This one’s for Mike: So I recently came up with an awesome new game, which works well if you live and work in New York, though I would imagine that it also works in any major city. Next time you come across one of those lame ass Asian “fusion” restaurants, check and see how many dudes there are inside that look just like Moby. You know, frail, emo-nerdly white dudes with shaved heads and huge, horn-rimmed designer glasses. I’ll bet you that there’s at least three. Bonus points if they have an Asian girlfriend.
Speaking of, before I get into video game talk, here’s a WACKY JAPPY batch of YouTube vids, including…
… and pretty much the most strangest/craziest/amazing ad campaign for pasta sauce of all time.
Here are some regular spots:
insane pasta sauce ad #2 (EDIT: It’s gone! Awww…)
Plus somme footage of those… things in the street.
Anyway…
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- So last night was another IGDA sponsored event in NYC dubbed Playing The Game in which various folks from the NYC game dev community shared their thoughts about making games in the Big Apple. I’m going to be preparing a very throughout overview of the night’s events for the new IGDA NYC website, which goes like this weekend I believe, but till then I’ll just say that the definite highlight of the evening was hearing everyone’s favorite Greg Costikyan say “Basically, gamers suck.”
Since I wasn’t feeling so hot (I’m actually fighting off a cold… the same one that floored MK last weekend, but its not at that stage… yet, so long as I keep with the massive doses of Airborne I guess), I decided to skip out on the after-party and just go straight home. Which also meant not heading to Jersey for some drinks with Dave (Mauro) and Colin, though it was nice to know I was missed when I Colin sent me a text message that simply said “HABOKEN!!, which is drunk video game humor for those who couldn’t tell (or didn’t know such a thing existed). So if you’re reading this guys, sorry I couldn’t make it.
- Time to talk about Guitar Hero! Its been announced today that a new wireless guitar controller is being produced by Red Octane that will be compatible with Guitar Hero 1 and 2. No word on how it’s going to work… one has to assume that it connects to the PS2 via USB, since that’s the only way its going to work on the PS3 (again, the choice to not included a PSone/PS control and memory card port is fucking retarded, and nothing is going to convince me otherwise). And before you ask, there’s like zero perfect chance that it’ll be compatible with the Xbox 360 version. Sorry.
Also yesterday morning some folks at the Gaming Age Forums passed along word of how Wal Mart broke the street date for Guitar Hero 2. At least in a few stores; most are just setting them up and are refusing to sell any till the official date of release, which is November 7.
I also discovered via the thread that Red Octane is going to sell the game by itself, which as some might recall, was something they weren’t going to do, at least when is spoke to them last. Which is I guess is good news, that they listened to folks such as myself and others (if you check the thread, you’ll see one of NeoGAF’s “denizens” busting my chops for supposedly being out of the loop… ah, message board trolls).
- And speaking of, here’s what happens when world collide, at least mine. Specifically the Gaming Age Forums and Nickelodeon Magazine. Oh, and no, I didn’t write the piece in question. I just think it funny that the folks there fucking read EVERYTHING.
- Back to Guitar Hero, check out Frets on Fire, which is the same basic concept and gameplay, but using a keyboard as a guitar (which is HIGHLY reminiscent of what Nullsleep does during his chiptunes performance).
But anyway, I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but apparently its really neat, with the best part being that you can use whatever song you want in the game. And it’s sorta popular as well; here’s a video of someone playing the “Lost My Music” from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, a popular anime with the kids these days.
- Yet another game related YoutTube vid, this one for the old Japanese only PSone title Pepsiman. I’ve known about this game for ages, but this is my first time actually seeing it in action. And now… I really regret all the times I passed it up.
- I forgot to mention previously that Rockstar’s Bully, the game that had to potential to topple the entire industry here in America and send it back to the stone age (at least according certain parties) came out last week, and it apparently hasn’t turned every kid out there who’s played it into homicidal maniacs. And some folks in the mainstream press actually get the point of the game as well.
And the fact that it managed to get reach store shelves means that everyone’s favorite video game hatin’ screwball Florida attorney, Jack Thompson, was unsuccessful in his attempt to get it legally banned. Though he now has a new target: Mortal Kombat. It seems the latest game included him with the rest of the cast of undead ninjas, cyborgs, four armed dragon men (along with a ?sexy? counterparts), and mall cops, and he ain’t happy.
That Gamespot story btw also has a link to Destructoid’s hidden camera footage of Thompson as he makes an ass of himself in front of a judge.
- Speaking of Bully, when I first heard of the game a whiles back, it reminded me of Kenka Banchou, which is the same basic thing, but in a Japanese high school, which means awesome Japanese punk hair styles for the win. Well, a sequel is on the way.
- So Coleco is coming out with a finally coming out with a new system! The name came back onto the scene last year and made cryptic promises that they had something new in store. And this is it: a handheld device… that plays Sega Master System games. Yeah. So, it’s basically another Game Gear. Yeah. I know.
