10/17/2007 - TRAILER - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - Angry Video Game Nerd

October is definitely my favorite month of the year. The summer heat in Arizona begins to dissipate. The year is winding down. And it's Halloween time! That's right, it's the time of year when I can watch horror movies all month and not be considered weird. It's not that horror is my favorite genre, but as a guilty pleasure, it can't be beat! I've become so desensitized, that I watch horror movies now to appreciate it as an art form, rather than as an attempt to get grossed out.

James Rolfe, AKA the Angry Video Game Nerd, is also a horror movie buff and it shows... from his side projects with Cinemassacre.com to his reviews of two horror related games last year at this time: Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street for the NES. They were great game reviews that displayed James' talent as a filmmaker. They even included Freddy and Jason!

Well, this October, James is back with two more horror games: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween for the Atari 2600. Even the trailer for his TCM review is great (this is the Angry Video Game Nerd, so be warned for some harsh language):



The opening narration is a parody of the narration from the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre movie... an unforgettable beginning to a great horror movie. The game review even includes a parody of the Chop Top character from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2! Boy, I can't wait to see his review of Halloween. I hope he has an authentic Michael Myers mask.

Horror movies; video games based on horror movies; reviews of video games based on horror movies; reviews of video games based on horror movies by a nerd; reviews of video games based on horror movies by a nerd who is also a fan of the genre... it doesn't get much better than this.

7/25/2007 - Atari 2600 Double Dragon

If you were to play any Atari 2600 game right now, you'd probably wonder how anyone could play such a primitive game with such simple graphics and sound. Well, believe it or not, a lot of people did in the 80's as it was THE hot console of the day. What made it popular? Well, it basically pioneered the concept of having interchangeable games by using cartridges. Before then, you'd have game systems that played one or two games using dedicated hardware for unique controls. For example, there were shooting games that used a light gun and Pong-type games that used a paddle. The problem was that you'd have to pay a heft price for each kind of game because it was part of the hardware package, and you'd have to swap out one game on the TV for another each time you wanted to play something different. Having a central console with a universal controller that played swappable cartridge games changed all that, offering value and convenience.

What was the 2600 capable of? Well, if the programmers were clever, it could offer a fairly decent arcade translation. So many early arcade games made it over, such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Some 8-bit games made it over too, such as Donkey Kong and Pole Position. The big question is, can it handle a 16-bit game? Well, one attempt at it was the translation of the arcade hit, Double Dragon. How did it do? Surprisingly well:



As you can see, you can make out your fighter (Billy or Jimmy) against some of the classic Double Dragon foes. For example you can distinguish Williams (he wields the knife and bat) from Linda and Abobo, who can throw a barrel. Graphics aside, how do you change a game from having two attack buttons to only one button on the Atari controller? Take away the punch, of course... and I'm guessing you double tap the joystick and press attack to do a jump kick. Double Dragon was never the most complex game out there, but it's still pretty cool that the 2600 managed to get a port of it.