The Birthplaces of Ten Great American Foods.

Never heard of a Fat Darrell before, but now I don’t think I can rest until I’ve tried one.

Incidently, the hamburger didn’t originate here, just the form of a hamburger as a sandwich did, it seems.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Last night, CNN apparently debuted an awesome move forward in technology. I mean, it’s nothing exactly innovative, insofar as geeks like me have been seeing it in movies, games, etc. for years now. But to see it being applied in real life? That’s cool. Check it out for yourself:

Thanks to Topless Robot for the find. Now we just need the Mega Man fans to get Santa Claus into a lab coat and on that thing…

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

So far, I’ve been mostly on the fence about Sonic Unleashed. I see good, I see bad, I hear good, I hear bad. On top of that, two different versions with two teams working on them– how is one to choose whether to get it or not, or which one to buy?

Thank goodness for videos. Though SEGA of Europe seems to be running all over YouTube, trying to make sure I don’t see anything I might like, some are getting through, including on GameTrailers. So, while they last, here are a few videos of note. For starters, the opening cutscene (with the option of selecting Japanese voices over English, as you’ll see).

Of course, there are spoilers. This is largely for people like me who may not see the game for some tim yet, but be warned.

(more…)

Just gathering up a few things of interest here and there.

1. It’s pretty much too late to use this, but I only saw it popping up here and there today. At least you can see what a cool Mega Man Jack-o-Lantern looks like, and maybe save the instructions for next year.
2. I got to see WWE Cyber Sunday earlier this week, and the Divas had a Halloween costume contest where viewers could vote. And the winner for the second year in a row was Mickie James, dressed as Lara Croft. Kotaku seems to favor her in the role over Angelina Jolie.
3. Reason #703 that being in Canada can suck: Missing out on Pokemon giveaways at Toys R Us, in spite of having Toys R Us here. Seriously, now. And I’d love to have a Dragonite. That “D” in my name? Stands for “Draco,” because I dig dragons.
4. Sackboy wants your vote on “Proposition Pluto.”
5. We’ve already got something similar here on the site, but if you want to hear it again, Kombo’s Lucas DeWoody takes a look at What’s Wrong With Sonic. It’s a pretty good read.
6. The first few DSi Ware titles look fun and interesting, but not quite “I must get this console” interesting. At least, not yet. I still think it’s just a matter of time before the “it” thing appears, though when it does, I’m not sure it’ll be for everybody. I rather expect there to be a fair and firm divide.
7. Speaking of releases, here is what Nintendo currently has set for the rest of this year and into 2009. Some of it’s pretty vague, though, but at least it looks like we’re getting some of the GameCube-to-Wii ports. Bring on Metroid Prime, I say!
8. Oh, and speaking of DSi, Nintendo wants it here by Summer.
9. The lovely Nadia Oxford expresses some changes she’d like to see in the dynamic of 3D Mario titles.
10. Elsewhere at 61 Frames per Second, Derrick Sanskrit does the impossible by justifying SEGA, as they seem to be the only third-party that really gets what the Wii is all about.
11. People who live on McDonald’s Dollar Menu Double Cheeseburgers have been a bit fidgety lately, as McD’s has sought to take the coveted consumable off the Dollar menu, and move it to $1.39. Hah, that’s what we’ve been paying here all along!

    Anyway, to show they’re good sports about it, it seems they’re willing to consider a compromise.

12. Masterpiece Grimlock is going to rock so hard.
13. Japan’s Virtual Console is going to receive Rockman 3 soon. So odds are, a US Mega Man 3 release won’t be too far behind.
14. Over at Press the Buttons, Matt thinks that Castlevania’s formula has gotten a little stale. But is the buddy-cop route the path the series needs in order to find salvation?

    On a related note, I pity poor Igarashi, who tried to steer the series away from Dracula being the bad guy by changing the Japanese name to match the West as Castlevania, but the fans there wouldn’t have it. So now it’s back to “Akumaj? Dracula,” or “Demon Castle Dracula.” While I can sympathize with the Japanese on the issue of a long-beloved series having its name changed (though I thought it was less popular there?), it now begs the question: Can you really make a Akumaj? Dracula game without Dracula? It seems to kind of tie a noose around the overall story potential.

