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Some artistic gamers in Melbourne, Australia have put together an installment of Tetris along an unknown freeway. This is the best use of milk crates since my freshmen year in college!
Read More 
| Wooster Collective
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Bit Generations Site Up (in Japanese)
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile, Retro,
We reported earlier on how Japanese members of Club Nintendo (those lucky bastards!) would be able to test the latest in retro-GBA games, the Bit Generation Series. It seems that the series is getting more serious, and perhaps the testing is done! - Nintendo of Japan has just launched the official site for Bit Generations, which can be found here. The good news is it’s got some pretty pictures and icons for the new games. The bad news, of course, is that you won’t be able to read it unless you can read Japanese.
According to Joystiq, the site says that you’ll be able to purchase the first set of games for about $17 (so look for it in that price range on eBay!), on July 17th, and the second set will show up about 2 weeks later for the same price. Here’s hoping that these games don’t have a ton of Japanese menus. It looks like they could be great fun to try out once they make it over the Pacific.
Read More | Joystiq.com
Superstitious people believe that there is a curse that affects people involved in the various Superman movies and television shows. However, another curse seems to plague the Superman license, and that curse stipulates that there can not be a good Superman game. Siliconera takes a look at the worst offenders. These include Superman adaptations on the Atari 2600, NES, Genesis, and possibly the worst Superman game of all time, Superman 64 on the Nintendo 64. Other attempts have been made; while not superlative efforts, they are also not as egregiously bad as those on the list. Two upcoming games will try and buck the trend. Justice League Heroes, an action RPG in the mold of X-Men Legends, and of course, the movie tie-in, Superman Returns. Superman Returns was initially scheduled to be released in time for the movie’s release, but suffered an embarrassing three month delay. Perhaps the game curse has already struck.
Read More | Siliconera
The Birth Of Grand Theft Auto
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Culture, PC, Retro, Simulation,
The original Grand Theft Auto has been credited for largely defining the “sandbox game.” Edge UK has a retrospective on its development, and it is interesting to note the combination of will and serendipity that enabled the game to come about.
The origins of the game tie to their attempts to build out a living city; originally this was to be represented in a 3D isometric view, similar to the concurrent game Syndicate Wars. However, performance problems would force the developers away from this view. The top-down view, interestingly, would be inspired by the side-scrolling Clockwork Knight from Sega.
Gamers can clearly see the core of the original game in the sequels. However, DMA wanted the original to be much more of a city simulation, with “buses following routes, people getting on and off, traffic lights working properly, a rail network.” While a number of the items made it into the game, others would have to wait for future technology, or would be dropped altogether. One of the dropped ideas was too make the game more horror themed, which would have truly changed the complexion of the series.
Other travails include rebuilding the game tiles for the Playstation version of the game, and convincing publishers to take a chance on its release. The article is an interesting rundown on one of the most influential game series of the past decade.
Read More | Edge Online
Metal Slug Does Well in 3D
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, PlayStation 2, Retro, Reviews, Third Person Shooters,
When SNK / Neo-Geo fans heard that their darling franchise Metal Slug was going 3D, the general consensus was “Nothing good can come of this”. With a game that focused on Contra-esque shoot-anything-that-moves game-play and meticulously drawn, gorgeously animated 2D sprites, a lot of fans thought the announcement of a 3rd-person Metal Slug shooter was the death knell for the series.
Well, there aren’t a ton of reviews in yet, but there’s a hint of good news for fans. Famitsu, the Japanese gaming magazine recently gave the 3D translation straight 7’s (i.e., a total score of 28 out of 40) which is quite respectable for that particular publication. So far, this is the only review of the game posted (and it’s of the Japanese version), but it’s still a glimmer of hope for everyone who couldn’t imagine Metal Slug taking on an extra dimension.
Read More | NeoGeoForLife.com Forums via ArsTechnica Opposable Thumbs
Do you have a desire to play your original NES games on the go? Can’t be tasked with remembering where you put all those tiny cartridges Nintendo has re-released your favorites on? Ben Heck has got the solution for you! Ben has been known previously for his portable reincarnations of the NES, PSOne, and the Nintendo 64. Ben claimed his fame by taking the guts of your “sit on the TV stand consoles”, and placing them into custom made portable enclosures! His latest creation is a portable NES known as the nPod. The unit runs off your original NES cartridges and is roughly the thickness of two stacked cartridges. The nPod includes a headphone jack and runs off 4 AA batteries. While this thing is amazing and would let me get more use out of the 15 or so NES cartridges at home, I’ll be sticking with my DS Lite. However if this gets your gaming thumbs twitching, then shoot Ben an email, since he is potentially selling these for around $250.
