Triumphant Return

This summer has been insane. In the last 2 months, i have had barely any time to play video games, much less write about them. But now things are slowing down, and i must fulfill my destiny as a blogger or whatever.
But before returning to your regularly scheduled programming, a recap of the summer.

In June, I attended Video Games Live.

Anybody who has not yet had the chance to go, i strongly suggest it! I am one of those weirdos who actually listens to Game Soundtracks on a regular basis, so it was just my flavor of kool-ade. But even if you have a life, the concert is fantastic. Supposedly PBS is supposed to have been airing it over the last month, but none of my local PBS stations seem to have gotten the memo. Aw well.

One weekend in July I discovered 2 classic games that somehow... I missed.

The first is Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. I picked one of the short lived konga controllers up at a garage sale. After sitting in my living room for 2 months, i finally got a game that they worked with. How did I not hear more about this game when it came out? I remember seeing a little bit about it in Nintendo power, but beyond that nada! This game is amazing. I have haven't played a game that is so fun and original in a long time. The controls work very well, which is surprising since they look so hard. The tricks and combos you can pull off are insane, and if you do well the game will even give you tips on how to score bigger ones. It doesn't surprise me at all that this team went on to make the Mario Galaxy games with all of the creativity in this game. the only problem is that it's a bit short.

The next one is just sad. I, David O, have never played Kirby Super Star for the SNES. Alright alright, pick your jaw up off the floor. I wasn't avoiding it on purpose! It just never made its way into my hands. I am greatly saddened by this, because this game after just a few hours had made it on to my top games list. it is ingenues! And some of the best multiplayer available on SNES. It's interesting just how much of this game Sakurai carried on to the Super Smash Brothers series. Whole modes are essentially the same thing, such as the All Star mode. And many of the level designs reminded me of the Subspace Emmesary campaign in Brawl.
That weekend I played 22 hours of video games, which I am sad to say is more than the rest of my summer combined.

Also in July, I went to wait for it... COMIC CON!



It was a day of much rejoice (as longs as you're not expecting too many comics) and i won't talk about it all, here's some pictures.









There was one thing I wanted to talk about though. At Capcoms booth, they had a playable Demo of their upcoming game Ghost Trick from the creators of the Phoenix Wright series. Even though it was a bit too much reading for a convention type setting, it hooked me instantly. The visual style is great, and the humor seems just as weird and dry as the teams other games. You play as a man who has recently died and become a ghost who uses his ghostly powers to posses objects in order to prevent other people from sharing the same fate. It comes out this year, and I can't wait. Here is a link of some coverage from Nintendo World Report.


I also got to meet Rocco Botte from Mega64...

'Nuf said.

I will return soon with a new post about something cool!

Role Reversal- E3 day 2

Something has shifted in the Universe.
Microsoft announced nothing but motion control soft-core mom games.
But somehow, Nintendo announced nothing but BIG AMAZING GAMES!

The Show started with the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Despite technical difficulties the game looks great, the graphics are like a cross between Twilight Princess and Windwaker. Now, I thought a new Zelda game would be the high point of the show, but it just kept on getting better.

The New Golden Sun game was given a trailer, as did the Goldeneye remake. I'm excited for a new bond, but they really didn't bring their A game graphically.

They had a big demo of Epic Mickey, and somehow, it's no longer FUGLY. The game looks great, full of obscure references to classic Disney, a changing art style, and new 2D platforming levels. I can not wait for this one.

Donkey Kong Country Returns; one of the greatest things ever to happen. Retro Studios is back, and they are making a throwback to one of my top games of all time! 2D Platforming is absolutely not dead. The game looks like blast, and I'll be there day one.

The 2D platforming was continued by Kirby: Epic Yarn. This game has to be seen to be believed. It is done in a style that makes it look like it is made out of yarn, scraps of fabric, zippers, buttons, and anything else you would find in my moms desk. Again, I can't wait.

Then the 3DS came on to the stage. The little bugger looks amazing, you can watch 3D movies on it, it is compatible with Dsiware. And the smartest thing that the N has done in years, the 3D effect has a slider so that you can change the intensity of the effect, even turning it off.

But what is a new system without games? Well, here you go says Nintendo. The biggest surprise of the show came out to usher in the new era of Nintendo hand-held games. Kid Icarus: Uprising. the Project Sora game by Mr. Sakurai was revealed to be the game everybody ad given up on, and it looks almost like a wii game!

Throughout the day, many games have been announced for the DSi, a remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, A Remake of StarFox64, and even a remake of Ocarina of Time are among them. We still do not have a price or a release date, but I'll be there regardless.

All in all, it's a great day to be a Nintendo Fan.

Sony's press conference was not bad either, mostly they showed off their new MOVE controller, it was just more ME TOO. The only unknown game they announced was a new Twisted Metal game, which looks scary awesome. And they showed a Portal 3 trailer, and I'm always ready for that.
If this section seems small, it's because I own no Sony Platforms.

Tomorrow is Konami, more then!

Hippies, Dancers, and laser tag (or, Me too! The Microsoft story) E3 day 1.

