EA has recently revealedSkate It for Wii and DS, a spin-off of their Tony Hawk killer Skate. It's supposed to be just like Skate, but instead of dual-analog controls, online play, and HD graphics you get extra "It". Skate is one of the games I'm most looking forward to finally checking out once I get a 360, but if they pull off the motion controls well enough I might pick this up for Wii. Some very interesting news is that the Wii version will support the WiiFit Balance Board, so maybe that $90 scale will actually be worth looking at. The DS version is no visual slouch either considering the platform.
I'm at work, otherwise I'd make this more lulzy and throw in some random links to shock porn or something. Your loss.
PS: Boom Blox is completely awesome and you should play it.
A couple months ago Zen Albatross mentioned an odd film on his cblog called We Are The Strange. I ended up checking it out through Netflix, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a crazy mix of different animation styles along with a nice dose of anime and retro gaming love. It kind of reminds me of what you would get if you blended Adult Swim, Liquid Television, a NES, and some blotter acid. The title does not lie; this movie is weird as fuck. If chemical recreation is your thing, getting stoned before watching it is highly recommended.
I saw today that the director has put the entire movie up on YouTube, and through the miracle of the Interwebs you can watch it below. The 2 DVD set has some nice extras, so if you enjoy what you see consider picking it up and supporting its creator.
IGN has an interview with Matt & Mike Chapman regarding the upcoming WiiWare title "Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People" from Telltale Games. In it are a few interesting tidbits about the game, including WiiConnect24 support for trading collectible items with your friends, the ability to create your own Teen Girl Squad cartoon, and the possibility of a future series starring Homestar Runner. If you're as excited as me for this game, read on!
Rockstar Toronto's The Warriors (released on PS2, Xbox, and PSP) was based on the 1979 film by Walter Hill, which was based on the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick, which was based on the text Anabasis by Xenophone, which was based on some bad shit that happened to a bunch of ancient Greeks. While the film never went much beyond cult status, it's had a phenomenal influence on popular culture. References to it can be found in everything from hip hop music to Rugrats. Catch phrases such as "Can you dig it?" and "Warriors, come out to play!" are often familar even to those who have never seen the move.
The plot goes basically like this: New York is overrun with gangs who are in a constant state of war with each other. The Warriors are a gang based in Coney Island who have a Native American fetish. Cyrus is the charismatic leader of the Gramercy Riffs, New York's most badass gang of kung fu brothas. He calls a midnight conclave and invites nine representatives from each gang to attend, unarmed. Here he gives a speech that essentially says "Hey retards, why are we fighting with each other, when together we outnumber the cops three to one? If we call a truce and join forces, we'd own the city". Pretty much everybody can dig it. Well, except for Rufus, leader of The Rogues. He blows a hole in Cyrus and blames it on The Warriors. You know, for the lulz. The cops crash the party, and everyone scatters. Word gets out that it was The Warriors who killed Cyrus, and everyone gets hella mad. The Warriors try to make it back home to Coney Island, forced to fight their way through hordes of pissed off cops, pimps, skinheads, evil mimes, Yankee fans, lesbians, roller disco aficionados, and leather daddies. The real question is, why did it take so long for this to get made into a video game in the first place?
The title is an adventure-brawler that is sort of like a cross between Bully and Final Fight. Throughout the game you'll play as the Warriors featured in the film, each with their own varying attributes and fighting style. Combat is very well done, this title is easily one of the best 3D beat 'em ups I've ever played. Unlike most brawlers, you actually fight alongside several of your fellow gang members in each mission. You can issue several offensive and defensive commands to them, and if they fall in battle you can revive them using "Flash" (Winners Don't Do Drugs!) or free them if they're busted by the cops. They'll also do the same for you, because they're sweethearts. The entire story can be played two-player co-op, which is an absolute blast despite a slightly disorienting split-screen that pops up whenever one of the players leaves the screen. Actions such as boosting car radios, avoiding police capture, and spraying graffiti tags are accomplished through a variety of minigames making good use of the analog sticks and rumble feature.
The story begins several months prior to the events of the film, with gang member Rembrandt's initiation serving as the combat tutorial. As you progress through the game, you'll be doing a variety of missions that include defending your turf from rival gangs, taking turf from rival gangs, participating in riots, looting, competing in graffiti contests, beating the hell out of a lot of people, and kart racing. Okay, maybe not the last one.
Between missions you're kicking it in the Warrior's Coney Island hangout, where you can replay previous levels, select unlockable side missions that go even further back into the Warrior's history (starting with the founding of the gang), and work out to improve your abilities. There's even an extra "Armies of the Night" minigame that plays much like a typical classic arcade beat 'em up (including a great intro parodying the beginning of Double Dragon).
