EPISODE SEVENTEEN: "Homeless"

The saddest game story of 2008 is that of "Little Big Planet:" The great little title that inexplicably became annointed the savior of the struggling Playstation 3 and, when said struggles unsurprisingly continued, got counted as a "sales dissapointment." You can call this a post-mortem, but I'd prefer to think of it as a reflection.

I'm on Internet TV once again!

The Escapist has once again given me a slot for a movie review on their show, this time involving "Twilight." Now you know why I didn't do that "on my own." Check out the show here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-escapist-show/481-Episode-Nine-Dead-Rising-Chop-Till-You-Drop

I come in at about 5:45, but I do reccomend you check out the whole thing - they're covering the Wii version of "Dead Rising," and there's a Zero Punctuation preview for what looks like a Prince of Persia review. Fun!

UPDATE:
Oh, and hey... just thought of something: This is the first time I've had one of these up for something that was new and revelent... so, if anyone out there is feeling helpful, it might be fun to go and toss some links to this in the direction of your favorite movie-discussion forum, chatroom, message-board, whatever - particularly ones where "Twilight" is being discussed or is likely to be discussed. The IMDB board for the film, for example, would be a good idea. I'd be interested to see what the actual feedback on something "fresh" is.

Thanks.

VOTE FOR GAME OVERTHINKER (again!)

Wow.

The Screwattack.com Gaming 1337 awards have moved on to the finals, and thanks to all of YOU... I made it in. "Game OverThinker" is one of the FINAL THREE nominees for "Best Gaming Show;" alongside Mega64 and Unforgotten Realms.

WTF? Look, I'm not going to put on some bullshit humble-face and pretend like I don't bust my ass on these things or that I don't think I do a damn good job most of the time but... seriously? The HELL am I doing nominated alongside Mega64 and Unforgotten Realms??

Anyway, this DOES mean I've got to gently ask you all to once again head over to... http://screwattack.com/Vote

...and vote for GAME OVERTHINKER for "Best Gaming Show" (and whoever else you like for everything else.) Thank you all so much, what a great Christmas gift I genuinely was not expecting.

EPISODE SIXTEEN: "Holiday Show!"

It's that time of year, kids. When entertainers dash off quicker-than-usual Christmas/etc themed shows so they can get back to the relative joys of.. well, relatives. And shopping. Yay.

This installment is sort of a video game shopper's manual for the season's game-buying non-gamers. Seemed like the helpful thing to do. I've designed it to be sent out (hopefully) to anyone you think could use such information. As such, be prepared for certain deviations from the normal additude; including but not limited to: No profanity, slower-pace, less rapid-fire jokes, fewer inside references and copious abuse of an only subtly-game-themed Virtual Fireplace loop.



Happy Holidays!

All Aboard the USG Ishimura!

It's been a while since i've updated, so i thought i'd post some work that i did a few years back on "Dead Space" for Electronic Arts. I came onto the project in November of 2006, so just a little over 2 years ago. I was hired to design all of the outfits for the employees and inhabitants of the USG Ishimura. As I sci-fi fan, this was an awesome project to work on, the visual style even at this early stage was evidently different than anything EA had done in the past and i knew it would be a great opportunity to do some fun work. Here are a few of the characters i worked on...





All Images property of Electronic Arts © 2008

EPISODE FIFTEEN: "The Politics of Gaming"

Least imaginative title ever, I realize. But I hope the content-proper makes up for it. Hey, YouTube? Y'know what'd be awesome? Letting people put non-YouTube hyperlinks in annotations. Just a thought.



Summation: "How would YOUR favorite gaming icon have voted?" I like to think of this one as 95% hit-baiting jokes about whom fictional characters might've voted for, 4.5% newsworthy griping and 0.05% thought-provoking discussion of political themes present in games you may not have thought of. Enjoy!

VOTE FOR ME!

I don't know which makes me feel like a bigger attention-whore: The constant self-promotion or the tactlessness of double-posting it into both blogs. BUT, that's the game.

ScrewAttack.com has informed me (and, I presume, many many many others) that I am elligible to be nominated for their Gaming 1337 ("leet") awards. So... if y'all dig my stuff, howzabout voting for me? ;)

Here's how it works: Go to this page: http://screwattack.com/Nominations Where you'll find a form with multiple fields in which to nominate folks/projects by their name and website URL for various awards. "Game OverThinker," for example, would best fit into the "best independent gaming show" category. Fill out each field (or only the ones on which you have an opinion) with the name and URL (my URL here is http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/ and the name is "Game OverThinker" remember,) then your name and email below and click "submit." Apparently you can do this once a day... I bet that would be a fun thing to do ;)

Thanks again for the support.

I'm on Internet TV again!

Hey, lookit that! "The Escapist Show" is airing another of my reviews, this time for "Max Payne." What swell guys.

Check it out here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-escapist-show/421-Episode-Four-Mirrors-Edge

I'm in there at about 6:05, but you should watch the whole thing because they're good guys doing a good job. It's a little intimidating, to be honest, to be sharing vid-space with even a TRAILER for Zero Punctuation. I mean... who the hell am I, right?

As before, if you dig me doing this, let The Escapist know you'd like to see me more often:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contact/

Wise Fwom Yow Gwave

Well, the surgery was a success. I'm still on soft food for a while longer and I can't talk much, but overall I'm feeling much better. I'll probably get back to editing the videos either tomorrow or the next day. So look for more Video Game Take-Out (and my other shows) on RetrowareTV soon. :)

-5 to Wisdom

Tomorrow I'm having my wisdom teeth removed (and one impacted molar, bringing us to a total of 5 teeth). I'm kinda nervous about it, but I figure people have them out all the time, so it can't be that bad. It does however make it so I can't do the show for a while. I have one Quickie done which will be out sometime next week (as soon as I feel well enough to put it out) and I'll resume work on the show just as soon as I feel better. I just wanted to let everyone know, so if I don't respond to your message or accept your friend request it's not because I'm ignoring you, I'm just down for the count.
Hopefully I'll be better in a few days, but until then this will probably be my last message. See you on the other side. :)

EPISODE FOURTEEN: "Did Ya Miss Me?"

