deanofmedia Blog

REVIEW: Hyperkin SupaBoy

born4this — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:20:00 GMT

Sometime last year, I discovered the existence of handheld Super Nintendo systems thanks to GIO member, Saint. The night I read that blog about his son's new gadget, I wanted one IMMEDIATELY. I was so tempted to click the Buy Now button on the Think Geek product page for the Retro Duo Portable, but I couldn't afford it at the time. This purchase seemed inevitable to me - once I had the money, I was going to buy that handheld SNES. You don't go around telling people how much you love Super Nintendo & then pass on a product like that, it's just unacceptable. In fact, it's science.

As I waited for the time I could get one of these extremely cool devices, I discovered there were actually a few products like this on the market. I began reading & watching reviews to compare the FC-16 Go, the Retro Duo Portable, and the SupaBoy. Frankly, I was immediately drawn to the SupaBoy as it actually looks like an over-sized Super Nintendo controller. I did all I could to push aside my aesthetic preferences as I knew the most important thing to me would be the controls. If it doesn’t play well, who cares how cool it looks? After doing my homework, I was fully set on getting Hyperkin’s SupaBoy, and as it turns out, that's actually the product Saint's son got, HAHA!

The only disappointing aspect of Hyperkin’s SupaBoy was that it only had a two hour battery. The first handheld SNES I saw (the Retro Duo Portable) had an eight hour battery. When I purchased the SupaBoy at my local game store, I was pleased to find that there is a new version of the SupaBoy that comes with a 5 hour battery. That’s a significant increase in battery life! There are some other issues that were addressed as well in the latest version of this product.

If you buy a Hyperkin SupaBoy, make sure you get the one in the black box (Supaboy V2.0). This is the latest version that comes with a five hour battery. I think it's a nice touch that the box has a similar design to the original Super Nintendo box.

In most of the reviews I read & watched, the reviewers focused on the fact that the SupaBoy works with basically any SNES cartridge you put in it, including Super Famicon cartridges from Japan. That's all well and good, but the thing I really wanted to know was just how well it played compared to the Super Nintendo itself. So I decided that before I wrote my own review for the SupaBoy, I was going to play through an entire game on the system; and the game I chose was the one I was most familiar with - Super Mario World. This is the first game I ever got for the SNES & it's also the game I've probably played more than any other game, period. My goal wasn't just to get to Bowser's castle, but to complete it entirely, including all alternate exits, Star Road, and SPECIAL.

Here's a picture of my SupaBoy, paused at the end of the very last SPECIAL level. I got 96*, which is the highest completion I'm aware of in the game.

The d-pad initially feels stiff, but I didn't really notice it when I was playing. There were a few instances where my character would quickly rush forward in a way that wasn't normal to the game, but I never found any of them to be game breaking. The most challenging instance was during one of the SPECIAL levels where I was floating with a P-Balloon. I lost control of Mario several times & he rushed right into enemies or floated in the path of their projectiles. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to complete the game because of this, but I was able to work around the problem & reach the end of the level.

The Hyperkin Supaboy is one of the coolest products ever made. I can play my Super Nintendo cartridges on it & even though it's not an official Nintendo product, it really does look & feel like one. I'm very impressed with this device. The display is great, the controls work well, and the sound is great (SupaBoy V1.0 had audio issues, but that's been corrected in V2.0.) If you are nostalgic for Super Nintendo like me & still have your SNES games, I can't recommend it enough. Sure, it's not as portable as a 3DS or PSP, but come on... it's a HANDHELD SUPER NINTENDO. Trust me, you'll get over it.

A Few Extra Notes:

The system can also be hooked up to your television to be used like a Super Nintendo console (though you have to plug controllers into it & you can't used the handheld controls.) I have two Super Nintendo consoles, so I haven't had the urge to try this out. From what I've read in other reviews, it seems to work well.
I would like to caution users about the reset button. Be careful to avoid using the reset button. If the game happens to freeze on you (which can happen if the cartridge isn't in all the way or gets bumped), just flip the power switch. I had a few issues with my games when I first started using the device & my memory got erased from using the reset button after the freeze. Part of the reason I played all the way through Super Mario World was to make sure my memory didn't get wiped again.
You can buy extra batteries, cables, and more from this website. The V2.0 battery is $9.99.

This review was written while listening to the Blood Dragon soundtrack. No, the Super Nintendo is not an '80s thing, but I don't care. I do what I want. That's the attitude of the '90s, right?

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My Favorite Injustice Characters (So Far)

born4this — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:35:00 GMT

Last week, Jeff Marchiafava wrote a feature about Reiner & Mike's picks for The Best Characters of Injustice. I recently got three months of Gamefly for my birthday and Injustice is purposely the only game on my queue - I want to play the heck out of that game! The availability is still low, so I got impatient on Sunday and rented it from a local rental store. It's a fighting game AND it has Batman! I just couldn't wait.

