Vidya Game News – January 19, 2017
– Inexplicably, the director of Die Hard is back with his first project since 1990, and it’s… a trailer for Ghost Recon: Wildlands? Well, there is a long and tangled story behind that, but you can check out the (awesome) trailer here. Also, listen to our Die Hard Arcade show here!
– BOOOOM Shaka Laka! Some fans have updated the old NBA Jam: Tournament Edition ROM for the Super Nintendo. Now included are 2017 rosters, all the league’s new teams since 1993, and new secret characters. (Long live Harambe!) Download it here, before they get a cease and desist here. (And, listen to our NBA Jam episode here!)
– Speaking of NBA Jam-like properties… Honest Trailers and Screen Junkies has a takedown of Space Jam, which leads to an AV Club article. And hey, the game is bad too!
– Mark Wilson of Stuff has a good summary of the 3DO, along with a couple short reviews of decent games for the system.
– Kyle Orland has a piece on Ars Technica about how the illusion was created that Super Mario 64 and Portal were “run” on a Super Nintendo system.
– Via Game Informer, and popular on Facebook, there was once a Darth Maul game planned. And, it looked kind of bad ass! Like, a much darker take on the usual Star Wars stuff. And speaking of s’wars, check out our episodes on the SNES game and Rogue Squadron.
– On pretty much every news site, more information about the Nintendo Switch has come out. The good: Price tag under $300, a Zelda game out on release day! The bad: shortages are already being reported, all of the extra devices are overpriced, and Nintendo still has issues with online.
– Via the AV Club, Nintendo had some big band (as in jazz) performances at their Switch presentations. Listen to them here.
– From the Huffington Post, a new kitchen device can turn your radishes into Super Mario Bros. mushroom-shapes. Unfortunately, the Ravanello Radish Shaper still keeps them as radishes. Disgusting. Listen to our Super Mario Bros. episode here!
As always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – January 12, 2017
Hey, Steve missed a couple weeks of doing these! Womp, womp, wompppppp. It was mostly because he was looking for new apartments, and also dealing with a time crunch because of the holidays. Going forward, we’re mostly going to focus on the news items. This is because most of the anniversaries, unfortunately, were already starting to repeat themselves. And on that note, herrreeeee is the news!
– Ars Technica publicizes a hack of the NES Classic by Reddit’s NESClassicMods community, which allows you to add games to the system’s library.
– Kotaku, Polygon and other sites have this story about the closing of Asheron’s Call on Jan. 31, and how a 74-year-old dude is still playing the game.
– Also on Polygon, they publicize a trick published by the blog Super Mario Broth, for Super Mario World. Basically, Mario is invulnerable while sliding.
– From Gamasutra, a rowebut is learning how to play Mario Kart 64! You can read the story here, and by the way, our Kart episode is here.
– And hey, more Mario stuff, as Nerdist has stop animation Mare-E-Oh created with Rubik’s cubes. Listen to our Super Mario Bros. episode here!
– If you have Playstation Plus, you’re in luck this month! Day of the Tentacle Remastered, the sequel to Maniac Mansion, is free on the service in January. Check out our review of Maniac Mansion here!
– Shmuplations, of all places, has a cool translation of a Miyamoto interview about the development of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. You can read it here!
If you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link!
Vidya Game News – November 10, 2016
– Unsurprisingly, Gandhi remains an asshole in Civilization 6, per Kotaku. Check out our show on the original Civilization here!
– On Kill Screen, Emma Kidwell has a nice essay about how video games helped with language when she spent her summers in Japan.
– The NES Classic Edition comes out Friday in the U.S., and some reviews are coming in for it. Kotaku also notes that the old Nintendo call-in lines will be active, too.
– Also, as you may have heard, new Genesis consoles are being made… in Brazil. Polygon’s Charlie Hall notes that the system won’t have HDMI support or ship internationally, but it does come with 20+ games preloaded. Sega in Brazil is like Spinal Tap in Japan, or David Hasselhoff in Germany.
– Kyle Orland of Ars Technica writes about four “found” Kirby games for the SNES, and the difficulty of preserving old digital games, here. You can find our Kirby show here.
– From Matthew Figueira and other sites, Blizzard won’t be doing remakes of Warcraft 1 or Warcraft 2 anytime soon. Also, no news on a potential Warcraft 4 either. But hey, listen to our show on the old series!
