@Martin_H Thanks for the kind words. There's actually two more entries: a spin-off with an interview from someone who participated in the Sonic TV / phone show. And something on bootleg Famicom games, though that's more generalised and global. The Sonic show piece is really interesting - I'm still trying to find archive footage of it.
TV didn't arrive until 1976, and I wasn't born until after that. But there were no TV sets at all before that. It simply wasn't a thing - according to my relatives. My mother described having visited Europe in the 1960s, knowing what TV was, being infuriated SA didn't have it, and then when it did arrive, it arrived in colour (no b&w TV phase), and she immediately invested in one with VCR. Went all in as it arrived. Meaning when I was born some time after, I was privileged to enjoy regular video rentals and lots of stuff recorded from TV - it was a new and exciting technology at the time. Ironically, my dad, from Communist Poland, had TV when he was a small child. Which really shows you how bizarre of a scenario it was. Prior to 1976 in SA the radio was popular, or newspapers for the news. Or the cinema for films - you could watch films, but only at the cinema. So it was extremely popular. My grandparents were avid cinema goers. So I've been told. The lack of TV was, in my opinion, a ridiculous attempt at controlling information.
As for computers, I don't really know. I was born after TV arrived, and offices and schools had computers (my school had DOS or old IBM compatibles, because we had a copy of Castle Adventure), and we had family friends who owned an IBM computer in the late 1980s. Also someone in the previous article posted in the comments about using old-style BBS while in SA. So computing (and early pre-WWW internet) was around - but I don't think in the same way it was in the UK?
Sadly my lack of personal experience means these articles are unfortunately lacking in this particular aspect.
@shanghailoz said previously: "We had BBS too, as Telkom had a decent call charge - you'd get charged for the single call, not for how much time you spent on the phone in the late 80s/early 90s. Mostly PC gaming, or Famicon clones (NES). Some imported stuff like Amiga, but rarer. I don't remember much 8-bit stuff, but age may have played a thing there."
Can you share anything more regarding computers back in the day?
Any word on how the difficulty levels affect mission objectives?
For me the biggest aspect of Goldeneye / Perfect Dark, which no one ever seems to appreciate, replicate, or understand, is that the difficulty levels increased gameplay the higher you went, encouraging you to play more.
The Dam on easy: run to the end
The Dam on hard: Neutralize all alarms, Install covert modem, Intercept data backup, Bungee jump from platform
With GE and PD, you effectively had 3 games in one, because each difficulty radically changed you how approached everything. You'd rinse easy like a tutorial, savour normal, and then you'd be ready for the proper game with all the objectives, on hard. Everything changes as the mission objectives change. Everything.
Does this replicate that?
EDIT:
It would seem my memories of TimeSplitters 2 are not correct - I've removed them. I need to replay it and refresh my memory. But my points about GE/PD stand; those two really knew how to implement different difficulties.
@ShinobiNeon I had suspected as much! Thank you for the confirmation. This entire scenario is nothing but BS so they can kill second hand sales to force all future game purchases to be new, thus getting all the profit.
Remember when they told us digital games would be cheaper than physical? How long did that last? Now digital games are more expensive that physical. There are numerous examples where a game released both digitally and physically, can be bought new, on disc, for less than the digital.
People can't get angry enough about this whole fiasco.
@ilustrajulio This post was fantastic. Thank you for sharing it!
This is something which doesn't get mentioned enough. Physical games mean you can take that game, and trade or sell it, to reinvest again.
Sony et al are deluded into thinking that by removing the ability to sell old games (because digital), people are just going to now buy all their games new and still buy the same amount.
I am convinced Sony is lying when it says physical only accounts for 3% of current transactions.
How are they coming up with this figure? Are they including free demos with that? Are they massaging the numbers somehow?
Are we suddenly going to be allowed to sell our digital copies?
My rage at losing physical media is akin to a thousand burning suns. I will in every instance buy physical when I can, so that I can sell it later if I don't like it (ie: Metaphor Refantazio - imported the JP version, fully in English, I think the game sucks, it's going on eBay when I can be bothered).
But ultimately... I don't care about this. I now own more physical copies of PS3, X360, Switch, and PS4 games, plus retro games, than I could ever play in my life time, even if I live to be 70 and play for 30 hours every week. (Which is a ridiculous suggestion.)
I'm good.
Very, very little in the last 10 years has been even remotely unusual or interesting enough to really care about. Just slightly shinier versions of what I was reviewing in 2006 when the PS3 turned up at the office.
Slitterhead (2024) was the best game I've played in the last 10 years, but the critics all hated it (I was forced to buy digital on PS4, but I plan on getting a PS5 special edition just for my shelf; I will double dip I love it so much!).
From what I can see the future just means more of the same derivative slop as development gets more expensive and everyone wants a safe bet with maximum appeal.
I might miss out on the odd gem, the next Slitterhead that manages to get made, but again... More in backlog than I can play.
I hate this decision, and it's a dark day for collectors, and I feel sorry for the kids who will never get to experience their mother driving them to the store, buying a cool game in nice packaging, and reading the manual on the drive home, but I've also amassed enough to safeguard myself.
I'll just keep buying retro when I want a nice physical item. Heck, I even make my own retro repros these days!
"an adventure game with RPG elements (an overworld, stats, and turn-based battles), which features anime-inspired pixel art, voice acting, and an episodic structure (complete with opening and ending theme songs), similar to many of the anime shows that inspired it."
and...
"Silky Lip was not my first or even my second choice for a Mega CD project"
Did they mention A Rank Thunder anywhere online in connection with their first and second choices? Because it's the exact same sort of game (adventure, RPG, unique combat, anime intro and outro like a TV series), also on Sega Mega CD, except instead of being about cute girls, it's about you waking up in a lab with no memory and fighting mutant monsters reminiscent of Guyver! It's incredible.
I'll play this, but I'm secretly hoping that Supper was thinking of A Rank Thunder as a future project.
@derf Thank you! It was a pretty packed 2 weeks. Many of the shopping trips had to be squeezed in at the end of a day's excursion (ie: after visiting Kirstenbosch).
@Martin_H A valuable comment, thank you; that's a very common perspective I encountered after moving. One thing I learned having been born there and later emigrating, and I alluded to in the previous article regarding SA villains in films, is global media and especially news, always give a curated perspective based on their viewership. There is almost always more to a story than conveyed, thus I've always tried to read up on the background to anything which catches my eye, and it's worth looking at multiple sources. This isn't so much about SA but all news from the last 25 years.
@Martin_H
More nuanced as Shanghailoz says. At school I had a black friend called Edward, who also owned a Famiclone, and we traded games.
There were also wealthy black and coloured people under apartheid - the story of Herman Mashaba starting his cosmetics business and building his first factory is interesting.
The important thing to know is that there were flea markets, enormous open air markets, shops sellings grey imports of all sorts of goods, and shops catering to different demographics.
I was a kid at the time, but my understanding based on what I've read and heard is that if you had money you could buy anything. If I'm understanding your question, it's not like the parents of non-white children were forbidden access to buying such things. I asked my dad, and he confirmed that even before I was born, shops / supermarkets / shopping malls were not segregated. That was things like toilets and busses.
For example when I was little there was Bruma Lake, a giant open air market, selling all sorts of goods, with all ethnicities both shopping there and running stalls.
EDIT:
I am editing this to add some additional context, given a recent news story in the UK regarding using the term "coloured". Just in case anyone stumbles on this comment later. And this is a good example of why I find discussing SA exhausting. In SA the term "coloured" for people of mixed race is used without offence - and self applied with a sense of pride. On a bus tour I did on one day, the woman who was giving a verbal description of sights, explained that in the new SA she felt proud to call herself coloured. There's an extremely long history of coloured people being regarded as distinct from black people - it's not like in America where anyone with even partial African heritage describes themselves as black (am I generalising? I'm not an American, so maybe I'm wrong). There's also the Cape Malay population, brought over by the Dutch. Who call themselves coloured and practice Islam (we went around the Bo-Kaap area where many live, to see the unique houses there). What I'm saying is, when I use the word I'm using it as someone who grew up around people who regarded the word as part of their identity, and expected you to use it, rather than deny that identity by using a different word. There is, as with everything, lots of nuance which gets lost. My suggestion is actually not even to listen to anything I've typed here, but listen to that demographic from SA, and their words on how they'd want to be referred to.
