Welcome to the Video Game Blog. I have been talking about video games here since 2005! From Pong to PS3, everything gets covered in here.
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Enjoy Tom's Writing? Check out these other sites:
Arcade After
Dark - Tons of video game comic strips
KZ Comics -
Tribute site for the comic company I founded.
Retrogaming Times - My long running video game newsletter.
Old Video Game Blogs
October 2007 - December 2007
June 2006 - June 2007
January 2006 - June
2006
November 2005 - December 2005
September 2005 - October 2005
July 2005 -
August 2005
May 2005 - June
2005
March 2005 -
April 2005
07/30/2008
Saw the trailer for the new Watchmen movie and I was impressed. So impressed that I went and pulled out my graphic novel and read the entire thing in one day. While it still is an awesome read, it was not as awesome as when I read it back in the 80's. Part of it is probably because the quality of comics has been elevated. Back in the days before Alan Moore, Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman came into comics, there were comic writers. But now there are writers who do comics and they were among the first group of people who took comics from being super powered heroes and funny animals and showed the medium could be so much more.
Took my one son to the used game store to buy Theme Park for the DS. While I was there, I looked through the used XBOX games and saw Serious Sam for $3.99. I was in the mood for a mindless shooter and thought about what was a better buy, Serious Sam or a gallon of gas. I chose Serious Sam.
Games can tease you. I found that out when I put the used Serious Sam into my XBOX. It loaded up and I created my character (which pretty much meant giving him a name) and went to the first level. But then it would hit about 95% loaded and stop. It would go no further. I hit every button on the controller with no luck. I took it out and cleaned it. Still the same results. So I had to return it. Of course, they did not have another copy. So I ponied up some more money and got Serious Sam II. It worked fine and I was able to have have some mindless shooting fun.
07/25/2008
Good news from the ComicCon in San Diego. No, I am not there,
but I have been checking out the news. Besides the preview of the Watchman
movie (looks great) and another Wallace and Gromit video game, there is the news
of a sequel to one of the best video game movies of all-time! No, I am not
talking about Super Mario Bros 2, I am talking about Tron 2! Yes, the
Disney movie from the 80's is finally getting a sequel! I for one am
looking forward to it. Let's all chant, Bring Back Bruce! Bring Back
Bruce!
One thing that readers of the blog always ask me is for overlooked gems. They want to know about games that I really like that are not the obvious ones. One thing to know is my tastes tend to be strange, so what I like you may not like. But here are a few games anyway. On the Playstation, I really liked the following games - Tail of the Sun, Master of Monsters (an updated version of the Sega Genesis game) and Intelligent Qube (expect to pay a fortune for it as it is quite rare and in demand). For the PS2, the games I really enjoyed are - Gallop Racer, Everblue 2, Road Trip, A Dog's Life and War of the Monsters. Now I should get hate mail from people who bought these and think they suck. As I said, my tastes tend towards the odd.
I am a bit upset with myself. I wanted to play
King Kong so bad for the XBOX. I finally got it cheap about six months ago
and still have not played it. Hopefully in the fall, I will have more time
to play games. Summer has been so busy.
07/22/2008
Got the latest issue of Game Informer and saw there are finally some
information on the sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I like the
look of it so far. There are some good combo attacks that could be fun to
execute. One they talked about was Hulk grabbing a chunk of ground and
having Iron Man heat it up. A burning projectile! That is so
medieval. I just hope it lives up to the hype.
I am considering downloading the Spore Creature Creator and having some fun with it. Yeah, it is $10.00 for the full version, but it could be alot of fun and maybe I can create a comic strip out of the characters.
It is amazing how comic book based movies are tearing up Hollywood. Batman is monster huge. Iron Man was huge. Hulk did very well. Even Hellboy is not starving at the box office. Too bad video game movies cannot do as well. Outside of the Tomb Raider movies, there is alot of movies doing well. Maybe when the movie companies return my emails about my Super Mario the Musical, they will have a hit on their hands.
I don't think I ever talked about one of my all-time
favorite games in this blog. Crazy Climber is possibly my favorite arcade
game. I still remember how amazed people were that I could do two
joysticks simultaneously to move the character. Once you completed a few
buildings on the game, people would be amazed. It really is not that hard,
just practice. And games like Robotron gave me plenty of practice for
Crazy Climber.
07/20/2008
Did you ever work with someone who is such a geek about something
that they are annoying. I mean really annoying. I work with someone
like that who is so into Star Wars that he cannot go a day without talking about
it. He thinks he is the biggest fan in the world and knows everything
about Star Wars and asked me to come up with a trivia question for him to test
his knowledge. While I liked the original Star Wars movies (what are they,
numbers four through six), I am not a big fan. But I needed to get him off
my back for awhile, so I gave him a trivia question to answer. I asked him
"The character Han Solo from Star Wars. What is Han short for?" It
totally stumped him. That should keep him looking for awhile as I would
not give the answer.
Picked up a Nintendo DS at a garage sale for $30.00 with a game. It is the original version but one of my sons broke theirs and it is alot cheaper than buying a new one. They are very handy on long trips.
Bought my wife Boom Blox for her birthday (along
with some other stuff). She has not played it yet, but from all the
reviews I read, it sounds like a game for her. And for me for that matter.
07/15/2008
I see the Max Payne movie is coming out and will star Mark Wahlberg.
I am not a big fan of the Max Payne games, so I can care less. But I am
glad to see that Uwe Boll is not associated with it.
Speaking of video game movies, there are also movie versions of Gears of War and Bioshock coming. This could be good as both have legitimate directors. Len Wiseman who last did Live Free or Die Hard, will do Gears of War and Gore Verbinski who did the Pirates of the Caribbean movies will do Bioshock. It is good to see that video games are getting better treatment from Hollywood.
Microsoft has dropped the price of the XBOX 360 on
the 20 gig version to clear them out. I was hoping for a price cut on all
of them that would hopefully get Sony to follow suit, but no such luck.
That may change as E3 starts, but I am not holding my breath. We all know
the Wii will not lower its price as they still cannot keep it in stock.
07/09/2008
There was a computer game called Lion. It was the sequel to
Wolf. I know, they put alot of work into the titles of those games.
Anyway, the game involved you being a lion. You had to roam around and
hunt food, drink water and mate. As dull as it sounds, I actually liked
the games. I would like to see a newer version of the game made. Not
sure if it will happen, but it really was a fun game. Really.
Saw some screenshots for the upcoming DC vs Mortal Kombat. The graphics look good, but then that was expected. They only announced six fighters so far, three from each universe. From the DC side, we have absolutely no surprises - Superman, Batman and the Flash. On the Mortal Kombat side, we also have zero surprises - Subzero, Scorpion and Sonya. Maybe we will get a few fighters we don't expect, but I doubt it.
Put this one under cool! A remake of Splatterhouse is coming! That's right, the classic horror game is getting a remake. All I can say is "what took so long?"
One game that I really enjoyed on the XBOX was Far Cry. It was alot of fun running through the jungle and killing people. I decided to check out the sequel that is due and I must say it is looking good. Let's hope it plays as well as the original and has all the expected upgrades. In other words, let's hope it doesn't turn out like the new Turok did.
Did you preorder your Soul Calibur game yet? I am amazed at how excited people are to play as Darth Vader or Yoda. I cannot wait til they do the Star Trek version. The ability to battle with a Klingon or Bones is too much to pass up.
Let us hope that Aliens Colonial Marines captures the feel of the movie. Aliens can be done well. The PC had a good series of games and even the Jaguar version of Aliens vs Predator was good.
I see they are making a game about Nolan Bushnell
starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Sounds like another movie for me to watch out
for.
07/03/2008
Time to give some more personal plugs. I have plugged all your
sites enough, time to plug some of mine.
First up, my twin boys have their own site and now they started to add video games to the site. Not just any video games, but ones they made with the program, Game Maker. The first few are fairly basic, but they are working on a Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart fan games. Look for some interesting things to go up and they are all free! Can't beat that price. The games are in the section aptly titled "Games". Here is the link:
Now for a link to one of my other sites. My Arcade After Dark now has over 300 pages of video game comic strips! And it is growing. I put up anywhere from 5 - 10 more pages a month. With five different comic strips to read, there is something for everyone. Here is the link to that:
Why is it that we finally get a Batman video game that has almost all his best villains in it and the game is a stinking Lego game? Nothing against Lego games, but us Batman fans have been waiting for a game that puts the Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Scarecrow and more in one game. All we need is Killer Croc to make it complete. Guess we have to hope that the next Lego game is Spiderman so we can finally get a game with all his best villains in it. I am sick of Shocker showing up in every one of his games. He is not a good villain. He is lame.
Speaking of Lego games, the trend so far has been to have games starring Harrison Ford. We had Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. But now we have Lego Batman. What is wrong here? If they kept with the trend, they should have made Lego Witness next. Amish Lego characters would rule!
