Navigation |
New gameplay video featuring Joe, Saki, Ippatsuman and Doronjo! Looks like Mach Speed is one of Joe’s supers, and Ippatsuman is a fast grappler-type character.
alternate link at Famitsu.com:
Filed by Viewtiful Dru at November 13th, 2008 under Wii, Import, Capcom, YouTube, Arcade
No comments on this post yet
A good online friend of mine introduced me to the world that is The Backloggery early this summer. I’m going to try really hard here not to gush on and on about it–but I feel like it’s a wonderful site for its mere simplicity. Today’s is its first anniversary of being on the web, and its come quite a long way.
As the name of the site implies, it lets you, the player, archive a backlog of games you’ve inevitably acquired since the beginning of your gaming life. It actually lets you see what kind of gamer you are and have been. Do you have all intents to complete games before you can say you’re done? Do you trudge through games you don’t like or leave ‘em for broke? Are you always complaining you have nothing to play when you have a huge backlog sitting right there? It even makes you remember games and go, “oh yeah, I’ve yet to finish that one!” As they say…
What you need is a little motivation. What gamer doesn’t like to look over their stats and celebrate the milestones as they progress toward a goal? That’s where we come in. We’ll keep track of everything for you so you’ll know what you’ve done and what still needs your attention. Inputting your games is quick and easy. No slow, endless lists to search through. Just type it in and go!
The community over there is nice and balanced, as opposed to whiny and competitive. There is genuine interest for discussion about specific games whether you’d played them decades ago or purchased them two days ago. There is some strange, unspoken consideration for people on the site when it comes to spoilers. Recent changes to the site are being rolled out like crazy this summer (possibly because most people are on break from school), and it’s evolving into something even more wonderful as time passes.
You can customize your page (pretty standard so it won’t go MySpace glitter!crazy), and you can see all of the creativity people conjure from such a simple interface. You just can’t go wrong! I mean, it’s only until you see a list of all the games you’ve ever played…you realize how many you’ve never finished before buying new ones. Oops.
When those times come where you have loads of games just sitting in your house and you have no idea what to play…just refer to your backlog, of course. 
Filed by Alaska Nebraska at August 14th, 2008 under Throwbacks
5 persons have commented this post
I recently completed Metroid Zero Mission a few days ago, and after I completed it I wonder: do developers intentionally create structured games and then give players the tools to break them?
I can’t help but gauge my experience with the first Metroid game I’ve beaten since the original Metroid (when I was a child) against my many playthroughs of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a game cut from the same fabric initially woven by the Metroid series. My initial critical reaction was to argue that Metroid was superior to my beloved Castlevania series due to the fact that Metroid’s power ups are not only used normally to progress through the game, but that the creators intend for the players to have full mastery of the skills they collect over the course of the game, as evidenced by the mind and thumb work needed to earn some of the game’s secrets. Castlevania seemed like The Little Train that Could (But In Fact Could Not) in comparison.
Upon further inflection, Castlevania *does* in fact have its own special thing: utilizing the many items, equipment, spells, and transformations you gain over the course of your romp through Dracula’s castle to help you in battle. Thinking about this some more, Castlevania’s advantage over Metroid comes from the combat and how you prepare for it. Which brings me to my next point: the creators of SOTN give the player many options to prepare for combat. Do you equip a sword and a shield that can protect against projectiles or do you forgo that extra defense and wield a two handed sword that can deal more damage? Do you use your MP to cast spells or do you use them to make yourself impervious to attack by activating the Form of Mist for a second? Finding out the equipment that you want to use is just part of the fun. However…
If you’re diligent (or visit GameFAQs, lol), you can find item and weapon combinations that are so powerful, they break the game. Take the Shield Rod. Players can give Alucard temporary statistical increases if they equip the shield rod in one hand and any of the game’s many shields in the other. The player just has to press both attack buttons to activate the effect. In particular, I want to highlight probably what is the most infamous combination, the Shield Rod/Alucard Shield combo. This combo doesn’t grant stat increases, it instead turns the shield into an unstoppable weapon. You merely need to hold the shield out and bulldoze through enemies. I’ve killed the final boss with minimal effort this way.
These combinations are not bugs, nor glitches or oversights by the programmers. It seems like the developers of the game intend for players to figure out these combinations through experimentation. It seems like the developers intend for the players to break the game.
There’s no “right” way to play Metroid or Castlevania. However, in a playthrough of either game, a player will naturally come to the conclusion that they were designed with a certain sequence of events that the player should follow. For example, in a normal playthrough of Metroid Zero Mission, Samus usually collects the Varia Suit, an armor upgrade that allows her to withstand high temperatures, AFTER she collects the Power grip (hang on ledges) and the High Jump Boots. But, with skillful use of bomb jumping, you can grab the Varia Suit almost as soon as you earn the Morph Ball bombs and explore areas of the game that you would not be able to until much later. Again, if the developers didn’t intend for the game to be broken in such a way, why allow players to perform techniques like bomb jumping?
Both games encourage the player to explore, as they are both action/adventure games. However one thing both games do is that they encourage the player to break the game. Metroid does this with creative application of allotted tools (i.e. repeated bomb jumping, storing shinesparks) and Castlevania does this by encouraging the player to experiment with arcane equipment combinations.
