3/14/2009 - GoldenEye: Source

Capcom is really hitting the nail on the head with their remakes of classic games, like Street Fighter and Bionic Commando. In one case, they've completely hand redrawn sprites frame by frame to bump them up to HD quality. And in the other, 3-D models were used to replace the 8-bit sprites. In both cases, however, the classic gameplay was intact, and that's all that really matters to retro gamers like myself. But Capcom also added an extra element that transcended the original gaming platform: online play. And of course, that's so essential now that any game without it is dismissed as being incomplete.

When you think about it, though, there are so many games out there that could benefit from the same kind of upgrades Capcom instilled in their classic franchises. There is one remake that nearly every gamer would love to see, though: GoldenEye of the Nintendo 64. If Nintendo had any sense, they would just plow through all the legal red tape that is preventing the remake, because that would undoubtedly be the game that would have disaffected gamers turning on their Wiis again.

Of course, this has not been lost on the many homebrew game developers and modders out there. The potential threat of lawsuits by Nintendo and Rare are no deterrent to these folks, and that alone should tell you how great an online high-resolution remake of GoldenEye would be. They've presented a trailer of their ongoing work, and it almost brought a tear to this retro gamer's eye:

2/5/2009 - EVO moment 2k7

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 may not be the most balanced fighting game out there, but it may be the most fun fighting game, with only the Super Smash Bros. series being a possible exception. I mean, I'm a Marvel fan and a Capcom fan, so this game was tailor-made for someone like me. Imagine playing with characters like the Hulk, Spider-Man, and Wolverine against Ryu, Chun-Li, and Guile... all with that Capcom polish. To top it all off, you create tag-teams of three with 56 characters to choose from!

With so many characters and so many possibilities of team match-ups, I found it hard to believe that Marvel vs. Capcom 2 could be used in competition, especially for the formal Evolution tournament. Well, I'm glad they included it because it gave us one of the best comebacks put on tape that wasn't performed by Daigo. In fact, it's none other than Justin Wong, who you may know from the Evo Moment #37 video as being the victim of the greatest clutch performance by Daigo. Justin could have been known solely for that video if it wasn't for this one:



Being down 2 characters in a 3 on 3 match must seem like a hopeless situation... but as the video says, NEVER GIVE UP.

11/24/2008 - Gears of War 2 Executions Montage

After Mortal Kombat, I didn't think that video games could get more violent. Boy was I wrong. With high-definition graphics in all the new games, blood splatter would of course get a lot more realistic than the now cartoony gore found in the 2-D Mortal Kombat games. Perhaps no game is a better example of this than Gears of War and its sequel on the XBox 360. When you have a chainsaw attached to your gun, you know you're in for some alien blood letting -- and lots of it! There are videos of Mortal Kombat fatalities, so there has to be a video of a montage of executions from Gears of War 2:



Watch in high quality for the full effect!

11/5/2008 - Spider-Man Web of Shadows-Launch Trailer

Have you ever watched an awesome movie trailer, only to be disappointed with the actual movie? I'm sure we all have. Apparently, the same phenomenon applies to videogame trailers as well. Check out this trailer for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, for example:



It is really one of the best videogame trailers I have ever seen, and would definitely be my pick for Trailer of the Year. The Beethoven music really fits and gives it a whole new level of epicness. The premise of a Venom symbiote infected city seems really interesting, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw that as a future storyline in the comic book.

From all the reviews, however, it sounds like the game is on the mediocre side. Which is really a disappointment to me because I was looking forward to at least renting it.

10/12/2008 - Video Game Typos, Misspellings, and Bad Grammar

A lot of the older video games in the 8-bit generation were originally developed in Japan, and inevitably when they were translated to American audiences, just like the Bill Murray movie, stuff got lost in translation. Either they did not pay the translators enough, or they didn't care. Well, even if they did care, they probably didn't know better, otherwise they wouldn't have hired translators in the first place. To be honest, most gamers probably didn't care about grammatical and spelling errors and worried more about bugs in the game. But for those interested, here is a compilation of some of the more egregious ones:

9/21/2008 - Street Fighter 4 Classic Voiceover

If you wanted a good example of how important sound and music plays a part in video games, check out this video of the upcoming Street Fighter 4. It is played repeatedly but with different Street Fighter sound and music samples from the original Street Fighter to Capcom vs. SNK 2. The Street Fighter samples sound downright primitive, but the Street Fighter Alpha 2 dub is almost seamless. What's impressive about the dubbing of this video though is how well the sound effects match every action that goes on. Every "hadouken" is perfectly timed and well as all the other punches, kicks, and even whiffs. And you gotta love that Ryu theme...