I'M BACK!

To be seen above: Trailer spoofs! Bellyaching! My actual personage! Explanations of where the hell I went! Punch-Out!! Parkour! Bad jokes! And even MORE shameless plugging for my appearance on The Escapist Show!

HOLY SHIT! I'M ON (INTERNET) TV!

Yeah, wow.

Here's Episode #2 of "The Escapist Show," with your's truly popping in at the tail end for a review of "Eagle Eye." I come in at about 7:30, but you should watch the whole thing. These guys are working hard, and doing a fine job:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-escapist-show/332-Episode-2-Vicious-Cycle-Eat-Lead

And hey, if you like the show, me-on-the-show and you want to let The Escapist know about it, I'm sure they'd be glad for the feedback: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contact/

HUGE NEWS!

Wow, this is cool. I've had to wait awhile to tell anyone about this, but now that I can I'm still pretty overwhelmed by it.

"The Escapist" (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/) is best known these days as the website home of video-game critic Yahtzee Croshaw's hugely popular "Zero Punctuation" weekly series. But it's ALSO a full-blown webzine of it's own with lots of other content. As of this week, that content now includes a weekly gaming/geek-culture news series called "The Escapist Show." You should be watching, it's awesome.

Anyway, "The Escapist Show" features along with it's regular content and contributors short humor segments provided by independent web guys, and next week (episode #2, tentatively planned to air on November 4th) the contributor will be... ME! I'll be doing a movie review - can't tell ya which movie yet. Cool, no?

I encourage everyone to check this out... ESPECIALLY all you Game OverThinker fans, since it's YOUR enthusiam for my goofy content that's had alot to do with getting me noticed at this level. I CANNOT thank you guys enough. But don't see it just for me - the series looks really good and off to a great start. And if you like seeing my stuff on there, send some feedback over to Escapist telling them so, and maybe I'll get asked to come back for more. Look for it next week!

It lives!

Computer working again... mostly. New episodes plus something pretty big forthcoming as I make them and complete things. Thank all for patience.

Popmatters Interview

QUICKLY before this crashes again:

I've been interviewed by LB Jeffries of PopMatters about the OverThinker series. How cool is that? No time to even be faux-humble snarky about it (that was on the other blog, and even that was abbreviated.)

Read the interview here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/64317/the-new-youtube-game-criticism-an-interview-with-moviebob/

Wonder about how I got to be deemed newsworthy later ;)

A memo to the fans

Okay. The reason there hasn't been a new video for almost a month is twofold: Firstly, my PC is apparently in some kind of death-throes, so my ability to get online OR edit is sporadic at the moment. Secondly... I can't say much officially at this time, but I have a few other projects taking up some time right now.

Rest assured that new material is on the way, and that I'll be saying more as soon as I am able to.

Things are looking up

My vacation is almost over, but it's been a pretty good break. First off the Mother 3 translation was released, which is awesome. Also I got to see my sister for a few days which was cool because I basically only get to see her about once a year.
Another big thing is that I was finally able to get the Mega Man II episode up on all of the video services, So that's good. And last but not last I'll be done with my vacation soon, so that means more VGTO in the coming week. :)

See you in a few days

Some problems and an update

Well it's been a crazy week. For whatever reason I can't seem to get the show (Mega Man II) to upload to either Revver (old problem) or Youtube (New and annoying problem). I'm hoping to have it up soon, but in the mean time RetrowareTV will have to do.
Also Yesterday was my Birthday. I didn't really do anything special, but it did kick off a week long vacation that I plan to enjoy to the fullest. So far I have to say I'm off to a bad start lol. Today when I was eating something (I think it was a taco) one of my back teeth broke. So I had to spend a large part of the day at the dentist's office getting it repaired. :(
Hopefully the rest of my vacation will go better. I plan to record some audio for the show once my mouth feels better. I just wanted to keep all of you up to speed on where the show is at and let you know why I may not be as fast with my Email and stuff. Thanks for reading this and I'll be back to posting videos and answering questions in no time. :)

All the best,

-Ben

EPISODE THIRTEEN: "And There Came A Review"

Not that I don't enjoy being a commentator as opposed to a straightforward critic, but sometimes you just want to review something. So I did, to a largely overlooked budget DS platformer called "Barnyard Blast." The only thing you really need to know is that it's hero is a pig who is also a cowboy and that it actually sets out to spoof "Castlevania" and "Ghosts n' Goblins."

The Long Wait

I know it's been a few weeks since the last episode, but I just wanted to take some time off and gather my thoughts. I should have something out this week, so stay tuned. :)

EPISODE TWELVE: "Sir Mix-A-Lot Would Approve"

See? Technically, it's a whole day LESS than a month since the last update :)

This one is, chiefly, about "Fat Princess"... or, rather, my likely-to-be-in-vain hope that the inevitable (mutually) embarassing dust-up between Gamers and Feminists over "Fat Princess."



Since "Fat Princess" is still yet to be released even for full reviews, this is probably the EARLIEST I've ever been to the party in terms of current-affairs commentary in game journalism. As you'll see in the video, there's a good reason for that: The earlier you hit a subject, the less usable visual material there is to work with.

