Vidya Game News – February 25, 2016
– The BBC has an awesome story and interview with Howard Scott Warshaw, and the headline says it all: “The man who made ‘the worst video game in history.’” And by that, of course they mean E.T. for the Atari 2600. You can read the story here. It gets into some of the troubled development, and also that Atari paid $21 million (!!!) for the rights to the game. (And the awesome image on today’s post comes from that story. They definitely don’t make game ads like they used to.)
– Reddit user dolopodog has posted a list of the banned words for the 3DS.
– This week, the IGN show Nintendo Voice Chat covers the 10 awesome games that never left Japan.
– The co-creator of the Atari Lynx and a programmer for the Amiga, Dave Needle, has passed away, according to a Facebook post.
– From a translation of a YouTube video, Geno of Super Mario RPG was considered as a DLC for Smash Brothers.
– Nathan Birch of Uproxx has a good beginner’s guide on retro gaming and collecting. Of note is that it’s focused on the systems that are the best to collect and play, not necessarily the ones that hold their value the best.
– TechTimes has a link and write-up to one of the old commercials for The Legend of Zelda. It features rapping. It’s ridiculous…ly awesome.
– From JackTech on YouTube, it’s an autopsy of a Game Boy! Also on YouTube, a SNES Counter Console, via Nintendo Enthusiast and Rerez. It was used to test broken systems.
– The Mega Man Legacy Collection came out this week for the 3DS, so there are some reviews of it floating around the Internet, like on Kotaku. There are frame rate issues, just like the original games! Huzzah!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Pretty much nothing of significance came out today. Sorry! Tekken 5 came out on Feb. 24, 2005 for the Playstation 2, so that’s about the best I can do.
SHAMELESS PLUGGING
Steve is selling a bunch of video game stuff on eBay; mostly older, cheaper stuff for PS2, XBox, and the 360. Check it out here!
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.
Your Parents Basement 