Welcome to the Video Game Blog. I have been talking about video games here since 2005! From Pong to PS3, everything gets covered in here.
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Enjoy Tom's Writing? Check out these other sites:
Arcade After
Dark - Tons of video game comic strips
KZ Comics -
Tribute site for the comic company I founded.
Retrogaming Times - My long running video game newsletter.
Old Video Game Blogs
October 2007 - December 2007
June 2006 - June 2007
January 2006 - June
2006
November 2005 - December 2005
September 2005 - October 2005
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August 2005
May 2005 - June
2005
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April 2005
05/11/2008
That was odd. The text on this page went from white to black. Not sure why, but it is fixed now.
Happy Mother's Day!
Just received some bad news. The Classic Gaming Expo has been cancelled for this year. For anyone who does not know, this is the biggest video game convention for classic games and while I only attended once (in 1999), it was a blast. I keep wanting to get back but being in Ohio and the show being in Las Vegas, I find it hard to go. And with three kids that are too young to gamble, Vegas is not the best place for a family vacation. But here is hoping this is just a one year thing and they are back on track next year.
People who saw the Iron Man movie said at the end there is a bit after the credits that hint at an upcoming Avengers movie. That sounds great. And that would mean an Avengers video game, which could be very cool. Or it could be a recycled X-Men Legends.
Speaking of Iron Man, the movie is getting really
good reviews and doing great at the box office. The video game is not
faring as well, at least in reviews. It sounds like a paint by number
movie game. You know, the rushed out to be released in conjunction with
the movie and being average in every way. Too bad as Iron Man has alot of
potential as a character, but it sounds like they are wasting it. Sorta
like every licensed game during the NES era, where they just changed the main
character and the background, but they all were the same side scrolling Mario
clone.
05/06/2008
The reviews are pouring in for Grand Theft Auto 4 and Mario Kart.
So far, GTA4 is getting rave reviews as expected. People can say what they
want about Rockstar (and they do), but the one thing they cannot say is they
make bad games. With a few exceptions (State of Emergency), you always get
a top notch product with a ton of gameplay.
Now Mario Kart on the other hand is getting good to average reviews. Like all Nintendo products, it is well made. But also like quite a few Nintendo products, it is recycled. The word is that it is not the leap forward people expected. Super Mario Galaxy took the Mario franchise to new heights. The new Legend of Zelda was a big step forward (and no cute kid as the lead player) and really showed the potential of the Wii controller. Super Smash Bros for the Wii took what worked and added a bunch of new characters, levels and power-ups. But Mario Kart doesn't do that. In many reviews, it is a step down from the Gamecube version. Oh well, no one can accuse Nintendo of not recycling. Let us hope they have some better games coming or it will be a bad year for Wii owners. When Wii Fit is one of the big releases for your system, things do not look that good.
Speaking of the Wii, one game that does intrigue me is Boom Blox from Steven Spielberg. From what I seen, it looks like a fun game and with his name on it, the quality should be there. The guy has enough great movies to make me willing to buy the game just on his name. That may end up a mistake, but I am going to consider it.
I must admit that I am addicted to Puzzle Quest. The game is a ton of fun and there is alot to the game. One would expect a puzzle game to get old quickly, but this one has enough thrown in to keep me interested. From different characters with different abilities, to branching storylines to different challenges, the game is great! Good to see them take a tired genre and breath some new life into it.
Maybe it is just me, but shouldn't there be a new Diablo game already?
I know Blizzard is busy getting filthy rich of World of Warcraft, but some of us
really enjoyed the first two Diablo games and already beat them. So how
about a third one? Or did I miss it along the way?
04/24/2008
I hate to say this, but I am actually excited by the Aliens game that
Sega is working on. It looks really good and sounds like they are going to
be true to the franchise. Unlike that lame set of action figures that came
out about a decade ago. Not sure if you remember, where they had a Rhino
Alien and a Gorilla Alien and some Predator with goat horns. Glad to see
they are going to stick with the very scary original aliens. But what I
fear is that it is being done by Sega. At one time, Sega was my favorite
game company. They made unique and original games and were not afraid of
being different. Granted, that was when the Dreamcast was out, which is
like eight years ago. Since then, they have made some good games and a
whole bunch of bad games, most of which have Sonic in the title. Guess I
should be happy that it is not Sonic vs the Aliens. Now that would suck.
It will be interesting to see which game sells more copies, Grand Theft Auto 4 or Mario Kart. One would think that GTA 4 would easily win this, but the Wii has outsold both the XBOX 360 and the PS3 by a big margin and the percentage of Nintendo owners who buy Mario titled games is pretty high. Wonder what the odds at Las Vegas would be?
