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• 8-Bit Love: The Ten Greatest Vintage Game Songs to Have Sex To, part 2

  Cyriaque Lamar is a New York-based writer with a New Jersey-bred weltanschauung. He’s had original work published at Cracked.com and performed at The New York International Fringe Festival. Cyriaque is thrilled to contribute to 61FPS, as it brings him one step closer to his childhood dream of living on the set of Nick Arcade. 5.) Final Fight CD – “Walk In the Park (Bay Area)” System: Sega CD (1993) Sounds Like: A sweaty nooner with Don Johnson. I always loved the premise of Final Fight. The idea of a city’s mayor stripping down to his underjohns and beating the shit out of unemployed people in order to stimulate job growth was really ahead of its time. Wait? Mike Haggar was actually fighting to save his daughter from an evil street gang? And here I thought the game was some kind of radical Objectivist propaganda. This Bay Area theme is classic whatever console you play Final Fight on, but the Sega CD version pushes it to the limit with gale-force porno guitars. Seriously, these riffs are like an F4 on the Fujita Scale. In my mind’s eye, the person who would get the most out of this track wears a ton of sea foam green and frequents Fort Lauderdale whorehouses. Sometimes, you just gotta be that person. When it comes to the Sega CD, the only thing sleazier is Night Trap. Read More... Posted Apr 16 2009, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo, actraiser, game boy, rare, capcom, hideo kojima, satellaview, top ten, final fight, sega, commodore 64, atari, chrono trigger, genesis, metal gear, super nintendo, atari 2600, mario paint, sega cd, tetris, star tropics, donkey kong country 2, kid icarus, solid snake, cyriaque lamar, radical dreamers, zoda’s revenge, matt gray, msx, last ninja 2, david wise, streets of rage 2, metal gear 2, yuzo kashiro

• 8-Bit Love: The Ten Greatest Vintage Game Songs to Have Sex To, part 1

  Cyriaque Lamar is a New York-based writer with a New Jersey-bred weltanschauung. He’s had original work published at Cracked.com and performed at The New York International Fringe Festival. Cyriaque is thrilled to contribute to 61FPS, as it brings him one step closer to his childhood dream of living on the set of Nick Arcade. There are three reasons this list exists. First, I felt obliged to highlight 61FPS’s distinction as the gaming apparatchik of an internet sex publication. Second, I wished to showcase the unsung virtuosos of yesteryear who made masterworks using a limited palette of sounds. Finally, I intend to rebut those critics who still dismiss video games as low culture. Using the below examples, I intend to reclaim the carnal legacy of video games by evincing how early console music illustrated the gamut of human sexuality, from atavistic, heteronormative modes of eroticism to polymorphous perversity as delineated by Freud. Plus, the thought of people sticking penises into vaginas to Nintendo music is funny. 10.) Radical Dreamers – “The Girl Who Stole the Stars” System: Super Famicom Satellaview (1996) Sounds Like: Koyaanisqatsi composed on Mario Paint. Since roughly 95% of all human lovemaking involves someone with a XX chromosome pairing, I thought it necessary to seek out my female associates’ thoughts on which game music best applies to amore. The suggestions I received were few yet incisive — responses ranged from “the Kid Icarus theme” to “Who the eff effs to video games?” Ultimately though, I deferred to my own instincts and picked this pan-pipe jam from the Japan-exclusive, text-based sequel to Chrono Trigger. Composed by the legendary Yasunori Mitsuda, “The Girl Who Stole the Stars” is easily the most romantic theme on our list. Read More... Posted Apr 16 2009, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, actraiser, game boy, rare, capcom, hideo kojima, satellaview, top ten, final fight, sega, commodore 64, atari, chrono trigger, genesis, metal gear, super nintendo, atari 2600, mario paint, sega cd, tetris, star tropics, donkey kong country 2, kid icarus, solid snake, cyriaque lamar, radical dreamers, zoda’s revenge, matt gray, msx, last ninja 2, david wise, streets of rage 2, metal gear 2, yuzo kashiro

• Soon. So Soon: Bionic Commando Looks Even Better, Has Worrisome Dialog

  We’ve had quite a year, haven’t we Bionic Commando? Treasured stolen moments last summer, when I first saw you soar in a full three dimensions, climbing to pristinely rendered heights never seen before. A rekindling of our youthful flirtations with Rearmed, a reminder that true love is timeless. You are so close now, Bionic Commando. I can hear your steel hand clanking against some ruined skyscraper like a whisper on the breeze, calling me to your summer embrace. Yes, GRIN’s Bionic Commando sequel is going to be out in just one month, right as 61 Frames Per Second is celebrating its first birthday. In these new clips, you can see just how much its creators have polished the game in the past twelve months. Read More... Posted Apr 14 2009, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, capcom, bionic commando, grin, bionic commando rearmed, radd spencer

