The NES Was Once The AVS

WARNING: 56K sail away, there be many pics here.

- Last night I went to the SVA MFA Illustration and Design exhibition, mostly because of Marion, who has her thesis on display. It was quite nice, btw.

The place was packed with quite a few other fine works, as well as a ton of people. Ran into some familiars, like Dave and Raina, plus John made it out despite a really nasty ear infection. Believe it or not, I’m actually going to be there at the midnight showing Episode 3 at the Ziegfeld since John is involved with NYLine and he got us all tickets. Hey, I know the movie is gonna be atrocious but I really can’t miss out on a chance to be part of such a Star Wars geek-fest (as a former Star Wars fanatic, I’ve never actually taken part in such a thing), Plus the money goes to a good cause and all that jazz.

But anyway, I also ran into, Mu Wen, whom I met at SVA in my children’s book class, and still easily one of the finest illustrators that I have ever met. We’ve sort lost contact over the years, but that will seriously have to change. He’s a super nice guy who calls me Beat Takeshi. I call him Tony Leung. It’s an Asian thing.

- Afterwards, I went to a party thrown by Nintendo to celebrate the opening of Nintendo World, their new store in Manhattan, which is actually the old Pokemon Center with a facelift. Just think of the old store, minus all the huge (and cool) Pokemons, and a more adult, less “kiddie” feel.

To be totally honest, I really wasn’t expecting much; I knew there wasn’t going to be anything revealed, like info regarding the supposed next iteration of GBA, with built in wireless capabilities. But I was surprised by the small historical display that they had on the second floor. I was so impressed that I asked to come back the next day (today) to take some pictures, which which is where I just came from. So check’em out…

First off, here’s all the various handhelds that Nintendo’s produced.

And here are all the variants of the GBA SP up to this point (I had no idea that there’s been so many… the marble one is pretty neat).

Here’s a Game Boy that was uncovered in the middle of the first Gulf War. Its pretty messed up, but still plays Tetris!

Know what these are? Hanfada cards, and it what Nintendo starting out back in the days (my mom used to play this with her friends back home).

Here’s where it all started. I had never seen an actual Famicom before.

Now, the whole point of me taking pics in the first place: the Advance Video System, which was the prototype of the NES. It was apparently only shown once before, at the Consumer Electronic Show (which as we all know was the precursor to E3) back in 85. This is the first time according to Nintendo (and as far as I know) that its been shown publicly…

In addition to the system, there’s a slew of accessories which were to come bundled, including a keyboard.

Check out the original joypads!

Here’s a flight stick that was supposed to be included.

And the original zapper. Looks like the stun guns from Star Trek Next Generation to me.

The store offically opens tomorrow with some huge block party, but they are doing a soft open this very moment. So if you live in New York City, and you appreciate classic gaming hardware, be sure to check it out.

- Just the other day on the GAF, someone posted a thread about my recent piece on Gamasutra that went behind the scenes of Rez (and for those of you who still haven’t read it due to being too lazy to register, I guess you’re in luck). Jake ended up chiming in, and besides revealing some tidbits regarding a super secret game that was brought up in the interview, but which he asked to be withheld (hehehe), he also touched up once more the nonexistent advertising campaign for the game in the states. Jake mentioned how there was quite a few really cool train and billboard ads, and he asked me to pass them along, so here they are…

- This just in: Chibi Robo still lives! When the original developer Bandai killed the housekeeping robot simulator (which you can still read up on here), Miyamoto, who apparently really dug the character, asked if Nintendo could make a game with the character, and Bandai said yes!

Fellow GAFer and LJer JohnnyRam has all info, as well as some pics right here.

Even though it doesn’t look important friendly, I still might pick it up. Afterall, I gotta have at least one other import game than DrillLand.

- Time for videos! First up, here’s some direct clips of Senko no Ronde, the awesome shooter/fighter that might be the Dreamcast’s final hurrah (not counting the never ending flowing girlfriend simulators which are just best ignored. Simply click any of the links you see on this page.

- Plus, here’s some videos from the recent GDC, including an inside look at Katamari Damacy. Tell you the truth, I haven’t had a chance to watch the vid, but if Keita Takahashii (the director of the game) gives his entire seminar with a Katamari puppet as pictured, that guy will be my new hero.

- Back to non-video gaming stuff real quick like, what happens when you mix Marvel comics, the Transformers, and the Power Rangers? The Marvel Mega Morphs, that’s what.

I’m a diehard Transformer fan as everyone already knows, but I still have a thing for the classic Marvel super heroes, and yet I’m not totally disgusted by it. In fact, I think I sorta like it.