I cannot believe how advertising failed me. I saw the Haze ads and I was very interested in the game. Not that I could get it as I do not have a next generation system, but it looked real cool. Well, good thing I don't have a system as I may have been duped into buying it. The reviews have been real bad so far. At least the ads were good. And I think I will just watch the ads and bypass the game.
Speaking of characters who need their own video
game, when is Captain Caveman getting his own game? I want to control him
and be able to yell out "Captain Caveman!" But I have a feeling that I am
in the minority.
07/01/2008
Lots of interesting information is going around the net. First
off, there is talk of a Chinese company making a Blu-Ray player for the XBOX
360. I have seen rumors where it is an add-on and where it is a system
with it built in. Either way, I think it is too late to matter. If
there is one thing that gives the PS3 a big advantage over the XBOX 360, it is
the Blu-Ray player. It gives PS3 programmers so much more room to add
video, music, levels, graphics and whatever else they want. And it limits
the amount of times you have to swap discs, something that people hoped would be
a thing of the past.
The other big news item is how Sony has created their own version of the Achievements called Trophies. This will please the online gamers who love showing off their accomplishments to the world. Whether it is as good as Microsoft's Achievements is yet to be seen. But it is a good step in the right direction.
I still remember going to a mall years ago and they
had a bunch of Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx set up for free play. It was a
totally random thing, I just went there with my girlfriend (who later became my
wife) and ended up staying hours playing video games. It was alot of fun
and it gave me a good taste of each system.
06/30/2008
I am always amazed at who reads this blog. I received an email
from Maxim magazine about their video game blog and an article they did on Call
of Duty and what they want in it. If you are a fan of the game, you
probably feel the same way. Personally, I want a super soldier power up,
so I can become Captain America, but that is not very authentic. Anyway,
here is the article:
I see a new Crash Bandicoot game is coming out and it is for all the systems. I can still remember when the game was called Sony's answer to Mario. While he did well, old Crash wasn't even in the same league. But that is still alot better than Blinx.
Will someone please tell me there is a sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance in the works. The game was great and begged for a sequel.
"We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun." Just felt like singing that.
Speaking of music, I see the Aerosmith Guitar Hero comes out this week. I think it is a great idea to do one based on a band. I hope to see some more bands doing this. What would be even cooler if they could do some for Rock Festivals. Think of one where you could play as the various bands at Woodstock or Monterey. Or even cooler, if you could do the old Monsters of Rock tour. That would be cool.
I am still surprised that no one else went with the
Kingdom Heart idea. I still think Hanna Barbera or Warner Bros could do a
great game in the same vein. Too bad as many gamers like myself were
waiting for the Sid and Marty Krofft version of the game. When you are
done laughing, admit that it would be cool to go from the world of Land of the
Lost to HR Pufnstuf to the Bugaloos. It would be so ridiculous that it
would be a big hit!
06/28/2008
It has been a long time, but Blizzard has finally announced that
Diablo 3 is coming! For fans like myself, this is good news. I only
finished the second one back in...how long ago was that...oh yeah, in 2000.
Yeah, it has been eight years since it was released. That puts it on the
frequency of releases for Boston albums (for anyone who does not know, the rock
group Boston was famous for taking a very long time between albums). They
now have a website for it, so we call all check out the progress.
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/
I read the USA Today's review of Space Invaders Extreme for the handheld systems and it sounds like fun. Good to see that the ancient...make that classic game still has some legs. I think many classic games could be redone and improved. One of the big things to keep in mind is to stick with the original concept of the game that make it a classic to begin with. Most classic games were good because they were simple in design, challenging to play and also fun. Alot of times when they make remakes, they try to add too much to the game and end up ruining it. Perfect example is the many bad versions of Pitfall that came out since the classic and even the very good sequel. You remember Super Pitfall for the NES, Pitfall the Mayan Adventure for a bunch of systems and Pitfall 3D for the Playstation.
Speaking of Pitfall, there is a new one under development for the Wii. It is called Pitfall The Big Adventure. Sounds more like Pee Wee's Big Adventure mixed with Pitfall, which could be fun or really bad. I looked around the net and found a few pictures of the game and to be honest, I am worried about it. Once again, they make Pitfall Harry look dopey. It may be good, but I will wait for the reviews before even thinking about it. Here is a link to the site with some pics.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/12/pitfall-wii-vived-for-the-big-adventure/
Rumors are flying about a Kid Icarus game for the Wii. It would be really cool if it happened and it looks like the chances of it happening are getting better. I think Nintendo should look into redoing more of their classic franchises. I mean how many more Mario games can we play? What is that? Oh yeah, there are more of those coming as well.
Speaking of a game that is ripe for a new version, it is Popeye. There was a forgettable Popeye game for the GBA a few years ago, but it was just a platform game. What we need is a real good Popeye game with all the classic characters. I probably talked about this before in this blog but I write so much, I forget what I write. So if I am repeating myself, skip to next paragraph. Anyway, they need to have Goon Island in there. The goons were a great adversary that was not including in the classic arcade game. You need the Sea Hag and her vulture. Brutus/Bluto is a given. I would do a level based on the Sinbad the Sailor cartoon. I would also do one based on the Ali Baba and the 40 thieves cartoon. Both are classics and you can find them on pretty much every Popeye public domain cartoon set. There is alot of stuff you can use. And you could even throw in some mini games like a Burgertime clone with Wimpy. There is alot of possibilities there.
06/22/2008
For anyone who has read this blog for any period of time, you know
that I have not made a decision on my next generation game system. My kids
have a Wii and it is fun but I still have not chosen between the XBOX 360 or the
Playstation 3. That may change in the coming year as one of the games that
I have been waiting for, Fable 2, is nearing completion. I loved the first
one, even if it did not meet all the expectations we had for it. It was
still an awesome game and alot of fun. The sequel looks to be even better
with a ton of improvements. But as much as I want to play this, I still
wanted the other game that Peter Molyneux announced when he did the original
Fable, BC. Maybe we can get him to do it yet.
Another new game that shows alot of promise is The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. I know that most of you are sick of LOTR games. We have been bombarded with them over the past decade. But this one sounds like it is worth another trip to Middle Earth. The best part of it is you can be the bad guys and start the game from where the Nazgul kill Frodo and take the ring. I don't know about you, but I would like to kill some hobbits. While I am at it, I would also like to kill some elves and dwarves as well. At least this game is coming out for the PS3 and XBOX 360, so I don't have to choose a system to play it.
I see that the new Iron Man game received bad reviews. Too bad as there was a string of good Marvel games. The Ultimate Alliance and the X-Men Legends were great games. Spider-man have been pretty good and the Hulk was good fun. I guess they were due for a clunker.
Anyone who says all the good games come out during the holiday season would be wrong this year. When you have Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Mario Kart Wii all come out within weeks of each other, you have an awesome spring.
Wouldn't it be cool if there was a program that you could take any old 2D video game and it would make a 3D version of it? It would be awesome to play games like Joust and Frogger in 3D (and I do not mean those crappy Hasbro games). Or how about a 3D version of Jungle Hunt or even Pitfall. I know it will not happen, but I have to dream.
Know how people are always talking about flying cars? I for one hope they are never invented. I see too many drivers that cannot handle having four directions to go in. I do not want to see them have two more directions (up and down) to deal with. If this ever happens, sell all your insurance stock.
I hate to admit it, but I like Klax better than
Tetris. I know Tetris is the original, but I just find Klax more
enjoyable. That and the woman who does the voice sounds sexy. "Klax
wave."
06/17/2008
The work on converting the banner ads over has gone better than
expected. Still have alot to do, but I have the majority of them done.
So I decided to talk a little about games as it is good therapy. And
unlike Lucy from Charlie Brown, it does not cost me a nickel.
I see that Wacky Races is coming back to video games! For anyone who does
not know, this is the third time that I am aware of that the classic cartoon
series is graced with a video game. The first was for the NES and
unfortunately it was mostly a side scroller featuring Muttley. Then
much later, there was a very good Dreamcast version. Using cell shading,
it really looked alot like the cartoon and was a racing game with all the
different cars. So you could decide if you wanted to be Penelope Pitstop,
the Arkansas Chugabug or my favorite, the Creepy Coupe. The game was alot
of fun and one more reason why the Dreamcast was a great system. Now, they
are releasing a version for the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii. I hope
it is good as I really did enjoy the Dreamcast version, but the pics I have seen
for it look pretty bad.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is finally out! The commercials for it are quite good and really get you interested in the game. Not that the game needed commercials to get people interested. They have been waiting for this game for years. Early reviews are very good for the game as expected. The first review was a 10/10, which is as good as it gets. This gives Sony another big reason to get people to buy the system and word is the Metal Gear bundled systems are selling fast.
