[img width=700 height=154]https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--JF1KmUjd--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/778735090321646113.png[/img] Pic from Kotaku and about a million bookmarks
Approximately a million years ago in Internet time, I wrote an article intended as a sort of clarion call about losing our gaming history. You can dust off the electrons and find it here.
This weekend, two events reminded me of that article. The first was reading about how Alan Wake, the Remedy developed atmospheric action game, was about to be delisted from digital sale from Steam and Xbox Live storefront due to music licensing issues. When smaller titles are released in only the digital format, they occasionally disappear and the lost content may be lamented on an equally small scale. (Not to claim irrelevance, just the level of awareness.) To have a decently successful IP such as Alan Wake become unavailable for purchase seven years after release may still seem pretty reasonable in our gaming economy. Every game goes out of print eventually, right?
Today I'm hitting up the Compile shooters again! Compile has made a lot of great games, and released them for many consoles. This one is M.U.S.H.A. on Sega Genesis. I go over the mechanics, weapon choices, level design, boss fights and its kick-ass soundtrack! Will this game replace my beloved Gun-Nac as my favorite Compile shooter?
[img width=350 height=576]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-231/bf/U-231-S-00010-A.jpg[/img] The box art can't even begin to intimate how beautiful this game is.
Ah, The Legend of Zelda series. Legendary to most, and rightfully so, though not for everyone. I consider myself among the uneducated, when it comes to the adventures of Link (sorry, pun intended). I had very little exposure to the original game in the series, as my friends didn't all have it, and it wasn't a good coop or competitive game, so it fell to the wayside in favor of Double Dragon, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Dr. Mario, among many others. One of my acquaintances from school had The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventures of Link that we messed around with once or twice, but with the short sword range and tricky combat, we never got very far the 2-3 times we played it together. As mentioned in my review of Link's Awakening, I've never been a "Zelda guy" in any sense. I bought Link's Awakening DX as a new release for the Game Boy Color, played it some and shelved it because I didn't understand the nature of the puzzles. I played and enjoyed Ocarina of Time on my brother-in-law's N64, but didn't finish it due to not having access. My first real foray into the series was the 2016 RF Generation play-through of the original game. I fell in love with it, and that led me to finally playing through the only original Game Boy outing in the series, linked above (minor pun intended). After anticipating the release of the Nintendo Switch, it only seemed natural that my newfound love of the Zelda franchise would culminate in playing the newly released Breath of the Wild, right?
Video game music has evolved from the bleeps and bloops of the Atari 2600 and early arcade titles to the orchestral scores found in Final Fantasy and Skyrim. For many of us, video game music played a bigger part in our lives than the latest pop hits. Join us on a bi- monthly journey as we celebrate the sounds of our favorite past time. In this inaugural volume of RF Jamz, we will be looking at arranged music from three iconic series. Each one of these series has amazing music in their own right, but the arrangements, like a cherry on top of sundae, add something special. Let's take a look at them now.
If there's anything I enjoy as much as video games, it's reading. With parents that started reading to me from the day I was born, I took a love to books quite early, and have been an avid reader since before I can remember. Much like games, they can be a source of profound learning, provide a fun, pulpy break from reality, or tell fantastic stories of magical realms. I can think of few better ways to spend one's non-gaming time than curled up with a book in a nice, comfy chair.
Sunday, April 23rd was World Book Day. A celebration of books, book stores, authors, and all things literature, I thought it would be an appropriate time to promote a melding of my two favorite hobbies. So, much like I did with my summer movies post last year, I've compiled a list of interesting books about video games. The selections below are presented in no particular order, and run the gamut from informative non-fiction, to biographical, to riveting science fiction. I haven't read them all, but I've finished most of them, and you can bet the rest are on my seemingly-endless to-read list. I'm also always open to good book recommendations, so if anyone's read any they want to share, or has some thoughts on the titles below, leave a comment and let us know.
I had an interesting conversation with someone not too long ago about how they want to collect on a larger scale, but just get overwhelmed with the task and had given up multiple times. I had two pieces of advice to offer. The first, and probably the most important, is to take a good look at your goal and make sure it's something that you actually want to invest the time and resources into. Collecting something like a full library can take years and thousands of dollars. If you're not committed and have stalled or even gone backwards in that goal, is it really something that is important to you or simply something that used to seem enjoyable, but maybe isn't quite what you though it was? Even on a smaller scale, such as collecting all the games from your favorite series, can be a huge task. There are dozens of games across multiple platforms in series like Mario, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Pac-Man, Harvest Moon, Pokemon, etc. Beyond the time and money, you had better enjoy research and have the space available in your home to display or store them like you want to.
