| June 27,
2005... Fun with PSP
Emulators |
Sorry about the lack of updates,
folks. My time has been evenly split between finding a
new job and playing emulators on my PSP. I just tried a
NeoGeo CD emulator last week which blew me away... it doesn't
run at full speed just yet, and there's no sound, but man, you
would not believe just how good NeoGeo games look on the
system. They're bursting with the bright colors that
have long been missing from today's video games, and the
screen, while not wide enough to fill the PSP's spacious
screen completely, covers more real estate than other
emulators on the system, without the need for ugly
stretching.
I plan to have the PSP's
most notable emulators reviewed by the end of the week in a
special Blitz-exclusive feature, but right now, I need to
prepare for an interview. I'll see you guys in a couple
of days!
| June 23,
2005... If You Love Your PSP, Set It
Free |
Fed up with the drought of new
software on the PSP? Are recent releases like Smart Bomb
and Rengoku just not keeping you entertained? Wondering
why you spent all that money on an undersupported handheld
game system with a few extraneous features?
Well, don't put that system on
Ebay just yet, my friend. The wait for killer apps like
Burnout Legends and Pursuit Force may be almost unbearable,
but there's one thing that will help you get through it, and
make you feel confident about your purchase. That thing,
of course, is the recent system exploit offered by this site.
Emulators and hobbyist-designed
games on the PSP have been around for months, but they
were a luxury many of the system's owners simply could not
afford... until now, that is. The new exploit allows any
PSP console with the 1.50 firmware revision to run unlicensed
software directly from their systems, without the awkward
memory card swapping made necessary by the previous system
hack.
The software is a cinch to
use. Just download the exploit file, then whatever
emulators and games you'd like to try (this site offers a good variety of both). Unzip the PSP
software into seperate folders, then install the program
inside the exploit file. After your computer has
restarted, plug your PSP into an available USB port, set it
into USB mode, and run the program "KXPloit Tool".
You'll see a screen like this one:
In the first text window, enter
the name of the emulator or other software you wish to install
on your system. Then click the ellipse to find where the
software you've chosen resides. The file should be named
EBOOT.PBP. Double click it to move to the next
step. Now, you'll need to choose the letter assigned to
your PSP. For instance, if you have a hard drive and two
CD-ROM drives, your PSP would probably be given the letter
F:. Click the arrow in the drop down box next to the
words "PSP Unit", then select the appropriate letter.
Finally, press the "Generate files" button to transfer the
data to your PSP.
Here comes the fun part.
Now take your PSP out of USB mode, and select the option
"Memory Stick", then "Games". The software you've
installed on your PSP will appear. You'll also see some
corrupted files, but don't worry about those... they only
exist to fool the PSP into playing the software you've
installed. Select the emulator or game of your choice,
then press the X button and you're off to the
races!
That should keep you occupied for
a while... it sure kept me busy! In the next update,
I'll offer my opinion of a handful of different emulators for
the system. Which ones are worth the limited space on
the system's included 32M memory card, and which ones are so
good you'll think about buying a higher capacity card to
replace it? Stay tuned to find out!
| June 20,
2005... High Concept
Homebrew |
The year 1996 brought with it the
first homebrew video games for classic systems. Pioneers
like John Dondzila designed their own software for long dead
consoles ranging from the once popular (the ColecoVision and
Atari 2600) to the eternally obscure (the Vectrex and
Odyssey2). Little did they know that their brave
experiments would start a trend that would remain en vogue
nearly a decade later... now, veterans like Dondzila have been
joined by equally talented programmers like Andrew Davies,
Alex Herbert, and Eduardo Mello, all making some of the best
games ever released for antique game systems.
There's only one thing missing
from these new games... new ideas. Almost
invariably, hobbyist developers will fill the gaps in the
ColecoVision, 2600, and Vectrex libraries by
designing conversions of arcade titles that were not
previously available for those systems. It's a noble
goal, but not a particularly original one. It would be a
refreshing change of pace if these programmers designed truly
new games, with inventive play mechanics but the same
addictive quality as the beloved arcade titles they mimic so
often.
