The E3 Soup - What Will Joel McHale Say?

John’s at E3 right now. I’m not. He promised to text me when anything exciting happens, but we all know that’s not going to happen. No, instead I get to sit here at my desk working on other things and imagining what kind of wacky shenanigans are going down in LA.

To make matters worse, Ubisoft announced last week that comedian Joel McHale of E!’s The Soup fame would be hosting their E3 press conference. My mind has been atwitter with anticipation ever since. What celebrities will be unfairly mocked in association with what games? The only problem is we still don’t know much about what Ubisoft will be showing this year. Assassin’s Creed 2, for sure. Rabbids Go Home, definitely. Red Steel 2, most likely. No More Heroes 2, possibly? Um… Petz? Shaun White World Tour? Ah, damn you Ubisoft for giving me so little fodder for Soup-style celebrity ridicule.

As long as I’m imagining it all anyway, let’s pretend McHale is hosting EA’s press conference, okay? Much better. Here’s what I think the Soup star would have to say about some of EA’s big properties, given the opportunity: Continue reading »

61 FPS Farewell Review: Rune Factory Frontier (Wii)

It’s a bit odd that my final post for 61 FPS is a game review rather than my farewell post, but I had already committed myself to doing this review and I’ll be dipped if I’m going to let it slide.

Rune Factory Frontier is the third installment in the Rune Factory series, which itself is a spin-off of the Harvest Moon series. Don’t let that skew your impression of what these games offer though. The Rune Factory titles each have decently robust action adventure elements to them along with the usual farming, crafting, and courting. However, where Rune Factory 1 and 2 feel like games with lots of unrelated stuff to do in them, Frontier ties all of those elements together into a very satisfying cohesive whole.

Rune Factory Frontier is a massive game packed to the gills with content. It’s a game that will keep you busy every moment you play while also setting up long term goals and big payoffs. It is a game that wears many hats: dungeon exploring action adventure, time and resource management, climbing social ladders, but ties every last bit together. This is an adventure game where the hero must truly be self sufficient. Think you can just waltz into the Adventurer’s Store and buy some magic potions, anti-dragon armor and a sword of troll slaying? Or go out and kill a few goblins and wolves for the money they drop to pay your way? Not so here.

Continue reading »

Long Farewells Ne’er Were Necessary…

Freelance writing is a fickle means of making coin: you’re often better off climbing trees boxing squirrels for their nut hordes. “You ain’t gonna be workin’ heah no mo’” is the phrase I hear most often as a writer-for-hire. “We totally mailed you that cheque” is the second.

So, I’ve learned to roll with bad news. I heave to my swollen feet, put on my hat, gather my tattered overcoat around me, and shuffle off into the snowy night to find someone else to fill my tin plate with bread and baked beans. No regrets, no hard feelings. The fact that I know an ancient curse that afflicts editors’ virgin daughters with pig lice is entirely coincidental.

But in all honesty—and I am being honest—the news about 61 FPS’ shutdown hit me hard, and I’m still feeling pangs of sadness. I’m very fond of the team: Constantine is an A-1 editor who has never failed to provide support, suggestions and manly advice.

What happens next? You’ll see me skulking around the Internet, singing for my supper. Mackey and I both contribute to 1UP’s features section and the Retronauts blog, and I imagine that will continue to be so.

I’m also thinking of pulling back a little and letting more variety into my life through animal writing. I wrote a lot of pet-related columns in the past, and I enjoyed it. See, I totally have mastery over animals, as is evident through the tortoiseshell cat on my lap who is ignoring every order to get down.

Constantine already lay down threats of 61 FPS sticking around in some capacity. Take that to bed with you, and sweet dreams. For now, I won’t say goodbye. Let’s just say:

Thank you for playing! !

Goodbye, From All of Me to All of You

By now, you’ve probably all heard the news that 61FPS is no more. If not, I’m sorry you had to hear it from me–I’m no good with these kinds of things. But for now, we have to move on and face facts: this blog is yet another Internet casualty.

When I first started writing for 61FPS back in August of 2008, I had no idea how I was going to post twice a day and manage to keep up with the rest of my writing/schooling/living duties. Then I discovered the solution to this problem: rip off news relentlessly from Kotaku. Of course, I kid–I did most of my ripping off from Joystiq. But, given the small audience and limited powers of 61FPS, we were never about up-to-the-minute news, hard-hitting exclusives, or the black, soul-destroying magic that somehow makes websites profitable. 61FPS was just a bunch of crazy kids who really loved video games, and I’m sincerely going to miss being a part of it.

Continue reading »

Our Time Together Was Too Short

It was around the middle of last month that we writers were notified that the blog’s days were numbered. For me this was quite a blow since this was my first professional blog writing gig. I remember last year when I was invited aboard. It was a real thrill. It was tough sometimes, putting together enough material to have regular posts since my day job can demand long hours. I didn’t always write as much as I wanted to, but I loved every minute of my time here and enjoyed the contributions of my fellow bloggers. My favorite part, though, was reading comments left by all of you, the readership. However, before I say my final farewell to 61 FPS, I have some unfinished business.

Last month, I asked for your votes to determine what game my next retrospective would cover. Voting took place both in the comments section of that post and at the N-Sider message boards. I have tallied the votes counting only first choices (though I did count multiple picks if a first choice was not indicated). It was a close run between Yoshi, Star Fox, and Metroid, but 2-D Metroid came out on top by one vote. When my second retrospective is finished I plan to post it at both the N-Sider message boards and the NeoGAF message boards, both of which were the original homes of my Metroid Prime Trilogy retrospective.

