Archive for Gaming

2 February, 2009 | No comments

A Great NES Demake

This is just too nifty. I hope to find a ROM soon. Great job and unique control idea. Anyone actually played it?

26 January, 2009 | No comments

Legend of Kage 2

So I just picked up Legend of Kage 2 for the DS ($9.99 new at Gamestop of all places, it was irresistible). While it is debatable whether the original was a classic, you cannot deny that you do not forget it once you play it. With Kage jumping to impossible heights and chucking shurikens in all directions, he just kills with reckless abandon. Just like a true ninja.

Well Kage 2 is one of the truest updates of such an old title, truest meaning that it keeps everything that made Kage what it was and simply applied modern idea paint to it. I have not fully decided if this is good or bad, but I am having fun. The stages offer a wealth of one-hit kill enemies so you are rarely stopping to deal with enemies, instead it’s all about running super fast slashing whatever is unfortunate enough to fall into your path. All of the combat skills learned in the game (surprisingly more than I expected) are saved for very classic boss fights, all about accuracy and patterns.

Replay is in the form of 2 playable characters, a variety of magic, and difficulties. Kage 2 rounds this out with an art gallery that feels like an achievement system. This does not break any new ground, but is instead impressive in its unerring cling to an older school of gaming.

19 January, 2009 | No comments

VTECH Talking Baseball

Ah, Vtech Talking Baseball was a big part of my childhood. The Eagles and the Buffalos had some serious down and out games in my day. This handheld LCD game offered a lot for something so simple. The voice for one went non-stop; it described everything that was happening. This greatly assisted my young imagination. Secondly, and most important, Vtech Talking Baseball allows for 2 players simultaneous. This is pretty much the only LCD game I can remember having that.

 

Vtech Talking Baseball actually entered my nostalgic mind about 2 weeks ago. At the time I began searching EBay and whatnot, but I could not remember anything about the game other than the shape and color (these are not great search variables). Someone must have known what I was searching and left it for me at the Goodwill. I have not gone in that particular store in over a year so it had a definite serendipitous quality to it. Not only was the Baseball of my youth on the shelf, but also its Football twin. The cherry topping off this Goodwill visit was a Banjo Kazooie VHS that was a pre-release promo (not sure what I will be doing with this video).

 

After getting home I slammed batteries in and heard once again that familiar stilted voice. I was amazed that the condition and response in a game so many years old. I then moved the batteries to the Vtech Talking Football; here I was not so fortunate. It fired right up, I could see players on the field, but upon starting the game the first play never moved and the voice let out a steady ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO it was special in its own way. I will investigate its problem later.

 

Vtech did make many other LCD games, some with voice, but only 2 had this particular case style. You can check out the other ones here.

18 January, 2009 | No comments

Herzog Zwei, Vertical Force, and a surprise…

Yesterday an eagerly awaited package arrived. Herzog Zwei (for the Genesis) and Vertical Force for Virtual Boy. Herzog Zwei is said by many to be the first RTS and also does many things right. I am just now getting the basics of control which are amazingly streamlined and allow you to manage alot with little input. Vertical Force is a vertical shooter with nothing special so far, but I shall see. The sweet bonus with these games was a pack of Nintendo GamePack cards from 1989. Should I open them?

16 January, 2009 | No comments

GOG RPG Sale

This weekend on GOG.com (Good Old Games) you can grab games like the original Fallout for 15% off of the already low prices of GOG.

By using the promotional code “PROMO1″ during checkout, you can get 15% off any and all of the following RPGs: Arx Fatali, Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Gothic, Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus, Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, Sacred Gold, Stonekeep.

Good until Jan 19th, get while the gettings good.

14 October, 2008 | No comments

Please Play World of Goo!

Go to http://2dboy.com/ and check it out.

I think this is my favorite game I have played this year. Belongs with the wealth of creative new games we are experiencing, such as Portal and Braid. Games that are wonderfully smart and iterate on a simple concept in a way that is just pure bliss.

Let me know what you think. Look for a full review soon on LANgaming.net

10 March, 2008 | No comments

While I Was Out

Oh yeah, check out that sweet 16. TG 16 that is! This thing rocks with the most awesome carts called Hu-Cards. That and the graphics are pretty impressive. What it is lacking though is more decent games to play on it. But those will come in time.