I'll help get them started with
an idea I had this afternoon... it's Emminent Domination, the
game where you're in control of the world's most frightening
chain of retail stores. The goal in each stage is to
chain together a series of homes, ultimately connecting them
to a dynamite plunger at the bottom of the
screen.
It won't be easy to demolish
these properties and build your one-stop shopping center,
however... some homes are protected by rotating resistance
barriers, while mobs of furious residents (represented as
shimmering, multi-pointed stars) bounce around the screen,
hoping to catch you as you move from one territory to the
next. Each acquired house acts as a temporary safe
haven for your arrow, but eventually, you'll be forced to fire
it at another property, risking life and limb in the
hopes of establishing a retail store monopoly.
That's just one of a handful of
ideas I've had for a video game that's unique, yet simple
enough to be translated to a game console from the early
1980's. If you like it, feel free to use it (as long as
you credit me for my contribution, of course!). If you
think you can do better, by all means give it a shot!
Whatever you decide, please, PLEASE make your next project
something other than a Space Invaders or Tetris
clone. Personally, I've had enough Tetris to last
me four lifetimes.
| June 17,
2005... Even Better Than the Real Thing
(Saturn replica pad
review) |
There are two new reviews for
your reading pleasure. The first is by a new contributor
to the Blitz, Shawn Struck. He's offered his opinion of
Toon Disney's latest animated series, Jake Long: American
Dragon. His review is more optimistic than mine would
have been, but what the heck... it never hurts to have a fresh
point of view.
The second review is of the
recently released Kirby Canvas Curse. I have a bad habit
of waiting a long time to review the games I've purchased, but
I wasn't going to let this one go stale on me, no sir!
You can read more about the game here, but suffice it to say that it deserves most of the
praise that's been lavished upon it by the professional gaming
sites.
Now, I'd like to take a break
from games and talk about the peripherals used to
interact with them. I just received this dandy little
number from the fine folks at NCS...
[Sega Saturn
replica controller]
It's a replica of the Sega Saturn
controller, designed for the Playstation 2 and colored purple
to commemorate the release of the latest Darkstalkers
game. I can't think of a single product better tailored
to my personal tastes... it's like Sega and Capcom made it
just for me!
When I received the
controller, I quickly tore open the box, put away the deck of
collectable cards (nice touch!), and plugged the pad into my
system to test it out. After spending some quality time
with The King of Fighters 2003, and some, uh, substandard
quality time with Street Fighter EX 3, I've got to say that it
feels as much like a real Saturn controller as it looks, and
as you can tell from the picture, it looks pretty damned
close. I've been hasty about recommending controllers in
the past, so I'll take another week to break in this joypad
before I pass judgment on it. However, I'm confident
that I'll be using it a lot more than the Pelican Real Arcade
Stick I bought last Christmas. You remember the Real
Arcade Stick, don't you? Oh, how I wish I could
forget...
[Xbox
controller adapter]
Here's the other item
I purchased. No, I haven't grown fifty feet tall...
that's actually an XBox controller converter. I
purchased this along with the aforementioned Saturn joypad in
the hope of getting the most possible enjoyment out
of both my Playstation 2 and XBox fighting games. Things
didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped, however.
While the convertor and the controller work fine when used
seperately, they're not two great tastes that taste great
together. I actually tried the Saturn pad with my XBox
first, using the converter as a conduit. The combination
crippled Dan in Capcom vs. SNK 2, making it impossible for him
to throw fireballs. Granted, that was never his greatest
strength, but I might want to use this skill if I ever decided
to play as one of the OTHER characters.
This left me worried
that the controller was faulty or just poorly made, but a
little experimentation revealed that it works fine, at least
in its natural habitat. It's downright uncooperative on
my other two systems, although to be fair, my GameCube
controller converter was never much good for anything
anyway.
So the bottom line is
this... I'm really happy with the replica Saturn pad so far,
but the converter? Well, that leaves something to be
desired. Looks like I'll be shopping for yet
another one in the near future...
| June 13,
2005... You Don't, but I
Would |
We've got more cartoon reviews,
courtesy of contributor John Roche. I'm expecting even
more from a new writer later this week, so stay
tuned!
