•Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon •Purr Pals (if you buy this, you are part of the problem, not the solution) •Wonder World Amusement Park
PSP
Nintendo DS
Playstation 2
...
•Carnival Games •Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
...
Apparently Civ Rev is coming out this week instead of last week. Again, it's my pick of the week because the demo I played on the PS3 is pretty fun if you're a strategy game fan. The PC versions of the game are better, yes, but there's really nothing else like it on a console right now. Give it a shot by downloading the demo on your 360 or PS3 and see what you think.
Also of note this week, Unreal Tournament 3, the latest installment in Epic's long-running shooter franchise, hits the Xbox 360. The game came out about 7 or 8 months ago on the PS3 and PC...and didn't sell verry many copies on either system. Now Epic is going to try their luck on the Xbox 360 where it might do better since shooters sell very well on that system and they already have a huge fanbase from Gears of War. Hopefully it does well enough for Epic to consider supporting the game even more on the other platforms. Even though the 360 edition is lacking custom mod support and mouse/keyboard control, I highly recommend picking it up if you're looking for a fun, fast-paced, old-school shooter.
All in all, this was a terrible week for treasure hunting. On Thursday, I got my first paycheck of the summer worth over $500 so I figured I'd go on a little spending spree this weekend. Boy, was I wrong. Since Friday was a holiday I didn't have to work so I went to maybe a dozen garage sales, I was hoping for more but because it was a holiday not many people were having sales. I couldn't find a single thing worth buying. Saturday wasn't much better. After a night of drinking on Friday, I left for home bright and early at 7:00 AM so I could get all the sales. Unfortunately, there was only a couple dozen sales listed and they were spread out pretty far. Ironically, the one sale I did buy something at wasn't even in the paper, we just happened to pass it on the way to another sale. This woman had a little store set up in her garage; a lot of kids toys/clothes but a good selection of 80's/90's stuff. I found a small pile of games that I wanted. Unfortunately, once I got home, I added them to my collection database, and put them away before taking pictures or making a list. From looking at all my games now, I think I have list of what I bought yesterday and took a picture of them but there may have been one or two others. 2 copies of Mario Paint (loose, amazing that I've been looking for this game since I started collecting and when I find it, there are two of them) Mr. Do! (loose) Bubsy (CIB) Eternal Champions (CIB) I only bought it because my checklist I carry with me said I only had a loose copy, once I got home I realized I already had it CIB. Last Battle (boxed) Wonder Boy in Monster World (CIB) Target Earth (CIB) Zoom (CIB) B.O.B (CIB)
The flea market today was pretty bad too for some reason. The weather was absolutely beautiful but there weren't a lot of vendors or buyers. One of the first spots had a guy with tons of games, he had 3 huge boxes in front. Two said "everything in box, $50" which one had probably 15-20 classic systems, dozens of broken/really dirty controllers and couple games as well as other miscellaneous electronics, the other contained newer "for parts" system/controllers. I would have bought the first box but there weren't any hookups in the boxes or at least not nearly enough for all the systems. The third box contained 7 NES systems for $50.
The rest of the market was pretty much the same old overpriced junk. Until I spotted a box on a table with a sign "91 Atari games, $25" I went over to it only to find 85 copies of Combat (the other 6 were other commons). I thought about buying them because they were sealed but I figured if this guy had this many then they must not be worth much. He said I could have them for $10 after I offered $1 but I don't really want that many copies of one game.
I didn't find a single thing to buy until one of the last vendors: When I saw the games, I knew they would be cheap just by the way the stand was set up, but I thought it'd be a "all for $5" type deal (there was 15-20 other games), but they were priced individually. I paid $10 for all 4, a little more than I would have liked but I'm a sucker for gold NES games.
I also got four 4-packs of Duracell AAA batteries for $2. They were mixed in box that was "anything for $0.50 each or fill a box for $3" The guy said he didn't even realize the batteries were in there. I tried finding some more stuff from him so I could just get a box for $3, but he had nothing interesting.
Previously, I had made an article talking about how Europe tends to get screwed when it comes to receiving games. The truth is, they really do. They didn't get Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger. Those poor, poor souls. Hopefully Chrono Trigger DS will make it there for them. And Earthbound? Wow, it's almost as though the RPG loving God has it out for our European friends. Well, it seems so terrible, right? Well, it turns out that Europe sometimes does not get the shaft. Sometimes, it's actually North America that gets screwed. Don't believe me? Well, let's take a look.
