Retro Recall: The PC-FX

Some of you who read this will know what this system was, others may not. I hope that this post will serve as both an informative piece as well as a nice reflection on a system that could have been.

The PC-FX was the successor to the PC-Engine(better known as the TurboGrafx-16 in the US) in Japan. NEC had planned to use this system to enter the 32-bit era of consoles, and at first it looked like the system was poised to take the lead. At the time of the console’s release in 1994, it was a rather unique looking machine at the time, looking like a PC tower that you might see in today’s PC desktop computers. It used CD-ROMS as its primary media for games, unlike its predecessor’s credit card like HuCards. The PC-FX’s controller look a bit like a Genesis’s six button controller, and even featured the same connector pin setup.

During its release, the system also had several peripherals that came out along with the system including a mouse that made it easier for adventure and strategy games. A rather unique peripheral was an internal PC card that allowed for the development of PC-FX games as well as the ability to play said games, and individual titles on a PC. As far as I know this is the only other instance of a company releasing development tools to consumers outside of Sony and its PlayStation Net Yaroze system and toolset.

NEC began development of a piece new development hardware in 1992 that the company called “Iron Man.” The PC-Engine was still quite popular in Japan at the time, and so many developers were a little turned off at the idea of a brand new 32-bit processor. Around 1993, the 3DO came out, and was it started to generate the idea that the 32 bit era was coming in. Both Sega and Sony had announced plans to enter this arena with the Sega Saturn and PlayStation (We all know how this turned out…). However, NEC pushed forward with its Iron Man project, rather than develop a piece of hardware to compete with their competitors, they opted to use the tech they already had.

At the time of release, the system was severely underpowered, lacking any capability to do 3D. Instead the system was essentially a 2D powerhouse, being able to play games with beautifully animated sprites, and being able to decompress 30 JPEG pictures per second (think motion JPEG images). This resulted in having much higher quality FMVs in the PC-FX’s games at the time.

Sadly the system was only released in Japan, and was released to little fanfare, never really reaching its full potential. A total of 62 games were ever produced for the system. Most of the games comprised of bishōjo games (Dating sims geared towards the male audience) and dating sims. There was also a handful of RPGs, strategy titles, and action games released for the system. Games were released for the system all the way up to 1998.

I personally don’t own the system, and it is a relatively rare thing to see here in the United States. This is one of the system that I would love to add to my collection, along with a few key games for the system. I find that this system is quite interesting piece of tech as one of the only system to basically come and go without so much as a whisper. NEC was a company that had a vision, and unfortunately for them, they were pushed out the door because of poor oversight and an unwillingness to create something new. Who knows, maybe NEC will rise from the grave and create something truly great for the next generation of consoles?

I am praying for the return of 2D games.

I Have Entered The Hellgate

I have been investing time into the newly rereleased game of Hellgate: London. It was been quite sometime since Flagship Studios released the first version of the game. Unfortunately for that company, it was rushed to release in an essentially unfinished state, and it killed the game the first time around. Does Hanbitsoft know what they are doing with the game? This is a small but brief tale of what happened to that game, and a wee bit of a description.

Flagship Studios. The name makes certain gamers cringe. What happened to that studio was both unfair and was more than likely unforeseen. The studio was comprised of developers from Blizzard North, the original team behind Diablo. It seems liked a winning combo: new development studio, new game.

Hellgate: London was released ahead of schedule. More than likely due to pressure from EA, whom was helping them publish and do marketing done for the game. The other portion of the deal was server support for Namco Bandai, with additional publishing from them as well. I was one of the many that hoped the game would be something great and plopped down the fee for the Lifetime subscription.

Not only did the game have an offline single player game, but it also featured an online multiplayer mode. In many ways this functioned like a MMO, having but a free online mode and subscriber models. The game played very much like a 3rd/1st person Diablo game with multiple classes and loot for you to collect.

