Today, Konami announced that The Simpsons Arcade Game is officially coming to Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network.  Coming soon, that is. In fact, it’s launching this very week for Xbox users. The game hits the Xbox Marketplace on Friday, February 3^rd for 800 Microsoft points. Sony players will have to wait until next Tuesday, February 7^th to buy it for $9.99 from PSN.

Sony Users, to pass the time, help yourself to some more stock.

Of course, Sony people aren’t exactly being left out in the cold.  According to the official Playstation Blog, Playstation Plus members can download The Simpsons Arcade for free in February, along with Final Fantasy V and Far Cry 2.

The Simpsons Arcade Game will feature all the classic four-player beat-em-up action of the original, with the signature team-up combos and that fantastic Simpsons art style. There are also new modes and a never-before-seen Japanese alternate version of the game.

Assuming Konami doesn’t mess this up, everybody say it with me: “We’re finally getting a legal home version of Simpsons Arcade.”

“How I have waited for this day.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve dusted off Virtua Fighter 5, with all the other great fighting game franchises saturating the market these days. It’s hard to go back when we’ve seen new Guilty Gear, Smash Bros, Soul Calibur, BlazBlue, King of Fighters, Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, Mortal Kombat, and others all make their way to home consoles since Virtua Fighter 5‘s home release. Even before we see the release of this entry, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, we’ll see another Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Street Fighter IV update, Street Fighter x Tekken (scheduled for Q1 2012), King of Fighters XII, and a few other potential contenders all fighting for your dollar. Don’t count Sega out, because Virtual Fighter still remains the king of technical fighting games and a refreshing alternative to over-the-top arcade style fighters. Check out the announcement trailer after the jump.

Taken from the Sega press release:

For anyone looking to play with yours truly, expect lots of monkey scratches and cartwheels.

Always one of my favorite games from back in the day, NBA Jam holds some fond memories for me. The recent installments have never quite captured that same charm, though. I always felt like something was a bit off. NBA Jam: On Fire on the other hand looks quite… hot.

Seems like this update is getting some unique new additions. Tag Mode lets you switch players on-the-fly. Team Fire turns your entire team into the human torch and the new Razzle Dazzle moves seem to be special taunts and gestures that add a bit more personality to the game. Right now, the freaky head size is a little awkward, but it seems to have its own charm. Seems like it’ll be worth giving a look. Coming out this Fall, NBA Jam: On Fire will be $14.99 on the PSN or 1400 points on XBLA.

It appears the worldwide outage of PSN may continue longer than a light-switch rave.

PlayStation’s European Blog states:

“While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned [...] for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.” (emphasis added by editor)

While anonymous has declared an end to their attacks on Sony, this looks definitely like their previous work.

When my girlfriend first told me about a game that involved you controlling a group of aliens to complete obstacles, I thought she was talking about Pikmin. When she mentioned that you’d have to kill off the aliens in order to complete said obstacles, I got really excited at the idea of a sadistic Pikmin. Sadly, no such thing exists. Instead we have Swarm, the latest arcade title from developers Hothead, and it’s pretty dang awesome. So much so that I’m honestly surprised how little I’ve actually heard about it up until I started playing it.

Swarm has a simple to grasp, difficult to master, concept. Using a group of no more than fifty swarmites you have to get to the end of the level. In the process, you have to score DNA for “momma”, a giant amorphous blue blob that births swarmites to do her bidding. Between you and the end of the stage are thousands of hazardous traps, molten lava, electricity, and all sorts of dangers that are trying to kill you. While the obstacles present a pretty real threat, what makes the game so difficult is the scoring system. In order to move on you need to get x points – and the only way to get those points is by getting a ridiculously high multiplier. You get a multiplier going by killing swarmites and collecting points scattered around the level. The more points you get or swarmites you kill the higher it goes – but if you wait too long in between doing these things, the multiplier resets to zero.