Awhile back, you may remember how I signed up to try and be the Gamer Guy
for G4. Well, I did not win. It was basically a popularity contest
where the person with the most internet friends that were willing to vote daily
would win. Good way to pick talent. Anyway, the problem I have now
is that I get a ton of junk mail from them. They want to know if I want to
sign up for the Cutest Pet Show or the Date a Redneck Show. I had no idea
there were so many bad television show jobs out there. Guess I will have
to add them to my block file.
04/21/2008
Finally played Puzzle Quest on the Wii and at first, I hated the
game. The controls were terrible. Using the pointer was a mess.
Then I switched the controls to the Nunchuk and it is a whole different game!
Slower moving but more precise. And in a puzzle game, precise is the key.
Now I find the game very addictive. So that is 3 good games out of three
that I bought for the Wii (for those keeping track at home, the games are
Fishing Master, Endless Ocean and Puzzle Quest).
I also played some of the other game I bought, Safari Photo Africa for the PC. It is a fun game and the animals move fairly realistic. Well, some of them do. Others do the same thing over and over and remind me of the animals on the Disney Jungle Cruise ride. But overall, it is a fun game.
Finally bought a webcam to do video blogs. Just have to learn how to use it. I got it working, which is half the battle. But there is a bunch of stuff I can do like create avatars, change backgrounds and other stuff. Give me a few weeks of trying it out.
Remember Nintendo Power magazine? As far as I know, it is still coming out. Anyway, our friends at T-Minus World did a spoof of it that is supposed to be the lost pages. Some pretty funny stuff, if you don't mind a more adult humor. Anyway, check it out and have a laugh.
http://the-minusworld.com/2008/04/20/the-lost-pages-of-nintendo-power-magazine/
04/18/2008
I am looking for investors for my new video game musical. It is
titled, Super Mario the Musical and stars Mario as he makes his way through the
mushroom kingdom to save the princess. So far I have the title and the
person I want to star as Mario. I need someone with a strong mustache and
a good singing voice for the lead role. Who better to fit this role than
the one and only, Tony Orlando?
Tell me that he does not look like Mario, only more suave. And the man can sing. It is a perfect combination. Now all I need is someone to play Princess Peach and especially Bowser. Then I am ready to work on the songs. So if you are looking to invest in a can't miss opportunity, this is it.
In my quest to get all the games that no one else buys for the Wii, I picked up another game on the recommendation of a friend. Puzzle Quest combines puzzle games with an RPG. Sounds unique enough for me. Picked it up used at Gamestop and used my Edge card to get that additional 10% off. Now all I need is for Geometry Wars to go down in price.
04/15/2008
I cannot believe that Madden the video game series is going to be 20
years old this year. Madden the person wishes he was 20 years old this
year. Anyway, I can still remember when that game first came out. I
wonder if that makes it the longest consecutive running video game series?
If you bought a video game that was supposed to be created by one of your favorite programmers and you later found out that they had absolutely nothing to do with it, other than lend their name, would it change your opinion of the game? I ask this because I remember when a ton of people really liked Milli Vannilli and then they found out someone else sang the songs. After finding that out, they threw out their records. I always wonder why. The songs still sounded the same. I guess if you were really in love with the guys who you thought sang it, maybe you were let down, but it still does not make sense to me.
We are mere weeks from Grand Theft Auto 4. We all know it will be a big seller, but the questions I want to ask are will it sell as well as the previous series and which system will sell more copies? I am betting on the XBOX 360 selling more now, but the PS3 selling more in the long run.
Besides Grand Theft Auto, we are nearing the release of Metal Gear Solid. The game that looked like it would be delayed to infinity, is finally going to be released. Add GTA 4 and the new Gran Turismo and you have some serious system movers for the PS3.
I bought a computer game. A game called Safari Photo Africa Wild Earth. They have a ride based on it at the zoo, but I was too cheap to pay the $7.00 or whatever they charged to play it. So I ended up buying the game for just about the same price. Yeah, it doesn't come with a motion simulator, but then I can also play it over and over.
04/03/2008
Want to own every NES game and not have to hunt? Have a trust
fund that you can easily tap? Then check out this auction.
Want to know what a video game cost and are too cheap to buy one of the magazines out there? Then check out this site with a ton of prices. Just keep in mind that prices of video games fluctuate and the Final Fantasy you were saving for your retirement may not keep going up. Anyway, check out this site and see if you are rich yet?
04/02/2008
I think it is time for someone to make a sequel to the Goonies game
for the NES. I know it was based on the movie and its not like a sequel to
that is in the works. But maybe a new game could lead to a new movie and
then Cyndi Lauper could do a new song.
