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Posted on Apr 14th 2015 at 12:41:28 PM by ( Fleach) Posted under Review, Axiom Verge, Tom Happ, PS4, Vita, PC, Metroid, Metroidvania, Blaster Master, Bionic Commando, Retro |
[img width=580 height=300]http://www.usreveal.com/2015/03/31/viuhrz.jpg[/img]
Trends come and go in cycles, but video games seem to continually push forward toward better, visual fidelity, narrative design, and the most important buzz word, "immersion." This means that games are becoming like film, and while that's not a bad thing, it makes some games feel like something to be experienced as opposed to a medium that is meant to be played.
Continue reading Indie Review: Axiom Verge: What's Old is New Again
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One of my favorite series on the original DS was Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Each game is serious and completely whimsical at the same time. The characters are over the top and blown out of proportion in some cases, which only serves to make the courtroom scenes incredibly memorable as all of these personalities clash. The mystery element means that the full picture of what has happened is never entirely clear to the player until the trial and the investigations leading up to the courtroom scenes slowly reveal the whole story. Things can also go down the rabbit hole at times. Its really a perfect blend of point and click puzzle adventure games with the narrative style of a visual novel, making the series stand out as the sum of its parts.
Continue reading Psychotic Reviews: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
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My name is Josh, and I've been playing video games, in some form, since I was 5 years old. I first experienced the thrill of video games at the ripe young age of 5, at a family get together. My uncle brought his Atari 2600 console, and between Pac-Man, Combat, Battlezone, and a handful of other titles, I was completely smitten with the idea of controlling some small, multi-pixel object on the screen. Every time we would get together with family, I hoped one of my uncles would bring their Atari 2600. Every time I'd visit friends, I would beg them to play video games. And eventually, I would own my own gaming platform, but more on that later.
After having been exposed to the Atari 2600 through family members, and then computer gaming through another uncle, my parents bought a family computer. Mostly, my dad wanted to be able to do productivity stuff with it, but as much time as I could spend on it, I did, playing various shareware games and games designed for the system. And while we were late to the game, owning the IBM PCjr well after its marketability had all but dried up, that little machine gave me countless hours of joy. I had adventures with King's Quest, played hoops with One on One Basketball, destroyed property as a Paperboy, and spent hours exploring space and discovering new life forms with Starflight. Until I started buying games that didn't really work on the PCjr, due to the limitations of RAM (and no hard drive), that computer was the perfect outlet for my early gaming curiosity.
[img width=531 height=225]http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ibm-pcjr-sidecar.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from Old Computers. Our PCjr had multiple "sidecar"
upgrades to boost it from the stock 128KB to a smoking 640KB of RAM!
My parents wouldn't buy me a dedicated games console, in part, because they said I would monopolize the TV. They were right, I absolutely would have. I did have a short stint with my uncle's 2600 when he let me borrow it during part of a summer. Sadly, the somewhat broken joysticks led me to fits of young gamer rage, which prompted my mom to pack it up and send it back to him. Once again, I was relegated to just my PCjr, and various friends' consoles, to get my gaming fix. Thankfully, my next door neighbor had a 2600, NES, and even an original Magnavox Odyssey, and was happy to have me come by any time to play games with him.
There was light at the end of the tunnel, however. Though my parents wouldn't allow me to own a home console, with only 1 TV set in the house, they did say I could buy a Game Boy, provided I bought it with my own money. I didn't get that much in allowance money, but I dutifully saved my cash, rather than spending it on G.I. Joe figures, and saved up until my 13th birthday, April 1990. I bought the Game Boy, complete with Tetris cartridge, and my parents bought me Castlevania: The Adventure as my birthday gift. It was a glorious birthday, potentially one of the best ever.
[img width=320 height=316]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ad/Castlevania_Adventureboxing.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from Wikipedia. This game
was an integral part of my early Game Boy experience.
It was an impressive use of the modest Game Boy hardware.
What followed over the next 2 years was pure childhood gaming bliss. I bought over a dozen classic Game Boy games: Super Mario Land and its sequel, Alleyway, F-1 Race, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Gargoyle's Quest, Final Fantasy Legend, Duck Tales, Dr. Mario, and several others. I poured a lot of time into my Game Boy, and every time my family went to visit my grandparents or other relatives, I had my trusty Game Boy with me. When I stayed overnight with friends, we each had our Game Boys with link cables, ready to duke it out in Tetris, Dr. Mario, or whatever other 2-player extravaganza we both had. I also spent countless hours in my bedroom, fighting and clawing to reach the end of Castlevania and Gargoyle's Quest, and a lot of time perfecting my 4-row technique in Tetris. It was a magical time.
