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  • Softballchic10

    An Open Letter to Ellie and Joel

    By Softballchic10

    There are certain games that come along from time to time that really get your attention. It could be for the action, the graphics or game play. However, it is a rare occasion that a game grabs you for all of these, plus the amazing experience of becoming emotionally attached and involved in the actions of characters. It is to this that I write this open letter to Ellie and Joel. I met them in the “The Last of Us.” *(Please note that I've tried to write this to contain no spoilers.
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Quality Control ? Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!

Get Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose from eBay With my last Nintendo Power Recap, I picked Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose for my next Quality Control pick. This was in part because I was a fan of the Tiny Toon Adventures TV series, and partially because I kind of liked the last Looney Tunes game I played, Death Valley Rally.  So, we’ll see how well this game holds up. The Premise: Playing as Buster Bunny, you travel through various stages based on either cartoons from Tiny T

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Comic Review ? Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 11: Carnage

Get Ultimate Spider-Man: Carnage at Amazon.com So, it’s now time to review the Ultimate Universe’s take on the member of Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery I hate the most. I’m going to say this right now. I hate Carnage. The character is completely unoriginal. He was created to be a darker-and-edgier version of Venom, who was in turn meant to be a darker and edgier version of Spider-Man. The character has essentially no depth. He kills people for no reason. That’s it. He breaks out of where he’s hel

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Music Review ? The Fine Young Cannibals: The Raw and the Cooked

Get "The Raw and the Cooked" from Amazon.com So, in my wanderings across the internet I came across the music video for the song ?She Drives Me Crazy? by the Fine Young Cannibals, which I, frankly, hadn’t heard before. So, I decided to check out the album that it came from, The Young and the Cooked, and give it a try. I was rather impressed with what I heard. The Track List She Drives Me Crazy Good Thing I’m Not The Man I Used To Be I’m Not Satisfied Tell Me What Don’t Look Back It’s

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Book Review ? Game Over

Buy this book from Amazon.com As I’ve mentioned in my review of The Soul of a New Machine, I enjoy reading about the history of the computer industry. As you’ve probably gather from all my magazine recaps, I also enjoy learning about the history of the video game industry. Consequently, I enjoy books that fall in the category where the two Venn diagrams overlap. They do so with the book I’m reviewing this week, Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Ensl

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Where I Read ? Nintendo Power #46

So, I’m continuing on with the Nintendo Power Recaps with issue #46, for March of 1993. I’m also posting this issue of my recap on GiantBomb.com. Hello to you all! Anyway, this issue’s cover game is Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose. All things considered, the cover art for this issue is a little better then some of their earlier cover art for licensed properties (as opposed to licensed photographs). Our letters column actually has stuff that’s worth mentioning this time. We have a lette

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Alien Swarm

More often than not, letting go is unfortunately the name of the game in the modding community. Most of us probably did just that in 2007, albeit begrudgingly, after Black Cat Games? blog completely ceased to receive news updates on their forthcoming commercial game, Alien Swarm: Infested. Though their previous project, the original Unreal Tournament 2004 mod version of the game (that you can still try out and play, by the way; its unrelenting difficulty level and gritty gameplay is something

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Book Review ? The Black Hole War

Purchase this book at Amazon.com So, last week I talked about the documentary about Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Time”. This week I have a book review taking an alternative approach to Stephen Hawking’s theories of Black Holes, and how they are wrong. The book in question is The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind. Essentially, the plot of the non-fiction book is pretty simple. Stephen Hawking comes up with his theories of how Black Holes work, and how nothing can escape them. Well, sor

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Where I Read ? Electronic Gaming Monthly #21

After a little break to get some schoolwork done, I’m going to carry on with filling one of my gaps in the EGM recaps. This issue is issue #21 for April of 1991. The focus of this issue is on 16-bit systems, from Nintendo, Sega, and NEC. The Editorial column for this issue focuses on Sony and Nintendo’s announcement that they working on an optical drive for the SNES, one we all know never pans out, and ultimately leads to the development of the PlayStation. Letters to the Editor We get letters

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Senscape's "Asylum" Now Accepting New Patient Applications

I'm sure you've watched the videos from Leonard Huntings by now (and if you haven't, shame on you - they can be found right here). Four simple little messages to showcase the happenings at Hanwell Mental Institute. If they didn't whet your appetite for more, then you may want to check your pulse and confirm that you are, in fact, still breathing. For a few weeks now, Senscape's website has contained those four videos, a link to an interactive teaser preview which raises far more questions tha

Areala

Areala

Movie Review ? A Brief History of Time

No affiliate link this time, so click on the poster to see it bigger. I love physics. To be more accurate, I love all the space sciences. This ties in to my enjoyment of science fiction series like Star Trek and Star Wars, and from watching documentary series like Nova on Public Broadcasting as a kid. Plus, like most people, I love underdog stories. So, when I learned about Professor Stephen Hawkings, a physicist from the UK who helped to expand our knowledge of how the universe works in spite

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Music Review ? Pat Boone: In A Metal Mood

Get "In A Metal Mood" at Amazon.com So, on several occasions previously, my Dad had mentioned that Pat Boone had recorded an album of metal covers. Well, today I finally got around to hunting down the album in the library, and I gave it a listen. First – The Track List You’ve Got Another Think Comin’ (Judas Priest) Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Want To Rock ‘n Roll) (AC/DC) Panama (Van Halen) No More Mr. Nice Guy (Alice Cooper) Love Hurts (Nazaret

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Movie Review ? Three Days of the Condor