Speaking of the 80's, why didn't Billy Idol ever get a video game? This man was perfect for a side scrolling beat-em up. And with cool songs like Rebel Yell, you have a good sound track for the game.
It took a bit, but I am finally getting some votes on the Gamer Guy contest. I was averaging about 3 votes a day, but the last few days I received 7 votes and then 11 votes! Too bad the contest is almost over. At least I made a late run.
Here is a strange article about how much video game money is worth compared to real money.
http://www.maxim.com/7VideoGameCurrenciesStrongerThantheUSDollar/articles/22332.aspx?src=dx2:mtd
03/31/2008
Tired of wading through thousands of pages on ebay for video games?
Well, you can either create a time machine and go back to 1996 when all the
video game stuff was in one section (the good old days) or you can check out a
new site that is trying to compete with the Big E. But unlike ebay where
you can find corn flakes that look like states and Britney Spears hair for sale,
this one only sells video games. It is new, so don't expect alot of
listings yet, but they are giving you $15.00 in free listings, so you can put up
your stack of Super Mario/Duck Hunt carts that you bought years ago at Funcoland
at a dime each and hope for the best.
http://chasingthechuckwagon.com/
I am amazed at how many people are into World of Warcraft. I know it is THE online game at the moment, but it still amazes me. People that I never thought would be gamers are playing this game.
Why is it that in America, we all drive on the right side of the road, but when it comes to walking in a store or anywhere, we walk anywhere and everywhere? You would think we would follow the same pattern as driving, but no, that would be too smart. Instead you have people going left and right and stopping in the middle. Just go to a department store or supermarket and watch people walk. It is pretty funny.
A PC game that I am really excited about is Sims 3. The thing is that I have no interest in actually playing the game. I could care less about playing The Sims. But I am excited about the character creator the game has. I want to use it to make characters to use in comic strips on my other sites.
Great news! In case you have not heard, there is a third High School
Musical coming out! That means it will soon be followed by yet another
High School Musical video game! Time to reserve your copy now!
Hooray for more shovelware, which will probably end up on the Wii and DS.
Now all we need is another Drake and Josh game and we can all die happy.
03/28/2008
Finally making some progress on
Endless Ocean for the Wii. After
spending hours trying to find the whale shark (who would think a fish as big as
a whale shark would be hard to find?), I finally came across it and that opened
up a new section. Now I have an underwater ruin of a city to explore.
Led to a bunch of new fish and some other stuff that hopefully will unlock more
sections. Really enjoying the game. Now I need to find the giant
squid. I saw it once, but did not get to add it to my book of creatures.
Are video games an investment? This article shows how buying some video games gave a better return on investment than popular stocks like Apple. But keep in mind that this is just for fun. I would not recommend investing in video games. Unlike stocks, they are not as easy to sell.
http://blog.videogamepricecharts.com/2008/03/chrono-trigger-better-investment-than.html
I was playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii with my son and saw there was a character you could play that made me break out laughing. You could play as the R.O.B. the Robot from the original NES. I had to play as the character, even though he played pretty lousy. Or was it me? Still it was fun to see the character in there. Kudos to Nintendo for making me laugh. Or as they say on the internet - LOL.
I was thinking about Super Smash Bros and came up with a good idea. They should talk to Midway about teaming up next time and adding some of the classic Midway characters and especially games for levels. Think of battling on the classic Joust level or Moon Patrol with the ships flying overhead dropping bombs. They could even have a cool battle in the bar of Tapper. There are alot of cool possibilities. Or maybe they can make it downloadable levels that you can buy online.
03/24/2008
Decided to get serious (as serious as I can get) about the G4 Gamer
Guy position. So I uploaded three videos and some new photos. If you
want a good laugh, check them out and vote for me.
Went to the NEOVGCON and came away with mixed feelings. I thought the foundation for a really good show were set and it was really good to see a show that was more for modern gamers than classic gamers (which most shows are geared towards). There was alot to do at the show and it was well worth the admission price. But it was also very empty. The attendance had to be a disappointment and the vendors were pretty much big corporations. If you were looking to buy, you would have left disappointed. But if you came to game, you had a great time! They had a bunch of computers set up to play. There were three Wii's set on Super Smash Bros. There were also a PS2, XBOX and XBOX 360 set up for play. Add in some arcade machines and plenty of tournaments and you have alot of bang for your buck. I hope the show will return next year as I enjoyed it. But they need to leave the sports players for the card shows and concentrate on advertising.
03/20/2008
If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? Would
you buy all your family houses? Would you give a big portion to charity?