@profkross Sadly I did not visit Barcadia - we had something on every day apart from 9ne rainy day.
I actually met and chatted with a former arcade operator ('93~'13), and was going to include a mini interview, but ended up cutting them before writing due to the excessive length of the overall feature (hence it being split into parts). I suppose if these go down well I could still get his recollections on it.
Your description sounds right. The corner shops were mostly run by Portuguese near us, which is where I discovered cabs in my early years.
@Jonjon10 Hello! I did not imagine getting a reply here. Good luck - it's not an easy business to make work. When you have something up, honestly any photos will work. I wouldn't begrudge even quick phone snaps, and I don't think others would either. So don't sweat it if they don't look fancy. The important thing is they'll look authentic. I look forward to seeing them. (Sorry if I came across as harsh - you're a human being trying to make a go of things.)
@Guru_Larry
They didn't reprint a rare MD game like Soleil / Crusader of Centy, which is ultra expensive, nope... They reprinted the game which came bundled with the system!
Absolute clown shoes.
I mean, the JP and UK version of Soleil was published by Sega themselves, meaning they have the rights to license it out. Why, WHY would a company, when chatting with Sega about a license for a game, choose to license Sonic 1?
I've manufactured my own reproductions. Well, had others do it for me. A repro cartridge with freshly burned ROMs cost me £6. A glossy printed sticker label £3 from a professional printing company. High quality colour printed game box, manual, and internal tray, £20. And that was a premium price because I didn't send them the full printing template, just the front and back, and they charged a little to design it as a full 360 degree package. This was a 6 sided NES box, so more expensive than single printed sheet needed for Mega Drive clam cases.
A full custom reproduction NES game cost me less than £30 to make. And that was with the one third-party selling the product to me with profit. The repro cart itself was just of materials at £6.
So this £75 repro, I'm going to say cost... £20 or less to physically make. Meaning they're taking £50 or more in pure profit.
I guess the Sega license must have been expensive.
But legacy cartridges are cheap to manufacture, and the packaging is even less, since it's just generic plastic and some printed paper.
Please, anyone interested in such an item, actually look into the cost of how much a repro takes to make this.
This is insanity.
Plus of course original legacy carts are still cheap to find and buy.
Who the heck is thing aimed at? Who is going to buy this? Seriously.
His music will always be the only music I can play the original Doom to. It is as much a part of the game to me as the levels, enemies, and weapons. I know the PS1 port's creepier slow soundtrack has fans, but for me, there's only one true way to eviscerate the hoards of hell: rocking out hard.
Im/ Im/
(lol, the comments don't like backslashes; these are meant to be twin horns)
In an earlier draft of the review I actually had a long tangent on the history of survival horror, with the earliest Japanese example being Nostromo on PC-6001 from 1982. Which is, as you can guess, also based on Alien.
But it dragged the review off topic and was very sensibly trimmed.
But you're absolutely right, there is a long and rich heritage to the premise / genre, and one can clearly see an evolution of ideas with each new game.
Metal Slug would make for a great Metroidvania. You'd rescue different characters, granting new abilities. New weapons would be perma unlocks, but requiring ammo to be collected. Each of the Slug vehicles would be like Alucard's transformations in SOTN, able to be called upon in specific situations.
This though... I've never played whatever this is based on.
@firenze someone who wanted to use Everdrive save states for one of the systems where the corresponding OpenFPGA core doesn't offer save state functionality (i.e., Lynx, NGPC, or PCE)
Even with original NGPC carts save state support isn't available. I think it's to do with the fact NGPC writes to a blank section of the ROM itself.
As mentioned I got a NGPC cart because the guy doing the NGP core only had b&w games running at the time, not Color, and he seemed to be struggling. Did he ever finish the core? I got tired of waiting so just got the flashcart and then stopped looking.
The only one I don't have is the PCE one. But if what you say is true, that it lacks save states, then I should get one.
A core that does not provide saving is less than useless. Why would anyone even bother with such a thing? I find it utterly bizarre that everyone is advising "oh just put ROMs on the AP" when in fact they literally do not have full functionality. You can't even save! >_<
Also as @aquova points out: why faff about with core updates etc., when you can just stick a flash cart in and just know that it works, no fuss no problems.
I tried using the Lynx core, two of them, and it SUCKED!
No save states. And fiddly to set up. Had to use some weird program to build a database?
Screw that. Bought a Lynx flashcart. Just pop it in and go! Also! The screen filters seem to be better when running real carts versus the third party cores. More options, more versatile, just better.
So does this mean my earlier model Analogue Pocket is now rare and ultra valued, like the superior first run of PS3s which had PS2 support?
I love my AP, but it would be useless to me with flashcart support.
@Bod2019
@firenze Serious question, why even bother with an Everdrive or similar?
On my Analogue Pocket I use the following flashcarts:
GB/GBC
GBA
GG
SMS
Lynx
NGPC
And I get asked that question a lot by friends and colleagues. And it is beyond frustrating, because it seems plainly obvious why one would use them. But I will explain...
The Lynx core does not support quick saving with ROMs on the AP SD card. But quick saving is supported when you plug a physical cart in.
The NGPC doesn't run Color games last I checked so I just bought a NGPC flashcart. Everything is now playable.
GB / GBC - I also have a Super Game Boy and GC GB Player, so having a cart is handy to move between the three, especially for games with SGB special features. I couldn't get the SGB core working on AP. Also it allows me to keep my save data - so wether I play GB on my SNES in my bedroom, on my GC in my lounge, or my AP in my office, my save file is always on this cart.
GBA - same as above with GC GB Player. Though to be fair I had this since the NDS days.
GG - I just like having a GG cart, even though I only use it on the AP.
SMS - sometimes I use this on my MD via an adapter, on my CRT, and sometimes on my AP via an SMS to GG adapter, in the AP GG adapter. It allows me to keep my save data for games like Ultima, Phantasy Star etc. regardless of where I play.
More than anything, I don't like my save files being tied to the hardware. I want to grab whatever cart I need, pop it in my computer, update files, back up saves, etc. Especially since I will use that same cart on multiple systems around my house, or on rare occassions lend the cart itself to someone.
It's how I like to organise my data.
I suppose some might prefer all roms and everything on the AP, and they never bother with other systems. Good for them. But I prefer my way of doing things.
I could play SMS games on the GG flashcart, for example. But can I stick that GG cart in my MD? No. I could also play SMS games on my MD flash cart. But can I stick that in my AP? Again no. Ergo, SMS cart!
I like versatility and control over my gear.
I am genuinely shocked and a bit nauseaus at how flippantly some are dismissing this. This is HUGELY important for some people. For me it's a stone cold deal breaker. The AP would be worthless trash if it could not use flashcarts.
But I'm seeing people not only dismiss this out of hand, but make accusatory statements towards those who need this functionality, as if there's something wrong with them.
Analogue Pocket without flashcart support is useless and not fit for purpose. I need it to run them!
Thankfully mine works. But I feel sorry for others like me who arrive late to the party.
@badd1e I dunno, that snobbery to me seemed like a good foundation to be friends. I was going to suggest multiplayer Saturn Bomberman on a CRT with some fellow snobs? But if you need time to accept who you are, we can wait. Hard boiled egg and some prune juice?
Every time I see GenAI photos all I can think is: this person / business was too lazy and too cheap to snap a couple real photos, and thus I inherently can never trust them. It's like all these dodgy takeaways in the town where I live - none of the food shown on their pamphlets is actually served at the place.
What are these photos even conveying?
Not the place itself. Some imaginary "vibe" which exists in a machine's imagination?
Like seriously, just take your mobile phone, walk around your business, and snap a few authentic grainy photos. Poor lighting, Dutch angles, improper focus, and mild graininess is not going to put me off - it's going to show me this place is real, and genuine, and has heart.