Another addition to my growing adopted family is the Sega Master System. This too is in need of some better games, but the built in Jungle Hunt is great, for some reason I just LOVE the Light Phaser (Zapper to the uninitiated). What games do I pick up for these? That is the question…

6 January, 2008 | No comments

Here Comes Speed Racer

Why has there never been a great Speed Racer game? You have action, adventure, a car full of cool abilities, and a large cast of villains including plenty of generic goons. How could such an iconic character have such few and stumbling attempts into the gaming world? The reason why is that up until this point Speed Racer has been forced to fit into preexisting genres of gaming.

Speed Racer is not a platformer, but has on foot battling sequences. Speed Racer is not a racing game in the sense that Need for Speed or Forza are racing games. Speed Racer exists in an area that has never been considered, and that is an adventure racer.

By adventure racer I mean a racing game that is lacking laps around the same course. This is a point A to point Z race with interesting challenges presented at all of the letters in between. One minute you are utilizing your rotary saws as enemy cars are slamming you off the path in a forest and next you are auto-jack jumping over crevices along craggy mountain tops.

In addition to course challenges I see battles with over cars. By battles I do not mean Twisted Metal, but instead a challenge in driving wit and skill. Perhaps a bar could appear on screen representing this and as you pass, make headway, and navigate the various obstacles your driving mettle “defeats” the opponent making them no longer a threat in the race. Not all racers could be taken out in this fashion however, boss fights too should make an appearance. If you do not think that boss fights should exist in a Speed Racer race you have never seen “The Race Against the Mammoth Car” this episode perfectly shows how such a boss fight could occur.

Adventure races also need not be over in any short amount of time. Some of Speed’s races have lasted well over a day, so one adventure race taking place over several hours would not be a fault. All that would be necessary to make these races tolerable would be some Save/Checkpoints throughout the course. This would give time to the variety of terrain types I mentioned earlier to be realized.

One balancing act in a speed racer game is that of the cars abilities. I feel that giving a player a limited number of uses of most power ups take the player out of the Mach 5 and forces the realization that this is a video game. Instead a meter or each ability could exist that recharges when the ability is not in use. This method gives the player the option to use it whenever they feel the ability is needed, but still gives the need to manage the resource. As for one use items (pickups) you could call in Trixie in her helicopter to drop smoke bombs and such.

While any outside the car moment could be handled with cut scenes, various other gaming options could be available depending on the developers choice. Once such side mission could involve Spritle and Chim-Chim in a stealth mode sneaking aboard any one of the many vehicles they have been stowaways on. Trixie helicopter could support numerous flying challenges. Most importantly is Speed Racer’s sweet karate abilities could make a nice beat’em up segment. Truthfully all of this is optional because the variety of gameplay options viable in the driving segment should be strong enough to require no other diversion.

Ultimately the reason I am spilling out the needs of a new Speed Racer is twofold. First never has a great Speed Racer title been released. Secondly, the Speed Racer live action movie is in production and while I have faith in the movie coming out true to the source material I fear the inevitable tie-in game. This is a real chance for a movie game to shine. Lets hope it does so.

Now since I have never had the ability to play any of the Speed Racer games I hit the Digital Press forums to get some opinions:

(InsaneDavid)…The best of them is the PlayStation release. It plays like a poor man’s Ridge Racer but it’s still a lot of fun if you’re a Speed Racer / MachGoGoGo fan.

(klausien)…I had heard the SNES game was also awful, but nothing could have prepared me for how bad it really was. It is so framey that its almost totally unplayable. I couldn’t believe my eyes considering that it really didn’t look that bad in screenshots. I haven’t put much time into it.

(roushimsx) …I agree that the playstation one was probably the best. It’s seriously short and obscenely easy, but it’s still fun for a day or two while you learn all of the short cuts.

Runner up would probably be the PC version (the Genesis version was a seriously watered down version of it), though it hasn’t aged terribly well. Back when it came out, it sure was awesome (I think I still have the box for it somewhere)

After that would be the SNES release. The driving segments were quite terrible and the side scrolling bits weren’t very well done either

Well here is to hoping that someone in the development community is listening. I really hope that one day a video game will allow me to live my powerful Mach 5 dreams, because until then I will have to continue getting by in my Geo Metro or as I call it 3 Cylinders of Fury.