Would you tell your boss off as you walked out the door? If you are a true
gamer, you would try to top everyone on this list. Here are some seriously
crazy game setups. These are for the people who like their gaming cutting
edge and their debt sky high. Check them out!
http://www.geekabout.com/2008-03-17-503/9-home-gaming-setups-better-than-yours.html
I don't know why I am excited about the new Iron Man game. I know it will be a letdown. And I don't have any of the systems it is for, but I cannot help it. I have been an Iron Man fan for a long time. When I was a kid, I remember doing those Marvel subscription deals and my four books were Amazing Spiderman, Conan, Incredible Hulk and of course, Iron Man. Looking over that list, that would be a cool super hero team as well, though Conan would be a bit out of his element.
Speaking of the Hulk, I see he has another game coming out and it looks awesome! His last game was great fun! I hope they build on the already great game and make it even better. Oh and the movie trailer looks pretty good as well.
Talking about movies, when is Gamera getting a video game? Godzilla has had about a dozen games but where is everyone's favorite turtle that doesn't yell cowabunga? Give the dude a video game and make it snappy!
Remember the Beavis and Butt-Head game for the Sega Genesis? You know where you had hock a loogey contest and other juvenile stuff. Maybe it is just me, but I think they need another game. I know it would be stupid, but what were you expecting from them? Half-Life?
Speaking of old games, another one I remember was Ranma 1/2 on the NES. Based on the anime, it was nothing special but fun. With this in mind, they should think of doing some kind of big adventure game with all the popular anime characters. Think of a game with all the Ranma characters and Fist of the North Star, Astro Boy, Tobor the 8th Man, Speed Racer, Star Blazers and more. Just leave the Legend of the Overfiend behind. We don't need no stinking tentacles.
03/17/2008
Time to mark my calendar. On June 17th and 18th, they are
having an auction for the Geauga Lake rides and other stuff left at the park.
Time for me to measure my backyard and see which rides would fit. Wonder
how I would get zoned to put a Dodgem in my backyard?
The NEOVGCON show that I have mentioned here a few times has even more on their website. If you can make it to the Cleveland area on the weekend of Easter (yeah, that weekend), this show looks amazing. They have a ton of tournaments now as well as former and current Cleveland Browns players, Arena football players and cheerleaders. They are going to have a bunch of Wii kiosks set up for free play and more! I will be there on Saturday. You can find me as I will be wearing my custom made t-shirt for my Arcade After Dark site. I had it made for events like this. Gotta advertise!
Whatever happened to the next Gameboy? Remember how Nintendo said that the DS was not replacing the Gameboy, but rather it would be its own brand. Maybe it is just me, but I have not heard any news of a replacement for the very long in the tooth Gameboy.
Anyone hear any more rumors about the Apple video game system? Awhile back, rumors flew around the internet about how Apple was thinking of getting into the video game market. I think it would be a crazy idea, but Apple has already proven with the Ipod and Iphone that they can compete in pretty much any market they want. But they would have their hands full battling Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Talk about some serious competition.
Wonder how long it will take before we see games released on Blu Ray for the computer? It took forever for game companies to switch from CD to DVD.
I really want to see some more Burger King XBOX games. For the cheap price, they were not that bad. Maybe they could make Wiii games this time. They could have a Burger King mini game collection where you could use your Wii controller to do various jobs at Burger King. You could have burger flipping contests, filling the condiments contest, making sandwiches where you have to remember the right ingredients for each sandwich (cheesburger with lettuce, tomato and mustard only). That way they can train the next generation of workers. And with the way this economy is going, there is going to be alot more people applying for jobs at Burger King.
With the high price of oil, aren't you glad your video game systems run on electricity instead of gasoline?
Ever think how Frogger is pretty much the same story as the Warriors? You have to battle your way back home. OK, maybe Frogger doesn't really battle anyone, he more dodges them, but you get my point? You don't? Oh well, forget it.
What is Jeff Minter up to these days? I have not heard much about
him. I miss his great games like Llamatron and Tempest 2000. They
should have these games for download on the Wii or XBOX 360. Who knows,
maybe they do and I missed it.
03/10/2008
Just read that Ziff Davis has filed bankruptcy. For anyone who
does not know, Ziff Davis publishes magazines. A few you may have heard of
are Electronic Gaming Monthly, PC Magazine and Games for Windows. I will
miss getting my free subscriptions to EGM that you can always find on the
internet. While the magazine was not great, it made for an enjoyable read.
But like most print publications, the internet and the general lack or reading
are hurting it. Not to mention the much higher cost of paper and the extra
costs of distribution (ie: higher gas prices).
