Classic Gaming Expo 2K12 Update: Registration Is Open, Prices Are Awesome!

Posted on February 18, 2012 by geelw

And so it begins! CGE 2012 Registration kicks off with an excellent pricing whether you sign up for Early Bird, Advance or even at the door tickets. Additionally, the lovely and newly renovated Plaza Hotel is the venue and the special CGE rates are quite affordable at $65 per day for a Deluxe room. Of course, you’ll need to do something about transportation to and from Las Vegas (road trip!) as well as any sightseeing options. As for food, well you’d be surprised (or maybe not so surprised) to find way too many options in Vegas to make sure you’re not going to starve at any hour of the day.

Back with more CGE 2012 updates as they’re announced…

Retro Swag: Haunting Leather Jacket (Polterguy’s The Prize…)

Posted on February 2, 2012 by geelw

I guess you could technically call this airbrushed (and hopefully one of a kind) Haunting Starring Polterguy leather jacket a Sega collectible (sort of). Or perhaps it’s an Electronic Arts collectible, as they’re the ones who sent it my way along with a copy of the game. Anyway, I won this for entering art in a Diehard Game Fan contest back in 1993. The goal was to finish a Haunting-themed comic strip based on elements in the game with a final panel that showed some sort of scary monster. I actually entered on a whim, not even thinking I’d win (or make the deadline) with a creature that had mouths where its eyes were and eyes in his mouth (eek). Unfortunately, I didn’t make a color copy of the panel I painted nor did I get the issue the panel was in thanks to the issue it appeared in not showing up (and I was a loyal subscriber, too!). But I think I may have a crappy faded black and white copy buried in a bunch of old art around here. If I manage to dig it up, I’ll post it here.

Gallery: Nintendo DS/GBA Library (Plus)

Posted on January 31, 2012 by geelw

I’d say the Game Boy library has been the most reduced over time. I used to collect boxed original Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance titles for a few years, but when those got out of hand, the bulk of them were sold off and I got into DS titles. What’s left after even more chopping down is what’s here minus a few things lent out. Also pictured is my tiny WonderSwan collection minus the Wonder Borg and Wonder Witch I sold off a few years back because I wasn’t using them at all. Oops. – I forgot to take a photo of my Game Boy Color, Camera, e-Reader and cards. Ah well. Those will end up in a future update…

Nintendo Network Revealed For 3DS and Wii U: No Microtransactions Planned

Posted on January 27, 2012 by geelw

Nintendo had a pretty rough fiscal 2011, but this year, the company is determined to be a monster in the games world once again. In his lengthy financial briefing, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata discussed numerous topics that ranged from worldwide sales figures to the possibility of the 3DS going up in price at some point, to the introduction of the new and improved Nintendo Network. Iwata takes a guided shot directly at casual games that use micro-transactions to generate revenue in the report and makes what I think are some truly valid points that I hope gain traction in an industry where profit keeps stepping all over common sense.

Even if you’re not a Nintendo fan, the report is ABSOLUTELY worth a read and discussion, as it shows the company is focused on not only being more in step with the current digital era, it’s also focusing on how to bring more of its user base aboard while still keeping a retail presence that matters. Anyway, go grab a cuppa and have a seat, as the entire briefing is five pages long, packed with informative charts, graphs and some great info about the company’s past, present and future titles plus plans for this year and beyond.

The Art of Video Games Coming To The Smithsonian (And Maybe A Museum Near You)

Posted on January 24, 2012 by geelw

With video gaming inescapably in the mainstream even more these days, they’re finally being recognized for their artistic merit on a few key fronts. From March 16 to September 30, 2012, the Smithsonian American Art Museum will host The Art of Video Games which will be comprised of a large selection of game artwork and along with a number of playable games. In addition, a number of other game-related events such as as panel discussions, concerts featuring music from game soundtracks and more are in the works. In addition, the show plans to hit the road and head into other US cities after September (see that link above for more details). I do wish t was headed into NYC rather than Yonkers, though. Nothing against the town, mind you (it’s quite lovely up there, last time I checked), but the Big Apple NEEDS to see that killing off every single one of its video game arcades was a terrible idea…