That's me credited as the maker of the DVD, but if you scroll down:
Uploaded by longernohuman on February 28, 2026
I was not aware of this. Thanks for letting me know. Given the difficulty of monetizing a DVD, I'll leave it up until I can find an alternative solution.
Regarding your inquiry, it's Hiroshi Aso. He was originally a planner who worked on arcade games like "Dump Matsumoto" and "Alien Syndrome." After that, I believe he was also involved in the development of the Game Gear. He wasn't involved in the Mega Drive version of Sonic 2, so it might have been the Game Gear version.
So it turns out... She was not being shown Sonic 2 on the Mega Drive? Fascinating. Might be worth someone trying to overlay those maps with the MD version and GG version.
Or maybe they just roped him out to do it.
But I sent a photo of his face too, not just the video link, and he confirmed it: Hiroshi Aso.
"we could pump steam through and have it coming up through the floor – this tended to turn the set into a swamp"
Wouldn't dry ice or smoke machines have been easier and less humid? TV production isn't my field, so I'm genuinely curious to know the pros / cons and reasons behind the decision.
EDIT: couldn't wait, went googling and discovered this is a real decision they have to make, with various reasons for using each! Fascinating!
@Martin_H @Guru_Larry
I've just emailed one of my Sega contacts who would have definitely worked alongside him. If I hear back, I'll post here. If I don't hear back, I'll probably forget and never post back here, unless someone pings me to remind me.
EDIT:
I'm looking at photos of both Yasuhara and Kanari, and if I had to choose, with a gun to my head, I'd pick Yasuhara. But honestly, neither of them really look like the guy in the video to me. There's multiple little things which seem off. The glasses (or lack thereof), the shape - though I suppose gaining or losing weight could affect that. We shall see!
@metaphysician Oh, absolutely! I was just thinking of companies that were on the verge but never actually did it. I already knew about Konami and namco, but Tecmo was new to me.
So it turns out Tecmo, Namco, and Konami all wanted to develop a console / handheld at various points. Fascinating revelations! This is pure gold in terms of historical value.
@sdelfin
I owned both as well BITD, and as you allude to, he was in fact a SNES owner BITD, so it did feel like nostalgia clouding his judgement. And when I rattled off examples, he literally did the "well those were just rare exceptions". LOL. The SNES music chip made it easy to add almost CD quality music - it feels almost like cheating. The MD though, the musicians had to work harder when composing, but when they did, it was great. I love synth and chiptunes anyway, hence the preference. I like SID music, despite never owning a C64.
EDIT: Bot_Bot beat me to the answer by a few seconds, lol
@Tibob
The unreleased but leaked on Xbox 360 is incredible.
I bought a JTAG modded system just to play it, and it was honestly worth it (I also unlocked some rare XBLIG that were delisted).
You can swap between N64 graphics and remaster graphics, like youcould on Perfect Dark on 360.
It's still technically a beta. So some things are a bit off. Trevelyan's grenade won't bounce off walls to kill him. Also small glass windows don't shatter, but big glass does.
But it's 95% there, smooth frame rate, great draw distance. Exactly what you want.
If you don't want to buy a modded X360 it can also be emulated on a powerful enough PC.
@h3s - sorry, I'm unsure regarding the fps. Good Q though.
@Martin_H - as a happy pre-orderer of the AES+ ULTIMATE EDITION, I have to say... I actually agree with you. I personally found the NGPC to have a more interesting and diverse library. And while I yearned for a NG throughout my teen years, drooling over the screenshots of £300 games in import mags, the truth is... I could have bought a SNES / MD plus several games, or maybe even just 10x games for one of them (used games were like £20 in my local indie store). And when I finally played the entire library via emulation on my Xbox, it hit me... I'd actually had the better experience having owning both a SNES and MD, and buying games for them over the years. More RPGs, more 2D shooters, more weird puzzle and platform games. Some cool film licenses. Etc.
Still, as an adult who has explored all the consoles of the era, the NG is the last frontier I've yet to experience authentically on real hardware. The 13 year old inside needs to be satiated.
@KingMike I first noticed it with one of the Tomb Raider games on X360. At first I thought the eBay seller had lost it - looked online, and nope, it didn't come with one. As you say, the beginning of the end and now today you're lucky even to have a physical game in the box. I don't understand why manuals were abandoned.
Cost? Paper and monochrome are cheap (I know, I work in print media). The pennies a company saves isn't going to offset the loss of goodwill felt from owning a nice product with lush manual.
Environment? I actually saw this as a "feature" on something. Not games, but some other product, an appliance or something. "No paper instructions is good for the environment!" Absolute nonsense. Paper can be recycled, and even if disposed of, paper will biodegrade, unlike the plastics of everything else. Paper is the most environmentally product we can make.
I miss physical products.
A few mentioned Evercade. A good shout. I have the Intellivision cart (but no Evercade unit, yet), and it's a lovely little package.
Manuals. Real paper manuals. Made from actual real paper. I am weeping metaphorical tears of joy. 😭
I haven't seen one of those with a new game release for... Gosh, 10, maybe 15 years? Has it been that long?
Can we please just take a moment to reflect on the fact that this bundle is bringing back so much of what was once normal, but is now missing from games?
No patches, no installs, no download codes in a box to get a digital only version, no lack of manual because there's a 20 hour tutorial to replace it. Just a beautiful box, printed instructions, and the entire game in the box. A beautiful, intuitive, fun game.
In the era of "you will own nothing and be happy", the fact we'll get to actually own something once again, for a change, makes me jubilant! That Ultimate edition was worth every penny. 😭
"I mean do people even re-read/read magazines from the past"
I have an enormous library of several hundred physical magazines, dating from 1982 (maybe earlier?) to the present day, and I read one or more of them almost every day, and I find them immensely valuable for research.
Release dates, rumours, cancelled games, the evolution of certain events. For example yesterday was reading a March 1994 magazine which claimed In The Hunt would have a SNES port (it did not), and also explored the censorship crackdown at the time, with regards to the US senate hearing, British classification system, etc. It also noted Doom being ported to SNES (quite an early announcement).
Old magazines can provide hard data, and also are a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist.
I'm probably the anomaly here, but I will read and make copious notes quite regularly.
Ernie Katz's thinly veiled racist attacks on Japan and Europe, in his monthly VG&CE columns, have proved a fascinating rabbit hole, for example, and reflect the phobia America felt during the 1980s.
And in case anyone is wondering: old issues of Famitsu would regularly feature sexy gravure models on the cover, with photoshoots inside. Not even game related. They just wanted a cute woman on the cover and inside. I love it!
@-wc-
I've enjoyed our discussions, we've been respectful and I enjoy the ritual of human communication while needing to think and recall events.
So I'd like to respectfully disagree with this statement and offer, not a strawman argument, but a real example which had a wider impact:
"we can safely dismiss secondhand accounts of anonymous random social media accounts of dubious intent as straw men, in this or any other context, frankly"
I am a fan of George Kamitani of Vanillaware. He used to paint, annually, a beautiful year end painting. Gorgeous artwork. Often with light nudity. Not sexual, but artistic. True art.
Your discussion has reminded me of the witch hunt Kamitani underwent. Jason Schrier, and others, repeatedly attacked him and his art. This resulted in him making a joking rebuttal, which got lost in translation, and caused more chaos.
For the longest time it was my desktop wallpaper. It does not arouse sexually, but rather it awakens my heart, stirs my soul, and I am filled with a desire to write and create, to create even a fraction of the artistry Kamitani achieves. I bend my knee to Kamitani's skill.
So now you have your example, not a strawman argument, and not an anonymous second hand source. A known journalist criticising traditional painted art to the point of destroying the artist.
Schrier's unhinged criticisms, and those of other journalists at the time, eventually resulted in Kamitani no longer painting. Criticisms not of sexual material, but pure beautiful art. The world lost something the day he stopped painting.
#justiceforkamitani
I'd like to thank you for questioning me. It encouraged me to strengthen my argument with solid examples, and I am better because of it. Well played.