The controls are really tight. It really feels like you’re controlling a group of miniature idiots. I like the swarmites, but they have no sense of self-preservation. In a world that’s trying to murder you, you think they might develop some survival skills. Anyways, moving the horde through the level is pretty engaging. Even though all you essentially do is move to the right and dodge things, you have to constantly change what it is the group is doing. Moving through the stage is a lot like driving stick as in you’re completely involved in the entire process, making your awareness just that much more intense. You’ll be constantly shifting gears and making sure your little group doesn’t run into a spinning razor blade of death. Sometimes though, you’ll have to give up a part of your swarm so that others may go on. If you’ve been playing games for a while, this concept might not exactly be foreign to you.

Something I usually have a hard time doing is repeating an experience in gaming. Once I beat a game, I check a mark off of some list in my head, and go on to the next one. That isn’t the case with Swarm and that’s definitely a testament to their level design. It’s designed to be streamlined, to be an efficient point scoring machine, and I won’t stop until I figure out how to get it exactly. That’s insanity for me. This is the first time I’ve cared about the leaderboards score outside of my circle of friends. To further drive the need to score more points, “Momma” occassionally asks you why you’re not doing better than the guy one bracket above you. Clever girl.

Honestly, I wish there was more to say about Swarm. It’s an extremely charming game, with great replayable mechanics, and a learning curve that gets a bit extreme. The one major complaint I have about the game is that it’s too short. It’s only got eleven levels and two bosses, and most of the stages can be run through fairly quickly. That said, I’ve already put more hours into this game than a lot of RPGs I’ve played. What content they do have is extremely awesome. At $15 you’re only hurting yourself by not getting this game, and you’re only hurting swarmites when you get it.

Capybara, the genius developers behind Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP and Critter Crunch, are brining their immensely popular Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes to XBLA and PSN. For those, like me, who missed the first go-round on the DS, the game plays kinda like a RPG adventure board game with combat that fuses puzzle and card-fighting elements, all with new sprites done in glorious HD.

Capy has been around for a while, originally developing cell phone games and eventually moving up to iOS, but always showing their indie heart in everything they make. I’m a huge sucker for action-RPGs and initially got my hopes up that I’d be soon diving into a new classic, but seeing the puzzle combat in action has got me really excited about Clash of Heroes. It fuses a “match three” puzzle style similar to Puzzle Quest, but each piece has its own stats and can gain experience through battles. Players can also utilize certain pieces’ abilities to rampage through a column or row, or take out an area using spells.

Clash of Heroes was originally launched on the Nintendo DS, yet despite being one of the highest rated games ever on the system, saw disappointing sales. The DS version suffered from some overly complicated sprites losing detail on the tiny screen and some units that were completely unbalanced and basically broke the combat system. Capy listened and rebalanced the entire combat system for the HD release. Considering the effort Capy has put into recreating every asset in HD and updating the soundtrack for stereo and surround support, I think we’re in for a treat when Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes HD comes out next week. It is scheduled for release on April 12 for PSN and April 13 for XBLA.

GolgoHypeMachine is an open sounding board for our staff to concisely share their excitement about upcoming games.

Moon Diver, formerly known briefly as Necromachina, is on its way to PSN and XBLA. It’s a four player co-op side-scrolling platformer with RPG elements that plays like Castlevania meets Strider. Kouichi Yotsui, the lead designer and planner for Strider and Osman, is at the helm for Square-Enix on this project. Excited yet? I am.

For fans of Strider, Osman (known as Cannon Dancer in Japan) was more of a successor to Strider than Strider II since Osman involved much of the same original team. If you haven’t seen Osman before, check out this video for a taste of greatness. With Moon Diver, it now looks like we might be getting the next entry in the (anything but contiguous) series.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Strider and Castlevania so the concept of blending the two with 4-player co-op and a leveling system is tailor made for my tastes. They even tease a team-up move that sounds like something right out of Power Rangers, so I can’t wait to see that. Moon Diver is missing the Moto Kikaku artwork that gave Strider and Osman their signature style, but I’m sure Square-Enix is up to the task of designing crazy lunar ninjas.

Moon Diver is scheduled for release on March 29, 2011, on PSN and mid-April for XBLA.

GolgoHypeMachine is an open sounding board for our staff to concisely share their excitement about upcoming games.

Based on the Russian stacking matryoshka, or nesting dolls (don’t feel dumb, I had to look up the name, too), Stacking is a wonderfully charming puzzle adventure game from developer Double Fine Productions. It is definitely one of the most unique experiences I’ve had all year, but I don’t feel it quite… stacks up… to its potential.

