of Contra and 1980s action movie heroes has not gone unnoticed over the years.
– While we spoke briefly about all of the weird post-Contra Contra games out there, we didn’t talk about the cost of the game. It’s actually somewhat pricey on eBay, with the cost ranging from $25 to $40 for just the game itself. The box and the manual ups it to $70. There is a similar price range for the NES sequel Super C. It oddly has not had a re-release on the Xbox or Playstation stores, but it is included on various Konami classic releases for the Nintendo DS and PC.
– Clu Clu Land was mentioned several times by Backsack. You can read more about the game on its Wikipedia page. Or, see it in action on YouTube!
– The weird video game simulation series Steve was talking about, GameBiz, can be downloaded here. There are three installments out, but oddly, they each add and subtract good things. The first is the best at single game development. The second adds the ability to train staff (which is very annoying to do) and multiple game development. The third lets you also develop hardware (which takes forever).
Your Parents Basement 