@-wc- "obviously this isnt true if you take it to logical extremes"
When I said that line to a friend once, they brought up the infamous German news story of the cannibal and the victim who answered an advert, asking me if I thought their mutually consented scenario was acceptable.
This feels like a logically extreme example.
And my conclusion was: I feel like both of them were likely mentally ill and thus the consent was not informed or genuine. They had taken leave of their senses and legally were not capable of making such choices.
So yes, there are going to be extreme edge cases where the belief needs debating and consideration, and provides an interesting thought experiment.
As for consenting to advertising, I dislike ads in general, unless they're especially entertaining. But I suppose the answer is, we could simply not watch TV, or browse the internet, thus not exposing us to ads. When I turn on my TV, load up my web browser, or flick through a magazine, I am consenting to the ads since I know they will exist. And logically, ads of a salacious nature, are best placed within media that appeals to such people. ie: a salacious games advert with babes is best shown during an action movie, not during Golden Girls reruns.
With TE, I pay for the premium of choice not having ads. But if that option were not available, I would accept that I am forced to see them.
I'm not sure if you searched for it on YouTube, and I respect you if you choose not to view it, but if you did view it - what did you think of the German butter advert? (Note: it contains frontal nudity.) How would you react if you were watching TV in the afternoon, say 13:30, and it came on?
You can hate it if you want - I'm not wanting to pass judgement. I'm just curious, given you dislike game ads like that, and I'm assuming this TV ad falls into that same sphere? Or do you feel the TV advert is different, for whatever reasons? It's less provocative, and attempts to be more artistic, I feel.
@-wc-
Valid question. I'm not conflating the two. But I have seen both being criticised, sometimes by the same random social media users. Hence my Q. It's one of several reasons I stopped using socmed (not on twitter, BS, Insta, or active on FB, or even LinkedIn). Because apart from the aggression from people who disagree, I've seen weird hypocritical stances dismissing all nudity. As in, blanket statements stating all of it is bad. I've read tirades on socmed arguing paintings and sculptures "reinforce patriarchal stereotypes about bla bla bla". I zoned out pretty quickly, but sufficed to say, I disagree that old art and antiquity are somehow inherently bad and I disregard such opinions immediately.
To be precise:
I am fine with artistic nudes
I am fine with hypersexual adverts
I am fine with live models in sexy clothing walking around to promote products
I am fine with films / comics / games / etc., containing sexual content, whether it's to support that media product, or simply to arouse its audience via gratuitous inclusion
I can tell and describe the difference between all of the above, and I am cool with all of the above.
I have only one rule which governs my views: between consenting adults there are no rules
@-wc- "If it was still a good strategy for selling games, it would still be happening, because that's how the world works. That's my take."
Exactly! An excellent point you make, and Stellar Blade's massive success I feel proves you correct! There is a lot of rightfully deserved praise given for the very attractive lead character - and its sales reflected the fact there is an audience for such content. The gameplay is solid too, but there's a lot of good 3D action games out there (ie: Vanquish), so the character designs really helped it stand out.
I don't have a PC rig that can play it well enough, but I pushed through the demo despite a low frame rate, and I think the main character is lovely. I would absolutely buy Stellar Blade if I had a powerful PC or PS5.
Comments 960
Re: "Piracy Did Help The PlayStation Market" - How Bootlegs Allowed PlayStation To Take Over South Africa
@Martin_H
Thanks for the kind words. There's actually two more entries: a spin-off with an interview from someone who participated in the Sonic TV / phone show. And something on bootleg Famicom games, though that's more generalised and global. The Sonic show piece is really interesting - I'm still trying to find archive footage of it.
TV didn't arrive until 1976, and I wasn't born until after that. But there were no TV sets at all before that. It simply wasn't a thing - according to my relatives. My mother described having visited Europe in the 1960s, knowing what TV was, being infuriated SA didn't have it, and then when it did arrive, it arrived in colour (no b&w TV phase), and she immediately invested in one with VCR. Went all in as it arrived. Meaning when I was born some time after, I was privileged to enjoy regular video rentals and lots of stuff recorded from TV - it was a new and exciting technology at the time. Ironically, my dad, from Communist Poland, had TV when he was a small child. Which really shows you how bizarre of a scenario it was. Prior to 1976 in SA the radio was popular, or newspapers for the news. Or the cinema for films - you could watch films, but only at the cinema. So it was extremely popular. My grandparents were avid cinema goers. So I've been told. The lack of TV was, in my opinion, a ridiculous attempt at controlling information.
As for computers, I don't really know. I was born after TV arrived, and offices and schools had computers (my school had DOS or old IBM compatibles, because we had a copy of Castle Adventure), and we had family friends who owned an IBM computer in the late 1980s. Also someone in the previous article posted in the comments about using old-style BBS while in SA. So computing (and early pre-WWW internet) was around - but I don't think in the same way it was in the UK?
Sadly my lack of personal experience means these articles are unfortunately lacking in this particular aspect.
@shanghailoz said previously:
"We had BBS too, as Telkom had a decent call charge - you'd get charged for the single call, not for how much time you spent on the phone in the late 80s/early 90s. Mostly PC gaming, or Famicon clones (NES). Some imported stuff like Amiga, but rarer. I don't remember much 8-bit stuff, but age may have played a thing there."
Can you share anything more regarding computers back in the day?
Re: Agent 64 Is The Perfect Dark & GoldenEye 007 Successor We've Been Waiting For, And It Arrives Next Month
Any word on how the difficulty levels affect mission objectives?
For me the biggest aspect of Goldeneye / Perfect Dark, which no one ever seems to appreciate, replicate, or understand, is that the difficulty levels increased gameplay the higher you went, encouraging you to play more.
The Dam on easy: run to the end
The Dam on hard: Neutralize all alarms, Install covert modem, Intercept data backup, Bungee jump from platform
With GE and PD, you effectively had 3 games in one, because each difficulty radically changed you how approached everything. You'd rinse easy like a tutorial, savour normal, and then you'd be ready for the proper game with all the objectives, on hard. Everything changes as the mission objectives change. Everything.
Does this replicate that?
EDIT:
It would seem my memories of TimeSplitters 2 are not correct - I've removed them. I need to replay it and refresh my memory. But my points about GE/PD stand; those two really knew how to implement different difficulties.
Re: I'm Really Not Sure How I Feel About Sony Killing Physical Media
@ShinobiNeon I had suspected as much! Thank you for the confirmation. This entire scenario is nothing but BS so they can kill second hand sales to force all future game purchases to be new, thus getting all the profit.
Remember when they told us digital games would be cheaper than physical? How long did that last? Now digital games are more expensive that physical. There are numerous examples where a game released both digitally and physically, can be bought new, on disc, for less than the digital.
People can't get angry enough about this whole fiasco.
I hope PlayStation goes bankrupt.
Re: I'm Really Not Sure How I Feel About Sony Killing Physical Media
@ilustrajulio
This post was fantastic. Thank you for sharing it!
This is something which doesn't get mentioned enough. Physical games mean you can take that game, and trade or sell it, to reinvest again.
Sony et al are deluded into thinking that by removing the ability to sell old games (because digital), people are just going to now buy all their games new and still buy the same amount.
I am convinced Sony is lying when it says physical only accounts for 3% of current transactions.
How are they coming up with this figure? Are they including free demos with that? Are they massaging the numbers somehow?
Are we suddenly going to be allowed to sell our digital copies?
Re: I'm Really Not Sure How I Feel About Sony Killing Physical Media
My rage at losing physical media is akin to a thousand burning suns. I will in every instance buy physical when I can, so that I can sell it later if I don't like it (ie: Metaphor Refantazio - imported the JP version, fully in English, I think the game sucks, it's going on eBay when I can be bothered).
But ultimately... I don't care about this. I now own more physical copies of PS3, X360, Switch, and PS4 games, plus retro games, than I could ever play in my life time, even if I live to be 70 and play for 30 hours every week. (Which is a ridiculous suggestion.)
I'm good.
