Vidya Game News – September 3, 2015
While Kanye is running for president in 2020, the only one that’ll get our votes is President Ronnie. Are you a bad enough dude to save him? Prepare for the onslaught of political news with this much more appealing vidya game news:
– The aptly named Steven Lebron of Vice Sports has a lengthy interview with Tim Kitzrow, the voice of the NBA Jam series. Among the neat facts in the piece? He only got paid $900 for his initial voice work.
– The final tally for the first sale of Atari 2600 cartridges from a New Mexico landfill? About $107,000, according to Jacqueline Devine of The Alamogordo Daily News. The lot up for sale was 881 games, with the biggest earning being a copy of E.T., which went for $1,535.
– On YouTube, the iBookGuy has a cool series about how graphics and sounds work in older systems. This week’s topic was Apple and Atari, and you can see it here.
– Are you near central New Jersey at all? Cool! Then you can attend A Video Game Con – AVGC – which is being put on by Paul Solomine. The video game-focused event will have more than 60 vendors and 100 merchandise tables, as well as pretty much every old school console. Chuck O’Donnell of MyCentralJersey.com has a full article here.
– Jaz Rignall at US Gamer has an article on one of those obscure consoles you probably haven’t heard of, the Amstrad GX4000. It also gets into the odd European market, which was not dominated by the NES.
– In celebration of its birthday, Uproxx’s Nathan Birch has a long piece on some of the trivia aspects of the Super Nintendo. Amongst the tidbits: Nintendo never wanted to make a follow-up to the NES, most N64 games started as SNES projects, and yes, the system turns yellow over time.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pretty much zero games of note came out in America, unless you’re really into NFL Head Coach 09 or Blade II (2002). And if you are, well, it might be time to reevaluate your life and your priorities.
– In Japan, the awesome cult game The Magic of Scheherazade came out in 1987. It didn’t hit American shores until December 1989, but it was a cool game that mixed adventure and RPG elements. And oh yeah – some game called Metal Gear Solid came out in Japan. It became kind of a big deal…
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 – August 27, 2015
I never actually saw a store that sold this by itself…
School is unfortunately back in session in many states, but hey, that doesn’t mean everyone has to leave the comfort of their parents’ basement! Keep cool and read some of this here news:
– Out this week is the Mega Man Legacy Collection, which has gotten a rave review from IGN and other sites. It’s a collection of various Mega Man games, faithfully emulated and with new features, for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
– From Fortune and tons of other sites, Shigeru Miyamoto says Nintendo is open to making more movies with its IP. It’s not like they could do any worse than Super Mario Bros…
– In other Nintendo news, they’ve put release dates on a bunch of their 2015 games, including Star Fox Zero, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Xenoblade Chronicles, according to Gamespot.
– Garrett Martin of Paste has a full ranking of the 18 games that use the NES Zapper.
– Konami has a ton of great franchises, but oddly, most of them have gone dormant. Ryan Lambie from Den of Geek looks at 14 of them here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Disgaea: Hour of Darkness came out for the Playstation 2 in 2003. The games were unique because they featured tongue-in-cheek humor, references that constantly broke the fourth wall – like recurring boss named Midboss – and ridiculous training, like being able to get your characters to level 9999 and stats in the millions. The series has now spanned to nine games, with the 10th (Disgaea 5) scheduled for release on Oct. 6 in North America on the Playstation 4.
– Also in 2003, SoulCalibur II was released for Playstation 2 and Gamecube.
– In 1992, Super Mario Kart came out, and in 1994, EarthBound came out… 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.
Vidya Game News – August 20, 2015
On the East Coast, it’s been too damn hot to do anything but play vidya games, and to read about vidya games. Here are some of the highlights from the past week:
– Holy smokes, the Mortal Kombat movie is now 20 years old! Hollywood Reporter has an awesome oral history of the movie, by Aaron Couch. The biggest ‘trivia’ aspect is probably that Cameron Diaz was initially cast as Sonya Blade, before being replace by Mrs. Pete Sampras after breaking her wrist.
