Saturday, November 06, 2010

'2 Bros. Plumbing'

Although this is far from the best Mario-inspired t-shirt design I've ever seen, I appreciate that its designer attempted to do something different.


If you like the design enough to want to buy a t-shirt bearing it, vote on it (within the next seven days) here.

(Via superpunch.blogspot.com)

Friday, November 05, 2010

Well, crap ...

If you've been following this blog for a while, you're likely used to be whining about the lack of red DSi systems in the States. (They hit the streets in Europe and Japan more than a year ago.)

Well, it seems I'm finally going to get my wish on Black Friday. According to the following Sears flyer (leaked by the folks at multiplayerblog.mtv. com), Nintendo is prepping a pair of $149.99 "holiday bundles" that will include either a red or green DSi system and a copy of Mario Party DS.



Will this negatively impact my plans to buy a Twin Famicom or a PS3--or, who knows, an Xbox 360--after the holidays? Honestly, I have no idea.

See also: 'Proof that Japanese 7-Elevens are cooler than those elsewhere,' 'Looks like it's time to get a DSi,' 'I'm seeing red' and 'Oh, Christmas tree...'

I have no idea what's going on here, but I'm kind of interested anyway

You know those game trailers that confuse the hell out of you because they don't show a single second of actual gameplay?

Well, the following trailer--for Rockin' Android's upcoming PSN platformer, Crescent Pale Mist--shows a ton of gameplay, yet still manages to confuse.



That said, I'm still kind of interested in the title, which hits PSN (with a price tag of $5.99 attached to it) on Nov. 9.

(Via blog.us.playstation.com)

I just canceled my Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition pre-order because of this

When the folks at Amazon.com added Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition to their site a few days ago, I immediately pre-ordered it--despite the fact that I'm not a fan of Nintendo's 16-bit remakes of its NES Super Mario Bros. titles.

I canceled that pre-order this morning, in part because of this trailer (for Donkey Kong Country Returns, which will be released in North America on Nov. 21):



The highlight of this particular trailer, in my opinion, is the misty/smoky level shown at the 56-second mark. Oh, and the fire/lava level shown at the 1:05 mark.

See also: 'I've gotta say, this looks great'

10 video games that made my life gayer (#9): Animal Crossing

Would you believe it if I told you that I held off on buying a GameCube until early 2004--more than two years after its North American debut? Well, it's true.

What prompted me to (finally) pick up Nintendo's boxy little system? By the time I bought one, they were just $99, for starters. And then there was the release of Animal Crossing.

OK, so that game was released (in the States) in late 2002--more than a year before I acquired a GameCube. I'd had my eye on it from day one, though, and as such it was the game I bought alongside my (now beloved silver) system.

Was it worth the wait? In a word: Yes. I've rarely put as much time into a game as I put into Animal Crossing. Something about its "life simulation" concept really resounded with me, I guess.



I know some people consider the game to be boring or tedious, as most of the time you're running errands, planting trees, picking fruit and watering flowers. Well, call me crazy, but I seem to enjoy those rather mundane chores when they're wrapped up in such cute packaging.

My only beef with the game? No matter how many love letters I sent to my female neighbors (my character was female, too), none of them reciprocated. Oh, well; you can't have anything, right?

See also: all of the previous '10 video games that made my life gayer' posts

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Follow me

I know this is hard to believe, but I don't actually spend all of my time blogging about games or reading about them on other blogs. (Oh, or playing them.) Lately, for instance, I've been tweeting about them, too. (Don't tell the husband.)

What? You didn't know I'm on Twitter? Well, I am! Here's where you can go to follow me, if you're interested: 

Speaking of following: If you're a regular reader of this here blog, you may want to do yourself a favor and click on the little "follow" button on the right side of the screen. (You may have to scroll down a bit to see it.)

Don't worry if you're not at all interested in following me on either site. I won't mind. OK, maybe I will--just a little--but I won't cry. At least, not much...

See also: 'Tweets of the day'

Tweets of the day

If you're like me and you follow a lot of gaming folks on Twitter, you've likely seen a lot of Kinect-related tweets in the last few days.

As a result, the following tweet from Ian Bogost (posted about an hour ago) literally made me laugh out loud:

"The amount of Kinect coverage is completely out of control and possibly irresponsible."

(Actually, one of the Kinect-related tweets he posted yesterday was even funnier: "Kinect is like an alpaca for your Chevrolet. A universal remote for your ficus. A kleenex for your toilet paper.")



This tweet, from Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander, also made me chuckle:

"Ladies and gentlemen, today, we are all controllers. But do we want to be?"

All kidding aside, are any of you buying Kinect today? If so, let me know what you think of it. I'm curious!

10 video games that made my life gayer (#8): Crazy Taxi

It used to be the Holy Grail of every gamer I knew: the "arcade perfect" console game. Well, Sega's Crazy Taxi was the game that made me feel I had finally found that legendary chalice.

Was it a rather superficial affair, with a limited amount of replay value? Sure, you could argue that. Of course, it was addictive as all get-out, too, which helped draw things out a bit.


The point of this post isn't to make a case for Crazy Taxi being one of the greatest games ever made, though--hell, I don't even necessarily think it's a great game. It is a great port of an arcade game, though, and that was more than enough for me back in the day.

See also: all of the previous '10 video games that made my life gayer' posts

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Fabulous flash game alert: Action Escape Kitty

Twitter has proven to be a nice source of gaming news today.