15. Wonder what goes into making a Sonic theme song? Follow Crush 40 as they show you how “Knight of the Wind” from Sonic and the Black Knight came to be.

    And once you’re done there, you can see the trailer for the game matched against the theme from King Arthur and the Knights of Justice instead. It has no right to work as well as it does.

16. Speaking of Sonic (for the third time tonight), two new trailers for Sonic Unleashed have surfaced, one for the 360 version, and the other for the Wii.
17. And finally, the American fate of Disaster: Day of Crisis is a bit uncertain right now, as Reggie doesn’t think it’s a $50 game. He notes the voice acting as “laughable,” but is going to see how it performs in Europe before bringing it here.

    This has managed to upset some people.

And with that, hope you had a Happy Halloween!

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Thanks to the good folks over at Capcom, we’ve got ourselves a little contest running at The Mega Man Network. Two, as a matter of fact. And both are for hardcore fans.

The first is a simple matter of playing Mega Man 9 for the Xbox 360. Be the first to get all 12 Achievements, and you win a Mega Man 9 t-shirt and poster set. Not too shabby, given that the main reason some would opt for the 360 version is for those very Achievements.

The second contest is a bit trickier. 15 original “Classic” series Mega Man questions, designed to stump. A drawing is held among those who get all 15 right, or in the event no one does, among those with the the greatest equal scores. Two will be chosen at random, or however the number of correct answers dictates, to each get a Mega Man 9 poster.

You can find the full contest rules and trivia questions here.

Truth be told, there were some better prizes lined up, but getting a group consensus on what to run took a bit too long; in fact, we only got these running yesterday, and they were supposed to begin at the start of October. Won’t go into any more detail than that, but suffice to say, the lesson is learned.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

All the funny Michael Bay ads in the world wouldn’t make up for this.

“We’ll help you find your daughter over her dead body. What’s that? Oh, here you go, then.”

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

In my continued hunt for the Super Mario Bros. 3 t-shirt, I decided to check eBay again, to no avail. But holy hell, look at what I did find:

I’m pretty sure I remember this from when I was growing up; that art came from an issue, the first issue in fact, of Nintendo Power. Not sure if I had that one or not, but I don’t think I did.

Looks like it may be the real deal, too, a 1988 copyright date on it and all.

It was $7.88 when I found it last night, but found that it went to a “holy crap” 33 dollars by the time it ended today. Too bad, it was in Toronto, too. But for $12 shipping? Hell, I’d hope I’d have been able to get less than that for what amounts to a busride away (if even that, for all I know).

Still, neat to see a genuine retro shirt like that.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

They’re moving Colonel Sanders’ recipe.

Man, it’ll be interesting as hell if anything goes wrong. Can you imagine?

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Been spreading this around. One of my biggest beefs with games over the years, particularly as saving has become more commonplace, is the way some developers implement it. Particularly when it is done poorly.

Over at Gamasutra, David Sirlin put together nice feature about that very subject.

Games are not for game designers and their ivory-tower ideals-games are for players. Players have lives outside of our games and we should respect those lives and design our games accordingly, rather than expect our players to design their lives around us.

…

This is an old argument where one side talks about the convenience of saving anytime and the other talks about the need to make games challenging, but this is a false dichotomy. We can allow the player to stop playing without excessive penalty and make a challenging game. It’s just a matter of defining what “saving” actually means.

As an example, Mario 64 doesn’t literally allow the player to save anywhere they want, but it still meets this requirement in spirit. The point of the game is to collect all 120 stars, and every time you collect a star, you “save and continue.” You cannot save your exact position in a level, but such a feature isn’t needed anyway.

The geography of the game is designed such that a player can reach the entrance to any level in just a few seconds by navigating Mario’s castle and getting back to any specific goal in a level doesn’t take long either.

This preserves the game’s difficulty (players can’t save and load to get the stars more easily) and it also means the player can turn the game off at any time, knowing that the only important progress (collecting stars) has been saved.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Oh. My. God.

An article that’s funnier, and quite possibly stupider, than it has any right to be. NSFW.

Found that when trying to dig this up again: 5 Tips for Healthy Living from Batman and Joker. Also NSFW.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”