Visual Connection: Resident Evil Game Boy Color

July 27th, 2009

Back in 1999 Capcom, through London developer HotGen Studios, began porting Resident Evil to the Game Boy Color. The game was canceled about a year later, supposedly Capcom had been unhappy with the product which would have likely eventuated into something in the same vein as Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. That’s common-sense portable gaming in sacrifice of technological overkill – I’m not criticizing though, I think it was a cool idea! Resident Evil GBC was later replaced with the standalone Resident Evil Gaiden.

Although there was meant to be some new content included in the title, I’m curious as to how much of the original title was actually planned to fit to cart. Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare only managed an hour of play time, so it’s highly doubtful that all of the content from the series’ progenitor would have made it over. I’m not sure how much Capcom would have been willing to scrap, perhaps it’s what caused the bust. In anycase, let’s take a look at some video I scrounged up;

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sFz34XQS9V4

Additional Readings

Screenshot Gallery – IGN

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Microtransactions: Machinima and Incompatibilities

July 26th, 2009

cannon-fodder

Cannon Foddering

My brother and I went through a bit of a Amiga phase about 10 years ago when one was handed down with mountains of floppy disks by family members who had all conspicuously owned an Amiga during it’s hey day. We never played terribly much of the Amiga aside from a few notable classics, I mean why would you when you had a Playstation right alongside it? One of the first consoles we’d actually possessed during its peak period.

One of those classics was Cannon Fodder; a neat strategy title with British sensibilities and humour. Unfortunately the old girl is having problems outputting to the TV – my brother tried to resuscitate her years ago – which means this part of our gaming history has been closed of, as such. Nevermind, emulation ought to do the trick, later down the track. In the meantime though my brother decided to buy a SNES copy of Cannon Fodder, which we snapped up for a reasonable price on eBay, about a week before it went up for $5 on Good Old Games. Frustrated at this poor twist of luck and the finicky SNES d-pad controls, we tried out the SNES mouse to see if the two worked together – common sense right? They don’t. >_<

This brings me to another compatibility issue which I’ve left dormant for too long. There’s an import games store in Adelaide which I sometimes buy games from (I rarely buy retail these days). A few years ago I was given Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as a birthday present from my brother, fast forward a year and I was given Portable Ops + (the expansion). Portable Ops was bought from Myer in one of their we’re-so-out-of-touch-we-unknowingly-mark-down-prices-on-limited-release-games sales* and Portable Ops+ was bought at the import store. On testing Portable Ops+, it refused to sync up with my existing save data from MGS:PO because my two versions were of different origins, Portable Ops of PAL and Portable Ops+ NTSC. Kind of senseless really.

Machinima

I’m surprised how well I manage to suppress my anger on this blog, because I occasionally fit the angry-at-life persona rather tidily. Considering the already bothered tone of the post, I ought to proceed with a continued level of choler.

You might remember that last semester I studied a games course brimming with cliched topics, including one of which; machinima. As part of the course, I had to read and study machinima, which I’ve honestly never liked. While the course highlighted some of the finer inner workings of the craft, let’s face the fact, machinima is terrible. I mean honestly, the medium is inherently inexpressive, the use of pre-existing game assets kills any individuality, the voice acting is generally poor and the jokes are either in-jokes or pure trite, often juvenile at that. I support the ideology and artistry behind machinima (and all fan-made produce for that matter) it’s wonderfully progressive and these people should be applauded for their versatile creativity. Yet, I can rarely watch any machinima without tensing up into fits of frustration at the pure indulgence of it all. Anyone feel the same way?

*Same reason I got Valkyrie Profile Lenneth so cheap too. You know, I use to sell games and electronics at Myers.

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Mini Demo Reviews and I’m Back

July 24th, 2009

G’day, I’m back. Don’t you just hate it when you return from a rather taxing holiday only to have responsibilities lying in wait at home? I certainly do. I’ve gotta update some passport stuff and prepare for my trip back to Shanghai which I’m hoping will happen this year, just before the new year. Once I finish my uni work, I’ll be doing a one month intensive TESOL (teaching English as second (other) language) course right up to Christmas and then start working possibly weeks after that!

That’s not for months yet, although uni’s starting monday which might slow down the posts a little. Also, if you didn’t notice, my new column went up on GameSetWatch, it’s called Memberships, Hierarchy and Lore of the Gorons. Originally I wasn’t very happy with the article – felt like I was grasping at straws, but after some extensive renovation I’m rather pleased with it.

Lastly, just before my break, I downloaded a number of demos from PSN, of the 6 or so titles I was most impressed with the experimental puzzler Trash Panic. I’ll probably download this one today as it had me hooked pretty bad, as for everything else though – including previously played demos – here’s some mini-impressions.

Ridge Racer 7 – very early PS3, can’t launch into slides easily

Everybody’s Golf – just like Mario Golf ‘cept the camera is a little more difficult to control and the new (optional) power-bar-less mechanic lessens precession in shots, still Mario Golf was beaut

Sega Rally – too floaty, I don’t like these sorts of games

infamous – haven’t played

Riddick – reminds me of Doom 3 with less colour and more headspin, demo makes it difficult to appreciate

Killzone 2 – argh, didn’t like this one, great graphical showcase tainted by unenjoyable realism, like Call of Duty 4 but unforgiving

Burnout Paradise – cars don’t feel as good as the amazing Burnout Revenge, I would probably warm into this title if willing to give up the blind faith

MotorStorm Pacific Rift – awesomeness, however all vehicles lose out to the bikes, full game would be sweet if it was overloaded with short cuts and destruction

Mirror’s Edge – refreshing but needs oiling

Crash Commando – maybe if I’d played Soldat I wouldn’t think much of this, well…I haven’t played Soldat, but enjoyed this thoroughly, needs more weapons and quicker drop ins though

Marvel Vs Capcom 2 – need time to understand the nuances of the fighting system, inflated sprites looks yucky

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