Outside of going to a concert on Tuesday night, I've played Injustice every night this week and I'm itching to share my favorite characters. I don't think I've tried all of the characters yet (particularly haven't used several of the villains yet), but here are my favorite characters so far:

5. Bane. As some of you may know, I'm a pretty big fan of Street Fighter. When I played Street Fighter IV, Zangief was the main character I used. I enjoy using grapplers in fighting games. I was really into pro wrestling when I was younger, so I think that has something to do with it. Doing body slams & suplexes and what not is a lot of fun. I can't honestly say I've gotten used to Bane yet (those down, back, forward attack moves are tricky to me) but he's definitely a character I want to practice with sometime soon.

The backbreaker thing with Bane is definitely overused, but I couldn't think of a better special move for this character if I was working on the game.

4. Green Lantern. Hal's power ring makes him a really fun character to use. With his ring, he throws rockets, shoots a mini-gun, and rams people with a turbine. For his grapple move, he smashes his opponent into a ring-made brick wall. Green Lantern is very well suited for a fighting game. If he didn't exist, I'd hope someone would come up with a character like this for a fighting franchise. His ability to make anything to use in combat is very entertaining.

Have you ever been to an event where they had fighterjets fly over the stadium? Hal's super move is awesome.

3. Batman. I'm sure some of you expected me to list Batman at #1, so to those of you who did - WRONG! Guess I'm not the biased, Batman fanboy you thought I was. HAHA! As much as I like Batman, I've beaten a lot of people up with him in Rocksteady's critically acclaimed Arkham games. Honestly, being Batman in Injustice is just not as satisfying. But he is Batman and he is fun to use, so here he sits in the middle of my list. Interestingly enough, my favorite thing about him in Injustice is the Scorpion/Mortal Kombat nod when he does his air grappling hook move and says, "GET DOWN HERE!"

Rocksteady STILL hasn't let us drive the Batmobile, so NetherRealm Studios said, "Here... we'll let you summon the Batmobile to run people over. Does that help?" Yeah, it helps. A little. Thanks.

2. Deathstroke. I don't know much about this character, but dang if he isn't awesome. It's not even his guns really, it's that sword! Do you like hard steel sword fighting? I do. I love doing his forward, spinning slash attack with the sword. I'm still not a fan of his default costume (I've never really liked his mask that much) but this game helped me appreciate this character. I'm hoping Arkham Origins will help me appreciate him even more.

The cutscene that takes place after a Deathstroke victory makes me think of Hitman, which makes sense because they're both assassins.

1. Aquaman. That's right, Aquaman. Until about a year ago, I was part of the majority that makes fun of Aquaman. When I started following DC's New 52, I started to see the character in a different light; Arthur really started to grow on me (though I'm still not a fan of his given name or his hero name - dang guy, both of your names suck, HAHA! My apologies to anyone reading this whose name is Arthur.) Anyways, I wasn't expecting Aquaman of all people to be my favorite character to use in Injustice, but he is. The dude is seriously bad to the shark bone. His trident is so freakin' awesome! I initially thought it would just be a melee weapon, but he also uses it for ranged attacks. I really think my favorite move in Injustice is throwing that trident. I also love the stuff he shouts. "I MEANT THAT!" HAHA! Dude, I don't even know what that means, but keep saying it! Every time you mess people up with your trident and say that, I want to fist pump! "ALMIGHTY NEPTUNE!"

For his super move, Aquaman stabs his opponent with his trident and FEEDS THEM TO A SHARK!!! Holy crap, that is so ridiculously AWESOME! I can't get enough of it. Aquaman's shark attack is hands down my favorite super move in the game.

So there you have it. Those are my favorite characters to use (so far). What about you? Who are your favorite characters to use in Injustice? Are you still hatin' on Aquaman after playing Injustice or are you finally a believer? Let me know in the comments section below!

SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS! SHARKS!

Imagining a (Rocksteady) Batman style TMNT Game

born4this — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Sometime last year, there was a rumor that Rocksteady was making a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. Batman: Arkham City is my favorite game of all time (SO WHAT, WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT?!) and I love the Turtles, so I was extremely excited and hoped the rumor was true. But... alas... it was only a rumor.

Sad Panda. :(

Time has passed and Activision appears to have the TMNT license now, so my hopes of this being a real possibility continues to dwindle. However, it's still fun to think about what the game could be like, even if imagining it is also, in a sense, torture.

Thinking about this game makes my mind explode...... it hurts so good.

As far back as the NES, I recall games that were basically clones of other games. Even now, we have games that are clones of popular games, like Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (which is a straight-up copy of Smash Brothers - Sony didn't even try to be original at all.) Though clones like Battle Royale do tend to bring out the troll in me, I don't completely hate the idea. Now that I've played a few God of War games, it's clear how much of that franchise was copied in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Darksiders. I know they're derivative, and I'm OK with it.

That said, I'm going to share some ideas for a Rocksteady TMNT game that would be derivative of Rocksteady's own Batman games:

The Turtle's Home

In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman has a batcave below Arkham Asylum. It would be cool to go to the Turtle's Home in the sewers.

