Oh, Yeah: The Walking Dead Is Back (In A Few Places)…

Posted on February 8, 2014 by geelw

I still haven’t gotten around to playing Season Two of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, but I’ve been a bit busy/crazy lately. Now I’ll have even LESS time to get to it thanks to the second half of Season Four of the hit show popping up tomorrow. Thankfully, it’s not a long half-season, but on the other hand, I’d love it if shows didn’t split into halves where you wait around staring at a wall for months between episodes. I don’t like binge watching too much at all (I save it for shows that are dead and gone), but I do like regularity. I say feed prunes to the writing staff, cast and directors on all these shows so they can grasp the concept of a season starting up and not being over until we get a week to week set of shows without minding the gap.

Yeah, I’m talking to YOU, Mad Men (already shot and done as a series, but keeping us waiting what, a year more for those final shows? Yeesh. I don’t even think I’ll be interested when it kicks off again)…

Ah, The Things You Don’t Notice Unless You’re Paying Attention…

Posted on February 7, 2014 by geelw

So, I was about to recycle the box D3Publisher of America sent me when I got another big laugh. I’d not noticed this yesterday in my giddy state (and it was a bit dark in the room where I opened the box), so imagine my surprise when I went to clean out the box and saw this:

Now, ten or so years back, I’d had to have been peeled from the ceiling with the Jaws of Life, but as I went through some nice bug therapy a while back, I just roared with laughter because I didn’t even think they’d stick fake cockroaches in that box. For one thing, even the developers won’t go that far because they don’t want to freak people out (which makes me think that giant spiders must be seen as really cute in Japan!). Anyway, for some reason, I can’t upload the fuzzy close-up image I shot of me holding one of those rubber roaches, but that’s probably good for you readers who’d also hit the ceiling if you saw one (real or fake). I’ll try again later. You’ve been warned…

EDIT: it’s later! Yay! (You were warned)…

Capcom’s Beautiful『deep down』 Depresses Me Because It’s Doomed To Impermanence…

Posted on February 6, 2014 by geelw

As a closet game historian and collector, every time I see Capcom’s 『deep down』, I shed a tiny tear because this amazing-looking in progress PS4 exclusive is going to be online ONLY, and lose a lot of potential sales from people like me who prefer the option to play offline and enjoy all that hard work without worrying about the usual crap ALL online games suffer from. Once interest wanes down the road or worse, sales don’t impress the shareholders (which shouldn’t determine ANYTHING, I say), those servers will slowly shut down and that game you paid good money for as a keeper becomes a bunch of beautiful and USELESS data that fades from memory.

This sort of thing is pure nonsense, I say. Game making shouldn’t consist of developers working in mist settled on a bathroom mirror or making paintings with clouds thinking they’ll still be around for all to see in the future. I’m hoping Capcom wises up and gets this one playable offline at some point (as with its incredible Dragon’s Dogma), because it’s looking so gorgeous that I want MORE people to experience it and not a select few hundred thousand or more with the proper and perfect setups. Art should have SOME permanence, specifically if it’s interactive and made to be enjoyed with others as a mandate.

Bugs (And More) In A Box, With Love From D3Publisher of America…

Posted on February 6, 2014 by geelw

So, I got a nice package today from D3Publisher of America that had me laughing for a good half hour or so. For those curious types reading this, it’s a pre-release Valentine’s Day box full of fun Earth Defense Force 2025 goodies: A fake rose (that lights up when you press a button. It’s strobe-y!) Three sets of four Valentine cards (one for each class), Four dog tags (one for each character class), three packs of tasty looking traditional composition hearts and (wait for it…) a plastic heart with what looks to be three actual chocolate covered insects inside (Eeeeek!).

Well, the label inside that heart SAYS “Chocolate Covered Insects”, they sort of LOOK like they are as opposed to chocolate shaped insects from a mold, and I tend to believe everything I read the first time (well, sometimes). These days, small bugs don’t bug me and I DO like chocolate… so I’ll file this under “I’ll try anything once!” Anyway, I stuck the chocolate in the fridge for later, as it’s too hot in the home office. Those will go good with a cup of coffee, I’d imagine. Some of you have fainted dead away I see. Sorry about that! New experiences make me smile, that’s all.

Okay, let me go find some dinner, as I actually went out for a walk after the box arrived. If I have a bug or two for dessert, I’ll let you know. I may hang onto them for a little bit just to keep you in suspense… we’ll see.

Double Dragon Neon Now On Steam: Get Yer 80’s Fix On (With A Bit of A Paradox)

Posted on February 6, 2014 by geelw

Double Dragon Neon is a throwback game for sure. It’s going to appeal to your backwards baseball cap, neon sunglasses wearing faux punk side while sporting nicely updated visuals, an awesome soundtrack and yes, won’t work on any computer rockin’ an OS older than Windows 7 (oops, an opportunity lost there, I say!). WayForward Technologies (again!) did a stellar job on this one on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, so it’s a total no-brainer that today’s newly released the Steam version is as good or better in a few respects.

