『 パプリカ 』

『 レトロゲーまー Load 40 』




So, the 40th issue of Retro Gamer is out and, and has been for quite some time now, and as usual, it's packed with great articles for retro freaks and regular gamers alike. Don't get me wrong. Nothing has changed. It's still 90% retro.


The 40th issue continues the series of retrospective articles about classic platforms. This time it's Nec's PC Engine / TurboGrafx. As usual, a nice in depth article reviews the platform history, groundbreaking titles, different versions and revisions of the PC engine, and of course current prices.


Cover story of the issue describes the rise and fall of one of the most popular and controversial beat 'em up series ever created. Every character and every possible version of the game are discussed. We can also read about future developements and plans for the series, starting with some impressions of the latest Wii game.


Part three of SNK history is also here. The story of SNK's struggle against superior technology of its competition continues. This time the issue of piracy is also discussed.


Something you might not want to miss is the history of ID. This article will take you on a journey that started with a few friends and a diskmag. If you want to know how Quake came about and how much blood, sweat and tears went into the project, get your copy of Retro Gamer - Load 40 NOW!

『 Wiiのための光がありません。 』


This has been bugging me for a while now. Did you notice what every Wii ad has in commom? That's right. The Wii drive light is on. Nice blue glow leaks out from the inside of your precious Wii to bring joy to everyone, who think that blue lights are cool.



I am one of those people. I think that Wii looks incredibly cool with the drive light on, but wait... Is there something wrong with the Wii, or is every single ad wrong? My Wii drive doesn't glow. It blinks, with extremely short blinks on very rare occasions. It blinks once when you turn it on and insert a disc, and it blinks once when you reset it. And you'd better not blink yourself during the reset, or you'll most likely miss it!



Below you can watch a short video I've made, that shows you the Wii blinking. I cut out the waiting times to make it all about the blinking drive. You can't power the Wii up, reset and take the disc out this fast. It needs its time.



By the way, the four small photos were stolen from an official Nintendo Wii website. Did you notice that on the photo with a hand holding the Wii, the Wii drive still glows, even though it's not connected to anything? And yes, I'm aware that the drive will glow upon an incoming email, but that just doesn't do it for me.

『 カニエ・ウェスト - アキラ 』

Well well well. Mr. Kanye West, the self proclaimed king among hip hop artists and producers alike released a new video not too long ago and guess what. He didn't even try this time around. Not that it's not allowed to use the work of others if you have the proper permissions and licensing agreements, but come on.


I sometimes imagine how it works when a song like that is being made. "Hey Kanye... Why don't we give them something familiar.. Something that already works and sells good?" "Hey! This might just work! I'll jump around a bit, you'll fix me up with a nice video with stolen visual design and we're set! Another million dollars earned Kanye style! Woohoo!". I'm pretty positive it's something like that.


So what we have here is music by Daft Punk from their Discovery album, neatly remixed, plus the visuals stolen directly from Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo. This, plus lyrics like "Let's get lost tonight. You could be my black Kate Moss tonight", make this video into something exceptionally personal for Kanye West, I'm sure. He must have reached into the depths of his inner self to come up with this musical, visual and lyrical arrangement.


"I ask, cause I'm not sure. Do anybody make real shit anymore?" I guess not, Kanye. I know that hip hop artists are often accused of stealing samples, but this is just beyond theft. This is heresy.

『 Sam & Max: Season One DVD 』

It's finally here and I've got it. Thanks to Telltale Games we finally get a proper Sam & Max sequel and not only that, there will be more! Telltale had decided that they will go with the nowdays oh so popular episodic delivery system and so, after the all six episodes had been released online, we finally get the disc version.


Earlier last week I finally recieved a package containing the game. Telltale were really slow and I waited for about three weeks before the game arrived, but I guess I can forgive them since they were moving into a new office building.


Annoying delays and pulled out hair aside, here it is. The disc version in all of its glory and splendor. So what is it exactly that you get when you purchase the disc? You get a nice DVD disc with Brady Culture hypno swirl print on it and a brief instructions manual. All of this, stuffed into a standard DVD case.


What seems like your avarage, standard game edition, hides a few surprises. It's all about the disc. It contains not only all of the six episodes, but is also fully loaded with extra materials, and that's where the real fun is [aside from the game itself kicking ass, of course].


Since the DVD is a hybrid, you can either pop it into your PC or a standard DVD player. Almost all of the extra material is stored as DVD video. From the menu you can choose the following options: Cutscenes, Shorts, Trailers, Bloopers and Concepts. The cutscene menu contains all of the non gameplay sequences from all of the episodes. You can simply choose an episode and enjoy the story without a single point or click.


