Nintendo Draws First Blood

Nintendo's latest game console, their first shot across the bow in the next generation of video game machines, was released yesterday.  The hook is once again a re-imagining of the gaming controller, although here, instead of motion control, the Wii U taps into the gaming tablet rage by having a large screen embedded into the controller.

There seems to be a lot of potential here, including allowing one player to influence the play field on their screen while others struggle against his influence with regular Wii controllers, or even being able to move the game completely onto the controller while someone else watches the TV.  It comes off as a mish-mash to me, however.  Do we want motion control in our controllers, or do we want a big screen?  Also, I'd be very worried handing over a controller with a screen to my 4 and 6 year old sons.

At any rate, here's hoping the Wii U boosts Nintendo's sagging bottom line, and doesn't become the company's Atari 7800.  As always, for more information on the history of Nintendo, consult your local Dot Eaters entry.

When The Moon Hits Your Ear....

It struck me today how certain things can make a big difference in the quality of classic video games.  Programmers didn't have a lot to work with, so they had to really put their heart into what they were doing.

Take Moon Cresta, for instance.  It's yet another Galaxian clone, riding the coat-tails of the game that unshackled the alien invaders from marching single file across the screen as sitting ducks, and sent them swirling down at the player like cosmic Stukkas.  Moon Cresta would be nothing special, if not for its wonderful sound design.  From the majestic opening theme to the squirrelly screams of the dying aliens to the insistent imperatives that pressure you as you play, it's wonderful stuff that really helps fill in the gaps left by the limited graphics available at the time.

Sounds were one of the most important ways of games to draw you in while wandering around a noisy arcade (remember those things?), and Moon Cresta really shoots for the moon in auditory quality.  Here's a video to help you hear what I mean.

Ultima Underworld: The Abyssmal Voice Acting

While I love the game Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, I always have to sit through the lengthy cinematic at the beginning and chuckle at the horrible voice acting.  It's unfortunate too, because in all other respects it's an exciting and visually stunning intro that I'm sure amazed a few people back in the day on their x486 PCs.

Once the sprites start opening their mouths though, whoo boy.  It sounds like the programmers just recorded a rather dull high school play and just animated to that.

Here's our gameplay video, judge for yourself whether the actors should be thrown into the Stygian Abyss:

Blast... or be blasted!

The more I play Blaster, released by Williams in 1983, the more the game amazes me.

Designed by Defender creators Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it features a startling 3-D perspective as you soar over an alien landscape, blasting giant robots and rescuing floating astronauts.  The visual effects are nothing short of amazing, especially considering the time at which the game was made.  It's no surprise that several designers at Williams would eventually move on to work on the ground-breaking Amiga computer at Commodore.  Added to the allure of this and several other Williams games, such as Bubbles and Sinistar, is that it came in an indestructible plastic cabinet, named Duramold by the company.  Rumour has it, however, that the plastic would shrink over time, causing the monitor inside to eventually be ejected.

Enjoy a video we made of Blaster gameplay, and as always, for more information on Blaster, Jarvis, Defender, and other things Williams, please consult your local Dot Eaters entry.

AVGN Movie Trailer Released

I don't know if you've seen the videos from The Angry Video Game Nerd, aka James Rolfe, but you should.  In a vast web series, the AVGN tortures himself by playing the crappiest games ever made, and inevitably becomes enraged that such dross was ever foisted onto an unsuspecting public.

Just released is the trailer for a feature-length film made by and starring Rolfe, and it looks like it won't disappoint the fans.  The movie details the Nerd's attempt to uncover the fabled burial site where, as the bottom was falling out of the video game industry in 1983, Atari took millions of unsold cartridges of their excremental E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial game and dumped them into a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  They then covered the whole thing in concrete and walked away like nothing happened.

Rolfe and his team expect the movie to be released in 2013, but there's no promises.  You can check out the trailer here, and be sure to check out Rolfe's other tirades as well.  For more information on the crash, E.T. and the great video game dump, consult your local Dot Eaters entry here.

Blood flows black and white on the highway this halloween.

For Halloween night, let me point to the first game to foster protest over video game violence, Exidy's 1976 Death Race.

In the game you drive a vehicle around a play field, chasing stick figures who flee randomly in all directions to avoid becoming a hood ornament.  If and when you strike one, the victim screams and turns into a grave marker, complete with cross.  If you have a buddy with you with a handy quarter, you can both mow down "gremlins", as they were described in the game cabinet text, simultaneously.

Even though with 1976 black and white graphics things are barely sketched out for you, the game brought a firestorm of controversy, which only helped to increase sales for Exidy.  They moved over 1,000 units of the game, their best-selling up to that point.

If you dare, read the history of the game the National Safety Council branded as "sick, sick sick", here at The Dot Eaters.

Did You Ever Notice...

Did you ever notice that Sinistar sounds a lot like Johnny Cash?