Alright, another belated entry. A lot of stuff going, as usual.
- First off, after an over one month absence, I’m back with another installment of my column over at GameSetWatch. Though once again, I dropped the ball and get in done in time for yesterday. I had hoped to file it last night, after the MTV holiday party, but I ended up staying longer than expected (translation: I got far drunker than expected), hence why it was submitted only a few hours ago. Again, sorry Simon, I’m an asshole (but hey, I hope you still enjoyed by Blip Festival coverage!).
BTW, my latest piece is on Tron, a long-time favorite of mine. It’s not up yet, but should be later today, or tonight. Just check by later if its not up by the time you’re reading this.
And speaking of later tonight, I actually have another holiday party to attend, this one for the IGDA, but truth be told, I still haven’t fully recovered from last night’s… but hey, if there’s a party, I am there, simply put.
- Earlier this week, the spiritual successor to the Insert Credit forums was launched: SelectButton.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve decided to restructure my time in regards to how and where I spent my time online, hence why I originally was not going to follow the shell-shocked folks formerly known as ICers to their new digs (I’m sorry to say this, but upon witnessing the after-math, a few people’s handling of the situation made me seriously rethink any possible further involvement with the community). But I then realized that it couldn’t hurt to at least keep tabs on things since quite a few of folks at the old IC boards did provide some truly excellent game related info. And then the chief architect behind the new place asked me to be a front-page contributor, hence why I said “what the hell, sure”.
So you can check out my first “contribution” (its basically something I had been wondering about for a while, but had been both too lazy and busy to ask previously) right here: its about an old Takeshi Kitano Famicom game that has a certain degree of controversy and infamy surrounding it. And hey, some folks were able to provide some solid info, including clarification on the “Friday Incident” (which funny enough, happened on a Tuesday).
Since its only a week old, there’s really not that much to report thus far, but there has been at least one truly killer topic: someone translated a thread from 2chan by some guy who connected his Wii to a 1.5 inch TV.
- Also found out first from SelectButton that Kenta Cho has a new shump out called Titanion. Looks (and sounds) fucking hawt.
And speaking of shmups…
- Guess what time it is? Yup, time to talk about yet “the newest last Dreamcast game ever” (actually two). First is Trigger Heart Exelica, which is coming straight from Japan (of course) next February. I’m definitely gonna pick this one up.
Second is Last Hope, which is actually from Germany and is a port of I think the last Neo Geo home cart game ever produced. Its coming out later this month I’m also guessing and is available for pre-order from Play-Asia. It’s even coming out for the Neo Geo CD, plus the cart is still available for those who want it (for those who are, as Brandon puts its, “rich/have mental problems”).
- But wait, there’s still more stuff about Dreamcast! Over at GSW, in addition to mentioning Trigger Heart Exelica, Simon also pointed out a homebrew title that’s in the works called Age of the Beast, which seems very much like Final Fight/Streets of Rage (though it looks a lot like Capcom’s old Dungeons & Dragons side-scroll, beat’em up, due to the subject matter). It’s by the same folks behind Beats of Rage, the Steets of Rage/King of Fighters cross-over.
- Simon also recently pointed out a veritable treasure trove of assorted unreleased games, which included a few Dreamcast titles like Dee Dee Planet. Once again, God bless the Dreamcast.
But there’s also footage from tons of other games, and from a whole slew of systems, such as Viewpoint 2064 for the N64 and Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds for the CD-i. The person even posted the K Project (Rez) pre-production video that Gamespot posted which I wanted to pass along, but was afraid of them breathing down my neck. Well, enjoy!
- Also, going back to shmups real quick, GSW has exclusive first impressions on Platypus, the 2D claymation looking shooter which some might recall me first mentioned a long whiles ago.
- Back to Insert Credit, the forums may be gone, but its still a wealth of info, which recently passed along info regarding a proper Pocky & Rocky sequel (at least the original arcade version), Hot Air, a game that combines Lemmings and Yoshi’s Island, a hot new Sega light gun shooter called Too Spicy, and these awesome looking Shadow of the Colossus one coin figures…
- And now going back to freeware/doujin games, its been a really big week. Aside from Titanion, this week also saw the release of Knytt, the latest game from the brains behind Within a Deep Forest. And thus far, its been a monster hit, which takes a lot of inspiration from Ico, SotC, Cave Story, and Seiklus, which even the creator helped to point out…
- While checking out a topic on Knytt over at NeoGAF, someone pointed out a game called Noitu Love and the Army of Grinning Darns, which I had heard about before, and had planned on posting about it, but sorta forgot. Well here it is!
