Independent filmmaker Eddie Lebron, whom you may remember from the pretty-solid feature length "Mega Man" Fan-Film last year, has formally announced his production of a "Sonic the Hedgehog" Fan-Film.
The best parts of "Mega Man" were Lebron's grasp of action, scene composition, not-bad-at-all use of visual effects and clever narrative compromises toward realizing the game in live-action (and on a budget) so the notion of him tackling a feature built around a main character (and presumably several others) realized wholly through CGI is encouraging as far as I'm concerned. The BIG news, of course, is who he's landed to provide Sonic's voice...
Way. Past. Cool.
Selasa, 26 Oktober 2010
Senin, 25 Oktober 2010
Started a new video game videos blog
Hey everyone, just fyi, I decided to start a new Video Game Videos blog. It will be a part of my website at http://www.xboxfreak.ws/ and has a growing collection of game play videos, trailers, and othe videos relating to video games. You can see my new blog at http://www.xboxfreak.ws/gamevideosblog. I will still post to this blog, of course, but for now on video game videos will usually go in that blog. Of course if you have videos you like to share, I'd be happy to post them.
Jumat, 22 Oktober 2010
Top 10 Deja vu moments in video games (part 1)
Do you ever get the feelings of familarity when playing video games (where things seem to repeat themselves)? You are not alone. In this blogpost, I will talk about at least 10 deja vu moments that I have encountered as a gamer.
#1- Bowser boss fights in Super Mario Bros 1 - to demonstrate the Bowser fights, here is a youtube video I found:
For the first deja vu moment, we go all the way back to the first Super Mario Bros game. This game launched the Super Mario bros series as we know it today and is perhaps one of the first games to have boss battles in them (can't think of any games prior to SMB1 that have boss fights). Anyways, when you fight Bowser at the end of the dungeon levels (the 4th level in each world), the boss fights are always the same. Bowser (who is usually an imposted until world 8) is on this draw bridge, spewing fire balls at Mario and Luigi, and there are 2 ways you can beat bowser: 1) getting past him and touching the axe icon at the end of the bridge or 2) shooting fireballs with him (assuming you are able to keep the fireball power up for the whole dungeon) until he dies. Of course, you will fight these exact same "boss battles" in all 8 worlds. The only things that change are the dungeon layout and some of bowser's attack patterns (such as shooting hammers at Mario and Luigi in worlds 6-8). Another deja vu moment is that prior to world 8, "Bowser" turns out to be an imposter (such as a goomba) and Mario/Luigi encounters Toad, who tells him that she is in another world.
# 2- Count Dracula's first form in most of the Castlevania games -
Here is a youtube video about a boss fight against Dracula on Castlevania Dracula X. This boss fight is the classic and perhaps one of my favorites.
If you have played most of the games in the Castlevania series, you would know that the main villian in the series is the Count Dracula, who is the evil vampire that wants to destroy the human race (only to be stopped by the Belmont clan and its allies). Anyways, at the end of the game where you fight Dracula, usually you fight him in at least 2 forms (though not always), and while the developers usually get creative about Dracula's demonic form (such as the Gargoyle in Castlevania Dracula X), the first battle with Dracula is almost always the same. In his first battle, the evil lord teleports around the room and hurling fireballs and other projectiles at he hero (sometimes he also tries to suck the hero's blood as well in some games, such as Castlevania 64 when you fight the imposter version of Dracula) and you usually get a short period of time to attack him before he teleports again, and the battles play out this way until you defeat him, after which he usually transforms into his monsterous form that you also have to defeat. Of course, this type of boss fight with dracula can be found just about any Castlevania games, with two exceptions being Curse of Darkness (I thought that Dracula was much more animated in that game doing more than just teleporting around the room and attacking), as well as Symphony of the Night, when you go up against Dracula as Alucard (the traditional Dracula boss fight actually takes place when you fight him as Richter towards the beginning of the game, and when you go up against him as Alucard at the end of the game.
Usually, once you beat his first form, he turns into a hideous beast that you also have to defeat, though in some of the games, that is the only form you fight as is the case in Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest and Castlevania 4 (I thought that one was a bit anti-climatic when I played that game given the extra bosses you fight in the "room of close associates" that you go through towards the end of the game where you fight Death, Gaibon and Slorga). Also, in Castlevania 64, you will actually do the traditional Dracula fight twice (first with the imposter Dracula and later with the real Dracula, who is actually the boy, Malus if you remember that game of course). Even in some of the newer Castlevania games, where there is a new villian in place of Dracula (such as Walter in Lamment of Innocence), the new guy often mimics dracula as he too does the teleportation moves while attacking as well.
Here is a short youtube video about the boss fight against Walter in Lamment of Innocence (posted by megagrey). As you can see, in this battle, Walter actually mimicks Dracula. BTW, Lamment of Innocence is actually a prequel of the series.
