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 – September 22, 2016
– Ohmygodness: A mock 1996 infomercial for the upcoming Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition is incredibleeee.
– From PopSugar and a bunch of other sites, Laurie Hernandez did a routine based on DuckTales on Dancing With The Stars. You can see it here! And check out our episode on DuckTales here!
– Game Rant has an article on the six biggest gaming breakups, in “honor” of Brad and Angelina.
– Nintendo News and other sites note that The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 is now available on Steam.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Divine Divinity from Larian Studios came out for the PC in 2002. The action-RPG was well-reviewed when it came out, and it remains a bit of a cult classic.
– On Sept. 23, 2002, Star Fox Adventures was released for the Gamecube. It was the first game to take the series in a weird, non-space sim direction. (And hey, check out our episode on the better, original game and the N64 game!)
– On the same day, Tekken 4 came out. Namco’s fighter was considered very good.
– Capcom’s Mega Man 9 was released for the Wii in 2008, followed shortly by the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. It was a well-received continuation of the series, the first game in 11 years.
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 19, 2016
– As Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett types in his write-up, Sega’s game testing training videos were peak 1990s, right down to Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails background music.
– From Polygon’s Allegra Frank, a remake of cult classic Wild Guns is coming out for the PS4!
– In unnecessary video game movie adaptation news… A Tetris movie is in the pipeline, according to Deadline. And not a documentary about the game’s interested and tangled history, but a science fiction game. A discount film studio has picked up the rights to Atari’s Missile Command and Centipede, also per Deadline. Also, confirming long-standing rumors, Nintendo said it would look to re-enter the ole Hollywood business.
– What was the code name for the biggest heroin bust in Delaware’s history? Operation Duck Hunt, of course. Read more via The Sussex County Post.
– Nintendo Player has an awesome long read on the recently-unearthed Happily Ever After, a Snow White-based NES game from the early 1990s. The game itself is a generic, Nintendo Hard affair, but the story behind it is fascinating. Plus, the ROM has been made available for free online!
– From several sites, a retro 8-bit version of Monopoly, featuring Super Mario Bros., now has a sale slug on Amazon.
– Per Gamasutra and several other sites that got the press release, mod support for older Sega games caused them to sell 350,000 copies on Steam since April 28. For the details, click here.
– For James and Mike Mondays, the guys play Doom 64, which Steve remembers somewhat fondly from his childhood! If you didn’t have a high-powered PC back in the day, it was a fairly easy way to play the ole game. Also from that site this week, Mike and Bootsy play Pinball for the NES!
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1997, Eurocom released the Midway arcade game War Gods for the N64. Because the system was so starved for games at various points, it was hyped for months in Nintendo Power, but it ultimately was just a mediocre fighting game.
– New Super Mario Bros. now isn’t, as it celebrated its 10th year on May 15. (Note: It’s still an awesome platformer for the DS, though.)
– For a brief history in time, people thought they’d get in shape via vidya games. On May 21, 2008, Nintendo came out with Wii Fit and the Wii balance board. Both the balance board and the Wii are now probably in your closet.
– The year after Wii Fit, Next Level Games dropped a remake of Punch-Out!! for the Wii. While it was well-received, it wasn’t the iconic game that the original was.
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 5, 2016
– Of all the things Sega could license… A movie adaption of Shinobi could be coming soon, per Variety. It’s a solid game, but when it comes to story-based ninja games, it’s no Ninja Gaiden.
– Also, Sega has allowed modding to its games on Steam. As you can imagine, this has led to all sorts of fun, like Kirby starring in Sonic The Hedgehog and difficulty hacks for Comix Zone. Zack Kotzer of Motherboard has a good summary article on some changes.
– From Carl Batchelor of Niche Gamer, NES dungeon crawl game Shadow Brain has gotten a translation patch.
– Ryan Shoptaw of Gaming Conviction says a prototype cart for DuckTales 2 is now for sale.
– Nolan Bushnell, the original vidya games guy for Atari, is now working on cell phone games.
– Over on Cinemassacre, Mike and Bootsy play the NES hack Luigi’s Chronicles 2, an ultra-tough remake of Super Mario Bros. 3.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 1992, Wolfenstein 3D was released for the PC by id Software. You play as William “B.J.” Blazkowicz and shoot down a ton of Nazis, and it was as awesome as it sounded at the time. It was the FPS game that popularized the genre.