• Terminator Salvation: The Videogame More Terminator-y Than Terminator Salvation: The Movie

  I’m in a bit of a pickle here. I do not think I can be trusted to make reasonable judgments of GRIN’s games. They made Bionic Commando: Rearmed. In a few months, they’ll have finished the new Bionic Commando. I can’t be trusted to talk about their games. I owe them too much. I apologize. Then again, I think I can give you a fair impression of GRIN’s Terminator Salvation. I got an early look at their tie-in, a prequel to the upcoming movie of the same name, at the beginning of the month. It doesn’t look like a bad game, not by any means. For a movie tie-in, it actually looks very good. But as a GRIN game, Terminator Salvation is a little disappointing. Read More... Posted Mar 23 2009, 08:30 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, capcom, bionic commando, grin, bionic commando rearmed, terminator 2, warner bros interactive, john connor, wanted weapons of fate, ghost recon advance warfighter, ulf anderson, terminator salvation

• The 61FPS Review: Resident Evil 5

  Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest videogames ever made. It is top three, desert island material, the one to play before you die. It is Shinji Mikami’s definitive statement as a creator. It is the best three-dimensional game to ever come out of Capcom across all of their internal teams. It is Dark Side of the Moon to Super Mario 64’s Sgt. Pepper. These are not things that can be argued. These are facts. So when every single person that plays Resident Evil 5, whether as a demo or as a finished, ten hour game say that it is just “gorgeous Resident Evil 4", you know they are not damning it. That is a compliment. And an accurate one. Producer Jun Takeuchi and his team of toughs followed the recipe precisely: Mix claustrophobic, over-the-shoulder gunplay, careful resource management and a dollop of flip-the-switch puzzling. Add an adventure through a forbidding village of transformed locals, then some marsh land hiding a water-bound monstrosity, then one industrial complex. Slowly blend in one spooky castle/ruin and one evil laboratory. Garnish with final confrontation that culminates in rocket-launchering a monster in the mutated face. Do battle with human, canine, insect, and various oozing grotesques. Let rest occasionally near save point, serve chilled. It is an expertly-made game, its only serious flaw being the partner AI’s occasionally spastic behavior. Sheva Alomar (or Chris Redfield on a second single-player run) is capable throughout the chapters, but useless in boss fights, especially the last. The addition of a constant partner, whether AI or player controlled, does not change the rules, the flow of Resident Evil as a game. It can, at first, make the game feel quite different, giving combat a refreshed sense of immediacy and panic. Read More... Posted Mar 19 2009, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, resident evil, capcom, 61fps review, jun takeuchi, resident evil 5, chris redfield, sheva Alomar

• Chiptune Friday: Spring Is In the Air With Okami

  Two truths. Today is March 13th. It will not be spring for another eight days. Also, the original soundtrack to Okami is not chiptune. At all. In fact, it is fully orchestrated and entrenched in traditional Japanese composition, a far cry from the heavy metal and pop roots of the blissed-out blip songs composed on the NES or similar consoles. Have you gone outside though? It is freaking gorgeous out there. It may rain, it may be cloudy, but the bitter miasma of late winter has lifted, washed away as if by… a celestial brush! Given, it’s likely that the fine weather is a result of the Earth’s natural solar orbit and axial spin, but I like to think that there’s a sun goddess wolf out there making it nice outside. I’m going to find her. We’ll go to the park and play fetch. Beautiful women will be all, “Oh your dog is beautiful!” And I’ll be all, “Check dis.” Then Amaterasu will make a bushel of fragrant botanicals grow at our feet. Here are three selections from the Okami soundtrack. Listen, be in bloom, and grab your DS or PSP. Go play outside today! The Great Goddess Amaterasu’s Revival Hit the jump for more fresh goodness. Read More... Posted Mar 13 2009, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, platinum games, wii, clover studios, capcom, atsushi inaba, sony, playstation 2, chiptune friday, okami

