Hey there, peoples. Long time no see. Thought I'd swing by to yap a bit about current Shenmue/Sega related whatnots and maybe just rant in general for a bit. Ya know, standard internet protocol and all.
First things first. Shenmue DLC in Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. Now you can roll around development hell via dragon mirror, whilst sporting Ryo Hazuki's haircut. Never saw that coming. There's a plethora of other Sega franchise related stuff, too, such as Skies of Arcadia, Streets of Rage, and even Kid Chameleon! Pretty cool.
Bayonetta 2 was announced, and it's Nintendo published. What a shocker! This, of course, has given Shenmue fans hope that Nintendo would do the same with Shenmue 3. There was this tech demo at last year's E3, after all.
Seems quite Shenmue like, doesn't it? Not just for the trees, but also the overriding sense of Japanese culture throughout, and maybe even adherence to one's roots. It is kinda like Nintendo saying "WE ARE NINTENDO JAPAN. FUCK YOU AMERICAS. FUCK OFF EUROPE. SUCK A FATTY, AUSTRALIA. JAPAN MATTER ONLY!" Same ol' Nintendo, eh? Then again, Japan is getting the Wii U LAST this time around. Color me surprised.
So Shenmue 3 on Wii U, what a great idea, even with a gimmicky gamepad, hell, Shenmue utilized the DC VMU after all. Here's to hoping this comes to be, for then I'd have a reason to buy a Wii U other than just wanting to waste money. Bayonetta 2 is cool and all, but not quite enough for me to take the "4 Gamecubes taped together" plunge. Barring that, I'll likely buy one 15 years from now when this next coming gen is coming to a close, and you can pick one up on the cheap. Lame ass ports of PS3/360 games aren't enough enticement. ZombiiU? Norp. Haha, it's just like the big N to jump on the bandwagon too late, i.e, disc based media and HD. Even "normal" people are sick of the zombie trend at this point. Nintendoland won't cut it. It looks fun enough and all, but all the games are more or less the same thing, 4 people with Wiimotes VS the dude with the gamepad. This kind of novel thing was fun on Gamecube with titles like Pacman VS, and Zelda Four Swords, even with having to buy 4 GBA's, but you can't build an entire console around this concept. Staleness factor x 12, and it'll set in much quicker than Wiimote sickness. Mario games certainly aren't enough incentive anymore, they've really reached the bottom of the barrel there, unfortunately. A Sega VS Ninty Smash Bros MIGHT bring me back to the fold, MAYBE, but a Nintendren exclusive Shenmue 3 definitely would. I GOTTA SHUT UP ABOUT NINTENDO, SHEEIT. I could rant all the live long day about them, but know this, I am a long time Ninty fan who has just grown grizzled and disillusioned with their practices. I am the type of gamer that Reggie Fils Amie gripes about all the time. Speaking of which, perhaps Ninty should fire him and send him back to Pizza Hut to make Donkey Konga Pizza, or some shit. Make Iwata worldwide president, or at least, a more gamer friendly marketing genius as the new NOA pres. If you wanna bring back gamers, having a hardcore hater on board won't bring this about, ya know? Seriously, now, I'm shutting the fojuckfuck up, hahaa. I'm such a whiner. Waaaaa, Shenmue 3, waaaaaa, Nintendo sucks monkeyballs, etc. Then again, this is a blog, what else do you do on blogs other than whine? A SHENMUE blog, no less, so whining is just what the fuck we do. YAP.
Speaking of whining and back on topic, many fans bitched loud and hard about Bayonetta 2 for something other than 360/psn, and yes, I have seen a couple folks decrying the idea of Shenmue 3 for Wii U, but I assure you, they are the MINORITY. I waited in line all night freezing my balls off for the Wii, when the WeYou comes out in three days, I will not be doing the same. Bring that shit to your new console and I will be yours once again, Nonty.
I bought Jet Set Radio HD the day it came out, and swiftly remembered that I never really cared for the controls. The controls aren't bad, per se, more like they're just not where I want them. I've always really dug the game, though, it has a lot of zip to it.
