1. Behold, and bear witness to yet another masterfully written analysis of the video game industry, as 1up.com’s woefully unpaid Nadia Oxford delves deep into the heart of the darkest part of the heart of video gaming, a hobby which attempts to emulate the feelings one gets when reading a book or watching a movie, but just does not get the job done.

   This… is the world of the Tragicomic.

2. The Angry Video Game Nerd has been quite busy while I’m away, producing videos covering the Atari 5200, as well as covering Ghostbusters… TWICE!
3. As if anyone cares any more (I kid, I kid), Inafune talks a bit about Mega Man, courtesy of GameWatch at GDC.

   “Screw ZX and Star Force,” you say? Well, you can direct your votes to Capcom as they conduct a poll to determine who is the strongest.

   My bets are on either X or EXE.

   Of course, if you want to know who’s the hardest, IGN will tell you it’s the very first Mega Man game on the NES, ranking second behind Contra on their Top 10 list of the hardest video games around.

4. Custom Robo DS is out, and has its own website now, too.

   I’ve been hearing good things, I can’t wait to try this one.

   For those who don’t know, if you’ve played Super Smash Bros. Melee and gotten some mech-like trophies named “Ray” among others… this is what they’re from.

5. Press The Buttons has kept busy while I’ve been away, and there are some nice articles up there now. Head on over for a mini-review of the Captain N DVD box set, and pretty cool idea for a New Super Mario Bros. 2, based on the turnip-tossing platformer of days gone by.

   And speaking of Super Mario Bros. 2, we all know that the game came from a Japanese non-Mario title known as Doki Doki Panic (you don’t? Go read up on it, then!), but how did things come to be that way? Check out this story about the long lost prototype some lucky soul managed to get on eBay.

6. Racketboy has some new Hidden Gems for you, from the SEGA Saturn, the NES, and the Dreamcast, and the cheapest GBA, SNES, and Saturn games worth your time.

   There are a few on that last list I could stand to get…

7. Also from Racketboy, if you’re into age-old video game magazines, here’s issue 5 of Nintendo Power, from Jan/Feb 1989.

   Yeah, that’s right. Back then, we had to wait TWO months for our fix.

8. Also, a neat game I never beat that was rather inspired by Zelda II (coming soon to Virtual Console) is Battle of Olympus.
9. This Sunday is WWE’s WrestleMania, and one of the big matches that’s making the mainstream this time is Donald Trump vs. Vince McMahon in a “Hair vs. Hair” match. Which simply means the loseWeight Exerciser gets shaved bald.

   Unfortunately, it won’t be Donald and Vince fighting each other, but instead, they’ve chosen representatives to fight in their stead. Sort of a pity, but great exposure for the two chosen, Umaga and Bobby Lashley.

   Doesn’t mean we can’t have our fun, though, as GameTrailers proves with their video of Trump and McMahon fighting from the XBox 360 Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 video game.

10. Sadly, Wario’s latest adventure just isn’t doing it for a lot of people. Find out why in GameTrailers’ video review.

    Unfortunately, I still want to play this, at least a little bit.

11. N-Philes has some new “extreme” art from Super Mario Strikers Charged.
12. Sounds like if you want to get your foot into gaming’s door, VMC Game Labs isn’t the place to do it.

    In fact, general consensus is that the place is either Hell, or should be in Hell.

13. …and here I thought Sony had bad advertising; I guess SEGA is looking to show them a thing or two.

    And what’s with that Beta-7 thing?

14. If you’re into Phoenix Wright/Gyakuten Saiban, then this ad featuring a famous Japanese lawyer is pretty cool.
15. I’d love to get my hands on one of these giant retail Marios. Preferably one of the better-looking ones, though.

    Of course, I’d much rather have the life-size Mario and/or his smaller counterpart. Or the one belonging to Kotaku Kommenter MrFuzzyPaws.

    That’s right, looks like the limited quantity of 30 was a falsehood.

    Also, be sure to read the links provided to the retailer by Kotaku, the descriptions are mildly amusing.

16. Kotaku’s also got a rather interesting look at Subway’s latest ad, aimed at parents whose kids bear the nickname of Chubby Checker.
17. Retronauts sets their sights on the Master System, the technically superior but fundamentally inferior* predecessor to SEGA’s Genesis.

    * Unless you live in, like, Brazil or Chile or something.

18. Quarterly online video game magazine The Gamer’s Quarter has added their 8th issue to the website, grab it while it’s hot.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 6:45 am and is filed under Points of Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.