• The Capcom Cartoon Crossover You Never Knew About

  I don't have any useful skills to offer society, but I'm pretty good at finding small glimpses of merit in awful things. That's why I'm pretty forgiving towards bad cartoon adaptations of popular video game series. For instance, I kind of liked the Street Fighter cartoon series. Parts of it were just foul, but there were small examples of effort. The 1995 movie did shameful things to the Street Fighter story continuity, which the cartoon struggled to repair with some success. Guile's failed marriage haunted him (interestingly, not a theme you found often in '90s era cash-in cartoons), Ken was a rich boy who didn't get along with his father, Dhalsim returned to mysticism and meditation, and Cammy defected to Bison and did strange things with him when the lights went out. But even my patience wears thin sometimes. I will gladly hand out gold stars to game cartoons that try, but I'll turn my back on an episode when it's obvious the writers said, “Hey guys, let's just come up with any crazy shit and go to a hockey game.” I had always figured the Street Fighter cartoon episode “The Warrior King” was such an example of writer apathy/drunkenness/depression. The episode involved a king from another planet who pops by Earth to pick up an orb that grants powers to its user. Bison gets a hold of the orb, and uses it to blackmail world leaders. Chun-Li falls in love with King Axl Rose, who must eventually return home to his regret and hers, etc. For years, the episode left me irritated. Street Fighter has sumo wrestlers, green mutants, ninjas, crazy haircuts. If you need to supplement the story by bringing in characters from Dimension X, you're not a very good writer. But I discovered recently that my irritation was misplaced. “The Warrior King” was not an instance of a junior writer using Street Fighter as an outlet for his Heavy Metal fanfiction. It was a Capcom crossover. Read More... Posted Mar 10 2009, 11:12 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: street fighter, capcom, retro, arcade, nadia oxford, game cartoons, the warrior king

• You Like Resident Evil, eh? How About All the Resident Evil in the World!

  After one last cold snap here in good ol’ NYC, spring is finally in the air. Yesterday had itself a brutal chill, but today, it’s been nice and mild. Spring is full of all kinds of great stuff. A young man’s fancy turns to love, flowers bloom, it rains a lot, and every last one of us post-industrialized humans have horrific allergy outbreaks because we’ve never lived lives that necessitate a hearty immune system. Modern living rocks. Spring is also the season for rumors! The fiscal year is just about to end and all kinds of precious secrets are starting to ooze out of corporate orifices like nobody’s business. Yesterday, it was Pandemic taking over Star Wars: Battlefront III. Today, its Resident Evil: Code Veronica on Wii. Read More... Posted Mar 06 2009, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, resident evil, wii, capcom, gamecube, star wars battlefront iii, code veronica

• Trailer Review: Flock

  Capcom has a new game up for preorder. It's called Flock, it looks like it lies somewhere between Pikmin and Lemmings, and it's due to release in early April. Like Lemmings, it's about moving sheep from one end of the landscape to another, only this time with a UFO avatar. With light puzzle elements and a pastoral setting, this game looks like a great little casual game. It's only a $15 download, too. Apparently it also had a "sophisticated physics engine." Who knew? I wonder why this isn't being developed for mobile devices. It seems perfect for a grab and go-type gaming experience.  Video after the jump: Read More... Posted Mar 06 2009, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments Filed under: capcom, pikmin, cole stryker, lemmings, flock

• Perfect Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth: Eigo Desu, En Ingles, In English, Talkin’ ‘Merican

  Not really. I apologize for misleading you. I didn’t need to lie in the headline. All it needed to say was “Miles Edgeworth” and you would have clicked it nine times, rabid with anticipation of countless jurisprudence-related delights! You wouldn’t even read the article. You would just come on in looking for images of Miles and his perfectly coifed visage, hoping for some small passage of his urbane wit and scathing insight. Maybe not. Naturally I’ve been curious about Capcom’s new Ace Attorney spin-off, Perfect Prosecutor. Not just because Miles has gone from supporting character to star. The game’s also piqued my interest since it’s the series’ first foray into third-person play. This is good news. Who wants to play a Miles Edgeworth game if you can’t look at him the whole time? Capcom’s been keeping the game under wraps since it was announced last year, letting out only a few screens and a trailer or two. Happy day though! The Japanese Perfect Prosecutor homepage has a flash demo of the game’s first case and, even though it’s a hassle to read, intrepid internet denizens Croik and JapaneseGIRL have made an English translation script! Read More... Posted Mar 02 2009, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, capcom, ace attorney, phoenix wright, perfect prosecutor, miles edgeworth

