61 Frames Per Second

Burn Your Skin for Pac-Man

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:34:00 GMT

I'm always interested in video game-based body modification. Though I sport no video game tattoos of my own or indeed, any tattoos at all (am I a chicken? You'll never know), I like to know what kinds of choices people made before they went ahead and got Mario stamped upside-down on their foreheads.

I'd especially like to know what the motivation is for the latest fad going around: burning images, particularly of game characters, into the skin with industrial strength lasers. For one thing, I'm not sure about the intended use of these lasers under circumstances when the Stupid virus isn't rampant, but I'm pretty sure body art isn't it. Health regulations? Risk of post-procedure infection? Ahhh, big deal!

It's also quite possible that you can't remove a laser-etched Space Invader from the back of your hand in a safe and effective manner. On the other hand (ha!), there's something special about having Pac-Man stare at your partner with his mouth agape as you make love.

Developer Journal part 4: A Brief History

Amber Ahlborn — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

We've heard about the history of Beat Me Up and its impending sequel. For this week's interview I thought I'd ask Will about his own programming past; school, work, and going solo. I've also pulled a little more art from my sketch book to point at and laugh.

AA: Tell us a bit about your own game making history: When did you first learn to program and how long have you been doing this?

WP: I remember being a kid and playing a lot of video games mostly on the NES. At the time, my mother had a top of the line 286 computer at home for her work. I was obsessed with the Mega Man series and also had a 5 1/4in disk of Mega Man for the PC (that was incredibly hard I might add). I remember my mom telling me that there was a way to make your own games on the computer and she bought me this book on BASIC programming. I took it up and began writing my own games aspiring to make the next Mega Man game. This was 1993, so that's about 15 years ago now.

At the time I was living in the back country of North Carolina and since I was twelve I couldn't go anywhere without asking my mom for a ride but she was always at work. Thus there really wasn't much to do aside from play in the woods, play video games and my new hobby of making games. Over time I just kept doing it and got better at it and taught myself new languages. I remember being eighteen and getting totally stuck though on how to make 3d games. That was my main motivation for going to DigiPen. DP taught me everything I ever wanted to know about it and then some, heh.

AA: Any shocks when you started at DigiPen? The programming course is legendary for culling the herd.

WP: My college friends still all talk about orientation; Claude Comair (the founder) sat us all down in the main auditorium and said "Look to your left; Look to your right. When you are done, they will not be here." Sadly it was very true... only about a quarter of us graduated. I also remember on the first day having my programming ego totally shattered by Claude from him asking a bunch of ridiculously hard questions about C programming. I really did love the courses though; there weren't any general ed classes to get in the way of what I wanted to do. Every class had something that I really enjoyed.

AA: So, you survived DigiPen and hit the real world. Was it difficult to find a programming job?

WP: No. The game industry pretty widely recognizes DigiPen and if you're interviewing at a game company that hasn't heard of them then you need to seriously question whether to accept an offer there.

AA: What sort of work did you do before you struck out on your own?

WP: A friend of mine somehow convinced me to make cell phone games. The pay was good for the game industry ... but making games on cell phones is frustrating and hard for stupid reasons. I decided to take my knowledge I gained about cell phone programming and bring it to a startup named Loopt after that but I inevitably ended up missing making games. But at the point where I wanted to go back to making games I had come to the realization that I didn't want to make other people's games; I wanted to make my own so I saved some living money up and decided to take the rather tall dive into starting my own game company.

AA: Before going Indie yourself, had you done much in the Independent Development community before?

WP: As far as small groups are concerned, we had to make at least 1 game every year at DigiPen in a team. One of the games I worked on, Scrapped, won the IGF student showcase. Aside from that I've always made games on my own.

AA: Onward to the future. Andrograde is the name of your own start up. Where do you hope to see the company in the next few years? Aside from still existing of course.

WP: I want to keep the company small; I don't like the idea of managing large numbers of people. I just want to make enough money with the company to pursue my passion of making quality games and pay the people that work with me well. I don't want to get in the 'theres not enough money so we have to pump out a half baked game every x months' mentality.

AA: That certainly sounds sensible. It's all an exciting prospect and based on the latest build your first Andrograde game, Beat Me Up Too, is looking pretty good. Before we wrap things up for this week, do you have any advice for budding game programmers out there?

WP: Don't lose touch with your vision; it's way too easy to get caught up in the details of making a game and forget the big picture. I find that taking occasional breaks from development for maybe a few days to take a breather really helps bring in new perspectives when you come back to it.

AA: Thanks again Will.

I also promised some more art this week so I've peeled a couple more pieces straight from my sketch book:

Let me first introduce you to Andrograde. Yes, we even beat up the company mascot.

And to celebrate Independence Day and the up coming election. I present to you Politician Guy.

Finally here's a mock screen shot staring Alien Guy. Time for some revenge!

Developer Journal part 1

Developer Journal part 2

Developer Journal part 3

Chiptune Friday: IndepenDANCE Day Weekend

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Today is Independence Day here in the United States, which means everyone in the country is off at a barbeque and setting off fireworks.

What better way to celebrate the United States' independence than with a New York chiptuner's take on one of the most popular British bands of the past few decades? I present to you Nullsleep's Depeche Mode Megamix, with chiptune takes on "Enjoy The Silence," "Photographic," "New Life," and "Everything Counts."

Fourteen-and-a-half minutes of nostalgic Game Boy bliss should delight everyone at your party of choice and comfort that hottie you've been eyeing all afternoon as you gaze drunkenly up at the colorful explosions in the night sky together.