Years ago when this video game battle had not begun, I wrote an article about how the market could support three video game systems. Historically, there were always two dominant systems and any others were doomed. From the days of the Atari and Intellivision battle, it has pretty much been that way. Those two dominated while systems like the Odyssey 2, Bally and Emerson Arcadia struggled to survive. Then later, you had the NES and Sega Master System dominating while the Atari 7800 floundered (it can be said that the NES pretty much dominated and the SMS also floundered, but that does not help my point). Once again, you had the SNES and Genesis as the top dogs in what was the most even match of systems. And while those two battled, the poor Turbo Grafx struggled. But this time, I felt the market had grown enough to be able and support three systems. And know what? It has! All three have sold very well. All three have alot of great software out. And all three have bright futures. Shows that history does not have to repeat itself.
Here we are a month later and you still cannot find a Wii Fit in the store. Not that it matters as you still cannot find a Wii system to play it on. I have never seen a system stay so hot so long. Sure, there have been shortages in the past. There have been systems that could not stay in stock. But that always lasted for a holiday and within six months, they were readily available. But this is two years and the systems is still hard to find. This is absurd. With the success of it, you would think that you could hook it up to your car and it would double your gas mileage. Or that it printed money or turned scrap metal into gold.
06/12/2008
I know it has been a bit since I wrote here, but I have been
extremely busy. eBay decided to switch their banner ad business from
Commission Junction to handling it themselves. It happened on June 1st and
I found out about June 5th. So all my free time has been spent switching
the banner ads over to the new format. Since ebay banners are the main
source of revenue for my sites (and the reason I can keep it free), it is
critical. And when you have 4,000 pages, it is alot of work. So you
may not see alot of updates until I get it done.
My kids got their Mario Kart game a few days ago for the Wii and they have already gotten their money worth. The only problem is they occupy the best television in the house (my wife wanted to Wii on the living room television as she likes to play it as well). But it is summer and it gives me a reason to get some sun and it opens up the computer for me to do more work. But to the game, from what I watched of it, the game looks very good. There are a ton of different tracks and characters. The graphics are nice and it plays well. I know people will say how can the graphics look good, since it is on the Wii. But how good do you want it to look? It is supposed to be cartoony and it does a great job at that. The only thing I would have liked added was some of the stuff from the Mario Kart arcade game. In that version, you had Pac-Man as a playable character. A few guests like they did in Super Smash Bros would have been cool. Maybe Sonic and have some fun and throw in guys like Q*Bert. Or even better, dump the Mario Kart name and called it Nintendo Kart and add all the Nintendo characters. Wouldn't it be cool to add in Samus, Pikachu and others? Just a thought.
It has been a bit since I spotlighted a few sites, so here we go! The first one tells about how movies drive up the value of video games based on the movie. It is interesting and gives you a reason to be like me and wait. But anyway, it is an interesting read:
http://blog.videogamepricecharts.com/2008/06/summer-movies-increase-game-prices-go.html
Did you ever want to say you were among the first to discover a cool new thing? Whether it is the next upcoming band or an indie movie, it is always cool to say I heard of that before it becomes big news. Now this site may not become that, but it has a cool feel to it and someday people may say, yeah I remember him when he was doing strange cartoons on the internet. Chris Blundell is starting a few machinima cartoons. They are done on the Amiga computer, which was way ahead of its time. One is called Fragile Man and stars a hero who can come back but it so fragile that anything kills him. There is alot of comic possibilities there. The other is called the the Hit Squad and right now it is just a opening title but it shows promise. I know that I will be checking back to see when he posts more. Oh and you have to like a guy who is willing to do a video with his hair messed up.
Time for some video game memories. One of the games that I remember having alot of fun with on the NES was Bases Loaded. I used to play alot of games against my one cousin. We both had our teams and we would simulate a season. There was one pitcher who was ridiculously fast on my team. His fastball could reach 115 miles an hour, faster than anyone has been recorded (at least officially). But the problem with him was that after about three innings my cousin would adjust to his speed and pound him. So I did what any good coach would do, I made him a reliever. I still remember my cousin's face when after facing one of my junkball pitchers, I brought him in relief. It made his already ridiculous fastball seem even faster. It was great!
06/04/2008
Watched King of Kong yesterday and I must say it was better than I
expected. Being a documentary about video games, I did not have high hopes
for it. But these guys did it differently than expected. They took
something that 95% of the population could care less about (getting the high
score on Donkey Kong) and made a compelling story out of it. Did they take
so liberties? Probably. Did they purposefully make Steve Wiebe out
to be the hero and Billy Mitchell as the villain? Most definitely.
But then this is a movie and the first goal of a movie is to entertain people
(some would say make money, but if you do not entertain, can you expect to make
money?). Yeah, they did skew it to make Billy look like the villain and to
make Steve look like some poor guy who had everything go wrong and this was his
chance to redeem himself. It was a classic Hollywood story with a hero you
could root for and a villain you could boo at. Was this fair? No.
Was it accurate? Probably not entirely. But it made for a good story
and that is what matters. I am sure that Billy is probably a little upset
about his portrayal, but if you look at the big picture, he stole the show.
He will long be remembered after everyone forgets about Steve. We always
remember a good villain and Billy played the role very well. Good job, you
were the main reason that people watched something that they would normally not
even bother with.
06/02/2008
I started taping and watching a series on VH1 called Classic Albums.
They take a classic rock album and talk about the making of the album from both
a technical standpoint as well as the stories of the band at that period of
time. It is very interesting to see how these albums came to be. It
made me think of how it would be interesting to see a similar thing with video
games. I know that G4 did a series called Icons where they talk about
games and systems, but they really did not get into the nuts and bolts of the
games. What it mostly was is a handful of video game journalists spewing
stuff that anyone can easily google. You know the stuff like how the
Playstation was created or the inspiration for Pac-Man. Yeah, we all know
that. What I want to learn about is the guys at Bungie dealing with the
challenges of following up two very popular Halo titles with a sequel that had
ridiculously high expectations on a new platform. Or I want to hear about
the excitement and the challenges of making Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation.
How it must have felt to move towards CD with so much more space to work with
and also the challenges of trying to keep within a budget. I think it
would be interesting to hear from numerous people involved from the programmers
to the marketing department who have to figure out the best way to sell this
game to even play testers who can talk about how they felt about the game as it
was in development. Not sure if there would be enough interest in a show
like this, but I think it has merit.
05/31/2008
I was reading through some newsgroups and came across a discussion
about another video game crash. The guy talked about how the glut of FPS,
the high prices of consoles and piracy were going to kill the market.
After reading this, I laughed. I had a real good laugh. Why?
Because someone comes out on the internet every six months and says the same
thing. People have been predicting the next video game crash since the
days of the Sega Genesis and probably earlier than that. And guess what?
It has not happened. If anything, the market has gotten bigger and
stronger. And it will continue to do so. Can a crash happen?
It is possible. But I think the chances are remote. The players are
too big, the penetration is too great and it is part of the culture. Just
like buying and renting movies, video games are a leisure activity that is part
of people's lives.
I can see a change in the video game market down the road. While the industry is supporting three consoles, I can see a day where there is only two. But then it can change and we get a fourth console. Who knows, the market has grown so much that it can probably support four consoles.
One change that will be interesting to see is how
quickly video game downloads take over the industry. It is starting and it
is growing. Look for it to keep growing as it drops the cost of
development.
05/30/2008
Is there any company greedier than Major League Baseball?
First, the force little leagues to either pay them or stop using their team
names. Now, they are suing to get money from fantasy leagues. Makes
me glad I did not go to any games last year and doubt I will bother this year.
Would rather buy a video game than make the overpaid players any richer or the
extremely greedy owners any more money.
I see that the game, Legendary: The Box is dropping The Box part and just being called Legendary. Probably a good idea as the old name sounds like the name of an adult film.
Saw an ad for the new Hulk video game. The last one was quite good and this one looks to build on the last one. Hope they do not stray too far from a winning formula. All we need is more of everything. More destruction, more villains to fight, more cities to topple, get the idea?
I set my DVR to tape The King of Kong. I have heard about it from many people and have been wanting to see it. But being cheap, I waited to see it for free. It is debuting on G4 this weekend and I have it set to tape. Now if they could only get the Howard Scott Warshaw Atari DVDs on G4, I would be happy.
Is it me or does online gaming on the Wii suck? I watch my kids battle people on Super Smash Bros. The problem is there is no talking, you have no idea who these people are. For all I know, it could be computer controlled characters and we would not know any different.
I see Bioshock is coming to the PS3. Wonder if they will do any changes to it? New levels or other stuff? That was one of the games that made me want a XBOX 360 over a PS3. But now that Bioshock and Elder Scroll Oblivion are on the PS3, I may leaning more towards that system. Still not getting either until this Christmas or next year.
