Category: Video Game Musings

Welp, so much for that.

According to various gaming news sources or the (as of 2018, defunct) Blis tered Thumbs website, Capcom has officially cancelled the would-be downloadable game Mega Man Universe due to various circumstances. Many have cited the departure of Keiji Inafune from Capcom months ago as one of those circumstances.

Assuming this is legit and not an April Fools joke, I’m not all disappointed at this announcement. As much as I liked the customizable potential behind this game, I wasn’t really feeling this one. For all intents and purposes, the game felt like a glorified remake of Mega Man 2 and frankly, I don’t think the world needs another one of those.

So tonight, I started playing the original Dragon Warrior for the first time in years. And much like I do with most of my gameplay, I’ve been recording my progress to DVD archive. I want to be able to chronicle my progress, but I don’t want to do it in a typical Let’s Play format because it would take too damn long. Anyone who has played the first Dragon Warrior (or Dragon Quest, if you prefer, which I do not) will recall that this is level-grinding at its most tedious – battles are always one on one. Don’t get me wrong – I’m loving every moment of it and the game is every bit as enjoyable as it was when I first played it as a kid, but the grinding does take a long time and grinding does not make for interesting videos.

So what I had in mind was to do a usual playthrough, but rather than record every grinding moment, I’ll keep in the more notable moments – level upgrades, new spells, purchases – and possibly less-than-notable moments, interesting observations, and just random stuff. It’s probably not much of an original idea, but it’s something different in regards to my usual output. This is presently all in the planning stages and it’s hard to tell how long this is going to be… likely depending on how long the game holds my interest… which, these days, is rather hard to do. In either case, it should be an interesting experience for me, anyhow.

More to come when it comes available.

Until then… thou hast died.

(2024 Update: This was one of those ideas that I had trying to come up with some interesting video ideas, because when you’re new to the whole video making process, you usually like to experiment with stuff to see what works and what doesn’t. In the end, the plan fell through and I never got around to playing Dragon Warrior until years later, where that footage would be used for a review… but that’s another story.)

Saw a couple more videos from other people, here are some brief thoughts:

– So I saw a couple of Spoony’s E3 videos where he rambles about a couple games he saw. Last time I checked, this guy was an entertainer too and yet he’s not in his angry reviewer mode. In fact, I think his “fake anger” moments in this video is more believable and feels more legit than all three days of the AVGN combined. He’s only got the first day, along with an hotel video and an interview regarding Fable 3, but other than that, it’s a nice E3 presentation.

– Speaking of which, I saw a good chunk of Screwattack E3 videos and coverage comprises a brief video for each game they saw. Who appears in some of these videos? James Rolfe… as James Rolfe. This leads me to believe that the decision to have him parade as the AVGN on Gametrailers is a GT decision. But I’m not jumping that boat. Only the boat that says the AVGN E3 videos suck. It’s true, it’s true.

– Just out of curiosity, decided to venture to Gottgame and check out the lone E3 video featuring the Irate Gamer… watch Chris fumble his lines and Bore me to tears. Just about the only thing that remotely peaked my interest was the brief mention of a new Kid Icarus game on the 3DS. Other than that, more crap about the Old Republic that I could’ve gotten from a more reputable source. Sorry, guys.

– The only E3 “report” that I’ve enjoyed tremendously was Classic Game Room. And say what you will about the guy’s reviews being too monotone, but I think Mark did an amazing job with some of these videos. Oftentimes, you forget you’re watching an E3 report and instead are interacting with him on some video conversation. The guy seems like a pretty cool guy to hang around with and his E3 videos exude that kind of friendly atmosphere. Checks out as much as possible, but focuses on some of the “smaller” stuff while asking about flamethrowers and Cosmic Carnage. Thank you, sir.

And that’s it.

