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Bad Boxarts – The Intellivision

Dustin Spencer
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4

This week on our search to find the worst boxarts, we are going to take a step further back to explore the odd and simply inappropriate covers that graced Mattel’s Intellivision. Now before anyone steps in and thinks that all covers were bad just because it was a classic console, that really wasn’t the case. Most arts were actually really well done for the system due to the fact that at the time an interesting cover was the main thing that would sell a game as there wasn’t any big magazines or promotion aside from television commercials so covers in the late 70’s and early 80’s had to act as the voice for the game.

 

That being said, there were still some horrible or just simply lazy ideas put to use on the classic console’s covers, so join us as we list off the worst boxarts for the Intellivision.

Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time, Song as old as rhyme, Beauty and the Beast…wait. I don’t see a singing teapot or a happy ballroom for this title. With the Intellivision release of the classic fairytale, a completely different scene was set where apparently Beast decided to just not care if his Princess was in love or not and pull a King Kong while apparently kicking a man off a building. Note that the animated feature was released 10 years after this, but there was still a story to go off of which was clearly not followed and this game just went where it wanted to go. I kind of would have liked to have seen something like this for the Disney re-imagining, but with metal music instead though. Now that would have been a classic for the vaults.

Mouse Trap


Mouse Trap was originally seen in arcades before it graced the Intellivision and played a bit like Pac-Man. The game was great for it’s time, but apparently the creators of this cover decided they needed to remind players where it came from rather than show just what the actual game would present. Many other titles on the console also got the same treatment as Mouse Trap with just a picture of an arcade cabinet, but with such a great little game it is hard to see why more effort didn’t go into it’s box art representation.

Truckin’


As soon as I see the cover for truckin, I am quickly reminded of a popular meme. “I’m gonna put a truck in your truck, so you can drive in your truck”. I guess two is better than one, but this is for sure one of the oddest choices of design for the Intellivision’s vast library. It’s like the creators were arguing who’s rig got to be on the cover, and some brilliant designer stepped in and said “WAIT GUYS! I HAVE AN IDEA!!!”

Tropical Trouble

What we have here for Tropical trouble is an angry naked man in what appears to be a jungle with an old woman that seems scared for her life. While this art certainly says a lot, I can’t really say it screams “game” by any means as it seems like an ad to protect your family against angry naked men in a jungle. I have never tried Tropical Trouble personally, but the game actually was a platformer and played out a bit like Donkey Kong.


You know, if Donkey Kong dodged fruit, snakes, and other obstacles in the nude. As you can see, he actually does have boots on, so that is a plus, right?

Donkey Kong

Speaking of our ape friend, he gets to make this list as well. This port of the arcade classic brings a whole new life to what we know about two of Nintendo’s age old mascots. Looking like a Mulleted Thor of sorts, Mario seems to have been the culprit of a pure westernization, not to mention the rabid ape that is supposed to be Donkey Kong. Back then, Intellivision featured quite a few ports on the system which were allowed to keep their standard appearance such as Burger Time but DK just wasn’t as lucky. Thankfully though, we never seen an appearance again from this “special” version of Mario as he retired his ape-crushing golden hammer and disappeared into oblivion for good.

Or did he?

So tell us in the comments below your own opinions of these astounding masterpieces, and join us next week as we fast forward a bit to visit Sony and the many stunning art pieces that graced shelves for the original Playstation.

P.S.

I told you there were some awesome boxarts on the Intellivision earlier…..

 

 

Point Proven.

Michael Jackson: The Experience Kinect Review

Travis Bruno
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Michael Jackson: The Experience
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Available on: Xbox 360 (Kinect Required)(Reviewed)PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Nintendo DS
Release Date: April 12th 2011
Price: $49.99 US, £39.99 UK, $89.99 AUS

Overview:
Michael Jackson may have passed away but his memory lives on in his music. Practically all of us have heard at least one of his greatest songs and his voice will continue to be heard for generations. Now of course alongside a music legend has to come a few video games that involve his music and Michael Jackson: The Experience is exactly that. Much like other music games have created games solely for one band, such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson: The Experience focuses only on MJ. Now the Xbox 360 version of the title requires Kinect support which means you will be able to perform Michael Jackson’s songs like never before. But does the game itself stand up to the man’s name?

Graphics:
Now Michael Jackson: The Experience contains some rather impressive visuals with the Michael Jackson dancers providing plenty of flare to the stage as you dance across it. They aren’t completely visible and vibrant, instead they are outlined with neon like coloration that helps accent the stage that they are dancing on. The stages themselves often take on the impression of the songs that you are dancing too. The background becomes spooky when you dance to Thriller and the ground lights up similar to it did in the music video for Billie Jean as you step along to the song.

