Earthbound Finally Re-Released… But Nintendo Devalues It Once Again…

Posted on July 23, 2013 by geelw

While I’m happy as hell that Earthbound has FINALLY been deemed worthy of a re-release, I’m not at all pleased that Nintendo has given it the cheapest treatment possible, tossing it onto the eShop as a digital-only download and missing the cool strategy guide and scratch & sniff cards packed in with the original boxed Super Nintendo version. Actually, the major beef I have is how Nintendo passed up the opportunity to do this up right as a combination physical/digital product that would have made them MORE money at the end of the day had the company merely polled its rather large user base with the following idea for a premium-priced retail Earthbound collection:

A fully localized Mother (the first game in the series) updated for the Wii U Gamepad
Earthbound (Mother 2)
A fully localized Game Boy Advance version of Mother 3 also updated for the Wii U Gamepad
voucher codes for eShop versions of all three titles for the 3DS
An art gallery, soundtrack download and perhaps unlockable images and movies from the cancelled Nintendo 64 version Mother 3
Perhaps even an interview or three with staff members from the development team about the making of the games for good measure.

Hell, I’d pay fifty bucks for that and I’d bet YOU would too. I could also see Nintendo making all of the games available as separate digital download titles for the 3DS and/or Wii U at about $10 each and raking in a profit on those with no problem. By treating the SNES game as a disposable commodity instead of giving it the respect it’s earned over time from folks who’ve either held on to the original cart, paid rent money for a vintage or used copy or (yuck) even illegally downloaded a ROM (and yes, that includes you folks playing those fan translations of the first and third game who don’t own and never intend to own the original carts because you’re too lazy to learn Japanese).

Granted, it’s hard to say if this set of games on a disc as noted above would even drive stagnant Wii U sales at all, but I’d bet if Nintendo announced my stupid idea as a project and asked the fans if they’d buy in, they’d see a great deal more interest in that new console they’re having a very hard time getting more of you out there to buy.

Just a thought… tough love, Nintendo. Tough love…

Morose Monday Made Markedly More Meaningful…

Posted on July 22, 2013 by geelw

Well, let’s see now: coming home from a funeral: gloomy! Coming home TO a nice surprise in the mail (thank you, Play-Asia!) and a double surprise (I’d forgotten to cancel a big Namco Bandai press event for tomorrow morning, which is actually a great thing as it gets me out of the house and not sitting around moping) plus tax (another event on Wednesday and I think one more this week) mean life goes onwards, bumps in the road aside. OK, off to squash some bugs – I may post one more thing before midnight if I haven’t collapsed from being a wee bit too tired. It’s been a really long day…

Random Film of the Week(end): Swing Girls

Posted on July 21, 2013 by geelw

Shinobu Yaguchi’s 2004 comedy gem, Swing Girls is more or less a cross between High School Musical and School of Rock (before both of those were big things in the US) as well as a riff on the old “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” style of old Hollywood film making from the days of Andy Hardy and a boatload of other fun fluff musicals. It’s a fun and summery family friendly flick where there’s nothing offensive happening, there’s not a single gunshot fired and the only death here is one that’s part of the plot and it’s not a human being that gets it. Yes, I’ll actually spoil things by running a clip below the jump just because it’s probably the best use of the Louis Armstrong version of “What a Wonderful World” you’ll ever see as well as the funniest bit in a film full of them.

The movie works so well because it’s full of deadpan moments and flat out funny portions where paying attention to dialog and visual detail add more laughs. It’s a film that’s not pretending to be anything other than a homage to those old musicals and while it’s not flawless, it’s definitely worth tracking down if you like movies that guaranteed you’ll get a grin going that lasts for about as long as you’re in front of that TV or monitor…

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DuckTales Remastered: Himalayas, Here We Come (Woo-Ooo!)…

Posted on July 20, 2013 by geelw

Capcom shows off their upcoming revisit to the retro days reboot with this nice long look at the redesigned Himalayas stage. By the way, no stupidly cute cartoon bunnies were hurt in this video, the already angry goats got what they deserved and that big and annoying Yeti boss? Well, he was trying to make duck cutlets out of Uncle Scrooge, so he had to go down hard. MORAL: Don’t mess with a rich canard and his fancy cane bouncing skills, folks. All that swimming around in that huge money pool bank vault of his has given him some MEGA strength in that feathered old body. Tough bird, indeed…

Random Film of the Week(end): The Indestructible Man

Posted on July 20, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, All Classic Video!)

One of those crazy 50’s “B” sci-fi/horror flicks that sticks in the mind thanks to the performance of its lead, The Indestructible Man is also one of those forgotten gems that modern audiences would most likely laugh out of a theater or change the channel after a few minutes of dialog during a slower moment. Of course, I grew up seeing this flick countless times on TV, so it was a formative part of my misspent youth. Combining sci-fi, horror and film noir elements and featuring a creepy performance from Lon Chaney Jr., this is one of those short, snappy little movies that makes for a nice jolt as well as few unintentional laughs.

Chaney plays Charles “Butcher” Benton, a convicted killer and thief who’s been given the gas chamber treatment, but has his dead body illegally sold to a scientist for research purposes. Of course, it being the 1950’s and a “B” movie and all, that scientist happens to be studying the effects of electricity and his own chemical concoctions on dead subjects and ends up quite thrilled when Benton is brought back to the land of the living. Naturally, when you beef up a dead man with voltage and vitamins, his first response will be to kill you and your assistant then take off with intent of wiping out just about anyone who sent him behind bars. Maybe that stupid scientist should have invented a time machine so he could pop up today and read this post, then zap back and get better prepared…

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Retro Summer Heat: Bad Girls Go to Hell Trailer

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

This post is for the smiling guy I saw out walking today wearing a suit and tie all buttoned up and saying to his baking lady friend (trying to keep up in her high heels and about to melt makeup) “This heat is NOTHING to me! HAHAHAHAHA!”

