Category: Video Game Musings

A Delay In Video Means I Can Talk About This…

More deal into the gameplay, which includes custom chips for custom abilities – either collectables or a shop mechanic in place. We also see a new Robot Master (the eloquently named “Twinkle Girl”) as well as an old Robot Master (Mega Man 8 & Bass’ Astro Man), which implies some old faces returning. And speaking of which, although not seen in-game, presser material unveils that Proto Man will be a playable character.

Oh, and the new Override system… which is a kill shot similar to Mega Man 11’s Double Gear kill shot that’s active on desperation… a little less enthused on that, but hey, let it play out and see where it goes.

New review (not Mega related) will be up later tonight because I forgot to upload it. Sorry.

Activision Is Returning To 2600

Source: Atari Site

So anyone remember the big news that Atari teased a while back? Well, turns out that it’s not a new Ataribox. However, I would still consider it a big deal of sorts, as you can now purchase the old Activision classics in brand new spiffy 2600 carts. Twelve of them are available individually, while the rest are locked behind expensive collections, rather than using the nifty multi-game switches of their own releases, which would have been cheaper… but this is Activision (owned by Microsoft) we’re talking about here.

Still a pretty cool deal, though… you know what would be even cooler, though… besides more 7800 games, of course?

Sharing some of that Activision love on your celebratory Atari 50 compilation via DLC.

Would be nice.

There Is A Golden Axe Cartoon Coming… And It’s A Thing…

Believe me when I say that calling this “a thing” is probably the nicest thing I have to say about this. And once I knew Mike McMahan was one of the dudes behind this – he of Lower Decks fame – I had a feeling on where this was headed.

For what it’s worth, I did like Lower Decks. It took a while to grow on me, but it did, eventually… but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want another cartoon in that vein. That brand of comedy starts to wear itself thing. Small doses, I can accept. Series after series of this stuff, however? No thanks.

Oh well… we’ll see how the diehards react, point and laugh accordingly, and move on with our lives.

Digital-Only $100 Edition Of GTA6 Pre-Orders Through The Roof…

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-6-could-have-had-an-even-higher-price-as-100-edition-proves-popular/

Yes, people are pre-ordering the $100 Deluxe Edition of Grand Theft Auto 6… which, in case you need a reminder, is a strictly digital download release with no plans for a physical release. And yes, the super duper hundred dollar edition is getting its share.

And then you wonder why physical games are going the way of the doo-doo.

If you want me to say something about this piece of business, I’ll say this much. If you’re an influencer who claims to be against this digital-only future of ours and yet pre-ordered this game, shut the fuck up. As in “close your mouth and stop talking.” Nothing you say holds any merit.

Yeah, so that’s going to be an interesting piece of business.

The Irate Gamer (Yes, THAT Irate Gamer) Is Writing A Book On Unreleased NES Games

Remember Chris Bores? Remember the Irate Gamer? They’re one and the same. Anyway, he has a new book coming out that’s all about unreleased NES games and it’s the ULTIMATE GUIDE to unreleased NES games.

Yes, the guy who brought you Ghost Hunting 2.0 is writing a book about unreleased NES games. Some call that Pat fellow and tell him he’s being robbed or something. I don’t know.

In all seriousness, good for him. Wish him all the best. Not sure if I’ll grab a copy for myself, but considering I had a (digital) copy of his other book somewhere, I figure why not? It can’t be any worse than the Moviebob book, anyway.

Yes, even now, I still remember the day Bob Chipman ruined Super Mario Bros. 3 for me… best not reopen old wounds.

Happy Review A Bad Game Day… here are some bad games.

August 8th is the traditional Review A Bad Game day here on the blog space. Originally an event established by the now defunct website, 1 More Castle, I decided to adopt the practice and make it a(n almost) yearly endeavor to review a bad game around this time.

Yesterday, we looked at My Hero for Master System, a horrible game based on an arcade title that no one should play… but for those who want to sample some other titles reviewed for the occasion over the years, here’s a partial list of video links:

Review #111 – Fire Fly (Atari 2600)
One of the Mythicon tragedies, first discovered via Classic Game Room and one of those games that didn’t get a whole lot of mentioned at the time. I figured, “Why not?” And then I played it. That’s why not.

Review #279 – WCW Backstage Assault (PlayStation)
One of those “easy targets” that seems like low-hanging fruit… but considering how rubbish the entire concept is – a wrestling game without the wrestling ring – and how poorly executed it was, Backstage Assault more than earns its notoriety.

Review #391 – Street Fighter (MS-DOS)
For clarity, this was posted on August 3rd and kicked off a week of reviews that ended with Street Fighter II, which is not a bad game. Still, it’s a DOS port of an arcade title from the early 90s when DOS efforts in such things were… not good, to put it mildly.

Review #501 – Race Drivin’ (Super NES)
Try as you might; you will never find a stronger case of “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t” than this absolutely atrocious SNES port of Atari Games’ arcade driver. Thankfully, I had not played the Game Boy version yet because that would have soured things even more for me.

Review #548 – German Fortress 3D (PC)
Take some sprites from the other, more famous and infinitely superior Wolfenstein 3D, recolor them, and drop them in an utterly worthless 3D engine with little to no care applied before dropping it on Steam to sell for a few bucks.

Review #691 – Instruments Of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones (Genesis)
Someone out there thought that the Sega Genesis deserved a good Indiana Jones game on their console… that someone is probably still waiting.