Sadly, that time came to an end in 1992, when I decided that I absolutely had to have a Sega Genesis. My parents were buying a new TV, so that opened up the possibility that my younger brother and I could buy their old TV, pool our money together and buy a Genesis, so we could experience the awesome power of the system. I had already played Last Battle, Golden Axe, and the awe-inspiring Sonic the Hedgehog at a classmate's house, and I knew that was what I wanted. I still didn't have that much money, however, so I ended up selling my Game Boy and all my games to pay for the Genesis. I don't regret buying, owning, or playing the Genesis, because it's still one of my favorite systems, and I have a ton of great memories of that. I just wish, in hindsight, that I hadn't let go of my entire collection of complete-in-box Game Boy titles, especially F-1 Race, because I had the 4-player adapter with it.
[img width=320 height=298]http://gametrog.com/goblin/images/sega-images-main/sega-genesis-images/sega-genesis-1-images/sega-genesis-box-front.png[/img] Image shamelessly linked from GameTrog.
This Genesis model is the one I sold my
Game Boy to obtain. I still have the system and
box and still use them today.
Thankfully, I recognized my egregious error 2 years later, and when my best friend from school decided to sell his Game Boy, I bought it from him without a moment's hesitation. Granted, I didn't get back the boxes and manuals, but I did reacquire some favorites like Tetris, the original Super Mario Land, and Alleyway. I soon purchased Dr. Mario and Duck Tales again, and was reliving the fun of owning a portable system once again. I snagged Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (still have that complete-in-box!), and loved it, as well as a handful of other games, to eventually get back nearly all the titles I enjoyed just a few short years earlier. By the time I graduated high school, however, I wasn't gaming much, in part because all my money was going toward dating my girlfriend.
I rediscovered gaming again in 1998 when my wife and I took a trip to another uncle's house for a big family get together weekend, and my younger cousin had his PlayStation there. We spent the better part of that weekend pouring over Tekken 2, and my wife decided at that point that we needed a PlayStation. We bought one, got Tekken 2 and Tekken 3, and I also picked up a couple shmups and a copy of Final Fantasy VII. Once again, I immersed myself in gaming, and though my Game Boy laid largely dormant during that period, I was still cultivating my love for gaming, and the memories of that earlier time were still part of what propelled me to continue to invest in games. I spent a lot of time with that system, and it's still one of my favorites to this day.
[img width=320 height=240]http://www.gamesniped.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/SEALED-In-Box-Sony-Playstation-1-Dual-Shock-System-SCPH-9001-NTSC.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from GameSniped.
This DualShock PlayStation model is what I have, and
still have, complete in box. I sunk a LOT of hours
into a whole cadre of games on this great system.
In 2000, I got the itch to get back into portable gaming again, so I picked up an Atomic Purple model of the Game Boy Color. I could go back and play my existing Game Boy library, and then also some new games I picked up, like Bionic Commando Elite Forces, Project S-11, R-Type DX, Frogger, and even the goofy game The Smurfs' Nightmare. Once again, I immersed myself in portable gaming, taking the unit with me on trips and to various places when I had the chance. The screen was better, it only used 2 batteries instead of 4, was more truly portable, and I could plug in one of those ingenious "snake light" peripherals to give light to the screen without a giant, bulky attachment. Suddenly, my original Game Boy library came alive again, some titles with a reasonable amount of color, and on a much improved display.
I missed out on the Game Boy Advance immediately, because I was concentrating on mostly console and PC gaming throughout much of the mid-2000's. I didn't pick up a GBA until years later, sometime in 2008 or 2009, when I found a GBA SP very reasonably priced at a used game store. Within a short period of time, once again, I found myself enjoying old Game Boy games, picking up more original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games I hadn't owned before, and also buying new Game Boy Advance games that had come out years before. The advent of the backlit display was a huge bonus, and the GBA SP is still my handheld of choice for playing any of my Game Boy library. My portable gaming life is now split between my GBA SP (and library of Game Boy family of games), and my Sony PSP, which my wife bought me for Christmas in 2005. I occasionally cross over, playing some GB, GBC, or GBA titles on the PSP (via custom firmware and emulation, of course), in part, due to save states, and additional color options, but sometimes strictly out of convenience.