Very, very little in the last 10 years has been even remotely unusual or interesting enough to really care about. Just slightly shinier versions of what I was reviewing in 2006 when the PS3 turned up at the office.
Slitterhead (2024) was the best game I've played in the last 10 years, but the critics all hated it (I was forced to buy digital on PS4, but I plan on getting a PS5 special edition just for my shelf; I will double dip I love it so much!).
From what I can see the future just means more of the same derivative slop as development gets more expensive and everyone wants a safe bet with maximum appeal.
I might miss out on the odd gem, the next Slitterhead that manages to get made, but again... More in backlog than I can play.
I hate this decision, and it's a dark day for collectors, and I feel sorry for the kids who will never get to experience their mother driving them to the store, buying a cool game in nice packaging, and reading the manual on the drive home, but I've also amassed enough to safeguard myself.
I'll just keep buying retro when I want a nice physical item. Heck, I even make my own retro repros these days!
But still. **** Sony.
Re: This Magical Girl-Inspired Sega Mega CD Game Is Finally Available In English, With Some Handy Quality Of Life Fixes
"an adventure game with RPG elements (an overworld, stats, and turn-based battles), which features anime-inspired pixel art, voice acting, and an episodic structure (complete with opening and ending theme songs), similar to many of the anime shows that inspired it."
and...
"Silky Lip was not my first or even my second choice for a Mega CD project"
Did they mention A Rank Thunder anywhere online in connection with their first and second choices? Because it's the exact same sort of game (adventure, RPG, unique combat, anime intro and outro like a TV series), also on Sega Mega CD, except instead of being about cute girls, it's about you waking up in a lab with no memory and fighting mutant monsters reminiscent of Guyver! It's incredible.
I'll play this, but I'm secretly hoping that Supper was thinking of A Rank Thunder as a future project.
Re: Retail Therapy: Trawling South Africa's Retro Gaming Stores
@derf
Thank you! It was a pretty packed 2 weeks. Many of the shopping trips had to be squeezed in at the end of a day's excursion (ie: after visiting Kirstenbosch).
Re: Retail Therapy: Trawling South Africa's Retro Gaming Stores
@Martin_H
A valuable comment, thank you; that's a very common perspective I encountered after moving. One thing I learned having been born there and later emigrating, and I alluded to in the previous article regarding SA villains in films, is global media and especially news, always give a curated perspective based on their viewership. There is almost always more to a story than conveyed, thus I've always tried to read up on the background to anything which catches my eye, and it's worth looking at multiple sources. This isn't so much about SA but all news from the last 25 years.
Re: Retail Therapy: Trawling South Africa's Retro Gaming Stores
@Martin_H
More nuanced as Shanghailoz says. At school I had a black friend called Edward, who also owned a Famiclone, and we traded games.
There were also wealthy black and coloured people under apartheid - the story of Herman Mashaba starting his cosmetics business and building his first factory is interesting.
The important thing to know is that there were flea markets, enormous open air markets, shops sellings grey imports of all sorts of goods, and shops catering to different demographics.
I was a kid at the time, but my understanding based on what I've read and heard is that if you had money you could buy anything. If I'm understanding your question, it's not like the parents of non-white children were forbidden access to buying such things. I asked my dad, and he confirmed that even before I was born, shops / supermarkets / shopping malls were not segregated. That was things like toilets and busses.
For example when I was little there was Bruma Lake, a giant open air market, selling all sorts of goods, with all ethnicities both shopping there and running stalls.
EDIT:
I am editing this to add some additional context, given a recent news story in the UK regarding using the term "coloured". Just in case anyone stumbles on this comment later. And this is a good example of why I find discussing SA exhausting. In SA the term "coloured" for people of mixed race is used without offence - and self applied with a sense of pride. On a bus tour I did on one day, the woman who was giving a verbal description of sights, explained that in the new SA she felt proud to call herself coloured. There's an extremely long history of coloured people being regarded as distinct from black people - it's not like in America where anyone with even partial African heritage describes themselves as black (am I generalising? I'm not an American, so maybe I'm wrong). There's also the Cape Malay population, brought over by the Dutch. Who call themselves coloured and practice Islam (we went around the Bo-Kaap area where many live, to see the unique houses there). What I'm saying is, when I use the word I'm using it as someone who grew up around people who regarded the word as part of their identity, and expected you to use it, rather than deny that identity by using a different word. There is, as with everything, lots of nuance which gets lost. My suggestion is actually not even to listen to anything I've typed here, but listen to that demographic from SA, and their words on how they'd want to be referred to.
Re: Nintendo On Drugs, No TV Until '76 And Rampant Piracy - How South Africa's Crazy Video Game History Shaped Me As A Gamer
@profkross
Sadly I did not visit Barcadia - we had something on every day apart from 9ne rainy day.
I actually met and chatted with a former arcade operator ('93~'13), and was going to include a mini interview, but ended up cutting them before writing due to the excessive length of the overall feature (hence it being split into parts). I suppose if these go down well I could still get his recollections on it.
Your description sounds right. The corner shops were mostly run by Portuguese near us, which is where I discovered cabs in my early years.
Re: "Ever Since I Was Around Nine Years Old, I Dreamed Of Having My Own Arcade" - Arcade Operator Resorts To GenAI To Realise Lifelong Goal
@Jonjon10
Hello! I did not imagine getting a reply here. Good luck - it's not an easy business to make work. When you have something up, honestly any photos will work. I wouldn't begrudge even quick phone snaps, and I don't think others would either. So don't sweat it if they don't look fancy. The important thing is they'll look authentic. I look forward to seeing them. (Sorry if I came across as harsh - you're a human being trying to make a go of things.)
Re: Nintendo On Drugs, No TV Until '76 And Rampant Piracy - How South Africa's Crazy Video Game History Shaped Me As A Gamer
@KingMike
There's lots of PS1 talk in the second part, including a look at the delayed release of FF7 in SA. Please look forward to it.
Re: "Embarrassing" - These $100 Sonic Re-Releases Aren't Going Down Well With Fans
@Guru_Larry
They didn't reprint a rare MD game like Soleil / Crusader of Centy, which is ultra expensive, nope... They reprinted the game which came bundled with the system!
Absolute clown shoes.
I mean, the JP and UK version of Soleil was published by Sega themselves, meaning they have the rights to license it out. Why, WHY would a company, when chatting with Sega about a license for a game, choose to license Sonic 1?
Re: "Embarrassing" - These $100 Sonic Re-Releases Aren't Going Down Well With Fans
I've manufactured my own reproductions. Well, had others do it for me. A repro cartridge with freshly burned ROMs cost me £6. A glossy printed sticker label £3 from a professional printing company. High quality colour printed game box, manual, and internal tray, £20. And that was a premium price because I didn't send them the full printing template, just the front and back, and they charged a little to design it as a full 360 degree package. This was a 6 sided NES box, so more expensive than single printed sheet needed for Mega Drive clam cases.
A full custom reproduction NES game cost me less than £30 to make. And that was with the one third-party selling the product to me with profit. The repro cart itself was just of materials at £6.
So this £75 repro, I'm going to say cost... £20 or less to physically make. Meaning they're taking £50 or more in pure profit.
I guess the Sega license must have been expensive.
But legacy cartridges are cheap to manufacture, and the packaging is even less, since it's just generic plastic and some printed paper.
Please, anyone interested in such an item, actually look into the cost of how much a repro takes to make this.
This is insanity.
Plus of course original legacy carts are still cheap to find and buy.
Who the heck is thing aimed at? Who is going to buy this? Seriously.
Madness.
Re: "A Loss To The World" - Legendary Doom & Wolfenstein 3D Composer Bobby Prince Has Passed Away
His music will always be the only music I can play the original Doom to. It is as much a part of the game to me as the levels, enemies, and weapons. I know the PS1 port's creepier slow soundtrack has fans, but for me, there's only one true way to eviscerate the hoards of hell: rocking out hard.