• Out Today: Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

  Hardcore gamers who just happen to own a Wii, take heed; Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop may just give you the fix that you need--if you didn't happen to play the XBox 360 version of the game back in 2006. The superiority of the original game shouldn't come as a shock, what with the vast difference in horsepower between the two systems and the general public reaction to Chop Till You Drop's initial announcement. What I didn't expect to see was a simplification of Dead Rising's original Majora's Mask-esque (though it bears more of a resemblance to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter) time/saving system that made the original game such an interesting experience. I guess you could say that Capcom is listening to the fans (who bitched incessantly) with this overhaul of the original Dead Rising's core mechanic, but you could easily make this system a little more forgiving instead of removing it altogether. All in all, Chop Till You Drop seems more like a total conversion mod of Resident Evil 4 than the original game, though I'm sure Wii owners who never played the original will find this version to be much more tolerable than 360 zombie warfare veterans. Read More... Posted Feb 25 2009, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: wii, capcom, resident evil 4, dead rising, bob mackey, ports, zombies

• 10 Years Ago This Week: Silent Hill

  Silent Hill (released February 24th, 1999) did not mark a pivotal moment in the original Playstation’s lifecycle. Technologically speaking, Silent Hill was a solid effort, but nothing unusual for the time. Foregoing the pre-rendered backgrounds that were horror games’ stock-in-trade, Silent Hill’s full-3D environments weren’t as pristinely rendered as Konami’s own, year-old Metal Gear Solid. The CGI cutscenes, another requisite of the era, were competent but by no means up to the Squaresoft gold standard. Its control was wonky, its camera unwieldy, and the voice-acting was stiff even for a Playstation game. Of course, none of that matters. Silent Hill was a pivotal moment in game’s maturation as an affecting, expressive medium. Forget technology; its technical failings made it a stronger work. Forget genre; Silent Hill is not survival horror. It’s just horror. Read More... Posted Feb 23 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, capcom, metal gear solid, silent hill, konami, sony, rule of rose, Playstation, tecmo, fatal frame, team silent, silent hill 2, sunsoft, 10 years ago, akira yamioka, shuji ishikawa, punchline, david lynch, jacob’s ladder, Adrian lyne, siren, clock tower

• Game|Life's Street Fighter Basic Training

  I've never been the biggest fan of traditional one-on-one fighting games, mostly because mastering them seems to be entirely about learning the tedious arcana of the genre. This is why I've only really dabbled in Capcom's Vs. and Nintendo's Smash Bros. series; it's possible to play them like an OCD robot, but the casual fan can still pick up a controller and experience a few minutes of fun, flashy nonsense. The upcoming Street Fighter IV is advertising itself as a back-to-basics approach to the fighting game, which makes me more than happy, since I could never get a good grasp of what the hell was going on in Street Fighter III. However, there's still a lot at work under the hood, and a novice like me could stand to learn a little more strategy aside from "keep punching the other guy in the head." Lucky for me, the bombastic Chris Kohler and the TV's Frank-esque Chris Baker of Wired's Game|Life have put together a little video (with some help from Street Fighter experts) to break amateurs like me into the magical world of street fighting. And, unlike most situations in life, I actually walked away having learned something. Video after the cut. Read More... Posted Feb 11 2009, 05:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: street fighter, capcom, fighting games, bob mackey, wired, street figher iv

• Take a Look Back in Hunger with the Resident Evil Retrospective

  With the much-anticipated Resident Evil 5 about to hit store shelves in a month, I'm sure we're all going a little survival horror crazy; hell, I had to stop myself from replaying RE4 for a third time through careful consideration of all of the crap I own that I still have yet to finish. Instead, I've decided to cut out the middle-man and turn my attention to the significantly less time-wastey Gametrailers Resident Evil Retrospective. Like all of Gametrailers' retrospective pieces, the series promises to be a pretty comprehensive piece of work--and it even covers the pre-RE roots of survival horror, though they could have devoted a lot more time into that section. So far, one out of six episodes has been released; the only thing that worries me at this point is how increasingly convoluted the franchise's timeline gets by Code Veronica. The only way to explain anything at that point in the story would have to involve Back to the Future's Doc Brown and several hundred chalkboards. We'll see how well they do. Video after the cut. Read More... Posted Feb 09 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: resident evil, capcom, bob mackey, gametrailers, survival horror, retrospecitve

