April 27, 2014

Gaming Thread 4/27/2014
— Gang of Gaming Morons!

Yep, after years of people saying it was and wasn't there, the truth has been found. I'm curious in what else they find as there has been sister rumors that the spot was also supposed to contain a bunch of prototypes as well. Being able to find say the Mindlink prototype would be interesting.

Ars Technica has two good writeups on the dig Part 1 and Part 2

That being said, it kinda bums me out as it was one of the unknowns in a hobby that isn't filled with many of them. Realistically, all we really have left on big ones is the Polybius arcade cabinet (which I don't think ever existed).

Should be interesting in seeing Zak Penn's documentary about Atari which this is a part of. The last time he did one was Incident at Lochness which was quite fun with Werner Herzog.

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NEWS

• I don't have a link to this and it's not really gaming related other than the Atari documentary is part of the lineup but on Monday we'll learn of the launch slate of original programming for Xbox One TV. Makes sense as it's almost a month out till the soccer series starts (just before the World Cup kicks off). Will be interesting in seeing how they set it up for monetization. Personally I'm expecting free if you have Gold and then thrown up on the Windows Store, iTunes and Amazon for a couple of bucks per episode. And I hope they don't make the mistake that Netflix does by releasing all of the episodes at once as it doesn't take full advantage of it's mindshare. Myself, I would look at Korean TV and do 2 episodes a week as if it's good, you keep people talking about it without people being impatient with just 1 episode a week.

Always knew Twitch was huge for live streaming but didn't know it was this big. On the first week of April, it's number is just under the other 9 in the Top 10 added up.

Really cool writeup on the history of Iron Galaxy.

• To go with the Snoop commentary pack that they announced last week, you're gonna be able to rock this

$10 says we don't see this here in the states as Capcom is gonna Capcom but they announced a new entry in the Phoenix Wright games. It carries the simple title of The Great Ace Attorney with a female character named Ryuunosuke Naruhodo set in the Meiji Era.

Tim Sweeney: The industry’s changing – this generation it seems like there are about a third of the number of triple-A titles in development across the industry as there was last time around – and each one seems to have about three times the budget of the previous generation." Yep, that sounds about right.

Gamestop once again is closing some stores. They also announced a re-invigoration of the mobile sector (just following where the money is).

New entry in the greatest videogame franchise of all-time, Fatal Frame, is coming to the Wii U. I really wish Nintendo didn't buy the property

China released the censorship rules for console games. In shocking news, they're broad enough that they can do anything.

• New trailer for the Mad Max game and a new release time period (next year, more than likely around the time the film comes out)

Some good stuff coming in this week's PS4 system update.

So a week before he bought Oculus, Zuckerberg demoed Sony's Project Morpheus.

• Ready for a new Skylanders game? New one is called Skylanders: Trap Team and it comes with a new portal so yeah, they're forcing you to buy the bundle instead of using the old one

• In sad news, ArcSystems isn't working on a new BloodRayne game, they're just porting Wayforward's game to Japan

• Pretty cool trailer for the upcoming Evolve game

• Definitely PC footage but new trailer for Project Cars from Slightly Mad Studios (Ian Bell). As someone who was a backer, this game needs bit more work but it's a lot of fun at it's current state. I am curious in how they're gonna cram it onto the new consoles as it needs a bit of beef to run well on the PC (and I don't know if I want to know how it's going to look on the Wii U)

• Bungie is taking full advantage of WebM with the relaunch of the Destiny site. Tons of stuff to watch.

• Hey BandaiNamco, I've seen this game before, it was called Anarchy Reigns and it bombed HARD (like the majority of games from Platinum)

• Bioware showing off the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition. With this being released on the crowded October 7th (Alien Isolation, Shadows of Mordor and something else which it's name is escaping me), it will be interesting in seeing who blinks first and pulls the game off that date.

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NEW RELASES

Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS) - Very much looking forward to this as well, I really like this series and well, new game from Camelot. And for $30, I'm okay with the $15 season pass that adds a couple new characters and 9 more courses (for a total of 19 courses).

Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS) - Yeah, I've never been able to get into the Kirby series. Always found them to be too easy and frankly, boring. Don't listen to me on this series as I can't really give you a proper opinion.

Child of Light (PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, 360 and Xbox One) - So UbiSoft has made a 2D JRPG in the West. The track record of someone trying to do this hasn't been good to say the least so I'm a little skeptical. The art is quite pretty though. Depending on reviews, I'll probably pick this up.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle (PS3) - Well, there isn't much to say about this game other than to skip this fighter at all costs. No depth and crappy controls. It bombed in Japan and was quickly forgotten a week later for a reason.

Daylight (PC & PS4) - Curious in how a horror game written by Jessica Chobot could be? Well here is your chance after it missed it's release date a few weeks ago. It's a randomly generated game with some set pieces. Considering Zombie Studios' track record, I'm skeptical to say the least

Raiden IV Overkill (PS3) - After coming out a few years ago on the 360, the PS3 is finally getting the game and though it's not exactly hard, it's a good little schmup (though Raiden Legacy is a better buy). And this release comes with a new scoring mode.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 (PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U & 360) - Totally cop to the fact that I haven't been a fan of Beenox's Spidey games but Good Lord does this game look so bad. If you want it, just wait a few months and pick it up from the bargain bin.

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Stuff I've been playing

This past week I've been playing my usual Brave Frontier as it's been getting quite a few updates the past few days.

Also bought Wayward Souls for my iPad which is really good and quite a bit of length to it (you don't feel gipped out of your $5). It's pretty much what Mage Gauntlet should have been with the difficulty retched up quite a bit.

Also get to finally play Dark Souls 2 with the PC release. Haven't played it that much just yet but so far it runs quite well (which surprises me coming from FROM). I'm actually taking a break at the moment of playing to write this up.

Thats it, I'm done
Twitter crap

Posted by: Gang of Gaming Morons! at 11:09 AM | Comments (45)
Post contains 1315 words, total size 11 kb.

1 It's ridiculous how much I'm looking forward to Destiny.

Posted by: alexthechick - Oh save us mighty SMOD at April 27, 2014 11:13 AM (dMSj2)

2 I've got the ET cartridge. It bites. But so do a lot of games from that era, just like today. It's of more value as a hallmark of the end of that First Generation of video gaming. After that, it took the Famicom to open it back up into what it's become today.

Posted by: --- at April 27, 2014 11:16 AM (MMC8r)

3 That being said, it kinda bums me out as it was one of the unknowns in a hobby that isn't filled with many of them. Realistically, all we really have left on big ones is the Polybius arcade cabinet (which I don't think ever existed). Exactly. *slips "The Dude" boitcoins through the USB port*

Posted by: U. S. Shadow Government at April 27, 2014 11:19 AM (AymDN)

4 Looking forward to the Mad Max. Not so sure about the lack of multiplayer.

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 27, 2014 11:25 AM (VjL9S)

5 Destiny: The Corgis of War???

Posted by: [/i]andycanuck[/b] at April 27, 2014 11:27 AM (D+5pt)

6 2 I've got the ET cartridge. It bites. But so do a lot of games from that era, just like today.

It's of more value as a hallmark of the end of that First Generation of video gaming. After that, it took the Famicom to open it back up into what it's become today.

Posted by: --- at April 27, 2014 03:16 PM (MMC8r)

 

 

And won't surprise me to see a major death coming soon again, with all the bullshit microtransactions coming into even console and PC games.  Take an obvious single player game, cut out a chunk of the development for good gameplay and stick in a bullshit multiplayer complete with stuff to try and get you to keep buying.  I can see and hope people eventually get sick of this scam.

Posted by: buzzion at April 27, 2014 11:27 AM (LI48c)

7 I got a sweet deal on "South Park: The Sick of Truth" this week, and I played it for about half and hour, but I'm still too obsessed with "Don't Starve" to give it any proper time right now.