Some game reviewers are ragging on Sega for not updating the controls, but think about if they had changed them. Everyone would be whining about it like we did with Sonic 4. In a perfect world, they'd have old and new controls, but that would have likely cost way too much money, involving changing too much code. This isn't a re-imagining, it's a glorified re-release, and I think they made the right decision, even though I myself would have preferred new controls. Here's to hoping we get a Jet Set 3 with old controls for those that prefer it, and new and improved controls for everyone else. Variety FTW.
Nights HD. Bought it to support the idea of Sega making more HD re-releases, also, I never really played much of Nights before. Shocking, I know. I'VE NEVER SEEN E.T. EITHER. Anyhow, the one review I have read for it, via Ian Bonds for D-Toid, had a problem with having to read the in game instruction manual to know how to play correctly. Come on, brother, seriously? There's a reason why instruction manuals these days tend to be 3 pages long, such as neo Mortal Kombat. Games haven't always had built in tutorials, ya know? I would think they could have had someone familiar with the series, if not an outright fan of it write a review, but it appears there is none. Perhaps everyone else was too busy sucking off Borderlands 2. It almost seems like they're making a statement of some kind to Sega by letting them know what the average kid these days will think of their game, perhaps because the older fans will buy it anyway? More of a statement than your run of the mill review, anyway, seeing as how all reviews are "statements" of sorts. Maybe even an anti-statement, whatever the frakk that might be. Hey, I'm just pulling stuff out of my ass here.
The reviewer kind of takes a dump on the game, yet gives it a 7, which is still borderline respectable, and in my eyes, at least, means it's a definite rental, but when he talks about how much fun he WASN'T having, a seven seems awfully high. He even opens the review with DREAMS? NIGHTMARES. And yet still ranks the game as good. I haven't read any more of his reviews, yet, but maybe he just doesn't want to bathe in the flames of his supposed dissension like Jim Sterling would do. I suppose review scores are oh so relative, but in this case, i think it poorly reflects the reviewer's own thoughts and words about it. I'm thinking way too much about this shit, haha. What I mean to say is I feel like it deserved just a bit more attention as a classic game. Just a tad more werewithal, I guess, from someone who played, not necessarily loved, the original. I guess us old timey bastards don't matter anymore, eh? Out with the old, in with the new, and all that. Can't really blame anyone too much for that, that's just how the world seems to work. Haha, I'm really not all that old, even! And in a world where people just keep getting older, and older, until eventually we're all 300 year old cyborgians, I don't even know where this ignorance of older stuff will even go from here. Already, I feel like such a cranky old fuck. And ya know what just randomly? I can't stand retro reviews by people that weren't even born when said games came out. You don't have the proper frame of reference. If you weren't around for its debut, than you have not a proper perspective on it, and if your perspective is skewed in such a way, it's worthless, so please, just stop. This kind of thing should only be entertained hundreds of years after the fact, when it's as if being discovered anew or something. I don't wanna hear some snot nosed brat on Youtube yob off about how pointless Metroid is, or why anyone would wish to play text based adventure games. Shut your mouf, child. "But, Mr. Stare! What about Nights HD, that's a retro review?", you might say, yet Nights HD is kind of a director's cut of sorts, and it should be reviewed by someone with a proper frame of reference, if at all. Am I overreacting? Possibly, haha, but we'll see how some of you feel 80 years from now when your great-great-great grandcousin's nephew's teacher's pen pal reviews modern classics like Deadly Premonition and Persona 4, then says "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS STUPID PILE OF FUCK?!?!?"
There's a rumor that there might be a new Ecco the Dolphin coming at some point. Ed Annunziata has said that he's going to meet with Sega regarding a possible sequel. This would be great, I love Ecco the Dolphin! This whole time I never realized Ed created Mr. Bones, so I hope they also talk about that virtually unknown classic and Chakan, as those need sequels, as well. Those three games are a holy Sega trifecta, right there. Maybe we'll see them in the next Sega and Sonic All Stars Racing Transmogrified?
