Music of the Week (Wednesday) – Spacehog’s “In the Meantime”

Egad, I’ve been forgetful this month.  Missed Music Wednesday twice, So…this Webcomic once, Artistic Discussion all together…I’ll try to make some amends in July, okay?

Anyway, flash back to the ’90′s with me this week with some grooves from British band Spacehog, a group my friend Chad was huge into before he got into his goth phase.  The album is so-so, but this is a fantastic song that continues to bring good memories (instead of those of a turbulent time).  Off of Resident Alien, in case you wish to pick up the actual disc/iTunes/TAPE (whoa…that’s a very foreign concept these days, eh?).

Nester’s Favorite Games – R-Type (1987)

Developer: Irem
Publisher: Irem
Platforms: Arcade, multiple

The Game: 2D side-scrolling shoot-em-up.

Why it’s a Favorite: As far as 2D shooters go, R-Type doesn’t seem to do anything radically different from other similar games of its era. You still fly around an automatically scrolling playfield, shooting enemies, dodging bullets, and collecting power-ups. But R-Type defined itself by simply being one of the best crafted, tightly designed, and impressively refined games in its genre. The layout of the levels and placement of the enemies is so meticulous and carefully thought out that it maintains an incredible and intense moment-to-moment experience.

The stage 3 boss is so large that it IS the stage!

And make no mistake; this is a challenging game. Progress depends not only on dealing with the relentless hoards of enemies, but also on figuring out how to survive certain traps that the game seems to set for you. Yet, the game’s great art direction acts as a good motivator, and you’ll want to keep playing just so you can try to see what comes next.

Speaking of the art direction, R-Type was one of the many actions games in the 80s that took its cues from the film Aliens, particularly with its H.R. Giger-style character designs. But despite that, R-Type itself has been a major influence on many other shmups over the years, including Manfred Trenz’s Katakis and Aicom’s Pulstar, to name just a couple.

Memorable Moments: “Blast off and strike the evil Bydo Empire!”

This is Nintendo’s statement on Operation Rainfall?

Nintendo’s dropped a bombshell onto their Facebook page – one that isn’t impossible to see coming, but one that hits like a pound of bricks for those anticipating The Last Story, Pandora’s Tower and Xenoblade Chronicles.

Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say “never,” but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!

Well, I have a hunch you’ll be receiving an equivalent explosion about this, Nintendo.  The fight has just begun.  We need your support more than ever to prove how much we want these games.  Please join Operation Rainfall!  I’ve made the LVLs. header image to a link to their blog, as well as utilizing one of their images to create it.

Operation Rainfall Promo Video

At the time of this posting, Nintendo of America has yet to make its official statement regarding the efforts of Operation Rainfall. But to keep the energy up, the campaign has released this official promo video featuring the three games it hopes to see localized in North America: Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower.

Enjoy!

More Forgotten Beach Boys – Sentimental Stylings

Here are five more of my personal choices for forgotten Beach Boys songs. Once again, they range from the group’s prime in the mid 60s all the way to their reinvention in the 80s, so you can get a good sample of their different styles and eras. We start off with a couple of up-tempo songs, but then we slow things way down with some sentimental ballads.

The Little Girl I Once Knew (1965)

Despite being fairly successful at the time of its release, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, “The Little Girl I Once Knew” is not among The Beach Boys’ more recognized songs. The apparent reason for this is that the song includes two sections of complete silence, which made it unappealing to radio stations, both then and now.

The song was also never included on a proper Beach Boys album, originally being issued only as a single. According to Wikipedia, it was quickly overshadowed by Beach Boys crowd-pleaser “Barbara Ann.” It’s unfortunate, because it’s a great song that displays the complexity and experimentation of Brian Wilson’s writing and producing.

Hit the jump for the rest!

Gamasutra interviews Yu Suzuki

Last week, legendary game creator Yu Suzuki (Outrun, Virtua Fighter, Shenmue) announced that he was leaving his current position at Sega after 28 years to focus on his own company, YS NET. Suzuki has been rather aloof in the past decade, but Gamasutra’s Brandon Sheffield has recently had the chance to interview him. They discuss various topics, from his situation at Sega, to current gaming industry trends. Of course, they also touch a little on Shenmue, and even the cancelled Shenmue Online:

If you want to talk about it, what was your vision for [cancelled project] Shenmue Online?

YS: I wanted to do something MMO-like.

And how would you make that work within the Shenmue world, with everyone going about their daily life? Would you be able to play as a shopkeeper or something like that?

YS: I would have liked to have everyone living together in the same world, yeah. It’s a town that players create as they enter the game and play it — something like a multi-CPU system, with each player serving as a CPU.