Fighting in the Streets

In Batman: Arkham City, you fight a lot of thugs in the streets of Gotham. In the Turtles game, the heroes in a half shell would fight street thugs, only they wouldn't be henchmen of a particular villain like they were in the Batman games. More like Red Dead Redemption than Batman, I picture random situations throughout the world where you help old ladies who are getting robbed or chase after guys who just robbed a bank - stuff like that. I picture fights with the Foot Clan taking place on the rooftops. I'm not opposed to the Turtles fighting villains in the streets, just as long as there is a mix of common people there too. A big part of TMNT is moments where the people of New York encounter the Turtles and/or other mutants and freak out.

Fighting the Foot Soldiers

Like the female assassins in the League of Shadows, I'd like the foot soldiers to be smarter & quicker enemies than the thugs you fight on the streets. Like the encounters with Joker's henchmen, you'd need to fight a lot of them at once, which happens quite frequently in TMNT stories.

HAHA! Look... there's even a manhole cover - can't help but think of TMNT when I see those.

Bebop & Rocksteady (the villain, not the developer)

I haven't seen Bebop and Rocksteady in the IDW reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, and I don't think they were in the original Eastman & Laird comics either. I love Bebop & Rocksteady though, and I think this idea would help them fit well into this game. I'd like to see them in a similar role as the Abramovici Twins in Batman: Arkham City. Like the twins, you'd encounter them separately and they'd be supported by some Foot Soldiers or something.

Slash

Batman was chased down by Killer Croc in the sewers of Arkham Asylum. I think it would be cool to be chased by Slash in the sewers of New York City. Unlike the events of Arkham Asylum, I'd prefer that the chase end with a proper battle (at least let me punch or kick him once, HAHA!)

Gadgets/Weapons

Batman has his batarangs and the Turtles have their throwing stars. I don't remember if he had smoke pellets in Arkham Asylum, but I know the Dark Knight had them in Arkham City. The Turtles are ninjas, so dropping smoke would be fitting (I THINK I've seen them do it a few times in either the IDW comics or the new Nickelodeon cartoon.) As for the grapple hook... well, the Turtles' isn't as high tech as Batman's, but they do use grapple hooks to climb things. Honestly, if he hasn't already, Donatello could make a more high tech version that's at least functionally similar to Bruce's, even if it's not as fancy. In most of the TMNT stuff I've seen, they do it the old fashioned way and just throw theirs.

On a related note, I could see Donnie hacking security and what not too, so that aspect of the Arkham games could easily be a part of the Turtles game as well.

Casey Jones

In Batman: Arkham City, there are part of the game where you play as Catwoman (as long as you had the DLC, but I'm going to ignore that aspect of it.) In the Turtles game, there would be parts where you play as Casey Jones! It would be more entertaining if he was working with Raph during those parts, but even if it was just him going solo, I'd love it!

Shredder / Karai

Even thematically, I could see the Turtles game having similarities to Arkham City. In Arkham City, Ra's al Ghul wants Batman to join the League of Shadows and Talia also tries to persuade him to do so. In the IDW TMNT comics and the Nickelodeon cartoon (if not other TMNT incarnations as well), Shredder wants Leonardo to join the Foot Clan and his granddaughter (IDW) / daughter (Nickelodeon) Karai plays a part in trying to make that happen.

At Foot Clan HQ, Shredder asks Karai why she has not yet attempted to bring Leonardo to him (as he intends to make Leo his second in command). Karai tells her grandfather that capturing Leo will require a very special team. Shredder is aware of her plan but reminds her that she lacks the mutagen to make it happen. Karai assures him that she has a solution for that.

I'm sure I will come up with more ideas, but these are the things I've thought about so far. Man... the more I think about it, the more I want this game!

What about you? Would you want a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that was somewhat derivative of the Batman Arkham games, whether it was made by Rocksteady or properly handled by another developer? If so, do you have any ideas to add?

EDIT: DUH. CO-OP. It would have co-op. DUH. DUH. DUH. HAHA! I forgot to mention that. So besides co-op, what ideas do you have? :P

My Daughter Likes Super Nintendo!

born4this — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:10:00 GMT

I don't know if there's ANYTHING I'm more nostalgic for than Super Nintendo. It's not the first video game console I ever played as my dad had an Atari 800, but it's the first & only console he bought for me & my sister, and I have many great memories playing it. My dad and I moved on to playing PC games when I was in high school, but I never stopped playing the SNES. To the best of my recollection, it's never been stored. I've always had it setup to play somewhere. Even when I briefly lived with my cousin Josh during college, I think it was hooked up to one of the TVs at my parents house.

Recently, our neighbor bought a new TV and she gave us her 30" LCD. My wife was very pleased as the 27" tube TV we currently had in our bedroom was taking up quite a bit of space. Ahnada initially thought I'd get rid of it now that we had a flatscreen in our room, but I told her that I didn't want to sell it. I explained to her that it's more enjoyable to play the Super Nintendo on a tube TV. If we ever move into a bigger house someday, I'd love to have a dedicated TV for my favorite console. I've had the SNES connected to the 24" LCD on my gaming desk and it looks like crap. When I use the coax cable, it's kinda muddy looking & sometimes fuzzy. When I use the RCA cable, it's too sharp & the pixels often look weird. When I play Super Nintendo on the tube TV, it looks JUST RIGHT. We agreed to keep it, but didn't have any place to put it. Ahnada was going to ask her parents or her sister if they would store it in their basement. However, I asked her to hold off for now since I'm going to custom paint an SNES and I'd like to test the console once I get it in the mail. So the 27" tube TV is currently sitting on the floor in the loft.