#1- Bowser boss fights in Super Mario Bros 1 - to demonstrate the Bowser fights, here is a youtube video I found:
For the first deja vu moment, we go all the way back to the first Super Mario Bros game. This game launched the Super Mario bros series as we know it today and is perhaps one of the first games to have boss battles in them (can't think of any games prior to SMB1 that have boss fights). Anyways, when you fight Bowser at the end of the dungeon levels (the 4th level in each world), the boss fights are always the same. Bowser (who is usually an imposted until world 8) is on this draw bridge, spewing fire balls at Mario and Luigi, and there are 2 ways you can beat bowser: 1) getting past him and touching the axe icon at the end of the bridge or 2) shooting fireballs with him (assuming you are able to keep the fireball power up for the whole dungeon) until he dies. Of course, you will fight these exact same "boss battles" in all 8 worlds. The only things that change are the dungeon layout and some of bowser's attack patterns (such as shooting hammers at Mario and Luigi in worlds 6-8). Another deja vu moment is that prior to world 8, "Bowser" turns out to be an imposter (such as a goomba) and Mario/Luigi encounters Toad, who tells him that she is in another world.
# 2- Count Dracula's first form in most of the Castlevania games -
Here is a youtube video about a boss fight against Dracula on Castlevania Dracula X. This boss fight is the classic and perhaps one of my favorites.
If you have played most of the games in the Castlevania series, you would know that the main villian in the series is the Count Dracula, who is the evil vampire that wants to destroy the human race (only to be stopped by the Belmont clan and its allies). Anyways, at the end of the game where you fight Dracula, usually you fight him in at least 2 forms (though not always), and while the developers usually get creative about Dracula's demonic form (such as the Gargoyle in Castlevania Dracula X), the first battle with Dracula is almost always the same. In his first battle, the evil lord teleports around the room and hurling fireballs and other projectiles at he hero (sometimes he also tries to suck the hero's blood as well in some games, such as Castlevania 64 when you fight the imposter version of Dracula) and you usually get a short period of time to attack him before he teleports again, and the battles play out this way until you defeat him, after which he usually transforms into his monsterous form that you also have to defeat. Of course, this type of boss fight with dracula can be found just about any Castlevania games, with two exceptions being Curse of Darkness (I thought that Dracula was much more animated in that game doing more than just teleporting around the room and attacking), as well as Symphony of the Night, when you go up against Dracula as Alucard (the traditional Dracula boss fight actually takes place when you fight him as Richter towards the beginning of the game, and when you go up against him as Alucard at the end of the game.
Usually, once you beat his first form, he turns into a hideous beast that you also have to defeat, though in some of the games, that is the only form you fight as is the case in Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest and Castlevania 4 (I thought that one was a bit anti-climatic when I played that game given the extra bosses you fight in the "room of close associates" that you go through towards the end of the game where you fight Death, Gaibon and Slorga). Also, in Castlevania 64, you will actually do the traditional Dracula fight twice (first with the imposter Dracula and later with the real Dracula, who is actually the boy, Malus if you remember that game of course). Even in some of the newer Castlevania games, where there is a new villian in place of Dracula (such as Walter in Lamment of Innocence), the new guy often mimics dracula as he too does the teleportation moves while attacking as well.
Here is a short youtube video about the boss fight against Walter in Lamment of Innocence (posted by megagrey). As you can see, in this battle, Walter actually mimicks Dracula. BTW, Lamment of Innocence is actually a prequel of the series.
Mega Man 9 Speed Run [0:26:30]
I was watching youtube videos and decided to watch a speed run on Mega Man 9. I was playing the Mega Man Anniversary collection earlier today (did Mega Man 3) and thinking about getting Mega Mans 9 and 10 at some point.
Every NES Game Ever in 15 Minutes
If it turns out there's no heaven, and instead just a longer-form loop of THIS... I think I'd be okay with that.
Happy 25th, old friend.
Happy 25th, old friend.
Kamis, 21 Oktober 2010
Awesome kid and awesome family make awesome Metroid halloween costume
Hat-tip: KOTAKU
Joe DeRosa, age 11, wants to be Samus Aran - the armor-suited lead character from the "Metroid" video-games - for Halloween. Not exactly something you can buy at Target, and not exactly simple on a design level. Fortunately for Joe, based on the DeRosa Family Blog, he comes from a whole family of DIY tech-wizards and MakerFaire afficionados... and they're building a Varia Suit from scratch.
Below the jump... MAGIC.
Here's the video, from the kid's YouTube Channel, of him and his father making the Arm Cannon. I say again: Here's a kid and his dad, building the Arm Cannon from Metroid in the garage.
I'm literally speechless - it's like if Norman Rockwell illustrated an issue of Scott Pilgrim.
The rest of the project (still in-progress) can be seen on their Family Blog, which also shows their construction of a previous project: An animatronic replica of the dragon from "Eragon" - yes, it breathes fire.
Obviously, the final layer of coolness/interest in this is that the one thing "everybody knows" about Metroid is that, under the armor, Samus Aran is a woman. This fact does NOT appear to be a big deal (or even matter at all) to Joe, his father, or anyone else involved (it's not mentioned anywhere on any of their sites.) That shouldn't be surprising or even worth noticing, but, let's face it: It is... and it's all kinds of kickass. Gender-role-ignoring cosplay as a father/son bonding experience for a postcard-perfect American Family... it's like a time-traveling transmission from a better tommorrow.
