Vidya Game News – April 28, 2016
– From Ryan Divish and Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times, Nintendo is selling its majority stake in the Seattle Mariners. The valuation is $1.4 billion, and a follow-up story on how the deal was struck is here. The initial purchase price? Around $100 million, according to a January 1992 New York Times article by Lawrence Malkin.
– Kotaku has an excerpt from Alyse Knorr’s book on the making of Super Mario Bros. 3, and it’s an awesome read! Check it out here.
– Now out: Sega 3D Classics Collection, for the Nintendo 3DS. Games include Power Drift, Puyo Puyo 2, Fantasy Zone II and II W, Sonic the Hedgehog, Thunder Blade, Galaxy Force II, Altered Beast and Maze Walker.
– Pretty much every site on the ole Internet had a piece about the new NES adapter that lets you use some modern controllers.
– Nintendo has a Humble Bundle available until May. Highlights include Retro City Rampage and Citizens of Earth.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Historically, nothing prominent has come out on April 28, so… On April 29, 1998, Tekken 3 came out for the PlayStation. Released by Namco, it’s considered one of the absolute best games for the system, and one of the best fighting games of all-time.
– A little game called Grand Theft Auto IV came out on April 29, 2008. It made a bazillion dollars for Rockstar.
– Similarly: Mario Kart Wii came out in 2008 as well. It was a pretty good day for games.
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 14, 2016
– The Tumblr account Super Mario Broth highlighted a rare Super Mario Bros. 3 animation this week – The Hammer Bros. suit sliding. You normally can’t slide in the suit in the game, so you have to do it in this one stage.
– Also in the category of Super Late Easter Eggs, a bald guy in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! reveals when to throw punches to knock out Piston Honda and Bald Bull. Read about it on Reddit here.
– In advance of the release of Star Fox Zero on April 22, there is a comparison of Corneria across the different versions. And hey, check out YPB’s Star Fox episode here!
– Nerdist and a bunch of other sites had the Player Piano cover of the moon theme from DuckTales. It’s the hot game that got one out of one DuckTale from Todd on one of our first shows!
– From TechTimes, Mark Lelinwalla looks at the five console generations Kobe Bryant has spanned. Also from TechTimes, Dianne Depra has a cool preview piece on a neat new book, The Art of Atari. Some really good images here!
– And again on TechTimes… Quinten Plummer has a cool article on how the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Illinois managed to revive a prototype Beavis and Butt-Head game that only had 12 copies made. The secret? Cannibalizing a 3DO.
– OC Weekly has a story on Sega Genecide, a cover band. Headline: “Sega Genecide eat, breathe and shit 90’s cover songs.”
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Not quite today, but on April 13, 1992, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past came out in North America. It continued the wildly popular series, and it was a bright, vibrant 16-bit game. Per Wikipedia, it sold 4.61 million copies, good enough for fifth on the platform.
– On April 12, 2001, Big Ape Productions released The Simpsons Wrestling for the PSX to pretty miserable reviews. Of course, if you’re looking for a good Simpsons game, or want to hear about some of the horrible ones, check out our previous show!
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 – March 31, 2016
Yearly reminder: Friday is April 1, so any of these stories have a chance of being false in the future, unfortunately.
– From a site called MEL, Sam Stecklow has a great read on Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill, a cancelled video game for the SNES and Genesis based on the Clintons’ cat… OR IS IT CANCELLED?!?! There might be a Kickstarter campaign to get it properly released.
– Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica has a long write-up of some of the cooler panel talks at the Game Developers Conference. Among the revelations: Ms. Pac-Man began as a speed-up kit, and Diablo was originally going to be a turn-based game.
– Atlas Obscura has a good, long read from Eric Gundhauser on the non-rise and quick fall of the Phillips CD-i.
– Speaking of failed systems… Deuce of WRRV 92.7 and 96.9 links to a 30-minute Atari Jaguar informercial, which is crazy go nuts.