As such, I'm not even going to pretend that this is one of the more visually-compelling episodes by any means; though I would perhaps beg a small amount of credit for doing ten minutes of commentary largely about anger amongst womenfolk and not doing a single Sarah Palin joke (saving for later, don't worry.)

Blast Off!

2 years ago, on this day, I started this blog. Two years is quite a long time, and a lot has happened that I never imagined! Here's to the next few years:) This started off as a tattoo design for myself, and then somehow i ended up adding a character holding a balloon riding in an old coin-operated machine!

That New Toy Smell

My buddy Dan has just opened a new site all about toys and action figures called That New Toy Smell. If you get a chance head over there and check out the new site. Here's a video that should give you some idea of what the site will be like.

Be sure to Let Dan Know what you think of it. :)

Taking the Week Off

I've been running full speed ahead on the show lately, but I must admit that I'm feeling kinda burnt out. So I've decided to take a week off and just relax, and by relax I mean Play Civilization Revolution. I've always loved the Civ games, but lately I haven't had enough time to really get into them. CivRev is like the perfect solution to my problem. It's a quicker more streamlined version of the game I love. I've really been enjoying it.
Well, I just wanted to let you guys know where I was. Now I'm off to Listen to Retronauts (this weeks show features my good friend Andy) and play some CivRev. Have a good week everyone.

Site Update Update

It looks like everything went smoothly. As far as I can tell everything is back up and working. It seems faster for me and with fewer videos on a page, I'm not getting the annoying Revver errors. If you guys find anything out of place please let me know, but I'm gonna call this update finished.
Now I can get back to making the show :)

Remember to update your iTunes feed if you didn't already.

Site Update / Maintenance

My main site over at RetrowareTV is going to be changing a bit. Nothing drastic (in fact you may not even notice), but it does have the side effect of killing the old video links on the page. So if you follow an old link on a message board or something, it'll probably end in a error message. I know it sucks, but from here on out things should be faster and every video will have it's own page (making them easier to navigate and getting rid of those Revver errors I hope).
The big thing that does effect some of the viewers though is that the iTunes feed will be changing. Up till now I've been doing it manually, but I need to find more time to make the show and less time to update the feed, so I'm switching it over to the Revver feed. i know it's kinda a pain to switch it, but on the up side now all the Game Quickies (that I make) will be on there too.
I know it sounds like a bunch of complicated stuff, but it's really going to make it all easier in the end.

So two main things:

1. The site may have some hicups for the next few days (please report them)

2. The iTunes feed is changing and you need to change with it if you want to continue to get VGTO on your iPod. (btw the iTunes feed looks great on an iPod, but the flash version looks better on PCs. Just a little tip)

click here to subscribe to the new iTunes feed

Amazing Adventures

I've been super busy with work lately, and haven't had a chance to actually work on anything of my own for a while. Recently i picked up a great book called "Sci-Fi Poster Art", and I couldn't get enough of the old 50's and 60's sci-fi/monster movie posters. I thought it would be fun to throw a quick one together.

Fable II Pub Games

I've been addicted to this game lately. Admittedly I got it for free so I may not be so happy about it if I had to pay $10, but as a free game that goes along with my eventual purchase of Fable II, I'm enjoying it.

My favorite by far is Fortune's Tower. It's a simple card game that focuses more on betting and knowing when to get out, rather than knowing specific hands or complicated rules. For some reason I'm super addicted to this mode. The other two modes are alright, but neither one has held my attention for more than a few rounds.
Plus the money and items you earn through playing transfer over to Fable II (once it's released).
I'm not sure it's worth $10, in fact I'm almost positive it's not, but I do think that it's a cool idea to have a mini game outside of a bigger game and I'd like to see more games use it. I'm almost positive you can get this game for free by pre-ordering Fable II, so if you're at all interested in Fable II I'd suggest you get it that way and save your Microsoft bucks for some of the other games that are coming soon like Castle Crashers or Galaga Legends.

EPISODE ELEVEN: "Can It Happen To Us?"

A decade ago, a onetime "niche" industry for the young and the geeky "grew up," conquered the world... and then lost everything. The OverThinker remembers how it happened, and wants to know if the gaming biz is heading down the same path.



I'll try not to let a month pass between installments again - fortunately this one was actually a pretty quick job. What slows these things down is the image-hunting: Some material you'll find TONS of stuff to work with, others... not so much.

Hey You Pikachu!

The show's going well and everything seems to be on track for a new VGTO and a new Quickie in the coming week. But I was talking to some of the guys on the forums and they reminded me of an old VHS tape I had from Nintendo Power. I couldn't seem to find a copy of the video online anywhere so I thought I'd share with you guys. It's the hilariously bad promo video for Hey You Pikachu, enjoy!

Progress Report

It looks like I'm finally getting the show back on track. Ever since the wedding I've been struggling to keep my head above water as far as the show was concerned, but now things seem to be back to "normal".
I can't promise regular updates forever, but I can say that for the next few weeks there should be stuff to keep you entertained (well, it'll be there, I can't promise it will entertain).

I recently posted a Review of TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan over at RetrowareTV and there should be something new up tomorrow as well. I haven't had time to update the blog much, but that's sort of a good thing since I've been spending that time on the show itself.
Thanks for staying with me through the drought. Hopefully there won't be any more breaks for a while. On that same note the whole crew seems to be firing on all cylinders, so be sure to check the site for tons of new stuff.

-Ben out

EPISODE TEN: "Not A Review Of GTA IV"

In which I most-emphatically DO NOT review one of the biggest titles of 2008.



