Archive for the ‘News’ Category
New Monster Boy in Development
It finally happened and I couldn’t be happier. A spiritual successor to the Wonder Boy games is in the works, let the fireworks fly people. Just after Fred and I did our top 10 Mega Drive/Genesis games, I strolled along to my local newsagent to pick up the latest copy of Retro Gamer magazine followed by a coffee. One sitting down to enjoy my fine beverage I almost spat out my drink in disbelief when the first article I see is interview with the publisher about a game called Monster Boy. Read the rest of this entry »
Pixelated Pints Episode 28: Bloodthirsty Souls
Fred and Heffe are joined by Fortengard and the discussion focuses heavily on recent Japanese releases Yakuza Zero, Final Fantasy Type-0, and then quickly move to Bloodbourne and Dark Souls. Eventually the guys get to news, but the alcohol is flowing and technical difficulties continue to get the best of us.
Shadow Tower Coming to PSN Today
Want to trace the origins of where Bloodborne and the Souls series came from? Then be sure to pick up this PSone classic which is due out today: Shadow Tower. It is a first person adventure game from the developer From Software back when people knew very little about the company (with maybe the exception of the Tenchu series). This is a game that many listeners of GH101 have asked if Fred or myself will cover. Now that it is finally coming to PSN I’ll be sure to pick the game up and give it a go (so will I, especially with Vita support – Fred). As far as I am aware this is only coming to the US PSN store but setting up a US account is very simple. There are also many other great PSone classic in the US store not available in other territories.
Fred’s 3 Mystery April Games Unboxing
Jam opened his 3 mystery games on Monday and now it’s Fred’s turn to reveal the 3 games he’s forced to cover in April
Retro VGS Interview with Mike Kennedy on Mom’s Minute
As some of you may know, the Gaming History 101 podcast is featured live on Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm Eastern on the All Games Radio Network. Within that network there is an interesting show called Mom’s Minute that features All Games Editor-in-Chief Derrick Hopkins’ mother discussing video games and she recently took an interview with Mike Kennedy regarding his upcoming console. You should listen to the interview itself, but it looks like it will be a retro-based cartridge console in an Atari Jaguar shell with no operating system and purely a modern take on the classic cartridge console. With some clear plans, a shorter window (60-90 days), a good initial price point, and a vision hopefully there’s something to Kennedy’s plans. We highly recommend giving this episode and interview a listen.
Final Fantasy XI Servers Shutting Down, Moving to Mobile
It’s now time to wrap up that epic quest and prepare for the last 11 months of subscription fees you’ll be giving Square for these versions because as of March 2016 the servers are shutting down.
Final Fantasy XI is one of the two examples of Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) iterations to the long running RPG series from Square Enix. It’s a bit more pivotal than it’s younger brother, Final Fantasy XIV (A Realm Reborn) in that it launched as a console MMORPG in a time where games weren’t predominantly online and MMOs were unanimously locked to the PC platform. This console only PS2 and later Xbox 360 game had quite literally hundreds of hours of content, always maintained a monthly service fee, and hopefully someday will be the premise where guests Chip (CaptinChaos) Cell and Eli (Sodoom) join us for an extra credit podcast about their addiction to the game. It should be noted that a PC version of the game does exist, and to my knowledge it will continue, and that it was available approximately six months after the release of the PS2 version in 2002 (just covering my bases).
In an interesting side note, Square Enix also announced that it is working with mobile developer Nexon Korea to port the game to mobile platforms. No information was given on pricing of the base game in addition to pricing of monthly service or if there will even be such a charge. It is slated for a 2016 release in Japan, Korea, Europe, and North America.
Download Titles Come to Club Nintendo Europe, Finally
Club Nintendo Europe I feel has always been the worst of the three available. Its a mash up of the worst things from the American version and the Japanese version. To this day I have struggled to decided between the catalogue of gimmicky crap like wrapping paper, key rings, or cash in your stars for Wii points. Yes that’s the original Wii not the Wii U or 3DS. But all that has changed and just in the nick of time Nintendo because as we all know Club Nintendo is finally coming to end in all territories. You can now finally exchange those hard earned stars for actual downloadable games on the Wii U and 3DS.
Atari claims Copyright on TxK
Rather than spend time developing new and exciting games Atari has decided to threaten British veteran game developer Jeff Minter with copyright claim. They claim the vita game TxK is too similar to the old school Tempest series and has demanded Minter remove the game for sale. There is no denying that TxK is very much a spiritual successor to the Tempest series. In fact Jess Minter actually developed Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. Minter has stated that he has been having problems with Atari behind the scenes for several months and even offered to develop a sequel to the Tempest series with the company but they have denied him the luxury. Instead just threatening more legal again to Minter who claims he lacks the funds to take the case to court.
Pixelated Pints: Episode 27 – VR is the Future!
This week Fred and Heffe discuss the glut of VR headsets announced the day after the last show, Steam boxes, companies closing, people leaving, sequels to big games, and then technical issues kill the show early.
New Retro Arcade, The Emulator Frontend We Wanted Game Room To Be
A new development has come from the folks at Digital Cyber Cherries called New Retro Arcade that utilizes Unreal Engine 4 and a bunch of assets to simulate an actual arcade for your MAME emulation. This program is what we all probably hoped the Xbox 360’s Game Room was going to be but never was. You can browse your arcade, complete with random lights, sounds, and crazy carpeting, and play whatever you like. Built into the program are random arcade activities like darts and bowling, but the real draw is picking up that SNES controller, Gameboy sitting about, or walking up an arcade cabinet and playing the game. You can see in the video below that of the authenticity retained by this program, scanlines and rounded edges are a welcome part of it. The demo has it running on a GTX 780 TI, but it clearly doesn’t seem to need that power, however the average Windows XP MAME machine is probably not going to have the chops to run it. It’s a good start, but I’m going to want to test it myself and I can’t see it replacing my MAME machine as my go-to for arcade emulation, but if I get some sort of VR helmet in the future it does appear be an enticing recreation. Clicking on the company name above will take you to the site to get this free download.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blE43U3PTGQ]
Gaming History 101 