Mega Man is one of my favorite gaming series, but even I didn't know all of the obscure facts presented in Did You Know Gaming's newest, trivia-filled episode. I certainly didn't know that Capcom was originally going to call the game The Battle Rainbow Rock Man. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
Anyway, you can discover all of the interesting Blue Bomber trivia for yourself by watching the video after the break.
Read more >>Sometimes our favorite games just never seem to catch on with everyone else. We're often left thinking, "How can people not be playing this?!" Jesse has given the subject some thought and offers insight into just why some titles never reach the acclaim they deserve.
In the video games industry, like any other, few dominant factors always draw in the masses and dictate popular opinion. But for every hit, an unappreciated gem flies under our radars.
It’s a shame, really, because many of these games are true masterpieces. They do not deserve to go unnoticed. So how do these games fail to acheive such acclaim?
Read more >>Trevor makes the argument that gaming -- as a medium -- needs to grow up. The industry gives us plenty of exploding heads and buckets of blood to satisfy our thirst for carnage, but we're missing nearly every "mature" theme that doesn't involve violence.
At this point in time, the gaming industry faces several truly juvenile problems that do not befit its status as one of the premier forms of entertainment in the world.
For example, rating systems have yet to be properly implemented, with many games being banned from certain countries when films and books with similar content are given a free pass.
Even in the United States, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has some problems with their designations. In my opinion, their ratings are not properly delineated to encompass all types and ranges of mature content.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
We're taking the next four days off to spend time with our families and stuff our faces with delicious food. Head over to GamesBeat for regular video game coverage throughout the holiday weekend.
What games will you play today while the turkey roasts?
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Reggie continues our ongoing conversation on Bitmob about Rob Florence's depature from Eurogamer following his accusations of a corrupt games press. Here, Reggie looks at the creeping influence of flashy console-focused magazines on journalism in the past.
I'm frustrated that the tradition of journalistic coverage on video games has now become a sort of joke told with Doritos in one hand and a cup of Mountain Dew in the other.
When I wanted to reply to community writer Nathaniel Dziomba's excellent article, "Games journalism never had any integrity" -- particularly on his point that he had led in with, what I imagined as a short snippet went beyond what I expected it to. His article and those brought together within community manager Layton Shumway's collection of Bitmob's thoughts on games journalism made me wonder: How did things get the way they are? And is there anything we can do about it?
Read more >>I haven't cared much for survival-horror games lately, and Joe's explanation here gives a good reason why: They've forgotten what used to make them special.
A recent foray into PC gaming has reignited my frustrations with survival-horror and convinced me that stagnation has crept its way into the sub-genre.
You see, a few weeks back, I came upon the YouTube channel of one MarbleHornets, the creator of a fake reality web series (ignore the oxymoron) based around the Slender Man legend. I have always found the concept of a faceless, malevolent entity stalking mankind since time immemorial to be a genuinely unnerving concept.
After spending far too much time watching and reading about the Slender Man, I learned of Slender: The Eight Pages, a game based around the entity.
Parsec Productions’ indie hit is nothing short of amazing considering the minute budget it was created on. The premise is brilliantly simple: You are placed in a deserted and eerie forest and are tasked with collecting eight randomly placed pages from landmarks scattered throughout the area with nothing but a flashlight. It sounds rather bland until you discover that you are being constantly watched and followed by the game’s titular character (who can literally appear right in front of your eyes or directly behind you at any given moment). With nothing to defend yourself with, the possibility of being caught behind any sharp corner or dimly lit narrow tunnel genuinely creates a tense atmosphere.
Now, it would be too easy for me to say that Slender has singlehandedly restored the survival-horror genre in terms of being able to evoke the emotion of fear and anxiety in the medium of video games, but it has reminded me of how much the genre has changed in recent years.
Read more >>Grinding ain't what it's cracked up to be, and William explain why he's happy to see it on the outs regarding role-playing games.