I see the Wii Fit is still sold out everywhere.
They are going for $160.00+ on Amazon. When will people ever learn?
05/25/2008
Mark this under the strangest pairing in video game history (OK,
maybe not the strangest, but still strange). We have Mortal Kombat vs the
DC Universe. Get past Batman, which makes sense and what do you have?
Alot of super powered heroes in bright costumes battling a bunch of dark and
dangerous fighters. Maybe it is just me, but it is silly. Superman
could easily beat the whole Mortal Kombat universe himself. Ditto for
Green Lantern. If you want it to be realistic (I know the last time they
made Mortal Kombat realistic, we ended up with a live action movie), then you
need to keep it to the heroes who are not too powerful. Or you can do what
they always do in every super hero fighting game, make them all equal. And
what is more pathetic than that? It is like the Justice League fighting
game that was on the SNES and Genesis, the one where Aquaman could beat Superman
in a fight. Or Green Arrow could beat Wonder Woman.
While I am still getting used to the concept of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, I have a few suggestions for them. Add in some not so well known DC Heroes. We all know that the big eight will be there (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Aquaman and Robin), but what about some of the other ones? My suggestions are a few weapon based ones who could add to the game. I know Mortal Kombat is not about weapons, but who cares. First off, I would like to see Travis Morgan, the Warlord. He is one of my favorite characters and unfortunately, he is pretty forgotten. But with his gun and sword, he would make an interesting character. And if you gave him his own level, you could have dinosaurs in the background. Another one I would like to see is Sgt. Rock. Yeah, he is a soldier but anyone who could kill about five thousand Nazis himself is worthy of inclusion. Another one I would like to see is Changeling from the Teen Titans, also know as Beast Boy. With his ability to turn into any animal, he would be a cool addition. Probably drive the programmers crazy, but who cares.
05/22/2008
I see that the Wii Fit is not only a huge hit, but is sold out
everywhere. And this is not enough, people on Amazon and ebay are hawking
it for ridiculous prices. I have seen it go anywhere from $150.00 to
$300.00. All I can say is ...WAIT! You went this long without having
it and there will be more in a week or so. And more after that. This
is not a limited edition item. It will not guarantee you to lose weight.
It will not turn scrap metal into gold. It is just a piece of software
that came out and sold out of its initial run. Once again, Nintendo
severely underestimated the demand. That or they are once again trying to
create hype for their product. I am starting to wonder about a company
that keeps having shortages.
Read an article about Fallout 3 and it is looking like a really cool game. I really like the idea of having a dog roam around with you. But then Bethesda has a great reputation for making really good games that give you a ton and I do mean a ton of gameplay. Now if we could get them to make a Dawn of the Dead game.
Now that Grand Theft Auto 4 is out, we all are asking, what is next from Rockstar? I am sure the shareholders are asking this as the company is too dependant on that title and we are at least a year, if not more from another installment. Most likely a few years.
05/20/2008
Just read an
article where a person talked about how Sega should make
another console. Their argument is the company is losing so much money as
a third party publisher that it is a way for them to rebrand themselves.
While i will admit that the Dreamcast is among my favorite systems of all-time
and I love Sega as a company, I think this is suicide. The video game
industry is too strong for a new player to enter. With Microsoft, Sony and
Nintendo, you have three companies that have tons of resources, strong brands
and solid franchises. There is no place for a third company.
Especially a company that is financially weak like Sega. If Apple decided
to get in, there would be a chance. They have the money, the ability to
make cutting edge products and the brand name. Sega does not. Now a
merger of the two, could be something.
To be honest, if a company wants to get into the video game business, they would need to do something very different. One possibility would be moving towards virtual reality. If you could make a system that could utilize a tracking helmet and a suit that allowed you to move and control the character on the screen, you may have something. The big problems is the technology is not really there. And the cost would be outrageous. But something like that could give a company a big advantage.
A better choice for Sega would be a handheld unit. They had some success with their Game Gear and if they could do a game system that was a blend of the PSP and the I Phone, they may have something. Have the big screen and the capabilities of the PSP but also some of the uniqueness of the I Phone. Touch screen, ability to do multiple things (surf internet, gps, etc...) and just look and work really cool. And it would be easy for them to port alot of their classics on the handheld market as well as update them.
I still think Sega's best future is to be bought by
someone other than Sammy. That was a mistake. If Nintendo or
Microsoft bought them and gave the development teams the resources and the time
to make great games, I think Sega could rise again. But I don't think they
have a solid game plan in place. And I don't think they have the resources
and the time to really do things right.
05/19/2008
I miss the old days of the internet. I have been on the internet
since about 1992. I remember when I would go on the newsgroups for classic
video games and they had newsgroup auctions and people would trade games.
It was a fun time. I also remember paying by the hour to go online and
having slow dial-up and almost everything was text because any picture bigger
than a postage stamp took hours to load. Come to think about it, maybe I
don't miss those days as much as I thought.
I still remember when I got my first unlimited internet provider. I switched from AOL to Compuserve WOW because it was unlimited for one monthly fee. It was fun to be able to go around the internet and not look at a clock. It was alot of fun until they went belly-up and I ended up back at AOL who then added their own unlimited plan.
Enough talk about ancient internet, let's talk video games. The Wii Fit comes out this Tuesday. There is alot of talk about how it will be a huge seller and get even more non gamers into gaming. I am on the fence about the game. Personally, I have zero interest in it, but then I don't need a video game system to keep in shape. But if it gets people in better shape, then I am all for it. But will it become a fitness craze? Probably not. But Sweating to the Oldies was a big hit, so what do I know?
Speaking of the Wii Fit, maybe they should have signed Richard Simmons as a spokesperson.
I keep hearing hype about the new Hulk movie. I have seen the trailers and I must say that it does not make me want to see it. It looks fun, but not fun enough to get me to part with my money. But then I am cheap and generally wait for movies to come out on DVD so I can rent them from the library for free.
I went to the grocery store and saw a DVD rental
machine outside the store. You put in your credit card and they charge you
a dollar a day to rent. You just drop the movie off at any of these
machines when you are done. I actually thought it was a good idea.
It made me wonder if they will eventually do something like that with video
games. I think the only thing that would limit it is there are three video
game formats where there is one movie format.
05/15/2008
As if we had any doubt, Grand Theft Auto 4 is a big hit. They said
it sold $500 million worth the first weekend. Guess that means a fifth one
is a given.
Speaking of Grand Theft Auto 4, I just saw the commercial for it. To say I was not impressed by the commercial is an understatement. Not even sure why you need to bother with commercials for a game you know will sell big. Oh well, at least the game is great.
Right after the GTA4 commercial was one for the video game, Haze. Unlike the GTA commercial, I thought this was very good and made me want to find out more about the game. But then they probably need a commercial more than GTA.
While writing this blog, I received a call about how I won a Caribbean cruise. I said it before and I will say it again, if you buy anything from a phone solicitor, you deserve to lose your money. One of my rules is to never buy anything from a phone salesperson. While I am sure there are some legit ones out there, more are crooked. The quickest way to get ripped off is to deal with them. Just do what I do, as soon as they start their speech, hang up. The sad thing is that I am on the don't call list, but it still does not stop them. And with the economy going south, look for even more of them.
The only thing more pathetic than phone solicitors are the people who put signs on the side of the road. You know when you are getting off the highway and someone has a sign selling a hot tub or they will clean your carpet for some really low price. If you do your shopping from some sign on the side of the road, then you are even dumber than the people who buy from phone solicitors.
Back to video games. I think I am going to buy my kids Mario Kart this weekend. Got that government stimulus money and figure I will give a little to the economy. Most of it will go into savings, but we will spend a little.
Speaking of the government stimulus money, next time
they do this, they should make sure that everyone spends it. And the best
way to do that is to give people a Visa or Mastercard preloaded with the money.
That way they have to spend it.
05/11/2008
That was odd. The text on this page went from white to black.
Not sure why, but it is fixed now.
Happy Mother's Day!
Just received some bad news. The Classic Gaming Expo has been cancelled for this year. For anyone who does not know, this is the biggest video game convention for classic games and while I only attended once (in 1999), it was a blast. I keep wanting to get back but being in Ohio and the show being in Las Vegas, I find it hard to go. And with three kids that are too young to gamble, Vegas is not the best place for a family vacation. But here is hoping this is just a one year thing and they are back on track next year.
People who saw the Iron Man movie said at the end there is a bit after the credits that hint at an upcoming Avengers movie. That sounds great. And that would mean an Avengers video game, which could be very cool. Or it could be a recycled X-Men Legends.