When I went to buy Super Smash Bros for my boys, I looked around for the best deal. I knew they wanted the game that day, so internet ordering was out of the question. The only deals for the game were Circuit City giving you half off the strategy guide if you bought it (with the internet, does anyone really need a strategy guide?) and Toys R Us gave you half off a second game with the purchase of Super Smash Bros. The problem was the games you could get at half off were pretty lame. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. Sounds like a Marx Brothers movie. The Bee Movie game. Yeah, like I would buy that. They had a few other games that were either games we had or bad games. So I ended up going to Best Buy. At least I could use the Best Buy rewards card and get closer to a $5.00 gift certificate.
While at Best Buy, I took a look at their XBOX games. They had a ton
of games priced between $5.00 and $10.00 each. Know how many I bought?
Zero. All the games pretty much sucked. That or I had no interest in
playing them. And why is it that whenever I see cheap XBOX games, Enclave
is there. Exactly how many of this game did they make?
03/09/2008
For the heck of it, I put myself in the running for the Gamer Guy
position on G4. I figure I have like almost no chance as I am probably too
old and not cool enough for the position. But what the heck, I stuck it up
there and have 16 votes so far. So if you want to push me to the top (yeah
right), go to gotcast.com
and vote for tomheroes. If nothing else, you can laugh at my photo.
Maybe I will make a video with me and my Ms. Pacman hand puppet and put it up
there. It may get me the sympathy votes.
My sons (yeah, I have twin boys and an older son, three total) bought Super Smash Bros. Brawl today. They used their birthday money to get it. I watched them play it for awhile and it looks pretty cool. A ton of characters, levels and more from the start. They are still trying to unlock Sonic.
Speaking of Sonic, there was a time when someone said Sonic and I thought of the hedgehog. Now I think of the fast food restaurant. Is it the fall of Sega's most famous character of the quality of the Sonic hamburgers? Probably a little of both. The last Sonic game that I cared about was Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast.
We went to a place called Kalahari for an overnight stay. It is one of those indoor waterparks and I must say that I was very impressed with it. It is huge and has a good selection of rides. They had one ride that gave you the feeling of being flushed down a toilet, but in a good way. I can sympathize with goldfish and baby alligators now. Anyway, I was at their arcade and saw some new Sega games. There was a new Afterburner game that looked pretty cool. And there was some Jungle game where you pretty much drove around and shot giant insects. At first the giant spiders and other bugs were cool, but it grew old quickly.
Speaking of Sega games, for the umpteen time, when is Sega going to release Jambo! Safari for the Wii. Even a downloadable game would be cool. Come on Sega, enough with the lame Alien Syndrome remake, we want Jambo! Safari. OK, maybe it is just me, but that is a start.
Finally got the Wii online enabled. May have to check out the diving
feature online for Endless Ocean. Not sure how it works, but I guess I can
figure it out.
03/03/2008
Did you ever want to get a job where you are paid to talk about video
games? Is the thought of being on television sound exciting to you?
Not sold yet? Let's try this angle. Want to be closer to Morgan
Webb? I see that I have your attention now. Well, if you want to get
as close to Morgan as possible without fear of a restraining order, you may want
to apply for a job as a Gamer Guy on G4. They are looking for someone for
their network and it could be your big break! Just follow this link and
see if you have what it takes to be a Gamer Guy!
http://www.gotcast.com/castings/G4-Tech-Correspondent/50417
While I am plugging sites, let me tell you about a very funny site if you are not easily offended. If you like your video game humor raw and raunchy, then this site is for you. If you are reading at work or around kids, you may want to not follow this link. There is some very funny stuff here.
http://www.the-minusworld.com/
And one last plug for the week. The site is still new and not a ton of content, but it is off to a nice start. It is called The Colecovision Critic and as you can guess, he reviews games for the Neo Geo. Just kidding, he does Coleco reviews. So check out this site for one of my all-time favorite systems (the first system I bought myself with money I made from selling Coleco stock).
http://www.colecovisioncritic.com
02/27/2008
Awhile back, I talked about a new video game show in the Cleveland,
Ohio area. It is called the NEOVGCON and has changed dates. It was
originally due to happen last year, but now it is moved to March 21st and 22nd,
which is probably a better time for the show. While the website still has
some under construction pages, there is enough stuff to get your interest.
They are having the US Army there with a simulator and free dog tags! They
have a ton of tournaments announced and will have some systems and arcade games
available. Unlike the other Cleveland show, CCAG, this one is more slanted
towards modern gaming. And I will be there on Saturday to check it out!.
