ChronCD Trailer
Coming October 2015!
Fred is covering the release of every console-based CD-ROM game released in all regions in chronological order. This starts with the PC-Engine CD in 1988. Special thanks to Dr. Sparkle for the Chontendo series and listener Ville for this fantastic music. CD player sound effect by user NLM from Freesound.org and used under Creative Commons license for non-commercial use. Sound can be found here: https://www.freesound.org/people/NLM/sounds/144054/
Ongoing Series: Condemned Criminal Origins
For the October game club we are playing through Condemned: Criminal Origins. A first person melee horror game from 2005, this was a surprisingly good Xbox 360 launch window title. For those that can’t seem to get through horror games, we are providing the entire campaign in parts here with no commentary (up to 1080p as well). This is an ongoing series and this post will update as each video goes live.
Podcast: Hee-Ho! Atlus Games
These days Atlus is a household name, not only for the widely popular Persona series but also as a publisher of niche titles. What you may not know is that Atlus has been around making and releasing games since the NES/Famicom era and is responsible for plenty of titles you may have played. In this episode Jam and Fred discuss the history of Atlus, the games it has developed, and of course the lovely titles that we received thanks to its publishing division.
Transformers: Devastation Longplay
A Transformers brawler featuring Generation 1 (ie: the original 1980s cartoon) graphics and plot that’s developed by Platinum. It’s a fantastic run down memory lane in this short, but sweet commentary free longplay.
Friday At the Movies: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Video games and movies, you would think the two would go hand-in-hand, but unfortunately given that the film medium is a passive experience and the gaming medium is an active experience, the hybrid of the two usually goes horribly (and laughably) wrong. This segment will be our weekly realm to appreciate the more “classic” medium of film.
Two men enter, one man leaves. That phrase has been ingrained in my memory since I first heard it at the tender of age of seven. The third, and technically final, installment in George Miller’s Mad Max trilogy may initially come off as the oddest but ultimately is par for the course in this interesting series. Beyond Thunderdome had a massive budget of $12 million, more than six times the size of The Road Warrior‘s (the second film) seemingly large budget and included superstar singer Tina Turner. In addition it was marketed as a return to the brutal and bloody world of the Australian post-apocalyptic wasteland, but in truth it’s more akin to Peter Pan. I think that’s why the feedback on this film isn’t as strong as the others, because most fans of Mad Max liken the films to Fury Road.
Podcast: Exotic Appreciation
Believe it or not, Fred had special guest Rob “Trees” on from the former EZ Mode Unlocked podcast to discuss the history of exotic dancers in video games. Despite the controversial nature of this topic, there was a surprising number of dancers that were pivotal plot points, empowered men and women, and of course complete objectified disasters.
Legend of Kay Anniversary Review
Note: This review originally appeared on the B-Team Podcast site and has an agreement with the owner of the review, Fred Rojas, to post on Gaming History 101 as well and visa versa.
Typically any game being remade in HD comes with the acceptance that it was already a prominent title, which accounts for the ongoing debate as to whether or not to re-purchase it. That’s why Legend of Kay Anniversary strikes me as such an interesting decision because almost no one played the original on PS2 in 2005 or even the port to DS in 2010. Granted, when you complete the Anniversary edition the phrase “We’ll be back!” is at the end of the credits so I can only guess an upcoming sequel is the reasoning for this beautiful HD remake. Having now played the game to completion I have to admit that Nordic was smart to purchase it from Capcom and this partial Zelda clone does make for a lengthy and impressive campaign. When it originally released, Legend of Kay garnered quite positive reviews and I’m pleased to say that the game is just as great now as it presumably was when it released, only now it has received one hell of a face lift.
Clock Tower: The First Fear Game Club
The Clock Tower series has always been a unique horror title since it’s western inception on the original Playstation. There are no weapons, no fighting, and the main mechanic is hiding from a small man swinging around massive shears that will only result in death if your character is found. What many may not know is that the series actually began in Japan only on the SNES (and even had a remake of sorts on the Playstation, again in Japan only). Thanks fan translations, Jam and Fred sit down to discuss this initial outing that we in the West never got and is probably the strongest entry in the franchise.
Podcast: Sega Arcade Classics (Part 1)
This week Fred and Jam dive into the wonderful world of Sega arcade games. A company that literally started in arcade distribution before the existence of video games, Sega was a pioneer in the world of coin-operated arcade machines in the same way Nintendo was with console games. They don’t get quite as far as originally intended – not even making it to the Sega 16 hardware from the mid 80s – but the discussion is thorough and gives appreciation to some beloved and impressive titles.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Pac-Man Fever
This week Syd and Sean had on Jerry Buckner of the duo Buckner & Garcia that are responsible for the 1982 hit Pac-Man Fever. It’s a fascinating listen that we highly recommend everyone check out, but given that it’s a song/album they were discussing I had to be a little creative with what game(s) to showcase. Turns out there was a game released by Namco called Pac-Man Fever and Fred checks it out. Then at the end it’s time to re-visit the classic Pac-Man and answer to Syd’s challenge.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
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