Gaming History You Should Know – The Nuon April 28, 2015
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Everyone remembers the utter failure of the Atari Jaguar from back in the mid-90s but I bet a lot of you had no idea that the Jaguar actually had a spiritual successor nobody remembers. That’s right, the Jaguar’s developers got back together and created an entirely new gaming system exclusively for licensed DVD Players, the Nuon. What is the Nuon? I’ll let Rerez fill you in on all the details.
What is really disappointing about this is that the idea behind the Nuon could have worked better if only it had been integrated into DVD Player hardware sooner. DVD Players, while expensive at launch, sold like crazy due to the incredible picture quality (for the time) and extra features that they offered consumers. In the year 2000, $350 US for a standalone DVD Player was not considered an unreasonable price, and because DVD was getting a huge positive response from consumers since its launch, people would have happily paid that price if it was for one of the first DVD players. Unfortunately, by the year 2001, 20th Century Fox had already released most of their most popular films (like Fight Club and X-Men) on DVD and it was far too soon for them to consider creating entirely new discs for the Nuon. It makes a little bit of business sense that Fox chose to integrate Nuon features into new DVD releases for films they were planning to release anyway, although it seems fate wasn’t kind to the Nuon for the four films 20th Century Fox had lined up for Nuon exclusive features were huge critical and theatrical flops.
If you ask me what the biggest shame out of the whole Nuon story is, I would say that it would have to be the world’s ignorance to the game Tempest 3000, which would never see a rerelease on a more popular console. To this day, not many people know it even exists, and that’s a shame since it could have been a huge selling point for the Nuon hardware. Given Atari’s recent legal issues with Tempest 2000’s creators I doubt this game will ever get another release. A true shame.
Quantum Break Delayed to 2016 April 2, 2015
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It is with a heavy heart I have to inform you that Quantum Break, the very first game announced for the Xbox One and my most anticipated title for the platform by far, has been delayed until 2016.
Quantum Break is being developed by Remedy, the same studio responsible for Alan Wake and the first two Max Payne games. It combines a third person action game with a branching live action television show. The game is also going to feature an all new never before seen gameplay mechanic in the form of time powers.
Quantum Break is coming in 2016 exclusively to the Xbox One.
MK12 Announces Man of Action: The Terrible Cosmic Death’s Sequel February 21, 2015
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Fifteen years ago, Rockstar Games held their annual downloadathon. The winner was a short film produced by the company MK12, called Man of Action: The Terrible Cosmic Death. MK12 had become famous by producing television commercials with a unique look and style, and they brought their style front and center to showcase the exploits of Mr. President Doctor Steve Elvis America.
If you think the main character’s name alone is the craziest thing about this short, you would be wrong. The story was hilarious, the animation style was unique, and well…you know what, you’ll just have to see it for yourselves.
I’ve waited fifteen years for MK12 to produce a sequel. Today, when something inspired me to do a search, I came across this trailer…released less than a day ago.
Man of Action II is coming soon. You can check out the movie’s official website at WhoisSteveElvis.com.
UCON at UCONN 2015 This Weekend February 18, 2015
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Anyone near the University of Connecticut will be happy to know that an entirely free convention will be taking place at the UCONN Student Union in Storrs, Connecticut this weekend. The event is fittingly called the UCON at UCONN.
UCON at UCONN is a free convention that has been held for several years now. The convention focuses on many topics including video games, comics, Cosplay and animation. A full schedule of panels is available on their official website.
The UCON at UCONN is happening February 21st and 22nd, 2015. Special guests scheduled to attend include Uncle Yo and the voice of Raiden himself, Quinton Flynn.
Playstation Experience Full Keynote December 9, 2014
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If you missed the opening of the Playstation Experience, here is the complete video of the opening Keynote.
The keynote address lasted just over two hours. Many games were shown that players were hoping to see, and tons of new games were announced.
If you were hoping to see live gameplay from Uncharted 4, Until Dark, new footage from Batman: Arkham Knight, and an announcement of Street Fighter V, give it a watch.
How to Transfer 3rd Generation Pokémon to 6th Generation Pokémon Games December 6, 2014
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Let’s face it, a very important aspect of being a Pokémon trainer includes collecting and trading your Pokémon, and it’s only natural for trainers to want to bring the Pokémon teams they worked so hard to build into the newest Pokémon games. Any Pokémon players collected since the Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald games can be transferred to the latest games, but it’s not a clean cut process.
Pokémon fan TheJWittz posted a very detailed video on the Pokémon transfer process. If you plan to perform this transfer yourself or simply want to see how transferring content across fourteen years of games and three hardware revisions can possibly work it is totally worth a watch.
You will need a Nintendo DS equipped with a GBA slot, a third, fourth, fifth and sixth generation Pokémon game, a Nintendo 3DS, access to an Internet equipped high speed WiFi network, and a Pokémon Bank account. Quite a long list I know but not unreasonable for many die hard Pokémon and Nintendo collectors.
The Legend of Zelda Wii U Game Play First Look December 6, 2014
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A lot of eyes were on The Game Awards this year to see the latest from many highly anticipated games. Well, the show made us wait until the very end but we got what we wanted, the first live gameplay of the next Legend of Zelda game for the Wii U. Ladies and gentlemen, Shigeru Miyamoto.
The Legend of Zelda is coming exclusively to the Wii U in 2015.
Gaming History You Should Know – The History of the CD-ROM Console November 30, 2014
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In the 90s, Nintendo ruled the gaming industry with an iron fist. After bringing video games back into the mainstream after nearly a decade of darkness, Nintendo proved that video games were once again a viable business model and a lot of competition wanted a piece of that market. Nintendo’s major rival at the time, SEGA, had just released a CD add on to their popular Genesis console, and several major companies stepped up, each with their own motivation, to help Nintendo produce a competing product for their just released Super Nintendo console. The end was a mess which killed Nintendo’s faith in the optical medium for another generation and set the stage for one of the greatest gaming consoles of all time to be released, the Sony Playstation.
The guys over at From Concept to Console have posted up a pretty in depth video detailing just how this ambitious product could derail so badly for everyone involved. If you grew up in the 90s like me and remember what it was like to have your friends pick a side in the the 16-Bit console war, you should really give this video a look.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection TV Spot November 5, 2014
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You’re in a stadium watching your favorite team. They’re behind by several points and everyone is worried. Then “We Will Rock You” starts to play and the crowd unifies in cheering. You should hear comedian Robert Whul talk about this song. There’s no other way to describe its effect on a crowd. Hearing it makes a crowd ready to follow anyone. Well, who are we going to follow? We’re going to follow Freddy Mercury. Then we’re going to follow the Master Chief.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming November 11, 2014 exclusively to the Xbox One.
Gaming History You Should Know: The Kingdom Hearts Timeline November 5, 2014
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We’re less than a month away from the release of Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMIX, which will contain no less than two full games from the Kingdom Hearts franchise, and the remastered cinematics from one other, so what better time to talk about it?
The Kingdom Hearts series has had a very clear timeline, but unlike some series, the games have had a tendency to interweave their stories across games, making it difficult to determine just what was happening at some points, or where a scene would place along the overall timeline of the franchise. Well, worry no longer as GameTrailers.com has released one hell of a well researched hour long video on the official Kingdom Hearts timeline. For fans of the franchise, it’s a great trip down memory lane and for newcomers it can help set the stage on just what the stakes are when Kingdom Hearts III is released for the Xbox One and Playstation 4.
