fortytwo points

"5 Awesome Video Game Consoles That Never Made it to Market" by Gamal

"There's nothing I love more than not having to work to add content to my own site, so today is just as much a treat for me as I hope it is for you. Enlightening us about some of gaming history's most depressing hardware flops is Gamal, fortytwopoints newest contributor, so please welcome him to the party. Let us weep together about what may have been and hopefully we will be inspired to do it better ourselves in the future. -Unfather"

>O<>O<

Since the late 70’s, gamers all over the world have had their own specific wish lists of what they wanted in a console. From how their dream console should have looked and what features that console should have had. It’s natural to dream up the ideal piece of technology that could cover one’s own specific needs and very often, those needs show up when there is a particular disadvantage in one or all of the consoles that have already been released. Who the hell would want a PS2 when you could have had a PS3?

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The Phantom, by Phantom Entertainment

Expected Cost:

Never officially announced but just to make ends meet, they'd have to charge $700 for the console

Why was it awesome?

Kotaku Discusses the Art of War; No One Becomes a Better Warrior For It

I think I've made it clear in the past that Kotaku is one of the few gaming sites I respect and today they've set out to solidify that opinion further. Owen Good's batted us another homer with his insightful piece about art direction in combat-oriented video games and claims "leaps in game presentation have typically corresponded to some kind of combat themed game". Considering the advances in photo-realism games like Call of Duty and Tom Clancy's Latest-Game-About-Special-Force-Guys-Doing-Special-Forcey-Things have helped usher in, it is an opinion-cum-fact that is difficult to argue against.

Good takes the time to interview members of Guerilla Games, Gearbox, and Infinity Ward to get their opinions on the subject and they all offer great insight into the process of designing worlds for these types of titles. Some lament the duty of creating realistically accurate environments while others embrace it, but it is great knowledge for those who think they may want to make a war game themselves. You can read the piece on Kotaku by clicking this link:

Kotaku Feature: "The Art of War" by Owen Good

They never fail to surprise me with a topic I am not sure I would have thought of myself. If you consider yourself a gamer and have not already, then I highly suggest you join their site.

Plus, Fleshbot is a part of the Gawker Media Network as well (parent company to Kotaku), and you're probably already a member there anyway, aren't you?

Tsk, tsk, tsk...

-Unfather

Flashbang's Blush flOws like Spore (the fun parts, that is)

It's sometimes surprising if not downright amazing what social networking can do for you. I really only joined Twitter to compliment fortytwo points with some real-time updates and I never thought it would actually lead me anywhere I cared to be. This parts not surprising, but I was wrong.

As I investigated my few followers in an effort to determine how crazy they must be to have taken an interest in my Twitter account, I found that one of them (at least) probably isn't an individual. Instead, they turned out to be a gaming service.

Now, this is exactly why I never did and really still haven't gotten into the whole web 2.0 hoopla. You're a less valuable community when someone starts using your channels to hawk their wares in what will probably be an apparently objective manner. It's not wrong to sell shit through creative means, but it is wrong to think that someone's your friend and to friend them as if they actually were. Take a look at Tila Tequila. No one in the world actually likes her and yet she has millions of online "friends". Am I the only one who finds a service that facilitates this kind of madness unappealing?

Tripbase's Stunning Videogame Locales Full of Strong Picks

I've been lazy about posting but surprisingly the site is growing despite me. Let's just cut through the excuses and explanations as to why this is and get to the happy ending though, shall we? I just had to clean dog S off the thankfully-hardwood floors and my patience has thinned a bit.

To calm myself down I decided to spend a little time gawking at the scenic vistas in Tripbase's nostalgic gallery of video gaming's best environments, and it may very well have saved the dog's life. Anything that acknowledges American McGee's Alice at the start is a worthy distraction, and it's accompanied by other strong choices like Fallout 3's wastelands, Assassin Creed's Middle Eastern landscape, and Oblivion's bloom-bleached, sheep-stained hills.