– As mentioned on many sites and on the Playstation Blog, there will be a nifty Playstation 4 bundle available in November that will come with a Star Wars theme and a Darth Vader chest panel. Included are the latest Star Wars Battlefront game and four classic games, like the Super Nintendo’s Super Star Wars.
– The Sega Blog has a multi-part interview with Sega staff on today’s release of 3D Gunstar Heroes. It’s an upgrade on the cult classic from the Genesis era.
– From Kotaku Australia, Kevin Wong tries to defend Mario Is Missing. It’s a #hottake to me, since I’ve played it and not been impressed.
– Freelance artist Brooke Luder apparently did some pitch work for Crazy Taxi 4 and The Sonic Classic Collection, which is summarized here at the Sonic Stadium. You can find Luder’s portfolio here.
– Sega will be releasing Puyo Puyo Quest in the states, under the title Cranky Food Friends: A delicious drop and match RPG. The news was on Pocket Gamer and other sites. If it looks and sounds familiar to you, it’s because it came to the U.S. way-back-when as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine.
– A neat roundup from Marc Morrison on 411Mania, in The 8 Ball column, which has the top eight worst 2D platformers, mostly from the eight and 16-bit eras. Some of the selections aren’t surprising, and they’re mostly correct: Home Improvement, Captain Planet, Bebe’s Kids…
Who has the largest Nintendo collection in Australia? Sam Crowther possibly, according to WA Today.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The only game of real significance released today, short of updates to sports games, is One Must Fall: 2097. It was a cool fighting game for the PC, which featured fightin’ rowebuts that you could upgrade. Man, August can’t get over soon enough…
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 – August 13, 2015
Ah, August 13. At least it’s not a Friday the 13th, the day of OK movies and horrible games, historically. Looking at this week’s neat vidya game stories from around the web:
– Polygon is doing the lord’s work by ranking all 30 games in the Rare Replay classic remake for the Xbox One. You can read it here, but as a warning, it’s an intense load in terms of video and flash for some older machines. The piece is by Philip Kollar.
– In Vancouver, a dude has souped up his Hyundai with a Sega Genesis theme, according to an article in the Parksville Qualicum Beach News.
– From Cinema Blend, an article by William Usher on the weird and terrifying Sonic games.
– The latest Kids React video is on the Nintendo 64’s Pokemon Snap. It’s like Kids Say The Darnedest Things, without roofie pudding pops!
– Cameron Faulkner of Tech Radar points out that a line can be drawn from the development of the Dreamcast to the eventual integration of Windows 10 into the Xbox.
– Ever wondered about the video game industry in Ireland? News Talk has you covered.
– The movie version of DuckTales, The Treasure of the Lost Lamp, turned 25 in August.
– From Kotaku, the secret NES and SNES games on Seinfeld’s bookshelf.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Xena: Warrior Princess came out for the Game Boy Color in 2001, as did World Series Baseball 2K2 for the Dreamcast. As you can imagine, August is still slim pickings for decent video game releases. The next year, NCAA College Football 2K3 came out.
– In 2003, EA Montreal was announced. It formally opened in March 2004. They’ve mostly produced accessory and spin-off games for EA, excluding NHL 07 and Army of Two.
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 – August 6, 2015
Super Breakout (Atari 5200)
Hey, it’s August finally! We’re getting closer to the magical fall and Christmas seasons, the actual times when video games are released. The best times. The greatest times. To tide us over until then, here is some vidya game news:
– A Nintendo Game Boy from 1990 survived a bombing in the Gulf War. Click here for the photo and story from Twinfinite.
– Another neat thing on Kickstarter is The Story of the Commodore 64 in Pixels by Chris Wilkins. For more info, click here.
– BBC News’ Kim Gittleson has an interview with Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari.