I will be bringing one of my kids and enter him in the Super Smash Bros
tournament. To check out what looks like a really cool video game show,
click this link:
http://neovgcon.lan2unow.com/html/home.html
02/24/2008
A while back I was talking about stocks (11/19/2008) and one I
mention was Take Two Interactive. You know the guys that make Grand Theft
Auto. Well, I said their stock was a good buy because Grand Theft Auto was
delayed and it would go down. Well, not only is Grand Theft coming out,
but Electronic Arts made a bid for the stock. So if you bought some
shares, be prepared to make some money!
The thought of Electronic Arts buying Take Two is scary. While I don't always agree with all of Take Two's ideas (for starters, Hot Coffee), they are one of the few companies that consistently releases great games. You may not like the game itself, but they are well made. The Grand Theft are awesome for the amount of game you get for your money. Bully and Manhunt are the same. The Warriors was one of the better movie based games. These guys know how to make great games. Sure, they push the envelope and piss off everyone in the process, but they have been good for the industry. And the thought of how they will get neutered by EA is scary. Don't get me wrong, EA does make good games. But they are a safe company. Take Two is the exact opposite. I /don't see a perfect union there. This is not good, not good at all.
02/21/2008
Ever feel like your taste in games is pretty uncommon? Well, I looked at the sales for two of my favorite games at the moment, Endless Ocean and Fishing Master and they are bad. Endless Ocean sold about 17,000 units it opening week in the US and Fishing Master did about half that. If you have a desire to see how bad or good a game you like is selling, check out this website:
It has sales for all the systems as well as the consoles themselves. You can see how your favorite games are doing. Very cool site!
Saw a trailer for the Iron Man movie and it looks cool! Hope the video game is good. I would like to see a recreation of issue #128, where Iron Man battles a ton of his villains in one issue. Great comic and a favorite of mine as a kid.
Was checking out the official Super Smash Bros website and saw some cool new stages added. There is one for Luigi's Mansion that lets you destroy the house, only to have it rebuild itself. And there is a cool stage that is from Mario Bros and is in 2D. It is looking like another classic!
I see that Sega is doing an Aliens game. Let's hope they capture the feel of Aliens and don't mess this up. Their track record since the end of the Dreamcast is not the best. Some good games and alot of bad ones.
Remember in the 90's when they were recreating all the classic arcade games? You had new versions of Frogger, Centipede and even Pong. Wonder why that stopped? Was it lack of sales or lack of titles to redo? Too bad as I wanted to see the remakes of Wizard of Wor and an American release of Crazy Climber. I know they did one for Japan, but what about the rest of the world?
02/10/2008
A sequel to Dead Rising is coming out! Being a fan of zombie
based games, I am ecstatic. No word on whether it will be only for the
XBOX 360 like the last one or will also come out for the PS3. Hopefully
they will fix a few of the problems from the past game, namely the save system.
I do hope they keep the sense of humor and the ability to use almost everything
as a weapon.
I know that Red Steel did not do well for the Wii and was considered not very good, but I would like to see someone take the sword fighting from the game and run with it. Maybe a Three Musketeers game could make good use of it. Or a pirate game would be cool. You could use your controller to sword fight, dig for treasure, aim your cannons and more. It could be pretty cool. Or in the same vein, maybe they could redo Defenders of the Crown for the Wii and implement the controller. Anything would be better than the lame remake they did of Defender of the Crown for the PS2.
Speaking of fun games to remake for the Wii, how about if someone did a first person version of Food Fight? You probably don't remember the arcade game from Atari where you had to run across the screen and dodge chefs who threw food at you. You could also pick up food and throw it back. Edible ammo ranged from tomatoes and pies to watermelon which never ran out. It was a fun game. They could also add a multiplayer version where you either team up to take down the chefs or have an all-out food fight! Sounds like alot of fun!
Speaking of Wii games, I see that Rockstar is adding extra content to the Bully game for the Wii. There are added missions, extra mini games and more! It is good to see Rockstar giving Wii owners a real reason to pay $50.00 for the game. Not like many publishers that add a few segments of motion sensing and try to push off their old titles for full price.
I still remember how much fun I had with a TurboGrafx that I bought off my
brother so many years ago. I bought it right before they started to
clearance them out and was able to get a bunch of games for low prices.
Many hours were spent playing Devil's Crush, Bonk, Legendary Axe, Dungeon
Explorer and even JJ and Jeff. One of the things I really liked about the
system was how the games came on those tiny Hu-Cards. I could put my whole
collection in a small baseball card box and put it on the shelf. It was a
good system that never really had a chance in the states. The combination
of Nintendo and Sega was too much for it to overcome.
