The Casual Gamers News Report 6.02.04
Hey, sorry to all for missing last week. Well, at least sorry to the three of you out there reading this. Lots of stuff going on in my life over the last week or so that took my attention away from the report, and expect it to happen again continuously over the summer. What can I say other than my hoes get out of line when the weather gets warmer and it gets harder and harder to keep them in check. My bitch slapping hand still hurts but I’m going to work through the pain.
I truthfully do have some stuff going on and in the middle of all that stuff I also received my Super Nintendo copy of Earthbound! I also got a bonus surprise of Chrono Trigger! So in addition to everything else I’ve had two of my favorite RPG’s ever drop on my lap greatly reducing my time. So let’s get part started so I can get back to that ‘kay? Now shut up, sit down and get ready for”¦..
THE NEWS
OH NO! IT’S GODZILLA!
Four of the designers helped make the game Metal Gear Solid (Yoji Shinkawa, Katsuya Nirasawa, Shinji Nishikawa, Yasushi Nirasawa) will use their skills to redesign some of the costumes, monsters and vehicles that will be used in the movie GODZILLA: FINAL WARS, the movie that will mark the 50th anniversary of the greatest monster movies on Earth. For some reason the only one of those names that my computer says is not a misspelled word is Shinji Nishikawa, odd huh? Also part of the project is director Ryuhei Kitamura who coordinated the scenes in the movie Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Anyhow given their expertise from the last movie *cough* I meant video game I look forward to seeing how they effect the designs. If they design everything to look sleek and serious than I’ll start asking for heads though, I mean it’s Godzilla! The mismatched lips and dialogue, cheesy futuristic costumes, and man in a large plastic suit are all part of what makes it great.
Go Gojira Go!
Daredevil Game Canceled
Bet you he didn’t see that one coming.
Navarre Corporation, owners of Encore Software the developers for the game, have canceled the development of the video game Daredevil. Rumor has it that someone finally realized that the movie came out a long time ago and sent out a message with a short sentence:
We missed it! The Money Train is gone!
Navarre plans on refocusing Encore back to its core of software publishing. Not saying this is how it happened, but I really have to wonder if the game developers where just jerking off to porn for two years till the main company realized that the product was never going to come out and fired them all. If so, you guys are my hero’s!
No other word on if a different game will fill the sudden hole in the blind simulation department, till one is announced it has been suggested that people who want a blind simulator just close their eyes really tight. It’s okay to mock the blind, they ain’t reading this”¦.right?
Mario Homeless?
As reported on Spong.com the next Mario game may appear on the Gamecube”¦or the DS”¦.or the Revolution. In a recent interview with GameSpy Shigeru Miyamoto has been quoted as saying that they are still experiments ideas on different hardware specs and once he sees the final results he will make the decision as to where the game will go.
My guess? It’s going to go to the Revolution. Having a Mario game as a launch title would give the system a strong start against the strong competition of both the Xbox 2 and the PS3. The DS already has a killer line up from what we’ve seen so far, and while I’d like to see another Mario title on the Cube the game doesn’t sound like it has been in development for very long and if it hasn’t than there would be far more benefit for it to be used as a launch title for the Revolution than the last game on the Gamecube.
Still, don’t be surprised if you’re downtown and you get a greasy Italian plumber saying ‘Do you got-a any spare-a change-o?’ so that he can support his brother’s mushroom addiction.
Crimson Skies Downloadable Content Available!
In the second updates since it’s release, the latest Crimson Skies download features a whole lot more than the first update did. 3 new planes, 2 new multiplayer levels, and 2 new multiplayer modes, Gunheist and Chicken Pox. I don’t know much of the details about either currently as its still downloading to my Xbox as I type this. I haven’t played Live for various reasons in awhile but now I’m going to hop right back on. Crimson Skies was the reason I got Live and remains as one of my favorite Live games out there. I’ll try to throw some impressions up next week or see if I can get someone else to post them for me.
Christian’s Crazy Game Releases
Disclaimer: The dates listed here are the ship dates an not the dates the game arrives at the store. If the game doesn’t happen to be at the store, feel free to shoot me an email saying ‘Thanks a lot dickhead!’.
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May 30-Jun 5
Jun 1
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto’s Rampage (GBA)
Full Spectrum Warrior (XB)
Malice (P2, XB)
Powerdrone Racing (P2, XB)
Riddick (XB)
Spyro Orange: Cortex’s Wrath (GBA)
Jun 2
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (P2, GC, XB)
Kids Next Door (Movie) (GBA)
Kingdom Hearts – Chain of Memories (GBA)
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The Used Sale Continues! Hundreds of used games, some up to 30% off their regular price. Find PS2, Xbox and Cube titles for as low as $2.99! But this is only on until June 12th, so hurry in!