Speaking of Iron Man, the movie is getting really
good reviews and doing great at the box office. The video game is not
faring as well, at least in reviews. It sounds like a paint by number
movie game. You know, the rushed out to be released in conjunction with
the movie and being average in every way. Too bad as Iron Man has alot of
potential as a character, but it sounds like they are wasting it. Sorta
like every licensed game during the NES era, where they just changed the main
character and the background, but they all were the same side scrolling Mario
clone.
05/06/2008
The reviews are pouring in for Grand Theft Auto 4 and Mario Kart.
So far, GTA4 is getting rave reviews as expected. People can say what they
want about Rockstar (and they do), but the one thing they cannot say is they
make bad games. With a few exceptions (State of Emergency), you always get
a top notch product with a ton of gameplay.
Now Mario Kart on the other hand is getting good to average reviews. Like all Nintendo products, it is well made. But also like quite a few Nintendo products, it is recycled. The word is that it is not the leap forward people expected. Super Mario Galaxy took the Mario franchise to new heights. The new Legend of Zelda was a big step forward (and no cute kid as the lead player) and really showed the potential of the Wii controller. Super Smash Bros for the Wii took what worked and added a bunch of new characters, levels and power-ups. But Mario Kart doesn't do that. In many reviews, it is a step down from the Gamecube version. Oh well, no one can accuse Nintendo of not recycling. Let us hope they have some better games coming or it will be a bad year for Wii owners. When Wii Fit is one of the big releases for your system, things do not look that good.
Speaking of the Wii, one game that does intrigue me is Boom Blox from Steven Spielberg. From what I seen, it looks like a fun game and with his name on it, the quality should be there. The guy has enough great movies to make me willing to buy the game just on his name. That may end up a mistake, but I am going to consider it.
I must admit that I am addicted to Puzzle Quest. The game is a ton of fun and there is alot to the game. One would expect a puzzle game to get old quickly, but this one has enough thrown in to keep me interested. From different characters with different abilities, to branching storylines to different challenges, the game is great! Good to see them take a tired genre and breath some new life into it.
Maybe it is just me, but shouldn't there be a new
Diablo game already? I know Blizzard is busy getting filthy rich of World
of Warcraft, but some of us really enjoyed the first two Diablo games and
already beat them. So how about a third one? Or did I miss it along
the way?
04/24/2008
I hate to say this, but I am actually excited by the Aliens game that
Sega is working on. It looks really good and sounds like they are going to
be true to the franchise. Unlike that lame set of action figures that came
out about a decade ago. Not sure if you remember, where they had a Rhino
Alien and a Gorilla Alien and some Predator with goat horns. Glad to see
they are going to stick with the very scary original aliens. But what I
fear is that it is being done by Sega. At one time, Sega was my favorite
game company. They made unique and original games and were not afraid of
being different. Granted, that was when the Dreamcast was out, which is
like eight years ago. Since then, they have made some good games and a
whole bunch of bad games, most of which have Sonic in the title. Guess I
should be happy that it is not Sonic vs the Aliens. Now that would suck.
It will be interesting to see which game sells more copies, Grand Theft Auto 4 or Mario Kart. One would think that GTA 4 would easily win this, but the Wii has outsold both the XBOX 360 and the PS3 by a big margin and the percentage of Nintendo owners who buy Mario titled games is pretty high. Wonder what the odds at Las Vegas would be?
Awhile back, you may remember how I signed up to try
and be the Gamer Guy for G4. Well, I did not win. It was basically a
popularity contest where the person with the most internet friends that were
willing to vote daily would win. Good way to pick talent. Anyway,
the problem I have now is that I get a ton of junk mail from them. They
want to know if I want to sign up for the Cutest Pet Show or the Date a Redneck
Show. I had no idea there were so many bad television show jobs out there.
Guess I will have to add them to my block file.
04/21/2008
Finally played Puzzle Quest on the Wii and at first, I hated the game.
The controls were terrible. Using the pointer was a mess. Then I
switched the controls to the Nunchuk and it is a whole different game!
Slower moving but more precise. And in a puzzle game, precise is the key.
Now I find the game very addictive. So that is 3 good games out of three
that I bought for the Wii (for those keeping track at home, the games are
Fishing Master, Endless Ocean and Puzzle Quest).
I also played some of the other game I bought, Safari Photo Africa for the PC. It is a fun game and the animals move fairly realistic. Well, some of them do. Others do the same thing over and over and remind me of the animals on the Disney Jungle Cruise ride. But overall, it is a fun game.
Finally bought a webcam to do video blogs. Just have to learn how to use it. I got it working, which is half the battle. But there is a bunch of stuff I can do like create avatars, change backgrounds and other stuff. Give me a few weeks of trying it out.
Remember Nintendo Power magazine? As far as I know, it is still coming out. Anyway, our friends at T-Minus World did a spoof of it that is supposed to be the lost pages. Some pretty funny stuff, if you don't mind a more adult humor. Anyway, check it out and have a laugh.
http://the-minusworld.com/2008/04/20/the-lost-pages-of-nintendo-power-magazine/
04/18/2008
I am looking for investors for my new video game musical. It is
titled, Super Mario the Musical and stars Mario as he makes his way through the
mushroom kingdom to save the princess. So far I have the title and the
person I want to star as Mario. I need someone with a strong mustache and
a good singing voice for the lead role. Who better to fit this role than
the one and only, Tony Orlando?
Tell me that he does not look like Mario, only more suave. And the man can sing. It is a perfect combination. Now all I need is someone to play Princess Peach and especially Bowser. Then I am ready to work on the songs. So if you are looking to invest in a can't miss opportunity, this is it.
In my quest to get all the games that no one else buys for the Wii, I picked up another game on the recommendation of a friend. Puzzle Quest combines puzzle games with an RPG. Sounds unique enough for me. Picked it up used at Gamestop and used my Edge card to get that additional 10% off. Now all I need is for Geometry Wars to go down in price.
04/15/2008
I cannot believe that Madden the video game series is going to be 20
years old this year. Madden the person wishes he was 20 years old this
year. Anyway, I can still remember when that game first came out. I
wonder if that makes it the longest consecutive running video game series?
If you bought a video game that was supposed to be created by one of your favorite programmers and you later found out that they had absolutely nothing to do with it, other than lend their name, would it change your opinion of the game? I ask this because I remember when a ton of people really liked Milli Vannilli and then they found out someone else sang the songs. After finding that out, they threw out their records. I always wonder why. The songs still sounded the same. I guess if you were really in love with the guys who you thought sang it, maybe you were let down, but it still does not make sense to me.
We are mere weeks from Grand Theft Auto 4. We all know it will be a big seller, but the questions I want to ask are will it sell as well as the previous series and which system will sell more copies? I am betting on the XBOX 360 selling more now, but the PS3 selling more in the long run.
Besides Grand Theft Auto, we are nearing the release of Metal Gear Solid. The game that looked like it would be delayed to infinity, is finally going to be released. Add GTA 4 and the new Gran Turismo and you have some serious system movers for the PS3.
I bought a computer game. A game called Safari Photo Africa Wild Earth. They have a ride based on it at the zoo, but I was too cheap to pay the $7.00 or whatever they charged to play it. So I ended up buying the game for just about the same price. Yeah, it doesn't come with a motion simulator, but then I can also play it over and over.
04/03/2008
Want to own every NES game and not have to hunt? Have a trust fund
that you can easily tap? Then check out this auction.
Want to know what a video game cost and are too cheap to buy one of the magazines out there? Then check out this site with a ton of prices. Just keep in mind that prices of video games fluctuate and the Final Fantasy you were saving for your retirement may not keep going up. Anyway, check out this site and see if you are rich yet?
04/02/2008
I think it is time for someone to make a sequel to the Goonies game for
the NES. I know it was based on the movie and its not like a sequel to
that is in the works. But maybe a new game could lead to a new movie and
then Cyndi Lauper could do a new song.
Speaking of the 80's, why didn't Billy Idol ever get a video game? This man was perfect for a side scrolling beat-em up. And with cool songs like Rebel Yell, you have a good sound track for the game.
It took a bit, but I am finally getting some votes on the Gamer Guy contest. I was averaging about 3 votes a day, but the last few days I received 7 votes and then 11 votes! Too bad the contest is almost over. At least I made a late run.
Here is a strange article about how much video game money is worth compared to real money.
http://www.maxim.com/7VideoGameCurrenciesStrongerThantheUSDollar/articles/22332.aspx?src=dx2:mtd
03/31/2008
Tired of wading through thousands of pages on ebay for video games?
Well, you can either create a time machine and go back to 1996 when all the
video game stuff was in one section (the good old days) or you can check out a
new site that is trying to compete with the Big E. But unlike ebay where
you can find corn flakes that look like states and Britney Spears hair for sale,
this one only sells video games. It is new, so don't expect alot of
listings yet, but they are giving you $15.00 in free listings, so you can put up
your stack of Super Mario/Duck Hunt carts that you bought years ago at Funcoland
at a dime each and hope for the best.
http://chasingthechuckwagon.com/
I am amazed at how many people are into World of Warcraft. I know it is THE online game at the moment, but it still amazes me. People that I never thought would be gamers are playing this game.
