In my last post, I talked about how I have a horrible compulsion to play long video game series spanning multiple console generations in strict chronological order. Before I begin this post, however, I should really explain why this is necessary for big-name series such as Mega Man.

To put it simply, I never had a NES. A lot of gamers my age who started when I did (late 80s/early 90s) had the NES as the staple of their early gaming years, particularly in America where it sold so phenomenally. Consequentially, a lot of underage gamers who like acting like Internet Tough Guys on forums rag on people who haven’t played certain NES franchises because “everyone had a NES.”

What they don’t seem to take into account is that we had console wars back then, too – and I was young and dumb enough to believe they meant anything. After my initial years with a green-screen PC that could only display ascii and a ZX Spectrum 81, I got a Mega Drive (that’s Genesis to our colonial friends) for my birthday and became a loyal Sega hound-dog. I hated anything Nintendo and wouldn’t even stand for watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show on TV. They were the devil, they were to be detested and shunned. Everyone knew Sonic was better anyway, right? … right??
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The last Street Fighter movie was terrible, but at least it made an effort to present the material as is. We got to see Guile do the somersault, we got to see Zangief and Honda have an impromptu wrestling/sumo match, hell, we even got to see a half-assed hadouken (although it’s more or less a consensus that the Ryu/Ken duo was the worst of it). But at least we saw the characters, as ridiculous as they may seem, to resemble the characters they were supposed to portray. And lambast me if you will but I still think that Raul Julia made a very convincing M. Bison.

Fast forward to NOW, with another upcoming Street Fighter movie, one that centers on everyone’s favorite thunder-thighed Chinese beauty, Chun Li. And it sounds easy enough, right? Just give a chinese actress her costume, those cute bun-things on her hair, and a license to kick the shit out of people. Doesn’t even have to be Bison, it can be just thugs.

Except we get this.

M.Bison is a ruthless businessman with a beard instead of the psychotic megalomaniac in a general’s suit and cape like he should be.Vega is just a thug in a mask. Balrog is a bald, black dude with a bazooka who’s really really strong.

I hate you, Hollywood. I hate you. I wish I could hate you to death.

Here we have the newest trailer for “Arkham Asylum” the latest Batman game. I’m a comic book fan myself, so I am very much looking forward to this game. The tone seems to be right for a nice grimdark Batman game, it includes most of his fantastic rouges gallery and it is based off of the comics.

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Hey guys and gals, welcome Slurry Pete’s Video Review. Why slurry? Because I tend to slur my words and get things nice and wet. Haha, wet.

Enjoy!

I’ve been playing New Order in my head for like a week now.. jeez.

Microsoft Sam loves video games, especially old ones. Join him each week as he reviews his favorite classic games. This week he reviews Wheel of Fortune for the NES.

You mean a show about videogames that doesn’t degrade you while you watch? Yes!

After barely standing for two minutes of the shit in that project Yahtzee just got involved in, I was compelled to share with Gamer Blag one of the more respectable videogame webseries on the Internet.

Hosted by Jason Hall, former CEO of Monolith Productions (Blood, No One Lives Forever,  F.E.A.R.), and aided by an actual production team and sizable budget, the show gives the easy fallback of Internet in-joke humor a wide berth. This quality gives the unique impression that the show actually has writers. In every five-to-fifteen minute episode, Jace goes to meet celebrities both from television and videogames, and occasionally getting a sneak peek or exclusive even (see the first episode for actual Duke Nukem Forever footage) while wandering around the dev offices. Surprisingly, while listening to the interviews with the likes of Cliff Bleszinski, John Smedley, Ted Price, Todd Hollenshead and John Carmack, you might actually learn something, if you can get over the sometimes obviously scripted, but still funny, jokes (see episodes 4 and 8 for Tay Zonday and Jack Thompson, respectively). Okay, well I guess that does play on the bad Internet jokes a little. But I’d think Jace’s hot sauce competition with Paul Steed makes up for it.

But if anything stops it from being just some other bad show about videogames, it’s the loads of (usually B-list) celebrities that show up for interviews and fun bullshit. Actor Gary Graham is a regular, and in other episodes are appearances by Vida Guerra, Lou Ferrigno,  Ice-T, Dan Roebuck, Corey Feldman, and Wendy McLendon-Covey.

But really, don’t take my word for it, I’m no good with words and know nothing of your taste in entertainment. You can check out all of their Season 1 episodes, and the Holiday episodes coming out now, at their site on crackle.com.

MadWorld Uncensored Trailer. Here’s what you really need to know: it’s super violent, it’s got the black-and-white cel-shaded noir thing going on about it, and it looks like it plays like God Hand. Yes, with the third-person perspective and everything. And yes, you do get to punch people with a juiced-up arm – but instead of having one with the power of a god,  you’ll be throwing down with a robotic arm that has a chainsaw attachment. And with it, you’ll be cutting up everything from random thugs to flipped-out ninjas.

