A couple of quick items...

Just a couple of things that I thought I would comment about today:

1) I found this interesting watch on YouTube called Sequelitis: Castlevania 1 vs. Castlevania 2. It's a 15-minute long video detailing the differences between the two CV games that's not only interesting, but also pretty damn hilarious. It's made by a guy going by the moniker of EgoRaptor, and he also manages to create other gems such as the Awesome series; basically a series of quick shorts making fun of specific video games. Probably the most hilarious example of this is Awesome Reach. Check it out when you get a chance!

2) Announced today, Duke Nukem Forever has been delayed by about a month. There is a metric pisston of people out there crying about it, but the fact of the matter is that Gearbox will add that extra bit of polish on it in the extra amount of time and make it the best product they can upon release. They wouldn't delay it unless they had to, so whoever the hell is out there freaking out about it and saying Gearbox are retards should probably continuously slam their head between the toilet bowl and seat until June 14th, the new release date for DNF in North America. Fact is that we're finally getting this game, and an extra month after 13 YEARS of pseudo-development is nothing to be whining about like a baby. When He finally appears to us and brings us into His good graces, Duke's beautiful resurrection will be nothing short of awe-inspiring! PRAISE BE TO NUKEM, FOR HE IS THE ONE THAT SHALL LEAD US TO TRUE GLORY!!!

(unless this turns out to be a week-early April Fool's joke and it's actually coming out on time...but it seems doubtful)

That's it for now!

World Ten: Soundtracks, pt. 3

Finally, the conclusion to my analysis of some of my favourite and most memorable video game soundtracks. Enjoy!

Donkey Kong Record Attempt: Today!

Just wanted to slam this link up on my blog for anyone who wants to check it out. It's a live text feed of the current battle for the Donkey Kong world record score. Unfortunately it's not a video, but at least there's something up!

http://retro.nintendolife.com/news/2011/03/live_text_the_kong_off

If you've ever seen The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, you'll recognize Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, the two champs from that documentary. As of late, however, a new challenger has stepped up his game and set a new all-time top score: a plastic surgeon named Hank Chien. His new record of 1,090,400 points is what all three competitors are attempting to shatter today.

Personally, I've always been a fan of Wiebe...so I'm rooting for him!

Shoot first, ask questions later...or maybe not at all.

This week, I replayed a game for the N64 that I haven't really cracked open in a long time...Doom 64. After having talked about it in my recent article regarding effective video game music, I had a hankering to play through it again. I don't really play too much N64 anymore...when it comes down to it, it's probably my least favourite of the Nintendo consoles. That's not to say that it's a bad system or anything, as we all know that it has some great games and had excellent capabilities when it was released; I just prefer to fire up the NES or SNES when I want some nostalgia. Despite this fact, playing Doom 64 again this week has been a really fun experience, and it's kind of ridiculous that I've still retained my old habits from when I used to play it religiously. I still tackle enemies in the same ways, I have all the secrets still memorized and stored somewhere in my otherwise useless brain, and I still know my ways around the convoluted levels without ever getting lost.

The reason I decided to type up a quick post is directly related to what I just mentioned...convoluted levels. Playing through this game again reminded me of a picture I saw maybe half a year ago. I tracked it down quite easily:

A Quick Mention

A friend of mine has recently co-created a site/blog called Wide Awake & Gaming. He and his fellow colleague that both contribute articles to the site are focused on multiple aspects of video games, so if you're looking for more articles be sure to go on over and have a look! JUST DON'T LEAVE ME, OH GOD SO ALONE...

*ahem*

They recently gave a shout out to my site, so I figured it was only courteous to do the same for them. From now on, you'll be able to find the link to WA&G at the right side of my blog under "Links to the Past." HAH! See what I did there??

World Ten: Soundtracks, Pt. 2

A continuation of the previous entry, here are three more games whose soundtracks stand out among the numerous ones I've encountered, with reasoning behind my choices and samples to listen to yourself. Enjoy!

World Ten: Soundtracks, Pt. 1 (also heart quiz answers!)

Music is a very interesting thing, and can be a tremendously powerful tool when used properly in various media. Although at its core, music is simply an arrangement of noises and sounds to produce a desired result, the correct combination of elements can produce much more than the sum of their parts. The main purpose of music is to convey and create emotion within the audience. As human beings, we all know much too well the vast array of emotions we undergo throughout our lives...joy, anxiousness, sadness, tension, and fear are some good but simple examples. When executed correctly, musical arrangements in media such as television, film, and even video games can bring these emotions out in the viewer or player. An epic scene can be accompanied by a dramatic symphony, while creepiness can be conveyed with emptiness and deliberate tones, with sounds arranged to make one feel uncomfortable. I'm sure that just about everyone has been affected by background music at some point in their lives, whether they realize it or not.

C'mon...have a heart!

Well, today's the final day in February, the month of love or something like that, so I figured I'd whip together a little something in honour of that. I've been distracted for most of this month and unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to write something substantial, so rather than me doing all the work, this time YOU get to do something with your lives.

The following is a graphic I've concocted from my sick little mind, loaded with 28 instances of hearts from 28 different games, one for each day of the month. I wonder how many of these any of you will be able to identify. Send this link around to your video game-inclined friends and see what they can pick out as well, and write down what you think in the comments section. I'll be sure to post the answers next time I post (likely next week at some point...I hope.)

Good luck!

P.S. Even though I know some stuff about Photoshop, I made this thing in Paint so it's not the highest quality.

In Defense: Super Meat Boy

In all honesty, I should've gotten around to this fuckin' review waaaaaaaaaay earlier than I have. Super Meat Boy came out as a downloadable game for the Xbox 360 in October, and it sure as hell came out with a bang. Not only did review sites rave about it, giving it insanely high scores, but it also came out for a discount during its first week on the e-market, meaning those that were interested enough to get it right when it came out were on the receiving end of a nice little bonus. That's not to say that SMB is only worth its weight in cash at a discount...in fact it's quite the opposite, and I almost feel like a thief for purchasing such a gilded creation at its lower discount price.

One of Square's little secrets

Just found this nifty little article. It seems that an NES game has surfaced, which was made by Square but never released for the system. It had a release on the MSX, but never made it to Nintendo Systems.

Aliens NES feature on 1up

Pretty cool if you ask me. The playthrough of the game takes around 13 minutes, so it's not terribly long. If this game was released at the time, it probably would've been pretty fuckin sweet! Upgrades to weapons, non-linear level design (sort of), and tons of other pickups to find...for a game created in 1987, that's pretty good. My only gripe is that the final boss is pretty terribly done.

It kinda blows my mind that this game has just suddenly shown up after not being seen for so long. Finding a brand new NES game in 2011? That just seems insane! Check it out!