Approximately two-thirds of the game is made up of prequel material (with the last third based directly on the film), and it's excellently done. The main characters have their backgrounds and personalities fleshed out, so by the time the movie storyline begins you know who everyone is and care even more about the Warriors' plight. The story is well written and the atmosphere fits perfectly with the film. Much of the movie's soundtrack appears, along with several other licensed songs from the era. Nearly all of the original cast reprised their roles for the game, and the few that didn't are replaced with perfect soundalikes.
You can still find copies of The Warriors fairly easily, so if you're a fan of the movie, brawlers, or Rockstar games I highly recommend it. This is one of the best examples of how a licensed game should be done, and it's extremely evident how much love the creators had for the source material. If you haven't seen the movie this game is based on, I highly suggest renting it, inviting some friends over, having a few drinks, and basking in late 70's cinematic awesomeness.
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Okay, so this LGTDES is extremely late. Work and home life have made it difficult for me to get much writing done. I also like to replay a bit of the titles I'm covering, and my lack of a working PS2 forced me to go by memory on this one. I'm hoping to get the next installment out much sooner and keep the series going with greater frequency in the future. So as an apology, I'm letting you guys decide which licensed game I'll cover next. Leave me a comment with your pick, and assuming I've played it or have access to a copy I'll go with whatever game gets the most popular response.
I love pinball. The first time I ever dropped a quarter in one was at the Tasty Freeze in my grandparents' hometown of Mendon, Michigan in the mid-80's. The machine was Black Knight, and I was around six or seven at the time. I probably lasted less than two minutes before losing the last ball, but the flashing lights and erratic pinging of the steel ball across the playfield had me entranced. I was hooked.
Growing up during the heyday of arcades, I was lucky enough to be exposed to dozens of different machines over the years. Sadly, after the pinball boom of the 90's died down, tables are becoming harder and harder to find outside of occasional sightings in bowling alleys or theatre lobbies. The holy trifecta of pinball companies (Gottlieb, Bally, and Williams) have all closed down or shifted into other areas, with Stern being the only major manufacturer left in the game.
Gottlieb has already gotten a collection in the Pinball Hall of Fame series, although the Wii version was a PAL exclusive. For their sophomore effort, developer FarSight has turned their attention to Williams.
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for Wii (also available on PSP and PS2) brings together ten classic tables spanning from the 1970's to 1990. The tables included are: Black Knight, Firepower, Funhouse, Gorgar, Jive Time, Pinbot, Space Shuttle, Sorcerer, Taxi, and Whirlwind. The selection covers a good range of tables from Williams's history, although a few personal favorites of mine such as Cyclone, F-14 Tomcat, Attack from Mars, and Medieval Madness are absent. Maybe we'll get a follow-up someday, in the meantime there's always PinMAME.
The game has three modes: Arcade, which allows you to select any table of your choice to play; Challenge, which lays all ten tables in front of you with the goal of reaching a high score on each before losing your last ball, and Tournament, which allows up to four players to compete against each other for the best score.
In Arcade, the table selection takes place in a recreation of a typical 80's era arcade. Sprinkled in between the playable tables are a few mock arcade machines, and the radio broadcasts generic sound-alike music to fit the time period. Amusingly, one of the songs is a dead ringer for The Who's "Pinball Wizard". To complete the atmosphere, the arcade is filled with the electronic bleeps and whistles that will bring nostalgic gamers right back to the days of the Reagan White House and Hair Bands. This ambiance can be turned down during gameplay if you'd like to focus just on the sounds of the table.
Four of the tables are already unlocked for free play in the arcade, while the others cost a credit. You start off with a generous 50 credits, and more can be earned by hitting the match score at the end of a game or completing table goals (think XBL Achievements) on each machine. These include hitting skill shots, activating certain features of the table, advancing the score multiplier to the maximum, and reaching a particular high score. Many of these can easily be completed in regular play, while others might take a bit of dedication to reach. Completing the first set of five goals on a table unlocks another set of more difficult "Wizard Goals" and allows you to activate free play on another table. Eventually you can also unlock additional skins to change the appearance of the pinball and mirror modes for each machine.
To help you figure out exactly what you're supposed to be doing, there's an extensive narrated tutorial for each table explaining the ins and outs of gameplay. This is a huge help both for players unfamiliar with the machines and veterans who haven't touched them for years. Even on tables I was fairly familiar with such as Black Knight and Pinbot, I learned a few things. Many of the tables also include a scan of the original sales flyer, a nice little extra.
Control is handled using the Wiimote / nunchuck configuration, with the Z button controlling the left flipper and the B button controlling the right. The launch plunger uses the analog stick, which allows you to adjust the strength in order to hit skill shots on certain tables. The tables can be nudged left and right by shaking the nunchuck and wiimote respectively, giving gameplay a very natural feel. Unfortunately there's no way to nudge upwards, preventing you from attempting a death save if the ball drains down one of the outlanes.