Review #747 – Capcom Fighting Evolution (Xbox)
All things considered, this is probably the best playing title on this list of sad sacks. Still, something that feels like a MUGEN hackjob and sold for almost full price is a disservice to Capcom’s fighting legacy.

Review #811 – X-Men: Mutant Academy (Game Boy Color)
I would like to remind people that this came from the same folks who managed a solid conversion of Street Fighter Alpha onto the GBC… and then this became a thing.

Review #895 – Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis (Game Boy Advance)
Don’t worry, Sonic. My 15th birthday was also kind of shite, too.

Review #1089 – Platoon (NES)
Some people actually like this game for some reason, but it’s never been anything more than a poorly conceived mess. And I’ll say that much about the computer version this is based on, too.

And finally…

Review #1353 – My Hero (Master System)
A dreadful game. By all accounts…

Anyway, that’s some viewing material for you all. And if you want to check out all my videos on games of questionable quality, the Kusoge tab on the menu is right there for the taking. Have fun.

Atari Cinematic Universe when, Civvie? (And also, WHY?)

SOURCE: https://deadline.com/2026/07/atari-universal-deal-10-game-ip-script-matt-reilly-carl-hampe-entertainment-360-1237001656/

From Deadline.com is an article reporting that Atari Inc. has inked a deal with Universal Pictures to develop ten of their classic video game properties into theatrical motion pictures, with the first project being a screenplay by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe, to be produced by Entertainment 360… they don’t specific what particular IP this is adapting, but according to the article, Universal has the rights to make movies based on the following Atari properties.

Get a load of this, folks. We’ve got ASTEROIDS… we’ve got ADVENTURE… we’ve got BERZERK… we’ve got BREAKOUT… CENTIPEDE… CRYSTAL CASTLES; I can see a possible Bentley Bear franchise if that ends up being a winner… MILLIPEDE, so we already know Centipde might get a sequel… MISSILE COMMAND, which, yeah, I could see a movie out of that… PONG… yes, PONG is getting a movie… and finally YARS’ REVENGE, which might be the only one that has some basis for a possible feature film.

Now the rest of it, though… yeah, I question why things like GRAN TURISMO or CALL OF DUTY are getting movie adaptations, but at least, those are recent gaming properties that people are widely familiar with and are still being played today. But when someone tells me that they’re going to make a movie about PONG, which is just two lines and a dot bouncing around the screen… this is CollegeHumor-levels of parody we’re dealing with here.

But here’s the thing, though; is there any real, genuine interest from the movie-going audience in seeing movies based on very old, very ancient Atari arcade titles? And most of all, how do you make movies based on these things and make them interesting? These are old arcade titles with the barest minimum of substance. How do you make a movie about blasting asteroids? How do you make a movie about BREAKOUT? BERZERK… I don’t know, maybe… MISSILE COMMAND might have something to it… ADVENTURE is just fill in the blanks… YARS REVENGE has something there… but explain to me how you make a movie about PONG?

And then explain to me why anyone would want to make movies about these games, let alone watch them… and I’m not asking that in any dismissive fashion, as if to say, “Who the fuck is gonna watch this shit?” I’m genuinely curious as to why anyone believes that people would want to see movies based on these very old and simplistic Atari games that, outside of those few who still play these old Atari games… is there an audience out there that is absolutely clamoring for an Atari cinematic universe to come along and exist among all the other IPs being farmed for content fodder that is going to get a bit of a buzz, get released, and then quickly forgotten about to make way for the next big thing.

I mean, if you’re an old-school Atari fan and you’re excited about this news, I’m curious as to why… because as someone who grew up playing Atari and still plays Atari in some fashion, I have no interest in these potential films whatsoever… but then again, I must be missing something because apparently, there is an interest in making these arcade titles into movies.

So… I don’t know… we’ll see how this develops and who knows? Maybe that first movie gives us a good first impression and maybe grabs some eyeballs. And hey, if they produce a trailer worth a damn that sells me on whatever they’re doing, I’ll give it a shot… on streaming, of course. I haven’t had the urge to watch a movie in theaters since Superman.

Sooner Or Later… We Need To Have That Talk…

A lot of news (and certainly a lot of noise as well) circulating regarding Sony’s recent announcements of sorts. As I’ve teased in the State Of The Blog a couple weeks ago, I have a lot of thoughts on the matter and unfortunately, some folks might not like what I have to say because it reveals a reality that none of us want to really admit about the industry and our collective roles in creating the state that this hobby is currently in.

But that talk is not today.

The truth is that this has been a subject that has been weighing on me for almost a decade and I never really felt the need to rock that boat because I’m a relatively significant voice in a wider pool of sharks and influencers that cry out louder to reach farther people. And it’s a discussion of sorts that I’ve held off having because I have so many thoughts about this and so many developments that have come along the way sort of pushed those thoughts aside for the short term.

But we’ve reached a point where that time to share this perspective on an industry might be looming sooner than I would like. And if we are going to have this talk, I’m going to be put everything on the table. Again, a lot of what I might say about this situation is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way and I am not oblivious to the fact that some of these realizations make my stomach turn a bit – and considering my digestive conditioning, that’s one area that doesn’t require much of a push. Which is why I’m taking my time with this. I want to cover all my bases, I want to clearly define where I’m coming from and why I’m going there, and most of all, I want people to understand that there is considerable amounts of condemnation to go around on both sides of the argument – and I’ll throw myself into the mix because from my perspective, I’m also to blame for the predicament we find ourselves in.

When the time comes – and I promise that time will be sooner than later – it’ll be scorched earth.

But not THAT Scorched Earth.

That’s the good kind.

Later.