Make Dysentery Fun Again!: Oregon Trail Mobile

Nothing is more fun than reporting on an amazing looking game that I, most likely, will never have the chance to play, like Gameloft's new Oregon Trail for the iPhone/iPod Touch/other mobile devices.

Looking back, Oregon Trail was probably the first video game that I ever played. If only I could go back in time to show my 6-year-old self what Oregon Trail would look like in 20 years. I probably would have smiled more.

The quality of this games graphics should be noted. Did they get the Noodle_Head or PizzaMan from Metal Slug 3 to design this?

Somebody buy me an iPhone!

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Climbing Back into the Ring this May: Punch Out!!!

Wow! Look at me! For the first time since the inception of this blog, I’m posting about a new Nintendo-developed game that could possibly be worth a damn.This isn’t just any Nintendo game either, no; it’s one of the company’s most beloved and racially insensitive titles that's been begging to get back in the ring for many years. Nintendo announced today that Lil’ Mac and company will make their triumphant return on May 18th, with Punch Out! for the Wii. The game is being developed by Next Level Games, a Canadian company who’ve cut their teeth on a stable of kid-corral titles such as Spiderman: Friend or Foe, and the Super Mario Strikers series.

Is it just me, or would it make more sense for Nintendo to farm out the “casual” titles to nobody western devs, so that they could focus on the titles that real gamers actually care about? Does it really take all their time, energy and billions of dollars to develop Laser Hockey and Dog Frisbee?

END RANT

This game could turn out to be great, even if Nintendo isn’t on the ones and twos. Bionic Commando: Rearmed has proven that when fans of said material are responsible for reviving a classic franchise, the end result can be a faithful entry that stands up to it’s pedigree.

Here’s hoping that the folks at Next Level Games were big Punch Out! fans back in the day and have as much respect and admiration for the franchise as the fans around the world do.

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"Hey Adam!...Wanna Play Nintendo?": Wrestle Jam

The Wrestler has one of the most realistic video game scenes ever put to onto celluloid. This inspired Kotaku to do a fab write-up on the subject of Wrestle Jam! the fictitious NES game that stars Mickey Rourke's Randy "the Ram" Robison.

It's amazing that they went as far as to make a fully functional game for the actors to play for such a small scene in small budget picture. You know what they say: God is in the details.

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Arcades Still Kickin' in Japan: AOU 2009

Like arcade games?

Well, I absolutely love them ( just in case you haven't been able to gather that from previous posts.) My love often leaves me longing, due to the fact that most modern releases never maker it here to the states. However, that doesn't stop me from gloating at the lovely cabinet designs, sound and graphics - desperately wishing I could afford a trip to Akihabara to play them (or even better, afford to buy and ship them to my door). Maybe I am just a glutton for pain, or maybe I just know what I like. Plus, there is always the chance of a decent home port.

The biggest show in arcade games, Japan's Arcade Operators Union Expo (AOU), recently took place in Tokyo. At AOU this year, tons of new games got their big reveal and others showcased their first playable demos. Let's take a sec to review some of the highlights, shall we?


Konami, who can't seem to steer clear of the fuck-up-zone when it comes to home releases, showed what is probably one of the coolest games of the show: Castlevania Arcade.

It's essentially a Wii game, using the same motion control style; only instead of the wii-mote the player uses a sort-of whip handle, which is used to simulate swinging the Belmont's vampire-killer at the various ghouls and ghosts haunting Dracula's castle. In order to play the game you have to step into a booth (which is ambient lit with small LED candles ((futuristic medieval.) Inside the booth the game is presented on a large LCD screen and the whip-motes are attached. Hoping this one gets a Wii port, which it should, considering that it is practically designed for one.

Taito was crazy for light gunners this year. First, a 2009 revision of a one of their classics titled: Elevator Action - Death Parade. The hook for this one is totally unique and totally awesome: the monitor for the game is (physically) hidden behind two small elevator doors. There is a button to open and close the elevator doors, which you use as a cover system. From what I can gather, the bad guys can run up and open your door, adding tension to the gameplay. Sounds totally awesome, unfortunately, there is little to no hope of seeing this one locally.

Check out the video:


Next from Taito a big, and I mean physically-fucking-giagantic, light gunner: Haunted Museum. Haunted Museum is claiming to be the first ever "closed-chamber gunner", which basically means the game is a self-contained room. I don't know how this is really different from other booth games, other than the shear size, but the game booth is pitch-black dark and the lightguns function as real-space flashlights. The HD projection screen inside is huge and the game is presented in surround sound. I guess it's basically a playable haunted house, sounds pretty killer to me!