Well, you don't have to sit at
the computer for the entire week. You can
take a break to go to the bathroom, or even better, pick up
the new Kirby game for the Nintendo DS. Word on the
street is that Canvas Curse is like Yoshi's Touch and Go,
squared. I loved that game, so I can only imagine how
great Canvas Curse must be!
| June 7,
2005... Back
Online |
The folks at Charter finally came
through for me, so I'm back online again. To celebrate,
here's a new batch of cartoon reviews!
Now if you don't mind, I think
I'll step out, grab myself a bite to eat, then resume
work on the NES book. So many pages, so little
time!
| June 1,
2005... Get Charter, Get Screwed (also, big
Texas gaming) |
Charter's still holding my
Internet access hostage, so regrettably, updates are going to
be less frequent than they could, and should be. Take,
for instance, the previous post. It was written on the
24th, and it was intended to be PUBLISHED on that date, but it
drowned in a choppy sea ocean of
bureaucracy, littered with the tattered sails of lost
ships full of incompetant contractors and uncaring service
representatives.
If you learn only one thing from
this site, let it be this... don't trust your cable
company. When the representative who handles your call
tells you that your cable will be installed on a given date,
don't count on it happening until sometime in the next
century. When you're told that your apartment can't get
cable service, don't believe it, because chances are high that
your neighbors in the same building are watching television
even as you're being lied to by the contractor. When
they tell you they can't work on your apartment without the
management's permission, don't believe it, because they tore
big, ugly holes in your walls just two weeks ago. The
only thing you SHOULD believe is that there are valid
alternatives to cable internet service, and that you don't
have to put up with the abuse you're taking from your cable
provider (or more accurately, your cable
withholder).
On to more pleasant news. I
had a fun time in Texas last weekend, attending the
wedding of a friend. While there, I hung out with a few
of his buddies, drinking wine coolers and playing video
games. One of these games just happened to be
Gradius V, the latest installment of the once
popular, but still excellent, line of Konami shooters.
Everyone was impressed (and humiliated!) by this superb
sequel, which demanded the same high level of skill
from its players as it had come to expect from its
talented designers. Anyone who failed to live up to
those lofty expectations was scolded with unflattering
comments like "Come on! We're just getting
started!" Easy for you to say, announcer guy!
YOU'RE not the one frantically dodging thick sprays of
bullets and beams!
I also grabbed a copy of Paper
Mario: The Thousand Year Door from Electronics Boutique.
The first thing you should know: they're selling the
game for twenty bucks, which is the best damn deal I've seen
since Burnout 3: Takedown's price dropped faster than a
explosive-filled semi trailer off a partially constructed
bridge, into a crowded intersection. The second thing
you should know: despite the recent merger, GameStop
isn't honoring this deal. As far as they're concerned,
ElBo is still a competitor, and will remain one until
all of its stores are flying the GameStop banner.
Oh yes, there's one more thing you should know... although the
GameCube sequel to Paper Mario isn't as fantastic as its
predecessor on the N64, it's still worth buying, especially
for its current price.
I guess that's all I've got to
say for now. Enjoy the new review... I'm just sorry you
had to wait this long to see it!
| May 24,
2005... The Cable
Guy |
I'm hoping Charter will come through for me and that my
cable internet service will be installed by tomorrow, giving
me just enough time to publish this update before I head out
to Texas to attend a friend's wedding. If so, you'll
have a new review to read while I'm on vacation. If not,
you're probably not going to see this until June.
Considering how Charter has acted for the past two weeks, I'm
leaning toward the latter possibility.
| May 20, 2005... An
Hour with Game Informer (plus, Wii/Revolution
news) |
(I know, this update is miserably outdated. You can
thank Charter for that)
Well, I'm settled into my new apartment, and I've gotta say
that I'm pretty fond of the place. It's four times
larger and ten times better than my old digs. To top it
all off, I'm within walking distance of a variety of video
game and computer stores. When I first
discovered there was a GameStop in the area, I had an
urge to splurge like you wouldn't believe! I've picked
up a dozen games since my arrival last week, with titles
ranging from essentials such as Burnout 3 to silly impulse
buys, like Stretch Panic and the XBox version of Tony Hawk Pro
Skater 2. Why would I need this when I've already got
the exceptional Dreamcast game? Well, I don't,
really. I just wanted to try all the XBox exclusive
stages, along with the rounds from the first Tony Hawk
release. I suspect they'll be a lot more fun in the
sequel, which tightened up the clumsy control in the
original and gave players far more combo
opportunities.