Graphic from one of my favorite shirts from R Stevens.

Chiptune Friday: Crystal Castles

Cole Stryker — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Derek said I could hijack his 'Chiptune Friday' feature on the condition that we brand this very special double-dose edition, "IndepenDANCE Day", so that's what I'ma do.

Crystal Castles hate videogames, and roll their eyes at journalists who attempt to lump them in with other bands who make either video game music, or music with game electronics. They use a keyboard equipped with an Atari 5200 sound chip to create their relentless sound. They have acheived notoriety in the chiptune world not so much for their music, but for a well documented plagiarism controversy.

Last weekend I went to the UK's annual Glastonbury Festival. The highlight of the weekend was a short set by the Crystal Castles, a chiptune dance duo from Brooklyn. Vocalist Alice Glass, who looked as though her tiny body was just dug up from a grave, almost immediately launched herself into the crowd, which resulted in hand-wringing from a bunch of goateed AV dudes who were worried about her mic chord. They finally persuaded her to return to the stage, where she climbed the lighting truss. After twenty minutes of mayhem, the AV guys got their cargo shorts in a bunch and pulled the plug. It was the only moment of unbridaled rock 'n roll energy the festival had to offer, and it was awesome.

Yahtzee and the Webcomics Plague

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:35:00 GMT

Yahtzee, possibly the only game reviewer capable of out-talking a five-year-old with a new Poekmon game, recently made clear his feelings about gaming webcomics. To give you the five-cent summary, Yahtzee believes that video game webcomics are the putrid nesting grounds of wannabes and hacks.

What do you think, class?

Personally, while I have no love for the webcomic that served as the primary target for Mr Yahtzee's rant (Ctrl+Alt+Del), I bear little ill will to webcomics in general. There's a popular opinion going around this here Internets stating that only kings and God should be allowed to produce creative work because humanity is generally not very good at anything. I don't think that's the case.

I don't begrudge anyone their right to produce a Mario x Luigi slashfic. I've put up some pretty horrific creations on the Internet (and since locked them in chains and thrown them in the basement), but with practise I started to produce stuff that's only mildly horrifying. I think that's part of the problem, though: the Internet genie can grant instant popularity. Popularity is the natural enemy of criticism. When you start hearing about how great you are, anyone who offers suggestions for improvement can go suck a lemon.

If someone tells you that there is in fact room for improvement in your work, it's easy to feel, as the kids say, butthurt. It's natural to sulk a little when you recieve criticism, but then comes the vital junction. Are you going to throw it off and get back on the horse, or are you going to shoot the messenger in the kneecaps (as illustrated by Yahtzee)?

The trouble arises when Internet arteests act out the latter. It's no sin to start off with some dull piece of work that you plan to polish and refine. For that reason, I don't discourage anyone who wants to start up yet another webcomic about two jerkwads gibbering on a couch with controllers between their paws. If the author is serious, the comic will become something worth reading. If s/he's not, it'll die within a month or two. We all know the cycle: "No update today. Studying for exams. No update today. Too tired. No update ever again, sorry."

The freak random mutations of mediocre content into runaway successes (Btrl+Balt+Belete) is so rare, I'm willing to put up with these full-moon faerie dances if it means someone else makes a genuine heart-felt climb from Boring to Fantastic.

God Bless 'Merica: Top 10 Patriotic Games Evar

Cole Stryker — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Whooo! Break out the tater salad and grill up some lil' smokies! You'd better be dang sure them pigs are in blankets, too. With Independence Day coming up, this is the perfect weekend to indulge in a little casual ethnocentrism! Our international readers can skip this one, because they're not invited! USA! USA!

The list, AFTER THE JUMP.

Patriotic Pinball: Maybe you like pinball, but wish it had more WWII dogfights and boyish navy dudes.

Smash TV: "Big Money! Big Prizes! I love it!" In this fictional 1999, reality TV was like American Gladiators, but with fewer mulles and more disembowlment.

Wolfenstein 3D: At the end of this game you face off against Adolph himself, dual-weilding a pair of gatling guns.

Dukes of Hazzard: Return of General Lee: Help the Duke boys save an orphanage from Boss Hogg's greed.

Big Mutha Truckers: Ma' Jackson challenges her four children, Cletus, Earl, Rawkus, and Bobbie-Sue, to a "Trial by Truckin."

Redneck Rampage: You could actually buy a downloadable "Cuss Pack" for a buck, unlocking the FPS's naughty language.

America's Army: We all know this was developed by the real army to train tomorrow's super soldiers. Developed with your tax dollars.

Ikari Warriors: While the Japan-only sequel had you play as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara (no joke!), the original featured Paul and Vince taking down a brutal banana republic.

Cabela's Big Game Hunter: The farm kids who went to my school all loved playing this game at our local Walmart.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: The opening sequence actually freaked my WWII vet grandfather out a bit.

Happy America Day everyone! Now go bake a flag cake. Stay the course.

Spelunking Through Cave Story

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:29:00 GMT

Something in the air--I'm going to blame all that dang fireflower pollen blowing around out there--has me in a retro mood. For all the 3D delights I could be indulging in (my brother loaned me Guitar Hero III), I've recently made a happy return to Pixel's Cave Story.

If you haven't played Cave Story, drop what you're doing and download it. No, I don't care if you're performing CPR on your half-dead mother, you simply must experience one of the most endearing and well-balanced 2D platformers ever developed. It's easy to find and it's free. You have no excuse. No, I don't care if trafalmadorians are lifting you into their saucer right this minute.