If all that checks out though, then my next suggestion is to enter the delightful world of Sub-Sets!
As some on this site know by now, I have been a huge survival horror fan for a long time. I have even made it a point for the last several years to spend the month of October (and sometimes September also!) playing various titles from the genre as my own way of celebrating the Halloween season. During this time, I always like to go back and play some of my old favorites from the genre, but I always like to attempt to expand my horizons and play something new and unfamiliar to me. So when I obtained a copy of SOMA from the September 2016 Humble Monthly Bundle, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try a new horror title that I had heard many good things about.
In the overall timeline of video games, it is quite easy to see a long list of games for a handful of settings. While games have a massively different way of being played its the background setting that can pull players in at a much more deeper level. With games many settings which were once limited to a niche genre of pulp fiction are able to become massive ideas and intellectual properties. Being able to visualize your favorite type of setting is powerful for many gamers. They will chase that feeling down. It could go all the way to the extent of enjoying an otherwise mediocre game, and blinding yourself to its flaws.
Warning: This review contains mild spoilers. I've tried to keep it as vague as possible while discussing things in game, but this article may divulge too much information depending on how much you already know. This is your only warning!
The latest release from Electronic Arts and Bioware is finally here...and they probably should have waited a few more months! Mass Effect: Andromeda had a rocky review cycle, but as we know, some reviewers wouldn't know a good game if it bit them on the face and asked them to collect three parts of an encoded message. However, in this case, the reviewers were right.
During the discussion of Diablo on our podcast, I remarked that the game, while mostly enjoyable, made we want to play more modern games inspired by the classic dungeon dive. One example of such a game, which I mentioned by name, is Dungeon Siege III, a title I purchased quite a long time ago, but had never even cracked the shrink wrap on. Having put the game back on my radar, I decided to finally give it try. Did the game satisfy the modern dungeon crawler urge that Diablo had lit within me? Let's take a look.
The mission seems simple, use the might of our Inner Sphere mechs to finally put a permanent stop to the advance of the Clans. With the eventual restoration of the Star League, our glorious leader, Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion, will lead us to victory against the last of the clans, Clan Smoke Jaguar. For our part, we will perform a quick strike against Jaguar facilities on planet Traquil, where no doubt we will have to face the most vicious, genetically modified warriors the clan can throw at us. Here comes the mission briefing over the com. Oh, this is bad news. The second dropship in the assault, the Black Hammer, has been... Wait a second. I know that voice from somewhere. It sounds like -
[img width=630 height=480]http://www.nintendo.com/images/page/wiiu/what-is-wiiu/panel-1-hardware.jpg[/img] I guess it makes sense that Nintendo.com has pictures that makes me want to buy a third one.
Isn't it funny how we easily get caught in a trap of thinking that, because things have been a certain way for awhile, that is how they will stay? For years and years and years, Atari games were a dime a dozen at yard sales. NES games were everywhere, and a copy of Contra was $5 to $10 tops. Final Fantasy VII and Symphony of the Night were both twenty bucks new everywhere. Collecting N64 and Atari Jaguar games seemed like a silly idea. PS2 games were never, ever going away.
And before that a Coke was a nickel and gas was a quarter and yada yada, I get it. Different times.
My point; How many of us are kicking themselves for not buying that complete Earthbound from Blockbuster, or those last few Saturn games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers on clearance? Wish we knew then what we knew now, right? Queue the classic discussion about time machines and grabbing retro video games.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a point and click adventure horror game. It skips the typical jump scares and gore and goes straight for an unsettling look at human suffering...and machines that rise up to kill us all! It's based on the story by Harlan Ellison and he even voices the misanthropic computer, AM, who is responsible for humanity's downfall and the suffering of the game's protagonists. This is a grim game, but one with excellent writing and characterization.
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6SU4mbAGLqQ/maxresdefault.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from YouTube. Nintendo Switch, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
To say I was excited for the launch of the Nintendo Switch would be a bit of an understatement. In the months leading up to the release of the console, even well before we knew its name, and it was still "Codename NX", I was eagerly scouring the interwebz for scraps of information, rumors, and more - any tiny morsel to sate my appetite. I was excited about the Wii U, before its release, but budgetary constraints kept me from buying one until well after its launch. I had never purchased a console at launch before, but based on all the details of what "NX" was supposed to be, I felt as though I may want to finally jump on that bandwagon. Once the system was revealed to be the Switch, my desire to have one intensified, and I watched every possible YouTube reaction video to the reveal trailer I could find, as well as several YouTube channels providing coverage of all things Switch, leading up to, and past its release. At least a couple of those have become favorites that I tune into nearly every day.
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.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
