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.
Episode 055 – SimCity (1989)
Episode 055 – SimCity (1989)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are building and bulldozing through municipalities! From 1989 and 1991, we’re playing SimCity by Maxis for the PC and SNES. Joining us is special guest Ryan Gibbs from The Young Folks!
You can manually download this week’s growth-focused 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 the nifty menu music from the SNES version of the game! For a full music playlist, check out the YouTube playlist here.
- 55:30 – Emails! Cosmo writes in to apologize, and Brisket writes in about himself.
- 1:19:15 – Snifferoo. Next week, we’re play TWO classic vidya games for the ole Atari 2600!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, most of the SimCity games available are affordable. The SNES version goes for $7.80 for the loose cart, $24.95 for box and manual, and $102 new. The PC versions are widely available on the Internet, typically for less than $10.
– Doug Bierend of Medium’s Reform had a long interview with developer Will Wright on the thought process going into SimCity.
– Will Wright’s daughter Cassidy was involved in BattleBots, running the rowebuts Chiabot and Misty the WonderBot.
– For more info on SimSafari, check out Wikipedia. And be sure to check out Gibbs’ work on The Young Folks!
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 – 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.
Episode 019 – Tecmo Bowl (1989) and Tecmo Super Bowl (1991)
Episode 019 – Tecmo Bowl (1989) and Tecmo Super Bowl (1991)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re getting ready for the start of the NFL season by fading back with classic signal callers like Boomer Esasion and QB Eagles! We’re playing Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl, both for the NES, from 1989 and 1991, respectively.
You can manually download this week’s sportsball 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. Going through a play and scorin’ a touchdown, from this YouTube video.
- 49:00 – Emails. The gang talks Crusader Kings 2 and their “favorite” movies from vidya games.
- 1:11:00 – Snifferoo.
SHOW NOTES
– For the version of Tecmo Super Bowl with updated rosters, check out the invaluable website resource for the game, TecmoBowl.org. Rosters for the 2015 season aren’t out quite yet, but it’ll probably be any day now, with the season about to start. This is also the site to go to if you’re looking for some online head-to-head, or anything else Tecmo Bowl-related.
– The mini-documentary on Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl is available to watch on YouTube. It’s a 25-minute film by ESPN2, the NFL Network and NFL Films, and has interviews with competitive players and the most well-known players from the game.
– ESPN covered Bo Jackson on their awesome documentary series, 30 for 30. The name of the documentary was You Don’t Know Bo. For more info, check out their website.
– The ESPN show on John Madden Football didn’t run for two years… It ran for four god damn years! Good lord. If you really want information on Madden Nation, Wikipedia has a rundown.
– There hasn’t been an especially exhaustive oral history on Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo Super Bowl yet. Uni Watch has an OK one here, which gets into the licensing issue with Randall Cunningham and Bernie Kosar a little bit.
– According to Price Charting, used carts for the original Tecmo Bowl are pretty affordable, at around $7. If you want the manual and box, the price increases, from $15 to $20. Tecmo Super Bowl is pricier, around $15 for just the car, and $25 to $30 for the box and manual. (It’s worth it, though.) The Genesis and SNES versions are more expensive, with the second one costing around $35 for the loose cart, and $60 to $100 for the box and manual. The second one only had a limited run, and isn’t really any better than the third, just rarer.
– The game Brisket mentions in the email segment, Crusader Kings II, is on sale at WinGameStore for $7.99. It’s also available in various collections on Steam for the full price, which is around $40.
– The Mega Man movie was first reporting by a site called the Tracking Board. Their news item on it is here. The site that reported a Golden Axe movie has since taken it down, and the Borderlands movie has been rumored on tons of places on the ole Internet.
GUEST REQUEST
For next week’s show, we’re covering River City Ransom! If you’re interested in guesting, shoot an email to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
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.
Episode 016 – Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (1994)
Episode 016 – Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (1994)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re throwing down dunks for fire basketball power-ups! From 1994, we’re playing the much-forgotten Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, a SNES-exclusive from Electronic Arts. Today’s special guest is Steve’s buddy Dale!
You can manually download this week’s wonderful 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 – The intro, which is not The Police, but is from a stage in the game.
- 1:00 – Todd’s not here, man.
- 46:00 – Emails. There could be foul play involved with this week’s show, and not enough video game questions.
- 60:30 – Snifferoo.
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, a copy of Chaos in the Windy City costs about $7 for the cart itself. If you want a new copy, or just one with the box and manual, it’s around $20 to $40.
– For a play-through of the game, with some commentary, check out this YouTube video. The speed run video is around 44 minutes, and available here.
– There isn’t much info on this game available on the web, since it isn’t “so bad it’s funny” like Shaq Fu. (And hey, reminder – We reviewed that one too!) However, as mentioned on the show, this game was the first one designed by Amy Hennig, who would go on to design and develop some much better games.
GUEST REQUEST
For next week’s show, we’re covering Smash TV! If you’d like to participate, shoot an email to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com. Recording time will be 11 p.m. EST Wednesday.
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.
Episode 009 – Shaq Fu (1994)
Episode 009 – Shaq Fu (1994)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we study Shaqido. It’s a deadly and ancient martial art, dating all the way back to the 1990s. The history of this dangerous form of fighting in explained in 1994’s Shaq Fu, which was a real thing that happened, along with Shaquille O’Neal’s rapping career and him playing a god damn genie.
To download this week’s show, click here! As always, you can listen to this week’s show by downloading from the iTunes store – be sure to give us some starrrrssss! (In fact, you don’t even have to listen to give us stars, you know.) To manually subscribe to the pod, input this link to your device of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, brought to you by the Wu-Tang Clan, followed by Shaq Fu chat.
- 41:30 – Tales from the Arcade with Huell.
- 51:45 – Emails.
- 1:07:15 – Snifferoo.
SHOW NOTES
– For information on the Shaq Fu sequel, check out the website on it. Like we get into on the podcast though, there isn’t an announced release date, and it’s now been more than a year since the project was initially announced.
– The Shaq Fu Liberation Army seems to be mostly dormant now. But if you’re interested, check it out here. (Note: Sound.)
– Want to play Shaq Fu? It’s not especially tough, if you still have your old systems. Copies of the game range from $3 to $8 for cart only. Even if you want the box and manual included, the price ranges from $8 to $20, depending on condition. As we say on the show, the Genesis version is surprisingly superior to SNES, thanks to more character and smoother (relatively speaking) animation.
Episode 006 – NHL Series (1992 to 1997)
EA SPORTS! If it’s in the game, then it’s in the game. And this week, we played plenty of games in Your Parents Basement, as we did our best to tackle the many volumes of the NHL series by EA Sports.
While discussion mostly focuses on the two classics of the series, NHLPA 93 and NHL 94, we also do touch upon the other 16-bit editions. It’s possibly the longest running series between the two major consoles, with 95, 96, 97 and (surprisingly!) 98, the same year as the last NHL game for the Sega Saturn. (Sorry Sega, we don’t mean to give you so much shade.)
To download this week’s show, click here! You can also subscribe to the show via iTunes, or manually use this link. If you like the show, be sure to give us some starrrrssss. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
This week’s show notes are short, because all three of us were out ramblin’ this week. (That’s also why there wasn’t a news post – There should be one as normally scheduled Thursday though!) Here are three links though: Baseball Mogul, a fun baseball simulation, and Out of the Park, which is insanely complex and only for the hardcore sports simulation junkies. And the snifferoo from last week came from this YouTube clip.
Your Parents Basement 