You play as Charlie Blackmore, the smallest of the Blackmore clan, and you’re on a quest to save your siblings from the evil child labor enforcing Baron. As the smallest Russian doll, you don’t have much going for you. All you can do is hop into someone larger than you and wear their skin as a suit and control their mind. Wait… what?

Gameplay revolves entirely around hopping into and out of characters of different sizes in order to solve puzzles. Any such puzzle can have multiple solutions. Most of the time they’re fairly obvious, but some of them are real puzzlers. If you’re trying to get all of the solutions the game gives you hints in the menu. If that sounds too cheap for you, the further you play in the game the more characters you can use. Eventually trying out all the characters on all the puzzles will yield you some results. If you’re like me, you’ll move on once you realize you only have to do one puzzle.

There are also a ton of mini-games in Stacking that mostly take the form of crazy hi-jinks. These mini-games basically involve Charlie forcing people to commit horrible acts of indecency. Honestly, I feel like their inclusion in the game is a bit unnecessary. While a few of them are quite amusing, the novelty of punching mimes in the face wears off after a while. Oh, and your reward for finding and completing all of these hi-jinks? The characters involved get golden items, but that certainly doesn’t seem like a very worthwhile payoff for what are essentially chores to pad gameplay and make the game feel longer.

I’ll be the first to admit that the main reason I don’t like the hi-jinks is because I don’t think they’re very funny at all. My girlfriend thinks they’re hilarious. I think they’re tedious and asinine. She thinks the hi-jinks are good, clean fun. I think they’re padding to an otherwise short game. I’m right.

From a concept perspective, Stacking is banging on all cylinders. It’s got a gorgeous design that works wonderfully with the setting, and the humor is both dark and clever — a combination that’s hard to pull off these days. For a game where every single character is comprised of only two halves, they’re surprisingly emotive but where the game drags, it really drags. It’s a slow-paced game that can be beaten quickly. The only thing bringing me back to it is the fact that I haven’t completed it, but it’s more of a chore than it is an enlightened journey. There’s no reward for doing repeatedly assigned tasks and there’s nothing gained from venturing into the unknown other than a meager sense of accomplishment. Stacking is short, and that would be (double) fine if it where great. Instead, it is a barely above average game with a lot of obvious padding, and to me that’s worse in principal than just merely being a bad game.

Sony has apparently run out of options and is going back to the well. Announced today, and releasing this week, the PSOne fan favorite Xenogears has been in more demand than that god damn HD version of Final Fantasy 7. Personally, I was hoping for Suikoden 2 but I guess Sony is still hold a grudge from that time I shit on Kevin Butler’s desk… myah bad.

Regardless, Xenogears is one of Square’s classic RPGs from their so called “golden PS age” from way back in good ole’ 1998. It features the lovely, if o’so tired Active Time Battle system, and is know for its rich and deep storyline. Filled with enough melodrama, rhetorical questions, and giant robots to make even the most harden weeaboo cry, Xenogears drops to the PSN this Tuesday. I could care less, but I’ll probably buy it just because I buy everything… I hate not being inclusive.

Source:

PSBlog

Patience apparently isn’t a virtue to teh interwebs. The promised release date of  MvC 3‘s first batch of DLC characters apparently wasn’t soon enough for some, despite it being less of a month away. A group of talented, if not misguided, game-hackers have unlocked the incomplete on-disk code for Jill Valentine. The footage above shows what I can assume is at least a decent array of her combos and move list. However, much like the rest of the game, the “Jill-so-far” lacks the wackiness of her MvC2 counterpart.

Again, I think this is the one of the biggest downfalls of the game. Where the fuck is my horde of zombies? Or the dogs? OR THE CROWS? THE FUCKING CROWS! Sigh, I guess I’ll still hold out on the thought that they can’t screw up Shuma Gorath.

Take two robosexual Wall-Es, apply elements from ToeJam & Earl and Ratchet & Clank, sprinkle in a little Simon Pegg, and what do you get? Potential.

Unfortunately, EA Bright Light specializes in failing to realize potential. I enjoyed Family Game Night and Trivial Pursuit, but Create fell well short of the mark people expected when they touted it as their take on Little Big Planet.

