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 – 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.
Vidya Game News – October 29, 2015
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Chicken! Fight like a robot!” – Berzerk. Don’t be a chicken, read these news links and stories.
– In honor of 30 years of Bomberman, Konami has announced a new game in the series. Pocket Gamer has the story, translated from Japanese news suit Famitsu.
– A new Zelda game means a new addition to the series’ already confusing timeline. IGN has a breakdown here.
– Marketing Week’s Thomas Hobbs interviews Jon Rooke from Sega, who talks about their new strategy when it comes to mobile and traditional games, and confirms that they’re looking into re-releasing Shenmue.
– Also, Sega mistakenly named a character “Boob” instead of “Boo” in one of their mobile games, per Cinema Blend.
– US Gamer has an extensive interview with Masayuki Uemura, one of the creators of the NES. It’s definitely worth checking out.
– From Tech Times and many other sites, the Oliver Twins have discovered and released a long lost Dizzy the Adventurer game, Wonderland Dizzy. You can check out the news article here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1988, the Sega Genesis came out in Japan. While it strongly challenged the SNES in America, it always trailed in Japan. And as Steve has said repeatedly, check out Console Wars if you’re interested in the history of Sega.
– Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex came out in 2001 for the Playstation 2. It was apparently the fourth game in the series.
– It was only two years ago, but Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag both came out today.
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 22, 2015
“COMMUNISM IS A LIE. DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMUNISM. DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.” – Liberty Prime, Fallout 3. Fight the red scourge by enjoying this capitalistic vidya game news!
– Good news for Todd Brisket! The Sega Genesis version of Duke Nukem 3D is now available.
– On Digg, an amazingly “so bad it’s awesome” commercial for the Atari 5200. It features some legitimately hot, way too enthusiastic babes in bikinis! Check it out here.
– Pretty much every major tech site had some sort of piece on the 30-year anniversary of the NES, but Mashable had a neat retrospective on the 18 launch games for the system. Among them: Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Wrecking Crew and Clu Clu Land.
– Nintendo has opened up its development process slightly, and it’s also quietly sending out development kits for its next system, according to several different websites.
– From many different sites, but created by Sports Illustrated’s Cauldron, it’s the Colts bizarre fake punt recreated in Tecmo Super Bowl – view it on YouTube.
– There could be a new Valkyria Chronicles game in the works, as Sega has registered the name Valkyria of the Battlefield with the Japanese patent office.
– My Parents’ Basement is a new restaurant open in Avondale Estates, Georgia. For a review, click here, and the restaurant’s website is here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Grand Theft Auto 3 was released 14 years ago on the PS2, which was followed by PC versions in 2002 and Xbox in 2003. It was the first REALLY good game of the series, and as of 2011, it had sold more than 17 million copies, in addition to being the best-selling game of 2001.
– Fallout: New Vegas came out on Oct. 19 in 2010, but it’s close enough to include right here, especially since there weren’t many other significant games released on Oct. 22. Also, Fallout 4 comes out on Nov. 10. (Speaking of, the “PipBoy edition” went back on sale yesterday, and supplies lasted for five minutes, per Polygon.)
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 15, 2015
This week’s news is from Russia with FUN!
– Some guy named Steve Colebert had the Zelda orchestra on. You’ve probably heard about it already, but if not, it’s totally on Youtube.
– From Kotaku, Brian Ashcraft has a re-post of a popular old post that has a tour of Nintendo’s original headquarters in Japan.
– A hardcore Japanese gamer has kept his SNES on for 20 years because he’s worried that his save game data for obscure game Umihara Kawase might be at-risk. Preston Phro of Rocket News 24 has a good write-up here.
– If you’re in the Portland, Oregon area, then you still have time to check out the annual Classic Tetris World Championship! It takes place this weekend, Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, at their own yearly Portland Retro Gaming Expo. There are prizes ranging from $125 to $1,000 for top-four finishes.
– Uproxx and plenty of other sites had this item on someone mashing up Kendrick Lamar and Super Mario Bros.
– Per the official Natsume Twitter account and some other sources on the Internets, Nintendo is moving on from re-releasing older games (SNES, Game Boy, NES) on the Virtual Console. Along similar lines, hackers discovered a list of about 70 future online releases by Nintendo.
– Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt has a really good Q&A with producers who have worked with Nintendo before about the process of creating games in conjunction with the company.
– CinemaBlend has a write-up of a nifty YouTube video that re-imagines Star Wars Battlefront as a SNES game, Super Star Wars Battlefront.
– WHO’S A GOOD DOG? Atari is a good dog, and he’s available for adoption!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver came out 15 years ago for the Game Boy Color. These were the first proper, full sequels to the original blue and red installments, and solidified Pokémon as a phenomenon.
– Wild Arms 3 came out in 2002 for the Playstation 2. It’s a niche RPG series with a sort of Western feel and theme, and worth checking, especially the later games that iron out some of the kinks of the first installment.
– The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released 13 years ago for the Playstation 2. While it received mediocre to bad reviews, this was still way better than the SNES installment that was a past YPB 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 – October 8, 2015
“When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man whose gonna burn your house down – with the lemons!”
Here’s some news to go with them lemons:
– The lead designer from Earthworm Jim says he would be open to doing a sequel. That, and more, are in the linked Reddit AMA.
– Also on Reddit: Is it possible for Scrooge McDuck to swim through the gold coins in his money vault? Probably not.