– Per MCV reporter Christopher Dring, Nintendo will soon be offering a monthly box of goodies, tentatively named The N-Box.
– Looking for a free, good, classic game to play? Super Breakout, an Atari paddle ball puzzle game, is free currently. It’s the Spokesman-Review’s Tech Deck featured game.
– Looking for a not-free, but new, classic NES game? Star Versus is an indie NES game, and you can purchase it here.
– Unofficially, a new Ducktales cartoon series will be CG-animated, per Brandon Smith at Rotoscopers. Kim Possible and Darkwing Duck are also being considered for remakes.
Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSX)
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1999, Star Ocean: The Second Story came out for the Playstation. Confusingly, it is the first game to reach America, despite the name. It’s a neat action RPG series, heavier on the RPG than some other games, and the fifth main series game (Integrity and Faithlessness) is due out later this year.
– It was only two years ago, but Dragon’s Crown came out from Atlus for the Playstation 3 and Vita. It’s a cool side-scrolling throwback to games like King of Dragons and Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystra though.
– Past show topic Secret of Mana came out (in Japan) in 1993 today! You can listen to our episode on that fantastic game here. In another significant Japanese release, Metroid came out for the NES in 1986.
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 30, 2015
Whew, the weather is heating up just as July is on its way out! But thankfully, there is some good gamin’ news to help you through these miserable temperatures. (Note: Your region may vary.) On to the proper post!
– Ernie Smith of Atlas Obscura has an incredible piece on the Brazilian video game market, where the Sega Master System still sells 150,000 units a year.
– A cool documentary idea: Two guys try to buy as much of a NES collection as they can in 30 days. The film is called Nintendo Quest, and Geek & Sundry’s Robert Workman has an article on it here.
– In other Nintendo news, the company posted a surprising first quarter profit, per Financial Times and many other sites. The gains were attributed to better cost controls and the performance of Splatoon, a new shooter IP for the Wii U.
– Per Wired and other sites, Dragon Quest XI is the first confirmed game for the Nintendo NX, along with the 3DS and Playstation 4, confusingly. In comparison to Square Enix’s other big series, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest games are usually simpler graphically, so the series could be on multiple, divergent platforms.
– The podcast I’m sure everyone was clamoring for: A game-by-game one on the Atari Jaguar! You can check it out here.
– From Wired’s Klint Finley, an article and linked YouTube on the “hot tech rivalry” between Amiga and Atari.
– James O’Malley at Gizmodo UK writes about a poll of British gamers and voters. Conservatives love Candy Crush, whereas Labour voters like that and Grand Theft Auto.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1993, Ecco the Dolphin came out for the Sega Master System. The release date does vary depending on what site you look at, but the general dates are from July 29 to July 31 for the game’s release.
– Pokemon Crystal, a Game Boy color special edition of the gold and silver versions of that game series, came out in North America in 2001.
– And since it is still July, almost nothing else came out. (For the second week in a row!) Womp womp womp.
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 23, 2015
The original box art for the Sega CD version of Night Trap.
Man, July is almost over! Where does the time go? Quicker than the final quarter in a game of NBA Jam! Anyway, here is this week’s news post:
– Dave Voyles is a sturdier man than most, since he’s taken on the technical challenge of turning the infamous Night Trap into a playable online game. For more information, check out his post on Gamasutra.
– There is an awesome new documentary project on Kickstarter, called Insert Coin: Inside Midway’s 90s Revolution. If the project hits its goal of $75,000, it plans to cover all the games of the era: Smash TV, NARC, WrestleMania, and of course, NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat.
– On past episodes, Steve has mentioned how much he liked the book Console Wars by Blake J. Harris, which really covers the rise and fall of Sega. The Mary Sue’s Dan Van Winkle has an interview with Harris here. (And hey, if you want to buy the book, don’t forget about our Amazon link!)
– From Chris Arrant of Newsarama, details on the deal between Atari and Dynamite to publish items on the gaming company’s deep back inventory of items.