Their latest effort, Spare Parts, was released this week on XBLA and PSN. It features Chip and Mar-T, a couple of discarded robots who find themselves trying to find bits and pieces of a derelict ship so that they can escape their savage surroundings. They are guided by Conrad, voiced by Simon Pegg (of Run Fatboy Run fame), who provides tips and very forced comic relief. As cool as it is that he’s on board with Spare Parts, he’s pretty underutilized for his humor and more just a voice.

That's not very funny, but I'll say it I guess.

To be fair, if the game is exclusively aimed at kids age 3-5, then the pacing makes sense. For anyone who has ever played a platformer before, you may have an aneurysm before you fight your first boss. The game starts out with one of the slowest moving, unskippable tutorials ever, then goes onto unskippable cut scenes, level overviews, and further tutorials. Then you wander around hopping on, you guessed it, platforms. This is not a problem itself, but some platforms are actually background design are out of bounds so jumping to them causes instant death. The standard platforming moves are all there: double-jumping, a bit of depth discerning, and mildly aggravating 360 degree aiming. Assuming you stick to the eligible platforms, you get to collect parts to repair  your ship and coins which are for some reason hidden all over the planet you were randomly stranded on.  Lucky for you, those coins happen to be the currency required on the ship’s cybershop and can be used to purchase robo-upgrades.

Upgrades expand your abilities and add a lot to keeping the gameplay fresh as you progress. You add the ability to execute more advanced combos, air attacks, hovering, and a variety of other tricks. You can switch between upgrades using a circular menu system (a la Secret of Mana) brought up by simply moving the right stick. You can also assign upgrades to the shoulder buttons for quick toggling. Some upgrades aren’t optional though, and entire areas are off limits unless you’ve picked up the right pieces. This is also the case for one of the few bright spots in the game — multiplayer.

Throughout the game’s six levels, multiplayer is where this game sorta shines. It seems clear that the vast majority of effort on development was spent crafting multiplayer puzzles and challenges. I’m a sucker for co-op, and Spare Parts offers this in spades in both offline and online modes. There’s nothing really new or revolutionary that Spare Parts brings to the table, but some of the charm is ever-so-slightly reminiscent of multiplayer from the 8 and 16-bit era. You’ll find co-op high fives, fist and chest bumps, and they all provide little bonuses like health replenishment and super attacks. The part I don’t care for is that so much of the game outright requires another player in order to reach it. At least offer an option to play with an automated partner if you’re going to make it required.

Overall, Spare Parts has its heart in the right place but overall comes across as a half-hearted effort. Thanks to the creativity of the multiplayer and the voice of Simon Pegg, it’s mildly redeemable.  For the price, the Maw is a much better single player experience, but if you’ve got a partner lined up for your roboerotic adventures, Spare Parts is barely worth the price of 800 MSP or $9.99 on PSN.

I just watched the new trailer for Telltale’s Back to The Future: The Game, and I have to say, I am filled with the excitement of a thousand nerds! I consider the Back to the Future trilogy to be one of the greatest trilogies ever (if you can get over Mary Steenburgen screaming “EMMETT” all over part three… ugh), so I can’t help but feel the same sort of warm fuzzies about this game that I felt for the movies as a kid.

The trailer is a teaser, but here’s the gist: It’s 1986 and Doc Brown has been missing for months. The bank is about to foreclose on his house (the one of giant speakers) and Marty is helpless to stop it. Amazingly, Marty is notified that Doc is locked up in jail… in 1931. Can Marty save him?

Not only does the game look great, but it’s a pentalogy! Each of the five episodes will be released one at a time over the next few months. Starting this month, the series will kick off with release of “It’s About Time,” followed by “Get Tannen” in February, “Citizen Brown” in March, “Double Visions” in April, and the final chapter “OUTATIME” is TBA.

Also, Christopher Lloyd supplies the voice of Doc!!! How can you not support this? Check out the game trailer and enjoy your nostalgia-shivers:

Back to the Future: the Game is available for PSN, PC, Mac, and iPad platforms. Pre-order is available for $24.95 (for the entire series) here.