I went back and forth about putting this one up now, my main concern being that putting up what boils down to a "yeah, but"-ing of one of the four or five biggest post-Playstation franchises isn't going to do much to deter my apparently growing reputation as a cranky nostalgia-gamer - the gaming equivalent of some aging-hippie film professor who STILL won't concede that "Easy Rider" has or ever will be surpassed... BUT it's a relevant entry and (more importantly) was finished and ready to go. I know I've been very blunt about not having a set schedule, but I do start to feel like a slacker if I let too much time go by.

And, of course, the near-garaunteed uptick in traffic that comes from being able to accurately place "GTA" in one's YouTube tags doesn't hurt, either...

More delays and some news

Well I don't know how to say this, but I'm sick again. I think I need to start taking some vitamins or something lol. Anyway I'll record the shows audio just as soon as it clears up. In the mean time though I want to see your videos. Please watch the video below for more information. Thanks and don't worry I'm still writing a lot during this break, so eventually that will transfer in to more episodes being released on a steady schedule. So hang tight and I'll be back soon.

Update and Wario Shake

I know it's been a while since there has been any word from me, but I've been busy. First off I've been working on a few reviews at once, so I can try and get them all out on a more steady basis. Second my wife and I are on vacation this week, so I'm trying to spend as much time with her as I can before we have to get back to work.

So while I haven't forgotten about the show, it will still be a little longer before the next episode is out.

Thanks for your patience guys. In the mean time here's some gameplay from the new 2D Wario game on the Wii. I think it looks pretty damn good.

Crap Digging Investigation

A friend of mine (The Half Blind Gamer) from the forums has been making his own show for a while now called Crap Digging Investigation. The show covers games that you would assume are crap and tells you if they are good or not. It's not the highest budget show and he does have an accent (which I know turns some people off) but I think it's a fun show that's worth checking out.
Give it a look. :)


Also I hope everything goes well and he recovers quickly from his surgery. Good luck man.
Send your well wishes to this thread on the forums

=w= Goat Punishment @ the Knitting Factory

Another awesome show! Goat Punishment shredded up the knitting factory on the eve of new years eve in 2000. An amazing lineup that would probably never happen these days. Please come back Goat Punishment, but this time come to San Francisco =w=

Thrift Store Treasure

A few days ago I went to the local Salvation Army to see if I could find anything fun or interesting. Sometimes they have some hilarious VHS movies or some cool Laser Discs. I don't know why but I love Laser Discs even though I don't have a Laser Disc Player. I think it's the large cover art. Anyway I was snooping around the cases in the “boutique” area and I found a good looking copy of Kings Quest IV for the PC in the original box. It's in great shape and it even has the copy protection stuff and the manual. I picked it up for $3 which I think is pretty good to get back an old favorite in the box. Check it out.

On a side note VGTO will be on hold for one more day, since today is Fathers Day. I'll pick back up on it tomorrow.

The Long Delay

I know it's been a while since I've had a new VGTO out, but hopefully it'll be out soon. My sister made her way home yesterday, so I shouldn't have anything to distract me for a while. On the up side, while I didn't edit the show yesterday I did find something really cool. Behold:

That's right I finally broke down and bought a Jaguar. Hopefully I'll be able to find the AV adapter for it and record some of it for the show (Double Jump). :)
Thanks for being patient everyone, I'm gonna get back to work on everything either tonight or tomorrow. So keep your eyes peeled for something new.

EPISODE NINE: "Daisy, Daisy"

In which "Mario Kart Wii" gives me an excuse to string together some tangentially-related bits about Nintendo's "other princess," under-appreciated Hedgehog love-interests and Squaresoft's ever-more-"emo" hero characters. Also: Fixing some issues from last time, some elaboration on audio-editing and Italian softcore starlets.



Most of the time I have a cohesive, essay-ready plan for these. Other times... not so much. Enjoy!

The Network @ The Key Club

Here's another poster i did for The Network show from a few years back at the key club. The network is a sideproject from Green Day that basically sounds like Devo but more awesome. I thought a rubik's cube was a perfect fit

Weezer @ the Glass House

I have always had a soft spot for concert posters. It's a nice little memento of a great show that you get to take home. I have recently started collecting them from the shows that i go to. Back in the summer of 2000 i saw one of the best concerts Weezer has ever put on. I decided to create my own poster for the show.

Baseball

I haven't quite finished the new episode of VGTO because my sister is visiting from out of town, but I did post a short "Quickie" video about the Gameboy version of Baseball. It's been up for a little while now on RetrowareTV.com but I figured I'd give you guys the heads up.
You should also check out the video that inspired it, made by my buddy Norm of GameFlop/RetrowareTV.

What's up with 1UP?

1up.com has been my favorite gaming site for quite a few years now. The employ some of the best and most ethical writers in the business. Lately though it seems like they have been having some serious issues. Here is a list of people who have left the site in the semi recent past and where they have gone.

Luke Smith – Works for Bungie Studios
Jane Pinckard – Writes for GameGirlAdvance.com
John Davison – Works at WhatTheyPlay.com
Che Chou – Works for Microsoft at Turn 10 studios
Dan “Shoe” Hsu - Unknown
Crispin Boyer - Unknown (just announced he was leaving yesterday)
Bryan Intihar – Works for Insomniac Studios
Mark McDonald - Unknown
Kathleen Sanders – works at Fyreball.com
Jen Frank – Left for personal reasons (unknown at present)

The site has also suffered some recent closures/troubles:
Official Playstation Magazine closed down.
Ziff Davis filed for bankruptcy.
GFW the Magazine was closed down and moved to online only.