I've been playing a lot of The Pinball Arcade lately, and one of the newest tables available as DLC, is Harley Davidson, by SEGA of all people! I guess somewhere in the back of my head I knew, but I never fully realized that Sega even made pinball, but they actually had two separate "eras" in which they made them. 72-78 and 94-99, at least according to Wikipedia, anyway, which will have to do for now, seeing as how even Sega themselves aren't even exactly sure about their own history, or even if they still have their own source code, but whatever.
I love the idea of Sega pinball! I guess you could say they made the first Goldeneye game, a year before Rare's all time classic. There's some trivia for ya. Too bad they didn't make very many machines. In '99 they sold all pinball assets and rights to Stern, run by ex Sega employee Gary Stern, the son of a long time Williams Electronics president, Gary Stern. I guess that kinda makes him video game royalty of sorts. He then, in turn, formed Stern Pinball, which, as I just mentioned, allowed Farsight Studios to recreate the Harley Davidson table, and are still making awesome tables as we speak! I'd love to eventually see South Park and Baywatch tables in The Pinball Arcade at some point, or anywhere for that matter. I've never really been all that vested in pinball, namely 'cause as a kid I sucked at it, and couldn't bare to waste precious quarters on just watching the ball drain, so I just watched others play when I could, but lately I've been bitten by the pinball bug. Especially old games, just hearing some of those sounds brings me back to all the time spent as a wee boy being babysat by arcades, aaaaaahhhhhhhhh. A sentimental old fool, I be. Here's a vid of Sega's (Sonic makes an appearance) Baywatch, Goldeneye, and a pic of one of their older machines entitled "Woman-Lib." Haha, good ol' Sega!
So no Ryo Hazuki in Transformed? That's alright, there's still tons of other awesome shit in there with plenty of fan service to be had. So instead of a day one buy for me, I was gonna wait and see, but after seeing this vid, I'm definitely getting it. For PS3, if anyone wishes to hit me up on there. Send me an email for a friend invite if you're so inclined. I stopped buying Live a long time ago. What's the point when you can play on PS3 for free?
It looks like Anarchy Reigns is finally getting released outside Japan. Cools. And for 30 bucks! I dug Madworld. I'll definitely be picking this up. Partly because it looks fun enough, but mainly to support the idea of Sega *cough* not abandoning their games.
VF characters in DOA 5. It's cool to see this happen, but since I've never been a big DOA guy, I'll pass and just play the new VF 5 instead. HOWEVER, the director, Yosuke Hayashi, has stated that he would like to put Ryo Hazuki in the game, and if that happens, I'll be all over it like a pooch on a peanut butter poon-pie
iOS Crazy Taxi has original soundtrack? Seriously? Well, at least one version does. Might as well be the version I will never buy............
I've recently gotten my 360 un-red-ringed (it's been that way for about a year, I just haven't really given much of a pooppinanny to get it fixed, not with a perfectly good and working PS3 by my side), and since I had bought Outrun Online on the last day it was available on the Live website (I obviously couldn't connect the right and proper way), it was there for the playing right away, along with Guardian Heroes HD! I've had Splash Wave stuck in my head ever since. Got it as my alarm clock song, well switching back and forth between that and George Lam's Man of Determination.
So I was checking out a buddy of mine's somewhat recent blog posts over at Phantomfullforce, I noticed he had embedded videos of multiple people doing covers of Splash Wave, and he suggests playing them all simultaneously, which I did. Holy Christ in a cracker, that shit was nuts! To check it out yourself, go here. It's at the bottom of the post.
So any of you still doing the Shenmue tweetathon? I am. It might not seem like much, but every little bit counts. If you have no idea what I am talking about, then just click on the entire month of July here at my blog. Here's an unused take for a video I made during my summer video tyrade. See if you can figure out why I didn't use it, haha. Still, the gentleman gave it his all, and I find this vid quite entertaining. Hopefully you get something out of it, as well. See you on the third!
And lastly, I'll leave you with this amazing rendition of Let's Go Away by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. I can't believe I've never seen this 'til now. Thanks for posting it on your blog, Cm0use!
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#GiveYuTheShenmueLicense!