Why is it that in America, we all drive on the right side of the road, but when it comes to walking in a store or anywhere, we walk anywhere and everywhere? You would think we would follow the same pattern as driving, but no, that would be too smart. Instead you have people going left and right and stopping in the middle. Just go to a department store or supermarket and watch people walk. It is pretty funny.
A PC game that I am really excited about is Sims 3. The thing is that I have no interest in actually playing the game. I could care less about playing The Sims. But I am excited about the character creator the game has. I want to use it to make characters to use in comic strips on my other sites.
Great news! In case you have not heard, there
is a third High School Musical coming out! That means it will soon be
followed by yet another High School Musical video game! Time to reserve
your copy now! Hooray for more shovelware, which will probably end up on
the Wii and DS. Now all we need is another Drake and Josh game and we can
all die happy.
03/28/2008
Finally making some progress on
Endless Ocean for the
Wii. After spending hours trying to find the whale shark (who would think
a fish as big as a whale shark would be hard to find?), I finally came across it
and that opened up a new section. Now I have an underwater ruin of a city
to explore. Led to a bunch of new fish and some other stuff that hopefully
will unlock more sections. Really enjoying the game. Now I need to
find the giant squid. I saw it once, but did not get to add it to my book
of creatures.
Are video games an investment? This article shows how buying some video games gave a better return on investment than popular stocks like Apple. But keep in mind that this is just for fun. I would not recommend investing in video games. Unlike stocks, they are not as easy to sell.
http://blog.videogamepricecharts.com/2008/03/chrono-trigger-better-investment-than.html
I was playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii with my son and saw there was a character you could play that made me break out laughing. You could play as the R.O.B. the Robot from the original NES. I had to play as the character, even though he played pretty lousy. Or was it me? Still it was fun to see the character in there. Kudos to Nintendo for making me laugh. Or as they say on the internet - LOL.
I was thinking about Super Smash Bros and came up with a good idea. They should talk to Midway about teaming up next time and adding some of the classic Midway characters and especially games for levels. Think of battling on the classic Joust level or Moon Patrol with the ships flying overhead dropping bombs. They could even have a cool battle in the bar of Tapper. There are alot of cool possibilities. Or maybe they can make it downloadable levels that you can buy online.
03/24/2008
Decided to get serious (as serious as I can get) about the G4 Gamer Guy
position. So I uploaded three videos and some new photos. If you
want a good laugh, check them out and vote for me.
Went to the NEOVGCON and came away with mixed feelings. I thought the foundation for a really good show were set and it was really good to see a show that was more for modern gamers than classic gamers (which most shows are geared towards). There was alot to do at the show and it was well worth the admission price. But it was also very empty. The attendance had to be a disappointment and the vendors were pretty much big corporations. If you were looking to buy, you would have left disappointed. But if you came to game, you had a great time! They had a bunch of computers set up to play. There were three Wii's set on Super Smash Bros. There were also a PS2, XBOX and XBOX 360 set up for play. Add in some arcade machines and plenty of tournaments and you have alot of bang for your buck. I hope the show will return next year as I enjoyed it. But they need to leave the sports players for the card shows and concentrate on advertising.
03/20/2008
If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? Would you
buy all your family houses? Would you give a big portion to charity?
Would you tell your boss off as you walked out the door? If you are a true
gamer, you would try to top everyone on this list. Here are some seriously
crazy game setups. These are for the people who like their gaming cutting
edge and their debt sky high. Check them out!
http://www.geekabout.com/2008-03-17-503/9-home-gaming-setups-better-than-yours.html
I don't know why I am excited about the new Iron Man game. I know it will be a letdown. And I don't have any of the systems it is for, but I cannot help it. I have been an Iron Man fan for a long time. When I was a kid, I remember doing those Marvel subscription deals and my four books were Amazing Spiderman, Conan, Incredible Hulk and of course, Iron Man. Looking over that list, that would be a cool super hero team as well, though Conan would be a bit out of his element.
Speaking of the Hulk, I see he has another game coming out and it looks awesome! His last game was great fun! I hope they build on the already great game and make it even better. Oh and the movie trailer looks pretty good as well.
Talking about movies, when is Gamera getting a video game? Godzilla has had about a dozen games but where is everyone's favorite turtle that doesn't yell cowabunga? Give the dude a video game and make it snappy!
Remember the Beavis and Butt-Head game for the Sega Genesis? You know where you had hock a loogey contest and other juvenile stuff. Maybe it is just me, but I think they need another game. I know it would be stupid, but what were you expecting from them? Half-Life?
Speaking of old games, another one I remember was Ranma 1/2 on the NES. Based on the anime, it was nothing special but fun. With this in mind, they should think of doing some kind of big adventure game with all the popular anime characters. Think of a game with all the Ranma characters and Fist of the North Star, Astro Boy, Tobor the 8th Man, Speed Racer, Star Blazers and more. Just leave the Legend of the Overfiend behind. We don't need no stinking tentacles.
03/17/2008
Time to mark my calendar. On June 17th and 18th, they are having an
auction for the Geauga Lake rides and other stuff left at the park. Time
for me to measure my backyard and see which rides would fit. Wonder how I
would get zoned to put a Dodgem in my backyard?
The NEOVGCON show that I have mentioned here a few times has even more on their website. If you can make it to the Cleveland area on the weekend of Easter (yeah, that weekend), this show looks amazing. They have a ton of tournaments now as well as former and current Cleveland Browns players, Arena football players and cheerleaders. They are going to have a bunch of Wii kiosks set up for free play and more! I will be there on Saturday. You can find me as I will be wearing my custom made t-shirt for my Arcade After Dark site. I had it made for events like this. Gotta advertise!
Whatever happened to the next Gameboy? Remember how Nintendo said that the DS was not replacing the Gameboy, but rather it would be its own brand. Maybe it is just me, but I have not heard any news of a replacement for the very long in the tooth Gameboy.
Anyone hear any more rumors about the Apple video game system? Awhile back, rumors flew around the internet about how Apple was thinking of getting into the video game market. I think it would be a crazy idea, but Apple has already proven with the Ipod and Iphone that they can compete in pretty much any market they want. But they would have their hands full battling Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Talk about some serious competition.
Wonder how long it will take before we see games released on Blu Ray for the computer? It took forever for game companies to switch from CD to DVD.
I really want to see some more Burger King XBOX games. For the cheap price, they were not that bad. Maybe they could make Wiii games this time. They could have a Burger King mini game collection where you could use your Wii controller to do various jobs at Burger King. You could have burger flipping contests, filling the condiments contest, making sandwiches where you have to remember the right ingredients for each sandwich (cheesburger with lettuce, tomato and mustard only). That way they can train the next generation of workers. And with the way this economy is going, there is going to be alot more people applying for jobs at Burger King.
With the high price of oil, aren't you glad your video game systems run on electricity instead of gasoline?
Ever think how Frogger is pretty much the same story as the Warriors? You have to battle your way back home. OK, maybe Frogger doesn't really battle anyone, he more dodges them, but you get my point? You don't? Oh well, forget it.
What is Jeff Minter up to these days? I have
not heard much about him. I miss his great games like Llamatron and
Tempest 2000. They should have these games for download on the Wii or XBOX
360. Who knows, maybe they do and I missed it.
03/10/2008
Just read that Ziff Davis has filed bankruptcy. For anyone who does
not know, Ziff Davis publishes magazines. A few you may have heard of are
Electronic Gaming Monthly, PC Magazine and Games for Windows. I will miss
getting my free subscriptions to EGM that you can always find on the internet.
While the magazine was not great, it made for an enjoyable read. But like
most print publications, the internet and the general lack or reading are
hurting it. Not to mention the much higher cost of paper and the extra
costs of distribution (ie: higher gas prices).
When I went to buy Super Smash Bros for my boys, I looked around for the best deal. I knew they wanted the game that day, so internet ordering was out of the question. The only deals for the game were Circuit City giving you half off the strategy guide if you bought it (with the internet, does anyone really need a strategy guide?) and Toys R Us gave you half off a second game with the purchase of Super Smash Bros. The problem was the games you could get at half off were pretty lame. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. Sounds like a Marx Brothers movie. The Bee Movie game. Yeah, like I would buy that. They had a few other games that were either games we had or bad games. So I ended up going to Best Buy. At least I could use the Best Buy rewards card and get closer to a $5.00 gift certificate.
While at Best Buy, I took a look at their XBOX
games. They had a ton of games priced between $5.00 and $10.00 each.
