Points of Interest – 10/30/07
InFormers: Robots in the News
- Galleries galore! Remy has a new one for Energon Power Mode Convoy (Optimus Primal), while the Allspark has new collections for Masterpiece Starscream, Movie Dropkick, Binaltech (Alternators) Rijie (Mirage), Movie Armorhide, Beast Wars II Dirge, Movie Air Raid, Movie Elita-1, Beast Wars II Thrust, BotCon ’97 Packrat and Fractyl, Energon Ultra Magnus, Binaltech Asterick 01 Alert (Red Alert), Binaltech Asterick 02 Sunstreaker, and Beast Wars Neo Hydra. Whew!
- Reprolabels has some new stickers to trick out your toys.
- Looks like TransFormers: The Movie has been transformed between the theatrical and DVD releases to include more product placement.
Assorted Mushrooms
- Oh, Fox, you silly bastards. Do you really think that people can’t tell your news station from a cartoon parody?
Insert obvious jokes here.
- Family Guy wants to rock.
- IGN Anime has begun a new feature wherein they index characters from anime and manga.
Video Power
- I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this before, but it came as a surprise to me that Nintendo and Hal Labs were once working on a Kirby game for GameCube that looks a lot like Super Smash Bros. Melee, and is possibly a part of why the Kirby franchise has a stronger showing in Brawl than previous iterations.
- While some are calling for Duck Hunt from the NES to appear on Wii’s Virtual Console, I think I might rather see the arcade version, with its bonus stage and breaktime cartoon. Then again, the NES has its perks, too, I suppose.
Just the same, Nintendo’s old arcade games were usually superior or different enough from the home versions that it still drives me crazy that we have to deal with watered-down versions of Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong. And with NeoGeo and TurboCD added, you can’t convince me that Nintendo couldn’t add arcade games in some fashion.
- Speaking of Duck Hunt, seems that Master Chief has decided to try his hand at it.
- This is just funky: Vegeta’s Final Flash to the music from Gangplank Galleon in Donkey Kong Country.
What’s scary is how well it synchs up.
- Press The Buttons reveals that Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP may have more secrets than they’ve been letting on.
- Continuing his series of stunning video game artwork, Racketboy has turned his retro-gaming eye now to Darkstalkers, just in time for Halloween!
- Wow, it’s like everyone wants a single, unified console format now. Doubt it’ll happen. Especially with Nintendo’s new strategy.
I’m not even sure I’d want it to. PS2′s carried a notoriety for breaking down, and Xbox 360 trumps that tenfold (by my guess), if either of them were in charge of making it…
Granted, I’ve always thought it’d be a good idea, to only need one system to play any game you want on, but…
- Brain Age: helping children learn and play better.
- I’m no sports fan, but the name Double Dribble still stirs up memories of a simpler time, and ScrewAttack takes us back to see it once again.
- GameTrailers has an in-depth interview for Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
- The San Francisco Chronicle got to spend a little time with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who talks about things such as the whole “Wii is a fad” thing being overblown, and wondering the same thing I did when I first saw Little Big Planet: “What’s this doing on a Sony system?”
- Next Gen has a new feature wherein it seems that arcades are doing a little better these days. And I for one am VERY happy by that, even if they aren’t to the level they once were.
I still think that arcades are viable, even for new releases, in much the same way that movies still come to theaters, even though the real money is in DVD sales. It seems mostly a way to help build hype, and I think a similar model could work here.
- Oh shudder, oh horror! GameDaily sees fit to punish mankind for some reason by rewinding and reminding us of all The Simpsons past video gaming attrocities (save a few).
C’mon, give us console ports of the arcade game and Virtual Springfield, stat!
- Games Radar presents the top 7 worst jobs for game characters.
- Stuff magazine has a look at the Top 10 most gratifying moments in video games.
I really need to jump that flagpole one of these days.
- Now THIS is a freakin’ awesome Mario pumpkin, that looks great lit up OR in plain daylight. Way too cool.
Of course, “Halo-ween” isn’t bad, either.
- Ah, used games. Frankly, for the prices they tend to go for, I just go for new, unless I can’t find new copies. Then I don’t need to worry about condition, the box, the booklet, or any of that stuff. And with some companies, I get the stuff that lets me register for goodies or whatever. Though Nintendo has really dropped away from doing that as much in recent.
Rentals… I’d rent more, but that stuff’s getting damn expensive. Nearly 10 bucks for a 3-day rental around here on a new release. And often, Blockbuster doesn’t even get a lot of the games I want, anyway.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”