Vidya Game News – December 1, 2016
– The new Pokemans games have sold 3.7 million copies in two weeks, making them the fastest sellers ever for Nintendo, according to press releases given to Polygon and other sites. You can listen to our Pokemans show here!
– In other Big N news: Although they announced a Japanese partnership with Universal for theme parks last year, the effort has spread to the U.S. now too, per Den of Geek and other sites.
– In other, other Big N news… The NES Classic Edition is still impossible to find, but ThinkGeek is doing a sweepstakes for some. They might also have some for sale this week. Huzzah!
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– November 30 is a popular day for PC releases. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness came out in 1995, Diablo came out in 1996, and Baldur’s Gate and Starcraft: Brood War came out in 1998. You can listen to our shows on Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo here, here and here.
– November 30, 1999 was also popular for RPGs. Koudelka and Vandal Hearts II both came out on that day. They’re both considered cult classics, and Koudelka continued on via the Shadow Hearts series, which is for the PS2 and awesome.
– Quake III Arena came out on Dec. 2, 1999. While it wasn’t horrible, it was a bit of a misstep by id Software, as Unreal Tournament was generally more popular.
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 3, 2016
– Daaayyyyyyttttoonnnnaaaa! From Polygon and other sites, Sega has confirmed that a new entry in the Daytona USA series will be coming out. Read more here.
– Apparently, the creator of Balloon Fight first brought up the NES Classic Edition idea about 10 years ago! You can read a translated interview with Yoshio Sakamoto here, via Nintendo Everything.
– The director of Deadpool (Tim Miller) is stepping away from that series, and his next project will be Sonic the Hedgehog, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
– Supermodel Gisele Bundchen dressed up as Luigi for Halloween, because her SBB was dressed as Mario. Popsugar has the story here, based on her ‘stagrams. (And hey, listen to our shows on Mario 1 and Mario 2 here and here!)
– And speaking of the Brady household… From Steve’s home state paper The Providence Journal, what game did Tom Brady like to play with his roommate? Well, Tecmo Bowl, of course! Read more here. And listen to our Tecmo Bowl show here.
– Via Gamespot, Crash Bandicoot now talks! … in the Netflix TV show Skylanders Academy. Check out our Crash Bandicoot episode here!
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Fire Emblem came out for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. While it was the first (official) English localization for the series by Nintendo, it was the seventh main game of the series. Rumor goes that Nintendo finally decided to give it the ole translation try because of the popularity of Marth in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
– Ratchet & Clank came out Nov. 4, 2002 for the PS2. Insomniac’s effort was well-reviewed, and spawned a series.
– Valkyria Chronicles, a solid turn-based, tactical RPG, came out on Nov. 4, 2008 for the PS3. Surprisingly, it was by Sega! A remastered version came out on May 17, 2016 for the PS4, to rave reviews.
– The first Dragon Age game from Bioware came out for the PS3, 360 and PC on this day in 2009.
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 – October 20, 2016
– Today has a crap-ton of current video game news. Nintendo says they’re releasing information on their new console, the NX, for realies this time at 10 a.m. EST. Likewise, Rockstar is releasing a trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 at 11 a.m. EST. What a time to be alive! (UPDATE: The RDR2 link has been updated with the trailer, which looks awesome, and the NX is now called the Switch, and most of the trailer is about friggin’ controllers.)
– From ESPN property FiveThirtyEight, the world record speedrun for Super Mario Bros. continues to go down. And hey, check out our first ever episode, which was on that game!
– Wired.com has translated a really good interview with Miyamoto done by a Japanese publication. Read it here!
– Did you ever wonder to yourself: “Hey, what if the Swedish Chef loved vidya games? And then he hacked passwords for them?” Well, you’re in luck! Bisqwit has a cool video on passwords for River City Ransom on YouTube here. Listen to our past show on that game here!
– The Chicago Tribune has a review of “Merge,” which is a play about the early years of Atari.
– The Verge, via a Nintendo social media account, post a treasure trove of old systems they found in a warehouse.
– Paste’s Jason D’Aprile has a good, long interview with Rand Miller of Myst fame. Check out our Myst episode with Jovial Jackee here!