Unfortunately for Flagship Studios, nobody subscribed, or bought the game. Poor reviews and numerous reports the game was essentially left in a broken state forced the company’s hand. They filed for bankruptcy before they could even prove themselves.

The IP for Hellgate was sold to Hanbitsoft, who promptly took the multiplayer component of the game and made it a free to play MMO in Asia, where it remained, gaining new content as updates. On June of this year, Hanbitsoft made the move to release it here under the same model, and it appears to be back and stronger than ever.

A great deal of time has been put into this version of the game, and I am excited to see that the game made it back somehow. I am hoping I can get farther than I did the first time around, perhaps even beat it. Here is hoping they don’t shutdown the servers prematurely before the game had a chance to shine.

The Reason I Stopped Shopping At GameStop

Power to the players, right? That slogan couldn’t be farther from the truth. This tale is more of a warning. A “buyer beware,” if you will. Also, for the integrity and livelihood of the employees and the location of this GameStop, they shall remain nameless.

It all started when all I wanted was to buy a DS title. It was a copy of Digimon World DS, for those of you wondering. I was rather eager to play it, so right there in the store, I put the game in my DS. That was when the trouble started.

Before I go any further, I need to explain a few things about GameStop’s policies, and how they handle things, for those of you who don’t know. There are a couple things they do that, quite frankly are not consumer friendly.

Firstly, they open games, and label them as “new” when they place them on display. Wouldn’t most of you agree that a new product is sealed in the cellophane and related product packaging it comes with?

Secondly GameStop employees are allowed to check out games, new or used. Sort of like an internal rental service. There is already something wrong with this practice, as demonstrated with what happened with me.

And now, on with the show! So, when I put the game in my DS, while still in the store, there was already a save file on the cart! A @#%$#^ save file! I was quite pissed! They had sold me a game marked as “new” when it was clearly played.

I went back to the counter and asked for a refund. Of course they refused, saying that game, once played or opened they can’t give a full refund. They offered for me to trade in the game. I shook my head, and gave them some lip. The employee who had sold me the game, no less happened to have the same name like the one on the DS save file.

Demanding to speak the manager yielded no results. So I made a point to say that I knew about their employee checkout system. They were probably a little startled, asking where I had come across such knowledge. Kotaku did a story a few years back detailing how their rental system works. At any rate, when they still refused, I demanded to speak to their regional, of which they didn’t want to give me the number. Instead they offered to refund, and save what little face they had left.

Needless to say to say, this probably won’t stop the worlds largest game retailer, but buyers beware. If you are going to buy a "new” product from GameStop, make sure that you buy a sealed copy of the game. As for me, I am not giving them the time of day anymore. I am opting for Amazon, Target, Best Buy, etc. Any place but that @#%RW$ bag of a company.

E3 2011: Looking Forward To The Future

E3 has come and gone, and there are some things that were announced that make me want them RIGHT NOW. However these things are in the far flung future. Games and hardware of the future are coming, and some notable ones I think worth keeping an eye on are listed below.


Tomb Raider


This game is still a ways off. Coming in fall 2012 what was demoed at the Microsoft press conference showed a reboot of the character. A vulnerable Lara Croft, one inexperienced in her travels. It was clear that the character was not over sexualized, and it appeared that she was learning as she went along in the demo. All in all, a great new look and feel. Fear of the unknown and survival are the name of the game.


Battlefield 3


Only having shown the multiplayer at this years E3, EA seems to be positioning this game as the ‘other’ first person shooter this fall to compete with a certain ‘Call of Duty.’ Graphically speaking this game looks astounding. Unfortunately, I am going to have to play the game first, as the Battlefield games have always made me scratch my head. This one has a strong single player focus, but at its heart the Battlefield games have always been about multiplayer. Can it compete with Modern Warfare 3 this year? Only time will tell.


