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 – 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 14, 2016
A sweet baby boy NES!
– Pretty much everyone shared this article with Steve on a mini-NES loaded with 30 games. My mini-review: Eh. It’s kind of steep at $59.99, and there’s no indication whether you can load more games on to it. (Note: Nintendo later told Kotaku that no, you can’t.) The HDMI hook-ups are nice, though. However, it feels like a missed opportunity for the Big N. By offering a viable alternative to emulators – like a device that allowed for game downloads, using your old carts and third-party support – they could have taken a nice chunk away from that market.
– A fox takes a Playstation controller from a house and drops it in a garden. Video!
– From Kotaku’s Patrick Klepek, and some other sites, the Saturn’s copy protection has finally been cracked.
– Tech Radar has an interesting list of the most disappointing games of the past 10 years.
– Because Nintendo needs more of your monies, there is now Mario-themed Hot Wheels cars. Read about them on Gaming With Swag.
– Ron Gilbert, the creator Maniac Mansion, talks to Deveop’s James Batchelor about his new game, Thimbleweed Park.
– Anna Pulley, the author of The Lesbian Sex Haiku Book (With Cats!), loves Duck Tales.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– WWF War Zone came out for the Playstation in 1998. Developed by Iguana West and published by Acclaim, it got pretty decent reviews, but tends to be overshadowed by other, better games.
– This was a popular time of year for NCAA Football games to come out, as 2005, 2009 and 2011 editions came out between July 13 and July 15. Unfortunately, the series is now defunct, as EA Sports couldn’t come to an agreement with some NCAA members.
– Tales of Symphonia came out for the Gamecube on July 13, 2004. It was later ported to the PS2, and then an expanded version came out for the PS3. Namco is now up to seemingly 700 different Tales games, by the way.
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 – May 26, 2016
– The best read of the week, and one close to my heart, is a long piece from Ernie Smith of Tedium on commercial mascots and their video games. Featured prominently are the Noid and M.C. Kids, of course, along with other lesser known items like a Doom-engine Chex game.
– Hardcore Gamer’s Marcus Estrada has a neat, informative little piece on the Doctor V64, which was a knockoff Nintendo 64 development kit. Read about it on their site.
– Live in Arizona, and want to play classic video games? You’re in luck! The Daily Courier has a business profile on Black Box Gaming, which allows you to lounge and play vidya games. Read about the cool little store here, in a story by Max Efrein.
– Now on Merchoid! Nintendo-themed bikinis.
– Boooo: Sounds like an automated FOX filter to take down their content on YouTube “accidentally” took down a clip of some dudes playing Double Dribble. Why? Well, because Family Guy used that clip in an episode. And, the show didn’t credit the brothers either. Read about it on IGN.
– Alan Young, the voice of Scrooge McDuck on Duck Tales, has passed away.
– Nintendo has released some trailers for its latest Kirby game, Planet Robobot, for the 3DS. Check them out via Siliconera here! And give a listen to our past episode here!
– These dudes tagged us on Twitter, so how can I not give them a plug? There is a music remix project for The Guardian Legend, which we’ve covered in the past. To check out their tracks, go here!
– I forgot to post this last week, but it’s still a really good read! From Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole, the rise and fall of Lionhead, creators (in a way) of Fable and headed by Peter Molyneux.
– Also from Eurogamer: Keith Stuart has a fun piece on how he was blacklisted from early Sega releases, even though he was running a magazine about the Dreamcast.
– Ron Gilbert, the creator of Maniac Mansion and Money Island, wants to buy back the IP from Disney. The mouse acquired the titles after buying the Star Wars empire for $4 billion in 2012. (And hey, check out our Maniac Mansion episode!)
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Historically, May 26 hasn’t been especially great for games, but the first installment in the inFamous series came out on this day in 2009. The Playstation-exclusive series combined open-world gaming with superhero powers, and it was generally well-received.
– The NES version of The Lion King came out only in Europe on May 25, 1995. Yes, new NES games were still being made in 1995! Although, this was indeed the last release for Europe. It’s probably for the best, as Westwood Studios’ effort wasn’t all that good.
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 049 – Maniac Mansion (1987, 1990)
Episode 049 – Maniac Mansion (1987, 1990)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are pointing and clicking our way through a creepy house as we try to save our girlfriend with plastic fruit, exploding hamsters and a Weird Edsel! From 1987 and 1990, we’re playing Maniac Mansion by Lucasfilm Games (the predecessor to LucasArts) for the PC and NES.
You can manually download this week’s weird 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 tentacle and Edison family theme from Maniac Mansion. You can find a full soundtrack on YouTube here. And also, for today’s show, we’re joined by special guest DJ!
- 44:45 – Emails! What’s our favorite Tetris piece? Who would write our theme songs? What about games based on TV game shows? Altavista???
- 1:11:30 – A snifferoo from next week’s show, which is another LucasArts game! Huzzah!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, Maniac Mansion has held its value well, as a cult classic. Loose carts of the NES version go for about $19, with the price swelling to $80 for the box and manual, to $222 for “new” copies. The PC version starts at around $30, although it’s also available in digital-only formats for much cheaper.
– Also, as mentioned on the show, the sequel, Day of the Tentacle, has been re-released. It’s going for about $15 on the PS4 and PC. The game does have a really neat Easter egg though – The original Maniac Mansion is playable in full on a computer in the game.
– Also also as mentioned on the show, the Japanese Maniac Mansion looks like a weird tech demo for the NES. Check it out here. And, the TV show is viewable here.
– Wanna read one of the oldest things on the internet, kind of? Wired has an article from Douglas Crockford, who worked on Maniac Mansion for LucasArts. It’s the longform article DJ was talking about, and you can find it here. It’s a really interesting read on what they had to take out of the game.
Episode 037 – Shadowrun (1993)
Episode 037 – Shadowrun (1993)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re back to our regular episodes! We’re shootin’ at trolls, mages and everything but werewolves in a weird noir game. From Beam Software and released in 1993, we’re playing Shadowrun for the Super Nintendo.
You can manually download this week’s dark, grimy, edgy 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 main theme from Shadowrun.
- 51:00 – The emails! Video game sidekicks and other fun things.
- 1:08:45 – A snifferoo from next week’s show. Don’t you dare close your eyes! It’s a whole new world.
SHOW NOTES
– If you like Dale’s contributions on the pod, be sure to check out his blog, Dale’s Video Backlog Blog! It also has the great address of daleisgreat.blogspot.com. (Steve heartily supports this, since his own, currently dormant blog is Stephen on Stuff.)
– There are actually three versions of Shadowrun, although the Super Nintendo one tends to get the most buzz. A Genesis version from 1994 is also well-reviewed, although more obscure, and there is a little played, Japanese-only version for the Sega CD. We mostly focused on the SNES game, but do mention the Genesis one in passing. All three are based on the Shadowrun tabletop RPG series, although they’re each different games and feature different stories.
– According to Price Charting, Shadowrun for the Super Nintendo costs about $47 for the loose cart, up to $310 for the cart, box and manual in pristine condition. This is probably because it’s well-regarded. The Genesis version is a bit cheaper, at $27 for just the cart, up to $175 for a ‘perfect’ copy. The new Shadowrun for PC only costs around $5 to $10. There is another version for the 360 that’s about $3 to $10.
– In the future, we absolutely will be covering Maniac Mansion.
Your Parents Basement 