Now this makes me wonder: Even though the games are structured, they are also ironically open ended. There are certain events that need to transpire at times so that the player may progress further. At the same time you are allowed to explore the caverns or castle halls in any order you see fit (until you hit the crucial points, of course). I wonder if it’s this open philosophy that lead the developers of either game to add elements the player can utilize to break the games.
Filed by Viewtiful Dru at July 23rd, 2008 under Nintendo, Sony, GBA, Throwbacks
1 person have commented this post
There’s been a lot of whining following Nintendo’s sorta embarrassing E308 Press Conference. The main issue is that a lot of fans feel like Nintendo’s pulling far, far away from their core audience. While Miyamoto insists that it’s E3 that’s not for core gamers anymore, and attempted to hush dissappointed people up by saying the Mario, Zelda, and Pikmin teams are working on stuff, (we’re just not showing it on E3), I feel he’s digressing just a bit.
While I can freely admit that their press conference this year was the least enthralling of the three, I can also freely say that I feel like lately, they damn well don’t care about the core gamers–specifically Nintendo of America and Europe. At least Japan’s trying. I mean, there are some kick-ass games I’m personally anticipating, let me tell you (Kirby Super Star Ultra, Fire Emblem DS, Pokémon Platinum…now that I list them, they’re all rehashes, huh? *headdesk*)! The following examples will show…
So, about half a year after Mother 3 was released, the Localization Producer of NOA’s translation team was interviewed about a variety of things. The topic of M3 came up briefly. He doesn’t have any info on that, that’s cool, but then he says, “at least everyone can go back and play Melee to get [their] Ness on.” Really, now. Even Nintendo Power played on the fans’ pleas just last month, which sorta indicates that someone’s aware of the severity of the situation.
Later, soon after WiiWare’s released outside of Japan, NOE’s Marketing Director called fans otakus and friggin’ geeks ’cause they suggest an external HDD for the measly 512MB of space considering the space is getting eaten up quite fast. I was just annoyed at the fact that he kinda didn’t realize the severity of the situation as a marketing director. See if any more VC games sell after a certain point when people get sick of the uninstall/install procedures.
Lastly, as of E308, the elusive core gamers were told by NOA’s VP of sales and marketing regarding the straying away from Nintendo’s core fanbase to “just play Brawl and Mario Kart” to satisfy our needs. I know. They don’t represent the entire company’s beliefs. But they sure represent. I want to say, “they’re just old fart marketers, they really don’t know any better!” But that’s just it. They’re marketers, they should know better skdlskjdlk
I don’t want to sound like a spoiled brat–I really don’t. I appreciate what they’re doing and their attempts at innovation in these trying times. But times are a changin’, and not for the better. Why are we always being referenced to do something else when as the consumers, the power really lies with us?! I dunno…as a marketer, you’re usually supposed to know your audience.
How annoying.
EDIT: Here’s a nifty addition. Sigh.
Filed by Alaska Nebraska at July 21st, 2008 under Nintendo
No comments on this post yet
See the trailer HERE
Features Ryu, Gouki, Ken and Ryu and Ken’s master, Gouken.
(the animation’s MUCH better than that Street Fighter Alpha Generations garbage)
Filed by Viewtiful Dru at July 4th, 2008 under Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Capcom, Arcade
No comments on this post yet
The Youtube channe’s been updated with a few more match videos!
Now featuring incredibly stupid 3rd Strike antics!
Turn your volume down (I’ve not yet figured out the audio problems).
Filed by Viewtiful Dru at July 1st, 2008 under OMG, Wii, Playstation 2, Capcom, Humor, YouTube
No comments on this post yet
http://youtube.com/onemoregamedotnet
Updated with a few online match videos between a friend and myself. More to come.
Pikachu vs Snake
Filed by Viewtiful Dru at April 7th, 2008 under OMG, Nintendo, Wii
No comments on this post yet
One may wonder how many people know of one of the final GBA titles released in the handheld’s liftime, Mother 3 (April 2006).
Hmm…maybe Lucas’ inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Brawl may light some bulbs. There isn’t too huge of a percentage of people that really do know this game.
Even less people know that it is a sequel to the title, EarthBound (SNES, 1994). If you want to be more technical, its original name is Mother 2. You know, the turn-based Dragon Questy RPG that featured Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo? And worthless protoplasm? Beatles references? PSI Magnet? …Anyone?
Maybe I’m exaggerating, EarthBound is pretty well known right now. However, many people’s first exposure to the game was not 
on Toys ‘R’ Us’s shelves for $70.00 as a child, but to Super Smash Bros.’s (N64) release, where the world America chorused, “Who’s Ness?!” All right…but if his game was the second in the series…then what was the first game?!
Ooh, don’t get me started about Mother–or “EarthBound Zero” (NES, 1989)…
Filed by Alaska Nebraska at April 4th, 2008 under Nintendo, Wii, GBA, Throwbacks
No comments on this post yet
OMG’s been dead for several months. Exams, laziness (main factor), and the glut of good games that I played in late 2007/early 2008 are to blame for the lack of updates.
With the nearing release of Brawl ( I got some playtime with the import version a few weeks ago), I hope to upload some match videos to the site (or maybe Youtube, to save bandwith).
In other news, I’m addicted to Slick Entertainment’s XBLA title N+, and am playing through (and loving) Devil May Cry 4.
Filed by Viewtiful Dru at March 4th, 2008 under OMG
3 persons have commented this post
Speaks for itself…
Filed by ka0s at September 26th, 2007 under Short session, YouTube
No comments on this post yet
