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8-Bit Cinema reimagines Star Wars: Rogue One as a simplistic 8-bit shooter
You knew it was only a matter of time until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story received the 8-Bit Cinema treatment… and here it is… reimagined as a budget-priced NES shooter by Cinefix.
I’m not going to lie, even though it’s a pretty simplistic-looking adaptation, I teared up again after K-2SO’s death. That droid was definitely a leaf on the wind.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has earned more than $516 million at the US box office since it was released on December 16, and it recently pushed past Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to capture 7th place on the list of highest-grossing movies of all time. There’s still time to catch it in theaters for a second (or third or fourth) viewing, but Lucasfilm is also expected to release the first “Star Wars Anthology” film as a DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download this Spring.
The Video Game Canon: Resident Evil
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at how Resident Evil brought the then-moribund zombie genre back to life. Here’s a teaser…
If a Bizarro Universe doppelganger of Jerry Seinfeld was a hacky comedian who worked the nerd belt, I have a feeling he’d start off every set with, “What’s the deal with all the zombies?” And he wouldn’t be wrong. Zombies are everywhere. Just absolutely everywhere. But why? And why now? If you trace the epidemic all the way back to patient zero, it leads to a publisher named Capcom and their desire to create a scary game with zombies known as Resident Evil.
George A. Romero is rightly considered the godfather of the modern zombie movie. Starting with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, his first film inspired a horde of filmmakers and lead to a pair of sequels in 1978 and 1985. But after the release of Day of the Dead and Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead, the genre fell out of favor with the moviegoing public and was reanimated only when some low-budget film studio wanted to add something to the direct-to-video slush pile. Not even Romero himself, who helped visual effects master Tom Savini remake Night of the Living Dead in 1990, could bring it back to life.
Six years later, Capcom brought the zed menace back in a big way with Resident Evil. First released on Sony’s fledgling PlayStation console (and eventually re-released 12 times over the next 20 years), the game’s amateurish acting and stiff tank-like controls never obscured the terrifying zombie tale underneath. You might say that exploring Spencer Mansion and delving deeper into the story behind the T-Virus infected players in a way that few games ever had before.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Nintendo Download: Flying Warriors, Kung-Fu Heroes, Little Ninja Brothers, more
A trio of ninja-themed games originally released by Culture Brain for the NES lead the way in this week’s Nintendo Download.
Flying Warriors made its NES debut in 1991, and the side-scrolling beat ’em up features two different martial arts styles for main character Rick Stalker in his fight against “the great monster of the Dark Dimension, Demonyx.”
Going back a bit further, Kung-Fu Heroes was originally released in 1989, and the overhead beat ’em up follows Kung-Fu Masters Jacky and Lee in their quest to save Princess Min-Min. The Kung-Fu Heroes return in Little Ninja Brothers, a sequel that was originally released in 1990 and is now also available to download through the Wii U’s Virtual Console.
More information on all of these games (and the rest of this week’s new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Dishonored 2, Doom, Overwatch, Titanfall 2, Uncharted 4 will compete for “Game of the Year” at 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards
The organizers of the SXSW Gaming Conference and Festival have announced the nominees for the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards. Not surprisingly, Dishonored 2, Doom, Overwatch, Titanfall 2, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will all be competing for the coveted “Video Game of the Year” award.
Appearing over and over again throughout SXSW 2017’s 23 categories, the nominating committee was very impressed with these five titles. However, Overwatch definitely lead the way with nine total nominations including “Esports Game of the Year,” “Trending Game of the Year,” “Excellence in Design,” “Most Promising New Intellectual Property,” “Most Memorable Character” (for Tracer), “Excellence in Multiplayer,” “Excellence in Art,” and “Excellence in Animation.”
The 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards will be held on Saturday, March 18, and fans are invited to vote for their favorites from now until February 10 at IGN.com. The winners in each category will ultimately be decided by a 50/50 vote between the public and the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board.
The full list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Dishonored 2, Doom (2016), Overwatch, TitanFall 2, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Mario Sports Superstars will be released for the 3DS on March 24
Even though the Switch’s March 3rd launch is right around the corner, Nintendo has no plans to forget about the 3DS in 2017. The consolemaker announced today that Mario Sports Superstars, the next sports compilation featuring the plumber and his pals, will be released for the 3DS on March 24.
