DP’s Gaming Wallpapers
April 30th, 2008
Oh boy, this is somewhat embarrasing. As mentioned in the previous post I am interested in graphic design and also photography, you can find some of my work on my deviantART page and on my flickr account. Many years ago I created a few video game based wallpapers when my design skills weren’t too crash hot. Even though it is painful looking at these pieces now, some of them, the more recent ones (2 years ago) aren’t too bad. Since I don’t have anywhere to upload these wallpapers to, I thought that I could make this site their last resting place. So below are the wallpapers that I am talking about. Also I apologise for scrolling on the main page, Wordpress’ awful formatting has my hands tied. 
You will find that some of them are tagged, I should explain this. Firstly Raven is an old screen name *giggles*, some of the wallpapers were volunteraly made for the Advanced Media Network, a site in which I use to post at quite a bit (the forum that is) and Nexus and Ravens Domain is something of a portfolio site with work from myself and my twin brother. Anyways, I think that the majority of these wallpapers are quite crude but if you like them then…yeah, let me know. Click the titles for a full view.
Advanced Media Network Wallpaper - 1024×768
Bowser Sprite - 1024×768
Day of Disaster - 1280×1024
Fierce Deity 2006 - 1600×1200
Gamecube Advanced - 1024×768
Kirby - 1280X1024
Lost in Blue - 1600×1200
Super Mario 64 DS - 1024×768
Playstation Portable - 1600×1200
Paper Mario #2 1024×768
Paper Mario Dragon - 1600×1200
Raven (Fire Emblem) - 1600×1200
Tags: day of disaster, fire emblem, gamecube, konami, lost in blue, mario kart, nintendo, paper mario, Pokemon, super mario, wallpaper, Wario Ware, wii, zelda
Images that Defined Gaming – Vertical Gaming
February 8th, 2008
Images that Defined Gaming is a featured series showcasing the various images that changed the way we thought about gaming, the characters and franchises within it. To view more entries in this series click here.
Theres been a bit of fuss lately about gaming monitors, a few weeks back we saw images of the awesome AlienWare curved monitor and many months ago I posted up a screenshot of this new ‘Surround Gaming’ phenomena. Sure, these monitors definitely look awesome but they’re not quite as awesome as vertical gaming:
Vertical gaming is just as it sounds; video games played vertically instead of in your typical horizontal fashion. One genre that works brilliantly in a vertical perspective is the shoot-em up genre.
Not surprisingly there aren’t a lot of games that support vertical play. The only one that I am familiar with is the legendary Ikaruga (pictured) on the Dreamcast and Gamecube.
You’re probably wondering why someone would go to the trouble of buying a vertical only television or monitor just to play one game. Sure its great for shoot em ups but its not like every monitor is built vertically, they’d be difficult to find and probably quite expensive, right? Actually, quite a few new computer monitors (such as my Dell monitor) can actually be rotated 90 degrees so that they can viewed vertically (for photos and such). So it might surprise you how accessible this phenomena actually is.
If you are interested in trying this out and have a TV or monitor that you think might be rotatable then I have two pieces of advice. Firstly check the product information before you try and move anything because sometimes you can only rotate the base one way. Which leads me to the second point if you can only rotate your TV anti clockwise then I’d probably forget about Ikaruga (once again not sure about other titles). Unfortunately as a result Ikaruga will be displayed upside down and there is no option to change it. You can’t flip the picture in the game’s options hence you might be forced to play upside down. I have heard that they’ll be fixing this for the new Ikargua HD on Xbox Live Arcade though.
I ran into the second problem myself and decided to unscrew my base and flip the rotation plate. Which worked but this isn’t recommended.
Playing Ikaruga vertically is like a dream, I’m only new to shmps but I love not having the huge ugly bars in the horizontal mode. I set the display so that there is only very small bars on the top and bottom. The game is stretched out to high definition too. Its been very exciting so far so I want to following this up with some impressions of the game next time.
Sexiest People in Games - Heihachi Mishima
December 18th, 2007
This post is a part of the Sexiest People in Games feature series. Basically this series highlights the hottest guys and gals in video games and provides some detail into the character’s background and the game they have featured in. This may contain some sexual references. See more here.
It was always going to be a struggle following up the previous entry in the series; Morrigan but I think that I’ve done it. Heihachi Mishima is one of the Grandparents of video gaming but (much like Sean Connery) this doesn’t sway the charm one bit. Some may not understand why Heihachi is included in this feature but allow me to make things clear. Heihachi Mishima is sexy as:
- he has tanked up muscles
- a wicked hair do and a bad ass moustache
- looks totally cool and respectable
- he is the main character of the series that made 3D fighters cool
- has appeared in every Tekken game
- and is just so much cooler than Akira Yuki (Virtua Fighter)
Also keep in mind that I don’t want to be biased with this series, hence I shall try an fairly distribute the guys and gals. So it was always going to be hard for me to talk about the guys. >< Now that that’s all cleared up, let’s continue.
Background
Heihachi Mishima started out as the villain of the Tekken series and has dropped this role as the series progressed. He was the owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu which is a family run business by the Mishima family. Mishima Zaibatsu is a crucial parts of the Tekken series as it sets the story for the Mishima family whom also feature as playable characters in the series. Unfortunately the problems within this family (like how they constantly try to kill each other) has resulted in several different different family members owning the business.
Heihachi is a staple character in the series as he has hosted most of the Iron Fist Tournaments, paves the way for other major characters and has been in every single game as well as featuring in the PS2 version of Soul Calibur 2.
Featured Games
As previously mentioned Heihachi has been in every single Tekken game. That is Tekken 1-5 and Tag Team Tournament. The Tekken series has been one of the key franchises to bring 2D fighting games into the 3D generation, along with Virtua Fighter and Soul Blade. It is also one of Namco’s strongest gaming brands.
Tekken is famous for its ground breaking 3D fighting system which helped launched the fighting genre into 3D on the Playstation. Since Tekken 3 some fans have been turned off from the series due the minimal upgrades that each game has recieved since Tekken 2 (Tekken Bowl is does not help). As a result in recent years the franchise has been over shadowed by Namco’s Soul Calibur with its fresh approach to 3D fighting.
Extras
Video of Heihachi’s combos in Tekken 5
Heihachi has cameoed in many of Namco’s other games such as Soul Calibur 2, Death by Degrees, Anna Kournikova’s Smash Court Tennis and Tales of the Abyss. As well as being referenced to in the GTO manga, a personal favourite that one check it out.
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