– On May 6, 2001, Mario Party 3 came out for the N64. Yes, there were three Mario Party games for the 64! It was also the last Mario game for the system.
– Konami released Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow in 2003 for the Gameboy Advance. It is one of the excellent Metroidvania games in the series. (And hey, check out our episodes on Castlevania and Super Metroid!)
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 – April 21, 2016
– As you can imagine, there is a bunch of Star Fox content this week, because a new game in the series is coming out. (The initial reviews seem to suggest it’s good, but weird control-wise.) Kotaku’s Patrick Klepek has a good piece on why Star Fox 2 never made it out for the SNES, even though it was probably more than 90 percent done. Kat Bailey of US Gamer points out that the series has a long history of innovation – some good, some bad.
– Sega has announced that it’ll allow mods to be released via Steam for some of its old games. Polygon has the press release summary here. Sega hasn’t elaborated on the extent of what it’ll allow and won’t, but it could lead to some interesting creations.
– The latest YouTube Teens React video is on Super Metroid! Check it out here. Only one teen out of six (I believe) can manage to beat the second boss, the Chozo guarding the bombs. Also, if you missed it, we recently covered Super Metroid.
– From Chris Reed at The Cheat Sheet, eight SNES games you have to play!
– Sarah Gish of The Kansas City Star looks at some of the cool bars with video games in the city.
– There is a really cool looking Nintendo 64 anthology book on Kickstarter. Check it out here!
– From Jeff Grubb at Venture Beat, what’s the current status of Atari? Well, seemingly, it’s mostly a patent troll company. They’re claiming that they own the trademark for “haunted house” in video game titling. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2013, and now, it only employs 10 people who mostly work to protect the company’s legacy value.
– Aubrey Sitterson of Geek.com has 11 games that “secretly made the Sega Saturn a great console.” While I wouldn’t agree that the Saturn was great, it was a good system, and it unfairly gets lumped into the Virtual Boy / 3DO / 32X graveyard sometimes.
– Breaking, important news! Video game henchmen plan meetup around explosive barrels! Read more here.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– According to Moby Games, Data East was founded on April 20, 1976. The company was one of the early arcade producers, making games like BurgerTime, Cobra Command, Joe & Mac and past YPB show topic Shadowrun. They also did more than a dozen different pinball games, most based on TV shows. However, by the mid-1990s the company’s popularity and series had faded, and their last game came out in 1999. (Revive… Sosei, an adventure game for the Dreamcast, was Japan-only in October 1999. Zombie Revenge, an arcade and Dreamcast release, was the last North American release, seemingly.)
– In 1982, Pitfall! came out for the Atari 2600. It was probably the very best game ever released at the time, and topped the Billboard charts for 64 weeks. The commercial also had Jack Black in his first role.
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 – February 18, 2016
– Nintendo is finally bringing some classic games to the 3DS in North America, per Destructoid and other sites.
– From Gamespot, a dream of a producer from The Lego Movie would be a similar project with Nintendo characters. Unfortunately, no such project is in development… yet.
– A Chrono Trigger tribute album is now available.
– This week on Steam, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage 2 are free for download! More games are also supposed to be unlocking. For some details, check out this piece on Fortune.
– Next week, the neat Gameological column on the A.V. Club is devoting itself to The Legend of Zelda. However, it has started out this week, so be sure to check out the link!
– From The Sun Sentinel, a southern Florida museum now has an exhibit on video games. Exhibits include Piftall!, Space Invaders and Super Mario Bros.
– Although it’s been mislabeled on a bunch of websites, Hat-Loving Gamer has made an animation of what Super Mario Kart would look like with 101 racers. Check it out on his Facebook page.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Historically, it’s a weak day for game releases. In 2009, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II came out for the PC, which might be of interest to one of the SBBs of YPB. (Huell.)
– Dark Chronicle, better known as Dark Cloud 2, came out for the Playstation in 2003. It was very well-received and a cult classic for years, and it’s now out for the PS4.
– Coming out in the same year was Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter, which got a so-so reception. As a result, the series pretty much went dormant. Per Wikipedia, the sixth installment is coming out next week in Japan for PCs and cell phones, with no news of a translation.
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 029 – Jurassic Park (1993)
Episode 029 – Jurassic Park (1993)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re dealing with clever girls, and stun gunning dinosaurs! From 1993, we’re playing Jurassic Park for the Sega Genesis. Rawr!
