Video Games

Worth Playing brings tears to my eyes with these beautiful screens from FF:XIII for the PS3.  “FF XIII provides tangible, intuitive controls while delivering seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and stunning in-game cinematics. The latest in cutting-edge technology has been utilized in development of Final Fantasy XIII, thus making this newest addition to the Final Fantasy series worthy of the title next generation.”

This post is just for fun! First up, we have Super Mario: The Beatbox Edition, which entails a muted run-through of the first level of the original NES game with the beatbox vocals over-dubbed.  Truly amazing, and yet just a tad annoying by the end of the video.  Nevertheless, it’s another fan-created tribute to Mario that deserves a watch.

Second up is a clash of Mario and the Matrix, for what is so properly called Super Mario: Reloaded.  In the original Matrix sequel, Neo is bombarded with a plethora of Agent Smiths. However, in this japery, it is not Neo, but rather Mario, who is besieged by Agent-like Luigis. Very funny. Very cute.

Thirdly, we have the highly esteemed trailer for Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii (codenamed Revolution). This is an incredible look at some in-game action of an awesome game for a next-gen console. This is by far the most successful franchise since the beginning of the gaming epoch. And with much pride, I present to you the official trailer:

Fourth is a cam recording of a guy doing 1up tricks on the New Super Mario Bros. The description is thus: “Remember how you can get inifinite 1ups in the classic Super Mario Bros.? Nintendo apparently kept this little trick in New Super Mario Bros.” It’s a neat little video, but the quality is a tad shabby.

Now get ready for an interesting spin-off of Night at the Roxbury. This film features the a lot of dancing by Mario, and some serious head-swinging!

Finally, what Mario compilation would be complete without the blind-folded pianist? This medley of well-played Mario tunes on the piano, in my humble opinion, completes this list!

DigitalBattle has the word that the fan remake of the legendary N64 classic The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time in 2D has made progress.  The news come from a thread at SomethingAwful forums, which states:

Daniel Barras, an old friend of mine, has announced that Release Candidate 1 of OoT2D will be released soon. He’s waiting on his laptop to be airmailed to him (and he probably needs to put a couple finishing touches on it).

The game is basically the 2D translation of Ocarina of Time for N64. It will include everything from the original game, and i BELEIVE he was intentionally coding in the glitches found in 1.0 gold cart, but i’m unsure if this will still be a feature. It will also include a special dungeon and 3 extra items (i think it’s armor, boots, and another sword. The only thing i can say for sure is the armor).

Regardless of whether this project to remake the classic Zelda game is real or not, the screens still look great.  Check them the screenshots below:

Finally, the anticipated Rainbow Six Vegas demo has a set date for its release.  Starting October 24th, you can acquire the Rainbow Six Vegas demo in the Official US Xbox Magazine, or else wait till sometime in November for general release.  The demo will feature the single-player mode only, and a portion of the “Dante’s Casino” level.  It’s great news that Rainbow Six Vegas is finally coming, and that the official release date is sometime in November for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 versions!

Penny Arcade has announced that “they are teaming up with Hothead Games to create an indie, episodic video games based on their comic”.  Their first game is “Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness,” and it’s a comic adventure game for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.  There has been no confirmation of a release date. 

This game is to be purchased and acquired electronically, although there is no word of how the development team plans on doing this.  The director of business relations for Penny Arcade, Robert Khoo, says that they “are right now looking at different vendors,” and that ”Steam is always a possibility.”

This is certainly not the first “episodic” game to appear on the scene, but let’s hope its cartoon-based development makes it a breath of fresh air.