Went by a garage sale this past weekend and picked up a stack of games for roughly ten dollars. A varied collection for a variety of consoles… that was all that remained of what was allegedly a huge stockpile of video games. I’m guessing the guy who was selling them wanted to get rid of them rather quickly so he charged only ten bucks. It’s surprising to me considering the games I got, but it goes to show how much people tend to be ignorant of some of the games’ true value or worth. Anyway, here’s what I picked up;

– Two Super Famicom games; Dragon Quest I & II and Super Tetris 2 & Bombliss. I’ve played the Tetris one extensively and might merit a video in the future. Sampling some DQI&II is rather interesting; I’d like to be able to sit down and give this a proper go… and contrary to what is said on Wikipedia, Dragon Quest I & II works fine on the FC Twin… at least as far as I can tell.

– Doom for SNES… I’ll be honest; I have no intention of playing this game. I just wanted the red cartridge.

– A fair number of Atari 2600 games; Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Rampage, Commando, and Demon Attack. At last, a classic childhood favorite has filled a void in my collection. Also, Rampage on the Atari 2600 is actually pretty damn fun and provides the player with a rather solid gaming experience. And the graphics aren’t have bad either.

– Some Game Boy titles; Kid Icarus Of Myths And Monsters (the sequel/remake to the NES classic – therefore I own all the games in the series outside of their Japanese counterparts), The Amazing Spider-Man (as featured on AVGN’s Spider-Man episode from 2007… and believe me, despite its flaws, it’s actually the best game in the series, as its sequels are far worse), and a non-Game Boy title, Pac-Man for Game Gear.

– A nice healthy compliment of NES titles to fill out the shelf; Silver Surfer (a game that’s more frustrating than it is crappy), Double Dragon III (this one IS crappy), Twin Eagle (a nice little shooter with helicopters), and Ring King… yeah, the one with the blowjobs.

– Finally, I got Sonic 3 and Columns for Genesis. So that completes the main Sonic titles (only missing Spinball, 3D Blast, and the Puyo Puyo knockoff feature Eggman).

All in all, a rather nice and solid bounty for ten bucks. And that brings my total rack of titles over the 700 mark. Unbelievable.

Found this on Joystiq.com.

So now PS3 and Xbox 360 owners will now have FRESH, NEW Capcom goodness to call their own while Wii owners are happily enjoying Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom.

The best part about MvC3? No recycled spritework!

Maybe by the time this one comes out, I’ll have one of the two hi-def machines in my shelf.

Looking forward to this one.

Downloaded the Mega Man DLC on Monday and had some time play the thing. So here’re my thoughts:

There’s this article that I found on GameRadar called Games We Once Loved But Now Hate. It shows a list of several games that were once considered great, but haven’t really held up over the years. It’s a pretty good read, although I’d disagree that Atari 2600 games aren’t ageless. A good chunk of the games on that console might be utter crap, but I’d take any of those over the glutton of interchangeable FPS shooters that flooding the marketplace today. Just saying…

A quick look at the reaction garnered by my submission to Asalieri’s reviewer contest thing.

If you haven’t seen the review, do so before going here since there are spoilers.

Asaleiri Notes:
Strong Points: Pacing and Self-Censorship.
Weak Points: Button Mashing Gag got annoying.
Favorite Part: Skeet Shooting Explanation (adds that it’s a shame no witty comment was added)
WTF Moment: Abrupt Ending

DaveTheUseless Notes:
– Mega Man SFX nice, then get annoying.
– Button Mashing Gag got annoying too.
– Voice-Overs OK
– Abrupt Ending… again.

So here are my responses and notes:
The idea behind the constant use of the “Constant Button Mashing” gag was to make it as annoying as possible. It starts off rather harmless and even a bit funny, but as it gets used more, ends up being annoying. Perhaps it worked a bit too well, because Asalieri no longer has a beard.

Regarding the ending… there was an added bit towards the end where I kept rambling on about the other game, but I didn’t really like the ending. So I cut that part off and set it aside the next with the intent to record a new ending (the whole bit with the skeet shooting and archery dialogue was actually re-recorded), but obviously that didn’t happen. So we got the abrupt ending.

No witty stuff here… it was late and I’m not witty enough, I’m afraid. Maybe next time…

Yeah. Maybe next time…

Yeah, I’m going to put a hold on adding more games to the collection. I’d figure I give it a rest for the moment. Nowhere near Handsome Tom levels, but 650+ games isn’t a bad number to stop off at while I recover some funds for other stuff…

That and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom is going to keep me very, very busy.