Shorts menu allows you to watch small bits of dialogue that for one reason or another weren't included in the game. Trailers are pretty self explainatory, so I won't even go into that. Blooper.. Now bloopers are something you just have to see. In this case, it's a video that shows the screw ups of voice actors during the recording sessions, which later were combined with ingame animation. Since I'm such a nice guy, here. Just click on play.



"Concepts Video" shows you a rolling showcase of various designs and, um... concepts. Sketches, renders, test visuals and all that, combined with some game music.

But that's not all. There are secrets, and I'm going to give one of them away. Well, I guess I already did, since the meny screenshot appears earlier in this entry. Anyways, if you're running the DVD on a PC, just point on Sam in the window. If you're using a DVD player, mark the Cutscenes, and go left. A video chosen at random will play, and if you're lucky or patient enough, you might just find the secrret ones. Or you can just cheat and open VOB's directly from the disc.


If this wasn't enough, there's still some bonus content to be found. If you explore the disc, you will a folder named Goodies. If you open it you will find two additional ones called Wallpapers and Soundtrack Sampler. I guess I don't have to explain this one either. As you can see, Telltale team really tried to make the disc version into a complete experience.


Now, a few words about the game itself. There are many among you who will probably say "Nah, this game is nothing like the good old Sam & Max I used to play...". That only depends on how you look at it. It's 2007 and the game recieved a facelift. It's no longer 2D, but the gameplay mechanics are still intact. The music is changed, but only for the better. If LucasArts developers weren't limited to iMUSE, they surely would go for real audio. There were no mp3's at the time, remember? The game did not lose any of its humor and the dialogues are sharp as always. So if you're one of those who whine about no 2D, no iMUSE and no LucasArts, just think for a second. This game will become a classic in a few years time and you will be looking for a copy on eBay, kicking yourself in the ass.


Wait, I'm not done yet. When Sam & Max: Season One demos were released, along with the digitally distributed complete episodes, I complained about the DRM solution that was used to protect the software. I truly and deeply hate DRM. It's pointless to protect the software against its users in a world where hackers will always be able to penetrate the protection. Telltale decided to go with Software Passport / Armadillo, utilizing not only its DRM solutions, but they combined them with hardware locking. This may render your game useless when you buy a new computer, or if Telltale goes out of business and you won't be able to activate your software.

This in mind, I was concerned that the disc version might also force some sort of online activation upon me. I was relieved when I got the disc and found out it that it uses SecuROM instead. I did a quick check before I ran the installation.


Yep, that sure smells like SecuROM. Feeling good about Telltale's choice of protection, I started the installation. It went smoothly and after it was done, I immediately ran the first episode to check if everything is working as it should. It wasn't. The game refused to boot and displayed this sweet message:


I quickly figured out what was wrong. SecuROM configuration that Telltale used detects most types of virtual drives and it's enough to have one present. So whether you are using Deamon Tools, Alcohol 120% or PowerISO, disable the drives before you run the game. And one more thing. Disable any process monitors or system debuggers too.

Since the main executables in the disc version are no longer compressed nor protected, it's easy to poke around see how things work. The program is basically the same as the downloadable version but you don't have to play around with unpacking the Armadillo shell to get to the interesting stuff. Anyways, if you do decide to play around the executables, this is what you might find:


Telltale left some stuff behind and thanks to this you can see the build configurations they use when it comes to protecting their titles. While the demos clearly use the "Unlockable Demo - Software Passport" setting, the disc version of Sam & Max uses "Full Game - SecureROM CD". Ok. Enough about the protections. Bottom line: Is the game worth buying?

Of course it is. The humor is there, the visuals don't dissapoint, the music rocks, and Steve Purcell kept a close eye on developement. This is the sequel you've been waiting for so grab your credit card and order the damn thing today. You won't regret it and you'll certainly get your money's worth. And remember, it's just a beginning. Season Two is approaching and after that, there are still a couple of seasons to come. To convince you further, here's another one of the hidden videos. Enjoy it, and enjoy the game.

『 シン エピソード1: Emergence 』

SiN: Episodes. Great game, great sequel, great idea [with the exception of the game being infected by a virus many know as Steam]. It's been a while since the release of Emergence, first of many planned episodes. I was starting to feel uneasy, thinking that Ritual developers must be a bunch of slackers, otherwise one episode wouldn't take this long. So I clicked around, looking for all possible signs of new developements.

Was I surprised, when instead of Ritual webpage, I've somehow managed to end up at Mumbo Jumbo, the home of "casual games" [casual games meaning total crap games]. As it turns out, Mumbo Jumbo, a company out of nowhere, took over Ritual and assimilated them into their evil collective. Nice.