Physics (the most important feature of any pinball game) are extremely well done. The ball moves fast and feels realistic. Glitches such as the ball passing through flippers or targets are very rare. Experienced players will have no problem hitting targets and ramps or pulling off moves like flipper passes. The tables themselves are excellent reproductions of the originals, from the layout to the artwork to the sound effects. There's even a reflective effect that gives the appearance of looking at the playfield through the glass top. Purists might notice a few slight differences here and there, but this is about as close as you'll be able to get to the actual machines.
Pinball Hall of Fame retails for $30, however I found a copy in the discount game rack at Target for only $20. I was very appreciative of this considering my 19 month old accidentally knocked over the Wii and scratched my original copy. He's lucky he's so damn cute.
For gamers who are more familiar with pinball video games like Devil's Crush, Pinball of the Dead, or Metroid Prime Pinball, keep in mind these are recreations of actual machines. There won't be any monsters wandering the playfield to squish or boss fights against dragons and giant centipedes. However, if you're looking for one of the most authentic pinball experiences in video game form, this is a sure bet. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.
I've been putting this off, but I figured I'd better get it over with. Here's a really old pic of my puter:
Note that it looks like black suit Spider-Man. That's because I'm a huge geek. The case is called the Black Widow from a company called DynapowerUSA that no longer sells PC cases. So you're SOL if you wanted to copy me.
Right now I'm running a 1.8 Ghz AMD Opteron, 2 gigs of ram, and using onboard graphics and sound. Not particularly fancy, but it works. I'm planning on picking up a GeForce 9600GT, upgrading the processor, and picking up a new soundcard eventually. Of course, if I win a Turning Point Gaming Rig, I won't need to. So pick me!
Got Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for Wii in the mail yesterday. I'll put up a full cblog review after I get to spend a little more time on it, but I can tell you now if you're a classic pinball fan, buy it. I also picked up Ninja Gaiden DS, and it's a lot of fun. I'm on Chapter 4 currently.
I stumbled upon this video recently on the YouTubes, and the cblog search turned up nothing. It's an Inside Edtion feature on Nintendo circa 1988. Watch for cameos from Howard Phillips and Bill O'Reilly back when he had hair. Also, Mario & Luigi have no last names CONFIRMED! What is Nintendo hiding from us?
The official webpage for South Park recently decided to lay down some epic awesomeness for its fans. [EDIT: Make that American fans, sorry Europe! There's always proxies!] Pretty much every single episode is online in streaming video, and completely uncensored. All you have to do is put up with a few commercials, but it's well worth it. I missed pretty much all of season 11, so it's been a great way for me to catch up with the show when I'm supposed to be working. Here's last season's Easter episode so you can celebrate Zombie Jesus Day in proper fashion.
I've picked up too many damn games recently. I'm simultaneously trying to get through Bully, unlock all the characters in Smash Bros. Brawl, blast hordes of zombies in House of the Dead 2/3 Return, and I just ordered Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. I also picked up the Wii Zapper to go along with HOD2/3, and found it to be much more enjoyable than I'd been led to believe by other impressions. The kiddo gets a big kick out of running around with it, so if Jack Thompson has taught us anything that means in another 15 years he'll be shooting up his high school. I'm trying to teach him to go "PEW PEW PEW" whenever he plays with it. Right now all he does is laugh at me when I say it, but it's a start.
If you've added me to your Brawl friends list and it still shows up as "Awaiting Registration", send me a PM or leave me a comment below and I'll make sure to add you.
Some of you might remember that time I plugged my friends' short zombie film Airport Road's Re-Animated. Here's one of most their recent works. It's for a contest to get on the Diary of the Dead DVD or something, so if you enjoy give them a "booyah" or whatever the fuck MySpace video's stupid rating system has. Thanks!
I have to say I thought Airport Road's Re-Animated was funnier. And I'm not at all bitter that I missed out on being a zombie in this new clip because I had to work.
And to finish up my pimping, here's their MySpace pages:
I'm a big fan of David Lynch's film version of Frank Herbert's Dune, despite it being a pretty flawed adaptation. This parody trailer including an all new audio dub made me laugh. I'd actually love if they released a full commentary track of this nonsense via mp3.
In actual video game related news, I finally got around to beating Portal last night, and now am getting ready to tackle the challenges/extra stages. I think I'm going to splurge and upgrade my processor and graphics card before I get much into Team Fortress 2, because my system is hurting just running it at 800x600. The upgrade also means I'll be able to finally run Bioshock, thank god. I've been dying to play through that.