– And speaking of Atari, Joey Morona of Cleveland.com has a slideshow of their ads.
– Seth G. Macy at IGN has a neat piece on some trivia about classic NES games. Covered are The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Mario, Mega Man, Metroid and the Konami Code.
– In current events news, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice has done about $193 million at the domestic box office, and $501 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. This means we’ll probably get more of them, despite the 29 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Yaaaay… Esquire’s Tyler Coates has a piece that is titled perfectly: “How did Batman go from being fun and gay to sad and boring?”
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Depending on the platform, Lego Star Wars came out this week in 2005. It was the first of many Lego games by TT Games, and almost all of them have been well-reviewed. They’re perfect for your sweet baby boys and girls at home to get into!
– Although the SNES rightly gets a lot of credit for popularizing the RPG genre, the PSX probably remains the platform that just had the most “what the hell?” RPGs, and a surprising amount made it to the U.S. Such as… Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, from Nippon Ichi, the makers of the Disgaea series. It’s the same sort of tactical, turn-based RPG game as later Nippon Ichi titles, but it came out in 1998, four years before La Pucelle: Tactics and five years before Disgaea.
– StarCraft came out for the PC in 1998. For way more on that game, check out our episode from November!
– In 1997, Doom 64 came out for, you guessed it, the Nintendo 64. While it didn’t get much attention, it is Steve’s favorite version of Doom because it adds some weapons and looks a bit nicer than some of the older PC versions.
– And oh yeah, Resident Evil came out in 1996. I guess it’s kind of a big deal, too.
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 – March 17, 2016
– Hey, the NCAA tournament starts today! While there was a lot of fanfare when the college football series by EA ended, the NCAA Basketball series went with a whimper in 2010. It kind of sucked, since the 2K series was better, but even that ended in 2008. Amusingly, even though it’s not a great game, NCAA Basketball 10 now goes for more than $30 because it’s the last one. (NCAA Football 14 is in the same boat, with prices staying at $25+, although that’s a much better game.)
– Matt Peckham of Time.com, which apparently used to be a magazine, has an interview with Miyamoto on Star Fox Zero.
– I Am Setsuna is the latest new RPG series from Square Enix, and according to IGN, it’s inspired by Chrono Trigger. Nice!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– We’re finally getting to some decent historical release dates! On this day in 1994, Castlevania: Bloodlines came out for the Genesis. It was the only ’Vania game released for the Genesis, and it was very well-received. (The photo comes from this website.)
– Also for the Genesis in 1994, there was Streets of Rage 3! It was more of the same – basically, that system’s answer to Final Fight – but still good.
– Legend of Legaia, a perfectly average PSX RPG, came out in 1998. From the developer Contrail, it had a sequel in 2001, but otherwise, it hasn’t been prominent.
– Last year, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD came out for the PS4 and Xbox One. It was based on an old Playstation Portable game, and it shows with the weird, frenetic gameplay. Steve just bought it last week for $10 and says it’s pretty passable.
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 – January 29, 2016
Hey, it’s some news!
– Marc Deschamps had a fun review, with pictures, of his time spent at a museum with a NES exhibit.
– It was all around the Internet this week, but the original story seems to be from a Huffington Post site: Michael Jackson did portions of the soundtrack for Sonic 3. Read more here by Todd Van Luling.
– PAX South is in San Antonio from today to Sunday. You know, in case you’re in the area. For more info, visit the event’s website.
– From mbgreen78 at DeviantART, it’s video game dioramas! Check them out here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The most significant game released was Phantasy Star Online in 2001 for the Dreamcast. It was pretty much the first online console game that had a significant impact, and it makes plenty of “best of all-time” lists as a result.