Posted by: Hillary's Spanx at April 27, 2014 11:36 AM (uaEZS)

8 I'm waiting for it to go on sale on steam to pick it up.  Maybe during the summer sale.

Posted by: buzzion at April 27, 2014 11:38 AM (LI48c)

9

Posted by: buzzion at April 27, 2014 03:27 PM (LI48c)


without the microtrandactions, the gaming market is even in a worse situation. Game costs keeps going up while the pricing has gone down (and people seemingly don't want to pay full price now).

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 11:39 AM (bStrg)

10 I actually have fairly fond memories of that E.T. game. I'm not saying it wasn't crap, but back then it was kind of an interesting evolution from the endless series of shoot-until-you-got-shot-three-times games that made up 99% of the available games. It was kind of neat that the game had an ending, and the graphics, whilst not great, were still light years ahead of standard stuff like "Atari Combat" or even the square protagonist (literally, it was a square) of the admittedly far superior "Atari Adventure."

Posted by: Kensington (@NYKensington) at April 27, 2014 11:41 AM (uaEZS)

11 Still say that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the NES is the worst game ever

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 11:43 AM (bStrg)

12 Which is why I said I can see another major death coming..

Posted by: buzzion at April 27, 2014 11:43 AM (LI48c)

13 Which is why I said I can see another major death coming..

Posted by: buzzion at April 27, 2014 03:43 PM (LI48c)


wouldn't say major death (though I don't see Sony being around in say 5 years and I dunno what MS is going to do after the XBox One) but rather like almost always, we'll follow Japan to mobile games

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 11:46 AM (bStrg)

14 *slips "The Dude" boitcoins through the USB port* If they're on your side of the port to begin with, you may be doing it very, very questionably.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, Cylon/Cetacian hybrid at April 27, 2014 11:47 AM (m9V0o)

15 Boy, I hope you're wrong, Buzzion. I just bought both of the main new consoles and am about to build my own gaming PC (once I figure out how to pick the right components). That said, the microtransaction and/or free-to-play model does nothing for me, and if I learn that a game requires microtransactions, I'm out. I was very disappointed to learn that "Dead Space 3" used microtransactions but heartened to learn they weren't necessary.

Posted by: Kensington (@NYKensington) at April 27, 2014 11:49 AM (uaEZS)

16 without the microtrandactions, the gaming market is even in a worse situation. Game costs keeps going up while the pricing has gone down (and people seemingly don't want to pay full price now).

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 03:39 PM (bStrg)


Well, it may be that we are in a bubble much like the housing market in 2007. It will be interesting when it pops.

Posted by: NWConservative at April 27, 2014 11:55 AM (buZ/8)

17 >>>15 Boy, I hope you're wrong, Buzzion. I just bought both of the main new consoles and am about to build my own gaming PC (once I figure out how to pick the right components). Well when I built my PC in 2012 I went with Asus built motherboard and graphics cards. And I went with an antec case with more fans on than the motherboard can fit with removable bays for easy cleaning. Fan speeds and temperatures stay very low even with two large graphics cards and running high graphics.

Posted by: Buzzion at April 27, 2014 11:57 AM (LI48c)

18 wouldn't say major death (though I don't see Sony being around in say 5 years and I dunno what MS is going to do after the XBox One) but rather like almost always, we'll follow Japan to mobile games

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 03:46 PM (bStrg)


I'm sorry, but if the primary gaming scene turns towards mobile, I'm out.

