Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Early Memories

Summer 1989.

Tim Burton's Batman exploded the modern era of the merchandised franchise. The Ghostbusters hit the big screen a second time. The NES ruled people's home as Mario and Link captured everyone's imaginations. The Commodore 64 was a hugely popular home computer, everyone I knew had one.

If there is one magical element about the video game industry in the 1980's, was the radical developments in arcade/home console/portable gaming technology. Things just got bigger and more impressive. The 8-bit era from the Atari 2600 to the NES and Sega Master System where awesome gaming machines.

Then in the summer of 1989, Sega would launch the 16-bit Genesis in North America. Never before had a video game console delivered a near arcade perfect experience at home. Oh, yes I remember playing Altered Beast, Afterburner, Outrun and Golden Axe many a time at friends houses. We where blow away by its power. The games where awesome. Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusion and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker kicked ass.

Then Sonic arrived. Everything changed. The heated 16-bit wars began in all their awesome glory.

Summer 1991. Sonic The Hedgehog blew my mind. Before him, everything was slow. Nothing had ever been as fast, shiny, colourful nor as majestic as him.

I still remember playing the game for the first time. I went over to my buddy's house for lunch one hot summer day. Dave had a Sega Genesis and fairly decent collection of titles. He had just got Sonic The Hedgehog and I was excited to play it.

The advertising for Sonic was huge. Televisions commercials, print adds and word of mouth where impressive. I was pumped up to play it my first time, to say the least.

We fired up the television and entered Sonic's world.

Wow!

What an experience. The speed blew me away. It played fresh, new and most importantly, fun.

Oh nostalgic memories. The glory of exciting new times indeed. Thanks Sega for some of the most memorable of good times!

RIP MGS Online

The online gaming experience has shut down today. I played Metal Gear Solid Online numerous times. It's unique gameplay, modes, teams and humor, made it stand out. It was successful in translating that MG style of gameplay in an online experience.

It originated with MGS3: Subsistence. Later, the PSP's Portable Ops games expanded and made it better. Next, MGO would march forward and win over legions of fans.

Continuing the legacy is MGS: Peace Walker included in the HD Collections. It's smaller, yet robust gameplay features is a ton of fun and shouldn't be missed.

Here's to MGO! Years of fun will be fondly remembered. You will be sorely missed.

Drops of Mobile Gaming for the Week

 A minor blog post but very important.

This week we'll see the release of Gravity Rush and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PS Vita. On the Android side of life, Max Payne Mobile is finally released with Rockstar Games Social Integration. Sweet!

I love my mobile gaming! Yes, I am aware that I have done some crazy editing with the titles of each release. I'm just so darn happy about this week! ;)

End of Line......

Metal Gear Solid E3 2012 Rundown

E3 2012 is finally gone. Until next year, old friend. *sniff*

I was surprised that Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid and Konami fame, didn't make an appearance during the Sony press conference to show off Metal Gear Rising: Revengance. He's done so previous times in the past.  However, he still attended E3. Reveiling more of Revengance and the Vita's HD collection of MGS games.

Revengance looks amazing! The tag team of Kojima Productions and Platinum Games, has resulted in one of the most exciting action games, ever. Raiden finally looks bad ass as he slices his way threw, well, absolutely anything. Sadly, the only negative about the game is that it isn't coming out until 2013. *sniff again*



The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the Vita looks equally impressive. It's nice to see the titles go beyond just porting the games. They have implemented Vita controls in one shape or another. Plus, Transfarring returns. You can transfer saves between the PS3 and Vita versions of the collection. Plus, you can do this easily via cloud saving, which BTW, is friggin' sweet!



Finally, CVG has an exclusive interview with Hideo Kojima about the future of MGS, social gaming and Kojima productions. Enjoy!

E3 2012 Post Impressions

E3 2012 arrived with excitement but has left many with a sense of disappointment. looming over the festivities, is the inevitable drop of new next generation hardware. Sadly, we'll have to wait.

Microsoft's press conference only had a handful of exclusives, from the not surprising Halo and Gears of War franchises. Sony's seemed to have dodged the PS Vita all together. Finally, Nintendo should have knocked the ball out of the park with it's upcoming Wii U. Instead, they disappointed it's legion of fans.

Focusing on Sony, which I like to do, I found this year's E3 press conference uninspiring. Except, for a few exclusives.

Let's get this out of the way. Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us looked amazing! These brand new IPs brought excitement to E3. Microsoft nor Nintendo, did not have anything of the caliber of these titles on the show floor.

My favorite part of the whole E3 experience, is the Assassin's Creed III double whammy on Sony consoles. Exclusive content on ACIII for the PS3. An exclusive Vita title called ACIII: Liberation. Plus, the ability of the two games to communicate to each other to offer additional content and rewards. These games both look awesome! I can't wait to play them.

On top of that, Sony and Ubisoft have a sweet PS Vita bundle arriving on the games launch date on October 30th. Including the game, a 4gb memory card and a crystal white Vita system, the bundle is sure to lure current and future owners of Sony handheld console.

Oh my! It's looks so sexy!

Started Playing Mass Effect 2

Last post focused on my non-playing of MA2.

Guess what?

I finally did!

Damn! It is awesome stuff! Great looking as well. I can't believe this is the same studio who did the Dragon Age series, which I dislike very much.

Can't wait to play some more. However, the backyard deck calls me. The sun is gorgeous outside. Hmmm... It's beer time. Mmmmm....

Could Sony Be Investing In Cloud Gaming?

In 2 days we'll find out.

Last night, I wanted to play Mass Effect 2. Never have. Ya, crucifix me for taking this long to do so.

So instead of playing, a 10 to 15 minute installation occurred followed by a half a gig download of some EA/Bioware additional content. Finally, a game update was also available for download.

I still haven't played Mass Effect 2.

Now if Sony invests in cloud gaming for us, all I had to do was fire up the game from their servers and Shazaam! I'm playing and not waiting.

Cloud gaming is the Netflix for gamers. On demand gaming. No installation. No updating. No waiting. It is an additional form of content distribution. If Sony goes with this, then they will be able to deliver content in all avenues.

Retail. Direct Download. Cloud Streaming Gaming.

Make it so Sony.