– A very British dude, Daniel Ibbertson a.k.a. Slopes Game Room, has the complete history of the Shinobi series on YouTube.
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Shining Force 2 came out for the Genesis at some point in October 1994 – the exact date is seemingly lost to time. The Shining Force series is Sega’s version of Fire Emblem, in that both tactical RPG series were ignored and not properly promoted for the longest time. And, well, Sega has kind of ignored it except for more Japanese releases.
– Konami released Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation on October 21, 1998. You can listen to the sweet baby boys and Dale talk about it here!
– Also in 1998, Xenogears came out. It tends to get a bit too much hype, but it’s still a pretty solid PSX RPG by Square. It tends to get more fame because of programming and localization issues.
– Borderlands came out for the PS3 and 360 today in 2009. The first-person shooter from Gearbox Software mixed RPG elements into a first-person shooter, and it had a distinctive art and humor style. It’s sold more than 4.5 million copies.
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 29, 2016
Happy birthday, Nintendo 64!
– GamesIndustry.biz has an awesome, long interview with Rand Miller of Cyan Worlds on Myst, Obduction and releasing a game without a strong publisher. You can read it here, and listen to our show on Myst here!
– Brian Shea at Game Informer has a good piece on how Sega and Nintendo finally made peace over the years, and how Sonic appeared on a Nintendo platform. You can read it here.
– The spiritual successor to River City Ransom, River City: Toyko Rumble, has scooped up a good review from GameSpot. Listen to our show on the original game here.
– The early reviews on Sonic Mania are good so far.
– From The Daily Dot and other sites, the Warcraft movie now has an Honest Trailer out for it. Listen to our review of the game series here!
– PCMag.com has a slideshow on seven Mario games that never made it to the U.S.
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The Nintendo 64 came out for everyone today in 1996. It was kind of a big deal. Past N64 games we’ve covered: Quest 64, Superman 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye and Star Fox 64.
– By the way, it seems weird, but Pokemon Red and Blue came out in Sept. 28, 1998 – two years AFTER the Nintendo 64 was released.
– A little game called Fallout came out for the PC on Sept. 30, 1997. Amazing, a sequel came out only a year later. Both games had more in common with the X-Com series than the action-RPG Fallout has become, but they were very well-reviewed.
– Tales of Destiny, the second game in that popular series, came out on Sept. 30, 1998 for the PlayStation. In this game from Namco and Wolf Team, you play as Stahn and kill things with a big sword. It’s a weird kind of RPG-action game, but well-reviewed and well-received.
– Crash Team Racing, a completely and utterly original kart racing game, came out on Sept. 30, 1999. For more on Crash Bandicoot, check out our episode from a few weeks ago. And if you’d prefer our thoughts on some other racing game, try this episode.
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 8, 2016
– So! Nintendo, as usual, has been aggressive pursuing fan games using their characters, with the latest target being a mash-up of Mario and No Man’s Sky. Those developers responded by turning it into DCMA’s Sky. You can read more on Polygon here.
– From The Dreamcast Junkyard, a great series of articles on their hunt to find a legendary barber from some commercials.
– The Couch Potato over at New Castle News has a fine personal essay on his experiences with Super Mario Bros. 3, the Super Nintendo and other gaming stuff. Read it here.
– Reddit and YouTube deliver this week with Midway’s pitch video to the NBA for a little game called NBA Jam. You can check out the video here, and listen to our episode on Jam here!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– A little deep, story-driven game known as Final Fantasy VII came out for the PlayStation on September 7, 1997. The indie darling sold a ton of copies, and it’s wildly recognized for popularizing RPGs outside of Japan. (And by the way, the PlayStation itself came out on September 9, 1995.)
– Parasite Eve, an oft-mentioned favorite of Steve, came out September 9, 1998. It was an odd action RPG with guns that spawned an incredibly underrated sequel, and an iffy PSP game with a completely indecipherable plot.
– Also from 1998: Spyro the Dragon! The little purple dragon started doing like, dragon stuff, on Sept. 10. By Insomniac Games, it was pretty popular with a wide range of gamers, including more casual folks.