A complete list of what’s in the exhibit can be found HERE. You can also sign up to get more info about the show or other Smithsonian event using that link above or by going HERE. Kids, now you can drag your parents in and get them hooked all in the name of education. Given some of the titles chosen, I can see a lot of folks coming away with a new found respect for the medium…

EVENT: Babycastles Brings Indie Games To The Hayden Planetarium

Posted on January 20, 2012 by geelw

Babycastles is doing it AGAIN, bringing indie gaming to the masses in a unique public setting with food and drink – check the invite below for details:

THURSDAY JANUARY 26 2012

RSVP

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Game Appreciation 101 (Part I): The Phantasy Star III Project

Posted on January 19, 2012 by geelw

It took about 21 years, but I finally appreciate Phantasy Star III. Not that I was playing the game for that long, mind you. It just took me that long to see everything it has to offer and while it’s still flawed, I now have a bit more respect for the final product. Like a number of Sega Genesis owners back in 1991, I didn’t like the game all that much. The visuals were dull compared to the original and sequel, the story was a confusing mess from the start and unless you paid good money for the strategy guide, it was tough to know what to do in a few key moments. A mere two save slots didn’t help either in a game with four possible outcomes. In my case, my younger brother and I played through the game and only completed two of the four endings. We didn’t shell out for the guide book, but concentrated on power-leveling the party members until getting through dungeons was easy. I think all that grinding plus the game’s not so hot localization and depressingly bland color palette was what really killed PSIII for us, so back on the shelf it went for about a decade… Continue reading →

Retro Exploration: Dreamcast (Part 10)

Posted on January 17, 2012 by geelw

Here’s a small and random mix of art this time plus some boring stuff from a game that SHOULD have gotten some omake love. To the left is the single image found on Rune Caster, a fairly terrible strategy/RPG not released outside Japan. Below are images from assorted DC discs starting from the left with the nice CG art piece from Dogu Senki Haoh, a pretty good import SPRG that also stayed in Japan. Next up is the Nightmare Creatures II logo from the US version of the game, which is on the disc along with a brief Kalisto logo movie clip (it’s the same clip you see when you start the game up). Next to that is the lone wallpaper image from Quantic Dream’s experimental open-world epic, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a game that could use an actual remake (and a multiplayer mode) one of these days.There’s also a bonus music track on the disc, but I’m working on a post about those for a bit later.

The final two images are what’s on both the US and Japanese Sword of the Berserk discs, and yes, it’s damn disappointing that a game that’s so much fun to play (and a pioneer of QTE’s in modern gaming) gets two lame images found on many DC discs. Ah, well…

Retro Exploration: Dreamcast (Part 9)

Posted on January 15, 2012 by geelw

BioWare’s offbeat (and interestingly difficult) third-person shooter MDK 2 has a ton of bonus content on the Dreamcast disc that includes plenty of concept/in-game artwork and selected audio tracks such as selected music tracks and outtakes from a few dialog sequences. I’ll run all the artwork below the jump, but hold off on the audio portion for a bit, as I’m thinking about posting all the other tracks I’ve found on my tiny DC library in one post at some point down the road… Continue reading →

Capcom Digital Collection Coming To Xbox 360 (On a Retail Disc!)

Posted on January 14, 2012 by geelw

How’s this for Kismet-ic energy? Last month, I poked fun at Sega for releasing Sonic CD as a digital-only game, and now Capcom comes up and drops this cooler news in my lap. Eight of the company’s HD remakes formerly only available as digital-only Xbox Live Arcade exclusives are coming to retail on a game disc. Eight games for a mere $39.99 is a solid deal indeed, although in my humble indie opinion, this set would be even better (where applicable) if it had the arcade originals on the disc and a bit of history on the original games as bonuses. Of course, I tend to over-think any disc based release these days as something that should be filled to the brim with content just to please those of us who really don’t mind paying more for a physical product over straight digital-only content.

As to what’s on the disc, I’m posting the title cards and logos below:

and a nicely-sized screenshot gallery below the jump. It’s up to you to guess which screens go with which titles (although it’s not hard to figure out at all)…

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