Im/ Im/
(lol, the comments don't like backslashes; these are meant to be twin horns)
Here's a playlist of his music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePFhiifBlI
At Doom's Gate, Kitchen Ace, Donna, Deep in the Code, I sawed the demons, lots of great head bopping tracks.
Re: Review: Dark Alien In Deep Space (Vectrex) - Survival Horror Straight Outta 1982
@notreallyhere
Brilliant comment, thank you!
In an earlier draft of the review I actually had a long tangent on the history of survival horror, with the earliest Japanese example being Nostromo on PC-6001 from 1982. Which is, as you can guess, also based on Alien.
But it dragged the review off topic and was very sensibly trimmed.
But you're absolutely right, there is a long and rich heritage to the premise / genre, and one can clearly see an evolution of ideas with each new game.
Perhaps a feature is in order...? @damo ?
Re: "Not Touched For Nearly 40 Years" - Rare Copy Of Super Mario Bros. Sells For $3 Million
@Kushan
Came to say the same thing. There was a documentary showing what a scam these two companies are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A
They have artificially inflated the price of used games deliberately to scalp and profit. It's disgusting.
Re: "Like Seeing Your Dead Granny's Corpse Refurbished Into A Chair" - Metal Slug's Latest Entry Hasn't Gone Down Well With Fans
@AxioMaxiM @Westone32bit @Przemyslaw
How did I miss the existence of Guns of Fury?!
Thank you all for the rec - this is fabulous to discover!
Re: Review: Dark Alien In Deep Space (Vectrex) - Survival Horror Straight Outta 1982
@KGRAMR
Thank you! I'll suggest it to @damo
@xzacutor
Their previous game, Zombie Apocalypse, is already part of the Vectrex Mini games list. So it is possible.
Re: "Like Seeing Your Dead Granny's Corpse Refurbished Into A Chair" - Metal Slug's Latest Entry Hasn't Gone Down Well With Fans
Metal Slug would make for a great Metroidvania. You'd rescue different characters, granting new abilities. New weapons would be perma unlocks, but requiring ammo to be collected. Each of the Slug vehicles would be like Alucard's transformations in SOTN, able to be called upon in specific situations.
This though... I've never played whatever this is based on.
Re: Latest Hardware Run Of The Analogue Pocket Isn't Playing Nice With Everdrive Carts
Sorry for the triple post
@firenze
someone who wanted to use Everdrive save states for one of the systems where the corresponding OpenFPGA core doesn't offer save state functionality (i.e., Lynx, NGPC, or PCE)
Even with original NGPC carts save state support isn't available. I think it's to do with the fact NGPC writes to a blank section of the ROM itself.
As mentioned I got a NGPC cart because the guy doing the NGP core only had b&w games running at the time, not Color, and he seemed to be struggling. Did he ever finish the core? I got tired of waiting so just got the flashcart and then stopped looking.
The only one I don't have is the PCE one. But if what you say is true, that it lacks save states, then I should get one.
A core that does not provide saving is less than useless. Why would anyone even bother with such a thing? I find it utterly bizarre that everyone is advising "oh just put ROMs on the AP" when in fact they literally do not have full functionality. You can't even save! >_<
Re: Latest Hardware Run Of The Analogue Pocket Isn't Playing Nice With Everdrive Carts
Also as @aquova points out: why faff about with core updates etc., when you can just stick a flash cart in and just know that it works, no fuss no problems.
I tried using the Lynx core, two of them, and it SUCKED!
No save states. And fiddly to set up. Had to use some weird program to build a database?
Screw that. Bought a Lynx flashcart. Just pop it in and go! Also! The screen filters seem to be better when running real carts versus the third party cores. More options, more versatile, just better.
Re: Latest Hardware Run Of The Analogue Pocket Isn't Playing Nice With Everdrive Carts
So does this mean my earlier model Analogue Pocket is now rare and ultra valued, like the superior first run of PS3s which had PS2 support?
I love my AP, but it would be useless to me with flashcart support.
@Bod2019
@firenze
Serious question, why even bother with an Everdrive or similar?
On my Analogue Pocket I use the following flashcarts:
GB/GBC
GBA
GG
SMS
Lynx
NGPC
And I get asked that question a lot by friends and colleagues. And it is beyond frustrating, because it seems plainly obvious why one would use them. But I will explain...
The Lynx core does not support quick saving with ROMs on the AP SD card. But quick saving is supported when you plug a physical cart in.
The NGPC doesn't run Color games last I checked so I just bought a NGPC flashcart. Everything is now playable.
GB / GBC - I also have a Super Game Boy and GC GB Player, so having a cart is handy to move between the three, especially for games with SGB special features. I couldn't get the SGB core working on AP. Also it allows me to keep my save data - so wether I play GB on my SNES in my bedroom, on my GC in my lounge, or my AP in my office, my save file is always on this cart.
GBA - same as above with GC GB Player. Though to be fair I had this since the NDS days.
GG - I just like having a GG cart, even though I only use it on the AP.
SMS - sometimes I use this on my MD via an adapter, on my CRT, and sometimes on my AP via an SMS to GG adapter, in the AP GG adapter. It allows me to keep my save data for games like Ultima, Phantasy Star etc. regardless of where I play.
More than anything, I don't like my save files being tied to the hardware. I want to grab whatever cart I need, pop it in my computer, update files, back up saves, etc. Especially since I will use that same cart on multiple systems around my house, or on rare occassions lend the cart itself to someone.
It's how I like to organise my data.
I suppose some might prefer all roms and everything on the AP, and they never bother with other systems. Good for them. But I prefer my way of doing things.
I could play SMS games on the GG flashcart, for example. But can I stick that GG cart in my MD? No. I could also play SMS games on my MD flash cart. But can I stick that in my AP? Again no. Ergo, SMS cart!
I like versatility and control over my gear.
I am genuinely shocked and a bit nauseaus at how flippantly some are dismissing this. This is HUGELY important for some people. For me it's a stone cold deal breaker. The AP would be worthless trash if it could not use flashcarts.
But I'm seeing people not only dismiss this out of hand, but make accusatory statements towards those who need this functionality, as if there's something wrong with them.
Analogue Pocket without flashcart support is useless and not fit for purpose. I need it to run them!
Thankfully mine works. But I feel sorry for others like me who arrive late to the party.
Re: "Ever Since I Was Around Nine Years Old, I Dreamed Of Having My Own Arcade" - Arcade Operator Resorts To GenAI To Realise Lifelong Goal
@badd1e
I dunno, that snobbery to me seemed like a good foundation to be friends. I was going to suggest multiplayer Saturn Bomberman on a CRT with some fellow snobs? But if you need time to accept who you are, we can wait. Hard boiled egg and some prune juice?
Re: "Ever Since I Was Around Nine Years Old, I Dreamed Of Having My Own Arcade" - Arcade Operator Resorts To GenAI To Realise Lifelong Goal
Every time I see GenAI photos all I can think is: this person / business was too lazy and too cheap to snap a couple real photos, and thus I inherently can never trust them. It's like all these dodgy takeaways in the town where I live - none of the food shown on their pamphlets is actually served at the place.
What are these photos even conveying?
Not the place itself. Some imaginary "vibe" which exists in a machine's imagination?
Like seriously, just take your mobile phone, walk around your business, and snap a few authentic grainy photos. Poor lighting, Dutch angles, improper focus, and mild graininess is not going to put me off - it's going to show me this place is real, and genuine, and has heart.
It's really not that difficult.
Re: 'Land Of The Free' Is A New GTA-Esque Experience For Nintendo Game Boy, Bridging The World Of Comics & Games
@Gonzalo_fz
Just emailed. Hopefully it doesn't get filtered or end up in spam. That happens a lot.
Re: 'Land Of The Free' Is A New GTA-Esque Experience For Nintendo Game Boy, Bridging The World Of Comics & Games
@JackGYarwood
Ah, thank you!
Re: 'Land Of The Free' Is A New GTA-Esque Experience For Nintendo Game Boy, Bridging The World Of Comics & Games
Getting serious Metal Gear vibes. And I love MG. Urge to purchase rising...
Clicks shop.