Granted, I avoided Cave Story for years because the name sounded like some slow and winding "adventure" through a key-driven maze. "Cave Story" brings to mind cheap NES bargain-bin knockoffs that your well-meaning aunt would buy you at Christmas. Wow, thanks Auntie Shiela. I can't wait to throw this at the dog next time he gets into the garbage--I mean, I can't wait to play this.

As reality would have it, Cave Story is far more ambitious than its simple title lets on. Though it is freeware developed over the course of five years by one noble man (Pixel), Cave Story plays like the best of Mega Man, Gunstar Heroes and Metroid and is comparable in length to many of your favourite 2D adventures. It's not too short and it doesn't drag on. Its difficulty is adjustable depending on how you play it; there's no challenge selection, but you can steer away from--or towards--much pain depending on the choices you make and the weapons you choose.

If you're masochistic, you can literally choose to go to hell. Good luck with that.

With its simplistic but distinctive graphics and its rocking 8-bit sound library that deserves to be on every iPod in the nation, Cave Story will bring you joy, peace and love. It's certainly filled up the airless black void that used to be my heart.

The Five Greatest Enhanced Remakes - And Five That Weren't So Great, Part 3

Peter Smith — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:02:00 GMT

And now, the bad...

Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance)

Is Metroid: Zero Mission a terrible game? By no means. On its own terms, it's rather good. But as a reconception of one of the greatest, most influential games ever made, it's a disaster, taking everything that made Metroid spooky and replacing it with a thick layer of corn. Metroid was heavily influenced by Alien. Remember the petrified extraterrestrial skeleton in Alien? What if that bastard had gotten up and started bombarding Sigourney Weaver with some hack's idea of ancient wisdom? Wouldn't that have pretty much thrown the movie's chilly austerity out the window? Like so many latter-day games, Zero Mission thinks comic-book jibber-jabber is cooler than eerie silence. This lack of subtlety is echoed in the gameplay itself, which, while it controls a lot better than Metroid, is chock-full of egregious hand-holding and advice-giving — pretty much the exact opposite of the original's sprawling openendedness. Metroid is practically Lovecraftian in the way it makes you feel tiny and alone in a vast and hostile universe. Don't look for that feeling in Zero Mission. Oh, and it also mangles the most immortal climax in videogame history — the truly unsettling slaughter of a shrieking brain in a jar, followed by a hair-raising escape sequence — by tacking on a (sigh) stealth section. — PS

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 (Game Boy Advance)

I can hear you, fanboy. The exasperated sigh, the cry of indignation. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the same great game it's always been on this GBA cart, sporting the snazzy 1993 Super Mario All-Stars graphics. But, first of all, I don't need to hear Mario yelping at me all the time. I know it's a-him. I'm perfectly fine entering a level without being told to a-go. The talking isn't the biggest problem, though. It's that Nintendo actually created a wealth of brand new levels for Super Mario Bros. 3, levels that brought over mechanics from both Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario World, and left them off the cart. You had to buy the game, then buy an e-Reader, then buy packs of random cards from Wal-Mart and EBGames to play them. Oh yeah, and they changed the ending. What could've improved on a classic instead leaves me reaching for my NES. — JC

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES)

A scandalous missed opportunity, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy collects two of the greatest NES action games (and their mediocre third sibling) and gives them a graphical non-makeover, at points even downgrading. The gorgeous parallax in NG3's desert level is inexplicably MIA — dude, this is the SNES! Every level should have parallax that handsome, and you can't even keep it where it already was? The music is butchered too, despite the SNES's powerful sound chip — some of it is even missing. And some of the excised effects dumb down the gameplay, like the omission of the lightning in stage 3-1 of NG2. The whole point of that stage was that you had to operate in the dark; now, it's just like any other. Only one thing is really improved, and that's that the port of NG3 has the difficulty settings of the Japanese original, not its maddening U.S. counterpart. But the first rule of remaking is (or should be) "do no harm," which means Ninja Gaiden Trilogy flunks out of med school. — PS

Sega Ages Vol. 5 and Vol. 13: Golden Axe and Outrun (PlayStation 2)

The Sega Ages line, compilations and polygonal remakes of the publisher's classics, is certainly a noble effort. Letting players revisit games like Panzer Dragoon, Space Harrier, and Gunstar Heroes is just plain good, benevolent even. Making Outrun, one of early gaming's brightest visual achievements, into a washed-out, muddy looking budget title is the opposite of benevolent. You just don't make Outrun uglier than Cruis'n USA. It's wrong. Golden Axe, well, that was never much of a looker in the first place. But why would you make it more drab? Why would you add cutscenes? Why would you take out the opportunity to beat up gnomes for magic potions? It just doesn't make any sense! — JC

Mario Kart Wii (Wii)

A stretch, I know. But the inclusion of classic tracks from the original Super Mario Kart highlights how much gameplay depth has disappeared from Mario Kart's gameplay over the years. As an "enhanced remake," Kart Wii's version of Ghost Valley 2 is a bust. Don't try to make that awesome shortcut jump, cause the feather — an item that took actual skill to use — is long gone. In its place are a boatload of zany items that'll blast you from last place to first and back over the course of one lap. Yeah, it'd probably entertain your Amish cousins (or whatever other gaming-illiterate demographic Nintendo's targeting these days) for half an hour, but would my friends Mike Brownell and Mike Schlauch make it the centerpiece of a decade-long continuing struggle over who's the uncontested master of gaming/the universe? No — they'd both recognize it as far too spastic and random to function as a scale of justice. — PS

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

What'd we miss? What'd we unfairly vilify, and what'd we overpraise? Tell us in the comments section.

