Saturday, May 29, 2010

'I hear a harp above my head'

Mikaël "Orioto" Aguirre has posted a new piece of digital art in his deviantart.com gallery and, well, it's pretty much amazing. (Click on the image below to get a better look at it.)



Does it make anyone else want to play through A Link to the Past once more?

See also: 'Drawing inspiration from video games: An interview with the artist known as Orioto'

That's nice. Now where's my Game Gear soap?

Or, even better: Where's my TurboExpress soap?

OK, so Etsy.com seller Two Eggplants doesn't make Game Gear or TurboExpress soaps, but she does make GameBoy soaps--and darn good ones from the looks of it.



She also makes PSP and Wii remote soaps, but I think her dulce-de-leche-scented GameBoy soaps are the best of the bunch.

(Via tinycartridge.com)

Friday, May 28, 2010

Let's play: 'Which box art is better?' (The 4 Heroes of Light edition)

Yesterday, the folks at Square-Enix announced that they'll be bringing Hikari no Yon Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden to Europe and North America later this year (Europeans will get it "this fall," while North Americans will get it on Oct. 5) as Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.

So far, they've only released the cover art that will appear on the European version of the game, but I think that's enough to play another round of "Which box art is better?"--don't you?

Here's the art that appeared on the cover of the Japanese version of the game:


And here's the art that will appear on the European (and possibly the North American) version of the game:


Honestly, I'm not a big fan of either version's box art this time around. Although I like the composition of and the font used on the Japanese cover, the art itself is rather unappealing. Flip things around a bit and you have my opinion of the European cover--I like the art, but I'm unimpressed with the composition and the font.

Which cover do you prefer?

See also: 'Say hello to my next desktop wallpaper'

Two down, one to go

The last few days sure have been good for DS-owning RPG fans. 

First, the latest issue of Nintendo Power revealed that Atlus will be releasing Etrian Odyssey III (subtitle: The Drowned City) in North America sometime this year.


Then, Square-Enix announced that Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (formerly The Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden) will hit the streets stateside--with a $34.99 price tag--on Oct. 5. (European gamers will get it "this fall," according to siliconera.com.)

All that's left is for someone to announce the Western release of Sega's similarly retro RPG, 7th Dragon

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam

As some of you have likely realized, a spammer took a shine to my blog last night.


Although it seems he/she has given up, I've decided to change my settings and moderate all incoming comments until I'm sure that's the case.

Sorry for the hassle, and thank you for your patience!

Better late than never

According to this NeoGAFfer, the brass at Konami have made the decision to bring their Xbox 360 cute 'em up, Otomedius G, to North America later this year. (Japanese gamers got the game in late 2008.)


As of now, the game will be named Otomedius Deluxe and will hit store shelves on Sept. 7 with a $59.99 price tag.

Although the word on the street is that the game is no Parodius (or even TwinBee), I'd probably pick it up if I had an Xbox 360--and if it were $20 cheaper.

I hope her next one is 'cute Chun-Li'

Boston-based artist Lindsay Small recently posted the following Street Fighter-inspired portraits on her blog, lindsaysmall.blogspot.com.


I'm not sure which is cuter: cute Ken or cute Ryu. For the time being, I'll go with the former--thanks to his cute quote ("I ripped my sleeves off") and his mushroom nose.

Small says she's thinking about "finishing out the cast." Here's hoping this talented artist does so sooner rather than later.

(Via capcom-unity.com)

'Gaming heads to a new chapter'

That's the official slogan of this year's Tokyo Game Show. It matches up nicely, I think, with the event's "main visual," created by Japanese illustrator Ippei Gyoubu.


Gyoubu's past clients include Konami and Sega, according to gamesetwatch.com--which may be why the image above reminds so many gamers of the art featured in the Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio.

(Via andriasang.com)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I'm guessing Microsoft is going to call it "Gulp!" or "Yikes!"

"It" being the company's hands-free add-on for the Xbox 360, heretofore code-named "Natal."

Why do I think its official name will be "Gulp!" or "Yikes!"? Well, the word on the street is that the peripheral is going to cost a whopping $149 when it's released later this year (supposedly on October 26).

The same source suggests Microsoft will offer up a bundle that contains the motion-sensing camera and an Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299.

Both price tags seem a bit steep to me, but who knows--if the peripheral is sold with a killer app (i.e. not Ricochet), it could catch on no matter how much it costs.

(Via edge-online.com)

I'd like to say this means I (finally) have to get a PS3 ...

... but I already own the PS2 versions of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and, well, I usually don't "double dip" when it comes to games.

Still, I'm sure many Team Ico fans will do just that if, as is rumored, both titles are slapped onto a blu-ray disk and released for the PS3 early next year.


Unfortunately for those same fans, this suggests that team's latest effort, The Last Guardian, won't hit store shelves until sometime next spring or summer.

(Via thesixthaxis.com)

A free RPG, you say?

Acquire, the Japanese developer responsible for quirky PSP titles like 100 Million Ton Bara Bara (aka Patchwork Heroes) and Yuusha no Kuseni Namaikida (Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!), is sure to turn heads with its latest release, a dungeon crawler called Bakumatsu Revolution, and not because said release is a looker.