ICO/Shadow of The Colossus HD Collection


I loved, LOVED this games on my PS2. And now they are getting remade in HD on PS3. One Blu-ray, higher-frame, and trophies. I cannot wait for this game. I am going to preorder it as soon as it becomes available. If you don’t know what I am talking about, YouTube is your friend. Seek out these games and just watch. There is a sense of fidelity and emotion when you play those games. Swelling soundtracks, mysterious sounds, and abstract stories make those games a wonder to play.


Catherine


Atlus was showing off this game, and it is scheduled to come out this July. A weird hybrid puzzle/dating sim game. It appears that it it will be telling the story of man plagued by nightmares, and having to decide between two women. Possibly two endings, or multiple endings. The game was lauded for its incredible difficulty when it was released in Japan, and the developers released a patch to fix the difficulty. From I gather this is actually an offshoot story from the Persona universe. Keeping my eye on this one, as it looks like a really good experience.


King of Fighters XIII


Another title announced by Atlus, this SNK fighter looks incredible. The previous iteration, King of Fighters XII, was a broken, unbalanced mess. This has more characters (Mai Shiranui returns!), complete move sets, and what appears to be a competent fighting system. This is the one fighter I am excited for, and I hope that it can compete with the likes of Street Fighter X Tekken, Super Street Fighter IV, and Mortal Kombat.


PlayStation Vita


Sony came out guns blazing with the announcement of the their new portable system. At a selling price of $249.99, its kind of hard not to be excited about this new fangled piece of tech. With enough horsepower underneath to have a similar experience of a PS3 game, two analog sticks, an Organic LED touch screen, Sixaxis motion, and a back touch pad, this system got me pumped for what was to come in mobile gaming. Several of the demos demonstrated how a person could play a game on PS3, save your progress, and then continue that same exact game on your Vita and vice versa. I can only hope that Sony gets their act together with this system, or its doomed from the start.


Wii U


This was the big mystery of E3 this year. What was this new system Nintendo wanted to show us? Could it do HD? Is the controller as crazy as the rumors speculate? Turns out both of those questions were answered with a resounding “yes.” The new system is capable of outputting in HD, up to 1080p, is backwards compatible with Wii accessories and games, and has a tablet like controller with a 6 inch touchscreen. The new controller also sporting two analog sticks, and a full feature set of buttons. The question I have to ask, will it be enough? Will people be intimidated by the new controller? Can Nintendo rope in the publisher’s needed for the system to succeed and compete with the other current consoles that Microsoft and Sony are offering?


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It has been exciting to see what is coming in the near future and I hope that games continue growing and expanding into new areas. It looks to be a rough year with all these games coming out around the same time. The competition has ramped up and gotten tougher. Many of the above titles are a little niche, but they are great games, and I plan on getting them all. Time to start saving…

Dead Space 2 Demo Impressions

Note: This was originally written as a writing sample for a gaming site. Thought I would post it here for those looking for an opinion on the Dead Space 2 demo.

After recently playing through the first Dead Space, I was eager to play the next chapter in Isaac Clarke’s slowly crumbling mind. Right from the start of the demo, a narrator describes a summarization of the events of the first game. This summarization promptly gets thrown out the window as you are thrown into the middle of the story of Dead Space 2.

It appears that the story element s have been taken out of the demo, and for good reason, as I would not have wanted any of the story spoiled for me. They do however give you a nice sampling of what is to come. Some new enemies, a new weapon, and some changes to the how the zero-gravity sections play.

Right from the start the demo goes over the controls quickly with a series of popups telling you how to play. I was already at home with the controls and so, I just made my way through the series of rooms rather quickly until I came up on an enemy.

I cycled through the guns until I got to one of the new ones. The Rail Spiker, as the game calls it, shoots single spikes that can pin enemies to a wall, with a secondary fire that can electrify the corpse and other things around it. The other weapons in the demo include the trusty Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and Line Gun. All of those guns function the same, except for the Pulse Rifle. The alternate fire was changed to make it a grenade launcher. I found no use for the secondary fire on the Pulse Rifle because most of the demo takes place in tight corridors.