Know how many I bought? Zero. All the games pretty much sucked.
That or I had no interest in playing them. And why is it that whenever I
see cheap XBOX games, Enclave is there. Exactly how many of this game did
they make?
03/09/2008
For the heck of it, I put myself in the running for the Gamer Guy
position on G4. I figure I have like almost no chance as I am probably too
old and not cool enough for the position. But what the heck, I stuck it up
there and have 16 votes so far. So if you want to push me to the top (yeah
right), go to
gotcast.com
and vote for tomheroes. If nothing else, you can laugh at my photo.
Maybe I will make a video with me and my Ms. Pacman hand puppet and put it up
there. It may get me the sympathy votes.
My sons (yeah, I have twin boys and an older son, three total) bought Super Smash Bros. Brawl today. They used their birthday money to get it. I watched them play it for awhile and it looks pretty cool. A ton of characters, levels and more from the start. They are still trying to unlock Sonic.
Speaking of Sonic, there was a time when someone said Sonic and I thought of the hedgehog. Now I think of the fast food restaurant. Is it the fall of Sega's most famous character of the quality of the Sonic hamburgers? Probably a little of both. The last Sonic game that I cared about was Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast.
We went to a place called Kalahari for an overnight stay. It is one of those indoor waterparks and I must say that I was very impressed with it. It is huge and has a good selection of rides. They had one ride that gave you the feeling of being flushed down a toilet, but in a good way. I can sympathize with goldfish and baby alligators now. Anyway, I was at their arcade and saw some new Sega games. There was a new Afterburner game that looked pretty cool. And there was some Jungle game where you pretty much drove around and shot giant insects. At first the giant spiders and other bugs were cool, but it grew old quickly.
Speaking of Sega games, for the umpteen time, when is Sega going to release Jambo! Safari for the Wii. Even a downloadable game would be cool. Come on Sega, enough with the lame Alien Syndrome remake, we want Jambo! Safari. OK, maybe it is just me, but that is a start.
Finally got the Wii online enabled. May have
to check out the diving feature online for Endless Ocean. Not sure how it
works, but I guess I can figure it out.
03/03/2008
Did you ever want to get a job where you are paid to talk about video
games? Is the thought of being on television sound exciting to you?
Not sold yet? Let's try this angle. Want to be closer to Morgan
Webb? I see that I have your attention now. Well, if you want to get
as close to Morgan as possible without fear of a restraining order, you may want
to apply for a job as a Gamer Guy on G4. They are looking for someone for
their network and it could be your big break! Just follow this link and
see if you have what it takes to be a Gamer Guy!
http://www.gotcast.com/castings/G4-Tech-Correspondent/50417
While I am plugging sites, let me tell you about a very funny site if you are not easily offended. If you like your video game humor raw and raunchy, then this site is for you. If you are reading at work or around kids, you may want to not follow this link. There is some very funny stuff here.
http://www.the-minusworld.com/
And one last plug for the week. The site is still new and not a ton of content, but it is off to a nice start. It is called The Colecovision Critic and as you can guess, he reviews games for the Neo Geo. Just kidding, he does Coleco reviews. So check out this site for one of my all-time favorite systems (the first system I bought myself with money I made from selling Coleco stock).
http://www.colecovisioncritic.com
02/27/2008
Awhile back, I talked about a new video game show in the Cleveland, Ohio
area. It is called the NEOVGCON and has changed dates. It was
originally due to happen last year, but now it is moved to March 21st and 22nd,
which is probably a better time for the show. While the website still has
some under construction pages, there is enough stuff to get your interest.
They are having the US Army there with a simulator and free dog tags! They
have a ton of tournaments announced and will have some systems and arcade games
available. Unlike the other Cleveland show, CCAG, this one is more slanted
towards modern gaming. And I will be there on Saturday to check it out!.
I will be bringing one of my kids and enter him in the Super Smash Bros
tournament. To check out what looks like a really cool video game show,
click this link:
http://neovgcon.lan2unow.com/html/home.html
02/24/2008
A while back I was talking about stocks (11/19/2008) and one I mention
was Take Two Interactive. You know the guys that make Grand Theft Auto.
Well, I said their stock was a good buy because Grand Theft Auto was delayed and
it would go down. Well, not only is Grand Theft coming out, but Electronic
Arts made a bid for the stock. So if you bought some shares, be prepared
to make some money!
The thought of Electronic Arts buying Take Two is scary. While I don't always agree with all of Take Two's ideas (for starters, Hot Coffee), they are one of the few companies that consistently releases great games. You may not like the game itself, but they are well made. The Grand Theft are awesome for the amount of game you get for your money. Bully and Manhunt are the same. The Warriors was one of the better movie based games. These guys know how to make great games. Sure, they push the envelope and piss off everyone in the process, but they have been good for the industry. And the thought of how they will get neutered by EA is scary. Don't get me wrong, EA does make good games. But they are a safe company. Take Two is the exact opposite. I /don't see a perfect union there. This is not good, not good at all.
02/21/2008
Ever feel like your taste in games is pretty uncommon? Well, I looked at the sales for two of my favorite games at the moment, Endless Ocean and Fishing Master and they are bad. Endless Ocean sold about 17,000 units it opening week in the US and Fishing Master did about half that. If you have a desire to see how bad or good a game you like is selling, check out this website:
It has sales for all the systems as well as the consoles themselves. You can see how your favorite games are doing. Very cool site!
Saw a trailer for the Iron Man movie and it looks cool! Hope the video game is good. I would like to see a recreation of issue #128, where Iron Man battles a ton of his villains in one issue. Great comic and a favorite of mine as a kid.
Was checking out the official Super Smash Bros website and saw some cool new stages added. There is one for Luigi's Mansion that lets you destroy the house, only to have it rebuild itself. And there is a cool stage that is from Mario Bros and is in 2D. It is looking like another classic!
I see that Sega is doing an Aliens game. Let's hope they capture the feel of Aliens and don't mess this up. Their track record since the end of the Dreamcast is not the best. Some good games and alot of bad ones.
Remember in the 90's when they were recreating all the classic arcade games? You had new versions of Frogger, Centipede and even Pong. Wonder why that stopped? Was it lack of sales or lack of titles to redo? Too bad as I wanted to see the remakes of Wizard of Wor and an American release of Crazy Climber. I know they did one for Japan, but what about the rest of the world?
02/10/2008
A sequel to Dead Rising is coming out! Being a fan of zombie
based games, I am ecstatic. No word on whether it will be only for the
XBOX 360 like the last one or will also come out for the PS3. Hopefully
they will fix a few of the problems from the past game, namely the save system.
I do hope they keep the sense of humor and the ability to use almost everything
as a weapon.
I know that Red Steel did not do well for the Wii and was considered not very good, but I would like to see someone take the sword fighting from the game and run with it. Maybe a Three Musketeers game could make good use of it. Or a pirate game would be cool. You could use your controller to sword fight, dig for treasure, aim your cannons and more. It could be pretty cool. Or in the same vein, maybe they could redo Defenders of the Crown for the Wii and implement the controller. Anything would be better than the lame remake they did of Defender of the Crown for the PS2.
Speaking of fun games to remake for the Wii, how about if someone did a first person version of Food Fight? You probably don't remember the arcade game from Atari where you had to run across the screen and dodge chefs who threw food at you. You could also pick up food and throw it back. Edible ammo ranged from tomatoes and pies to watermelon which never ran out. It was a fun game. They could also add a multiplayer version where you either team up to take down the chefs or have an all-out food fight! Sounds like alot of fun!
Speaking of Wii games, I see that Rockstar is adding extra content to the Bully game for the Wii. There are added missions, extra mini games and more! It is good to see Rockstar giving Wii owners a real reason to pay $50.00 for the game. Not like many publishers that add a few segments of motion sensing and try to push off their old titles for full price.
I still remember how much fun I had with a
TurboGrafx that I bought off my brother so many years ago. I bought it
right before they started to clearance them out and was able to get a bunch of
games for low prices. Many hours were spent playing Devil's Crush, Bonk,
Legendary Axe, Dungeon Explorer and even JJ and Jeff. One of the things I
really liked about the system was how the games came on those tiny Hu-Cards.
I could put my whole collection in a small baseball card box and put it on the
shelf. It was a good system that never really had a chance in the states.
The combination of Nintendo and Sega was too much for it to overcome.
02/05/2008
Been playing more
Endless Ocean.
I must say they did make alot of diverse locations to explore and I have yet to
cover half the map. I went from underwater caves to kelp forests to more.
And I have seen a wide variety of different sea denizens. I was just in an
area full of seals and sawfish. The seals were diving up and down as they
traveled around the water. The sawfish stayed on the bottom of the ocean.
One thing I noticed is there is a variety of different behaviors for the
different animals. The only complaints are the fish don't scatter like
they do in real life. Also, none of the animals are hunting others.
