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Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Item #1: Reviews. One new Pixelsurgeon review - Exit - one from a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to mention - Dragon Quest VIII.
Item #2: The usual apology for lack of regular updates on this blog. Sorry about the lack of regular updates on this blog.
Item #3: An interesting/anal (depending on who you are and what you find interesting) possible discovery about the genesis of the game that effectively bankrupted Sega and forced them out of the home hardware game.
Was trawling through some seldom-visited fora that I've got bookmarked when I came across a thread on the PCEngineFX forum. A number of companies used to give their PCE HuCard-format games volume numbers, and it turns out that when you follow the numbers in sequence, you find that there are gaps where those companies intended to release games but canned them. Here's the thread in question. That's quite interesting, but not really as interesting as the next bit, which is totally unrelated.
There's a PCE game called The Kung Fu. I've never played it, but it looks like a it of a duffer. Anyway, check out what forum member stevek666 has to say about The Kung Fu and its proposed sequels:
Hudson planned on releasing a new "chapter" every month over the course of a year. Upon completing a chapter, you would be given a special password that would allow you to continue with your health, score, and storyline (yes, an elaborate storyline was planned, with a story arc that spanned the entire series, punctuated by cliffhangers at the end of each chapter).
Okay? A scrolling beat 'em up that was originally supposed to be followed up with episodic sequels (a bit like that .hack thing that's been coming out on the PS2), each one ending on a cliffhanger as a lead into the next ep. Now read the post by Kaminari:
And it's a little known fact that The Kungfu was to be converted onto the Saturn under the name Project Berkley. The original name of the main character, Sam Dude, was dropped in favor of Ryo Hazuki (bah!). But as far as I know, the port was still not finished in 1998 and thus never made it to the stores
Project Berkley. Ring any bells? Here y'go - the codename for Shenmue before Shenmue became Shenmue, with a main character called Ryo Hazuki. And what's Shenmue? An episodic game, originally meant to be released as a number of chapters, with a large portion of its gameplay roots in Yu Suzuki's other big franchise of recent years, Virtua Fighter. A beat 'em up. And which machine was Shenmue originally going to come out on? Saturn.
Is Shenmue the grandchild of The Kung Fu? I suppose that this Kaminari dude might be having a laugh at somebody's (my) expense, but ze doesn't appear to know about the PB/Shenmue link, nor that Shenmue originally existed on the Saturn in prototype form.
Interesting? You decide. Hell, for all I know this might already have been confirmed somewhere, years ago. Passed me by if it was, though, and I was a pretty big fan of the Saturn way back when.
E. Randy Dupre's brain told him to write this at 21:18
Monday, May 01, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
Bought a PSP.
It was Taito's Exit that made up my mind for me. I'm a sucker for anything that goes for an individual, distinctive look, and this certainly hits that note. It's also a lovely game - a puzzle platformer that comes across like a cross between the first Oddworld game and Lemmings, only much better and much less off-putting than that sounds.
Also got Ridge Racers - pointlessly and innacurately renamed Ridge Racer in the UK - which I love, but already knew I loved. Hammers home how lazy Namco were when it came to a lot of the elements in the 360's Ridge Racer 6. Archer Maclean's Mercury is excellent - the physics on yr blob of mercury are flawless. Virtua Tennis World Tour is pap, from what little I've played so far, but it came with the machine so I'm not so fussed about that.
Already looking at import stuff and the one game that keeps pushing itself to the front of my brain is Baito Hell 2000.
This is a recent phenomenon, I think - videogames as a medium being used for purposefully arty projects. It's cause for optimism in a world where small publishers are getting smaller and big publishers are getting bigger, that a few fringe projects are being recognised and financed by those larger companies (note: only in Japan, mind, as US and European publishers are *still* largely incapable of seeing videogames as being anything other than time-wasters for the mindless).
Most recently we've had the exploration of videogame as a narrative tool and Lynchian subconscious mind-fucker of Capcom/grasshopper's Killer7. We've had the musical toy and audio/visual synthesis tool of Electroplankton. Baito Hell is cynical commentary on the mundanity of modern working life, combined with cynical commentary on the mundanity of videogame tasks - s selection of minigames that ask you to repeat tasks over and over and over again, for little reward other than more minigames that ask you to repeat the same tasks over and over and over again. The point at which I decided I had to have it was when I heard about the bit where you're working on a production line, sticking pen lids onto the top of biros - a game that only ends when you finally get fed up of doing it. That, plus the visual style that's both quite fugly and... well, quite fugly.
I also like the fact that, by buying it, I'll be both a conspirator in and a victim of its central joke.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I just found this site, which I hope is something that's been put together by the game's creators. Maybe it is. I really don't know. Sony's official page is here, but I'd love to think that the first link is the unofficial official one. It seems to be perfect.
E. Randy Dupre's brain told him to write this at 11:14
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Losing the fight against mediocrity for the last few years. Fire a volley |