[img width=320 height=297]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Game_Boy_Advance_SP.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from Wikimedia.
The stunning silver Game Boy Advance is my weapon
of choice when it comes to playing GB games on the go!
So now we come to the genesis (sorry, pun intended) of this project! There are a number of folks who have endeavored to do full system reviews, which are game-by-game analysis of every title for the respective console(s) they've chosen. You have Nintendo Legend, and Dylan Cornelius' Questicle project to review every North American NES title, and his subsequent descent into all things Sega with his Sega Does website and podcast. You also have HuCard Heaven, for TurboGrafx and PC Engine games, and Sega Galactico, aka The Sega Legend, working his way through the Sega Genesis library. Tom Hall, of the Breaking Bits Podcast, calls himself the N64 Connoisseur, and is attempting to review every North American N64 release. Not every system has a "Legend" working on the game library, but it's becoming more prevalent. In the Game Boy space, there's GameBoyle, a fantastic YouTube series and Twitter account of a great resource for all things Game Boy. There's also Game Boy World, a great resource of GB game reviews and information.
So why does the world need a Game Boy Guru? I'm not sure it does, but as my conversation with Dylan Cornelius went (great dude, go follow him on Twitter right now!), the more people exploring the entire game libraries of each console, the better. The more people that are uncovering the lesser known titles, milling through the shovelware, and truly highlighting the best games of a platform, the better off the retro gaming community will be. My opinion may be just one in a sea of opinions, but I want to express it just the same. This will be an outlet for me, but also a learning experience, since the vast majority of the Game Boy library remains undiscovered by me. As much as I've enjoyed my Game Boy systems over the years, I'd love to play through a lot of the library. I've been actively buying Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games when I find them inexpensively, and have built a small, respectable library that will be a great place for me to start.
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"It's dangerous to go alone, take one of these!"
I hope to build a near-complete collection of North American Game Boy releases, as well as eventually getting close to that with both the GB Color and GB Advance. I will cover Japanese and European games if and when I can, based on when I can acquire them. If the site gets good feedback and people are asking for content faster than I can acquire games, I may look into Patreon or some way folks can help me continue to acquire games for review. I may also look into a YouTube channel, though my existing channel has been quite neglected of late. Either way, I want to bring you my thoughts on the Game Boy family of handhelds, and I felt like now was the right time to start doing that. Game on!
Original version posted on the official Game Boy Guru site:
http://gameboyguru.blogsp...ion-to-game-boy-guru.html
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photo source: vg247.com
**Warning: light spoilers concerning the setting and philosophical implications of Bloodborne, and also some pics may be considered offensive to cat lovers.**
When it comes to Bloodborne, much digital and printed ink has been spilt in praising the game while warning the unaware about the intense challenge it unapologetically presents. As a result, I see no need to repeat this common narrative of which I happen to agree. If you've played any of director Hidetaka Miyazaki's games, you know what you're getting into, and Bloodborne is both familiar in this regard while being tweaked enough to have its own identity.
Continue reading The Blood That Bore Bloodborne
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Posted on Apr 8th 2015 at 01:01:35 PM by ( noiseredux) Posted under PC |
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The first quarter of 2015 has been relatively quiet for PC gamers like me. I say relatively quiet because this is PC gaming, and as we speak another several thousand or so games are probably arriving on Steam, Desura, Newgrounds and so on. However, it felt like a slow start to me because there have been no really "big" releases that I had been looking forward to coming out yet. For instance, Grand Theft Auto V saw two delays in its release date on PC this year. As a result, most of the new releases that I've been playing have been smaller, indie titles and re-releases of old games. That's all well and good, but to kill time until the next big time-suck comes out, I started going through my own library of stuff I had yet to even install. And that's how I accidentally fell in love with Dragon Age.
Continue reading Finally Installed: Dragon Age Origins
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Posted on Apr 5th 2015 at 06:27:39 AM by ( JSoup) Posted under Test, Test |
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So you've been operating your retro game store for a few months now and things are going better than you could have hoped. Customers are happy, new stock is getting traded in on a regular basis, bank account is moving in the right direction. Nothing can bring you down. Cue Bylaw Enforcement Officer..........
