Lost Treasures of Gaming: American McGee’s Alice
WARNING: Due to the nature of these titles, there is some graphic violence and harsh language in this video. All mature content is in-game only.
This week’s show was a treat because Sean and Syd had on American McGee, the lead behind the fantastic titles Alice and Alice: Madness Returns. Separated by eleven years, this “twisted” take on the already dark world of Alice in Wonderland, I loved both titles. It was just the right blend of action platformer and fantastic art design.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
Podcast: Avalanche Rainbow
Two major titles released today: Just Cause 3 and Rainbow Six Siege. For this week Fred and Jam discuss the history of Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios and the legacy of Rainbow Six games. Avalanche comes from a pedigree of Swedish developers and has a history of intriguing canceled games. Rainbow Six places you into a vulnerable human soldier instead of the bullet sponge super soldier of other shooters for the time.
Podcast: Short but Sweet
Recently we talked about the endless, hundred plus hour games that compelled our childhood. Unfortunately many of us don’t have the tens, if not hundreds, of hours to commit to a single game. With the help of some listener mail Fred and Jam dissect the world of shorter games that can be enjoyed in only a handful of hours.
Podcast: …In A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Part 2 of this week’s episode continues with Fred and Jam discussing the move into 3D and divergence from the original trilogy. As Star Wars titles moved into the 90s, they included worlds, characters, and settings found outside the movies and either in the creator’s mind or in the expanded universe told through books.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Smash TV
There was no episode of Lost Treasures of Gaming, but that never stops Syd from talking about another classic on the OMG! Hour. This week was a treat that I loved back when I was playing in the arcades, Smash TV. A twin stick shooter with ultra violence in a futuristic gameshow, this Robotron 2084 inspired title was a blast. Not only that, but thanks to how I captured the game we have interview footage with Midway developers Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
Podcast: A Long Time Ago…
This week technical difficulties continue to plague the live show and cut it short (however you’ll notice nothing on the recorded show other than length). Despite this, Fred and Jam start to tackle the history of Star Wars games and get rather far before time is up. Fortunately they will continue the show later this week in a second part and hopefully all will be fixed for next week’s live show.
Ongoing Series: Tomb Raider Anniversary
For the November game club we are playing through Tomb Raider, both the original and anniversary. Fred is tackling Anniversary. By popular request two versions of each video is being uploaded: one with and one without commentary. This has commentary, so if you wish to see the one without simply go here.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Chip’s Challenge (Lynx)
This week’s Lost Treasures of Gaming featured Chuck Sommerville, formerly of Epyx, to discuss the development of the famed “games” series and of course Chip’s Challenge. In his many years at Epyx, Chuck touched and led many a team into popular titles including California Games. It was later on Epyx’s (and later Atari) portable console, the Lynx, that he made a game many love: Chip’s Challenge. This is a highly addicting puzzle game as you will see in the video.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
Game Fights: Fireworks
Introduction
Welcome to an all new style of article I’ve written exclusively for Gaming History 101: Game Fights.
This is an idea I’ve thought of for a while and it’s where I pick two contenders which share something special and pit them against each other. The article is designed to just be a bit of fun and while some of the facts presented will be as accurate as possible the final verdict will be based entirely on opinion. Thanks for checking this out and of course if you want to share your own views on the games in this article please share them in the comments below.
Now without any further ado…let them fight!
Fantavision Vs Big Bang Mini
The 5th of November in the UK marks Bonfire night (aka Guy Fawkes Night) which is our unusual celebration of Guy Fawkes foiled plot to blow up the House of Lords on the same date in 1605. There is a quite a lot of history behind why we still celebrate this date today but one thing you can guarantee seeing on this event is lots and lots of fireworks. Fireworks are certainly prevalent in a lot of video games such as the end level in the gun game Point Blank but few games make them the actual focus of the gameplay. The two games I’ve found to discuss were Fantavision on PS2 and Big Bang Mini for the Nintendo DS. What better way to celebrate Bonfire night (even though this article will post very late) than to pit these two games together and find out which is the best fireworks video game.
Podcast: Press Button to Kick
This week is all about Bethesda, although oddly enough we’re probably the only podcast not heavily discussing Fallout. Based in Maryland and created in 1986, Bethesda Softworks came a long way and developed many games (some more ambitious than others) before landing into the open world frenzies the company is known for today.
Gaming History 101 