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• The Atari Jaguar and the Bit Wars

  The Angry Video Game Nerd is back, and he's kicking off his resurrection with a two-part series on the Jaguar. Part one offers a brief history of the Jaguar, but doesn't explore its impotent game library at any length. Instead, the Nerd talks about how the Jaguar helped loosen a very powerful advertising ankle trap: the “Bit Wars.” Putting it simply, if you were a gamer and conscious in between the years of 1985 and 1996, you were led to believe that more “bits” in a console equals a better system. You also fell for it, at least until certain truths started to leak out from pores of the 32/64-bit system race. The NES was a huge improvement over the Atari 2600. The Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were a huge improvement over the rinky-dink graphics on the NES. 32-bit systems were capable of orchestrated audio, anime cutscenes and 3D graphics. And that's where the waters started to muddy up. Before the 32/64-bit race began in earnest, I was going through a small obsessive fit with Capcom arcade games. In particular, Street Fighter Alpha, and (sigh) Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara. I thought for certain I'd see ports on the N64, because, duh, Nintendo's system was going to be the most powerful one in the console race! Why wouldn't it happen? I posted the question on my high school's BBS and was laughed at by a lot of angry video game nerds who predated the Angry Video Game Nerd. Read More... Posted Mar 16 2009, 11:05 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: angry video game nerd, atari 2600, final fantasy vii, fan stuff, nadia oxford, mega man x4, castlevania: symphony of the night, jaguar

• Actor's Scene Re-Dub Attempts To Make Up For Mega Man X4's Past Sins

  Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4 are two of the first games we point at when we talk about the awkward spasms gaming went through in its transition from 16 to 32 bits. “Hey, remember when voice acting in Playstation games could make your dog's ears bleed?” we say. The death of Iris in Mega Man X4 still holds in our memories, not entirely for good reasons. For starters, the romance between the two has since ignited way too many message board conversations about how/if robots Do It. Second, Zero's voice actor sounds like he drank a scalpel blade smoothie before he recorded. Third...well...WhatamIfighting4rrrrrr?” Capcom did get its act together admirably in the latter Mega Man X games. Mega Man X: Command Mission, Mega Man X8 and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X employed the same voice actors for all three games, giving the characters some much-needed consistency. Moreover, there is a hint of professionalism here, as the actors were all employed from The Ocean Group, a Canadian-based anime dubbing company. Zero's adopted actor is Lucas Gilbertson, an Alberta native who voices the red Maverick Hunter by day and draws some awesomely effed-up pictures by night. Gilbertson was interviewed by a fansite/blog that asked him if he'd try redubbing Iris' death scene in Mega Man X4. Guess what! He did! He also got a bit close to the microphone, so you might want to lower your volume a titch. Read More... Posted Jan 14 2009, 07:38 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Playstation, fan stuff, anime, nadia oxford, mega man x4, mega man x5, ocean group, dubbing

• FMV Hell: Mega Man X4

  Let us board our DeLorean and travel back to 1997. Gaming was going through a massive transition, as was American culture in general. We were still excited about anime and wanted nothing more than to lick rigid Playstation cutscenes up and down. We pressed our noses longingly against the panes of computer shops that ran the Mega Man X4 intro over and over. We said "Ohhhh!" Now we say, "Ohhhh," as in, "Oh God, my eyes feel like moles are scratching them." I'm not even referencing Mega Man X4's awful English voice acting. I don't need to. The low quality of the anime stands by itself, like a putrid pair of underwear. Read More... Posted Oct 24 2008, 07:06 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: fmv hell, anime, nadia oxford, mega man x4, maverick hunter x

• The Worst Voice Acting You Will Ever Hear, Guaranteed

  I have a certain attachment to atrocious video game voice acting, so I'm ashamed of myself for bypassing the exceptionally bad chatter in O3's Chaos Wars until something like ten minutes ago. There has never been anything quite this bad in the realm of voice acting, and if God truly loves His Creation, there never will be again. Oh sure, we can groan over "Jill Sandwich" and "WHAT AM I FIGHTING 4RRRRRRRR?????" (note the Pee-Wee Herman scream at the very end.) But even Resident Evil and Mega Man X4 had excuses: it was 1998 (or somewhere thereabouts), voice acting in video games was a Brave New World, and, more often than not, the "English" voice actors were actually Japanese people with a moderate grasp on English. If I were to offer a Japanese voice-over for an American-made game, we'd end up with a character whose commentary on the flaming destruction of his hometown wouldn't go far beyond, "Kawaii desu! Baka neko! Boku no Sexual Harassment!" Read More... Posted Sep 08 2008, 07:36 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: playstation 2, nadia oxford, voice acting, evil, o3, mega man x4, audio atrocities, chaos wars, resident