Kotaku posted it as rumor, a juicy juicy rumor to come out of Jump Magazine. Now, a tipster sends in a link to the Game Countdown Page. Holy, holy shit. Did I mention Holy Shit? I know I am the Site Director, but damn, it's real. It's real. Pop the Champagne, we've been waiting for a trip back to the Chrono Trigger Universe for a while. Can you blame us? It's been a long time. and we've missed you, Chrono.
Light week. Nothing very good at all really. One game might be pretty cool but that's about it really.
Playstation 3
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
•Hail to the Chimp •Guitar Hero: Aerosmith •Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
•Hail to the Chimp •Gears of War Refresh •Guitar Hero: Aerosmith •Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
•Guitar Hero: Aerosmith •Purr Pals (if you buy this, you are part of the problem, not the solution)
PSP
Nintendo DS
Playstation 2
...
•1 VS. 100 •AMF Bowling Pinbusters •Ducati Moto •Smart Kids Game Club •Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
•Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
It's the 4th of July. Go buy some fireworks instead of games. But Civilization Revolution looks cool if you're into that kind of thing. Not sure if it is? Download the demo from the Playstation Store or Xbox Live. I did it, and I must say it was pretty nifty. Didn't get a chance to play much of it, but it I liked what I played. Oh and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith comes out this week for all two people that care. Enjoy your game with effing Aerosmith (uggghhh). For the rest of us, Rock Band 2 has been announced.
*Note: the views of Tony are those of himself and do not represent the views of anyone else. If you have a problem with it, please direct complaints to the OH NOOOO Otter.*
It seems as though some of you are pretty excited. Personally I am excited. It's certainly a throw back to retro roots, with graphics meant to imitate the original NES Mega Mans. In short, it's pretty damn cool, and hopefully the game play comes through. Time shall tell in that regard.
I imagine most of you expect Capcom to release this on all console digital distribution formats. Certainly, I sure did. You might notice that I said did. Yeah, about that... Kotaku and Ars both though have some troubling news. It appears that for you Sony and 360 Owners, Capcom currently does not desire your money, as it says that Mega Man 9 is only in development for WiiWare. Wow, that's a... shocker.
To mark this development, it's time to bring out the OH NOOOO! Otter. I imagine that lots of you really would like the opportunity to get this game, but have found their prospects of getting this retro odyssey somewhat... dashed. Perhaps Capcom has been misquoted, and meant to say it'll come out for other systems later. Perhaps they really meant what is being reported by folks like Luke Plunkett. You know, he writes for Kotaku, so he is part of that bunch of respectable game bloggers, so they wouldn't wrongly state something, would they? Well, regardless, the OH NOOOO! Otter feels your pain. Since I can't feel your pain because I own a Wii, at least the OH NOOOO! Otter can.
Not a bad weekend, although the garage saling ended quite abruptly on Saturday. The very first house of the day didn't seem to have much at all, but I glanced at the rack of books to see there was something decent (I've never been much of a reader, but recently I bought a Zeppelin book to read during the slow times at work and have gotten 300 of the 400 pages read in a couple days, so I was looking for something new) when I spotted these marked $0.50 each: I paid $1 for them all. I started reading one of them, but got bored by page 4.
A few houses later had box full of NES games marked "2 for $1", I looked through them and there was only a handful that I needed, but the others were good titles. I offered $5 for everything, she accepted (a little too quickly actually, I probably could have gotten it cheaper). Amazingly, this would be the most expensive purchase of the day. Everything in the top 2 rows except Mickey Mouse is for sale.
The next house had a few PS2 games on the table, mostly ones I had or I wasn't interested in all were $3 each. I only picked up one: Under the table, though, was a box of N64 stuff marked reasonably at $35, easily $50 worth of stuff but I passed anyway. They also had a boxed PS2 for $30, passed on it too.
At one of the last houses, the woman said everything had to go, so I new we could make some deals, but there wasn't much left. All I got was: All for $2 (The SNES/N64 RF cord was $2, everything else was $1 each). Again, she accepted my offer too quickly, I could have had it for less. I really need to start my offers lower.
Right before this sale, we picked up some free firewood along the curb and took it home before continuing the garage saling. After we unloaded it, we went back out for round #2, which ended quicker than I would have liked. We came out from a garage sale and when I turned the key, nothing happened. The damn truck wouldn't start. Now, this happened to me the other day when I was at the store, I had it towed home, my dad and I cleaned the connections on the starter and it started fine probably 100 times until this time. So, we had it towed again. My dad walked to another nearby sale because AAA said it would be an hour before the tow truck got there, but it was more like 5 minutes. So he had to run back before we left him.