Destructoid reports on a rumor that Google TV could be making its way to the PS3 as early as next Spring. The Android-based streaming platform would allow gamers to search television and internet content on the PS3 system and watch networks like TNT, HBO, Adult Swim, and TBS. As a bonus, Google Chrome and YouTube, Facebook and other popular apps could possibly be a part of the package.

It’s likely there’s truth to this noise, considering Hulu Plus hits the PS3 next week, and Sony confirmed a continuing relationship with Google. However, there’s still concern how some of Google TV’s key features — searchable television content included — would work on the PS3 without some extra equipment.

Sony claims the PS3 can do anything, so Google TV seems right up their alley. Especially after the recent updates to Xbox LIVE, they may be looking into expand on the PSN and start offering better, more diverse features.

SEGA Dreamcast’s arcade classic, Crazy Taxi, will be coming to a stop for its next fare when it’s released this November on the PSN and XBLA – great news for anyone that was hoping to see more Dreamcast revivals after Sonic Adventure was released.

“Crazy Taxi is the second installment in our Dreamcast revival, and we hope this release will prove every bit as nostalgic to fans as Sonic Adventure did last month!” said Haruki Satomi, VP of Digital Business at SEGA. While Crazy Taxi may not be the most-wanted title to be remastered (Jet Set Radio, anyone?), SEGA is taking a step in the right direction by continuing their trend of actually remastering titles from a system whose lifespan was tragically cut short by the release of the PS2.

Other features include high-definiton 720p visuals, and unlike the aforementioned Sonic Adventure, will be presented in true widescreen (i.e. no choppy or distorted visuals). Achievements/Trophies and leaderboard support is also set to be included in the remake. The game comes with two modes – Arcade Mode, which should be familiar to anyone who played the title when it was released in the arcade, as well as the previously Dreamcast-exclusive Crazy Box Mode, which tested drivers through a variety of “crazy” challenges.

Crazy Taxi is set to be released for 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA and $9.99 on PSN this November. For more information about the title, head to the Crazy Taxi website.

So Sonic 4 is finally out for XBLA and maybe some other platforms like PSN and WiiWare. I haven’t played the full release, but I can tell you that it is the most ridiculously short demo I have ever experienced. And I don’t just mean on XBLA, I mean of anything, ever. The demo consists solely of only the first level of the first stage. The time it took me to finish the level was just a hair over 1:30. If I figure in the time it took to launch the game, load the level, and then go back to my dashboard, I spent all of 3 minutes with it.

You should really just go download the demo if you are remotely interested in the game. Now that I think about it, it probably took you longer to get on your computer, go to our website, and read this post than it would to take to just go and play it. You should probably just stop reading this. Also, the best part of the demo was definitely the old school “SEGA” opening in the nice soft voice and its two note tune.

Good news for all (those with good taste, anyway) as Konami Digital Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment announced that they will be releasing X-Men Arcade on XBLA and PSN. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, the game promises to feature the same side-scrolling beat-’em-up action from the 1992 arcade cabinet classic. For those that never had a chance to play it as a child, the game features Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine as they fight their way through thousands of Sentinels to Island M in order to save Kitty Pryde and Professor Xavier from Magneto.

Backbone Entertainment has quite the track record; delivering other reworked arcade and old-school titles such as Bomberman Live, 1942: Joint Strike (a personal favorite), and most recently Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Hopes are high for this one. With 1-4 players locally and 1-6 players in online drop-in-drop-out co-op, as well as multiple difficulty settings, there’ll be more than enough going around for everyone to get their share of X-Men powered beat-’em-up action when the game releases sometime later this year.

]]> http://Golgotron.com/2010/10/x-men-arcade-to-be-released-on-a-console-near-you/feed/ 5 http://Golgotron.com/2010/10/killzone-3-public-beta-announced-with-a-catch/ http://Golgotron.com/2010/10/killzone-3-public-beta-announced-with-a-catch/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:30:07 +0000 Andrew http://Golgotron.com/?p=8265

Interested in being one of only 10,000 people selected to test out Killzone 3‘s new online features like the party system, access to the jetpack and exoskeleton vehicles, or the game’s “Operations” mode? You’re in luck! Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced today that the public beta for their new, “Halo-killing” PS3 FPS would begin October 25^th for a lucky 10,000 fans – the catch? You need to purchase access to Sony’s PlayStation Plus membership (or be a pre-existing member), which is only offered in 3 month or 12 month installments. Now, you may ask, “But Andrew, what if I purchase a PlayStation Plus membership and miss out on the beta?” The unfortunate answer to that question is, “Now you’re stuck with a mediocre service that promised a lot and failed to fully deliver.” On the bright side, you do get a free copy of Wipeout HD for becoming a member, which is amazing (and FYI, this is coming from someone who bought a full year’s worth of the service).