I'm not saying that all of those people left because of the financial problems, because sometimes people just move on, but it does seem like an awful lot of people are leaving (including people that have been there for ages).
I'm worried that my favorite gaming site is losing a lot of talent. They still have some fantastic writers Like Jeremy Parish, Shane Bettenhausen and Jeff Green, and they still have some great podcasts but I do worry that if a few more people leave it'll no longer be the destination for gaming news.

Itagaki Update (leaving Tecmo)

In a recent post, I said that Itagaki had been sort of cornered into making more Ninja Gaiden games, well it apears that it may have gotten to him. According to James Mielke's Blog on 1UP, Itagaki is leaving Tecmo and suing them. Keep an eye on Mielke's blog for updates.

*edit* More info on 1UP NEWS

Ode to Miyamoto

Princess Peach

Princess Zelda

Samus


My 3 favorite nintendo ladies!

Ubisoft Sales

Today Ubisoft released the sales numbers for their best selling games of all time. Surprisingly the Rayman seres captured Ubi's top spot with 22 million sold. The Tom Clancy Branded titles made up most of the other significant spaces but two things stood out to me on the list.

Driver - 14 million units sold

Petz - 13 million units sold

Granted Driver 1 was pretty decent and 2 was okay,but the series has been pretty crappy for a while. Plus 13 million units of Petz! (with a Z) If you are buying these games, then you are part of the problem.

Dodge Ball Update

So I finally got my hands on the game and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Granted I've only played it for about an hour, but the game seem pretty shallow so far. The game boasts that it has over 100 attacks, but each character can only do about 7 of them. You can: attack with the ball, kick, punch, jump and attack with the ball, run and then attack with the ball, jump and special attack with the ball or just use your special.

I know that sounds like a ton of stuff you can do but basically all the other person has to do is press one button to catch like half of those. This basically turns it into a who can do more special moves contest.
It has an option to create your own team, so maybe I'll get into that later, but as of right now it seems like all the matches are basically the same but with a different backdrop. I can't really say it was worth the $30 price tag right now. But maybe it'll get better as I go on.

The one thing I did really like so far was the back cover of the game. I want to shake the hand of the man who put "100 ball busting special attacks" next to "not the face!" on the back of the box.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

What the fuck is wrong with the Guitar Hero marketing team?

This video is best watched in conjunction with the comments of the fine folks over at Talking Time.

Super Dodgeball Brawlers

Yesterday I went to go get my copy of Super Dodgeball Brawlers, but the local Gamestop hasn't gotten it yet. Anyone else been able to get their hands on it? And if so how are you liking it? I didn't really like the GBA version because they changed the art style and stuff, but I'm hoping this one will be more like the NES original or better yet the Neo Geo version.

*edit* Apparently my copy is in and I'm gonna go get it in about an hour, So I guess I'll post my impressions once I've gotten to play it for a bit. :)

EPISODE EIGHT: "Mississippi Pwning"

Wherein I go against my better judgement and wade into the continuing firestorm over "Resident Evil 5" as a first-step toward getting to a topic we'll probably need to revisit a few more times: Race and ethnic-portrayals in video games.



Had to go back to the sped-up sound a few times this time around, as I've discovered that YouTube doesn't even let DIRECTOR accounts do over ten minutes anymore. Dammit. Also recording sound in a new way, which I don't have exactly where I want it but it DOES allow me to get the material done and uploaded at a MUCH quicker pace. Those issues aside, I think this one came out decently. It's a tough topic, especially since it's not as easy to find appropriate visual aids as it is for, say, "the Boobs episode."

N'Gai Croal, the Newsweek blogger who took a lot of heat - most of it undeserved - from gamers over his negative critique of the trailer, is for the record one of the best game journalists in the mainstream media. I'm thinking of sending him a link to this, which seems courteous since he gets mentioned so often in it, though part of me is a little nervous as to what a professional thinks of my incoherent run-on sentences. Guess we'll see...

Chaos Wars

This game looks awesome and I'd never heard of it until recently. It's called Chaos Wars (PS2) and it looks a lot like Disgaea (one of my all time favorites). I'm a bit of an SRPG nut, so this game looks pretty interesting to me.

It has a ton of characters from other series including:

Shadow Hearts
Growlanser
Blazing Souls
Gakuen Toshi Vara Noir
Spectral Force
Spectral Souls
Hametsu no Mars
Gungrave
Samurai Police/Shinsengumi Gunrouden.


It comes out on June 3rd and is a Gamestop exclusive so go get your pre order on if this looks like something you might like.

Final Fantasy IV

I've been looking forward to Final Fantasy IV on the DS since it was announced. I have never gotten to finish this game, so I'm excited to get another crack at it with all new cut scenes and 3D graphics.
While I enjoyed the remake of Final Fantasy III, I feel that FF IV is a much stronger game to start with, so I think this remake will be much more fun. I hear that the preview builds for the DS version are really hard so I'm kinda hoping they'll tone it down just a bit before release. Either way I'm totally in for this one. It's been a while since I've played a good handheld RPG.

Size Matters

Today I saw a story on IGN's UK site that announced that Microsoft is moving the size limit of XBLA games from 150 MB to 350 MB. While I have the 20gb model 360 and I'm sure it will fill up fast, I am happy to hear that I might get to play games like Castle Crashers, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Bionic Commando: Rearmed with all the features that the developers intended for them.