So let's see... what's happened since I've been gone?
Well, I was suckered into a twelve month subscription to Game
Informer while I was browsing the wares at GameStop. Now
I know what you're thinking, but the magazine has greatly
improved since its early days, when it was an underachieving
propaganda rag published by the dreaded FuncoLand.
Now, the magazine is much thicker, and its articles and
reviews are both informative and intelligently
written. There's a few too many office in-jokes (aka
GameFan syndrome), and the editors are a bit too eager to
chase the latest industry trends, but on the whole, the
magazine is still worth reading.
Game Informer is certainly a lot less grating than
Electronic Gaming Monthly, a publication which has lost a lot
of its credibility thanks to the desperate posturing of its
writers. Yes, yes, guys, we know you're
extreme. You've got Seanbaby, and sketchy
underground comics (which are almost as fun to read as the
back of a milk carton), and a review crew that labels
anything with a color palette that extends beyond brown and
grey as a "baby game". You think maybe you could
take a break from convincing us of your total awesomeness and
just do your jobs? I swear, if EGM became any more
obnoxious and self-absorbed, Ziff-Davis would be required
by law to sell it back to Steve Harris.
Well, enough of that. I've been looking at some
preliminary E3 coverage and was intrigued by Sony's
promotional banners, both inside and outside the convention
center where the expo is taking place. The banners show
the familiar triangle, square, circle, and X on the
buttons of the Playstation controller slowly fading
away. Beneath the dissolving icons is a slogan which
encourages players to embrace change. Does this
mean that Sony will finally abandon these confounding
heiroglyphics and use more sensible designations for the
controller buttons on the upcoming Playstation 3? Or
will the controller itself be such a radical departure from
the Dual Shock pads that there will no longer be a place for
button labels of any kind? Your guess is as good as
mine.
The Nintendo Revolution is an even more shocking departure
from the norm... rumor has it that it will use a DS-style
touchscreen in place of a standard controller. The good
news is that this opens up endless possibilities for game
developers, who are no longer confined to a
single controller design... they can create an infinite
number of their own. The bad news? Well, there's a
lot of it. This arrangement will also put more work on
the shoulders of game companies, which were already pretty
unenthused about publishing software for Nintendo's game
systems. The LCD screen in the controller will make
it twice as expensive and as fragile as the more
traditional joypads included with the XBox 360 and
Playstation 3. On top of all that, we all know from
playing Super Mario 64 DS how well a touchscreen works as a
substitute for a real analog stick. I hope Nintendo
rethinks this... it's an innovative concept, but not an
especially practical one.
Finally, there's Gunstar Super Heroes on the Game Boy
Advance. I never thought I'd see an honest-to-goodness
sequel to one of my favorite Genesis games, but here it is,
and judging from the footage I've seen on 1UP, it looks like
it'll be even more incredible than the original. The
only downside I can see is the retirement of Gunstar
Heroes' mix and match weapons... they're being replaced with a
triple weapon system similar to what was used in the last
two Contra games. This means that you'll have access to
every weapon right out of the starting gate, but you won't be
able to experiment with them like you could in the
original. It seems like a big deal at first, but really
stop and think about how you played Gunstar Heroes for a
minute... once you picked up two Force orbs, or combined Force
with Lightning, did you ever want to use anything else?
The new design may actually encourage players to frequently
switch weapons even after they've boosted them to full
power.
| May 7,
2005... Difficulty 101 (or, what not
to do when making a game) |
I just finished playing Def Jam: Fight For New York... and
screaming death threats at my XBox. Since
the programmers at Electronic Arts and Aki Corporation
obviously fell asleep during this part of their game design
class, I'm going to give them a refresher course on the
subject of logical difficulty progression in video games.
