Overview forgames

New entries are imminent

For reals this time. I’m just about ready to begin posting a new batch of articles and features for the video games journal. The first one should drop by next week with the rest continuing throughout the next few months leading into summer.

I’m so hyped that I may pass out as I am typing thisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

It was bound to happen

So watching all of the movies did have a big enough of an impact on me to buy something Star Wars related. But unlike a dumb toy, I got something actually worth buying.

Star Wars Arcade for the 32X. Loved playing this back in the day when it was in arcades. My first time playing the game was in the Adventuredome at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. Whenever I needed a break from all the laser tag battles and riding coasters, I would wander over to the arcade and throw a few quarters into the machine. Ah, good times. It was basically heaven for an 11 year old.

The 32X version is pretty darn close to mimicking the arcade original. Close, but not perfect. The part I’m having difficulty with are the on-rails shooter moments. You’re getting bombarded from all sides and die rather quickly. I think it’s difficult because of the sudden jumps of rendering objects when they get closer to you. One moment they are far away and then the next moment they shift a bit and are much closer, causing enemies to “teleport” slightly away from where you had the crosshairs aimed at. The game is far from rendering the 3D environments smoothly, something that the arcade version did very well.

With all this Star Wars hype, maybe Disney will consider making a new TIE Fighter or X-Wing game. Imagine playing those with today’s tech. I’m imagining it would be pretty dope.

For you perusal

I like Sega.

Well, more like I liked Sega. Today they are barely a publisher and a mere shadow of what they once were back in the day. But up until about a decade ago they were great; spreading their name across all aspects of gaming including arcades, home consoles, and portable gaming. Not only did they make fantastic software, but were kings when it came to coming up with unique gameplay experiences using hardware for their arcade games. For the most part, they were innovators, trying things out and bringing them to market before most others dared to. But at the same time it could be related to why they are the way they are today.

Throughout the years I’ve come across many write-ups about Sega on the web -- both good and bad, with most being well written -- so I decided to link a few of them here for you to take a look at if you already haven’t. They are a bit long, so get your favorite beverage by your side before you begin.

Volume 5 - Sega/Mega/Super 32X/CD 32X
While the 32X is one of Sega’s greatest blunders because it was an unnecessary piece of hardware, its tech was still impressive for the time and contains a few titles in its library worth taking a look at. If you’re curious to know about how how this piece of tech came to be and its unfortunate demise, then this article will help shed some light on the matter.

Forensic Examination Of The Dreamcast Corpse
An interesting article theorizing what may have happened to warehouses full of Dreamcast consoles when Sega decided to pull out of the hardware market. Autopsies were made to help prove the theory, so get ready to see some gory computer hardware action. It’s also a two parter, so be sure to read the second half.

Shenmue Anniversary Celebration
Even though the title is referring to Shenmue, it’s more about the creator, Yu Suzuki. This feature has him wax nostalgic regarding his time at Sega and how he once teamed with an aerospace company to make the Sega Model 2 arcade board. That’s right: games like Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter 2 were built with technology intended for space!

Working stiff

Came across this the other day:

Payroll, a game where you experience the daily life of an office worker. Now, while I’m not sure how many people out there want to play something based on the drab, day-to-day lifestyle of a white collared worker (probably only a few, if any at all), but the game does a fine good job at portraying it.

Be thrilled by the task of getting a cup of coffee from the employees’ lounge. Gaze at the wonders of a cubicle farm. And be shocked by the horrors of the fax machine breaking down midway through sending a message.

Seriously though, even when I live this kind of life every day, I found this game to be pretty fun. I guess much of it comes from the ascetics of it looking like it came out of 1995. In fact, ’95 seems to be the theme as the setting looks like it takes place during that year, what with all the technology spread throughout the office. Adding to it, the fake box art has the old school Windows logo, reminiscent of Win 95. But, of course, there is also the way the game looks.