– 9/9/99 for $199! The Sega Dreamcast came out on Sept. 9, 1999. God, it was such an awesome little system, but Sega eventually lost its stomach for the console business. It had a strong start that it ceded as hype for the PlayStation 2 ramped up.
– Ready 2 Rumble Boxing by Midway came out in 1999 for the Dreamcast, and then later for the N64, PSX and Gameboy Color. The colorful boxing came made people more nostalgic for better boxing games, but it sold well.
– Also for the Dreamcast in 1999: Soulcalibur! The fighter from Namco featured a heavy emphasis on weapons, and it was highly rated at the time and in ensuing years as the series continued.
– Final Fantasy Tactics Advance bastardized a great PSX game, but, well, it came out this day in 2003 for the Gameboy Adance. Some people like it. Those people are wrong.
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 071 – Crash Bandicoot (1996)
Episode 071 – Crash Bandicoot (1996)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are staring at the ass of a marsupial! From 1996, we’re playing Crash Bandicoot by Naughty Dog for the Playstation.
You can manually download this week’s blocky pixels podcast here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win!
Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which features the Down Undah theme from the game.
- 33:30 – Emails! Why can’t we be “fun” and “goofy” like the Nerdist boys?
- 43:00 – We have two Asks in Ask the Sweet Boys.
- 49:30 – We are training like hell for next week’s game!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, the original Crash games have held their value well. The first one goes for $25 for just the game, and $32 if you have the manual. Almost all of the games are at least $12 if you have the manual and box.
– The world of Crash erotica is very disturbing, so click this link with caution. The same warning goes if you run any character from Crash in Google Images.
– Kotaku has covered the Crash Bandicoot remaster, here!
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 – June 9, 2016
– A fun piece from Dany Roth of blastr, as he looks at 10 forgotten NES games that deserve a comeback. Included on the list is The Guardian Legend, which we covered a few weeks ago.
– Joe Juba of Game Informer spoke with Takashi Tokita, one of the directors of classic RPG Chrono Trigger. He’d like to see a “high quality, high end” version of the game. As a comment on the article summed up perfectly: *breathing intensifies*
– Obduction, a spiritual successor to Myst by Cyan, is scheduled for a July release according to Elise Favis of Game Informer. (And hey, listen to our Myst episode!)
– Director Rocky Morton tells Poppy-Jay Palmer of SciFiNow about the horrible experience he had directing the Super Mario Bros. movie.
– Anthony John Agnello looks at the development of story in the Metroid series for the AV Club. (And hey, check out our Super Metroid episode!)
– Jeremy Peel of the PC Games Network has an interview with the current management of Atari.
– Nolan Moore is trying to hack a Power Glove to control robots, drones and other things, which is awesome. Read more about his project here.
– The latest Mike and Bootsy game on Cinemassacre is Swamp Thing for the NES. Check out their video here!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Hey, the Game Boy Advance came out on June 11, 2001! It ended up selling more than 81 million units, which is pretty, pretty, pretty good. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was a launch title. It’s a stellar side-scroller with RPG elements, and worth hunting down.
– Also on June 11, but in 2000, The Legend of Dragoon came out for the Playstation. It was a fairly mediocre RPG, but one of the first released for the system, so it sold fairly well as a result.
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.
Your Parents Basement 
Episode 084 – Space Jam (1996)
Episode 084 – Space Jam (1996)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are the looniest tunes in the bunch! From 1996, we’re playing Space Jam by Sculptured Software, and published by Acclaim, for the Playstation, Saturn and PC.
You can manually download this week’s dunktastic podcast here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win!
Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, Space Jam is really cheap, in the $7 to $13 range, depending on whether you want a case and manual as well. This is almost certainly because it sucks. In contrast, Looney Tunes B-Ball is the better game, despite being for the SNES, and costs $26 to $70.
– The Ringer’s Shea Serrano has an oral history on Space Jam here. By the way, it’s satire and completely made up.
– From Rolling Stone, the Space Jam website was one of the first for a movie on the Interwebs, and it’s STILL around. Read their piece here, and check out the website here.
– The 30 for 30 on the Space Jam game is incredible.