Finally, I have one post yet to go up here at 61 FPS, my rather delayed Rune Factory Frontier review. I’m determined to finish this thing for this blog. Please expect it this weekend.

Thank you everyone, readers and staffers alike. I had a fantastic time writing for all of you.

Goodnight and Good Luck from 61 Frames Per Second

Three-hundred eighty-five days ago, 61 Frames Per Second launched with the mission of providing readers with, as I put it then, discussion about the design, art, history, and message of the games we play alongside our own unique brand of criticism. The blog was intended to not only be smart, funny, and informative, but to demand more of the videogame medium and the dialogue surrounding their creation and cultural significance. So far, thanks to the work of 61FPS’ contributors, it’s been just that.

As of June 1st, regular posting will cease on 61FPS. Our parent magazine Nerve is relaunching next week for the first time in ten years. Nerve began as a magazine about love, sex, and culture and that editorial mandate is staying the same, but it’s becoming a more focused publication. As such, entertainment and cultural coverage is being shifted away from Nerve’s blogs like 61FPS, The Remote Island, and Screengrab, and reintegrated into the site. The blog archives will remain live online.

This isn’t the end of 61 Frames Per Second though. Most importantly, our readers will still be able to follow the work of Bob Mackey and Nadia Oxford in GameSpite, 1UP.com, and What They Play amongst others. Cole Stryker, our resident curmudgeon and games journalism police force, isn’t writing about games at the moment, but there’s no way he’ll be able to stay away for long. Joe Keiser has had a prolific career as a games journalist and you can bet your life that you’ll see his work well into the future. 61FPS has been Amber Ahlborn’s first job as a professional writer and she has been a remarkable success. I expect great things from her. As for me and Derrick Sanskrit, stay tuned. Don’t delete your RSS feed just yet. You haven’t heard the last from us, dear reader.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. Thank you for listening.

See you soon.

-John

Chiptune Friday: The Mega Man 9 Mixtape

Wow, we’re just on a Mega Man streak right now, aren’t we? Far be it from me to break up a good thing.

Regular readers may remember back in April when I posted the mashup of Memphis Black’s “Like That” with Mega Man 4’s Skullman theme off of Tae K’s impressive Mega Man mixtape. Well less than a month later Tae K came back with a new mixtape using samples from Mega Man 9 and the results were more often than not fantastic.

I had a hard time trying to figure out which track to feature here; the opening theme with Lupe Fiasco, Hornetman with Eminem, Splashwoman with Q-Tip, or Jewelman with Kanye? Hitting an impass with this decision, I’ve decided to post the whole damn mixtape instead. Enjoy! Continue reading »

New Mega Man 2.5D Trailer: This Thing Better Be Real

A few months ago, graphic designer Peter Sjöstrand uploaded a creation to YouTube that threw the familiar world of Mega Man into a crazy, plane-switching, 2.5D experiment. Gamers gasped, gaped, and drooled, but this little project was nothing more than a non-interactive animation, and a tantalizing look at what some elite programming skills could bring to the world of The Blue Bomber.

Yesterday, Sjöstrand made it clear that he’s not done torturing the Mega Man fanbase by releasing yet another 2.5D video that’s much cooler than his first one; this update sees Mega Man fighting Dr. Wily’s massive dragon (from Mega Man 2), and teaming up with Proto Man for some co-op fun–all in glorious 2.5D.

If you don’t watch the video after the cut, you are a horrible monster.

Continue reading »

Licensing Tragedies: The Brazilian Mega Man Comic

The other day, I looked at Dreamwave’s halfhearted attempt to bring a Mega Man comic to a deserving world. Though the comic was indeed impotent, it wasn’t necessarily bad; it simply filled up shelf space and delivered an all-inclusive story that was never in danger of engaging or exciting anyone.

But that wasn’t Mega Man’s only foray into a non-Japanese comic. Brazil published a Mega Man comic as well. The Brazilian Mega Man comic was, as the kids say, batshit insane.

I’ve never met any of the staff at Capcom’s licensing department, but I have a mental picture of how this particular proposal went down. Some key member was sprawled on the couch like Homer Simpson, heavy-lidded in front of the television, gut dusted with chip crumbs. A hopeful Brazilian artist timidly approached the bloated figure and asked, “Capcom, can I–” and Capcom dismissively mumbled “Yeah, yeah.”

It’s likely Capcom still scrambles to hide ”That comic” from Keiji Inafune—unless someone on staff thought up a good defence for Roll’s origin in the comic, which involved a child sex slave ring.

Continue reading »

WTFriday: Christian Bale Wants You To Eat Pac-Man Cereal

I’m sure Christian Bale is thrilled that his screamy Terminator Salvation video has fallen out of vogue in favour of a new video: footage from a Pac-Man cereal jingle, one of his earliest commercials.

The user who uploaded the video wrote, “You can obviously tell which kid is Bale.” Hint: there are also two girls and a black boy. Try to pick out Bale. It’s tricky!

I have to admit something to the world. I loved the Pac-Man cereal. In the ’80s, breakfast cereals made no attempt whatsoever to be healthy, but instead concentrated all of their powers into deliciousness. Everything was corn, sugar, and marshmallows. The second milk touched our morning bowl of golden crispiness, everything melted down into a corn syrupy sludge. The Soggies that plagued Captain Crunch weren’t just an over-exaggerated cartoon goonie drawn up by some imaginative artist: every ’80s child had made their goopy acquaintance every morning.

And then we got fat.

Except for Christian Bale, obviously. He’s waiting to tell you all about new Ms Pac-Man marshmallows after the jump.

Continue reading »