In a way, it’s also too bad this never got a retail release in some “retro” packaging from Midnight City (Majesco’s digital indie label), as it’s exactly the sort of game that could benefit from (and sell a few limited edition copies because of) some sort of box with a funky 80’s cover painting. Ah well. Anyway, if your nostalgia meter is tingling away, you know what to do, right? I’ll let you get to it then…

Toukiden: The Age of Demons Battle Action Trailer: Omega Force To The Rescue (Again)…

Posted on February 5, 2014 by geelw

With Toukiden: The Age of Demons dropping into stores and onto PSN on February 11, here’s a final look at the game in action. As usual, veteran developer Omega Force is at the top of their game here with another impressive action game for the Vita (and yes, PS3). It’s also important to know that while we’re not getting the incredible-looking PSP version of Toukiden in North America, the fact that they were able to get the same game and what looks like the same story content done for that “old” handheld in Japan is somewhat remarkable. Anyway, based on the demo alone, this one looks like it’s going to be a great home as well as handheld game with offline and online play that should keep those who pick it up quite busy dispatching plenty of demons from minor minions to supreme, hard to take down bosses that require time and tactics to take down.

I do hope the game does as well as it did in Japan, but that’s all up to Vita owners here to get off their butts and give the demo a whirl, then go buy the game as soon as they can rather than wait too long and let this one languish in relative obscurity. We’ll see, as usual…

VGA 101: Running the Gauntlet to Get Gauntlet IV Running…

Posted on February 4, 2014 by geelw

Sometimes, the simplest things can take way too long but the payoff is well worth it. I was recently in the mood to dig up a classic and had Gauntlet on the brain. Not just ANY Gauntlet, mind you, but Gauntlet IV on the Sega Genesis. That version of the game is not only four players, but has a few game modes not in the original arcade hit including a story-based RPG mode with a bunch of element themed levels and an ending that’s a total corker. Imagine my surprise when I went to my bookshelf full of Genesis and Mega Drive games and… there was no copy of Gauntlet to be found.

Eeek. Just when my eyebrow was shooting up over my forehead, I recalled that I’d traded my cardboard box version of the game for a second manual-less copy of Shadowrun (which I still need a manual for) and something else I needed a cart of that I had a box and manual for. Oops. So, I now needed a replacement and thanks to a bit of quick hunting around, I found a plastic-boxed version in really nice shape for $16 shipped. NOW, I could get playing…

Or not, as I soon found out… Continue reading →

What’s In the Box? I’m Just Saiyan You’ll Not Need To Guess…

Posted on February 4, 2014 by geelw

Mystery sol-ved! Namco Bandai very kindly sent me a copy of Dragonball Z: Battle of Z to review, so that’s going to get done soon. It’s funny that this shows up because I still feel like punching a hole in a wall over those idiots who installed that crappier shower head earlier and left me with a wobbly pipe, so this is a little stress relief for me. Okay, off to see how this one plays. It was pretty fun to see in action last year at that press preview I went to. I’m not sure where to put that rather large Super Saiyan figure, as all my available space is stocked up with games, but I’ll figure something out soon enough…

Okay, back in a bit (again) – I’ve also been going through some bins of doom and then some here and dug up some interesting stuff I need to scan and maybe sock away on a hard drive for later use. It’s not spring yet, but I’m slowly cleaning. I must be feeling masochistic today or something. Eh, it’s a living…

Crimes & Punishments: Sherlock Holmes Trailer: Punch Drugged Love…

Posted on February 1, 2014 by geelw

Once again, developer Frogwares is cooking up an interesting looking multi-case Sherlock Holmes game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC-owning adventure game fans out there and this time, it seems to be going for a few types of gameplay as well as flashier visuals to lure in gamers from other genres. There’s some nice use of the aging Unreal 3 engine here as well as what looks like some tweaking to the investigation system and even a bit of fisticuffs thrown in for good measure. As long as the game stays away from the dopey camp of the Guy Ritchie version of Holmes and Watson, I think it’ll do well among its target audience. Granted, the fans of that newer BBC Sherlock and other shows that reinvent the character to different extents may or may not come aboard for this more classic-looking (and more traditional) Holmes, but it would be nice to see some of those younger folk realize their favorite flavor was around a LOT longer than they were.

Focus Home Interactive is publishing this one and it’s got a Q2 2014 release set. More on this game (and an actual release date) soon. Here’s a bunch of nice screens below – enjoy!

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Update: A Little Night Music For You…

Posted on February 1, 2014 by geelw

“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make…”

Another game I’m really looking forward to is this final MercurySteam-developed Castlevania game that looks to wrap everything up nice and neat and perhaps raise the bar on a few fronts in terms of how a 3D version of this storied franchise should be done. Whoever is taking the reins from this point on will be under a great deal of pressure to do something just as impressive without falling back on repeating what’s come before. Given the talent pool of developers out there who probably want to be the ones Konami calls in for that next phase of this series’ life, I’m not too worried at all. As long as what’s coming next is playable on more platforms, it’s a good thing to see Dracula and a Belmont somewhere battling it out in that eternal struggle they’ve pretty much committed to ages past…