• The Five Characters You Won’t See in Street Fighter IV

  Written by Cyriaque Lamar On February 17th, a numerical Street Fighter sequel will come out in America for the first time in ten years. In an act of unprecedented video game democracy, the good folks at Capcom allowed fans to vote for the characters that would appear in the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions. Their shortlist included such perennial favorites as the panties-flashing Sakura and the leotard-clad M16 agent Cammy. As in the 2008 presidential election, sex appeal commanded the polls. But what about those fighters who didn’t make the cut? Join me as I take a look at Street Fighter’s lesser-known pugilists and postulate why these lovable losers didn’t earn a silky-smooth 3D sheen. Rolento Who? Rolento debuted as a boss in the 1989 arcade beat-em-up Final Fight. As a boss character, he was entitled to certain amenities players were not, such as a baton, incendiaries, and a subscription to the Ginsu-Of-The-Month Club. When he turned up in 1996’s Street Fighter Alpha 2, he returned with all of his thwacking, exploding, and stabbing habits intact. Why He Should Have Been in SFIV Rolento is an absolute hoot to play. For a game full of high-flying karate-men, it’s surprising that the most agile character is the guy with grenades strapped to his pectorals. Rolento’s moves include a wide array of flips, rolls, and the ability to use his baton as a pogo stick. Playing him is like playing a paramilitary spider monkey. Furthermore, his backstory is hilariously bad even by Street Fighter standards. As he puts it, Rolento aims to create a militaristic new world order free of “panty-waist politicking”. Revolutionary rhetoric. Why He Isn’t We suspect his absence has something to do with all those unfair knives, grenades, and super moves involving trip wires and impaling opponents with crane hooks. The moment you bring a goddamn crane to fisticuffs is the moment you’ve left the realm of “street fighting” and gone headlong into “demolition derby” territory. Read More... Posted Feb 06 2009, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: playstation 3, street fighter, xbox 360, capcom, final fight, street fighter ii, street fighter iv, arcade, street fighter iii, cyriaque lamar, street fighter alpha

• Once More Into the Breach: A Final Peek at Resident Evil 5

  Sitting down for one last taste of Resident Evil 5 before the game finally comes out on March 13th, I received the saddest possible news: the shopkeeper from Resident Evil 4 is gone. That’s right. No more buying it at a high price. No more good things on sale, stranger. No more gunning down the purple-bandana-wearing-sumbitch when he won’t sell you any more first-aid sprays. In RE5, you do your buying and selling from a cold, faceless menu. Maybe it’s for the best. Like the original demo, now available to all on Xbox Live and PSN, Chapter 3-3 of RE5 makes it clear that there isn’t a whole lot of down time to be had in Kijuju. Chances are if you stopped to hang with your old pal Shopkeeper, a zombie would bury an axe in your shoulder. Then your co-op partner would swear at you for window shopping so long. It would be bad. Read More... Posted Feb 05 2009, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, resident evil, capcom, resident evil 4, resident evil 5, chris redfield, sheva Alomar, t virus

• Go West! Red Dead Redemption and How to Get Cowboys and Indians Right

  By the time videogames had evolved beyond batting a ball back and forth across a digital net, the Western had already lost much of its cultural currency. The Lone Ranger’s audience had ridden off into the sunset, replaced by minds and eyes hungry for space instead of the frontier. That’s why we have Spacewar! in 1961 and not Stagecoach!. The last quarter of the 20th century’s appetite for science fiction is most certainly why Bald Space Marine is the icon he is in 2009’s gaming landscape, but I don’t think it fully explains why games have yet to produce a spectacular Western. Why is it that after decades of creation, there isn’t a game about cowboys sitting on Top One Hundred Games of All Time lists? Why is Oregon Trail the entire canon of frontier gaming? Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver seemed like a contender before it released in 2004. The game certainly sold well, one and a half million copies according to publisher Take-Two, but its critical reception was lukewarm. Despite Red Dead’s grand narrative ambitions — bounty hunting protagonist Red Harlow and his quest for revenge are Louis L’Amour vintage — and seemingly fitting open world play, it wasn’t the defining videogame Western it could have been. Now, it could have been the game’s troubled development that kept it from greatness. It started as a Capcom game in 2000, stalled out, and was sold to Rockstar, where it apparently became a Frankenstein’s monster of legacy code and newer features. I think the real problem is that the Grand Theft Auto-styled open world is not the foundation for a great Western. Read More... Posted Feb 04 2009, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, capcom, rockstar, shadow of the colossus, team ico, grand theft auto, spacewar!, take two, Red dead revolver, trico, Oregon trail, red dead redemption