– Obduction, the new game from Myst creator Rand Miller, will be released for the PS4 and VR in 2017. Read about that and more in Miller’s interview with Dean Takahashi of Venture Beat. And listen to our Myst show here!
– From Kotaku: What should you feed your pregnant characters in The Sims?
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Golden Sun, a popular RPG series by Camelot and Nintendo, first hit U.S. shores on Nov. 11, 2001. It’s 15 now! Almost old enough to drive.
– It was only a year ago, but the sweet baby boys can scarcely remember what our lives were like before the release of Fallout 4 on this day in 2015. We have a lot more time… Stupid, pointless time without Fallout 4. Bethesda’s masterpiece has had several DLC expansions and mod support added, and people are already clamoring for the fifth installment, or a side game, or anything else because Fallout is LIFE.
– Also, Skyrim came out on Nov. 11, 2011. It’s now five years old! A regular sweet kindergarten baby boy. Bethesda sure loves to spoil us in 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.
Episode 079 – Ghosts ‘n Goblins series (1985-1991)
Episode 079 – Ghosts ‘n Goblins series (1985-1991)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are slaying a variety of monsters in our underwear! From 1985 to 1991, we’re playing the games of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series by Capcom for the Arcade, SNES, Genesis and NES! We are joined by special guest, superfan and father of the show’s sweetest baby boy listener, Hawk!
You can manually download this week’s spooktastic 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 creepy music from the prologue to the SNES version.
- 36:00 – Emails! Julian Assange writes in, and so does Harry Carey!
- 56:30 – It’s everybody’s favorite… Ask The Sweet Boys!
- 1:01:00 – Snifferoo. Next week, we’re whipping about the waves with a Nintendo 64 game.
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, prices have held up pretty well for the series. The loose cart price can range from $13.50 (NES) to $22 (SNES, Genesis) to $80 (Master System), and the box and manual shoots the price up to a range of $41 to $132.
– Ghosts ‘n Goblins is one of the prepackaged 30 games coming out in the sweet baby boy NES Classic Edition. It’s scheduled to be released in November.
– Here is a ridiculous speedrun of the game, done in 21 minutes with no deaths.
– Hawk Man 5000 previously guested for Mega Man 2, which you can listen to here!
Vidya Game News – October 28, 2016
– Kyle Orland has a good interview with Sid Meier, of Civilization fame, for Ars Technica. You can read it here! And check out our Civilization show here.
– Speaking of Orland, he had a cool link in his weekly newsletter to an older piece about how insider leaks happen. (If you’re not subscribing to Orland’s weekly newsletter yet, you should! That is, if you love vidya games.)
– On Engadget and other sites: A prototype for a SNES version of Rayman has been found.
– In honor of Halloween, Justin Carreiro of The Young Folks has a look at Maniac Mansion. You can listen to our show on it here! Also, Ryan Gibbs of The Young Folks once talked SimCity with us here.
– Pokemon Sun and Moon, which release Nov. 18 for the 3DS, are Nintendo’s biggest pre-ordered games of all-time, per a release by the company published on Polygon.
– Nathan Grayson of Kotaku summarizes some of the issues hitting up mod support for Sega games on Steam here.
– The USgamer team ranks all 30 games in the NES Classic here! Games we’ve covered on YPB: Bubble Bobble, Castlevania, Punch-Out, Tecmo Bowl, Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2.
– On Polygon and other sites this week… The official Sega employee song from the 1990s.
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The PlayStation 2 came out on October 26, 2000. It was pretty popular.
– In 2002, a little game called Grand Theft Auto: Vice City came out. It was pretty, pretty, pretty popular. Almost exactly two years later, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came out, and it was also pretty, pretty, pretty popular.
– Another lil game, Fallout 3, came out on October 28, 2008. Again, it was pretty 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.
Episode 078 – Civilization (1991)
Episode 078 – Civilization (1991)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are playing for just ONE MORE TURN, we promise! From 1991, we’re playing Civilization by MicroProse (and later Firaxis and Spectrum HoloByte) for the PC and Super Nintendo. Our special guest is Amanda, Steve’s friend from his college newspaper!
You can manually download this week’s Wonder-building 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 has a moment of glory from Steve.