Previous Top Tens:
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels
The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial
The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Most Adventurous Sequels
The Ten Greatest Fire Levels

The Five Greatest Enhanced Remakes - And Five That Weren't So Great, Part 2

Peter Smith — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:01:00 GMT

Final Fantasy (WonderSwan Color)

The first in a vast battalion of Final Fantasy rereleases, the Wonderswan remake actually gets it righter than any that were to come. Sure, the Playstation version has FMV intros (whoo-hoo?), the GBA version has some mostly extraneous new dungeons, and the PSP version has sharper graphics. But the Wonderswan version gave the NES original a beautiful visual makeover that later ports would simply poach, and more importantly, it corrected some of the original game's antiquated design quirks in a totally optional fashion. In the NES game, if two characters attack one enemy and the first one kills it, the second character's attack will be ineffective. This is annoying, but it also forces you to plan; it adds some strategy to the essentially one-dimensional battle system. You could really argue for or against the feature, and the Wonderswan port gives you a choice. The same goes for a number of other idiosyncracies we cranky old-timers like to keep in our enhanced remakes; subsequent rereleases dumbed the game down until you could grind through it with a rubber band around the A button. — PS

Mega Man: Powered Up (PlayStation Portable)

People are excited about Mega Man 9's back-to-basics approach for good reason. The Mega Man name has become synonymous with chatty drama-fests in the past decade and a half, less about hard-as-nails action than lame anime tropes. The 2006 remake of the first Mega Man, Powered Up, isn't short on talking heads. It's also not an especially good recreation of the original's gameplay and, as for its new bosses, the less said about the Jim-Crow-faced Oil Man, the better. But Powered Up is a great game, and if it changes the original's exact scale, feel, and pace, it perfectly maintains the original's principles, albeit in its own super-cute fashion. The wealth of options in Powered Up is staggering, letting you play through the game as almost every character you run into in addition to an intimidatingly deep level-creation feature. If you want to remember how Mega Man was back in the day, well, that's included. — JC

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PlayStation Portable)

Koji Igarashi remade Rondo of Blood last year out of necessity more than a need to improve upon the first. The final proper Castlevania sidescroller has aged exceptionally well in the past fifteen years, but it's impossibly rare, was never released outside of Japan, and is difficult to properly emulate. But Igarashi's Castlevania team did far more than just put some spit-and-polish on Richter Belmont's adventure, creating Castlevania's first truly attractive polygonal outing. More importantly, none of the game's perilous jumps have been hurt by the shift in presentation, unlike in so many 2.5D games. The remixed soundtrack isn't quite as spectacular as the original's, but you can unlock that in the game. It's win-win! — JC

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 3.

The Five Greatest Enhanced Remakes - And Five That Weren't So Great, Part 1

Peter Smith — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Well, having burned through our annual pants-replacement fund on the announcement of Chrono Trigger DS, we here at 61FPS now find ourselves surprisingly ambivalent about this remake (or is it just a rerelease?) of the greatest game Square ever made. Sure, it could be handsome and polished. But it could be sloppy and buggy, too. It could add new gameplay elements, or it could dumb down those that were already there. Chrono Trigger's a delicate thing! Be careful with that priceless art item, you sausage-fingered renovators! And here to guide you on a righteous path are five enhanced remakes that got it right — and five that didn't. — Peter Smith

First up, the good...

Tomb Raider Anniversary (PlayStation 2)

Most games simply do not need to be remade. As beautiful and ambitious as Square's impending Final Fantasy IV DS is, its voiced dialogue, new script, and three-dimensional overhaul are icing on a cake that was already delicious despite its simplicity. The original Tomb Raider, however, is a once-revolutionary title ravaged by the passage of time and the growth of technology. Forget how Lara's 1996 debut looks. Just think about trying to play a fully-3D game that requires precision platforming using only a d-pad. Crystal Dynamics' full remake of Tomb Raider put the engine from Lara's rebirth, the decent Tomb Raider: Legend, to great use, re-introducing the world to the game and, most importantly, preserving it in a way so people can actually play it in the years to come. Plus, grappling hooks are awesome. — John Constantine

Resident Evil (Gamecube)

If ever there was a lasting argument for using pre-rendered backgrounds in a game, it's the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil. The abstract, dollhouse creepiness of the Playstation/Saturn original was made nightmarishly real here, each room identically re-imagined as a dimly lit place of shadows, dust and blood. The visual overhaul would have been enough to earn RE a place on this list, but the gameplay additions were just as exciting. Zombies can't simply be dispatched with a hail of bullets any longer. You have to stab them in the head with disposable knives or set them on fire after you stop them from munching on your goodies. If you don't, they turn into fiery-red speed demons who will chase you through rooms. The only thing scarier is RE's new boss fight, which you should just go play instead of having me spoil it for you. — JC

Click here for Part 2.
Click here for Part 3.

Game Designers: Rockstars, Auteurs, Dweebs?

John Constantine — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

One crummy thing about living here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. is that we don’t get issues of Britain’s Edge Magazine for a full month after they hit stands in Britain. Yes, I know, it’s a hard life. We’ve been at war with two separate nations for close to a decade, the economy is disintegrating, and our health care system is an atrocity but all that pales in comparison to not getting pretty videogame rags in a timely manner. But I digress. Yesterday, while flipping through their July issue, something stuck out about their Platinum Games cover story: the photo spread of Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, Shigenori Nishikawa, Hifumi Kouno, and Tatsuya Minami made them look like a god damn boy band.