• Resident Evil Arguments that Need to Die

  With the recent release of the Resident Evil 5 demo, I've been subjected to something far more stomach-turning than hordes of the undead running amok in an African village. Of course, I speak of the Resident Evil fanboyism I assumed had ended long after the release of Resident Evil 4; you see, with the newest RE being made in the model of the series' previous game, purists are still upset that many of the things they've come to cherish about Resident Evil have been left to rot nearly 5 years ago. If you're a sane and functioning member of society, then you've probably realized that the Resident Evil 4 renovation was the best possible thing to happen to the series--and I commend you for your common sense. However, it's entirely possible that the drastic shift in the franchise still burns the living hell out of your beans; if this is the case, I bear you no personal grudge. I simply wish to ridicule your wrong opinions out of existence. And now, friends, I present the Resident Evil arguments that need to die. Read More... Posted Feb 02 2009, 10:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: resident evil, capcom, resident evil 4, bob mackey, demo, resident evil 5, survival horror

• Street Fighter IV's Dress Rehearsal

  Street Fighter IV is coming, and the World Warriors are dressing up in their Sunday best for you. Palette-swap “costume changes” are something of a tradition in the Street Fighter series and other fighting games. Said costume changes usually involved Ryu standing in front of his closet and musing if he should wear his purple gi or his white gi. But the latest installment in Capcom's famous series will actually offer alternative costumes that are seemingly based on the characters' history, personality and whether or not they have a bum that looks good in tight leotard. Zangief wears the felt overalls of his hero, Mayor Mike Haggar. Guile remembers Charlie by wearing a yellow military vest. Vega dresses up in frills and a ballroom mask so he can run straight to Ken's son's Bar Mitzvah* after he claws out Chun-Li's eyes. Check out the video after the jump. It's a cute and welcome touch that stands to add a lot of personality to the new fighters and the ones we already know. Something about El Fuerte with a frying pan seems right. *Disclaimer: Ken probably isn't Jewish. Vega just looks so dolled up, y'know? Read More... Posted Jan 28 2009, 11:38 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: street fighter, capcom, street fighter iv, nadia oxford, costumes

• Swell Maps

  A few years back, I picked up an issue of British gaming rag NGamer because a) it had the Nights sequel on the cover — Nights is awesome — and b) it came with a poster. A lot of game magazines come with posters, but this one was particularly sweet. One side was a complete map of Hyrule, exactly as it appears in A Link to the Past, and on the other, a complete map of Zebes from Super Metroid. These weren’t artist’s interpretations, these were the actual games printed on paper. Super Metroid was especially beautiful. Anyone familiar with the game could lean in and pick out particular rooms, places where the game itself is especially thrilling or well-constructed. But seeing the game as a whole was eye-opening. Read More... Posted Jan 22 2009, 04:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, metroid, nintendo, super metroid, game boy, capcom, legend of zelda, snes, strider, link to the past, zebes, sonic & knuckles, super mario land, hyrule

• New Year’s Resolutions For a Few Of Our Favorite Publishers

  Now, to close out the first full week of 2009, we will do for videogame publishers what we did for console makers: we will tell them how to live their sordid, godforsaken lives! You’d think developers would make the list, but no. No, I tend to trust them, so they will be left to their own devices, free from the crushing logic of advice from 61 Frames Per Second. Read More... Posted Jan 09 2009, 07:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, capcom, konami, ubisoft, Ghostbusters, dark void, sega, atari, activision, retro game master, atlus, koei, tecmo, namco, neversoft, xseed, midway, bioshock 2, square enix, street fighter iii, take two, beyond good & evil 2, the world end with you

• Infamous: Unsung Contender of 2009

  I don’t like lying. Lying tends to make me feel dirty on the inside, like I’ve broken my own New Year’s resolution and started eating topsoil again because it’s both moist and visually similar to cake. So I won’t lie and tell you that the games I am most excited about in the first half of 2009 are published by someone besides Capcom. It simply isn’t true. There’s new Bionic Commando. It is my topsoil. Everything else is dirt. But that’s not to say there isn’t a whole ton of excellent and appealing dirt on the way! Sega and Platinum Games’ goodies are going to start rolling out in the next few months. Killzone 2 is looking like it may actually deliver on its half-decade of ridiculous hyping. Muramasa: The Demon Blade? Fragile? These games will, hopefully, be sweet. Speaking of all things promising, Bob’s love for Sly Cooper reminded me that Suckerpunch is gearing up for their big Playstation 3 debut in just the next few months. But where is all the hype for open world superhero extravaganza, Infamous? Read More... Posted Jan 07 2009, 07:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, platinum games, capcom, bionic commando, sega, fragile, sly cooper, killzone 2, infamous, muramasa: the demon blade, suckerpunch