Now Michael Jackson: The Experience takes the same approach as Dance Masters and places the player themselves on the stage alongside the rest of the dancers. This approach is quite impressive to look at and the player is given the same grayed out and neon light effect that the other dancers receive. Unlike in Dance Masters however there is occasionally minor input lag that makes the dancing avatar on the screen act out slower than the player is actually moving. This can not only disrupt your own dancing rhythm but also looks out of place alongside the rest of the dancers on stage.

Audio:
If you want to listen to any Michael Jackson’s songs then you are in luck because practically any song that you would want to listen to by MJ is included on the disc. Some of the most popular songs such as “Beat It,” “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” and “Earth Song” are included in this package. These songs are all in their original format which will give players the full experience of Michael’s songs.

On the other hand there really isn’t a whole lot included in the game besides the songs. There are no music videos to sit and watch, though snippets are played during some songs, and all of the songs are available from the get go. Also at the moment there is no way to actually download additional songs to dance/sing to, the case for the game says that there will be DLC but at the moment there is no option for such content.  The MJ School training videos are well done and easy to understand if not a bit difficult to learn in the end.

Gameplay:
Michael Jackson: The Experience for the Xbox 360 makes full use of the Kinect, meaning of course that you require one to play it. The user interface is easy to use and doesn’t provide much of a hassle and is actually one of the better implementations of a Kinect controlled menu system. As you enter the dance mode you will be treated to the list of songs that are included in the game, but before you make your decision on what to perform you have to select how exactly you want to play that song.

Some songs in the game give players three different choices on how they want to perform the song. They can Dance which allows the player to only dance to the song as they follow the on screen cue cards, they can do a Performance where they will be singing aloud and dancing, or even a Master Performance where they will dance and sing to a harder routine than normal. The only problem with this aspect of the game is that not every song has these options and some of the songs in the game only allow the player to sing them with no actual dance moves included in the whole routine.

Now the karaoke aspect is certainly hit and miss as far as Michael Jackson: The Experience is concerned. Whether it can be credited to the limitations on the Kinect’s microphone or something in the game itself, the Kinect’s built-in microphone picked up the song on the television and performed the karaoke 100% correct whenever singing was involved. To remedy this problem you can use any variation of a microphone peripheral and simply hold the microphone as you dance along. In the end though, the game does not have you sing and dance literally at the same time but gives a visual cue as to when you will be switching between singing and dancing.

Your performance on a song is given a five star rating but there is actually no way to fail a song. Your moves are rated as either Miss, OK, Good, Almost or Perfect depending on how close you are to the move that you were required to perform. You will be able to tell what move you will be required to perform via cue cards that appear on the bottom right of the screen. The next cue card will appear when a countdown ends which allows the player to at least know when they will have to change their movements. Unfortunately if you do happen to miss a move the game will not actually show you how you messed up that move which is a disappointment for those looking to improve for the next time they perform the same routine.

MJ: The Experience contains the standard multiplayer mode that all of the different dance games have. However it goes a step above by allowing players to pair up in teams of two against another team of two that allows four players to battle it out to see who is actually the better dancer. One team, or one individual player if you are playing one on one, performs a section of the song and then the other team has to dance after the first player swaps out. This allows players to do battle with one another or they can even dance a co-op routine this way with a combined score in the end.

Now the game is still quite enjoyable for the songs themselves and will be great at parties but unfortunately there is zero sense of actual progression in the game. Besides acquiring achievements there is nothing to unlock in MJ: The Experience.  Other dancing games on the Kinect feature at least some sort of unlockable modes, dancing stages, or even characters but this one does not which can be a problem. Then again with the inability to actually fail a song, it makes sense to not allow unlockable content.

Overall:
Michael Jackson: The Experience for the Xbox 360 contains everything that a Michael Jackson fan will love. It has nearly all of his classic hits and some of his most famous moves are weaved into the routines flawlessly. The only let down is the fact that there karaoke is extremely hit and miss with the Kinect sensor and the use of a microphone only seems to hinder the supposed “controller free” experience. Considering there is also no feeling of progression some people may find themselves growing  tired dancing with zero reward. At the end of the day MJ: The Experience is still a pleasure to play, but its faults certainly weigh down what could have been a stellar experience.

6-5-capsules-out-of-10

New Pokemon Game Possibly in the works?