I’m conflicted about the emerging designer-as-rockstar image. Once upon a time, it wasn’t unusual for a game to be made by a single person, but in 2008, it’s the rarest exception to the rule. Big games, the vast majority of games the public plays, are made by studios whose collective creative vision makes the game what it is, not one woman or man’s vision. Instead of celebrating and promoting the individual, the rockstar of David Jaffe, Cliffy B, or Shigeru Miyamoto, maybe it should be about the rock band image like in the Platinum Games spread. I’d wear a Valve t-shirt over a Gabe Newell one any day, wouldn’t you?

Related links:

Independent at a Price: Sega and Platinum Games
Clover Returns, Heavy as Platinum

Game Center CX is Charming as Hell

John Constantine — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

61 Frames Per Second took a field trip to the IFC Center yesterday morning to catch the New York Asian Film Festival’s final screening of a localized Game Center CX. For anyone not up on the Japanese pop-culture, Game Center CX, renamed Retro Game Master for us yanks, is a strange mix of Jackass, classic Iron Chef, and videogames. Comedian Shinya Arino is “The Kacho” (midde-manager) and each episode finds him marathon playing (sometimes for well over eight hours straight) classic games from the 8 and 16-bit eras. Sitting in an all but empty theater at 11:30am and watching a middle-aged Japanese funnyman lose at Ghosts 'n Goblins for six hours might sound like a strange way to have a good time, but, let me tell you, it’s a blast. Even beyond the laughs and nostalgia fueled empathy a gamer compulsively feels watching The Kacho die repeatedly at the mercy of archaic game design, the show’s got a great vibe. It legitimately feels like everyone involved is having a good time making such silly entertainment. Most of the show is subtitled but the hokey English narration should be reconsidered if distributor Stylejam decides to bring the whole series across the Pacific.

Many thanks to Infinite Lives for tipping us off to the NYC screenings.

The Chrono Trigger Port: Are You Excited or Disappointed?

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:30:00 GMT

Though the 16-bit console wars were savage in the early '90s, the end was in sight by 1995 and the Super Nintendo was crowned the obvious winner.

(Except by pouty Genesis fanboys who feebly compared Phantasy Star IV to Final Fantasy VI. I mean, it's a good try, but...nah.)

The Genesis was panting and dry-heaving at the finish line, but the Super Nintendo barely broke a sweat. In fact, it looked healthier than ever thanks to an injection of A+ games at the end of its life. One such title was Chrono Trigger, a now-legendary RPG by Square(-Enix). We should all hope for the dignified hero's death that the Super Nintendo recieved thanks to Chrono Trigger's legacy.

Now Crono (Chrono?) and his friends are being drawn out of stasis to appear on the Nintendo DS. It's been well over ten years since we last saw our friends. Sure, Crono got up once or twice to grunt and take a pee: the result was a limited mention in Chrono Trigger's sequel, Chrono Cross. Though Chrono Cross still stands on its own merits (a fantastic soundtrack being one), many fans insisted that the charm of Chrono Trigger was absent from the game. Speaking for myself, I can tell Square was going for something different with Chrono Cross, but I have to admit the attempt to turn a fun-loving shonen adventure into something about three shades darker than its source material didn't appeal to me. I missed Crono. I missed Marle, Robo, Luca and Ayla.

Now they're coming back. Fans partied naked in the streets when the initial announcement broke through in the form of an ominous ticking clock and a press release boasting a perfect port of the original Super Nintendo game.

Yes, a "port." Not an upgrade, which is what we've come to expect of Square-Enix Super Nintendo titles released on the DS (one such example being the upcoming Final Fantasy IV DS.

"Hold on, hoss," says a deflated fan, putting his clothes back on. "Should we be excited about a port? What about a remake? What about extra features?"

Fair questions. We've waited this long for some good Chrono Trigger news (the laggy, clunky Playstation port was the furthest thing from good news). Should we be this excited about paying over thirty bucks for something that, by all rights, should be on the Virtual Console and available for eight bucks?

Please note that I am a sucker and will buy this in a futile attempt to re-capture the nostalgia of that muggy summer in 1995. Regardless, I really want to see some awesome bonus content out of this. I've heard that Chrono Trigger is full of unused ideas, the most popular one being the "Singing Mountain" hidden deep within the cartridge. There's also word of an unused battle arena that brought grim joy to the downtrodden people of the future rotting under Lavos' rule. That would be a cheerful addition.

I am not upset that the original spritework will remain. Nothing against the work Square-Enix has been doing with the DS, but whereas Final Fantasy IV's original sprites were charmingly ugly, Chrono Trigger is still a beauty. Today's games have polygons a-plenty. Sprites are a lost art and should be preserved whenever possible.

We'll all be watching to see how this pans out, I'm sure.

Counterpoint: Too Many Games?

Cole Stryker — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Michael Zenke over at the always excellent Game Set Watch thinks that there are just too durned many good games nowadays! Furthermore, he bemoans the culture's lack of canonization (i.e. we don't appreciate our medium's classics like we should). He argues, "what’s good for the industry is not the same thing as what’s good for the gamer." Zenke cites The Paradox of Choice, arguing that an overabundance of choices leaves us feeling depressed about that which we've missed out on.