Castle Crashers

For those not in the know, Castle Crashes is a 2D hand drawn Beat-em-up from the guys who made Alien Homanid. This is one of the first games that really looks like it's trying to deliver on the XBLA promise of bringing new arcade style games to the console rather than just new takes on older games.
I've been looking forward to Castle Crashers for a long time (even before I had a 360 in fact) and now after about two years (since it was announced) the developers of the game have finally said that the game is done. I know it'll still be a while because of Microsoft certification and stuff, but it looks like the wait may have paid off. The game has a ton more stuff than I thought it did including 22 different characters you can play as. I'm really looking forward to this one getting a release date. Once it's out I'll have to try out that four player Co-op with some of you guys. :)

White Knuckle Scorin'

Back in 1991 Nintendo released a CD full of Nintendo related songs made by a bunch of random artists. The CD was called White Knuckle Scorin' and the first song on the album was called Ignorance is Bliss (It was by a band I'd never heard of called Jellyfish). In any event time has passed and some kind sole on the internet decided that that song needed a music video. I have decided to pass that video on to you, Enjoy!


The lyrics are on this page if you want to sing along :)

Wiik in the Knees

One thing people have often said about the Wii is that as time goes on the graphics will look worse and worse compared to it's competitors (360, PS3 and PC). I think that this is a valid point, but developers are making that time come much too soon. Many games on the Wii look markedly worse than Gamecube games. I'd even argue that some look about the same as Dreamcast games.
I don't consider myself to be a big graphics whore, but I do think that many Wii games are aging themselves prematurely. As much as i like playing my Wii, it is starting to look a bit dated. So far nothing has really even lived up to the standard set by Resident Evil on the Gamecube.
People used to mock the Wii and say it was nothing more than two Gamecubes strapped together, Well I think they were being generous. I haven't seen anything that would make me think that there's more than one Gamecube in the box.
I love the new control scheme and I love the idea of bringing more people into gaming, but I don't love the idea of developers half assing games on the Wii because “graphics don't matter”. So far Mario Galaxy is the only game I've seen that was really Gamecube+ in any way, and even it looks very similar to Sunshine (graphically).
This whole post was all spurred on by pictures of the new game Lost in Blue for the Wii. I don't know how far along this game is in development but it seriously looks like a bad Dreamcast game. Take a look at it next to the Dreamcast launch title Evolution: The World of Sacred Device.



Lost in Blue on Wii

Evolution on Dreamcast

Creativity Vs. Commerce

Are corporations killing creativity in the games industry? It's an age old question and definitely a tough balance for publishers. In the last few days both Hideo Kojima and Tomonobu Itagaki have expressed the wish to leave behind their most popular franchises in favor of something “new”. Kojima has been very public about wanting to leave Metal Gear for years. At the release of every new game he says that “this will be the last one” but eventually Konami convinces him to do another. (presumably with a dump truck full of money)
Kojima is one of the most talented directors in gaming and it's a shame that he's strapped to one idea, no matter how great. Snatcher, Boktai and ZOE show that he has so much more to offer if given the chance.
With Metal Gear basically at it's 9th Kojima directed iteration and Ninja Gaiden at it's 4th or so iteration under Itagaki, isn't it time to let these guys do something else?
Seems to me that whatever they came up with would probably be just as good or better than another iteration of those games. But maybe that's just me...

EPISODE SEVEN: "The Psychology of Nintendo Fans."

In the world of gaming and game-fandom, there's no insult that gets tossed around the forumscape with more vitriol than "Nintendo Fanboy." The Children of Miyamoto are legendary for the strength of their devotion and infamous for the creepiness of their occasional fanatacism - and both reputations are fairly well deserved. But what exactly makes them tick?

I'm not the first gaming culture-commentator to tackle this one... or the last... or even CLOSE to the best, but we all do our part. Part of what I realized putting this together is that most of us of the age to BE nostalgiac about this are ill-equipped to really get a handle on what it all really means: We're too close to be properly objective no matter how hard we try. EVERYONE knows or at least comprehends that "Nintendo Power" - just to use one example - was market-controlling corporate-propaganda of the first order. Everyone. But it doesn't matter. I remember getting my subscription and first issue as a Christmas present; you'll NEVER fully convince my brain to not hold some measure of fondness for it - any more than you'll convince Brits of certain generations that Golliwog was a cruel racist caricature.



Yeah, so... this one's a little on the sentimental side. More funny-business to come, I promise, but you gotta change it up here and there. I mean, the last installment was like ten solid minutes about BOOBS - I have to find the balance where I can ;)

Mythri : The GBC game that never was....

This is a really interesting look at a game that never made it out for the GBC. It's name was Mythri and it was the project that launched my friend Tomm's gaming career. He has since gone on to work on Contra 4 and some of the Shin Megami Tensei games (as well as many others).

Reguardless of if Tomm became a game designer or not, the story of a canceled game is always interesting and I definitely think you guys should check it out.

Think of it as a True Hollywood Story of game development.

Check it out over at GameSpite.net

Pitfall Wii?

Honestly I don't think that I can think of a single license that's been used more poorly than Pitfall. The first game was great and at the time I guess it was probably pretty ground breaking. but let's go through the many games in the series and see what they came up with.


* Pitfall - Awesome game that was ahead of it's time.

* Pitfall II: Lost Caverns - Fairly well received sequel that stuck to the originals ideas.

* Super Pitfall - Nes game that could best be described as awful.

* Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure - Another bad platformer

* Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle - Most reviewers of the time seemed to think it was decent. I see a lot of 7-ish scores. Never played it myself but looks better than the previous two

* Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle (Gameboy Color) - I've yet to play it but it received terrible scores and was canceled for all other territories after the US release. (which is never a good sign)

* Pitfall: The Lost Expedition - recived 7-8's but looked a little kid focused.

*Pitfall: The Lost Expedition (GBA) - Received similar middle of the road scores.

Which brings us to the present. The new Wii game (titled Pitfall: The Big Adventure) is made by the same people who made the last console version and the graphics look pretty similar.
For a series that had so much promise, how did it go so wrong? I know most of the games are decent, but Pitfall could have evolved into so much more. It could have looked like Uncharted:Drakes Fortune by now, but instead it looks like bargain bin crap.