The choice-picks for me though have to be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Shadow of the Colossus, the latter which you may not have seen coming but will likely understand. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is one of the first games to make me feel as if I truly was where I was supposed to be (post-explosion Chernobyl), and Shadow of the Colossus benefits from enemies that act as the levels themselves, making for an experience that will be unique until God of War III hits shelves.

The descriptions are lacking unfortunately so if you have not played these games, the references may mean little to you. But if you have, it will spark many fond memories of better games past. You can check them out for yourself here:

Tripbase's Stunning Videogame Locales

Now we have an excellent list of ideas to reference/steal when we make our own games, right?

-Unfather

Yes, It Is Too Much MUGEN

I promised you some MUGEN insanity, and now I deliver:

In a perfect world, this would be standing up in an arcade somewhere.

-Unfather

Mugen X

Over a thousand characters. A hundred stages. More fighting than you can shake a stick at. I'll be back in a few with video.

-Unfather

The Best Fighting Game That May Never Officially Be: Elecbyte's M.U.G.E.N.

You've probably seen this before and thought it was fake. Or maybe you thought some bored programmer modded Marvel Vs. Capcom for giggles. Homer Simpson fighting Peter Griffin? Mario and Sonic dueling Ryu and Super-Saiyan? Ronald McDonald throwing burgers at Popeye the Sailor Man? Surely with copyright lawsuits running rampant these days the powers that be would not allow this (update: see above as evidence). But this isn't a just hobbyists proudest accomplishment friends, it's a real game engine that allows people to make their own fighting titles.

M.U.G.E.N. is the name of the system that has ushered in this era of preposterous awesomeness, though it goes by other names in other forms, such as WinMUGEN for Windows and ShugenDo as a fans homage. Creators can inject their own characters and gameplay mechanics with relative ease, making it a versatile development facility.

But its history is lamentable and full of mystery, one worth sharing for the lessons it may edify. It speaks of a dedicated community that has seen many tribulations and still codes on, despite the threat that success could be the worst trial yet.

Obligations...

Game Gate VU: Raising Arcade From Its Ashes or "Horrendous Idea"?

The legendary Brian Crecente has trotted down from mighty Kotaku Tower today to bring us news of the Game Gate VU arcade machine. Declaring it a potentially "horrendous idea", the device allows operators to charge people to play console games contained within a familiar arcade cabinet.

The machine accepts coins and bills and can even be fitted with an optional credit card reader. Specially modified consoles require an activation key and charge the operators monthly licensing fees. Assuming the fees are not paid the consoles can be deactivated until the invoices are clean again. Currently it can only hold one disc at a time, which Crecente believes is a step back in consideration of the stand-up Neo-Geo machines that could offer multiple titles at any given time.

Mr. Crecente's opinion is clear and many of the commenting audience share his sentiments. I see where this could easily be a terrible idea, but I am still not inclined to agree.

Rain-Slicked Precipice Not That Exciting, Nulls Desire To Peek

I'm just going to come out and say it; Penny Arcade has fallen off. The comic has lost its touch with the common gamer and these days you'll hear more about Tycho and Gabe's opinion of recent mergers in the gaming industry than how they felt while playing Flower. It's still funny enough to check in with every once in a while  though, and their new episodic games aren't bad. So in the spirit on giving them a fair turn I intended to review On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode Two. But then I made this:

I get why people might like these games, but I don't. The combat is way too dull to be that repetitive and I don't know why but I can't stand reading Jerry Holkins' style of fiction (as I'm sure he probably would not enjoy my amateur style of blogging). It's as if he's always trying as hard as possible and you know he can do it but he's just not able  to (in this context).

There is a lot potential in working with both the Penny Arcade license and its creators. It'll take some big changes to fix these problems by the next game, but I have been surprised before.

Good luck guys.            


-Unfather