Hulk (Incredibly) Smash Modern Warfare!

There's something pointedly "now" about the idea that FilmCritHulk - the eccentric movie-blogger who pens lengthy, deeply-academic yet immensely readable articles on film and film criticism in the "voice" of The Incredible Hulk - got probably his biggest "boost" in terms of internet publicity for a piece not on films but on video games.

In the wake of said piece, Hulk has scored a (well-deserved) high-profile gig on Devin Faraci's (must-bookmark) site BadassDigest. Now, Hulk once again turns his eyes toward gaming with an AMAZING piece breaking down the (de)evolution of the "Call of Duty" games and, in doing so, making a dozen or so absolutely vital points about problems (but also high-points) of the modern games industry as a whole. It's a MUST READ - and no, NOT (only) because he gives your's truly an extremely gracious shoutout.

Episode 61 COMING SOON (UPDATED!)

UPDATE! Episode 61 will debut for all audiences NEXT WEDNESDAY 12/7 at 10pmCST/11pmEST. ScrewAttack ADVANTAGE subscribers can get an early look TOMORROW at the same time. Remember, if you sign up for ADVANTAGE select "The Game OverThinker" as your show of choice so that your subscription supports THIS show :)

I don't have an exact date/time for Episode 61 yet (other than to say YES, this one will be available one week early for Advantage subscribers) but it's coming very soon. Until then, here's a new trailer currently running on YouTube that contains a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery teeny-tiny tease at upcoming episodes:

Is "GameGadget" The OPEN-SOURCE Platform We've Been Waiting For?

...Probably not, but I like the idea.

"Blaze" is a Europe-based gaming outfit that mostly specializes in making gaming peripherals and those dedicated all-in-one consoles and handhelds pre-loaded with retrogames that you see on mall kiosks around the Holidays. Now, they've thrown their weight behind a still-somewhat-mysterious concept called "GameGadget" that seems like the logical next-step from that particular business model: An open-source, Linux-based handheld (it looks like a plus-sized GameBoy Micro) that aims to be the "iPod of games."


Thus far the press-release from last week and images are the bulk of what's been revealed, but the basic idea is that the device (which DOES appear to have an SD slot) will interface with a proprietary version of the App Store, which Blaze/GameGadget is heavily angling for rights-holders to classic games (pre-PS1, most likely) to fill with their product. The press release makes a BIG deal out of this being a way for publishers to re-monetize their retrogames without much (or any) additional investment. They're also courting small/upstart developers to make new titles for the format, which they claim it's "fully compatible" with SDL and DirectFB.

I LOVE everything about this... except for the fact that it's being put out by a company without much of a profile otherwise - something that's going to involve a lot of back-and-forth between a dizzying number of (theoretical) partnerships needs some muscle behind it, or at least would seem to from my perspective.

I've maintained for awhile that something LIKE this - an everything-in-one-place app store for classic games - would be both a game-changer and an industry-saver; and it's INCREDIBLY frustrating that the main thing preventing it has been Apple's ridiculous resistance to having buttons on the various iDevices - which has severely kneecapped the variety of games most smartphones can (properly) run. Imagine carrying around every Atari/Spectrum/C64/NES/SNES/Genesis/TG16/NeoGeo/Arcade classic you ever loved - plus new stuff in the "golden age"/mobile style - to be there whenever and wherever you needed them? BLISS. Absolute bliss... and also a vital way of keeping The Classics alive and readily available to new generations without the cumbersome extra work of buying/maintaining used equipment and/or murkily-legal emulation. No more game design students walking around without a proper background in the origins of the medium on account of having been born after said origins were easy to get? THAT'S how you save the future of video games, my friends.

I would love, love, LOVE to see something like GameGadget swoop in and either A.) be wildly successful and put a giant dent into Apple's goal of iPhone becoming "The AllGadget" because of their silly button-phobia; or B.) be just successful enough to scare Apple/Android/etc into getting over their silly button-phobia and making one to compete. I'm just not sure GameGadget is actually the thing to do it.

BUT! The thing (apparently) comes out early next year, so we'll see. A man can dream, after all...

Desert Bus Has Begun!