Holy cow does it look primitive! But at the same time that’s its charm. When walking around the office, the environment is in 3D, but your fellow co-workers are sprites, as they tend to pivot so to always face your direction as you walk around them. The textures are low, low res, having everything look extremely blocky or pixelated, but are rendered well enough to interpret what everything is.

Even though the game’s visuals are very basic, the exploration is huge. I love games that cram a lot of interactive objects into small environments, similar to some of the areas found in Duke Nukem 3D like the arcade in the movie theater. For Payroll, interactivity mostly just involves sound effects like picking up a phone and listing to a ring tone, or hearing someone speak like adults do in the Charlie Brown Peanuts cartoons.

Some of the art assets are neat to pick out. For example, if you turn on one of the hulking CRT computer monitors, you’ll catch what looks like a web browser with the horribly basic interface from that time. In addition, the IT room has nerd posters hanging on the walls like Mulder’s “I want to believe” and one of the Tardis from Dr. Who. It’s a lot of little things, but it makes the world feel alive and lived in.

Supposedly there are multiple endings to the game. For me, I’ve played the game twice but only saw one ending. I’m planning to keep playing to see what the other endings are, which is not asking a lot since the game takes less than 30 minutes to complete. The game’s music helps with this as it’s a repetitive, jazzy styled midi-like track that has a nice sound to it.

Interested? Then click this link to get to the purchase page. At minimum, the game is only $1, but you can name your price so to help out the indie developer. Come on, that’s less than that drink you have next to you. At least, that’s what I’m imagining it to be.

A Sunday stroll through the museum

For Christmas I received a few gift cards for PSN to finally finished collecting the remaining volumes I needed for the Namco Museum.

Quite beautiful, right? Seeing each volume’s cover art sprawled out across the Vita’s home screen spelling out Namco looks so incredibly rad. But even radder is the content found within the games.

These collections are a real labor of love as they encapsulate many of Namco’s earlier arcade hits from the 1980s. All of the games in the collection use the code from the arcade versions and even have options for the DIP switches to modify game settings. Heck, as a museum piece, they even include an image of the arcade board!

Speaking of which, the game takes place in a museum where you walk around in first person view. Each wing of the museum is dedicated to a certain game such as Pole Position. When you enter a wing, you can view advertisements and merchandise for the game and when you get to the end there is an arcade cabinet where you can play the actual game.

The collector in me wants to really get the physical copies of the games, but cash and free space are more of a premium, so I’ll stick with the digital copies instead. But if I were to collect them I’d go all the way and get the Japanese versions that include the super cool case to store them all in, including Namco Museum Encore which never got a US release.

If you are a history nerd for games like I am and have a Vita, or a PS3, or even a PSTV, then give this retro collection a try. Volume 1, at least.

Like a daredevil

I really don’t give a hoot what the critics have to say, but I really wanna play Devil's Third. Problem is (1) I don’t own a Wii U and (2) the price for the game skyrocketed shortly after its US release; at least it did for the physical copy. So for the time being, I’m not going to be able to play it any time soon.

From what I’ve read from people who played it sounds like it’s just a big mess, trying to dabble in many different types of gameplay but really doesn’t do any of them well, making it a mediocre experience. If that’s true then that’s a real shame to hear because Itagaki did some great stuff while working at Tecmo with the DOA and Ninja Gaiden series’. And knowing this game has been in development for over five years adds on to the pile of bummer regarding Devil's Third.

As of now, I compare it with being on the same level as Duke Nukem Forever. Everyone hated it, but it was a game I still wanted to play due to its incredible length of time being developed and with all of the mystique it had tied with it. It was just something I wanted to experience for myself and ended up having a good time playing. Not great, but good. Same goes for Devil's Third: a long dev cycle and from a guy who made some great action and fighting games. Hopefully it will eventually find its way on to the PC or PS4 so I can experience it myself. Even though it may be bad, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.