Flea market on Sunday wasn't bad at all. There were a lot of people not at the flea market because it looked like it was going to rain, but it held off until after noon so I managed to get some deals.
For $2 each I got: All stuff I needed, even some "rare" games in there. Strider is missing the manual unfortunately. Crystalis had some major dirt issues, but it's squeaky clean now.
For the first time in a couple weeks, the guy I trade with was set up while I was there so I was able to make a pretty good deal. I traded a loose Super Mario 64 for: Madden '93 is CIB, but the other is missing the manual but has the poster. I didn't really want the Maddens but I would have traded just for the other stuff so they were free in my eyes. The dumbass that is Adam Anderson had to use some permanent marker that will NOT come off, and he just HAD to write his name on there twice too.
You know, I thought the "Mega Man 9 will be done in 8-bit graphics" was an exaggeration. Something... lost in translation. Those things happen. That's why we say crazy Japanese translations like "SUPER HAPPY CRAZY FUN TIME". But you know, Mega Man 9. Wow, was it for real? Surely someone was jerking our chain, Capcom would never go back to revisit a class style of game, would they? Eh? EH?
WRONG! Turns out Mega Man 9 is very, very real. Complete with robot masters like Magma Man and my personal favorite, Concrete Man. More importantly, they weren't lying when they said it would be in 8-bit graphics. It really, really is. A part of me is saying WTF, while the other 4/5 says "Holy shit that's awesome!" Seriously, absolutely awesome, like "I AM BUYING THAT" awesome. Truly, Mega Man 9 has the potential to be quite the throw back to old school Mega Man. Here's to that. By the way, pictures can be seen at Kotaku
As you may or may not know, Tondog is a huge fan of MGS4. If he could, he'd probably have Kojima's babies. Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, he is a guy, and such a thing is physically impossible. That said, lots of people bought MGS4, including Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. See, Yahztee does Zero Punctuation, which in the realm of the internet geared towards gamers is absolutely hilarious. Today, Yahtzee is reviewing Metal Gear Solid 4, and well... why don't you watch it for yourself.
So, what'd you think? Personally, I am part of the group not currently already entrenched in Metal Gear Solid, so I think I'll follow this advice and just not play the game. Not really my cup of tea anyways. But then, I don't drink tea. What about you? Did Yahtzee strike a nerve, or do you wholeheartedly agree?
Wow, this is sort of sad. Nights, the game that a lot of fans asked for, came out, was declared mediocre, and now can be found new for $2.99. Of course, you have to live by a Meijer, which for those not in the know is a nicer, Midwest version of Wal-Mart. I have one three minutes from my house, and there is another Meijer probably 10 minutes from my house, if not less. Will I go out of my way to get this game on the cheap? Nah, that's alright, the game didn't really interest me, but perhaps you are and you live near a Meijer. If that is the case, then go buy your game on the cheap.
Did Nights really do that poorly? I've heard it sold 100000 copies, which is more than some other games, like Boom Blox. Does it deserve the $2.99 price tag, or is Meijer giving this game the shaft? It might be on clearance now, but regardless, this price tag is almost disgracefully low. Someone must have it out for this game at Meijer HQ. Perhaps their son told them it was stupid. That's just too bad.
Also, before you ask, no, I am not going to go buy the game for you.
What the hell happened this week? Is it last fall again? Goddamn...
Playstation 3
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
•Battlefield: Bad Company •Hail to the Chimp •Hellboy: Science of Evil •Overlord Raising Hell •Top Spin 3 •Wall-E
•Alone in the Dark •Battlefield: Bad Company •Hail to the Chimp •Hellboy: Science of Evil •Operation Darkness •Supreme Commander •Top Spin 3 •Wall-E
•Big Beach Sports •Rock Band (This is actually out already. I think I missed it on last week's list.) •Top Spin 3 •Wall-E
PSP
Nintendo DS
Playstation 2
•Hellboy: Science of Evil •Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress •Wall-E
•American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge •Cake Mania 2 •Code Lyoko: Fall of XANA •Final Fantasy Tactics A2 •Gourmet Chef •Guitar Hero: On Tour •Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Ninja •Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Saurian •Midnight Play Pack •My Weight Loss Coach •Smart Kids Game Club •Top Spin 3 •Wall-E
•Wall-E
There's far too many games coming out this week, but what's worth checking out? Alone in the Dark and Overlord Raising Hell look pretty neat. Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Top Spin 3, and Supreme Commander have been getting great reviews, but I would recommend Battlefield: Bad Company above all the other games this week. If you haven't seen anything about the game it's basically a wartime FPS, but unlike most other games of this type (Call of Duty 4 for example) it is actually pretty lighthearted in tone and contains a good amount of humor. The gameplay is like many other FPS games, so it's nothing completely new, but it's still very fun. If you're interested, give the demo a chance on either the Playstation Network or Xbox Live.