Obscure Handheld Day

A few weeks ago I got back something that I had been missing. Namely my Neo Geo pocket Color. As someone who plays a lot of handheld games, I have to say that the NGPC is one of my favorite portable systems. It may not have lasted as long as some of the others, but it made up for it by having some really great games. First on my list is Snk Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash. I know there are a bunch of other great games on the system, but this one's my personal favorite. I'm hoping it'll be the subject of the next VGTO.

In similarly obscure handheld news, I bought a WonderSwan Color the other day and it finally came in the mail. I don't have any games for it yet, but that's step two lol. It's much different than I imagined, but I think it's pretty cool looking. I'm looking forward to playing some games on it. (even if they are all in Japanese). It's pretty small/light and it runs on just one AA battery. I don't know how long that single battery lasts, but it's not backlit so it should be a while. I'll put a pic on here for people that aren't familiar with the obscure Japanese handheld made by the creator of the Gameboy. (click on the pic at the top to make it larger)

Boom Blocks

I've been very skeptical about Boom Blocks since I fist heard about it. It's a game made by Steven Speilberg (and EA), which right away sets off a flag in my mind. Usually when film guys try to make a game it ends up being more film and less game (and usually all crap). Well old Steven threw me a curve ball when they announced that his game would be a puzzle game.
My first thought was "why would Steven Spielberg make a puzzle game? Shouldn't he be working on some big epic?" well I guess Steven knew what he was doing because the game has been getting some pretty good reviews (including an A+ on 1UP) and I bought it yesterday to give it a shot.
So far I've only played multi-Player, but I played it for about 3 hours last night and I have to say that it's a lot of fun. The game is sort of a mix between Jenga and the old carnival game where you throw baseballs at milk jugs. The game has a ton of modes and tons of different levels for each mode. Plus it has a whole stage builder and single player that I have yet to dive into. I think it's definitely worth a look if you have a Wii and a few friends to play with. I had a lot of fun in my 3 hours with it last night and I'm looking forward to playing it more today.

Gears of War 2

I saw on 1up today that they're going to have the first video of Gears of War 2 up this Friday at 10:30pm PST. I was just running through Gears yesterday with a friend who hadn't played it yet and it reminded me just how good that game was. I'm really looking forward to more of the same but with a little more graphical horse power and jiggly meat cubes. I think that that's basically what we'll get. Can't wait to see more tomorrow night.


VGTO should be done tonight. I've had some car trouble lately and I had to spend 4 hours at the local car repair shop yesterday, so I wasn't able to get it done until now. I have nothing to do today, so if it's not done today then I have no one to blame but myself. lol

Gameplay Friday

First off I want to update you guys on the show. I got the intro from Lance today so the episode should be done tomorrow or maybe Monday. It's hard to say because I have a few things I have to do on Sat/Sun. Either way it'll be done soon so that's good.
Now on to the what I've been playing. I've played two games lately that I thought were pretty good. Last night I played Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on the PS2 with a friend of mine. I'm not really a big wrestling fan, in fact I wouldn't consider myself a fan at all, but the friend I was playing with really loves wrestling and I can see how people like it. That being the case, I was pretty surprised to find out that the game was a lot of fun. I think the thing I dislike about wrestling is the predetermined outcome, and in the video game that's not a problem, so it just seems more fun.
Strangely I have played both of the GBA Fire Pro games and I didn't really find either one of them to be all that fun. I hear they are really great from wrestling fans, but I just couldn't get into them. Anyway Fire Pro Returns is only like 20 bucks and if you're into wrestling then I think it's definitely worth a look. It doesn't have any of the licensed wrestlers, but it has a create a wrestler mode that includes all there moves and looks of the pros, so if you have the time you can make your own WWE setup in the game.

The other game I've been playing lately is Advance Wars. This is one of the best games ever made for the GBA and every so often I like to go back and beat it all over again. For some reason the newest DS game in the series just didn't quite strike me the same way as the older one's and I never finished it. I think it was the overly long dialog sequences that ruined it for me. I still plan to go back and finish it but I'm not in any hurry to do it.
I actually think the very first GBA game is my favorite of the series. It had the best learning curve and the best level of strategy. I felt like the first DS game relied too heavily on the CO powers and forcing you to do the missions in the way they where intended rather than giving you freedom to figure out a method that worked for you.
I still love the whole series and I'm sort of a strategy game/SRPG nut, so this game is perfect for me. I'd love to get into Fire Emblem here (and why I don't think it's quite as good as advance wars) but I have to go finish the show so I guess that'll have to wait for another day.

Whatsername

Batman Vs. The Dark Knight

Today I saw something that I thought was really cool so I thought I'd share. It's a side by side comparison of the trailers for 1989's Batman movie and 2008's Batman movie. The trailers are near identical. Check it out.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Also in VGTO news I'm playing GTA IV, so I haven't worked on the show at all today. Hopefully you're doing the same. :)

N Please

It's a little old but yesterday I played a little bit of N+ (again). If you have no idea what I'm talking about N+ is the sequel to the extremely popular ninja physics flash based game called N. You can check out N for free at their website. N+ on the other hand is a game for XBLA (and eventually DS and PSP too, but I think that version is slightly different). The game has a very minimalist graphical style but the graphics are not the point of N+. The fun is in the physics and challenge of the game. You play as a little Ninja avoiding everything from Spikes to robots in an attempt to grab as much gold as possible and make it to the exit. The XBLA version is mostly based on leader boards, where you compete with your friends and in that spirit, if you guys want to challenge my scores you can add Ben1842 to your buddy list on XBLA. I'll play it some today and see if I can't make those scores a little tougher to beat. Also you guys can feel free to hit me up for a game of most anything.

