Game On: Extra Life 2011

On October 15th at 8am, for my second year in a row I’m going to fire up my Xbox and embark on the Long Road I call Extra Life:  24 hours of gaming in the name of charity.  I’m sure that once more, around the 18th consecutive hour of my unblinking eyes being seared by the merciless television, I will pause and wonder just what the hell got me thinking this was a great idea.  And the answer will be as simple as it is cliché.

It’s for the kids. Read On »

Nerdcore Rising – Get Elevated!

Damian Hess, better known by his stage moniker MC Frontalot, takes us for a behind the scenes look as they embarked on their first tour.  Starting in South Carolina and driving cross-country you follow Front, Sturgis, G Minor 7, Black Lotus, and Brandon in the good times and bad as they explore the unknown by bringing Nerdcore Hip Hop to the masses.

Nerdcore Hip Hop, a term first coined by MC Frontalot in a 2000 song of the same name, has become the musical focal point of nerds, geeks, and freaks since the spawning the entire sub-genre.  This style of music combines hip-hop with nerdy pop culture references such as Star Wars, Comic Book Conventions or Japanimation as the topics of these songs. Read On »

Dark Souls: As It Once Was, So Shall It Be

They’re not ready for this…or are they?

As someone whose gaming career began in the days of the 2600, I have borne witness to a shift in the arc of game design.  Now, most everyone will agree games are ultimately about entertainment.  What changed was the root of that entertainment.  Games now tend towards providing a bit of escapism for the player without them having to put much effort in.  Think of it as an interactive movie where the obstacle, be it a giant monster or arcane puzzle, is merely a plot device moving you on to the next scene.  Those who wish for a greater challenge have the option to increase the difficulty, but rare now is the game where the difficulty simply “Is”.  Dark Souls, like its spiritual predecessor Demons Souls, is such a game.

Some of you already get it, others of you require a frame of reference (due to my advanced age, no doubt) to really understand what this means.  The entertainment value in many games of the 8 and 16 bit eras was drawn from the challenge they posed.  Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Zillion, TMNT, Ghouls and Ghosts, Shinobi, and R-Type come to mind.  Read On »

Bungie Waves Goodbye to Ten Years of Halo

Bungie’s Halo: Combat Evolved is widely credited as the game that single-handedly put Microsoft’s Xbox Console on the map.  Released in November of 2001, it rapidly began to break records selling over one million units just a few months later in April 2002.  It would go on to sell over five million copies and forever associate the Master Chief, Halo, and Bungie with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles.

Halo has become a cultural phenomenon on a scale that only popular sci-fi juggernauts such as Star Wars and Star Trek have seen.  Books, comics, action figures, and even LEGO Read On »

Why PSN Pass Isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing

Recently, IGN received confirmation from Sony that they would be “instituting a network pass program for PS3 games with online capabilities”; one game of note was the upcoming Resistance 3 which prominently featured a PSN Pass label.  Of course, the gamer community and even Wedebush Morgan Analyst, Michael Pachter himself threw in their two cents regarding this move by Sony.

The PSN Pass is similar to the one time codes that you receive when you purchase a new game and wish to use all of the online features.  Electronic Arts and THQ were the pioneers in implementing this, and other game companies such as Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment have been using this feature increasingly.  The primary purpose of which is to ensure that the games companies recoup profits that they have long held as lost due to the used videogames market that companies like GameStop so thrive on. Read On »

Ms. Splosion Man Coming to Pinball FX2 on Xbox Live

While we don’t normally cover press releases, this one most certainly grabbed our attention.  Being big fans of ZEN Studios Pinball FX2 and Twisted Pixel’s Splosion Man/Ms. Splosion Man franchises, just about everyone here at Wanderson75.net melted when this news came out.

ZEN Studios and Twisted Pixel have partnered up to make ‘sploding even better with a Ms. Splosion Man themed pinball table!  According to Mel Kirk, VP of Marketing and Public Relations at ZEN Studios, “We told the Twisted Pixel crew we were going to break in and steal all the Ms. Splosion Man stuff so we could make a pinball table for them. We put our super stealth ZEN sniper on the project and what can I say, mission accomplished.”  However, Twisted Pixel retaliated by boosting some of PFX2’s assets for their own pinball machine in the arcade area of Ms. Splosion Man. Read On »

A closer look at the Resistance 3 Demo

1957.  Six years after the Chimera overran Europe, the United States has fallen to their overwhelming forces.  You are ex-Sentinel Joseph Capelli.  On the run with his wife and son, he finds himself being recruited by one Dr. Malikov on a mission to send the Chimera back on their heels.  But after so many setbacks and losses, is it truly possible that Malikov has the solution to humanity’s planet-wide infestation?

These questions and more are asked in Resistance 3, Sony and Naughty Dog’s latest entry into their keystone first-person franchise, available with your purchase of Battle Los Angeles on BluRay. Read On »

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012: Summon your credit card.

I love Magic: The Gathering.  The very concept of summoning minions to wreak havoc upon mine enemies while flailing indiscriminately with arcane destruction has resonated so strongly with me to reflect in my character choice in near every MMO I’ve played.  I clearly recall trips to the hobby shop in Utica to stock up on booster packs and say goodbye to my hard earned allowance.  Hot summer days spent sheltered in basements and garages, hoping that the cards fall just right so I can snag that rare my opponent was unlucky enough to wager.  Good memories, one and all…except that one time I thought Dave was going to attack me after I won the Phantasmal Forces that he had just acquired…but mostly good overall.

So when Duels of the Planeswalkers dropped on XBL I took just short of a New York minute to buy that sucker and get back in it.  For a brief while I was flying high on nostalgia and the thrill of battle.  Being a sucker for straight-color decks Read On »

What We’re Playing – Week Ending July 9th

Will Anderson (wanderson75)

Resistance 3 Demo/Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Erik Miller (rickster8bit)

Lego Harry Potter/Half Minute Hero

Mikeal-Paul Williams (rikiaza)

inFAMOUS 2 / Portal 2

Victoria Liu-Anderson (vickitty)

Pinball FX2: Captain America

Webkinz

Put the Snake Back in the Box…

Dear Kojima Hideo-san, please make a third Zone of the Enders game.  It is nearing the ten year mark and we have rumors, and naught else.  Jehuty was so awesome I forgave you for Leo Stenbuck, the most irritating protagonist this side of EVERYONE in Shining Force Neo and roughly half the cast of Evangelion …And speaking of heavy-handed philosophy in a format unsuited for it using characters who only manage to make those watching… Read On »