Posted by: NWConservative at April 27, 2014 11:58 AM (buZ/8)

19 Some Sentai genre goodness that would surely test the Cherry crew.

http://tinyurl.com/mnx5dv4

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at April 27, 2014 11:59 AM (bKEDY)

20 I'm sorry, but if the primary gaming scene turns towards mobile, I'm out.

Posted by: NWConservative at April 27, 2014 03:58 PM (buZ/


not a matter of if but when

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 12:01 PM (bStrg)

21 Holy shit E.T. was a terrible game. I think I was one of the only suckers who actually bought it!

Posted by: Hamilton at April 27, 2014 12:02 PM (oMYHY)

22 Re: ET. Eh, on the one hand "they found them" On the other hand it sounds like they haven't found nearly as many as would be expected. Feel free to keep living the mystery as it were (if you so choose.) Frankly, "lore" (as concept of things left undiscovered) doesn't excite me that much. To be clear, I'm not saying "this is stupid" in fact I liked the idea of the documentary, I'm saying "we need more urban legends and mysteries rather than stories" is not my bag. (Says the Positivist)

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) [/b] [/i] [/s] at April 27, 2014 12:03 PM (HDwDg)

23 what can I say, I'm a bit of a dreamer who likes a bit of mystery

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 12:07 PM (bStrg)

24 also quite disappointed in Tesla Effect getting pushed back a few hours before it was supposed to be released

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 12:10 PM (bStrg)

25 Actually, what they did with the ET cartridges was no loss, but it's frightening similar to what was done with the archives for the Dumont Television Network in, I think, the 70s-- it was driven out in trucks and dumped in New York Bay. That was a loss. There's still plenty of those damn ET cartridges out there to preserve.

Posted by: --- at April 27, 2014 12:12 PM (MMC8r)

26 Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 04:07 PM (bStrg) To each his own I suppose. I imagine the hobby will produce more mystery as it goes on. The way I see it, mystery is no fun if no one ever tests it.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) [/b] [/i] [/s] at April 27, 2014 12:23 PM (HDwDg)

27 A real find would be the original unpublished version of John Harris' Frogger on the Atari 800. Harris was at the West Coast Computer Faire with a box of floppies that included his only copies of the game and the source code. It was stolen. So Harris had no choice, being under deadline to Sierra On-line to deliver the game, but to recreate the game from scratch. In the process he claims he produced a far better version of the game incorporating some tricks he'd figured out just as he was finishing the previous rendition. Stuff Display List Interrupts, that later became standard techniques that also had a version in the Amiga hardware but were then only known to very few outside of Atari.

Old timers might recall that this game caused a bit of a scandal at the following Faire because Sierra set up a demo that made it appear the Apple ][ was running the game when there was actually an Atari 800 under the table. A card to use Atari joysticks on the Apple was common then, so the controls didn't cause suspicion. The real Apple version was hugely inferior, including a black square surrounding the frog controlled by the player and defining the actual collision region, while Harris' Atari version pretty effectively reproduced the arcade experience. Trivial today but a big deal back then, especially when good documentation for the Atari hardware was lacking to third party coders.

Posted by: Epobirs at April 27, 2014 12:45 PM (Icq+V)

28 #25

A similar thing happened at the BBC, which is why there are no complete copies of some early Dr. Who episodes.

Posted by: Epobirs at April 27, 2014 12:46 PM (Icq+V)

29 Posted by: Epobirs at April 27, 2014 04:45 PM (Icq+V)

actually hadn't heard that story but that would be a cool find. And in the age of leaking, I'm always surprised the stolen Half Life 2 code hasn't hit the internet yet

Posted by: The Dude at April 27, 2014 12:56 PM (bStrg)

30 #29 What? It had. It hit three days after it was stolen. You can still get various compiles including the "water tentacle" scene never in the production game.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at April 27, 2014 01:15 PM (Qp0nB)

31 I'm sorry, but if the primary gaming scene turns towards mobile, I'm out.

+1

I just don't have the eyes for the portable games.

Posted by: Methos at April 27, 2014 01:38 PM (hO9ad)

32 31 I'm sorry, but if the primary gaming scene turns towards mobile, I'm out.

+1

I just don't have the eyes for the portable games.

Posted by: Methos at April 27, 2014 05:38 PM (hO9ad)


I don't have that problem at the moment. It is the microtransactions and that so many games you have to pay to win. And not to mention the crappy hardware and small screens that really underwhelm me. If I wanted Nintendo 64 graphics, I would play a Nintendo 64 game AND on a bigger screen too!

