06/20/2014

What’s Next? A 3DO X WonderSwan?

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

Taking a quick break from SHIN REVIVAL OF THE FORT90 DOT COM WEBSITE REBUILD PROJECT COMMITTEE ANNOUNCE CLUB, PLUS ALPHA, FOR MATCHING SERVICE. It’s now back to our regularly scheduled programming! Translation: the following was supposed to go up a while ago, after my recap of Comics vs Games 2, which was originally scheduled to be up last weekend.

But that’s when this year’s New York Asian Film Festival screeners arrived, which has kept me busy ever since. So, expect this place to go quiet again, but only until the end of the month, which is when my NYAFF 2014 coverage begins! Though until then, what’s good on YouTube these days?

- Got not just one, but TWO wacky game mods to share. First is the Sega Fusion, which is the Genesis, Sega CD, and 3X, crammed into a Sega Saturn. Sounds neat, right? Problem is, the Saturn’s casing doesn’t provide quite enough room:

- But next is something even wackier: a GameCube shoved into an Atari Lynx’s housing (thanks for the heads up Jason):

- Back to the Saturn; I consider myself a hardcore fan of the system, and am therefore fairly familiar with its library, even all the stuff that never made it out of Japan. But Elan Doree is TOTALLY news to me:

- Now THIS is the Watch Dogs I want to play:

- Until Nintendo formally teams up with Hasbro to produce Super Mario Transformers (which is only a matter of time), there’s: Bluster & Trench, the Techno Toon Titans:

- Speaking of, and via Tiny Cart, comes something I know is old news, but I’m still blown away by it, so whateves: almost 30 years later and yet a brand new 1UP trick has just been discovered. Amazing:

- Via Kotaku comes an fictitious E3 presser done via Tomodachi Life that is fairly funny, except for those who have been waiting for Half-Life 3 of course:

- But yeah, was also originally going to do a game related vid dump last week, to highlight my favorite bits of E3 2014. Though pretty much nothing stood out. Am kinda glad I didn’t go this year, especially since the best bits came from Nintendo, and all their stuff steamed online.

I will say my absolute favorite part was how, due to the abundance of impossible to discern shoot ‘em up bang bang games that largely comprised Microsoft’s presser, everyone was looking forward the obligatory indie gaming sizzle reel. But MS decided to show everything in 0.5 second doses, so that too was a confusing mess. Yet, one game did manage to stick out, mostly cuz it looked like an old Fleischer cartoon.

Am not going to bother posting the trailer, since enough people noticed that it got plenty of play (but for those who missed it, here’s the trailer to Cuphead). Instead, am going to highlight was what easily my pick of game of the show, which was completely dismissed by pretty much everyone, due to it being an exercise game. But one that looks like a Japanese variety show in your living room! I speak of Shape Up:

… Also, everyone says I look like that from Ubisoft San Francisco. I can see the resemblance.

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And I’m back with part two (in case you missed part one, here ya go) of what I’ve been told I do best. And that’s finding pretty pictures on the internet as they relate to video games. Or point out others who have found pretty pictures on the internet first….

- Via Kotaku, really nice pictures of Sega arcade cabs

- Also, I would TOTALLY take a pic in this Pac-Man hot rod

- And according to this chart, David Bowie is every Metal Gear character (click the link to see the entire thing). Okay…

- If you’re a fan of old school animation, than these takes on various (and fairly obscure) game characters in the same vein will hit the spot. Rocket Knight might be favorite, but it’s a tough call…

- Now onto Tiny Cartridge; given how voracious my appetite for retro game consoles has been of late, despite the fact that my living space keeps getting crowded, this seems like a great solution…

- I wonder if it’s too late to get these Famicom ear buds

- Along the same line, a custom Famicom 3DS XL, along with a bunch of other Fami-related items. I happen to own one of the business card holders, btw; never fails to make people’s eyes widen…

- Could care less about God of War, but am a big time Rygar fan, so I approve of this fan mod

- Mariel Cartwright once again pays tribute to a game that hardly anyone talks about anymore, like Clock Tower

- And once more, Lamar has managed to improve upon Mega Man. I know smoking is bad for you, but Roll is simply so much more bad ass with a cig in her mouth…

- Have recently become a fan of Anatola Howard, and it all stems from this one lone Animal Crossing illustration from this interview with The Comics Journal

- Am also just becoming acquainted with the work of Yoshihara Motoki

- Something else Street Fighter related, believe it or not: here’s a brief glimpse at a day in the life of Corey Feldman, from a recent birthday party I believe…

