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.
Maniac’s Thoughts on the Alan Wake 2 Prototype April 25, 2015
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Earlier this week, Remedy did an interview with Polygon.com about a technical demo they produced in 2010 for Alan Wake 2. The demo was created to sell the game to possible publishers and while it did not get made it did lead to the development of Quantum Break. The web has been lit up with speculation about this demo ever since, especially by fans of the original Alan Wake game. If you haven’t seen the demo or read the interview yet you can check it out here.
What follows are my thoughts on the demo and why I think Remedy chose to release this information now.
Xenoblade Chronicles X Video Showcase April 24, 2015
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When the Wii U was first showcased, Nintendo had a lot of footage to offer for several of the platform’s upcoming games. Among those titles, a game simply called X got a lot of hype. It was being developed by the studio which had made the Xenoblade franchise, and the visuals looked absolutely stunning for the Wii U. Within a few months, Nintendo confirmed that X would be part of the Xenoblade series when they announced its full title, Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Today, Nintendo gave us a closer look at Xenoblade Chronicles X. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Bill from Nintendo.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is coming exclusively to the Wii U.
Reminder: International StreetPass Week Continues Until April 26th April 23, 2015
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Last week, Nintendo released two new titles for the Nintendo 3DS which took advantage of the system’s StreetPass functionality. These games require players to be in proximity with other 2DS/3DS owners for a short time, so they can use other people’s Miis to complete the StreetPass games.
For years now, Nintendo has offered 3DS and 2DS owners unable to find other players locally the opportunity to still obtain StreetPass Tags using specially equipped Nintendo Zone locations. By bringing your Nintendo handheld to one of these locations, you will get free internet connectivity automatically on your device, and StreetPass tags for as many as the past six StreetPass users. You can usually find these Nintendo Zone locations in various businesses such as McDonalds, Best Buy, Starbucks and AT&T stores.
However, StreetPass relays will only grant players access to the Miis of the people who physically visited that location before them, meaning it is tougher to obtain StreetPass tags from new users using this method. This week users won’t have that problem. Nintendo is designating this week International StreetPass Week, and any user who brings their Nintendo handheld to a designated Nintendo Zone location until April 26th can participate. Users will be given as many as six random StreetPass tags from Nintendo users across the world.
This is not only perfect timing for StreetPass users hoping to do well on the new StreetPass Plaza games, but it’s great for new 3DS players who may have just recently picked up the New Nintendo 3DS XL and want to make up progress in games like Find Mii.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection Update 8 Released April 21, 2015
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Since it’s launch, Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been a colossal disappointment with its wide array of bugs, multiplayer connection issues, and the months of waiting that players have had to endure for 343 Industries to finally fix them. Today, Microsoft and 343 Industries have released the eighth patch for the game, and boy does it have a lot of fixes in it. You can read the official patch notes here.
343 Industries promises that the promised gifts for the game’s early adopters (the full Halo 3: ODST single player campaign and a remake of the Halo 2 multiplayer map Relic) will be launching next month with the game’s NEXT title update. Is this it? Is the game finally stable now?
If you’ve previously had the most recent version of the game installed, you should be looking at a download of slightly over 1.6 GB. You must install this patch if you plan to play your game online.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out now exclusively on the Xbox One.
PS4 Software Update 2.51 Released April 21, 2015
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Sony has just released a new update for the Playstation 4, version 2.51. The new update includes several fixes and optimizations for the PS4’s internal software.
The software update can be downloaded automatically while your PS4 is in standby, or you can simply download it manually from the System Menu. If you previously had the most recent software installed on your PS4 the new update shouldn’t be larger than a 250MB download.
You must download the new system update to access the Playstation Network.
Maniac and Two Girls Try Bawls April 20, 2015
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Maniac is joined by two ladies to try three flavors of Bawls Soda, Over the course of this fifteen minute video we try the original Bawls, Cherry Bawls, and the brand new Orange Bawls soda. Is Bawls the greatest energy drink of all time? Let’s find out.
If you couldn’t tell from the video, the answer is yes.
Exclusive Spartan Locke Multiplayer Armor For Anyone Who Preorders Halo 5: Guardians at GameStop April 20, 2015
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GameStop has just announced that they are going to offer a special incentive to anyone who plans to preorder Halo 5: Guardians for the Xbox One, Spartan Locke’s armor set for use in multiplayer. What is this armor going to look like in action? Let’s take a look.
Halo 5: Guardians is coming October 27th, 2015 exclusively on the Xbox One.
Reminder: Xbox Live Gold Members Don’t Forget to Download Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel for Free April 20, 2015
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Microsoft is offering two major Xbox 360 titles for download in the second half of April 2015 completely free of charge for all Xbox Live Gold Members through their Games With Gold Promotion.
As of April 16th, 2015 the full versions of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel can be downloaded on the Xbox 360 completely free of charge through the Xbox Live Marketplace if you are a current Xbox Live Gold subscriber. If you haven’t downloaded the games yet, you can still get them until the end of April.
Like with all games downloaded on the Xbox 360 through Games with Gold, as long as you download them during the promotional period that they are free, they will remain redownloadable through your account forever, even if your Xbox Live Gold subscription expires.
Farewell, Famikamen Rider Released April 18, 2015
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Kaylyn Saucedo, better known to the Internet as Marzgurl, released a feature-length movie titled Farewell, Famikamen Rider for free on YouTube earlier this week. The film was done in tribute to the late Justin Carmical, who called himself JewWario. Justin created the Famikamen Rider character a few years earlier and planned to make a series with it, but he unfortunately committed suicide before finishing the project.
I was always a huge fan of Justin’s work and was very sorry to hear the news of his passing. In light of his death, his friends and colleagues decided to make this movie. It’s heavily inspired by Justin’s love of retro gaming, import gaming and Nintendo and is a great film for not only fans of its creators, but anyone who loves Nintendo, Super Sentai or Japan.
Rest in Peace, Justin.
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