According to the latest issue of Famitsu magazine (by way of andriasang.com), when Bakumatsu Revolution hits the the Japanese PlayStation Store on June 25, it'll do so with a price tag of $0. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you--the four-player RPG will be free.

Unfortunately, this blurry scan contains the only (currently)
available screenshots of
Bakumatsu Revolution.

What's the catch? Well, it seems that Acquire is aiming to turn a profit on the game by charging users for downloadable content, such as additional items and scenarios. Still, unless the DLC is amazingly overpriced, Bakumatsu Revolution should be a no-brainer of a download for PSP owners who enjoy the occasional dungeon crawler.

(Via andriasang.com)

So, I started another blog ...

... and--surprise, surprise--it's devoted to the PC Engine.

Don't worry, it's not going to take the place of this blog. There's just so much I want to say about my new little (literally) toy and I don't think all of those things need to be (or should be) posted here.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the name I came up with for the blog: I Was a Teenage PC Engine Fan.



It's pretty fitting when you consider I've been obsessed with the system since I first read about it in the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly (or Video Games and Computer Entertainment--you've heard the story before, right?).

As of now, the site consists of a single, solitary, introductory post. The next few additions are likely to be rehashes of posts found here, but after that it should come into its own. (I plan on sharing impressions and photos of PC Engine games and scans of old magazines, among other things.)

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I think it's about time this blog returned to its regularly scheduled programming, don't you?

See also: 'I'm pretty sure this means I can die a happy man'

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

PC Engine porn

Now that I've finally gotten my hands on a PC Engine, all I want to do is play it. Well, that and take photos of it.







Also, here are some Glamour Shots® of a few of the games I purchased alongside the system.






See also: 'I'm pretty sure this means I can die a happy man' and 'It's not all fun and games'

Monday, May 24, 2010

I'm pretty sure this means I can die a happy man

Guess what I just grabbed off of our doorstep? If you guessed "a PC Engine," give yourself a pat on the back.

Yep, I (finally) bought NEC's little white wonder. I've wanted one ever since I first read about--and saw pictures of--the system in the first issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. (Or was it the first issue of Video Games and Computer Entertainment? It doesn't really matter, does it?)

Anyway, here's a photo of the system's--my system's--surprisingly pristine box:


The system came with six games--Barunba, Cyber DodgeF1 Circus, Fire Pro Wrestling 2nd Bout, Street Fighter II' Champion Edition and Wonder Momo--though, honestly, the only one I give a hoot about is Street Fighter II.

I also picked up, separately, copies of PC Genjin, PC Genjin 2 and Pro Tennis World Court. (Yes, I'm one of the few people in the world who enjoys playing Namco's "tennis RPG.")

Now if I could just find an AV Booster--or an inexpensive-but-still-in-working-order CD-ROM² system--on eBay...

This makes me love Jennifer Saunders (and tinycartridge.com) even more

The following photo, posted first on sophieloveslondon.tumblr.com and then on tinycartridge.com, seems to be from an old issue of the British glossy Tatler.


The focus of said photo is, of course, Jennifer Saunders, the 51-year-old actress and screenwriter who is partially responsible for two of the funniest TV shows of all time, Absolutely Fabulous and French & Saunders.

That's nice, I'm sure many of you are thinking, but why in the hell are you posting it on your gay gaming blog? Well, take a gander at the bottom of the photo, near Saunder's right knee. Yep, it's a GameBoy!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

In my oh-so-gay opinion: The five most iconic cartridge designs of all time

What makes a cartridge design iconic? Well, it has to have some character, for starters--i.e., it can't just be a gray hunk of plastic. (I'm looking at you, Mr. Nintendo 64 Cartridge.) Also, it has to have captured at least a portion of the public's attention and imagination during in its lifetime.

In my oh-so-gay-but-not-so-humble opinion, only a handful of cartridge designs (five, actually) have checked both of those boxes and, as such, deserve to be called iconic. Here they are:


Atari 2600--I probably should add an asterisk to this entry, as the colorful labels affixed to Atari 2600 cartridges are chiefly responsible for them earning a spot on this list. Without them, they'd be little more than black rectangles. Taken as a whole, though, the carts are undoubtedly, unquestionably iconic.


Famicom Disk System--Admittedly, Nintendo's shockingly yellow disks aren't all that well known outside of Japan, but that shouldn't keep them from achieving iconic status, should it? Of course, the opposite could be said of the similarly iconic NES cartridge design, below, which is likely to be unknown among the people of Nintendo's home country.


NES--Bow down to what may be the most iconic (among Western gamers, at least) cartridge design of all time. After all, any American (of a certain age) worth his or her salt can identify these gray, ridged and textured hunks of plastic as Nintendo Entertainment System games.


PC Engine--Say what you will about the PC Engine's catalog (or, more likely, the anemic catalog of its criminally ignored American counterpart, the TurboGrafx-16), but you can't fault the sleek, sexy (yes, sexy) cartridges--or, rather, HuCards--that housed the system's games.


GameBoy--Is it just me or do the GameBoy's boxy, gray cartridges look like miniature versions of their NES counterparts? I guess that's why I consider them similarly iconic. Anyway, just between you and me: I prefer the GameBoy cart design thanks to the oval indentation at the top and the larger label space.

See also: 'In my oh-so-gay opinion: The five most iconic controller designs of all time'