All in all, turned out to be a great weekend for treasure hunting. Not a whole lot on Saturday because we had a family thing at 1pm so the garage saling had to be cut short. Best deal of the day was this: When we walked up to this sale there were no adults, just two kids (had to be under 10) so I browsed slowly waiting for an adult so I could get a price on the GC and PS1 tucked under the table. After a few minutes no one was coming out so I just asked the kid, he ran inside and a few minutes later returned, and said they were $25, so I looked at them and asked if I could throw in a pile of wires that were nearby. He said "I guess so" and I paid him, but as I'm walking down the driveway, I ran into someone I know that lives nearby and we talked for a short while until the kid comes out. He basically said that he was mistaken on the prices and it was $25 for each system. So right now I'm pissed because I had to stop and talk, if I hadn't I would have been long out of there. So I walk the stuff back up to the garage and get my money back. But then, as I'm almost at the truck, the kid comes running back and tells me that he was mistaken again and they were $25 for both. WTF??? So I give the money back and get the systems (and the nice plastic bin in the picture) and ran out of there before he could change his mind again. Indigo GameCube with hookups and platinum controller PS1 model no. SCPH-1001 with hookups and 3rd party controller RCA cables (one has to be 100 feet long) coax cable
Another sale had boxes of junk lining both sides of the driveway (one of my favorite types) I picked out a PSOne power adapter from one and asked for a price. "$0.25" a woman replied. "All right, this stuff's cheap" I thought to myself, so I rummaged through a few more boxes and picked out some loose PS1 games, a couple more random cords, a deck of new playing cards, a PS1 3rd party joystick, and a PS1 3rd party controller. I take the handful of stuff up to the woman and offer $1. She actually laughed in my face and said "oh no, I remember how expensive those controllers were." Like I really care she was stupid enough to buy garbage controllers 10 years ago. So I put most of it back and got the remainder for $0.50. PSOne power adapter Mortal Kombat Trilogy Namco Museum Vol. 3
At another sale, I picked up a box of miscellaneous wires, hookups, and adapters for $2 (marked $5). There's nothing I "needed" but all stuff I can use at some point in the future.
Saturday wasn't anything spectacular, but today was very, very good. Before we got to the flea market, we stopped at a couple garage sales. The second of which netted me some good stuff. WWF Wrestlemania Challenge Madden 99 (CIB) MLB 2000 (loose) MLB 2001 (CIB) Crash Bandicoot 2 (manual, disc only) Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf (CIB) Tekken 3 (GH, CIB) WWF WarZone (GH, CIB) Crash Bandicoot (GH, box, manual only) Crash Bandicoot Warped (Disc only) Madden 2001 (CIB) All for $2.50, there's nothing I really wanted/needed, but for the price, I couldn't resist. I also got 30 classic rock albums for $4, some great stuff too. He had a couple hundred but I already had almost all of them, so I passed on the rest.
Once we finally got to the flea market, I found this at the very first table: When I saw them, I looked at them and not much interested but I asked the price anyway, he said "$3 each, but I'll give you a deal if you buy a lot", so I (kind of jokingly) offered $10 for them all, he gave the response I expected "oh no, that's not enough" so I started leaving and he said "how about $12", I gave him the $12 and walked away happy. Capcom's MVP Football with manual Pac-Man 2 NBA Hang Time Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB John Madden Football '93 Jungle Book Buster Busts Loose Toy Story WCE/NWO Revenge Madden Football 64 NASCAR 99 WWF WarZone
Another guy had a couple large boxes of games with a sign saying "cartridge games $1 each" so I skimmed through them, but they were 99.9% sports games and common Atari games. But I decided to actually look at them all, and found a couple worth buying. I actually bought them just because I didn't own them, later I found out some are quite rare.I did find it funny though that while I was looking the vendor was talking to another buy about how much he loved sports games back then and that's why there were so many. I don't care how much you love sports, you don't purposefully buy 10 copies of Shaq-Fu. Sonic 3D Blast (CIB) The box is bent up, but it's not too bad. Ardy Lightfoot (SNES, R7) The Faery Tale Adventures (GEN, R4) Atomic Robo Kid (GEN, R5)
As I walked by one of the last vendors' booth, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye, looked like some old Pong unit, so I walked back to it. It was sitting with some overpriced vintage clocks, so I figured it'd be overpriced as well. But, it was marked $1 and I was ready to pay that, but I asked the guy if he had the power cord for it. He said "no, but I've got these other ones here and the cord ares the same" and he handed me a box with two more pong units. He said I could have them all for $1. So I paid him and left away with: Bad news is that the power cords are not compatible. However, the Coleco (the one missing the power cord) also runs on 6 C cells so I was able to test it without the cord.