- 30:45 – It’s time for another installment of Video Game Theater! This time, with music! AND EMOTION.
- 38:00 – Emails! Who would we rather kiss?
- 48:45 – Hoooo boy, it’s the return of… Ask the Sweet Boys.
- 58:00 – Snifferoo. Things get SPOOKY next week, as in honor of Halloween, we’re playing one of the toughest game series of all-time!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, the Super Nintendo version of Civilization is about $20 for the loose cart, and $47 for the box and manual. The actual PC game is free on a lot of sites, and Freeciv is (as the name implies) free and awesome.
– Civilization 6 came out last week, and with that, there was a bunch of stuff out on the series. (And hey, that’s why we did the show this week too.) Brian Fung of The Washington Post scored an interview with Sid Meier. And he likes to play as the Romans.
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.
Episode 077 – Super Mario RPG (1996)
Episode 077 – Super Mario RPG (1996)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are smashing goombas with hammers and racking up sweet, sweet numbers in the process! From 1996, we’re playing Super Mario RPG by Nintendo and Square for the Super Nintendo. Our special guest is Doctor Tony, friend of Steve’s friend Mary!
You can manually download this week’s jump-tastic 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 the Mario-est music of today’s game.
- 44:00 – Emails! Helping to keep the lights on at the Kirk Cameron household.
- 1:05:00 – No Sweet Boy Asks this week, so it’s right to the Snifferoo!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, Super Mario RPG is still quite pricy. It’s $46.50 for the loose cart, and $139 for the cart, box and manual. However, it’s available on the Wii virtual stores, which is much more affordable.
– Jason Schreier of Kotaku had a good retrospective on Super Mario RPG this year, in honor of the game’s 20th anniversary. Read it here!
– Likewise, the TV Tropes page for the game is quite robust.
Vidya Game News – October 13, 2016
– Biggest news EVER possibly: The Socks the Cat game for the SNES is probably going to get a release, once it hits its Kickstarter goal! Yay! Read more here. Second Dimension and Tom Curtin, a gaming historian and collector, managed to secure the rights.
– On Kotaku, they have a news item on an NES replica that’s in the shape of a Zelda chest. And, oh, by the way, it has a wireless, floating Tri-force. Read more here!
– Stuff has a cool feature on the history of Nintendo handhelds, including the Game and Watch.
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Mortal Kombat 3 was released for the Genesis and Super Nintendo today in 1995, after its release in arcades on April 15. Its story is completely insane, but hey, it has more buckets of blood, like the previous games in the series.
– Pokemon Gold and Silver came out on October 15, 2000. They sold a billion copies.
– WWF Raw was released for the PC on October 14, 2002. Because it was the last WWF game on the PC until 2015, it was a popular when it came to mods, even though Anchor’s effort received middling reviews when it came out.
– Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne was released October 12, 2004. It was the first game of that series released in the U.S. by Atlus, and it immediately became a cult classic, bought by about 20 people who all happened to be game critics.
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 7, 2016
– Visiting Portugal anytime soon? You might want to sleep in this Super Mario Bros. themed Airbnb room, then! Story comes courtesy Thrillist. And, check out our past episodes on SMB1 and SMB2!
– Fans are desperate for Nintendo to release some info, any info, on the upcoming NX console. So much so that they’re now speculating a Papa John’s news release could be about the console. Polygon pokes fun at the phenomenon here.
– Nintendo executives and ads sales people might be losing their collective minds though, judging from this (really loud) commercial for new colors on the 2DS. Starring Luigi!
– Gamasutra has a really good blog entry from John Szczepaniak on the dark side of the Japanese gaming industry’s work practices. I found that article in The Game Beat Weekly, which is Kyle Orland’s awesome weekly email about the gaming industry. Subscribe to it here!
– From Geek.com, a Commodore 64 has been running an auto shop for 25 years. Read more here!
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– MORTAL KOMBAT! … was released in the arcades on October 8, 1992. The gory fighter from Midway Games was hella popular, thanks to its mixture of Street Fighter 2 mechanics with bloody combat.
– Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber came out for the N64 today in 2000. Quest’s follow-up to their earlier games was a bit more accessible than the originals, but still just a niche title that’s now a cult classic. (And speaking of, Tactics Ogre came out on October 6, 1995 for the SNES in Japan.)
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 