I haven't played The Orange Box yet. Heck, I haven't played Half-Life 2 yet. I haven't played Bioshock, COD4, Halo 3 or MGS4. I'm OK with this. I spent the last year introducing my new wife to the joys of Earthbound, playing through Grim Fandango, Homeworld, Planescape: Torment, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and Deus Ex. Sure, I played some new games, but I don't feel compelled to play every game, or even every excellent game that comes out. Ironically, I'm finally at a point in life where I can afford to buy all the newest hardware and I even get free games for review. What I lack is time.

"You couldn’t go into a store and buy Call of Duty 4 without *having* to pick up Super Mario Galaxy. Can’t snag Rock Band without that Burning Crusade box. And - seriously - can you even still be called a gamer if you didn’t play at least one of the offerings from The Orange Box?"

If this is the case, I think we need to think about redefining the word "gamer". The music enthusiast shouldn't feel compelled to own every critically acclaimed album, why should gamers agonize over the games they simply must pass over?

And another thing. I was a freshman in college when Metroid Prime came out. It remains my favorite Gamecube game. For the first time in my life, I did not complete a game I purchased. Sure, I finished the single player campaign, but not to 100%. I didn't find all the items or scans. Until college, I was a purist. I collected every star, I found every easter egg, and I scoffed at Game Genie users. Today, I rarely "finish" a game in this sense. I just don't have the time or the inclination any more, even for my favorite games. This is OK. This does not make me a casual gamer.

"Great novels live forever. Great games live only until the next great game. What we’re left with is a medium where the vast majority of the audience has only a flimsy grasp on the subject. They don’t know about the games of the past because they don’t have time to play them. They don’t know about the games of the future because there are too many to play."

I'm not so sure this is true. Gaming websites are filled with Top 10 lists and other retrospective features. We at 61FPS are always dusting off old games. As for our ignorance about the future of games, I won't even get into how much space mainstream gaming sites devote to previews. I'd argue that gamers have a firmer grasp on the medium than any other group of pop culture enthusiasts. We obsess over the trivia and argue about the value of games more than film or music nerds...heck we even rival comic book guys.

What's so great about being a gamer today is that we have the luxury to forgo even the excellent games, skimming the sublime, timeless gaming experiences off the top of the pile. With all the new indie development competing with big studios, it's the best of times. Let's enjoy it.

OST: Chrono Cross

John Constantine — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Many weeks back, when 61 Frames Per Second was still being molded into what you’re reading now, the OST feature was conceived (at least by me) as nothing more than a venue for talking about Yasunori Mitsuda. Music was the source of my first real emotional engagement with videogames; the frenetic excitement of early Mega Man soundtracks and the somber coda of Mega Man 2’s ending, the desperate minor key of stage 5 in Bionic Commando. These melodies sparked my imagination, created a foothold for my experience with these works beyond the visceral rush of successfully playing them. But it was Mitsuda’s work in Chrono Trigger that made me, for the first time, physically put down the controller just to listen. It was "Guardia Castle", a booming march whose synthesized horns implied fading grandeur more than patriotism. I sat on the floor of my bedroom, eyes closed, and let the song loop for close to twenty minutes.

Mitsuda gravitates towards the same styles in his game soundtracks, specifically jazz fusion (Chrono Trigger), punctuated baroque symphony orchestration (Chrono Trigger, Xenosaga), and celtic (Xenogears, Tsugunai). But my personal favorite Mitsuda work, the soundtrack to Trigger’s divisive sequel Chrono Cross, is his most adventurous and strange. Chrono Cross’ soundtrack is a sonic mélange of every style Mitsuda composed in previously, alongside folk rock (“Radical Dreamers”) and Caribbean modes (“Fields of Time *Home World*”) that perfectly suit the game’s archipelago setting. As opposed to his previous work, whose compositions were typically based in jazz combo or symphony orchestra arrangements, the majority of songs in Cross are based in solo acoustic guitars (“Beginning of a Dream”), and acoustic guitar melodies layered with exotic instrumentation (“Guldove *Home World*”). Mitsuda didn’t completely turn away from the new age, “gamey” style of compositions found in his work on Trigger and Xenogears, but they are rarer and more elaborate in Cross (see the ominous, industrial “Chronopolis” or the tribal “Death Volcano”). As much of a stylistic departure as his work on Chrono Cross is, Mitsuda visits the same themes that typified his work in Chrono Trigger, songs that evoke a melancholic tenderness even at their most triumphant.

You can check out the full soundtrack at Galbadia Hotel right here.

Previous OSTs:
Soul Blazer
Everyday Shooter
Rule of Rose
Treasure of the Rudras

The Revolution WILL Be Colorized

Derrick Sanskrit — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

It's easy to hate on third-party games for the Wii. A vast majority of them are quick and dirty ports or poorly constructed party games with a noticable deficiency in the fun department. Maybe that's why I get genuinely excited when a high quality third-party game comes along. Boom Blox was a blast (oh god, I'm sorry about that), No More Heroes was enthralling, SSX Blur was a great deal of fun after you took the time to relearn the controls. Unfortunately, none of those games sold particularly well. Let's hope that's not the case with the next Wii sleeper hit, THQ's de Blob.

Originally a student project, de Blob is starting to look like a truly worthwhile gaming experience. While early videos looked fun but far from refined, the additional seven months of development have clearly made a huge difference in graphics, sound, and presentation. The most curious aspect of the game, moreso than its unusual hero and artistic revolution plot, is that de Blob is still a Wii-exclusive (there had been a DS version announced, but nothing has been shown yet and there's been no mention of it for months) with no real neccessary motion control. A quick flick of the remote makes your Blob jump, which could easily be replaced by a button tap. So if this third-party game could just as easily be made for the PS3 or 360, why is it Nintendo-exclusive? Personally, I don't care, as Sony and Microsoft have been hogging Katamari Damacy. which de Blob has drawn numerous comparisons to.