Dustin Spencer
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3

Take this bit of news as just a rumor right now, but according to Japanese Gaming Magazine Dengeki Nintendo DS, an announcement for a new Pokemon game is scheduled to be announced in an upcoming May issue. This rumor officially started brewing after a Japanese blog caught wind from a leak from a leak of an upcoming Dengeki issue, confirming that a “new title” is definitely in the works.

That small sentence is causing quite an stir of excitement in the community, but unfortunately for now, that is just about all the news we have on it. Now the speculation can begin in full force though as the news of a new title for the series if definitely not surprising with “Pokemon Gray” being named off by fans before Black & White even hit Japan. While something like Gray or a third version is definitely a possibility, I really think this could be hinting at a new battle simulator, such as Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Battle Revolution as this generation has yet to see such a title. Either way though, now we must wait until more leaks out when the next Dengeki hits shelves May 21st. We will keep you updated so stay tuned.

Top 5 Zombie Day Games (for Easter)

Chris Cerami
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9
Top 5 Zombie Day Games (for Easter)

For millions of people all over the world, this weekend is one for deep religious celebration. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make for a very entertaining article, so instead we’re going to make light of other’s beliefs. So, since Easter is the day to celebrate the dead rising from their graves, let’s take a look at the top 5 games to celebrate International Zombie Day, aka Easter.

House/Pinball/Typing of the Dead

Now, technically there are lots of games in the …of the Dead series by Sega. The House of the Dead series started on the Sega Saturn as a light gun zombie blasting extravaganza. While there were plenty of shambling corpses to send back from whence they came, the games were plagued with terrible translations and appalling voice acting. This eventually became a point of self-aware mockery with House of the Dead: Overkill on the Wii, which incidentally holds the Guinness World Record for most swearing in a video game (189 fucks, and in a Wii game no less). The series also branched off with several spin offs.

The Gameboy Advance saw the release of Pinball of the Dead, which is exactly what it sounds like. Players would smack the old silver ball around a table in order to mow down reanimated corpses and score huge jackpots. Much like Metroid Prime Pinball, it takes the traditional coin op and adds a video game twist. Finally, perhaps my favorite in the series was 2001’s Typing of the Dead for the Sega Dreamcast. The game took advantage of the Dreamcast’s keyboard peripheral and served as a typing tutor program. This is no job for Mavis Beacon, however, as players would need to quickly type out words and letter accurately to riddle the undead with bullets. Typing of the Dead was basically a port of House of the Dead 2 where the light gun mechanic was replaced with a keyboard. If the concept sounds bizarre, then keep in mind that this is coming from the same Sega franchise that gave us gems like this or this.

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse

Way back in 2004 I remember receiving an issue of Game Informer magazine that had details on an upcoming zombie game. It piqued my interest thanks to its unique premise of making the main character the zombie. Rather than fighting against the zombie apocalypse, here was a game where you were attempting to wipe out the living in favor of a deceased populace. That game was Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse. Obvious James Dean puns aside, Stubbs intrigued me for another reason. It was being developed by Wideload Games, an indie studio created by Alex Seropian. Seropian is best known as one of the co-founders of Bungie,  and he and several other former Bungie staff members had opened their new studio to bring awesomeness to the world. Seeing as how I was completely immersed in Halo 2 in 2004, the thought of a game created by former Bungie devs where you got to recruit an army of mindless zombies was too much to resist.

Ed Stubblefield, affectionately known as Stubbs, was at one time a salesman during the Great Depression before being brutally murdered and buried in a ditch. Fast forward to the prosperous 50’s and the field where Stubbs was dumped is now home to the futuristic town of Punchbowl, Pennsylvania. After rising from his little patch of Earth, Stubbs decides it’s his turn for revenge and thanks in part to his cruel fate he has just the tools to do so. With the ability to infect the living and turn them into his mindless minions, Stubbs sets out to take over the town and take out his killer. Honestly, if you don’t see why this game is awesome then I don’t think there’s much else I can say.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Anyone who owned a Sega Genesis or a Super Nintendo back in the day has probably at least heard of Zombies Ate My Neighbors. The game is heavily influenced by the B movies of the 1950s, complete with a 3d glasses-clad protagonist. The concept of the game is described pretty accurately in the title. Zombies have overrun the neighborhood (and the rest of the world) and its up to our two teenage heroes to save whoever they can before its too late. Different types of neighbors, including perky cheerleaders, barbecue chefs, and even babies, are scattered around each level along with randomly spawning shamblers just waiting to eat their brains.