First, you'll need to understand the definitions of two
words, and the differences between the two of them. Here
is the first word, one you apparently have yet to grasp.
Easy (adj., 'E-zE):
The description of a task or goal which requires little effort
to complete. For instance, "It was easy to clean
the head of this pin."
Now, here's the second word... a word which is likely to be
far more familiar to you.
Hard (adj., härd): The
description of a task or goal which requires a great deal of
skill, determination, and effort to complete. For
example, "It was hard to plant the flag on the spire of the
Empire State Building without using the stairs or
elevators."
Now, when you create a game with multiple difficulty
settings, it's important to keep the definitions of these two
terms in mind. When a game is set to Hard, it's
acceptable for the computer opponents to
beat players into cottage cheese in a matter of
seconds. When a game is set on Easy, however, the
difficulty level of that game should be adjusted accordingly,
and the computer should NOT be able to pound your face through
the back of your head by the time you reach the second
fight.
If you're still not grasping the concept, allow me to
provide you with a series of pictures which better illustrate
the difference between "easy" and "hard". Ready?
That ends our lesson for today.
| May 5,
2005... Thinking Inside the
Box |
After receiving the latest check for my freelance work, I
went out and celebrated Cinco de Mayo by purchasing an obscene
number of games. I also took $150 out of Bill Gates'
deep pockets by picking up an XBox. I was always on the
fence about purchasing a 'box, but since I had the money to do
it, I figured I might as well take the plunge. Besides,
where else am I gonna do to get my Psychonauts fix, without
filling up my computer's limited hard drive space?
I also snapped up Def Jam: Fight For New York and a couple
of less-than-stellar XBox games, mostly out of
curiousity. Some reviewers seemed to really enjoy
Quantum Redshift, but there were others that complained about
its lack of depth. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect
I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, since I'm such a big
WipeOut fan. Tao Feng, on the other hand, will receive
far less mercy when it's reviewed on The Gameroom Blitz
(probably in the Fighter's Misery section). There's the
skeletal frame of an excellent fighting game here, but the
action is stiff and counterintuitive, reminding me of an even
less entertaining Mortal Kombat: Deception. Characters
reluctantly respond to controller input, particularly jumps,
and the forty-seven different combo moves each fighter is
given don't flow as well as they should. Worst of all,
you're only given a single special move... an attack that must
be charged but doesn't reward the player with the high damage
ratio or the stylish impact of a real super move.
It's really a shame, because the game looks great... at
least as impressive as Ed Boon's latest Mortal Kombat
titles. The characters (however uninteresting they may
be) are beautifully detailed and shaded, and even begin to
show signs of abuse as they're struck with punches and
kicks. You can even demolish playfield objects by
sending your opponent crashing through them, a feature sorely
missed in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. However, a
game's got to have more on its plate than extensive property
damage to convince players to come back for a second helping,
and Tao Feng's plate is pretty empty when you get past
the blood sprays and splintered boxes.
Still, I'm impressed with what I've seen of the XBox so
far. Its graphics are a step up from either of its
competitors... in Def Jam: Fight For New York, the
rappers are more detailed and their clothes even baggier
than they were in the original on the GameCube. Plus,
the XBox is better supported than the second most
powerful console, the GameCube... if it gives you any idea,
there was only one title released for that system last
month. Granted, there's only a handful of games on the
XBox that really interest me, but now that I've got one, I can
experience the full range of software the industry has to
offer!
Er, at least until the next batch of systems is
released. Oh well... it'll be fun while it
lasts!
| April 30,
2005... You've Got the Touch (also, Def Jam
Vendetta and Keio 2) |
There's finally a fresh new article on The Gameroom
Blitz. I hope it was worth the wait! I just bought
a Nintendo DS to go along with the PSP, so I may wind up
reviewing that system as well in the future.