First I discovered (a few years late, admittedly) the Super Mario World hack known as Kaiso Mario World thanks to a tweet about Super Meat Boy. Then I was introduced to a cute, Flash-based shooter called Action Escape Kitty (screenshot below) thanks to a tweet from the folks behind shmups.system11.org.



I completely suck at this kind of game, so I didn't make it very far when I tried it earlier today, but don't let that keep you from giving it a go. (Pssst... you can play it here.)

See also: GunBlood, Robot Unicorn Attack, Treadmillasaurus Rex and Winterbells

Prepare to have your mind blown

Actually, the "mind blowing" the headline above alludes to is a two-part affair. Part one is the following (admittedly ancient) video:



Part two is this essay, which details how the tool-assisted Kaiso Mario World playthrough highlighted in the video above dovetails with the "Many Worlds Interpretation” of quantum physics.

(Via auntiepixelante.com)

Bookmark this site: Saturday Saturn Fan

I'll always have a soft spot for the Saturn. For starters, it was the first system I ever imported from Japan. Also, it served as the "sweet spot," in my mind, between the 16-bit and the 32-bit eras.

After all, it was home to some of the best two-dimensional games around--and had some pretty awesome three-dimensional ones, too. (NiGHTS into DreamsPanzer Dragoon, Shining Force 3 and Virtua Fighter 2, anyone?)

If you're similarly smitten with Sega's second-to-last system, I'd very much recommend you get your butt over to saturdaysaturnfan.blogspot.com--which basically serves as a receptacle for the "Saturday Saturn Fan" reviews Pat Floyd has written for gameroni.com--as soon as possible.

See also: 101videogames. wordpress.com and videogamesarerad.com

Lesbian slaves in space, you say?

I'm always looking forward to some upcoming release or other, but right now I have to admit the game I'm most looking forward to is the one auntie pixelantie is working on about lesbian slaves in space.

What, you didn't know the self-proclaimed "freelance scratchware game creator and critic" (and all-purpose pervert) was working on such a game?

I didn't either, until I saw the following tweet (on Oct. 21): "Now i'm going to continue working on my game about lesbian slaves in space."

She mentioned the game once more over the weekend when she asked Christine Love (again, via Twitter), "is your dyke space princess game going to be done anytime near my dyke space queen game? we could have a DOUBLE FEATURE."

By the way, Love's "dyke princess game" just jumped to the number-two spot on my "most wanted" game list.

See also: 'auntie pixelante + WarioWare D.I.Y. = digital sex'

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Hungry?

That's the question asked at the end of the following Pac-Man Championship Edition DX trailer:



My answer, of course, is an unequivocal "yes!"

By the way, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX will supposedly hit PSN and XBLA sometime in December.

Definitely want: Mii stamp

What would I be doing right now if I lived in Japan and owned a web-enabled Wii? First, I'd get on line and download the new (as in, made available yesterday) Wii no Ma Shopping Channel. Second, I'd get out my credit card and order a Mii stamp like the one shown in the following video:



Sadly, I don't currently live in Japan. Even sadder: these completely fabulous Mii stamps--which Nintendo is selling for ¥1575 (about $19.50)--are about as (un)likely to show up on our shores as the Wii no Ma Shopping Channel.

(Via tinycartridge.com)

Not sure if want: Okamiden's North American box art

According to the folks at gonintendo.com, the following art will grace the cover of Capcom's Okamiden when it's released stateside this coming spring:


For comparison's sake, here's the DS game's Japanese cover:


Although I don't hate the North American art, I don't exactly like it either. Of course, I'd buy the game even if its cover featured nothing but a steaming pile of Chibiterasu poo.

(Via gonintendo.com)

Monday, November 01, 2010

10 video games that made my life gayer (#7): PaRappa the Rapper

I wouldn't go so far as to say I tend to choose style over substance when I buy games, but I definitely find the former more important than the latter from time to time.

Case in point: My decision to pick up a copy of the NanaOn-Sha-developed PaRappa the Rapper.

Before this 1997 release, I'd never played (or even heard of, probably) a "rhythm game." After seeing this commercial, though, I decided to give the genre a try--due in large part to PaRappa's paper-cutout aesthetic.

Thankfully, I quickly discovered that the game was not simply another example of "style over substance." Instead, it was an example of "style marrying substance and then populating the earth with a multitude of stylishly substantial offspring." (Or something like that.)

Sure, on the surface PaRappa seems to be little more than Milton Bradley's Simon wrapped up in a pretty polygonal package. Scratch that surface a bit, though, and you quickly discover that this game offers brains as well as beauty.

See also: all of the previous '10 video games that made my life gayer' posts

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I don't know about you, but I'm going to honor this holiday by playing a few horrific (or at least slightly spooky) video games.

Specifically, I'm going to spend some time playing a couple of old Famicom games--Namco's Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti and Capcom's Sweet Home (below).


If I had them, I'd probably play a bit of the first Fatal Frame, Resident EvilSilent Hill and Siren titles, too.

Which games do you like to pull out this time of year?

Sigh

That's my reaction whenever I see photos like the following, which was taken at the famous Super Potato store in Tokyo's Akihabara area:



Why can't we have awesome retro stores like this in the U.S.? Of course, even if we did they probably wouldn't sell Famicom carts.

Sigh again.

(Via gameandgraphics.com, by way of fuckyeahfamicom.tumblr.com)