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.
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Tags: 1up, bob mackey, fan project, mega man
Watch the Evolution of Little Mac’s Foes
Now that Punch-Out’s been available for a few days, most of you have already spent hours upon hours [Please add your own joke about beating up ethnic stereotypes here. I think all of them have been made.]. And if you’re old enough, it’s likely you’re currently suffering from pangs of late 80’s nostalgia and the desire to put on a day-glo t-shirt and acid wash jeans; after all, Punch-Out’s main goal is to uppercut you right in the childhood (which is far less dirty than it sounds).
But how accurate are your crusty, old memories? Could this new installment in Nintendo’s boxing game possibly be less faithful as everyone claims? If you have such questions, I recommend you turn to the following video, created by 1UP user doublespy, which features side-by-side video comparisons of Little Mac’s pug-ugly opponents. Super Macho Man is holding up pretty good for someone who must be in his late 90s.
Video after the cut.
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Tags: 1up, bob mackey, mike tyson's punch-out, punch out, retro, super punch out, video
Boldly Go to 1UP’s Star Trek Retrospective
I’ve recently undergone the painful task of replaying many terrible old licensed games for 1UP’s Retro Blog, and I can tell you that it’s probably taken years off my life. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta revisit the games that existed before the Internet gave us a chance to properly bitch about them. Had cyberspace shown up a decade earlier, I’m sure that getting to the second level of Bart Vs. the Space Mutants would inspire me to write a lengthy, snarky blog post that only my mom would read. So, as you can see, things aren’t too different today.
Recently, the staff of 1UP decided to take their own retrospective route by looking at the numerous Star Trek games released over the years; and, unsurprisingly, most of these Trek titles have all the appeal of a dead Tribble.
Continue reading »
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Tags: 1up, 1Up.com, bob mackey, retro, retrospective, science fiction, star trek
Attention Cheapskates: 1UP’s 101 Free Games Feature Just Might Save Your Wallet
The college composition class I teach features a 5-week unit on video games (surprised?); the final assignment in this little gaming crash course requires my students to find a game to play and write about on their own. Needless to say, when I was designing the course, I knew full well that not all of my students would have a gaming console–which is why I relied on 1UP’s sorta-annual 101 Free Games feature to give my systemless disciples something to play on the same computers they’d later be using to crank out a 1200-word paper on the subject.
Now that my teaching gig’s almost over–my assistantship is peacefully coming to a close–I’m looking at a long summer full of free time, but completely lacking in income. So it’s more than fitting that 1UP’s newest 101 Free Games feature just went live. As someone who might be limited to backlog titles over the next three months, this article is a total godsend.
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Tags: 1up, bob mackey, depression, economy, free games, recession
Bitmob Is Go
The 1UP/Ziff-Davis/EGM/UGO debacle of January made all of us just a little more depressed during those grey winter months; but mere days after the implosion, we saw a few good projects emerge from the rubble, like Rebel FM and CO-OP. But amidst all of the new activity, some notable games journalism figures were missing; namely, Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer, two EGM veterans who left the magazine shortly before it folded (and I’m not implying foul play here). Don’t think the two were off vacationing in Hawaii or anything; they were actually hard at work on their new site, Bitmob, which launched on Tuesday.
There’s not a lot of content there right now, but one look at their stable of writers (almost entirely made up of EGM/1UP alumni) tells me that Bitmob has some serious potential.
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Tags: 1up, bitmob, bob mackey, dan hsu, egm, games journalism, ugo
John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself. 
Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.
Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.
Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines.
Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.
Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.
Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.