Visually speaking, the demo looks almost the same as the first Dead Space. The only difference being that the game now takes place on a space station as opposed to a lone ship. The demo didn’t give any context as to why Isaac was there other than he woke up in a mental facility. The station itself is pretty to look at, and the first time you come across a window, you get to look out across a city space. It appears that game has not gone through many changes, the textures look a little sharper, and the engine appears to have been enhanced a little, a higher frame rate and such.

There were a couple new enemies in the demo, one of them being what appears to be these infant like beings that attack you in groups, making for a bit more panic in the mayhem. I found myself frantically shooting just to keep the creatures off me. The only other new monster in the demo was a rather large being that it did not seem like you could kill, just rather keep it from killing you by shooting its weak spot.

The last noticeable thing about the demo that stood out to me was the zero gravity environments. Isaac’s suit now has some thrusters on him, allowing for full 3-D movement in a zero-g space. In the first Dead Space, there zero gravity environments, but all you could really do was jump from point A to point B. While in these zero-g moments in the demo, you can also aim and shoot your weapon if need be. Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any enemies while doing this.

All in all, the demo left me craving more. January 25, 2011 can’t come soon enough. I am going be spending a great deal of time playing that game.

My Top Five Games of 2010

My list of games for 2010 will go in order, counting down to number one with a few little special categories after I have listed the games. This is going to be a rather short list of five games that I hope you, the reader will enjoy.

5) Super Street Fighter IV

This fighter was for all intents and purposes was just an upgrade of Street Fighter IV, with a few extra characters thrown into the mix. Capcom didn’t really break any new ground here like they did with the first iteration of Street Fighter IV, however it was enough an upgrade to merit purchase, from some balance tweaks to all the characters unlocked from the start! Here is hoping they release the upgrades that the arcade version is getting in Japan as DLC.

4) 3D Dot Game Heroes

I had high hopes for this game, as Atlus had seemed to be on a role releasing games that hit just right. And boy did Atlus surprise me with this one. The game pays homage to one of my favorite games of all time, The Legend of Zelda. And on top of that, it manages to poke some fun at the series as well. Graphically speaking the game also works in its favor by recreating the 8-bit graphic style while still being in 3D. The characters are comprised of individual little cubes, giving the game a pixelated look! That and combined with the games charm and humor, and you have one sweet ride.

3) Halo: Reach

The only first person shooter this year that managed to impress me this year was Reach. Bungie made one hell of a game this year. The developers took the time to build a new graphics engine, and crafted a storytelling experience that is well worth to see through to end in the campaign. As this is the last Halo game that Bungie will ever make, they send off the series with a bang. Oh and the multiplayer is quite possibly the best it has ever been.

2) Super Meat Boy

No other game this year challenged me as much as Super Meat Boy. At certain points, the downloadable title truly made want to throw my controller. A game entirely focused on precision and tight controls fed my need for a twitch platformer. And Team Meat delivered, perhaps a little too well. The controls are perfect, the graphics are just right, and the game has some good humor to boot. Dr. Fetus, you bastard.

1) Mass Effect 2

I am not sure where to start with this one. Perhaps the compelling story? The awesome characters? How about the fact that you can import stuff over from a save file of the first Mass Effect? Graphically this game was quite pretty to look at, but it has so much more going for it. The story, the drama, how the characters and their individual tales all made for one complete package. Sure, Bioware streamlined the RPG experience in the game, but that made the game that much more playable, and more tightly focused on the story they were trying to tell. I am eagerly anticipating Mass Effect 3. Bioware, don’t disappoint!

