Saturday night my wife and I had the opportunity to see Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico's incredible orchestral game concert series. (Tommy is probably best known for the soundtrack to Earthworm Jim, though he holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for working on more video games than any other person. Over 300!) This was our second time going (our first was about two and a half years ago) and it was just as good this time around. They revisited a few of the same games as the last we saw them but it was mostly new stuff. They had a Phoenix Wright medley! I might have squeaked with delight just a little bit when they started that one. Another favorite of mine was the Mega Man medley. Hearing that Wily 2 music from a live orchestra was moving. There were some expected franchises represented like Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Castlevania, and Final Fantasy, which were all really great (Castlevania was a total rock fest with Tommy himself playing the electric guitar). Last time they played the music to the opening cinematic of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm as the visuals played on the big screen; this time they played Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard sure knows how to do those things! They also played League of Legends, Skyrim, and Resident Evil 5. Even though I've played the game, I was surprised by how much I liked the music from Uncharted 2. Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colosus, Mass Effect, Halo, Street Fighter II, Kingdom Hearts (I can never hear "Hikari" too many times)—so much good stuff!
Of course, my last blog was pretty terrible. I know I promised some great stuff in there, but this one is going to blow your socks off.
Lately I’ve been working on reviewing a lot of downloadable indie Wii U games lately. I’ve got four on my list right now, with a good possibility of more to come later. The Wii U has been doing a pretty good job of having a sizable list of indie games in their eShop roster lately. They’ve been a godsend since it’s getting harder and harder to review mainstream titles recently. And it got me to thinking about my favorite indie video game characters. So here’s a blog about that. Enjoy!
So another E3 came and went and honestly, I did not pay a fraction of my attention that I usually do. Blame now having an adult life and responsibilities. However, I did look up quite a few things and here's what I think.
So I just backed Koji Igarashi's new game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Kickstarter. I swore to myself I wouldn't do it, not because I don't believe that he'll be committed to finishing the game or that it won't be great, but there is a slight chance that disaster could strike and I'll be out a hundred bucks and get nothing in return. I chose the $100 tier mainly because it came with the Ayami Kojima illustrated slipcase. She is the brilliant artist who did a lot of the designs for Symphony of the Night and some of the other IGA-produced Castlevania games, so I forked over the extra dough to get it. It also included the soundtrack by Michiru Yamane, who also worked on many of the beautiful Castlevania tracks. They, along with IGA himself, are the "holy trinity" behind some of the best Castlevania games, and the fact that they are all involved in this new game is a dream come true--once I visited the Kickstarter page, it was an inevitability that I'd pledge something. In fact, I really wanted the art book from the $150 tier, but I wasn't sure exactly how nice it would be (size, pages, etc.), and I figured if the game was a success, I'd just be able to buy it later. Anyway, hopefully I'll be very happy in 2017 (when the game is scheduled to ship).
The campaign for Koji Igarashi's spiritual successor to Castlevania went live on Kickstarter yesterday. Called Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the game will be a 2.5D "exploration-focused, side-scrolling platformer featuring RPG and crafting elements." I expected the game would be for 3DS and Vita since IGA's most successful post-Symphony of the Night games were all portable but no, this will be a full PS4/X1/PC release! Kickstarter is not the only source of funding for the game but everything else was dependent on the success of the campaign—the need to prove there is still an audience for this kind of game—and the initial funding goal was met within hours! The current tally is already over twice the goal and there are still 31 days to go. Take that, Konami.
Kickstarter seems to get more flack than praise nowadays. While once it was a way for Tim Schaefer to give an awesome new adventure game, now it feels like people are taking advantage of it more often. To that I say, what the hell do you expect? This is an industry where Dead or Alive 5 Last Round comes with over $100 worth of costume DLC. You give people an idea, they will find a way to exploit it.
It’s kind of a tradition for me every year to write a blog roundup of my favorite Super Bowl commercials. I think it’s interesting how us folks here in the US treat the Super Bowl like a national holiday or something. Nothing wrong with that, I just think it’s interesting. I have to say, though, that while most years the commercials are disappointing, this year they were especially disappointing. A lot of the commercials were all serious and depressing. Where’s the funny? Normally as I watch the game, I take notes on the commercials that stood out to me. This year I didn’t even fill up one page! But I’m still going to write a blog about it anyway.
Happy New Year, everyone! At this time of year I like to take a look at games I’m looking forward to playing and reviewing in the coming year. I know that as the year goes on, there will be other announcements and things. But here are some that I’m looking forward to right now that I know of.
@asrealasitgets Top 10 List of 2014.
10. Endless Legend (PC)
One of the many games that weren’t on my radar this year but then captivated me after playing it was Endless Legend, the Civ style, Empire building/management simulator set on an alien planet. I was particularly drawn in by the beautiful visuals and the many options for starting races-- they all seem so unique with their own lore, histories and motivations for colonization. The planet you inhabit can be particularly hostile, complete with seasonal weather cycles that look really amazing. The whole game map seems impassible when it’s covered in snow during the winter, there even seems to be less light as well just to make things more visually interesting. I don’t normally play these types of games and I had to visit several forums and wiki pages to figure out all the nuances in order to make a dent on my progress in the game. There is a very handy tutorial in the beginning that does a good job of leading you in to the game, but it honestly requires a bit more research than that which I didn’t mind doing. The game is just very beautiful. If a game in this genre managed to pull me away from MMOs and backlogs then it deserves a mention on my top ten of 2014!
There are flight sims, there are space sims, and then there is Elite: Dangerous, an ambitious MMORPG Kickstarted from across the pond in the UK.
It's certainly close to that time of the year, when the Steam Christmas sales have just begun, people now wait for a fat man to go down a chimney (or if you live in Colombia and some other Latin American countries, baby Jesus somehow being able to give gifts) and many media websites are just making, just made or are about to make their end of the year lists and video game media is no exception.
Guys! Let me just admit something right now. I fucking hate portable gaming. I don't mean 3DS or Vita. I mean iPhone an iPad. I tried KOTOR on iPad and hated it. I never want to play a full console game on there ever again. Give me a controller any day. The only games I am able to honestly enjoy are card deck building games. I can't explain it. It just works really well, and I don't play card games. My brain just all of a sudden started enjoying games on iPad more than PC or console for some reason. I can also do this while watching sports or TV shows on the couch without really focusing too much on the game. I think this is the formula. Gaming on iPad is great for when you are distracted with things like commercial breaks on TV or Sports games.
My fav games so far...
1. Pokemon Trading Card Game
Honestly. I've never really been entirely into Pokemon games at all. I've played a few but didn't collect'em all and I got bored of the combat very quickly. This game however is the digital version of the table top game you play with card packs you can actually buy. It's a bit complicated and intense and I am addicted to it. It's not as glorious as Hearthstone, but it has animations that do the trick. I can't stop playing. I'm currently just playing offline in Trainer mode but it's pretty good. I like this game better than the handheld game. I think it's really great. It's also available for PC via flash browser. It's also FREE!
I was thinking that I do not have much to say, but we will see. I may end up rambling on for a while.