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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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The Slowdown

Body of Work: Human Revolution Trailer

Like the original Deus Ex 3 teaser trailer, the latest Deus Ex: Human Revolution teaser chooses to toy with the concepts – humanism, transhumanism, mechanistic anatomy, corporeality – that fascinated the scientists and artists of the Renaissance: In the new trailer, the subliminal glimpses from before have now been rendered visible and brought to the fore: Not only is the scene of Rembrandt van Rijn’s “Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp†replicated fully in the dream/nightmare sequence, t
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Thor's Thoughts

Square-Enix's Final Fantasy... PLEASE!

What's there to say about Final Fantasy? A series that is known for huge stories, crazy plot twists, amazing character/monster design, amazing music and visuals, thought and emotional invoking, exploration, hours and hours of game play. Final Fantasy is a series that I have been addicted to ever since I was in late elementary school. The idea of playing a game that was so different from most of the games of the time. You actually have to work to build your character up and think about what you a
Thor

Thor

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Dreams of the Red King

DVD Review ? Bones Season 2

Get Season 2 from Bones from Amazon.com As you may have gathered from my review of the first season, I liked the start of this. I liked the Forensic Anthropologist take on the Science Detective show.  I liked the characters, and I liked the stories in the show. Now I’ve watched Season 2, and the show has slightly changed it’s focus, to a certain extent. Specifically, in this season the focus has changed from being heavily based around the murders, with the character focused side plots orbiting
Count_Zero

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The Slowdown

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition

Below, LucasArts’ all-new Monkey Island 2: Special Edition key art, side by side with my Mac box cover for LeChuck’s Revenge: When I linked these to a friend, he instantaneously called the new art “’special.’†Yeah… yeah: Even the poor little monkey responsible for numbering the sequel got a visual keelh… uh, overhaul. If nothing else, contrasting the original with this all-new interpretation goes a long way in illustrating the amazing talents of the man behind the original cover, S
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Retrochick Retroblog v1.0

[Let's Read] - Nintendo Power #3

Let's Read: Nintendo Power #3 I've always thought that every so often Nintendo chose some odd titles to give cover treatment to with their magazine, and this issue's focus on Track & Field II is probably the first time I thought this. Granted, I've never been into sports games, so that probably explains some of it. But did they really think that anybody in their right mind would list this game alongside the likes of classics such as Super Mario Bros., Metroid, or Legend of Zelda?
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The Slowdown

20th Anniversary NeoGeo Museum

SNK Playmore have put up a dedicated, if Engrish-ridden 20th anniversary website for their console, the “NeoGeo Museum,†ten years after the last NeoGeo console was shipped: Looking back 20 years ago to 1990, a video game company by the name of SNK teamed up with ALPHA DENSHI (ADK) to develop a video game console. That console was made for arcades, yet at the same time was completely compatible for home use. It was called the “NEOGEO,” meaning “new land,” and owns a significant chapter i
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Dreams of the Red King

Quality Control ? UN Squadron

Get UN Squadron from eBay By the time you read this, I will have a copy of Final Fantasy XIII in my hands. So, since I don’t want to do a game for Quality Control that would take time that I could otherwise spend studying or playing Final Fantasy XIII, I’m picking UN Squadron for my Quality Control. Additionally, since this game is based on an anime and manga series (Area 88), I’m also going to do a review of the first OVA series (presumably the one that came out contemporary with the game). Th
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The Slowdown

From New Reno to New Vegas

Thanks to Bethesda’s ingenious assessment of the gaming market in first pushing out the Oblivion-style Fallout 3 to an established player base (fans of the original are known to be a bit on the grumpy and sour side, for good reason too, and therefore harder to market to), it’s not at all difficult to get a strong double act vibe from the very latest screenshots of Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas. Taking on some geographical and narrative cues from the unreleased Van Buren project, the game se
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The Slowdown

Next for Nexuiz

When it comes to deathmatch-oriented open source FPS games based on the multitudinous engine offspring of Quake (1-2-III), a plethora of choice exists: Warsow, Alien Arena, World of Padman and Trepidation to name but a few. Out of these, the highly-enhanced, DarkPlaces–based Nexuiz has always been a favourite of mine. This particular open source, GPL-licensed shooter was first released in 2005 and has since seen a vast amount of updates and improvements, including the addition of particle ef
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Dreams of the Red King

Where I Read ? Nintendo Power #30

Moving on to our Nintendo Power recaps, we come to issue #30 for November of 1994, and our cover story is Final Fantasy II, otherwise known to the rest of the world (and most gamers today) as Final Fantasy IV. Oh, and the Chocobo on the cover, even though it is black, isn’t the wrong cover. It’s flying, and in Final Fantasy II/IV Black Chocobos are the ones that can fly. Letters This month they were asking for letters from people asking who they’d like to play multi-player Game Boy games with
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Retrochick Retroblog v1.0

[Let's Read] - Nintendo Power #2

Let's Read: Nintendo Power #2 Powering on (bad pun, bad pun) from our last [Let's Read] brings us to Nintendo Power #2, which has probably the most infamous cover art of any Nintendo-produced magazine in the company's history. Yes, that is Simon Belmont of Castlevania fame holding Dracula's severed head by the hair. A closer inspection of the image reveals Dracula's heart, ring, fingernail, and eyeball laid out on the cloak where the evil one has fallen, and a bloody hand reaching
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Dreams of the Red King