Yeah, you suck and the planet you come from sucks as well.

Note: SOME would say this trailer is NSFW, but given that I’m posting this after work hours, YOU can watch it and not feel guilty or cheap. Unless you’re watching this at work and get creeped on by your boss. Oops – now he’s going to think a lot less (or more) of you and you’ll get a raise or a demotion or something. Whatever it is, even if it’s “good”, it’s not good, as now he’ll be sliding by with a grin on his mug, a mug in his claw and a “Whatcha watchin’?” leer to really freak you out. OK, other than clips on some ancient HBO show and stills from a book a friend lent me many years ago, I’ve actually never seen a Doris Wishman-directed film. The trailer makes me want to. It’s the title, silly. Well, OK… the sheer camp value is also the kicker here. Anyway, yeah… some of you need another shower, the rest of you want to chase me around the room with a spiked baseball bat. It’s too hot for the latter, so just stick your head and feet into a nice bucket of ice (or ice cream) and cool off. You can hate me in the winter or something…

Or you can hate the fine folks at Sleaze-O-Rama for twisting your arm and “making” you click that link… and yeah, Bad Girls go to Hell 365 days a year – they just wear less in this weather.

EDF 2025 Recruitment Video #2: Not to “Bug” You Again, But You’re Wanted…

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

Only in Japan do you get these goofball game videos that manage to be informative and amusing (well, if you understand the language, that is). I’m still waiting for my copy of the game to arrive, but others who ordered their copies at the same time I did seem to be finally getting them this week. No worries of course – it just means I’ll have a LOT of catching up to.

Meanwhile, the fine folks over at Game Empire HD are STILL uploading some great gameplay videos and as you can see above and below, things get quite chaotic in these later missions. Well, I did say that I needed some distractions this summer, so this will indeed count as one of them.

OK, I’m shutting up now. It’s too hot (again, as in 103 or so with the heat index) and I need to go do stuff that requires less effort. Sleep? Not yet… but maybe I’ll do something really nuts like cook something in the oven just to generate sweat and make me drink more water then fall into the shower for the third time today. We shall see…

Random Film of the Week*: Code 46

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

*OK, the official title of this post is: Random Film of the Week: Code 46 (Cinematic Katenjammer Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap in July Version), but that’s too damn long a title even for my long-winded self. That and you can’t put links into titles on WordPress as far as I know…

As a fan of her always intriguing acting work, I’d watch Samantha Morton play a computer-generated paper bag character blowing down a dirty alleyway (I can see it now: “Dreamworks Animation presents… Trash Tale“), but thankfully (more or less), I got to watch Code 46 again and this time, write a little something about it.

Michael Winterbottom’s impressive 2003 speculative sci-fi love story/drama has some great intentions, solid performances and a lovely, realistically grimy futurist visual style all going for it, but it’s not a film for those with short attention spans nor those expecting a movie that’s going to blow their minds with flashy special effects. It’s one of those extremely well made yet surprisingly middle of the road movies which may at first seem odd for the director known for some outstanding (24-Hour Party People) as well as controversial (Butterfly Kiss, 9 Songs) films.

That said, it’s not “bad” by any stretch of the imagination and in fact, has some truly memorable scenes that will resonate with many viewers who want more than the usual weekend box office romance of the week flick. Nevertheless, for all its slow-burning tension, interesting nudity choices and “disturbing” plot twists, there’s a strangely creeping predictability to most of the film that made it feel like a distant memory playing itself back the first time I saw it. Or a memory to come I’d rather not have.

But then again, perhaps this is how it’s supposed to be…

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Strider Gets An Extra Life Courtesy of Capcom & Double Helix…

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

Well, this was an interesting surprise to see popping up in the inbox yesterday: An all-new Strider game on the way from busy developer Double Helix headed to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Of course (throwing my two cents down here)… it would be better to get this out on the Wii U and Vita as well, but we seem to be in the age of publishers only wanting to get games out on platforms where there’s guaranteed interest and bigger initial full-price sales from a larger dedicated install base rather than trying a title out on a platform that may only rack up less than stellar sales figures or just have users saying they’ll wait for a price drop. Which, by the way is dumb on a game that’s no doubt going to be budget-priced. Hopefully.

Of course, for someone like me who’d rather have MORE choice than less and can clearly see this doing decently enough on some systems it’s not (currently) coming to, the news is great but a tad annoying. Sure, development costs no doubt factor into the decision to not bring this to the Wii U or Vita, but I say Capcom should do some sort of outreach into both of those communities and see if there’s interest in buying this one on either platform (I think there is) and perhaps getting those versions out at some point. With a classic like this making a comeback (that actually looks quite good and seems to be quite challenging based on that video above) as a digital-only release, it’s not as if there will be a ton of unsold retail boxes clogging up an inventory somewhere, right?

Oh… and if this doesn’t toss in the original arcade game as an extra, that would be really silly. Make it happen, Capcom.

Thing(s) to Do When it’s Too Damn Hot to Think Straight…

Posted on July 18, 2013 by geelw

OK, I actually did this artwork yesterday evening to clear out some cobwebs upstairs, but it’s been SO hot today that even the air is too tired to move much. Then again… oh, look – it’s 101 degrees rolling by on its brand spanking new motorcycle. Lucky skunk! Go crash into a tree, weather. Well, not this tree… it’s not real. OK, that post took too much effort to write, but it needed to be done. Off to poke around my inbox a bit – it seems to be bursting at the seams today…