Video Game Appreciation 101: Zombies vs. Pirates! Zombies Win.

Posted on December 24, 2012 by geelw

Amusingly enough, I recently requested a review copy of the retail version The Walking Dead from Telltale, but was told they were out of them for the moment and instead I got PSN codes for all five episodes. Which is fine, except for the fact that I can’t use PSN on my PS3 here. So, I simply decided to support the company a few days back by buying a copy of the game from Best Buy. Telltale gets my thirty bucks and I get to play the game everyone is raving about. Done and done. A few hours later I get an email from Best Buy telling me the game has shipped out and I can expect it between the 27th and January 2nd. Whee. But guess what? The mailman pops up today with a bunch of packages and supriiiiiiise! I get a package from Telltale with the retail copy of game you see in the photo. Which means with the PSN codes and the Best Buy Limited Edition I have on the way, I’ll end up with THREE copies of the Walking Dead. Damn zombies are multiplyin’ like rabbits around here, I tells ya…

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Street Fighter X Mega Man Out Now, More Blue Bomber Birthday Stuff In 2013…

Posted on December 17, 2012 by geelw

Thanks to so much happening today, I almost for got all about this FREE download from Capcom (currently PC only and a mere 34MB at that). The company is also planning to give Mega man fans and even bigger treat by releasing all six classic Mega Man games on the Nintendo 3DS as digital-only downloads through Nintendo’s eShop starting December 27, 2012 and continuing on a staggered schedule into 2013. Hmmm. In addition, Capcom is planning to release some cool new Mega Man T-shirts some MM-themed Xbox 360 avatars and a few other items from now and into next year, but they’re keeping a few things under wraps to keep us all in suspense.

Hmmm… will my dreams of eventually being able to replay the Mega Man Legends series finally see some sort of reality? I guess I’ll need to keep my fingers crossed. Double Hmmm… Perhaps I should cross my toes instead, as I can’t play many games very well with doubled digits…

The NEOGEO X Gold Heads To Retail (You HAVE Been Doing Finger Exercises, Right?)

Posted on December 17, 2012 by geelw

Tomorrow is the big day many hardcore SNK fans have been waiting for as the NEOGEO X Gold Limited Edition system drops into selected retailers. I’m gathering the one I pre-ordered from Best Buy should pop up a few days afterward, but I can wait. Really. Still, the UPS guy here knows I’ll haunt his truck when it’s on the other side of the street early in the morning, as we get our ground deliveries here late in the afternoon (unless I happen to see him early in the morning and zip on over to save him some time later on).

Yes, I’ll post a review of the system once I get some quality time with it. I know I’ll still be awful at some of those 20 included games, but I’ve been practicing a bit over the last few weeks using the PS2 collection from a few years back and some of that rust is gone from my creaky fingers. Magician Lord, I’m coming for you! Well, it’s still more like the other way around, but one day… one day. At least I can complete Metal Slug without wanting to eat a couch cushion.

Video Game Appreciation 101: Papo & Yo Dev Diaries Let The Music Do The Talking

Posted on December 17, 2012 by geelw

Minority Media’s sleeper PSN game has a great soundtrack that reacts to what you’re doing (or not doing) in the game in some interesting ways. Here are looks (and sounds) at how the team did the music and how well it’s integrated into the final product. Yes, this is a Video Game Appreciation 101 class – the test is you buying and playing the game to see and hear the results.

Street Fighter X Mega Man Gameplay: Love Means A Keyboard Is Harder To Break Than A Controller, Kids!

Posted on December 12, 2012 by geelw

Man, is this game going to have some gamers used to more casual “play it for me!” stuff jumping up and down on their keyboards HARD and screaming about it all over the internet. Granted, you can indeed use a controller to play this, but remember, throwing it at a monitor a foot away will cause one of two things to occur: you’ll either need a new monitor or new teeth or both should that busted controller bounce back and smack you in the mouth. Sure, you CAN try ducking, but I know you haven’t been exercising much and all that soda and chips in your belly has made you slow. Well, maybe wear a face mask like Vega or something…

Got $25K Lying Around? You Can Own EVERY Super Nintendo Game Ever Released in North America.

Posted on December 11, 2012 by geelw

Holy cats. This is one of those things that makes me wish I had a ton of money to toss around like a rapper making it rain in a strip club. Ebay user kaisetsuna has put up an amazing auction that features all 721 Super Nintendo games ever released in the US, Mexico and Canada. 500 pounds of games in assorted conditions, all with boxes (save for the handful of pack-in games that didn’t have them), most with manuals. Even crazier is how the lot was assembled and why he’s getting rid of such an impressive stash. He cobbled together the bulk of the games through multiple purchases, replacing battered boxes and when possible, manuals with better condition ones, cleaning up carts and more all for archiving the games for reference purposes and future emulation…

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Video Game Appreciation 101: New Additions – DS & PSP Stuff!