I also picked this up for $1. Looks like it might have been new because the sticked on the clamshell is still there and just barely ripped open. Either some idiot potential buyer or the vendor opened it to see what was inside. Everything inside looks new also, even smells new. I've got a question this too, is this a variation of the one already in the database (http://www.rfgeneration.c...ics.pl?ID=E-040-S-05000-A). The UPC is the same, but the part #'s are different, mine is 79096-05. Also mine has a little piece on the cover that says "Limited Edition include free souvenir booklet" and has a large white oval sticker that says "For play on Sega Genesis and Sega Mega Drive"
Face it, Sonic has had some serious ups and downs. The originals from the Genesis (Mega Drive) days had us going GaGa over Sega. They were fun and extremely fast, two gameplay elements that have eroded over the years. Despite the glory, a number of spinoffs and additional characters crowded out the franchise and a sad serious of spinoffs ensued. Sonic R, Sonic the Fighters, etc. The series got a jump start in 1998 with new freshness that was known as Sonic Adventure. It properly brought the core of the series into the 3D era, and tapped into the heart of the game. Sonic Adventure 2 was no letdown either, delivering the same standard of gameplay.
Of course, we all know what happened from there. A crowded and highly competitive hardware market forced Sega to give the Dreamcast an untimely end. Ports of Sonic Adventure and other classic compilations helped them assume their new role as a third-party developer, but once again the quality began to slide. The Sonic franchise took the blow in stride too. Sonic Heroes, meh; Shadow the Hedgehog, WTF!?; Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), fail, Sonic and the Secret Rings, meh. Hidden gems like Sonic Rush became overlooked as fans lost faith in the series.
Another year, another game. Sonic Unleashed is slated for a 2008 release, and the debut trailer shown earlier in February failed to impress. Recently a new trailer with more gameplay footage has been circulating, and its changing a lot of opinions.
The gameplay switches from 2D to 3D, and the camera transitions are unobtrusive. It's still too early to pass judgement, so we'll have to wait for more news. For now I'll say things aren't looking worse the blue blur.
Space Invaders celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year. 1978-2008. How utterly awesome!
Space Invaders, along with Tetris and Pac-Man, are probably the only games my parents ever played out of will. I may have forced them to try a race or something, but they were from that generation.
Invaders is the definition of a Classic Game. It was one of the best sold arcade cabinets in history, and has been linked to the shortage of money in the late 70s - early 80s in Japan. It was that great!! Having a release on the 2600 boosted its popularity even more.
On June 17th, 2008, in commemoration of its 30th year, Taito/Square Enix released Space Invaders Extreme. Or as I like to call it, Space Invaders for 'our generation'. My first impression was "Whoa!! Trippy!!", because...well it is. It is also TOTALLY FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!!!
This game is a great 30 year a-toast to a classic. Here's to another 30 years of classic fun!! Happy Birthday Space Invaders!!
Lead designer Tomonobu Itagaki quit Tecmo and filed suit nearly two weeks ago in a dispute over unpaid bonuses. Now another suit has arisen due to a discrepancy in unpaid overtime for the rest of the employees. The suit has been filed by Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuo Kakuta, top leaders of the recently formed "Tecmo Labor Union", to represent all 300 remaining Tecmo employees. The plaintiffs assert that Tecmo placed them on an illegal "flexible hours" work schedule four years ago, and since then overtime hours have gone unpaid. A company petition claims over 100 hours a month for employees, and 8.3 million yen are in demand as compensation. Further claims include Tecmo having falsified documents and attempting to cover up documents relating to their shady accounting practices.
We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
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