The action-packed game launches on March 24 and offers five full-featured sports like Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Baseball and, for the first time in a Mario sports game, Horse Racing. Each sport stars Mario and his friends (and enemies!) from the Mushroom Kingdom and can be played in local or online multiplayer modes.
Nintendo also revealed that a new series of Amiibo Cards will be released alongside Super Mario Superstars. The randomly-sorted five-card packs will retail for $4.99, and each copy of the game will include one Amiibo Card packed in.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Mario Sports Superstars
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns will be released on February 28
XSEED Games has announced that Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns will be released for the 3DS on February 28.
In celebration of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the longest-running farming and life simulation series, the beloved Bokujo Monogatari franchise [Known in the US as Harvest Moon (1997-2013) and Story of Seasons (2014-Today)] returns with its biggest adventure yet in Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. Settled on a homestead in the middle of three distinct and uniquely themed locales, players can explore a diverse landscape as they search for new ways to grow their farms and friendships. Extensive customization and gameplay options are on offer in Trio of Towns, with each village offering its own variety of regional crops, lads and ladies to romance, animals, festivals, furniture, decorations and more. More ways to play sprout up as players connect to one another locally or via the internet to chat, trade, and enhance items on a mysterious multiplayer island.
The publisher has also partnered with Nintendo to include a few signature fashions from the Mushroom Kingdom in the Trio of Towns. Players who discover these items will receive an in-game boost and look stylish to boot:
Mario-Themed Items in Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns
- Mario’s Outfit and Hat: Mama mia! The iconic plumber’s signature red and blue uniform gives your running speed a boost.
- Luigi’s Outfit and Hat: Luigi’s costume will improve your luck at fishing. Others will be green with envy!
- Princess Peach’s Dress and Tiara: This regal dress and tiara will make you better friends with other characters. Sweet!
- Toad’s Outfit and Hat: The tireless Toad’s outfit causes your stamina to recharge automatically over time.
A new trailer for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is also now available and it’s been embedded above.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns
The Video Game Canon: Super Mario Bros. 3
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at Mario’s actorly ambitions in Super Mario Bros. 3. Here’s a teaser…
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
– As You Like It, Act II Scene VII
Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom cohorts have held a surprising number of occupations over the years. In addition to his plumbing business and the hero-for-hire game, Mario has been employed as a multi-sport athlete, a race car driver, a referee, a dancer, an artist, a virologist, and a typing tutor. He’s practically done it all, and I think only political office has eluded him. I guess that’s the trouble with monarchies.
Bouncing from genre to genre like that is usually considered a liability for other game characters. As sublimely silly as the idea seems, no one wants to see Kratos squeezed into a go-kart. And yet, fans readily accept Mario’s multitasking, and many of his spinoff adventures are now more popular than some of the franchise’s traditional platformers. There’s a strong possibility this all stems from the fact that Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, designed the character this way from the beginning.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Posted in 3DS, Features, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon, Wii, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Bros. 3
CoD: Infinite Warfare, Battlefield 1, The Division are the best-selling games of 2016
The video game industry should definitely be celebrating right now, as The NPD Group has announced that consumers spent $30.4 billion on hardware, software, peripherals, and in-game purchases in 2016. This is a slight increase over 2015 revenues, which totaled a measly $30.2 billion.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella attributed some of this growth to the emergence of virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR. He also cited the “cultural phenomenon” that was Pokemon Go and the subsequent release of Pokemon Sun and Moon on the 3DS.
“Growth in entertainment software consumer spend was seen across the mobile, PC, virtual reality, subscription, portable, and digital console segments,” Piscatella said. “Consumers have more options to purchase and enjoy entertainment software than ever before, while developers have more and easier ways of delivering that content. No matter the delivery platform, entertainment software has never been more engaging, diverse or accessible.”
However, none of those games managed to crack the top ten for 2016, which was once again dominated by Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. Even though it launched to less-than-stellar reviews and a negative fan reaction, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was still the best-selling game in 2016. Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III was also represented in the top ten, at #8.
Tom Clancy’s The Division (#3) and Overwatch (#7) proved that new franchises can still make some noise in the NPD’s annual ranking, but perennial best-sellers like NBA 2K17 (#4), Madden NFL 17 (#5), and FIFA 17 (#9) also sold well in 2016, as did strong sequels such as Battlefield 1 (#2) and Final Fantasy XV (#10).
You can find the NPD’s list of best-selling games throughout all of 2016 after the break. (more…)