Haunted Museum Video (from a reference monitor outside of the game-booth):


Taito's last game from AOU I wanted to talk about is definetly strage, a concept Adam and I have joked about many times before: sort of a half-rythm, half-gunner. The game is titled, Music GunGun (somebody buy the guy who came up with that name a beer goddamnit.) From what I can gather, the player must show various targets in sequence to the games sound track. Its a totally Japanese concept and would probably be recieved with a collective "THAT'S GAY" from most American gamers, so no real chance of seeing this one in person. The video below will have to do:



SEGA, despite their major cutbacks, annouced some new arcade hadware dubbed, Ringedge. The new hardware will be supporting a new, third-person, mech fighter: Border Break. It's a team based affair, utilizing up to ten linked cabs, with head on combat similar to Virtual On. The game is one of the first arcades I have seen to actually use a mouse, or include a touch-screen LCD (used to send commands and comunicate to the other players) on the cab. Being a SEGA release, there is a slight chance we may see a few of these here. There is plenty video online for this so I won't bother linking any here.

This was a big show for 2d fighters, as well, with some a playable KOF XII, tons of new dojin fighters, and a big anoucnment from Atlus: a NEW POWER INSTINCT! The game english translation for the new game is Power Instinct: the Commemeration, and is the first new title in the series in twelve years. I thought Power Instinct and it's sequel Grove on Fight, were great and strange fighters and I am really looking forward to seeing more on the newest game in the legacy. Atlus is really good about porting games, so we should hopefully be able to get this as a Japanese PS3 or 360 release.

Here is some video from Power Instinct: the Commemeration:


All and all, AOU 2009 looked to be one hell of a show. The sort of thing I would die to have seen in person. We are now now taking donations for the airfair to next years event, so pay up doodz.

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Dan's The MAN!

I think I can speak on behave of Blast Heroes and our affiliates when I say that Dan Hibiki is, hands down, the best character in Street Fighter 4.

Gamesradar.com has posted an incredibly well-researched history of Street Fighter's lovable oaf that Dan fans should definitely check out.

I had no idea that Dan's father was the one who busted out Sagat's eye. Also, is Dan really Akuma's brother? Such a deep character.

Gadou-ken!

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Capcom Announces Lost Planet 2: UPDATE

We are not dead, I promise.

Right now, Street Fighter IV has really got a hold on both Adam and I, making it next to impossible for us to get any work done. We do have some cool stuff on the way though, starting with this juicy little bit of news:

Capcom has officially announced Lost Planet 2, via an Xbox live video trailer. The trailer has tons of gameplay footage, all of which looks really pretty, as you would expect from a AAA Capcom title. Although I never played much of the original, the trailer's boss fight and mech footage has got me super pumped.

Check out the video! (Sorry for the link, embedded video is disabled on gamersyde.)

Is it just me of is Capcom seem to be crazy for co-op lately?

Adam here...

Just wanted to chime in on this news story.

I respect Capcom for putting together an old-fashioned Japanese hype-piece for this game, but from what has been shown in this trailer, I really don't think this looks to improve on the fundamental gameplay concepts of the lackluster prequel.

The original Lost Planet was a big letdown for me, personally, which is a shame, because it had a lot of great things going for it. The graphics, to this day, are gorgeous, and I absolutely loved the frozen wasteland setting. Fighting the giant monsters/bugs was a blast, but when you were forced to dispatch the human ice-pirates, the game came to a screeching halt. Seriously, these enemies were like mannequins with rocket launchers. I remember on numerous occasions coming across guys who were standing in the middle of a snow storm waiting on me to cross their path. I'd shoot them, they take a few steps forward, then stop, then shoot back at me, until they were dead. This sort of thing is fine in a Simple 2000 game, but this is a AAA Capcom title: I expect more.

I'm personally hoping that they beef up all the things that worked so well in original. The new jungle setting could be cool, but didn't much of the charm of the original come from the arctic environments? One of the coolest concepts in the original was keeping yourself from freezing to death. New "cover-style" gameplay has been promised for the sequel, but keep in mind that Capcom's definition of "cover" mechanics is much different than Cliffy B's. Resident Evil 5's "cover" consists of Chris Redfield yelling "cover me!" at Sheva Olimar (at least in the demo). In the Lost Planet 2 trailer it shows the character planting a mechanical sheild ala Gears 2, right in front of a spot that, as is, would serve perfect for cover. Marcus Fenix is shaking his head in dissapointment.

The boss battles were (imo) the best thing going for the first Lost Planet, and judging from the small ammount shown of it's sequel, it looks like Capcom realized this and went all out. The part were you shoot your hook-shot into the beast's leg and climb up on it's back looks epic. It's strange that they are just now taking cues from Shadow of the Colossus: Lost Planet was released 2 years after that game.

Hope I'm not coming across as being too tough on Lost Planet. I'm really hoping that Capcom irons out all the wrinkles of the first title to deliver a dynamite action game that can possibly give Gears of War a run for it's money.

Chris made a comment about Capcom's co-op policy that deserves it's own post. Stay tuned...

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Happy Street Fighter IV Day!!!

Holy Crap! I can hardly believe that the day has finally come. Here in just a matter of hours, the Blast Heroes will have both 360 and PS3 copies of Street Fighter IV. Hopefully you have a copy waiting for you as well!

