02/19/2014

Still Looks Better Than Sonic Boom

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

Sorry for being late with this week’s installment of totally random, video game-related theater. Turns out, moving to another country is a lot of work!

… BTW, I forget if I mentioned it before, may have been beating around the bush, but after close to 20 years, I’m finally saying goodbye to the Big Apple and hello to the Great White North! But more on that at a later time. Until then, let the YouTube embeds begin. Starting with…

- Here’s yet another prime example of why I love Japanese wrestling so dam much. Though a question: I want to say that Kazuchika Okada is dressed like a Monster Hunter, though sharing the spotlight is what appears to be “just” a regular, plain ol dinosaur. So are there basic dinos in the game as well?

- Earlier this weekend was IndieCade East, and among the numerous highlight was finally meeting Andy Wallace, a local indie dev whose game I’ve been playing (and enjoying quite immensely) for quite some time now. Perhaps you might recall this Attract Mode post a whiles back. Anyhow, Kotaku finally took a look:

- Speaking of which, and as noted already, am running way, way behind on a number of fronts. That includes a way, way overdue piece for Kotaku. Was hoping to have it out by today, though hopefully next week. Otherwise, the following won’t make much sense for most folk:

- Another thing that just wrapped up was Toy Fair, and I looked high and low for NECA’s booth, but to no avail (though feel free to check out my Instagram feed for what I did stumble upon, or simply wait for my recap, which at this point is due anytime in 2015). Anyhow, the reason was to check out the latest in their line of figures based upon character from movie to NES translations from the 80s. They’ve done Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, and now RoboCop. And like those other two, he retains the same color scheme from the Nintendo game (which I was a proud owner of as a kid):

- Here’s a clip that I’m surprised was never posted on Tiny Cartridge first; imagine if you were a Pokemon trainer trying to get Froakie into your pocket. But instead of having a Pokeball, he was made out of cardboard:

- May may as well pass along a clip that I swear to God I saw back in the day when there was only 301+ views. The YouTube channel Really3D has been getting a ton of eyeballs as of late (mostly due to their absolutely brilliant Jurassic Park clip). Though their very first one is still their best:

- And finally, you probably heard the news yesterday: the Year of Luigi is in the home stretch and ending in less than a month. And while it’s been fun, I hope no one forgets what a douche his brother Mario is, as evidenced by Luigi’s ending in Mario Power Tennis. This is for real, btw, and not some fan film:

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02/10/2014

A Game By The Makers Of Kingdom Hearts And The NFL, Featuring Johnny Carson’s Disembodied Head Floating In Space, Or Something Like That

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

Back again with another rundown of totally random game videos. As explained last week, some are totally fresh, some not so much. You see, most are from this long ass text file that I use to dot down links, to be shared later, but which I basically haven’t touched in over a year, BUT WHO CARES…

- Kicking things off with a question: anyone out there know the status of SpaceFace?

- Another question; I thought Cave was no longer making shumps? Don Paccin is by the creator of Death Smiles and essentially a shooter RPG. It’s for iOS, naturally, and also free to play, loaded with micro transactions, has social elements, and blah, blah, blah:

- Surely everyone reading this must be aware of Cookie Clicker, and maybe seen one or two videos about it. But have you ever witnessed anything as… inspirational?

- Not to dip into Attract Mode waters once again, but some might recall me posting tips on how to beat Wind Waker HD, courtesy an old VHS tape. Well I first became familiar with the creator through my buddy Steve Flack; they’re both pals. And the first thing I saw of Coury Carlson‘s was this look back at Phantasy Star 1 [UPDATE: the original was taken down, cuz I guess it was a rough cut, so here's the updated version]:

- Jay-Z X PaRappa anyone?

- How about No More Heroes X Space Jam X Barkley Shut Up and Jam?

- And finally, a taste of American Idol for the Game Boy Advance. Enjoy:

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02/03/2014

Gee, Now I Wish I Had Held Onto My Yellow Dreamcast Controller, And Yellow VMU Also

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

In a continuing effort to stick to at least one of my guns, and that’s keeping this place somewhat updated regularly… and along with the realization that, at this point, pretty much everyone has fast enough internet to be able to comfortably consume a post that has multiple YouTube embeds (at the very least, heard no complaints last week)… I present a new semi-official, and semi-regular feature!

And that’s a handpicked selection of totally random game related vids. Some of which might be oldies but goodies, and some of which might be news to you (as always, but the difference here is how they aren’t hidden behind words you click, nor lost in the shuffle amongst random static imagery, which tends to happen a lot in my random image/link dumps that are usually 78 pages long). K, enough with the unnecessary explanation…

- First thing’s first; the other night, while watching a K-pop music video showcase one of the five or so Korean cable channels that I have access to, a vid for K-hip-hop group Fresh Boyz came on. And the last thing I could have expected was a “guest appearance” by local chiptune maestro, Bit Shifter:

- I just don’t understand why Facade still doesn’t get nearly as much play as it deserves. Sure interactive fiction has made leaps and bounds since, but can they let you do this:

- Apparently Jurassic Park: Trespasser is the game I’ve long been waiting for. Cuz I’ve long wanted a game in which you can both pet raptors as well as killing them, and not necessarily in that order:

- If you’re like me, you consider yourself somewhat of a retro gamer, one who probably knows a good deal about the Mega Drive and Super Famicom, even the obscure stuff. But when it comes to PC Engine, you’re perhaps a bit lost as well. So here we have 100 games in 10 minutes:

- Here we have a dude showing off the mother of all Dreamcast collections. A good 35% of what he shows off is stuff I had zero idea existed:

- I know everyone’s familiar with Vinesauce, and like everyone else, I love the corruptions, but not so much the commentary. Still, his Sesame Street clip is still the best:

- Finally, and not to recycle content from other places, but the Winter Olympics is coming up! But due to the host nation’s dogma as it pertains to homosexuals, I will try my best to not watch the games, which will be admittedly tough. Thankfully a little know European only Super FX release called Winter Gold can help fill that void (and which I featured a while ago, over at Attract Mode):

… K, I think eight is enough?

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