You can manually download this week’s podcast that tampers with the laws of nature 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! (Might I suggest the Blu-ray of Jurassic World?) 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 combination of the dinosaur “roar” from the system power-up, and the game’s title theme.
- 41:15 – Another installment of Todd’s dynamite Most Best Game of All-Time! This week, featuring Baradur.
- 50:30 – Emails. The boys talk extensively about the exciting Fallout 4, and their favorite episodes from the first six months of the show.
- 1:04:00 – Snifferoo. We have a special guest for next week’s show, which will be about one of the best platforming games with some of the best music for the NES!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, Jurassic Park is pretty affordable for the Genesis. It’s about $3.29 for the loose cart, and the game with a box and manual is about $40, which isn’t bad as far as older games go. Some of the later games in the franchise for the PS2 generation, oddly enough, are pricey, but most range from $3 to $15 for the loose carts.
– As mentioned on the show, there are way, way, wayyyy too many versions of Jurassic Park and its sequels floating around. For a full rundown, Wikipedia has you covered. There are likely more coming, as the sequel to Jurassic World is scheduled for 2018, as of November 2015. (Sorry if you’re reading this in the future, and surprised / disappointed.)
– We recorded this show on Nov. 11, the day after Fallout 4 came out. Per Wikipedia, it sold 1.2 million copies on Steam its first day out, and shipped 12 million units in its first 24 hours, for sales of $750 million. And according to PornHub, its views fell 10 percent the day of the release. Here is a link to a SFW site, Gamesbeat, about that.
Episode 018 – Myst (1993)
Episode 018 – Myst (1993)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we’re opening books to unravel the mysteries of a family squabble on a mystical island. From 1993, we’re playing the game that spurred folks to buy a CD-ROM, Myst! And on this week’s show, we have a special guest, friend of the show Jovial Jackee.
You can manually download this week’s mystical 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. “The Tower” theme from Myst.
- 47:45 – Emails. Jackee sticks around, and the gang talks Katamari Damacy and music peripheral games.
- 1:01:00 – Snifferoo.
SHOW NOTES
– There are several playthroughs of Myst online, such as this one.
– The storyline of Myst and its various sequels is incredibly complex and tangled, but Wikipedia does a decent job of hashing it all out here. And as you can imagine, TV Tropes has quite a bit of fun with the series.
– For more information on the annual Myst convention, Mysterium, visit their website.
– According to Price Charting, Myst is pretty affordable nowadays, if you want a physical copy. The PC edition is around $4, although as we said on the show, it can be a bit finicky to get to work. On Steam, the updates and re-releases of Myst go for around $6. Some of the rarer console versions, like 3D0, Jaguar and CD-I, range from $10 to $20.
– Myst has a game spoofing it, called… Pyst. The concept is a tour of the island after four million people have toured it, and includes solutions to puzzles from the game scribbled on scenario. It got so-so reviews, and it’s out of print now. Oddly enough, this causes it to be worth more than Pyst, around $8 used to $20 new.
GUEST REQUEST
For next week’s show, we’re covering Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl! If you’re interested in guesting, shoot an email to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
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.
Episode 004: Vectorman (1995)
Genesis does what Nintendont! Vectorman is hellishly hard, but it’s fun to turn from balls into a bomb and to explooodddeeee!
On today’s show, Steve, Todd and Huell are joined by their (non-British) friend Pip to talk about how impossible this game is, unless you’re using the Game Genie. (Yes, even save states aren’t enough to overcome Vectorman!) There is also talk of Genesis vs. Super Nintendo, and Vectorman vs. Donkey Kong Country. And of course, balls and Ballz.
To listen, click here! You can subscribe to future shows in the iTunes store – be sure to give us some starrrsss! – or by manually using this address: https://ypbpodcast.com/category/podcasts/feed/
Be sure to listen to the Snifferoo at the end, and if you’re interested in guesting on the show this week, send us an email at parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, or Facebook.
Show notes for this episode:
- Vectorman can be purchased on Steam for $2.99, or as part of larger Sega classics packages for $7.50 or $29.99. Hard copies on eBay are going for about $5 to $10, and unlike some other games we’ve covered, the inclusion of the box and manual only ups the price range to $15 to $25. Vectorman 2 is in a similar price range.
- The Snifferoo from last week was the main theme from Vectorman, which can be listened to on YouTube here. The commercial that provides the opening music for this week’s ‘sode is here.
- Balls? No, Ballz!
Your Parents Basement 