I fear I am getting too old to be getting into arguments in video game stores. When I was 8 years old, a clerk and I engaged in a comical debate about who was better: Link or Gordon Freeman. I hadn't played Half-Life yet, and really, I was probably too young to even enjoy the masterpiece that it is. I also assumed that Gordon was related to Cathy Freeman, a famous Australian athlete and, consequently, could not see the appeal. The whole encounter was actually quite endearing.
Fast forward 13 years. Location: EB Games, Stone Road Mall. Situation: A gentleman, ironically wearing a faded Call of Duty T-shirt, is complaining about the "lame difficulty" of new-school games and the need for a return to more "classical" role-playing games. Response: complete over-reaction.
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The Community Spotlight features some of the best unedited articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we compare super-difficult RPG Dark Souls to an old-school classic, search for diversity in player protagonists, and more.
Dark Souls is the new Simon's Quest
By Bryant "B" Chambers
I've had a spotty relationship with Dark Souls myself, but every week I seem to read another article praising it. Here, B says that Dark Souls is what the Castlevania series should have evolved into. He lists a surprising number of correlations between the two. Insightful stuff.
Diversity in video games: Where did everyone go?
By Brielle Wesley
Brielle analyzes the characters and content of Max Payne 3, examining the racial makeup of the game's cast. She also looks at how many of those characters end up dead (and their respective races). Her findings are perhaps not surprising, especially for a Max Payne game, but they're interesting nonetheless.
A boy's world: Video games need more strong female protagonists
By Javy Gwaltney
In a similar vein, Javy is disappointed at the recent reveal that Grand Theft Auto V will feature three playable characters...and none of them are female. He says heroines like Jade from Beyond Good and Evil are far too rare. "We need those kinds of protagonists. ASAP. Not just for the sake of diversity but for storytelling," he writes.
Read more >>For me, being the "chosen one" doesn't matter as much as being vulnerable. Plenty of recent releases have given us extremely powerful yet extremely flawed heroes to battle with. The key is nailing the delicate balance between generic and genuine.
This article contains spoilers for Diablo III, Halo 4, and The Walking Dead: Episode 4 -- Around Every Corner.
This year, we’ve seen a surprising increase in the number of “chosen one” storylines in games. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Diablo III, and The Secret World (among others) all have you playing as characters who are somehow more important than everyone else in their respective worlds.
To tell you the truth, I’m kinda getting tired of it.
How cliché is the chosen-one concept by now? It’s been used in countless forms of media, especially since The Matrix became such a popular film. It just feels lazy to keep using it at this point. An idea as pervasive as this has trouble making an impact since it is so common. I often roll my eyes whenever the concept pops up in a narrative.
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It's amazing to think about how much technology has changed in the last 12 years. Marvels like high-definition mobile games, texting, video streaming, and even 100 GB hard drives were out of the question for most consumers.
But we had a hunger for wireless communication that demanded we get out of our MSN chat rooms and into the world! That's where the weird Cybiko portable communication device came in. It was basically a text messaging machine that you could upload with music and games before cell phone companies started making those features standard.
As you probably guessed, the Cybiko was completely terrible with its black and white LCD screen and its impossible-to-use buttons. Internet comedian Stuart Ashen even went so far as to try and play games on the Cybiko and the Cybkio Xtreme:
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Why are all of the performers in this video dressed like little Marios? I don't really know, but who cares when they're playing a medley this awesome?
This song, arranged and performed by composer Diwa de Leon, features some of the best music from role-playing games, including (in order or appearance in the medley) Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Xenogears, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Mana, Mass Effect, Dragon Quest, and Grandia.
You can hear it for yourself after the break.
Read more >>Nathaniel throws his hat into the games journalism debate, which refuses to die or even slow down. Perhaps those with questionable integrity have finally hit a nerve?
Now that the internet's tirade on journalistic integrity is (hopefully) over, I figured it’s about time for me to chime in. And what, you may ask, is so different about my opinion? Well, I agree with this guy -- partially.
What I am saying is that we have to have had something in order to lose it, and I’m not convinced that we’ve ever had journalistic integrity. It’s not that journalists don’t exist in this industry, or that no one has journalistic integrity; it’s just that they’re rare things in a field much further behind than it should be.
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