The 2009 Game That I Kept Playing in 2010 – Borderlands

Alright so maybe this category may bit a similar to a certain Giantbomb.com’s award, but none the less, this game rang true to me. Gearbox kept up the support for the game well after its initial release with patches, and two very compelling pieces of downloadable content for the title. I have spent more time playing this game overall on my Xbox than any other title. I needed to keep leveling my character, needed to find more guns. Oh god, the guns. I just needed to continue getting all the stuff that I could I with it…oh and I still want to play it. Gearbox, where is Borderlands 2 already?

The 2010 Game That Should Have Not Been – Quantum Theory

What I thought was going to be a good Japanese developed Gears of War knockoff turned into a trainwreck about 1/3 through the game. At the start it was a decent title, if slightly above average. But as you moved through the game, several glaring issues became more and more apparent. Hit detection of a target was off. Oh and then Tecmo thought it was a good idea to try and add platforming to game that doesn’t have the design for it. I don’t really don’t want to talk about his title anymore…it had left me bitter and regretful that I paid sixty bucks for it.

Here is the end

Alright, well this about wraps up my post! Hope you enjoyed the read. Also for those who follow me and read whenever I update, you may have noticed a new layout and background! Please comment on both the blog post as well as the new design! I would love to hear your thoughts!

Metroid: Other M. A deceptive game

After having a few weeks to let this game stew in my brain a bit, I figured now was the time to say something about it.

I picked up the game with much skepticism that Nintendo had mad a cardinal mistake, giving Team Ninja the reigns with Samus Aran. That and the reviews of the game were all over the place. And yet, I still pre-ordered the game, just because of the name. I was afraid that maybe the developer responsible for such titles as Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive might make something the Metroid something of a strange fever dream of the above mentioned games.

Metroid is one of my favorite NES games of all time. In fact its one of my favorite game series of all time. The games back in day had this way of capturing your attention. It was just you and this alien planet for you to explore. The sounds, the sights -- you never knew what was lurking around the corner in the game. The music had this haunting sound to it, and was paced just right as you wondered the worlds the games had to offer.

This new Metroid title doesn't quite do all the things that I mentioned from the previous entries in the series. Nintendo sought to actually tell a story with Metroid Other M, making its major focus about Samus Aran and her past. They tried to make her seem more like a person, as apposed to a somewhat faceless character. Most Metroid games have made her out to be a hard as nails bounty hunter trying to stop something that threatens the galaxy. While this is not a negative, it certainly detracts from the idea that this a "traditional" Metroid title.

The story picks right up after the events of Super Metroid for the SNES, and goes full speed ahead with how Samus is feeling and how she is dealing with past events and the current situation. Having received a distress call from the "Bottle Ship," she sets out to investigate what has happened upon the ship. When she arrives she soon discovers that the Galactic Federation is already there, and a unit sent to investigate is under the command of her old commanding officer.

Without spoiling much more about the game, I found it to be a compelling reason to continue playing, though are there several things that I found marring to the overall experience. The voice acting in the game is flat and subpar. In particular, the voice actress for Samus was monotone throughout most of the game. It was not until later in the game that I found her to be a bit more emotional.

The way the game controlled was also in question, as Metroid Other M only uses the Wii remote to control. Holding it sideways like a classic NES controller, moving Samus around in a 3D space with only 8 directions because of the d-pad. After awhile I got used to it, and I found myself being able to pull off her various moves with ease. I found that firing missiles was a little cumbersome, though not nearly as annoying as I thought it would be. You must point the Wii remote at the screen and the lock on to a target to fire missiles.

There are also times in the game that force you into a first person view, like when you are setting up to fire a missile. You cannot move past these parts until you find the the item you are suppose to scan in the environment. I was actually stuck for about 45 minutes looking for the right thing to scan at one point.

Despite a few problems and quirks here and there, Metroid Other M is a solid title. Not the traditional Metroid title, and I am glad that Nintendo took a risk with their franchise. I can only hope that the next one is a return to form.

If you are a Wii owner looking for a good game, get this game.