This past Friday, I decided to hook up the Super Nintendo to the tube TV since I just bought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters at my local game store. The next day, I randomly had an idea: I should try to play Super Nintendo with Anberlin and see how she reacts. My daughter is 17 months old. I had always planned on SNES being the first video game console she ever played. A few months ago, that plan KINDA changed when I noticed her reacting to the animals in the Minecraft tutorial. She's really into making the sounds the animals make. She didn't figure out how to hold the controller, but she did manage to push the buttons and move the analog sticks while I held it.

"What does the sheep say?" "BAH! BAH!"

Anyways, back to the Super Nintendo. I sat her on my lap and turned on F-Zero. I'm not sure why I picked that game, but I guess I was thinking any game I picked would be too complicated for her and I hadn't played F-Zero in a long time. Anberlin was immediately fascinated with the game. Shortly after I started playing, she got up, sat RIGHT IN FRONT of the TV, picked up the controller, and started pushing the buttons.

When we asked her if she wanted to play again, she'd say, "CARS! CARS!"

Nearly every time a new race started, she'd yell, "MOMMA!" Then she'd peek around the TV at mommy and make this face.

This will easily be one of my favorite memories of my daughter. Even if she never wants to play video games again, I had this experience and I'm happy. She didn't know what she was doing and her car blew up a lot, but I don't care. Anberlin is 17 months old and she played Super Nintendo!

Custom Painted SNES Part 1: The Idea

born4this — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:10:00 GMT

I have a new project in the works. No, it's not another podcast and no, my wife and I aren't planning for a second child (at least not yet.) I'm going to custom paint a Super Nintendo!

Rob (Warbuff) and I are friends. We talk to each other quite a bit outside of GIO. Rob's a trash talker and I sometimes want to shoot him in the face with Nerf darts, but I still like the guy. He recently left a comment on my Borderlands 2 blog and said, "BARF!" to me playing it for 158 hours because he's an idiot and wouldn't know a good game if it was delivered to his front door in a pot of gold by a leprechaun riding a rainbow colored velociraptor. How he ever got a career testing video games is beyond me... I like good games like Borderlands 2, so I'm clearly more qualified!

Slap Rob for hatin' on Borderlands 2!

This past week, Rob told me he bought a jaundiced (yellowed) Super Nintendo at a local store and he wanted to custom paint it. He asked me if I had any design ideas. I knew that like me, he was a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I almost immediately had an idea and the next day, I made a mock-up in Photoshop and sent it to him. He liked it. I liked it too, and the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to paint my own Super Nintendo. However, I just couldn't do that to my own SNES, especially considering mine doesn't have a disease. I started looking online to see how cool custom console paint jobs could be. I discovered a few custom SNES consoles that had a smooth, high gloss finish (like the picture at the top of this post) and once I saw that, I was sold on doing this project. That night, I did some digging on eBay and looked for the cheapest Super Nintendo I could find that was in good working condition and not cracked. I quickly found one and won the bid at $22.50! Not bad considering my local used games store is selling them for $50.00.

Here's my original mock-up. Each stripe represents the headbands of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I liked my mock-up, but it wasn't finished yet. I still hadn't picked a color for the Power and Reset switches. Nothing I picked was working for me. I went and talked to my wife about it to see what she thought. I asked her what she thought of white and she said initially thought black would be better. I told her that I had tried brown, but maybe I'd like black more, but then she said, "Well... I guess their eyes are white, so that might work." And that's when it hit me. "Oh, their eyes are white! I could make the switches be the eyes and paint a color band around that! Once I was working on my new mock-up, I suddenly realized that the console actually kinda looks like an upside down, squared Ninja Turtle head - the switches are the eyes and the cartridge slot is the mouth.

I'm much more nostalgic for the '80s cartoon logo, but I prefer the simplicity of the comics logo for my design.

I'm really excited to work on this project. I was also really nervous about doing this because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I found out a few days ago that I know someone who's a professional painter. His name is Matt and he paints cars. He's custom painted quite a few things, including guitars and video game consoles. He offered to help me with my project! I'm confident that this is going to turn out exactly the way I want it because Matt knows exactly what to do. I can't wait to get started! I'll post another blog once we're finished to show some before and after pictures (and hopefully some in between pics of the process as well.)

An Email I Wrote About Driver 3

born4this — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:45:00 GMT

This will be a rather short blog, but I think it's worth sharing.

I've had the same email account since I was about 15 years old. I currently have a few additional email addresses (one personal and one from work), but I still have and use that first email account I setup on Yahoo back in the day. I'm anal about everything, including email, so I don't seem to have any emails from Jr. High or High School (they were all deleted long ago), but I discovered that I still have a few older emails from the early 2000s, which honestly seems like a lifetime ago; considering I've been married for the past six years and have a daughter that's 17 months old now. The oldest email in my friends folder is an email I sent to Titus about Driver 3 on June 8, 2004. I was really embarrassed when I read it, but I was also quite amused and decided I should share it in a blog. Enjoy.