Day one of E3 was a little underwhelming.

It started out with Microsoft talking about tons of useless junk for “Kinect”, Microsoft's new motion control add on for the 360. The whole thing reminded me of Nintendo's conference in 2007. Remember that one? The one where the best game announced was ANIMAL CROSSI NG WILD WORLD.

It's not even that I'm a huge fan of gritty Shooters, but the Microsoft show was just weak. Kinect is impressive, don't get me wrong, but they didn't even show anything remotely cool for it until the Ubisoft show. Being able to surf Netflix without the controller is great, but it certainly isn't the big announcement you hope for, nor is the “slim” Version of the 360

The Ubisoft showcase started out pretty great, with Tetsuya Mizuguchi showing off the new Kinect game Child of Eden which looks pretty great. The show then moved on to Assasins Creed: Brotherhood, for which I am crazy stoked, and then showed off Shaun White's new Skateboarding/law of phycics breaking game. But then the show moved on to weird Kinect tiger molesting games, breathing aid games, then something they invented in the 80s called laser-tag.
The new Rayman game that was shown looks great, I'm always ready for more artsy 2D platforming! But it comes with a catch. A big one. It is being made by one Mr. Michel Ancel, the director of not only the Rayman series, but Beyond Good and Evil. So in other words, at least for now, the dream of Beyond Good and Evil 2 lies bleeding at the bottom of a well.
The Conference ended with a Micheal Jackson Dancing game that was shown off by a group of hip young adults dancing to Beat It with the head of Ubi saying that “Anybody could learn to dance like that” A point lessened greatly with the revelation that the dancers on stage were in THIS IS IT.

The Trend this E3 so far seems to be bringing out attractive young models to show off Mom games. Only time will tell what Tomorrow Brings.

3 Es are me

I've been busy and unable to post for a while, but I'm back! And what better time to return than my favorite time of the year, E3!!!

This E3 is looking to be a big one. So each day I will be posting impressions on what happens. Plus, I will be going to Video Games Live on Thursday and I'll be posting about that as well.

I thought that I would kick this off with some hopes and dreams.

1: New Zelda- Obviously, just about everybody is predicting this one. I really don't care what it looks like, I just want it.

2: 3DS- I hope it's not the next virtual boy. It looks great, but goggle-less 3d sounds like possible eye bleed to me.

3: The last story- I want more details! And even more important, I want it to come to the US.

4: New star Fox?- There is nothing to support this, but we haven't seen the flying fox and his four fearless friends in a long time! And if someone outside of Nintendo is going to make it, I hope that it's treasure.

5: New Retro Studios game- Come on, we know you've been up to something

6: Star Wars battlefront III- After Pandemic went under this one seemed to disappear, but every few months we some sort of tease! I just want to know man. And on a side note, I do not care about The Force Unleashed 2, the first one was terrible.

7: Kingdom Hearts 3- It's been teased, but we don't know if it will actually be the next numbered game. That's enough spin-offs! I want to know what Sora is up to!

8: Project Sora- Masahiro Sakurai told us that he was making "Something that Nintendo couldn't do on their own" I want to know what it is.

9: Final Fantasy 7 remake- Squre-Enix needs to either confirm or deny this, no more stringing us along.

10: Beyond Good and Evil 2- Maybe it died, maybe it didn't. They gave us one teaser trailer, and some supposed "leaked footage" and then haven't said anything since. Today is the Ubisoft conference, so either they say something or I give up hope.

The next few days are going to be quite a ride, so hold on to your butts cause HERE WE GO!

Grrrrr Finals...

Sorry I didn't post last weekend, and sorry in advance that I'm not posting this weekend. Finals are destroying my life a little bit. In the mean time, I will post this cool video.

Hey MAN, what you PACin'?!?

And THAT is the best Pun I was able to come up with I'm afraid.
Anyway, in honor of Pacmans 30th Birthday I am posting the coolest (and strangest) Pac-Art I could find around the web. And no... It won't top Google...















And this is a picture I've been working on. It isn't done yet by any means, but here is at least a taste.



It can be seen bigger here.

All Video Game movies suck…

Or perhaps not.


A few days ago this little number hit the web, and I have got to say, it’s one of the best fan films I’ve ever seen. I do not what is more impressive, the CG animated robots, the orchestrated soundtrack, or the fact that it is actually feature length. Sure it’s cheesy, but it’s cheesy on purpose. The story follows the game pretty closely so it’s obviously full of camp. A lot of the dialogue is genuinely witty though, and it's pretty well acted.



Here’s something to think about. Freaking Super Mario Brothers cost 42 million dollars to make, and this film was funded out of the crews’ pockets! The movie is completely a labor of love, these guys have nothing to gain from it.



Since Megaman is the intellectual property of Mr. Inafune, the team can not technically even make money off of the film. However, they CAN make money off of the soundtrack by Mr. Daniel James. The 31 track Soundtrack is up for download here and they are gladly accepting donations. They even have it in FLAC! Come on!

The film can be found here, give it a watch friends.