Where did the time go
by alzabo
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008What are some of your favorite time-sink games? Do you have a save file in Chrono Trigger where everyone is level 99? Have you collected all the dress spheres in FFX-2? Have you played so much SkiFree that you have mastered avoiding that damned Yeti?
Tell us about it in the comments! Article Permalink
shouting at the void
by alzabo
Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 I really dislike sending email to PR talking heads, the responses you get are almost always vapid and clearly c&p'ed from a giant text file they use to store all their canned responses. I do sympathize with their situation, I know first-hand what it's like to deal with whiney fanboys who think they know more than you day in and day out; it's a rough job.But sometimes, your ire is so great you simply have to share it with someone who might be able to do something about it instead of just bitching about it on the internet like some whiney little fanboy.
I sent the following letter to Microsoft's PR Guy Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb about the disturbing lack of SHMUPS in the xbox 360's forseeable future.
Larry,
I honestly didn't know where to turn with this question, so I hope that you can help me get this into the right hands if you are unable to give me an answer.
Background on me, I'm 25 and I've been into video games since childhood. I recently purchased an xbox360 (gamertag: [redacted]) in August because of a Elite for $349.00 deal and the fact that a whole mess of overhead scrolling arcade shooters have become available or are coming soon for the Xbox360. However, I must admit that peer pressure had something to do with it, all my co-workers at have them as well.
After buying my 360, I've noticed that all these Shooters (aka "SHMUPs") that I was so looking forward to are NTSC-J only. Here's a list:
Title (English): Raiden IV
Publisher: Taito
Website: http://raiden.mossjp.co.jp/
Title (English): Raiden Fighting Aces
Publisher: Success Corporation
Website: http://www.success-corp.co.jp/software/xbox360/rf_aces/index.html
Title (English): Otomedius Gorgeous
Publisher: Konami
Website: http://www.konami.jp/products/otome_g/index.html
Title (English): Death Smiles
Publisher: Cave
Website: http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/Xbox360/deathsmiles/index.html
Title: Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou
Publisher: Cave
Website: http://www.cave.co.jp/
I want to make it perfectly clear to you that I bought a 360 just to play games from the SHMUP Genre. The SHMUPs currently available on XBLA were a great teaser, but reading rumors that Microsoft has decided not to pursue further arcade SHUMPs saying "We are going to cut down faithful arcade ports" makes me upset that I bought an xbox360 in the first place.
I understand that games like these need a domestic publisher to be released in our region, but why are the discs being region coded in the first place, is it purely a publisher decision? This is really breaking my heart Larry, I love this genre so much, I have an arcade cab dedicated to SHMUPs in my house for goodness sake!
Thanks for your time and attention,
Alzabo Article Permalink
Happy Birthday Dreamcast!
by alzabo
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008 The Dreamcast came out on 09/09/1999 and barely lasted 2 years in the retail channel.If you somehow missed the train on the Dreamcast and want to find out what all the hubub is about you can buy one for the same price as a pair of flip-flops. No need to worry about throwing your money down a sink-hole by buying rare games for a dead system because the Dreamcast was cracked so hard you can just burn CDroms and they play.
This week's ultra-long Retronauts does a good job recapping the short (and some would say depressing) history of the Dreamcast.
Here are two reasons why the Dreamcast was awesome:
Sega was humble.
Or maybe just desperate. Does groveling actually work in a TV ad?
Jesus Christ, that cat just ate all those mice!
This is the best video game commercial ever. Article Permalink