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January 8, 2004

To: Titus

Subject: Driv3r

Oh wow! I went to the "official site" for Driver 3, and it looks like it's going to be "Thee game". The graphics are amazing! I have seen a few things here and there about the game before, but I never had a clue it was going to be that killer. Plus, it's got motorbikes and boats, just like GTA Vice City, only the graphics on this make Vice City look pretty cheesy. Anywhoo, that will be a most definate buy for me. And I knew you had said you were gonna get it. Now, I'm just even more excited about it.

Later~

Dean

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I can't get over the fact that I said, "...it looks like it's going to be 'thee game.'" HAHA! I don't care if the email was about Batman: Arkham City - that's just a cheesy thing to say. Speaking of cheesy... I said, "...the graphics on this make Vice City look pretty cheesy." Granted, I still think Driver 3 is a great looking game for its time, but as I recall, I didn't even finish it and I still consider Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to be one of the best games on Playstation 2. I've definitely learned since then that better graphics doesn't equate to a better game. Additionally, there are a few spelling mistakes that are comical to me. It took me a long time to break my habit of misspelling the words 'definite' and 'definitely'.

It's too bad this email wasn't about The Getaway. Now there's a "it's like Grand Theft Auto" game that I actually liked.

DING! ADDICTED!

born4this — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:00:00 GMT

I haven't reached level 50 yet because I've been waiting to progress with my friends in our weekly co-op game. I'm currently at level 37. However... I'm also at level 5, level 7, level 24, and level 32. Why? Because I'm addicted to Borderlands 2!

This past weekend, I made a shocking discovery: According to Raptr, Borderlands 2 has topped Skyrim as my most played Xbox 360 game (since I joined the site in 2010; I'm still convinced I've played Halo 3 the most.) I was surprised & confused by this. I know I've spent a significant amount of time playing Borderlands 2, but more than Skyrim?! It just didn't seem right. The Elder Scrolls V isn't my favorite game, or even my favorite Xbox 360 game for that matter. But... it's a game with a ridiculous amount of content - a game I played 4-5 hours at a time, sometimes several nights in a row. I didn't think any game would ever come close to consuming the same amount of time, let alone more time. That said, I wasn't puzzled by the "how" (after all, I have been playing multiple characters), but the "why?" Why have I been playing Borderlands 2 THAT MUCH?!

Borderlands 2 hasn't made me "joy puke", but I have thoroughly enjoyed playing it.

I spent a lot of time thinking about it the past few days, and here's why I've been playing Borderlands 2 like HECKA:

MONEY. When I first got Borderlands 2 (as a gift), I didn't have money to buy other games. It was the only new retail game I had for a few months. I was committed to not getting ahead of the co-op progress I was making with my friends, so I decided, "I'll just do a separate playthrough on my own & stagger it behind my co-op game sessions." I ended up playing all the characters, two of them beyond their achievement requirements.

ENERGY. Between being a dad and frequently working late the past few months, I'm usually tired by the time I sit down to play video games at night. Instead of playing Halo 4 online, playing more XCOM or experiencing a new episode of the Walking Dead game, I often choose to play Borderlands 2 instead. I'm still playing a game, but it doesn't require much focus as I've already experienced the story and I remember what to do in most of the missions. It's fun to grind on this game while I listen to a podcast or a TV show on the iPad.

THE CHARACTERS. I still think Brick is my favorite Borderlands character, but I really like the characters in Borderlands 2. More specifically, their action skills are appealing enough that I found it difficult to pick which character I wanted to use. Honestly, outside of the Siren, I'm tempted to level all of them to 50, including the Mechromancer! In the first game, I was interested in Mordecai (Bloodwing is AWESOME!), but the game itself wasn't interesting enough for me to play through it again with another character. I tried, but I quickly lost interest. (Keep in mind, I had already played through every mission in the entire game with my friends and got all the achievements, including all four DLC expansions.)

THE HUMOR. Borderlands 2 is a funny game. I never get tired of Claptrap's rambling or Handsome Jack's trash talking. This game has some serious moments, but it's not a "serious" game. It's violent, but also very colorful, comical and light-hearted. Most of the FPS games I buy are gloomier and more intense, so it's a nice change of pace.

BEING OVERPOWERED. Being overpowered is so much fun, in my opinion. I love running through old areas in a game after I've beat it and killing enemies with ease. There's something very satisfying about returning to an enemy that seemed so powerful when you first encountered it and now they're just a push-over.

THE COMMANDO. I know I already mentioned the characters, but I must specifically mention the Commando. Axton is AWESOME! I really like Zero, but dang it... that Sabre Turret is a BEAST. It's so entertaining when my mini-map fills up with reds dots and moments later, they're all gone. There have been many times that I've thrown out my turret and just watched it do all the work. HAHA!

In the Survival skill tree, Axton can throw out TWO turrets! How sick is that?! Man, once they raise the level cap, the Commando is going to be so overpowered...... I CAN'T WAIT!