Where I Read ? Electronic Gaming Monthly #75

Alright then. We’re going back, after a long hiatus, to my Electronic Gaming Monthly recaps. This time we’re skipping ahead some to issue 75, for October of 1995. Our cover story is Mortal Kombat III for the Sony PlayStation and… Street Fighter: The Movie – The Game for the Sega Saturn. I can tell you right now which one I’d rather play. Editorial Danyon Carpenter has this issue’s editorial column. As the 16-bit generation comes to an end, it’s going out with some pretty impressive games. Secr
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Retrochick Retroblog v1.0

[Let's Read] - GamePro #1

Let's Read : GamePro #1 Phillyman requested that I do this one next, so that's where I'm going. If this isn't where you wanted me to go, then you've only yourself to blame as nobody else spoke up. So tell me what you want me to do next with a PM or a comment, otherwise I'll start picking things myself and you'll just have to suffer anyway. Make it easy on yourselves. GamePro #1, May/June 1989 - 60 pages - $3.50 So it's been roughly a year since Nintendo Power launched, and some
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Thor's Thoughts

9.9.99

I’ve been around since the release of the Coleco Telstar Colortron, but did not get into playing video games until the VCS or better known as the Atari 2600, to most people. As far back as I can remember I’ve always been into video game from a very young age playing that crappy Pac-Man on the VCS. Though as I was just looking around the internet tonight I started thinking, “what is my most fond memory when it comes to video game consoles?” I went all the way back to the past and then into the p
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Dreams of the Red King

Quality Control ? Super Ghouls & Ghosts

When I was a kid, I picked up a used copy of Ghouls & Ghosts for the NES. I picked it up after hearing Adam Sessler, a game critic I respect immensely, gush about the game on Extended Play (which might have still been “GameSpot TV” at the time). I played it, found it frustratingly hard, and turned it in. When I came to the last issue of Nintendo Power which I did a Where I Read for (Issue #26), I decided now, with the aid of emulation, to give the 16-bit version of Ghouls & Ghosts anothe
Count_Zero

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The Slowdown

Revolutionary Title, Devolutionary PR

Square Enix Ltd recently grabbed the trademark name “Deus Ex: Human Revolution†(008862153) for decidedly game-y purposes; should the forthcoming Deus Ex 3 be subtitled as such remains unconfirmed, though, but at the time of writing, that’s as close as it gets. The company has also started an underground advertising campaign for the game – one that might not reflect as well on the game’s profile as they might have hoped, for reasons that are rather out of the company’s hands: While Valv
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Retrochick Retroblog v1.0

[Let's Read] - Nintendo Power #1

Let's Read: Nintendo Power #1 You've probably seen on YouTube or other internet video sites the "Let's Play" idea, where one person sits down with a game, a microphone, and a screen capture utility and proceeds to play through an entire game while offering running commentary, pointing out secrets, and in general just showing off what the game has to offer. Well, I'm not cool enough to have a video capture device or a microphone or the desire to sit and blabber my way through hours of
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Dreams of the Red King

Movie Review ? Troy (Director?s Cut)

Get Troy from Amazon.com Ever since the dawn of cinema, people have aspired to adapt the great myths and legends of history. The tales of the Arabian Nights, the legends of Heracles, and most significantly, the Illiad and the Odyssey of Homer. However, the technology required to tell the second to last has been a little lacking. However, the Lord of the Rings films, with the technological development of the Massive Engine, when was used to show the massive battles of the books, now the time has
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The Slowdown

Portal 2 Official

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and Half-Life) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Portal 2 for shipment this coming holiday season. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007’s Portal, which won 70 industry achievement awards Even if the game is now official, the Portal 2 ARG, nevertheless, is hardly over: In the press release above, the underlined letters form the word “drattmannh0nee”, which in turn can be used to lo
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The Slowdown

It’s Not Too Late / To Spank It

First, Tim Schafer and Brütal Legend. Then, Ron Gilbert and DeathSpank. According to EA Partners, DeathSpank will be published via Xbox Live and PSN: EA Partners … and leading independent developer Hothead Games announced today an exclusive publishing agreement that will bring DeathSpank to Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation®Network in 2010. Does “exclusive†mean what I think it means? In that case, I suggest a solution: Spank you, Ron! Spank you very much. In the meant
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The Slowdown

In Deep Shadows

Remember Boiling Point: Road to Hell? The ambitious, sprawling “high-maintenance†2005 PC FPS title that in many ways beat Far Cry 2 to the punch and was, erm, sternly chastised for being released in unfinished state, but ultimately got patched up with several then-massive patches and in the process became a minor cult hit among the PC shooter crowd. Despite the proven updates, the game nevertheless became a bit of a poster boy for bad launches. But did you know a sequel for the game exists
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Retrochick Retroblog v1.0

Come Get Some! - Duke Nukem 3D (PC)

"It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I'm all outta gum." -- Duke Nukem Laugh if you must, but I was one of the gamers who was utterly heartbroken to hear the long-time-coming announcement that Duke Nukem Forever was to be no more. I had long ago accepted the fact that I had been jilted, and that Duke was long gone, probably too busy off kicking alien pseudopods to bother with the likes of starring in another video game. But still inside me, there was a part, a tiny little pa
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The Slowdown

Eyeing E.Y.E.

E.Y.E. is a dystopian cyberpunk/sci-fi/fantasy “50% FPS, 50% RPG, 100% immersion†game from French bedroom developers Streum On Studios, who have, much like Natural Selection, Red Orchestra, Killing Floor and Nuclear Dawn, decided to undertake the long hard road from modification to full retail game on the Source engine. Halt. Enter The Metastreumonic Anarchist Conspiracy Movement website. Confused yet? I know I am. The only thing that’s absolutely clear is that E.Y.E., by all means,
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