Category: Musings

A Strange Feeling

Walking by the magazine rack, I saw the cover for the latest issue of Nintendo Power and saw something on the cover that startled me a bit. What was it? A small bit of print that says “We Celebrate 20 Years of the Sega Genesis.”

If you owned a Sega Genesis 20 years ago and were told that NINTENDO POWER would do a retrospective on the console, you would have had the messenger committed. Even years after the fact and despite owning a Wii with a couple Genesis games on the Virtual Console, I still can’t used to the fact that Sega stuff is being featured in Nintendo stuff… go figure.

Speaking of anniversaries, tomorrow’s the Sega Dreamcast’s tenth birthday. I’ll have a couple reviews posted on the site this week.

The Nerd Pool Dried Up

Anyone who has bet on the next AVGN episode being GI Joe-related to tie-in with the new movie has just lost those bets. James Rolfe a.k.a. Nerd Boy has announced that no such episode is planned. In all honesty, I’m sort of glad he isn’t going ahead with an episode. Not only are we spared another tie-in episode (and he adknowledges this too), but also we are spared from the Nerd to trying to be angry about a couple GI Joe games that are actually pretty good.

Rolfe listed three games that he’s played through in prep for the video: an Atari 2600 game (already reviewed and loathed by Classic Game Room HD) and two NES titles (one of which is reviewed on ScrewAttack’s Video Game Vault series.) I haven’t played the Atari game, but I did play the NES titles at one point and I thought they were pretty good games. So definitely a good move to ix-nay on the GI Joe episode.

Wait ten years when he decides to review the current crop of games based on the new movie.

William… oh who cares?

Trekweb.com has posted an interesting tidbit on why William Shatner (old Kirk) has yet to see the new Star Trek movie. Here’s the link for people who actually care…

So the guy wanted to be in the movie, they made a cameo role for him, he shot it down because it wasn’t a major part, ended up not being in the movie, and he decides for whatever reason not to see it. And yet he holds out hope that they’ll fit him in the new movie? Really?

So why am I wasting my time with this? Furthermore, why is Shatner giving his reasons for not seeing the new movie anything resembling news? Is it really that slow of a news day?

Look, if the guy doesn’t want to see the movie, fine. I don’t care. Nobody’s forcing him… just do us all a favor and don’t give this guy any more attention than he deserves. I mean, what’s next? “William Shatner’s toenail makes cameo in Star Trek 25?” Please.

Street Fighter IV PC Requirements

So Capcom released the specs for the PC version of Street Fighter IV. For those who don’t have gaming consoles of the hi-def variety, this would seem like a suitable replacement. My only concern is the SECUROM protection that’s going to be employed. I don’t know if my love for the Street Fighter series will be enough to overcome my disdain of modern PC game security measures, a contributing factor to me not getting involve in PC gaming… well, that and the fact that the games are either too demanding for my rinky-dink PC or they just don’t seem to be worth my money. But we’ll see.

Anyway, courtesy of this site, here’re the specs:

Minimum
OS: Windows XP
CPU: Intel Pentium4 2.0GHz or higher
RAM: 1GB or higher
HDD: 10GB of free space or more
Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce6600 series, ATI Radeon(TM) X1600 or higher or higher, VRAM i?š256MB or higher
Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
Input Devices: Mouse, Keyboard

Maximum
OS: Windows Vista
CPU: Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz or higher
RAM: 2GB or higher
HDD: 10GB of free space or more
Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce8600 series or higher, ATI Radeon(TM) X 1900 or higher, VRAM i?š512MB or higher
Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
Input Devices: Gamepad i?šXbox360 Controller for Windows

Quick E3 2009 Thoughts

E3 has come and gone… and I didn’t go. Shame.

But in any case, some strange has happened as there are actually some games worth my attention these days. Go figure. Here’re the ones worthy of my attention:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Seems to be a follow-up on the similarly titled DS version that was released years ago. Neat 4-player function with gameplay worthy of having Screwattack rename it Super Mario Assholes. Let’s put it another way. Remember playing 2-player games in the original Mario Bros. and playing all sorts of dirty tricks to get the other guy killed? Well, almost the same deal here. Can’t wait to play this one.