I tend to spend most of my gaming time working on achievements. I'm a completionist and achievements are my chosen measure for whether I've completed a game or not. In the past few days, I've spent a lot of time playing Borderlands 2, but none of that time was spent doing anything related to the achievements. I was just working on leveling my Commando (which I'm not using in my co-op game with friends.) It's unusual for me to do this, especially considering that I still have achievements to work on in XCOM and Halo 4, and more episodes of the Walking Dead to play. But I'm addicted to Borderlands 2, and I plan to keep playing it while I'm still enjoying it.

158 hours & counting...

What about you? Are you addicted to Borderlands 2?

I Couldn't Play a Game Like That...

born4this — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:10:00 GMT

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty opinionated about game genres. In the past, I've been pretty set on what genres I don't play.

"I don't play RPGs."

"I don't play turn-based strategy games."

"I don't play QTE games."

When I was younger, I played Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest on Super Nintendo, and it had turn-based combat. Overall, I enjoyed the game, but I wasn't itching to play more games like it. At some point, I decided, "I don't like turn-based games." During one of the camping trips I went on with my friends, I recall having a conversation about turn-based games. My friend Jordan is a fan of the Final Fantasy and Star Ocean franchises, and he defended the genre. But several of us (including myself) were very vocal about how dumb turn-based combat is. We made it very clear that we'd much rather play a game with live-action combat.

However...

This past year, I heard a lot of buzz about XCOM. There seemed to be a lot of excitement for the return of this franchise. After the game released, I noticed that it had a metascore of 90 on Metacritic. I listened to the Game Informer editors talk about it on the GI podcast, and it sounded like a lot of fun. I knew the game had turn-based combat, but I was really itching to try something new and the alien invasion setting of XCOM was appealing to me. I'm about 30 hours into that game so far and holy crap, I'm enjoying it. I guess turn-based combat isn't so dumb after all...

XCOM doesn't have the same type of turn-based combat as Final Fantasy, but it's still turn-based and not something I found particularly exciting in the past. XCOM took my opinion of turn-based strategy and completely blew it out of the water. This game is intense!

In 2010, my brother-in-law told me I should try the demo for Heavy Rain. He was impressed with the demo and thought the game was interesting. Personally, I wasn't impressed. I thought, "This game is dumb." Investigating the crime scene was somewhat interesting, but the gameplay seemed really boring to me and the game seemed very slowly paced. Sometime after that, I watched a video where Dan Ryckert's dad played it and after that, the game not only seemed dumb to me, but laughably bad. Dan's dad makes fun of every game he plays, but his banter added to my opinion of the game.

That same year, Telltale Games released a Back to the Future game. Initially, I was really excited for this until I heard it was an "episodic" game. This was the first I had heard of games being released in episodes. I had my own opinion of this concept. "That's dumb. I don't want to follow a game that's released that way. I don't have enough patience to wait for the next episode! HAHA!"

However...

Telltale Games released the Walking Dead game this past year. Like the Back to the Future game, it was released in episodes. I ignored the game for a few months as it didn't sound like the kind of game I'd want Walking Dead to be anyways (let alone the fact that it was episodic.) I was hoping for something more like the TV show than the comic, and I was wanting it to be a 3rd person shooter. I really enjoyed Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare, and I basically wanted to experience being Rick Grimes in a similar way. To my surprise, the Walking Dead game received a metascore of 94 on Metacritic, and I saw a lot of people talking about the game on Twitter. After all the episodes were released, I finally decided I should play this game (it helped that I got it for 50% off on Xbox Live!) I've played the 1st episode, and I'm really impressed so far. As much as I hate to admit it, the gameplay is a lot like Heavy Rain. I guess QTE games aren't so dumb afterall...

I'm a big fan of the Walking Dead, so I may not have bought a game like this otherwise, but I wasn't guaranteed to like it either. Like I said, I had originally desired something else entirely for a Walking Dead game.

I've been strongly opinionated about RPGs for a long time. I've particularly been a critic of JRPGs like Final Fantasy since the series moved to 3D. I've had several people tell me the stories are great, but they just don't appeal to me. Like Pokemon, 3D Final Fantasy games are something I refuse to try. Even when western RPGs started getting rave reviews, like Bethesda's Fallout 3, I was reluctant to play games in that genre. I tried Fallout 3 at my brother-in-law's house, and I was annoyed with how much stuff there was to collect. There was so much random stuff to pick-up, like silverware. I became over-encumbered and was advised to drop some stuff. This went against my video game instincts, which was to collect everything that was obtainable. I was also not a fan of the "conversations". I hated that part, I just wanted to get to the action! I walked away from the game thinking it was dumb. There was some combat towards the end of the part I played, but I was still set on saying I wasn't interested.

However...

In 2011, I saw a lot of buzz about Skyrim. After the first few trailers for the game, I was curious about this title - it looked awesome. Especially after becoming a fan of fantasy post-Lord of the Rings, I was anxious to play a game in this setting. And the dragons... man, those dragons really appealed to me. I questioned myself for months - "Am I really going to buy this game? It's an RPG. I don't like RPGs." But I told myself to shut-up because the game looked too epic to pass-up. The Elder Scrolls V was basically my first 3D RPG, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm sure this doesn't surprise anyone who's familiar with the Elder Scrolls games, but I've put more hours into Skyrim than any other game I have for Xbox 360. I guess RPGs aren't so dumb afterall...

