Everything is bigger this generation: resolution, budgets, marketing efforts, and worst of all, the prices. Last gen new releases had a set price at $50 (US), but PS3 and 360 games retail for $60. That sucks, but it gets worse. Gamers from other countries pay out the nose for the latest and greatest titles. Hit the link to find out how many franks translate to a new game.
I throw random 8-bit related junk at you guys, oh, pretty much all the time... but this time, its for a good cause. Charity!
This painting, entitled Los Illuminados, was created for the Child's Play Charity Dinner Auction 2009. The artist (previously featured here on BBPS) is now selling fifty copies at $35, with half the proceeds going directly to Child's Play. For those of you not familiar, CP is an organization that gathers books, games, and cash for children's hospitals around the world. This is a great cause, one that helps ease the suffering and boredom of sick children everywhere. Give the gift of game!
In 1999, the Swedish company, Elektron released a popular synthesizer. Rather than being equipped with a keyboard, these machines were controlled by knobs and a keypad and had an LCD screen, similar to Korg's Electribe line. They have three oscillators and four LFOs, the signals of which pass through a single analogue filter. Elektron's synth is used by a variety of popular bands such as Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and KMFDM. But what's all this got to do with chiptunes? Well, I'm not telling you unless you hit the link.
The Video Games Live concert in Paris this past November had a very worthy addition: an exhibit featuring several customized and artistically modified Gameboys. Here's just a sample of what was on display.
Hey kids! It's time to write retraction letters to Santa, because everything you asked for is now irrelevant with this collection of custom Punch-Out! figures. You'll spend hours upon hours reenacting classic battles between Little Mac, King Hippo, Soda Popinski, and my 8-bit clone, Glass Joe. My only complaint is that Tyson isn't updated with a face tattoo.
Wow this really is the best time of the year. Chiptune musician Rush Coil has spliced together classic Christmas tunes and video game sound effects for an entire album of 8-bit cheer. You can currently stream the album online, and the artist says a CD (with a bonus track!) is in the works.
The last Wii game I bought was Muramasa: the Demon Blade. Before that, it was MadWorld. As you can see, I don't buy too many Wii titles - or many current gen titles for that matter. But between January and March of 2010, I will almost double the amount of Wii games in my library (and cut my life savings in half), thanks to three games I've been looking forward to for a long time. One is about revenge, one is about human frailty, and another one is about a cross-generation of heroes.
Hit the link to read which games I'll be picking up in 2010.
Interested in the history of video games? Obsessed with imports? Or maybe just a straight up Nintendophile? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions and are fluent in the Engrish language, do I have the book for you. Family Computer 1983 - 1994 documents the two decades of the Famicom's (Japanese NES) life. Hit the link for the full review.
Note: Apply global [sic] to all quotes and passages.
That's right party peoples, the bitcast podcast is back with a VENGEANCE! It's been in the planning stages for a little while now, as we only wanted to make a comeback if we were dedicated enough to the cause to make it work (We even used Google Wave to talk about it!).
Well, here we are... back in full effect. And by "full effect" I mean we have the original crew of Kevin, Jim, Dan and Ryan. It's like 2008 all over again. We'll be doing bi-weekly episodes from here on out, since it's a more realistic goal in the "how do we fit this into our lives" department.
This week we talk about:
Where the hell we've been
What the hell we've been playing
News... and stuff
Yo, is there like a best game you've played this year? Maybe a "game of the year?"
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