The great folks at LoadingReadyRun have begun their yearly "Child's Play" charity drive, wherein they play Desert Bus - one of the worst games ever made - for your amusement. You can watch the live feed and donate HERE.

I'm scheduled to call in and shoot the breeze with them LIVE at 11am PST (2pm EST) on Monday the 21st, so tune in for that as well.

Happy Birthday to Shigeru Miyamoto

The greatest video-game designer of all time was born today in 1952. Bow your heads and take notice.

EPISODE 60: "NINJAMAGEDDON" (aka "The Mailbag Show")

Episode 60 can now be viewed by EVERYONE here! Did you're questions make the cut? Watch it and find out!

NINJAMAGEDDON: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH!

PLEASE NOTE: This is all coming together fairly quickly, so do not be surprised if these details change.

Episode 60: NINJAMAGEDDON (aka "The Mailbag Show") is all about acknowledging OverThinker fans, and as part of that "thanks guys" we've elected to dramatically shorten (for this episode only) the now-customary one-week "split" between when Advantage users and everyone else gets to see it.

Instead, NINJAMAGEDDON will debut for all audiences tomorrow - Monday, November 14th - at 11pm EST (10pm CST) - on ScrewAttack.com; while Advantage users will have the opportunity of seeing it 24 hours ahead of time tonight at the same 11pm EST time-frame.


I'm really happy with how this one came together. Compared to "War of The Thinkers," this (the story/sketch part) has fewer FX and setups - it's basically a single extended 3-way fight scene - but it has a more cohesive running aesthetic i.e. replicating "gonzo" low-budget kung-fu movies and Japanese Tokusatsu series... though the end result ultimately owes more to the notoriously silly 80s ninja movies of Godfrey Ho. Here's some clips of his film "Ninja Fantasy," to give you some idea of what you're in for:





But that, of course, is just the garnishes. The REAL point of this episode - the important part - is the collection of great questions offered by fans and viewers. I got hundreds of questions, and tried to pick a solid mix funny ones, show-related ones, gaming ones, positives and negatives. In total, about 20 questions made the final cut. Is your's one of them? Tune in and find out Monday, November 14th at 11pm EST.

MAILBAG Entries CLOSED

It's 11/12, which means the Mailbag submissions are now closed. With luck, I'm hoping to have the episode ready for air sometime this coming week, hopefully before the weekend. Stay tuned.

NINJAMAGEDDON

As you may have inferred from the banner, Episode 60 - aka "The Mailbag Show" - now has a title. More news including airdates and schedules coming soon, and remember to ask you question 3 posts down BEFORE the 12th (this Saturday) if you want it to be considered for the episode.

Has The First Truly Great Video Game Movie Been Made?

Below, the trailer for "Gyakuten Saiban" - known to Western gamers as "Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney" - directed by the legendary Takeshi Miike...



I've said it for years: Adapt the games that have their own wholly unique aesthetic and put it in the hands of filmmakers who "get it." If I'm to be proven right, all the better that it be by Miike.

EPISODE 59: "Bat-Slap" (UPDATED!)

11/08/11 UPDATE: URL of video has changed, links and embeds updated accordingly. If you've tweeted this page before, please consider doing so again for the newness.

Episode 59, which was inspired by the Film Critic Hulk/Arkham City blowup but heads off into MUCH bigger territory than just that one incident, is now available to be viewed by ALL audiences HERE. (embedded after the jump)



REMINDER! The "special topic" for Episode 60 referred to at the end there is the "Mailbag," so go HERE or HERE and ask your question if you haven't already - asking will close on November 12th!

Iwata Asks: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

November 20th can't arrive quickly enough. In the meantime, here's an interview with the development team behind Skyward Sword that reveals some interesting info about how the game was made, without getting too spoiler-ish.

http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/zelda-skyward-sword/0/0

How Skyward Sword got its name:

Iwata: You mean the sword is something you use to swing to defeat enemies, but now you're able to hold it still mid-air, and use it for other things. Who's idea was it that you could be able to hold the sword still?

Aonuma: Miyamoto-san, right?