02/05/2008
Been playing more
Endless Ocean. I must say they
did make alot of diverse locations to explore and I have yet to cover half the
map. I went from underwater caves to kelp forests to more. And I
have seen a wide variety of different sea denizens. I was just in an area
full of seals and sawfish. The seals were diving up and down as they
traveled around the water. The sawfish stayed on the bottom of the ocean.
One thing I noticed is there is a variety of different behaviors for the
different animals. The only complaints are the fish don't scatter like
they do in real life. Also, none of the animals are hunting others.
I know they are trying to portray a friendly ocean like in the Little Mermaid,
but it is not real life. It would be cool to see seals and dolphins chase
down and eat fish. But it is still pretty cool.
So can we finally say that the
PSP
I see there are two more Lego games coming. With the success of the
Lego Star Wars, they are making Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones. Maybe
they will next make a Lego Superman, so we can finally have a good Superman
game. Personally, I am waiting for Lego Doom. Now that would be
cool!
01/30/2008
Another bad point about the game is the whole petting fish thing. I understand they want to get a message across about the beauty of the ocean and preserving it, but is making the gamer go around and poke every animal in the sea a good way to get this across? In Everblue 2, you would take pictures of all the fish to catalog them. But now you have to keep poking and prodding them until they let you know what they are. Sometimes they need to be fed to let you know. I can imagine the possible lawsuits when people go scuba diving and try to pet fish that are less than friendly. Once they get zapped by a jellyfish or poisoned by a lion fish or have their hand bit off by a barracuda or moray eel, they can go and sue this game for making them think it is alright.
On the plus side, the graphics are very nice. There are alot of different places to explore and a ton of different fish to find. There are alot of side missions where you take divers to find certain fish or photograph fish. The game is pretty cool, but with the PS2 controller, it would be alot better.
01/29/2008
Speaking of the Wii, I think Sega should consider releasing their arcade hit, Jambo! Safari for it. With the Wii Controller, it could play like the arcade. Granted, they would have to expand on the game as it is too short. There are only like five levels on the game, fine for an arcade game, but not for a home game. That or they could bundle it will a few other games like Ocean Hunter or Crazy Taxi.
01/24/2008
There is finally a confirmed release date for
Grand Theft Auto IV
I was looking over the rosters for the new
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Speaking of Super Smash Bros, I think it is high time for them to put some forgotten characters into the game. The characters I really want to see are Stanley the Bugman from Donkey Kong 3. The poor guy needs a break. And with his long range bug spray, he could be a formidable...who am I kidding, he would still be a pushover. But at least he would be in the game. I also want to see Mario's original girlfriend, Pauline in there. Then we could have her battle Princess Peach.
Back in the 80's, rock band Journey had their own arcade game. I still wonder how Journey got a game, when so many cooler bands were overlooked. I think a game with the original members of Black Sabbath would have been eons better. The soundtrack would have been better and with a eerie gothic look to it, it would have destroyed the cheesy Journey game. But then I guess it could have been worse. It could have been a game based on the Bay City Rollers or the Osmonds. Shudder.
01/20/2008
Been having alot of fun playing Fishing Master on the Wii. It
is a fishing RPG of sorts, if you can imagine that. You have to catch alot
of fish to open up new areas and enter tournaments which will open special
areas. You then use the money you earn from fishing to buy better lures
and rods and different kinds of bait. It is easy to hook fish, but it can
be hard to pull some of the big boys in. There are over a hundred
different fish to catch and they range from small fish like minnows and bluegill
to large groupers and sea bass. I have not gotten to the parts with the
sharks yet. For thirty bucks, it is a fun game and one that will take some
time to beat.
I was thinking about the Wii and wondered what is left for the system? There are two big Nintendo releases due in the next year; Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart. But after that, what is left? If Nintendo follows the trends of the last few systems, there will not be another Mario game for this platform. By that, I mean a Super Mario Galaxy type game. There are still a bunch of lesser Mario games like another Mario Party and probably another Mario sports game. But what other big system selling games are coming out? There may be another Legend of Zelda game, but when? How much interest will another Metroid game bring? Sure, there are some Pokemon games due and probably another Donkey Kong or two, but what else is there to keep the momentum?
If you look at the other two systems, there are quite a few games coming. Grand Theft Auto and Devil May Cry will come out for both systems this year and that should change the momentum. Playstation 3 still has the big boys to come. I would guess the next Final Fantasy will be out this year. There is probably a Kingdom Hearts in the works (though I think this could do very well on the Wii). And the next Metal Gear should be out sometime this decade.
I was watching the Conan movies the other day. I had
not seen them in a long time and decided to record them on my DVR and watch
them. The first one was still enjoyable. The second one sucked.