As for the toys themselves (which you can check out here), some are better than others, but the Captain America one is fucking hawt in my book.

- So I stumbled across a review for the Adventures of Pete & Pete DVD set that comes out next week on IGN, and it seems that someone dropped the ball. I generally trust IGN’s DVD reviews (whereas their coverage for games, which is supposed to be their bread and butter, flat out fucking sucks… more on that later) and they cite an extremely shitty transfer as the main culprit (the complaints about the artifacting especially makes it sound as if they just recorded the show right off of The N).

- But on a more positive television related note, it now seems as if Arrested Development might still be alive! In fact, there supposed to be a commitment for two seasons that close to be being finalized! Simply amazing. The word is that Fox’s new president likes the show, and thinks that it still has potential despite lackluster shows. Remember, the fact that it’s one of the funniest, best written shows is real negative these days. Plus, this is still Fox, so I refuse to get too excited, but still, this is good news.

On a related note, my coworker Steve says the new episodes of Family Guy are horrible. As Nelson from the Simpsons would say: ha ha. From what I hear, now its way over the top with jokes that are completely tasteless, and some supposedly don’t even make any sense. Well, I hate to tell folks that I told you so…

- So what’s the plan for this weekend? Tonight I’m watching the original Friday the 13th to help mark the date with my friends Rob & Michele. I’ve been invited to speak with the members of the IGDA NJ chapter about my thoughts and experiences relating to the recent retro game jam, so that’s tomorrow. I rest up the remainder of the weekend with MK by the shore (with the hope that there’s some Wawa chicken sandwiches interspersed our time there… plus I really need to get a new tv). And then on Monday, I go to Stony Brook University to once again judge the best game from the school’s game design course.

- Oh, one last thing, which I guess I should touch upon… Xbox 360. I’m offically annoyed with it.

Last night was the much hyped MTV special, which I didn’t see of course, and from what I understand, I didn’t miss much, again of course. Its been described as 30 meaningless minutes of dumb celebs, crappy mainstream music, buzzwords, and a few scant seconds of game footage. But what I did catch was a video from ourcolony.net, the final piece to the viral marketing driven puzzle that Microsoft has done a spectacular job in terms of duping people into playing. The short clip does one thing, and one thing well, and that’s completely articulate how arrogant and foolish Microsoft truly is.

The video features J Allard and various other folks on the Xbox 360 team talking about the system, how its going to cater to the player at all angles (finally, an we get an explanation of what the name of the system means), bring players closer to their games, bring them closer to other players, and yada, yada, yada. Then there’s a look at the system itself, the technology under the hood (with various technical mumbo jumbo, which they claim will open new doors for designs, but that’s not exactly the truth), how you can physically change the hood with customizable faceplates, and more yada, yada, yada. You get to meet the people behind the system and watch them talk about how fun and thrilling the new system is, while they spin around like idiots on a film stage (but look, they drive around the office hallways on segues and have gamertags, they must be cool!).

And bottom line is that Xbox 360 is all about “put the gamer in the center” and “creating new experiences” and entering “a whole new world of opportunity”. Basically, nothing but marketing bullshit. But okay, whatever, what about the games? And that’s the problem.

Personally, I’m not a “graphics whore”, but given all of MS’s talk about High Definition gaming, there’s a certain level of expectation regarding the look of their games that they themselves have created, hence why its so laughable to finally see their flagship games Dead Or Alive 4, and especially Perfect Dark Zero. To say that they appear far from next generation is putting in nicely, and the shitstorm that’s been generated is, in opinion, completely justified. Back to the GAF, this one pic I think sums everything up just nicely.

It’s especially entertaining since its at the expense of people who have shown so much blind faith in a console which no one has even touched, the same one’s who, leading up to the event were saying that Microsoft had already won the battle, and that “Sony and Nintendo shouldn’t even bother showing up to E3.” It’s totally true; video games just make people dumb.

But yes, I’m just so sick of Microsoft, of all the mindless marketing hoopla, and all the bragging and touting, without any real games behind them. (here are other games mind you, but why they choose to go with Perfect Dark Zero as their flagshit title is beyond me). Hence why the fact they more than likely won’t be supporting backwards compatibility is made especially offensive. But what to know the best part? Its not due to technical reason, but legal ones; since the chips for each system is produced by different manufactures, its conceivable that MS might need legal clearance to allow the 360 to play Xbox 1 games. And if that turns out to be the case… Jesus Christ.