I've only had the system for a day, so I can't say much
about it yet. I've got the Metroid Prime demo and
Yoshi's Touch and Go so far... I don't think much of Metroid
Prime: Hunters (no big surprise... I didn't like the GameCube
game either), but I'm having lots 'o fun with Yoshi's Touch
and Go. I was a little worried that the game would never
evolve past the prototype shown at last year's Electronic
Entertainment Expo. Fortunately, Nintendo saw as much
promise in the tech demo as I did and transformed it into a
full-fledged DS release... and a rather enjoyable one at
that.
What else? Well, I recently found Def Jam
Vendetta and the English version of Keio Yuugekitai ("What are
two games you never hear in the same sentence, Alex?").
I've played Def Jam before, but never on the GameCube, which
is the version I found at a local pawn shop. It took a
while for me to readjust to the gameplay, but
after a few rounds of getting my face punched to custard
by living and fictional rappers, I finally got the hang
of grappling my foes, and was able to win a few battles
myself. You've got to love the holds and throws in
that game... they're just so brutal!
Then there's Keio Yuugekitai. One of my readers clued
me in on a BitTorrent file that was recently made available on
a Saturn fan site. Even though I already have a copy of
the game (heck, I even owned the official release way back in
the late 1990's!), I decided to give this a shot, just to see
what Keio would be like in English. Some of the
game's intensely Japanese personality is lost due to the dopey
new voice overs and poorly chosen fonts, but on the other
hand, it is nice to be able to read the captions in the omake
section and understand the kooky conversations in the
full-motion video scenes. It makes me wish someone would
have given Radiant Silvergun an English dub of its own...
sure, there are spoilers on GameFAQs, but I'd much rather
watch the characters act out the dialogue, rather than putting
down the controller to read lines of text.
| April 26,
2005... Indecision Clouds My
Vision |
You remember that story about the fox and the squirrel
being chased by a vicious dog? Without thinking, the
squirrel hightails it up a tree, while the fox just sits
there, thinking of all the clever ways it could outsmart its
pursuer. In the end, only the squirrel lives to see
another day, because the fox just couldn't decide how it
wanted to make its escape.
I'm feeling kind of like the fox right now. I've
got all kinds of ideas for articles and reviews, but I can't
decide which one I should start first. Should I update
Fighter's Misery with a review of Vicious Circle, the most
blatant Killer Instinct clone this side of Shinoken?
Should I add content to the increasingly outdated cartoon
review column? Maybe it's time to update the fabulous
game console-rating Jessboard in Systematix, or perhaps I
should finally write some reviews of the PSP games I've
accumulated over the past three weeks... or heck, even the PSP
itself! While I'm pondering my options, my readers are
getting bored and finding other things to do with their
time.
Maybe it's time I follow the lead of Chris Larson, the
editor of Stage Select, and put the site on a
strict schedule. Bringing in new readers isn't as
important to me as it once was, but it would be nice to give
the few people who DO still come here something new to read
every week.
| April 18, 2005... Good
Things Come to Those Who Wait (and wait, and
wait...) |
For all its shortcomings, the Nintendo DS has one definite
advantage over Sony's PSP... instant gratification. I
was hanging out with my friend Chris Larson last weekend, and
he'd purchased a Nintendo DS at a game store in the Lansing
area. After doing some shopping, we took a break,
spending some quality time with our respective
portables. The only thing is, Chris was getting in a lot
more quality time than I was. While I was sitting
through the obscenely long load times in Tony Hawk's
Underground 2 Remix, he was frantically scribbling
away on his DS, having a ball with Wario Ware
Touched!. I found myself getting just a little envious
as I watched his screens, alive with fast-paced mini-games and
wacky characters. Meanwhile, all my PSP could offer me
was the promise of a game, sometime... eventually... in just a
minute. Bah! This is the 21st century!
Aren't we supposed to be past lengthy access times by
now? Why should I have to wait for my fun?