– The latest effort from Honest Trailers? The Super Mario Bros. movie!
– A United Kingdom company is now offering retro game mural wallpaper.
– Via Riley Little of Game Rant, a dad has turned his child’s nursery into one with a Mario Kart 8 theme.
– Business Insider has an unwrapping of the new $500 Nintendo Entertainment System. (Warning: Video will autoplay!)
– David Nield of Motoring Research has a list of the best retro tech of the 1990s, which includes the Super Nintendo and the Game Boy Color, amongst other devices like beepers, point and shoot cameras, and Nokia phones.
Box art for Max Payne.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2001, Max Payne came out for the PC. According to Wikipedia, the three games in the series have now sold more than 7.5 million copies. It was known for introducing Matrix-style “bullet time” to games.
– And since it’s July, almost nothing else came out. Womp womp womp.
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 16, 2015
Now this looks PRETTY legit.
It’s way too friggin’ humid in New England, but despite the condensation, we’ve prepared only the best news for you to enjoy today! Here are some of the stories about classic games and series we’ve culled from around the Interwebs:
– In last week’s “Four of a Kind” feature on Purple Revolver by James Brookfield, they cover bad celebrity endorsed games. The finalists? Shaq Fu, Chuck Norris Superkicks, Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, and William Shatner’s TekWar, which apparently exists!
– Looking for some classic game recommendations? Nicholas Bitonti of The Detroit Metro Times has some good recommendations. While I don’t agree with all of them, they’re more obscure and interesting than the usual ones you see floating around the web, and cover a variety of systems.
– For the upcoming release of Pixels, Chauncey Alcorn of The New York Daily News has a ranking of his favorite 10 arcade games of all-time. Spoiler alert: Tekken 4 is way too friggin’ high, and while it’s nice to see Virtua Cop get some love, there is no Time Crisis on the list, which is just silly.
– Continuing with controversial #hottakes: Lizzy Finnegan of The Escapist has an article, “When the sequel is worse than the original.” Unfortunately, her examples are The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania, and I’d say that only the latter is actually bad.
– IGN.com’s Cam Shea has a good, longer read on the downfall of the SEGA Rally Championship game series. Warning though, a video autoplays from that link!
– On the Gradius episode, we mentioned that it was seen as Konami’s response to Namco’s classic Xevious. It’s probably for the best that an Atari 2600 port of Xevious never saw the light of day, because the recently unearthed prototype copy is pretty horrible. (Via Kotaku Australia’s Mike Fahey.)
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Again, it’s a fairly crappy day for video game releases, because it’s the summer. The Game Boy Color version of Dragon Warrior III came out 14 years ago. The original was an incredible RPG that featured multiple classes for the first time in a Dragon Quest / Dragon Warrior game, and even better, you could change at-will once you reached a certain point in the game. However, it originally came out in Japan in 1988, and in June 1991 in North America, and didn’t have much of an impact in the states. On Amazon, GBC prices range from $19.99 (used) to $149.98 (new). Want a boxed copy of the NES edition? It’s only $1,499.95, with used copies starting at $47.95.
– One major studio game released in the summer back in the day: NCAA Football 2004, which came out in 2003 on July 16 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube. The cover athlete was Carson Palmer, who is now 35, and the game sells for $1 or less pretty much everywhere in the god damn world.
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 9, 2015
Holy crap, a Nintendo Playstation!
First, some important show-related news! You can now support us whenever you’re making a purchase on Amazon. Got something to buy? Do it via this link, and we’ll get a cut of your sale, at no extra cost to you. It can be for any goods, even non-vidya game stuff, and we’d definitely appreciate it! (Let us know if you make a purchase, and you’ll get a shout-out on the show. ❤ )
Surprisingly, even though we’re now in the dog days of summer, it was a great week for news. The biggest of which…
– A prototype of the 1991 collaboration between Nintendo and Sony on a CD-based system has been unearthed [right]. Polygon’s Brian Crecente had a good interview with the guy who found it, and that’s also where the picture comes from. That system eventually became the Playstation. (And to hype that Amazon thingy once again, there is an awesome breakdown of the rise and fall of Sega, and how Sony’s Playstation factored in, via Console Wars.) Some folks online aren’t convinced the prototype is real, but no one official has come out strongly to refute it.