- I want a figure of Guile, one who is very sorry…

- Must admit, Gaming Heads’s Doom plushie is awfully cute…

- Even though I couldn’t make it to the Mr Show art show, I’m pretty confident that Owen Dennis’s contribution was the best of show…

- Leon Keer’s Street Invaders are quite impressive, provided that you’re looking at them at the proper angle…

- Courtesy of some dude on Twitter

- Though my fave account would have to be, unquestionably, Bad Sonic Fan Art

- And a close runner up would be BadMiiversePosts

- Also courtesy of Twitter comes this ultra bad ass pic of my pal Jake on CNN…

- This is not how you play NiGHTS I’m afraid…

- I’m sorry, but I forget whose Twitter account I snatched the following from. But we obviously share the same love for Paul E. Dangerously…

- Here’s a shocker: another Twitter account I follow religiously is Hideo Kojima, if only for the behind the scenes glimpses at you know what (though he posts awesome ramen pics as well)…

- BTW, in case you haven’t heard, Snatcher is coming to the Dreamcast, thanks to some homebrewers. Here we have side by side comparisons shots with the original. And I agree with Destructoid; the enhanced look sucks…

- Another high end figure that I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on is Raiden. But since he’s by Hot Toys, I’m guessing the price is at least a couple hundred…

- Was going to get the Ground Zeroes iDroid iPhone case…

… But am going to get Megatron as a Mega Drive instead, since the price is around the same (yes, the iDroid costs about $100, and guess what, it’s totes worth it)…

- Oh, and for those who missed it, this was Sega’s April Fools Joke. You probably didn’t hear about it cuz it wasn’t very funny (like most April Fools Jokes)…

- Via BuzzFeed; poor dog…

- Via Reddit, how awesome screen burn can be

- This is what happens when you’re both a bored soldier in Afghanistan

- You know, I was way into the excavating of ET carts from that New Mexico landfill before I realized that it all for some stupid Xbox One TV show. But I will admit, this pic is pretty awesome…

- Does anyone know if the Saturn games in Mobile Suit Gundam Sidestories are straight forward ports or enhanced? Cuz I love me dem chunky 32-bit pixels…

- I totally need this zine of the Famicom Disk System that’s formatted to fit inside a Famicom Disk System case (or so I assume)…

- An oldie but goodie that I saved from Tumblr ages ago, and a reminder of how awesome the Silpheed ship looks…

- Via artist Joe Martin, a Vic Viper design that’s totally t-shirt worthy…

- Holy sh*t is RJ Palmer’s take on ultra realistic Pokemon Snap scary as hell…

- If anyone has a higher resolution version of this pic of a Game Boy underwater, with a girl with one leg swimming by, I’d really appreciated it; shoulda grabbed it from Fuck Yeah Pixiv when I had the chance all those years ago…

- At least this link still works…

- Time again for a look at the stuff that shows up in my inbox sometimes…

- And finally, just a few random odds and end, mostly from Tumblr…

- Actually, on more pic, of an upcoming custom GBA paint job by Rose Color Gaming that is to absolutely dye. Actually, was originally not going to post it, cuz the less people who the know, the less of a chance there is of it selling out before I can nab mine. But surely no one has gotten this far, right?

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Let’s recap real quick: this very website, which has been where I’ve been sharing all the comings and goings in my life for the past year, just celebrated its tenth birthday! But I didn’t do much recapping last year, due to various excuses that I’m tired of spewing, so I’m aiming to get all caught up.

Previously I went over PAX East 2013 (yes, last year’s PAX East; here’s parts one and two). What’s the next major milestone? TCAF 2013, but before, I had some down time in between…

“Why does everyone in Sweden have so much talent”

For starters, here’s a little something I picked up in Boston; the bonus game that came with the Double & Capy collection, Capy Fine Racing GP! Which came on an old school computer disk. Wasn’t easy getting this game off my disk, but I did it…

It was around this time in which Comics vs Games 2 was just around the corner. Here’s Adam and I discussing one of the our artists who had just submitted his work for the show…

And here’s the note that was came with the custom painted NES carts that Chris Furniss passed along for the show…

Around that time was Wrestlemania 29! Which took place here in NY/NJ, and given how much I love sports entertainment, I naturally wanted to go. Yet I simply couldn’t justify the exorbitant price tag. In the end, am glad I didn’t bother since the show was a real letdown, save for the Undertaker match (of course).