Needless to say, I'm taking the DS a lot more seriously
than I did a week ago. It's not just that it offers a
faster gaming fix than the PSP, with its annoying load times
and overly complicated interface. There's also the
matter of the touchscreen, which can be a lot of fun when it's
put to good use with games like Wario Ware
Touched!. Not every game for the system makes the
most of the touchscreen, but the few that do (particularly
Yoshi's Touch and Go, which had piqued my interest from the
moment it was shown at E3 as a tech demo) make me feel like
I'm not getting the full handheld experience from owning just
a PSP. Despite all that the system has to offer, it
would seem that you can't have the best of both worlds if you
don't actually have the two worlds.
| April 12, 2005... Now I
See the Light |
While registering my copy of Lumines, I found this
incredible deal on Advance Guardian Heroes at the Ubi Soft web
site. Yes, buy the most disappointing sequel in years
directly from Ubi Soft, and you can get it for $19.99, a penny
off the regular retail price! You can't beat that...
unless you save the money for a copy of something
good, like Fire Pro Wrestling, or Konami Arcade
Classics, or The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.
Enough snarky sarcasm... you're probably more interested
in my opinion of Lumines. I was convinced that it would
be like Tetsuya Mizuguchi's last game Rez, with stylish
audiovisuals dressing up an otherwise ordinary
experience. After five minutes, I was more convinced
than ever that it was just another puzzle game. It took
five MORE before the pieces started to fall into place
(mentally, I mean) and I understood what made the game
work. It's all about racing to build as
many blocks of uniform color as possible before the
timeline at the top of the screen sweeps through and erases
your work. The more blocks you can make during a single
sweep of the timeline, the more points you'll earn, and the
further you can progress through the game, eventually
unlocking new backgrounds and tunes. This gives the
player an incentive to work quickly even in the less
intense early rounds, making Lumines exciting from the moment
you press the start button.
I was skeptical about Lumines, I'll admit, but the
timeline makes what could have been an ordinary puzzle game
into something much more memorable (and oh yeah, the intensity
the thumping techno music brings to the game doesn't hurt the
experience, either). My hat's off to you,
Mizuguchi. You didn't hook me with Rez, but you've
reeled me in with Lumines.
| April 10, 2005... I
Sell Out Easy, Don't I? |
All you aspiring Michael Moores out there can stop hounding
me... I admit that I'm a hypocrite. After complaining
about the PSP for the last few months, I went out and bought
one anyway. I don't relish the thought of Sony
dominating yet another segment of the industry, but I'm a
consumer first and a consumer advocate second, and they
currently have the most appealing handheld on the
market. I don't like Microsoft, but I still have Windows
installed on my computer. I don't like Paramount, but I
still watch Viacom-owned networks like Comedy Central and
VH1. I don't like fossil fuel, but I still take the bus
uptown when I'm too tired to walk. If I boycotted every
product from corporate entities I don't like, I'd be
sitting in a cave, banging rocks together for fun.
| April 7,
2005... Hands-On with the
PSP |
Good news, folks. Now that I've been paid for some of
my freelance work, I can afford to have the Internet at
home... and not just ANY Internet, either! I'm surfing
in style with a cable modem, a huge improvement over the wimpy
dial-up my parents have at their house. After enjoying
cable, then DSL at the computer repair store that was my
former place of employment, I can tell you that broadband is
the only way to fly.
I also took some of the money I'd earned and invested
it in a PSP. Yeah, I went with the forces of evil this
time, but in my defense, I did buy three iterations of the
Game Boy Advance, and even woefully undersupported accessories
like the e-reader. I felt like indulging myself with a
new game system after receiving my paycheck, but I just
couldn't bring myself to buy a Nintendo DS. It goes well
beyond the territory of "decadent purchase", landing deep
within that barren land known as "wasted money".
It's not that I don't like the touchscreen... heck, I even
found the concept intriguing when it was first introduced by
the game.com in 1997! It's just that I don't feel the
games are doing enough with it. Moreover, the system's
not well supported, an issue which will only worsen when
Nintendo releases the successor to the Game Boy Advance later
this year.
I'm not sure I'd categorize the PSP as a smart purchase
either, especially when you consider its steep price.
However, I do feel more confident about the investment... it's
a powerful, versatile system, and the option to upload files
from outside sources leaves the door to homebrew development
wide open. Although my first game for the system,
Wipeout Pure, is both extremely impressive and a lot of fun to
play, I'm sure I'll enjoy my system a lot more when
I'm running NES and Genesis emulators on it.
