Perfect Dark … would you believe it came out May 22nd, 2000.
I didn't even know about any of this. I knew the game came out in 2000, but I didn't know it was this soon. And with all the rapture nonsense going on today, this historic game is unfortunately lost to a lot of people. So rather than lament about the game that I didn't play all that often back in the day (sorry console kids, I was too heavily invested in playing games on the PC and emulation at the time) I'll leave those memories up to you. And no, that awkward Xbox 360 outing doesn't count. The version of Joanna Dark ... while impressive ... doesn't match up to the original.
And another thing, apparently the model Michele Merkin portrayed her at one point. I would've voted for Milla Joovovich personally because this Michele woman doesn't quite cut it for me. But there's a few Maxim shots of her in here because she's still damned impressive. Hell, she even got a spot in the Retro Gaming Roundup show as one of the Top 10 Hottest Video Game Babes for this month.
For those of you who for whatever reason haven't played this excellent shooter, it can be found on the Xbox Live Arcade for a small price. And if you want it to look like the Nintendo 64 version is fairly easy. Just get out your old composite cables that came with your system, hook it up THAT way ... then spit on your screen and smear it around. Unfortunately, due to the fact that this game pushed the Nintendo 64 WELL beyond it's limits, there's not a whole lot you can do to cut the frame rate by 1/3.
And be sure to play it multiplayer as well, because that's where it really shines.
And if you're worried about the rapture, don't worry. It's not going to happen. Hit the jump for a smattering of pictures that I find interesting regarding this kick-ass female video game lead.
My history with the Atari 2600
When I get bored of a particular console, I tend to go back in time. That, and I have a rather extreme form of ADD so I’m CONSTANTLY picking up new games and gadgets. As I’ve said before, I’m on a PS2 kick. But then I got this little device. It’s the Atari Flashback 2. Now I’m not going to get into the hardware itself too much just because it’s been out for a while, and if you’re reading this you already know what it is. For those of you who don’t know, this thing is basically a reproduction Atari 2600 sans the cartridge slot (which can be added by someone who is comfortable with a soldering iron). It’s about 2/3 the size of the original system, and instead of switches for things like the power and reset, it has big ugly orange buttons … which is my only big beef with it.
Do you ever wonder what you may have missed in the previous generation of consoles?
I always wonder that … so I’ve been on a Playstation 2 kick lately. It WOULD be the Xbox … except mine isn’t so much an Xbox anymore so much as it is an emulation/homebrew machine. And add on to the fact that damn DVD tray won’t open anymore for some reason. Yeah yeah, I know that’s easily fixed but I’m just too lazy to do it. The damn thing is basically an underpowered PC in a big, ugly, heavy black box anyway. And the Gamecube … honestly those games are a bit harder to get than PS2 games in my area, so I’m also going to leave that out. I’m just speaking me personally here, but you can say the same thing about any of the previous generation systems really. Just with the Gamecube being a somewhat smaller one because not everything came out for that for some reason.
Going back to Need for Speed Underground
We all probably know of the “Fast and the Furious” movies. Some people love them, other people hate them. I’m of neither camp in the fact that I just kind of see it a date movie or popcorn movie. Just something to sit back, watch and have fun.
But the movie did inspire a whole slew of video games, the highest on the list that initially hit (for me anyway) was original Need for Speed Underground from 2003. And I picked it up again recently on the Playstation 2. When I first played it in either 2003 or 2004, I didn’t have any of the then current generation consoles, so I played it on the PC. Which, in reality, is the way it’s meant to be played. Of course, when I first started playing it I was running it on a system that couldn’t quite handle it at full detail. But I didn’t care. I still had a blast with it.
A new NBA Jam game coming to the Wii has me a little worried.
See that screenshot there? Those are my memories of NBA Jam … just insanely fast paced 2 on 2 basketball that I would play the shit out of in the arcade. Sometime this year there’s going to be one coming to the Wii. As one may fear, it supports motion control. But from what I read on Kotaku, you can also turn the remote sideways and just use the directional pad and use it as … well … a real controller.
I don’t play many sports games, after a 20 year hiatus I finally picked up a baseball game (The Bigs for the PS2 and The Bigs 2 for the 360 if you’re wondering). But I do like to play the arcadey titles. And NBA Jam definitely fits into that. I STILL own both the original and Tournament Edition for the Sega Genesis, and I still pop them in from time to time to see those tiny, grainy graphics and muffled grainy voices. But since Tournament Edition, the series hasn’t just gone down hill … it’s plummeted face first into a bed of spikes.
PLEASE for the love of God, quit bitching about Left 4 Dead 2.
Every time I turn around, someone is bitching and moaning about the upcoming release of Left 4 Dead 2, which I am seriously looking forward to. Some people aren’t and there’s an entire damned petition begging Valve not to release the game so soon. Hit the link to read more about it. And I’ve read post after post about how Valve is going to drop support for the first one all together, and that the gamers are entitled to free updates and addons to the game from them. Now yes, they promised it, and there is more DLC coming, and they’re working on a way to let the people who bought the first game play with the the people on the second game, and vice versa (at least that’s what I read into it) … I’m assuming to help shut people up about it. And I have a feeling that a lot of the people whining about it are console gamers … hell, I’m one of them. Well, not the whiners, but I do play it on the 360 a lot. But Left 4 Dead is a BLAST whether it be a 360 or PC (sorry PS3 guys. Well … not really.).
Hmm … Does this mean my Xbox 360 can help save the Earth too???
Basically, when you spend your 35 bucks on this thing and use it ... when you're TV is off the console gets no power. Or whatever else you happen to have plugged into it because they use a lot of power or something. Hit the jump for a little more.