Catches aside, the process for entry is relatively painless. Simply become a member of PlayStation Plus (or as stated above, be a member already), download the exclusive Killzone 3 XMB theme from the PlayStation Plus section of the PSN Store (available October 14^th), and eagerly await the email informing you of being one of the first 10,000 to do so on October 25^th. Like I said, painless, but for those Killzone 2 fans wanting an early bite of the game that don’t want to dish out the dough for a, in my opinion, so-so service, you’ll have to quench your hunger when the game is released this February.

When you hear RTS you think of the classics: Starcraft, Age of Empires, Civilization, etc. For a time, the RTS has existed in the PC world and has thrived. Every so often an RTS will come to console and that’s when it runs into trouble. Several good examples of bad choices include Starcraft 64, and the more recent Halo Wars. Many will disagree with me about Halo Wars, but if offered the option, they would choose to play on PC over console any day. Swords & Soldiers is an RTS that plays on one screen level, where you can choose between three factions of Chinese, Vikings or Aztecs, spawning units, upgrading your fortress/weaponry, and all those RTS goodies.

Here the launch trailer for Swords & Soldiers being announced for the PSN:

You might recognize Swords & Soldiers from its appearance on WiiWare. Well now it is coming to the PlayStation Network as one of the first games to offer 3D capability. This game may not have the production quality of Arkham Asylum, but the 3D effects and graphics are quite formidable.

Very exciting!

The PSN features include:

-30 campaign missions
-3D TV & glasses support
-Local and online multiplayer modes
-Campaign, Skirmish and Challenge modes plus Survival, Berserker Run and Boulder mini-games to choose from
-20 PlayStation Network trophies

My Impression of the game was that it fed my flash game side. I am a big fan of online flash games because I feel they are well put together and their simplicity makes for a very enjoyable game. Swords & Soldiers involves collecting resources, which is less hectic when you don’t have to worry about Zerg rushing. The game had elements of other fun games I’ve played in the past, such as GunBound and the Worms series. It was almost like a Worms RTS. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and even though I don’t own a 3D TV, it was very impressive in HD and made a very compelling argument towards purchasing a 3D TV in the future.

Ronimo Games, the company behind Swords & Soldiers, is a Dutch game development studio, founded in 2007. The team is focused on creating innovative quality games with broad appeal. Swords & Soldiers was their first official title, released in the summer of 2009. For more information on Ronimo Games and its games, visit www.ronimo-games.com.

Swords & Soldiers is available now on the PSN for $9.99 (USD).

I think it’s fair to say that every one has now heard about Scott Pilgrim VS the World in one medium or another.  It’s gone from indie/hipster comic to indie/hipster beat ‘em up video game, and finally to not-so-indie/hipster movie.  I know that my interest in the franchise didn’t really come ’round until the trailers for the movie came out, and the same goes for most people I know (see the Golgotron staff page).  I still haven’t read the comics and probably never will, mainly because I can’t read, but I loved the game and the movie.  Since this site’s primarily about video games, that’s where I’ll set my focus…

The game was first released on PSN and sold 117,000 units ($1.2 million USD) in the first month.  The ‘breaking news’ here is supposed to be that the PSN version outsold the XBLA version by a face-crushing 79,000 units.  These numbers are deceptive.  This variance between the two figures makes it seem like MOST people who played Scott Pilgrim prefer, or only own, the PS3.  I very seriously doubt that.  In my case, I probably would have bought it on the Xbox if they were released simultaneously.

Enough about the boring and deceitful numbers!  What about the game?!