• Bionic Commando Rearmed Fan Trailer

  ”Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.” “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” “Your number's up! Monster!!” I think we're all agreed on which famous quote deserves to echo through the generations. Sadly, Rad Spencer will probably never have his chance on the big screen, but at least artistic justice can be served through the Internet. A cool person named OzShadow put together a fan trailer for a Bionic Commando “movie” with footage and sound from Bionic Commando Rearmed. Read More... Posted Jan 05 2009, 04:27 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: capcom, bionic commando, trailer, bionic commando rearmed, fan stuff, nadia oxford, rad spencer, movie

• Facepalm: Kotaku Makes News out of Dude's Bisexuality

  While we were on break, Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft reblogged a 1Up interview with former Capcom employee Yoshiki Okamoto. Weirdly, he focused on this rather saucy detail from the interview; Mr. Nishiyama used to work at Capcom as well, so we bonded over the hard work we shared there, and we've been good friends ever since. Both of us had long stretches where we weren't in a relationship, but he would always be sharing a room with some guy. Not me, I mean we were friends. Just friends. I'm pretty sure Mr. Nishiyama is bisexual. But I'm straight. I only like girls, but he likes both. Mr. Nishiyama taught me how to turn my ideas into game design documents, but he didn't teach me about men. And then Brian "Not that there's anything wrong with that" Ashcraft provides the following commentary:  Oh. Okay. If this is true and not just Okamoto making crap up, hey, more power to president Nishiyama. If this is not true and is just Okamoto making crap up, he should be more careful with things he says publicly. Read More... Posted Jan 05 2009, 02:04 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: kotaku, capcom, 1up, cole stryker, dimps, facepalm, bran ashcraft

• 10 Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead Of Working: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD etc.

  If you visit my living room (cookies are available), you will hear “HADOOOKEN, HADOOOKEN, HADOOOKEN” and “'DOKEN 'DOKEN 'DOKEN”* coming from my television box. It might be an alarming string of nonsense to an outsider, but for a Street Fighter II fan, it means all is right in the world. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix has caused me a lot of pain because I've written a lot about it and been forced to type its impossibly long name over and over. Certain aspects about the game also irritate hardcore Street Fighter II scholars and it make me feel inadequate because I really enjoy the game. Am I not the Street Fighter II ninja I once thought I was? Read More... Posted Dec 19 2008, 12:13 AM by Nadia Oxford with | with no comments Filed under: capcom, top ten, super street fighter II turbo hd remix, street fighter ii, nadia oxford

• My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

  It's the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it's list season. Inevitably, you're going to see top ten lists by the thousands; and, as an official member of the enthusiast press, I'm afraid I can't violate my directive. But, to make things a little more interesting, I've decided to assemble my 10 favorite games of this year in non-hierarchical form because--let's face facts--it's hard to pick a favorite. And unlike other top 10 lists, this one will be doled out to you in piecemeal over the next several excruciating days! Please enjoy. Back in early 2006, when I picked up the first DS Phoenix Wright, I really didn't know what I was getting into.  Sure, the novelty of the whole "lawyer sim" thing would've been enough to carry me through at least one game, but thankfully, Phoenix Wright was more than just a gimmick.  For nearly two years, I found myself wrapped up in the epic trilogy of Phoenix Wright (at around 15-20 hours' worth of reading in each one, they'd make J.K. Rowling balk) until its inevitable end in late 2007's Trials and Tribulations.  But after the wrapping up of Capcom's convoluted tale, I still wanted more--and after staring at the same dated sprites for three whole games, it was about time for a DS-developed lawyer quest, as Capcom had teased with the substantial bonus mission at the end of Ace Attorney.  Capcom eventually promised to grant nearly all of my wishes with a brand-new installment in their created genre, but I was a little skeptical that the replacement of protagonist Phoenix Wright with some new, young pup would sour me on the sequel. Read More... Posted Dec 16 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: capcom, phoenix wright, ds, bob mackey, top 10, top 10 of 2008, apollo justice