9/10/2008 - Ikaruga - 1 Player - 2 Player game (2 videos)

The videogame Ikaruga was recently put on a Top 10 list of the most difficult videogames of all time. Ikaruga is one of those 2-D shooters that tests your skills in dodging onscreen bullets. Not just a small number of bullets like Neo dodged in the Matrix... no, you have to dodge hundreds if not thousands of bullets to get through the level. Playing as one player in the game is hard enough, but can you imagine if you had to play as two players by yourself? You'd almost need a split personality to independently control two joysticks at a time. I thought that the perfect round of "Through the Fire and Flames" of Guitar Hero was the most impressive feat of gaming I've seen. I was wrong:

9/5/2008 - Lame Video Game Endings

When you complete a video game, especially a hard one, you expect to be rewarded with a decent ending. You want a kind of ending that makes you say to yourself that it was all worth it -- the bottomless pits, the cheap deaths, the game-overs and the continues. Sometimes countless hours of playing result in nothing more than frustration. If you are able to overcome those obstacles only to get some congratulatory text that has misprints, then it makes you feel like your time has been wasted. Not all great games have great endings, however. Super Mario Bros. had a pretty lame ending compared to today's standards, but you forgive it because the game itself is so great and you understand the limits of the programming back then. Now with full-motion video CGI cutscenes and loads of disc space, there is no excuse. I wouldn't go overboard like the Metal Gear Solid games, but something around 10 minutes would probably be enough. And it has to be epic!

It's sort of gamble to get a game and not know whether or not it has a good ending. No video game magazine would publish game endings, after all. So it's a great public service that this series of videos feature notoriously lame video game endings. The fact that some of these games are very bad only makes you more glad you've already seen their endings first, instead of torturing yourself by playing through the games only to be disappointed.

8/26/2008 - Soul Calibur 4 - The Incredible HULK Character

A few weeks ago, I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm really tempted to get the game Soul Calibur 4. I've never really played the other games, but I figure it has to be halfway decent to garner 3 sequels. In truth, I've been itching to get a fighting game, especially one where you can challenge others online. The thing is, I'm desperate for Capcom to release either Street Fighter II HD Remix or Street Fighter IV, but they haven't even given out a release date yet!

In the meantime, I'm looking at these very beautiful screens and amazing videos of Soul Calibur 4 and I have to admit that playing as Darth Vader on the PS3 would be pretty cool. What really intrigues me though is the ability to create your own custom character for use in the game. I've seen all sorts of characters that people have created... mostly based on other video game characters and even comic book characters. Any regular reader of my blog would probably figure out who I would create, but it looks like I have been beaten to the punch:



Hmmm... I don't think I'd have the Hulk's pants as destructible armor, though...

8/2/2008 - Texas Hold'em Poker - iTunes App Store

Here's another video of a new application on the iPhone/iPod Touch. I'm not featuring it just because it's an amazing game of Texas Hold'em. Although that alone might warrant it. I mean, when I first heard about games being sold on the App Store, never did I imagine a game like this with full-motion video. It's not completely necessary, especially for a Poker game. But it makes for a fantastic presentation, and it shows off the capabilities of the iPhone well. But what makes this video worth watching is what happens during the demonstration. It shows that Texas Hold'em is really a game of luck after all.

7/22/2008 - Street Fighter IV anime clip

It's funny... I'm so anticipating the release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (let's call it Street Fighter II HD from now on), is Street Fighter IV itself. The thing is, even though IV will be so much more technically advanced than II, having 3D graphics and all, I'm still looking forward to SF2HD more because it's a game I'm so familiar with having played it for years. And now with the ability of playing others online to see if my old school skills are still up to snuff makes me want to develop my thumb callous all over again before the game's release.