Check out this sweet new developer video for a preview of how excellent de Blob looks. It's getting harder to wait for that September 22nd release date.

Help Activision Choose Box Art for Spidey

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:33:00 GMT

Activision is letting gamers vote on which cover art they prefer for the Xbox 360's upcoming Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows.

The choice will doubtlessly keep you up all night. It's between "generic" and "stupid."

The cover art vote is part of Activison's "Seize Control" theme, which I guess is some push to make gamers think they're in control of the content for a big-name license. In addition, anyone who pre-orders (all three dozen of you) gets to choose one of three pre-order bonuses: a T-shirt, a poster or a figurine.

Do not choose...poorly.

No, really, don't. It's not hard to see that the T-shirt is the way to go, unless Gamestop is planning to pass judgement on people based on what they pick. Sort of like Moses with the gold and hot coals.

Going back to the cover art, both the choices are pretty bad. Option uno makes it look like Spidey is holding New York in a snow globe. It took a few minutes for my brain to unscramble option two; I seriously thought Spider-Man is holding Venom and Wolverine by the scruffs of their necks. Naughty Wolvy, I saw you pee on the rug. Into the Bad Box for a time out.

What's actually going on is that Spider-Man is crossing his arms and the two characters are reflected in his forearms fooooor some crazy reason. I admit I'm not up-to-date on which heroes can do what nowadays, but I don't think Spidey totes arm-mirrors for those bad hair days.

(What hair?)

Anyway, you've exercised your right to vote. You've done your bit for Democracy. Activision salutes you. Just one more thing: It probably won't matter.

Activision shall not be bond by the outcome of the community vote and Activisions decision(s) and selection(s) shall be final and binding.

To be fair, they don't have the courtesy to put that on an actual US election ballot. This way, you can skip the false feelings of hope and voter's pride and sink straight into the apathy. Enjoy!

Screen Test: Diablo III

Cole Stryker — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:00:00 GMT

I came home from a weekend holiday to find a buttload of Diablo III info had been released.

Apparently some Blizzard fans are nonplussed, concerned that the series's art direction has taken a turn for the cartoonish. This online petition, which looks like it was composed by someone with a tenuous grip on written English, has gained some traction (nearly 5K signatures as of this writing!). Is Blizzard aiming for WoW's widespread appeal by toning down Diablo's gothier design or does someone need to call a whaaaambulance? Whatever the case, this petition is sure to go nowhere, as Diablo III has been in development for four years now. Making these changes would surely require a massive design overhall.

Some of the screenshots are darker...

than others.

But dude has a point. Even the darker imagery is still glowing, colorful, and crisp. Not exactly creepy. I have a distinct memory of being so filled with dread upon entering some sort of spider-filled crypt in Diablo II that I actually had to leave for a while to build up the courage to venture in. Hard to say from a screenshot, but I'm not getting the same vibe here.

I'm just thrilled that they chose to stick with a top-down perspective, unlike just about every other current-gen RPG. I will admit, though, Diablo definitely set itself apart with its chilling, demonic vibe. I'm seeing a lot of fantasy here, and not a whole lot of hellish imagery that would, say, provoke my fundamentalist mom to literally burn the game out in our backyard's fire pit. I learned how to play unapproved PC games in a window after that little incident.

Seriously though, where the bloody pentagrams and torches made from disembodied limbs at?

Bringing Sexy Back: Street Fighter Dress-Up Party!

John Constantine — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Yes, this slinky black number that can be unlocked for Chun Li in the imminent and fine looking Street Fighter 4 is an ample slice of cheesecake. It is not, in itself, bringing sexy back in any way, shape, or form. Cheesecake, as our good friend Patrick Alexander over at Eegra so deftly illustrated, is nothing new in fighting games. Nor are alternate costumes for the exaggerated characters that populate them. What is bringing sexy back is the thought that, ultimately, we’re going to be able to play dress-up with our Street Fighter characters as new content is released in both arcade iterations and home versions of the game. Here’s my thinking: that slinky black dress on Blanka. That will strike fear into all opponents!

Many thanks to Siliconera for the fantasy.

Click here for more Bringing Sexy Back.

Related links:

Webcomic Watch: Eegra
For Love of the Game: Street Fighter One
Street Fighter HD Update – Hitbox-O-Rama
Street Fighter HD Makes Me Freak Out

Looks Are Everything

John Constantine — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

There are no gameplay screenshots for Tri-Ace’s Star Ocean 4 yet, but as you can see from the image above, the Xbox 360 game’s cinematics are already quite lovely. The series has never been A-list, but it’s been a persistent presence in the gaming world since 1996, a trail of breadcrumbs marking technology’s path over the years. Star Ocean games have always been gorgeous, from the lush hand-drawn original through its polygonal, but not less colorful, descendants. They have, however, always played like hell. As much as role-playing games are about endearing character archetypes and hero-epic narratives, they live and die by their methodical, strategic, turn-based gameplay. Star Ocean’s hook is a semi-real time battle system that plays with genre conventions. You still have a party of characters engaging in random battles, but you only control a single character at a time, your commands taking immediate effect with the press of a button as opposed to selecting them from a menu and waiting to watch the result. The characters you aren’t controlling act on preset artificial intelligence routines.