See you there. :)

I'm sort of already sick of all the GTA talk but it's coming out this week and I saw an interesting article on it over at What TheyPlay. In the piece John asks Kids how they plan to get there hands on GTA IV. It's great stuff and some of the answers are pretty sneaky. I never would have thought of half of that stuff when I was a kid. John also has a follow up on his personal blog that goes into it a bit more.

As for the game itself, it's looking to be pretty good. Both IGN and 1UP have given it their equivalent of a 10.

On a Totally unrelated note, I got my hands on Mario Kart Wii today and so far I'm kinda ....ehhh on the whole thing. I'm sure it'll be fun with my friends but I played it this morning with my wife and I have to say that I didn't have any fun until I turned the item setting to “Strategic” or whatever it calls the one where the most powerful items come less frequently. Once I found that, it was just about as fun as Double Dash (minus the two players on one Kart feature). It seems like a decent game but nothing to get too excited about. I haven't tried the wheel yet but I imagine it'll suck. I liked excite Truck but Mario Kart seems like there's just too much to do (including the new tricks) to be able to use the wheel.


Lastly the show is still coming but I'm trying to finish a few of them all at once. This wasn't really a choice since I had a few thing holding me back on each one but I think I'll have them all straitened out soon and be back on schedule. Lance said he'd have the intro for one of them done today so hopefully early next week you'll see something new from me. :)

Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

Go Lakers!

You guys may not know this but I'm a huge Lakers fan. I've watched them since I was a kid and for the last 5 or so years I have watched every single game (Thanks to Tivo). This year it looks like the Lakers may have a shot at the title for the first time in a while. Right now they are up 2-0 and I heard on the telecast of the last game that only 16 or so teams have ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in NBA playoff history.
It's not really surprising that the Lakers are winning the first round since they were matched 1st seed Vs 8th seed, but it'll be interesting to see how they do as the Playoffs go on. I'm hoping they can still do well now that it seems like Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza are not going to come back this season.
So what team are you guys rooting for?

*Edit* Lakers Win again, can they make it a sweep? We'll see on Monday. :)

A lucky Break

As the guy behind Video Game Take-Out I have a pretty decent number of handheld games. Over the years I've had a ton of them but some have gotten lost or loaned out to a friend never to be returned. It's sad but true, but luckily yesterday I got a bunch of those games I lost over the years back. My wife was at the local GameStop yesterday (buying Persona 3 Fes) and there was a guy in line trading in a bunch of old handheld games. The clerk totaled it all up for the guy and he was gonna get 20 bucks. Then my wife stepped in and said she'd give him 30 for all the games. Have I mentioned how awesome my wife is? anyway the guy agreed and we got all the games in that picture for $30. pretty awesome deal considering Gamestop wanted about 30 for just the two advance wars games.
On a sad note I just found out that Gamestop is no longer carrying Gameboy Color games anymore, which sucks because they were the only store in my area that still did. Oh well, I still got some great games on the cheap and the internet isn't going to stop taking in GBC games any time soon. :)

EPISODE SIX: "Pr0N."

Presenting Episode Six; which can be thought of as a sort-of followup to Episode Two. We discuss (well.. I discuss, at least) the somewhat uncomfortable and not-at-all clearcut issue of objectification of women in the video game medium, the likely cultural/societal reasons for it, the ramifications of these design choices on gamers and gamer-culture, possible solutions and any other serious-sounding excuse I can find to run suggestive pictures of the girls from "Dead or Alive." Helloooooo, web traffice ;)



This is the first one of these to hit where I haven't used the sound-speed editing at all, so I hope people aren't too dissapointed to learn how dull my normal speaking voice is.

Overall, I'm happy with how this one turned out considering actually picking a definative point of view was kind of a challenge. On the one hand, as I admit more-or-less upfront in the video-proper.. I not only COMPLETELY understand "why" game designers tend to present their female characters in these ways - I don't see a damn thing wrong with it in the broad sense: You want characters to be appealing, and it doesn't get much more appealing than a sexy, large-breasted girl wearing next to nothing jumping around with ninja skills and yelping in Manga-nese. It's not a new phenomenon, look up a 1940s comic book character called "Phantom Lady" sometime. On the other hand, when you take a step back and look at the medium objectively the fact that characters as ridiculously proportioned/costumed as Mai Shiranui or "Soul Calibur's" Ivy tend to pass entirely without comment (other than "whoa," I mean) well... that says and implies a lot of things about game culture and NONE of it is especially flattering.

So... it's not that I want to see Team Ninja sign all the girls up for reduction-surgery or anything, but we DO probably want to be more aware of how this fits in to the culture, perceptions and all of that. I mean, just keep in mind: The "Tomb Raider" series has NEVER had a single installment that was anything other than average as an overall game, but was SOMEHOW popular and well-known enough to warrant two huge-budget movies starring an Academy Award winner. Lara Croft has TWO movies while Link and Zelda don't have ONE... entirely on the basis of digitally-rendered titties. That's what's known as letting things get out of hand, people.

SRPG 4 Me

A few days ago I picked up a game for the DS called Rondo of Swords. It's published by Atlus which means it's niche and that it will be pretty much impossible to find by the end of next week. It's a Strategy RPG probably most similar to Fire Emblem, but it has it's own weird fighting system that takes a bit of getting used to. So far I'm enjoying it but I think it's probably the hardest SRPG I've ever played.
I really love these types of games though so I'll probably keep at it in my off time. (If I can keep myself away from Persona 3 FES)