Summer Backlog Gaming
If you’re a college boy like me–though I hope to God you haven’t been a college boy as long as I have–then you know summer is the time when you go out and get a dehumanizing job and forget all of the information you paid thousands of dollars to learn during the previous months. Since the world has made it clear by this point that it doesn’t want me to have a job (mostly through silence), I’ve decided to spend the entirety of the next three months inside my apartment with the money and games I’ve been hoarding throughout the year, only emerging at night to feed on the living. That last thing is mainly for when I get bored.
So allow me to give you a tour of what’s on my agenda for the Summer of 2009. Be aware that you will be asked to share your own backlogs, and that there will also be a brief intermission with free orange drink, time permitting.
Comments: (4)
Tags: backlog, bob mackey, ds, pc, ps2, retro, summer
Read the Secret History of The Curse of Monkey Island
While Grim Fandago was a fantastic game, I consider The Curse of Monkey Island to be the point-and-click PC adventure genre’s swan song–possibly due to all of the pointing and clicking the game makes you do. With this third installment in the Monkey Island series, everything LucasArts was famous for (in those days) came together in one amazing package; Curse was absolutely loaded with the amazing art, music, voice acting, characters and jokes that made the developer so beloved, but in a new, high-fidelity presentation.
Unfortunately, after The Curse of Monkey Island, 2D had become passé–if you don’t remember, these were the days when 50% of any 400-page PC Gamer issue were devoted to ads for video cards that would become obsolete by the next issue. LucasArts made the best of a bad situation with the geometrically simplistic art style of Grim Fandango, but they’d never again achieve the level of 2D splendor on display in Curse.
It’s been a good 13 years since The Curse of Monkey Island hit store shelves, and it’s just as entertaining now as it was back in the mid-90s. And what better way to celebrate the artistic achievements of this awesome game than with an equally awesome retropective from the folks over at the International House of Mojo? They might have outdone themselves this time around.
Comments: (0)
Tags: bob mackey, lucasarts, pc, point and click adventure games, the curse of monkey island, the international house of mojo
Braid Comes to Mac, I Officially Have No Reason Not To Play It
The indie games scene has rather exploded in the past few years, and it has been easily the best explosion I’ve witnessed since that one guy lost a hand under the boardwalk on the fourth of July when I was seven. Still, though, with the swarms of amazing indie games like Gravity Bone, Pandaland, and Dino Run, precious few have crossed over into the realm of legendary AAA-quality games. In fact, the only two I can think of off the top of my head are Daisuke Amaya’s Cave Story and Jonathan Blow’s Braid. I’ve only recently been able to play Cave Story by giving in and installing Windows on my Mac (for some reason the Mac port always crashes on me). The Windows Braid demo I downloaded was less cooperative, and as I don’t have an XBox 360 of my own, I have not yet experienced the renowned bliss that is Braid.
Until this week, that is, as the Mac port of Braid is finally available. Continue reading »
Comments: (2)
Tags: braid, cave story, demo, derrick sanskrit, dino run, gravity bone, hothead games, indie games, jonathan blow, mac, pandaland, pc, penny arcade, windows
The Problem With The Simpsons’ Games
I’ve been reading and enjoying Mackey’s ongoing retrospective of the mostly-atrocious retro games based on The Simpsons. Though the titles have existed throughout time, Bart’s rude antics really flooded home consoles and the PC in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
I’ve been pondering specific reasons why the older Simpsons games are so ill-bred. For ages, I figured it was a two-part problem: one, developers probably threw darts at a board to come up with concepts, and generally missed hitting any idea that might have made for a fun game. Two, The Simpsons has been a red-hot property since the day it was born, and there was an early rush to capitalise on the dysfunctional family.
I don’t think I’m far off the mark, since both shortcomings stem from a common root: in the early ’90s, it was still unclear what exactly made
The Simpsons so funny.
Comments: (2)
Tags: acclaim, nadia oxford, nes, pc, retro, snes, the Simpsons
10 Years Ago This Week: Star Wars Episode I: Racer
One could make a compelling argument that Star Wars Episode I: Racer (released May 19, 1999) was the single best piece of media to come out of the Star Wars Episode I blitzkrieg of pain. Obviously this is a dubious title, but Episode I: Racer still manages to be a consistently competent and occasionally thrilling experience.
That’s probably a not entirely unbiased opinion, though: Fate has conspired to provide me a relationship with Star Wars Episode I: Racer that is not unlike Stockholm syndrome. For years, the game kept falling into my life. It was one of my first Dreamcast games. I received the PC version as a gift when I was actually fishing for X-Wing: Alliance. My brother bought the N64 version, which became my N64 version when ownership of the family N64 reverted to me. And finally, I received its PS2 sequel in a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale at a store that only had three games total (the other two were Maximo and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, so it wasn’t like I could just get nothing).
Comments: (0)
Tags: 10 years ago this week, dreamcast, episode i, joe keiser, nintendo 64, pc, star wars, star wars episode i racer, star wars racer revenge, wipeout
What Were You Playing: The FreeRealms Beta
A bit of exploration conducted in the name of What They Play once again took me to gumdrop houses on lollipop lanes. And, once again, I’ve learned not to judge the depth of a PC game by the gory details that explode from the back of a shattered character’s head.
Sony’s Free Realms is a huge online virtual world where the overall goal seems to be to have fun, and to try as many new things as possible. This game isn’t lacking for new experiences, either; it has a pretty extensive job system, where kids can be ninjas, brawlers, pet trainers, chefs, archers, go-kart drivers, postmen, and more. Pet trainers groom their dogs and teach them tricks (I approve). Brawlers defend the Realm from bullies. Chefs cook up items and potions. Postmen, uh, deliver the mail, I suppose. Players don’t have to settle on just one position, either: they can try out a whole bunch, switch on the fly, and attempt related quests.
A big part of Free Realms’ angle is its non-violent options. Apparently, it’s possible to play the whole game without resorting to a “violent’ profession. Not that I’d know. I started whacking the hell out of goblins the second I was given a stick. I was impressed with the beta, which offered a lot of depth and options while remaining a relatively low-stress experience. There was no pressure to compete and size yourself up alongside some other hulking brute. It was all just, “Holy crap, go-karts! How do I race these mothers? Oooh, dogs! I wanna pet the dogs! Wait! Bullies? In MY forest?”
Comment: (1)
Tags: free realms, kids, mmorpg, nadia oxford, pc, violence
Alternate Soundtrack: rRootage vs. F*** Buttons
The iPod port of PC vertical shooter boss run rRootage was my 13th favorite game of 2008. It’s actually four games, one of which is Ikaruga. It’s also free. You should play it.
A seemingly never-ending wave of obscure bosses, hammering down on you with ever-increasing torrents of crystalline geometric projectiles, there is something very zen about rRootage. The goal is more in finding the gaps between projectiles to avoid destruction and cleverly using your special skills than in destroying the boss head-on. It takes a very special kind of music to score this kind of calm, complacent aggression. Time for another secret gem of 2008, the album Street Horrrsing by Bristol’s experimental noise duo Fuck Buttons. Continue reading »
Comments: (0)
Tags: alternate soundtrack, derrick sanskrit, fuck buttons, ikaruga, iphone, ipod, pc, rrootage
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.
