This industry sure has a lot of developers. And over the years, many of them transferred ownership, changed names, split, or merged. It's hard to keep track of all of them. Well, unless you have a handy chart [via Games Are Evil]:
Be sure to click the image to see the much, much larger, full chart from Games Are Evil.
Read more >>Hello darkness, my old friend....
Wait. That's The Sounds of Silence. I'm sorry.
It's time to test your familiarity with failure with some death sounds from classic video games. Death is unforgiving -- he won't provide a list of the games to match up with this time. How many can you guess? If you give up, click here for the answers.
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In the days since Nintendo's press release about their new 3D-enabled DS hit the Internet, countless speculative mock-ups have popped up. Some are great, some are agonizingly terrible, and some are sweetly inventive, like this concept 3DS made out of cardboard [via TinyCartridge]:
Many of the DS designs I've come across seem to think that the 3D functionality will be projection-oriented. I'm siding with the idea that the screens will provide depth rather than send things flying toward my face as I play games.
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Time to spread some fear: Evil hackers take over Xbox Live director's account -- are your kids at risk?
News Blips:
Over the weekend, an ambitious hacker took control of Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb's Gamertag profile. On the account info page, the hacker advertised his Skype user name as "Roid-Monkey" and offered to hack "any account $100 paypal." The people who run the website lightzz.com claim responsibility for the attack, though now Major Nelson says (via twitter) that he has regained control over his account. On a side note: Imaging what a roid-monkey hacker might look like is pretty funny.
Industry veterans John Keefer (former Crispy Gamer, GameSpy, now EGM) and David Ellis (former 1UP, now 343 Industries) join Bitmob's Dan Hsu and Aaron Thomas to talk developers' focus on multiplayer, social games killing hardcore games, life after games journalism, and the best sound effects of all time.
Have a community topic that you want to hear us discuss? E-mail the crew at letters@bitmob.com, subject: Mobcast.
Click here to find out how you can get in on the "3 Great Prizes, 3 Ways to Win" giveaway. You better hurry -- there are just a few days left to enter!
P4KO sent us a classical version of the Mobcast theme, and I figured that this week was as good as any to use it. What will the man come up with next?
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Bitmob writing quiz: What would our editors ding you on if your article began with the same text as this Majin and the Forbidden Kingdom trailer?
Video Blips:
The 33rd edition of the Jukebox features a community-submitted song from a game that I've never heard of: Impossamole. While its theme didn't win song of the week, it does win the award for "Most Ridiculous Game Title." I'm not sure what an Impossamole is, but I'd really like to own one as a pet.
Also up on the chopping block this week is a track from PaRappa the Rapper (hint: It's sung by an onion that likes to chop). Pixel Revolt co-host Jeff Grubb picks a number from the classic point-and-click adventure Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. And we've got a healthy round of RPG ditties from the Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, and Mother series. Give them a listen below.
Got a great game tune that no one seems to appreciate? Hit the jump to find out how to share it.
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Turn off the lights and turn up the sound, because you're looking at the newest incarnation of Bitmob's Reviews Spotlight! This week's basket of articles should keep you occupied whether you're a fan of Russian horror stories, Japanese melodrama, or plain 'ol American adventurism. While I'll admit that David Ngo's article is quite fixating, remember that several attention-starved stories are waiting after the jump.
Shut Up and Play Metro 2033 Already
By Ed Grabowski
With a deluge of lukewarm reviews, Metro 2033 is a tough sell. Yet, for all the unenthusiastic critics, an equal number have lauded its exceptionally atmospheric direction. Despite the evident divide within the community, Ed does his best to explain how special this game is. If you decide to take his advice, remember to play with the lights off -- it's spookier that way!
Five-Sentence Game Impressions - Part 1
By David Ngo
The world of reviews is a relatively stagnant one. But every once in a while, someone comes a long with an interesting idea -- that "someone" is David Ngo! Instead of a meandering, 500-word article, David's decided to summarize his ideas into five, succinct sentences. While many of the blurbs seem trite, some of them can be quite insightful! Bullet points have never been so cool.
We're always proud of people who go the the extreme to show off their love of video games. DeviantArt is quickly becoming the source for anything awesome related to gaming, from wallpaper to original artwork.
A DeviantArt user named “DreamMyst” used 1250 pieces of paper to create one of the coolest representations of Mega Man I've ever seen. He put an additional 250 pieces into making Mettaur [via Nintendo Everything]:
Artwork like this requires extreme creativity -- and way too much free time. Still, as someone who can hardly draw a stick figure properly, I've got to admire the skills of anyone who can turn former trees into modern-day works of art.
Look for another picture of the blue bomber made out of folded paper after the jump.
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By the time you read this, PAX East will have officially begun -- and if the guest list to Bitmob's meet-up is any indication, plenty of you will be in Boston with me, Mike Minotti, and Pixel Revolt hosts Derek Lavigne and Jeff Grubb.
While you're waiting for the next panel to start or waiting in an epic line for five minutes with an upcoming game, why not write an article for Bitmob? Over the weekend and into the next week, we'll be collecting all of the PAX-related stories in this content hub.
So to find out the latest and greatest goings-on of the Bitmob community at PAX East, this is your place. Check back often!
Read more >>Editor's note: Michael is definitely on to something here: About a year ago, I went back and played a game called Kangaroo that I loved as kid. What a stinker! -James.
A few days before Microsoft released Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade, the game had already become the sixth-highest-rated game on the service with a score of four-and-a-half stars out of five. Obviously, Xbox Live users weren’t judging the remake since it hadn't been released yet. So what were they rating? Was it the original N64 game? Or were they rating their memories? My guess would be the latter, and though the enhanced version turned out pretty well, gamers need to be aware of something I like to call “nostalgia burn.”
Many lists and conversations about the greatest games of all time include Perfect Dark’s predecessor, GoldenEye 007. But ask a fan to play it now, and their reaction may be somewhat different. Aside from its incredibly dated graphics, the gameplay is very primitive for a console first-person shooter. It broke ground at the time -- especially for a genre that was a dud on the TV -- but playing it now is quite shocking.
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