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Continue reading Blog Quest: Getting Political Part III
Ahead of the Nintendo Direct today, we got some very insider information on an announcement that will be revealed by Nintendo. Via a patch coming to Skylanders: Trap Team, Disney Infinity 2.0, and Amiibo supported Wii U titles, your favorite characters will be coming to each other's worlds!
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In Trap Team, you will be able to lead Baymax and Yoshi around to defeat Kaos!
Disney Infinity will bring Spyro and Mario to your favorite Toy Box set!
But, in true Nintendo fashion, they have brought the best touches to their own games.
Smash Bros. already lets you bring your favorite fighters along with you and level them up with the Amiibos, but they will be adding in Spyro and Mickey to the roster when you tap their characters to the Wii U Gamepad. Other characters will come to life as assist trophies. Trigger Happy sets up shop with a turret to fire at your opponents while Captain America's shield frees your opponents from their stock.
Captain Toad will allow Rip Tide to have his chance to find treasure. Wreck-It Ralph simply smashes through towers until he finds the stars he is looking for.
Mario Kart 8 doesn't have quite the interactivity, but will bring you dozens of new Mii Racer costumes that you can use to dress up as your favorite characters not in the Mario universe.
Mario Party 10 is a similar situation where you will have more characters to use in Amiibo mode.
Keep a lookout on the Nintendo Direct today at 6pm Eastern, 5pm Central for the US feed here: http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct
I'd like to welcome everyone to the newly rebranded NFC Generation! We are still working on a few things like cleaner graphics, some colors, icons, and Google Wallet support, but we feel ready enough to do a soft launch while we work out those finishing touches.
In the mean time, we have a quick video to show off one of the coolest new features that the site is going to offer! The video was made while this was still in production, so please don't mind the old look.
In the video, the first tap corresponds to the main logo in the upper left hand corner. This will launch the website automatically on your phone or tablet that has NFC on board. The second tap, however is a little different. As you can see I tapped the Google Play icon. If you tap the icon with your phone and the app is installed already, the NFC Generation app will automatically launch. If the app is not installed (shame on you!), it will take you to the Google Play Store so you can install it!
We hope that you will use the new technology that we have built in to share RF Generation with friends and help promote both the site and the Android app with your friends!
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Unless you live in a sparsely populated area or one that just doesn't have that many collectors, you are going to need a decent network of connections if you want to get anywhere in this hobby.
Continue reading On Having Connections
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Mike Bithell's Thomas Was Alone could find itself on classic gaming hardware, and that's part of the charm of this game. It's simple to play, and challenging to master. But to only talk about the gameplay is to miss the biggest asset of of the game: it's a story with a message we can all relate to.
Continue reading Indie Review: Thomas Was Alone
I am looking for a new megadrive (PAL) game to play however I really do not know what to play. I am thinking about Castle of Illusion but I think that I should look for a more hidden game/gem. Any ideas?
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Psycho cracks a seal!
Today marks our first point v. counterpoint article where two of our bloggers will go head-to-head to debate one of collecting's hottest topics: the state of collecting sealed games. In the red corner we have the man with the plan, the author of this statement, the most handsome man in the history of the universe, SirPsycho! And in the blue corner, we have the second most handsome man in the same history, slackur!
Continue reading RF Generation Blogger Point v. Counterpoint #1: Sealed Video Games
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Posted on Mar 23rd 2015 at 04:00:00 AM by ( noiseredux) Posted under PC |
[img width=600 height=375]http://nomadgames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Dwarf_At_Hidden_Valley.jpg[/img]
In the past year I've put a lot of time and money into upgrading my PC so that it can play the newest "hotness." I've upgraded my motherboard and CPU to make overclocking available. I've upgraded my GPU so that the latest, graphically intensive games are no sweat. I've upgraded my RAM and my SSD so that everything moves along quicker. And yet, the game I've spent the most time with in 2015 so far is a digital remake of a board game. In fact, while recently going through my Steam wishlist, I realized that the game I was most excited about was actually an expansion to Talisman: Digital Edition. Sure, bigger titles have been released like Evolve and Elder Scrolls Online, but I really just wanted to add another little piece of the board to Talisman.
Continue reading Talisman And The Art Of Digital Board Games
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