– Speaking of failed Nintendo projects, Jon Fingas from Engadget details how Project H.A.M.M.E.R. became vaporware over the course of six years of painful development.
– Have you ever played Missile Command, Centipede or Asteroids and thought, “Man, wouldn’t this be cooler as a graphic novel???” … Okay, me neither. But hey, Dynamite Entertainment has you covered, via an article from UK Wired’s Matt Kamen.
– A neat feature, if you like readin’, from Matt Gander at Games Asylum. In “We’ve Got Issues,” he covers the Dreamcast magazine wars of the United Kingdom.
– I must begrudgingly give credit to Food and Wine’s millennial section for featuring “the ultimate bar setup for Nintendo nerds.” It includes Mario pipe shot glasses, Legend of Zelda ice cube trays and NES Zapper bottle openers.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– The Wizard’s Castle was released in 1980. Like many other games “featured” in this here blog in July, well, there really wasn’t much to choose from in terms of releases. However, the awesome CRPG Addict has an exhaustive review of the game available. It should not be confused with the wonderful Home Movies episode “The Wizard’s Baker.”
– Cryptic Studios was incorporated in 2000. They’re the makers of popular online multiplayer games City of Heroes and spinoff City of Villains.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games.
Vidya Game News – July 2, 2015
Hey, it’s July! Bask in the summer heat with some hot video game news! Good times, good times.
– A slew of old Sega games are getting released on the 3DS eShop in the next couple weeks, according to Nintendo Life. First up is Streets of Rage 2 on July 16, followed by Gunstar Heroes in August and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in September. Sales on those games will determine whether additional games get pumped out. (The latest Sega-related app game though, Sonic Runners, got a negative review from Touch Arcade.)
– The classic Atari series Battlezone is getting rebooted by Rebellion for the PC and Playstation 4, according to International Business Times.
– Nintendo fans are pissed about the early videos and screenshots from Metroid Prime: Federation Force. It’s supposed to be a multiplayer-focused game on the Nintendo 3DS, which basically means it doesn’t sound like a Metroid game at all. Forbes.com has an article on the controversy. Wired has an interview with the man behind the game, Kensuke Tanabe.
– Speaking of the Big N, their next console could hit stores in July 2016, according to Digitimes.
– The developer of Mario Strikers pitched Nintendo a volleyball and wrestling game, according to Gamespot. It didn’t get picked up.
– From Siliconera, a fan is doing a new indie version of the Mega Man series, Mega Man X: Corrupted. Read more here.
– The Sporting News is doing a best sports video game bracket. They’re down to the final, NBA Jam vs. NHL 94, which might be familiar to Your Parents Basement listeners. Check out our NBA Jam show here, and the NHL series here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pretty much zero games of significance were released in the United States. This is probably because it’s the middle of summer, and on top of that, two days before a major holiday. Even in Japan, this is a traditionally light release day. The only one I ever really played? Nolan Ryan’s Baseball, one of the early SNES sports games from 1991 and 1992, and it isn’t anything impressive.
– July 2 does have one big event from a gaming history standpoint though. Warner sold its home computing and game console divisions, which included a company named Atari, to Jack Tramiel, in 1984. This was after the video game crash of 1983, so Atari wasn’t in great shape, and Tramiel had a spotty reputation in the gaming industry as the former owner of Commodore. Atari and everyone else was run over by the NES juggernaut after the industry recovered from the crash. For more, check out Wikipedia.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games.
Your Parents Basement 