"Error 404. Shop coming March 2026."
Looks at today's date...
Is this, time travel?
Re: Random: I Was Pranked By These Metroid Barcode Battler Cards, And Now I Wish They Were Legit
Did a little YouTube video on them too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RfGXIMHh8
Re: Review: Pixel FX Morph 2K - For $200, This Is Amazing Value For Money
You know what's even cheaper than this? The free CRTs I've been collecting from people throwing them out. I now own six of them. I regret nothing.
Re: Random: I Was Pranked By These Metroid Barcode Battler Cards, And Now I Wish They Were Legit
@slider1983
That's me credited as the maker of the DVD, but if you scroll down:
Uploaded by
longernohuman
on February 28, 2026
I was not aware of this. Thanks for letting me know. Given the difficulty of monetizing a DVD, I'll leave it up until I can find an alternative solution.
Hopefully encourages people to buy the books.
Re: Random: I Was Pranked By These Metroid Barcode Battler Cards, And Now I Wish They Were Legit
@slider1983
What I uploaded to my account? Which account? I've not uploaded it anywhere.
But I keep thinking I should put it on YouTube for free.
Some guy put a pirate copy up on YT.
It's not available to buy anywhere so I've not demanded it be pulled yet.
Re: Random: I Was Pranked By These Metroid Barcode Battler Cards, And Now I Wish They Were Legit
@KingMike @romanista @Chapu @slider1983 @MegaManFan @PressAToServe @VITIMan @Deuteros @Bakamoichigei
@damo
There's a copy on the Internet Archive now for anyone who wants:
https://archive.org/details/super-metroid-barcode-battler-cards
Re: "I Am Not Making Up This Story" - You Won't Believe What Yuji Naka Wanted To Call Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg
@Martin_H @Guru_Larry @damo
We solved an interesting mystery!
Regarding your inquiry, it's Hiroshi Aso. He was originally a planner who worked on arcade games like "Dump Matsumoto" and "Alien Syndrome." After that, I believe he was also involved in the development of the Game Gear. He wasn't involved in the Mega Drive version of Sonic 2, so it might have been the Game Gear version.
So it turns out... She was not being shown Sonic 2 on the Mega Drive? Fascinating. Might be worth someone trying to overlay those maps with the MD version and GG version.
Or maybe they just roped him out to do it.
But I sent a photo of his face too, not just the video link, and he confirmed it: Hiroshi Aso.
And now that we know the name, it's true! Here are more photos of him:
https://segaretro.org/Hiroshi_Aso
Re: The Making Of: Sega's Cyber Razor Cut - "I Spent The Entire Shoot Expecting It To Explode"
"we could pump steam through and have it coming up through the floor – this tended to turn the set into a swamp"
Wouldn't dry ice or smoke machines have been easier and less humid? TV production isn't my field, so I'm genuinely curious to know the pros / cons and reasons behind the decision.
EDIT: couldn't wait, went googling and discovered this is a real decision they have to make, with various reasons for using each! Fascinating!
https://nofilmschool.com/in-air-diffusion-haze-fog-steam
Re: "I Am Not Making Up This Story" - You Won't Believe What Yuji Naka Wanted To Call Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg
@Martin_H @Guru_Larry
I've just emailed one of my Sega contacts who would have definitely worked alongside him. If I hear back, I'll post here. If I don't hear back, I'll probably forget and never post back here, unless someone pings me to remind me.
EDIT:
I'm looking at photos of both Yasuhara and Kanari, and if I had to choose, with a gun to my head, I'd pick Yasuhara. But honestly, neither of them really look like the guy in the video to me. There's multiple little things which seem off. The glasses (or lack thereof), the shape - though I suppose gaining or losing weight could affect that. We shall see!
Re: Before The Game Boy, Ninja Gaiden & Klonoa's Director Had His Own Vision For The Future Of Handheld Gaming
@metaphysician
Oh, absolutely! I was just thinking of companies that were on the verge but never actually did it. I already knew about Konami and namco, but Tecmo was new to me.
We have plenty of examples of handhelds:
SNK = NG Pocket
Hudson = PC Engine Express / GT
Sega = Game Gear etc.
Bandai = Digi Casse and also WonderSwan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5P5yu-MAJA&vl=en-GB
And then of course plenty of consoles (Hudson, Sega, SNK, Casio, Fujitsu, etc.). Even Capcom sort of did one, with the CPS Changer.
And you're right - the Famicom made everyone want a slice of that cake.
Re: Before The Game Boy, Ninja Gaiden & Klonoa's Director Had His Own Vision For The Future Of Handheld Gaming
So it turns out Tecmo, Namco, and Konami all wanted to develop a console / handheld at various points. Fascinating revelations! This is pure gold in terms of historical value.
Re: Alan Wake And Max Payne Dev Mikko Huovinen Is Creating A Space Harrier-Style Shooter For Vectrex
Demo is out:
https://vectorgaming.proboards.com/thread/2720/neon-hawk?page=2&scrollTo=38502
Re: "I Am Not Making Up This Story" - You Won't Believe What Yuji Naka Wanted To Call Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg
@Martin_H
Sadly no. The only photo I saw of Yasuhara he had glasses.
Hmmm... Tempted to email some contacts and ask.
Away from home - but will put a reminder in calender.
Re: Check Out Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood Running On The Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
@sdelfin
I owned both as well BITD, and as you allude to, he was in fact a SNES owner BITD, so it did feel like nostalgia clouding his judgement. And when I rattled off examples, he literally did the "well those were just rare exceptions". LOL. The SNES music chip made it easy to add almost CD quality music - it feels almost like cheating. The MD though, the musicians had to work harder when composing, but when they did, it was great. I love synth and chiptunes anyway, hence the preference. I like SID music, despite never owning a C64.
Re: "That's The Magic Sauce" - GoldenEye Designer Explains Why It Feels So Good To Shoot Baddies In The N64 Classic
EDIT: Bot_Bot beat me to the answer by a few seconds, lol
@Tibob
The unreleased but leaked on Xbox 360 is incredible.
I bought a JTAG modded system just to play it, and it was honestly worth it (I also unlocked some rare XBLIG that were delisted).
You can swap between N64 graphics and remaster graphics, like youcould on Perfect Dark on 360.
It's still technically a beta. So some things are a bit off. Trevelyan's grenade won't bounce off walls to kill him. Also small glass windows don't shatter, but big glass does.
But it's 95% there, smooth frame rate, great draw distance. Exactly what you want.
If you don't want to buy a modded X360 it can also be emulated on a powerful enough PC.
Re: The Making Of: Metal Slug - "I Never Thought That It Would Have Sequels"
@h3s - sorry, I'm unsure regarding the fps. Good Q though.
@Martin_H - as a happy pre-orderer of the AES+ ULTIMATE EDITION, I have to say... I actually agree with you. I personally found the NGPC to have a more interesting and diverse library. And while I yearned for a NG throughout my teen years, drooling over the screenshots of £300 games in import mags, the truth is... I could have bought a SNES / MD plus several games, or maybe even just 10x games for one of them (used games were like £20 in my local indie store). And when I finally played the entire library via emulation on my Xbox, it hit me... I'd actually had the better experience having owning both a SNES and MD, and buying games for them over the years. More RPGs, more 2D shooters, more weird puzzle and platform games. Some cool film licenses. Etc.
Still, as an adult who has explored all the consoles of the era, the NG is the last frontier I've yet to experience authentically on real hardware. The 13 year old inside needs to be satiated.
Re: Plaion Answers Ten Of Your Burning Questions About The Neo Geo AES+
@KingMike
I first noticed it with one of the Tomb Raider games on X360. At first I thought the eBay seller had lost it - looked online, and nope, it didn't come with one. As you say, the beginning of the end and now today you're lucky even to have a physical game in the box. I don't understand why manuals were abandoned.
Cost? Paper and monochrome are cheap (I know, I work in print media). The pennies a company saves isn't going to offset the loss of goodwill felt from owning a nice product with lush manual.
