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• Metal Gear Solid 2: The Novel?

  I have a bit of a soft spot for Metal Gear Solid 2; while it certainly has its share of embarrassing flaws, I'm probably one of a dozen people who were pleasantly surprised--instead of enraged--by the protagonist switch from Solid Snake to Raiden so early in the game. But even I have to admit that MGS2's story was mostly unintelligible by the end, though some of this may be due to the content cut from the game because of the September 11th terrorist attacks--or perhaps that mysterious shipment of mushrooms which arrived on the steps of Konami's HQ in early 2001. Whatever the case, you have to give Kojima some credit for throwing so many baffling, off-the-wall ideas in what was intended to be the Playstation 2's first big blockbuster. And in case the director's unique storytelling style has still has you confused about what the hell happened in Metal Gear Solid 2 a whole eight years later, then you'll be happy to know that publisher Del Ray has a novelization of the game in the works, penned by Raymond Benson, who apparently wrote a novelization of the first Metal Gear Solid in 2008. Not exactly striking while the iron's hot, eh? Read More... Posted Apr 17 2009, 01:15 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: metal gear solid, books, bob mackey, novelizations, metal gear solid 2

• Whatcha Reading: Racing the Beam

  There are a lot ways to think about games—as cultural artifacts, works of art, works of programming craft. Racing the Beam asks you to think about games in a way that is rarely considered: as a negotiation between game developer and hardware platform, between an artist with vision and the constrained tool that must be used to bring that vision to life. It’s a particularly apt metaphor for the platform in question, the Atari 2600, as almost all of that console’s games were made by one-man programmer/artist/designers. The result is a video game history unlike any I’ve ever read. Read More... Posted Apr 16 2009, 12:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: activision, atari 2600, books, pong, joe keiser, combat, whatcha reading, racing the beam, yar's revenge

• Is a Game Based on Twilight Even Possible?

  I've read all of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books—no, really, all of them—and my soul's been attempting to rebuild since then. Being dead inside has its advantages, though. I only felt a small twinge where my heart used to be when I heard the news about the possibility of an upcoming Twilight anime. As Topless Robot points out, Twilight and weepy shojo anime might actually be a match made in the fluffier, frillier circle of Hell reserved for pretty, pretty vampires: ”Unlike so many anime adaptations of American material, anime's oft-tortuously slow storytelling style and focus on relationships and repetition matches Twilight perfectly; there are already half a dozen vampire series out there which could practically be re-dubbed to be Twilight sequels anyways. What I'm saying is that it would be seriously hard to make a shitty Twilight anime, at least according to the franchise's screaming fans, and thus it would be incredibly successful.” So, we know that anime and Twilight will be very happy together if this comes to pass. The question on my mind is, would Edward Cullen and Bella Swan the idiot child be compatible with a video game? Any kind of video game? Read More... Posted Mar 17 2009, 11:38 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: books, nadia oxford, twilight, jrpgs, stephenie meyer

• Watch Out, Kids! Video Games Can Hurt You

  San Diego's CBS 8 News ran a story this week about a woman who claims her five year-old Michael's "Nintendo" gave him a panic attack. While I don't doubt that this actually happened, it's hard not to hate on the story's presentation. For one, they never tell you what game freaked the kid out. The game shown in the clip is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, arguably the most intense, violent, and bloody game released on the DS in the past quarter, but the kid playing that has had no such problems and is clearly there just to show you what a violent DS game looks like (they also never confirm that Michael was playing a DS, only that he "ended up having a panic attack after playing Nintendo for just a half-hour"). Second, their resident expert Dr. Grisolia references an infamous episode of the Pokémon cartoon that induced seizures in hundreds of Japanese children, which would be all well and good if we were dispelling the evils of watching television, but we're supposed to be villifying video games here, right? Read More... Posted Jan 14 2009, 02:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, fear, journalism, books

• Worlds of Power: Books That Worried Your Parents and Pissed Off Your Teachers

  My weekend sojourn with Bionic Commando Rearmed's Mr Rad Spencer reminded me of all things good, pure and 8-bit. I even remembered that my husband owns most of the Worlds of Power books, novel "adaptations" of popular Nintendo games from Back in the Day™. He transferred them over to our new basement apartment home after we were married; it's a dowry my parents are proud of, I'm sure. Alas, I cannot find the Bionic Commando adaptation, but if I were to guess, I'd say Rad Spencer wasn't allowed to shoot anyone with his awesome guns. I did find Ninja Gaiden, which is dedicated to "the Ninja in everyone's dad." Holy shit, I thought my dad just sold alarm systems. This is awesome news. I don't know if you kids today have book fairs, but they were a staple of my school days. My generation was not in love with the printed word and teachers did their best to make sure we didn't fall into any affairs. They policed our book fair purchases, declaring comic books to be verboten "trash," especially comic books about the Ninja Turtles or that rude Bart Simpson. The cutting-edge Nintendo Entertainment System was the worst enemy of my grade school marms, so F.X. Nine's Worlds of Power was bookfair contraband, too. Read More... Posted Aug 18 2008, 01:45 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with no comments Filed under: mega man 2, ninja gaiden, 8-bit, nostalgia, bionic commando rearmed, fandom, game literature, worlds of power, f.x. nine, books