It’s up to you to find your way to all of the still-breathing residents of your town before the zombies do, with each level ending only when everyone has either been rescued or devoured. By the way, if you’re thinking, “Wait, did he say the zombies can eat babies?”, then the answer is yes, yes I did. And if you weren’t thinking that then you are clearly too desensitized to have a problem with zombies eating babies. While early levels have mostly the slow stupid stereotypical zombies, later levels have all kinds of horror-themed enemies, including mummies, pod people, an giant purple people eaters.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

While this one isn’t exactly a full game, the final expansion to Rockstar’s western-themed sandbox epic, Red Dead Redemption, is certainly worthy of mention on a list of zombie games. Adding a significant chunk of story to an already meaty experience, Undead Nightmare follows the story of John Marston after the zombie plague sweeps the American frontier and begins raising the dead from their graves. Since death isn’t exactly rare in the wild west and shallow graves are a more common than a full set of teeth, it’s clear that the people of the American Southwest are in some trouble. The storyline of Undead Nightmare revolves around Marston searching for a cure for the plague by following one of three leads which implicate varying parties of causing the apocalypse.

Even more awe-inspiring than the thought of a zombified wild west are the other inclusions this pack brought to Red Dead. Supernatural creatures like the big-footed Sasquatch, the goat-sucking Chupacabra, the seemingly out-of-place Unicorn, and the incredibly overpowered Four Horses of the Apocalypse can be found in Undead Nightmare, and the horses of War, Death, Famine, and Pestilence can even be broken and ridden by Marston (so can the Unicorn but who wants a rainbow-spreading wimp when Death’s own mount is readily available?).

Dead Space

While the necromorphs in Dead Space aren’t your typical zombies, they are still the reanimated flesh of the dead and in the words of Mills Lane, I’ll allow it. I was skeptical about Dead Space when it was first released because I generally don’t like horror films or games. It’s not that I don’t like being scared, I just never found that most modern horrors offered much more than loud noises and shaky cameras. I decided to try it out anyway and man am I glad I did. Not only was it absolutely terrifying, but it was also a really solid game with some fun mechanics. I found both the dismemberment and the zero gravity sections to be both fun and unique to the game.

To be fair, Dead Space doesn’t hold a chance against the supremely horrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Most of the frightening moments are the typical loud noises and sudden scares that plague the horror movies I’ve never really enjoyed. The difference between those movies and this game is that Dead Space had something else going for it (fun gameplay) whereas House of Wax only has Paris Hilton (which isn’t really a positive aspect). The point is, Dead Space offered some really fun, and pretty unique, zombie shooting gameplay that didn’t just focus on headshots, and it managed to renew my hope in the horror genre. It also means that there are no more excuses for making a bad horror game. We’ve seen good ones now, so you can’t let us down anymore game devs. The bar has been set.

 

So that’s it. Those are my personal top 5 zombie games. While there are some other traditions I like to uphold during my secular Easter celebration, you can guarantee that most of these will grace my consoles at some point during the day. Try not to gorge yourself on so much chocolate and ham that you can’t manage to get in some zombie gaming, and let me know below what your favorite zombie games are. If the last 2,000 years have taught us anything, it’s that zombies are a thing to celebrate…with lots and lots of bullets.

PSN update – Anon didn’t do it

Justin Mienkiewicz
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Small but meaningful update on the current failure of PSN.  AnonOps (Anonymous group who has been involved with previous attacks on Sony) has released another video explaining that they are not the cause.  They state that it may be possible that individual users could be the culprit, this is not the collectives wishes and they do not condone it.

What is much more likely (and logical) is that Sony is using Anonymous as a convenient scapegoat.  PSN has been experiencing questionable connection issues for the past month (all before this alleged attack)  to which Sony explained it was doing work on the servers and that a few would be down, resulting in the poor connection rates.  A month later, the network goes down and Sony needs an explanation.  It’s just plain in Sony’s best interest to place blame on Anonymous, lying or not.  It gets Sony out of needing to explain to their fans, and shareholders, why they are having such problems with their network.

Sony has been changing their story for the past month while giving little to no information to their fans about what is going on.  Anonymous has always openly admitted blame for their attacks, often with pride, and there is no reason for them not to in this case.

It’s looking like Sony has some ‘splainin to do, especially since they are having severe server problems during the release weekend of Mortal Kombat and Portal 2.

Happy Easter From The Capsule Computers Crew 2011

Philip Federico
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Everyone here at Capsule Computers from the Coolest (MasterAbbott) to the ugliest (toss up between RadicalDylan, Linkage or MattyVella – you guys out there can decide) would like to wish you all a Happy and Safe Easter. We hope that the Easter Bunny brings you lots and lots of yummy chocolate Easter eggs this year.