To mark this special day, Adam and I will be doing some live blogging between our matches, with our impressions and comments. Be sure to check back starting today at 5:00pm (Central Time) to see what we are thinking, as we are thinking it.

Today is a great day.

Chris here:

I was delayed quite a bit in getting my copy of Street Fighter IV by bad traffic and some (ugh) grown-folk responsibilities. Anyhow, I have my copy now and have been playing some seriously heated matches with my brother Ryan. It's really hard for me to get my thoughts together on the game, partially because I am so damn hyped and partially because the game is quite a bit different than I expected.

It's definitely beefy. Not quite SFII beefy but heavy none the less. I played my first round with Zangief; man, he is huge! His presence on screen is unreal, so menacing. 360 throws are super-easy to execute, so I was able to pull off a lot of spinning pile drivers and powerbombs which feel so powerful and massive. Really all the special moves have a long window for input time so just about everything is easy to pull off.

The graphics are just what I had hoped, though some character art on the select screen looks a little off (I am pretty sure they just drew over snapshots of the 3D models and sometimes it doesn't quite work). Also, some backgrounds seem less thought out than others.

That's all for now, I need to get back to the fight!!!

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This is Adam:

Just came off a 6 hour binge. I'm taking a break to download the game to my 360's hard-drive. Wow, this game is like crack!

Lemme try to sum up my experiences so far. Like Chris said, the game is beefy, which will take a while for you to adjust to if you've been playing tons of Third Strike or HDRemix recently, like I have. I'm a bit disappointed that all the command inputs aren't easier to do. I still cant do any of Vega's supers, and can only get Guile's out every once in a while. With all this talk off Capcom wanting to hook the casual crowd with this game, I'm surprised that they didn't make some of the more complicated moves just a tad easier for all the characters (Zangief excluded, he's an F'n BEAST!)

I'd like to say a few things about the focus-attack system. It's absolutely brilliant, and adds layer of depth to an already deep game. My brother James, who literally hasn't touched Street Fighter in over a decade, really held his own with some trusty sweeps and Focus-Attacks. It's super fun to use them they feel amazingly satisfying when they connect. It really pushed the whole "risk/reward" aspect of Street Fighter that's defined the franchise for so many years.

We'll that's all for now. Me and Chris are about to hook up for some matches!

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Chris's closing thoughts for the night:

This live blog thing didn't quite work out as well as I had hoped.

That's only because pulling myself away from Street Fighter IV proved more and more difficult the longer I played. Once I started to get comfortable with the play mechanics, things really opened up. The more you know the more powerful you feel and in turn, the more enjoyable the game becomes. Street Fighter games (or a least the great ones) have always grown better with time and experience.

It's strangely fresh to feel like a beginner again, I am enjoying every moment.

Getting back to the game itself:

Focus attacks are where it is at! Any old school Street Fighter EX players will remember them right off the bat, as they are basically the same as EX's "guard breaks". The opening for follow up attacks after a successful focus move is huge, so linking into big combos, ultra attacks or 360 throws is really easy to get the hang of.

Because of the massive damage possible from an effective focus combo, matches can turn around very quickly. There was plenty of times where I thought I had a round, only to lose to a huge come back in a matter of seconds. The ability to inflict such tide-tuning damage, so quickly, keeps things exciting; no "throw away" matches.

After about 8 hours of play, Street Fighter IV has started to reveal itself as a blend of all the previous games; taking elements from the games before and building on them or in some cases, simplifying them, to create something that feels both new and familiar. I am please to see that even though the game is not as technical and deep as Third Strike, it's definitely not overly-simple.

The game is beautiful and the character models are probably the best I have ever seen. Between the design, movement, attacks and facial animations, Street Fighter IV's models stand strong against their best 2D sprite representations. Like I touched on earlier, things aren't quite 100% consistent visually, but there will be revisions for that (Street Fighter IV: Maximum Edition perhaps?)

I plan on witting more tomorrow and onward, as long as I keep discovering new things about the game.

Oh and Seth is a Bitch by the way

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Adam's Last Word

Oh goodness...Did really just play Street Fighter 4 for 13 hours? What a day, what a day.

I'm exhausted, so I'll keep this short...

So far, I'm extremely well pleased this game, and it's totally lived up to my own personally generated hype.

The graphics are so good that it's actually gives me a headache: I've never seen characters in a video game with this much personality. The gameplay feels exceptionally balanced, and the extra weight added is welcomed. I'm really starting to get my head around the new characters, and find that, overall, they are a welcome edition to the Street Fighter cast. Seth, as Chris mentioned above, is a total asshole, but I wouldn't change him for the world. Street Fighter bosses are supposed to be evil, cheating bastards.

That's all for now. There really isn't much more for me to say about the greatest of Street Fighter 4, other than it's back. With a vengeance.

Nighty night.

P.S. Just thinking about unlocking Gouken and Akuma makes me want to cry :'(

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