I mean it's GREAT that SF4 will still have somewhat of a nostalgia feel in that the gameplay will still be in 2D and the inclusion of the original 12 World Warriors helps too. See, Capcom is definitely catering to us old school gamers with the Street Fighter and Mega Man franchises. I mean, the fact that they would make a Mega Man 9 with 8-bit graphics is basically a love letter to me... and I'm ready with the roses and champagne.

Even though I'm looking forward to SF2HD more, Capcom released something a few weeks ago that brought SF4 back to my attention. It's a little anime cutscene that will be included in the home versions of the game. It depicts a fight between Akuma and Ryu, and of course it is epic. It's not something totally different than the excellent Street Fighter II Movie (anime), but the inclusion of Ryu's stage music made me drool... literally:



You know what's sad, though? Given the recent news that there will be no Ryu or Ken in the next Street Fighter live-action movie, this little anime clip is guaranteed to be better than the upcoming movie. It's also light years ahead of the 1994 Van Damme embarrassment of a movie.

7/16/2008 - Frying an Egg on a GeForce 9800 GX2 Graphics Card

I don't understand the need for a dedicated gaming PC in today's gaming environment. Back when gaming consoles could only do 2-D graphics and no online connectivity, I could understand the lure of gaming on a PC that could get online and could do 3-D. But ever since the Dreamcast, all that has changed. Video game consoles now can push polygons just about as well as the latest gaming PCs. It's amazing to me how many people complained about the launch price of the Playstation 3 being $600, and yet nobody decries the cost of Alienware hardware that run into the thousands of dollars. I guess if you had an unlimited income source and wanted the absolute "best", there's something for you out there.

I have to say, though, that it never ceases to amaze me how hot the processors of these machines can get. The only thing that is generating the heat is the resistance of electrical impulses. So the faster the processor, the greater the number of electrical impulses per second, and thus the hotter the processor. How hot can the latest processors get these days? "Hot enough to fry an egg" is always a good phrase to test:

6/30/2008 - Mega Man 2 Megamix

I apologize if I'm repetitive about my professed love for the Mega Man 2 soundtrack, my absolute favorite video game soundtrack of all time. The Street Fighter II soundtrack is fantastic too, but it's because I just don't like the Dhalsim and Sagat stage music that puts it a close second. If you don't count Dr. Wily Stage 3 and 4 as having music (it's not music by my stretch of the imagination anyway), then EVERY stage of Mega Man 2 has good if not great music. I can easily say that Dr. Wily Stage 1 and 2 is my favorite video game music track of all time, and not just that, it's one of my favorite pieces of music in general. I play the soundtrack on a loop at work and if someone comes in my office and wonders what that music is, I just say that it's pure 8-bit goodness. I recently found one of the best remixes of the soundtrack on YouTube and it's a shame that the creator disabled embedding on the video... here's the link, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-k4XZZjrM8

6/29/2008 - 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Trailer

Here's one of those "so bad it's good" videos... or maybe it's one of those "what were they thinking?" videos. I guess you can say it's both. Apparently, they're trying to make a video game based on the rapper 50 Cent. Is it a rhythm-based game like Guitar Hero Aerosmith? No. That would make too much sense. Instead, make way for 50 Cent, "soldier of one" in the war on terror! Or is it a war against a fellow rapper in the Middle East? Who the hell knows? If anyone can make heads or tails out of this game trailer, please e-mail me:



As far as games using a likeness-based license, this looks even more ridiculous than Shaq-Fu... and I didn't think that would be possible.

5/21/2008 - Megaman 3 with vocal audio

While I think Mega Man 2 had the best soundtrack of the series (and perhaps the best videogame soundtrack in general), Mega Man 3 has a pretty awesome soundtrack as well. As with many great videogame soundtracks, you often find yourself humming a particular theme or two... maybe in the shower or while driving. Well, what if you could replace the music in a videogame with vocal humming and vocal sound effects? You get something that's kind of weird, but totally awesome:



I appreciate the fact that they used my favorite track from Mega Man 3, the Snake Man stage.

Update to yesterday's post: The Angry Video Game Nerd has been reinstated to YouTube! Hooray! Now if they can just get PlayItBogart and Armake21 back.