The game is amazing, as you already know!  It’s a classic style beat ‘em up made for every Nintendo, or just video games in general, fan-boy/girl.  In order to get the full-effect from the game, I would say one would need to watch the movie, or maybe read the comic.  The story is completely lost if you don’t already know what’s going on.  The gameplay is everything you’d expect and more.  The difficulty curve for the game is a bit backwards to usual games; it starts out too difficult, even on the easiest level, and as you play, unlocking abilities and leveling your characters makes the game MUCH easier.  It eventually gets TOO easy, and loses it’s appeal once you’ve max-leveled all characters.

If you want a game that’s fun, appealing to the eyes, and nostalgic, pick this up…  but I’m sure you already have.  The only thing the game has left me wanting is the sixth character… WHOTHEFUCKISIT?!

I don’t know if you remember me talking about Explodemon! before, but I did.  I talked about how it looks suspiciously like MegaMan (more specifically, the MegaMan X games), and how I was actually pretty psyched to play it.  Well, I woke up quite early this morning to an email sitting in my inbox from Mr. Ed Fear, PR Manager for Curve Studios (the UK-based game development company behind this nifty title), announcing that they have released their FIRST GAMEPLAY TRAILER! I have to agree with Mr. Fear and say it does look quite lovely.  Check it out, after the jump!

Pretty awesome, right?  I’m looking forward to playing it, that’s for sure.  I’ll leave you with some words from Ed about the game, which will be out this winter:

“An explosive homage to SNES-era platformers mixed with a modern physics-puzzle twist, Explodemon is non-stop action mayhem like you’ve never seen before.  Featuring athletic feats of aerial nimbleness, sizzling combo-laden combat, and a dash of physics puzzles, the trailer will give you a small-but-perfectly-formed taster of what will definitely be this winter’s most explosive PSN release.”

Shit... Not... Kirk? Who the fu...

If anyone visits this site with any frequency, they know that when they read my articles they can expect a few things.  I’m probably going to make fun of NamelessTed, I’m probably going to start/get involved in an argument, and I’m probably going to compare video games to the movie industry.

After all, the similarities are there, aren’t they?  The old “art imitates life imitates art” thing should be modified for our generation to “video games imitate movies imitate video games,” because that’s the point that it has essentially gotten to (damn, this article writes itself – just throw in some self-deprecating humor and we’re good).

Now, normally this means video games adapting films or characters or in some cases, even spinning off stories or continuing the story as a sequel of sorts in game form.  But the industries themselves have begun to emulate each other.  Take, for example, remakes.  Classic games are getting remade (or re-released) lately with the advent and growth of the newest consoles having full online stores.  These online stores are filled with back catalogs from their respective consoles histories.  Now, the game industry has the luxury of re-releasing these classics by calling them “re-armed,” or “throwback,” or “re-shelled” and in most cases, gamers don’t scoff at the idea as much as movie goers scoff at the idea of their favorites getting a modern face-lift.

Take for example, two icons from their respective camps.  Let’s compare this year’s remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Tecmo Bowl Throwback on XBLA/PSN.  You may be wondering why these two would even be mentioned in the same article.  Well, they have more in common than you think.  They are both pop culture icons in their respective genres/mediums, they both were at the height of their popularity in the early 90’s, and have both been “re-imagined” this year for a modern audience.

The similarities don’t end there.  They both were re-imagined by taking elements that made the originals successful and giving them an upgrade for 2010; namely visuals.  Freddy comes out of the wall in ANOES 2010 the same way he did all the way back in 1984.  However, this time it’s done with “high end” visuals provided by CGI that some fans would argue looks fairly fake, even by today’s standards.  When compared to the original that just had Robert Englund pressing his face through some thin rubber to create the same scene, it’s just not an improvement, and doesn’t feel right.  Now, take Tecmo Bowl Throwback.  The entire game has been given a full 3D makeover, and for an 800 point XBLA game, looks damn good.  In fact, it’s one of the best 3D games for download at that price point.  It’s actually too good.  A game for $10.00 shouldn’t have better visuals and textures than a game like Blitz: The League II, which was a next gen release and initially sold for $49.99.