This basically means I won't be seeing a second episode anytime soon. Unless it's a "casual" [crap] Tetris clone with SiN characters in the bacgrounds. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. At least we got one episode and a re-release of the old game. Plus some additional downloads through the damned Steam.

We can always go through the old screenshots of the game, showing some levels that weren't included in the actual first episode release and hope that it was something from the second episode. Something we can look at, but cannot play.



Below you can check out the SiN: Emergence trailer which shows you just how cool this title is. Source engine combined with Havok physics. If you love Half Life 2 and what Valve gives you just isn't enough, pick up SiN: Emergence. You won't regret it.



『 SiN: Episodes SDK 』

Whether we see any other episodes or not, Ritual and Valve were kind enough to supply the modding comunity with proper tools for developing their own content, aswell as modifying the already present. Yes, I mean the freely avalable SiN: Episodes SDK.



There's really nothing to it. If you already own Emergence, you've probably noticed that the SDK can be found in the "Tools" section of your Steam window. So don't be shy, give it a try. Yes, I know that rhymes.

The SDK menu lets us choose between face modeller / poser, model viewer and map editor [Hammer]. This, plus loads of documents, is more than enough to get you started. The menu also supplies you with links to Valve's developers community boards.



After I've downloaded mine, I just booted it up to see if it actually works. It does, even though I'm more used to much faster and comfortable UnrealEd. Still, the SDK has been out for ages now, which means there's plenty of content out there for us to grab. The only thing I could wish for right now, aside from Ritual making another episode, is more free time on my hands.



『 Dopefish 』

Damn! This entry is really heavy on SiN, but what the hell, the game is awsome and it deserves the attention. While running around one of the maps of Emergence, I bumped into a familiar figure!



Remember playing the first SiN game? Remember the Dopefish? Well, he's BACK! I found him just today and I'm quite aware that everyone knows all about it / him by now, but I'm not one of those gamers who look up every possible secret in the game through forums and faqs, so it's news to me! Besides, it's much more fun this way. Here's a shot of our fish friend as he appears in Emergence. You can see he got upgraded since the last game!



I'm sure there are those of you who actually have a life outside of videogames and have no idea what a "Dopefish" actually is. Well, a Dopefish was first created by ID Software and was one of many enemies in the Commander Keen series [it appeared in the fourth game to be exact]. Since then it became an internal joke and Dopefish made its way into some well known titles, even outside of ID. The wacky fish can be seen in such games as Max Payne, Hitman 2 and Psychonauts. Talk about viral character design. Since the Dopefish is loved by developers and gamers alike, it made its appearence in many homebrew mods of official games, aswell as in completely homebrewed titles. It even became a playable character for the M.U.G.E.N. engine.

『 ラビッツ・パーティー / Rayman: Raving Rabbids 』









『 大神 / Ōkami 』

『 Psychonauts サウンドトラック 』

On wednesday evening I have finally recieved the long awaited Psychonauts soundtracks. Two separate discs containing the original game score and the music from cinematics.

Soundtracks... everyone has them. But I was especially excited when buying these two. The cinematic score is signed by none other than Mr. Peter McConnell himself. He's, of course, the person responsible for Psychonauts music, but not only that.


During his years with Lucas Arts, McConnell composed the scores for such titles as Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Sam & Max: Hit the Road and Monkey Island series. Now that's an autograph you want to hold onto.

Just the other day I saw a mint copy of Grim Fandango being sold for about £180. And that's just your regular soundtrack, no autograph. It makes you wonder how much value an autographed CD will gain over the years.


On a humorous note, when I took the invoice out of the package, I've noticed a small "Thanks :)" written on it. That's how Double Fine shows you that you're not just another customer. You're special.


If the Psychonauts video isn't enough for you, and you want to see Peter McConnell live, here's something you should see. Maestro himself plays music from Grim Fandango with Clint Bajakian and Michael Land at Video Games Live at the Hollywood Bowl on September 21st 2006.


『 スーパーロボット大戦COMPACT 』


Another title joins the WonderSwan collection. This time it's the Mono edition of "Super Robot Taisen Compact". Nothing too special. Just your standard japanese mecha RPG. Good job on Banpresto's part. Game looks and sounds quite good. Only for die hard mecha fans though. If you liked the Gundam titles, you'll like this one.

『 塊魂 モバイル 』

A minor change has been made to the Katamari Damacy: Mobile entry. I've added a direct feed gameplay video. Straight from the Foma P904i phone, crystal clear and smooth. To check it out, just click HERE. You'll find the new video at the bottom of the entry.