Get Three Days of the Condor from Amazon.com I enjoy spy thrillers. Marathon Man, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley’s People, Sneakers, Spy Game, etc, have all stuff I’ve enjoyed. I bring up Spy Game, because it was my first exposure to Redford in a spy film, which in turn leads me to this week’s review ? Three Days of the Condor, which features Redford acting alongside Max Von Sydow in a spy thriller set in the US. The plot follows Joseph Turner, code name ?Condor,? an analyst for the CIA. Wh

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My Electronic Gaming Monthly Retrospective

So, for the moment I’ve run out of EGM issues to recap – at least moving towards the present day. There are still some gaps in the backlog that need to be filled, and do intend to fill those once I get the issues. In the meantime though, I’m going to take a moment to look back at the history of EGM, and a look at my recaps. The growth of EGM, to be frank, very much reflects on the development of the gaming industry after the crash. EGM was, originally, basically a bit more of a computer game ma

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Movie Review ? No Country for Old Men

Get No Country for Old Men from Amazon.com I came in to this movie knowing nothing about Cormac McCarthy. I hadn’t read the book this movie was based on. I hadn’t read The Road, nor had I seen the movie that was adapted from the book. What I did have, however, is knowledge of the Coen Brothers from seeing Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou. I can justifiably say that after seeing this movie, I couldn’t see anyone else doing this film. I don’t have this reaction with all films. Sometimes, when

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Quality Control ? Cybernator

For this game I played through the first level. The Premise In the future, Earth is torn by a massive global war over limited natural resources. Jake Brain is a mecha pilot for the United Pacific States Marine Corps, and together with the crew of the Mech Carrier Versis, they do battle with the forces of the evil Axis for the safety of Earth. The Good This has some of the best controls for any of the mecha action games I’ve played. Only Metal Storm has better controls, in my opinion. I had

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Where I Read ? Nintendo Power #45

We’re continuing on with the Nintendo Power recaps with issue #45 for February 1993. Of note in the letters in this issue is one calling for the SNES getting Final Fantasy III, which they say we’ll get it as an adaptation of Final Fantasy V (sort of, we get Final Fantasy VI instead). Cybernator Guide Konami has a new mecha action game, and this is the guide for it. We get a map for the first stage, as well as notes and boss strategies for stages 2, 3, and four. Reading this, and seeing the plo

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Where I Read ? Electronic Gaming Monthly #122

This week we come to what will be the last of my EGM recaps, sort of – for September of 1999. I say sort of because there are some back gaps in my archive which I really need to fill, and once I get the issues to fix them, I will. However, as I’m not recapping any issues of EGM’s current run (the one that they’re currently publishing both online and in print), I won’t be recapping any issues chronologically after this one. Unless some get put up on Retromags. Have I confused you enough yet? Go

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Hanwell Mental Institute Fires Back

Readers of the previous entry on Hanwell here on Retrochick are no doubt still wondering just what is going on. Today, I can report that a new chapter has been opened, as it seems that the Institute itself has become aware of the videos being leaked by "Leonard Huntings" and have now issued a statement. I received the following e-mail, which originated from a real person at Hanwell (I check all my sources before reporting), and have their permission to reproduce it in full here. You can chec

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Movie Review ? Live Free or Die Hard

Get "Live Free or Die Hard" from Amazon.com As someone who intends to become a network security professional, I know a little something about hacking. Not how to penetrate people’s systems or anything like that, but I know about security flaws, I know about ways a possible attacker might come at your system, and I know that the visual for these attacks would be pretty boring. After I learned that the premise of Live Free or Die Hard would involve cyber-crime, I developed a lot of reservations a

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E3 2010: Microsoft Press Conference

Microsoft had the unenviable task of beginning E3’s series of press conferences, especially since the major trend for many spectators this year seemed to be the hope and the wish to be, simply put, surprised: Here at the Slowdown, we were above all looking forward to non-sequels and all-new IP. Unfortunately, the one major announcement from Microsoft – the seemingly abrupt re-branding of “Project Natal,” a move that G4TV speculate was an extremely recent decision – had been spoiled only day

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Quality Control ? Mickey?s Magical Quest

So, previously, one of my Quality Control picks was one of Capcom’s Disney licensed games for the NES – Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers. This week, we’re going with one of their SNES licensed games, featuring Disney’s biggest mascot, Mickey Mouse. The Premise Emperor Pete has dognapped Pluto, Mickey’s pet Dog. Mickey must progress through several worlds to free Pluto from Pete’s foul clutches. The Good The costume switching mechanic in the game works really well, and they do a good job of set

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Where I Read ? Nintendo Power #44

We’re moving on to Nintendo Power’s 6th year, with our cover story for this issue being Mickey’s Magical Quest from Capcom. There’s letters about Mario Paint, but not much of note. Also, from the Table of Contents, we have a significant note – the SNES games have been moved to the front of the magazine, with the NES games being moved to the back. It’s doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a really big shift. The Magical Quest Guide Pete has kidnapped Pluto, and Mickey must save him! We get notes

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E3 2010 Ubisoft Press Conference

What decade is it again – the 1970s? I ask this for what just went on during Ubisoft’s press conference was totally psychedelic, dude, even discounting the fact that the host, Joel McHale of “The Soup,†apparently took his part in the proceedings very, very seriously and quite possibly ingested beforehand a wide assortment of magic mushrooms. In any case, let us just linger on for a moment on these fantastic quotes I pulled from the show – a veritable checklist of games marketing bullshit:

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