I know they are trying to portray a friendly ocean like in the Little Mermaid,
but it is not real life. It would be cool to see seals and dolphins chase
down and eat fish. But it is still pretty cool.
So can we finally say that the
PSP
I see there are two more Lego games coming.
With the success of the
Lego Star Wars, they are
making Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones. Maybe they will next make a
Lego Superman, so we can finally have a good Superman game. Personally, I
am waiting for Lego Doom. Now that would be cool!
01/30/2008
Another bad point about the game is the whole petting fish thing. I understand they want to get a message across about the beauty of the ocean and preserving it, but is making the gamer go around and poke every animal in the sea a good way to get this across? In Everblue 2, you would take pictures of all the fish to catalog them. But now you have to keep poking and prodding them until they let you know what they are. Sometimes they need to be fed to let you know. I can imagine the possible lawsuits when people go scuba diving and try to pet fish that are less than friendly. Once they get zapped by a jellyfish or poisoned by a lion fish or have their hand bit off by a barracuda or moray eel, they can go and sue this game for making them think it is alright.
On the plus side, the graphics are very nice. There are alot of different places to explore and a ton of different fish to find. There are alot of side missions where you take divers to find certain fish or photograph fish. The game is pretty cool, but with the PS2 controller, it would be alot better.
01/29/2008
Speaking of the Wii, I think Sega should consider releasing their arcade hit, Jambo! Safari for it. With the Wii Controller, it could play like the arcade. Granted, they would have to expand on the game as it is too short. There are only like five levels on the game, fine for an arcade game, but not for a home game. That or they could bundle it will a few other games like Ocean Hunter or Crazy Taxi.
01/24/2008
There is finally a confirmed release date for
Grand Theft Auto IV
I was looking over the rosters for the new
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Speaking of Super Smash Bros, I think it is high time for them to put some forgotten characters into the game. The characters I really want to see are Stanley the Bugman from Donkey Kong 3. The poor guy needs a break. And with his long range bug spray, he could be a formidable...who am I kidding, he would still be a pushover. But at least he would be in the game. I also want to see Mario's original girlfriend, Pauline in there. Then we could have her battle Princess Peach.
Back in the 80's, rock band Journey had their own arcade game. I still wonder how Journey got a game, when so many cooler bands were overlooked. I think a game with the original members of Black Sabbath would have been eons better. The soundtrack would have been better and with a eerie gothic look to it, it would have destroyed the cheesy Journey game. But then I guess it could have been worse. It could have been a game based on the Bay City Rollers or the Osmonds. Shudder.
01/20/2008
Been having alot of fun playing Fishing Master on the Wii. It
is a fishing RPG of sorts, if you can imagine that. You have to catch alot
of fish to open up new areas and enter tournaments which will open special
areas. You then use the money you earn from fishing to buy better lures
and rods and different kinds of bait. It is easy to hook fish, but it can
be hard to pull some of the big boys in. There are over a hundred
different fish to catch and they range from small fish like minnows and bluegill
to large groupers and sea bass. I have not gotten to the parts with the
sharks yet. For thirty bucks, it is a fun game and one that will take some
time to beat.
I was thinking about the Wii and wondered what is left for the system? There are two big Nintendo releases due in the next year; Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart. But after that, what is left? If Nintendo follows the trends of the last few systems, there will not be another Mario game for this platform. By that, I mean a Super Mario Galaxy type game. There are still a bunch of lesser Mario games like another Mario Party and probably another Mario sports game. But what other big system selling games are coming out? There may be another Legend of Zelda game, but when? How much interest will another Metroid game bring? Sure, there are some Pokemon games due and probably another Donkey Kong or two, but what else is there to keep the momentum?
If you look at the other two systems, there are quite a few games coming. Grand Theft Auto and Devil May Cry will come out for both systems this year and that should change the momentum. Playstation 3 still has the big boys to come. I would guess the next Final Fantasy will be out this year. There is probably a Kingdom Hearts in the works (though I think this could do very well on the Wii). And the next Metal Gear should be out sometime this decade.
I was watching the Conan movies the
other day. I had not seen them in a long time and decided to record them
on my DVR and watch them. The first one was still enjoyable. The
second one sucked. But as I watched them, I came up with an interesting
observation. I would like to see Conan get stranded on the Planet of the
Apes. I think it would be cool to see Conan with his sword, battling the
apes. Granted, they have the advantage with their guns and numbers, but if
you add in all Conan's friends from the two movies, then you would have a cool
battle. Sure would beat the second Conan movie or any of the Planet of the
Ape movies after the first two. I know it isn't Aliens vs Predator, but it
would be cool!
01/13/2008
I am toying with the idea of doing a video version of this blog. I
have to look into a good camera to get and other things, but I think it is a
possibility.
Let me know what you think.
I was watching a show on Animal Planet called Champions of the Wild. It is a show where they highlight someone who is helping a specific species. The show I was watching was on the bonobo, a relative of the chimpanzee. They are considered smarter and look a little different. Anyway, the researcher was talking how she was teaching these apes to understand our language and do rudimentary computer skills. They then showed the bonobo playing Ms. Pac-Man on the computer and doing quite well. It was pretty cool! Wonder what it would have thought of Donkey Kong?
A co-worker told me a hilarious story. He said that years ago, when he worked at Chuck E. Cheese (to give you an idea how long ago, it was when they arcades at Chuck E. Cheese was not full of ticket games, but actual arcade games), that a fellow employee showed him something both disturbing and hilarious. He would go over to the ball pit when it was full of kids and throw a handful of tokens into the ball pit. He would then sit back and watch the kids beat the daylights out of each other as they tried to grab the tokens. I laughed so hard when I heard this as I have taken my kids to Chuck E. Cheese and the place can be crazy. Nothing like a bunch of unsupervised kids running around, hopped up on caffeine and sugar to make a place dangerous. I know you will hear mothers talk about how they are supervising their kids, but when you give the kid a handful of tokens and then sit around and talk to a friend or on a cell phone, you are not supervising. I have been there and there are plenty of kids that run wild.
I saw a game that really caught my eye. It is called Legendary: The Box and it comes out for the XBOX 360 and PC. It deals with a guy who opens Pandora's Box (if you do not know the story, go google it or better yet, read the original) and releases all kinds of mythological creatures like Minotaurs, Griffins and more. While it is a first person shooter, I think the premise is good and it could be a really cool game. Or it could be a lame version of Doom. It does somewhat remind me of a story that I have been doing on my KZ Comics site. It is called Dominant Species and while the basic story is different, the premise is similar. I have some kids use a magic lamp to change the world to a world like Dungeons and Dragons as opposed to Pandora's Box.
EGM just gave Endless Ocean an
interesting review. It received the non game review as they pretty much
blasted the game. I personally think it sounds great, but that is me.
I guess most reviewers have a problem with a non violent game that has a relaxed
pace.
01/06/2008
A new year is here! Next month, this website will be 11 years old.
That is a long time in the world of the internet. Maybe I will buy some
Shasta and celebrate with my all Rush mix tape.
Was watching a special on the Animal Planet channel and it made me think of a video game idea that I had a long time ago. It is not a full fledged game idea, but more of a flash game or something small. Maybe something to download on XBOX Live or something. Anyway, the idea of the game is you are a baby sea turtle and you just hatched from your egg and along with dozens of other baby sea turtles, you have to get back to the ocean. Sounds easy? Well, there are numerous creatures that are out to eat you. The first screen has you moving across the beach. There are birds that are running around and eating up turtles. There are also crabs and some other creatures that want to make you into a snack. So you have to try and get past them and to the ocean. The second level has you going through the ocean, where big fish are looking to chomp on you. You have to get through the water and try to get to the sea weed where you can hide. It is just a two level game, but it could be fun to see how many baby turtles you can save.
The kids are loving the Wii. Super Mario Galaxy is as good as advertised. You are pretty much always safe with a Mario game. Legend of Zelda is also a great game. The kids are even loving Donkey Kong racing game, despite the bad reviews.
Even though it is the kid's system, I have ordered my first two Wii games. Yeah, I know that I always talk about how I only pay $10.00 or less for a game. Well, I broke my own rule. The first game I bought was Fishing Master. It is a quirky fishing game from Japan that has you not just fishing, but opening up new areas and doing tasks for your grandpa. And you have a ton of fish to catch as well as strange stuff like boots, cans of cat food and more trash. I have been playing it and really enjoy it.
The other game I have coming is Endless Ocean. It is made by the guys that made Everblue 2, one of my all-time favorite games and it is like a sequel. I cannot wait for it to come as I think it will be awesome! Awesome enough for me to pay full retail for it. Yeah, you heard me right, I am paying full retail for a game. Granted, the retail price is only $29.99.