There is NOTHING about this video, this project, this kid and his family that is not just incredibly awesome. I'm going to sleep now - I haven't gone to sleep feeling good about the human race in forever, and I want to try it.
Joe DeRosa, age 11, wants to be Samus Aran - the armor-suited lead character from the "Metroid" video-games - for Halloween. Not exactly something you can buy at Target, and not exactly simple on a design level. Fortunately for Joe, based on the DeRosa Family Blog, he comes from a whole family of DIY tech-wizards and MakerFaire afficionados... and they're building a Varia Suit from scratch.
Below the jump... MAGIC.
Here's the video, from the kid's YouTube Channel, of him and his father making the Arm Cannon. I say again: Here's a kid and his dad, building the Arm Cannon from Metroid in the garage.
I'm literally speechless - it's like if Norman Rockwell illustrated an issue of Scott Pilgrim.
The rest of the project (still in-progress) can be seen on their Family Blog, which also shows their construction of a previous project: An animatronic replica of the dragon from "Eragon" - yes, it breathes fire.
Obviously, the final layer of coolness/interest in this is that the one thing "everybody knows" about Metroid is that, under the armor, Samus Aran is a woman. This fact does NOT appear to be a big deal (or even matter at all) to Joe, his father, or anyone else involved (it's not mentioned anywhere on any of their sites.) That shouldn't be surprising or even worth noticing, but, let's face it: It is... and it's all kinds of kickass. Gender-role-ignoring cosplay as a father/son bonding experience for a postcard-perfect American Family... it's like a time-traveling transmission from a better tommorrow.
There is NOTHING about this video, this project, this kid and his family that is not just incredibly awesome. I'm going to sleep now - I haven't gone to sleep feeling good about the human race in forever, and I want to try it.
Senin, 18 Oktober 2010
The NES is Silver today
25 years ago today at FAO Schwarz in Manhattan NY, the first Nintendo Entertainment Systems went on sale in the United States. Home video-gaming had died completely in the U.S. three years earlier in The Crash of 1983, and Nintendo had to package the device with a toy robot in order to convince retailers to carry it.
The system launched 18 available games: Balloon Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf Gyromite, Hogan's Alley, Ice Climber, Kung Fu, Mach Rider, Pinball Stack-Up, Tennis, Wild Gunman, Wrecking Crew and, of course, Super Mario Bros.
I still have mine.
The system launched 18 available games: Balloon Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf Gyromite, Hogan's Alley, Ice Climber, Kung Fu, Mach Rider, Pinball Stack-Up, Tennis, Wild Gunman, Wrecking Crew and, of course, Super Mario Bros.
I still have mine.
Jumat, 15 Oktober 2010
Podcast Interview (Armchair Thinkers)
Chris and Kyle, aka "The Armchair Thinkers," had your's truly as their guest on the Podcast this week. I thought it went pretty well, Judge for yourself.
Armchair Thinkers Facebook Page.
Armchair Thinkers on iTunes (I'm on EPISODE 9)
Armchair Thinkers Facebook Page.
Armchair Thinkers on iTunes (I'm on EPISODE 9)
Rabu, 13 Oktober 2010
Minggu, 10 Oktober 2010
X-Men Arcade Preview
Here is an interesting video game preview I stumbled across on on youtube, posted by IGNentertainment about the upcoming X-men arcade game
Commentary about this video:
If you have been to various arcade establishments, I am sure you have come across the X-men arcade game. Now, it appears that Konami is planning to do a whole remake of the game for consoles (possibly Xbox live, Nintendo Wii Ware, etc). This game is sure to rival the hit, Castle Crashers.
Bawl of Reach
Alright, so to answer a few readers who kept asking, I finally managed to rent "Halo: Reach" over the weekend. No, it's not getting an episode because it didn't really leave me with anything to think about or talk about and I'm unable to summon the interest to finish the campaign. I've got no real affection for first-person shooters to begin with, nothing about Halo's story, universe or design has ever really appealed to me, and it was quickly evident that I was in for more of the same so... no thanks. I played an evening of the online multiplayer, which did nothing to assuage my dislike for online multiplayer at least in the case of FPS's.
So... yeah. NOT a "review," since I didn't finish it, but didn't really do it for me.
So... yeah. NOT a "review," since I didn't finish it, but didn't really do it for me.
Rabu, 06 Oktober 2010
GoldenEye: 007 - Weapons, Choices, Villains
Watch a commentary about the New Golden Eye 007 game, posted by IGN.
Commentary:
It appears this game will be the official remake for the popular Golden Eye game from the Nintendo 64 with some completely new elements, such as the current Bond (Daniel Craig). This game could become a potiential rival to games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo Reach, etc.
Just added a new Xbox 360 game reviews blog on my website
picture of my blogYou can check out my new blog at:
http://www.xboxfreak.ws/gamereviewsblog?post=Call_of_Juarez:_Bound_in_Blood
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