– Via Twitter, Sega has announced there will be a Game Gear theme available the 3DS, which would have seemed impossible in the early 1990s. (Then again, so would the 3DS, and smartphones, and the Internet…)
– Cassidee Moser of IGN.com has a heads-up about this Reddit user, who’s turned an old NES cart into a working NES.
– From Kotaku and several other sites, there is a really cool box art book coming out for the Super Nintendo. It’s from this guy.
– The 8-Bit Guy has a YouTube video about how the music was made on the NES and Commodore.
– Good times, good times! From Destructoid, a guy pawned a Genesis, not knowing there was meth inside.
– WDRB has a story on getting out of Your Parents Basement. Ugh, why would you ever want to do that?
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– NBA Live 2003 and NBA 2K3 game out for the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube in 2002, oddly enough. Of course, NBA 2K3 was better.
– Although they’re not classics, Beyond: Two Souls and Disgaea D2 came out in 2013.
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 1, 2015
The cake is a lie. These stories are not.
– Nathan Birch of Uproxx has some facts you might not know about Super Mario 64. Such as that Luigi and flagpoles were originally going to be in the game, as well as a horse for Mario to ride.
– Sega’s profits are down company-wide, and they’ve asked for 200 early retirements as a result.
– Andrew Serafin of BREATHEcast notes that Microsoft has renewed the trademark for Battletoads, hinting that it might want to do something with that IP in the future.
– Hey, a new Dreamcast game is out! Ghost Blade is a side scrolling shooter, and Roger Hargreaves of Metro gives it a positive review.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pretty much no games of signigance were released. So, uh… Go play The Oregon Trail instead.
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 17, 2015
I am Error. Read these news stories.
– Hey, what are the odds? Shortly after our episode on Tecmo Bowl, it was released for the Wii U shop. Clearly, we’re influencing companies!
– In mixed news, depending on where you stand on Square Enix doing yet another remake… Final Fantasy Adventure, which is actually the first game in the YPB-covered Secret of Mana, is getting a remake for the Vita and smartphones. Siliconera has an article here. It is keeping the same story from the original, but upgrading the graphics and what not.
– Mashable has a sponsored story on some racin’ games from the past. Pre-2000, they focus on F-Zero, Micro Machines, Mario Kart 64, Gran Turismo and Crazy Taxi, and I’ve played four out of five of those splendid games!
– From the AV Club, a piece by John Teti on how Super Mario Bros. is the loneliest Mario game.
– There were a bunch of articles released this week about the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. But as Frank Cifaldi points out in an older piece for Gamasutra, the actual release date of the game in the U.S. is up for debate. Time.com also has a cool slideshow on the evolution of Mario’s look.
– Of all places, USA Today has a good, long oral history on some of the Playstation’s development, on the anniversary of its launch 20 years ago. It’s by Mike Snider, and you can read it here.
– Speaking of the Playstation, Nathan Birch at Uproxx has a good collection of some of the trivia on the device, like that Crash Bandicoot was hated by the Japanese portion of the company and that the system worked better upside down.
– There are now Sega-inspired kicks, although I agree with the comments, that the boxes look cooler than the shoes.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Depending on what source you use, Kingdom Hearts was released today or yesterday in 2002 for the PS2. While it wasn’t my cup of tea because of its reliance on button mashing and a stupid AI, the presentation values (graphics and sound) were top-notch for the collaboration between Disney and Square.
– Some game called Grand Theft Auto V came out for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Although it’s only two years old, it’s kind of a big deal, to the tune of 54 million copies and counting.
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 10, 2015
Hey, you know what starts tonight? Football! Football, football, FOOTBALL! Tom Brady, football, Deflategate, FOOTBALL!!! #hottakes. Oh, and here is some vidya game news:
– The original PlayStation was released 20 years ago, roughly, as it hit American shores on Sept. 9. Mike Minotti of the Gamesbeat column at Venturebeat has a piece on the mediocre launch titles. “Highlights” included Ridge Racer, NBA Jam Tournament Edition and Battle Arena Toshinden.
– Similarly, Entertainment Weekly online’s Aaron Morales has a look at the Dreamcast’s super sweet 16.
– Project X Zone 2 is an odd, mash-up tactical RPG. Among its playable characters are Captain Commando, Heihachi Mishima from Tekken, and now, Segata Sanshiro from Sega Saturn ads. Sato at Siliconera has a summary here.
– Chelsea Stark at Mashable has grouped together 10 cool Super Mario Bros. music covers here. And in a video for Eurogamer, the developers of SMB talk World 1-1.
– In a great column idea, whodeyfans at SB Nation uses Tecmo Super Bowl to project games.
– From Reddit, a Super Mario Bros. video is used to announce a pregnancy.
– U.S. News and World Report has an article on moving out of your parents’ basement. Ugh, who would ever want to do that?
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Hey, some actual games of significance were released! You know, like Kid Klown in Crazy Chase for the SNES in 1994! Big time stuff! (JK on that one, but for reals…)
– Spyro the Dragon came out for the Playstation in 1998. It was an incredibly popular platformer, and along with Crash Bandicoot, the closest thing Sony had to a proper mascot.
– The third volume of the .hack//G.U. series came out for Playstation 2 in 2007. Entitled Redemption, it closed out the last console version of that games series, which has some intriguing elements.
– In Japan, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest came out in 1993. Oddly, this was an inverse of the usual practice, as the North American version came out in October 1992. The game tends to be viewed dismissively by Final Fantasy fans, but it’s a perfectly average RPG for the time, with surprisingly good music. Also released in Japan on this date in history: Mutant League Football in 1993.
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 