One thing's for sure... the PSP raises the bar for portable
gaming hardware. It'll be interesting to see if Nintendo
will meet Sony's challenge with a similarly powerful
handheld. They probably could, as the Dreamcast hardware
was recently shrunken down into a single chip, and the GameCube has
only gotten cheaper and cheaper over the past four
years. If they were to incorporate either of these
technologies into a portable without the PSP's extraneous
features or its internal disc drive, they could probably get
it out the door by the end of the year for $150, or possibly
even less. This would definitely give them an edge in
the handheld gaming wars. Ultimately, though, it's up to
Nintendo to decide whether they'll take their Game Boy line to
the next level, or expect customers to settle for less than
the best.
| April 4,
2005... Awesome NES Progress
Report |
With the licensed game reviews out of the way,
I can take the next step in making Awesome NES a
reality. I've started work on a preliminary page design,
which combines the reviews with screenshots, box artwork, a
rarity index, and general information about each title.
There are a few snags, however. Since I misplaced my
Office 2000 product ID key (I've got the official discs,
honest!), I'm forced to slum with OpenOffice for the
moment. As anyone who's spent time making print
publications will tell you, using a word processor to create a
desktop publishing document is akin to a rabbi bringing a
chainsaw to a bris. It might get the job done, but the
process is messy, and above all else, painful. I've
spent as much time swearing at OpenOffice's many frustrating
quirks as I did getting anything productive accomplished.
Fortunately, all those hours of struggling were not in
vain... in the end, I did manage to create a working
layout for the book. Although it's a bit rough,
this early preview should still give you an idea of
how Awesome NES will look when it's finished.
>>>CLICK
HERE!<<<
Despite all my complaining, I have to admit that
OpenOffice's ability to convert documents into the compact and
widely used PDF format really does come in handy.
Anyway, here are some notes about the design...
* The book will be in full color.
This will not only make it more attractive, but more practical
as well... the sections of the book will be arranged in a
color spectrum, making it easier to search for games by
letter. Tabs on each page will indicate the letter and
number of each page, making the book even more convenient to
use.
* Games are rated in two seperate
categories. The "Q-Dex" (not to be confused with
cotton swabs or feminine hygeine products) is a bar on the
right hand side of the review box, which rates the game's
overall quality. The Rarity value speaks for itself,
rating the game's value as a collectable with a number between
zero and nine.
* A circle on the top right hand corner of
each review (not shown in the PDF) lets users know from a
glance which peripherals they'll need to play the game.
Generally, this circle will contain an NES joypad, but
sometimes, a Zapper or the Power Pad will appear inside it
instead.
* Speech bubbles in the center of each
page offer Fast Facts, or additional information, about the
games reviewed. Up to two Fast Facts can appear on a
single page... on the pages with only one Fast Fact, amusing
artwork of the characters in the reviewed games will
appear in the leftover space.
If you've got any comments, suggestions, or
advice about the current page layout, now's the time to speak
up, while it can still be modified. After all, bitching
after the book is published isn't going to do anybody
any good!
| April 2, 2005... Mental
Notes |
I thought about skipping the April Fool's Day
celebration entirely this year, but at the very last minute,
I was hit with a flash of inspiration... an idea
that was clever enough to be worth using on the site, but not
SO clever that it would take an abundance of my time and
effort to finish. In case you missed it, this is what people saw when they
visited the site yesterday (and every day of their childhoods
if they grew up with a Nintendo Entertainment System).
I can't think of too much else to say, so let me just take
this opportunity to...
1) Thank Tony Bueno for his latest contribution to The
Gameroom Blitz. Thanks, Tony!
2) Remind everyone that
yes, Tommy Tallarico and Kevin Periera are still
douchebags
3) Giggle with glee at the reports on G4 that
PSP sales were "solid, but unspectacular"
4) Wonder why
updates of this site have been so uncharacteristically
frequent
| April 1, 2005... Gone
in a Flash |
Click here for
the April Fool's joke. |
|
|