Fujibayashi: I remember it clearly. All of a sudden, in the middle of the night, Miyamoto-san called us in and said, "Have it stop." I was like, "Have what stop?" and he said, "The sword." When I first heard "stop," I didn't think it was possible, but a moment later, I understood and was like, "Stop…? Oh, stop… I get it!"

And there was more to that late-night conversation. After he suggested stopping the sword, he said, "Then you raise up the Wii Remote and while you're in that pose, energy builds up, and then you release a sword beam."

And once we could hold the sword up high, we hit on the title of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Iwata: "Skyward" because you hold it up toward the sky, but I hear that there is a deeper meaning to it as well.

Aonuma: That's right. From what I heard from the NOA (Nintendo of America) localization team, the word "ward" also means to protect and guard something, so "skyward" can also mean "protector of the sky", and "one who is protected by the sky".

Wow the title fits even more perfectly than I thought.

Why Less is Better

Iwata: To start off, this Legend of Zelda game is structured so as to provide the enjoyment of playing in familiar places. So rather than making a bunch of new game fields—as in games past—you come and go through the same ones. First, I would like you to talk about why you decided to make it like that.

Fujibayashi: All right. First of all, the producer, Aonuma-san, said, "Let's make this Legend of Zelda game compact."

Iwata: Miyamoto-san has always said that to Aonuma-san—and this time Aonuma-san said it to you! (laughs) If you make a bunch of new fields, and just stretch it out, it just gets big and can be a bit of a drag.

Fujibayashi: That's right. I thought we could discover a new pleasure if, instead of just stretching it out, we made fields with height and depth, so that every time you went to one, you would experience a fresh surprise and discover new enjoyment.

Iwata: In other words, compact doesn't literally mean small and cramped game fields, but denser ones, while still compact.

I'm interested in seeing how the element of the sky adds both "height and depth" to the overworld. Up until now, Zelda overworlds have always been on a mostly on a horizontal plane. Twilight Princess got a lot of criticism because its overworld was too... expansive and stretched out, so it felt really empty. I think they have the right idea here with making the world more compact.

Another quote explaining the overworld design:

Hiramuki: I tried to make the landforms more three dimensional that before in the series. I designed it so that the first time you come, you can just follow the roads, but as you explore, you become able to go all sorts of places, and then you can just head straight to where you want to go. You don't just go once, but come and go many times.

Backtracking and Revisiting Areas

Ito: I think that feeling of density is connected to how you go to the same game field multiple times, but it feels fresh each time. In the series so far, you went to a dungeon once, and that was the end. Iwata: That's right. No matter how big and complicated it was, if you beat the boss deep inside, you never went there a second time. Ito: Uh-huh. But in this game, once you take down a dungeon, you may have occasion to visit it again. You may think that the second time will be easy because you've already beaten it, but there may be new challenges.

In that way, you visit the same place over and over, but it's made to continue being enjoyable. What's more, there are plenty of rewards here and there, which I think gives rise to that feeling of density.

So even the first dungeon in the game might not be "completed" until way later on...

Adding the element of Stealth

Iwata: Is it ok to assume that the Silent Realm is sort of a game of tag?

Fujibayashi: Yes. So that's why you can't use items like the sword and shield there.

Iwata: Link is an unarmed hero.

Fujibayashi: That's right. The goal of this game is to collect Sacred Tears here and there around the game field. But if enemies find you, the world changes and Link has to run for his life. Link is unarmed, so he can't fight enemies. If he gets hit, that's the end.

Iwata: That is like tag. And Dash comes into play.

Fujibayashi: Yes. I wanted to make something that switched back and forth in real time between still and active, like "I won't let enemies find me," and "Now that they've found me, I won't let them catch me". Once you get a Sacred Tear, a period of safe time begins, so you think about the order you will get the Sacred Tear, or, in the worst case, you plan for when an enemy will find you and purposely leave a Sacred Tear that's easy to get. There's a strategic element. You can say the same thing with the game of tag in real life, but those that know the landscape better has an advantage.

Stealth gameplay bits have been a great feature in Zelda since OoT. Dodging the Hyrule Castle gaurds, infiltrating Gerudo Fortress, hiding from phantom guards was the best part of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks... This Silent Realm feature sounds really fun.