Category: Video Game Musings

I Killed The Gaming Community

December 2012 notes:
Around the time of this video’s recording, there have been many videos produced talking about how the gaming community on YouTube was dying, possibly due to channels being shut down or people moving on, or some other reasoning that escapes me, because I certainly didn’t agree with that mentality. Still don’t.

I don’t recall what specific video drove me to toss this thing together, but I DO recall uploading this video and taking it down. For what reason? I don’t remember…

Mega Man Has No Universe

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.

Abandoned Ideas: The Dragon Warrior Chronicles

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.)

More E3 Recaps

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.

Some game purchases from a garage sale

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.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Now A Thing… Cool

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.

Comments on Mega Man 10 DLC

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

– Special Stage 1 is essentially a nice little remake of the final levels of the Game Boy classic, Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge. It’s not the exact same thing (because it’s wider and has different enemies), but if you’ve played the older game extensively, you’ll know what to expect somewhat. The boss fight with Enker is a bit tougher than before (his speed and reaction time is quicker, not to mention he has a couple new tricks), but eventually he is beatable.
– Oh yeah, you get the Mirror Buster when you beat the Special Stage and it becomes a default weapon when you start the game. A nice feature for an otherwise worthless weapon for the most part. I’m sorry, but the only time I ever used Mirror Buster in the old game was against the final boss. Oh well.
– The cream and crop of the recent DLC is the Bass mode, which is something that was locked away until you paid for the code (or you know… crack it). Basically, the guy plays similarly to the way he did in Mega Man & Bass; can shoot in any direction except straight down (but shots are weak and can’t pass through walls), can dash, can summon Treble to fly around anywhere and shoot more powerful shots, and can even break the shields of certain enemies. It certainly makes for interesting gameplay and so far he plays fairly well enough.
That is all. We’ll talk later once the second half of bonus stuff goes through.