Posted on December 11, 2012 by geelw

A few more games for the library, this time a few Match-3 puzzle games: Bejeweled 3, 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, 7 Wonders II and the recently reviewed Jewel Master: Cradle of Egypt 2. On the PSP front, Taito Legends: Power-Up and The Chikyuu Boueigun 2 Portable (in English, that’s The Earth Defense Forces 2 Portable). Of the puzzle games, of course Bejeweled 3 is the master class in fun, accessibility and replay value, as the game hooks you right on in from the beginning and keeps you playing thanks to its wide variety of mini-games and rewards galore as you play. The music is pretty killer as well. The two 7 Wonders games show an interesting progression, as the sequel fixes some of the issues from the first game while also adding new content.

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Tomb Raider “Survivor” Trailer: Thankfully, Not A Damn Thing Like That Stupid “Reality” Show…

Posted on December 10, 2012 by geelw

I’m glad to see it’s looking as if Crystal Dynamics has pretty much kept the game they wanted to do as intact as possible during its long development cycle. Some are griping about it not being an open world experience, but I say go play the original TR and TRII and see why and how following a solid narrative overrides a need to explore at one’s whim in a game like this. The goal in the new game is to discover and survive the limited environments you’re dropped into primarily at the pace of how well you play the game, NOT to think you’re getting Skyrim meets The Hunger Games with a side order of Hostel II or whatever. So, shut up and either wait for a demo or the actual game to drop, learn some respect for storytelling and the fact that just because you want every game to be the same damn thing doesn’t mean a developer is going to listen. Hey, they’ve got my money on day one, that’s for sure…

Dark Souls II VGA Announcement Trailer: Prepare to Die (Even More)…

Posted on December 10, 2012 by geelw

Here’s that lovely VGA trailer for Dark Souls II – I love that like with the Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls openings, you really don’t find out anything about the story at all, but you DO get an eyeful of some of the horrific creatures that will kill you a few too many times during your adventures. It’s funny that some gamers still haven’t realized that FromSoftware didn’t just pop out of nowhere with Demon’s Souls and then Dark Souls. In fact, the Japanese developer has been making some of the most interesting games on consoles since 1994 starting with the deep, gloomy (and often frightening) King’s Field series. Their mech-focused Armored Core franchise allowed players to create and share some amazing custom mechs for years after PC mech games died off and other titles in the Shadow Tower, Echo Night and Tenchu series. A ton of other games ranging from the family-friendly puzzler The Adventures of Cookie and Cream to the intensely frightening (yet languidly paced) Kuon plus assorted licensed games done for the Japanese market and you’ve got a developer with a pretty solid pedigree.

Hmmm… I say These guys and gals need a retrospective or a documentary made or something in print just so people can see bits of everything they’ve done and respect their work even more. DSII is another day one buy for me and it should be for you as well.

“Retro” Review: The Dark Spire

Posted on December 9, 2012 by geelw

Platform: Nintendo DS

Developer: Success

Publisher: Atlus

# of Players: 1

Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)

Official Site

Score: A (95%)

(Note: while I’m buried in a few other reviews and working on some new site stuff, here’s an old review to peruse. This previously “lost” review was written LONG before the PSN Wizardry games from XSEED and Wizardry Online were announced, but I decided not to alter anything mostly because I’m surprised this turned up in a folder packed with stuff I thought was gone for good – enjoy!)

Since no US publisher seems to even be thinking about reviving the classic Wizardry franchise anytime soon, Atlus has pretty much taken up the mantle of “publisher of Wizardry-like gameplay experiences” on the Nintendo DS. Some of you might be asking “Hey! what about that excellent 2001 PlayStation 2 game, Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land, huh?” However, that game (great as it was) wasn’t at all related to the eight Sir-Tech PC games. Other than a few console remakes of the first seven games scattered over an assortment of Japanese consoles and a few handheld version the numerous Japanese-developed Wizardry games are their own bird (and yes, it would have been grand to see them localized in English), but that’s another subject for another time. Anyway, thanks to titles such as the two Etrian Odyssey games (which can be seen as spiritual successors to Sir-Tech’s original games) and now The Dark Spire, developed by Success, Atlus will absolutely make you do a happy dance if you love your RPGs old-school tough yet completely user-friendly.

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