I was very torn about playing Skyrim. I'm so glad I went for it - it was everything I wanted it to be and more. I'm still not a huge fan of conversation trees, but I've gotten used to them.

There have been plenty of times that I've said, "I couldn't play a game like that." But as the above examples have shown, that's not necessarily true. I've discovered that I actually like more genres than I think I do.

What about you? Have you had any games appeal to you that were different than the types of games you're used to playing? Have you had a game change your opinion about a genre you were previously not a fan of?

Final Episode of Robot in the Corner

born4this — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:50:00 GMT

"All good things must come to an end." Ending the podcast has been the elephant in the room for several months now. I'm a dad, Titus is a dad, Wes has a triathlon bike...... moving on was inevitable. Sometimes in life, things aren't a question of "Can I?" but rather, "Should I?" Sure, we could keep making time to do the show; but with more responsibilities at work and at home, it would be best for us to shut it down. When people say something is mutual, it never is. But this was mutual.

We've really enjoyed doing this podcast. We hope you enjoyed listening to it. I'm confident that in the future, I'll look back at Robot in the Corner and think, "NEWWWS TIME!" Then I'll think, "That was one of the best experiences of my life." Good times. Thank you.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

http://www.podcastrevolution.com/file/robotinthecorner/audio/ritc_3-7.mp3

"I hate goodbyes!"

Show Notes:

We're still alive & well. You can follow us on Twitter (@deanrobot, @titusrobot, & @wesrobot.) And I'll still be here at GIO. I have no solid plans right now, but I may do some projects of my own in the future (outside of blogging.)

As for the robot...

Discovering Classics: Metal Slug 3

born4this — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 05:45:00 GMT

I recently heard about the NEO GEO X Gold and let me tell ya - THAT IS ONE SEXY SYSTEM! Holy crap, I want it so much. I kid you not - if I could afford it, I'd buy this over the Wii U in a heartbeat. I've never played a NEO GEO (or any SNK games that I recall), but I just can't get over how awesome this idea is...... and boy, would I love to see other companies follow suit and release new versions of old consoles. I don't know if the original NEO GEO X came with a handheld device, but thinking about Nintendo doing something similar for the SNES...... NO! I HAVE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! It's just too much awesome...

Well done, SNK. This is such a great idea! Especially considering how expensive NEO GEO X was back in the day, it's so cool to me that gamers old & new have a chance to get their hands on a system & game library they've never played before. There's just something special about playing games on the system they were released on as opposed to playing them on another system they've been ported to.

Shortly after the release of NEO GEO X Gold, I saw a hands-on video from Rev3Games and my lust for the system increased, along with my interest in SNK games in general. This past week, after talking to my friends about this updated NEO GEO, my friend Jordan told me about the NEO GEO song by Keith Apicary (Nathan Barnatt). It's almost embarrassing how much I like it. I've watched the video several times and I bought the song on iTunes yesterday. It's hilarious & awesome - I can't get enough. Over the past few days, I've been checking out Nathan's other videos and he's quickly becoming one of my favorite people on YouTube.

Take a moment to watch this video if you haven't seen it already. And for those who have already seen it - you know you want to watch it again! DO it.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

During the duration of this video, Keith has Metal Slug playing on the NEO GEO arcade cabinet. The game definitely peaked my interest - it looked fun. My interest quickly changed to curiosity and I checked Xbox Live to see if there were any Metal Slug games available on XBLA. I discovered that they had Metal Slug 3 and Metal Slug XX. I played the demo for Metal Slug 3 since it looked more like the game I saw in the video. When I got home from work tonight, I purchased it and played through it with my arcade stick.

Metal Slug 3 is a run & gun video game for the Neo-Geo console/arcade platform created by SNK that was released in 2000 and is the sequel to Metal Slug 2. Being the last Metal Slug that SNK was working on until the bankruptcy, it was given a lot of features, enhancements and improvements.The music of the game was developed by Noise Factory. The game was ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game was also released for the Wii, PSP, and PS2 as part of the Metal Slug Anthology.

I instantly fell in love with Metal Slug 3. I love the hand drawn art; I love the fluid controls; I love the enemy & weapon variety; I love the vehicles; I love the boss battles; I love the Galaga-like space shooter section; I love the sound effects; I love that I automatically knifed enemies within melee range while pressing the button to shoot; and I love that I TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE and had a crazy powerful spewing attack! I also love the character animations, which often reminded me of the Scott Pilgrim game.

I had another successful late experience with a classic video game. It's such a great feeling when I play a game long after it's released, yet my reaction to it is easily as strong as if I'd played it when it was a current gen title.

Robot in the Corner Podcast: Episode 3-6

born4this — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:50:00 GMT

This week, Dean shares his impressions of The Hobbit, and we share our listeners favorite Christmas comedy movies. Further discussion about Christmas ensues, like what we want for Christmas this year.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

http://www.podcastrevolution.com/file/robotinthecorner/audio/ritc_3-6.mp3

I really enjoyed The Hobbit! I definitely recommend it, especially if you liked the Lord of the Rings movies.