Metroid: Other M (Wii)
I’ll be completely honest: I haven’t really cared for the Metroid series ever since Zero Mission. I’ve tried the first Metroid Prime, but it really didn’t do much for me and therefore I had no reason to pursue the rest of the series. Having said that, this game sort of peeks my interest, but I’ll have to wait and see where this one goes.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (XB360/PS3)
Comments on this title has been referring to this as a God-of-War ripoff. While I can’t really comment on that (I never really played God of War – I haven’t been keeping up, have I?), it does seem like a nice, quick-paced and frentic action game – something I felt Castlevania really needed in its transition to 3D rather than the previous offerings. While I regret not being able to play this game – lest I somehow conjure up a PS3 or 360 out of thin air – I do look forward to what other people think. Who knows? This might be the game that has been going for a stronger machine.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (Wii)
So I don’t need to import this game? Cool… I mean, the game looks really, really slick. Should be a frantic game indeed.

That’s about it, really… Yeah, that’s it. Bye.

I’m A Trekker (Not THAT Kind of “Trekker”)

So last night, I went on a long audious trek by foot from downtown Montreal to slightly home… in the suburbs. Most Montrealers probably heard about the mysterious package that was left in one of the metro stations and forced almost the whole system to be shut down. (Here’s the story so far.)

While people were waiting for buses, I was walking home and making due progress. By eight o’clock, I took the rest of the way home by bus. Of course, around that time, things were slowly returning to normal. In any case, I made a long Trek, so that makes me a one-time Trekker.

But I still consider myself a Star Trek fan and refuse to get into this stupid debate about which pet name is preferable and accurate.

Adding To The (Denver) Nugget Of Stupidity

From rajah.com:

As noted last week during TNA Wrestling’s important announcement to wrestling fans in Colorado feeling burned by WWE canceling shows, president Dixie Carter made a formal invitation to the Denver Nuggets players and staff to attend this Friday’s TNA live event in Pueblo, Colorado. Unfortunately, they will not be able to attend the event as a result of their win over the Los Angeles Lakers last night at the Pepsi Center. They evened the series and have Game 6 scheduled for Friday night at home.

Apparently, someone else didn’t think the Nuggets were gonna make it this far. Oh well.

Go See Star Trek.

So Star Trek has been out for a week. And Angels and Demons came out yesterday. Pretty difficult decision…

Not really. You should go see Star Trek.

No, really. Go see Star Trek.

It’s a fucking good movie.

…

No… that’s a lie.

It’s a fucking excellent movie.

What makes it fucking excellent?

I’m not telling. See for yourself.

My new favorite Trek movie.

Just go see it.

Yeah, I know. Not much of a review, but still…

Now.

That’s an order.

COMIC REVIEW – Star Wars: Dark Empire (Dark Horse Miniseries – 1992)

So this was the first piece of Star Wars Expanded Universe fare that I think I’ve read as a younger fellow.  Oh, I have dabbled in the Marvel comics stuff and maybe that Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye novel, but in terms of new stories set in that galaxy far, far away that took the narrative beyond the Star Wars trilogy – there was only one – Dark Empire was the first thing that opened up. I wouldn’t get around to the novels until much later down the road, but the comics were easy reads… as were the video games that would come along later, but I digress.

Dark Empire takes place some years after Return Of The Jedi. The leadership of the former Rebel Alliance now head the New Republic and they’re still fighting the remnants of that evil Galactic Empire after all this time. The first thing you notice about this comic is the artwork, which has really rough-looking characters that somewhat resemble those classic characters you know and love, but updated to keep with the times. Luke Skywalker has darker-colored Jedi robes, foreshadowing the dark turn he would take as the series would progress. Leia has heir hair down. The various ships and setpieces are probably the real highlight of the art because they look a little better, but even to this day, I am baffled by the coloring, which seems very all over the place, cloudy, and doesn’t help the line art all that much.

As for the story itself… like I said, the Republic is still fighting the Empire and the Emperor is back from the dead in a new clone body, which makes me wonder if this was something that could’ve happened in whatever sequels would’ve followed if George Lucas would’ve gone in that direction. Luke takes a bit of a dark turn and things go to hell… but they eventually get better. For the time, I thought it was a fairly enjoyable little read and even coming back to it years after the fact, it might not be the one of the better Star Wars stories… and the subsequent miniseries, Dark Empire II and Empire’s End, actually turn out far worse than this one, but it’s an enjoyable little romp regardless.