But what I did end up enjoying one of the pre-show festivities, which was preceded by dinner at a lucha libre themed Mexican restaurant, La Lucha…

As for the aforementioned pre-Wrestlemania festivity, why, it was the WWE Hall of Fame. Which absolutely blew away the big show, without question. As expected, Mic Foley’s speech was super long, and super awesome (though Terry Funky, who introduced Mic, was equally entertaining)…

Booker T was also good, as was Bob Backlund. Donald Trump pretty much got booed out of the building, also as anticipated. Though the star of the night was the living legend, Bruno Sammartino…

What made the Hall of Fame so special was how it took place in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden; another reason why I didn’t care much for WM 29 was that it was taking place in the Meadowlands (sorry, but no thanks). And nothing illustrates MSG’s strong connection to pro wrestling more than seeing Hulk Hogan’s trunks on display…

Oh, and I managed to make the live broadcast! Along with Steve & Steve

For my birthday last year, Joe & June treated me to dinner at The Baconery. Here we have some delicious chocolate covered bacon…

Afterwards was an evening at the Apollo Theater. Alas, the crowd was not nearly as unruly during Amateur Hour like back in the day, on Showtime At The Apollo, which mean no tap dancing custodian with a big broom shoo someone off the stage…

Almost treated myself to this, despite not knowing what this particular Bearbrick was all about…

Am so glad I got this snapshot of Marky Ramone wearing a Sonic the Hedgehog shirt, which has been on the front of the Guitar Center on 14th Street for literally years, until literally 48 hours after this picture was taken…

Next was something I actually got the chance to mention when it originally took place: Subway Cinema’s very first Return of the Old School Kung Fu Fest….

And yes, the headlliner, The Dragon Lives Again, lived up to the hype. You can see for yourself! At the very least, stick around for the entire opening credits. And if you’re not interested in seeing “Bruce Lee” face off against “James Bond”, “Clint Eastwood”, or Dracula, sucks to be you I guess…

And here we see a guy transmitting his DMG audio to boom boxes across a gallery space via radio transmitters, for a performance piece that Tamara orchestrated…

… Not long after was NYU Game Center X Attract Mode, which immediately preceded TCAF & Comics vs Games, but I’ll save that for next time. Instead, how about a very long overdue does of totally random game related imagery?

“Bit Shifter stole the ball of evil!”

Now here’s the deal, and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned the following a couple times already: even though I’ve barely touched this blog as of late, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping an eye out for stuff to post. Either by saving images directly or links to images on a text file. Which, at this point, has seriously almost a thousand URLs to follow up on.

And since it’s been a while since I last did this, much of the following has perhaps gotten around and might also be familiar to most. Or maybe not? Sorry, but my eyes are not all over the place like they used to be as well. It’s basically stuff I dig, and I guess aside from chronicling my life and experiences, this blog is essentially a Pinterest board, one that has been around for a decade.

Anyhow, just kick back and get that scroll wheel ready! To kick things off…

- Pretty much everyone has posted their favorites from this year’s Famicase exhibit by now. Except for one person: me…

- I must admit that one major reason why I no longer post (what I’d like to believe to be totally awesome) random video game pics like I used to is because there’s someone else out there who’s doing a far better job at it. And that’s the guy who runs 68k heart on fire

- Sticking with Sega, gotta say, this Akira figure from First 4 Figures doesn’t look too bad…

-Though I’m more interested in this Panzer Dragoon statue from Wonder Festival earlier this year (you can find more over at Tomopop)…

- Alas, garage kits are hard to get in America, especially after the fact, but Max Factory’s Tsurugi Yagami figure should be relatively easy to snatch up, when it comes out next month…

- Am always a sucker for behind the scenes, on the set photos of Mortal Kombat

- David Friedman is a New York based photographer decided to snap a few pics with his Game Boy Camera, back in 2000, which he totally forgot about and recently stumbled across. The most interesting one for me is tof the woman asleep on the subway, which is still a common sight. But without iPod earbuds or Beats headphones (or anything related to smart phones)? A rarity these days…

- On a somewhat similar tip; Duncan Harris, who runs Dead End Thrills takes custom screenshots by employing a variety of fancy tricks. In the case of this shot from Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed, it via a debug copy of the game that the developers themselves provided…

Here’s one from an older game, Killer 7, and reinforces the fact that a re-release for modern systems is sorely needed…

- Jane Mai did a comic and Bit Shifter was the punch line

- This is what happens when Cory X Kyle happens…

- Am surprised this proposal for a Metroid Lego set doesn’t have more supporters. Perhaps because people know that Nintendo would never say yes?

- Michael Johansson’s Tetris IRL

- Instructions on how to take control of your dog via a Xbox 360 controller

… K, that’s it for now! Expect round two in about 24 hours!

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