That’s Star Ocean’s biggest problem. Character AI is absolute trash and, as a result, fighting is more about luck than skill or strategy. I’ve played all three, but I’ve never finished a Star Ocean. I’ve wanted to, though not because their stories have been especially compelling. It’s because they are beautiful. I want to see every inch of these other worlds Tri-Ace have created but can’t because interacting with them is tiresome.

Can a game skate by on its looks alone? If a game is lovely but is a chore to interact with, can it still be a good game? I’ve expressed my adoration for the Silent Hill series here on 61FPS a number of times, but, were I completely honest, I’d be forced to admit that they all play terribly. But they’re so immaculately presented that the terrible control, the lumbering interface between player and art seems inconsequential.

The question lurking behind all this conjecture is: What makes a game good? When I look at this picture of Star Ocean 4, frankly, the answer eludes me.

Related links:

The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History
Screen Test: Silent Hill Homecoming

Comparison of Wiki Articles Proves Geeks Inherited The Earth

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:07:00 GMT

When teachers and talk show radio hosts moan about the decline of America's youth, they point out how so few kids can name all 50 American States yet can identify all twelve billion of Nintendo's Pokemon with seemingly no effort.

(The secret here is that Pokemon are fun and exciting where as geography is not. Oh wait, that's not a secret.)

For all the lamentations of our teacher-women (and teacher-men), it seems as if the generation that grew up with Ash Ketchum is ahead of the old fuddy-duddies. This GamesRadar feature indicates that the geeks control Wikipedia and they who control Wikipedia, control the Earth.

So what matters are given the most attention in the digital tome of knowledge that will soon be passed on to our children? Is it religion? Is it the rich history of the forefathers who founded the free world?

No, fool. Knuckles the Echidna takes precedence over all. Get your priorities straight.

Indeed, Sonic's sulky red buddy has 7,832 words dedicated to his life and history on Wikipedia. By contrast, God commands only 3,726.

Want to learn about the habits and motivations of history's worst serial killers? Wikipedia can help you out a bit with 5,602 words on the topic, which is not a bad start. But if you have to write a thesis about the bosses from Mega Man X, you're in luck: Wikipedia can help you with 8,746 words! Storm Eagle has never been laid so bare.

And what's more important than learning about the ethnic groups of Europe? Only Pokemon types, Halo races, the Orcs of Middle Earth...

Castlevania Fighting Game Elicits Anguished Moans From the Living

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Looks like the August issue of Nintendo Power is full of thrills and chills. The news about Mega Man 9 being developed in an 8-bit style brings the thrills, whereas a baffling preview of a Castlevania fighting game for the Wii is bringing the chills.

Not the good kind of chills that you got when you first played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, mind you. These are the bad, feverish chills with the pained moaning and cold sweat.

When fans heard that a Castlevania game was in production for the Wii, there were all sorts of half-depraved fantasies involving the Wii remote and hot whipping action. The death of a potentially cool idea is only half the reason fans are disgruntled: the other half lies with the character re-designs. Castelvania's popular character designer, Ayami Kojima, is stepping aside this time to make way for none other than Takeshi Obata. Obata is famous for his work on the famous Death Note manga series, which goes a long way to explaining why Simon Belmont looks like (to quote my husband) L dressed Mello's skin-tight leather, appropriate Catholic memorabilia included.

As a hardcore Castlevania fan, I'm not irritated by Konami's latest, uh, decision. I am certainly intrigued, but not as angry as some. There's a general cry in the community of, "We didn't ask for this!" No we didn't, but we didn't ask for a game featuring Mario characters putting around in go-karts, either.

I also look forward to explaining the existence of a Castlevania fighting game to my mother. She hasn't played games since the Super Nintendo era, but she remembers well Castlevania III and I recently took ten minutes to explain to her why Alucard wears high heels now.

Alternate Soundtrack: Kirby's Adventure vs. girlsareshort

Derrick Sanskrit — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

The sun is baking New York and tourists are everywhere all the time. Summer is definitely upon us, so this week's alternate soundtrack takes one of my favorite upbeat, bubbly platformers and one of my favorite upbeat, bubbly albums to make one delightfully bright summer experience.

Though it was the second game in the Kirby series, Kirby's Adventure served as the introduction to what has become Kirby's signature ability: copying his enemies powers (only a select few items gave Kirby special powers in 1992's Kirby's Dream Land). Released very near the end of the Nintendo Entertainment System's lifespan, 1993's Kirby's Adventure really pushed the NES as far as it could go with lush graphics, a vast soundtrack, and dynamic gameplay.

girlsareshort were an electronic pop group from Ontario. Originally conceived as a full band by members Alex Puodziukas and Daniel Zabawa, they soon realized that they worked best as an two-man electronic act. Releasing two LPs – 2002's contactkiss on Hi-Hat Recordings and 2003's earlynorthamerican on Upper Class Recordings – the band split up after producing Death From Above 1979's 2004 album You're A Woman I'm A Machine. Fans' hopes for a reunion were dashed when Alex found great success teaming up with DFA1979's Jesse Keeler as the dance club powerhouse MSTRKRFT.

Kirby's Adventure has recently been rereleased twice, as the Game Boy Advance port Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land in 2002 and on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007. Though tracking down cds of both girlsareshort albums proved difficult (yet rewarding) a few years ago, both albums are now readily available on the iTunes Music Store. MSTRKRFT kicks mucho butt too, but that's a soundtrack for another day.