Also, someone else pointed out The Underside, which is such a blatant Cave Story rip-off that its kinda not funny.
- Let’s talk about controllers real quick: uber game hardware hacker Ben Heck is at it again, this time with a single handed 360 controller.
- So now you can use your Wii-mote on a Mac! It’s true.
Though Windows users shouldn’t feel left out.
- On a related note, I really haven’t had much time to check out the major news. Though for the most part, from what I’ve gathered, most of the chatter revolves around people loosing their grips on their Wii-motes, often accompanied with pics of their smashed plasma screens (there was this truly awesome pic from some Japanese blog, but I lost the link and I can’t find it at NeoGAF…), plus Sony’s PS3 controller seems to be super flakey as well (most are blaming it on the often unreliability of Bluetooth, which as far as I know, is susceptible to all sorts of interference).
Here’s yet another Xbox 360 vs PS3 comparison piece, this one from Gamespot, which many feel is a bit superior to the one 1UP.com ran recently. Can’t say I feel too bad for Sony… their constant over-hyping is finally biting them in the ass, with Nintendo and Microsoft taking full advantage of the situation (one had a dirt cheap new system, comparatively speaking, and offers a genuinely different and compelling new game play experiences, and the other has finally hits its stride and had a fairly kick-ass online experience). Though to be fair, developers have been playing around with MS’s machine for a while now, and they haven’t had nearly as much time to sink their teeth into Sony’s new toy. So its a definite wait and see situation, but its nice to see that MS has taken full advantage of their one year lead time and is ensuring that the next-gen war is going to stay interesting.
- For those who didn’t catch them, here at the latest real-time screenshots from Gran Turismo HD…
… which was recently cancelled btw. Sony and/or Polyphony decided to pull the plug and concentrate on Gran Turismo 5. And while I was really impressed with what I played at the Sony event (again, it looked about a billion times better than what I had previously seen), its a smart move to work on a proper sequel instead of spending time on a souped up re-make… one that would, once again, cost approximately $500+ to get the same content which the original game provided for just $50. But anyway, those are some pretty shots, are they not?
- Meanwhile, on the portable front, some bad news: Elete Beat Agents has been deemed a sales disappointment by the president of Nintendo himself. Oh well… though its hardly surprising, and one should be happy that it even came out in the state after-all. But as one GAFer also suggested, I too blame Sk8er Boi.
- And check this shit out… Nokia wants to get back into the handheld gaming scene once again. My fave part is this quote:
“The consumer will have to make a decision: does he wants a standalone gaming device with a limited browsing capability or a phone with an MP3 player, a camera and a bloody good games platform?”
WTF. Is this the same fucking idiot who called out Nintendo by saying that no wanted to play on system with the word Boy in the title? Anyway, I guess the guy who runs the Sidetalkin site might have something to look forward to.
- Oh, so its the holiday season, so guess what fellow gamer dork (and my good friend) Job’s girlfriend got him? First is the Legend of Zelda Game & Watch that he’s wanted for so long…
But second is this original animated cell from the old Zelda cartoon that was part of the Super Mario Super Show…
Hey Job, some advice: marry that gal.
- Also, a few non-game related stuff: Job also passed along info on a Goonies animates series that never happened.
- And MK passed this along what very well might be the cutest thing that Missy Kulik has created this far: a very happy apple.
- Finally, and I came across this myself the other day… for all the Transformers fans out there, here’s Shockwave’s Burden.
BTW, last night I explained how, even though I know the new live-action Transformers flick is gonna suck balls, I still intend on seeing it on opening night on midnight, and how I’m dragging my girlfriend, whether she likes it or not, the folks at Nick Mag promised to hooked me up with a press screening when it happens, to save myself the $10 and MK the aggravation. Those folks at Nick Mag sure are nice folks I tells you.