There’s also an interesting bit on how timid Japanese game companies are about allowing their employees to become known publicly:

Even on a larger scale, a lot of Japanese companies still don’t send their employees to GDC because they don’t want them to be influenced by other people or talking to other people.

YS: That’s one thing about the industry I really don’t like at all, yeah. With the music industry, you see the composers and singers show up in the media constantly, after all. Everyone knows the directors and the screenwriters for films, too. Video games have become just as big as both of those industries, and yet there’s still this drive to hide things from each other. It makes you realize how shallow the culture of gaming still is. They’re all creative fields, right?

It gets a little technical in places when they get into the topic of programming, but overall, it’s an interesting interview with one of gaming most influential figures. He even teases that he has “a lot of original ideas in the works.” It’s well worth a read.

Check out the full interview at Gamasutra: Yu Suzuki At A Time Of Transition

Wired’s Chris Kohler discusses Nintendo of America’s localization habits

In light of the recent Operation Rainfall, Chris Kohler of Wired has written an editorial in which he talks about how finicky Nintendo has been with localizing games on the Wii. He makes note that even if Nintendo has no interest in localization, they also tend to refuse allowing third-parties to take up the task.

Nintendo used to allow this; its first-party Japanese games Cubivore and Polarium Advance were released in the United States by Atlus. This is a company that I am fairly sure would be positively ecstatic to release any or all of the games that Nintendo passes on.

And yet, for some reason unbeknownst to us common folk, Nintendo sees more benefit in sitting on the games and never releasing them at all. Saving them for a rainy day, perhaps? If so, it’s pouring now. The list of upcoming third-party Wii games that Nintendo distributed at E3 tells the rest of the story: There is not a single game coming to the Wii from Nintendo that is not either aimed at the casual audience or otherwise based on a kid-friendly movie or television license. It’s over. Third parties have abandoned Wii as a serious platform, and Nintendo apparently does not see fit to change its game lineup to make up for that.

He goes on to say that even if games like Xenoblade and The Last Story are not necessarily the greatest in their genre, Wii owners would be less likely to complain given that they have so few (if any) other options.

It’s an interesting article worth a read. Check it out at wired.com: Nintendo’s Game-Killing Policies Alienate Biggest Fans

Gaming TV From Yesteryear – GamePro TV, “For the Fredster”

Going way back to 1990, here is an episode of GamePro TV, based on the still-in-print (not to mention online) magazine GamePro, and hosted by J.D. Roth and Brennan “B-man” Howard.

Roth had previously been known as the host of the kids game show Fun House, and he continued hosting game shows afterwards. He is currently the executive producer and narrator for NBC’s The Biggest Loser. Howard, on the other hand, is currently an independent filmmaker.

If you’re allergic to late 80’s/early 90’s surfer slang, this show just might put you in the emergency room. B-man, especially, lays it on pretty thick, and the show is really cheesy all around. But personally, that’s what I find appealing about it. I like that it plays loose with its material, doesn’t take itself even remotely seriously, and just tries to have fun. My favorite bit: the “Ask the Pros” segment in which a guy named Rick Bretsnyder, who wears a football jersey and big sunglasses, messes up his lines as he asks a question about John Madden Football. (Maybe second takes weren’t in the budget.) For some reason, I can’t help but love the guy! I wonder whatever happened to ol’ Rick Bretsnyder.

As with most episodes of GamePro TV, there’s no particular focus or organization to the show, with different games and segments all just mishmashed together. I suppose the highlights would go to their coverage of the “new” Sega Game Gear and Sega CD systems, as well as reviews of Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, Wolverine on the NES, and Castlevania II on the Game Boy.

Commercial Break!

Do you have any memories of GamePro TV? Post a comment below or join the conversation in our forums!

A Taste of English Xenoblade Chronicles!

Siliconera noticed that the latest Iwata Asks on Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade Chronicles featured the English localization Nintendo of Europe performed on the game and put them up last night.  Click the first link above to hear all of them – here’s a sample.

The game also got pegged with a release date – September 2nd.  Check out the pre-order goods here.

Did Rich at IGN jump the gun about Nintendo’s comments on Operation Rainfall?

Well, looks like Rich at IGN may have been a little too overzealous in his declaration that Nintendo would say something regarding Operation Rainfall today…as he now has tweeted:

“Might have been a bit optimistic in hearing statement from Nintendo today. Should still happen but… it’s getting late. Patience! …If I don’t get it in the next hour or so, I’m thinking it doesn’t arrive until tomorrow or even Wednesday. Eh just give it time. Maybe tomorrow, maybe Wednesday. Shows they’re giving it thought though, which is good.” – RichIGN

Source.  Whenever it happens, I’ll let you know!  Sorry to hype you up!