
I’m not sure that the videogame fan’s fetish for promotional and limited edition hardware is much of a problem. Most people just love having stuff. Some folks are into shoes. I’m not talking about people who hang out at Footlocker waiting for a fresh shipment of Lebron Signatures. I mean there’s a whole freaky subculture of people who collect and buy custom made sneakers designed by graffiti artists. They spend thousands of dollars on pairs of sneakers. Sneakers they already have. Those sneakers look different than their other sneakers. The things you learn watching Entourage, I tell you…
The gamer’s most disturbing predilection is his unceasing devotion to brand. Nothing gets our blood going like the latest sequel, remake, or re-release. It isn’t just nostalgia, that ready scapegoat for franchise excitement. The iterative nature of game design (and business) has simply made us gluttons for the familiar. We are addicts for the names we know being followed by ever increasing numerals and for the inevitable resurrection of classic milieus.
I’m feeling particularly guilty about it today. When it came out last night that Sega’s Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram was getting re-released on Xbox Live Arcade I damn near wet my pants. I’m a sucker, what can I say.
Virtual-On, so ya know, is a game that has you controlling angular, bi-pedal robots in single combat. These fights take place in large arenas, allowing you to run, leap, shoot, stab and strafe at high speeds. Your goal is to make another robot blow up. Discerning 61FPS readers may recall my writing a surreal devotional to Sega’s robot fighting game just a few weeks back, so the announcement that the series definitive arcade entry, Oratorio Tangram v.5.66, is coming home made me doubly giddy. There isn’t much to report. It isn’t confirmed the XBLA version will even release outside of Japan and it’s guaranteed Sega won’t be making a new twin-stick controller just to accommodate rabid devotees. Who cares though?! HD ORATORIO TANGRAM!
(Much love to duckroll for letting US citizens know about Weekly Famitsu’s latest news)
Related Links:
Screen Test: Battle Rage
This is the Reason Why Gamers Aren't Taken Seriously
The Mega Man Robot Club