- Remember me bitching about the lack of the CONSOLE Xbox 360 faceplate recently? Plus I’ve long wondered after all the hoop-la, why only a few were designed (I’ve only seen the all silver one, the blue one with the green lines, the wood grain one, and a football related one in stores). Well apparently, there’s been quite a few design that were created, though most are pretty hard to come by.
- And do you also remember all the times I’ve said that I wish I could write off the PSP completely, but I can’t due to all the Tetsuya Mizuguchi games? Yeah well… I’ve got another reason to maybe still get one; check out these vids of his Q Entertainment’s revamp of Gunpey (either the last game created by, or created in tribute to, Gunpei Yokoi, the man who created the NES and the Game Boy, as well as Metroid, and who was also unceremoniously fired by Nintendo due to the Virtual Boy’s failure then later killed in a freak auto accident, when he was working on Wonderswan games), Gunpey-R.
Not shown is a skin featuring elements from Every Extend Extra, which is… sexy as hell. There’s also a DS version in works, which looks decidedly… different (be sure to check out the commercial).
- How about some more trailers: first here’s Monster Madness, which has a real Zombies Ate My Neighbors vibe (and yet another reason why MK will want me to get a 360 as soon as possible). I also love the vague elements of Katamari.
Next, check out the trailer for Pimp My Ride. Seriously. I just get off on watching white people explain all the intricacies involved in creating and selling urban youth culture crap, as well the (I bet contractually obligated) explanation of how some rapper or athlete was involved in the creative process… really, they were! But easily the best part of the trailer, and reason why I may actually get the game is at the 3:30 mark. You just have to see it.
Third is something that John passed along yesterday and which also has a strong element of Katamari in it, this time in 2D (and yeah, its also like the official two-dimensional iterations of Katamari as well). It’s called Tasty Planet, and you basically start out super small ball of “out-of-control nanotechnology” and your goal is to eat everything around you. You start small, and can only eat small as first, but then you grow and… you get the picture. It looks like lots of fun, so I might actually be pre-ordering it.
Though I will admit that the trailer sorta freaked me out since there’s a part of it that sorta looks like Spready Bear, that Flash game that I’ve been working on forever (but as God is my witness, it will get done).
- Robin gave me the head’s up on this one: with Halloween just around the corner, the Angry Nintendo Nerd has a new seasonal game review online, this one featuring Friday the 13th. And the thing that kills me is that if done properly, a Friday the 13th RPG, which is what the NES basically was, would be SO FUCKING INCREDIBLE. Same thing if you used Nightmare on Elm Street.
Which reminds me… I was actually working on a proposal while at Ubi Soft of a Friday the 13th/Nightmare on Elm Street/Texase Chainsaw Massacre game (at the time, Ubi thought it has a shot to grab all three licenses, and I figured “why not combine all three?!”). And trust me, it would have been awesome (a gory, action-RPG).
- On, and here’s someone else doing the same basic shtick that the Angry Nintendo Nerd does, just… not as good. Check out this guy’s review of Total Recall. It’s also funny, for somewhat different reasons; this dude is less angry and more surly, in a typical average Gamestop shopper who ties up the line by bitching at the clerk why there’s no Killer Instinct 3 out yet kind of way, if you catch my drift.
- So everyone knows I like video games, and toys, along with video game related toys, right? Unfortunately, most are not that hot. But here’s one that definitely is, and is right up there with the SOTC figure. Check out Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask…
- Now for some box art. First off a look at a pair of bizarreo shovelware DS games, like Wiffle Ball, cuz you know baseball, even in video game form, can be a bit too dangerous for kids, and Hamsterz Life. That’s hamsters with a Z (so is it all gangsta?)…
… truth be told, its nice to see Ubi Soft give all the shitty Nintendogs knock-off’s a break. And, I’ve long been looking for a whole that the cancellation of Virtua Hamster created, so I might actually pick this one up.
Check out the box for Konami’s Wii game, Elebits which looks quite nice…
… As I mentioned previously, I had a real hard time playing it at DigitalLife, but I’ve since discovered that almost every Wii game shown at a tradeshow always have their sensitivity knocked way the hell up for some reason.
And despite with the advent of the next-gen in gaming, we still have some of the same problems as we’ve always have, like games with Awesome Japanese box arts getting gimped for Americans, such as the latest Monkey Ball Wii title…
Plus, here a few of the boxes to some of the Burger King themed 360 games that I’ve mentioned in the past…
… That first one is f’n awesome, and pure Burt Reynolds. And for those who might interested, sharing the limelight with the King in the second one is the Subservient Chicken. Man, when did Burger King become so fucking awesome with the mascots?!
- Finally, this one’s for MK: guess what honey, TIME TO GET A DS.