But as I watched them, I came up with an interesting observation. I would
like to see Conan get stranded on the Planet of the Apes. I think it would
be cool to see Conan with his sword, battling the apes. Granted, they have
the advantage with their guns and numbers, but if you add in all Conan's friends
from the two movies, then you would have a cool battle. Sure would beat
the second Conan movie or any of the Planet of the Ape movies after the first
two. I know it isn't Aliens vs Predator, but it would be cool!
01/13/2008
I am toying with the idea of doing a video version of this blog. I
have to look into a good camera to get and other things, but I think it is a
possibility.
Let me know what you think.
I was watching a show on Animal Planet called Champions of the Wild. It is a show where they highlight someone who is helping a specific species. The show I was watching was on the bonobo, a relative of the chimpanzee. They are considered smarter and look a little different. Anyway, the researcher was talking how she was teaching these apes to understand our language and do rudimentary computer skills. They then showed the bonobo playing Ms. Pac-Man on the computer and doing quite well. It was pretty cool! Wonder what it would have thought of Donkey Kong?
A co-worker told me a hilarious story. He said that years ago, when he worked at Chuck E. Cheese (to give you an idea how long ago, it was when they arcades at Chuck E. Cheese was not full of ticket games, but actual arcade games), that a fellow employee showed him something both disturbing and hilarious. He would go over to the ball pit when it was full of kids and throw a handful of tokens into the ball pit. He would then sit back and watch the kids beat the daylights out of each other as they tried to grab the tokens. I laughed so hard when I heard this as I have taken my kids to Chuck E. Cheese and the place can be crazy. Nothing like a bunch of unsupervised kids running around, hopped up on caffeine and sugar to make a place dangerous. I know you will hear mothers talk about how they are supervising their kids, but when you give the kid a handful of tokens and then sit around and talk to a friend or on a cell phone, you are not supervising. I have been there and there are plenty of kids that run wild.
I saw a game that really caught my eye. It is called Legendary: The Box and it comes out for the XBOX 360 and PC. It deals with a guy who opens Pandora's Box (if you do not know the story, go google it or better yet, read the original) and releases all kinds of mythological creatures like Minotaurs, Griffins and more. While it is a first person shooter, I think the premise is good and it could be a really cool game. Or it could be a lame version of Doom. It does somewhat remind me of a story that I have been doing on my KZ Comics site. It is called Dominant Species and while the basic story is different, the premise is similar. I have some kids use a magic lamp to change the world to a world like Dungeons and Dragons as opposed to Pandora's Box.
EGM just gave Endless Ocean an interesting review. It
received the non game review as they pretty much blasted the game. I
personally think it sounds great, but that is me. I guess most reviewers
have a problem with a non violent game that has a relaxed pace.
01/06/2008
A new year is here! Next month, this website will be 11 years old.
That is a long time in the world of the internet. Maybe I will buy some
Shasta and celebrate with my all Rush mix tape.
Was watching a special on the Animal Planet channel and it made me think of a video game idea that I had a long time ago. It is not a full fledged game idea, but more of a flash game or something small. Maybe something to download on XBOX Live or something. Anyway, the idea of the game is you are a baby sea turtle and you just hatched from your egg and along with dozens of other baby sea turtles, you have to get back to the ocean. Sounds easy? Well, there are numerous creatures that are out to eat you. The first screen has you moving across the beach. There are birds that are running around and eating up turtles. There are also crabs and some other creatures that want to make you into a snack. So you have to try and get past them and to the ocean. The second level has you going through the ocean, where big fish are looking to chomp on you. You have to get through the water and try to get to the sea weed where you can hide. It is just a two level game, but it could be fun to see how many baby turtles you can save.
The kids are loving the Wii. Super Mario Galaxy is as good as advertised. You are pretty much always safe with a Mario game. Legend of Zelda is also a great game. The kids are even loving Donkey Kong racing game, despite the bad reviews.
Even though it is the kid's system, I have ordered my first two Wii games. Yeah, I know that I always talk about how I only pay $10.00 or less for a game. Well, I broke my own rule. The first game I bought was Fishing Master. It is a quirky fishing game from Japan that has you not just fishing, but opening up new areas and doing tasks for your grandpa. And you have a ton of fish to catch as well as strange stuff like boots, cans of cat food and more trash. I have been playing it and really enjoy it.
The other game I have coming is Endless Ocean. It is made by the guys that made Everblue 2, one of my all-time favorite games and it is like a sequel. I cannot wait for it to come as I think it will be awesome! Awesome enough for me to pay full retail for it. Yeah, you heard me right, I am paying full retail for a game. Granted, the retail price is only $29.99.