Read More | Ben Heck
Top Ten Video Game Weapons
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: First Person Shooters, Internet, Nintendo, PC, PlayStation 2, Retro, Xbox, Xbox 360,
GameTrailers.com put together a quick video of the Top Ten Video Game Weapons on YouTube. The list ranges across the past decade of gaming, and includes some of my favorite video game weapons. The weapons on the list aren’t just limited to shooters, as you will find items like the “red shell” from Mario Kart, as well as a throwback to the original Metroid’s Ice Beam. The list does a good job of including at least a few of everyone’s favorites, but what changes would you make to the list? Sniper rifle, anyone?
Read More | Game Trailers
Myst Resurrected: Rand Miller on Uru Live
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: MMORPG, PC, Retro,
The Myst series has had somewhat of a fractured history; the original game sold millions of copies, and really helped usher in the age of the CD-ROM drive. The follow-up, Riven also did well as a sequel, but after that, the series kind of lost its way. While all of the sequels received decent reviews, it seemed gamers were moving away from adventure and puzzle style games to the more immediately gratifying first person shooters. Of the later follow-ups, the only game produced by Cyan was Uru: Ages Beyond Myst and its online component, Uru Live. Uru Live launched without several of its touted features, and the servers were killed only months later. However, Live has received a new lease on life with the announced partnership between Cyan and GameTap. Gamasutra was able to talk with Rand Miller about this development and the Myst franchise in general.
Miller’s comments on online gaming are interesting; he says, “…our plan for Uru was… to continue to stream those ages those pieces on a regular basis so that your adventure never ended.” He follows up by saying, “We look at online gaming different from everyone else does… What people want is content… what people want is new stuff all the time.” How is what Uru Live is doing any different from the additional content placed in other massively multiplayer online RPGs? The pace of the content launches might be faster, but it seems like it would be difficult to maintain that pace.
It’s interesting that GameTap is trying to resurrect the game, but how deep does their commitment run? Uru Live doesn’t seem to be a typical MMORPG, but will their co-operative puzzle solving and community interaction be able to compete with the more action-oriented online games on the market?
Read More | Gamasutra
Day of the Tentacle To Go!: ScummVM for the PSP Released
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Mods/Hacks, PSP, Retro,
It’s been a good week for retro game fanatics with PSPs! Earlier, we reported on news from SEGA that they’ll be releasing a compilation of 28 of the best Genesis games for the PSP. And now, MaxConsole is reporting that a new build of ScummVM (which allows you to play games made with Lucasarts’ SCUMM engine) is available for the PSP. This will allow you to play a ton of those classic Lucasarts games you loved back in the day - think Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Loom, etc. Support has also been added for the The Legend of Kyrandia games, which were developed by Westwood Studios but also used the SCUMM engine.
For those of you interested in a bit of a history lesson, SCUMM stands for Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion and (surprisingly enough) was created during the development of Maniac Mansion for the Commodore-64 (released in 1987). It saw various iterations and was used by Lucasarts up until 1997 on The Curse of Monkey Island.
Read More | ScummVM.org via MaxConsole.com
Genesis Games For PSP Available this November
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: PSP, Release Dates, Retro,
Genesis fans rejoice! Not only will you be able to play all the classic Genesis games on your Wii, but you’ll be able to take the retro lovin’ with you as well. SEGA has announced that a variety of titles, including faves such as Altered Beast, Phantasy Star, and Golden Axe will be making their way to the PSP this November. The UMD will include about 28 games, 3 of which have to be unlocked. A full list isn’t available yet, but we’ll be expecting one closer to launch time. Price, also, is unknown as of this time.
Unless you can sync all of the Genesis games you purchase via Virtual Console from your Wii to your DS, this will be one of the only ways to play Genesis classics on-the-go. (excluding buying a GP2X and finding some old roms of course!). It sounds like a great deal for us retro fans.
Read More | joystiq.com
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