The visuals are nice, but they just don’t fit.  They don’t improve the game and aren’t necessary other than to justify you buying a new game.  Now, you can switch back to the old visuals at the touch of a button.  No, really, it’s true!  You can actually hit the RB on the Xbox Controller (assuming it’s R1 on the PS controller) and immediately switch back to the old school look, even in the middle of a play!  How dope is that!?  Right?!  Well, I mean, it’s cool…  but what’s the point?  If I’m going to use the same old visuals, why would I pay for a game I literally have sitting in my SNES under my TV?  To play online?  Maybe…  but how many Xbox 360 owners are going to want to play a game they played almost 20 years ago?  It’s likely that if you know someone you want to play it with, you can call them up and hook up in your living room.  Now, I realize that the game is very nostalgic for some (hell, I bought it), but did we really just pay for a 17-year-old game?  Yep.  Sorry.  It’s that old.  Get over it.  No refunds on XBLA.  Suck it.  Lunch money = gone.

I guess after all the rambling and words are put onto this screen, the ultimate point is this: how long before gamers begin to yawn at the idea of all of their favorite games getting remade or “re-imagined”, as Hollywood calls it?  Games have been around a substantially smaller number of years than movies, and they are already running out of ideas for new IPs that they have to run back to 15-20 years ago for games that we loved and give them changes that may or may not be well received by the very fans they are trying to attract?  There are always going to be two camps: those who are welcome or accepting of games being redone and those who want their classics to remain that – classics.

I understand what they are trying to do here and I’m buying into it myself in some ways.  I sprung for Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled, I bought Tecmo Bowl Throwback and Double Dragon, and I’ve been really disappointed by all of them.  I think that the new visual coat, smoother frame rates, and non MIDI soundtracks actually take away from the nostalgia factor of these games and in some cases, ruins the great, great memories.  It’s the same idea as the girl who gets killed in her bed in A Nightmare on Elm Street; in both versions she gets lifted up, she gets tossed about, she gets slashed, she bleeds a lot, and she dies.  The question is, was it really worth our time to pay to see the same scene happen all over again with a new paint job, or should we have just dusted off the classic VHS and watched it that way?

Sega recently announced what many gamers have been hoping for years: a return to the 2D roots of the series. After years of failures in the 3D realm, Sega has made the move back to the fast paced 2D side scrollers that put them on the map as a console maker. Before you go getting too excited and all nostalgic, let me remind you that even this switch back to 1991 is going to suck. When is the last time that you dusted off your Genesis or hell even bought one the old titles on the current generation of consoles download services?

Let’s take a short history lesson here. Sonic The Hedgehog (That’s right, capital ‘T’ in ‘The’. First, Middle, Last name as trademarked by Sega) in its 2D form exist as Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3 and also Sonic and Knuckles. The original Sonic The Hedgehog was produced and packaged with the Genesis console and was intended to be the Mario killer to get the Genesis to compete with the SNES. It was a decent game but also the first game in the series and it didn’t quite have all the kinks worked out. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 nailed it and stands out as the gem of the franchise even though it introduced us to one of the worst game characters of all time with Tails. Sonic 3 was a step backwards and Sonic and Knuckles took the legs out of the franchise literally. It slowed the game way down by adding more platforming elements and jumping puzzles.

Now back to the present day and keeping in mind that the 2D games are not nearly as good as you remember them to be, the new release is already setup for failure. The game is going to be sold exclusively as a download on WiiWare, Playstation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade. What this should tell you is that they don’t have a good enough game with enough content to put it on a disc and sell it in stores. With the recent success of a game like New Super Mario Bros Wii, you would think that Sega would be chasing those dollars down just as they have been doing with the Mario Factory for years. Sega has released game after game that is nearly a direct descendant of a recent Mario game from 3D platformers to arcade racing sims to DS RPGs. They have even been collaborating with Nintendo on the Mario and Sonic at the Olympics games but this attempt to duplicate the success of NSMB Wii will fall short.

So what’s the final verdict here? While it’s a relief to see that Sonic won’t be suffering through a new 3D piece of crap, don’t get your hopes up for this one. Sega needs to let Sonic go the way of the Dreamcast and live on fondly in the memories of our childhood. Or perhaps he can die a slow death at the hands of Mario in the new release of the Smash Bros series just as he has been doing on store shelves for years.