• Capcom Might Just "Get" the Wii

  Oh Capcom, how we love you here at 61FPS... As John pontificated upon reviewing November's NPD numbers last week, Nintendo's Wii is the dominant gaming console, no longer doomed to the Tickle-Me-Elmo purgatory of fad-dom, and with that news along with the announcement of Dragon Quest X on Wii at some point in the future, it should not be long before more and more third-party developers are pouring less of their interest into hi-def grimefests on the other current-gen consoles and more into unique and compelling play experiences on the shiny white kiosk everyone you know has in their living room already. Unlike Sega, whom I've already mentioned seem to "get" the Wii hardcore audience, Capcom have always been good to Nintendo console owners. Read More... Posted Dec 15 2008, 02:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, derrick sanskrit, wii, capcom, spyborgs, marvel vs capcom, monster hunter 3, vs., tatsunoko

• 10 Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead Of Working: Bionic Commando Rearmed

  Having grown up with two brothers and personally scoring somewhere in the negatives on the official Femininity Chart, you would think that Bionic Commando would have found its way into my Nintendo library somehow. Alas, no. Though I was always aware of Rad Spencer and his important contribution to history (making Hitler's head and secret headquarters EXPLOD), I didn't adopt any fondness for Bionic Commando until I watched my husband do a playthrough. My eyes followed that swaying red-headed soldier like a pendulum. Where do I sign up for the Bionic Harem? (And what did I just say about scoring in the negatives on the official Femininity Chart?) I tried to take control of Rad. When my attempts to make him swing out of the television screen and into my lap failed, I decided I'd at least try to get him through his no-jump adventure. I couldn't get through Area 01. It was an embarassing disaster and Hitler won. I figured Bionic Commando was simply something you had to be born into if you wanted to stand any chance of finishing it. Time went by, stealing a drop of my life with every tick, and there dawned an age (Now) wherein game developers learned the value of nostalgia. Remakes and revamps of old classics, they reasoned, would send twenty- and- thirty-somethings running to Playstation Network and Xbox Marketplace like sows to the trough. Indeed, we sucked it all down, but there's no shame in indulging in a high-quality remake like Bionic Commando Rearmed. Read More... Posted Dec 12 2008, 09:14 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: capcom, bionic commando, 8-bit, nostalgia, bionic commando rearmed, nadia oxford, top 10

• Capcom, Street Fighter IV Cluttering My Home With Even More Useless Junk

  Collector’s, commemorative, special, limited, ultimate, and EX plus hyper deluxe editions of games are, by and large, pieces of crap and a truly lousy way to spend even more money on an already expensive leisure. This is, of course, a well-covered topic in our little neck of the cultural woods. Saying that collector’s editions suck is a bit like pointing at the moon in the gaming journalism world. But it’s worth mentioning again when a collector’s edition of a game is announced that is legitimately cool. Take, for example, what lucky Europeans picking up Street Fighter IV will get their mitts on. Read More... Posted Dec 08 2008, 09:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, ryu, street fighter, capcom, street fighter iv

• Little Big Trailblazer: Revisiting Mega Man Powered Up, User-Generated Content Pioneer

  When I wrote up Where Is the PSP a few days back, I left out the fact that I’m largely responsible for the neglect of my own little Sony portable. Not because I haven’t been buying games, but because I haven’t taken the time to properly equip the thing to take full advantage of its potential. Up until yesterday, I had been using the same 32MB memory stick that came with my launch PSP back in 2005, pretty much cutting me off from any and all downloadable content available and, more often than not, limiting my ability to even update its firmware. Well, thanks to some good ol’fashioned Black Friday scavenging, my PSP has eight honking gigabytes to play with. I updated the firmware (I was a full version behind apparently), browsed the recently launched PSP PSN store (functional!), and grabbed some demos (Syphon Filter lives up to its reputation). But once the house cleaning and redecoration was finished, I moved on to the real impetus behind the upgrade: finally exploring Mega Man Powered Up’s DLC and user-generated levels. This remake of Mega Man’s original adventure is really the unsung harbinger of the current gaming zeitgeist. Not only is it a lavish remake of a two-dimensional classic, not only did it lay the groundwork for Mega Man’s triumphant 8-bit rebirth, but it boasts one of console and portable gaming’s beefiest level creation tools. Read More... Posted Dec 05 2008, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, little big planet, psp, capcom, halo 3, mega man, mega man powered up, ghosts ‘n goblins, syphon filter