1. Summertime. Full of heat and noise, as people start working on… stuff.

   As Untalkative Bunny knows, that’s when it’s time to escape to the beach!

2. neoendgame provides another contribution to our archives with a look at an auction for an Atari system that never was.

   Long before the Virtual Boy and others attempted the step to “real 3D,” the Atari Cosmos was a table-top unit that would untilize holograms to immerse the player in the game.

   They managed to obtain at least 8,000 pre-orders at the 1981 NY Toy Fair, and had 250 units produced to be sent out along with advertising and packaging, but decided in the end that the product was too great a risk to attempt to market.

   Would this item have changed Atari’s fortunes? Eh, probably not.

   But this auction is a stellar deal, though. I’d love to have one for my collection myself.

3. Licensed music: yay or nay?

   For Matt at Press the Buttons, definitely nay.

   I’m of a mixed mindset about it. For something that’s licensed to begin with, say TransFormers, I’d feel almost cheated if I couldn’t get the theme or soundtrack in there somehow. Same for some games, like EA games such as Burnout, or sports titles, perhaps. It just sort of works.

   On the other hand, I sort of hate all these videos for Smash Bros. Melee and such on YouTube, were the sound is completely wiped in favor of “Worlds Collide” or whatever. It sort of works, but… well, no, no thanks.

   And lastly, I rather enjoy the use of popular bands to sing the openings of Mega Man X games, or rather, Rockman X games in Japan, and for whatever reason, it usually feels like the US versions (sans X6) wind up with the budget cuts. And that’s always pissed me off just a bit.

   My favorite, though? I actually rather like the Sonic Adventure and beyond type stuff, where it pretty much sounds like it could be licensed music (vocals can really help in that respect), but it’s made for the game.

   Those are my thoughts, how about yours?

4. Oh, now here’s an awesome treat from Racketboy today: a .pdf file of the February 1993 issue of what could very well be one of the greatest video game magazines of all time, Game Players, who pretty much developed the snappy style everyone tries to emulate today.

   Unfortunately, I’m not sure if this issue is before or after they developed their edge, and I’ll have to wait until later to check it out.

   Good times, though.

5. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam? Not really my thing.

   Or is it?

   I have to admit, that looks rather fun. But the still shots of the pilots strike me as a little bit weak.

6. Next-Gen hits an exclusive interview with Takashi Tezuka, a longtime standing member of Nintendo who has worked on many a Mario and Zelda game.
7. Ooh, a real Sonic RPG preview?

   …no, false alarm. Dammit.

   This is one of those times I wish they’d just kept their mouths shut until they had something to show with it.

8. Here’s something I can dig: 2D franchises that deserve another chance.

   It’s hard to argue with any of these, though I’m sure that many more could be named. Which ones would you like to see return to prominence?

9. Some new screens and info on the upcoming Power Rangers: Super Legends DS game, which will also be on Wii, PS2, and PC later this year.

   Tommy, the Green Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger had best be playable.

   Anyway, I wouldn’t exactly say I’m blown away by anything here, but I guess I shouldn’t expect to be. I hope that the console games look closer to the TV show, though. i.e. more like actors and less like drawn cartoons.

10. Reggie talks a little about WiiWare and its control schemes, as well as Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 troubles.
11. Looks like 1up sticks it to a company who might be thinking just a little too highly of themselves.

    Welcome back to Earth, boys.

12. The Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles trailer, now in English.

    Freaky.

    And man, that Wesker guy looks like such bad news, doesn’t he?

    Hmm, anyone else ever notice that two (three, if you count Battle Network seperately) of Capcom’s biggest villains are named “Albert W.”?

13. Ah, Acclaim… sometimes I miss you and your wacky advertising antics.
14. DS Lite stylus too small for your enormous paws? Fear not, for there ARE solutions!

    I’m surprised no one thought of this one sooner.

15. Lara promotes Tomb Raider: Anniversary in perhaps the best way that she can. And still be SFW.
16. And last, but most certainly not least… just one more day until 1up’s mysterious Contra IV… whatever, is revealed.

    In the meantime, a round of applause to Mr. Parish and MISTAAAAAAAAAAAR… Kennedy… for a Retro Roundup that has been specially created to give a rundown of all the past Contra titles to date, and which ones are and aren’t worth looking at.

    While I still enjoyed the original arcade Contra to some degree, I find most of these to be pretty spot-on, unlike the roundup of Mega Man titles, which I felt were more disputable. As for Shattered Soldier? In an ironic way, it’s too short AND too long; there’s no saving, so you have to do it all in one go, and that can take awhile. On the other hand, if there was saving, I imagine more people would have seen the end.

    Me? I haven’t seen the end yet.

    I do slightly disagree with the Neo Contra assessment; it runs most like a game built around the “special” stages of the first three titles: your behind-the-back views, your top-downs, and such. The lack of analog may be that title’s one true shortcoming, but not enough for a thumbs-down, in my humble opinion.

    Can’t speak so much for the “inspired by” parts of the review, though I have loved everything I’ve played of Gunstar Heroes and Gunstar Super Heroes (I need to get a copy of the latter; the former I finally got to play on Virtual Console).

    And it should also be noted, perhaps, that playing as Axl in Mega Man X8 sort of gives off a slight Contra vibe as well, as he sprays down every enemy on screen with a barrage of blasts.

    And I should really play Metal Slug one of these days. I mean, it has a collection on Wii, right?

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 4:08 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.