Show Notes:

We most likely won't be back until after the new year, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for listening to our show this year, we really appreciate all the support. :)

It wasn't really a competition per say, but it looks like Elf is the winner. We had more people say Elf was their favorite Christmas comedy than any other movie.

I wrote a blog about competitive multiplayer. How Do You Like Your Multiplayer?

How Do You Like Your Multiplayer?

born4this — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:00:00 GMT

No, this isn't a blog about Metal Gear Solid 4. Sorry for the confusion.

I've never been much of a (competitive) multiplayer gamer. It's not that I dislike it, it's just that the enjoyment of it hinges on... well, you know... being good enough to win. Growing up, my friends were always better than me at video games. I would argue that I was more passionate about gaming, but my skills never seemed to improve enough to beat them, no matter how much I tried. My friend Taylor was a Mortal Kombat master - he owned the game, I did not. I'd go to his house to play Mortal Kombat with him and he could literally go untouched in a match against me (not every time, but frequently.) But I've always been a glutton for punishment, and no matter how many times he beat me, I never got upset enough to quit playing because I enjoyed hanging out with him and I loved the opportunity to play any games I didn't have at home.

Shortly after high school, I recall playing Halo with my Youth Pastor. I wouldn't say he was a master, but he was a lot better than me. I rarely won a match, but again - I'm a glutton for punishment, especially when it comes to video games, so I kept playing because I enjoyed hanging out with him and I thought Halo was awesome.

These days, I don't play multiplayer games that often. I tend to spend most of my gaming time playing single player or co-op games. As someone who doesn't play a lot of multiplayer, I like my multiplayer a certain way. Simple.

I prefer multiplayer to be simple. It's not the ONLY multiplayer I will play, but I do seem to enjoy it more when it's simplified. Some of my fondest memories of playing multiplayer this generation is when it was simple. In Halo 3, Reach, and Halo 4, I really like sword matches. Particularly in Halo 4, I've enjoyed Flood (infection gametype), where it's Spartans with shotguns verses Flood with swords. I also like rockets matches in Halo - they're a blast! (See what I did there?) In Call of Duty: Black Ops, I got into the wager matches where everyone basically has a pistol & a knife and nothing more. In Call of Duty, I've played some custom games with friends where we had shotguns only, pistols only, and other matches like that. Sure, nobody likes to be outgunned, so even when it's simple, it can be frustrating if you're losing, but I love matches like these because they seem fair. I don't have to worry about getting sniped by someone who knows about the secret hiding spot that I haven't discovered yet. I don't have to worry about getting shot by a helicopter or something because someone got a kill streak. I don't have to worry about taking down the guy who's destroying everyone with the mech. I seem to enjoy multiplayer the most when everyone has the same weapons with little to no extras, which leads to little to no excuses or complaints from me or anyone else that's playing.

I love sword matches. This is a screenshot I took in Halo 3. I was on fire in this match! A great memory.

What about you? How do you like your multiplayer? Do you prefer it to be simple or more complex? Do you prefer big, open maps or smaller, closed quarters maps? Do you prefer performance based perks?

Robot in the Corner Podcast: Episode 3-5

born4this — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:55:00 GMT

This week, Wes tech serves us & tells us about Freddie W, Dean shares his idea for a story with a world constantly engulfed in fog, and Titus talks about TV Tropes.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

http://www.podcastrevolution.com/file/robotinthecorner/audio/ritc_3-5.mp3

Star Wars got me to buy an Angry Birds game. It's pretty fun, more fun than I thought it would be. I especially like the space levels.

Show Notes:

What's your favorite Christmas comedy? Examples: Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Elf

Freddie W makes some awesome, video game related videos! Check out Old School vs. New School:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Robot in the Corner Podcast: Episode 3-4

born4this — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:50:00 GMT

This week, Dean shares his impressions of Minecraft on Xbox 360 & talks about the iOS games he's been playing, Wes talks about his new Samsung phone, and Dean & Wes share their impressions of Halo 4's competitive multiplayer.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

http://www.podcastrevolution.com/file/robotinthecorner/audio/ritc_3-4.mp3

Show Notes:

What do you think of Halo 4? Is Halo in good hands with 343 Industries? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Punch Quest, man. Freakin' Punch Quest!

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Robot in the Corner Podcast: Episode 3-3

born4this — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:55:00 GMT

This week, Dean asks Titus some questions about publishing his book, Pneumadiluvians, and Wes shares his impressions of Assassin's Creed 3. robotinthecorner.com

As always, the topics mentioned in the description don't reflect everything we talked about on the show.

Thanks for listening!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

http://www.podcastrevolution.com/file/robotinthecorner/audio/ritc_3-3.mp3

Show Notes:

Who are you voting for tomorrow? Er, I mean, are you getting Halo 4 tomorrow? (I was kidding with the first question, please don't answer that - this is a gaming website, HAHA!)

Speaking of Halo 4 and the election, I recommend this video:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Shout-out to Rob (Warbuff) for introducing me to Glove & Boots.