– Depending on what source you look at, Final Fantasy Tactics came out today or yesterday in 1998. It was a cult classic for plenty of years, thanks to its awesome storyline and neat, turn-based strategy gameplay. Nowadays, it has been re-released for several different (mostly Sony) platforms, and it’s still worth checking out. (And by the way, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is out this week for the Wii U Virtual Console, per Gamasutra.)
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 036 – 2015 Awards – Part 2 (2015)
Episode 036 – 2015 Awards – Part 2 (2015)
This week in Your Parents Basement, it’s the continuation of a celebration! We’re covering the rest of the favorite games we played in 2015, and also, touching on some of the worst games we played. And also, of course, emails!
You can manually download this week’s prestigious 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 is an opening from the Academy Awards.
- 1:05:30 – From Todd Brisket, he has the nominees and the winner of the Sweetest Baby Boy of Year!
- 1:07:30 – It’s a big ole expanded email portion this week, as we hear from some of the greatest friends of the show.
- 1:13:00 – A musical interlude, based on an email.
- 1:32:00 – A snifferoo from next week’s show, which is a cult classic SNES action-RPG based on a tabletop game series.
SHOW NOTES
– All of the games mentioned on the show are current and not especially pricey. So if they sound interesting, be sure to help us out via Amazon!
Episode 032 – Metal Gear Solid (1998)
Episode 032 – Metal Gear Solid (1998)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are using cardboard boxes to sneak and strangle our way past terrorists! From 1998, we’re playing a masterpiece from Hideo Kojima and Konami, Metal Gear Solid! Our special guest this week is Dale, who recently played the game for a charity drive.
You can manually download this week’s stealthy 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 is about a minute of the main theme from Metal Gear Solid.
- 1:01:45 – Emails. None of them are fake, so the guys talk about their favorite Mario Kart series racers.
- 1:25:00 – Snifferoo. Next week, we’re playing a game from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, Metal Gear Solid is still priced reasonably, at $10 for just the game CDs and the case. New copies are costlier, at an average sale price of $113. The Gamecube version costs more, ranging from $33 to $80, but it’s available on the last two generations of systems in various collections for around $10 to $20.
– Dale was on a previous episode of the pod, a wonderful show on Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. You can read more here, which includes a link to the episode to listen.
– On Reddit, AudioRejectz attempts to summarize the Metal Gear timeline through 2014. This would be before the 2015 game, Metal Gear Solid 5, came out. The Metal Gear series article on Wikipedia is a bit more brief, but the entries for the individual games are as insanely detailed as you would think.
– The best Metal Gear spoof belongs to Mega64. View the video here. Also, as you’d expect, the Metal Gear Solid page on TV Tropes is friggin’ huge.
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 – November 5, 2015
“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a video game where you help the people who were shot in all the other games. It’d be called ‘Really Busy Hospital.’” – Demetri Martin.
Shameless plug: Distant Arcade is a neat retro gaming site that Steve’s old reporting buddy Andrew Martin runs and writes for. Give it a click, would you? Steve also wrote a piece on Battletoads for the site back in the day. And oh yeah, the rest of the news links:
– A new Micro Machines game will be released on mobile platforms, according to Patrick O’Rourke at Mobilesyrup. The original racing game was one of the classics for the NES, although surprise surprise, it was hella hard.
– There was a really cool classic find this past week, as Cameron Koch of Tech Times posted the original press release for the NES.
– On the Fallout 4 release date of Nov. 10, Nuka Cola Quantum by Jones Soda will be available at Target. See a picture here.
– A formerly unreleased Swedish SNES game, Dorke and Ymp, is coming to Steam, per Chris Priestman at Siliconera. It looks like a puzzle platformer with a vibrant art style, although a bit awkward to play.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is now an adult, as it came out 18 years ago.
– In 2003, The Return of the King came out for the PC, PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. It was way better than past YPB game The Lord of the Rings for Super Nintendo.
– It was only eight years ago, but Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out. In 2013, Call of Duty: Ghosts came out for the 360, so the series kind of likes November.
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 