Environment? I actually saw this as a "feature" on something. Not games, but some other product, an appliance or something. "No paper instructions is good for the environment!" Absolute nonsense. Paper can be recycled, and even if disposed of, paper will biodegrade, unlike the plastics of everything else. Paper is the most environmentally product we can make.
I miss physical products.
A few mentioned Evercade. A good shout. I have the Intellivision cart (but no Evercade unit, yet), and it's a lovely little package.
Re: Plaion Answers Ten Of Your Burning Questions About The Neo Geo AES+
Manuals. Real paper manuals. Made from actual real paper. I am weeping metaphorical tears of joy. 😭
I haven't seen one of those with a new game release for... Gosh, 10, maybe 15 years? Has it been that long?
Can we please just take a moment to reflect on the fact that this bundle is bringing back so much of what was once normal, but is now missing from games?
No patches, no installs, no download codes in a box to get a digital only version, no lack of manual because there's a 20 hour tutorial to replace it. Just a beautiful box, printed instructions, and the entire game in the box. A beautiful, intuitive, fun game.
In the era of "you will own nothing and be happy", the fact we'll get to actually own something once again, for a change, makes me jubilant! That Ultimate edition was worth every penny. 😭
Re: Random: "This Isn't Real, Is It?" - These Annoying Gen AI Adverts For Retro Consoles Are Fooling A Lot Of People
@SuntannedDuck2
"I mean do people even re-read/read magazines from the past"
I have an enormous library of several hundred physical magazines, dating from 1982 (maybe earlier?) to the present day, and I read one or more of them almost every day, and I find them immensely valuable for research.
Release dates, rumours, cancelled games, the evolution of certain events. For example yesterday was reading a March 1994 magazine which claimed In The Hunt would have a SNES port (it did not), and also explored the censorship crackdown at the time, with regards to the US senate hearing, British classification system, etc. It also noted Doom being ported to SNES (quite an early announcement).
Old magazines can provide hard data, and also are a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist.
I'm probably the anomaly here, but I will read and make copious notes quite regularly.
Ernie Katz's thinly veiled racist attacks on Japan and Europe, in his monthly VG&CE columns, have proved a fascinating rabbit hole, for example, and reflect the phobia America felt during the 1980s.
And in case anyone is wondering: old issues of Famitsu would regularly feature sexy gravure models on the cover, with photoshoots inside. Not even game related. They just wanted a cute woman on the cover and inside. I love it!
Re: Random: "This Isn't Real, Is It?" - These Annoying Gen AI Adverts For Retro Consoles Are Fooling A Lot Of People
@-wc-
I've enjoyed our discussions, we've been respectful and I enjoy the ritual of human communication while needing to think and recall events.
So I'd like to respectfully disagree with this statement and offer, not a strawman argument, but a real example which had a wider impact:
"we can safely dismiss secondhand accounts of anonymous random social media accounts of dubious intent as straw men, in this or any other context, frankly"
I am a fan of George Kamitani of Vanillaware. He used to paint, annually, a beautiful year end painting. Gorgeous artwork. Often with light nudity. Not sexual, but artistic. True art.
Your discussion has reminded me of the witch hunt Kamitani underwent. Jason Schrier, and others, repeatedly attacked him and his art. This resulted in him making a joking rebuttal, which got lost in translation, and caused more chaos.
He apologised publicly:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vita/comments/1e23h0/dragons_crown_lead_designer_george_kamitani/
As someone else said there: no artist should ever apologise for their art style.
I also strongly disagree with Schrier, who argued Kamitani's paintings were sexual in nature.
This is not a strawman argument. My interpretation is that Schrier does not like viewing beautiful images.
My favourite painting of Kamitani's was... The Three Graces. I can't find it online. Three beautiful nymphs, asleep. Not sexual, but pure art.
Here's a different painting:
https://www.siliconera.com/vanillaware-rings-in-the-new-year-with-a-goddess/
After some searching I found this article, depicting the painting. NOT SAFE FOR WORK:
https://tinycartridge.com/post/320992166/nsfw-vanillawares-three-graces
For the longest time it was my desktop wallpaper. It does not arouse sexually, but rather it awakens my heart, stirs my soul, and I am filled with a desire to write and create, to create even a fraction of the artistry Kamitani achieves. I bend my knee to Kamitani's skill.
So now you have your example, not a strawman argument, and not an anonymous second hand source. A known journalist criticising traditional painted art to the point of destroying the artist.
Schrier's unhinged criticisms, and those of other journalists at the time, eventually resulted in Kamitani no longer painting. Criticisms not of sexual material, but pure beautiful art. The world lost something the day he stopped painting.
#justiceforkamitani
I'd like to thank you for questioning me. It encouraged me to strengthen my argument with solid examples, and I am better because of it. Well played.
Re: Random: "This Isn't Real, Is It?" - These Annoying Gen AI Adverts For Retro Consoles Are Fooling A Lot Of People
@-wc-
"obviously this isnt true if you take it to logical extremes"
When I said that line to a friend once, they brought up the infamous German news story of the cannibal and the victim who answered an advert, asking me if I thought their mutually consented scenario was acceptable.
This feels like a logically extreme example.
And my conclusion was: I feel like both of them were likely mentally ill and thus the consent was not informed or genuine. They had taken leave of their senses and legally were not capable of making such choices.
So yes, there are going to be extreme edge cases where the belief needs debating and consideration, and provides an interesting thought experiment.
As for consenting to advertising, I dislike ads in general, unless they're especially entertaining. But I suppose the answer is, we could simply not watch TV, or browse the internet, thus not exposing us to ads. When I turn on my TV, load up my web browser, or flick through a magazine, I am consenting to the ads since I know they will exist. And logically, ads of a salacious nature, are best placed within media that appeals to such people. ie: a salacious games advert with babes is best shown during an action movie, not during Golden Girls reruns.
With TE, I pay for the premium of choice not having ads. But if that option were not available, I would accept that I am forced to see them.
I'm not sure if you searched for it on YouTube, and I respect you if you choose not to view it, but if you did view it - what did you think of the German butter advert? (Note: it contains frontal nudity.) How would you react if you were watching TV in the afternoon, say 13:30, and it came on?
You can hate it if you want - I'm not wanting to pass judgement. I'm just curious, given you dislike game ads like that, and I'm assuming this TV ad falls into that same sphere? Or do you feel the TV advert is different, for whatever reasons? It's less provocative, and attempts to be more artistic, I feel.
Re: Random: "This Isn't Real, Is It?" - These Annoying Gen AI Adverts For Retro Consoles Are Fooling A Lot Of People
@-wc-
Valid question. I'm not conflating the two. But I have seen both being criticised, sometimes by the same random social media users. Hence my Q. It's one of several reasons I stopped using socmed (not on twitter, BS, Insta, or active on FB, or even LinkedIn). Because apart from the aggression from people who disagree, I've seen weird hypocritical stances dismissing all nudity. As in, blanket statements stating all of it is bad. I've read tirades on socmed arguing paintings and sculptures "reinforce patriarchal stereotypes about bla bla bla". I zoned out pretty quickly, but sufficed to say, I disagree that old art and antiquity are somehow inherently bad and I disregard such opinions immediately.
To be precise:
I can tell and describe the difference between all of the above, and I am cool with all of the above.
I have only one rule which governs my views: between consenting adults there are no rules
Re: Random: "This Isn't Real, Is It?" - These Annoying Gen AI Adverts For Retro Consoles Are Fooling A Lot Of People
@-wc-
"If it was still a good strategy for selling games, it would still be happening, because that's how the world works. That's my take."
Exactly! An excellent point you make, and Stellar Blade's massive success I feel proves you correct! There is a lot of rightfully deserved praise given for the very attractive lead character - and its sales reflected the fact there is an audience for such content. The gameplay is solid too, but there's a lot of good 3D action games out there (ie: Vanquish), so the character designs really helped it stand out.
I don't have a PC rig that can play it well enough, but I pushed through the demo despite a low frame rate, and I think the main character is lovely. I would absolutely buy Stellar Blade if I had a powerful PC or PS5.
They've earned my money (when the time comes).