6 January, 2008 | 2 comments

Intro

Greetings, I am James Roberts. I wanted to start writing an article here on LANGaming.Net to simply express views and ideas I have about gaming, gamers, and the industry in general. However, I thought it might be in my best interest to first share with you my background of gaming as well as certain truths that hold true in my version of reality. Basically this is a disclaimer for any tomfoolery or offending comments that probably will ensue down the road.

The Atari 2600 was my first exposure to gaming (I hope the same is true for some of you reading this, I do not need to feel any older than I am). My parents had the Atari in their bedroom where they would indulge is sessions of Space Invaders. While wearing He-man underroos I came of an age that I could appreciate this interactive entertainment. I can remember spending hours attempting to understand the games that were missing books and manuals usually with my Voltron record as a soundtrack. To this day I have no idea what was the purpose of Haunted House, and I know that I can totally own I Want My Mommy. Gaining enough lives in Laser Blast so that I could run to the bathroom without getting game over was probably a sign of things to come. I am sure at least some of you can remember growing up with the rich cousins or friends (unless you are the rich cousin or friend, in that case we only liked you for your toys). These cousins are who granted me my first real access and exposure to the NES. Here I was sitting with the Haunted House conundrum only to be suddenly thrust into the likes of Metroid, and Zelda. I did not even know where to begin. Fortunately there was the OLDER KID; yes that early teen that would grace you with their presence to systematically bring the pain to any game while the young ones looked on like wide eyed Ewoks in awe of C-3PO. This guy was so good I can remember him laying waste to games with which even today I struggle. Not only did I see him defeat Ghosts n’ Goblins, but I can swear to this day that I remember him having a completed Final Fantasy save file where the entire party were White Mages. OLDER KID taught me what real gaming was with a plethora of magazines and guides, and the sheer persistence to understand the game and systematically take it down.

Eventually I got a NES to call my very own along with some seriously ball-busting games. It seems that my parents had a knack for picking up some very challenging titles. No Mario present here, instead I was handed titles like Journey to Silius and Kabuki Quantum Fighter from the outset. While I honestly never beat many of the titles from my youth I did overcome many obstacles and I owe it to them for my patience and abilities that various titles through out the years have pressed without finding a breaking point only a string of colorful language. During my teen years an EGM in hand was a very solid ice-breaker for many conversations that have since turned into lifelong friendships. This is one of the more important elements to gaming as a whole, the sense of community that it provides. During the teens I discovered the RPG and the greatest of all 16-bit genres the 2D Fighter. To this day I think the term quarter circle should be replaced by Hadoken in all geometric literature. From this point I entered into the realm of PC gaming. Co-op games of Doom over a 14.4 baud modem were the pinnacle of gaming as far as I was concerned. Then came the first Unreal which was had the best graphics ever on my sweet Viper 770 graphics card. However, Tribes for me is still the most original and enjoyable FPS today with Unreal Tournament following at a close second. Since then I worshipped at the black throne of Sony as the PS2 seemed to grant my every gaming wish (and it continues to do so, God of War II ‘nuff said). My tastes during the PS2 generation mainly focused on titles with strong artistic merit. This includes the Silent Hill and afore mentioned God of War Series, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, God Hand as well as numerous others. I am also a bit of a sucker for musical games like Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero, and a little DDR. As of now the newest system in my arsenal is the Magnificent, Incredible, (and a series of other positive adjectives) Nintendo DS. Yes I have yet to take the next gen plunge because all of my negative 360 talk early on has been thrown in my face with recent offerings like Gears of War. Also the much anticipated Wii has shown me little more then endless collections of minigames and sloppy ports. The PS3, well something “could” happen. Now I sit in front of a new PC preparing for the next LAG LAN party this weekend. To my left sit an assortment of classic consoles NES, Genesis, etc… To my back stands a 5ft. cardboard Mario like the Sword of Damocles assuring you that I will never weave lies in the tapestry of my opinions.

Facts and Thoughts:Fact: If I played every game half as well as I trash talked I would be unstoppable. But then where would the fun be?

Thought: A Gamecube and PS2 orgy would result in the perfect game controller.