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Christian: I’m not too sure about the Kingdom hearts being this week, but that’s what the Master Release List said, so I’ll put it in. Maybe the Marketing Dept got a little too happy after E3. But one that I know is coming in is Full Spectrum Warrior. I can’t tell you how many people are jazzed for this one, and how many people said “I was going to get it until I found out what it was about.” All of the latter just want another military styled FPS. I try to get them to diversify, but I guess not. Maybe even Riddick won’t satisfy them. Harry Potter for the kids, Malice for the platform fans, and that’s about it. Next week: Classic Gaming comes to the GBASP and the game Lucard blew a gasket over on the 18th of May (I think you can guess which one…)
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Matt: Out of all of those games I’m completely jacked for Full Spectrum Warrior. If you think that this is another FPS, think again, this is going to be more of a strategy game where you command troops. You never once fire a bullet yourself from my understanding. The game looks beautiful and sounds different than many other games out there. Riddick is also being highly touted by just about every game source out there. It seems that Vin Diesel loves video games and in fact the video game is supposed to be co-published by his own video game studio Tigon Studios which means he might have gone to extra lengths to assure that the game would be good. Or not, we’ll see”¦
Cheap, Cheap Sweep
Circuit City has a deal to get a $10 gift card with the purchase of either Pokemon Collesium or Full Spectrum Warrior, check out their weekly ad for your area to see if the deal is available near you.
Get $15 off of Theif: Deadly Shadows for the Xbox at target with this coupon
That’s all I’ve got for now, need more deals? Head on over to Cheapassgamer.com there is always some new deal being posted over there.
THE CORNER
Yesterday in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Video Games Misha continued to talk about how nostalgia’s effect on video games and lists 5 games that don’t ever get old for him. I’d just like to continue that train of thought for a second.
For the most part I haven’t been disappointed by games I used to love that I’ve replayed recently, like Earthbound for example, I think I’m enjoying it even more now than I did the first time I played long ago, but I never played that many video games back then. I do notice that sometimes nostalgia will get in the way of games that I’m playing right now however. Like the reason I haven’t tried very many RPG’s, I loved Chrono Trigger, Earthbound and FF6 for the Super Nintendo and no RPG game I have played on a next gen system ever really impressed me that much until only recently. Same could almost be said for many platforming games, even though I love some of them like Jak 2, I really disliked Mario64 in comparison to the 2D Mario games.
While I agree that nostalgia can make going back and playing a game almost impossible in some cases, I think it holds true that too much nostalgia can also sometimes ruin playing some current games. The reason why I believe this happens is not because 2D games were miraculously better than current games but because instead of worrying about detailed physics models, particle and light effects, ragdoll physics, etc, with the limited tools they had to make older games they were able to concentrate on one very important factor. To make the game fun. I’m not saying that games nowdays aren’t fun, just that it’s easier now to get caught up in the technical details.
At least, that’s my theory.
Pimps Up, Links Down
I’ve had some time to look through more of the site lately than I have had before so I’m doing a lot of pimping:
From the Music section:
Tom D’Errico reviews The new Slipknot CD. I was initially disappointed by the CD, it was like going to see a really gory horror movie but getting a less gory horror movie with more plot. If that analogy makes sense. Fellow maggot Chuck said I’d grow to love it, and while I don’t know if I love it yet, but I’m enjoying how different the CD is now instead of disliking it for that same reason. D’Errico breaks it down in a good review.
D’Errico also reviews Fear Factory ‘Archetype’ Making him my favorite Music section writer. I actually liked Archetype more than Subliminal Verses but he makes lots of good points for both.
In the Black Section:
Jeremy Bradford has a Superior Opinion. Not sure what that opinion is however since weekly he’s gone on about how to survive zombie attacks, something that reads like Mattel fan fiction, and the search for a butler sorcerer. Try reading it before he goes on medication.
Michael Huckaby is Thinking Out Loud and is one of my favorite things on Black. His commentary is straight forward and not laced with the bullshit you might find elsewhere.
Dave Gagnon is also rocking Black with his column right here. Read him, he’s trying to get a porn section for 411 than some of us(like me) don’t ever have to visit another site ever again!
Movies:
Eric Gustafson does a Summer Movie Preview that I thought was really good.
Wrestling:
Eric S does a Smackdown Short Form. I may not agree with his opinions of all that’s involved, but I also haven’t watched Smackdown in a long time. He busted me about spelling the designer of Prince of Persia name wrong, but no matter how you spell it or who was saying it I still consider the implication that story is not a suitable reward in a video game is just plain dumb.
Like I need to pimp Hyatte. He could fart into a mic, put it on the web and it’d get more hits than what I’m writing now.
And I tried watching the World X Cup but thought that it was overrated.
Sorry guys in figures and comic, I’ve heard great things about both the sections but I’m lost when it comes to either.
And at last the Game section!
New reviewers!
Michael Donaghue: Hitman Contracts Good debut review from Michael here.
Nick Range: James Bond Everything Or Nothing Another nice debut review, although even if the story is standard Bond fare I’d like to know more about it than that anyways.
The review system is different from anywhere else (and why we’re better) just takes a little bit to get used to.
In other reviews:
WarioWare: Mega Party Game$-Alex Williams
Transformers-Liquidcross
UFC: Sudden Impact-Me
and
Van Helsing the Game and Movie- Movie reviewed by Alex Lucard, and the Game from Me, at least I think that will be up tomorrow.
Columns:
The Angry Gamer-Liquidcross -he discusses the sociology and science in the world of Pokemon. Funny stuff.
RPG Top 30 Countdown-Alex Lucard What’s the #1 game? HOLY SHIT YOU’RE KIDDING?!
A Thumb to the Eye-Chuck Platt sort of a column/review of the game La Pucelle. Wonder what’s up for next week?
Reports:
While I pimped Misha out above, I’d be remiss to leave out Thank God It’s Thursday News Report from Bryan Berg as he gets in several good points about the PSP.
That’s it folks, zip it up and zip it out”¦.