Vidya Game News – February 9, 2017
– Netflix has confirmed that an animated Castlevania show will be hitting their service in 2017! You can read about it on GameSpot, and a bunch of other sites. Its creator has called it “R-rated as fuck,” and based on Castlevania 3. You can listen to our ‘vania 1 show here.
– Enshrined in Stuff’s Hall of Fame now: The Sega Mega Drive. Read more here!
– From Tristan Jurkovich at GameSpew, a good read on the “bizarre localization” of a fun adventure / platform action game, Power Blade.
– Sweet sassy molassy! Source codes for NBA Jam Extreme and Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter were found on some auctioned computers, according to this Kotaku article, which is based on the fine work of the folks at YouTube channel Silicon Classics.
– On Ars Technica, World of Warcraft gold can now be used on other Blizzard titles like Overwatch and Hearthstone. Also, by the way, we’ve covered a bunch of their games – the original Warcraft series, Starcraft and Diablo.
– A slew of Star Wars games are available in this week’s Humble Bundle, including Knights of the Old Republic and Shadows of the Empire. Check it out here! We haven’t covered those excellent games, but we have played and reviewed Rogue Squadron 3D (included in the bundle!) and Super Star Wars (not including, but you don’t wanna murder jawas anyway).
As always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
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.
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.
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 16, 2016
– Want to know how the Warcraft movie did? Well, Paul Tassi of Forbes.com has a piece on it, and the headline probably says it all: “The ‘Warcraft’ movie is a crushing disappointment in almost every way.” Well, then. On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s sitting at 27 percent with critics, but surprisingly, 82 percent with the audience. However, shockingly, the movie opened up to $156M in five days in China, which beats out the opens of the latest Star Wars and Fast and Furious franchises. For more on that, read this piece from Wired.
– To look at the reverse, Evan Hoovler of blastr has a fun list of the worst video games based on movies or TV shows. Included on the list is past YPB subject Superman 64, of course.
– Also on blastr, Dany Roth has another good list, this one on 10 SNES games that deserve a comeback. Spoiler alert: Two are on the schedule for future YPB episodes.
– Simon Parkin of Ars Technica has a good, long read on the history of Team17, makers of the Worms series.
– In honor of E3, Nintendo has deeply discounted some older games, like $5 for A Link to the Past. Check out the full list on their site.
– This week’s James and Mike Mondays game is Kung Fu Heroes for the NES. Check it out here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2002, Neverwinter Nights was released for the PC on June 16, 17 or 18, depending on the source you use. The BioWare RPG was the company’s follow-up to its Baldur’s Gate series, and it was both well-reviewed and well-bought by consumers. Elements of the game engine were used later for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age.
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 24, 2016
– Kyle Orland of Ars Technica has a good piece on why developers need to embrace emulation to preserve gaming history.
– Mike Fahey of Kotaku has a good read on how a planned Superman game instead sunk a game studio, Factor 5, the one behind Rogue Squadron.
– Steve Tilley of The Toronto Sun has a look at Batman games vs. Superman games, with the movie soon to come out. He comes to roughly the same conclusion that YPB did, in that Batman games are way better.
– Looking to signify to everyone who visits your home that you’re a massive geek? Check out this nifty Retro NES Shower Curtain!
– Atari has revealed the list of games in its upcoming Atari Vault collection. The 100 games can be seen here, on IGN.com.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2003, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker came out for the Gamecube. It got universally great reviews, although some did gripe about the sailing aspects.
– The Playstation Portable came out in 2005. Amazingly, it was technically supported by Sony until being discontinued in 2014, and sold 82 million units worldwide. While it’s maligned because of its weird game format and somewhat flimsy nature, there are some good re-releases of the Persona and Final Fantasy series available for it.
– Speaking of the PSP… Crisis Core, an action-RPG prequel to Final Fantasy VII, came out for the system in 2008. It was actually a pretty solid game! Unfortunately, it did further complicate the timeline for the original game, which is now a mess.
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 