4/5/2008 - Super Polystation II in Kazakhstan

Ashens may be the king of pirated software and hardware demonstrations, but this guy comes close. "Dziekuje" claims to be from Kazakhstan and he's showing off the Super Polystation II in this video:



It almost seems natural that a Borat-like character would be the one to review this turkey. Just look at the games... they're obvious rip-offs of games like Mega Man and Double Dragon with the faces of the main characters replaced with Mario! It's actually pretty hilarious when you see it in action. The thing is, we here in the U.S. are so used to seeing the official sprites that we can't imagine how people in third-world countries would view these games when watching them for the very first time. In fact, perhaps having the main character be someone without a beard or mustache would be sacrilege for them!

3/22/2008 - Trism : Upcoming iPhone Game

One of the most exciting prospects of the iPhone/iPod Touch SDK is that games will soon be available for the platform and you know I'm all about games. I haven't had a portable system since the original Gameboy and I'm really looking forward to see what I'll be able to download for my iPod Touch. Now you may ask how can you have any games on a system without buttons? Well, the games themselves won't be traditional games that you'd see on the PSP or even the Nintendo DS. These would have to be unique games that takes advantage of the unique features of the iPhone/iPod Touch: the touchscreen and the accelerometer. One such game would be Trism, demonstrated in this video:



Boy, does that look cool. Oh, and remember, future developers... the iPhone/iPod Touch has WiFi!

3/10/2008 - TSB: Eli Manning to Tyree and Burress

It has been argued that a 1991 football game, Tecmo Super Bowl for the old Nintendo Entertainment System is the greatest football videogame of all time. I'm not a sports videogame fan, so I can't render a judgment. But I find it funny that after all these years, and all these releases of Madden football games by EA later, that people still play a 17-year old game that is so technically inferior to anything available today. Being a retro gamer, however, I can understand that mentality. Games today are so overloaded with complicated control schemes and production values that often overshadow gameplay that these games of the past still captivate a wide audience because of they're easy to pick up and play and are just plain fun.

The following for Tecmo Super Bowl is so large that modders have actually hacked the game so that the current roster can be represented. In fact, here's footage from an updated version of the game that actually recreates the two winning passes from this past Superbowl between the Patriots and the Giants:



Now this brings up another point... why, with the online functionality available today, must they release version after version of the same sports games with updated rosters and only minor changes to the gameplay? If they could just release patches for sports games that include the current roster and statistics, then you wouldn't have to buy a new disc year after year. I mean, if they can do it for a 17-year old NES game, surely they can they can figure it out for X-Box Live.

2/29/2008 - GAMERS ANONYMOUS

Since I'll be attending the Iron Man of Gaming 2008, I figured the best way to get back into the hardcore gaming community was to get a first-person shooter, so I went ahead and bought Call of Duty 4. I was reluctant to do so because I knew what would happen. The last time I rented a FPS, it was Resistance and I played it so much that the callous on my thumb reappeared (it appeared the first time when I was heavy into the Street Fighter games back in the SNES days).

The single-player campaign in Resistance was quite long, and the challenge level gradually got higher to where the last levels would drive you insane. And that's the perfect mix: first, it was a rental game, so I wanted desperately to finish it before I had to return it; second, it was a rewarding game... I mean the gameplay was tight and had a great presentation quality; and third, the challenging nature of the later levels would guarantee you would have to play them over and over again. Finally, add the fact that I am a type-A personality and you get one addicted player. Don't get me wrong... it was a good game and everything... it's just that playing the game for over six hours straight without even a restroom break probably wasn't very healthy.

After just two nights of playing Call of Duty 4, though, I did beat the single-player campaign (the reviews are right about its short nature). So it doesn't look like I'll be starving myself by playing this game. Although, I have yet to really get into the online multiplayer mode... so there's still a chance that I might have to enter a "gamers anonymous" program like in this skit:

2/6/2008 - Funny Madden Glitch

Hmmm... this glitch on a Madden football game reminds me of that critical Superbowl play where the Patriots could not sack Eli Manning before his throw to Tyree. Sorry, I just couldn't resist.