Context-sensitive kills, God Hand-esque combat, and the freedom to use your chainsaw on anyone. Platinum Games, you’re doing something right.

You can view the awesome trailer here.

So with all the hullabaloo going around about LittleBigPlanet, one would assume that the stellar title was a flop. Maybe, but that doesn’t mean that MediaMolecule or Sony are giving up on it.

The developer and publisher combo are working ’round the clock it seems to make sure they fix the game according to your standards. They just released the latest update, 1.07, with the following features:

Play
New Search Modes: More ways to find interesting levels like Most Hearted, Highest Rated and Busiest!

In-game Store: Browse, buy and play downloadable content, such as the soon-to-be-released Metal Gear Solid packs, without needing to go to the PlayStation Store

Create
Save As: Save your level to a different slot on the moon while mid-edit.

Share
Keyboard text chat: Plug a standard USB keyboard into your PS3 and just start typing. Or, press Tab on your keyboard to go straight to the standard PS3 text entry screen.

Image export: save the photos you take in game to your hard drive.

General fixes, polishing and improvements, including:

• Fixed “Wheel of death” bug where Sackboy could get stuck endlessly respawning out of a checkpoint
• Better support for third party controllers
• Fixed stretch Sackboy arms
• General server improvements and optimization
• Improved the corner (vertex) editing tool
• Improvements to how Popit deals with complex shapes
• Improved Sackboy animation and made it harder to slap accidentally while acting
• Fixed lights so they don’t forget their colour
• If anything I can say this cab is rare
• Improved Online multiplayer level selection
• And I yelled to the cabbie ‘Yo homes smell ya later’
• I looked at my kingdom
• I was finally there
• To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air

That’s a pretty hefty update and nicely rounds out the game to what it probably should have been upon release. Better late than never, I suppose.

You probably noticed the mention of the upcoming ” Metal Gear Solid packs”, and if not here, then you’ve likely seen the video:

Aside from being hilarious, there’s a lot here that’s apt to improve the game. The inclusion of the paintball gun is sure to open up all new levels of run-and-gun creativity, although it’s bound to become overused. The health meter also looks to be an interesting inclusion, sure to add greater enemy variety.

It’s a step in the right direction. My only complaint is that I’ll have to pay for something that really should have been there in the first place.

Oh, well.

Some people have been having trouble getting the hang of the basics of the game. Seeing as the game’s documentation is entirely in Japanese, I can’t blame them. It seems, however that a fellow, not myself, has made a video documenting said basics. It’s fairly thorough and worth a watch.

Pretty nice. Personally, I use the Classic controller and set ‘R’ to AC to make supers a little easier without occasionally accidentally dashing. I also set ‘L’ to ABCP, for some crashin’ good times.

If you’re curious about the menus, it goes:

• Arcade
• Versus (Grayed out if you don’t have another controller on)
• Survival
• Time Attack
• Training
• Rankings
• Options
• Store
• Extras
• Minigames

Sometimes you can hear the characters say what the modes are in Engrish, so just give a listen.

Now, I’d like to talk about the boss, however this could be a major spoiler for some. If you don’t want to know, don’t read on.

- SPOILERS -

Here’s a nice video of the final boss. It’s a cakewalk until you get to the final form, then it’s all rape and grab, all the time.

It sure is nice to see Okami getting a fair nod despite the fact that Clover’s dissolved. With the inclusion of Batsu, Viewtiful Joe, and Megaman Volnutt, this will definitely breathe new life into my long-dead Nintendo Wii, if it’s ever released here.

In the end, I still can’t help but feel Capcom’s slapping me in the face with the inclusion of these Clover characters. That slap is a weighted strike emphasized by Yami’s inclusion as the boss character. They acknowledge those games were fantastic, and in spite of the poor sales, include those wonderful characters anyway, as if to say, “Look what you missed! Now it’s gone you dumb bastard!”

Excuse me for saying it, but Fuck You, Capcom. I capitalize those letters because you so boldly chose to close the studio and gripped so tightly to the franchise holdings and benefits. I bought those games–with money–and loved them, and you spat in my stricken face, twisted by your decisions. I know it’s a recession, and I know Clover seemed like it wasn’t a monetary asset, but ruination is a justified end when dignity and inventiveness is returned to our beloved medium. Where’s the honor?

I damn myself, for I enjoy TvC furtively. It is a very good game–a guilty pleasure.

I apologize.

Looks like Yahtzee and two guys nobody has ever heard of are aspiring to greater heights. I dunno what to think about this episode. It seems to drag on a bit. Maybe the series will get better as time goes on.

[From Gamedamage.net]