Five Under the Radar Games

Holy cow.  There's a lot of games out there that most people overlook.  Too many people follow the advice of this guy, and it's a real shame.  If you follow Extra Credits on youtube, you've probably seen their series of games you might not have tried.  They are a great resource of options, and I've found a handful of good examples, as well.  All of the games that I mention have their share of fans, just not many.  For some, this is a perfect time to try them out.  Either way, you'll be hard pressed to find games in here that aren't worth your time.

Wishlist: Expanding horizons in Dance Central 3

Back in July, Harmonix teased a partial song list for Dance Central 3.  One of the included songs was "I am the Best" by Korean pop group 2NE1.  K-pop fans on this side of the Pacific unanimously jumped up and cheered for the arrival of cross-cultural songs in what is arguably the best game franchise on the Kinect.  But why stop there?  Harmonix stands to bridge the culture divide and broaden musical tastes.  Now, while the game is coming out on October 3, and probably has little room for adding songs now, there's always room for DLC.  If anyone at Harmonix reads this, consider these songs for DLC.  Seriously.

Video Game Music: It's Finally Mainstream!

Game Music in general is reaching the point of being on par with movie soundtracks.  In some cases, they're even bigger than movie soundtracks.  Title themes from The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy have as much of a spot in the public conscious as Indiana Jones and Star Wars.  Hum a few bars of any of those themes, and you'll find a whole group of people who know what you're singing.

Ever since the advent of the home video game console, game music has become increasingly popular in the public eye.  And now, finally, video game music is reaching the point of mainstream attention.  In this rant, I'm going to point out some of the more ingenious musicians out there, as well as a few major works of art.

The end is nigh! (and that's not a bad thing)

There's an apocalypse coming!  And we're NOT gonna die!




Whut?




There's an old proverb: "those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it."  It means that we can learn from past mistakes to prevent future ones.  What if repeating history would be good instead?  Before you start dismissing this as a 2012 rant, it's not.  Gaming is on the cusp of another crash, and I can't wait for that to happen.

Top 5 Video Game Openings that Tell you Nothing About the Game you're Playing

I'm starting up something new now:  I liked writing that 5 Wii Games article, and there's enough content I can do to warrant adding an extra article each week.  So, this one will be every other Thursday, for starters.  If I can keep it up, it will become a weekly column here.  So anyways, to start this blog off, here's:

Top 5 Video Game Cinematics that Tell you Nothing About the Game you're Playing

Ooga Booga Booga!

Halloween always gets people in a mood to soil their trousers.  Everybody and their mother tries to capitalize on this season, and game companies are no exception.  The survival horror genre has been around since the original nintendo era, but I feel that the genre as a whole is in need of a spark of life, a la Frankenstein.

Or this guy.  He's scary enough.

Silent Hill Downour's Latest Trailer

Konami released another trailer for the upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour.  Let's just say that I am disappoint.

Really? Korn in my Silent Hill?  I like Korn as much as the next guy, but this is a bit ridiculous.  There's a reason why Akira Yamaoka left Konami for Grasshopper Manufacture.  S*** like this is why.

Scrooge Alert: Power Gig for $30

Guitar Hero and Rock Band may have gotten us hooked on music gaming, but finding replacement instruments these days is really tough.  GameStop is currently running an in-store special right now on Power Gig: The Rise of the Six String for Xbox 360 and PS3.  Game & guitar for $30, full band kit with guitar, air drums, and mic for $40.  All of the instruments are compatible with Rock Band and, for the most part, Guitar Hero games as well.  If you're on the lookout for cheap replacement instruments, hit up the local GameStop.

Duct Tape DDR...Wait, what?

Back when I was in college, I made a modification to one of my DDR dance pads.  The top side was starting to rip, and I figured I'd go for the whole enchilada and give the entire dance pad a makeover.  This little duct tape mod took me about 3 hours to complete, and looked great when it was done.  That dance pad has since bit the dust, but I kept the pictures and reference notes I took, just in case.  Well, now is the time to resurrect this bad boy and pass along what I learned.

Technic Beat

Price: $2.99 used at Gamestop

Ebay Listings

Rating: Everyone

Players: 1-2

Memory for Game Saves: 227 KB

Peripherals required: N/A

Warning: people who get epileptic seizures from flashing lights should NOT play this game!!!

Let the record stand that I was addicted to DDR back in 2002, when one of my friends imported a copy of DDR 3rd mix Korean v1. I still have my launch copy of DDR Konamix, DDRMAX2, and ITG. And I love 'em all. Music games usually stick very well with me. I've been looking at this game for some time, long before I started Treasure Bin. Treasure Bin just gave me an excuse to finally buy it. for a $3.00 game, this one is rather interesting.


A little bit of online research revealed that the game was originally released in Japan early in the PS2's lifetime, back when the Music Game craze was in full swing there. It didn't come stateside until 2002, when Mastiff Games picked it up. Mastiff had a cult hit track record with their work in bringing the Street Fighter EX series stateside. (Thanks to Gamespot for the info)


Sitting down with the game for the first time, I went straight to the tutorial. Believe me, it went through the basics to a D. The D-pad, of course. (okay, so it was a bad joke. get over it.) It shows you how to control the character, to the basics of scoring points in this game. No matter what happens, PLAY EVERY TUTORIAL!!! It helps so much in the long run.


The Arcade mode offers 1- and 2-player modes, with co-operative and competitive modes available for 2 players. The entire premise of the gameplay is simple: as your little character moves around the rectangular playing area, circles will appear onscreen with another circle moving towards the edge of the outer circle. When the two touch, press the square button to activate the note. It's simple at first, yet scales into insanely difficult combinations as you progress. I reached three stars out of 6 (level of difficulty) within a week. I managed to wrangle a friend into trying the game co-operative with me, and both of us agreed that the game is good fun.


For a music game, the songs can make or break a game. "Spider Control 16th" was one such song that I fell in love with right away, despite it being relatively low level. There's a lot of original works in this game, all of it filling in various subgenres of electronic. They tell you the style of song when you start the level, and let me tell you. I may listen to a fair amount of electronic music, and even I've never heard of some of these genres. All of the Namco songs are trance, house, and drum-'n-bass remixes of their 8-bit originals. Much of the music is electronic, yet the songs feel right at home with the Special Effects displayed on screen. It feels kinda like a miniature rave.


The Verdict: I think it's fair to say that this game is definitely not for everyone. Very few of the songs are going to be recognizable by most people. Only the most hardcore nerd would have any chance at recognizing every song in this game. If you're looking for mainstream pop/rock, this game is definitely not it. On the flipside, If you enjoy branching out into music you've never heard before, you just might like this game. The beats are catchy, the tunes will permeate your brain, and the $2.99 price point would make this a good game to try out and experiment with. It's also a pretty good party game, too.


Parent's notes: This game is rated E, so there's little to complain about in this game. There's a lot of flashing colorful lights that beg for a seizure attack if the child is susceptible to them. The lyrics are few and far between, if at all. I've found no objectionable language in my testing. I wouldn't recommend this to really young children, as there's a bit of reading in the tutorial section and setup, but children age 7-8 and up should be able to pick this game up really quickly. This game gets a thumbs-up from me.