BBC Tackles the Dungeons & Dragons Fear in the 80s
As the article implies, there are plenty of things that parents have to be scared of in terms of what content comes in contact with kids today. This is nothing new. In the 50s it was rock & roll, in the 90s it was video game violence, but in the 1980s the seed of evil was none other than D&D (Dungeons & Dragons for those not familiar with the pen-and-paper role playing game). I am always fascinated by the counterculture of what parents fear and what kids get heavily involved in. Of course, like all other concerns of the past, as time moves forward all world-ending plagues on the youth come off extremely tame in hindsight and this is no exception. The wonderful people at the BBC have documented the rush of D&D fever in an article aptly named The Great 1980s Dungeons & Dragon Panic and I highly recommend anyone who’s interested in the stories behind pop culture check it out (link in the article title).
Retro Fridays: Unreleased Games
This week for Retro Fridays we are playing unreleased games. The Sunsoft canceled NES title Sunman, which was really a re-skin of a Superman game. An ultra violent PS1 game that was deemed too violent to release named Thrill Kill. And finally the stolen never released SNES sequel to StarFox, StarFox 2 (of which most of the gameplay was integrated into StarFox 64). All of these games were captured on actual hardware, no emulation (and we tell you how to do it too).
Podcast: Finding An Analog
When video games started invading toy store shelves the industry was stunned by a product that not only buried traditional products but dominated at generating revenue. Secretly they all wanted a piece of the pie and the hope was that the dominant video medium, VHS, could be the gateway. Enter the failed consoles of the Action Max, ViewMaster Interactive Vision, and canceled Hasbro Control-Vision (codenamed NEMO). Oddly enough these consoles did have roots with some very top people in both toys and gaming in addition to creating the building blocks of the Full Motion Video (FMV) game.
Tetris on a skyscraper video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUFwDqrSI5s
Action Max gameplay vids: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=action+max
ViewMaster Interactive Vision Channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1L81ahLRzf4xIIHIjgAs2w
IGN’s fantastic NEMO article *MUST READ*: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/25/finding-nemo-the-story-behind-hasbros-nintendo-killer
Podcast: Extra Credit – Last Best
On the first episode of our new Extra Credit series Fred goes solo to answer listener Matan’s request to discuss the strong games that emerged from the end of console generations. Often times a console’s most fun and technical showpieces emerges when everyone has moved on – this show celebrates those games.
Retro Game Night: Super Metroid
In honor of the April game club, Fred’s giving Super Metroid a try for the first time ever. Regarded as easily one of the strongest titles on the SNES, if not of all time, I get started to see what all the fuss is about with the title that is responsible for the “Metroid” in “MetroidVania“.
Podcast: Shmup Game Club
This week we are joined by listener Jason (@albirhiza) to discuss our Shmup Game Club: Giga Wing 2, Velocity (Ultra), Radiant Silvergun, Power-Up, and Sine Mora. Campaigns, tactics, high scores, and more are covered as we dissect some of the more contemporary additions to the genre.
Progressive Challenge: A History of Game Difficulties
Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, Shin Megami Tensei Persona, Ikaruga, Dark Souls. All of these games have one thing in common: they are hard as hell. Since the genesis of the video game difficulty has existed to be the barrier to entry and the extension of game experiences. What is a video game if not a challenge? Originally technology had not caught up with the goals of the medium so games had to use difficulty to bridge the gap of a good experience where visuals and storytelling failed. Nowadays games are just as capable, if not more, than other media in being an interactive experience and therefore difficulty steps aside most times. I consistently hear that the concept of difficulty is dead, that a hard game dictates a good game, and that today’s gamers are weak and catered to. Frankly, I disagree with all of that. Gaming is typically tech dependent and with that dependence comes the evolution of experience, which results in the evolution of difficulty. Games haven’t gotten harder or easier, they have simply evolved.
Retro Game Challenge: Radiant Silvergun
For those of you gearing up for this week’s Gaming History 101 shmup game club, we’ve got the Radiant Silvergun campaign through to completion on a video here. Don’t expect the best playing in the world, I’m okay but I’m no match for the one-lifers who take this game on. It was more like 50 lives in my case, but nonetheless, I managed to complete the game despite some self destructing bosses.
Podcast: Edited For Content
This week we are joined by Derrick H of All Games Radio to discuss games that have been banned. As a medium that started marketing to children, governing bodies and the games industry have consistently worked together to avoid the dangerous word of censorship. Our panel discusses the roots, press, and various actions taken to edit or ban games that are deemed inappropriate for public consumption.
Version: Resident Evil Intro Movies
In this episode of Version, we dissect the different intro movies found in the original Resident Evil. It was heavily altered in the US versions so we hunted down a Japanese version to compare the difference and even included the Gamecube remake for posterity.
Gaming History 101 