Posted by: NWConservative at April 27, 2014 01:44 PM (buZ/8)

33 It would seem that gaming is now such a huge industry that pieces of it can die off or scale back while others continue to rake in the cash. So it will probably be more like the movie industry, where certain types/genres of movies rise and fall, and there's a whole lot of expensive, regurgitated junk to wade through, but the occasional gem can still be found.

Posted by: damasca at April 27, 2014 01:46 PM (K0Azp)

34 I've said it before and I'll say it again: ET wasn't that bad of a game. The 2600 port of Pac-Man was complete and utter shit, though. A Steam key for Daylight was included with my GTX 770 which I recently purchased. I've activated the key but, as the game has yet to be released, I haven't been able to install it. Now that I've finished Borderlands 2, I guess I'll dig into my vast archive of unfinished games and find something to play. Maybe Morrowind...

Posted by: Sandra Fluke's Solid Gold Diaphragm at April 27, 2014 02:01 PM (bHnlE)

35 #29

There is a fairly detailed account in the book Hackers by Steven Levy, which is really a must-read for anyone interested in the early history of computer gaming. I was distantly acquainted with some of the people in that section.

Posted by: Epobirs at April 27, 2014 02:25 PM (Icq+V)

36 That last was not, to my ear. "game music". As soon as the CD generation of game systems arrived, I was a sad puppy. That last was music. Performed by a symphony, and recorded and put on a mic... ...as opposed to composed and constructed by programmers hackers. and ubergenius musicians using hex code. Gah! GET OFF MY LAWN! 1. Get the Game Radio app. 2. Put on your best Sennheisers. 3. Listen to what can be done with ONE CHIP. 4. Understand that the limit was: ...a. monophonic ...b. three semi-FM voice polyphonic ...c. a forth white noise channel Or just go to Game Radio and listen. http://tinyurl.com/mjofcmg That's "game music". We used to listen to this on 14" Realistic Optimus speaks. (Caveat: Says the guy who digs Cage The Elephant because of Borderlands, and considers it Game Music.)

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:26 PM (e7KZr)

37 Posted by: Sandra Fluke's Solid Gold Diaphragm at April 27, 2014 06:01 PM (bHnlE) That's how I got my copy of arkham origins. It came with my second gtx 660ti. I think the day before or so you can preinstall the game so the Moment it is "released" you can play it.

Posted by: Buzzion at April 27, 2014 02:27 PM (z/Ubi)

38 If you are using Game Radio, the station you need to pick, in order to step in what I'm poopin', is called The SID station. The SID chip was phenomenal.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:29 PM (e7KZr)

39 ONE CHIP, BIZZNITCHES! Streets of Rage 2 OST http://tinyurl.com/k8e8dle THAT is "game music". Not a recorded symphony or some rock and roll band. Young 'uns.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:33 PM (e7KZr)

40 What could ya'll do with 3 voices and a noise channel? The limits are still being pushed. Even with the sorry-ass chip in the Texas Instruments TI-99 4a, these morons are pushing the limits today. Then again c128 hackers have recently discovered two or three new colors. I remember when graphics in the c64 border were "impossible".

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:39 PM (e7KZr)

41 Use one voice of four to make a chord by playing 64th notes. 64 hackers invented dubstep, and they get no cred.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:42 PM (e7KZr)

42 A chip making the music for you, on the fly Versus a chip playing the recording for you. I prefer the former.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:46 PM (e7KZr)

43 How is possible that drunk Taq owns thread?

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:48 PM (e7KZr)

44 :rummages around for valu-ahem-ables:

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at April 27, 2014 02:49 PM (e7KZr)

45 The resolution and detail on that racing game are fantastic A few more years of research, virtual porn will be like the real thing, only better

Posted by: kbdabear at April 27, 2014 03:46 PM (aTXUx)

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