Travis, Dustin and Jed alone have destroyed enough Easter eggs to sink a small ship, but hey it’s Easter. The’re allowed (they’ll all go on a diet next week) Have a great day, eat, enjoy and be Happy.

Ohh by the way we’ll be giving away some cool video games at random times during the day to anyone that leaves us a Happy Easter comment here or just leaves a comment anywhere on the site. All winners will be notified by email so make sure you’re email address are valid when you register as a member or when you leave a comment 🙂

Happy Easter from Capsule Computers Crew 🙂

PSN outage, who’s to blame?

Justin Mienkiewicz
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If you own a PS3 and like playing online, you’ve likely been pretty pissed these past few days.  This past week the servers were acting kind of funny, dropping connection every now and then but nothing major.  Now the entire network is down in its entirety for the past two or three days, during a crucial gaming weekend (mortal kombat, portal 2).  So, you ask, who’s to blame?

The easy target is 4chan group, Anonymous.  Anonymous has been targeting Sony for a while now ever since Sony sought litigation against George “Geohot” Hotz for hacking the PS3 in an attempt to revive the Other OS feature that Sony removed.  Anonymous was previously the source of a network failure some weeks ago, but have put out a PSA stating that they don’t wish to inconvenience users in their attack on Sony.  Sony fanboys elite have denounced this as nothing more than damage control and claim that Anon is hard at work again, being the root and course of this latest outage.  Even Sony themselves has updated their blog stating that an attack from an outside source seems to be the problem, though they do not mention Anonymous.

Anonymous has revealed that they are attacking Sony, just not the PSN servers.  Just released tonight, mere minutes ago, Anon has divulged that they are attacking Sony’s website and not the PSN servers, again reiterating that they do not want to attack the users.

Regardless of you who believe in this whole situation, network failures suck.  🙁

Guilty Gear Isuka available now at DotEmu!

Travis Bruno
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0
Guilty Gear Isuka available now at DotEmu!

Feel like playing a retro game on your PC? How about a fighting game that was created by Arc System Works? Now Arc System Works is most currently known for its work on the BlazBlue titles but before that they created a very long running fighting game series known as Guilty Gear. Back in 2004 they released Guilty Gear Isuka in Japan and now you will have a chance to play it thanks to DotEmu bringing it to life on the PC for fighting fans to have access to.

DotEmu is known for bringing retro games back to life and they have done so again by providing Guilty Gear Isuka for only $5.99 for US purchasers and €3.99 in Europe. Guilty Gear fans will not be able to turn away from this classic game that allows four fighters to enter the battle at the same time if you choose to fight with your friends against computers or feel like taking two on one. They have provided a trailer for Guilty Gear Isuka which you can see below. If you feel like buying Guilty Gear Isuka you can do so at DotEmu’s website.

Wield divine fire as Anjali in last Dungeon Siege III character reveal

Travis Bruno
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0

First we saw a woman that wielded magic firearms and then we saw a magical warrior fighting to get revenge for his family. After that we saw a genius mage who could bend the forces of nature to his will. But that doesn’t hold a candle to the last character to be revealed for Dungeon Siege III. Literally. Anjali is a legend come to life as she is an Archon, a spirit of fire given flesh.

Anjali was raised by a group of people who were sympathetic to the struggles of the Legion, but due to her upbringing she has no idea how she even managed to come to the world in which she lives, nor does she realize how powerful she really is. Anjali can change to her elemental fire form and throw fireballs at enemies from afar as well as inflict area damage with fire. Oh and did I forget to mention that she can also summon a Fire Jackal to attack her enemies too?

Disgaea 4 Super Premium Edition figures revealed alongside Fuka reveal

Travis Bruno
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1

Just a little bit ago NIS America announced two different special editions of Disgaea 4. One was a Premium Edition while the other was a Super Premium Edition. Now both of these editions come with the game itself, a soundtrack, art book and a figurine of one of the main characters, Fuka. Now originally the Premium Edition contained a box that showed a Nendoroid figurine that was like the one released in Japan. However, after contacting NIS America we were told that this would not be the figure included in the pack. Since then the image has been updated to feature the figurine that will be included in both packages which you can see to the right.

Now the Super Premium Edition was announced to contain nine additional figures besides the Fuka figurine and we were shown a picture that only showed some of these figures. NISA has since released an image that contains every figure that will be included in the Super Premium Edition. You can see the whole collection below which features Prinny, Fallen Angel Flonne, Flonne, Axel, DESCO, Emizel, Fenrich, Valvatorez and Vulcanus. There still has not been a price tag placed on these two versions of the title but the prices will most likely be released in June when pre-ordering become available.

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